Cao Hong is Cao Cao's younger brother.
As early as when Cao Cao launched an army to attack Dong Zhuo, he followed Cao Cao in the north and south, saved Cao Cao's life several times, and won Cao Cao's trust.
Cao Cao gave Cao Hong the important task of staying in Xudu, which shows his trust in him.
Cao Hong was touched by this trust, but also felt a lot of pressure.
There were more than 5,000 elite soldiers in Xudu City, and Xun Yu helped him defend the city, but for some reason, he always had a bad feeling.
This premonition came out of nowhere when Cao Cao left Xudu.
He was not afraid of charging into battle, but it gave him a headache to face the various officials, big and small, in Xudu's inner court.
When Cao Cao was here, he could report anything to him, but now, he had to make the decision.
He didn't dare to make the decision on many things, and he had to guard against the people inside making trouble.
In the past two days, Dong Cheng, the uncle of the state, ran to the palace from time to time. Cao Hong ordered his men to supervise him at all times, but they got nothing and had no idea what Dong Cheng was doing there.
He couldn't directly hold him and question him like Cao Cao.
Xun Yu had no choice but to let Dong Cheng in and out.
Just when Cao Hong was worried about Dong Cheng's matter, one hundred and fifty people arranged by Li Tong had passed the inspection and sneaked into the city, scattered around the city gate.
The cavalry maintained their charging speed, and the distance of ten miles was quickly reached.
When the soldiers in the east of the city felt the ground shaking, they immediately realized that a large group of cavalry was coming. This was Xu Ducheng. They mistakenly thought it was their own soldiers.
When the cavalry on the opposite side rushed a thousand steps away, they were suddenly alerted that they were enemy troops.
The soldiers on the city immediately beat drums and shouted a warning. When the soldiers guarding the city hurriedly closed the city gate, they were unprepared and were attacked from behind. A dozen soldiers at the city gate were quickly knocked down.
The suspension bridge on the moat was raised by less than half. These people attacked the city and lowered the suspension bridge.
At this time, after hearing the drumming, the city's defenders quickly rushed to the east gate of the city. For a while, a fierce battle started at the city gate and on the top of the city.
Li Tong patted his horse desperately and rushed to the city gate as fast as possible. The Xiliang horse jumped up, crossed the suspension bridge, and rushed into Xudu City.
The cavalry from behind swarmed in.
Cao Hong was eating when he heard the drums at the city gate. He was stunned for a moment, thinking that he heard it wrong. When the drums sounded impatiently, he jumped up in surprise, picked up the short knife in his chopping hands, and rushed towards the city gate. .
At this time, Xu Ducheng's drums were beating continuously, and all the defenders rushed to the east of the city.
When Cao Honghuo rushed to the city in a hurry, Li Tong had already rushed in at the lead, and the six thousand cavalry behind him rushed in unstoppably.
When Cao Hong saw this scene, his vision went dark and he almost fainted, thinking: 'It's over! '
The cavalry that fully charged were unstoppable. Wherever the cavalry passed, there was a mess. The soldiers were afraid to avoid it and ran away frantically.
Cao Hong did not dare to escape, so he took hundreds of guards behind him and rushed to fight for his life.
Originally, it was impossible for Li Tong to beat Cao Hong, but now Li Tong took advantage of the full galloping momentum of his horse and was as good as Cao Hong with his sword.
Cao Hong blocked Li Tong, but could not stop the six thousand cavalry behind Li Tong.
Xu Ducheng was breached instantly.
Cao Hong didn't dare to fight, so he pulled away and ran to the palace.
The palace is separated from the Xu capital city. This is a palace specially built by Cao Cao. The entire Xu capital city is divided into two cities, the inner and outer cities. Li Tong attacked the outer city, and Cao Hong immediately turned around and entered the inner city to defend.
This result is what Li Tong wants.
Xudu's defenders either surrendered or retreated to the inner city to defend themselves. The entire outer city became the domain of Li Tong's cavalry, and the people in the city ran around in panic.
After the city was captured, Li Tong's troops went to the inner city.
The wall of the inner city is three to four meters high, and it is obviously newly built. If he wants to break through the inner city, the 6,000 people he has can still fight it.
But it's not necessary.
His purpose has been achieved.
Just waiting for Cao Cao to get the news, he rushed back, and he couldn't stay in this place for long.
Cao Cao's territory is in all directions, and rescue troops may arrive at any time. When the time comes, he will face the dilemma of being attacked from both sides.
Li Tong asked people to guard the four gates and then surrounded the inner city. Others began to search for the property in the city.
But there was no invasion of Cao Cao's residence.
Zhang Xiu's purpose was to force Cao Cao to return to the army and defeat him, but there was no need to form a deadly feud. Zhang Xiu knew that Cao Cao was a man who had been touched by Tao Qian before.
The consequence is that Xuzhou is gone.
What Zhang Xiu needs now is space for development. If Cao Cao is forced to fight with him, it will be counterproductive.
That afternoon, after Li Tong collected enough property, he left through the east gate.
When Cao Hong saw Li Tong retreating, he immediately ran to check Cao Cao's mansion and found that it had not been invaded. He was relieved. However, he was a little confused and asked Xun Yu who came with him next to him: "Why did the rebels enter the city and not attack?" Leave?"
Xun Yu thought for a while, then his expression changed greatly: "No, if Duke Ming learns that Xu's capital city has been destroyed, he will definitely return to the army to rescue him. I'm afraid Zhang Xiu has an ambush on the way, so he will immediately hurry up and notify Duke Ming."
Cao Hong suddenly realized it. Thinking about the consequences, he broke into a cold sweat and immediately sent people out of the city.
Li Tong was guarding outside.
When one comes out, kill one; when a pair comes out, kill a pair.
…
Duyang City screamed in agony.
This is the fourth time Cao Jun has attacked the city since Chen Bing.
This time the siege was extremely fierce, and both Dian Wei and Xia Houchun joined the battle.
Duyang City was almost destroyed.
Wei Yan had a cold face and led his soldiers to defend the city in an organized and rhythmic manner. In order to prevent those fierce generals from climbing up the ladder, he specially asked a few soldiers to keep an eye on Dian Wei and Xia Houchun.
When they climbed up from there, there were countless rolling stones and logs coming down to greet them.
Dian Wei and Xia Houchun were stunned and had nothing to do.
The fighting in the city was fierce, and the rolling stones and logs prepared before were almost used. All the houses in the city were demolished, but it was still not enough.
Cao Cao stood behind and watched from a distance.
He didn't expect that the small Duyang City could withstand the attack for three days.
At this time, people who had fled from Xudu came to report the news.
When Cao Cao learned that Xu's capital city had been defeated, he jumped into a rage, widened his eyes and was about to return to his army, but was stopped by Guo Jia.
Guo Jia said: "Ming Gong, this is Jia Xu's plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao! Zhang Xiu will definitely not send too many troops, otherwise Duyang City will not be able to defend for so long. Xu is in our hinterland. They will never dare to attack the city. If we stay here, it is better to work hard and destroy Duyang City. Once Duyang City is destroyed, Nanyang will be ours."
Cao Cao took a deep breath and blinked a fierce murderous aura in his slightly narrowed eyes. After weighing the pros and cons, he suddenly gave the order:
"Command to the ban and attack the city at all costs!"
…
Hanshan Mountain.
Zhang Xiu looked at the situation in Duyang City.
He already knew the news about Li Tong's attack on Xudu, and fifteen thousand cavalry were ready to attack, waiting to ambush Cao Cao when he returned to the army and passed here.
At this time, Tan Ma came and reported bad news: "My lord, Cao Cao did not retreat, but attacked Duyang City with all his strength. Duyang City is in danger."
Zhang Xiu's calm face finally changed.
He immediately realized that the masters in Cao's army had seen through his plan.
Once Duyang City is breached, he will be doomed.
"Lord!" Hu Che'er looked at Zhang Xiu impatiently.
At this time, Zhang Xiu was surprisingly calm, staring somewhere ahead, calculating what would happen next in his mind.
Combining the terrain outside Duyang City and thinking for a moment, Zhang Xiu had a solution in his mind.
There are many mountains on both sides of Duyang City, and it is impossible for Cao Cao's 150,000 troops to be placed in one place. Cutting off food and grass will not solve the urgent need for Duyang City, which is in danger.
The best way is to take Cao Cao by surprise, divide the 150,000-strong army into three parts, and then pursue and kill Cao Cao. As long as Cao Cao's commanding flag is cut off, Cao Cao's army will be leaderless.
Cao Cao and Cao Jun's counselors must have never imagined that there are 15,000 cavalry hidden on Han Mountain.
This is a surprising move to win, and it is also the key to turning defeat into victory.
Zhang Xiu immediately ordered: "Hu Che'er, you lead 7,000 cavalry to cut off Cao's army from the middle. I will lead the remaining cavalry and charge straight to Cao's camp."
"yes!"
Hu Cheer took the order and quickly went to prepare.
