The destruction of Cao Bin's troops also destroyed the hope in Cao Cao's heart. After realizing that the supply had been cut off by God without knowing it, Cao Cao finally gave up his persistence and issued an order to withdraw his troops. The direction of Cao Cao's retreat was his famous place - Guandu.

Guandu is located north of Xuchang and south of the Yellow River, only two hundred miles away from Xuchang. It can be said that it is already very close to Cao Cao's Xuchang's nest. Cao Cao set his next stop at Guandu, which not only facilitates supply transportation, but also occupies a strategic impetus, annexes the southern bank of the Yellow River, and uses the danger of the Yellow River to resist Ao Lie's Northern Han elite soldiers. At the same time, Guandu is the place where Cao Cao became famous, the battlefield he is most familiar with, and a blessing for his blessing. He wants to use the good luck that Guandu once brought to him to defeat the powerful enemy again. In Guandu, it is not only Cao Cao, but also to every Wei army soldier, which has a motivating morale. Therefore, Cao Cao retreated to Guandu without hesitation, and reduced his troops in Guandu, arranged fortifications, and established a solid line of defense.

The Shadow members conveyed the news that Cao Cao withdraws the army and the officer ferry to Ao Lie as soon as possible. After receiving this news, Ao Lie smiled knowingly at Zhuge Liang, and then issued an order to advance firmly and confidently: "I will order the three armies to immediately pull up the camp and head straight to Guandu! I want to hunt on both sides of the Yellow River with Cao Mengde!"

At Ao Lie's order, 800,000 elite soldiers of the Northern Han Dynasty rushed to the north bank of the Yellow River one day and night, setting up a camp ten miles away from the shore, and facing the Wei army camp across the river. After forming a confrontation again, neither Ao Lie nor Cao Cao took the lead in launching an attack, and both sides fell into silence again.

But this silence has not lasted for too long.

On September 22, 2018, the second year of Kangxi and Qianlong, the Southern Legion led by Pang Tong defeated Runan County in Yuzhou. The troops rushed straight to the hinterland of Yuzhou, burning the war in the south to the Central Plains. As soon as the Runan County was destroyed, the Central Plains was shocked, and many people began to flee north, trying to avoid the troops of the Southern Legion of the Northern Han Dynasty. As these people fled, fear spread rapidly to the north like a plague, causing panic among residents in the Central Plains.

However, the northward advance of the Southern Legion of the Northern Han Dynasty was only a prelude to a full-scale war. On September 23, 2018, the second year of Kangxi and Qianlong, Chenliu County, the westernmost part of the Central Plains, was also declared lost. Xu Shu, the commander of the Southwest Legion of the Northern Han Dynasty, led his troops to occupy Chenliu, dispersed all the Wei soldiers guarding Chenliu, and firmly nailed a nail to the west of the Central Plains.

Two days later, Sun Ce, who returned to the East China Sea, also made a big move. He and Xiao Ru, who returned from Fusang to help the war, led 50,000 naval troops to attract Zang Ba's attention. Then, Sun Ce led 30,000 elite troops to forcibly land, captured Donglai County in Qingzhou, and inserted the flag of the Northern Han into the territory of Qingzhou. Donglai County is the county closest to the East China Sea in Qingzhou. Losing Qingzhou means losing the route to transport supplies to the sea. Zang Ba had no choice but to go south along the coast and return to land from Xuzhou. He rushed to Guandu to meet with Cao Cao. Zang Ba's retreat completely gave up the sea control power of the East China Sea. Sun Ce thus completely controlled the East China Sea waters and became a real sea overlord.

The defeats in the east, west and south directions were frequently spread. Finally, Cao Cao could not sit still. Most of the troops of Wei were mobilized by Cao Cao to Guandu, and were restrained by the 800,000 elite soldiers of the Northern Han led by Ao Lie. The defense in other places was relatively weak. If the other three legions of the Northern Han Dynasty were allowed to invade, then the Wei Kingdom would sooner or later. Instead of waiting for death, it would be better to give it a try. The situation developed to this point, and Cao Cao had no more to worry about. On October 1, the second year of the Likanggan of the Northern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao finally led his army out in full swing and set up three armies of water and land on the south bank of the Yellow River, intending to fight Ao Lie to the death!

Faced with Cao Cao's fight of trapped beasts, Ao Lie did not disappoint Cao Cao. He personally directed his army to set up a formation on the north bank of the Yellow River, which lasted for more than ten miles east and west, and formed a stunning situation of attacking Cao Cao.

On the Yellow River, water war is naturally the first priority. Amid the sound of the general's drums and music, Jinfan Tianzong and the navy commander Gan Ning stood on the largest and most sturdy warship in the world today and broke through the waves from the water camp on the shore! This warship was made by the good craftsmen who were supervised by Wang Hun and Ma Jun. According to the model provided by Ao Lie, the entire warship was five meters tall and divided into four-story ship towers, three of which were above the armor and one layer under the deck. The whole hull was made of iron wood, with strong water resistance and strongness not inferior to ordinary iron. While helping the warships sail faster on the water surface, it also greatly enhanced the hull's ability to resist strikes.

Looking over the hull and towards the deck of the battleship, there are twenty-four huge and heavy logs surrounding the sides of the ship and the ends of the head and tail. Twelve of them are fixed on the hull to play a restraining role. The other twelve are slightly inclined. The rope made of beef tendons connects these twenty logs together. A discerning person can see at a glance that once the inclined logs lose the constraints of the rope, they will roar down from the high altitude and launch a violent slap on the water surface. These logs are also made of iron wood, which is the water battle weapon made by Ao Lie, which has been quoted by later generations - the slap stick.

Under each pole, there is a red-clothed crossbow that has already made the Wei soldiers suffer. Twenty-four red-clothed crossbows are arranged in the clockwise order of the pole, forming an oval on the deck, maintaining the excitation angle of the battleship from all directions. No matter where the enemy's warship appears, the battleship where Gan Ning is located can strike it in all directions. As long as it enters the range of the red-clothed crossbow, it will be subject to the powerful shooting of the red-clothed crossbow! If the enemy is lucky enough to be penetrated by the red-clothed crossbow and comes within five feet of the battleship, then what awaits them will be the pounding stick that falls from high altitude. In this world, except for some particularly strong battleships in the Northern Han Navy, no naval warship can withstand the slamming stick. Ao Lie is very sure of this.

If the equipment of the pole and red-clothed crossbow has already made the warship under Gan Ning's feet be called a water battle weapon, then there is a design that makes the opponent frightened on the three-story tower ship on the deck. Unlike ordinary tower ships, this battleship has a flat platform on the tower ship. The platform is surrounded by wet cowhide and vine armor. The wet cowhide covers the outside of the armor, forming a solid layer of defense, which not only ensures toughness, but also reduces the burden on the entire battleship in terms of weight. In the middle of this layer of defense, one hundred archers can be accommodated to hide in it. With the help of the defense of wet cowhide and vine armor, cold arrows can be unscrupulously cast. If this platform is placed on land, it is an arrow tower with both offense and defense.

This warship can be regarded as the most perfect and advanced warship in the world in terms of craftsmanship and humanity; in terms of navigation speed or its own solidity, it can be regarded as the most perfect and advanced warship in the world today. In front of this warship, the large warships in the Wei army, known as "street ships", were directly compared. The gap is almost the same as aircraft carriers and wooden fishing boats. However, there are only two such warships in the entire Northern Han Dynasty. The "Qilin Battleship" where Gan Ning is located is Gan Ning's command ship, and the other is Ao Lie's "Overlord Battleship". At this moment, it is quietly anchoring in the water camp, waiting for Ao Lie's summoning.

Behind the Kirin battleship in Ganning, a three-story tower ship that could carry more than 300 people at the same time sailed out of the Han army's water camp. Su Fei, deputy governor of the navy, stood on the watchtower of the tower ship, and the two-color flags in his hand kept waving, passing down the orders one by one.

As Su Fei's flag language changed, the gate of the Han army's water village opened wide, and three giant tower ships came through the waves. Wu Qutian general Taishici, one of the Five Tiger Generals, stood on a tower ship in the middle, holding a tiger gall bladder gun in his hand, looking majestic and murderous. Around these three tower ships, there were fifty ships of warships, each of which carried a hundred elite Qilin naval army. After they sailed out of the water village, they immediately accelerated and formed a circular battle circle on the periphery of the Qilin battleship in Ganning, and four giant tower ships of Taishici and others were surrounded in the battle circle. Immediately afterwards, hundreds of fast ships that could only carry thirty people quickly sailed out of the water village, interspersed in the battle circles formed by the warships, forming a complement to the warships.

When ten thousand Qilin naval soldiers took various types of warships and set up formations on the water surface of the Yellow River, Gan Ning, who stood on the Qilin battleship in the center of the battle circle, waved the two halberds in his hand, and let out a roar that made the waters of the Yellow River flow backward: "Qilin naval soldiers are unparalleled in the world!"

Ten thousand elite Qilin soldiers on various warships immediately waved the seven-foot-long sabre in their hands and shouted neatly: "The Qilin's courage is invincible! Qilin naval army is unparalleled in the world-!"

Opposite the Qilin Navy was a warship team composed of 20,000 Wei navy navy. Their commander was Zang Ba who was defeated from the East China Sea. Although Zang Ba was defeated in the battle with Sun Ce, no one could be more competent in the position of the navy governor than him. After all, Zang Ba lived in Qingzhou for a long time and was very familiar with water wars. Compared with the generals who were used to fighting on land, Zang Ba was already an expert in water wars. Therefore, Cao Cao handed over the entire navy to Zang Ba, hoping that Zang Ba could take advantage of his advantage of being good at water wars and win the first prize in the decisive battle with the Han army.
Chapter completed!