Three Kingdoms: Madam, I am a decent person

Chapter 512 Cao Cao's Two Humiliations
Seeing Cao Cao still weeping over the corpse, Xi Zhicai sheathed his sword, stepped forward, and comforted him, "My lord, this is not your fault."

“This is all due to everyone’s negligence.”

"Tell your personal servants not to get close to the master when he is asleep, as the master may kill the enemy in his dreams."

"This kind of thing will never happen again."

"As for this personal guard, I remember his household registration."

"First, bury him with honor, return to Xudu, and then reward his family as a supplement."

Cao Cao then got up, wiped his tears, and asked, "Zhicai, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Xi Zhicai said, "My lord, I have already told you about the matter with Zhang Sui last night. No matter what, we must fight and resolve it quickly."

"No matter which of the three strategies you adopt, you should send an envoy to meet Zhang Sui and arrange a time for a battle or a meeting."

Cao Cao suddenly realized and said, "There are three strategies: the best, the middle and the worst. The best strategy is too radical and too impulsive."

"The next move is too slow."

"Let's take the middle path!"

"You arrange for a assassin to go to Zhang Sui and arrange for him to meet at Baima at the turn of the hour of Wei and the hour of Shen."

He then looked at Cao Chun and said, "Now that Yuan Rang is unconscious, you will take over his position as the commander of the front army."

"Notify Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, and Yu Jin, and have them each prepare 5,000 troops, plus the 5,000 in the vanguard, for a total of 20,000. After noon, follow me to Bai Ma to meet Zhang Sui."

"Other troops, be ready to follow orders at any time."

"We saw Zhang Sui, and he didn't notice the ambush. The rest of the troops will outflank him and patrol the white horses near Liyang Port to make sure there are no ambushes. Then we will attack with all our strength and kill Zhang Sui!"

"Inform the entire army."

"Whoever captures Xu Rong's head will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins, and soldiers will be promoted directly to captains, and those above captains will be promoted one level higher."

"Anyone who gets a part of Zhang Sui's body will be rewarded with a thousand gold coins and be made a marquis!"

"Whoever kills Zhang Sui will be presented to the emperor as a general who slays bandits, given a hundred beauties, a thousand gold coins, and a title of marquis of ten thousand households!"

Cao Chun and Xi Zhicai responded in unison and stepped out.

Cao Cao looked at the body of his personal guard at his feet, wiped the blood off his clothes with his sword several times, and then said coldly: "Go well!"

"I shall take care of your wife."

"Your life is worth it to be my tool."

Putting the sword back on the weapon rack, Cao Cao lay back on the bed and continued to sleep.

Not long after, several guards came in, carried away the body, and cleaned the blood in the room.

Cao Cao slept until noon and had lunch with Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Jia Xu, Cao Chun and others.

Seeing Xun You lowering his head and staring at the food in a daze, Cao Cao laughed and said, "Gongda, what's wrong? Are you not satisfied with today's food?"

Looking at the maids serving at the door, Cao Cao shouted in a deep voice: "What's going on? You can't even take care of people. I'll leave you here——"

Xun You raised his head and said to Cao Cao, "It has nothing to do with them. It suits my taste! It suits my taste!"

As he spoke, he shoveled the rice into his mouth in big mouthfuls.

The maids at the door were so frightened that their faces turned pale and their bodies were shaking like sieves.

After the group finished their meal, Cao Cao took them to the north of the city.

There, four groups of 20,000 troops were already waiting.

The vanguard consisted of 5,000 soldiers temporarily commanded by Cao Chun, with Le Jin and Xu Huang as vanguards.

The central army consisted of 5,000 soldiers led by Yu Jin.

On the left wing were 5,000 elite infantrymen led by Xiahou Yuan.

The retreat was led by five thousand soldiers led by Cao Hong.

Cao Cao walked at the end, surrounded by Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Xun You, Jia Xu and hundreds of personal guards.

As soon as Cao Cao arrived, the 20,000-strong army in four directions officially set out and headed towards Bai Ma.

When they arrived at a place about eighty miles away from Lihu County, they saw two small hills of human heads and three flags.

Zhang Sui, with thousands of troops, was waiting in formation.

Watching Cao Cao's four armies approaching from afar, Zhang Sui said to a soldier beside him: "Go to Liyang Port. When you hear the drums, have the defenders of Liyang Port drag the trees and run around wildly, and have the people stamp their feet non-stop."

"Do this once every half hour."

"Also, light all the bonfires that need to be lit." "Push all the boats to the shore, and the people hold sharp swords and act as soldiers. There should be at least 2,000 people arrayed at the harbor."

The soldier responded and rode away at full speed.

Zhang Sui smiled as he looked at the soldiers behind him and said, "I hope we can have a good fight today."

"After we finish killing people here, we hope to be able to head south to Xiakou."

"Two fights, two great achievements."

"Brothers, seize this opportunity to build your career."

"Man is inherently dead, either lighter than a feather, or heavier than Mount Tai."

"Su Qin wore the seals of six kingdoms, but before he became famous, he returned home. His sister-in-law was not happy, and his parents were not happy."

"You must return home in glory, don't let others look down on you."

"You are my Zhang Sui's cavalry."

"If you lose face, then I lose face."

"I can be embarrassed under a woman's skirt."

"You made me lose face in front of everyone, so don't blame me for not recognizing you!"

The cavalrymen gripped their weapons tightly and laughed out loud.

Zhang Sui glanced at the smiling faces.

Although there was a smile on his face, his heart was actually heavy at this moment.

The vast majority of these cavalrymen were destined to die tragically in obscurity on the battlefield.

Many people will eventually become stepping stones for others to expand their territory.

Zhang Sui thought of an ancient poem that he often encountered in exams when he was in school: The bones by the Wuding River are pitiful, yet they are still the person in the spring girl’s dreams.

Seeing Cao Cao's army getting closer and closer, and their faces already visible to the naked eye, Zhang Sui rode his horse forward.

A thousand cavalrymen followed Zhang Sui and rode forward.

Le Jin and Xu Huang each led a vanguard army.

Looking at the thousands of cavalrymen coming in unison in front of him, Le Jin swallowed.

No wonder this cavalry of a thousand men was able to kill Xu Huang so badly that his face was filled with fear.

If I only brought a few thousand people with me, I'm afraid I would be scared to death.

Seeing Zhang Sui approaching with a thousand cavalrymen, Le Jin signaled the flag bearer to raise the command flag.

The front army stopped instantly.

One command flag after another was raised.

The 20,000-strong army on four routes quickly stopped.

Le Jin waved his hand towards the center.

The army tore a passage through it.

Le Jin rode his horse straight to the rear of the army.

Cao Cao, surrounded by Xu Chu, had just gotten off the carriage with Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Xun You and Jia Xu and mounted their war horses.

Le Jin stopped in front of Cao Cao and saluted, saying, "My lord, a thousand cavalrymen are riding towards us. The leader is Zhang Sui!"

Cao Cao laughed loudly and said, "Good boy! You have only one thousand men, and you dare to come up against my army of 20,000!"

Raising his whip and lashing the horse's buttocks, Cao Cao spurred his horse forward and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, let us see this boy!"

Xu Chu and others hurriedly rode their horses to catch up.

Cao Cao and his companions rode to the front of the army and saw Zhang Sui approaching with a thousand cavalrymen.

Cao Cao looked at Zhang Sui and Xu Rong in the front and sighed, "Thinking back to the battle at Bian River, my tens of thousands of troops were chased and killed by Xu Rong. It was like a wolf entering a sheepfold."

"We are the sheep, and Xu Rong is the wolf."

"In the battle at Hangu Pass, my general Dian Wei was chopped to pieces by Zhang Sui in front of me."

"They probably wouldn't have thought that now that we meet again, I would have become so strong!"

(End of this chapter)