Chapter 228: On the ancient road of Qiaohan, every tree and grass looked like an enemy, Cao Mengde looked north in panic!
Chapter 228: On the ancient road of Qiaohan, every tree and grass looks like an enemy, Cao Mengde looks north in panic!
"Zhuge Villager!"

Zhang Liao roared angrily and rode his horse forward ten more steps.

"Don't hurt my prime minister!" At the critical moment, Wei Yan spurred his horse and rushed forward with a sword.

hum! ~
The sharp blade chopped down at Zhang Liao's head.

clang! ~
Swords and guns collided, sparks flew!

"Bastard! That villager is qualified to be the prime minister? My prime minister is the real one, and that monster Zhuge is just a fake one!" Zhang Liao cursed angrily, while the spear in his hand moved like a flying arrow.

The spear blade flickered with cold light, swift and fierce, like a gust of wind, leaving no place for people to hide or avoid.

The sword was cold and sharp, with its shadow flying, like Mount Tai pressing down on the top of one's head, whistling towards them with endless sharpness!

Boom~
Xilulu~
After a fierce fight between swords and spears, the two men's horses retreated several steps.

Wei Yan rode his horse forward and shouted, "My prime minister was recommended by my king, that's true! There will only be one prime minister for the Han Dynasty in the future, and that's my prime minister Zhuge!!"

"What nonsense!"

clang clang ~
The two riders were entangled in a fight, with swords and spears bombarding each other continuously, and the air was filled with murderous intent. The surrounding soldiers did not dare to get close at all.

At the same time, Cao's army finally formed a battle formation and began to counterattack.

Cao's army began to push back, pushing the Jingbei army back little by little, and soon joined forces with Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao only has Wei Yan and Zhuge Liang in his eyes...

I have been deceived by Zhuge Liang today, and I will not give up until I capture this monster!

"kill!"

Zhang Liao wielded a spear that could turn rivers and seas upside down. His might was overwhelming, and the more he killed, the more energetic and imposing he became.

Boom~
Wei Yan swung his sword, slashing horizontally and vertically, but the hands holding the sword began to tremble uncontrollably, and his breathing became increasingly disordered.

Looking at the arrow on Zhang Liao's left shoulder, Wei Yan's mouth twitched.

Zhang Wenyuan is worthy of being a general under Lu Bu in the past. He is indeed brave. If he continues to fight like this, I am afraid I will not be his match.

Dang~
Swords and spears clashed, and the two men passed each other on their horses.

"Huff~" Wei Yan was breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

Wei Yan can't hold on any longer!
After killing Wei Yan, we will capture the evil Zhuge!
Zhang Liao was in high spirits and was about to take advantage of the situation to chase and kill...

"General Wenyuan! General Wenyuan!"

Zhang Liao looked back in surprise and saw a figure riding a horse coming towards him from behind. It was actually Cheng Yu?

"Wen, General Wenyuan, King Wei, King Wei has an order..." Cheng Yu was still catching his breath: "I order you to lead your troops to retreat quickly and not to entangle with Wei Yan anymore!"

Retreat?

Zhang Liao was stunned. "Mr. Zhongde! I can kill Wei Yan in no time and capture Zhuge Liang. Why did the King of Wei let me retreat?"

Prime Minister Cao's army of more than 100,000 has arrived. Now is a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation to gather and annihilate the Jingbei army. Why retreat at this time?
Zhang Liao became increasingly unwilling: "Mr. Zhongde, this...

"Oh! Wenyuan!!" Cheng Yu was so anxious that he was about to burst into anger: "There is no time to explain. Why did the Prime Minister ask me to come here in person to give you the order to withdraw the troops? Don't you understand?"

"Quickly retreat!!"

Cheng Zhongde was the trusted counselor of the King of Wei. Any soldier could do such a trivial matter as ordering the troops to withdraw, but the King of Wei asked Cheng Yu to come in person...

There must have been a major change in King Wei’s army and the situation is urgent!
Zhang Liao suddenly woke up. He glared at Wei Yan standing opposite him and said, "You've got an advantage... withdraw your troops!"

clang clang ~
When the bronze bells rang, the Cao army soldiers who were still fighting hard were all stunned.

This is, withdrawal of troops?

Before the soldiers could react, Zhang Liao had already led more than ten riders, whistling like the wind, and chased after Prime Minister Cao's big flag.

"General Wenyuan has withdrawn?!"

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

"Go, go, go!"

The order to retreat was too hasty. The remaining Cao troops on the battlefield were in chaos and ran around in all directions, hurriedly heading towards the direction of Zhang Liao's retreat.

"Huh!~"

Looking at the figures of Zhang Liao and Cheng Yu going away, Wei Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He did not pursue the victory. In his current state, chasing after them would be tantamount to committing suicide.

Immediately, Wei Yan was excited: "Cheng Yu came in person to tell Zhang Liao to withdraw his troops. It must be that Cao Aman suffered a great loss at Tongguan. The King of Chu's plan has succeeded..."

……

The Qiao-Han Ancient Road is an important transportation route connecting the two major capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang.

Because traveling between Luoyang and Tongguan requires crossing Mount Xiao and passing through Hangu Pass, and this road is located in the hilly area of ​​the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains in the Central Plains, it is almost the only passage between the east and west "two capitals".

The battle between Qin and Jin was fought here.

Laozi traveled west from here and wrote the 5,000-word Daodejing. A white horse carried the sutra eastward and placed it in the White Horse Temple, where Buddhism gradually became popular.

From ancient times to the present, rich or poor, noble or humble, wise or foolish, countless footprints, blowing the wind of history, have passed through this ancient road.

At this time, new footprints set foot on this ancient road.

Tap tap tap~
The black mass of soldiers looked like an endless winding dragon, with no end in sight on the ancient road.

The weapons and armor are excellent and the army is well-organized.

But the morale of the entire army was visibly low.

Call ~
The autumn wind blew across the ancient Qiaohan Road and also blew across the great flag of the King of Wei.

"Zhuge Liang was very cunning. He asked the Jingbei army to pretend to be lax in order to relax our army's vigilance. When the Prime Minister's army was about to arrive, the Jingbei army suddenly attacked. Our army was not prepared and was caught off guard..."

"In this battle, more than half of our 20,000 soldiers were killed..."

Beside the canopy carriage, Zhang Liao lowered his head and reported military intelligence to Cao Mengde on the carriage.

This one is really pathetic!

The more Zhang Liao thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt. He couldn't help but look up and said, "King of Wei... I saw clearly that King of Wei's banner had already arrived in Weinan at that time. King of Wei still had more than 100,000 men under his command, while Wei Yan's army only had tens of thousands!"

"My lord, I have joined forces with hundreds of thousands of troops. Wei Yan and Zhuge Liang cannot escape even if they have wings. Why would my lord want to retreat?"

I clearly had the advantage, but I ended up retreating without a fight?

Zhang Liao still couldn't figure out what his prime minister meant.

"Alas..." Cao Cao sighed helplessly: "If we don't withdraw, I'm afraid you and I will never be able to return to the Central Plains."

If we don’t withdraw, we won’t be able to return to the Central Plains?
Zhang Liao was stunned, and Cao Cao told him the whole story: "Wei Yan never lied, Liu Wu is indeed in Tongguan!"

"He did capture Chang'an, defeated Ma Chao, and Han Sui did surrender to him!"

"Everything Han Sui said in that letter is true..."

"We were deceived by a genuine letter from Han Sui."

After he finished speaking, Cao Cao couldn't help but smile bitterly. It was ridiculous that he was deceived by a real letter. But what was even more ridiculous was that this was actually true.

Zhang Liao was stunned and could hardly believe his ears.

Is Liu Wu really in Tongguan?
How could this be possible? Liu Zilie had hundreds of thousands of troops guarding outside Tongguan. How could he get into Tongguan? He couldn't fly in even if he wanted to!

He even took Chang'an.
Chang'an and Tongguan were both in Liu Wu's hands, so Guanzhong...

Didn't Prime Minister Cao return empty-handed after his western expedition to Guanzhong?

"Guanzhong has been taken by Liu Wu. I have returned empty-handed from this western expedition..." Cao Cao's face was full of bitterness: "However, given the current situation, it would be a great blessing if I could return to the Central Plains safely."

"Liu Wu already has tens of thousands of troops under his command, and now Han Sui has more than 100,000 cavalry to help. With the two forces joining forces, I am sure that Liu Zilie must have a backup plan in Tongguan. Moreover, Wei Yan has tens of thousands of troops and horses, confronting you, Wenyuan, in Weinan..."

"We can no longer fight this battle. If we continue, there is a high possibility that our entire army will be wiped out..."

"The situation is unclear. I am afraid that Liu Zilie is plotting against me. I have no choice but to retreat for the time being."

Zhang Liao's previous resentment had completely dissipated.

He is also a veteran who has fought on the battlefield for many years. In this situation where the situation is unclear and the opponent is strong and cunning, if a real fight breaks out, Cao's army may be completely wiped out. This is by no means an exaggeration.

Cao Mengde's deep voice continued: "It's less than 200 miles from Tongguan to Luoyang. As long as we can retreat to Luoyang along the ancient road..."

"Besides, there is Hangu Pass before Luoyang! This is the most important pass in the world. Once I get there, I can defend it and lock Liu Wu outside Hangu Pass, preventing him from entering the Central Plains!"

"The population of Central Plains is prosperous. As long as I can bring back 100,000 people and firmly control Central Plains, I can still stabilize the overall situation."

"But if my army of more than 100,000 is destroyed in the Battle of Xiangfan, then I... will have no chance of recovery. I can only move the capital to Yecheng, Hebei, to avoid Liu Zilie's attack!"

Xuchang is in the Central Plains, and Yecheng is north of the Yellow River.

Establishing the capital in Central China and establishing the capital in Hebei are two completely different things.

Once the capital was moved to Yecheng, it would mean that Cao Mengde would give the Central Plains to Liu Wu.

After losing the Central Plains, can Cao Mengde still be the Cao Mengde who was feared by the world?
How can Cao Mengde, who has lost the Central Plains, rule the world?
If he left the Central Plains, even if he still had the emperor and the court in his hands, Cao Mengde was destined to be completely reduced to a small vassal, and all his ambitions for hegemony and the foundation for eternity would be wasted.

Cao Cao's old eyes flashed with an unprecedented determination: "I have fought for half my life, and the hard work of this half life must not be in vain!"

Zhang Liao nodded subconsciously, but he suddenly seemed to think of something: "The Prime Minister's army is retreating from Tongguan, how can Liu Zilie not send troops to pursue? If he leads the army to attack..."

"That's fine." Cao Cao smiled faintly, "I have already ordered Yu Wenze to lead 20,000 soldiers to stop Liu Wu in the Tongguan area."

"Yu Jin is a veteran general. Twenty thousand men may not be able to stop Liu Wu, but it will never work if they hold out until our army passes through the Qiao-Han Ancient Road..."

"Report!" A cavalryman rushed to the front of the canopy carriage and said, "Scouts are reporting urgently. News has come from Tongguan that Liu Zilie has defeated General Wen Ze's 20,000 troops!"

"Now he is leading a large army to attack the ancient road of Qiao-Han!"

(End of this chapter)