After Cao Cao retreated to Yangping Pass, he joined forces with Xiahou Dun and gathered almost all the troops in Hanzhong. Several military camps were stationed in full swing, and the crowds were everywhere.

Because they all retreated from the front line, the morale of the army was very sluggish and the generals were not willing to fight.

Even those small schools believed that the situation was not good for them, and privately thought that Cao Cao would retreat soon.

After Cao Cao was over 60 years old, he became more and more majestic. Although he was still quick-thinking, decisive in his work, and could take the initiative to solicit opinions, he gradually became more stubborn and suspicious of the elderly.

Especially the suspicion is very serious, and many important officials dare not speak out.

Some time ago, Cui Yan, who was known as honest, was killed because of Cao Cao's suspicion.

The counselors under Cao Cao's hall were all human beings, but they did not dare to cause trouble. They were all cautious and kept silent, afraid of violating Cao Cao's rebellious scales.

Therefore, Cao Cao did not take the initiative to inquire, and Jia Xu, Sima Yi and others would naturally not talk too much. Even Yang Xiu, who liked to show off, rarely offered different opinions on his own initiative.

But Cao Cao was not reckless. Before leading the army to Hanzhong this time, he had made detailed deductions with Jia Xu, Liu Ye, Sima Yi and others, taking into account various consequences.

Cao Cao had made a decision that if he could not defeat Liu Bei and march into Xichuan this time, he would simply give up Hanzhong.

Due to Xiahou Yuan's accidental death, Cao Cao's great situation suddenly became out of control.

Now he was defeated by Liu Bei, and almost all the food and grass in Micang Mountain were lost. Even the advisers under Cao Cao's hall believed that Cao Cao's hope of advancing Xichuan was very slim and that time should not be delayed here.

Although Cao Cao's subordinates believed that Cao Cao should withdraw his troops decisively instead of wasting food and supplies here, no one dared to say it.

Seeing that the army had no desire to fight, Cao Cao still maintained his usual calmness. His eyes became brighter and brighter, and he made people quit every day, and it seemed that he wanted to win or lose with Liu Bei.

On this day, the sentry sent by Cao Cao returned to report:

"Now, Liu Bei's army is blocked from the distance and the small roads are blocked; all the places to chop firewood around Yangping Pass are set fire to the fire. Even our army's cooking firewood is difficult to find, and Liu Bei's army is hiding where it is."

Cao Cao couldn't help but wonder, and he was muttering in his heart:

"Did you not expect it? Liu Bei didn't want to take advantage of the victory and chase it. He didn't want to defeat himself and defeat him to take Hanzhong all?"

Suddenly, another spy came to report that Zhang Fei and Wei Yan divided their troops and went to rob the grain.

As the gateway to Hanzhong, Yangping Pass has a lot of grain reserves stored in the pass, which is enough for 20,000 defenders to use for half a year.

However, Cao Cao's nearly 200,000 troops gathered in Yangping Pass, and the food and grass were unsustainable. At most half a month, he would face a food shortage crisis.

Fortunately, before Cao Cao's march this time, he rarely adopted the safe method of "being convinced to lose first without considering victory."

He learned from Yuan Shao's lesson of putting all the food and grass in Wuchao, and placed the food and grass in Micangshan and Nanzheng respectively, which was equivalent to double insurance.

In this way, Cao Cao was still worried, so he asked Cao Hong and Cao Xiu to lead 50,000 elite troops to control Wudu County while controlling the Chencang Road to transport grain and grass, leaving a third way for himself.

Unexpectedly, this time it was really useful. Seeing that the food and grass in Yangping Pass were consumed a lot, Cao Cao retreated to Yangping Pass and asked Cao Hong and others to transport the food and grass.

When he heard that Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to rob the grain, Cao Cao did not dare to be careless, so he turned around and said to the generals:

"Who dares to face the enemy Zhang Fei?"

Although Cao Cao asked the generals, he looked at Xiahou Dun.

Because Cao Cao's subordinates were not many generals who could resist Zhang Fei, he also knew the subtle relationship between the Xiahou family and Zhang Fei. If Xiahou Dun could go, Zhang Fei would definitely not dare to make things difficult for him.

But Xiahou Dun lowered his eyes and did not come out to take the order, because he was very afraid of seeing Zhang Fei again from the bottom of his heart.

This time, the ghosts and gods guarded Nanzheng, which made him temporarily think about leading the army to see Zhang Fei, which led to the fall of Nanzheng.

If he receives the order to meet Zhang Fei this time, if there is any mistake, Xiahou Dun will really have no face to see anyone.

Now Xiahou Dun doesn't say anything, and Zhang He and Xu Huang are both newly defeated and do not want to make another defeat for themselves. They all pretend to be deaf and do not speak out.

Only Cao Cao's guard commander Xu Chu has always been dissatisfied with Zhang Fei.

When Cao Cao saw that he was going to be in a bad situation, he gave Xu Chu a color.

Xu Chu understood and stood up and asked:

"I'm willing to go!"

Cao Cao had no choice but to order Xu Chu to lead a thousand Tiger Guards to Yangpingguan Road to protect the food and grass.

This time, the transfer of grain and grass was very important. Cao Hong was afraid of any mistakes. After discussing with Cao Xiu, he decided to let the responsible person transfer the grain and grass. Zhao Yong, the governor of Yizhou who was preparing to take over Yizhou, personally led people to escort the grain and grass.

Zhao Yong knew the importance of food and grass this time, and was worried about being afraid along the way. Then Xu Chu came to protect the food and grass Tiger Guards and said happily:

"If the general had not arrived here, the grain would not have been obtained from Yangping Pass."

It is hard to say that Zhao Yong was appointed as the governor of Yizhou in advance, but he was able to obtain this position from Cao Cao, who was full of talents, and he did a very good job in dealing with people.

He knew how much Xu Chu was in Cao Cao's heart, so he deliberately flattered him and presented the good wine and dishes on the car to Xu Chu.

Xu Chu is also a person who loves alcohol. He wants to protect Cao Cao's safety on weekdays and rarely drinks. Today, Zhao Yong was so flattered that he was happy. After drinking a few more bowls, he didn't feel drunk.

Xu Chu was in the stage of excitement after drinking. Although it was getting late, he was enjoying the wine. Xu Chu urged the grain cart to move forward.

Zhao Yong said:

"It's already dusk, and the mountains in Baozhou are in front of him, and the night is not over."

Xu Chu thought that Zhao Yong was afraid that Zhang Fei would rob the grain, so he couldn't help but pat his chest and said:

"I have the courage of thousands of men, so why don't I be afraid of others! I will ride the moonlight tonight and let the food truck walk."

After Xu Chu finished speaking, he did not allow Zhao Yong to refute it. He took the lead, led the army forward with a sword and a horse.

After the second update, he entered the mountain road to Baozhou. When he was halfway through the road, suddenly the drums and horns in the mountains shook the sky, and a military horse blocked the way. The leader was Zhang Fei, who led the spear and horse to take Xu Chu directly.

Xu Chu was already very brave and fierce, but now he has a bit of alcohol and courage. He ignored the consequences and came to fight Zhang Fei.

Xu Chu's martial arts may not be inferior to Zhang Fei, but he did not drink enough to react, and he was a little slow and could not resist Zhang Fei. After a few rounds of battle, he was stabbed in the shoulder by Fei and fell off the horse.

Fortunately, the Tiger Guards led by Xu Chu were disciplined. When they saw that the main general was defeated, they did not scatter. Instead, they worked together to rescue Xu Chu, retreated and left.

Xu Chu could retreat, but Zhao Yong, the governor of Yizhou, could not retreat.

This time he came here just to be a veritable governor of Yizhou and have his own territory.

Therefore, this transfer of grain and grass is very important to him and cannot be missed.

He was idle for a long time and finally got a job to transport food and grass. He took on this dangerous job without hesitation, just to prove himself.

Although Zhang Fei was famous and Zhao Yong was a civil servant who was ignorant of martial arts, and thousands of soldiers under his command had already scattered, he still personally led his confidant generals to protect the food truck.

In the hazy night, Zhang Fei saw Xu Chu escape, but he didn't want to make trouble and did not lead the army to chase him.

Zhang Fei took the lead and came to seize the food truck. Seeing someone blocking him, he didn't care whether the other party could do martial arts or not. He stabbed Zhao Yong to death with one spear, and took all the food trucks and returned.
Chapter completed!