Three Kingdoms, I'm really not a general!

Chapter 531: Busy Cao Pi
Although Xu Huang's thought flashed through his mind, the more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong.

First of all, the fact that Zhong Yao escaped was strange enough.

I didn't pay attention to it at that time, but now think about it, he was in Tongguan, being held by Xing Daorong, but he was so bold as to pretend to surrender and get out?

Secondly, after Zhong Yao came, the situation here seemed to be getting worse and worse.

For many things, it seemed as if Xing Daorong had the ability to see and hear from afar, and he could calculate them exactly.

Let’s talk about Hangu Pass before…

Xing Daorong accurately predicted that the food shortage in the interior had reached an extremely serious level.

Now think about it, Cao Xiu's belief that there was a spy inside and his wrong accusation of Sima Zhi were not groundless.

It’s just very likely that you have got the wrong person!
There is no traitor in Guannei, nor in Luoyang, but there is a big problem in Yecheng!

But even though these thoughts flashed through Xu Huang's mind, there was no evidence after all!
If an attack were to occur suddenly right now, I'm sure that old man Zhong Yao would be able to cover it up with his eloquence.

"It's not good to alert the enemy, so we have to investigate secretly!"

As for whether or not to tell His Majesty his guess, Xu Huang planned to find some evidence first.

The battle at Hangu Pass is the most urgent matter. We must first solve the problem of food and grass at Hangu Pass...

Thinking of this, Xu Huang just kept these speculations in his mind and did not tell Cao Pi about them in detail.

As for Cao Pi, although he inherited Cao Cao's suspicious character, he was not completely without any advantages.

Cao Cao's decisive personality at critical moments is also in his blood.

He immediately said: "Sima Yi does not know the emperor's grace, his heart is worthy of death, his crime is unforgivable!"

"The whole family should be killed to serve as a warning to others!"

"However, given the situation today, we should endure the humiliation and retreat three steps in order to first defeat the external enemies and then quell the internal strife."

"I have made up my mind, so I will negotiate with Sima first!"

These decisive words made Zhong Yao speechless even if he had the intention.

I can only keep a low profile and keep silent for the time being, and wait for an opportunity to cause trouble again.

...

The peace talks between Cao Pi and Sima Yi did surprise Xing Daorong.

However, after Hangu Pass was breached, the people in the Central Plains were terrified and had no intention of fighting.

With the addition of Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, Xing Daorong was now unstoppable.

The important towns in the Central Plains, Zhengcheng, Hongnong and Caoyang, offered little resistance, and Xing Daorong successfully led his troops to force Luoyang.

The journey was so smooth that the morale of the army was naturally high.

As soon as they arrived at the city of Luoyang, Ma Chao asked to be the vanguard, to climb the city wall first and recapture the capital.

Xing Daorong responded and sent Ma Chao to attack.

Cao Zhang, who had fled here, knew that his troops were far inferior in strength, so he had to close the city and not leave.

However, Cao Zhang was not sure how long he could hold out even if the city was closed and no one went out.

Right now... we can only hope for a miracle.

Fortunately, Sima Zhi was more supportive than he had imagined.

...

"General Cao... at present, everything that can be used for fortification in Luoyang City has been transported to the top of the city walls. What do you think we should do?"

Inside the city, Sima Zhi was sweating profusely as he reported the situation to Cao Zhang.

Seeing Sima Zhi in such a state, Cao Zhang knew that if he really had the slightest rebellious intention, even if he did not persuade him to surrender, he should have pretended to do nothing and not put in any effort.

How can they support themselves in preparing the city’s defense?
I think Cao Xiu really wronged people at that time.

Now, he could no longer say these words to Wen Lie. Cao Zhang sighed and said, "Although Luoyang City was hit by a fire that year, after the repairs over the years, it is now a solid wall. If we want to defend the city, we can still defend it with tens of thousands of troops, even if we can't defend it with a hundred thousand troops."

"only…"

Cao Zhang said this and sighed heavily. This dejected look also made Sima Zhi the only one around him.

Otherwise, if others see this, they might think that the commander has no confidence, so what's the point of fighting this battle!
It’s better to surrender early.

Sima Zhi, however, did not take it seriously and instead advised: "General, do you think that we cannot resist because we are short of food and grass?"

Seeing that even Sima Zhi was so calm, Cao Zhang finally regained some composure.

In fact, we can’t blame Cao Zhang for this.

It's not that he was scared by Xing Daorong in Hangu Pass, but this was actually a battle that could not be won.

There is no food...what's the point of fighting!

Although he calmed down a little, his expression was still very heavy as he said, "The food and grass problem is only one of the problems."

"Secondly, the army has just been defeated and morale is low. In addition, there is no external reinforcement. I am afraid that it will be impossible to reverse the decline."

Sima Zhi also fell silent at that moment.

It sounds like this war situation is indeed unsolvable...

After a while, Sima Zhi calmed down and said, "General, don't worry. If His Majesty knew that Hangu Pass had been breached and Luoyang was in danger, he would definitely put aside everything and come to rescue."

Whatever...

After hearing Sima Zhi's consolation, Cao Zhang didn't think Cao Pi could really come to rescue him... but there was no other way at the moment.

But he said: "These worries are not shared with others, only between the two of us."

Sima Zhi nodded slightly.

The two men were in heavy moods. Although they didn't know whether they could win the battle, they could only take one step at a time.

...

Cao Zhang and Sima Zhi planned to take things one step at a time, but how could Xing Daorong give them the chance to delay?

For two consecutive days, they attacked Luoyang.

Cao Zhang fought desperately, but he managed to repel two waves of attacks with great difficulty.

But even so... if they attack again next time... I really don’t know if we can withstand it.

Just when the situation was critical, Cao Zhang discovered that there was no movement from Xing Daorong.

...

If nothing unexpected happened, Xing Daorong would naturally do it in one go.

But the accident happened.

Just when Xing Daorong was about to attack the city, he received news that Cao Pi was leading a large army to attack Luoyang.

Ever since he received Bao Long's letter saying that Cao Pi was negotiating peace with Sima Yi, he actually knew that Cao Pi would come to help sooner or later.

As for Sima Yi...it's not certain that he will make any move.

So he asked Bao Long to continue to pay attention to the movements of Sima Yi's troops, while at the same time he galloped all the way eastward.

If we can capture Luoyang, the Central Plains can be secured.

Who would have thought that although he had been fast all the way, Cao Pi was also risking everything this time.

It only took half a month from the peace talks in Hexi to the arrival of an army of 100,000 from Yecheng!

Of course... this army of 100,000 is just a claim to the outside world. How many troops are there really... I'm afraid it's not even 50,000.

However, even with these few people, they became the last assets of the Cao family after they were defeated in repeated battles and some of their troops were taken away by Sima Yi.

However, although their number is small, they are all elite.

These included the military system passed down by the Qingzhou soldiers, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, "all of whom were the bravest in the world, and some of them were recruited from hundreds of generals", and the Tiger Guard, one of Cao Cao's main forces, which could be said to be his personal guard.

Cao Pi led these three armies to fight a final decisive battle.

(End of this chapter)