Liu Ye went to prepare immediately after receiving the order. Cao Cao put on his cloak and walked out of the palace. Chang'an City was freezing in winter. He looked in the direction of Hanzhong and fell into deep thought.
A few years ago, Cao Cao relied on Xiahou Dun's luck to defeat Zhang Lu. Although he took Hanzhong very easily at that time, it was a pity that two-thirds of the population fled into Yizhou because of rumors that he had massacred the city.
The rich land of Hanchuan soon fell into a state of total depression due to lack of population, because all those who fled at that time were young adults, and most of those who stayed in Hanzhong were old people.
Cao Cao originally wanted Du Xi to move away the remaining people, but he did not do it after Xia Houyuan's plea. After all, if all the people in Hanzhong were wiped out, there would be no one to support the army left in Hanzhong.
At this time, there were few people in Hanzhong and very little food. Cao Cao had to carry the supplies for his reinforcements by himself, and the subsequent food and grass also needed to continue to be transported from the Central Plains. Therefore, Cao Cao loved and hated the land of Hanzhong.
In order to completely defeat Liu Bei in Hanzhong, Cao Cao took away 50,000 soldiers from all over the country who gathered in Chang'an. When he sent troops, Cao Hong also led more than 30,000 soldiers to reinforce Yangping Pass.
As soon as Cao Hong's army marched to the vicinity of Juxiang, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao appeared outside Xiabian City again. Because the Qiang and Di people they recruited were good at shooting, they fought with Cao Xiu's defenders directly under the city, causing the Xiabian defenders to fight. The casualties were very high.
Cao Hong knew that Cao Xiu was brave and resourceful and had 3,000 elite tiger and leopard cavalry, so he left him with 3,000 ordinary soldiers to defend the city. After all, he only had to hold on for a few days before Cao Cao came. With Cao Xiu's ability, he could defend the city.
The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were the elite of Cao's army, selected from more than a hundred generals. It was not easy to train even one, and their equipment was very expensive, so Cao Xiu was reluctant to let the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry defend the city.
Apart from the tiger and leopard cavalry, Cao Xiu only had 3,000 soldiers guarding the city. Facing the attack of more than 10,000 Qiang and Hu soldiers by Zhang Fei and Ma Chao, no matter how capable he was, it would be difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice.
Seeing that the three thousand defenders were getting fewer and fewer, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao were fighting and yelling at the city. After a battle between heaven and man, Cao Xiu finally chose to save the strength of the tiger and leopard cavalry and give up the debate.
Cao Xiu led his tiger and leopard cavalry to break out at dusk. Zhang Fei ordered Ma Chao to lead his troops in pursuit and ordered him to return immediately if he found anything wrong.
The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were a mixture of light and heavy cavalry, and the heavy cavalry moved very slowly. Seeing Ma Chao clinging to the rear, Cao Xiu had no choice but to cut off his tail to survive. He ordered the five hundred heavy armored cavalry to cut off the rear, and he and the remaining Tiger and Leopard Cavalry Escape to the river and pond.
Five hundred tiger and leopard cavalry knew they would die, so they resisted tenaciously for half an hour. Finally, more than two hundred cavalry were left and surrendered to Ma Chao. The heavy armored cavalry who died in the battle were full of good things, so Ma Chao stopped chasing after him.
Ma Chao had the cavalry buried, and then took their "relics" back to Xiabian to join Zhang Fei.
In the first month of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Zhang Fei wandered away for nearly a year and reoccupied the administrative seat of Wudu.
Zhang Fei learned from the surrendered soldiers of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry that Cao Cao would lead his troops to rescue Yangping Pass via Chencang Road, so he discussed with Ma Chao: "Meng Qi, the Cao thieves are much more powerful than Cao Hong and Cao Xiu. We have more than ten thousand people." The Qiang Han soldiers are still not enough."
Ma Chao said nonchalantly: "So what if Cao has so many traitors? Cao Hong and Cao Xiu have been fooled by you these past few months. At worst, we will continue to play guerrilla with him, so that he will have no energy to support Hanzhong."
"Thief Cao can go if he wants. Let's stay in Wudu and rob his food route." The black-faced Zhang Fei showed his white teeth.
Ma Chao was startled when he heard this. He thought that the three generals now also like to attack people's weak points, but he lamented that Jiangwutang's guerrilla tactics were very good.
"What's Yide's clever plan?" Ma Chao asked.
Zhang Fei nodded: "The newly acquired Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are treasures. We can't stay here waiting for them to defect. We can first move all the food and grass in Xiaben City to the Shenlangqiang Mountain, and then let Lei Ding choose dozens of them." The small team of Qiang and Di people are in the mountains to the north and south of Xiabian to confuse the Cao thieves, and the two of us are responsible for providing support in the middle."
"Wonderful, being able to play with Cao Cao's thief is more satisfying than killing him." Ma Chao's eyes lit up.
"Then make arrangements immediately. Cao Cao will arrive in Wudu soon." Zhang Fei urged.
"Wei." Ma Chao responded with cupped fists.
Zhang Fei didn't have time to enjoy the debate after taking possession, so he immediately arranged for people to transfer supplies, select personnel, and good horses, and prepared to play a cat-and-mouse game with Cao Cao.
Cao Xiu fled to Hechi for a short rest, and then hurriedly led the tiger and leopard cavalry to Dashan Pass. Zhang Fei, the Cao family's Qianliju, couldn't understand Zhang Fei, who loved to play tricks.
Cao Xiu, who had been given high hopes by Cao Cao before, felt that his intelligence was at least higher than Zhang Fei, but after nearly a year of pulling him, he found that this black guy was getting more and more cunning, and his dirty tactics made it difficult for him to keep up. , because this wild road is not in the military book at all.
Cao Xiubing met Cao Cao outside Dashan Pass. He appeared in front of Cao Cao with a red face and bowed head, and truthfully told the story of Zhang Fei's recapture of Bian.
After hearing this, Cao Cao immediately showed an incredulous expression: "Wen Lie, is your opponent really that black-faced Zhang Fei?"
"Well... because Wu Yi was repulsed, the only ones left in Wudu were Zhang Fei, or his deputy Ma Chao..." Cao Xiu looked ashamed.
"Ma'er? Absolutely impossible. His father Ma Teng doesn't even have such brains, let alone the concubine of a Qiang girl? There's no way Ma'er can have such ability. Wasn't he being played alone in the Wei River in the past?" Cao Cao snorted coldly.
"Zhang Fei once defeated General Jun Yi in Nanjun, and later defeated General Jun Yi again in Danqu. It seems that we all underestimated the black man before..." Liu Ye shook his head and sighed.
Cao Cao frowned: "Back then, Pang Tong offered advice in Nanjun, and Danqu was because of the favorable geographical location. In short, it was Zhang He who was incompetent. However, this black guy was played by Lu Bu in the past, but now it is impressive. Liu Bei already has the invincible Guan Yu, if Zhang He Fei Ye has grown into a wise and brave general, which is really a serious problem for Gu."
"King Wei, are you planning to..." Liu Ye hesitated before speaking.
Cao Cao sneered and said: "Now that Zhang Fei has arrived, Gu will naturally break Liu Xuande's wings. What kind of hypocritical peach garden sworn alliance? Gu will burn all the peach trees for him."
"What about Yangping Pass?" Liu Ye asked again.
"Zilian and Zidan have gone, and there is no new military information coming from Yangping Pass. I think the big-eared thief may not succeed. Let's finish dealing with Zhang Fei and Ma Chao in Wudu first, and wait for the rear to collect food and grass. "Cao Cao made up his mind.
All the generals accompanying the army were silent. Cao Cao said to Cao Xiu: "Zhang Fei's little skills are not worth mentioning. All tricks are useless in the face of absolute power. I will assign two thousand tigers and leopards to lead the way for you. Don't fight easily when you encounter Zhang Fei or Ma Chao."
"Wei." Cao Xiu clasped his fists loudly.
With Cao Cao's encouragement, Cao Xiu instantly gained motivation and said to Zhang Fei, "Where are you going to escape?"
When Cao Xiu's troops arrived at Hechi, there was no trace of Zhang Fei. He carefully led the tiger and leopard cavalry to Xiabian, only to see that the city gate of Xiabian was closed and there was no one on the wall.
Cao Xiu was stunned and thought to himself, what kind of trick is Zhang Fei doing? This is not his style at all.
