Now all Sima's troops have been withdrawn to the south of the Yellow River. Not only the four counties in southeastern Hebei, but even the Henei County where the Sima family's ancestral tomb is located has been abandoned by Sima's commander. There is no more land north of the Yellow River.

Cao Liang appreciated Sima Shi's decisiveness and ruthlessness. After Jizhou was lost, the four counties in the southeast of Jizhou were already useless. They could not defend them at all. Even if they were defended, it would not be of much significance. Sima Shi decisively withdrew all his troops and population to Qingzhou and Yanzhou, which could be regarded as the last remaining strength. Otherwise, although the Yellow River defense line in the long term was known as a natural danger, it would be useless if there was no soldiers to defend them.

It is indeed a bit courageous to give up the Sima Shi in Hanoi County. It is logical that Hanoi County is still far from the battlefield in Jizhou and has not been affected by war. Not to mention that the Sima family's ancestral tomb is in Wen County, Hanoi, and no one dares to abandon it easily in Hanoi County, which is the defense barrier of Luoyang.

Because Hanoi County is close to Luoyang, once Hanoi County is lost, the enemy's war horses can easily drink horses from the Yellow River, which directly threatens the safety of Luoyang. Therefore, for a long time, the gains and losses of Hanoi County have been crucial to Luoyang's impact.

But Sima Shi knew very well that under the current situation, heavy troops to defend Hanoi were actually just to give Cao Liang a head. On the battlefield of Jizhou, the 500,000 troops were defeated. He could not defeat the cavalry of the Bingzhou Army in field battles, and could not defend the Bingzhou Army's catapults. With the terrain of the Hanoi County, no matter how you fight, it would be a loss!

Therefore, Sima Shi directly gave up on Hanoi County. Anyway, if the Bingzhou Army attacked Hanoi County heavily, Hanoi County would undoubtedly suffer. Instead of losing a group of people in vain, it would be better to withdraw these people and strengthen the defense of Luoyang Yellow River Defense Line, killing two birds with one stone.

The situation after the Battle of Jizhou suddenly became brighter. In the past, the two sides were in a form of intertwined thorns, but now they are confronting each other across the river and facing each other from afar.

Obviously, Sima Shi was determined to draw a river and give up all the land north of the Yellow River to Cao Liang. He gathered heavy troops to the south bank of the Yellow River, preparing to defend himself to prevent Cao Liang's Bingzhou army from crossing the Yellow River.

According to the news sent back by the Military Command, Sima's division divided the Yellow River defense line into three sections. The Sizhou River section in the west was the West Road defense zone, guarded by Sima Zhao, the Yanzhou River section in the central part was the Middle Road defense zone, with Zhong Hui as the chief general, and the Qingzhou River section in the east was the East Road defense zone, with Sima Yong as the commander, while Sima's division was in charge of the White Horse and commanded the three armies.

Sima's arrangement is quite reasonable. After all, if the Qianli Yellow River defense line is unified, it will not be possible to accurately and promptly transmit the message. There may even be situations where the eastern section of the Yellow River has been lost but the western section of the Yellow River is still unaware of it. The Yellow River defense line is divided into three defense areas, so that at least there will be no big mistakes in the transmission of information and military command.

But no matter how Sima Shi arranged it, such a long Yellow River defense line would inevitably have some loopholes and negligence when defending. Cao Liang only needed to catch one or two of his flaws, which would be enough to cause a fatal blow to the Yellow River defense line.

A thousand-mile dike collapses in an ant hole. A very small mistake may cause immeasurable losses. Sima Master is strictly guarding it, but it is impossible to solve all loopholes. Cao Liang will still find flaws. Cao Liang naturally has full confidence in this.

However, this natural danger of the Yellow River indeed hindered the speed of the Bingzhou army's advance southward. Without this Yellow River, the Bingzhou army could have swept across Qingyan, Yuxu, and even came to Luoyang City, which would not be a problem.

But the Yellow River exists naturally, and no one's will can change it. Cao Liang was about to cross the river and attack Sima, so he had to find a way to cross the Yellow River and break through the so-called natural danger of the Yellow River.

If crossing the river, it requires ships or pontoon bridges. All infantry battalions of Bingzhou Army are equipped with boat bridge troops, so that they can provide logistical assistance when crossing the river. However, under normal circumstances, the equipment owned by the boat bridge troops can only be supported by the infantry battalion to cross some rivers that are not too deep or too wide. For a large river like the Yellow River, the equipment of the boat bridge troops is really pitifully small. Even if all the boat bridge equipment of the infantry battalion is gathered, it is far from meeting the needs of crossing the Yellow River.

Therefore, if the Bingzhou army wanted to cross the river, it had to build new ships or floating bridges. When the Sima army retreated, it had already withdrawn all the ships on the Yellow River to the south bank of the Yellow River, and there was no wood left behind on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Not only that, when the Sima army retreated, it burned all the houses and forests in the four counties including Yangping, just to cut off the possibility of the Bingzhou army's local materials and building ships.

Sima Shi's move was indeed ruthless. He implemented the three-light policy and scorched earth policy in the four counties in southeastern Hebei. He forced the population of the four counties in southern Hebei to Qingzhou and Yanzhou, and then set fire to burn all things visible to the naked eye. When Cao Liang arrived in Yangping, he saw a piece of scorched earth, full of sores, and even in many places, the fire had not been completely extinguished, and smoke was curling.

In order to prevent the Bingzhou army from crossing the Yellow River south, Sima's army had already reached the point of being unscrupulous. It was so crazy that the four counties in the southeast of Jizhou were completely ruined.

Cao Liang couldn't help but sigh that it was the war that made those in power become obsessed with profit and use any means to take care of the people to gain the greatest benefit. Those in power completely ignored the lives and deaths of the people. Look at the scorched earth in front of him, how many people are displaced and wandering in a foreign land. Is it because they are unwilling to stay here? It's just that they have to. If these people are unwilling to leave their hometowns, then Sima Shi will mercilessly order the army to suppress it. In this ruin, countless scorched bones can be vaguely seen. I believe they died tragically by Sima Jun's men.

In the rise and fall of the people, the people suffer, and the rise and fall of the world, what is seen in history books is mostly the glory of heroes created by the times, but they cannot see the suffering of the people. Many people are wandering and in distress in this war. They are struggling at the bottom of society and die for a lifetime.

Only by ending the war as quickly as possible can the people live a stable life, and the country and the people will never be built on the war. Only by ending the war can these common people have hope and hope.

This war has been fought for too long, and it has brought enough torture and destruction to the people. Cao Liang must end it as soon as possible and he has no choice but to do so.
Chapter completed!