Chapter 997 Guessing the Truth
As for how the expeditionary army deployed the army, Cao Hong had no time to think about it at this time, because he had seen that the 100,000 troops under the city were not easy to deal with. At present, the most important thing, besides passing on the intelligence, was the defense situation in the city. Qiao County was the place where the Cao family started, otherwise Cao Cao would not have given it to Cao Hong, who he trusted the most, to guard. If Qiao County was lost, the blow to Cao Cao's army was self-evident.
So, he called a lieutenant beside him and said, "Cao Zhi, I have a letter of intelligence that must be sent out. You lead fifty cavalrymen to break through together. No matter what, you must send the intelligence to Suiyang and hand it over to Prime Minister Jia in person."
"Cao Zhi obeys the order! General, rest assured, Cao Zhi will deliver the intelligence to the Prime Minister before he dies." Cao Zhi promised Cao Hong with a determined face;
"Okay!" Cao Hong patted his shoulder, sighed, and stopped talking. Instead, he returned to the tower, picked up a pen to write the intelligence, and solemnly handed it to Cao Zhi.
Cao Zhi took the intelligence from Cao Hui, put it solemnly in his arms, and then saluted Cao Hong, then turned and left the city wall, gathered fifty cavalrymen, and galloped towards the east gate.
After Cao Zhi left Qiao County, he immediately crossed the river, hoping to leave as soon as possible when the Eastern Expedition Army discovered him. Who knew that things did not go as he wished, and he was still discovered by the Eastern Expedition Army cavalrymen on the east bank of the river, so five hundred Eastern Expedition Army cavalrymen immediately chased him. In the end, Cao Zhi's fifty cavalry guards were killed or wounded, and Cao Zhi escaped in the melee, but he was also wounded all over.
When he ran to the city of Suiyang, he was exhausted, and his warhorse also died under the city.
Jia Kui hurriedly read Cao Hong's letter and fell into deep thought. The Yuzhou Army that attacked Qiao County suddenly became the Eastern Expedition Army, and the Yuzhou Army in his own Liang State suddenly disappeared. Jia Kui always felt that there was some connection between them.
At this time, the Chief Clerk Cai Shen said, "Captain Cao, I want to ask, have you noticed anything unusual while going north from Qiao County? For example, a large group of soldiers heading south..."
"My Lord, don't ask, I am about to report." At this time, Cao Zhi had recovered a lot, and said with energy, "When I was escaping, I did see a large group of soldiers heading south, but I was only concerned about escaping at the time, so I didn't observe the situation of that group of soldiers carefully. However, after a rough look, there were at least tens of thousands of troops."
Everyone in Liang State was shocked and asked hurriedly, "Did you notice the enemy's flag?"
Cao Zhi shook his head. He was only concerned about escaping at the time, so he didn't have the energy to look at these things. When he saw a large group of soldiers in front, he turned around and ran.
Seeing the appearance of the people in Liang State, Cao Zhi suddenly realized that this army should be the Yuzhou army that was sent from Chen State to attack Liang State. It seemed that the army did not come to attack Suiyang, but turned southward and prepared to attack Qiao County with Huang Zhong's army.
Thinking of this, Cao Zhi could not help but get anxious and shouted: "Prime Minister, you must send troops to rescue. Huang Zhong's army originally has nearly 100,000 troops. If the army of Chen State is added, there will be nearly 200,000 troops. Qiao County has only 30,000 soldiers and horses. How can it resist the attack of 200,000 troops!"
Jia Kui walked up to Cao Zhi, patted him on the shoulder gently, and said: "Don't worry, Captain Cao, I will not sit idly by. Now the most important thing is to clarify two things. Is the army attacking Liang State this time the Yuzhou army or The first is whether it is the Eastern Expedition Army, and the second is whether their army has really gone south to Qiao County. "
"I saw that the army should be more than 80 miles south of Huaiyang, at the beginning of the afternoon." Cao Zhi thought for a while and said;
Jia Kui walked to the front of the map and looked at it quietly. From Suiyang to Qiao County, it is about 130 miles. According to the situation last night, the Yuzhou Army, let's assume it is the Yuzhou Army, should have set up camp early in the morning and went south. It traveled more than 70 miles in one day, which can be said to be a fast march.
No, such a speed is not something that the Yuzhou Army can do. To be able to achieve such a speed, at least the elite soldiers of the Cao Army can do it.
And the army of Chen State has at least 60,000 troops. With such a number of elites, Yuzhou's troops must be fully mobilized.
No, it is rumored that the Eastern Expedition Army has been training soldiers for the Yuzhou Army. But even so, it would take more than one year to train a foreign army to such a level, because local soldiers would not easily obey the training of foreign troops. So the only possibility is...
In a flash, a terrible thought flashed through Jia Kui's mind, and then it was nailed in his mind forever - the Yuzhou Army was actually the Eastern Expedition Army.
Afterwards, Jia Kui thought about everything carefully, like peeling off silk threads from a cocoon. All the doubts in Jia Kui's heart since the start of the war were suddenly cleared up.
Yes, it must be like this. The two armies of Henan County and Chenliu County have always been a cover-up, and the real trump card of the Eastern Expedition Army is the hundreds of thousands of troops in Yuzhou. Their purpose is to capture Qiao County, Pei State, and even Liang State in one go, and then march north to attack Jiyin and Shanyang together with the two northern armies, and then capture the entire Yanzhou.
As for the counties of Xuzhou, it is obvious that Huangfu Chaobo has promised them to Sun Ce's army, which is why Sun Ce's army couldn't wait to march north after hearing the news that the Eastern Expedition Army had already set out.
After thinking this through, Jia Kui's cold sweat was pouring down his forehead like rain. If his guess was correct, when Kong Jun announced the request for the Eastern Expedition Army the year before last, when Huangfu Chaobo, then called the Andong Army, led the army to train the soldiers of Yuzhou, Kong Jun's Yuzhou had already surrendered to Huangfu Chaobo.
In this way, with the full support of the Eastern Expedition Army, one year is enough to train the weak Yuzhou Army into a strong army. Coupled with the Huainan war last year, the Yuzhou Army can be successfully built into a truly elite army. Even if the same number cannot be compared with the elite of the Eastern Expedition Army, it must be easy for a 200,000-man army to attack Qiao County, which is defended by 30,000 people.
Thinking of this, Jia Kui knew that he had to take action immediately, otherwise the three counties of Yuzhou would be lost in their hands, "Come here!"
"Sir, what do you want to tell me?" The captain of the personal guards outside the hall walked in and said;
Jia Kui's sudden shout startled everyone in the hall. When everyone looked at him, they found that their prime minister was sweating profusely and his face was pale.