Jia Xu whispered: "What is the lord mean? Is it the opportunity to kill Xiahou Dun?"

Ma Yue said in a deep voice: "What do Wenhe thinks?"

Jia Xu said: "Xiahou Dun is the number one general under Cao Cao's command and his clan confidant. His prestige in Cao's army is second only to Cao Cao. If Xiahou Dun can be killed, it would be like cutting off Cao Cao's left arm and right arm, which would be the best! However, Xiahou Dun is good at fighting and is a long-time general on the battlefield. It is probably not easy to kill him."

Ma Yue grinned and said in a deep voice: "It is because it is not easy to kill Xiahou Dun that he has to be killed!"

Ma Yue's words seemed a bit contradictory at first, but Jia Xu deeply agreed with them. If he could take this opportunity to kill Xiahou Dun, it would undoubtedly be a heavy blow to the morale of the Cao army. From then on, Cao's army was at a psychological disadvantage before the battle was fought.

Ma Yue said: "The Cao army left behind in Luoyang is about 10,000, and Xiahou Dun must leave a considerable amount of troops to guard Luoyang. Therefore, the troops returning to Xuchang will not exceed 8,000, but not less than 6,000! This army should be new recruits, and in terms of combat effectiveness, it is definitely not as elite as the Cao army before."

"That's right." Jia Xu continued, "If such an army encounters our army in the field, it can barely protect itself with the help of favorable terrain. But if it is to forcefully break through, it will only be a dead end! Therefore, as long as our army finds a proper battlefield, it can trap Xiahou Dun and his supporters to death!"

"Wenhe, look." Ma Yue spread the map on the table, pointing to Yingchuan's direction, "This is Xuchang, this is Luoyang, and the Hulao Pass and the abandoned Sishui Pass in the middle. Xiahou Dun returned to Xuchang to help. When Xiahou Dun's troops stepped into Sishui Pass, our army suddenly came out and took a large-scale attack. Xiahou Dun caught him off guard and would definitely set up a formation to protect himself by relying on the abandoned Sishui Pass."

"Oh?" Jia Xu said in a narrow voice, "What the lord means is to force Xiahou Dun's troops into the abandoned Sishui Pass?"

"Yes, force Xiahou Dun into Sishui Pass!" Ma Yue said in a deep voice, "When I was plundering the young and strong Guandong last year, I once visited Sishui Pass. Most of the walls of Sishui Pass had collapsed, and only the part close to the right side of the official road was still intact. If Xiahou Dun wanted to form a formation to protect himself, he had to retract into the still intact city wall on the right. In this way, the entire official road was given out, and our cavalry could easily pass through and completely trap Xiahou's troops from both ends!"

"What a trick to ask you to get into the trap. It is really amazing to use troops from the Lord." Jia Xu praised, "Once Xiahou Dun's troops are indented into the Sishui Pass, it will be difficult for rats to escape after entering the hole, haha."

Ma Yue smiled and looked up and said quickly: "Where is Dian Wei?"

"The last one will be here!" In the thunderous response, Dian Wei's iron tower-like figure appeared outside the tent and said sternly, "What are the lord's instructions?"

Ma Yue said quickly: "I ordered the entire army to change the direction of the march and advance quickly towards the direction of Sishui Pass!"

"Abide by the order!"

Dian Wei responded to the promise and took the order and left.

Sishui Pass.

When the Eighteenth Route Guandong princes attacked Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao adopted Tian Feng's plan to flood the Sishui Pass. Dong Zhuo's 50,000 Liangzhou cavalry became fish and shrimps in the water in a blink of an eye. The people of Yingchuan County were also affected by fish in the pond. The Sishui River has a radius of two hundred miles east, and hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and homeless.

After this battle, the population of Yingchuan County dropped sharply from more than one million to less than half a million.

Immediately afterwards, the 23-way coalition forces fought against the horses, and then the horse butcher plundered the young and strong Guandong. The population of Yingchuan County was sharply reduced to only more than 100,000 people. Most of the more than 100,000 people were distributed in several big cities such as Xuchang, Yangdi, Yingyang, etc., and it was almost barren land two hundred miles east of Sishui Pass.

However, at this time, there was smoke and dust rolling on the official road of Sishui Pass, and Xiahou Dun's 8,000 troops were advancing towards Xuchang.

Xiahou Dun was wearing dark iron armor and holding a large iron spear as thick as a child's arm, marched on the front of the army. Suddenly, the abandoned city of Sishui Pass jumped into his eyes. A trace of coldness suddenly flashed through Xiahou Dun's heart. The intuition of years of fighting on the battlefield told Xiahou Dun that there seemed to be an inexplicable danger hidden outside the abandoned city.

"Stop moving forward!"

Xiahou Dun suddenly raised the iron spear high, and the command soldiers behind him scattered in an instant. The general's order was quickly conveyed. The ruthless army quickly stopped moving forward. Soon, more than a dozen Cao army generals surrounded him and asked Xiahou Dun, "General, what happened? Why did you stop moving forward?"

"Things are a bit strange!" Xiahou Dun looked at the abandoned Sishui Pass for a moment, and said in a deep voice, "Although the Sishui Pass area has become a barren land, this official road is the only way to Luoyang to Yingchuan. Anyway, there should be pedestrians passing by. But in the past three days, our army has not even encountered a mouse."

The generals and generals of Cao's army changed their qualities, and Xiahou Dun said this and realized that this was the case.

"There is only one possibility!" Xiahou Dun took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "That is, someone cut off this official road!"

"A general is referring to the rebels of Xiliang?" Cao's generals and chief clerks said in a lost voice, "The rebels of Xiliang cut off the official road?"

"Yes, it's the Xiliang rebels!" Xiahou Dun said firmly, "They are nearby, and this general has already smelled the rust smell of their armor!"

East of Sishui Pass.

There is a dirt slope on the right side of the official road, with dense trees growing on the dirt slope. Ma Yue, Jia Xu, Dian Wei, Li Su and others hid in the shadow of the trees, looking at Cao Jun, who was thousands of steps away coldly.

"What's going on?" Li Su suddenly shouted, "Why is Cao Jun stopping?"

"Awesome, I am worthy of being a long-standing general on the battlefield who has experienced many battles!" A trace of inexplicable coldness flashed in Ma Yue's eyes, and he said coldly, "I am worthy of being the number one general under Cao Cao. Xiahou Dun's reputation today is not just because of his kinship with Cao Cao!"

"Yes." Jia Xu nodded sternly, "It is indeed amazing that we can judge the existence of our army based on intuition!"

"Only veterans who have experienced many battles and have survived for a long time will have a keen sense of danger!" Ma Yue slapped a dead tree beside him and said ruthlessly, "Xiahou Dun is so difficult to deal with, that's even more and more difficult to keep him! In this battle, he has to be killed no matter what."

"But the problem is~~" Li Su asked with concern, "Since Xiahou Dun has seen through our army's ambush, will he still be fooled?"

"Of course!" Ma Yue said coldly, "because Xiahou Dun has no choice!"

"Hmm?" Li Su said horrifiedly, "Xiahou Dun has no choice?"

"No," Jia Xu continued, "because our army did not expect to defeat Xiahou Dun by ambush!"

Indeed, Ma Yue had no intention of defeating Xiahou Dun by ambushing from the beginning. If Xiahou Dun was so easy to ambush, then he would not have achieved what he has today! Of course, then again, it would be better if Xiahou Dun could be solved by ambushing. This was a choice. If Plan A was not good, then he could only implement Plan B.

Ma Yue’s plan B is the real killer weapon to deal with Xiahou Dun.

"Dian Wei." Ma Yue looked back suddenly and said to Dian Wei, "Blow the trumpet, the whole army attack!"

"Woooooooooooooo~~"

Suddenly, the long and long horn sounded loudly from the abandoned Sishui Pass. With the sound of horns, four thousand Western Liang cavalry surged out from the dense forests on both sides of the official road, and advanced to the wide official road, which was arranged into a black cavalry phalanx, and then half swept towards the Cao army ahead.

Before the Sishui Pass.

Xiahou Dun said coldly: "It turns out that there is a rebel ambush ahead!"

"General, what should I do now?"

The generals and generals of Cao Jun behind Xiahou Dun asked one after another.

"What are you panic?" Xiahou Dun turned around and glared at the group of generals fiercely, and said sternly, "I ordered the entire army to retreat into the wall on the right side of the official road. With the favorable terrain, the Lu Shield soldiers broke out, and the spearmen followed, and the archers and archers implemented bow and arrow suppression on the side and back, and the rebels must not rush to the front of the formation."

"Affect the order."

"Affect the order."

"Affect the order."

The Sima of each army took the order and left. The eight thousand Cao troops quickly began to act. While retreating into the relatively complete wall on the right side of the official road, they nervously began to pile up bricks and stone antlers to create obstacles to block the cavalry assault. At the same time, the oars, shield soldiers, spearmen, and archers were all in their place, preparing to welcome the attack of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

However, what was beyond Cao's surprise was that the Western Liang cavalry just cut through the Cao's formation and did not launch an attack, and did not even have a tentative attack. After passing Cao's army a hundred steps away, he turned his horse's head, circled a large circle along the foot of the mountain, faced Cao's army again, and then began to monitor from afar.

It felt like a group of wolves guarding the distance, coldly monitoring the prey not far away.

Seeing the strange behavior of the Liangzhou Iron Cavalry, Xiahou Dun felt a stern heart. Suddenly he realized something serious and shouted: "Oh, it's not good!"

"What's wrong, General?"

The generals around him surrounded him and looked at Xiahou Dun suspiciously.

"I've been trapped!" Xiahou Dun paused his feet and sighed, "I've been trapped by the rebels in Liangzhou, hey!"

In the distance, on a small hill.

"Okay." Ma Yue said, "I finally trapped Xiahou Dun, the fierce tiger. He ordered Li Meng to divide the four thousand iron cavalry into four teams and take turns to monitor the Cao army. Cao army would blow the trumpet and warn them when there was any disturbance. Then he ordered Ju Tu to lead 500 light cavalry to spread to the Yingchuan Plain to closely monitor the movements of the Yingchuan Cao army."

"Report~~" As soon as Ma Yue finished speaking, a fast horse suddenly came from the official road, and kept rushing to the earth slope before slamming the horse stance, saying quickly, "General Wang Fang reported urgently."

Ma Yue said, "Tell me!"

"General Wang Fang has dug through most of the Yellow River embankment. As long as the last layer of the embankment is dug through, the water will be flooded!"

"Well, I understand!" Ma Yue said in a deep voice, "Reply to General Wang Fang that without the general's military order, it is strictly forbidden to dig dike and release water. At the same time, we will send troops to patrol the south bank of the Yellow River to beware of Cao's army digging dikes nearby to release water!"

Ma Yue must not be guarded.

Cao Cao was cruel and ruthless, and he was a master who could do anything.

Although Xiahou Dun is Cao Cao's number one confidant, it is still unknown whether Cao Cao will personally raise the army to rescue him. If Cao Cao does not send troops to rescue him, he secretly sends people to drill through the Yellow River embankment and drown the horse butcher and Xiahou Dun in the ruins of Sishui Pass, that would be a pity.

"Affect the order."

The messenger agreed and took the order and left.

"Lord." Li Su came over with some concern and asked in a low voice, "Now, the seven or eight thousand troops of Xiahou Dun have surrounded the Sishui Pass. Why not immediately break the dike and release the water? As the saying goes, there are so many dreams in the night, let alone our army has only carried half a month of dry food. The time delayed for too long, which is not good for our army."

"No hurry, it's not time yet." Ma Yue said coldly, "As for military rations, the five hundred light cavalry in Jutu will solve it."

Li Su said in confusion: "What are the lord waiting for?"

Ma Yue did not answer, Jia Xu took over the topic and said, "My lord is waiting for Cao Cao!"

"Cao Cao?" Li Su said sternly, "Will Cao Cao come?"

Xuchang.

The army had ten days left before Xuchang, so Cao Cao led 500 light cavalry back to Xuchang day and night. Xun Yu, who were staying in Xuchang, Cao An, Cao Xiu, Cao An, Cao Min and other children of the Cao family clan hurriedly welcomed Cao Cao and Guo Jia, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Guan Yu and others who were returning with him into the prime minister's mansion.

"Wenruo." Cao Cao couldn't wait to sit down, so he asked Xun Yu impatiently, "Where is the rebels of the Ma Butcher's rebels now?"

Xun Yu said: "Ten days ago, the rebels of Ma Butcher entered fifty miles north of Zhongmu, and then lost their whereabouts. However, it is certain that the rebels of Xiliang must be in this narrow area between Sishui Pass, Xingyang, Zhongmu and Guandu. It is estimated that the butcher Ma Butcher may have gone to Xingyang or Sishui Pass to intercept Yuan and let the general go."

"Yeah." Cao Cao frowned, "Will the news be heard from Yuan Rang's army?"

Xun Yu said: "No news has been coming back for ten days."

"It's broken!" Cao Cao's face changed and he said in a lost voice, "Yuan Rang's army must have blocked the rebels of Ma Butcher's rebels!"

Xun Yu said: "There are eight thousand troops under the command of General Yuan Rang. Even if he is blocked by the butcher Ma, self-protection should not be a problem."

"If you are afraid of Yuan Rang being blocked by Ma Butcher Ma's blocked in the Sishui Pass!" Cao Cao's expression became more and more gloomy and whispered, "If Ma Butcher Ma follows Yuan Shao and digs the Yellow River embankment and floods the Sishui Pass, then Yuan Rang will be in danger."

"Report~~" As soon as Cao Cao finished speaking, the school suddenly burst into the hall with blood all over his body, shouted in panting, "Prime Minister, General Xiahou urgently reported!"

"Hmm?" Cao Cao took a quick step forward and said quickly, "Tell me quickly!"

The school gasped violently and said dryly: "General Xia Hou and his 8,000 troops are now trapped in Sishui Pass by the Xiliang rebels. The Xiliang rebels are spying on the side. Our army is unable to break through the encirclement. The military rations carried by the army are about to be eaten up. I beg the Prime Minister to send reinforcements as soon as possible, otherwise the major event will be over."

Cao Cao's face changed and he asked anxiously: "How many days have Yuan Rang been trapped?"
To be continued...