It was almost four o'clock in the morning, and when the night was quiet, Cao Hong personally led his elite troops and arrived at Taohua Station with Xu Huang.
I saw the sparse lights at the camp gate and approached quietly. I could smell a faint aroma of wine in the wind, which was very mellow.
Cao Hong couldn't help smacking his lips and said, "I heard that Xiangyang has Du Kang wine, which is very delicious. It really lives up to its reputation."
Xu Huang stared at the camp vigilantly, his expression becoming more serious: "General, be careful, there is a trap!"
"Hmm, ahem..." Cao Hong realized that he had gone off topic and quickly ordered: "I will attack the left, Gongming will attack the right. While he is still drunk, we will capture Liu Qi alive and help the Prime Minister pacify Jiangnan."
At this point, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. Xu Huang had nothing to say and ordered his men to move closer to the camp along the cliff.
When they reached the point where they could shoot one arrow at a time, the soldiers had already prepared flaming arrows. When the order was given, arrows flew into the camp like locusts, carrying flaming arrows.
The defenders were shocked and quickly beat drums to sound the alarm. Xu Huang took the lead, swinging an axe to chop off the wooden door. His personal soldiers pushed open the fence and rushed in.
At the same time, Cao Hong on the other side also led his troops into the camp. Seeing that the Jingzhou army was indeed unprepared, the soldiers and horses fled in panic under the firelight and rushed towards the central army tent.
Ma Yan was ordered to guard the left camp. When he heard the shouting and killing, he immediately led his troops to resist the enemy. Just as he was about to move forward, he saw Cao Hong and Zhang Xi coming to attack. He felt guilty and ordered his soldiers to move forward to intercept them.
Liu Qi and Pang Tong ran out of the tent and ordered their soldiers to retreat. Ma Yan had to hide behind the big tent to avoid being seen by both sides. As soon as Liu Qi left the camp, he immediately fled.
Looking back, he saw Fu Rong, who was guarding the right camp, had led his troops to charge out and met Xu Huang. The two fought for only ten rounds, and the furious Xu Huang knocked his weapons away with an axe and rode away.
"Not good!" Ma Yan originally wanted Fu Rong to cover the retreat, but seeing that he was no match for Xu Huang, wouldn't he have to leave himself behind
At this time, Cao Hong had already seen Liu Qi and urged his troops to chase after him. Ma Yan was frightened and quickly turned his horse's head, crouched on the horse's back and retreated.
Just as they arrived at the rear camp, a half-length of vine stretched out from somewhere and tripped the horse's legs, causing the horse to stumble again and roll forward with both the rider and the horse.
"Fuck you..." Ma Yan panicked and cursed.
Ma Yan was knocked down again, and he saw stars. He subconsciously rolled into the trench beside the road, and saw Fu Rong rushing out with the remaining soldiers.
“Wait for me…” Ma Yan was about to wave or shout, but Xu Huang had already caught up with him, so he had to shrink his neck and hide in the ditch.
In the blink of an eye, Taohuayi Camp had been occupied by Cao's army, which was searching and patrolling everywhere. Xu Huang chased forward, and Cao Hong was rushing over, commanding his troops to pursue the victory and capture Liu Qi alive.
Ma Yan had no way to advance or retreat, so he suddenly had an idea. He took off his armor, waited for Cao Hong to reach the camp gate, climbed out of the trench, and shouted, "General Cao, wait a minute, don't chase us!"
Cao Hong's mount was startled and stood up. His personal soldiers surrounded Ma Yan with a rush of shouts, and their swords, spears, bows and arrows were all pointed at Ma Yan with cold light flashing.
"Don't do it, it's me!" Ma Yan raised his hands hastily, "I am Ma Yan, Ma Yan—"
The soldiers held torches and marched Ma Yan to Cao Hong. Ma Yan knelt down and said, "There is an ambush ahead. General Cao, you must not pursue us."
"Hmm? Get up and answer me." Cao Hong's eyes were slightly cold. He glanced at the dark night sky and asked, "How come you are here since you were captured by Liu Qi?"
"That Xu Huang..." Ma Yan pointed to the distance, then suddenly stopped and clasped his fists, saying, "General, I have confidential military information to report. Can we talk alone?"
Cao Hong asked again: "How did you know there was an ambush ahead?"
Ma Yan answered confidently: "There is Crouching Tiger Hill ten miles ahead, and Zhang Fei is lying in ambush here. This is... I have something to report, but I am afraid it will affect the morale of the army. I hope the general will forgive me."
After a slight hesitation, Cao Hong sent Zhang Xi to lead troops to support Xu Huang. He was cautious and alert, so he withdrew his troops back to the camp and called Ma Yan into the tent to question him alone.
Ma Yan knelt down and said, "General, Xu Huang has already surrendered to Liu Qi. Our army has been defeated in many battles because he was secretly passing the message."
Cao Hong stood up suddenly, walked to Ma Yan in two steps, looked down at him and asked in a deep voice: "Do you have any evidence?"
"Yes!" Ma Yan nodded heavily, took a deep breath and said:
"I was captured. Liu Qi tried to persuade me to surrender, but I would rather die than obey. I told him that the Prime Minister's power was so great that all the people in the world would follow him. Our army was invincible everywhere. I advised him to recognize the current situation as soon as possible."
Cao Hong glanced at Ma Yan and snorted coldly, "You still have some backbone."
"I am loyal to the Prime Minister, and the sun and the moon can prove it!" Ma Yan said solemnly, swallowed his saliva and continued:
"While the two of us were arguing, Zhang Fei suddenly rushed into the tent and said that Xu Huang had sent a message. I accidentally heard such important news, and I changed my mind and pretended to surrender to get information."
Cao Hong hurriedly asked, "How is Xu Huang?"
Ma Yan replied: "When Liu Qi saw that I had discovered this, he told me the truth. It turned out that Xu Huang had already been subdued by Guan Yu at Bowangpo..."
Ma Yan repeated Liu Qi's words half-truthfully, saying that this time he would lure the enemy deep into the territory and set up an ambush in order to capture Cao Hong's troops and take over Chang'an City.
"This... How is this possible?" Cao Hong was stunned and stood there for a long time without being able to speak.
Although he suspected that Xu Huang was unwilling to fight with all his strength, he never thought that Xu Huang would betray Cao Cao, which was even more ridiculous than Cao Pi asking him to borrow two million yuan.
Ma Yan gritted his teeth and said, "You can only know a person's face but not his heart. Xu Huang tricked me into the camp and my whole army was annihilated. If I hadn't endured the humiliation, how could I have seen through his true face?"
"Is it really Xu Huang who secretly passed the information?" Cao Hong was shocked all over, came to his senses, and his face was gloomy.
Ma Yan pointed in the direction of Wuguan and said loudly: "General, if you don't believe me, just find out about the ambush at Wohugang. If I hadn't mixed in with the chaotic army and risked my life to stop them, I'm sure you would have..."
Cao Hong's eyes twitched, and he slowly sat down on the commander's seat. After a long while, he raised his hand and said, "Get up!"
Ma Yan also heaved a sigh of relief, stood up and took the opportunity to say: "This matter is of great importance. If the general does not dare to deal with Xu Huang, he must be taken back to Xuchang for trial. Otherwise, not only will there be no hope of taking Wuguan, I am afraid Chang'an will also be in danger."
Cao Hong's eyes were slightly stern, and he said in a deep voice: "You are a new surrender, and your mind is undecided. How can Liu Qi tell you confidential matters? I am afraid it is a plot to alienate you."
"Zhang Fei is a reckless man. He must be telling the truth when he broke into the tent!" Ma Yan said anxiously, looking aggrieved, "General Cao, let's not talk about the battle in Nanyang. Even if it's just a small Wuguan Pass, with Xu Huang's ability, he couldn't capture it in half a year. I'm afraid the Prime Minister may not believe it. The various situations in the past half month also show that Xu Huang has already had second thoughts."
Cao Hong took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead with his fingers, hesitating. At this moment, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the tent. It turned out to be Xu Huang and Zhang Yi returning to the camp.
Cao Hong's eyes turned cold, and he asked in a deep voice: "General Xu, why don't you chase the enemy?"
Xu Huang clasped his fists and said, "It's a dark and windy night, the mountains are high and the roads are dangerous, I'm afraid there's an ambush ahead."
"Look, look..." Mayan yelled at the top of his voice like a drake with its neck pinched, "He already knew it, he already knew it."
Cao Hong was furious. He slammed the table, pointed at Xu Huang and shouted, "Xu Gongming, do you admit your guilt?"