But just after making the decision, Li Dian regretted it again. He knew that Cao Cao acted cautiously, so he was very irregular when patrolling the camp, and he was accompanied by tiger guards. If he noticed something strange and alerted the snake, he might be killed.
He asked his servants to cook some food and prepared to discuss it with his followers. Unexpectedly, after a while, Cao Cao suddenly received news. Cao Cao actually sent Cao Zhen, the mighty general, to convey the message. Li Dian asked his disciples: "How many men and horses does Cao Zhen have?" The disciples said: "There are no less than a hundred horses, and they have surrounded the courtyard."
Li Dian was shocked. He had no time to mobilize his troops and horses, and he only had dozens of followers around him. What if Cao Zhen came to ask questions?
Cao Zhen's biological father was the brother of Cao Cao's wife, but he was actually Cao Cao's adopted son. He was quite famous in the army, so his power was unrivaled among the younger generation. Without waiting for a reply, he suddenly broke in with more than ten people. Seeing Li Dian and his cronies sitting at the table, he couldn't help but sneered before he could get up, and shouted to Li Dian: "Marshal, please send me to discuss military matters!"
Li Dian was very embarrassed and replied: "It's late today, why don't the marshal come to my camp tomorrow to discuss it."
Before Cao Zhen could speak, a follower on the side glared and said angrily: "All I know is that the marshal wants you to go immediately!" As soon as he finished speaking, the follower held the knife in his left hand and took the lead, trying to grab Li Dian's arm with his right hand.
At this moment, Li Zhong, a knight who was kneeling next to Li Dian, suddenly stood up and stabbed the man in the face with his sword. Cao Zhen only looked at Li Dian, but he didn't expect someone to attack him? He only heard screams and watched as his entourage was stabbed in the face with a knife. Li Dian took advantage of the situation and pounced on him, slashing with his sword, and chopped the man to the ground. Cao Zhen was also hit by a knife. Seeing that the situation was not good, he endured the pain and immediately ran out with his men.
When Li Dian saw what had happened, he also drew his sword and shouted: "Follow me and fight out to seize the horse!"
A group of people had no time to put on their armor, so they rushed out from inside holding bows and swords, and fired arrows at the cavalry outside. The people outside had just learned of the accident and had not yet dismounted their horses. They were suddenly hit by a burst of arrows and lost several men and horses. Then they all jumped off their horses and started shooting at the people who were rushing towards them. Li Dian and others did not avoid casualties, but came up to kill people and seize horses. Cao Zhen's cavalry gathered to besiege them.
In the melee, Cao Zhen's side suffered nearly half casualties, allowing Li Dian and others to seize the horses and break out. But Li Dian also suffered heavy losses, with less than a dozen of his confidants left. What's even more terrible is that he had no time to inform his relatives. Except for his only son Li Zhen who was able to accompany him, the rest of his family members, such as Li Feng and others, were all captured and beheaded. Finally, Li Dian gathered some of his cavalry on the periphery, about a hundred of them, and ran west through the snow to join the Western Dynasty.
The next day it snowed and the sky cleared, the sky was endless blue, the air was cold and crisp, and the land along both sides of the Jiangshui River was silvery white, contrasting with dark brown dead trees that stretched to the sky. The cavalry of the Western Army marched eastward, their armored weapons gleaming in the sunlight, and the bright scene could be seen for miles away.
Just after Chen hour, the two armies met north of Jiangshui. Both armies lined up their cavalry forward, with one side facing the Jiangshui River and the other side extending toward the back of the water. In addition to armor, the Western Army also wore furs to protect them from the cold. On the other hand, Cao Cao's army on the opposite side was covered in large pieces of yellow-brown cloth. Compared with the Western army, they were very shabby. They had no military appearance and momentum, and they could not withstand the cold weather after snow.
Liu Bei, Yuan Tan, and Xun You rode together to understand the enemy's situation. Yuan Tan, who had not been victorious in many battles before, could not help but feel a little afraid in his heart, and his expression looked solemn. However, Liu Bei and Xun You were chatting and laughing as usual. He said to Yuan Tan: "If you fight by water, the attacker will win. The loser will be blocked by the river. Once defeated, there will be little chance of escape. I will use this crimson water as a chopping board today. The cavalry was used as a hammer, and Cao Cao was beaten into dust!"
Yuan Tan said in confusion: "The Eastern bandit army is well-organized and they are all battle-hardened warriors. I'm afraid they won't be easily defeated, right?"
Xun You smiled and said: "The military appearance is nothing more than appearance. Look at the many people standing opposite. I am afraid that less than half of them are still following Cao Cao wholeheartedly."
A cold wind blew across the Jiangshui River, and the flags of both armies were ringing. Opposite, Cao Cao's army remained motionless. It seemed that Cao Cao was thinking of some strange plan. Could he defeat the powerful enemy again?
At this time, more than a hundred riders rushed out of the Western Army formation. The three people in front of them were all dressed in gorgeous clothes. They were obviously prominent figures in the Western Army. Riding in the middle is Yuan Tan, the eldest son of the Yuan family, and those on both sides are Sima Yi and Li Dian, who have just surrendered.
The three men immediately stood between the two armies. Yuan Tan cleared his throat and shouted to the Eastern Army: "Listen, officers and soldiers, when His Majesty conquered the East, he was determined to unify and support the country. He had no grudge against you. Cao Cao was in chaos. For twenty years, he was the only one who was guilty and had nothing to do with the others. Why would you sacrifice your lives for him again? Now that you have brought order to the chaos and submitted to the imperial court, you are not only innocent but also meritorious. What are the benefits of following Cao Cao again? The imperial court has hundreds of thousands of troops. We are gathering together to crusade, do you still have a chance to win? If you can't defeat me, you want to flee to Liaodong, but Youzhou has already surrendered. How can you still have a way out? Don't forget, today's people are originally from Zhuojun and Hebei, so how can they be in trouble with you? ?”
After the shouting, many people in Cao Cao's army recognized Yuan Tan and became a little commotion. At this time, Sima Yi rode out and shouted: "I am Sima Yi. You all know me. The court has agreed. After all, Hebei will be exempted from taxes for three years. What else is there to worry about?" Li Dian also agreed.
At this point, the Eastern Army was finally in an uproar. Yuan Tan timely ordered people to unfurl the royal flag of the sun, moon and stars, and brought out a Yu Bao covered carriage. The people around him immediately bowed to Yu Bao and saluted, and then gathered around. The person sitting in the car was none other than Liu Bei, the emperor of the Western Dynasty. It was the first time for many people in the Eastern Army to see Liu Bei so close, but they could all guess his identity, and cheers arose one after another in an instant.
Liu Bei stood up calmly, cleared his throat, pointed his sword at the sky and said loudly: "I, Liu Bei, swear to God that I will never blame the surrendered soldiers, and my official honor will remain as before. If you persist in your obsession, don't blame me for being ruthless. I am as ruthless as ever. If you lie, you will be killed by random arrows!"
Yuan Tan then shouted: "Listen to your Majesty, if you leave the formation and go north, if you leave the battle, you will be considered as surrender!"
This was Liu Bei's old wisdom in persuading him to surrender to the Baibo Rebellion, and now it is even more convenient to use it. The Eastern Army was already disorganized, and now that it was convinced of the failure of Youzhou, it lost even more fighting spirit. Now that Liu Bei actually showed up and swore that he would keep his official position and forget about it, he immediately responded in an uproar. The various armies in Hebei, whether cavalry or infantry, that were originally held hostage by Cao Cao, all abandoned their military flags at this time, mixed with each other, and ran north in a chaotic manner.
Just like the arrival of spring floods, in just a moment or two, the originally seemingly tight Eastern Army formation was completely shattered, and the right wing was completely scattered. What was left was just a few Qingxu soldiers, who had attacked Liu Bei because of the Geng Cang incident. Dissatisfied, so there is no change. Many Hebei people in the remaining two armies were also in commotion, but they were unable to move because they were blocked by Qingxu soldiers.
Liu Bei took advantage of this moment and ordered the drums to be played loudly, and the cavalry was divided into three teams to attack at the same time, from west to east, diagonally facing Jiangshui. More than 10,000 iron cavalry shook the heaven and the earth, heading towards the Eastern Army like Shura in the last days. Many people in the Eastern Army's formation had no fighting spirit at all. They were still in the formation. To put it bluntly, they just didn't have time to escape. There was no way they would fight a bloody battle with the Western Army. When they saw this, they simply tried to run away. But this would only lead to the collapse of the entire army. Many Dongmen pushed each other and could not run fast. In just a moment, they were trampled into a puddle of flesh on the scattered military flags.
In this situation, Cao Cao's defeat was determined.
Cao Cao seemed to have had a premonition that the Western Army's cavalry was coming, and he had already moved his horse eastward with the tiger soldiers' cronies. The remaining Eastern Army, especially those on the left wing by the river, were squeezed into Jiangshui. The Western Army only focused on racing and killing without mercy. In particular, Guan Yu's command of the Chinese army had many blood feuds with the Dongren. At this time, several of them worked hard to drive the Dongren soldiers into the water along the river.
The people from the East were driven into Jiangshui River in droves, and they all died when they landed on the river bank. They all rushed to cross the river to escape. Countless people crowded into the icy cold river water, and countless people were trampled and drowned. When Liu Bei realized that Cao Cao had escaped, he ordered the execution to stop and captured Dongren on the spot. The crimson water has really been dyed red, and the cold water surface is actually steaming with steam, and the corpses of the Eastern Army are floating on it, stretching endlessly.
Those Dongren soldiers who fled the army and hid in the north to disarm and surrender saw such a cruel scene, and many of them burst into tears. While he was thankful that he had escaped the catastrophe, he was probably more wailing for those comrades who had fought side by side with him in the past.
There were actually dozens of women in armor in Cao Cao's formation. I don't know where Cao Cao kidnapped them from. It was a pity that these weak women were unable to fight back in the chaos. More than half of them were killed or injured in the chaos, and only seven or eight survived. After hearing this, Liu Bei was very compassionate and ordered them to be sent to Luoyang for resettlement.
Cao Cao led three hundred horses and ran eastward for more than thirty miles, stopping to let the horses rest while collecting the remaining troops. At this time, Xindu City was less than a few miles north of him, and its outline was vaguely visible. Cao Cao remembered that there was still a lot of food and supplies in Xindu City, which he had obtained by force. Once Liu Bei's army arrived, he would probably have all of it. In this case, wouldn't he be giving Liu Bei a big gift for nothing?
This idea made Cao Cao very unwilling, so he called Zhu Ling and several others, and asked them to go into the city and set fire to the food before Liu Bei arrived. After that, they would meet in the plain.
Zhu Ling was shocked after hearing this, but he was not willing to disobey. He only called more than ten people to ride horses and rushed to Xindu City. At this time, the news of the Eastern Army's defeat had reached the capital, and the city was in chaos. The rebels who had returned first were looting everywhere. In order to fight for the fleeing horses or the plundered women, people were throwing arrows and drawing swords, and the granaries were in chaos. There was no one watching, so some people took advantage of the situation and came in to grab the food. But when they saw Zhu Ling and others coming in with knives, they were frightened and ran away.
Where could they escape to? This question flashed through Zhu Ling's mind, and immediately made him laugh. He didn't want to join Cao Cao anymore, but he also didn't want to switch to Liu Bei, so he quickly dismissed his entourage and walked into the mountains of corn with a torch. Soon, thick black smoke rose into the blue sky. The capital city of the Eastern Dynasty, which had been painstakingly built for decades, was quickly surrounded by unprecedented fires. It lasted for several days, and the smell of burning smell could be felt for dozens of miles. Sniff.
