With Cao Cao by my side, what do I have to fear from the world?

Chapter 180, Guandu was a pre-selected battlefield.

Afterwards, Empress Fu Shou arrived at the Ministry of Personnel. Since the Empress rarely left the inner palace, Xun Yu hurriedly came out to greet her.

"Your subject pays respects to the Empress. May the Empress be blessed with longevity!" Xun Yu set an example by being proper in his etiquette, without any perfunctory manners.

Fu Shou spoke softly, saying with concern, "Lord Xun, please rise. His Majesty has often spoken of you to me, saying that you are loyal to the country, diligent in your work, and devoted to the nation. Now that the war has begun, you are working even harder day and night."

Xun Yu bowed and replied, "This is all my duty, and I dare not say that it is hard work."

Fu Shou nodded and handed the letter to Zhang Yu, who was standing to the side.

Zhang Yu was a palace eunuch who stayed by Liu Xie's side from Chang'an to Xuchang. When Liu Xie went to Guandu, Zhang Yu remained in the palace.

When Yuan Shao and others executed the Ten Attendants, most of the palace eunuchs also suffered as a result. Since then, the number of eunuchs has decreased by almost 90%.

But among these surviving eunuchs, Zhang Yu was undoubtedly the most loyal.

Xun Yu took the letter from Zhang Yu, and Fu Shou's voice came again, "This is a letter from me and my sisters, including Consort Cao, to His Majesty. Please send someone to deliver it to Guandu, so that His Majesty and Lord Cao can concentrate on fighting the enemy and not worry about us."

Xun Yu quickly agreed, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will send someone to deliver the letter immediately."

Fu Shou then led his men away, and Xun Yu bowed to see them off. Xun Yu only raised his head after Fu Shou had gone quite a distance.

Xun Yu suddenly felt the letter in his hand become heavy. Man Chong leaned closer, glanced at Xun Yu's hand, and said, "Lord Xun, don't you think we should open this letter and check it?"

Man Chong knew Xun Yu's temperament, so he spoke in a completely consultative tone.

Xun Yu gave him a cold look. "Bo Ning, you want to see the Empress's letter to His Majesty too?"

Seeing Xun Yu's face darken, Man Chong hesitated before saying, "Didn't Chief Minister Guo instruct us before he left that we must not be careless in anything?"

Xun Yu snorted and said coldly, "You even check the letters from the Empress and His Majesty's families. Man Boning, I think you're getting bolder and bolder lately."

Xun Yu flicked his sleeve, turned around and left with a sullen face.

Man Chong tapped his toes, wanting to say something more, but Xun Yu completely ignored him. He couldn't very well chase after Xun Yu and snatch the letter back from his hand.

After the letter was sent out, Liu Biao said to Jia Xu, "Sir, this task of delivering the letter could actually be handed over to my men."

Jia Xu shook his head. "Wartime is different from the past. Even if you can send the letter out of Xuchang, how can you guarantee that it will reach His Majesty? Cao Cao is at war with Yuan Shao. At this time, everything will be checked very strictly. It would be more appropriate for Xun Yu to send the letter instead of you."

"Xun Yu?"

Jia Xu confidently replied, "Yes, have the Empress deliver the letter to Xun Yu. Xun Yu still respects His Majesty, and that's his weakness!"

Jia Xu handed him another letter, "By the way, this is something His Majesty instructed Lu Xun to do. Send someone to Mangdang Mountain immediately!"

Liu Biao took the letter and left immediately.

The letters could be sent smoothly from Xudu to Mangdang Mountain, but when it came to sending letters to Guandu, Jia Xu had to rely on Xun Yu.

Yu Jin held out in Yanjin for two days before withdrawing his troops. Upon hearing that Yu Jin had returned, Cao Cao personally came out of the camp to welcome him.

Yu Jin was covered in blood, looking like a blood gourd, almost unrecognizable. Cao Cao was filled with mixed emotions. Looking behind Yu Jin, there were only seven or eight hundred people left. They all looked like they had just been soaked in a pool of blood, and most of them had several wounds on their bodies.

Cao Cao was deeply moved and nodded vigorously. "You are all excellent. Now, immediately issue an order for the medics to treat and bandage them."

Cao Cao personally took Yu Jin's hand, inquired about the battle situation, and accompanied Yu Jin towards the main camp.

But before he could take a few steps, Yu Jin could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

A Cao soldier replied, choking back tears, "My lord, General Yu Jin has been fighting fiercely for two days and two nights without eating or drinking, and he has held on until now."

Cao Cao helped Yu Jin up with all his might. Overwhelmed with emotion, even the usually ruthless Cao Cao's eyes welled up with tears.

"Dian Wei, quickly, send Yu Jin to the main camp. Zhong Kang, go and call His Majesty over."

Dian Wei scooped Yu Jin up from the ground and ran straight to the tent in charge of the rescue. Despite carrying such a large man as Yu Jin, Dian Wei was not slow at all. Cao Cao followed closely behind, jogging all the way.

Liu Xie rushed over immediately, and Lin Tong and Li Erniu quickly had the area cleared. Almost all the soldiers that Yu Jin brought back needed bandaging and treatment, and for a time, the medical camp was a scene of bustling activity.

Liu Xie personally treated Yu Jin's wounds. When Yu Jin woke up, he wanted to refuse, but Liu Xie gave him a serious look, and Yu Jin immediately felt an astonishing aura.

Cao Cao waved his hand and also advised from the side, "Your Majesty's medical skills are superb. Wenze, you are seriously injured, so please don't refuse."

"Your Majesty, you must save him!" Cao Cao was extremely worried. Liu Xie nodded, "Don't worry!"

Yu Jin's armor was stuck to his flesh, and he had more than a dozen wounds of varying sizes. Liu Xie had no choice but to cut the armor off completely.

When Yu Jin was shirtless and had removed all his clothes, the bloody scene shocked Cao Cao, and many of the onlookers were also speechless.

The wounds were crisscrossed, the flesh was churning, and many wounds were oozing pus, making it extremely difficult to find a piece of intact skin.

While everyone was shocked, they also felt a deep respect for the ban.

Yu Jin was usually quiet, calm, and resolute. Liu Xie had accompanied the army on several expeditions before, but the two did not have much contact.

With Yu Jin's personality, any leader might not necessarily value him, but every leader would like a subordinate like him.

He only knows how to do his job; he doesn't know how to scheme or flatter his superiors. If the leader isn't a talent scout, you might not even notice him. Because Yu Jin only knows how to do the job, not how to show off.

There are some people whom Liu Xie never actively tries to win over, like Dian Wei and Yu Jin. Liu Xie does so entirely based on his own feelings, because he genuinely admires them.

After a careful examination, Liu Xie said, "Fortunately, no vital organs were injured; they are all external injuries."

Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, that's good!"

Liu Xie was very serious. His luxurious robes were soon stained with blood, but he was completely oblivious to it.

Wu Pu assisted Liu Xie from the side, always promptly handing him whatever Liu Xie needed. He also treated Liu Xie's wounds. The more serious and tense a person is, the more easily they sweat, and Wu Pu would wipe away Liu Xie's sweat.

Cao Cao watched quietly from the side, not daring to breathe loudly, for fear of disturbing Liu Xie.

Before this expedition, Hua Tuo finally managed to develop Mafeisan (a type of anesthetic), which proved to be a great help.

It took Liu Xie a full half hour to finish dealing with the matter.

Yu Jin remained motionless and cooperated fully, but he was also deeply moved. However, he was used to being silent and didn't even know how to express his gratitude.

Yu Jin successfully broke out of Yan Jin and left. Yuan Shao was furious to find an empty city and immediately led his army to Guandu with great momentum.

Upon arriving at Guandu, Ju Shou led his men to survey the surrounding terrain and was taken aback. He then hurried to the central command tent and, upon seeing Yuan Shao, said with a grave expression, "My lord, Cao Cao is a cunning and scheming man. He deliberately lured us to Guandu this time."

"How can you tell?" Yuan Shao, with his strong and well-equipped army, was somewhat skeptical.

Ju Shou pointed to the left and right. He had just scouted the surrounding terrain and had memorized it all. "We'll be crossing several major rivers: the Yellow River, then the Yingou River, and then the Pu River. But to fight Cao Cao, we'll have to cross the Guandu River. There are also two large marshes on either side ahead. Cao Cao has already chosen the battlefield and is just waiting for us to take the bait. In addition, our battle line has advanced so much, making the transport of supplies and provisions very difficult. But Cao Cao has further shortened the distance; Guandu is only about a hundred li from Xuchang."

Xu You stroked his beard, frowned, and thought to himself, "Cao Cao is really something, he actually planned the battlefield in advance."

From the moment Yuan Shao set out to cross the Yellow River, he had to cross four major rivers.

First came the Yellow River, then the Yingou River, then the Pu River. To fight Cao Cao, they would have to cross the Guandu River as well.

Yuan Shao's advantage of having a large army and many generals could not be fully utilized, especially his cavalry, which could only exert its greatest advantage on open plains.

But now all of Yuan Shao's troops are blocked on the north bank of the Guandu River.

Although the Guandu River is not as wide and dangerous as the Yangtze or Yellow River, Cao Cao had already built fortifications and completed the defense system ahead of time while guarding the south bank.

Even after crossing the Guandu River, the battlefield would become very small, sandwiched between two large marshes, making it difficult for Yuan Shao to leverage the advantages of large-scale group warfare.

The smaller the battlefield, the more advantageous it is for the side with fewer troops!
If Yuan Shao wins in the end, that's fine. But if he loses, with such a long battlefront and so many rivers to cross during the retreat, just thinking about it sends chills down your spine.

Yuan Shao gradually frowned, but Guo Tu advised, "My lord, even if Cao Cao has chosen the battlefield in advance, so what? His troops number only tens of thousands, while you have more than 200,000. As long as we take Guandu, the road ahead will be wide open, and our army can reach Xuchang in no time. No matter how cunning Cao Cao is, in the end, war is still about overall strength."

Yuan Shao's mood gradually improved, and Guo Tu laughed again: "Recently, many people have written to our lord, some from Cao Cao's camp and some from Xuchang. Our lord, it is already clear who is strong and who is weak, who will win and who will lose. Our lord need not worry. Our army is strong and Cao Cao cannot resist us at all. I believe that it will not be long before Cao Cao kneels before our lord and begs for surrender!"

Thinking of those letters, Yuan Shao's mood improved considerably, and he clapped his hands and laughed, "Good, Gongze is right. To date, no fewer than fifty officials, both high and low, around Cao Cao have pledged their loyalty to me and are willing to submit."

"Fifty men?" Guo Tu, Feng Ji, and the others all showed joy, filled with hope for victory.

Liu Bei's eyes suddenly lit up as well.

Liu Bei thought to himself: Cao Mengde, aren't you very capable? You didn't expect that so many people around you have been secretly colluding with Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao immediately decided to cross the river and fight Cao Cao. Although the Guandu River was calm and not a particularly dangerous river, it was not easy to reach the other side smoothly.

Cao Cao was well prepared, with arrow towers and sentry towers densely covering the south bank, and even the nearby ships were destroyed in advance.

While Yuan Shao confronted Cao Cao across the river, he ordered his men to build simple bamboo rafts and wooden rafts.

As for building a pontoon bridge, it would be difficult to do so because Cao Cao was stationed on the south bank.

As expected of Yuan Shao, who had a large and powerful army, the bamboo forests and trees on the north bank were immediately destroyed at his command. Large areas of the forests were felled, and Yuan's soldiers on the north bank were busy building hundreds of simple bamboo rafts in a single day.

Cao Cao stood on the shore, gazing at the opposite bank with a very solemn expression.

To reassure Cao Cao, Guo Jia advised, "My lord, we are prepared for the unprepared. Although Yuan Shao's army is large, they are all arrogant soldiers. Moreover, Yuan Shao has always liked to show off. From my observation, the elite troops in Yuan's army number only about 100,000. The rest are mostly newly recruited soldiers or surrendered soldiers obtained from Gongsun Zan. Their combat strength is far from that great."

Cao Cao glanced at Guo Jia and nodded to him. "Fengxiao, what you said makes a lot of sense. But as expected of Yuan Shao, even if he's just for show, he's far more capable than me. Looking back, I've known Yuan Shao for almost thirty years. To my shame, even today, I've always looked up to him."

Cao Cao was also a proud and arrogant man. However, he had known Yuan Shao since he was a teenager. The two were friends and childhood buddies, but Yuan Shao was always outstanding.

The Yuan family held high office for four generations, and their disciples and former officials were all over the world. Yuan Shao was the most outstanding second-generation official, the most outstanding second-generation rich, and the most prestigious young master of a prominent family in the Han Dynasty!
Cao Cao recalled the past and sighed, "In this world, people are nothing more than pursuing fame and fortune. But Yuan Shao was born to stand at the very top. He has everything that ordinary people dream of—power, fame, and wealth—and he is far beyond the reach of others!"

It's very difficult for one person to reach the pinnacle of power!
It's very difficult for one person to reach the pinnacle of wealth!
It's very difficult for a person to reach the pinnacle of fame!

However, these three qualities were inherent to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao was originally born out of wedlock, but after being adopted, his status suddenly became flawless. He was truly at the very top of the pyramid, far surpassing Liu Xie, the emperor in name only.

For others, success is difficult, but for Yuan Shao, failure is as difficult as climbing to heaven!
Because he has so many advantages, he's amazing!

(End of this chapter)