Outside Xia Pi City, loud horns sounded across the earth. Teams of Cao army soldiers wearing gray armor set up formations on the flat wilderness outside Xia Pi City. The central army's main formation, a large flag fluttered in the wind, and the black Cao army gathered into four large arrays and stopped at a distance of two hundred steps from Xia Pi City. The formation was tight, with 40,000 troops arranged in a formation, except for the howling wind, there was no sound.

Under the escort of Dian Wei, Li Jin, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and other military generals, Cao Cao stood in front of the formation, looked at the closed city gate, and laughed loudly: "Today is the day when Xia Pi City is broken. I will ask the old thief Tao Qian to pay his life to comfort my father's spirit in heaven!"

Cao Ren raised his arms and said, "Break Xia Pi and kill Tao Qian!"

"Break Xia Pi and kill Tao Qian!" For a long time, the hatred of killing his father was the biggest name for Cao's army to attack Xuzhou. Even the emperor could not stop him. The soldiers of the three armies raised their arms at the same time, and the sound of shouting shocked the sky, causing the defenders of Xia Pi to change their colors one after another.

"Boom~"

The suspension bridge in Xia Pi City fell without warning, and the ground shook a few times, and the huge roar even overshadowed Cao's angrily shout.

"What does it mean?" Xiahou Dun looked at this scene in shock and looked at Cao Cao in a daze. Before he could start fighting, why did the suspension bridge fall down first?

Cao Cao shook his head, he didn't know, but he felt a bad feeling in his heart.

"Cruff~"

The city gate slowly opened.

"Do you want to surrender?" Cao Ren sneered and disdained: "Even so, you must not let that old Tao Qian go!"

At this moment, in the open city gate, Tao Qian held a long sword and walked out of the city gate with a slow and heavy pace.

"Lord, do you want to attack?" Xiahou Dun's eyes lit up. The city gate did not close as Tao Qian left the city, but was always open.

Shaking his head, Cao Cao frowned and looked at Tao Qian who was walking slowly out of the city gate. At this time, it seemed that they were wrong. Even if they entered the city, they would be resisted desperately by defenders. And who knows what is hidden behind the city gate?

Tao Qian slowly walked to the distance of fifty steps in front of Cao's army, raised the sword in his hand high, and slowly knelt on the ground in Cao Cao's cold eyes.

Cao Cao frowned. Although he had a grudge for killing his father, Tao Qian was also a famous scholar. At this moment, an old famous scholar kneeled in front of him. No matter how he thought in his heart, it was obviously his own in the eyes of outsiders.

With a cold snorting, Cao Cao said coldly: "Mr. Tao, are you begging for mercy from Cao?"

"It's not my intention to attack Cao Gong that day, but my subordinates made the decision without authorization."

When Cao Cao heard this, he just sneered, who would believe this?

"But Tao also knows that this matter is caused by me, and I will definitely give Meng De an explanation. Tao Qian is willing to die and kill Cao Gong. I just hope that Meng De can pity the people of Xuzhou and don't let Xuzhou suffer the pain of war again!" After Tao Qian said that, he suddenly put the sword across his neck.

Cao Cao's expression changed and he sternly said: "Stop him!"

It's too late!

Looking at Cao Cao's sudden change in expression, a sneer flashed across Tao Qian's mouth. The two sides were fifty steps apart. Even Dian Wei and Li Jin were unprepared and could not stop Tao Qian from his self-harm at such a long distance. Tao Qian pulled the sword hard.

The blood sprayed out of Tao Qian's chamber like a fountain, and the dead body fell down weakly, and the Cao army was filled with desolation between Xia Pi City.

"Lord!" On the city wall, Chen Gui knelt on the ground with a look of grief and anger on his face. Behind him, Xuzhou civil and military officials also knelt down one after another. The Xuzhou soldiers standing at the top of the city silently pinched the weapons in their hands and stared at the direction of Cao Jun.

Mi Fang led a team of soldiers out of the city, came silently to the two armies, and began to restrain Tao Qian's body.

"Arrowman!" Cao Hong raised his hand, and a row of archers raised the bows and arrows in his hands and aimed at the Xuzhou troops.

Sighing, Cao Cao waved his hand and said, "Stop."

"Lord!" Cao Hong looked at Cao Cao in confusion. At the moment Tao Qian died, he could feel the atmosphere suddenly changing in the direction they didn't want to see, including the city guards opposite and even the soldiers behind him.

Cao Cao shook his head, didn't say anything, but just looked at the direction of Xia Pi City with his eyes tightly.

The sudden burst of aura of unity against the enemy, even Cao Cao frowned a little. On the other hand, Cao's army, when Tao Qian's body fell to the ground, seemed to have suddenly suffered an invisible setback and no longer had the sharpness before.

The soldier restrained Tao Qian's body and slowly retreated into the city. However, Mi Fang did not leave. He stood in front of the formation, looked at Cao Cao with complicated eyes and said loudly: "Before my lord died, I dragged me to tell Cao Gong that he was willing to die and apologize. The position of Xuzhou's governor has been entrusted to Chen Gui and Mr. Chen Hanyu. Forget that Cao Gong can abandon his past grudges and withdraw from Xuzhou, don't let Xuzhou suffer any more! It will also make the soldiers of your army sacrifice less."

"Fart!" Cao Hong was furious when he heard this. In addition to killing Tao Qian, the most important thing for their purpose this time was to take Xuzhou. Why did he give up such an advantage with the words of Tao Qian, a dead man?

"Chen Gui? Chen Hanyu?" Cao Cao looked at Mi Fang and said in a deep voice.

"Not bad!" Mi Fang said loudly.

Cao Cao nodded and stopped talking. He sighed for a long time: "When I say hello to your new lord, Cao will not go and congratulate you."

"The last general will definitely convey it." Mi Fang frowned. Cao Cao's words made him feel very uncomfortable. What is the new lord? It seems that he is a lord, but at this moment, he was unable to do so. He agreed, turned his horse's head and looked away at Xia Pi City.

Cao Cao looked at the Xia Pi City that was so close to him with a look of ugly expression. Although the gate of Xia Pi City was open, there was an invisible and intangible force stopping him. The force was not a tangible force, but from the hearts of the people.

His lord was right in front of them. In order to prevent the military and civilians of Xuzhou from suffering from war, he committed suicide. At this moment, Tao Qian's image has been infinitely raised in the Xuzhou army with his suicide. At this moment, the military and civilians in Xia Pi City are united. If Cao Cao attacks strongly, even if he attacks the city, he will be resisted desperately by the military and civilians in the city. Even if he captures Xia Pi, how many of these 40,000 troops will be left?

Moreover, with Tao Qian's death, his sense of revenge that had been continuously strengthened in the army also disappeared at the moment when Tao Qian died. In addition, Tao Qian's death was a little tragic, which also made the Cao army soldiers feel pity. When this sympathy is reflected in morale, it is not a good thing.

One goes up and the other goes down. If he insists on attacking the city at this moment, the outcome will be unpredictable in the end.

The open city gate was not closed even if Mi Fang returned to the city, which made Cao Cao feel a sarcasm from Chen Gui or Tao Qian. The city gate was here, and if you have the ability, you should attack in!

"Lord!" Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others all looked at Cao Cao, with a strong sense of reluctance and fighting spirit in their eyes. They knew Cao Cao's purpose. For Cao Cao, Tao Qian's life became secondary compared to Xuzhou.

Cao Cao took a deep breath and waved: "Retreat!"

"Master!!" The generals were unwilling to say.

"I said I would withdraw my troops, and you want to resist me!!" Cao Cao suddenly turned around and roared at the generals.

Because Tao Qian committed suicide and his plan to occupy Xuzhou failed, he might be the one who was most unwilling to accept it, but he knew that at this time, Xuzhou was in a state of mourning soldiers. Once the war started, the outcome was unpredictable. Even if he won in the end, he would probably suffer heavy losses. You must know that around him, Liu Bei, Yuan Shu, and even Taishi Ci of Qingzhou were all eyeing him. Once they could see their own weaknesses and attack, what would he use to resist these people?

He can only retreat!

Cao Cao was rarely angry. At this moment, he saw Cao Cao suddenly roaring angrily. The Xiahou brothers, the Cao generals and other powerful generals immediately did not dare to say anything anymore, and began to command the troops to retreat slowly.

At the end of Xia Pi City, looking at Cao Cao's army slowly retreating, Chen Gui finally breathed a sigh of relief. There were only eight thousand defenders in Xia Pi City. He voluntarily gave up the city gate to fight a psychological battle with Cao Cao. Although the city gate was wide open, the city gate in the hearts was closed tightly by himself. The entire Xia Pi City was full of a mentality of killing the enemy to death. In terms of momentum, the momentum of the mourning soldiers forced Cao Cao to retreat.

He won, giving Xuzhou a chance to breathe. Although most of the entire Xuzhou has been obtained by Cao Cao, the new man, the only two counties in the hands of Xia Pi and Guangling, were left, but these two counties are big counties. Just waiting for the time to be ripe, they may not be able to recover the lost territory. However, the most important thing at the moment is to stabilize the morale of the army and consolidate the position of the provincial governor.

While ordering people to go to the court to submit a surrender statement, the position of governor of this state will be legitimate only if the court officially enthroned. Otherwise, even if Cao Cao temporarily withdrew his troops, after a long time, Cao Cao could still use this name to attack Xuzhou after the momentum of mourning soldiers gradually faded. Chen Gui was scheming and naturally would not give Cao Cao this opportunity.

As for the surrender of the denomination, if one day the court occupied the Central Plains, he would have to surrender even if he had any other ideas. But if the court could not recover the Central Plains, what if he handed over the surrender of the denomination? The court was still out of reach for Xuzhou.

"Zi Fang!" Chen Gui turned his head, looked at Mi Fang, and smiled and said, "This time, he could force the Cao army to retreat, and Zi Fang was calm and orderly in the face of the battle, and he had the style of a general, and he made great contributions. Now he officially enthroned Zi Fang as the governor and the governor of Xuzhou soldiers."

"I..." Mi Fang frowned, but was pulled by Mi Zhu, and then Mi Zhu said: "Zi Fang, thank you lord quickly."

"I will thank you for your kindness." Mi Fang was a little unwilling, but when he saw his brother's eyes gradually become sharp and unwilling to disobey, he had to say no.

Chen Gui nodded at Mi Zhu with a smile, and promoted several other generals. All civil and military officials, regardless of their official positions, were rewarded. The original intention of Xuzhou's civil and military officials gradually stabilized, and he had a preliminary grasp of Xuzhou's military affairs. However, how to develop in the future depends on how the emperor will answer him.
Chapter completed!