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"Li, Wen, Chang!"

The moment he looked up and saw the King of Golden Beasts and Li Li on his back, Cao Cao suddenly lost his mind, opened his eyes wide, looked up at the figure on the top of the mountain without blinking, and grinned.

"Meng De is hesitating, let's go quickly, it will be too late if he doesn't leave!" Cao Hong beside him urged with a pale face.

Cao Cao woke up when he heard the sound, his eyes glanced around him, his face was as gloomy as a cloud of sorrow, and his expression dimmed.

As his eyes turned, he shook his head sadly and sighed in a low voice: "The valley entrance and the cliffs on both sides were surrounded by soldiers under the command of Li Zhe. It is too late to escape now! We were so careless tonight that we didn't know how to disclose our whereabouts. We were only shocked until we were besieged by the Western Liang army. It was too late, and everything was too late, and our lives were over!"

"Meng De's words are wrong." Seeing Cao Cao so pessimistic and negative, Cao Hong's cheeks were red and disapproving: "Meng De must not get out of his way. At this time of crisis, tens of thousands of soldiers of our army placed their hope of survival on you; if you give up resistance, then we will be completely finished and wait for death!"

In a hurry, Cao Hong did not care about the courtesy of the minister, grabbed Cao Cao's shoulder with both hands and said anxiously: "Time is no longer waiting. Please make a decision quickly. Whether you fight or surrender, it depends on your words!"

Cao Cao's expression was trembling when he heard this. A glaring look flashed through his slightly lost eyes. He looked up at the majestic figure on the top of the mountain, and pondered in a cold tone: "My Cao family, Xiahou family and Li Zhe have always had a grudge. They have accumulated resentment for many years, and the old hatreds have become entangled. It has become a situation of inseparable situations. Therefore, even if we are willing to bow our heads and lead the crowd to surrender, I am afraid that Li Zhe will not give up. Sooner or later, it will harm our lives."

While speaking, Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice: "Zi Lian, for the sake of this plan, we have no other way of life except to fight to the death. Therefore, don't think too much. You will immediately lead the soldiers to rush out from the entrance of the valley and never retreat. You must tear open the enemy's siege defense line and fight for a way out. As long as we rush out of the mountain stream before dawn, there will be a glimmer of life, otherwise this Hulu Valley will be the place where we are burial!"

"Why don't you break through to the north?" Cao Hong asked, "Li thief led his troops to block the entrance of the valley. The mountain stream in the north can still escape. Why do we stay here and fight with Li thief?"

Cao Cao shook his head when he heard the sound, and said in a deep voice: "Li Zhe has always been alone, and he has left no room to kill him. His methods are extremely cruel. Since he appears here, it means that the entrance of the valley at the northern end of the mountain stream is also blocked by the thief army. Otherwise, he would not appear easily. What's more, outside the entrance of the valley to the north is the bank of the Yellow River, which is small in area and difficult to walk on the road, and we have no ships to cross the river. Once we flee to the bank of the Yellow River, it is tantamount to quitting our own way of retreat. Apart from fighting hard, there is no way to live."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao's tone suddenly changed. He said coldly: "Zi Lian doesn't need to say too much. Lead the troops quickly and don't hesitate!"

"Okay, I will take the order!" Cao Hong bowed his hand and then turned around, waved his hand and led tens of thousands of soldiers to the entrance of the valley.

Cao Hong had just left. Cao Cao pulled out his sword and shouted loudly: "Yu Jin, where are the two generals Le Jin?"

"I will be here at the end, please give the lord the order!" Yu Jin and the other generals Le Jin came out after hearing the sound and bowed to respond.

Cao Cao strode to them and whispered: "Immediately, lead 20,000 troops to break through the north side of the mountain stream, and at all costs, you must break through the enemy's siege, and then go south along the bank of the Yellow River. Don't pay attention to the fighting in the south, and do not stop along the way until you arrive on the north bank by boat. If Cao dies here tonight, you will meet Cao Ren after returning to Hedong and return to Yanzhou immediately, support my eldest son Cao Ang to succeed the throne, evacuate Yanzhou, and gain a foothold in Qingzhou!"

"This is the last general who swears to protect his lord from breaking through the siege and does not want to live in vain!" Yu Jin and the other generals Le Jin were stunned when they heard this, and then bowed and said.

Cao Cao patted the second general's shoulder lightly, shook his head and said, "I know you two have always been loyal, so he trusted the matter with you. Well, there is no need to say much, go. Take care of yourself, please ask you both!"

Seeing that Cao Cao had decided, Yu Jin and the other generals had to bow and take the order and then lead their personal soldiers to run deep into the mountain stream.

Watching the two lead their troops away, Cao Cao's eyes showed a hint of unbearable expression. After a flash of time, his eyes were decisive and cold, and his expression was extremely cold.

"My father just said that he could not divide his troops, but now why should he let Yu Jin and Le Jin lead his troops to attack the northern mountain stream?" A young general beside Cao Cao asked in a low voice.

That's right, this person calls Cao Cao the father, but he is not Cao Cao's biological son, but Cao Zhen, who was adopted by Cao Cao as his adopted son.

At this moment, the young generals who followed Cao Cao, in addition to his adopted son Cao Zhen, also had three young generals, namely Cao Ang, Cao Xiu and Cao Anmin. These four were not old and were young, but they had been following Cao Cao for more than a year in battle. They were the rising stars of the Cao family. They would be of great use after training for a few years.

This time, Cao Cao led the army to the alliance, but did not bring his female family to the war. He asked his second son Cao Pi to stay in Dong'a to take care of the family and take charge of the family. Xun Yu was in charge, and Cao Chun led more than 30,000 troops to take charge of the rear. The adviser who followed him to the alliance was Cheng Yu, and all the generals under his command followed the army to go out. In order to accidentally attack Hangu Pass, Cao Cao divided the army into two, with Cao Ren and Cheng Yu leading the army to stay in the Hedong League camp, and another 60,000 troops were led by him to cross the Yellow River and wait for an opportunity to capture Hangu Pass.

After hearing Cao Zhen's words, Cao Cao whispered while turning over his horse: "The military strategy says: if it is real, it is empty, and if it is empty, it is real. If it is empty, it is real, it is the way to use troops.

The mountain stream is narrow, and our army is trapped in the valley with 60,000 troops and horses, and it is impossible to operate. Instead of waiting for defeat, it is better to divide our troops to attack. If we can break out of the valley entrance tonight, 40,000 soldiers are enough; if we cannot break out of the siege, it will be useless to have 20,000 more soldiers. Therefore, it is of course good to let them lead 20,000 soldiers to attack the north, and it is a pleasure to rush out. If we can't rush out, we can put pressure on Li Zhe and weaken the strength of the Xiliang army at both ends of the mountain stream."

"So that's it, my child understands." Cao Zhen nodded and responded.

Cao Cao nodded slightly and looked at the direction of the valley entrance with a serious expression. However, seeing that Cao Hong had already led the soldiers to rush towards the valley entrance, and the battle was about to begin. Cao Cao waved his hand and signaled that his nephews beside him without saying much, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone is ready. As long as Zi Lian leads his troops to tear open the gap, we will lead the army out immediately!"

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On the top of the mountain.

Li Li's original intention of shouting was to induce Cao Cao to answer, so that he could determine where Cao Cao was. Then he tried to shoot him or stare at him. He finally found a good opportunity to kill Cao Cao, and he must not let him take advantage of the loopholes.

However, it is a pity that Cao Cao was not deceived and ignored him at all.

This made Li Litton feel disappointed, as if he punched him in the air. He had nowhere to focus and the plan failed.

In this way, he could not judge Cao Cao's specific position.

In addition, the light in the valley was dim, with only a few more than ten torches, but tens of thousands of Cao troops gathered.

Looking down at the valley from a high place, I saw dense crowds of people rushing in the valleys on both sides of the stream. I couldn't see the specific situation clearly. I couldn't tell who Cao Cao was, and what kind of armor and battle robe he was wearing.

"Cao Cao is Cao Cao. He is not only cunning and wise, but also has amazing adaptability. It seems that I underestimated him before, but I didn't expect that this old boy is so alert. He is really a cunning and difficult character!"

While talking softly, Li Li looked at the Cao army at the foot of the mountain, trying to capture Cao Cao from the many Cao army soldiers.

However, he was disappointed again and was unable to lock Cao Cao's position in the end, and he could not even estimate Cao Cao's approximate position.

Seeing this, Li Li patted the side of the Jinniu Beast King, and the Jinniu Beast King moved and drove him down the mountain quickly.

At the same time, Li Li waved his hand to signal the archers on the tops of the mountains on both sides to shoot arrows, and they were all rockets, trying to ignite the dead grass in the valley and completely reveal the Cao army in the valley. Only in this way can the Cao army's strength be accurately judged, as well as the armor and war robe.

Otherwise, the valley will be dark. It is very likely that Cao's army will take advantage of the night to attack the valley entrance and then break out in one go.

If the fire in the valley is bright, just keep an eye on Cao Cao, even if some ordinary soldiers are running away, it doesn't matter. They are all small fish and shrimps, and they will run away after running. It's not a pity. However, once Cao Cao is mixed with the soldiers, the action of surrounding Cao's army tonight will be a complete failure. Even if most of Cao's army is wiped out, it will be unworthy of the loss and have no practical use.

Therefore, in Li Li's eyes, there is only one purpose to encircle Cao's army tonight, that is, to capture or kill Cao Cao alive. As long as Cao Cao can be killed, it would not be a big deal even if all 60,000 Cao's troops ran away. If you want to run away, it doesn't matter the overall situation.

"Swoosh swish swish!"

Just as Li Li drove the golden beast down the mountain, arrows suddenly shot out from the cliffs on both sides of Hulu Valley, and arrows with cold light tilted down and headed straight for the dense Cao army soldiers in the valley.

At this moment, there were a large number of Xiliang soldiers on the cliffs on both sides, with a total of no less than 3,000 archers. However, these archers mainly concentrated on the top of the mountain in the east, that is, the three thousand infantry soldiers who followed Li Li to the mountain. As for the top of the mountain in the west, there were only a few more than 100 archers, which were the more than 100 personal soldiers left by Li Zhi when he inquired about the situation of Cao's army.

"Ahhhh!"

As the arrows fell, screamed in the valley, thousands of Cao's soldiers were killed by arrows, and were trampled, injured or injured. This was not the archery skills of the infantry under Li Li's command, but the Cao's army was too large and too crowded, and was densely packed with people. In this case, any soldier with strength could kill and injure one or two Cao's soldiers without using bows and arrows.

The reason why Cao's army was in such a passive situation was that they were afraid of exposing their whereabouts and were too careful to shrink their forces into the valley. There were only a few hundred scouts on the hills on both sides responsible for the warning. However, these scouts were silently removed by Li Zhi's personal soldiers, so that after the Xiliang army seized the tops of the hills on both sides, tens of thousands of Cao's troops were completely unaware of it. There was also the weather and time here, the weather was biting cold and it was late at night, and the Cao army was exhausted after a long journey, which caused this extreme passive situation.

——————————— (To be continued)
Chapter completed!