The battle outside Baling City lasted from early morning to dusk.

After Cao's army retreated, it was not until the early morning of the next day that they gradually got rid of Li Qi's pursuit.

According to the total number of people in each department, there are only about 20,000 people left.

Except for some of the troops that Xia Houyuan, Lu Chang, and Gao Lan took away with each other, the rest either died in battle or surrendered.

Among them, not a few surrendered.

Because many of the soldiers were originally locals in the Chang'an area, and now the area around Chang'an belongs to Li Qi, there is no need for them to follow Cao Cao far away from their homeland.

The soldiers were burying pots to make rice, while Cao Cao stood on a stone outside the tent, looking haggard.

Cao Cao is now over sixty years old. In the Three Kingdoms era, he can be regarded as an old man. This old man has experienced large-scale fierce battles and escapes in the past twelve hours, both physically and mentally.

They have all suffered heavy losses, how can they not feel haggard?

Cao Pi walked up to Cao Cao and said: "Father, it seems that Li Qi's army is not pursuing them anymore. You can go back to the camp and rest for a while. I will be on guard here."

Cao Cao sighed: "If you were Li Qi, and now that you have Chang'an, where will you base your next step?"

Cao Pi said: "To the east of Chang'an, there is only Tongguan. Wuguan is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It can be used as a defensive fortress to resist the forces of the Central Plains."

Cao Cao said: "So?"

Cao Pi said: "Now that Wuguan is in Li Qi's hands, his next step must be to capture Tongguan. Therefore, he will not give up the pursuit."

Cao Cao supported the stone with his hands and stood up with the help of Cao Pi: "It's really not easy for you to resist Li Qi in Chang'an for so long this time. Go back."

"Yes." Cao Pi took the bowl of hot porridge brought by the soldiers and handed it to Cao Cao with both hands: "After father has had breakfast, we will set off quickly."

Cao Cao picked up the bowl and was about to eat when he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the direction of Chang'an.

Cao Pi shouted: "Be on guard!" Then he drew his sword again and stood in front of Cao Cao.

Fortunately, it was not the enemy that came this time, but Lu Chang's troops.

Cao Pi then sheathed his sword.

It turned out that Lu Chang blocked Ma Chao in Ba Ling, but Ma Chao ran from another direction to attack Cao's camp. Lu Chang didn't know it yet, and ordered his troops and horses to make a surprise attack on Ma Chao. As a result of this surprise, he realized that Ma Chao had already arrived.

Go to Zhai Kong.

Cao Cao asked Lu Chang: "Did you not encounter Li Qi's army on your way here?"

Lu Chang knelt on the ground, cupped his hands and said, "Forgive me, Mr. Wei. I originally planned to go back to the camp for rescue. When I was about to approach the camp, the sentry reported that the camp had been occupied by Li Qi, so I took a detour to Lishan.

There was no direct confrontation with Li Qijun."

Cao Cao said: "You want to preserve your strength and join the main force, so why are you guilty? Get up."

After resting for a while, Cao Jun set off again.

Cao Cao asked: "How far is this place from Zheng County?"

The marching guide said: "It's about fifty or sixty miles away."

Cao Cao said: "Li Qi still has an army of troops in Xiaguang City, right?"

Cao Pi said: "Yes, it is said that they are a group of southern barbarian troops who are good at mountain warfare. Each of them is equipped with a repeating crossbow and has extremely high accuracy. They are called galloping warriors."

Cao Cao said: "Let's go to Xiaguang City, and then take a detour to Zheng County to defend Tongguan."

Cao Pi was shocked when he heard this. He looked at the defeated soldiers all over the mountains and plains. Only Lu Chang's men still had some fighting ability. He couldn't help but hesitated and said: "Father..."

Sima Yi on the side said: "What Wei Gong said is absolutely true. Now that our army is withdrawing eastward, Li Qi will obviously expect that we will go to Zheng County to join Xia Houyuan's tribe. I'm afraid that the people from Xiagui County have set up an ambush on the way. They are hiding, and I

In the Ming Dynasty, the other side has a series of crossbows, so it is better to take them by surprise and take Gui County directly to replenish supplies first. By the time they come back to rescue, our army has almost reached Tongguan."

After Sima Yi's explanation, Cao Pi finally understood Cao Cao's intention.

On the way to Xiagui County, they met Gao Lan who rushed back to rescue them, and their morale gradually improved.

To go to Xiagui County, you need to cross a river. It was precisely because Gao Lan was blocked by the Wei River that he prepared ships nearby, which delayed his schedule and failed to catch up with Meng Huo's troops. Later, the ships were prepared, and he heard that Li Qi was attacking the army.

camp, so he turned back to rescue.

Now these ships are just used by Cao Jun to cross the river.

The biggest risk in crossing the river is that when you are halfway across, the enemy will catch up with you.

Therefore, Cao Cao sent out several sentinels to inquire. Every once incense stick, a sentinel would report the movement behind him.

Fortunately, Li Qi's pursuers never followed, which made Cao's soldiers heave a sigh of relief.

Cao Cao stood on the bow of the boat and watched the Wei River flow eastward, and couldn't help but sigh.

He thought of a masterpiece by Li Qi: The rolling Yangtze River passes eastward, and the waves wash away the heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure are all gone, the green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times...

Although this is not the Yangtze River, the rolling waves still made Cao Cao feel inspired.

If Li Qi hadn't appeared, he would have defeated Lu Bu, defeated Yuan Shao, conquered Jing Xiang, and shocked the world. He could be called a hero.

If I had died after collecting Jingxiang, what I would leave to future generations would be almost all great achievements and endless daydreams. People would wonder, if I, Cao Cao, were still alive, would I have the ability to compete with Li Qi?

Isn’t it possible to unify the world?

It is a pity that his own survival has repeatedly denied the possible conjectures of future generations.

After crossing the Wei River, Cao Cao looked at the dark ships on the river going back and forth one after another, and asked the people around him: "Are Li Qi's pursuers still missing?"

Xu Chu said: "According to the latest report, Li Qi's pursuers are still not found. It seems that we are safe."

Cao Cao nodded slightly, suddenly feeling something was wrong, and slapped his forehead: "No!"

The generals were surprised and asked why, and Cao Cao said: "Li Qi didn't want to catch up with us at all. He was just going straight to Tongguan."

Just imagine, Li Qi pursued Cao Cao. Although he could improve his chances of winning when Cao Cao's army was in low morale and achieve one against two or one against three, his own troops would also be very tired. If Cao Cao had set up an attack on the way when he retreated,

If there was an ambush, I would probably have to walk around without food.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Now as long as you get ahead of Cao Cao and capture Tongguan first, Cao Cao will basically be cut off from his return. At that time, with the help of the danger of Tongguan, let Cao Cao come

Wouldn't it be fun to catch a turtle in an urn?

Sima Yi said: "If Li Qi takes Tongguan directly, the nearest road must pass through Zheng County. General Xia Houyuan in Zheng County should play a certain role in obstructing Li Qi's troops."

Cao Cao said: "But Xiahou Yuan has five thousand cavalry, which were originally used to charge into battle. Now if they abandon their horses to defend the city, their combat effectiveness will inevitably be reduced. No matter in terms of strength or type of troops, Xiahou Yuan is at a disadvantage, and I'm afraid they won't be able to defend the city for long.

"

Cao Pi said: "In this case, let's not conquer Gong County and go directly to Tongguan."

Cao Cao said: "What Zihuan said makes sense. However, Xiagui County should have received the news a long time ago when our army is crossing the border. I don't know how many troops they have left in Xiagui County, and whether they will come out to intercept us."

Sima Yi said: "We can send an army and horses to pretend to attack Gui County, then the defenders of Xia Gui County will not dare to leave the city easily to intercept them."

Cao Cao: "Good!"

Then Zhang He and Gao Lan were sent to lead five thousand soldiers to pretend to capture the city of Gui.

But Pang Tong, who was staying in Xiaguo City waiting for the good news about Meng Huo, was now panicking.

He also did not expect that Cao Cao would have expected that Meng Huo would set up an ambush on his way to Zheng County, so he would cross the Wei River and head straight for Gui County.

Now there are only 2,000 barbarians in Xiagui County, and after Cao Cao, Lu Chang, and Gao Lan join forces, there are at least 30,000 to 40,000 barbarians, and they can't withstand anything.

Inform Meng Huo to quickly return troops for rescue?

It's definitely too late.

At this time, the spy Pegasus reported: "Report to Military Advisor Pang, Cao Cao's army has sent Zhang Ming and Gao Lan as the vanguard. It is less than ten miles away from Xiagui City."

Pang Tong crossed the fingers of his hands and kept circling his thumbs.

Zhang He and Gao Lan were two of the Four Court Pillars of Hebei Province. As surrendered generals, they were highly used in Cao Ying because of their solid military exploits. They were by no means ordinary generals.

He abandoned the city and fled, but his side was full of infantry. How could he escape?

Meng Huo did leave a fierce general Wu Tu Gu here, but no matter how fierce one person is, he can't defeat several times the enemy.

"Laowu!" Pang Tong called softly.

Wutu Gu took a step forward, and his huge body shrouded Pang Tong in his shadow.

Pang Tong said: "Do you dare to take a gamble with me, old Pang?"

Wu Tu Gu said: "But it depends on Military Advisor Pang's orders."

Pang Tong nodded: "Okay, follow me to the tower."

The two came to the tower of Xiagui City, ordered two thousand flying troops to hide on the Wengcheng, and opened the city gate.

Pang Tong still felt that this was not strong enough, so he called the guard again: "Go and find me a qin in the city. Today I want to play the qin to defeat Zhang He."

Wutu Bone: "..."

Could it be that you are the legendary six-fingered piano demon?

Wu Tu Gu even tilted his head and counted Pang Tong's fingers, but that was not the case.

When they were young, Zhang He and Gao Lan led their troops to arrive under the city tower. They saw the city gate wide open and couldn't help but wonder.

Gao Lan asked: "Is there an ambush in the city?"
To be continued...