Cao Cao sent his army to the east for the second time to conquer Xuzhou. Yuan Shao sat back and watched Cao Cao's army leave Xuchang without any reaction. This really exceeded many people's expectations.
The most tragic thing is Liu Bei. He has to face an army of 65,000. Xuzhou, which he just captured, may be lost again in the blink of an eye.
The last time Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, he could surrender, but this time he didn't even have the chance to surrender. What Liu Bei can be sure of is that this rebellion will definitely make Cao Cao hate him deeply. If he falls into the hands of the opponent again,
Death is certain.
Not only Liu Bei, but also Cao Cao, Guo Jia and others were surprised by Yuan Shao's indifference.
No matter how stupid Yuan Shao is, it is impossible for him to do nothing when faced with such a good opportunity. What's more, he has so many capable and wise men under him. Isn't it possible that none of them have put forward relevant opinions? But so far, Yuan Shao has just been
Not even a single soldier was sent over, and he stayed quietly in his Yecheng.
Unbelievable, really unbelievable.
Originally, Guo Jia had already planned that as soon as Yuan Shao sent troops, the spies he had arranged in Liaodong would immediately contact Gongsun Du and instigate him to lead the army to harass Yuan Shao's rear with generous rewards, not hoping to gain anything, but just to delay it a little.
Time, just support it until your own army conquers Xuzhou and return to reinforce it.
Of course, Gongsun Du may not agree to restrain Yuan Shao, but Guo Jia is absolutely confident that he can convince the other party, and the reward offered this time is so generous that Gongsun Du will definitely not be tempted.
But now all of this is unnecessary. Yuan Shao is just sitting in his lair and has not come out.
Guo Jia couldn't help but feel a little depressed because he couldn't carry out his plan.
As for the biggest victim of Yuan Shao's inaction, Liu Bei can only sigh and blame his luck for being so unlucky.
If Yuan Shao did not attack Xuchang, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and other generals would no longer have any worries. Attacking the city would be a joy. However, within ten days, the only city in Xuzhou that was in his hands was Pi.
When Liu Bei rebelled in the past, he had 25,000 troops by his side. After killing the chariots, he gathered the original garrison in Xuzhou, for a total of about 40,000 troops. Forty thousand troops sounds like a lot, but it is not enough to face Cao Cao's 65,000 troops.
They should have the strength to fight. However, among the 40,000 soldiers, 10,000 are the original troops of Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao. Although they were recruited by Liu Bei, they may not be convinced. And among the defeated troops Liu Bei gathered from Xuzhou, there are also
About half of them did not completely return. If Liu Bei was given some time, perhaps these people could be completely subdued by Liu Bei, but now Cao's army was coming in the blink of an eye, so about 17,800 people suddenly dispersed like birds and beasts.
The remaining 20,000 soldiers suffered many casualties in the process of Cao's army attacking the city and taking out the stronghold. By the time Cao's army surrounded Xiapi, there were only 12,300 soldiers in the city, while Cao's army still numbered more than 60,000.
Xiahou Dun and Gao Shun led 20,000 troops to attack the east gate, Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong led 20,000 troops to attack the north gate, and Zhang Liao led 20,000 troops to attack the west gate, leaving only the south gate untouched.
This is the most commonly used strategy when there are three sieges but one is missing, and numbers have the absolute upper hand in a siege.
After three days of siege, Liu Bei's army suffered heavy casualties. Liu Bei could no longer hold on. On the night of the third day, he led 6,000 remnants of his army to retreat from the south gate.
The whereabouts of Liu Bei and his men were immediately discovered by Tan Ma who was ambushing outside the south gate, and he immediately reported it to Gao Shun and others. The generals then joined forces and headed towards the south gate.
Liu Bei felt that Cao Jun was coming from all over the country behind him, and he felt that he had no way out, and he couldn't help but feel sad. While he was in a hurry, he suddenly heard Guan Yu say to him: "Brother, the safety of the world is at stake. You must not lose anything. Leave quickly now. I will stop the pursuers."
Of!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Guan Yu rushed towards Cao Jun with only 500 men.
Liu Bei was in great mourning and wanted to call Guan Yu back. He also thought about following him into the enemy army and dying in battle. However, when the words came to his lips, he could not say anything. Although the thought of dying heroically flashed through his mind,
But I never had the courage to turn it into action.
"I must put the justice of the world first. I can't bear it, brother. I will avenge you in the future!" Liu Bei thought sadly in his heart.
"Second brother!" Faced with Guan Yu's generous act of dying, Zhang Fei was extremely anxious, and immediately wanted to turn the horse's head and advance and retreat with Guan Yu.
"General Zhang, stop here!" Just when Zhang Fei was about to ride out, Chen Gong hurriedly called out to him, "General Zhang wants my lord to die here!"
It was a helpless move for Guan Yu to go out to the rear, and it was even necessary for Liu Bei, but it would not be very wise to use Zhang Fei for nothing.
When Zhang Fei heard this, his hair and beard were all frothy, but in the end he suppressed the grief in his heart and protected Liu Bei from fleeing.
Guan Yu led 500 men and rushed towards Cao Jun without hesitation, hoping to slow down his advance. But after all, Cao Jun had 60,000 troops, and the number difference between the two sides was 120 times! Even though Guan Yu was unstoppable,
But none of the generals on Cao's side were vegetarians. Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong's martial arts were on par with Guan Yu's, and Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Xiahou Dun were also capable of fighting against Guan Yu.
Therefore, Guan Yu was destined to be in tragedy. The five hundred people he brought with him had been slaughtered, and Guan Yu himself was surrounded by Gao Shun and other five Cao generals.
Surrounded by these five talented people, let alone Guan Yu, even if Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, is resurrected, he will probably have to admit his death.
However, even if it was one against five, Guan Yu still wanted to fight again. This was not because he wanted to find a way out by chance, he just hoped to buy some more time for Liu Bei. Since he broke into Cao's formation, the time that has passed until now
It was too short, and Liu Bei and others might not have escaped three miles away. With such a short journey, Cao Jun could catch up in the blink of an eye.
Time is really too precious. For Guan Yu, even if he can only get a few dozen more breaths of time, he will try his best to fight for it.
Just as Gao Shun and others were preparing to attack Guan Yu, someone suddenly shouted: "Liu Bei's family has been captured!"
Liu Bei fled, so it was naturally impossible to take care of everyone. It was normal for his family members to be captured by the rebel army.
At this moment, Guan Yu Danfeng's eyes widened, and murderous intent burst out of his body.
When Guan Yu was full of murderous intent, all the soldiers of Cao's army who were near him were terrified, and some even had the illusion that they were about to be killed. However, Guan Yu's murderous intent was strong, and facing the five soldiers who were close to him,
General Cao really doesn't have much of a deterrent effect.
"Guan Yunchang, are you willing to surrender?" At this moment when the battle was about to break out, Gao Shun suddenly laughed and said to Guan Yu.
As soon as Gao Shun said this, not only Guan Yu was shocked, but Xiahou Dun and others also had incredible expressions on their faces.
Persuading Guan Yu to surrender? Did Gao Changgong have a fever in his head?
Who is Guan Yu? Everyone knows that he is Liu Bei's sworn brother. He is only loyal to Liu Bei. How could he surrender to others?
Of course Gao Shun understood this, but what he knew better was that historically Guan Yu did surrender to Cao Cao for a period of time. Originally he had no confidence in persuading Guan Yu to surrender, but when he heard that Liu Bei's family members had been captured, he knew that the time had come.