Chapter 418: Gather troops, crush Bingzhou, and annihilate Cao Ren! This crisis may not be unreversible!

"Zihe actually also, also..."

Cao Cao's voice trembled, his hands shook, and his eyes gradually became blurred.

He raised his trembling hands, wiped away the tears from his eyes, and with the last bit of regret in his heart, he carefully looked at Cao Ren's urgent message again.

Puhunjin was lost, the 2,000 Leopard Cavalry were annihilated, Cao Chun was killed by Ma Chao, and Cao Ren could only defend Baibo Pass...

The shocking and cruel facts are clearly written in black and white.

Every word was like a knife, cutting into Cao Cao's heart.

It's only been five days.

Within five days, first his nephew Cao Tai was killed, and then his brother Cao Chun was killed!

Jiguan was lost, Pubanjin was lost, and Hedong was lost!
The Yellow River was cut off, Bingzhou was cut off from Guanzhong, and became an isolated state!
In just five days, bad news came one after another. The originally good situation took a sharp turn for the worse in the blink of an eye and fell into an unmanageable situation!

At this moment, Cao Cao felt as if countless heavy hammers were mercilessly bombarding his head, and countless sharp blades were cutting his heart.

"what--"

Cao Cao suddenly suffered a headache. He covered his head which was about to explode, howled in pain towards the sky, and fell off his horse with a bang.

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

Guo Jia and other ministers were equally shocked. They did not bother to ask what was going on and rushed over in a swarm.

The Qin army was in chaos.

...

At nightfall, the Qin army camp.

Everyone in the camp knew the news that Cao Chun had been beheaded and Pubanjin had fallen.

The 60,000 Qin soldiers were talking about this matter. Panic was spreading wildly in the army and morale was dropping rapidly.

Inside the royal tent.

Guo Jia, Cao Hong, Jia Xu, Yu Jin and other trusted advisers and generals were all anxious, waiting for the unconscious Cao Cao to wake up.

They had read Cao Ren's urgent report, and they also knew everything about the dramatic changes in Hedong.

Some are angry, some are anxious, and some are panic-stricken...

All kinds of negative emotions filled the imperial tent.

With a groaning sound, Cao Cao woke up slowly and struggled to sit up.

Everyone rushed over and supported Cao Cao.

"Your Majesty, you are finally awake!"

"We must cross the Yellow River immediately, retake Pubanjin, kill Ma Chao, the remnant of the Ma family, and avenge our nephew Zi'an, our son and our brother!"

Cao Hong was so angry that he didn't care about Cao Cao's mental state and challenged him to a fight.

All the generals of the Cao clan angrily challenged each other.

There is no way, Ma Chao was really too cruel in killing.

Ever since the Cao and Xiahou clans followed Cao Cao in starting the rebellion, although they have experienced many ups and downs, miraculously no one among them has died.

But within just a few days, two members of the Cao family died.

They all died at the hands of Ma Chao, the rebel and the escaped member of the Ma family.

How could these royal family generals not be furious and wish they could cut Ma Chao into pieces immediately?

"Your Majesty, if Pubanjin is lost, our Bingzhou will be cut off from Guanzhong and will be in imminent danger."

"No matter what, we must recapture Puban!"

"Your Majesty, please give orders immediately and have the army continue to march north, cross the river and retake Puban!"

This time, Guo Jia did not persuade Cao Cao to calm down.

What he cared about was not revenge for Cao Chun and Cao Tai, but the survival of the entire Bingzhou.

Regardless of whether or not to avenge the two Caos, Pubanjin must be returned.

"Preach my will!"

Cao Cao forced himself to jump off the couch, ignoring the pain in his head, and shouted through gnashing teeth:
"The entire army will immediately head north and head straight for Puban Pass!"

"I want to cross the Yellow River, I want to take back Pubanjin, I want to kill that bastard Ma Chao with my own hands—"

...

The capital of Hedong County was Anyi City.

Fifty thousand Han troops set up camp around the city, with flags with Chinese characters covering the sky.

In the mansion.

Liu Bei sat high on the throne, sipping tea while listening to Fa Zheng's report on the latest progress of the various armies.

"Huo Jun and Ling Tong have led 30,000 vanguard troops to Pubanjin and joined forces with Ma Mengqi's troops."

"Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Zhang He and other generals each led light cavalry to attack from all sides, and have captured Jie County, Wenxi County and other counties without bloodshed."

"General Huang Hansheng and other generals, along with the 70,000 troops of the Zhengtong Army, will march from Hanoi to Hedong to join us..."

After reading out the battle reports from various regions, Fa Zheng bowed and smiled:
"Your Majesty, so far, everything is developing according to our previous deductions."

"We have finally taken over Hedong County."

Liu Bei looked very proud, nodded with satisfaction, and asked with a smile:

"What is the current situation of the Qin army?"

Fa Zheng came to the map, pointed and said:

"After hearing that Pubanjin had been captured, Cao Ren led his troops to occupy Baibo Pass. It was obvious that he wanted to rely on the strategic location of Baibo Pass to stop our army from advancing north to capture Bingzhou."

"As for Cao Cao, he has led his army to Puban Pass and is collecting boats. He should be trying to cross the river and retake Puban Pass to attack our army from the rear, preventing us from fully attacking Bingzhou."

Liu Bei put down the tea bowl, stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back, and stared at the terrain on both wings of Hedong.

"Jinglue, in your opinion, how should I use my troops next?" Liu Bei glanced at Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang smiled faintly and waved his finger:
"Compared with the Pseudo-Qin, the biggest advantage of our Han Dynasty is the large number of soldiers."

"Your Majesty, you can send another 20,000 troops to Puban, a total of 50,000 troops, and have Huo Jun and Ling Tong guard it, which will be enough to stop Cao Cao from crossing the river on the other side!"

"Your Majesty, you can lead my 100,000 main forces to the north to take Baibo Pass, and cooperate with Yide to lead the Hebei Army. A total of 200,000 troops will besiege Cao Ren's army and take Bingzhou in one fell swoop!"

Xiao Fang obviously had a plan in mind, and in an instant he had outlined a blueprint for Lao Liu.

Liu Bei's eyes were filled with confidence, and he smiled happily:
"Okay, let's do as Jinglue said. We will gather our 200,000-man army, razing Bingzhou to the ground and annihilating Cao Ren!"

...

The Battle of Hedong began.

At the Pubanjin line, Huo Jun, who was famous for his defensive skills, with the cooperation of Ling Tong, once again defeated Cao Cao.

When Liu Bei still only had the Nanyang County, he sent Huo Jun to lead 3,000 soldiers and horses to defend Ye County and block the siege of Cao Cao's troops that were several times his size.

Today, Cao Cao's nightmare happened again.

After Cao Cao collected enough boats and rafts, he crossed the river frantically and launched a fierce attack on Pubanjin.

Huo Jun did not give him any chance. He attacked him halfway across the river again and again, thus defeating Cao Cao's attacks several times in succession.

After suffering nearly three thousand casualties, Cao Cao's plan to seize Pubanjin failed.

In Tongguan, the Han general Guan Yu was also busy.

Although Liu Bei took away most of the troops, there were still as many as 50,000 troops left for Guan Yu.

Compared with Liu Bei's wealth and power, Cao Cao only left more than 40,000 troops to Xiahou Dun.

Fifty thousand versus forty thousand. Although the Han army only had ten thousand more troops than Xiahou Dun, the Qin army was still able to defeat Xiahou Dun as they had the advantage of geographical location.

Under Guan Yu's fierce offensive, Xiahou Dun even had to ask Cao Cao for help, forcing Cao Cao to withdraw more than 8,000 troops from the troops guarding Chang'an to reinforce Xiahou Dun.

And on the Jingyi line.

The Jingzhou army led by Taishi Ci and Lu Xun also crossed the Three Gorges and launched a fierce attack on Baidi City.

Xiahou Yuan led Yan Yan, Meng Da and other Shu generals to defend Baidi City and did not dare to engage in a head-on confrontation with the Han army.

The Han troops in the center and south were both suppressing the Qin army.

The Qin army in Bingzhou on the northern front faced unprecedented pressure.

At Jingxing Pass, Huguan Pass, and Pingcheng, Zhang Fei divided his 100,000 troops into three routes and launched a new round of fierce attacks on the defense lines east of Bingzhou.

Inspired by the Han army's capture of Hedong, the morale of the 100,000 soldiers was high and they attacked fiercely.

Because Cao Ren transferred more than 20,000 troops to the south to defend Baibo Pass, the Qin army's strength in Jingxing and other passes was suddenly reduced, leaving them stretched to the limit.

Generals such as Wu Yi, Zhu Ling, Hao Zhao, etc. could only hold on with the existing forces.

The one who suffered the most should be Cao Ren, the commander of the Bingzhou Army.

What he faced was a fierce attack led by Liu Bei himself, with ten times the number of elite troops of the Han army.

In terms of military strength, the Han army had five times the strength of Cao Ren's troops, which was a huge disparity.

The worst thing is that Baibo Pass is not strong enough.

This pass is located in the hinterland of Bingzhou. Because it does not border the Han State, it was once abandoned. Unlike Jingxing Pass and Huguan Pass, it was not reinforced and built specifically to resist the Hanwei Cannon.

When Liu Bei's troops arrived at the city gate, he used Xiao Fang's plan to build dozens of powerful cannons overnight, and bombarded Baibo Pass day and night.

Under the devastating bombardment, Baibo Pass was devastated and collapsed everywhere.

Cao Ren had no choice but to order his soldiers to carry soil and stones day and night to repair the gap that was blown up.

After five days of fierce bombing, Baibo Pass was already on the verge of collapse and would be destroyed in just a few days.

It's dusk.

The loud noise of the sky collapsing finally died down, and the sky above Baibo Pass returned to silence.

Another round of bombardment by the Han army ended, and there would be at least an hour before the next round of bombardment.

"Quick, all soldiers, get on the city walls, carry soil and rocks to repair the breach!"

"Time is running out, so hurry up!"

Cao Ren also climbed up to the top of the city wall from the bottom of the wall and shouted at the Qin soldiers to repair the city wall.

The 20,000 Qin soldiers all breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly began to repair the city wall.

After hearing that the bombardment had ended, Cao Zhi, who had been hiding outside the range of the Hanwei cannon, finally rushed to the top of the city wall.

"Uncle Zixiao, Liu Bei's Hanwei Cannon is more than five times more powerful than my Thunderbolt. We can't keep going like this."

Cao Zhihuan looked at the dilapidated city wall, his brows filled with worry.

Cao Ren sighed bitterly and said helplessly:
"If I don't hold on, what else can I do?"

"Besides trying our best to hold out until Your Majesty recaptures Pubanjin and forces Liu Bei to retreat south, do we have any other options?"

Cao Zhi was speechless.

"Our army is too small. We have no other options except to defend Baibo Pass."

"If Liu Bei can break through Baibo Pass, Wang Bei will no longer have to defend the pass, and Liu Bei's army can march unhindered to Jinyang!"

"Soldiers are the biggest weakness of our Great Qin."

Xun You’s sharp words broke Cao Ren’s helplessness.

It’s a pity that even as smart as he is, he is now helpless.

On top of the city walls, there was an atmosphere of near despair and helplessness.

"General of the Cavalry, Your Highness, right here in Bingzhou, there are tens of thousands of brave soldiers available within easy reach!"

"If we can get the help of this army, Bingzhou's crisis may be reversed."

Yang Xiu's brows suddenly relaxed, and his inspiring words broke the pessimistic atmosphere.

Cao Ren and Cao Zhi, uncle and nephew, were shocked and surprise appeared in their eyes at the same time.

(End of this chapter)