With preparation and attacking without preparation, Cao Ang caught Li Yan off guard.

Although he failed to severely damage or even wipe out Li Yan's troops as he wished, Cao Ang seized the flaw of Xuanhan's insufficient troops and surrounded Xuanhan County with heavy troops. After a strong attack in the middle of the night, he succeeded at Mao Zedong in the morning and occupied Xuanhan City.

At noon, Deng Zhangang, who was ordered by Huang Zhong to reinforce, rushed to Qidaoyan. He learned that Xuan Seoul had lost his capital and knew that the march would be useless. Instead, he might be ambushed by Cao Ang. He ordered the establishment of a camp in Qidaoyan and sent scouts to the surrounding areas of Xuan Han to try to contact Li Yan, and at the same time, he urgently reported to Huang Zhong.

After several dazzling offensive and defensive transformations, Cao Ang took the lead and won the first real victory in the history of Shu's war against the Wu army, avenging Xu Huang's revenge on the Bameng Mountain.

The morale of the Shu army was high, but Cao Ang was not excited at all.

Although he won, he paid a considerable price. When ambushing the Wu army's transportation team, more than 100 Wu soldiers fought to the death and fought two counterattacks, killing more than 60 Shu soldiers and injured more than 200. When besieging Xuanshen City, facing nearly 10,000 Shu soldiers, more than 1,000 Wu soldiers guarding the city fought hard in the middle of the night, killed nearly 1,000 Shu soldiers and killed more than 3,000 Shu soldiers.

If Cao Ang had not personally supervised the battle, it would have been unknown whether he could have taken down Xuan Seoul in time.

In the evening of that day, the scout reported that Deng Zhan set up a camp in Qidaoyan. Cao Ang estimated based on time that Deng Zhan should have set out from Gunlongpo camp in the early morning and marched all the way. He arrived at Qidaoyan at noon and received news of Xuanhan's loss and stopped moving forward.

This greatly increased the pressure from Cao Ang. Judging from the performance of Li Yan and Deng Zhan, the generals of the Wu army were very standardized in their use of troops, with extremely small chances of making mistakes, and were extremely quick to react. If he had not taken the unexpected lead, it would be difficult for him to ambush and succeed in the sneak attack.

Unexpectedly, it is impossible to stop. Now Li Yan's main force is still there. Once Huang Zhong returns to the aid and attacks Xuan Seoul, he will not dare to guarantee whether he can defend it. If he is trapped in Xuan Han, Cao Cao has to lead the main force to help, it is even more indefinite who can laugh to the end.

After a little preparation, Cao Ang withdrew the main force from Xuanshen City, set up a camp on Fenghuang Ridge in the west of the city, and supported each other with Xuanshen City. He withdrew the soldiers who blocked Li Yan and concentrated their forces to defend Fenghuang Ridge. He released all the captured Wu soldiers and civilians, and distributed food for one day to everyone so that they could return to the Wu army camp alive, either to surrender to Li Yan or to surrender to Deng Zhan.

The soldiers of the Shu army were very unaware of it. Many people were more willing to behead these people for their merits, especially those injured Wu soldiers. When the two armies fought, the Shu army suffered heavy casualties, and the two sides formed blood feuds, so naturally they refused to let these Wu army soldiers leave safely.

Cao Ang personally explained to calm the morale. He said that killing prisoners is useless and staying in the camp is useless. Instead, it will consume a lot of food. It is better to let them go back and consume the Wu army's food, medicine and morale. If they are killed, the Wu army will also retaliate in the future. When will the revenge be revenge? Things on the battlefield are on the battlefield, don't take them out of the battlefield.

Cao Ang Su won the heart of a scholar. Seeing that he was right, the soldiers under his command reluctantly agreed, but before the Wu army left, they were inevitably humiliated. Not only were the weapons and armor all detained, but even their clothes were stripped of them, leaving only a pair of underwear for each person.

The Wu army, who had always been proud, suffered a great humiliation. The whole army gritted their teeth and was furious, and Li Yan was even more ashamed of himself. Although he had no major mistakes in this battle, he could not refuse to blame. The autumn harvest was approaching and His Majesty was about to fight, but he failed in the first battle, which made the entire army look so shameless. There was no dignity at all. Even if he did not die, he would have no face to gain a foothold in the army in the future.

Li Yan sent someone to apologize to Huang Zhong, and was relieved of his military post and asked Huang Zhong to appoint other generals to command the battle.

Huang Zhong's face turned pale and his breath was heavy.

The soldier who was stripped of clothes and put back was like a loud slap in the face, not only slapped Li Yan in the face, but also slapped in his face.

Since Sun Ce left Lujiang, the Wu army had never suffered such a defeat, let alone such humiliation.

"Transfer commander and above the general!" Huang Zhong jumped up and shouted sternly: "Gather the troops and take back Xuanhan."

"Here!" A personal guard bowed and was about to turn around and leave the tent, but Xiang Chong reached out to stop him. Xiang Chong winked, and came to Huang Zhong in two steps, looking at Huang Zhong motionlessly.

Huang Zhong's eyes shrank slightly, with murderous aura in his eyes, staring at Xiang Chong. Xiang Chong involuntarily took a step back and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I think you can't do it."

“Why?”

"Dare you ask the general, did Li Yan make a mistake in this battle?"

Huang Zhong was slightly stunned. After thinking about it, the anger on his face gradually dissipated. Judging from the battle reports he received, Li Yan might have been a little negligent at first, but his subsequent response was reproachable, which was remarkable. If he hadn't been cautious, it would have been as simple as Xuan Han's defeat, and the two thousand people who left the city would have been wiped out.

In this case, he gathered all his troops to attack Xuanhan with great fanfare. Wouldn't he mobilize the troops and point out Li Yan's incompetence?

Cao Ang had only more than 10,000 people, Deng Zhan and Li Yan were enough to deal with it. Even for the sake of stability, an additional 5,000 people would be enough. We would never ignore Cao Cao and Gunlongpo's Shu army and the entire army counterattacked Xuanhan.

Huang Zhong sighed secretly. Brazil has been blocked for more than half a year, and he is a little restless. Instead, it is better to calm down the young man Xiang Chong. Maybe he can't see it normally, but when he is stimulated, he will see the best and the worst immediately.

"In your opinion, what should we do?"

"Cao Ang came from Hanzhong, so naturally he would not prepare for the war after the autumn. As long as our army is unmoved and the main force of the Shu army cannot move south, it will be a great achievement. How can this small setback be worth it. I think this is an opportunity to remind our soldiers that they should not underestimate the enemy, otherwise they will inevitably be humiliated."

Huang Zhong took his seat again, clenched his fists, and gently beat the table. "Yes, it's not that Cao Ang was insulting me, but that I was insulting myself. If I hadn't made a rash move, I wouldn't have been blocked by this. After being frustrated, if I could take the initiative to withdraw to Xicheng, I wouldn't have consumed so much money and food in vain. I used military chess, made a mistake in one piece and was controlled by others step by step."

"Victory and defeat are common in military affairs. The king and the prince do not have to blame themselves for this. It is not too late to make up for the loss of sheep. Our army was blocked from this and wanted to fight but failed. Now Cao Ang took the initiative to attack, which is a great opportunity. Why not discuss with Mr. Yan to see if he can make good use of it and take the lead in the guest."

Huang Zhong glanced at Xiang Chong and thoughtful. At this time, he would not only further lose morale, but also make Yan Pu look down on him. He would not be arrogant when he won or discouraged when he lost. He would be arrogant before, but he would have been wrong. If he was arrogant because of a temporary setback, he would be afraid that Yan Pu would not look down on him even more and would have thoughts.

Huang Zhong thought carefully, adjusted his emotions and thoughts, and then discussed with Xiang Chong, and then sent someone to invite Yan Pu.

After reading the military newspaper, Yan Pu looked at Huang Zhong carefully for a moment and tentatively said: "What are the plans of the general?"

Huang Zhong said slowly: "Your Majesty is about to fight in person. Cao Ang has left Hanzhong and appears here, which shows that he is unable to calm down. When the fighter appears, our army should use calmness to control the movement or strike head-on. He was about to discuss with his teacher, but he hoped that he would give him advice."

Yan Pu frowned slightly. "General, Cao Ang came from Hanzhong. The secret army attacked Li Yan, obviously to cut off my food route. If the two armies go to war, supply will be tight and a long-term plan will be made. Pu thought that he should fight back immediately and take back Xuanhan."

Huang Zhong asked back: "Cao Ang got Xuan Han but did not live there, and moved to Fenghuang Ridge in the west of the city. Whether our army attacked Xuan Han or Fenghuang Ridge, they had to divide their troops to resist the enemy. Cao Ang took advantage of the danger and waited for work. If he lost the battle, he could escape into the mountains and wait for an opportunity to fight again. Even if he could recapture Xuan Han, he would inevitably be restrained and could not be at ease."

"What should we do according to the general's opinion?"

Huang Zhong stood up and paced back and forth. "In Brazil for half a year, he had not made great contributions, but instead consumed countless money and food. He was trusted by His Majesty and felt ashamed of the people's money and food. Whenever he thought of it, Zhong felt that his face was dull and knew that his ability was limited, so he dared not fight lightly. If he could hold Cao Cao and his son, he would be satisfied. As for Xuanhan, he was not anxious. There was still some money and food in the camp, which was tighter, and it should not be difficult to support it for one or two months. A month later, the autumn harvest ended, and reinforcements from Xicheng should also enter Pakistan. If they fight again, it might be safer."

After listening to Huang Zhong's explanation, Yan Pu agreed, saying that Huang Zhong had the destiny of a general, but he was a little anxious.

Huang Zhong admits his conscience and is unwilling to compete for merit. That is Huang Zhong's business. But they support Huang Zhong for half a year and pays a lot of money. How can they not expect any reward? Huang Zhong gives up the credit to Xu Shu. Xu Shu doesn't owe anything to the Brazilians. Whether he is willing to speak for the Brazilians in the future can't help them.

If you pay a lot of money and food to let Xu Shu speak for them, it is better to directly support Huang Zhong.

After all, they have already invested so much money and food in Huang Zhong.

Yan Pu pondered for a long time and said, "Although the general's plan is safe, it is suspected of tolerance. After all, Xu is still in Xicheng. Even if he immediately raises troops after the autumn harvest, he will be at the end of August and early September. If Cao Ang manages calmly and sets obstacles everywhere, Xu may have to fight bloody battles step by step before he can move forward. If the general can show his power and force Cao Ang to have no time to take care of him, Xu will save a lot of trouble and come faster."

Hearing the word "consolation", Huang Zhong did not dare to take it lightly, and raised his thick eyebrows. "According to the opinion of Mr., should we fight?"

"Be in the fight."

"But once war starts, the consumption will be great. I have already owed so much debt to the Brazilian people. If I owe it, I can't pay it back. What can I do?"

Yan Pu smiled bitterly. The emperor personally conquered Yizhou. If Huang Zhong made a contribution, he might have the confidence to speak. If Huang Zhong failed to make a contribution, his previous promises were just empty words. This is no longer the time to fight for more benefits. The key is whether he can protect the benefits that Huang Zhong had already promised.

"Please rest assured that the Brazilian people are stupid, but they also know the general idea. At this time of survival, they will never be petty and forget the great power when they see small profits."
Chapter completed!