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

Chapter 379 When the nest is overturned, how can the poisonous eggs survive? This is the last chance to turn the tide!
A bolt from the blue struck like a thunderbolt.

Cao Cao felt dizzy and disoriented, his feet swaying as he staggered backward.

"Your Majesty!"

Xu Chu stepped forward and quickly helped Cao Cao up.

The courtiers on either side were in an uproar.

"What did you say? Yi Jing... What happened to Yi Jing?"

Cao Cao covered his forehead, suppressing the rush of blood to his head, and with a last glimmer of hope, he asked in a trembling voice.

He was unwilling and dared not accept this cruel reality.

Cao Cao actually took a gamble and chose Sima Yi's second path.

Zhang He and his men were somewhat prepared that they wouldn't be able to hold Yijing.

What he could not accept was that Yijing had fallen less than four days after he left.
That was a defensive line he had painstakingly built, spending countless sums of money and resources to construct.

The remaining troops numbered nearly 30,000.

They had barely left when they were trapped?

Is it really that vulnerable?

"Urgent report here, please take a look, Your Majesty!"

Tiger Guard dared not say anything more and could only tremblingly present the military report.

Cao Cao reached out his hand and, just as trembling, accepted it.

The military report was brief and to the point, consisting of just one line:

With the fall of Yijing, Zhang He, Xiahou Wei, and Sima Yi are leading their routed troops in a retreat towards Jixian.

The short line of text was as heavy as a mountain, relentlessly bombarding Cao Cao.

"what--"

Cao Cao let out a painful cry, his blood rushing to his head, and he fainted on the spot.

"Your Majesty~~"

The ministers cried out in alarm and rushed forward.

Chaos reigned on the city walls...

News of the fall of Yijing quickly spread throughout the army, causing great fear among the Wei troops.

The original plan to launch a preemptive strike and catch the invading Chu army off guard had to be shelved due to Cao Cao's fainting spell.

Within a single day, the people of Ji County were filled with fear and the county was in a state of turmoil.

...

Late at night.

When Cao Cao slowly awoke from his bed, he opened his eyes in a daze and immediately recognized several familiar faces, kneeling before the bed.

Zhang He, Sima Yi, Xiahou Wei.

The three high-ranking officials in charge of guarding Yijing knelt before him, their expressions somber and uneasy.

"The King has awakened!"

When Xu Chu saw Cao Cao open his eyes, he was overjoyed and rushed forward to help him up.

"I left you with 30,000 troops, why are you so incompetent that you lost Yijing so quickly?"

Tell me, why?

As soon as Cao Cao sat up, he turned to the three men with disappointment and anger and questioned them.

"The moment Your Majesty left, that big-eared scoundrel launched a full-scale attack. We fought to the death, but the Chu army's offensive was too fierce, and we were no match for them..."

Zhang He, with a pained expression, stammered as he explained.

Cao Cao roughly understood what was being said: the Chu army's offensive was too fierce, and his soldiers were no match for them, even collapsing at the first touch, which led to the fall of Yijing.

This explanation was clearly insufficient to quell Cao Cao's fury or dispel his suspicion that they were unwilling to fight to the death.

"enough!"

Cao Cao interrupted Zhang He sharply and asked angrily:
"Yijing is as solid as a rock, and its fate is tied to the survival of Youzhou and the rise and fall of the Great Wei!"

"My order to you was to defend Yijing to the death. Why did you abandon Yijing and flee without my command?"

"It is clear that you are all cowards who are afraid of death and unwilling to fight to the death!"

Cao Cao launched into a tirade of berates, leaving the three men terrified.

Zhang He was trembling with fear and didn't know how to defend himself, so he could only secretly glance at Sima Yi for help.

Sima Yi coughed a few times, and said with a guilty expression:

"Your Majesty, although the Chu army is ten times larger than ours, and their morale and combat strength are far superior to ours, we are all determined to live and die with Yi Jing."

"However, after Yijing was captured, General Xiahou said that the situation was hopeless and that we should preserve our strength for the king. He ordered that Yijing be abandoned, and that we should save our lives even if we lose the territory. We thought that what General Xiahou said made sense, so we obeyed his order and retreated north."

"Looking back now, we should indeed have lived and died with Yi Jing, and been loyal to the country to the very end."

Sima Yi, his face full of shame, recounted the whole story, repeatedly expressing self-blame and remorse, yet subtly pointing out the fact that "Xiahou Wei ordered the abandonment of Yijing."

The implication was that it wasn't that we, the non-royal subjects, were unwilling to fight to the death, but that your good nephew Xiahou Wei had chickened out and ordered a retreat.

Xiahou Wei is a member of the imperial clan, representing Cao Cao's will. He ordered a retreat; how could we disobey?
"Xiahou Wei—"

Cao Cao, as expected, turned his anger towards his nephew, and rebuked him with a face full of disappointment:
"I ordered you to defend Yijing to the death. You did not receive my decree, so why did you order the abandonment of Yijing without my consent?"

"How can someone as cowardly as you be worthy of being a member of the Xiahou clan!" Xiahou Wei was sprayed with ash, his body trembled, sweat poured down his forehead, and he lowered his head in shame, not daring to defend himself.

He's clearly too inexperienced; he's still completely unaware that he's been tricked by those two seasoned veterans.

"you you you--"

Cao Cao pointed at Xiahou Wei's nose and said "you" for a long time, but in the end he could only flick his sleeves and sigh with disappointment.

There's no other way; if it were a minister from another clan, we could just execute him and be done with it.

But Xiahou Wei is his own nephew, can he really be executed?
"Sima Zhongda, this is truly ingenious—"

Cao Cao had nowhere to vent his anger, so he turned his attention to Sima Yi.

But the words of reproach that were on the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down.

Indeed, this plan was devised by Sima Yi.

But they gave you two strategies, and you chose the one that failed.

How can you expect someone to take the blame for you?
"Now that Yijing has fallen, tell me, what should I do?"

Cao Cao had no choice but to fling his hand away again and weakly question his ministers.

The ministers exchanged glances, their eyes all unanimous, yet none dared to utter a sound.

Everyone knew that Youzhou could not be defended, and the only option was to lead the remaining troops to retreat to Bingzhou.

But no one dared to mention it.

Some dared not, fearing they might offend Cao Cao.

Some people, however, were unwilling.

For example, Sima Yi, and Tian Yu, who were from Youzhou, Hebei.

"Your Majesty, the situation has reached this point, and Youzhou cannot be defended no matter what."

"Your Majesty, I kowtow and lead the army westward to Bingzhou to preserve our strength as much as possible."

"If the fighting continues, I'm afraid not only will Youzhou fall, but all these tens of thousands of precious soldiers will also perish in Youzhou."

"If Liu Bei had taken Youzhou and then turned his army westward to attack Bingzhou, even if Bingzhou had the natural defenses of the Taihang Mountains, what would we have to defend against him?"

In the end, it was Jia Xu, a native of Liangzhou, who unexpectedly stepped forward and earnestly advised Cao Cao to retreat westward once again.

There was no other way; if Cao Cao continued to be stubborn, it wouldn't just be Youzhou that would be lost, but Bingzhou would likely follow suit.

With the loss of Bingzhou, the fall of Yongzhou and Liangzhou was only a matter of time, and the demise of the Wei Kingdom was already on the countdown.

When the nest is overturned, can one's own poisonous egg survive?

Not for the sake of Wei, but for his own life and death, he could no longer remain uninvolved.

Upon hearing Jia Xu's words, Cao Cao fell into a long silence.

This time, he didn't get angry or furious.

Clearly, Yi Jing's defeat had shattered any remaining hope in his heart, forcing him to finally face reality.

Sima Yi, Tian Yu, and other people from Hebei and Youzhou, though unwilling, no one dared to oppose Jia Xu's proposal.

Since you are opposed, you must come up with a plan to turn the tide.

But given the situation, can you afford to do that?
If you can't produce it, you can only shut up.

All eyes were on Cao Cao, waiting for his decision.

The atmosphere in the room was eerily quiet.

"Ugh--"

After a long while, Cao Cao broke the silence with a helpless sigh.

"If I had known this would happen, I should have listened to your advice, Wenhe, and I could have saved tens of thousands more soldiers."

For the first time ever, Cao Cao admitted his mistake, then waved his hand weakly.

"By my order, after gathering the defeated troops, retreat westward through Shanggu and Dai County to Bingzhou."

Jia Xu breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhang He, Tian Yu, and other people from Hebei all sighed inwardly.

These people from Hebei had incredibly mixed feelings, a mixture of resentment and helplessness.

"My lords, is there truly no hope left to turn the tide?"

Although Cao Cao had issued the edict, he still clung to a last glimmer of hope and couldn't help but ask again.

Everyone shook their heads and sighed, remaining silent.

"Your Majesty!"

Sima Yi suddenly spoke, cupping his hands in greeting:
"I believe we have one last chance to turn the tide and hold Youzhou!"

A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in Cao Cao's gloomy eyes, and he hurriedly asked Sima Yi what other ingenious plans he had.

Sima Yi took a deep breath and pointed north:
"If our army abandons Youzhou and retreats westward, Liu Bei will surely mobilize a large army to pursue us westward, in order to take Shanggu and Dai County and annihilate our forces."

"If Your Majesty can mobilize the Wuhuan people who are entrenched in the north of Yuyang and send all their iron cavalry south along the Gu River to seize Yongnu and Jixian with lightning speed, you will be able to cut off Liu Bei's retreat."

"Liu Bei's 300,000-strong army will surely fall into chaos without a fight!"

"At that time, we will surely be able to turn the tide and win in one fell swoop!"

(End of this chapter)