Chapter 334: Father and son should be of the same mind It has to be said that Cao Ang's performance obviously exceeded the expectations of Jia Xu and others. Faced with the psychological warfare strategy, he did not give up, but chose to face the challenge head-on. Although this approach was a bit crude, it reversed the situation faced by Cao's army. After all, the reason why Cao's army has been able to hold on until now is not only because of the strict military law, but also because of Cao Cao's personal charm. As a result, all the officers under his command fought bravely, and even when the situation was bad, his officers and soldiers did not turn against him. At this moment, Ju Su's idea was to cause chaos within Cao's army by spreading the news of Cao Cao's death. Therefore, Cao Ang's rise this time not only won back the hearts of the generals, but also turned his subordinates into a group of miserable soldiers. As Laozi said: There is no greater disaster than underestimating the enemy. Underestimating the enemy will almost cost us our treasure. Therefore, when two armies fight against each other, the one who is more compassionate will win. As soon as Cao Ang gave the order, all the generals stopped talking and returned to the camp to prepare.

But at this moment, the spy brought news again, saying that Yuan Shao divided his troops into two routes. At this time, Cao Ang had just heard Jia Xu's plan to withdraw his troops to lure the enemy. Hearing Yuan Shao dividing his troops, he asked everyone: "We were just about to retreat to lure the enemy, but the enemy split up and marched out. What's the meaning of this?" Among the crowd, Guo Jia was secretly saddened by Cao Cao's "corpse", Jia Xu felt that he had spoken too much and did not say anything, only Xun You said in a deep voice: "They are about to send our lord's body back to disrupt our army's morale, and now they are dividing their forces to attack us from behind!" "It is difficult to hold this place now. Why not follow Lord Jia's plan and set up an ambush, and then retreat at night!" "This way, Yuan Shao won't be suspicious. When he comes to pursue us, our army will be able to defeat him!" When Cao Ang heard this, he had no choice but to nod in agreement. He immediately ordered Cao Hong, Cao Chun and others to ambush southward. He also discussed with generals Ma Chao, Xu Huang, Shi Huan and others, and decided to divide his troops and withdraw at night. Just wait for Yuan Shao to pursue to the ambush site, lead the army back, and kill Yuan Shao again. When the generals heard the plan, they all agreed, holding their breath, waiting for Yuan Shao to pursue! Cao Cao originally had an army of 40,000, but after several defeats, it now had less than 20,000. However, under the planning of Jia Xu, Xun You and others, several troops were divided and various generals were assigned to lead them. Just as they were preparing, Yuan Shao's army was also preparing to pursue Cao Cao's troops. Although Ju Su's plan seemed to divide the troops into three routes, its main purpose was actually to prepare to break through Guandu! According to Yuan Shao's expectation, Cao's army would collapse in chaos when they saw Cao Cao's "corpse". But after they sent the body to Cao's camp, there was no response from Cao's camp. Seeing this situation, Yuan Shao could not help but feel anxious and asked Ju Su: "Now that our army has sent back the charred corpse, why haven't Cao's troops taken action yet?"

"Could it be that Cao Cao has not yet gone north, and has returned to the camp to stabilize the situation?" Ju Su asked him what he meant, and could not help but sigh that Yuan Shao was so afraid of Cao, and hurriedly tried to persuade him: "I personally saw Cao Cao heading north. Our army has set up posts along the way, so it will be impossible for him to return." "Although Cao Cao is not here, he has many capable people under his command." "Perhaps there is someone capable enough to stabilize the situation and keep his subordinates from getting in chaos." "But Cao Cao is not here, so the enemy's retreat is inevitable." "Don't worry, my lord. I'm sure the enemy will make a move within a few days." "If it's earlier, the enemy will withdraw tonight. Order all the generals to be on alert and be ready to attack at any time!" After hearing this, Yuan Shao finally put his mind at ease and ordered his generals to prepare their troops. In the afternoon, a scout came to report that two troops from Cao's camp were heading south. Yuan Shao was overjoyed when he saw this, and, confirming that Cao's army was about to retreat, he ordered his men to prepare to cook. As night fell, Cao's army sent another envoy to deliver Xu You's head. It can be said that Xu You's death in this timeline was extremely unjust. The news he brought to Cao Cao was the key information that could decide the victory. But because of a letter from Qin Zhen, his news turned out to be false! In other words, even if it was true news, it led to Cao Cao's defeat. Therefore, after Cao Ang stopped him from getting angry at Ma Chao, Cao Hong, who had a bad temper, grabbed Xu You and killed him with a knife. Cao Ang did not have much resentment towards Xu You, because he knew that Xu You would not risk his own life to plot against his father. After offering the advice, Xu You did not try to slip away, which in a sense proved his innocence. But since the incident had already happened, in order to calm the anger of the generals, he simply put the blame on Xu You. By the way, he also did a favor and returned Xu You's head to Yuan Shao. In fact, it had been less than two days since Yuan Shao last met Xu You. But when he saw Xu You again, Yuan Shao pointed at Xu You's head and said angrily: "You acted like a rude man, and I made you join Cao Cao's army. Now you know that you deserve what you have done." After cursing like this, he originally wanted to abandon his body in the wilderness, but at Ju Su's suggestion, he gave him a grand burial. As the two armies took action against each other, it was already late at night on October 11th. First, Cao Ang led his army out of the camp quietly. After walking more than ten miles, he ordered the soldiers to burn down the camp. The fire was immediately discovered by Yuan Shao's scouts. Yuan Shao was overjoyed and personally led more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry south in pursuit.

After chasing for more than twenty miles, they passed through a dense forest and saw Cao Ang's rear army there. Upon seeing this, Yuan Shao hurriedly ordered his general Han Meng to lead the cavalry to attack the enemy's rear. With one blow, they killed the more than a thousand soldiers and horses that Cao Ang left behind to guard the rear. Seeing the enemy army collapse at the first blow, Yuan Shao finally regained his lost confidence and laughed: "Now that Ah Man is gone, the enemy's morale has been dispersed. All soldiers, listen to my order and follow me to speed up the pursuit!" After saying this, he ordered his men to speed up, but Ju Su saw this and hurriedly said: "Wait a minute, my lord. I see that they are all old and weak, not Cao's elite troops." "If we do this, I'm afraid the enemy is scheming. We can't go any further!" Although he strongly advocated Yuan Shao's pursuit this time, when he saw the troops left by Cao Ang, he felt that something was not right! But Yuan Shao had finally gained the upper hand and was unwilling to give up the pursuit, and he refused to listen to any advice. When Ju Su saw this, he had no choice but to request to lead a troop to provide support from the rear. Yuan Shao was displeased to see that he wanted to divide his troops again, but he still agreed. Therefore, another 5,000 soldiers were assigned to Ju Su to lead, and they were to provide support within a radius of three miles from him. After dividing the troops in this way, they advanced another dozen miles and suddenly saw Cao Ang's main force there. Yuan Shao was confident that he had more soldiers, so he directly ordered Han Meng and others to attack. When Cao Ang saw this, he decided not to fight but hurriedly led his troops southward. Yuan Shao thought Cao Ang was afraid of his troops, so he sped up again. But just after five miles, he heard a loud shout, and saw Cao Hong and Cao Chun leading their troops to attack from the left and right. Yuan Shao was horrified and his troops were in chaos, but Cao Ang in front of him turned back and attacked. At once, Ma Chao, Xu Huang, Shi Huan and other generals rushed forward and killed Yuan Shao's troops, causing them to flee in panic. Yuan Shao was greatly shocked and retreated quickly. Fortunately, Ju Su led his troops to arrive in time and rescued Yuan Shao. After a great battle, Yuan Shao suffered heavy casualties, with more than half of his 30,000 pursuing troops being killed. On the other hand, Cao Ang not only did not lose any soldiers, but he took advantage of the situation and retreated calmly. At this point, Yuan Shao no longer dared to pursue and had to order his troops to return. Once in the camp, he hurriedly asked who was now in charge of Cao's army. After finding out that Cao Ang was the leader of Cao's camp, Yuan Shao sighed: "I have heard of A Man for a long time, but never heard of Cao Ying Zi Xiu. You can see that having a son is like this!" At that moment, he knew that with Cao Ang there, it would be difficult to defeat Cao's army in one fell swoop, so he simply listened to Ju Su's advice and delayed his advance southward. On the other hand, Cao Ang did not become complacent after his victory. Following Guo Jia's advice, he withdrew his troops to Chenliu City and sent letters to generals on all sides to shrink their defenses. Under Cao Ang's command, Cao's army began to retreat continuously and abandoned the city on a large scale.

Thus, in mid-October of the fifth year of Jian'an, Cao's army's crossing battle was declared a failure. In this battle, both armies deployed more than 200,000 troops. Including auxiliary troops and civilian laborers, the total number was over 500,000. In this battle, Cao Cao lost more than 20,000 elite troops, and tens of thousands of civilians and auxiliary soldiers. Yuan Shao lost more than 50,000 elite soldiers and horses, and countless auxiliary troops and civilians. In this battle, Yuan Shao captured most of Yanzhou, including Dongjun, Dongping, Shanyang, and Jiyin. However, because the eastern front was opened, Liu Bei's army took advantage of the situation and seized Taishan, Beihai, Donglai and other places. Similarly, because Cao Cao had cleared the land in advance, most of the places Yuan Shao had obtained had been emptied. Therefore, although Yuan Shao won this battle, it was a tragic victory at a huge cost. However, before that, with the end of the Battle of Guandu, a question lingered in Yuan Shao's mind. Where did Cao Cao go when he disappeared in the war? Wei County, Yecheng, this place was built during the Spring and Autumn Period and is also Yuan Shao’s hometown. At this time, several very special merchants came to the tavern in the city. The leader had dry hair and a stubbled chin, but next to him was an eight-foot tall man. Behind him, there were several solemn-looking guards looking around. No one knew where these merchants came from, but their attire was not surprising. After all, Yecheng is a prosperous place in Jizhou, and many merchants from all over the country gather here. Naturally, there are also many people with fierce looks among them, which is not surprising. And this group of people were none other than Cao Cao and others who disappeared in the Guandu battlefield. As to why this was the case, we have to start from the night when Cao Cao went north. At that time, facing Ju Su's plan to wipe out the entire family, Cao Cao really faced despair for a time. After all, it was only by burning those grains that he was able to win the Battle of Guandu. But instead of burning the food and grass, he was burned to death by Ju Shou. If it were someone else, they would probably just surrender at this point. But the more desperate the situation Cao Cao faced, the calmer he became. He actually escaped from the forest with Xu Chu and others. After escaping, Xu Chu suggested taking Cao to break out to the south. But Cao Cao directly refused, saying that there were Yuan Shao's outposts everywhere in the south. With just a few of them, it would be fine if they encountered a small group, but if they encountered a patrol team of several hundred people, they would be caught immediately. So as soon as he escaped, he headed towards Yangwu, which was behind Yuan Shao. After two days of traveling like this, they arrived at Yangwu, which was under Yuan Shao's command.

After arriving in Yangwu, news of his pursuit also spread here. Seeing that the defenses in the west were tight, Cao Cao knew that the defenses in the south must be even worse, so he fled north and quietly crossed the Yellow River. Originally, Xu Chu and others thought that the further north they went, the more dangerous it would be. However, they did not expect that after going north, their defenses became even more relaxed. At this point, Xu Chu suggested that Cao Cao go south from Hanoi and return to the camp to take charge. But when Cao Cao heard this, he rejected it directly and said to Xu Chu: "Since we have gone north, it has become difficult to defend Guandu. Turning back now will not help." "There are also Yuan Shao's troops in Hanoi. We should continue to march north!" Then he took Xu Chu north and came directly to Yecheng. Because he had no money or food on the road, he robbed a merchant caravan and ended up looking like this traveling merchant! Cao Cao was secretly proud of this. Even if Yuan Shao racked his brains, he would never have thought that he would come to Yecheng! But after his safety was guaranteed, he began to worry about the war in the south. So he stayed in an inn and asked his subordinates to gather information. While his men were trying to gather information, Cao Cao smiled at Xu Chu, who was eating voraciously. "I see that although this city is big, it lacks palaces and is not as prosperous as Xudu!" As he said this, he saw Xu Chu holding the wheat cake, nodding and eating madly. Seeing this, Cao Cao slapped Xu Chu on the back and cursed: "What a fool you are! You didn't even leave some for me. I haven't eaten it yet!" After being slapped like this, Xu Chu felt aggrieved and kept talking, and handed another cake to Cao Cao. When Cao Cao saw this, he burst into laughter, took the cake and started eating. While the two were eating, the guard tiger soldier returned with news. He whispered a few words in Cao Cao's ear, and Cao Cao's face suddenly flashed with surprise and said: "Wonderful Zixiu! Qin Zixuan has raised a good son for me!" Having said this, he opened his bundle and put the remaining wheat cakes into it. When Xu Chu saw him packing up, he quickly took a sip of water and asked where he was going. "Hedong!" Cao Cao pointed to the west, stood up and said: "Just as Qin Zixuan said, when father and son are of one mind, their strength can cut through metal!" "Now Zixiu is defending the south, and I am his father, how can I fall behind him?" "Let's go to Hedong and let Yuan Shao know what it means to be distracted while gaining more than one thing!" Having said this, he smiled happily and led everyone out of the city. (End of this chapter)