Chapter 541: Change Strategy and Divide the Troops!

Seeing his men getting fewer and fewer, Cao Cao was also a little anxious.

Originally, it was thought that with Gu Rubing's limited force, plus the famous generals and quasi-famous generals from all directions, it might be a bit difficult to swallow Gu Rubing in one go. After all, Gu Rubing was still more powerful among the legendary generals, but it was still no problem to make Gu Rubing give up Jingzhou.

But judging from the current situation, let alone letting him give up Jingzhou, even his own Sili could not be taken back.

"Prime Minister, we can't continue. With this formation, no matter how many people we put in, it's useless. This formation is like a bottomless pit, it can't be filled."

Listening to Sun Jian's words, Cao Cao hesitated for a moment and ordered the troops to retreat.

Several famous generals retreated one after another. As for Xu Huang and others who entered first, they found a breakthrough in the chaos and barely rushed out, but everyone was seriously injured.

As Cao Cao retreated, Zhuge Liang also commanded the army and returned to the city.

It's just that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei still haven't come back, but Gu Rubing is not worried. In this world, only legendary generals can stop legendary generals. Unfortunately, there are only four legendary generals, two of which are in his own camp.

"Congratulations, lord, we won this battle."

Gu Rubing didn't expect that he could win this battle so easily. If it were in the past, the two sides would not know how they would fight.

"Okay, let's go back and have a celebration banquet to celebrate this success."

Gu Rubing actually wanted to celebrate the success of the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation.

He destroyed Cao Cao's 100,000 troops, and his side lost less than 20,000, all thanks to the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation.

However, when everyone was excited, Zhuge Liang shook his head.

"My lord, now is not the time to relax."

"Don't worry, I know the next attack will come soon."

Gu Rubing smiled. Although the 100,000-man army was a bit painful for Cao Cao, it was not fatal. Cao Cao still had the ability to resist and it was hard to say when he would attack again. So although Gu Rubing said he was holding a celebration banquet, he also planned not to let everyone drink.

"No, my lord, that's not what I'm talking about. The frontal attack failed. Next, it will be a full-scale melee. We must speed up and redeploy all the generals and troops."

After speaking, Zhuge Liang took out the map and put it in front of everyone.

"My lord, look, there are three important counties around us, namely Huarong, Zhijiang, and Dangyang. These three places must be guarded by generals. This must also be a place that Cao Cao is fighting for. Once these three counties are lost, our food supply is likely to be completely blocked. Without food, even if we can fight, I'm afraid we can't hold on for long."

Gu Rubing nodded.

"It seems that we have to wait until this celebration banquet is completely over before we eat it. Zhang He leads 30,000 troops to enter Huarong to defend Cao Cao, Ma Chao leads 30,000 troops to guard Zhijiang, and Xu Rong leads 30,000 troops to enter Dangyang."

"I obey!"

After the three of them finished speaking, they all led their troops away.

Zhuge Liang looked at the map, hesitated for a moment, and said directly: "My lord, ordinary soldiers are not enough."

"Don't worry, I have my own preparations."

At this time, Cao Cao was looking at everyone present with a gloomy face.

Sun Jian saw that Cao Cao was in a bad mood at the moment, so he naturally didn't dare to speak.

"Why is everyone silent? Don't you have anything to say about the result this time?"

After hearing this, the three looked at each other, and finally Sun Jian gritted his teeth and stood up, looking at Cao Cao.

"This situation is indeed beyond our expectations. This is because of the formation. I feel that we must find a way to break the formation before we can continue to attack the city."

"Breaking the formation, you said it lightly. Our army of 600,000, no, now there are only 500,000. How much food and grass do we consume every day? How long can we last? How can we have so much time to study any way to break the formation?"

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he looked at the map on the table, thought for a long time, and suddenly smiled.

"Is there a way?"

Sun Jian looked at Cao Cao with a puzzled look.

"Of course, our food and grass can't last long, but at least we still have food and grass. If Liu Bei and his men have no food and grass, what should they do?"

"Of course, withdraw the troops!"

Sun Jian also understood.

In one day, Ma Chao brought people to Zhijiang.

After arriving, the first thing Ma Chao did was to strengthen the city defense.

Ma Chao knew in his heart that according to what the lord and the prime minister said, there would probably be a tough battle in the place he was guarding, and the city wall must be stable.

Just as Ma Chao was reinforcing, he saw the sound of horse hooves in the distance, and then, an army of 50,000 people appeared outside the city.

The leader of this army was Xiahou Dun, who was under Cao Cao.

"Ma Chao? Why are you here?"

Xiahou Dun remembered that when Cao Cao gave him this task, he said that there should be no one here, but now there is not only someone here, but also a famous general.

Facing Ma Chao alone, even Xiahou Dun was a little flustered.

"Go back and find the prime minister, and tell him that Ma Chao is here."

The deputy general beside him nodded quickly after hearing this.

"Xiahou Dun, I didn't expect that you would be the one coming. I was thinking that it would be a pity that I couldn't come to the battlefield to take your life. I didn't expect that you would come like this. Since you are here, I will leave your life."

After saying that, Ma Chao walked out of the city directly, waved the tiger-headed golden spear in his hand, and stabbed at Xiahou Dun.

With the effect of Jin Ma Chao, the attack power of Ma Chao's spear instantly increased by 1500%.

It looked like an ordinary shot, but the moment it approached Xiahou Dun, the speed suddenly increased, and the tip of the spear even heard the sound of breaking wind.

Xiahou Dun tried his best to resist.

Seeing that his offensive was blocked, Ma Chao immediately used his thirty-six deadly spears.

Every spear was aimed at Xiahou Dun's vitals.

Xiahou Dun could only resist reluctantly, and could never find a suitable opportunity to counterattack.

After an incense stick, Xiahou Dun already felt a little tired, while Ma Chao was getting braver and braver, and even the power of each attack was increasing.

Xiahou Dun knew that if he continued like this, he would definitely not be Ma Chao's opponent.

Xiahou Dun tried his best to swing the long sword in his hand.

Ma Chao immediately blocked it with the body of his gun.

After a "ding" sound.

Xiahou Dun turned around and ran.

"Xiahou Dun, where are you running."

At this time, Ma Chao was already blood-thirsty. Every time he faced Xiahou Dun, he could let him escape like this, which made Ma Chao very unhappy.

Seeing that Ma Chao was chasing him faster and faster, Xiahou Dun sneered and immediately stopped the horse under him.

It was not until this time that Ma Chao realized that he had rushed into the enemy's camp.

"Haha, Ma Chao, you've been fooled. Do you think I'm not prepared at all? There are 50,000 troops here. I don't believe that I, with 50,000 troops, can't stop you?"

"Coward, you don't dare to fight me face to face. You always use this kind of trick. No wonder your level hasn't improved."

"You..."

Xiahou Dun glared at Ma Chao, then waved his hand, and everyone rushed towards Ma Chao together.

Looking at the people who came to besiege, Ma Chao smiled.

Then, Ma Chao blew a whistle.

Li Feisha immediately understood what Ma Chao meant and shouted to the surroundings.

Then, Xiahou Dun felt that the ground was shaking.

Before Xiahou Dun could react, five hundred iron pagodas appeared from nowhere.

Each of these five hundred people had a cultivation level above that of a third-rate general.

The Iron Pagoda was completely wiped out before, and Gu Rubing replenished the Iron Pagoda later, but the overall combat power was slightly reduced. However, it was completely no problem to use it against ordinary cavalry. Even if the strength of the third-rate generals was removed, the heavy cavalry was still heavy cavalry, and against the light cavalry, it was a dimensionality reduction attack.

With the appearance of the Iron Pagoda, the 30,000 cavalry in the city also launched a charge.

Xiahou Dun's 50,000 cavalry immediately began to chaos.

"Haha, Xiahou Dun, you fell into the trap this time."

"Really?"

Xiahou Dun laughed loudly, and then shouted: "Sir, if you don't come out, you won't be able to eat meat."

"Haha, I'm coming."

As the voice fell, Cao Zhang brought 4,000 tiger and leopard cavalry, 500 tomb raiders, and 500 hair Qiu Zhonglang generals, and killed in from a distance.

Some of the advantages that Ma Chao had finally gained disappeared in an instant.

Cao Zhang waved the Fang Tian Huaji in his hand and rushed towards Ma Chao.

Ma Chao immediately fought with Cao Zhang. The 300% attack power and +300% attack speed of Tianyuan Jueming Ji made Ma Chao unable to react for a while and suffered some minor losses.

Just as the two were fighting, Xiahou Dun shouted and joined the battle.

Ma Chao swung the Tiger-headed Golden Spear and attacked Cao Zhang's abdomen directly, forcing Cao Zhang to return to defense, while Xiahou Dun took the opportunity to slash at Ma Chao's back.

Ma Chao immediately half-hung on the horse and avoided Xiahou Dun's attack.

After this fight, the three took a few steps back.

"Cao Zhang, I didn't expect you to be fine. It seems that you are really lucky."

"Humph, thanks to King Lie, we have been lying in bed for two whole days. You are really good at tricks."

"No ruthlessness, no hero. Although our master is benevolent, he also has to treat people with virtue. Of course, we should win people over with virtue, but we can only treat beasts like you with beastly means."

"Dare to scold me, you will die this time."

After Cao Zhang finished speaking, he waved the Fang Tian Hua Ji and rushed over again.

But Ma Chao looked at the battle situation around him, and the situation was not very good for him.

Although his Iron Buddha was a heavy cavalry, the number was too small after all. Compared with the three special arms that Cao Zhang brought, their performance on the battlefield was still a little worse.

"Retreat."

After Ma Chao shouted, he sounded the horn to withdraw his troops, and all the people returned to Zhijiang City.

"General, we still have 23,000 people."

A deputy general stepped forward and told Ma Chao the people who had been counted.

Ma Chao knew that it was not impossible to defend Zhijiang with these people, but he needed someone to help him.

Xiahou Dun saw that Ma Chao had called back his troops, and he had no intention of attacking the city, but set up camp.

Ma Chao's side was not easy, and Zhang He's side was not easy either. The one fighting against Zhang He was Xiahou Yuan.

Compared with Ma Chao's irritability, Zhang He seemed much calmer.

Since Zhang He came to Huarong, he chose the same as Ma Chao, which was to strengthen the city defense.

When he saw Xiahou Yuan coming, Zhang He was very calm and guarded the city wall. No matter what Xiahou Yuan said, Zhang He seemed to have not heard it. Xiahou Yuan still came with 50,000 people. It was extremely difficult to rush into the city with 30,000 people in a short time with 50,000 people, and there was a Zhang He who was not weaker than himself.

Now the only way is to let Zhang He come out. Without command, the strength of the 30,000 people in the city will be greatly reduced. However, no matter how Xiahou Yuan scolded, Zhang He did not come out, which made Xiahou Yuan helpless.

However, among these three routes, the most difficult and dangerous one is Xu Rong.

Xu Rong himself is not very capable among the famous generals, and Xu Rong is facing Gan Ning, the second-ranked combat power in Yangzhou this time.

Gan Ning's ancient ingot knife is very powerful, and eighteen black shadows are still assisting on the side.

This made Xu Rong retreat again and again.

After finally pulling away from them, Xu Rong gave a helpless bitter smile. He originally thought that after becoming a famous general, the gap between him and everyone would not be so big, but he still couldn't beat anyone, even the general of Yangzhou, who was suppressed by Gu Rubing, he still couldn't beat him.

Helplessly, Xu Rong could only retreat and return to the city.

"Hehe, do you think you'll be fine if you hide in the city? You think too much."

After saying that, Gan Ning ordered to attack the city.

Xu Rong tried his best to defend the city, but the gap between him and Gan Ning was there. Under Gan Ning's leadership, he couldn't stop it at all.

At this moment, a noise came from behind the Yangzhou army.

There were also many screams.

Gan Ning looked back and saw Zhang Liao leading the 18 riders of Yanyun rushing over from a distance.

Wherever the 18 riders of Yanyun passed, people and horses fell.

The name Zhang Liao has become the hatred in the hearts of everyone in Yangzhou. No one doesn't want to kill him personally, but no one is Zhang Liao's opponent.

"Okay, Zhang Liao, you're here too. This time I'm going to break your curse."

When Xu Rong saw Zhang Liao coming, he breathed a sigh of relief and rushed out of the city directly, attacking Zhang Liao from the front and back.

With the increase of Zhang Liao's commander-in-chief skill, the speed and attack power of the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun reached an unprecedented height.

After a round of charge, only 40,000 of the 50,000 Yangzhou Iron Cavalry were left, and the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun only lost less than 100 people.

Looking at this astonishing battle loss ratio, Gan Ning hesitated for a moment and shouted to the side: "If you are hiding, I'm really finished. If I die, do you think these people can let you go?"

Hearing this, Zhang Liao immediately looked in the direction of Gan Ning's speech.

As the voice fell, Cao Ren came from a distance with nearly 10,000 cavalry, just surrounding the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun.

"Cao Ren? How did you recover so quickly?"