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

Abandon the city and break out!

The four words struck Cao Chong like thunder, making him tremble.

"Young Master Cangshu, Xuanbo is absolutely right. The soldiers have been tortured to the point of being neither human nor ghost, and their spirits are on the verge of collapse!"

"Once the flood recedes, the Big-Eared Bandits will launch a full-scale attack, and I'm afraid they won't even have the courage to pick up their weapons."

"Ye City is indeed beyond defense; abandoning the city and breaking out is the best course of action!"

Before Cao Chong could express his opinion, Xin Pi eagerly echoed his advice.

The generals, including Xiahou Chong, saw a glimmer of hope and urged Cao Chong to abandon the city and break out of the siege.

Cao Chong, however, looked north and sighed:
"Of course I know that at this point, it is extremely difficult to defend Ye City."

"But Ye City is the capital of our Great Wei. If we abandon it like this, it will be a devastating blow to the morale of our army and people. Have you ever thought about that?"

"Moreover, I made a military pledge to my father, promising to defend Ye City even at the cost of my life."

“My father has not ordered me to abandon the city, yet I have abandoned Ye City and fled without permission. How can I face my father?”

Cao Chong laid out a long list of grievances, clearly indicating that he was unwilling to give up Ye City.

Xinpi became anxious upon hearing this and hurriedly said:
"Ye City is completely surrounded. Even if the King wanted us to abandon the city and break out, his messengers and edicts wouldn't be able to get through."

"I think that after the King learned that the bandit Da'er had breached the Zhang River, he must have known that Ye City could no longer be defended and must have wanted us to break out."

"Young Master Cang Shu, a general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders."

Everyone agreed and earnestly advised against it.

Cao Chong, however, remained silent.

He understood these people's intentions all too well; they were simply trying to protect themselves.

But they were still his subjects. Even if they abandoned the city and fled, Cao Cao would not blame them and would still have to use them.

However, he was the one who made the final decision and had to bear the blame for abandoning the capital without authorization.

Bearing this guilt, Cao Cao would be utterly disappointed in him, and he would be completely ineligible for the position of heir apparent of Cao Wei.

This is still second.

At this point, he no longer cared about being the crown prince.

What he cared about was the survival of the Cao Wei dynasty and the life and death of the Cao family.

The fate of the empire, the life and death of the Cao family, all rested in Ye City.

If Yecheng falls, then all hope is lost, and there is no way to reverse the situation.

He didn't want to be the sinner who caused the extermination of the Cao family, and he couldn't bear to see the great Wei dynasty that Cao Cao had worked so hard to build destroyed by his own hands.

Chen Tai's eyes darted around slightly, and he cupped his hands in greeting, saying:
"Tai knows what Young Master Cangshu is worried about."

"Has Young Master Cangshu considered that if we insist on holding out, Ye City will still be breached, and we will all die here?"

"It is alright to die in battle. We can simply sacrifice ourselves for our country and fulfill our duty as loyal subjects."

"But what if you, Young Master Cangshu, are captured by the enemy and become Liu Bei's prisoner? How will you face the consequences?"

Cao Chong shivered.

He was captured by the enemy and became Liu Bei's prisoner...

Chen Tai's words were incredibly damaging.

He's not afraid of death.

When he volunteered, he was already prepared to die.

He could not accept becoming a prisoner of the Chu army, kneeling at Liu Bei's feet as a prisoner.

That was an insult to Cao Cao!

The Cao family already has a cowardly and rebellious son like Cao Zhi; they cannot have a second one!
Cao Chong began to pace back and forth, his originally resolute expression gradually wavering.

Chen Tai knew that he had hit Cao Chong's weak spot.

After pacing for a long time, Cao Chong finally stopped and looked up again in the north direction.

In a daze, he seemed to see Cao Cao's face.

"You're right. I, Cao Chong, can die in battle, but I will never kneel at Liu Bei's feet, never!"

After a long sigh, Cao Chong took a deep breath, flicked his sleeve, and said:

"Pass on my order: all camps, quickly prepare yourselves. Once the water level recedes slightly, abandon the city and break out."

Chen Tai breathed a sigh of relief.

Xinpi and the others all felt relieved, and looked at each other with secret joy in their eyes, as if they had been granted a pardon.

"Don't be too happy yet. Just because I decided to break out doesn't mean we will definitely succeed."

Do you really think that Liu Bei will be complacent and not guard against us abandoning the city and breaking out?

"That's 300,000 Chu troops. If they had made prior arrangements, could our 20,000 demoralized remnants really escape Ye City alive?"

Cao Chong turned around and poured cold water on everyone's enthusiasm.

Everyone's expression changed, and the glimmer of hope that had just appeared in their eyes vanished in an instant. Xin Pi's eyes darted around, and he quickly cupped his hands in a respectful gesture:

"Young Master Cang Shu's warning is that Liu Bei is definitely on guard against our breakout. Therefore, I believe we must use a diversionary tactic to deceive everyone..."

A sly smile crept across Xin Pi's lips as he lowered his voice and revealed his plan.

After hearing this, Chen Tai shook his head:

“Minister Xin, your plan is too ordinary. I’m afraid it may not be able to fool Xiao He’s eyes.”

Hearing Chen Tai's dismissive attitude towards his plan, Xin Pi's face darkened, revealing his displeasure.

"Yes, yes, yes, my plan is very clumsy, but if it weren't for your brilliant plan, Chen Xuanbo, which led to the loss of our 20,000 troops, why would I have offered such a clumsy plan?"

Xin Pi was unhappy about being looked down upon by a junior, so he decisively reopened Chen Tai's old wounds.

Chen Tai's face darkened, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, clearly provoked, and he was about to retort.

"Enough! We've reached a life-or-death situation, and you still have the mind to argue?"

Cao Chong, his face showing anger, promptly stopped the two men.

Chen Tai swallowed back the angry words that were on the tip of his tongue, and Xin Pi also swallowed and shut his mouth.

After a moment's deliberation, Cao Chong let out a deep sigh:
“Xuanbo’s concerns are not without merit. Zuozhi’s plan may not be able to hide from Xiao He’s eyes. However, we have no other choice now that we are in such a desperate situation.”

"If that's the case, then we have no choice but to take the gamble."

"Life and death are determined by fate, success and failure are left to heaven!"

...

Two days later, the water level receded slightly.

Under the cover of night, a man dressed in black used a rope to descend from the city wall and escaped Ye City on a raft that had been laid out beforehand.

The Chu army's patrol boats quickly intercepted the man in black and escorted him to the main camp, the royal tent.

The man in black claimed to be Xin Pi's confidant, and had secretly slipped out of the city to present Liu Bei with Xin Pi's handwritten letter.

That was a letter of surrender.

Xin Pi claimed that he had come to a sudden realization, recognized that Wang Fang was the ruler of Heaven's mandate, and resolved to obey Heaven's will, abandoning Wei and returning to Chu.

Xin Pi also claimed that he had secretly gathered a group of people who wanted to surrender to Chu and that he would seize the north gate of Ye City two days later at nightfall to welcome the Chu army into Ye City.

This letter truly surprised Liu Bei.

According to the original plan, the flooding of Ye City would take at least a month to ensure that the morale of the Wei army was broken before the main force could launch a strong attack and break through the city.

Now that Xinpi is about to surrender, we can quickly capture Ye City within two days, which is truly an unexpected joy.

After nearly a year of the Northern Expedition, the soldiers' mental and physical strength were nearing their limit. It would be best to capture Yecheng as soon as possible so that the soldiers could rest and recuperate.

"Gentlemen, what is your opinion on Xin Zuozhi's surrender?"

Liu Bei, with a joyful expression, showed the letter to everyone.

"Xin Pi was once an advisor to the Yuan family, but when he saw that the Yuan family was in danger, he turned against them and sided with Cao Cao."

"Moreover, Xin Pi is from Yingchuan, and Yingchuan now belongs to our Chu state."

"Given these two points, it is quite reasonable for Xinpi to choose to defect and surrender to the king when the situation was hopeless."

After analyzing the situation, Zhang Liao clearly leaned towards believing that Xin Pi had surrendered.

As Xin Pi's former colleague, Zhang Liao's evaluation was naturally very convincing, and everyone agreed with it.

"Bowen, what do you think?"

Liu Bei nodded slightly, but did not dare to draw a conclusion, and turned his gaze to Xiao He.

Xiao He glanced at the handwritten note a few times, then smiled:
"Your Majesty, I believe that with the current strength of our Great Chu, we don't need to worry about the authenticity of Xin Pi's surrender. We only need to make preparations for both possibilities."

Liu Bei's eyes flickered, and he sat up straight, gesturing for Xiao He to continue.

“Xinpi’s surrender was nothing more than a genuine surrender or a feigned surrender.”

"If they truly surrender, that would be the best outcome. Our army will then storm in through the north gate and capture Ye City in one fell swoop."

"If it was a feigned surrender, it means that Cao Chong had reached a dead end and was planning to abandon the city and break out."

"Thus, Xin Pi's feigned surrender was a scheme to lure the tiger away from the mountain, intending to draw my heavy troops to the north gate, while Cao Chong led his army to break out from the east gate, fighting all the way to the west bank of the Zhang River, and then fled north by water to Nanpi."

Xiao He calmly analyzed the situation, then smiled and said:

"If our army only has tens of thousands of troops, we really need to carefully distinguish whether he is truly surrendering or feigning surrender in order to concentrate our forces to break through Ye City or intercept Cao Chong."

"We currently have 300,000 troops, which is more than enough to allow us to consider both possibilities."

"My idea is that we should deploy heavy troops at the north gate to attack Ye City, and also deploy heavy troops east of Ye City and on the west bank of the Zhang River to intercept Cao Chong."

"Therefore, whether Xin Pi's surrender is genuine or feigned, Cao Chong and his remaining troops will not escape Your Majesty's grasp!"

Liu Bei suddenly understood and slammed his hand on the table, saying:
“Bowen is right. My army of 300,000 is many times larger than the enemy’s. Why should I bother to figure out whether Xin Pi’s surrender is genuine or feigned?”

"Alright, let's do as Bowen says. We'll prepare for both possibilities and make sure Cao Chong has no chance of escape!" (End of Chapter)