Chapter 293

Xun Yu was concerned about the people and was not suitable to follow the army on this expedition.

"Understood! Please rest assured, my lord, and set out."

Xun Yu cupped his hands again.

"My lord, there is no need to worry about the other warlords; Yuan Shao might even help me, but Liu Bei needs to be watched."

"Liu Bei?"

Cao Cao frowned; he had already considered this problem, so he had to quickly crush the Xuzhou garrison and take Xuzhou to make it a settled fact; then even if Liu Bei came, it would be useless.

"No matter, it will take a long time for Liu Bei to reorganize his army and come from Taiyuan."

Yecheng,

Yuan Shao was a bit troubled.

"Meng De's father was killed; it wouldn't be good if I didn't help."

Xu You stepped out of the ranks.

"My lord, although Cao Cao has a father's vendetta, his goal this time is to take Xuzhou!"

"Xuzhou is wealthy, and under Tao Qian's management, there is plenty of grain and the people are rich; if it is taken by Cao Cao, it will be like adding wings to a tiger; we must guard against it!"

Yuan Shao frowned; this was indeed a problem!

Tian Feng stepped out of the ranks.

"My lord, our army's main task now is to eliminate Brother Brother Gongsun Zan Zan; it is not easy to participate too much in these matters."

Guo Tu cupped his hands.

"My lord, Tao Qian has managed Xuzhou for a long time, and the Danyang soldiers are also elite; it will be difficult for Cao Cao to take Xuzhou, so my lord need not worry."

"My lord can send a secondary general to lead a few battalions of troops to assist Cao Cao."

Yuan Shao's eyes lit up; yes, just do that, and Cao Cao won't have anything to say!

"Good, just do that!"

The corners of Xu You's mouth twitched wildly.

"My lord, Cao Cao has great ambition; taking Xuzhou will be a great threat to our army; it would be better to send someone to mediate, letting Tao Qian hand over the murderer and compensate for the losses."

Yuan Shao waved his hand.

"No need; we will focus on dealing with Brother Brother Gongsun Zan Zan; as for the matter of Xuzhou, just do as Guo Tu said!"

"Zhu Ling, you take three battalions of troops and go to assist Cao Cao!"

Guo Tu was exceptionally proud.

Xu You almost burst into curses! Short-sighted, short-sighted!

"Cao Cao doesn't want my lord to send troops at all; he just wants my lord to let it be!"

Xuzhou,

Tao Qian was greatly panicked.

"It is I who have harmed the people of Xuzhou!"

"Cao Cao's one hundred thousand-strong army is coming; how can I block it?"

Chen Deng cupped his hands.

"My lord, Cao Cao is good at fighting, and his subordinates are numerous and strong; our army cannot fight him head-on; it would be better to ask for help."

"Ask for help?"

Tao Qian shook his head.

"Brother Brother Gongsun Zan Zan was recently defeated by Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu is watching from the other side, and Kong Rong is weak; who can I find?"

Chen Deng said in a deep voice,

"My lord, Lord Xuande is known for his benevolence throughout the world; last time he helped Kong Rong, and you are on good terms with Lord Xuande; I think Lord Xuande will definitely not sit idly by and watch the people of Xuzhou be slaughtered by Cao Cao!"

Tao Qian's eyes lit up; Liu Bei was indeed a good candidate.

"It's just that Lord Xuande is too far away; I hope we can hold on."

"Send someone to invite Lord Xuande quickly!"

That month, Xuzhou was in chaos.

Cao Cao, using the excuse of avenging his father, raised an army to crusade against Tao Qian.

The clouds of war shrouded the entire Xuzhou; mountains and rivers were shattered, and the first to suffer were the common people.

Cao Cao's army split into several routes, successively capturing more than ten cities in Xuzhou.

Cao Cao's great general Yu Jin captured Guangwei (near Peixian) and marched along the Si River.

Cao Cao's vanguard general Cao Ren quickly led his army to break Tao Qian's subordinate general Lü You.

Cao Cao personally led an army of fifty thousand to march toward Peng Cheng; after the three armies converged, they would attack Peng Cheng!

Tao Qian saw that Cao Cao had few troops and wanted to take the opportunity to defeat Cao Cao.

However, his own strength was really too poor, and he was defeated by Cao Cao.

Before the three teams could converge, Tao Qian had already been defeated at Peng Cheng, and the routed soldiers retreated to guard the Xuzhou seat, Donghai Tancheng!

Cao Cao saw this and ordered Yu Jin to attack Fei, Hua, Jimo, and Kaiyang to the northeast.

He and Yu Jin joined forces, intending to break Tancheng and completely annihilate Tao Qian!

In just half a month, one-third of Xuzhou's territory was occupied.

Tao Qian could only hide in Tancheng and shiver.

In the fourth year of Chuping, Cao Cao defeated Qian... and took Lü, Ju Ling, and Xia Qiu, all of which were massacred.

In total, hundreds of thousands of men and women were killed, not even chickens or dogs were left, and the Si River ceased to flow; from then on, the five counties were guarded, and there were no more traces of life.

One can see the sins committed by the Cao Army this time.

Liu Bei arrived quite early, but by this time, sixty or seventy thousand people had already been killed.

"The Cao Army is shameless!"

"The Cao Army actually dares to be this cruel!"

Xun You burst into curses!

Liu Bei led twenty thousand cavalry to travel day and night, finally entering Xuzhou from Peixian today.

The first stop was Guangwei.

The entire county was killed by the Cao Army, not even chickens or dogs left; the city was destroyed, with broken walls and ruins.

Only wooden pillars burned pitch-black remained,

and large swathes of land were dyed red with blood.

Thousands of corpses were already stinking by the Si River.

All of this indicated that Cao Cao had started massacring the city from the very first county he entered in Xuzhou!

Guan Yu's eyebrows and eyes opened wide, emitting a stunning radiance!

Zhang Fei burst into curses.

"Damn the Cao Army, they aren't acting like humans!"

Taishi Ci and Zhang Liao both clenched their hands, obviously very angry!

Liu Bei's heart was also burning with anger; seeing so many innocent people killed with his own eyes, how could he not be angry!

Guo Jia cupped his hands.

"My lord, the Cao Army is currently besieging Tancheng, and Yu Jin is attacking Fei, Hua, and other places; they are not far from us."

Liu Bei let out a breath.

"Tancheng is not so easy to break; let's go and destroy Yu Jin, who is massacring the city, first!"

"Understood!"

Liu Bei led twenty thousand cavalry this time to eliminate Yu Jin first, then march on Tancheng!

Walking along the way, everyone became more and more angry; several counties in northern Xuzhou had already become scorched earth.

Very few people survived.

The killing intent in everyone's hearts was infinitely magnified!

Liu Bei sighed long and thought to himself, ===== CHAPTER 294 =====