Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 90 Yuan Shu is dumbfounded, Sun Ce arrives

In August of the second year of Jian'an, after many days of confrontation with Yuan Shu, Cao Cao decisively turned back to attack Shangcai.

As soon as the news reached Pingyu City, Yuan Shu was dumbfounded!
Because in his strategic decision, Shangcai and Nandun were his two wing defense lines, and Pingyu was the real main battlefield.

Therefore, Yuan Shu had an army of more than 40,000 in Pingyu City, and it seemed that there were 10,000 to 20,000 troops in Nandun and Shangcai.

Now that Cao Cao was returning, he was in a very passive position. He had to either take the initiative to attack Cao Cao's rear or send a reinforcement force to reinforce Shangcai.

After receiving the news, Yuan Shu called everyone to discuss the matter:
"Cao Mengde is returning to Shangcai now. Our army only has over 10,000 soldiers in Shangcai City. It is difficult to resist. What should we do?"

When everyone heard the news of Cao Cao's return, they naturally frowned. After thinking for a while, Yan Xiang stepped out and said:

"Your Majesty, Cao Cao's return is a violation of the great taboo of military strategy!"

"We must strike quickly and attack the enemy's rear. We must not let them escape!"

As soon as he said this, Yang Hong sneered:
"What does Lord Yan mean by this? What taboos does Cao Cao have to face if he returns to the army?"

Facing Yang Hong's sneer, Yan Xiang said in a deep voice:

"When two armies are facing each other, it is most important not to show weakness. Cao Cao's main force is facing our army here, so our main force cannot move."

"But once he returns to the army, his defensive position will be gone, and he will show our army the rear route. If we attack his rear route, his troops will stop on their own!"

After hearing this, Yuan Shu began to think about Yan Xiang's words, but Yang Hong stepped forward and bowed, saying:

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the enemy's actions may be a trick to lure our army into battle!"

"He is unable to attack here, and drought has set in. He must be short of food and soldiers, so he wants to fight."

"Seeing that our army would not leave the city to fight, they turned back to show the enemy their weakness. It seemed like they were exposing their weakness, but in fact they must have a trick. If our army went out, they would fall into the enemy's trap!"

This is the art of war. Facing the enemy's actions, it is difficult to figure out what the enemy is thinking.

For Yuan Shu, Yan Xiang's words made sense, and Yang Hong's words also made sense.

If Cao Cao really returned, then he should naturally attack.

But what if Cao Cao doesn’t return?
Did they pretend to return but actually set an ambush on the way to lure him into the trap?
Yuan Shu was also frightened by Cao Cao's attack, and was a little hesitant for a moment.
"You two have a point, but I am afraid that Shangcai will suffer a loss!"

For him, Shangcai is not just a flank. You must know that Shangcai is connected to Hongshui, and going south all the way is Xincai and Xiacai!
Xincai was where he stored his baggage. Once Shangcai was taken, Cao Cao could kill his way into his hometown.

It can be said that when Cao Cao attacked Nandun, Yuan Shu was not panicked at all, but his attack on Shangcai was his weak spot.

Seeing this, Yan Xiang hurriedly bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, if you know the importance of Shangcai, you should send troops to fight Cao Cao without hesitation!"

"Even if the enemy has an ambush, we can send one army to explore the way ahead, and our main force will be in the rear, so we can guard against the enemy's calculations."

Yuan Shu listened, stroked his beard, and hesitated.

But Yang Hong smiled complacently at this time:

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I have a plan that can keep our main force intact and get Cao's army to return!"

When Yuan Shu heard this, he smiled and asked:

"My dear, what is your plan?"

Yang Hong stepped forward and said:

"The only problem facing our army now is that Cao Cao is attacking Shangcai. Our army is afraid of his main force. Why don't we do the same as him and send troops to attack Cao's army in Nandun?"

"General Zhang of our Nandun army still has 20,000 soldiers and horses, while the enemy Xiahou Yuan has only 8,000 soldiers. As long as we send one of our troops forward to cooperate with General Zhang from inside and outside, we can guarantee that we can defeat this army!"

"And if this flank is lost, our army can go straight to Ruyang and march to Xu County."

"How can Cao Cao not be afraid when he sees this? He will definitely turn back. This is the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao!"

When he said this, Yuan Shu was overjoyed and said:
"What a great strategy! Cao Mengde attacks our rear, and our army can attack his rear. Wonderful, wonderful!"

But when Yan Xiang heard this, his face turned pale and he quickly said:

"Your Majesty, you must not act like this. The enemy forces in Nanton are few in number. Even if our army defeats them, what can we do?"

"Let's not talk about whether we can take Ruyang or not. If our army wants to go to Xuchang, it will take hundreds of miles. It will be difficult to deliver food and supplies. How can Cao Cao be afraid?"

"And if the enemy army takes Shangcai, they can go downstream and attack our rear."

"The enemy attacked our rear, and we attacked the enemy's flank. How can this be considered a strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao?"

If it was any other suggestion, he definitely wouldn't be so excited.

But you have to be excited now, because Yang Hong’s strategy did not see the situation clearly at all. Now Cao Cao is going to stab them in the back. Your best bet at this time is to chase Cao Cao and fight him!
However, Yang Hong's plan was to see the person about to stab him in the back and then he wanted to chop his palm!
The importance of the two sides is completely different. If Cao Cao were to return because of this matter, he would not be called Cao Cao.

However, his words were too excited, which made Yang Hong quite dissatisfied.

"If you follow what Lord Yan said, then I have nothing to say. I just don't know how Lord Yan will deal with Cao's army after our army attacks?"

"Now that we have the city as our protection, our army can choose not to fight. If we chase them, I wonder what tricks Lord Yan will come up with to defeat them!"

This sentence left Yan Xiang speechless. The key point was that their army was no match for Cao Cao.

Logically, they should chase Cao Cao and attack him, but even if Cao Cao didn't set an ambush, they might not be able to defeat him!

Yang Hong used this matter to refute him, and he really had no way to refute it.

But as Yuan Shu's chief secretary, he had to persuade Yuan Shu:
"Although we cannot fight, we should still attack and harass them. We must not let Cao Cao take Shangcai!"

But their quarrel made Yuan Shu even more annoyed, so he waved his hand and said:

"That's it. Both sides should advance. Order Sun Xiang to lead 8,000 troops to reinforce Shangcai immediately, and order Li Ye to send 8,000 troops to attack Cao's army in Nandun!"

"I have made up my mind, so stop discussing it!"

Seeing Yuan Shu like this, the two men knew that Yuan Shu was annoyed and dared not say anything more.

But Yuan Shu saw that the two were silent, so he asked again:

"How should we deal with the current situation in Jiujiang?"

Compared to Cao Cao, who only just learned that Liu Bei's army was approaching Shouchun, Yuan Shu had actually received the news long ago. If he had not moved the capital to Xincai in advance, he would have returned to Shouchun long ago.

After all, compared with the tense situation in Runan, Jiujiang could be said to have been completely destroyed. With the three parties attacking at the same time, only Shouchun, Chengde and Hefei were left unbroken.

It can be said that they have completely lost control of Jiujiang and are now just fighting desperately.

Seeing him mention the situation in Jiujiang, Yan Xiang bowed again and said:
"Your Majesty, Shouchun must not be lost. Even if Guangling and Lujiang are unable to provide reinforcements, you can order Lu Mian of Ruyin and Yuan Yin of Xincai to help Shouchun together."

Lu Mian is also a general of Yuan Shu, and he is currently stationed in Ruyin with 3,000 soldiers. Yuan Yin is Yuan Shu's younger brother, and he is leading 5,000 soldiers to defend Xincai.

These troops were squeezed out by Yuan Shu from every possible means, and they were all defending strategic locations.

But Yang Hong was now in conflict with Yan Xiang, and shook his head when he heard this:
"Your Majesty, Shouchun still has 20,000 soldiers and horses. The troops of Lu Mian, Yuan Yin and others only have 4,000 to 5,000 people. 20,000 people can't even defend it. What's the point of adding a few thousand more?"

"Even if the three families attack together now, it would be better to follow Yuan Yaoqing's strategy and abandon Shouchun to let the three families restrain each other."

"This way, we can increase our defensive strength and temporarily slow down the offensive of the three forces!"

Faced with these two people's completely opposite suggestions, Yuan Shu felt dizzy and couldn't figure out how to deal with the current situation.

The two people's advice styles are different, but both make sense.

Whether to defend Shouchun or not, this is a big question!

Abandoning the defense might cause chaos among the three families, but it might also allow Liu Bei and others to march straight in and attack Cao Cao from both sides!

Every decision has different possibilities. How does he choose?
After thinking it over, Yuan Shu couldn't figure it out, so he just shook his head tiredly and said:

"The situation is like this, we must not act rashly. I order you all to defend the city!"

"Tell Ji Ling that if Shouchun is missing, bring his head to me!"

After hearing this, Yan Xiang wanted to give more advice, but seeing Yuan Shu like this, he knew that Yuan Shu was unable to think about these details, so he stopped talking.

After this agreement, in accordance with Cao Cao's return plan, Yuan Shu chose to send reinforcements to Nandun while rescuing Shangcai.

When Cao Cao heard the news, he immediately stroked his beard and laughed, saying to his attendants:
"Yuan Gonglu is at a loss as to what to do. This is a road to self-destruction!"

Just as Yan Xiang had inferred, not to mention that Yuan Shu only sent more troops to Nandun, even if Yuan Shu gave up his home and headed straight for Xuchang, Cao Cao would not be afraid at all.

To put it bluntly, he is now going by water, while Yuan Shu is going to Xuchang by land. If he wants to compete with him in speed to change homes, that would be courting death!

In response to Yuan Shu's reaction, Cao Cao followed Guo Jia's suggestion and divided 5,000 troops to block the river to prevent reinforcements, while continuing to advance and speed up the capture of Shangcai.

While the Cao and Yuan families were fighting in Runan, Sun Ce also led his troops to Shouchun.

However, after Zhou Yu made his plan, Sun Ce ordered Lu Fan to return to Jiangdong to closely monitor all actions.

Xu Yi was left behind to command more than a thousand soldiers and horses to garrison Jundao and be responsible for finding out the movements of Hefei.

After arranging these two things, Sun Ce discussed the route to the north with Zhou Yu.

It should be noted that they also have two ways to go north. One is to seize Chengde from the northwest and go north, and the other is to go straight to Shouchun from Jundao.

Sun Ce originally wanted to march directly towards Shouchun from Jundao.

But Zhou Yu heard this and tried to persuade him:

"Our army is here to take Shouchun. Although we are aiming for Hefei, we must act as if we want to take Shouchun!"

"Now our army is heading north and has no base. We should take Chengde as our retreat route."

"Chengde is not an important town, and there are not many soldiers and horses. It will be easy to take it."

"When we march south tomorrow, we will abandon this city as well, and we will be able to gain the enemy's trust!"

"Besides, we still don't know the situation in Shouchun, so we can take Chengde while exploring the enemy's situation!"

After hearing this, Sun Ce thought it made sense, so he sent Chen Wu to lead 3,000 soldiers to attack Chengde.

Chengde did not have many soldiers and horses to begin with. When Sun Ce's army arrived, the county magistrate was afraid of Sun Ce's power, so he opened the city and surrendered. In this way, Sun Ce captured another city.

However, before Sun Ce entered Chengde, the spy who had obtained the news had already returned.

It is said that the allied forces of Liu and Lu have already attacked the city of Shouchun.

When Sun Ce heard the news, he was shocked and said:
"Ji Ling is in charge of guarding Jiujiang, and his troops are all in the northern border. The two coalition forces only have more than 20,000 people. Why did Ji Ling go to this point?"

Zhou Yu heard this and immediately shook his head:

"You must know that Liu Bei and Lu Bu are both heroes, far from being comparable to Liu Zhengli and others from Jiangdong!"

"If the two families attack each other, even Yuan Shu would be afraid. Ji Ling is only a general, how dare he fight?"

"Ji Ling has lost his will to fight, and the two families are attacking each other very quickly. Our army should quickly march north without delay!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Ce frowned and said:
"But the two families have already joined forces. Seeing our army coming from afar, they will surely be wary. Should we send an envoy north first?"

Although his intention was to take Hefei, his actual intention was to seize Shouchun.

He thought that he didn't know what attitude Liu Bei and Lu Bu would have when they saw him coming, so he had to test the waters first.

But as soon as he said this, Zhou Yu smiled and said:

"Don't worry, brother. Although Liu Bei and Lu Bu have arrived at the city, they are not attacking it. This shows that they know that our army is heading north."

"They are waiting for our army to come over to discuss matters. There is no need for us to send an envoy. We only need to go north and the enemy's envoy will surely arrive first!"

Seeing this, Sun Ce was no longer worried and simply headed north again.

The result was just as Zhou Yu had expected. As soon as he arrived in Shouchun, he met Liu Bei's envoy Zhuge Jin.

Hearing that Liu Bei was waiting for him to go north to discuss the march, Sun Ce couldn't help laughing.

I was thinking that you have been in power for many years, and now you still need my help, right?
Smiling like this, he no longer hesitated and came all the way to the city of Shouchun to join forces with Liu Bei and Lu Bu.

(End of this chapter)