The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 215: Commanding the enemy is the highest level of warfare.

However, the Henan army marched to Fanyang and won a small victory over Yuan Tan in the first battle.

Li Yi invited Lu Bu to attack head-on, and he led an army to sneak across Qinghe River to launch a detour.

At the banquet, Lu Bu was flattered by everyone and he did not think too much about it and readily agreed.

The next day, Li Yi secretly ordered Xu Huang and Zhang He to cross the river and set up camp, and go ahead to clear the way.

Lu Bu led his troops to attack Fanyang.

Arrows rained down from the city, and Lu Bu's army was unable to advance and was defeated and forced back.

After Yuan Tan repelled Lu Bu's army, he ordered people to build city defenses and urged Yuan Shang to send him reinforcements.

At that time, Yuan Shang was in Ye and heard that Li Yi had led his troops to capture Yin'an and was heading to Fanyang.

Once they were able to cross the Qing River, the Henan army would be able to attack Ye County, the capital of Jizhou, in less than half a day.

For this reason, Yuan Shang was also worried that Yuan Tan's front troops would be lost.

Coincidentally, a letter from Yuan Tan requesting Yuan Shang to send him reinforcements arrived.

Yuan Shang did not dare not to help, but he was afraid that if he sent troops, Yuan Tan would seize his military power.

He left Shen Pei to guard Yecheng, and personally led an army of 30,000 to station at Chiqiu to form a pincer attack.

Two days later, Lu Bu attacked Fanyang again and again but failed to take it.

After thinking for two days, Li Yi should have sneaked across the Qing River.

According to him, he should attack Yuan Tan from behind, so why is there no movement on the other side of the river?

Lu Bu was surprised, so he stopped the attack and sent people to investigate the movements of Li Yi's army.

The words are divided into two parts,

However, Li Yi used Lu Bu to contain Yuan Tan's main force, while he led his troops to secretly cross the Qinghe River.

However, he did not lead his troops to attack Yuan Tan's rear, but instead led his troops to raid Wei County first.

The magistrate of Wei County was suddenly shocked to see tens of thousands of troops gathered outside the city.

After sending someone to inquire, it turned out to be Li Yi, the governor of Henan.

It happened that Li Yi sent Zhang He as the vanguard to come to the city to persuade them to surrender.

Zhang He urged his troops to the city and shouted:

"I am Zhang Junyi from Hejian!"

"Because Yuan Shao believed Guo Tu's slander and wanted to harm me."

"Now I have abandoned the dark and joined the light, and submitted to the imperial court."

"You can accept the surrender of the people and save the lives from suffering."

"If you insist, I will attack the city first!"

It turned out that Zhang He was well-known in Hebei, although the propaganda the county magistrate heard was that Zhang He turned against his allies in the battle, which led to the defeat of their Hebei army.

But now that the enemy is at the gates, it is impossible to stop Zhang He's attack with less than two thousand defenders in the city.

The county magistrate glanced at the chief clerk beside him and sighed:
"Why couldn't the General of Chariots and Cavalry stop the Henan Army?"

"Now that the army has arrived, how can we defend our small city of Wei County?"

"It is better to open the gates and surrender the city, so as to save the people in the city and avoid their blood and flesh being wasted in the wilderness."

The chief clerk advised:

"If we surrender without a fight, the lord will surely punish us."

The county magistrate said:

"To surrender without a fight is death, and to be defeated in battle is also death."

"It is better to surrender the city to avoid the suffering of all the people."

He ignored the advice of the chief clerk and took the initiative to open the city and surrender.

The county magistrate handed over the seal and Li Yi spoke to comfort him.

He immediately led his army into the city and ordered his soldiers not to disturb the civilians.

He also ordered Xu Huang, Gao Lan, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun to lead a battalion of troops each and set up camp on the four sides of Wei territory, waiting for deployment.

Li Yi sat on the throne in the county government office, and the county magistrate, like a chief clerk, stood beside him, trembling with fear as he waited for his decision.

Li Yi asked:
"I heard that the wheat in Hebei is ripe, but I wonder which wheat fields Wei County relies on for its supply?"

The county magistrate bowed and replied:
"Reporting to the Lord, there is a lot of wheat in the northeast of Wei, in Guantao, Qingyuan, and Yuancheng."

Li Yi smiled and said to everyone:

"I came here across the river, intending to harvest wheat."

So the four battalion generals previously assigned, Xu Huang, Gao Lan, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, each led their own troops.

All the soldiers in his unit were armed with sickles and sling ropes, and went to the northeast of Wei to harvest the wheat.

The army then marched northward and harvested all the ripe wheat in Wei.

The wheat was threshed and dried just outside the city.

Wei is worthy of being the seat of Yuan family rule, with abundant rice.

If Li Yi's army could harvest all the wheat and grain, it would be enough for the army to eat for three months.

The reason for this is that it does not suffer from operating losses.

According to rough estimates,
If we can harvest all the wheat this time, we will have enough to meet the needs of the levy and even have some surplus.

Because Li Yi's strategic goal of this expedition was not to annex Hebei in one battle.

The rush to harvest wheat was to replenish Xuzhou's food supply and also to obtain food from the enemy.

At the same time, it was also to strike a blow against the Yuan family and to send a gift to the new emperor.

Li Yi ordered his men to thresh and dry the wheat while storing the dried wheat.

At this time, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were still confronting Lu Bu's army on the front line, and they were unaware that the wheat fields in the rear had been stolen.

Yuan Tan only wanted Yuan Shang to send troops quickly, but Yuan Shang just waited and watched at Chiqiu.

Unless Yuan Tan really couldn't hold on any longer, he would urge his troops south.

The two of them were each thinking about their own things and didn't notice anything unusual happening elsewhere.

Until someone came to Yuan Shang and said that a large number of Henan troops appeared in the northeast direction.

When Yuan Shang heard the news, he was shocked and angry:
"It's the time when the wheat is ripe, and the enemy troops sneaked across the Qing River to steal our wheat?"

So he hurriedly led his troops to Wei County for rescue.

When we arrived at Wei County, we saw that all the wheat fields nearby had been harvested.

The people around him advised:
"There is a lot of wheat in the Northeast, and Li Yi must not be able to harvest it all."

"It's still not too late to go and harvest it."

Yuan Shang was about to agree when someone else suggested:
"Weicheng has been breached by the enemy army. Before we start harvesting the wheat, we must guard against the defenders in the city coming out and cutting off our retreat."

Yuan Shang agreed with this and divided his army into two parts, with one part surrounding Weicheng like an iron barrel.

He personally led another group to the Northeast to compete with Li Yi for the microphone.

When we arrived at the wheat fields in the northeast, we saw that there was indeed a large amount of wheat that had not been harvested.

Yuan Shang breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he discovered it in time.

At the same time he gave the order:
"This place must be the one that Li Yi's army has not been able to take away yet."

"Now that the enemy army has arrived, there is no need to engage them in battle. Soldiers, just rush to harvest the wheat!"

Yuan Shang ordered the entire army to harvest the wheat and leave no land for Li Yi's army.

It was already evening when the harvest began.

Yuan Shang ordered his soldiers to hold torches and harvest the wheat.

Just as the soldiers were all holding torches and going deep into the wheat fields to harvest wheat, they suddenly saw fires on all sides.

The soldiers were shocked and looked up.

Flames shot up into the sky and shouts were loud.

A large number of Henan troops and horses rushed in from all directions.

Xu Huang to the north, Huang Zhong to the south, Gao Lan to the west, and Zhao Yun to the east.

The troops from four directions attacked together.

Yuan Shang was horrified and rushed to meet the enemy.

Someone in the crowd shouted:
"Where are you going, Yuan Shang? My military advisor has long expected that you would come to snatch the wheat."

"So I am waiting here to ambush you!"

When Yuan Shang heard this, he looked around and said:

"You have fallen into the trap set by the little kid. Retreat quickly!"

So he led his army to retreat hastily and did not engage in battle with the Henan army.

At dawn, count the number of people.

After fleeing all night, they didn't lose many men and horses.

Yuan Shang felt something was wrong and quickly sent someone back to investigate.

After a while, the scouts reported that the enemy troops had not pursued them.

Yuan Shang suddenly came to his senses and slapped his head:
"No, I fell into a trap!"

"Follow me back to the wheat field!"

Yuan Shang led his army and rushed back to the wheat fields.

As soon as they arrived, everyone was dumbfounded.

The wheat field was in a mess.

The yellow ears of corn are full, but no grains are left.

Only broken stems and stalks remain, scattered on the ground.

Yuan Shang felt lost. He dismounted his horse dejectedly and walked into the field.

The fields are quiet, with only the wind blowing.

The fallen leaves are blown, making a rustling sound.

In the distant sky, the afterglow of the setting sun shone on Yuan Shang's face, making him look even more desolate and lonely.

"What a good little Li Yi!"

Yuan Shang stamped his feet and sighed, gritting his teeth in hatred.

When everyone asked why, Yuan Shang replied:
"The enemy we encountered yesterday was not the main force of Li Yi's army. Because it was dark, we could not see the number of enemy troops clearly."

"I thought the enemy had set an ambush, so I withdrew my troops in a hurry."

"In fact, the army has been harvesting wheat here all night."

"Now our army has returned in broad daylight, and the enemy has already harvested all the wheat and grain."

When everyone heard this, they all sighed.

Some were angry, some were flattering, and they all responded to Yuan Shang's curse:

"Li Yi is such a cunning person!"

"It's really hateful and annoying!"

Yuan Shang slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath:

"It's too late to regret now."

"Let's first turn our troops back and recapture Wei County, and don't make any more plans!"

Everyone followed his advice and followed Yuan Shang back to Weicheng.

The two armies joined together, and Yuan Shang personally supervised the battle, determined to recapture Wei County in one fell swoop.

The commander of Wei County was Zhang He, and Li Yi left him a full 10,000 troops for defense.

Yuan Shang built all the towers, sculls and battering rams in one night.

Because he was resentful of Li Yi for stealing his wheat and grain, and also resented Zhang He for turning against him in the middle of the battle, he launched a mad attack on Wei County.

Bows and crossbows were fired from the city walls, and arrows and stones rained down like rain.

bang bang bang...

The bowstrings sounded, and the archers on the surrounding high walls drew their bows and drew their arrows, shooting at the Yuan army under the city.

“Ah…ah…oh…”

Scary screams continued to be heard from under the Wei city.

In less than an hour, the corpses had piled up like a mountain under the city.

Seeing this, Yuan Shang still wanted to attack forcefully and kept urging his soldiers to move forward.

The soldiers of Yuan's army cheered up, set up ladders, held shields, and bravely climbed the city.

The defenders on the city threw down boulders one after another.

The huge rock was like thunder, smashing Yuan Jun's head, making it turn pink, and then fell to the ground with a loud bang.

Zhang He also ordered his men to pour iron juice from the top of the wall down to the city.

All of a sudden the juice gushed out, hot as fire.

Wherever it touched, smoke and dust rose and wailing sounds were heard.

Yuan Bing, who was in pain from the burns, loosened his grip and fell to the ground, knocking his comrades below to the ground.

Although Yuan's soldiers fought desperately to attack the city, they were unable to break the city wall even a little bit.

Yuan Shang was at the foot of the city, pointing his whip at Zhang He's nose and cursing:
"You traitor! Why don't you surrender early?"

"How dare you use these ant soldiers to fight against my army?"

Zhang He stood on the parapet and shouted coldly:
"You, the Yuan family, have no moral integrity. General Liu will punish the criminals for their crimes."

"I have now abandoned the dark and joined the light, I urge you not to persist in your mistakes!"

Yuan Shang was furious:
"How dare the rebel be so arrogant?"

"This is an isolated city in Wei. You are alone and without help. How can you defend it?"

"After I conquer the city, I will eat your flesh and sleep on your skin!"

The appearance of Zhang He dealt a heavy blow to the morale of Yuan's army.

The former comrade-in-arms and superior has now become the leader of the Henan Army.

He became a pioneer in the anti-Yuan movement.

Yuan Shang was furious and continued to order a strong attack.

In ancient times, sieges were usually based on sieges. Only when they were forced into a desperate situation would they use ant-like attacks.

Wei County was obviously not yet a critical moment for Yuan Shang.

But he was angry at the moment and had to take the city quickly.

To this end, he did not hesitate to send his Hebei soldiers to die.

Anyway, he has plenty of people in Hebei, so it’s not him who will die.

Yuan's army advanced bravely, and Zhang He was well prepared and calmly commanded his soldiers to defend.

The two armies were in a stalemate, and the city walls were stained with blood.

The battle was so brutal that corpses were strewn all over the city and blood flowed like a river.

After three days of fierce attacks, Yuan Shang suffered heavy casualties and still failed to capture Wei County.

It was not until this moment that Yuan Shang suddenly realized something was wrong.

Wei County is an isolated city far away from the front line. Why did Li Yi leave so many troops to guard it?

And the defending general left behind was Zhang He, whom the people of Hebei hated to the core?
Could it be that Li Yi did it on purpose?
Where did the army he led go after they harvested the wheat?

Why doesn't he come to rescue Wei County? Doesn't he want these ten thousand people?
A series of questions deeply troubled Yuan Shang, and he was puzzled.

……

However, Yuan Tan was trapped in Fanyang and sent many letters to Yuan Shang urging him to send more reinforcements, but to no avail.

Just when he was feeling upset, someone suddenly reported that a large group of people appeared behind Fan Yang.

Yuan Tan asked in surprise where they came from.

The scouts reported that the troops were flying Li Yi's flag.

"What!?"

When Yuan Tan heard this, he was stunned.

"It would be fine if Yuan Shang didn't send me reinforcements, but why did he allow Li Yi to come to my rear?"

It turned out that after Li Yi had snatched the wheat, he set out from Guantao and took a long detour to sneak behind Fanyang.

However, he left 10,000 troops to Zhang He and ordered him to defend Wei County.

The reason why Zhang He was chosen was because the people of Hebei hated him to the core and would definitely attack him with all their might. Among all the generals, Zhang He was the one who wanted to prove himself the most and wanted to fight to the death with the people of Hebei the most.

Only he was willing to take on the task of guarding this isolated city and attracting the main force of Yuan’s army.

The outcome was just as Li Yi had expected. After Yuan Shang learned that it was Zhang He who was guarding Wei County, he indeed led his army to attack.

Zhang He himself was an extremely talented person, and Li Yi also left him a large amount of armor, fighting gear, and defensive equipment.

It is more than enough to contain Yuan Shang's main force.

Yuan Shang was commanding two armies and was so overwhelmed that he did not notice that Li Yi's army had quietly passed over his head.

Yuan Tan cursed Yuan Shang as a fool, saying he had no knowledge of military strategy at all.

He immediately summoned Guo Tu and Xin Ping to discuss the matter. Now that their way back was blocked, what should they do?

As they were talking, someone suddenly reported that Li Yi's envoy had arrived with a letter.

Yuan Tan hurriedly ordered someone to bring the letter, which briefly said:
——"I am grateful to you. Respectfully presented by Li Yi."

"Since we parted at Xia Pi, I have had the pleasure of seeing your face, but have not had the time to serve you."

"When my father died of illness, I was also very sad."

"I heard that Yuan Shang was appointed governor of Jizhou and general, and you were not allowed to succeed to the throne."

"Yi secretly believes that deposing the elder and enthroning the younger has always been the way to cause chaos since ancient times."

"You are the eldest son, but you cannot inherit your father's business."

"He has not shown any kindness to the people of Hebei, but his military achievements are far from being outstanding, and yet he has been awarded a high title."

"Yi Qian is not worthy of Xian Si."

"I am leading the troops here today not to seize the land of Hebei, but to correct the moral principles."

"If Xiansi is interested, Yi is willing to send troops to help you regain the throne."

After reading the letter, Yuan Tan was shocked.

"Li Ziyu is willing to send troops to help me?"

Yuan Tan swallowed his saliva. He was now worrying about how to compete with Yuan Shang for Jizhou.

With Li Yi's tremendous power, if he was willing to send troops to help, his chances of regaining the throne would be much higher.

He then passed the letter to Guo Tu and Xin Ping to read.

Guo Tu suggested to Yuan Tan:

"Li Yi is a man of many plans, so don't trust him easily."

Yuan Tan retorted:

"When I was in Qingzhou, I was captured by Li Yi, but he didn't make things difficult for me."

"I persuaded Liu Xuande to recommend me as a talented person, since we have already received a favor from him."

"Why doubt it?"

Xin Ping also gave some advice:

"Today, the city is surrounded by soldiers and is isolated and without help."

"I am the meat and others are the butchers. We should not just listen to Li Yi's one-sided words."

"You can send someone to write a letter to Li Yi first. If he is sincere, you can withdraw the siege first."

Yuan Tan thought it made sense, so he followed his advice and asked Li Yi to withdraw the siege first.

Unexpectedly, Li Yi actually lifted the siege and expressed his willingness to retreat three steps to show his sincerity.

When Yuan Tan went out of the city to see, he actually saw Li Yi withdrawing his troops.

So he blamed Guo Tu and Xin Ping, saying:

"Li Ziyu is a man of integrity, but you are judging him by your own standards."

Guo Tu showed a look of shame, his eyes rolled around, and he came up with a plan.

"My Lord, please do not be upset. Even if Li Yi withdraws his troops, he may not be sincere in doing so."

"Nothing comes without a price. Li Yi is definitely not so kind as to help me."

"Rather than relying on others, we can devise a plan to get rid of Yuan Shang and drive out the foreign enemies."

Guo Tu offered a plan, saying that it could both get rid of Yuan Shang and help Yuan Tan take power.

It can also drive away the enemy in front of you, killing two birds with one stone.

Yuan Tan hurriedly asked what the plan was.

For him, if he could really get rid of Yuan Shang and drive away the Henan Army at the same time, that would certainly be the best thing.

Isn't there anything we can do now? We can't have both.
If possible, he would of course choose all of them.

Guo Tu grinned and offered a plan:
"Now that Li Yi has agreed to withdraw his troops, why not write a letter to Yuan Shang?"

"Just say that Li Yi has withdrawn his troops. If we send troops to pursue him, we will surely win a great victory."

"This way, no matter who wins or loses, you can reap the benefits."

"Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

Yuan Tan was overjoyed, clenched his fists, and said good things repeatedly:

"Great idea! Great idea!"

"If Yuan Shang wins, I will attack him from behind, and he will fall into my hands, and I can obtain my father's title."

"If Li Yi wins, I will take advantage of the situation to withdraw my troops and seize Ye."

"At that time, Yuan Shang had no home to return to, so he had to let me take the throne!"

After saying this, Yuan Tan shook Guo Tu's hand and thanked him:
"You are worthy of being my father's chief counselor. You are truly a man of wisdom and strategy."

Guo Tu bowed and said modestly:
"I am willing to serve my lord."

“…Hahahaha, good, good, good.”

Yuan Tan patted Guo Tu on the shoulder and said, "You can be my Zi Fang!"

"When I inherit the throne, you will be the first to do the work."

After the discussion was finalized, Yuan Tan wrote a letter and sent it to Yuan Shang.

At that time, Yuan Shang was still leading a large army to besiege Wei County, and he was fighting with Zhang He to the death.

At this time, a scout came to inform Yuan Shang that Li Yi's army had arrived in Fanyang.

Yuan Shang was shocked when he heard this, and looked around and sighed:
"Why is Li Yi so elusive in his military operations?"

"I have been fighting in Wei County for so long that I didn't realize they had already reached Fanyang."

Everyone spread their hands to show that they didn't know, and only comforted Yuan Shang:
"Li Yi is used to using troops."

"When my father was alive, I was also wary of him."

"My lord, you must be extremely cautious when engaging him in battle."

Yuan Shang nodded and looked back at the Wei City that stood still behind him.

After several days of fierce attack, there was still no sign of retreat.

Now they were told that Li Yi had already gone around to the back road of Fanyang. Once Fanyang was lost, the Henan army would be able to march straight into Ye.

Although he was unwilling, Yuan Shang had no choice but to order the withdrawal of troops and go back to rescue Fanyang.

The army had not taken two steps when they ran into a scout of cavalry, which was Yuan Tan's troops.

The scout delivered the letter and Yuan Shang read it.

The book briefly says:

"My armor is not good, so I was defeated by Li Yi before."

"Now that the Yi army has retreated, the people are eager to return home."

"My humble opinion is that when it is too late, we should send troops to stop it."

"It will surely lead to their great defeat. This is a good strategy that cannot be missed."

"I hope my dear brother will judge for himself!"

After reading the letter, Yuan Shang was overjoyed:
"Li Yi's army has withdrawn?"

"If I can take advantage of their unpreparedness and strike them in one fell swoop, I will surely succeed."

People around him advised:
"Li Yi is full of tricks, so don't act rashly."

"Since they are retreating, we can just hold on."

"Besides, our wheat fields have already been robbed by the bandits, so we should not fight again."

"The best strategy is to first send people to other counties to transfer food, and then plan to advance the troops."

Yuan Shang was furious and shouted at his attendants:

"Li Yi's army has withdrawn its camp. When I arrive, we will know the outcome."

"They are trying to rob the wheat and grain, and they have to transport thousands of carts, but they can't move fast."

"If I take advantage of the situation and pursue them, how can I not win?"

"When my father was alive, it was because of his lack of courage that he suffered defeats at Guandu and Cangting."

"You are afraid of Yi like a tiger, how can you stop the world from laughing at you?"

While Yuan Shang was scolding everyone, he also made a comment about Yuan Shao.

This is actually a common method for a new monarch to ascend the throne.

Whenever a new ruler comes to power, some of the practices of the previous ruler are often blamed and judged.

The purpose is to weaken his authority and consolidate his own rule.

The most typical example is when Sun Quan came to power, he did a lot of work to "de-Sun Ce".

This is the characteristic of this era and must be tasted.

Yuan Shang acted arbitrarily and lifted the siege of Wei County and led his army to Fanyang.

Seeing that all the defenders of Fanyang had retreated, he ordered the entire army to pursue Li Yi's army.

In ancient times, it was common to pursue retreating enemy troops.

Not to mention withdrawing troops, in fact, in many cases, armor is not worn during normal marches.

Because marching is very hard, if you let the soldiers march while wearing armor, they will definitely die of exhaustion along the way.

This is why many people like to pursue other people's retreating troops.

Like when Cao Cao fought in the Battle of Xingyang, he was beaten badly by Xu Rong.

Cao Cao, as the pursuing party, was the one who was not wearing armor.

After meeting Xu Rong, he asked someone to put on armor temporarily.

But as a veteran, Xu Rong was ready.

The rookie Cao Cao was caught off guard and almost his entire army was wiped out.

Yuan Shang was certain that Li Yi could not possibly lead the army to retreat, and even put on armor and fighting gear, so he dared to lead his army to chase.

At that time, Li Yi led his troops to withdraw the siege of Fanyang, and kept his promises and retreated three times.

He ordered the grain carts to be placed in the center of the army, and ordered Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun to guard the rear.

Huang Zhong's only son, Huang Xu, also followed the army to the battle. Relying on his father's connections, he got a position as a marching chief in the army.

He rode on his horse and counted the wheat that had been harvested with a brush.

After finishing the inventory, he couldn't help showing a look of surprise, and found Li Yi excitedly and said to him:
“…Sir, sir!”

"The amount of wheat harvested this time is more than estimated."

"In addition to meeting the needs of our army for this expedition, there will be a lot of surplus to send to Xuzhou."

Huang Xu looked at Li Yi with great admiration.

He participated in the entire march.

I witnessed with my own eyes how Li Yi used his troops to make Yuan Shang run around in circles.

It really is about attacking wherever you point your finger at Yuan Shang.

This is what the teacher often said: the highest level of fighting is to command the enemy.

Huang Xu finally got to see it today.

Li Yi seemed very calm and taught Huang Xu:
"When you are successful, you are calm; when you are frustrated, you are happy."

“This is the way to command troops.”

Huang Xu happily bowed and said:

"Teacher's wise teachings should be remembered!"

Li Yi asked again:

"When I passed by the army just now, I found that the food carts seemed to be insufficient?"

"……Yes."

Huang Xu's smile froze immediately, and he explained to Li Yi:
"Our army previously crossed the Qing River secretly with light vehicles and did not bring a large number of food carts."

As he spoke, he turned around and looked at the endless stream of vehicles moving forward behind him.

"How about we allocate some horses to pull the carts?"

Grain transport vehicles are generally ox carts, that is, they are pulled by oxen, and rarely by horses.

Although horses are faster than cows, their average daily marching speed is about ten miles faster than that of cows.

But horses are not as strong as cows in pulling power, and they are more delicate than cows and get sick easily.

Not only do horses eat more than cows, but they also require to eat well and eat concentrated feed all day long.

Cows, however, are not so delicate. Not only can they digest coarse grass, but their four stomachs also ensure the efficiency of digestion of food.

Simultaneously,

The cattle themselves were military supplies, and after being pulled to the front line, they could be slaughtered to reward the soldiers and boost morale.

Horses must not be killed on the battlefield unless it is absolutely necessary.

This time Li Yi suddenly landed to grab some food and grass, and collected a lot of livestock nearby, which naturally were used to pull carts.

However, since not a single grain of rice was left for Yuan Shang, there were still not enough livestock.

Faced with Huang Xu's suggestion of using horses to pull the carriage, Li Yi decisively refused.

The war horses in the army are all organized into groups. If they are moved around at will, the deployment will be disrupted.

"… Ox carts are not enough, so deer carts can be used instead."

A deer cart is not a cart pulled by deer, it is a wheelbarrow, also called a wheelbarrow.

This is the car most commonly used by civilians.

This type of vehicle is very common, but it requires people to pull it.

Li Yi ordered the selection of strong soldiers to pull the deer cart. In order to save effort, they could take off their armor and fighting gear and put them on the cart and pull it away together.

"Sir, you have finally managed to get to Fanyang's rear. If you can cooperate with Lu Bu's army in the strong attack, you will surely be able to capture it."

"Sir, why would you give up and remove the siege?"

Huang Xu then asked why Li Yi withdrew his troops.

Li Yi stroked his beard and smiled:
"What good would it be to capture the city of Fanyang?"

"If we want to take it, we should take the area of Hebei."

Oh?
Huang Xuyi raised his eyebrows and asked hurriedly:
"I wonder what the connection is between seizing Hebei and lifting the siege of Fancheng?"

Before Li Yi could reply, a scout came on a flying horse.

The scout fell off his horse, and a close attendant first took the letter and then presented it to Li Yi.

And the letter was actually sent by Yuan Tan.

Li Yi quickly glanced through it and couldn't help clapping his hands and laughing.

Everyone asked what was written in the letter.

Li Yi explained to everyone that Yuan Tan mentioned in his letter:
He received accurate information that Yuan Shang was leading his troops to pursue, and told Li Yi to be careful and on guard.

Huang Xu couldn't help laughing after hearing this:
"Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang are brothers, why would they turn against each other and harm each other?"

Betraying one's own brothers was indeed a new thing for the Han Dynasty, which advocated filial piety and etiquette.

"...Haha, this must be Yuan Tan's wish to use me to help him defeat Yuan Shang's army."

"So as to seize the opportunity to seize his throne!"

Li Yi shook the letter in his hand and exposed Yuan Tan's intention in one sentence.

Everyone asked Li Yi what they should do next.

Li Yi's lips curled up into a faint smile.

……

(End of this chapter)