When the soldiers on the city tower saw that it was Cao ** who returned, they were all overjoyed and hurriedly opened the city gate and let Cao ** and others enter the city.

Someone had already gone to the government office to inform the Taiyuan prefect Wang Ling. When Wang Ling learned that Cao ** had returned, he hurried to the city gate to greet him, but he was still one step late. As soon as he ran out of the government office, he ran into Cao ** and returned on a war horse. He was surrounded by Dian Wei, Cao Hong, and a man dressed in a literati, which was Xu You.

"See lord!" Wang Ling hurriedly stepped forward and worshiped.

Since Wang Ling surrendered to Cao **, he was appointed as the Jinyang Order. He has been working diligently and doing things safely. Although he did not accept Cao ** in his heart at that time, after all, his entire clan's surname and fate are in the hands of Cao **. In order to protect the clan, Wang Ling had to do his best to work for Cao **.

But over time, Wang Ling and Cao ** had been in contact for a long time and found that Cao ** was not as he thought at the beginning, but a man with great talent and strategy, but just lacked a platform to display his ambitions.

In handling many government affairs, Wang Ling and Cao **'s opinions were basically the same. Under Cao **'s account, there were resourceful people such as Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Man Chong, and others, and they were Cao **'s confidant. However, Cao **, the position of Jinyang Order, was directly handed over to Wang Ling, which shows Cao **'s trust in Wang Ling.

In addition, after leaving Taiyuan, Cao ** promoted Wang Ling to become the prefect and gave Wang Ling full power. At this point, Wang Ling was deeply moved by Cao **.

Since then, Wang Ling has devoted himself to work for Cao **. In order to win over Wang Ling in a closer manner, Cao ** even asked his son Cao Pi to marry Wang Ling's sister, and the two of them became in-laws at once.

Cao ** won over Wang Ling so much that the other Bingzhou families felt jealous, so they sent talents to Cao ** and fought for a position that could surpass Wang Ling.

Although all the families of aristocratic families took the initiative to ask Cao ** for official positions, their children's abilities were not comparable to those of Wang Ling. At most, they could only be a county magistrate and county magistrate, and there was no talented person.

Because of these, Wang Ling became the leader of the Bingzhou family and the status of the Wang family has also been improved. Wang Ling also has the legacy of his uncle Wang Yun, and has been decisive in handling official affairs, with a strict and conscientious attitude, and governs the local area with the law.

In addition, Wang Ling was appointed as the only talent and did not avoid relatives. He successively recommended his two cousins ​​to serve as Jinyang Order and Jinyang Wei.

The one who led his army to fight against Taishi Ci and Xu Huang was the cousin who served as Jinyang Wei.

It is precisely because of this cousin who served as the leader of Jinyangwei that Taishi Ci was effectively blocked by Xu Huang and fell into a dilemma, and at the same time, he created a lot of time for Cao **'s return.

Cao ** turned over and got off the horse, grabbed Wang Ling's hand, exchanged greetings with each other, and then walked straight to the government office.

While walking, Wang Ling reported to Cao ** the current situation: Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia were still stationed outside Yanmen Pass, and had been confronting the Xianbei people for more than ten days and successfully repelled the Xianbei people's multiple attacks.

Wang Yong, the Jinyang Weiwei, led his army to set up layers of defense on the necessary road to Taiyuan, and successfully stopped Taishici and Xu Huang's advance, but the enemy's offensive was very fierce, and Wang Yong was afraid that he would not be able to support him for long.

The Huns were secretly gathering troops, and they were probably preparing to take action.

After hearing Wang Ling's report, Cao ** fell into deep thought, because Zhang Yanzheng led the army to pursue Xun Yu and others, and he didn't know what was going on at the moment. The news has not been heard for two days.

It can be said that Cao ** is on the verge of extinction now. If the Huns suddenly betray his trust and lead their troops to attack Jinyang, Cao ** will be directly in a state of doom.

Cao ** gathered all the generals and discussed these matters. Wang Ling, Xu You, Man Chong and others expressed their opinions. Their opinions were basically the same. They had to send people to stabilize the Huns first. Only by stabilizing the Huns first can Cao ** free up his hands to deal with Zhang Yan with concentration.

As for the Xianbei people, they would not want to enter the hinterland of Bingzhou if they could not break through Yanmen Pass. Moreover, Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia were guarding there, so there should be no need to worry. In short, the most worried thing now is the Huns.

For this reason, Man Chong offered another plan. He said that the Khan of the Xiongnu was a lustful person. He was not as beautiful as the Da Yan clan he married and could not meet the needs of the Khan of the Xiongnu. It happened that Cao ** had a daughter as beautiful as a flower, so he suggested that Cao ** marry her daughter to the Khan of the Xiongnu.

After hearing this, Cao ** was extremely angry and cursed: "My daughter is a golden branch and a jade leaf, how can she marry these Hu Chiefs!"

Wang Ling and Xu You both persuaded each other, which made Cao ** reluctantly calm down. Then, Xu You analyzed the situation for Cao ** and believed that marrying a daughter was a very correct choice. If Cao ** was unwilling to marry his biological daughter, he would choose a beautiful woman in the city, recognize her as her adopted daughter, and marry her to the Xiongnu Chanyu.

Cao ** agreed with Xu You's suggestion very much, and immediately asked Wang Ling to start handling the matter, select a beautiful woman within one day, and then hand it over to Man Chong, asking Man Chong to go on a mission to the Xiongnu and marry his daughter to the Xiongnu Shanyu.

A day later, Wang Ling indeed found a beautiful woman and handed it over to Man Chong. Man Chong told the beauty that the current situation and told the woman that her actions would save millions of people in Bingzhou.

The woman was moved by Man Chong, so she agreed to Man Chong. Then Man Chong found a group of maids to dress her up. She dared not say that she was so charming, but she was also ashamed of the moon.

Without further ado, Man Chong took the woman and some gifts to the Xiongnu station quickly. On the way, he even told the beauty a lot about etiquette and Cao **'s family, so that the beauty could remember it, for fear that the Xiongnu Chanyu would be suspicious.

Cao ** rewarded the woman's family very much, and the matter was given up.

In the evening of that day, a scout came to the city and brought a bad news. Wang Yong, the magistrate of Jinyang, was defeated and killed. Taishi Ci and Xu Huang led the army to march straight into the city. The counties could not resist along the way and came straight to Jinyang.

As soon as the scout finished speaking, another scout came in from outside the door and reported to Cao ** that Zhang Yan led the army to disguise himself as Cao's army, and cut the passes through the three passes of Taiyuan. He could reach the city of Jinyang without saying a word.

Good fortune will never come alone.

The bad news on both sides made Cao ** feel heartbroken.

"What's the situation with Xun Yu's army?" Cao ** asked hurriedly.

The scouts informed Cao ** in detail: "Xun Yu's army was wiped out. Xun Yu was killed by Han Fan and surrendered to the enemy with his head, but the enemy killed Han Fan. In addition, Liang Qi was killed by Zhang Liao and Xun Chen was captured. More than 10,000 troops were taken from Jingxing County because they were given a sweat medicine during meals, so the entire army was captured and had already surrendered to the enemy. The people who killed the pass and seized the village this time were all done by those surrendered soldiers."

After hearing this, Cao ** shouted indignantly: "Wenruo, Xiuruo! I'm sorry for you, I shouldn't have left you..."

Seeing Cao ** so sad, Wang Ling and Xu You advised together: "Lord, no one can be resurrected when they die. Xun Yu will not die in vain. As long as we all unite and defeat Zhang Yan and kill him, we can avenge Xun Yu."

Cao ** frowned and looked gloomy. There were not many troops in Jinyang City, and they were basically taken to Yanmen Pass by Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia. Zhang Yan's army had already arrived and captured the three passes of Taiyuan. In order to prevent Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia from sending troops to rescue him, he would inevitably set up defenses at the three passes of Taiyuan Passes, and Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia's army would be difficult for Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia's army to enter Jinyang.

In this way, Zhang Yan's army besieged the city and attacked day and night, and the opponent also had extremely powerful weapons such as thunderbolts. Whether it was siege or field battle, Cao ** would not be the opponent of Zhang Yanjun. However, he left Wang Lun, who was responsible for creating thunderbolts, in Xun Yu's army, and Xun Yu's army was wiped out. He didn't know whether Wang Lun was alive or dead, but he lost the power to compete with Zhang Yanjun.

Cao ** pondered for a moment, and suddenly came up with an idea. At this critical moment, he could only take a gamble.

Didn’t the Xianbei people ask for gold, silver and jewelry? He gave gold, silver and jewelry to the Xianbei people, as long as the Xianbei people can withdraw their troops.

So, Cao ** asked Wang Ling to open the treasury and filled the treasury with three trucks of gold, silver and jewelry from the treasury. Xu You led a hundred tiger and leopard cavalry to protect the three trucks of gold, silver and jewelry on the waterway, went upstream along the Fen River, and went to Yanmen Pass to give all the gold, silver and jewelry to the Xianbei people. Then, Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia led the army downstream and came to Jinyang City to support.

Xu You received the order, took a hundred tiger and leopard cavalry, and then secretly transported all three vehicles of gold, silver and jewelry out of the city. He rode a large ship and went upstream to transport the gold, silver and jewelry to Yanmen Pass.

Next, Zhang Yan led a large army to the city of Jinyang. The whole city of Jinyang was martial law, and Taishi Ci and Xu Huang's army also arrived later. The two armies were united and all were commanded by Zhang Yan. Tens of thousands of troops set up camp outside Jinyang City, but the troops were not in a hurry to attack.

Many generals gathered in the tent. Zhang Yan ordered some important matters one by one, mostly defense-oriented, and ordered Zhang Liao, Xu Chu and Gan Ning to search for saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal within a radius of hundreds of miles. He would bring back as much as he could. He was preparing to make gunpowder on the spot, wrapped in cloth, and prepare to make explosives to explode Jinyang City. He would strive to capture Jinyang City within one day and completely end Cao **'s fate!

Cao ** stood on the city tower of Jinyang City, looking at the enemy outside the city. Seeing that the enemy was not attacking, he didn't know what the hell was doing.

At the same time, Cao ** was also concerned about Xu You, hoping that Xu You could arrive at Yanmen Pass as soon as possible, and then Xiahou Dun and Guo Jia's reinforcements arrived in Jinyang as soon as possible.

At this moment, Jinyang City has become an isolated city. Cao ** is completely trapped here, and it has become his last line of defense. His family and his foundation are here. He has made the worst plans and fight Zhang Yan to the end here! (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!