Cao Cao withdrew his troops and retreated very simply. When Liu Xie returned to Luoyang, according to the tips, Cao Cao had already resigned from Weishi.

"Continue to monitor, including the remnants of Yuan Shu in Runan, the Chen family in Xuzhou and Jiangdong. I don't need to know what their monarch is doing. I just need to know where their army is, from a large army to a small army, but there are signs of large-scale assembly, and the court must know it in the shortest time." In the Qiankun Hall, Liu Xie put the latest information sent on the table, looked at several secret guards and said solemnly.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will do my best!" Several secret guards bowed and said.

"It is not to do all our strength, but to spare no expense. This battle is related to the destiny of the country, and there is no need to make any mistakes!" Although according to Liu Xie, Jia Xu, Guo Jia's speculation, Cao Cao, Sun Ce and Xuzhou Army will form a three-legged situation around the territory left by Yuan Shu.

But I am not afraid of ten thousand in everything, but I am afraid of one thing. In this battle, Liu Xie tried his best to divide the princes in order to gather all his strength to deal with Yuan Shao. Once the war started in full swing, no mistakes were allowed. Otherwise, if Cao Cao and others suddenly came to him in the rear when the court opened a full swing with Yuan Shao, it would definitely not be a joke. Therefore, Liu Xie issued a strict order to the secret guards this time, and the intelligence of the armies of all parties must be grasped to the most accurate level.

"Here!" Several secret guards bowed and agreed at the same time, and then left.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Fengxiao and Mr. Wenhe are asking for a meeting." Not long after the secret guards left, Wei Zhong came to Liu Xie and whispered.

"Please come in." Liu Xie nodded. Soon, Guo Jia and Jia Xu walked in side by side, came to Liu Xie, and bowed.

"Everyone is free from tribute." After waving his hand, Liu Xie looked at the two of them and said, "Just just received the news that Cao's army has retreated to the Wei family. Please come back soon. We will retreat to the territory of the country. Now, the rear will be temporarily safe. We invite the two gentlemen to come here. We want to discuss the next thing with the two gentlemen."

"Your Majesty, now Yuan Shao stationed his troops and the sour jujube, confronting the Hanoi army. I think our army should take this opportunity to find a place to cross the river. If it can cut off Yuan Shao's retreat, it can attack forward and backward. Even if it cannot, our army can set up camps on the river bank. However, this time there is no advantage in the city. Compared with Yuan Shao, our army does not have an advantage in military strength. We should look for an opportunity to fight against Yuan Shao. If we can defeat Yuan Shao, the main force, here, we will deal with Jizhou Yi!" Guo Jia bowed.

Liu Xie is not comparable to Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu in history. The princes of the Central Plains have been defeated by him and have no worries. The court can do its best to deal with Yuan Shao. There are now 60,000 troops in Hanoi, and 20,000 people can be freed up in Luoyang. There are 30,000 elite troops brought by Zhao Yun, and more than 10,000 troops from Ao Cang and Guan Yu, Liu Xie can now draw 60,000 elite troops to confront Yuan Shao.

Although even if the Hanoi army was nearly half less than Yuan Shao's 200,000 troops, this was all the troops that the court could quickly mobilize, and Liu Xie was not prepared to mobilize more. Although the princes retreated, it was impossible for Liu Xie to fight a battle without defense in the rear.

"Where should our army station troops?" Liu Xie brought the two of them to a map and frowned. He had found several places to station troops near Luoyang, but was not very satisfied.

"I think we should station troops here!" Guo Jia pointed to a place in the Yellow River area on the map and said with a smile.

"Guandu?" Liu Xie couldn't help but frown when he heard this. Isn't this the place where Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in history: "Will this place be too far from Luoyang?"

Guandu is located in Chenliu. The local terrain is relatively complex. It is near a corner of the Yellow River. In addition to the mainstream of the Yellow River, there are many river branches. After crossing the river, it is within the territory of Dongjun. The population there has been moved to the Hanoi territory. Therefore, the nearby area is now deserted, but it is nearly two hundred miles away from Aohulao Pass. Even if the supply of materials along the river is very troublesome, let alone if the river water freezes in winter, Liu Xie has to collect a large number of civilians to transport food and grass. There is no track here.

"This is the best location I have found." Guo Jia shook his head and pointed to the map and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, look here, in addition to the Yellow River, there are several waterways here, which can be used as barriers. Our army is not as strong as Yuan Shao. At least in the early stage, we should use the advantage of geographical advantages to limit Yuan Shao's military strength. From Henoi, we are all flat and flat, which is not conducive to our army. Once our army occupy this place, Yuan Shao will be attacked from both sides and back, and there are a large number of tributaries. It is difficult for Yuan Shao's troops to fight, but our army can attack at any time and hinder its food route. Even if Yuan Shao's troops are strong, he cannot ignore our army's existence."

"If he wants to ensure the smooth flow of food, he has to retreat to Liyang. At that time, our army can join forces and fight Yuan Shao in the Baima area!" Guo Jia smiled and said, "At that time, Liu Xie could gather all his troops to fight Yuan Shao. Although it was 100,000 to 200,000, at this level, the advantage of twice the number of people was not so obvious.

"As for food and grass, your majesty, don't worry." Jia Xu looked at Liu Xie with a smile and said, "There are many families in Chenliu, Dongjun, and the family funds are enough to support our army's supply for half a year. Previously, these people funded the coalition forces, which was a crime of treason. If they did not want to be investigated by the court, they would have to lose money and avoid disaster."

The princes raised their troops, and with Cao Cao's retreat, they were actually considered to be a loss. After all, even the leader of the alliance Yuan Shu had been destroyed. As the supporter at the time, these aristocratic families who firmly drove Liu Bei out of the four counties, and after contributing a large amount of food and grass to the coalition forces, now as losers, they have to continue to cut their flesh. Jia Xu has no psychological burden on this.

Since it is considered an investment, we cannot only see the benefits after the successful investment, but also bear the risks after the failure of the investment. If the court fails this time, they may still face Yuan Shao's oppression. After all, whether it is active or passive, these people support the court.

Liu Xie suddenly felt that these people were a little pitiful and nodded in amusement: "Let's arrange this matter."

"As for your order!" Jia Xu bowed and bowed.

"I passed on my order and ordered Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Zhang Liao, Ma Chao and Pang De to lead the army to set off immediately and rush to Guandu. Guan Yu led Ao Cang's troops to join our main force, recruiting ships along the way for our army to cross the river, and there must be no mistakes." Liu Xie put the imperial seal on the edict and handed it to Wei Zhong on the side, saying: "On the day the order is reached, set off immediately and there must be no mistakes!"

"Yes!" Wei Zhong took the edict, bowed and left hurriedly.

A day later, the troops of Huang Zhong, who was stationed in Yanshi, Zhao Yun, who was stationed outside Xuanyuan Pass, and Guan Yu, who was stationed in Aocang, sent troops to Chenliu. After defeating Xuzhou and Runan troops and scaring Cao's army, the court officially began to counterattack for the first time. For a moment, as the news of the court sending troops to counterattack, the princes were shocked and were paying attention to the movements of the court.

"Cao Cao withdrew the troops!" Yuan Shao was in the camp. When Yuan Shao received the imperial court's large-scale mobilization of troops, he realized that with Yuan Shu and Chen Deng's defeat, Cao Cao had already withdrew his troops before a war, which made Yuan Shao very angry.

"Bastard!" Yuan Shao slapped the table hard. Cao Cao retreated, which meant that the Jizhou army had to face the full struggle of the imperial court. Although Yuan Shao was not afraid, the feeling of being betrayed still made him feel very uncomfortable.

"In addition, news came from Qingzhou a few days ago that Taishi Ci, who had been hiding in the Jiaodong area, sent troops again and is now conquering the eldest prince. More than ten counties in Qingzhou have fallen." Shen Pei said with a wry smile.

"Is there any news from Ziyuan?" Yuan Shao said with a ugly expression.

"After the division of the self-union army, no news came from Luoyang. I'm afraid... there is so much danger!" Feng Ji shook his head and said bitterly.

"Hmph!" Yuan Shao's face became darker when he heard this. He slapped the armrest and said, "There was no way to deal with the imperial court before, because it was because of the strong city. If I gave up the advantage of the strong city today and took the initiative to send troops, how could I be afraid of him!"

"Lord!" Tian Feng hung up the map and pointed to the map and said, "According to detailed investigations, Guan Yu has begun to camp in the Guandu area. The terrain here is complex and there are many waterways. The emperor probably wants to take advantage of this place. Although he has few soldiers, he has formed a cross-border attack with the Hanoi defenders. If our army ignores the emperor's army, the food route may be harassed. If the troops are divided to attack Guandu, the young soldiers may not be the opponent of the imperial army, but if too many soldiers are divided, Xu Huang from Hanoi will definitely take the initiative to attack!"

When Yuan Shao heard this, he frowned and looked at the terrain, and his brows gradually frowned. Guandu was not easy to fight. Xu Huang, Hanoi, did not go to fight at all. He just strengthened the walls and cleared the fields. He would be entangled with him. It would be difficult to take it down in a short period of time. Once he tried his best to attack Hanoi, as Tian Feng said, Liu Xie sent troops to harass the food route, and it would be impossible for Yuan Shao to have the opportunity to attack Hanoi with all his strength. If he was to fight Guandu, he would not have been able to take it in. If Xu Huang sent troops behind him, Yuan Shao would not have really been ignoring it.

This is an embarrassing situation. No matter who you are fighting, it is thankless. Although your troops are far superior to the court, they are restricted by the court and have nowhere to use them. That feeling is really atrocity.

After a while, Yuan Shao looked at everyone: "I don't know what good ideas do you have?"

"Give up the sour jujube and retreat to Liyang!" Tian Feng said decisively.

"Retreat to Liyang?" Yuan Shao couldn't help frowning when he heard this. Doing so wouldn't it be a sign of weakness to the court?

Ju Su pondered: "It is better to retreat than to advance! Continuing to stay in the sour jujube is not good for our army. Retreat to Liyang will not only shorten our army's food supply. If the court wants to firmly decide that our army will start a war, it will have to leave Guandu and give up the favorable terrain. Although it is likely to join forces with the Hanoi army, it will greatly increase its strength, but it will also make our army no longer have to take it into consideration. If this battle is won, the court will definitely be greatly damaged. Our army can take this opportunity to recover Hanoi and attack Luoyang directly!"
Chapter completed!