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

Chapter 5 I have a plan to defeat Cao's army (Please read on!)
Although the current situation in the world is said to be one of warlords, it is more accurate to say that it is a struggle for supremacy between the two Yuans.

Right now,

The brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were the two most powerful princes.

Most of the other princes were subordinates or allies of the two.

For example, Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's younger brother, and Liu Bei was Gongsun Zan's younger brother.

At this moment, Tao Qian chose to ally with Yuan Shu to fight against Yuan Shao in the north.

It can be seen from the map that Cao Cao, who had just gained Yanzhou and had not yet established a firm foothold, was suddenly surrounded by the three forces of Yuan Shu, Tian Kai and Tao Qian.

Of course Cao Cao had to choose one to defeat. He couldn't afford to offend Yuan Shu, and Tian Kai was protected by Gongsun Zan, so he could only choose Tao Qian.

This was the main reason for the conflict between Cao Cao and Tao Qian.

So they killed as many people as possible along the way in order to weaken Tao Qian's strength.

Because Xuzhou was rich, and there was famine all over the country at that time, but old man Tao Qian still had money to repair temples and build golden Buddhas.

Who wouldn’t be jealous after seeing this?
It was precisely because Xuzhou was rich that Cao Cao wanted to kill people and massacre the city. After all, directly plundering wealth is much faster than slowly cultivating the land by oneself.

Some people may ask, isn’t Cao Cao’s burning, killing and looting just drinking poison to quench thirst?

Yes, if a powerful leader really has the ambition to unify the world, he must win the hearts of the people.

But Cao Cao was also helpless.

When he entered Yanzhou, he defeated the Yellow Turban Army from Qingzhou and Xuzhou, which had a total of one million men and women.

It was impossible for Cao Cao to kill them all, so he chose to accept them.

Because he understood that population was the most important resource in ancient times.

It represents the source of soldiers and food.

It was precisely because of accepting these one million Yellow Turban men and women that Cao Cao's strength increased greatly, and within a few years he had the strength to challenge Yuan Shao.

But the acceptance process was painful, because Yanzhou was poor and could not support such a large population.

But Xuzhou Fu, the man from next door named Lao Tao, killed their people to make room for his own people.

Wouldn't it be great if we could rob their money and food and use it to support our own people?

The above is the real reason why Cao Cao massacred Xuzhou.

In the final analysis, the man is innocent unless he is in possession of a treasure.

There was famine in Yanzhou, and it also accepted a million Yellow Turban men and women.

Cao Cao's army was so poor that they had to rely on the "honest man" Cheng Yu to eat human jerky to survive. Since Xuzhou is so rich, it is natural that they will rob you.

After listening to Li Yi's analysis, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhao Yun were all silent.

Liu Bei shook his head and sighed:

"…Alas, all those who have accomplished great things in ancient and modern times have always regarded the people as the most precious, the people as the foundation, and the people as the most important. The king is unimportant, but the people are more important."

Guan Yu raised his head angrily, clasped his arms and volunteered:

"Brother! Cao Cao is now withdrawing his troops in a panic to relieve the emergency in Yanzhou."

"Please give me an elite force to attack them, and I will surely win!"

Guan Yu has always sympathized with the lower classes of people. After being instigated by Li Yi, he became even more indignant. He immediately volunteered again to avenge the people of Xuzhou.

Liu Bei's army was defeated by Cao Cao in Tan County, and the soldiers were in distress. They needed a victory to boost morale.

Faced with Guan Yu's request for battle, Liu Bei was about to agree but was stopped by Li Yi.

"No, if we go after him now, we will surely be defeated by Cao Cao."

hiss……

Hearing this, Guan Yu was somewhat displeased and asked:

"Sir, why do you want to boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige?"

"Could it be that you doubt Guan's courage and underestimate me?"

Liu Bei knew his second brother's temper, so he immediately spoke up to try to make peace.

"Don't worry, Yunchang, just listen to what the master has to say."

Everyone looked at Li Yi at the same time, and Li Yi explained calmly:

"It's not that Yi underestimates General Guan. Although General Guan is the bravest among the three armies, Cao Cao is good at commanding troops."

"Even though Cao Cao has retreated, he must have strong generals guarding the rear to prevent pursuit."

"Although our troops are sharp, they cannot defeat them. If we pursue them like this, we will surely be defeated."

Guan Yu was silent upon hearing this. Zhao Yun looked at Li Yi with admiration and said:

"Yun Shen agrees. Cao is a treacherous villain who is good at using troops. Our army has just been defeated. If we pursue him now, we may not be able to defeat him."

Liu Bei nodded. He still trusted Li Yi quite a bit, but he also felt it was a pity not to pursue the retreating Cao army.

After all, Cao Cao has evil ambitions and has made many attacks on Xuzhou. If we don't strike him hard, Xuzhou will be at his mercy in the future.

Hit a punch to avoid a hundred punches.

Liu Bei needs a victory, and Xuzhou also needs a victory.

Li Yi saw that everyone looked disappointed to some extent, so he grinned and said:
"Don't be disappointed, gentlemen. I have a plan that can defeat Cao's army."

Liu Bei was delighted and asked, "What's the plan?"

Li Yi said slowly:
"Just now I said that Cao's army should not be pursued, otherwise they would be defeated."

"If an army pursues him and is defeated by Cao Cao, Cao Cao will surely return quickly with light chariots after defeating the pursuing army, and will not make any further preparations."

"At this time, our army will catch them off guard and pursue them, and we will surely win a great victory."

Zhao Yun said happily:
"This is a great plan!"

"Envoy, Yun thinks this plan is feasible!"

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said hesitantly:
"But who can chase it for me first?"

Guan Yu suggested:
"You can send Zilong to lead the light cavalry to pursue them, pretending to be defeated and returning."

"Then, brother, how about you lead the army to attack them?"

Zhao Yun led Liu Bei's mixed Hu cavalry, which had strong mobility and high combat effectiveness, and was indeed very suitable for harassing Cao's army.

But Liu Bei felt something was wrong, so he asked Li Yi:
"Sir, do you think this plan is feasible?"

Li Yi said with a smile:

"Although this method is good, it is not a perfect solution."

"Cao Cao is suspicious by nature. Now I am using a small army to attack Cao Cao's large army. Wouldn't Cao Cao be suspicious?"

Given Cao Cao's temperament, he would definitely not dare to return so quickly if he had not defeated a large army.

And even if it was a fake defeat, there would definitely be some damage.

Cavalry were very expensive in ancient times, especially this mixed Hu cavalry, which was obtained from Gongsun Zan.

They are all top-notch among the cavalry, and even if one of them dies, they will feel the pain for two days.

Lao Liu's soldiers were few in number to begin with, and they simply could not withstand such ordeal.

"Sir, do you have a better plan?" Liu Bei asked.

"……hehe."

Li Yi showed a harmless smile on his face, "I do have a plan, which can make our army pursue and defeat Cao's army."

"I heard that Cao Bao, a general under Tao Qian, and you have joined forces to resist Cao's army. Now you can send someone to inform them that Cao's army will retreat."

"Cao Bao is eager for merit, so he will definitely lead his troops to pursue us. After he is defeated by Cao's army, our army will pursue him."

"First, it can weaken Cao Bao's strength, and second, it can defeat Cao's army and strengthen your reputation."

"Isn't this a win-win solution?"

At that time, Cao Bao was Liu Bei's political enemy.

Although Tao Qian was mediocre and weak, he had an elite Danyang army that was good at fighting.

And Cao Bao was the leader of this Danyang army.

When Liu Bei came to Xuzhou, Tao Qian was very cunning and gave Liu Bei 4,000 Danyang soldiers.

Under the pretext of helping Liu Bei to build up his momentum, his intention was actually to divide Cao Bao's military power.

At the same time, he let Liu Bei and Cao Bao fight each other and check and balance each other in order to consolidate his position as the governor of Xuzhou.

Cao Bao was of course unhappy about his power being stripped away, and he was displeased with Liu Bei no matter how he looked at him.

Previously, when he joined forces with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao in Tan County, he was uncooperative in various ways and was finally defeated by Cao Cao.

……

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(End of this chapter)