After seeing Cao Cao appear in his field of vision dressed in women's clothing, Gongsun Xun's doubts, nervousness, and indecision all night disappeared.

In the final analysis, his previous gaffe was not because he was at a disadvantage. On the contrary, it was precisely because he had a huge advantage and a complete victory was in sight, which made him a little suspicious... Jia Xu and Xun You were not so much helping their lord analyze last night.

The situation is rather comforting to him.

However, when his old friend appeared in front of him, Gongsun Xun suddenly realized that the other party was the one who suffered more and was the one who was forced into the corner.

I worry too much.

But now that he has regained consciousness, unexpectedly, Gongsun Xun is completely relaxed, and even thinks deeply and becomes clear. Almost in an instant, he analyzes Cao Cao's movements last night, Cao Cao's large-scale deployment in front of him, and the extremely weird place on the map.

The military arrangements, all connected together, gave Gongsun Xun a complete guess.

Back to the present, the battle was extremely fierce. Cao's army was almost deployed in full force, and they were full of fighting spirit. This made it difficult for Cheng Pu, who was at a disadvantage and was still on the attacking side.

On the opposite side, Cao Mengde was dressed as a woman to supervise the battle. Cao's army moved forward desperately, but his own side was temporarily restrained. Naturally, everyone on the Tushan Mountain focused their attention on Yan Gong.

Unexpectedly, Gongsun Xun, who came back to his senses, laughed: "Meng De is like a donkey approaching a tiger, this is the end of his skills... Call the gold to withdraw the troops! Even Zhang Liao and Cheng Lian are called back... Haosheng defends the camp!

"

After saying this, he ignored the battle situation in front of him and turned around.

The sound of gongs signifying the withdrawal of troops sounded from the rear of the entire front line one after another. Although Cheng Demou was resentful and resentful, he could not resist Gongsun Xun's military order... he could only retreat with hatred.

The Hebei army poured out of the camp like a tide, and then retreated like a tide, leaving only hundreds of corpses...Cao's army roared like a tsunami, as if it was a great victory! Even more capable soldiers chased them out of the camp.

The attempt to counterattack led to a condescending roll call from the crossbowmen in the Yan army's camp, and then to the suppression of the artillery vehicles in the Cao army camp. In the end, it naturally evolved into a daily performance of artillery vehicles bombarding each other.

After the battle was hastily stopped, not to mention how Gongsun Xun tried to appease Cheng Demou's obviously fragile self-esteem. On the other hand, Cao Mengde had no self-esteem at all... He returned to the camp and first took off the disgusting clothes on his body.

The woman was still indignant, and it took her a long time to breathe evenly.

After all, a victory in a defensive battle cannot really offset the humiliation of dressing up as a woman. In other words, the feeling of having to dress up as a woman to boost morale for a partial victory is really bad! But after that, the situation happened

The crisis has reached an extreme level, and Cao Mengde, who was rewarded by Zhu Shuo, knew that things worse than this would definitely follow...

Having said this, I must also mention Zhu Shuo.

Zhu Shuo's sudden return just before the war was not just a simple return of information; it was also equivalent to unequivocally informing Cao Cao that Gongsun Xun had already known about the drastic changes in Xuzhou, and he would not let go of such a good opportunity; and even more terrible

Yes, Gongsun Xun's timing of returning this man was too clever. Before the battle, all the generals gathered together. In a hurry, Cao Cao had no time to cover up. Zhu Shuo had already told the whole story, but he spread the news about Xuzhou to everyone.

Everyone in the camp knew... It was precisely in order to prevent the morale of the army from being unstable that Cao Cao had no choice but to put on women's clothing to boost morale and divert attention.

However, it is worth mentioning that before the war, things happened in a hurry, and Gongsun Xun was hesitant about the two candidates for delivering the message, Zhu Shuo and Wu Zhi... The latter certainly seemed eloquent, and if Zhu Shuo was detained

In the camp, the people did not dare not do this; but the facts proved that Xun You's suggestion was correct. Zhu Shuo had the identity of a native of Cao Cao and a fierce personality. When the words came out of his mouth, everything

People immediately believed it, and Cao Cao couldn't hide it!

"Father."

He was silent for a day, and in the evening, when Cao Cao was sitting in the middle of the army, thinking hard, Cao Ang, who was staying at the camp, suddenly came from outside. He stepped forward cautiously and reported another thing. "General Huang Gongfu has arrived.

Please meet him in private."

"Call Huang Gong to come to the back tent to find me!" Cao Mengde was slightly surprised, then immediately nodded, and then moved to the back tent.

"General Huang, please sit down."

After a while, Cao Mengde had regained his composure, but he was sitting on the couch behind the tent with his coat on. After Cao Ang led the yellow cover into the tent, he looked at the extremely steady Sun Ce in front of him, whom he admired very much.

The generals under his command could not help but relax a little.

No matter what, it is true that the Central Plains Allied Forces are full of talents, and as the saying goes that everything is people-oriented, so many heroes who gathered under his command to obey orders are the fundamental basis for Cao Cao to have the courage to fight Gongsun Xun.

In fact, even if Zhou Yu died on the field ridge, Cao Mengde had no intention of blaming him, because in his opinion, Zhou Gongjin had indeed fulfilled his responsibility as a commander in one area, and considering his age, he could even be said to have

This person's performance was amazing... except that his opponent was too powerful, and Zhou Gongjin himself had too few cards in his hand.

"Mr. Cao!" Seeing Cao Ang holding his sword and standing at the tent door as a warning, Huang Gai bowed his head seriously and then sat on the chair in front of the couch. For a while, the dried blood on his armor was stained by the candlelight.

It's clear and unmistakable, but no one cares about these details at this time. "There will be something that needs to be reported to Duke Cao privately..."

"Tell me."

"The battle took place during the day and the Northern Army retreated, but an officer deliberately stayed in front of the position led by the last general and asked to surrender..."

"At this time, the officers of the Yan army are surrendering to us?" Cao Cao thought it was incredible.

"This man was not an officer of the Yan Army before." Huang Gai quickly explained seriously. "His surname is Deng Mingdang. He is a person from Jiangzuo. He has always been a Sima of another department under Zhu Junli and Lord Zhufu... After a hard battle that day, he was ordered to surrender to Hebei.

, tried to assassinate Duke Yan, but ended up being tied up and placed there without even seeing Duke Yan's face. Now, by some strange combination of circumstances, he was able to retain his role as an example."

Cao Cao had already woken up after hearing this: "Have you ever asked anyone in the camp that day about this matter?"

"I've asked!" Huang Gai quickly added. "Otherwise, the general would have been killed with one blow, so why would he alarm Duke Cao? Lord Zhufu was seriously injured and has been recuperating in Yangzhai. His old troops are all in my camp.

, everyone recognizes him from top to bottom, and there are many people who know about the false surrender and assassination attempt... and his family members, tribesmen, relatives and friends are all in the south."

"If it was just the old general who fled back, General Huang would definitely not come looking for me." Cao Cao asked sincerely. "But what confidential information did he bring?"

"Of course!" Huang Gai replied seriously. "According to what he said, before he met Yan Gong and was appointed, he had been working as a handyman in Baima Yi, and was active in the Yan army's central military headquarters. He indeed heard

, I saw a lot of confidential military information...and some of the things are actually consistent with what I know?"

"how to say?"

"For example, he once burned many letters of surrender from our rebels, and gave a few names and dates, but they coincided with the several rebellions he committed behind him."

Cao Mengde nodded slowly: "So, he is reliable? And General Huang was also interested in this?"

Huang Gai nodded slowly, but took advantage of the situation to introduce it in detail.

It turned out that, just as Cao Cao thought, Deng Dang returned to Cao's camp after a few months and indeed provided a lot of military aircraft, but not many of them were really useful...remove the expired ones; remove the ineffective ones (Xuzhou

military information); remove those that cannot be dealt with (for example, Liu Biao and Lu Bu had many people who corresponded with Gongsun Xun); remove those that are of little use (daily logistics within the camp, military dispatch and internal affairs of Hebei); and remove some more, although they are very important

, but everyone can think of it (for example, as soon as Gongsun Xun heard the news about Xuzhou yesterday, he urgently ordered Cheng Yu to rush to Yingzhou, and Taishi Ci, who returned from the Liaodong conscription, rushed to Xuzhou to support)... Then the rest can really work.

There are only a few of them.

For example, Gongsun Xun just ordered Xu Rong to lead 10,000 Guanxi cavalry from Hongnong this morning to Shenyuan Pass in Luoyang, seemingly preparing to attack Sun Ce;

For another example, Gongsun Xun issued a military order the day before yesterday, asking Baima to dispatch a batch of tens of thousands of dan in terms of food alone, and several thousand cars of logistical supplies to be sent to Guandu!

"Does General Huang want to... set up an ambush in Yangzhai? Or rob the army in Wuchao?" After hearing this, Cao Cao was curious for a moment.

"You have to listen to Mr. Cao on this."

Cao Cao hesitated to speak, but finally replied seriously: "I think both are possible. Our army really needs a victory to boost morale... In this case, why not set up an ambush at Yangzhai in Yingchuan? After all, it is better to intercept at Wuchao

Food is too risky. Our army does not have an organized cavalry, but the Hebei cavalry can roar in. Therefore, if our army cannot win and retreat quickly, the whole army will be annihilated there. Besides, even if we can succeed,

, a mere tens of thousands of stones of grain may not really play a decisive role... What does General Huang think?"

"In this case, I will return to Dengdang tonight and ask him to send a message to Duke Yan, saying that I have convinced Duke Cao to concentrate my troops and set up an ambush at Yangzhai in Yingchuan. At that time, I will naturally invite him to be the vanguard, and then

Lead the headquarters to defect at the last moment and achieve a great victory!" Huang Gai immediately faced him seriously, as if he was saying something logical.

Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and then became solemn. Even Cao Ang, who was guarding the tent, turned back in surprise.

But Huang Gai asked himself: "What do you think, Duke Cao?"

"Is Deng Dang untrustworthy?" Cao Cao paused for a long time before asking.

"Maybe it's believable, after all, his relatives, old wives and friends are all in the south." Huang Gai sighed. "But maybe it's not believable, because at this time, a victory or defeat will be a huge change. If Duke Yan really wins,

, we will have nothing by then, can we still care about taking revenge on his family? But the question is not whether Deng Dang can be trusted, but that the situation has reached this point. Cao Gong must look for an opportunity to fight decisively. If there is a conspiracy, he will also

It must be launched quickly...and although I am not talented, I am still willing to pretend to surrender to the north to delay some time and attention for Duke Cao, so that it can be convenient for Duke Cao to do what he wants."

"What if I don't have a clever plan?" Cao Mengde stared at the brave general in front of him, and for a moment he was in a trance.

"Then let me pretend to surrender as an opportunity to fight to the death!" Huang Gai remained calm.

Cao Cao was about to speak but stopped.

"The last general is rude and has no words, so I don't dare to say too many things."

At this moment, Huang Gai stood up suddenly, knelt down in front of the couch and bowed down on one knee, and faced Cao Mengde calmly with his hands raised. "But now that Xuzhou has been defeated, the matter has reached a point of necessity. If we don't come up with a strange strategy or find an opportunity to fight decisively, our entire army will be destroyed."

I’m afraid it’s in danger of overturning.”

Behind him, Cao Ang obviously wanted to interrupt, but was stopped by Cao Cao, but Huang Gai had already continued speaking:

"Mr. Cao, I know that as a foreign general, I am not enough to win the trust of Gong Cao, and I have no intention of sacrificing my heart and blood for Gong Cao... I am a barbarian from Lingling, half of my body is muddled, and I am about thirty years old.

When I was 2 years old, I saw the heroic figure of my late grandson general. From then on, I carried my sword and served the Sun family for two generations. It has been a full ten years! Therefore, the people who entrusted my life to me in this life are naturally two Sun Polu, one after another.

Could it be two Generals Sun... And who is General Sun in Yangzhai now? Doesn't Duke Cao know? Although he only has two counties and 20,000 troops, he has never been willing to win the hearts of the people.

, and asked him to surrender to Hebei, fearing that he would rather die than obey. Although I don’t care about the struggle between the north and the south, or the differences between Han and Yan, I am willing to go through fire and water for the foundation of the Sun family! In that battle a few months ago, I should have died.

If I die in the camp, do I care about this life today? As long as I am alive in this world, my death may be heavier than Mount Tai, or lighter than a feather... If I were left to die in the camp, submerged in the general trend, Huang would definitely

I’m not willing! All these words are just to ask Mr. Cao to trust me once so that I can achieve what I want!”

Cao Cao looked at the person in front of him for a long time, as if he had gotten to know him again, but finally sighed, helped him up in front of him, and then said sincerely: "As General Huang said, the situation is already very critical, and I do

I had a plan from a long time ago, and I originally wanted to go by myself, but Gongsun Wenqi was on the opposite side, staring at me, so I didn't dare to move lightly. I thought about it all day, and I was about to let Bo Fu do it this time.

exist……"
To be continued...