Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 137 Guo Jia: If General Gongsun dares to kill me, Lord Yuan's heavenly army will arrive in an instant!

To bring Fengxiao to command Cao Cao and Yuan Shao?
When Gongsun Zan finished explaining his ideas, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia, two of the world's greatest strategists, were stunned and stared at each other, looking at Gongsun Zan with incomprehension.

Gongsun Zan thought they hadn't understood his plan, so he gave them detailed instructions.

“Mr. Fengxiao, why don’t you hurry up and write a letter to the General?”
"If this delays us, and supplies fail to arrive, and we don't see him engage Yuan Shao in battle, I will obey Prime Minister Cao's order to behead you and send your head to Luoyang in exchange for a reward."

At the same time, he said to Cheng Yu:

“Military Advisor Cheng, as you have seen, whatever you offer, Yuan Gonglu will offer double.”

You should quickly write to Prime Minister Cao, asking him to send grain and military supplies and send troops to help me contain Yuan Shao.

"Once the time is up, I'll have to send Mr. Fengxiao back to Shouchun."

Cheng Yu/Guo Jia: "."

Is it that we can't understand your self-righteous strategy?
What we can't understand is that we never expected that you, Gongsun Bogui, would be this kind of person.

You don’t even act anymore, right?
They made the promises directly to both of us in front of us!

Anyone else who would have played such a trick on the Cao and Yuan families would have been courting death.

Unfortunately, Gongsun Zan's geographical location was advantageous; apart from Yuan Shao, no one else could attack him.

Neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shu could sit idly by and watch Yuan Shao destroy Gongsun Zan and then grow stronger.

Alright, alright, so this is how you play the game of befriending distant states and attacking nearby ones?

Cheng Yu was so angry at Gongsun Zan's shameless attempt to raise the price that he laughed out loud.

Yu roughly understood what General Gongsun meant.

"Then I will return and write to my lord, hoping that General Gongsun will keep his promise. Those who are fickle and unreliable rarely have a good end, do they?"

Unlike Cheng Yu, Guo Jia was feeling somewhat guilty at this moment, because only he knew that his identity as Yuan Shu's strategist was completely fake.

Who knows what Yuan Shu's attitude towards him really is? Will he actually care whether he lives or dies?
But now that things have come to this, he naturally has an attitude of complete confidence.

“Jia can naturally go back and write to my lord. My lord can afford to give him not only twice, but even three times the amount. I hope General Gongsun will not disappoint my lord.”

"If you, General, truly kill me and form an alliance with Cao Cao, my lord may simply ally with Yuan Shao. Then the two Yuans will join forces to destroy you and Cao Cao. Do not say I did not warn you!"

The more guilty he felt, the more Guo Jia threatened him, displaying an air of complete confidence.

After he finished speaking, not only Cheng Yu, but also everyone under Gongsun Zan in the camp changed their expressions.

Threat!

Unlike before, this time it was a blatant threat, almost like tearing off a mask.

Since you, Gongsun Zan, have so openly acted shamelessly, Guo Jia naturally doesn't need to give you any face anymore.

The two Yuans formed an alliance. Yuan Shao destroyed Gongsun Zan in the north, and Yuan Shu destroyed Cao Cao in the south. Once the two Yuans joined forces, your so-called alliance would be as weak and laughable as throwing an egg against a rock.

The entire room was filled with indignation, and Cheng Yu was about to retort, but Gongsun Zan remained calm and composed.

He gestured for everyone to be quiet and personally nodded slightly to Guo Jia.

"Please ask Mr. Fengxiao to reassure the General in his letter that Zan is self-aware and will certainly not disappoint him."

As he spoke, he instructed, "Zilong, take Mr. Fengxiao down there and protect him closely. Make sure he doesn't encounter any danger or get harmed."

"only!"

Guo Jia saw a man step forward from the tent. It was the young general from the White Horse Cavalry who had come to arrest him earlier, the one holding the portrait and shouting, "We've found him!"

"General Gongsun, you should take care of yourself."

Finally, Guo Jia followed the young general and slowly left the main tent to settle down. Inside the tent, Cheng Yu's face was now completely ashen.

"Close protection, but assassinated?"

Is the general on guard against me?
If you, General, do not approve of forming an alliance with my lord, then I shall take my leave. You may go and form an alliance with Yuan Gonglu, who is far away.

We only hope that his distant help can quench our immediate thirst, and that we won't wait until the general dies without receiving his support.

Gongsun Zan looked at him with an inscrutable expression, then smiled again.

"Military Advisor Cheng has misunderstood."

The reason for his close protection was not to guard against anyone, but because he was afraid that the man would escape from his own army just like he had escaped from Yuan Shao's camp.

If Prime Minister Cao fulfills his promise, but I have no one to offer my head, wouldn't that be breaking my word?

"Better so."

Cheng Yu coldly looked at Gongsun Zan before him and said, "General, take care of yourself!" before turning and leaving.

Seeing that the two powerful figures had left, General Yan Tong finally dared to offer his advice.

"I'm afraid what my lord has done today is inappropriate."

By capturing Guo Fengxiao, we can forge an alliance with either Cao Cao or Yuan Shu, thus providing our lord with a significant boost in his fight against Yuan Shao.

However, this time, offering one person to two families, and with our lord's scheme so obvious, I fear not only will we fail to forge an alliance, but we might even offend both Cao Cao and Yuan Shu at the same time.

Even Gongsun Zan, who had always maintained an air of mystery, sighed and spoke softly.

"What you say, do you think I don't know it?"
But what use are the goodwill and friendship between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu to me? Can they be used to defeat Yuan Shao?

No!

On the contrary, the military supplies they send, and even the troops they mobilize, are acceptable.

Yuan Shao has now returned. Although the four prefectures of Ji, Qing, You, and Bing are in turmoil and the chaos is spreading like wildfire, Yuan Shao is still alive.

In reality, when he, our leader, returns and gathers the power of the four states into one, it will only be a matter of time before he annihilates us.

That's why I retreated to Yijing and didn't come out; I was just waiting to die anyway.

In such a precarious situation, the so-called goodwill and friendship among the feudal lords are utterly meaningless!
Even if it's a desperate measure, we still need a lot of food and supplies so that we can recruit a large number of soldiers and borrow the strength of the two warlords, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, to withstand the military might of Yuan Shao's four provinces!
As for offending both sides because of this? That depends on whether we can survive Yuan Shao first.

Moreover, outside of Youzhou, all the land belongs to Yuan Shao. If they are truly enraged and raise an army, we will have to attack Yuan Shao first.”

After hearing Gongsun Zan's explanation, Yan Tong felt somewhat relieved, but also deeply worried.

I am at ease because our lord has thought things through thoroughly. His kidnapping of Guo Fengxiao was not a momentary lapse of judgment or a reckless act.

The concern naturally stems from the current excellent situation where, following Cheng Yu's plan, chaos is brewing in the four provinces.

Unexpectedly, the real situation had become so critical that it forced the lord to resort to desperate measures.

Guo Jia and Cheng Yu each had their own thoughts, and when they returned to write letters, they didn't mention them, but instead spoke of Yingchuan at the same time.

At this moment, a Cao army of 30,000 men was winding its way across the plains. This was the same army of Yue Jin that had successfully evacuated after abandoning Xu County following their defeat at Yingchuan.

With the banner of "Le" fluttering in the wind, Le Jin gazed intently toward Xu County in the distance, his eyes burning with fervor and his heart filled with determination.

While Yuan Shu is away, he will personally take back everything he lost in Yingchuan.

He bowed to Dian Wei, who was riding alongside him.

"General Dian, thank you for your trouble this time."

(End of this chapter)