Chapter 371

In the face of the flood, everyone seemed so insignificant.

Many soldiers had experienced a lot, but seeing this heavenly power of the flood, they were too scared to move.

Zhang Ren and Wen Pin's warships arrived at the Xiapi city wall, and the soldiers successfully boarded the battlements, basically without encountering any resistance.

The Cao Army looked at the flood mixed with mud, seeming to have turned into wooden statues.

Che Zhou saw that the situation was bad and surrendered directly!

Xiapi City was broken in an instant!

Wen Pin controlled the city.

Zhang Ren led the naval forces to rescue the trapped Cao soldiers.

As the water level eased, Liu Bei also led his main army, riding on rafts, gathering the retreating troops everywhere and rescuing the Cao soldiers who had been flooded.

Cao Cao had run away with his elite troops; these ordinary soldiers had no heart to resist anymore and only prayed that Liu Bei's army would save them.

Liu Bei sighed in his heart.

There were at least several thousand, if not ten thousand, soldiers who had drowned.

However, if he hadn't used the water, the number of casualties on both sides would definitely have been much higher than this.

Liu Bei arrived at Xiapi City and ordered the soldiers to post notices.

He would fully compensate for the losses of the people affected by the disaster and ordered the soldiers to rescue the people in the city.

Pang Tong tallied the results of this victory.

"My lord, of the Cao Army's 150,000 troops, only 30,000 escaped. Ten thousand drowned or went missing, and the remaining 100,000 Cao soldiers have all become prisoners."

Everyone sighed. Capturing 100,000 prisoners—this great victory was comparable to the victory in Hedong!

And to achieve such a result with just a flood made people sigh with emotion!

Liu Bei began to deploy his troops.

"Taishi Ci, you lead Ling Cao, Ling Tong, and others with 20,000 troops to take Langye and Donghai commanderies north of Xu Province."

"Understood!"

"Huang Zhong, you lead 15,000 troops to take Taishan Commandery."

"After you two succeed, attack from both sides and head to Qing Province. Taishi Ci will take Donglai, and Huang Zhong will go to Kong Beihai, pressing directly on Linzi City, which is guarded by Xia Xia Houyuan."

"Understood!"

Liu Bei looked at Mi Zhu and Kong Rong.

"Zizhong will be the Inspector of Xu Province, and Brother Wenju will be the Inspector of Qing Province. You two must contact the gentry as soon as possible and soothe the hearts of the people."

"Understood!"

Mi Zhu was excited. He had been right to defect to Lord Liu Xuande back then; he had actually gone from a great merchant to an Inspector.

Kong Rong also never expected that after being defeated by Ding Yuan Tan, he would have a chance to return to Qing Province as Inspector.

Both were grateful to Liu Bei and quickly sent men to contact acquaintances, preparing to build their teams as soon as possible.

Liu Bei left Wen Pin to guard Xiapi and watch over the prisoners.

The supplies brought by Cao Cao and the grain stored in Xiapi City were all captured by Liu Bei, so there was no shortage of grain for the time being.

"The rest of the generals, follow me to Pengcheng to pursue and kill Cao Cao!"

"Understood!"

On the road from Xiapi to Pengcheng, the soldiers were extremely disheveled.

A portion of Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had also failed to escape the flood, and both men and horses had disappeared, not knowing where they had been washed away.

Cao Cao's nearly 10,000 troops were extremely miserable. As they ran, his flag-bearer fell to the ground, and the commander's flag also fell.

Cao Cao cursed the flag-bearer to vent his depressed mood.

"You've been with me for ten years, and you still don't know how important the commander's flag is..."

After cursing the flag-bearer, he felt a bit more relaxed. He looked around and saw that the soldiers' morale was extremely low.

"Where is this?"

Eagle Eye cupped his fists.

"My lord, we are in the Lu County area; we can reach Pengcheng in half a day."

Cao Cao suddenly laughed out loud.

"Haha."

Cheng Yu was a bit strange.

"My lord, why are you laughing?"

Cao Cao laughed loudly.

"I laugh at Liu Bei for having no strategy and Guo Jia for having short wisdom. This is the only road to Pengcheng. If an ambush were set here, our army would inevitably suffer heavy damage."

"Liu Bei defied the world's disapproval this time and dug open the river embankments; I underestimated him, but he was just lucky and not worth worrying about!"

The generals nodded. Duke Wei was absolutely right!

Cao Cao wanted to belittle Liu Bei some more.

To the west, a burst of rapid hoofbeats interrupted Cao Cao's sales pitch.

"Cao Thief, don't run! Ma Chao of Xiliang is here!"

Cao Cao was shocked. This slap in the face seemed to come too quickly!

And it was his bitter enemy, Ma Chao!

Ma Chao shouted,

"The one with the long beard is Cao Cao! Kill him!"

Cao Cao couldn't care about cutting his beard at this time; he hurriedly kicked his horse's belly.

"Run!"

Ma Chao was fresh and rested, while the Cao Army was like a bird startled by the twang of a bow, so they were naturally no match.

Xu Zhu whipped his horse to cover the rear, temporarily entangling Ma Chao and winning time for Cao Cao.

Many Xia people flooded into the American live stream.

"Why does Ma Chao like pulling Boss Cao's beard so much?"

"Boss Cao's face-slapping is too fast. I feel like I heard Brother Bei say, 'Arrange it!'"

"Cao Cao's psychological quality is truly good, it's just that he's always getting slapped in the face."

"Boss Cao is so pitiful. His company just went public, he expanded the Hebei market, and now the Central Plains market is almost gone!"

Cao Cao led the retreating troops to turn north urgently, no longer heading to Pengcheng. The soldiers had run too hard, so they dismounted and panted heavily.

Before they had rested for long,

A soldier suddenly shouted,

"Listen, the sound of water!"

"Not good! Liu Bei has breached the embankment to flood us again!"

Many soldiers began to riot, and some mounted their horses and disappeared into the night in an instant.

Dian Wei hacked a few deserters to death. "No one is allowed to run!"

Cao Cao waved his hand.

"Let them go. Soldiers who have already been scared out of their wits are useless; they are just birds startled by the twang of a bow and will only increase the chaos!"

Cheng Yu took a count.

"My lord, there are still more than 3,000 people left."

Cao Cao nodded and looked around.

"Heaven is generous. Back when I failed to assassinate Dong, I only had a few people with me. General Luo, you know this."

Captain America cupped his fists.

"My lord's state of mind is beyond what we can compare to; you will inevitably achieve a great cause."

"My lord, let's set off."

Cao Cao suddenly laughed loudly again.

Cheng Yu...

"My lord's laughter just now brought Ma Chao; why are you laughing again now?"

Cao Cao looked around.

"I still laugh at Liu Bei for having no strategy and Guo Jia for having short wisdom!"

"Liu Bei calculated that I would flee to Pengcheng, but he didn't deploy defenses in the southern area of Weishan Gaoyou Lake. If I turn my horse around and run north, he can't do anything to me."

"If I were Liu Bei, I would deploy another ambush here, and I would definitely die."

Several generals also nodded. Their lord was indeed wise!

In the darkness,

Suddenly, another burst of hoofbeats came.

Zhang Fei's roar came.

"Zhang Fei of Yan is here! Where are you running, Cao Cao!"

Cheng Yu?!

The soldiers all looked at Cao Cao. Was this mouth blessed?

Xia Xia Houjie hurriedly helped Cao Cao onto his horse.

"My lord, let's run!"

Seeing Cao Cao about to run, Zhang Fei roared even louder.