Cao Zhen's expression changed drastically. He suddenly realized that the Shu army was using a tactic to lure the enemy deep into their territory!

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

Cao Zhen immediately issued the order.

"Kill them!"

"Charge!"

The Shu soldiers gave chase relentlessly! Cao Cao's army was thrown into chaos!

At this moment, one of Cao Zhen's lieutenants suddenly shouted, "General! Our rear is surrounded by the Shu army!"

"Damn it!" Cao Zhen cursed under his breath.

His face was extremely ugly at this moment. He never expected that the Shu army would actually use a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain. It was really despicable!

"Pass down the order! Everyone, follow me to break through the Shu army's encirclement and fight our way out!" Cao Zhen pondered for a long time before gritting his teeth and saying.

At this point, he had no other choice.

"Kill them!"

Under the orders of his deputy, Cao Jun desperately charged towards the Shu army in the rear.

The Shu army did not back down and quickly put up a fight. However, Cao Zhen's troops were all brave and fierce, and Cao's army was numerous and powerful. Gradually, the Shu army could not resist and a breach was opened.

Seeing this, Cao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief; they had finally broken through.

"call!"

Cao Zhen, who had escaped death, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had almost thought he was going to die!

"General! The enemy is catching up again!"

At this moment, Cao Zhen's deputy suddenly shouted in a panic.

Damn it!

Cao Zhen cursed angrily, looked up, and sure enough, saw Guan Xing and Zhang Bao leading the Shu army rapidly approaching.

"Stop them! We absolutely cannot let them catch up!" Cao Zhen roared.

"yes!"

Soon, Cao's army surrounded Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, and Cao Zhen took the opportunity to break out of the encirclement and continue his escape.

"Heh heh, that old fox Cao Zhen is quite cunning; he actually managed to escape." Guan Xing sneered.

“It’s alright, Jiang Wei should have already taken Hanzhong, they can’t escape,” Zhang Bao said, shaking his head.

Upon hearing this, Guan Xing smiled and said, "I don't know where you found such a person, but he's really got some skills!"

"Hehe, Boyue has many skills."

"Oh?" Guan Xing asked with great interest, "Tell me about it!"

After Zhang Bao recounted what had happened, Guan Xing was stunned.

It took him a while to recover his senses before he said, "So that's how it is! He's also from Ghost Valley!"

Guan Xing was somewhat surprised, as his father, Guan Yu, was Lu Li's personal disciple, making him a descendant of the Ghost Valley School.

"Brother, how about giving Jiang Wei to me?" Guan Xing said with a smile.

"No way!" Zhang Bao refused outright!

“Brother, my father is also a disciple of Guigu, so I should get along better with Jiang Boyue,” Guan Xing continued.

"Bullshit! Second Uncle is a disciple of Guigu, but you aren't! What are you pretending to be so important to me for?" Zhang Bao glared angrily.

"Forehead……"

Guan Xing touched his nose and gave a wry smile.

"Let's go, let's retreat first, and then make plans after we deal with that bastard Cao Zhen!" Zhang Bao said after thinking for a moment.

"Okay! Let's go!" Guan Xing nodded and said.

The two men led their troops in a swift pursuit.

Only a remnant of the Shu army was left to clean up the battlefield.

Cao Zhen's troops were almost entirely deployed, so they suffered extremely heavy losses.

Jiang Wei captured the city of Hanzhong Commandery with almost no effort.

Meanwhile, Cao Zhen had already fled back to Hanzhong, and shouted angrily, "Damn it, why aren't you opening the city gates yet?"

Unexpectedly, Jiang Wei's figure appeared on the city wall.

"Cao Zhen! Hanzhong has already fallen entirely into the hands of my Shu Kingdom, you can't escape now!" Jiang Wei said triumphantly.

Upon hearing this, Cao Zhen's heart skipped a beat, and his face turned extremely gloomy.

His worst fears came true: Hanzhong Commandery fell into the hands of the Shu Kingdom.

"Damn it, attack the city!" Cao Zhen roared.

The only option now is to launch a full-scale attack!

But on the city wall, Jiang Wei's lips curled slightly as he said, "Cao Zhen, my army will be here in a moment. If we don't run now, we'll miss our chance!"

"Knock knock knock!"

A rapid and loud sound of war drums resounded across the field!

Upon hearing this, Cao's army all stopped.

Cao was furious. He knew there was a large force of Shu troops behind him, and had no choice but to lead his army in a desperate retreat.

By the time Guan Xing and Zhang Bao arrived, Cao Zhen had already vanished without a trace.

"Boyue, why did you let Cao Zhen go?" Zhang Bao asked, dissatisfied.

After all, Cao Zhen now holds a rather important position in the Wei Kingdom, and capturing him alive would be a great achievement.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Wei laughed and said, "General, we can't let a talent like Cao Zhen die. With him around, he's a great asset to our northern expedition to the Central Plains!"

Upon hearing Jiang Wei's words, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao both burst out laughing.

“Boyue is right. We must let him return to Wei alive. Who knows, we might have to fight him again next time? We can’t replace him with a smarter one.”

Cao Zhen couldn't even see through the simplest trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain; he's truly utterly useless.

Such a person will never amount to anything.

Guan Xing patted Jiang Wei on the shoulder and laughed heartily, "Good lad, I admire you more and more."

"General, you're too kind!" Jiang Wei said with a smile.

The three of them looked at each other and smiled.

"General, what do we do next?" the adjutant beside him asked.

Zhang Bao pondered for a moment and said, "The Prime Minister only told us to attack Hanzhong, but he didn't explain anything else!"

"In any case, we have now captured Hanzhong, which is a great achievement!" Guan Xing said in a deep voice.

“I think we can take advantage of our great victory and continue the Northern Expedition!” Zhang Bao suggested.

“That’s not appropriate. Since the Prime Minister has only assigned us to attack Hanzhong, he must have his reasons. If we rashly launch a northern expedition, it might backfire,” Jiang Wei said.

"I think we should stay and defend Hanzhong now, and report to the Prime Minister as soon as possible." Jiang Wei still prioritized stability.

He knew what kind of person Zhuge Liang was; he was almost always shrewd and meticulous in his planning.

“Alright, then let’s report the battle report to the Prime Minister now.” Zhang Bao shrugged and agreed to Jiang Wei’s request.

Immediately, the three wrote to Zhuge Liang, informing him of the battle situation.

On the other hand, Zhuge Liang also learned that Guan Xing and Zhang Bao had captured Hanzhong, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

"They took it so quickly?"

He had thought that Guan Xing and Zhang Bao would fight for some time, but he never expected that they would capture Hanzhong so quickly.

After reading the letter, Zhuge Liang finally understood that it was Jiang Wei's scheme to lure Cao Zhen's army into pursuit, while he took advantage of the emptiness of Hanzhong to capture it in one fell swoop.

"Great! Great! I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Zhuge Liang was overjoyed. Jiang Wei's performance was so outstanding that it gave him hope for the future of the Shu Kingdom.

"Send word to Guan Xing and Zhang Bao to remain still and await my orders!" Zhuge Liang instructed his guards.

The guard obeyed and left.

"Youchang, what do you think?" Zhuge Liang turned to Ma Su and asked.

After a moment's thought, Ma Su said, "This Jiang Wei is indeed formidable; no wonder he's a disciple of Guigu!"