After leaving Shouchun City, they divided the food, grass and other items in Shouchun City and returned to their camps.
After Cao Cao returned to the camp, he immediately asked the messenger to send an order to Xu Huang who was far away in Tongbai Mountain. Pay attention to Zhang Xiu's troops returning to the army, and then asked Liu Bei to be called.
Yuan Shu is hiding in the land of Huainan. He is at the end of his battle and is expected to die soon. Now he has two main goals, one is Lu Bu in Xuzhou and the other is Zhang Xiu in Nanyang.
Between Lu Bu and Zhang Xiu, the first person he wanted to destroy was Zhang Xiu.
Lu Bu is brave and resourceful, and does not have much ambition. A high-ranking official can satisfy his appetite. But Zhang Xiu was different. Under the sharp appearance, Cao Cao vaguely saw Zhang Xiu's hidden ambition.
The high official and generous salary cannot satisfy Zhang Xiu's appetite, so the cleanest way is to get rid of him.
Zhang Xiu wants to be destroyed, but Lu Bu must also be comforted. When he attacks Zhang Xiu, Lu Bu cannot stab Zhang Xiu in the back, otherwise, he will be attacked from both sides.
The natural way to appease him is to be promoted to a higher position. This is the most direct way to appease Lu Bu, but appeasing him alone is not enough, he also needs to be intimidated. Liu Bei was stationed at Xiaopei, and with two powerful generals, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, it was not a problem to temporarily frighten Lu Bu.
After the messenger came to find Liu Bei, Liu Bei immediately understood Cao Cao's purpose in finding him. He also knew that once Yuan Shu was destroyed, it would be Zhang Xiu and Lu Bu's turn. He guessed that Zhang Xiu should be targeted first.
Came to Cao Ying to meet Cao Cao.
Cao Cao took Liu Bei's wrist affectionately and set up a banquet to sit and drink together. Liu Bei sat firmly on the couch and just drank, waiting for Cao Cao to tell the truth.
After drinking for three rounds, Cao Cao's eyes smelled of alcohol and he said with a smile: "Why can Xuande sit still and say nothing today?"
Liu Bei said: "The Prime Minister has come to invite you. There must be something important. Be prepared to listen attentively to what the Prime Minister has to say."
"Yes!" Cao Cao nodded, "I ordered you to station troops in Xiaopei. This is a 'dig a hole to wait for the tiger' strategy. Please discuss with Chen Gui and his son to avoid any mistakes. When I have defeated Nanyang, I will return to destroy Lu." .”
Liu Bei leaned forward and said, "Be prepared to obey your orders."
…
Even when Cao Cao and Liu Bei were conspiring, Zhang Xiu was not idle.
While he was preparing his troops to break camp, he asked Wei Yan to go to the Huaihe River to prepare a boat for the ferry, and he also asked someone to invite Lu Bu.
Lu Bu thought it was Zhang Xiu's farewell banquet, so he led Zhang Liao on horseback, whipped up his whip, and galloped over on a red rabbit horse.
Zhang Xiu welcomed them into the camp outside the village.
When Lu Bu saw Zhang Xiu setting up camp, he asked doubtfully, "Why are you so anxious, my dear brother? Is there something happening in Nanyang?"
Zhang Xiu held a banquet, invited them to sit down, drank three glasses of wine, and said with emotion: "Now that Yuan Shu has fled south, his power has declined. There is no rival for Cao Cao in the Central Plains. Now that my brother has occupied Xuzhou, for Cao Cao, it is It’s like a light on my back!”
Lu Bu smiled and said: "I and Duke Cao will not interfere with each other. Why is he afraid of me? If he really wants to take action against me, I, Lu Bu, am not a vegetarian."
Zhang Xiu nodded sharply: "Everyone knows how brave my brother is, but it is difficult for him to fight with two fists. Cao Cao has Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Xia Houchun in martial arts, and Guo Jia and Xun Yu in Wen. If he raises 200,000 troops to invade, Xuzhou, is it possible that my brother is an enemy?"
Lu Bu looked at Zhang Xiu seriously: "My dear brother invited me here, why?"
Zhang Xiu clasped his fists and said, "Xiu is willing to form an alliance with my brother. If Cao Cao raises troops to invade Xuzhou, I will lead his troops out of Nanyang and threaten Xudu so that Cao Cao will not be able to care about each other. If Cao Cao raises troops to Nanyang, I will ask my brother to help me solve the problem."
Zhang Xiu and Lu Bu, one on the left and the other on the right, sandwiched Cao Cao exactly in the middle. Whichever Cao Cao wanted to attack, he had to be prepared for the flanking attack of the other.
As long as the two of them cooperate properly, it is possible to kill Cao Cao. Besides, there is still a powerful Yuan Shao watching from the north.
Zhang Liao nodded: "In this way, our family will be safe from worries."
Lu Bu saw Zhang Liao nodded and immediately agreed: "In this case, I will form an alliance with my virtuous brother. If Cao Cao invades Nanyang, I will send troops to threaten Yanzhou so that he can't look after each other."
Zhang Xiu was overjoyed and invited him to drink three glasses of wine.
Seeing Zhang Xiu's boldness, Lu Bu was overjoyed. He drank three glasses of wine in succession and said, "Drinking with my virtuous brother, it's really a pleasure!"
After drinking till the night, the three of them were so drunk that they felt like another person was talking inside their brains.
When leaving, Zhang Xiu reminded Lu Bu to be careful of the Chen family and his son in Xuzhou. Lu Bu swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said with a smell of alcohol in his eyes: "Brother, I have recorded the words of a good brother."
Zhang Xiu sent them out of the camp and secretly thrust a letter into Zhang Liao's hand. This secret move instantly shocked Zhang Liao out of most of his alcoholic state, and he stared at Zhang Xiu in surprise.
Because in the darkness, Lu Bu was so intoxicated that he didn't notice at all.
Zhang Xiu handed the secret letter to Zhang Liao, letting Zhang Liao stare at him without replying, and sent Lu Bu on his horse to leave. Zhang Liao did not dare to stay longer, and hurriedly hid the letter in his arms, deeply He glanced at Zhang Xiu and chased after him.
Watching Zhang Liao and the others leave, Zhang Xiu looked at them for a long time.
Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Chen Gong are all talented people in the world. There will definitely be no good results if they follow Lu Bu, a weakling. This letter can save their lives in Xiapi City.
It depends on whether they can seize this opportunity.
Zhang Xiu is very concerned about Zhang Liao's handsome talent, and this talent must not fall into Cao Cao's hands.
The camp has been packed up. The cavalry used the wooden fence method to camp, with a wooden fence surrounding it. Now, all the military tents have been put away, leaving only an empty wooden fence.
At this time, Wei Yan came on horseback and said that the ferry was ready.
Zhang Xiu immediately ordered the entire army to mount their horses and leave the camp, and asked Wei Yan to lead three thousand cavalry, one soldier and two flags, to mislead Cao Cao's information. He led the remaining cavalry to forcefully cross the Huaihe River.
Cao Cao arranged scouts outside Zhangxiu's military camp. He moved out of the camp with great fanfare just to show Cao Cao's scouts and let them know that he was leaving.
Amidst the rumble of horse hooves, Zhang Xiu led eight thousand cavalry to the west. The pace behind them was slower and the pace in front was faster. However, in the galloping horses, flying dust, and darkness, Cao Jun's scouts could not tell. This subtle difference.
In addition, the people behind were three thousand cavalry led by Wei Yan. Each man had two flags. Looking at the densely packed flags in the dust from a distance, Cao Cao's scouts thought that the army was advancing slowly.
They immediately sent people back to report the situation to Cao Cao, while other scouts followed Wei Yan's soldiers and horses from a distance.
At this time, Zhang Xiu led five thousand people and galloped to the ferry where boats had been prepared. In order to allow the cavalry to quickly cross the Huaihe River, Wei Yan used boats to build a pontoon bridge in the river.
The troops of Xiliang were all landlubbers, they were afraid of water, and their horses were not trained and were afraid of water.
But time waits for no one. If Cao Cao finds out, he will definitely send his troops south to pursue him. As a last resort, Zhang Xiu rushed to the pontoon bridge, controlled the panicked horse, and jumped across the bridge.
Seeing Zhang Xiu like this, the soldiers became more courageous. First, Zhang Xiu's soldiers crossed the river one after another, and the others suppressed their fear and began to cross the river.
Zhang Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.
Among the five thousand people, more than a dozen horses fell into the Huaihe River uncontrollably. Zhang Xiu organized people to rescue the people who fell into the water, but the horses were already dead.
In three hours, at daybreak, Zhang Xiu's five thousand troops crossed the Huaihe River and headed towards Huoshan.
When it was broad daylight, Cao Cao's scouts saw clearly that the group of people they were following consisted of one person and two flags, and there were only two or three thousand people at most.
The scout panicked and told Cao Cao the news.
Cao Cao was furious and killed the scouts who reported the news. Guo Jia accurately guessed that this was Zhang Xiu's plan to escape, and asked Cao Cao to lead his army across the river to pursue him.
Cao Cao ordered Dian Wei and Xu Chu to lead 10,000 cavalry, bypassing Lu Bu's sight, pretending to return north, and galloping southward to pursue Zhang Xiu's men.
