Chapter 653

Xu Zhu was also hit by two arrows to protect Cao Cao, but he was still diligently waving his sword to help Cao Cao block the arrows!

Cao Cao looked at the soldiers of Wei Yan rushing toward them and muttered,

"Is today my death day?!"

Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats came from behind. Cao Cao was even more desperate. With Wei Yan in front, and pursuers coming from behind?

Was Heaven going to destroy him?!

Cheng Yu, however, was overjoyed,

"My lord, it's Wen Chou and Cao Zhen!"

Cao Cao looked back and saw that it was his two fierce generals who had been separated and fled, and they happened to meet here,

"Good! Good! Heaven does not cut off all paths."

Cao Cao had met these two retreating troops by chance, which could be considered extremely good luck.

He prepared to laugh loudly, but seeing Cheng Yu's fearful eyes, he coughed,

"Zhongde, let's quickly join them."

"Understood."

Wei Yan did not want to fight either; the enemy had over ten thousand troops, and he only had four thousand cavalry.

"This Cao Cao is also extremely lucky."

He turned his head and retreated in the direction Cao Cao had come from, happening to meet the defeated Dian Wei.

He didn't hesitate too much and directly fired ten thousand arrows simultaneously, shooting Dian Wei into a hedgehog!

Cao Cao's loyal bodyguard had escaped the non-existent rebellion of Zhang Xiu, but he didn't escape this crushing defeat.

When Liu Bei led his army to Peng Cheng, he found that there were no soldiers guarding the city, and the people had opened the gates and were living normally.

The clans of Peng Cheng hurriedly came to see Liu Bei,

"Lord Xuande crushed Cao Cao's great army in one battle, shaking the Central Plains. When Zhong Yao heard that Lord Xuande's army was coming, he took ten thousand garrison soldiers and fled to Yanzhou."

Zhang Fei muttered,

"Damn it, this Zhong Yao runs really fast."

Liu Bei nodded. Zhong Yao was still quite good, knowing that Peng Cheng could not be defended and decisively preserving his strength.

Liu Bei led his army into the city, posted notices to soothe the people, and at the same time sent troops to drive straight in and capture various parts of Yanzhou.

At this time, the Cao army was terrified; it was the time to expand the victory!

"Wei Yan, lead troops to take Rencheng Commandery and Lu Commandery."

"Understood!"

"Order Zhang Ren to lead the naval forces along Weishan Lake to the north to take Dongping State and Jibei State!"

"I will personally lead the great army to take Pei State, Shanyang Commandery, and Jiyin Commandery."

Liu Bei wanted to take advantage of this great victory to quickly occupy Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and quickly control the situation before the Cao army could react.

Liu Bei only stayed in Peng Cheng for one night, left Dong Xi to guard Peng Cheng, and his first stop with the army was Xiaopei City, where he had previously been the county magistrate.

The people of Xiaopei naturally welcomed Liu Bei warmly; this was Lord Xuande who had walked out from among them!

Liu Bei continued toward Shanyang Commandery.

The cities he passed through almost all surrendered at the sight of him; the Cao army's military power in the Central Plains had already been crippled.

The clans naturally didn't want to die defending the city for Cao Cao. Seeing Liu Bei's great army coming, they hurriedly opened the gates and set out wine.

In Shanyang Commandery, Liu Bei met the current Prefect, Yang Zhi, who was the father of the famous general Yang Hu, and whose wife was Cai Yan's older sister.

They were relatives, and the Yang family was a prominent clan in Taishan Commandery, so Liu Bei naturally won them over.

He let Yang Zhi continue as Prefect of Shanyang Commandery and ordered his younger brother Yang Dan to be Prefect of Taishan Commandery.

After taking Shanyang Commandery, Liu Bei headed to Ditao, south of Dong Commandery.

At this time, Cao Cao had already led over twenty thousand defeated troops, gathered over twenty thousand troops from Zhong Yao's route, and arrived at Puyang City in Dong Commandery.

Guan Yu saw that there was no hope of taking Puyang, so he was no longer there and had gone south to occupy Chen Liu Commandery with Lu Xun.

Cao Cao looked at the group of defeated generals under his command, feeling somewhat heavy-hearted, especially after learning that Dian Wei had been shot to death by Wei Yan, feeling sorrowful.

But now was not the time for sorrow; how to reverse the defeat was the key.

Cao Cao laughed,

and Cheng Yu was almost scared again. Remembering that he was in Puyang City at this time, his heart finally settled.

Cao Cao looked at Zhong Yao,

"Yuanchang is a great talent, even bringing back over twenty thousand troops."

Zhong Yao cupped his hands,