Chapter 646

Yanzhou was shaken!

The Central Plains were shaken!

Guan Yu's spearhead pointed directly at Puyang in Yanzhou!

If Puyang City were lost, the connection between Yecheng and Xuxian would be severed, and the Cao army would need to make a huge detour to provide reinforcements.

Cao Pi of Yecheng was entrusted with a critical mission in a time of crisis. With the support of Sima Yi, Wu Zhi, Zhu Shuo, and others, he led twenty thousand troops into Puyang City.

Sima Yi quickly integrated the ten thousand defenders of Puyang City and the five thousand defenders from surrounding counties, totaling thirty-five thousand troops to hold Puyang City.

Sima Yi soon displayed his military talent, enforcing orders and prohibitions, and managing the city so well it was like an iron bucket.

Guan Yu was blocked outside Puyang City, returning empty-handed after several assaults.

He had his soldiers call out for battle outside, telling Sima Yi to come out and die, and the ruffians insulted Sima Yi's ancestors for many generations, but Sima Yi was not angry at all.

Guan Yu also sent men to deliver women's clothing to Sima Yi and Cao Pi to show humiliation!

Cao Pi lacked the composure to endure it and cursed loudly, but asking him to go out and duel Guan Erge? That was absolutely impossible; he probably wouldn't even last half a move.

Sima Yi, however, put on the women's clothing sent by Guan Yu and paced on the city wall for a long time.

Cao Pi admired him deeply! He had true stature!

Guan Yu's face turned even redder with anger. He concluded that as long as Sima Yi had no bottom line, he really had no way to deal with him for now.

The strategy Cao Cao adopted in Youzhou was to hold the large cities—defend to the death!

Zhao Yun also had no way to deal with the fortified cities for the time being, and Youzhou fell into a stalemate.

The entire Central Plains and Hebei were engulfed in the flames of war.

Both sides had launched fierce fighting in the heart of the Central Plains. The four corners of the Han chess game were Guan-Liang, Hebei, Bashu, and Jiangdong. Liu Bei had already secured three, while Cao Cao only had one.

This was a duel between Cao and Liu, and also a duel between the last two warlords with a chance to vie for the throne.

If Cao Cao won, he would demonstrate his strength to the Han clans and the people, showing he had the ability to compete with Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei won, he would nibble away at Cao Cao's territory and suppress the prestige Cao Cao had just established by taking the three provinces of Hebei.

This time Liu Bei was aggressive, so he was the attacker!

Cao Cao became the defender.

The attacking side had many disadvantages: long supply lines, the need to attack fortified cities, and so on.

Cao Cao only needed to rely on the fortified city to defend and block Liu Bei's attack to be victorious.

With the roles of host and guest reversed, the difficulty had also changed!

Xiapi,

The days of heavy rain finally paused slightly.

Cao Cao's one hundred and fifty thousand troops arrived. He sent thirty thousand troops to guard Xiapi,

and personally led one hundred and twenty thousand troops to confront Liu Bei!

The thirty thousand troops of the Taishan bandits, Zang Ba, Sun Guan, and others, also set up camp outside the city.

Liu Bei had detached Lu Xun's sixty thousand troops, leaving him with only one hundred thousand—actually fewer than Cao Cao.

He was not panicked. Although his troops were fewer, they were all elites and led by good generals, while Cao Cao still had new recruits.

Every day, he challenged the Cao army to battle, dueling generals, and fighting with great enthusiasm!

Ma Chao fought Xu Zhu from dawn until dusk, agreeing to fight again the next day. Xu Zhu didn't even wear armor, showing off his muscular upper body, wanting to sting Ma Chao's eyes!

Zhang Fei and Dian Wei also fought to a draw!

Huang Zhong fought Wen Chou!

But Liu Bei also had Zhang Liao, Taishi Ci, Wei Yan, Zhang Ren, Wen Pin, Chen Wu, Dong Xi, the father-son duo Ling Cao and Ling Tong, Sun Ben, and others who could fight.

Even with the addition of Rogers, Cao Cao naturally lost more duels than he won.

This day, the rain was lighter, and both sides led troops out of camp.

Cao Cao was surrounded by dense layers of guards.

He laughed loudly,

"Xuande, what is the point of you wasting time in Xiapi! In the end, won't you just return empty-handed!"

A group of ruffians on the Cao army side kept shouting and pointing at Liu Bei's side, laughing and cursing,

"Liu Bei has over three hundred thousand troops in total; if he doesn't gain anything, he'll lose too much face!"

"What more does a mat-weaver and shoe-seller want!"

Zhang Fei roared, directly drowning out all of them,

"Cao Cao, Yuan Shao treated you like a brother, yet you secretly harmed his two sons. No one is more shameless than you!"

"And Xu You, who helped you enter Yecheng—you crossed the river and burned the bridge, ordering Xu Zhu to kill him. Whoever follows you is doomed!"

Xu Zhu cursed loudly,

"Zhang Fei, stop slandering my lord!"

Liu Bei looked at Cao Cao,

"Mengde, our army already occupies seven provinces, and our population is nearly double yours. You should stop trying to bolster your power by commanding troops."

Cao Cao laughed loudly,

"Although you have many people, they are too widely spread. How can they compare to the dense population and numerous cities of my Central Plains and Hebei?"

"I heard that the Shanyue people in your Jiangdong have rebelled again."

Liu Bei laughed,

"The Shanyue rebellion will only provide me with high-quality soldiers. As for you, having just seized Hebei, if you hold a long stalemate with me, rebellions will sprout everywhere, and Xuxian is already surrounded by me. You are about to be homeless."

Cao Cao's mouth twitched. He didn't seem to have won a single war of words with Liu Bei.

Sun Guan interjected,

"Big-eared thief, you still owe the grain of Qing and Xu provinces, and you haven't returned much of it. Shameless!"

Liu Bei replied,

"I came this time precisely to return that grain, but your lord blocked my path."

Xing Daorong ranted,

"Sun Guan, you are a bandit by origin, how dare you say such things? Haven't you done enough of that yourself!"

Sun Guan?

"Who is this round-faced general?"

Xing Daorong laughed loudly,

"Saying my name will scare you to death! I am the invincible general of Jingnan, Xing Daorong!"

Sun Guan mocked,

"Never heard of you!"

Xing Daorong was furious, spurred his horse out, and roared,

"Sun Guan, you thief, if you have the guts, come out and fight!"

He had observed over the past few days that Sun Guan's martial arts were average, and he could bully him!

Liu Bei had too many talents, and Xing Daorong had no chance to show off.

Sun Guan weighed himself, spurred his horse out, and pointed his weapon at Xing Daorong from afar,

"Round-faced fatty, prepare to die!"

Xing Daorong hated being called a round-faced general most of all, and if he hated anything more, it was adding "fatty" to it!

"You are courting death!"

The onlookers in the live broadcast room laughed,

"My General of Lingling is angry!"

"Holy crap, is today starting with two chickens pecking at each other?"

"I've got my wine and food ready, and this is it?"

"I'm here to see Xu Zhu's bare-chested bloody battle with Ma Chao. Brother Ma Chao, if you have the ability, take off your shirt too!" said a certain fujoshi.

"Xing Daorong, you're just part of the atmosphere team, why are you joining the duel of generals!"

On the field,

Xing Daorong and Sun Guan's horses crossed!

With a loud bang, Sun Guan's body swayed, and the webbing between his thumb and forefinger actually split,