As the news of Li Xiang's capture of Chang'an and Yang Jian's death spread throughout the world, the Xiang family was not the only one who was unhappy. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, who were still blocked from Hulao Pass, were also depressed.
A few days later, when news of the situation at Huguan came through, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were even more headache-ridden. The current situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable for them. Of course, Cao Cao just had a simple headache, but what Yuan Shao hid behind his headache was his uncontrollable ecstasy.
Gongsun Zan died, and Gongsun Yang, Gongsun Ao and other generals also perished in that battle. Even the white horse Yi Cong, whom Gongsun Zan was most proud of during his lifetime, had been maimed, with only the last few hundred people left. , the power of the Gongsun clan suffered heavy losses. No matter how you look at it, this news is a good thing for Yuan Shao.
"Lord, there is news that Jin reinforcements are about to arrive at Hulao Pass!" Cao Cao's counselor Xun You and Yuan Shao's counselor Cui Hao both arrived, and together they passed the news to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.
"How many people are here?" Cao Cao's face turned dark and he asked Xun You gloomily.
"Lord, there are about 40,000 troops!" Xun You replied without thinking.
The 40,000 infantry and cavalry troops marched in a mighty and mighty manner. This kind of news is not difficult to find out. In today's world, which prince does not arrange a few spies among other forces.
Hearing this, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao showed different expressions.
"Hey, Mengde, Hulao Pass is extremely strong, and we have lost our troops. Now, the enemy's reinforcements have arrived. We have no chance of winning this battle, so we might as well retreat as soon as possible!" After a moment of silence, Yuan Shao seemed helpless. said.
Yuan Shao was right. After the enemy's reinforcements arrived, they really had no chance to break through Hulao Pass. Moreover, now that the Yongliang War is over, it doesn't make much sense for them to break through Hulao Pass again. Unless they can capture Sizhou as quickly as possible after breaking through Hulao Pass, it's a pity that with their strength, they simply can't accomplish this.
The most important thing is that Yuan Shao no longer wants to continue spending money here. What he wants to do most now is to take advantage of Gongsun Zan's death and the chaos among Gongsun Zan's forces to capture the opponent as quickly as possible and completely unify the entire Jizhou.
This time Yuan Shao sent troops, the purpose was to prevent Li Xiang from occupying Yongliang and to use this to consume his so-called ally Gongsun Zan.
Judging from the current situation, although the first goal has not been completed, he has achieved the second goal, and this second goal has been achieved better than he imagined. It can be said that the task has been exceeded.
"What I said in the beginning is reasonable, but it's a pity for the soldiers who died in these days!" At this point, Cao Cao also had the idea of retreating his troops. If they continue to fight, it will not be of any benefit to them. Cao Cao was a rational man. Although he lost important generals such as the Xiahou brothers and Cao Shen in this battle, he would not hesitate to withdraw his troops when nothing could be done.
However, Cao Cao was actually very unwilling to retreat like this. In this battle, both he and Yuan Shao suffered a lot of losses, and several trusted generals were killed, but the gains were not great. Hulao Pass was not breached, and they only captured half of Hanoi.
Moreover, only half a county could not make up for the losses he and Yuan Shao suffered this time. What's more, even if it is only half a county, it is not certain whether they can really hold it in their hands. Next, when the Jin army calmed down, how could they not send troops to take back this half of the county.
Cao Cao knew that they might not be able to hold this half of Hanoi for much longer. However, he also thought of countermeasures. Next, he and Yuan Shao will move all the population in the half of Hanoi to Jizhou and Yanzhou. As long as the population moves here, the actual land will be of little use, just give up!
Yuan Shao still has a weak Gongsun Zan who can annex the forces, but Cao Cao does not have such a good thing.
Now, Cao Cao was already thinking about whether to attack the surrounding neighbors to make up for the losses he suffered this time. After thinking about it, Cao Cao couldn't help but put his mind on Yuzhou, which was now in chaos, and he couldn't find an opportunity to take action. However, how to do it specifically requires further planning.
"At this beginning, the Jin army has become powerful. No prince in the world can fight it alone. Next, you and I will have to move around a lot!" Cao Cao said with a dark face.
The Jin army will not stop its expansion. After capturing Yongliang this time, I am afraid it will be their turn in the near future. Therefore, although they decided to withdraw their troops in this battle, Cao Cao hoped that the alliance between the two of them could continue and they could jointly deal with the Jin army's front in the future!
The most important thing is that there is no conflict of interest between him and Yuan Shao for the time being. Yuan Shao's expansion target is the four states in Hebei, while Cao Cao's expansion target is the three states in the Central Plains. Naturally, there is no contradiction in the alliance.
"Meng De's words are great!"
Yuan Shao has no objection to continuing the alliance between the two parties. No matter how confident and ambitious Yuan Shao is, he still has no confidence that he can fight against the Jin army occupying the five states by himself.
Coincidentally, while Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were retreating, Le Yi, who was far away from Yanmen Pass, also received Liu Bang's order to retreat.
Liu Bang, an old gangster, was extremely shrewd. He asked Le Yi to send troops to Yanmen not to break through Yanmen and enter Bingzhou. He just wanted to contain the Jin army in Yanmen and cause some trouble to Li Xiang.
With the small amount of troops Liu Bang sent, Liu Bang never thought of the possibility of breaking through Yanmen. Besides, if Liu Bang really had any thoughts about Yanmen and Bingzhou, then he would have sent more than this amount of troops.
In fact, compared to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao who really tried their best to attack Hulao Pass, Le Yi, who was outside Yanmen Pass, had been paddling under Liu Bang's order. Except for a few occasional tests and feints, Le Yi never really attacked the city.
Now that the Battle of Yongliang has come to an end, although the result is not what Liu Bang wanted, there is no need to prepare to continue to struggle at Yanmen Pass.
In this way, all the princes in the world who originally looked at Li Xiang with covetous eyes were suddenly left with only one Xiang clan still struggling to support themselves at the Guangchengguan ruins.
Moreover, it can be expected that the remaining Xiang family will not continue to be entangled for too long. Xiang Yan and Fan Zeng are not fools. They know very well that their family alone is unable to fight against the Jin army, and it will be a matter of time for the Xiang family to retreat.
