The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 529: Xun Yu’s Strategy

After the entire army withdrew, Xiahou Yuan urged his horses expressionlessly, his face full of fatigue and frustration.

After calming down, although he was still angry, he also felt deep fear and relief.

If the deputy general had not stopped them in time, most of these thousands of cavalry would have been killed under the city.

The Qi army's ability to defend the city is famous throughout the world.

Since the chaotic times, the cities defended by the Qi army have been breached only a handful of times.

If Xiahou Yuan had not acted foolishly in a hurry, he would never have touched the city wall of Qi army.

The army suffered heavy losses and morale was low, so Xiahou Yuan did not dare to stay any longer and hurried back to Chenliu County.

Seeing Xiahou Yuan's army returning in disgrace, the morale of Cao's soldiers was inevitably slightly shaken, but it was quickly calmed down by Xiahou Dun.

"Miaocai, what's going on?" Cao Cao asked in the prefect's mansion.

Xiahou Yuan looked at Cao Cao's concerned expression, lowered his head in shame, and knelt on the ground: "My lord, I am guilty and have caused damage to the troops. I am willing to accept the punishment!"

Xiahou Yuan was very clear about the current situation of Cao's army.

For this battle, they risked everything and only managed to gather more than 10,000 elite cavalry.

As a result, he caused the deaths of many people on this trip, and Xiahou Yuan naturally felt extremely guilty.

Cao Cao gently helped Xiahou Yuan up and said gently, "Miaocai, why do you say that? Victory and defeat are common in the military. The situation is difficult now. We need you and I to work together. How can you lose your composure?"

Then he patted Xiahou Yuan on the shoulder and said, "Tell me in detail, what kind of powerful enemy did you encounter?"

Xiahou Yuan stood up, his eyes full of gratitude and guilt, took a deep breath, and recounted everything he had experienced.

Cao Cao and the civil and military officials on both sides frowned when they heard this.

"I've heard for a long time that Xu Rong is good at defense. He really lives up to his reputation and can even come up with such methods!" Cao Cao sighed.

"Building strong cities and fighting tough battles have always been the Qi army's forte. Now it will be difficult to take control of food and fodder," Xun Yu said in a deep voice.

Cao Cao stared at the map on the wall and said in a deep voice, "Now the strategy of cutting off the food supply is no longer feasible, and the strategy of water attack has also been discovered. Do you have any other good plans?"

There was dead silence in the tent, and everyone was lost in thought.

Strategies such as water attack, fire attack, food raid, diplomacy, morale, and alienation are basically unacceptable. How else can they break the impasse?

Just when Cao Cao was in despair, Xun Yu stood up with some hesitation.

Cao Cao seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw, his eyes full of hope.

"Wen Ruo, do you have any good ideas?"

Xun Yu sighed softly: "My lord, I observed the sky last night and it seems that there will be a heavy rain in about three days."

"Chenliu County is low-lying. In addition to the arrangements that were discovered by the Qi army, I have also arranged another team to set up a backup plan for the several rivers upstream."

"As long as we can lead the Qi army to station in Chenliu..."

Having said this, Xun Yu didn't want to continue.

In his mind, this plan was a very bad one.

If it succeeds, it may severely damage the 200,000-strong Qi army, which will inevitably cause Tian Ze to be furious, and Cao Cao's fate will probably be even worse.

If it fails, it would be tantamount to giving up Chenliu County, the last garrison place.

Cao Cao does not have much wealth now, and he has only built up Chenliu County over the years. Once Chenliu County is lost, he will really have no choice but to fight the Qi army in the field and fight a head-on battle.

After Xun Yu said this, everyone present remained silent and the atmosphere was frighteningly solemn.

Cao Cao looked at Xun Yu and felt a little warm in his heart.

In the face of despair, Xun Yu and others still chose to believe him. This trust and respect touched Cao Cao deeply.

Cao Cao bowed solemnly to Xun Yu, and then bowed to all the civil and military officials. His face was extremely solemn.

Everyone present felt a sinking feeling in their hearts and sighed.

"My lords, I am not willing to admit defeat, nor do I want to sit and wait for death. This strategy is the only chance of victory at the moment. I want to do it, and I hope you will help me!"

"We must fight this battle!"

Upon hearing this, all the civil and military officials, led by Xun Yu and Xiahou Dun, solemnly said, "We are willing to die for our lord!"

After gaining the support of everyone, Cao Cao immediately began to deploy various matters.

Looking at Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, Cao Cao said solemnly: "Yuan Rang, Miao Cai, the two of you select 10,000 of the most elite soldiers and prepare the corresponding ships as an ambush."

"Remember, the action must be secret, and you must not reveal your whereabouts in advance. Once the floodwaters flood into Chenliu, take advantage of the chaos to deal a fatal blow to the Qi army."

"Yes!" Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan took the order and left.

Cao Cao turned to Cao Ren and said, "Zixiao, I will lead the army to evacuate Chenliu and head south. You will lead 20,000 elite troops to cover the retreat and station them in the south of Chenliu County to resist the Qi army and cover the evacuation of the army."

"Remember, you have to lose, but you have to lose truly. You have to buy enough time before you lose!"

"Yes!" Cao Ren said solemnly.

"Xiaoxian, spread the news that our army has withdrawn from Yuzhou. Try to make it as truthful as possible to deceive Xu Rong and Guan Yu's judgment."

"I understand." Mao Jie said solemnly.

……

With Cao Cao's continuous orders, many civil and military officials in Chenliu quickly took action.

Xu Rong and Guan Yu noticed something was wrong and immediately sent a large number of scouts to investigate. They discovered that Cao's army, which had been defending Chenliu, was preparing to retreat south.

In Xu Rong's military camp, all the civil and military officials gathered together, facing several secret letters in front of them.

"Cao's army is preparing to retreat south? Is there a conspiracy behind this?" Guan Yu spoke first.

Having dealt with Cao Cao many times, he was well aware of his cunning.

Obviously, they had the advantage of the city wall, and it would not be a problem for them to hold out for several months, let alone win. Why would they suddenly abandon Chenliu County and head south? There must be something fishy going on.

"These are some secret letters that the scouts found." Guo Jia said, pointing to the letters on the desk.

"Some say that the noble families of Yuzhou joined forces with the rebel generals under Sun Ce to rebel and prepare to follow Sun Ce as their leader. Cao Cao went south to quell the rebellion."

"Some say Cao Cao abandoned Chenliu because he was planning to extend the battle line again and harass our army's food supply route in the rear."

"Others say that Cao Cao is preparing to fight a desperate battle with our army south of Chenliu."

Xu Rong slowly said, "Cao Cao's actions have always been treacherous and unpredictable. It is difficult to tell whether the contents of these secret letters are true or false. But in any case, it is probably true that Cao Cao is withdrawing his troops."

Guan Yu nodded slightly: "No matter what trick Cao Cao wants to use, we will proceed step by step and observe after we capture Chenliu."

"As long as we don't act rashly, we don't have to worry about what tricks Cao Cao might come up with."

Xu Rong nodded slightly.

He thought so too.

Although Cao Cao's mysterious behavior made him feel a little uneasy, could he be frightened and stop moving forward?
With a large army in hand, there was no way he could just sit there and watch Cao Cao retreat. He had to capture Chenliu and test the waters.

However, Guo Jia smiled faintly: "Bo Jin, Yun Chang, you are right. But, have you ever thought that Cao Cao did this just to let us take Chenliu?"

(End of this chapter)