Xu County, South Gate.

Cao Ren, wearing precious armor and carrying a famous sword on his waist, led his soldiers to the top of the city wall and was ready to fight Huang Zu.

Among Cao's relatives, Cao Cao was the best in military strategy, followed by Cao Ren, who was particularly good at defensive operations. Therefore, even facing Huang Zu's superior military force, Cao Ren was confident that he could hold the city and delay until Cao Cao led his troops to return for support.

However, what Cao Ren did not expect was that before the battle at the South Gate even started, bad news came from the North Gate.

"Captain! Something terrible has happened! A powerful family in the city has rebelled. Yang Yi, the head of the Yang family, has joined forces with the enemy and personally led four hundred family servants to open the city gates and lead the enemy soldiers into the city!"

"What did you say?"

Cao Ren was shocked and angry when he heard this, and immediately cursed: "Yang Yi, you old bastard!"

As soon as the north gate was opened, Liu Biao's troops swarmed in, and the morale of the defending side was immediately thrown into chaos.

The main forces of Cao Cao's army were all at the front line. Except for a few elite soldiers, the rest who stayed in Xu County were all old, weak and sick. It would have been fine if they could rely on the city wall, but now the city was breached by the combined efforts of the inside and outside forces. Cao Ren knew that with the strength of his army, he could not defend Xu County at all, so he could only retreat to the next best option and save Cao Cao's family.

Seeing the critical situation, Cao Ren decisively ordered: "Quickly notify Madam Ding, and at the same time our army must also be prepared to break out!"

"Yes!"

More than a hundred soldiers around responded in unison. They were dressed in bright armor and had strong bodies. Even in the face of such a situation, they were still ready to die and would not give up. It was obvious that they were all Cao family's loyal soldiers.

The men who led these death squads, like Cao Ren, were family generals from the Cao clan of Qiao County. Therefore, even at this time, they still maintained extremely high loyalty and were willing to share life and death with Cao Ren.

At General Fenwu's mansion, upon hearing that Xu County had been breached, the women in the mansion were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they burst into tears.

In this critical moment, Mrs. Ding, a woman with no power at all, stepped forward and showed her ladyship.

Madam Ding stood up straight, her eyes filled with anger, and she shouted, "How can you cry so much? Shut up, everyone! Stop making noise!"

This command immediately made the scene quiet, and many people looked at Mrs. Ding in fear.

You have to know that Mrs. Ding is Cao Cao's principal wife. The husband is in charge of the outside affairs while the woman is in charge of the inside affairs. When Cao Cao is not around, it is natural that she, the eldest wife, is in charge of the household.

Fortunately, Mrs. Ding was indeed capable of taking on such a big responsibility. In the critical moment, she demonstrated the qualities that a courageous and dignified leader should possess and successfully calmed people's hearts.

Mrs. Ding came from a prominent family. The Ding family and the Cao family had been intermarried for generations. When Mrs. Ding married Cao Cao, Cao Cao had another first wife, Mrs. Liu, who gave birth to two sons and one daughter, including the eldest son Cao Ang.

Mrs. Liu died early, and her son Cao Ang was raised by Mrs. Ding, who treated him as her own son.

Madam Ding's eyes narrowed, and her pretty and bright face was now full of majesty. When the whole Cao family was in panic and had no backbone, she stepped forward and began to take care of internal and external affairs.

First, he arranged for servants to pack up the high-value property that could be transferred, and then he arranged for servants to fetch weapons and armor to arm himself.

Even Mrs. Ding herself wore leather armor and held a long sword to show her determination to fight to the death.

All these actions quickly calmed the people in the team. The panicked family members and servants also found their backbone and began to surround Mrs. Ding and follow her instructions.

Cao Ang, who was only sixteen years old, was inspired by this and stood up and volunteered to Mrs. Ding: "Mother, I also want to go to the battlefield to protect my family."

Cao Ang is Cao Cao's eldest son. Although he was not born to Madam Ding, he has been taken care of by Madam Ding since he was a child. The two are closer than real mother and son. Seeing Cao Ang willing to take the responsibility of protecting his family, Madam Ding is both relieved and a little reluctant, but she still nodded and agreed: "Okay, but promise mother, you have to be more careful."

"My child understands!"

Cao Ang was very happy to get Bian's permission. He had admired his father Cao Cao since he was a child and wanted to be as good as his father, proficient in both civil and military strategies.

After Cao Cao decided to join the fight for hegemony, Cao Ang practiced martial arts diligently and studied military books every day, only thinking that one day he would be able to fight on the battlefield for his father's hegemony and become famous throughout the world.

"Brother, come on!"

Behind Cao Ang, Cao Pi, who was only four years old, was held in the arms of Lady Bian, who was still a concubine at the time. He still raised his fist and cheered for his brother in a fierce manner.

"Haha, don't worry, brother. Ang will definitely protect everyone!"

Cao Ang clenched his fists. At this moment, he was just the age of a passionate young man, and his heart was full of bright imaginations for the future.

Mrs. Ding and others left Cao's house and headed towards the east gate as planned.

On the way, they encountered several groups of rebel soldiers, who were all thieves who took advantage of the city's misfortune to rob. With the help of some servants in the mansion who had been on the battlefield, they easily killed them and arrived at the east gate.

At this time, Cao Ren also reorganized his troops and came to support.

The military situation was urgent, and there was no time to greet each other. As soon as Cao Ren met them, he urged: "The north gate has been breached, and the city is in chaos. We must leave the city at night. If we don't leave now, we may not be able to leave."

Mrs. Ding was also a person who understood the general situation. She knew how unfavorable the current situation was to her side, so she did not act pretentiously and followed Cao Ren with her men to evacuate from the east gate.

However, they were still caught up from behind halfway. It turned out that when Yang Yi and Huang Zu broke into General Fenwu's mansion, they searched the entire house but could not find Cao Cao's family.

I randomly grabbed a few people on the road and asked them, and immediately found out that it was Mrs. Ding and her group who left from the east gate.

With Yang Yi, the local tyrant, leading the way, Huang Zu naturally caught up with them easily and blocked their way: "Madam Ding, Captain Li Feng, where are you going?"

Yang Yi, with the servants of his clan, stood like a roadblock in front of Madam Ding, Cao Ren and others.

When Cao Ren saw Yang Yi, anger instantly burst out of his eyes: "Yang Yi, you despicable old man, my master treats you well every day, why do you want to betray him and surrender? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by the world?"

"Will you be nice to me?"

Yang Yi's round face was filled with gloom at the moment: "Tell me, how has Cao Aman treated me so well? Is it because he promised us Yang family a few low-ranking official positions? Bah! As if our Yang family is rare..."

In Xu County, Cao Cao followed Wang Jing's reform measures, developed military settlements on a large scale, recruited talents from humble backgrounds, restricted aristocratic families and powerful clans, and even promoted Mohism on a large scale to protect the interests of craftsmen, civilians and rich farmers.

These policy measures actually enhanced the combat effectiveness of Cao's army, and at the same time gave a large number of soldiers from the civilian class the opportunity to succeed, so they actively joined the army and were willing to work for Cao Cao.

However, this move was not welcomed by the noble families and wealthy families in Xu County. After all, official positions have always been regarded as forbidden to them, so how could they tolerate being interfered with by a group of peasants?

The policy of military farming greatly harmed the vital interests of the aristocratic families and powerful clans. After all, they controlled the population and held power through land and food.

Now that Cao Cao is promoting military farming, recruiting refugees and reclaiming wasteland, how can the aristocratic families and powerful families still exploit the refugees at will?
Cao Cao has reclaimed the wasteland, so how can they organize refugees to expand their own land?
After a while, Chen Gong just encouraged them a little bit in secret, and many noble families and powerful families responded and wanted to overthrow the "unjust" Cao Cao.

Among them, Yang Yi is the most active one.

Because he wanted to take the opportunity to annex Cao Cao's power in Xu County. Even if he couldn't take it all, he would at least take the biggest share. For this reason, Yang Yi acted extremely hard in front of Huang Zu and even led his team to chase him personally.

As long as he could capture Madam Ding and other members of Cao Cao's household, Yang Yi would have immediately accomplished a great feat. Would he still be afraid of not being able to get close to the position of Governor of Jingzhou?
"Go ahead, catch him alive!"

Yang Yi was very proud and his laughter became increasingly wild.

Cao Ren knew that he couldn't fight any longer at this moment, otherwise he would be caught up by Huang Zu's main force, and no one present would be able to escape. Therefore, he directly ordered: "I will lead the elite troops to break out in front, and I ask all the sisters-in-law to follow behind me. As many as you can run!"

Madam Ding held the hilt of the sword and nodded solemnly: "Uncle, you go, I will lead people to follow behind!"

"kill!"

Cao Ren personally led more than 30 cavalrymen in the front. These cavalrymen were all wearing heavy armor, holding spears, and were full of murderous aura. They were brave and warlike. They were the elite Tiger and Leopard Cavalry that Cao Cao had set about forming after he was impressed by the strength of the Bingzhou soldiers under Wang Jing.

The members of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are all brave and valiant men carefully selected from among the wise. They are fed with good food and wine on a daily basis, and are also taught martial arts techniques and provided with rare treasures. Therefore, each of them is not only physically strong, but also highly skilled in martial arts, and has at least reached the first level of martial arts cultivation.

Cao Ren was seen leading the two armies. He shouted in a deep voice, "Eight gates, open the battle formation!"

The famous sword Qingguang rose up and surrounded Cao Ren, turning one into eight. Suddenly, eight sword shadows sank into the ground with a whoosh and disappeared. The enemy was unaware of the true and false and soon stepped into the range of the sword formation, and the first to bear the brunt was the wound gate among the eight gates.

The Injury Gate is located in the eastern Zhen Palace, and its Five Elements belong to Wood. Zhen Gua is active, and it is easy to get hurt if it moves!

The enemies who stepped into the wounded gate immediately let out painful howls. They were injured by the sword energy of thunder, and their lungs felt as if they were pierced by needles. The pain made their bones and flesh numb and they rolled on the ground.

The more than 30 Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen around Cao Ren also took the opportunity to rush forward. Like a sharp knife, they pierced through the line of Yang Yi's troops with just one charge.

The infantry then closed in and successfully created a gap, allowing Mrs. Ding and her group to pass through.

"Hurry up and keep up. Don't dawdle and don't fall behind!"

In the crowd, Madam Ding was holding a sword, looking heroic. It was because of her presence that the soldiers of Cao's army fought more bravely, and the family members of Cao's mansion did not cause any trouble.

The crowd quickly passed through Yang Yi's obstruction and continued to flee to the territory of Chen Wang Liu Chong.

Cao Ren stayed behind to cover the retreat and once again used the Eight Gates Sword Formation to stop the pursuers.

The Eight Gates Golden Lock was created by Guiguzi. It is both a formation and a martial art. Cao Ren grasped the essence of it and integrated it into his own swordsmanship. He used sword energy to set up the formation, was able to draw on the power of the earth veins for his own use, and borrowed the momentum of mountains and rivers, making its power extremely extraordinary.

If he had to protect Madam Ding and other family members of Cao Cao, with Cao Ren's strength, he could come and go as he pleased.

For a moment, the Eight Gates Sword Formation was like a solid wall of steel, blocking the pursuers and making it difficult for Yang Yi to take any further action.

Although Cao Ren was there to cover their retreat, Mrs. Ding and the others did not run far before they were caught by a group of about 200 light cavalry from Jingzhou, led by Huang Zu himself.

Seeing that there were many women and children in the team, Huang Zu was immediately overjoyed: "Haha, it's really God's blessing. In the dark, I actually caught a big fish."

"The thieves are attacking, what should we do?"

Behind Madam Ding, a group of women and servants in the mansion were all at a loss and looked panicked.

Now that Cao Ren is not around, how can women like them resist the powerful enemy before them?

A feeling of despair began to spread in everyone's heart.

Two thousand cavalrymen were simply a death warrant for them.

At the critical moment, Cao Ang stood up and said to Madam Ding, "Please take everyone away as soon as possible. Father is not here now, and only mother can take charge of the situation."

It was obvious that Cao Ang intended to stay behind to cover everyone's retreat. If he stayed, facing the adults who were coming at him aggressively, he would probably be in danger of death, or even no chance of survival.

Mrs. Ding remained silent, and it was obvious that she was reluctant to let go.

You should know that Cao Ang's biological mother was Cao Cao's original wife, Liu, but because his biological mother died early, Cao Ang was raised by Mrs. Ding since he was a child. Mrs. Ding had no children, so she treated Cao Ang as her own son.

In history, Cao Cao killed Cao Ang because of his romantic affair in Wancheng. When his adoptive mother, Madam Ding, learned that Cao Ang had died in battle, she cried bitterly and even cursed Cao Cao: "You killed my son. From now on, I have nothing to miss!"

After scolding, the straightforward Mrs. Ding returned to her hometown in anger. Cao Cao once personally went back to Mrs. Ding's hometown to find her, stroked her back and begged her softly: "Let's take a car home together, okay?"

But Madam Ding remained silent. Cao Cao walked to the door and asked again, "Will you come back with me?"

Mrs. Ding remained silent, and the relationship between the two ended from then on.

From this incident, it can be seen that Mrs. Ding and Cao Ang are not just mother and son but better than mother and son. Mrs. Ding really treats Cao Ang like her own son.

But at this moment, Cao Ang was going to fight, and there was a high possibility that he would die in battle. How could Mrs. Ding agree to this?

Cao Ang looked at Mrs. Ding. Although the woman in front of him was only his adoptive mother, she had taken care of him and protected him since he was a child, and was no different from his biological mother.

Even if it was just for Mrs. Ding's safety, Cao Ang knew that as a son he had to step forward and shoulder the heavy responsibility.

Therefore, Cao Ang hardened his heart and ignored the pleading and reluctance in Mrs. Ding's eyes. He said to her, "Mother, take the people and go, quickly!"

Mrs. Ding's eyes were filled with tears. She gritted her teeth and ordered decisively: "Let's go!"

"Huh, you want to run? Have you asked me?"

Huang Zu led 200 cavalrymen, but he was not in a hurry to take action. Like a beast playing with its prey, he relied on his mobility to circle around, wandering and monitoring.

Seeing Cao Ang and his hundred men marching towards him, Huang Zu, riding on his horse, pinched his beard and sneered, "You little brat, you dare to stay behind before your hair has even grown out. Cao Mengde has given birth to a good son. But you are still a little naive to stop me. Kill me!"

At Huang Zu's command, the cavalry immediately began to go around to the side and started to charge.

Although Cao Ang was brave, he was not a veteran general after all and had no experience. In addition, he was still young and his skills were far inferior to those of veteran generals like Huang Zu.

Among the Cao Mansion servants under his command, except for a few veterans who had fought in the battlefield and had practical experience, the rest were just slaves and guards. They were not familiar with the art of battle formations, so it was already difficult for them to form a formation, let alone change it when facing the enemy.

The army was directly attacked from the flank by Huang Zu's cavalry and was immediately defeated.

"Haha, it's really vulnerable."

Huang Zu laughed loudly and led the Jingzhou light cavalry under his command to charge back and forth. He quickly wiped out Cao Ang's more than one hundred men and killed them all.

Among the pile of corpses, Huang Zu ordered his men to search for Cao Ang.

"Sir, the person has been found, and he is not dead yet."

Cao Ang, who was pulled out from the pile of corpses, was unconscious but still breathing.

This was Cao Cao's eldest son. Huang Zu was in a good mood and immediately ordered: "Take him with you and take good care of him. If he dies, he will be worthless."

If Huang Zu had not had to continue chasing Madam Ding, he would have even wanted to quickly find a doctor to treat Cao Ang's injuries to prevent him from dying after being captured.

A living hostage is more valuable than a dead bargaining chip.

"Keep chasing, don't let these Cao thieves' families escape!"

Huang Zu, with 200 cavalrymen, continued his pursuit, determined to capture Cao Cao's family in one fell swoop, in order to win credit from Liu Biao in exchange for praise and promotion.

The world is in chaos now, and anyone with a little ambition is following a wise leader, hoping to make a name for themselves so that they can ennoble their wives and children and bring honor to their families in the future.

Huang Zu was born in the Huang family of Anlu, Jiangxia. The Huang family was a prominent family. Its ancestors included the famous minister Huang Xiang and the then Grand Commandant Huang Wan. After Liu Biao became the governor of Jingzhou, he made use of the power of local nobles. It was for this reason that Huang Zu was able to become the governor of Jiangxia.

Huang Zu had finally managed to secure the opportunity to send troops to Xu County, so he was extremely excited and desperately needed to achieve a great feat to establish his position in Liu Biao's camp.

Mrs. Ding and others have undoubtedly made a huge contribution!

Rumble~
More than 200 cavalrymen chased along the official road, the sound of horse hooves rolling like thunder, and soon they caught up with the Cao government convoy, which was moving slower.

With women and children, the convoy could not move fast at all.

Mrs. Ding's face was pale. Although she tried to remain calm, the current situation still made her feel despair.

Even when she saw Huang Zu coming to kill her, Mrs. Ding thought Cao Ang had died in the battle. She felt even more guilty towards Cao Cao because she had promised to take good care of the family but failed to protect Cao Cao's son.

Just when Mrs. Ding and others were in despair, suddenly there was a rumbling sound of horse hooves coming from the north, as if a large group of cavalry were approaching with great momentum and murderous intent.

Under the night sky, the moon was dim and the stars were sparse. Three hundred cavalrymen were wearing heavy black armor, ferocious helmets and masks, and they were filled with murderous aura, like a group of ferocious beasts from the ancient times, rushing over a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. (End of this chapter)