My father-in-law Guan Yu, I persuaded Liu Bei to launch a surprise attack on Xiangyang at the beginn

Chapter 267 In the army, you should address me by my official title: Grand Commandant Xiao! Attack the old capital, capture the false emperor, and strike at Cao Cao's Achilles' heel!
The person who stepped into the main tent was none other than Xiao He.

At this time, Xiao He should have been in Chenliu, assisting the King of Chu, but he unexpectedly appeared in the army in Xuchang.

Guan Yu, Wei Yan, and other generals were all naturally surprised.

"I have met the General."

Xiao He cupped his hands in greeting and smiled:
"Your Majesty is confronting Cao Cao in Chenliu. After Cao Cao suffered a great loss at Huating, he has now retreated and refused to fight. It will be difficult for the battle in Chenliu to make any progress in the short term."

"Therefore, after discussing it with the King, we decided that if things don't work out in the west, they might find a breakthrough in the east, starting from the Xuchang line."

"I have come here in secret to help the General conquer Xuchang."

Xiao He explained his purpose.

Guan Yu understood immediately.

Liu Bei's strategy for the Northern Expedition has changed; this place has now become the main battlefield for him.

The capture of Xuchang was the key to victory or defeat in this Northern Expedition.

Guan Yu and the generals of the Jingzhou army were immediately excited.

Guan Yu quickly pulled Xiao He to sit down, ordered tea to be served to Xiao He, and inquired about the details of the battles of Suiyang and Huating.

"Brother-in-law, Father and we have heard that you have built a divine thunder cannon for the King, ten times more powerful than the thunderbolt chariot, capable of destroying the heavens and the earth!"

"Your divine thunder cannon easily blasted down Cao Cao's earthen mound, and even injured Cao Cao himself?"

Is this true?

As Guan Ping, the elder brother-in-law, poured tea for Xiao He, he asked with great curiosity.

Guan Yu's expression darkened slightly, and he reminded him:
"Tanzhi, how many times have I told you, at home you can call him Bowen's brother-in-law, but now that you're in the army, you have to address him by his official title!"

Guan Ping was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening, and could only awkwardly laugh and address Xiao He as "Grand Commandant Xiao".

Xiao He felt a little embarrassed. He wanted to say something like, "We're all family, there's no need for so many formalities," but he had to give up because of his father-in-law's serious demeanor.

"Bowen, is the rumor about the Divine Thunder Cannon true?"

After Guan Yu finished disciplining his son, the same curiosity flashed across his face.

Xiao He took a sip of tea, smiled and nodded, then explained the whole story to Guan Yu in detail.

"A few years ago you forged the Mo Dao for the King, and now you have created such a powerful weapon. Bowen, I only realized today that you are also a master of weaponry!"

Guan Yu stroked his magnificent beard and nodded slightly, marveling at his son-in-law.

All the generals were full of praise.

"He was just tinkering around in his spare time; he's not some kind of weapons master."

Xiao He had to offer a few words of modesty before changing the subject:
"General, what is the true strength of the Wei army in Xuchang? Let's discuss how to take Xuchang."

Everyone's thoughts were immediately drawn back to the battle in front of them.

Guan Yu's gaze turned to Fa Zheng and Xu Shu.

"Previously, Generals Cao Chun and Xu Huang led 70,000 Wei troops south and clashed with our army in the Ye County area."

"Although Cao Chun is a fierce general, his military talent is limited. Xu Huang, on the other hand, is quite capable as a general, and he also has Dong Zhao to advise him."

"We fought several battles, with both sides winning and losing, so we could barely be considered evenly matched."

"After the news of Cao Cao's disastrous defeat at Huating came, the morale of the Wei army was dampened. Shu and Xiaozhi devised a plan to help the general defeat the Wei army, beheading more than 5,000 people, and then take advantage of the situation to capture Ye County and Kunyang County."

"Recently, Generals Cao and Xu have retreated to Xuchang to defend it. The General then marched north and captured Yingyin and Xiangcheng without bloodshed. His army is now pressing on Xuchang."

"According to my intelligence report, there are currently about 60,000 Wei troops in Xuchang, mostly infantry."

"However, before Cao Cao withdrew his defenses, he moved the false emperor from Xuchang to Luoyang. He was probably afraid that if Xuchang fell, the false emperor would fall into our hands."

"And then there's..."

Xu Shu recounted the events in Nanyang and the current state of the enemy forces in Xuchang.

Xiao He sipped his tea in silence, listening to what Xu Shu said, his eyes fixed on the map, already brewing a plan to capture Xuchang.

"Sister... Commander Xiao, since we have such powerful siege weapons as the Divine Thunder Cannon, why don't you teach us to build them on the spot, and we can blast through the walls of Xuchang and force our way into the city?"

Guan Ping had a flash of inspiration and came up with a plan.

Zhou Cang and the other generals were immediately invigorated and all agreed that it was feasible.

Xiao He simply smiled and did not reply.

"General Tanzhi, although this Divine Thunder Cannon is powerful, it can only be used when we are outnumbered and our army is besieging the city from all sides."

"Although our army currently has a slightly larger force than the Wei army, the advantage is only about 10,000 men, which is not enough to complete the siege of Xuchang from all sides."

"In that case, the Divine Thunder Cannon will naturally be useless."

Fa Zheng smiled and pointed out the key point.

Guan Ping suddenly realized.

Your surrounding the city signifies an absolute numerical advantage, allowing you to suppress the arrows fired by the city's defenders and prevent them from venturing out to disrupt the deployment of the divine thunder cannons.

With the two armies now evenly matched, can the Wei army really allow you to leisurely drag such a behemoth as the Divine Thunder Cannon to the front of the city for deployment?

"Xiaozhi's words make sense."

Xiao He nodded slightly, then added:
"Cao Chun and Xu Huang are now likely aware that our army possesses the Shenlei Cannon, a powerful siege weapon, and must have already taken precautions."

"They can either thicken the city walls to withstand the bombardment of the divine thunder cannons, or prepare enough wooden palisades in advance. Once a breach is blasted in the city walls, they can immediately seal it with wooden palisades to prevent our army from taking advantage of the situation to break in." After hearing Xiao He's explanation, Guan Ping understood completely and had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​using the divine thunder cannons to breach the city.

Immediately, a buzz of discussion arose among the crowd.

Fa Zheng and Xu Shu, being so intelligent and resourceful, were naturally not at a loss and each came up with several plans.

However, upon closer examination, none of these solutions were foolproof, so they had to be abandoned.

The murmurs subsided, and finally, everyone's gaze turned to Xiao He.

"Bowen, since the King has sent you to help me conquer Xuchang, you must have some ingenious plan."

With expectant eyes, Guan Yu personally filled his son-in-law's soup and tea.

Xiao accepted it with both hands, a meaningful smile on his face:
"Xuchang is a well-fortified city with ample supplies, and it has a famous general like Xu Huang, as well as Dong Zhao to devise strategies. They also came up with many plans on the way here, but none of them are guaranteed to win."

"However, I just heard Yuanzhi say that Cao Cao has moved the false emperor out of Xuchang and to Luoyang. I have thought of a plan that may be feasible."

Guan Yu's eyes lit up, and he listened attentively.

"As Takanao just said, the key reason why we cannot use the Divine Thunder Cannon to break through the city is that we do not have an absolute advantage in troop strength."

"On the other hand, if we have an overwhelming advantage in troop strength and can easily besiege the city, wouldn't the Divine Thunder Cannon have a purpose?"

Xiao He stood up, went to the map, and pointed north:
"The only way to achieve overwhelming troop superiority is to draw the main force of the Wei army out of Xudu and annihilate them in one fell swoop!"

"To lure the Wei army out, we must attack what the enemy must defend."

"For the Wei army, Luoyang is a place they must save!"

Luoyang!

Guan Yu's eyes flickered, and his gaze fell upon the old capital of the Han Dynasty.

While the military generals were still bewildered, the two top strategists, Fa Zheng and Xu Shu, suddenly showed joy on their faces, as if they had been enlightened.

Fa Zheng jumped up excitedly:

"Does Grand Commandant Xiao mean that he wants the General to change course westward, feign an attack on Liang County, and create the illusion that he will seize Luoyang from Yique Pass?"

"In this way, Cao Chun will be able to lead his entire army out of the city, from Xinzheng and Mixian, through Huanyuan Pass to defend Luoyang."

"As soon as the Wei army leaves Xuchang, our army can launch a surprise attack and defeat them halfway."

"With the main force of the Wei army severely damaged, Xuchang will be left with few troops. The general can then lead my 70,000 main force to calmly besiege Xuchang and build more divine thunder cannons to breach the city!"

Having said that, Fa Zheng bowed to Xiao He:

"Grand Commandant Xiao, you are merely making wild guesses; I wonder if you are right or wrong?"

Xiao He smiled slightly and nodded in agreement with Fa Zheng's conjecture.

Inside the main tent, Guan Ping and the other generals immediately erupted in excitement.

Guan Yu also jumped up, took the candlestick, and came to the map to examine it carefully, pondering Xiao He's plan.

"Bowen, this is a tactic of relieving the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao!"

Guan Yu nodded slightly at first, then said:

“I have a question. According to my spies, there are nearly 15,000 Wei troops along the Luoyang line.”

"Even if Xu Gongming and Cao Chun were to send troops to reinforce Luoyang, they wouldn't necessarily have to send a large force, leaving Xuchang with a weak military presence."

Xiao He smiled and said slowly:
"General, don't forget that Cao Cao has already moved the false emperor to Luoyang. If that fake emperor falls into our hands, Cao Cao will lose his 'legitimate' right to usurp the Han throne."

"Furthermore, if Luoyang falls to our army, we can threaten Guanzhong to the west, and advance eastward through Hulao Pass to join forces with Gan Xingba's army to annihilate Xiahou Dun's forces and cut off the Yellow River."

“If we cross the Yellow River to the north and enter Henan, we can directly penetrate Hebei and threaten Ye City.”

"Such a strategically important location, how could Xu Huang and Cao Chun allow it to fall? Would they dare not send heavy troops to reinforce it?"

A single sentence was enough to enlighten me.

The doubts in Guan Yu's eyes vanished, and he quickly tapped the map:
"Bowen is right. Although Cao Cao's army is not in Luoyang, Luoyang is Cao Cao's Achilles' heel!"

"If Xuchang is lost, Cao Cao will at most be unable to hold Yuzhou. If Luoyang is lost, the puppet Wei will be in danger in Guanzhong, and the entire Henan will be lost."

"Bowen's plan truly struck Cao Cao's Achilles' heel!"

All the generals understood the brilliance of Xiao He's plan, and their spirits were greatly lifted.

Amidst the uproar, Xu Shu suddenly said:
"Grand Commandant Xiao's plan is indeed a masterful grasp of the essence of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao,' but there are still some questions."

"If the general wants to lure out the main force from Xuchang, he must send his main force westward to feign an attack on Luoyang, and then send a surprise force to intercept the Wei army leaving the city."

"Then the problem arises: if this surprise force is too small, there is no guarantee of victory; if it is too large, such a large-scale mobilization will inevitably be detected by Wei spies and arouse the vigilance of Xu and Cao."

"If those two realize our intentions and retreat back to Xuchang first, wouldn't Grand Commandant Xiao's plan be in vain?"

The excited atmosphere inside the tent instantly quieted down.

Guan Yu and the others immediately turned their gazes toward Xiao He.

Xu Shu's words clearly resonated with everyone.

Xiao He finished the tea in his bowl and smiled mysteriously.
"Yuanzhi, rest assured, the task of intercepting the Wei army leaving the city will not require the General to deploy troops."

"I did not come here empty-handed; I brought a surprise force with me."

(End of this chapter)