The Cao army's siege of Xiangyang has entered the tenth day, but to everyone's surprise, the Cao army did not attack Xiangyang City, but was only stationed in the dock area. Although the wide moat seemed to make the Cao army helpless, Wen Pin knew that Cao's army had 20,000 or 30,000 troops, and could fill a section of the moat overnight, thereby launching an attack on the city.

But Cao's army never launched an attack, and Wen Pin guessed the reason. The Cao's army surrounded Xiangyang without attacking may be just a means. Cao's army was not intended to conquer Xiangyang, but to force the Han army to stop the attack on the western front.

Now it seems that their goal has indeed been achieved. After Wenpin received the news, Liu Jing personally led an army of 50,000 to aid Xiangyang. He had passed Fangling County and could arrive in Xiangyang in at most two days.

However, although the Cao army did not attack Xiangyang City, Zhonglu County and Kuiguo County, about twenty miles away from Xiangyang, were captured by the Cao army respectively. They plundered tens of thousands of stones of grain and a large amount of tax money in the official warehouses and warehouses of the two county towns as supplies for the army.

The capture of these two counties still brought great pressure to Xiangyang City.

The news that Liu Jing personally led a 50,000 army to provide assistance made Wen Pin very excited. His heart, which had been hanging in the air for nearly ten days, was finally able to let go of half. At dusk, Wen Pin was patrolling the streets under the escort of dozens of personal soldiers. The wide streets of Xiangyang were covered with tents, making the city very crowded and noisy.

The busy figures of scholars could be seen everywhere on the streets. This time, the three thousand scholars in Xiangyang City played a huge role. As auxiliary personnel of the government, they took the initiative to take care of the fugitives when the army was all used to defend the city.

The scholars worked very hard to appease the people, distribute food, rescue the weak, and maintain order. It was with their efforts that although Xiangyang City was overcrowded, it was always in order, and there was no chaos or an epidemic.

Although the Cao army occupied the two counties of Zhonglu and Kuiguo, which once caused panic in the city, the refugees' emotions finally calmed down and they waited patiently for Cao's army to retreat.

Wenpin inspected all the way, and the calmness in the city made him very satisfied. At this time, he walked to the vicinity of Jinding Gate, which was a city gate in the northeast and the smallest of the six city gates in Xiangyang City. It is usually rarely opened.

As soon as he arrived at the city gate, he suddenly heard someone calling him on the top of the city, "General Wen!"

As soon as he looked up, he saw that Deng Ai was waving to him, and asked with a smile: "Is there anything wrong?"

"General Qi Bian, I discovered an abnormality!"

Wen Pin was stunned. He immediately turned his horse's head and ran towards the corridor. After a moment, he rushed to the top of the city. Deng Ai came up and bowed, "Just just now we found dozens of small boats in the small river outside the city. After exploring the river for a while, he went back."

Wen Pin turned over and dismounted, walked quickly to the battlement and looked into the distance. The moat outside the golden top was the narrowest section of Xiangyang, only more than ten feet wide, connecting a small river flowing to the northeast. At this time, Wen Pin also saw more than a dozen small boats appearing on the river, with Cao's sentinels on the boats.

Wen Pin couldn't help but wonder. For ten days, the Cao army outside Xiangyang had no movement at all. Why did the whistle ship suddenly appear? What does this mean? Is the Cao army going to attack Xiangyang at night?

Wenpin also knew that Cao's army had collected more than a hundred small boats in nearby villages, but it was obviously unrealistic to rely on these small boats to attack Xiangyang.

At this time, Wen Pin suddenly thought that Liu Jing's reinforcements were coming. He felt enlightened in his heart. After pondering for a moment, he ordered the soldiers guarding the city to "we must closely monitor the movements of Cao's army outside the city. If there is any situation, we can report to me immediately!"

Wen Pin realized that Cao's army was likely to retreat.

The sky gradually darkened, and in the Cao army camp, three thousand Cao troops were lined up, with bright armor, shining swords and guns, and murderous intent. They were ready to go out to fight.

The Cao army did not go to battle to conquer Xiangyang City. On the contrary, they were preparing to withdraw their troops. Zhang Liao also received urgent reports from the scouts. Liu Jing led 50,000 reinforcements to attack Xiangyang City. The vanguard had passed Fangling County. At most two days, 50,000 Han troops would reach Xiangyang City.

This news made Zhang Liao very nervous. He urgently sent people across the river to report to the prime minister, and soon received the prime minister's reply. He crossed the river and withdrew his troops overnight. In fact, Zhang Liao was also very clear that the 50,000 reinforcements plus the 20,000 troops in the city, the total strength of the Han army would reach 70,000, nearly three times that of himself. He could not resist anyway, and withdrawing the troops was an inevitable choice.

But how to withdraw? Zhang Liao has rich combat experience, and Wen Pin must also know the news that Liu Jing’s supportive army was coming. Once he evacuated, he would likely attack, delay him, prevent him from crossing the river, and finally face the fate of complete annihilation, so he must ensure that he can escape unscathed.

Zhang Liao patted Li Dian on the shoulder and smiled, "I'll give it to Brother Man!"

Li Dian nodded, "Please rest assured, General, I will do my best."

Li Dian rolled over the horse and waved his hand, "Go!"

Li Dian led three thousand troops out of the Xiying camp and headed west. At this time, Zhang Liao looked at the soldiers and walked away. He turned around and stared at the Han River. The Han River was dark, and enemy warships could be seen patrolling the river. Zhang Liao nodded and turned around and ordered: "The three armies were ready to retreat!"

In the camp's fire, Cao's soldiers were quickly sorting out their weapons and equipment. As for the camp tents and some food and grass, it was not conducive to crossing the river, they gave up one by one, and everyone tried to streamline their equipment as much as possible.

Another extremely important material was brought out of the tent by the soldiers and tied up in a roll of ropes, which were thousands of sheepskin rafts. This would be their tool for crossing the river, and it could also be said that this was the secret weapon of Cao's army's smooth return to the north.

During the campaign against Ma Chao, Cao's army seized thousands of sheepskin rafts used by Qiang people to cross the river in Yang Qiu's camp. In fact, it was to remove the sheep from the sheep and get a complete piece of sheepskin, and then make it into a skin bag, tie dozens of sheepskin air bags together, and after blowing and swelling, it formed a sheepskin raft.

The sheepskin raft was light and easy to carry after deflation, which was a must-have for the Hu people to go to war. Cao Cao got enlightenment on the sheepskin raft and asked the Zhang Liao army to carry the sheepskin raft across the river. Although the floating bridge where they crossed the river had been destroyed, Zhang Liao could still cross the river and return to the north bank with the sheepskin raft.

At the same time, crossing the river with a sheepskin raft can also warn Liu Jing that the Han River can no longer stop Cao's army.

As time gradually came to the hour of Hai, the gate of the military camp was slowly opened, and more than 20,000 Cao troops rushed out of the military camp. They moved quickly and left the military camp and marched towards Longzhong. More than 200 warships were deployed on the river surface outside Xiangyang City, which pose too great a threat to their crossing of the river. There were only more than 30 warships in the Longzhong Ferry area.

Just as Cao's army left the camp, they were immediately discovered by the Han army scouts outside the city. They immediately rushed back to Xiangyang City to report. Wen Pin rushed to the north city after hearing the news and looked out of the city. At this time, Jia Xu also hurried over and asked anxiously: "What happened?"

Wen Pin pointed to Cao's military camp and said, "Just just received a report from the scout, the main force of Cao's army has left the military camp and headed west."

Jia Xu frowned, "Is it going to Longzhong?"

"It should be!"

Wen Pin said again: "I suspect that Cao's army has gone to fight against the reinforcements of the provincial governor. In terms of time, the reinforcements of the provincial governor will arrive in Longzhong as soon as tomorrow night. Will Zhang Liao ambush the provincial governor?"

"There is this possibility, but it is also possible that Zhang Liao wanted to cross the river from Longzhong Wharf to return north. However, they had no ships, so the possibility of crossing the river was not high. In fact, the biggest possibility was to lure troops, lure the Xiangyang defenders out of the city to pursue, and then they fought back and finally seized Xiangyang in the chaos."

Wen Pin took a breath. It was just that he wanted to go out of the city to pursue him. After Jia Xu said this, he realized that he had underestimated the enemy. "What should we do?" he asked again.

Jia Xu thought for a while and said, "You can send five thousand troops to follow you. If you really ambush the governor of the state, five thousand troops can attack Cao's army from behind, causing them to fail. If it is Cao's army's plan to lure troops, five thousand troops can retreat in time. As for crossing the river in Longzhong, although it is unlikely, you still have to beware of Cao's army sending ships from the other strait to pick them up. It is necessary to prevent Cao's army from escaping from the Longzhong Ferry. The number of warships on the Longzhong River should be increased."

Wen Pin nodded, "I personally led 5,000 troops to follow me, and the warships arranged, and I will send someone to notify General Shen immediately!"

"Governor Wen must be careful, beware of being ambushed halfway by the enemy." Jia Xu reminded with a smile.

"Be careful, please ask the military advisor for the defense of Xiangyang City."

Wen Pin immediately went down the city, ordered five thousand soldiers out of the city from the west gate, and marched towards Longzhong. He was very cautious and followed Cao Jun from afar.

After Ganning led his army back to Jiangxia, the 4,000 naval troops on the Xiangyang River were commanded by the captain Shen Mi, with a total of more than 400 warships of all sizes, blocking the river from Fangling to Yicheng County, but the focus was on Xiangyang, Yicheng and Fangling.

Especially on the river surface of Xiangfan, Cao Cao's two armies from north to south were stationed in Xiangyang and Fancheng. Shen Mi personally led 200 warships to patrol the river surface, guarding day and night, and waiting for battle.

At the same time as Zhang Liao withdrew his troops westward, the Cao army on the north bank of the river also made movement. Tens of thousands of Cao army appeared in the area of ​​Fancheng Wharf with torches, as if igniting a sea of ​​fire. They dragged more than 400 small boats from the land into the river, and the sound of war drums rumbling, posing as a massive crossing of the river.

Shen Mi immediately set up a large interception formation, and two hundred warships were deployed into three defensive lines. At the same time, more than a dozen 500-stone warships were sent to attack the dock, in an attempt to destroy the Cao army's boats, but tens of thousands of Cao troops shot arrows into the river on the dock, and the arrows were like dense rain, forcing the navy warships to get close.

Seeing that he could not get close to the shore, Shen Mi ordered: "No need to go forward anymore, keep the formation and let them cross the river!"

Since Cao's army must cross the river and seek death, he will help them. The bells sounded loudly on the river surface, and more than a dozen warships slowly retreated. At this moment, a small boat approached Shen Mi's Qianshi warship. A soldier on the boat shouted: "Can General Shen be there?"

Chen Mi walked quickly to the side of the ship and leaned over and asked, "What's the matter?"
Chapter completed!