Three Kingdoms: Madam, I am a decent person

Chapter 743 Xun You VS Cheng Yu
Hu Chuquan glanced at Zhang Sui, lowered his head, and said with a wry smile, "General, you are our lord. Whatever you say is law."

Zhang Sui was very satisfied with Hu Chuquan's answer.

Zhang Sui patted Hu Chuquan on the shoulder, signaling the soldiers to untie him. He then ordered the soldiers to immediately summon Tian Feng, Chen Deng, Chen Gong, Xi Zhicai, Liu Ye, Xin Pi, Zhao Yun, Zhang He, Yan Liang, and others.

A group of people held a meeting outside the burned-out camp to reaffirm the plan that Xi Zhicai had previously proposed.

The meeting ended an hour later.

Zhang Sui led Gao Shun's Trapped Camp, Xu Rong's Flying Bear Army, Chen Dao's White Feather Army, along with 20,000 men from the Second Army and 20,000 men from other forces, and moved 30 li to the left of Guandu to re-establish their camp.

Yan Liang, with Hu Chuquan as his "commander," dealt with the "prisoners" from Hebei and set up camp on the site of Zhang Sui's original camp.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yun led 15,000 men from the rear army straight to Zhongmu to attack Xiahou Yuan.

Zhang He led his vanguard of 15,000 men straight to Changshe to attack Xiahou Dun.

Inside Xingyang City.

Inside the main hall of the government office.

Cao Cao, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu, Du Ji, Du Xi, Cao Xiu, Yu Jin, Zhu Ling, Cao Chun and other generals surrounded the sand table.

Xun You held a series of slips of paper in his hand.

These slips of paper were written with lines of text, such as "Zhao Yun's 15,000-strong army", "Zhang He's 15,000-strong army", "Chanyu Huchuquan's army", and "Zhang Sui's army".

As Xun You placed the slips of paper in various positions on the sand table, he addressed the group: "According to the intelligence sent out by our spies, this is the current deployment of the army near Guandu."

"The Xiongnu Chanyu, in alliance with the powerful clans of Hedong Commandery, dispatched an army of nearly 40,000 men to attack the general's camp at Guandu and Wuchao respectively."

"The general has led the main force of the army to move thirty miles west."

"The Chanyu then set up camp at the Guandu camp of the General."

"This camp contains tens of thousands of prisoners from Hebei."

"Currently, the Chanyu is dealing with the prisoners."

"There are no further developments regarding the Wuchao direction."

"Dozens of spies we sent died, and it was all for naught."

"Then there is the vanguard of the General, Zhang He's 15,000 men, who are rushing to Changshe."

"The rear army, led by Zhao Yun, with 15,000 men, is heading towards Mouzhong."

After Xun You finished speaking, he took several deep breaths and said to Cao Cao, "Judging from the current situation, the previous speculation is more likely to be true."

"The general was ambushed by the Xiongnu, which led to his defeat."

"And Wuchao is the granary of the general's army."

"The grain storage site has likely suffered a heavy blow, and the general's supplies have been damaged. Therefore, we have no choice but to immediately dispatch Zhao Yun and Zhang He to attack Muzhong and Changshe respectively, hoping to achieve a quick victory."

"Then, next, the General's army will launch a formal attack on Xingyang, using the main force to keep us from assisting Mu Zhong and Changshe."

"but--"

Xun You frowned and said, "This situation feels unfathomably simple and naive, and is difficult to understand."

"Although the general is young, he is not a reckless person."

"Moreover, he brought with him outstanding talents such as Tian Feng, Chen Deng, Chen Gong, and Xi Zhicai on this trip south."

"Furthermore, it is truly unbelievable that the Xiongnu attacked the general from behind."

Everyone nodded.

Cheng Yu, who was standing nearby, suddenly interjected: "But sometimes, things are not as complicated as we imagine."

"The General has finally achieved a great victory over us."

"Previously, we easily pacified the Wuhuan in the three commanderies and Liaodong."

Before that, he was the son of a farmer, yet he inherited the mantle of Yuan Shao, whose family had held high office for four generations, and gained control of the vast Hebei region.

“Each of these events is a major one.”

"Let alone a young man like the General who comes from a humble background."

"Any shrewd and calculating person would probably be too proud and lose their head." "At this point, it's not incomprehensible that they would make a rash mistake."

"As for the Huns' successful sneak attack, although it seems outrageous, it was also within expectations."

"The Xiongnu were not good at strategy, but there was a group of powerful and influential families in Hedong Commandery."

"Especially the Wei and Fan families, although they both served as officials in Hedong County."

"But they all have caravans doing business with Hebei."

"It's not impossible that they gathered intelligence on Hebei, seized upon the general's weaknesses, and launched a surprise attack, catching the general off guard."

"If we also consider that Wuchao is the General's grain storage place, and has been completely occupied."

"Then, the General's current actions are all reasonable."

"Without Wuchao as a grain storage place, a large amount of grain and fodder has been lost."

"Even Hebei cannot withstand it."

"If all the intelligence is accurate—"

Cheng Yu scanned everyone and said, "We will take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Wuchao and destroy all the grain and fodder inside. This will not only successfully defeat the Xiongnu, but also severely damage the Hebei army."

Everyone nodded.

Cao Cao frowned, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the movements of all the armies on the sand table.

Both Xun You's and Cheng Yu's words make sense.

The current situation of the Hebei army is so confusing that even he can't quite figure it out.

Emotionally, he naturally hoped that Cheng Yu was right.

However, in terms of rationality, he trusted Xun You more.

How to do?
Seeing that Cao Cao did not speak, Xun You asked, "Minister Cao, since we cannot be sure that the intelligence is accurate, and there are many unreasonable aspects to it, my suggestion is that we wait and see and remain indoors."

"In the current situation, haste makes waste."

"We would rather miss this opportunity to defeat the Hebei army and proceed cautiously, at least ensuring that we do not lose too many soldiers."

"Of course, we will also send out more spies to conduct more in-depth investigations."

Cheng Yu said, "Opportunity knocks but once!"

"How magnificent is the Hebei army?"

"If you miss this opportunity, you may never have another chance."

"If you're afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, you'll never achieve anything."

"I suggest sending an elite cavalry force to infiltrate the vicinity of Wuchao."

“If Wuchao is indeed a grain storage place, burning it will not only cut off Hebei’s chance and force Hebei to retreat, but also cut off the Xiongnu’s chance.”

"Once we achieve this goal, we can decisively launch a pincer attack from both sides, together with General Xiahou Yuan in Muzhong or General Xiahou Dun in Changshe, to defeat Zhao Yun's army or Zhang He's army."

"If either of these two armies is destroyed, and the grain supplies at Wuchao are completely burned, I believe that the Hebei army will have no choice but to withdraw from the war."

"We will take advantage of the retreat of Hebei and the shortage of food and supplies, send a large army to guard the south bank of the Yellow River, and then attack Xuzhou and Yangzhou to take these two places, and then make further plans."

Xun You said sternly, "We are inherently weaker than Hebei!"

"We cannot afford any mistakes."

"Such recklessness will lead to utter ruin if anything goes wrong!"

Cheng Yu argued forcefully, "It is precisely because we are weak that we must seize every opportunity to overthrow our superiors."

“In the past, when our lord was seeking revenge in Xuzhou, Chen Gong led Lü Bu to occupy Yanzhou, and our situation became critical.”

"It was our lord who led us to use the Empty City Stratagem to scare away Lü Bu's army in Puyang, thus successfully protecting the city and harvesting a large amount of wheat. This allowed us to hold out until the very end, and only then were we able to successfully reclaim Yanzhou."

"If everything were done with the caution you speak of, Gongda, then Yanzhou would be gone, and we wouldn't be where we are now."

(End of this chapter)