Cao Cao was startled: "But Yuan Xi, who conquered Liaodong alone and defeated Zhangjiao in the field?"
"Exactly this person!"
Cao Cao sighed and said: "Yuan Shao is mediocre and incompetent, how can he have such an heir? If I have a son like this, why would I regret my death!"
After sighing this sentence, Cao Cao had completely calmed down.
Suddenly someone came to report, and the fourth son, Cao Xiong, led his army to Guandu to help in the battle.
Cao Cao summoned him and immediately asked: "You are not guarding the city in Xudu, why are you here?"
Cao Xiong, also known as Richard, prostrated himself to the ground and reported: "After the boy defeated Liu Biao, he chased the defeated enemy all the way to Qiaojun before returning. Now that Liu Biao was defeated, the place where his father was founded was at ease.
, so the child led his three hundred followers and came to Guandu to help his father."
Cao Cao said angrily: "Shu Zi! Do you know that during the time you left the city, Xu Du was defeated by Yuan Xi!"
Cao Xiong's eyes were filled with astonishment: "How is this possible? Yuan Xi is extremely far away from Xu Capital..."
"If Xu Du had more strong generals to defend, he would not be able to break the city so quickly. Send the order! Cao Xiong disobeyed the order, raised his troops privately, beheaded in public, and rectified military law!" Cao Cao shouted angrily.
Cao Xiong hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy, and everyone around him hurriedly tried to dissuade him.
Cao Cao pointed at Cao Xiong and said: "I have your head on my neck. If you dare to do it again, you will be killed without mercy!"
Cao Xiong bowed his head and obeyed the order, muttered repeatedly, and then reported: "Father, please allow me to make meritorious deeds."
Cao Cao waved his hand impatiently and told Cao Xiong to retreat and rank at the bottom of the list.
Perhaps he vented his anger on Cao Xiong. After Cao Cao walked around the tent a few times, his anger completely disappeared and he stroked his beard and laughed three times.
Someone asked: "Xudu has been robbed, and our army is in a critical situation. Why is the Prime Minister laughing?"
Cao Cao laughed and said: "I was unwary for a moment and was taken advantage of by the younger generation. However, Yuan Xi raised his troops to attack Xudu. If he went deep alone, he would destroy himself. What should I fear?"
Cao Cao is the backbone of the Cao Group. When he calmed down and acted relaxed, the generals under his command naturally calmed down.
At that moment, a counselor suggested: "Xudu is the fundamental place and there is no room for failure. If the food supplies run out, the prime minister can temporarily send troops to relieve Xudu's difficulties."
Guo Jia objected and said: "No. Guandu is the gateway to Henan. If it is abandoned and not defended, Yuan Shao's troops can go south and directly target Qiaojun, Yingchuan and other key places in Yuzhou! This is the way to die."
Cao Cao asked: "What do you think should be done to serve as a filial piety?"
Guo Jiadao:
"Yuan Xi's army only has 20,000 soldiers, and it relies entirely on Yuan Shao. If Yuan Shao is defeated, Yuan Xi is just a tree without a source. How can he sit alone in the city for a long time? Therefore, the key to breaking the situation now lies with Yuan Shao.
"My lord can adopt Xu Ziyuan's plan and send elite soldiers to Wuchao to burn grain. Yuan Shao will be panicked when his grain and grass are burned, so he will send people to rescue Wuchao. By then, my lord only needs to ambush his troops at the place he must pass, and he will be able to defeat Yuan Shao.
"
Cao Cao sighed and said: "The idea of filial piety coincides with mine."
He turned and looked around at the counselors and generals, and said:
"I know that all of you are in Xudu, and so am I! Xudu has been robbed, and it is inevitable that you will panic.
"However, today, retreating without fighting is a way to die! Only by taking a risk and defeating Yuan Shao can we solve the dilemma!
"I hope you, all of you, will work together with me to fight to the death!"
All the generals fell to their knees and shouted in response.
Cao Xiong came out of the queue, two lines of tears flowed from his eyes, and he knelt down and begged for orders: "Father, I would like to be a pioneer, go to Wuchao, and burn Yuan Shao's grain and grass!"
Cao Cao looked at Cao Xiong, frowning and saying nothing.
Next to him, Liu Ye advised: "The Fourth Young Master once used Xu Du's 5,000 old and weak army to defeat Liu Biao's 50,000 army. He is also a wise and brave general. In my opinion, he should not be inferior to Yuan Xi. Why don't you take this important task?
Leave it to the Fourth Young Master and you will definitely succeed."
After Cao Cao pondered for a while, he nodded and said: "Forget it! I will allocate you three thousand elite soldiers, carry kerosene and bunch grass, and go to Wuchao to burn food at the fourth watch tonight. If you think of your mother and brothers who are trapped in Xudu, you should
Fight hard and don’t violate it.”
Cao Xiong knelt down and kowtowed: "I dare you to fight to the death!"
At this moment, Cao Cao made various plans, which I won’t mention anymore.
…
Yuan Shao believed the news about the Youzhou army and horse action before Cao Ying did.
After all, the route that Youzhou's 20,000 troops took at the beginning was Yuan Shao's own territory!
After Yuan Shao learned the news, he wanted to order a stop, but the exchange of information was inconvenient. When he got the news, the Youzhou army had already left the border of Jizhou and entered Sizhou.
Yuan Shao had no choice but to scold Yuan Xi for being an unscrupulous man. Coupled with Guo Tufengji's fanning the flames, Yuan Shao became even more angry and felt that Youzhou was no longer under his control (of course this was the fact
).
Otherwise, how could he, the general, not be aware of the mobilization of soldiers and horses in Youzhou?
If it hadn't been for Jushu's persuasion, Yuan Shao wouldn't have known what he would have done.
Even with Ju Shou's words, Yuan Shao still planned to replace all the officials in Youzhou after defeating Cao Cao, and then ordered Yuan Xi to return to Yecheng to support his mother out of filial piety. From then on, he would never give this unscrupulous son a chance to take charge of his own affairs.
However, two days later, urgent news came.
"Report to the general! A messenger has arrived in front of the camp with the emperor's edict!"
Yuan Shao said impatiently: "This is another false edict issued by Cao Cao, I will not accept it!"
Jushu next to him advised: "Even if we know that Cao Cao is pretending to be the emperor, the emperor's edict represents the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty after all, so we still need to treat it with caution."
Yuan Shao had no choice but to stand up and raise his tent, so that all the generals could welcome him.
Unexpectedly, after the female envoy who came saw Yuan Shao, her first reaction was to kneel down on one knee and salute.
Yuan Shaonahan, you are an angel after all. Why are you kneeling to me?
Tian Yu suddenly said: "This person seems to be a general under the Second Young Master."
Over there, Li Shuyi paid her respects again and said: "I will finally pay my respects to my lord!"
"No need! You said you have the emperor's edict with you? What's going on?" Yuan Shao breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to the big tiger-skin chair in the Chinese military tent.
"Reporting to the General, the Second Young Master has attacked Xudu and rescued the Emperor! This edict from the Emperor came from the Second Young Master from Xudu!" Li Shuyi said crisply, "The General also brought a letter from the Second Young Master.
, please take a look, my lord!"
Plop.
Yuan Shao bumped his butt and sat on the tiger-skin handsome chair. Fortunately, he had planned to sit down, so the fall was not obvious.
Yuan Shao didn't have time to adjust his sitting position and asked, "Wait a minute! What did you say? Say it again!"
Li Shuyi secretly despised it and could only repeat it once.
Yuan Shao was stunned.
The counselors and generals in the tent were all like clay and wood sculptures, speechless for a moment.
Jushou was speechless, but he still reacted and whispered: "My lord, why don't you read the contents of the edict first and then make a decision."