When Cao Ren returned to the city after winning the victory, he saw Zhou Yu vomiting blood and falling off his horse. He was extremely relieved and wanted to send an order to celebrate the victory.
Cao Xiu said, "We were ordered by the Prime Minister to guard Huainan, but now we can barely save Shouchun. It's not appropriate to celebrate!"
Cao Ren scolded: "Zhou Lang ordered me to be ruined. It's a pity that your arrow failed to kill him."
Cao Xiu also felt deeply regretful and said: "I never expected that Zhou Yu would enter the city in person. I was not prepared enough. Otherwise, I would have risked the lives of the entire army to trap him in the city."
Cao Ren frowned and sighed: "It's a pity that we can't understand the Prime Minister's clever plan. The Prime Minister will be in Shouchun soon. How can I have the face to meet him?"
Cao Xiu offered advice: "Zhou Yu was injured. He should have rested in peace and recuperated, but he forced himself out of the battle. He must have known that reinforcements were coming and wanted to stabilize the morale of the army, but he was self-defeating. I expected that he had already intended to retreat. When Wu's soldiers were in a state of confusion, they marched overnight. Rob the stronghold, kill Zhou Yu, and take advantage of the situation to recapture Hefei, and then it’s time to celebrate.”
"This is a great plan!" Cao Ren laughed and praised: "It is indeed worthy of my Cao family's thousand-mile horse."
This was Cao Xiu's first time joining the army. He didn't dare to be careless at all. He asked Cao Ren to make secret preparations and personally sent people to the Wu army to find out the news, and waited until midnight.
At the third watch, Xi Zuo returned to the city and reported that the morale of the Wu army was indeed low. The lights in Zhou Yu's tent were brightly lit all night, doctors came in and out for treatment, and each battalion was packing up and preparing to retreat.
Cao Xiu was overjoyed and came to see Cao Ren immediately. The two immediately summoned the generals to discuss and divided their troops into three groups to go out of the city and rob the camp. They took Zhou Yu's head and presented it to the prime minister!
Half an hour later, Cao Jun quietly left the city, with Zang Ba as the vanguard. Cao Ren and Cao Xiu personally attacked the center, while Zhu Ling and Niu Jin outflanked them from both wings and headed straight for the Soochow camp.
Arriving outside the camp, Zang Ba had already found out the enemy's situation and reported: "Most of the Wu troops are lax and unprepared. Vehicles are piled up in the east camp and they are ready to retreat."
Cao Ren snorted coldly: "Zhou Lang deceived me. It's too late to leave now!"
Cao Xiu gave an order, and the drums suddenly sounded. Cao Jun attacked from the main gate in three directions, surrounded by two groups of people on the left and right, and rushed straight into the Dongwu camp.
Cao Ren took the lead and rushed straight to the Chinese army's tent with his sword in hand. There were not many obstacles along the way. He seemed to feel that something was wrong, but when he saw the fire in the commander's tent, he had no time to think and rushed forward.
Zila——
The broadsword swept across the camp, and the tent was broken open. However, there was only a torch inside, with swords and guns inserted, and no one was there. His heart suddenly sank.
"Retreat quickly!" Cao Ren knew that he had been tricked and hurriedly sent an order to retreat.
At this moment, drums were beating loudly all around outside the camp. Cheng Pu in the east, Huang Gai in the west, Han Dang in the south, and Dong in the north attacked, and the Wu army rushed out like a tide.
The Ai soldiers were bound to win. At this time, the Wu army fought back with overwhelming morale. Every one of them was like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain. First, they fired random arrows and shot down countless Cao soldiers. Then they rushed into the camp and killed Cao soldiers, leaving their helmets and armor behind. There is no way to fight back.
Cao Ren fought hard and broke out of the camp. He only heard shouts of killing from all sides. The camp was filled with flames and there were many shadows of people around. It was difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Cao Xiu and others did not know where they were.
All the troops were scattered, unable to save each other, and Wu troops were constantly outflanking them. Cao Ren had no choice but to lead the remaining troops to retreat, with Cao troops fleeing along the way.
When they were about to reach the foot of Shouchun City, suddenly an army rushed out from the river bank. Lu Meng led his troops to block the way. Cao Ren stepped forward to fight. They fought for more than ten times, and Ling Tong stabbed out from behind.
Cao's army was attacked from both sides and was defeated again. Cao Ren did not dare to fight, so he only led his cavalry to break out of the encirclement. Cao Xiu and Zang Ba also arrived with their remaining troops, and the generals joined together and headed into the city.
As they approached the outside of Shouchun City, they saw flags fluttering in the forest on the left and right. Worried that there was an ambush ahead, they did not dare to return to the city and walked north around the city.
Just as they rounded the city, an army in front blocked the way again. Ding Feng raised his sword and shouted: "The thief Cao wounded someone with a secret arrow. Today I will avenge the governor. You can't escape with your wings."
Zang Ba urged his horse forward to fight. At this time, Hou Fangpu and Han Dang led troops to catch up. Cao Ren led the remaining troops to retreat. Zang Ba resisted for a while and fled on horseback.
Han Dang continued to lead his troops to cover up the killing, while Cheng Pu gathered his troops and surrounded Shouchun, shouting: "Whoever defends the city will not kill anyone who surrenders!"
There was only Liu Fu, the governor of Yangzhou, in Shouchun City. He didn't want the situation to change again overnight, so he watched Cao Ren walk around the city. There were only 3,000 defenders in the city, and it was useless to defend the city. In order to prevent the people in the city from suffering, he sent an order to open the city.
Cao Ren's uncle and nephew led the remaining soldiers to the Huaihe River. Cao Xiu urged his horse to cross the bridge. Suddenly he heard the neighing of the war horse behind him. When he looked back, it was Cao Ren's horse who was frightened. He stood up and knocked Cao Ren off his horse.
Cao Ren's reaction was not slow. He hurriedly grabbed the railing, half of his body was hanging in the air, and almost fell into the river. Just as he was about to use his strength to stand still, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ribs and was hit by an arrow.
"Be careful of ambush!" Cao Xiu shouted hurriedly when he saw a figure moving in the reeds on the shore.
Cao Ren was hit by an arrow from Zhao Yun in Ruxu last time. The old injury had not yet healed. Now he was hit by another arrow. He could no longer hold on and fell into the river with a thud.
"Hahaha, Cao Ren, today you are the turtle in the urn again!"
Among the reeds, a man stood up with a bow and arrow, wearing a reed hat and a raincoat. If he hadn't stood up on his own initiative, it would have been difficult to spot him.
Cao Xiu said angrily: "Why don't you dare to hurt someone with a secret arrow?"
"I am Jiangdong Ma Zhong!" The man laughed and said, "You plotted against my Commander-in-Chief and hurt my brother. You are here today to take revenge!"
This Ma Zhong was originally Pan Zhang's deputy general. Both of them were born in the green forest. They were best at ambush and assassination, using hidden weapons. They were once responsible for the security of Jiangdong, and the thieves in the territory disappeared.
A few days ago, Pan Zhang was seriously injured while protecting Zhou Yu. This time, Ma Zhong led the troops. He took the initiative to ask for orders to set up an ambush in the front, preparing to capture General Cao Ying.
Cao Xiu hurriedly returned to his horse to rescue, but an ambush appeared on the shore, and arrows were fired. Cao Xiu's army fell instantly, and only a dozen men were left, unable to cross the bridge.
Cao Ren struggled in the river. His water quality was average, and he was wearing heavy armor and was injured, making it difficult to move. He drank a few sips of water. Fortunately, there was a reef in the river, and he hurriedly hugged it tightly.
"My sons, capture Cao Ren alive!" Ma Zhong ran to the river bank, threw away his bamboo hat, took off his raincoat, and jumped into the river with a deft fish leap.
The Huai River was turbulent, but it had no effect on most Jiangdong soldiers. Ma Zhong was seen walking through the waves like a spiritual fish, approaching Cao Ren quickly.
"Get away!" Cao Xiu shouted from the bridge and hurriedly fired arrows to stop him, but Ma Zhong dived into the water and disappeared.
At this time, the Wu army had already reached the bridge and came to capture Cao Xiu. Cao Xiu could not resist, so he had to fight and walk towards the north bank.
Cao Ren had no power to fight back in the water, and he saw no movement from Ma Zhong. He became increasingly uneasy. He had been captured in Nanyang before and was humiliated by Liu Qi. How could he be captured again now?
"Heaven wants to kill me, Cao Ren will never suffer the humiliation of being captured again!"
Cao Ren shouted to the sky, and was about to draw his sword to kill himself. A huge wave hit him, making him unable to stand steadily. The sword fell from his hand and sank into the water. He suddenly fell into despair and hit the rocks with his head.
