Chapter 154 Chapter 24: Working hard for several years (3)

Years of painstaking efforts have been wiped out in ashes In the temporary camp, Cao Mengde held an emergency meeting before retreating. "Zhou Gongjin set everyone on fire, why is he more embarrassed than me?" Cao Mengde tried his best to ease the uneasy atmosphere with humorous words. Everyone saw that Cao Mengde was so relaxed, and forced a forced smile along with him. Cao Mengde briefly described the current situation and asked everyone to think of countermeasures. Zhang Liao said: "I advocate that Cheng Yu's remnant troops escort the prime minister to retreat."

"So, which way is the safest way to retreat?" Cheng Yu asked. Mao Jie said: "It's best not to enter Jiangling. Jiangling is a strategic point. I'm afraid Liu Bei has already made up his mind. We should go directly to Xiangyang by bypassing Huarong." Cao Mengde said: "The troops of Zhang Liao and Xu Huang did not suffer much losses. After reorganizing, they deployed defenses in the Wulin area to gain the time needed for the large troops to retreat." Cheng Yu said: "Currently, the Jingzhou army and Yuan's descended army are mostly defending the area from Xiangyang to Jiangling. These troops are uneasy and have low loyalty. It is best to block the news of our army's defeat as much as possible."

Therefore, after a short period of deliberation, Cao Mengde ordered Cao Chunjun to reinforce Lejin urgently to consolidate the security of Huarong Road; Zhang Liao and Xu Huang were responsible for escorting the civilian officials and injured generals to retreat, and quickly returned to Xiangyang after the task was completed; quickly sent a letter to Cao Ren, try to stick to it In Jiangling City, if the Sun Liu coalition forces are under too much pressure, they are still ready to withdraw to Xiangyang at any time. In this battle, Cao's army was really defeated by Jingzhou's navy and Cheng Yu's vanguard, while Zhang Liao's and Xu Huang's main forces suffered little damage.On land, Cao Chun's tiger and leopard cavalry suffered heavy losses in order to stick to the base camp.

In the early morning of November 23rd in the thirteenth year of Jian'an. The gunpowder smoke has not yet cleared, and the river is extremely calm. Under the red cliff, there are scattered and damaged warships, and the corpses on the river bank are displayed in a haphazard manner.They will always rest their heads on the green hills, wash their feet on the rivers, and sleep forever in the ancient battlefield that will soon be buried by time. It is about two hundred miles from Chibi to Xiangyang. Cao Mengde looked back at the familiar but unfamiliar Chibi water village, turned around resolutely, and said, "Retreat to Xiangyang!"

The difficult strategic retreat began. At this time, it rained heavily in central China, which had been sunny for a long time, and the temperature dropped sharply. The air was humid, the roads were muddy, and it was difficult for horses and horses to travel. There were only more than 500 sergeants who accompanied Cao Mengde to retreat, and they were escorted by Cheng Yu's temporary cavalry team. Cao Mengde, who was sitting on the horse, had only one idea at this time: hurry to Xiangyang, and then rush to Jingzhou.In fact, Cao Mengde was not too worried about his safety when he retreated. After careful consideration of the information from various roads, he decided to take Wulin Avenue first. The protection of Yu and Cao Chun is relatively safe, and then bypassing several passes on Huarong Road, he can reach Xiangyang from the northwest of Jiangling City in two or three days. He is most worried about the defense of the north. If news of the defeat comes out, the north belongs to Yuan's prefectures and Xiliang army are bound to seize the opportunity to move, and may even unite with Xudu's officials and courtiers of the Han Dynasty to rebel.At that time, ten years of hard work may come to naught.Therefore, it is necessary to rush back to the base camp quickly before the situation deteriorates.

Ten years of hard work is extraordinary! The Sun Liu coalition forces set up a net to capture Cao Mengde. On Huarong Road, Guan Yu returned empty-handed. On the ground of Wulin, Gan Ning led his army to kill, and was about to burn down the Cao Jun's grain storage area. There were only a few Cao Jun in the grain storage area.Most of the grain and grass have been transported to Jiangling. These Cao troops are more capable of fighting on the ground. They rely on the forests and ravines to entangle Gan Ning. , From morning to dusk, Cao Jun couldn't help it.Cao Mengde and his party happened to flee from Wulin Avenue to Huarong area.

Zhang Fei also returned from Northern Yiling disappointed. Zhao Zilong lay in ambush for a day on another small road in Wulin, but found nothing. Kong Ming doubted his ingenuity, could it be that Cao Cao could fly into the sky and escape from the ground. In fact, Cao Mengde did not retreat easily. Although he never encountered large-scale obstruction, the road to the north was really difficult. The roads are muddy, and there are mountains, forests and swamps everywhere. Cao Mengde asked his soldiers to carry the roadside straw and reeds on horseback or carry them on their bodies. Whenever they encountered swamps or places where the ground was difficult to pass, they would spread the straw and reeds. In this way, the people and horses were able to pass.

When the officers and soldiers were thirsty, Cao Mengde repeated the story of "looking for plums to quench thirst".At the end, I said the last sentence: "It's a pity that it's not when plums are green, so I can't fool everyone." It made everyone laugh, and their spirits seemed to improve. Sometimes, he said to everyone: "Walking in such a quiet way makes people tired. If you meet a small group of enemies and kill them for a while, as long as you don't take my life, you will be refreshed." He drew out his saber and chopped off at the branches on the side of the road.

For soldiers who were injured or sick and couldn't walk, Cao Mengde left them in a village not far from the road, lied that they were soldiers from the Eastern Wu Dynasty, entrusted the villagers to take care of them, and gave them some silver taels. On November 26th, Cao Mengde and his party finally fled to Xiangyang. From the afternoon to dusk of that day, the remnants of Zhang Liao and Xu Huang's army also arrived in Xiangyang.Both legions encountered large-scale suppression and interception by the coalition forces during their retreat, so they suffered heavy losses. Le Jin and Zhang Liao almost desperately fled back to Xiangyang.

The shame of retreat is more frustrating than the disastrous defeat on the battlefield. Although the enemy was not chased by the enemy during the retreat, most of the soldiers were lost due to the jittery mood. The loss was almost more serious than that on the battlefield. For Cao Mengde, This is also an unprecedented blow since its establishment. After washing away the dust, Cao Mengde put on a brand new robe, still looking very energetic.He gathered with all the generals, and seeing everyone listless, Cao Mengde said abruptly, "Actually, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are nothing special. If I come to deploy them, none of you can escape." Haha laughing out loud.

The generals couldn't help being confused by Cao Mengde's sudden big words and laughter, and they also giggled, and the melancholy was swept away. Then, Cao Mengde wrote an open letter to Sun Quan, saying: "During the Battle of Chibi, our side was seriously ill and lacked combat effectiveness, so we had to burn the boat and retreat by ourselves, which gave Zhou Yu the false name of victory." When Cao Ren was in Nanjun, he ordered Cao Hong to guard the Yiling Mausoleum, thinking that it was a horn of strength.A sergeant came to report: "Wu's soldiers have crossed the Han River." Cao Ren said: "You can only stick to it and don't fight." Niu Jin, the brave general, said bravely, saying: "It is a sign of cowardice for soldiers not to fight when they are approaching the city. Our army has just been defeated. Renew your spirit. Please send me five hundred elite soldiers, and I will fight to the death with the Eastern Wu soldiers." Cao Ren agreed. Wu general Ding Feng rode his horse to fight. The two generals clashed for four or five rounds. Ding Feng pretended to be defeated and Niu Jin led the army to chase and kill him. Ding Feng returned to his horse and commanded all the soldiers to surround Niu Jin in the center. After rescuing Niu Jin, he met Xu Sheng, Jiang Qin, etc. Cao Ren was exceptionally brave, and several Wu generals fled in embarrassment after parrying for a few rounds. Cao Ren and Niu Jin returned to the city victorious. On the third day after entering Xiangyang City in 146, Cao Mengde appointed Xu Huang as General Hengye, and sent him to immediately lead his army south to reinforce Cao Ren's army in Jiangling. Waiting to return to Yanzhou. At the same time, the coalition forces of Liu Bei and Zhou Yu were unable to pursue Cao Mengde, so they diverted their troops to Nanjun, where they held a joint military meeting to discuss the aftermath of the Chibi War.