My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chapter 457 Cao Cao: In this battle, I've lost everything, not even my underwear? Two provinces against ten, how can I possibly stop them?!
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on the annihilation of Xiahou Dun, the complete destruction of the Wei army, and the acquisition of Bingzhou!"

Xiao He smiled and bowed to Liu Bei.

Zhang Fei and the other ministers all laughed and bowed to Liu Bei to congratulate him.

Liu Bei laughed heartily and waved his hand, saying:

"Issue the imperial decree: a grand banquet shall be held tonight. I will drink with all my ministers until we are drunk, to celebrate the victory in the recapture of Jinyang."

"Furthermore, let us feast on wine and meat to reward the soldiers. I want to share the joy with them."

The generals burst into laughter.

Inside and outside the city, the soldiers of the three armies cheered and jumped for joy, their voices shaking the heavens and the earth.

As night fell, a grand victory celebration banquet was held in the Jinyang Prefecture.

Emperor Liu Bei, together with his advisors and generals Xiao He and Zhang Fei, drank and celebrated to their hearts' content.

Meanwhile, the army slaughtered chickens and sheep to reward the 200,000 soldiers besieging the city.

Inside the palace, the burly emperor and his ministers drank and chatted merrily, while outside, the soldiers sang and danced, reveling in unbridled joy…

Hundreds of miles away, Pubanjin.

Cao Cao held a bowl of white rice in his hands, but his eyes were glazed over, and he was lost in thought, not touching his chopsticks for a long time.

Cao Cao dared not move, and naturally, his ministers, including Sima Yi and Jia Xu, also dared not touch their chopsticks.

"Any new information from Jin... Jinyang?"

Cao Cao snapped out of his reverie and suddenly asked a question.

The ministers exchanged glances, their brows furrowing slightly.

This was the eighth time Cao Cao had inquired about news from Jinyang in a single day.

Not just on this day, but almost every day for the past month has been like this.

Everyone knew that Cao Cao was deeply concerned about the fate of Jinyang and the life or death of Xiahou Dun.

"Your Majesty, the latest news is that Liu Bei is bombarding the city day and night with divine thunder cannons, but the General is still fighting desperately to defend it, and Jinyang City is still in the hands of our Great Wei."

Sima Yi had no choice but to give the same answer again.

Cao Cao sighed softly, secretly relieved, but his brows still betrayed his anxiety.

They breathed a sigh of relief because Jinyang City was still standing, Xiahou Dun was still alive, and the 40,000 soldiers had not yet been wiped out.

As long as Jinyang City stands, Bingzhou has not nominally fallen and still belongs to the Wei Kingdom.

The anxiety stemmed from the fact that the Han army had been besieging the city for nearly a month, and Xiahou Dun had yet to abandon the city and break out as Jia Xu had suggested.

As long as Xiahou Dun could not break through the encirclement, his heart would turn to the last remaining glimmer of hope, and he would be restless day and night.

"Yuan Rang, Yuan Rang, stop holding on. Once the city walls are breached by that big-eared thief, it will be too late."

"You have done your best. I don't blame you for the fall of Bingzhou. I only ask that you come back alive."

Cao Cao gazed at the waning moon outside the door and silently prayed.

Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xiahou Shang, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen…

The brothers, sons, and nephews of the Cao and Xiahou clans have long since perished.

Xiahou Dun was his only brother and his only remaining right-hand man among his peers.

If this last arm is also severed, wouldn't I truly become all alone?
Cao Cao could do nothing but silently pray that Heaven would have mercy on him and not take away his only remaining limbs.

The sound of hurried footsteps rang out, and Yang Fu rushed into the hall.

"His Majesty--"

Yang Fu entered the hall with a sorrowful expression, seemingly wanting to speak but hesitating.

The atmosphere in the hall instantly plummeted to freezing point.

Everyone held their breath, anxiously watching Yang Fu from across the suspension bridge.

Judging from Yang Fu's expression, the Battle of Jinyang must have already come to a conclusion.

Moreover, it is highly likely to be a bad outcome.

"Yuan Rang... is there any news about Yuan Rang?"

Cao Cao put down his chopsticks and stood up with difficulty, his voice trembling and his heart pounding like a drum.

"The General, he, he..."

Yang Fu stammered, wanting to speak but not daring to. Cao Cao's heart skipped a beat, and his face instantly turned ashen. Clearly, he had sensed something was wrong from Yang Fu's behavior.

"Tell me, what exactly did Yuan do to him?"

Cao Cao slammed his fist on the table and roared again in a hoarse voice.

Yang Fu could only take a deep breath, silently cup his hands, and say in a trembling voice:

"Report from Jinyang: Three days ago, the General led his troops to abandon the city and break out of the siege, but he was betrayed by Qian Zhao and fell into Liu Bei's ambush."

"Guo Huai, Wang Ling and more than ten other generals were killed in battle, and our 40,000 soldiers were all wiped out."

"After being captured by the enemy general Guan Ping, the General refused to surrender and was already under the control of Liu Bei..."

After a moment of hesitation, Yang Fu gritted his teeth and spat out the word "chop".

Bang!

The cane slipped from Cao Cao's hand and fell to the ground. He swayed and slumped onto the dragon throne.

At that moment, he seemed to have lost his soul, frozen there with a blank expression.

Inside the mansion, after a moment of deathly silence, a deafening explosion erupted.

"The General is dead? The General is dead too?"

"My 40,000-strong army, just like that, gone?"

"If Jinyang is lost and Bingzhou is gone, what will we use to resist if the Han army attacks Guanzhong?"

"The Emperor has treated Qian Zhao very well, so why did that scoundrel betray the Emperor!"

"Could it be that the fate of our Great Wei has truly run its course..."

The morale of the Wei officials in the hall was severely damaged, and various voices of fear and confusion rose and fell.

"Ugh--"

Jia Xu could only let out a helpless sigh and sat down weakly.

Only Sima Yi, after his initial surprise and doubt, gritted his teeth, his eyes burning with a helpless yet frantic flame of hatred and anger.

"Yuan Rang, Yuan Rang, how could you abandon me?"

"Heaven has forsaken my Great Wei! Heaven has forsaken my Great Wei!"

Cao Cao, who was in a daze, suddenly woke up, collapsed onto the table, and began to wail and cry.

Inside the hall, all the officials were silent, shaking their heads and sighing as they looked at Cao Cao, who was weeping uncontrollably.

Cao Cao's last remaining strength was thus extinguished.

Apart from the Wei army that managed to escape across the Yellow River, Xiahou Dun and his Bingzhou army were completely annihilated.

Despite his grief, after crying, Cao Cao still had to face reality.

The reality is that Bingzhou has been lost, and Wei only has the two provinces of Yong and Liang left, with no more than 80,000 troops available in the country.

Liu Bei, having conquered Bingzhou, had already gained control of eleven out of the thirteen provinces.

Moreover, these eleven states include not only the fertile lands of the two rivers, but also horse-producing states like Bing and You.

After occupying Bingzhou, the Han state even gained a terrain advantage over the Wei state.

It can be said that at this time, the Han Dynasty had an overwhelming advantage over the Wei Kingdom.

After pacifying Bingzhou, Liu Bei will certainly not stop his pursuit of unifying the world. Next, he will mobilize the troops of ten provinces to directly attack Yong and Liang.

With only 80,000 troops and a mere two provinces, how could Cao Cao possibly stand in his way?
Territory and military strength are secondary.

The key issue is that the Wei Kingdom has now reached the point where it has no generals left to use.

With Xiahou Dun's death, there was no one left in the imperial clan capable of upholding the family's reputation, and among the second generation, only Xiahou Ba was barely usable.

Among the military generals not surnamed with the emperor, only Xu Huang and Zhang He remain, and they can be considered famous generals of their time.

How could such a small force possibly contend with the Han state, which was full of brilliant generals?

"Zhongda, Wenhe."

"Now that Bingzhou has fallen, Yuan Rang's death for his country is a foregone conclusion. The traitor Liu Bei will surely raise the entire nation's army to attack Guanzhong."

"Do any of you have any good strategies to stop this big-eared thief for me?"

After crying, Cao Cao wiped away his tears and looked longingly at his two advisors.

(End of this chapter)