Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1124 Debate
When everyone looked carefully, they saw that the person who spoke was Yang Xiu.

Some people laughed secretly, thinking that young people just can't keep calm. Are they unable to hold it in and are jumping out to show off again?
Besides, with so many elderly people present and no one speaking, how could it be your turn as a small clerk to speak?
Didn’t I teach you a lesson for trying to guess Cao Cao’s thoughts last time?
Someone immediately said, "Yecheng is now the most important place in the Central Plains. Even if we put all our troops into Jizhou, it would not be too much. If we divide our troops now, won't we let the Jin army defeat us one by one?"

Faced with doubts, Yang Zheng said calmly: "No, the Art of War says that the way is to use both the strange and the normal, and the strange and the normal are the gods. Fighting in an upright manner is the kingly way, but the situation in war is unpredictable. Making good use of the strategy of confusing the enemy can also help to achieve the final victory."

"I want to ask you, compared to you, what are the advantages of Xionghu?"

Many people are disdainful and think that you will keep us in suspense. Is it necessary for you to test us?

Everyone knows what you are thinking. If we say something wrong, you will ridicule and suppress us in front of you, right?

Most of those who had this idea were scholars from the Yingchuan faction, because the competition for the crown prince had entered a white-hot stage, with both sides fighting openly and secretly and undermining each other. Yang Xiu, as the main force that openly supported Cao Zhi, now raised an ambiguous question, which would naturally make the officials who opposed and supported Cao Pi wary.

And this question is definitely a trap. If you really say that Xionghu is higher than Cao Cao, won’t it make Cao Cao unhappy?
So after Yang Xiu asked this question, everyone in the hall felt awkward whether they could say anything or not, and the situation immediately became tense.

Someone immediately snorted coldly, "Ming Gong is a great talent in the world. How can a small fierce tiger compare to him?"

"Master Yang is too self-deprecating and slandering the Lord. What crime should he be punished for?"

Everyone looked carefully and saw that the person who spoke was Du Xi.

Du Xi was one of the four famous scholars of Yingchuan, the grandson of Jiyin prefect Du Gen, and a capable general of the Yingchuan faction.

To be fair, the reason why Yang Xiu dared to jump like that was because the Yang family, like the Yuan family, had three dukes in four generations, and the Yang family even had one more duke than the Yuan family. In the late Han Dynasty, an era that attached great importance to family background, Yang Xiu, as the mouthpiece of the Cao Zhi faction, was somewhat lacking in confidence when others asked him to confront him.

In response, the Yingchuan faction sent out its vanguard, who was Du Xi, a man of similar family background.

The Du family naturally did not have a stronger background than the Yang family, but the Du family was famous for one thing: Du Xi's great-grandfather and grandfather were both famous for their upright tempers.

To put it bluntly, he has a bad temper and likes to talk back to others, especially Du Xi's grandfather Du Gen, who is a ruthless person.

He had publicly opposed Empress Dowager Deng's regency and was ordered to be beaten to death in court. His body was abandoned at the east gate, but Du Gen was not beaten to death on the spot. When he woke up, he had to pretend to be dead. When Empress Dowager Deng sent people to check, Du Gen had been lying motionless for three days. The wounds on his body were festering and maggots were in his eye sockets. The Empress Dowager thought he was dead and no longer cared about him, so Du Gen was able to escape.

After the Deng family fell, Emperor An of Han announced to the world to rehabilitate Du Gen, only to find out that Du Gen was four years old. Since then, Du Gen became famous and became a model of the aristocracy who were not afraid of power.

With such a family reputation and Du Xi's own talents, he was naturally hailed as one of the four famous scholars of Yingchuan. Later, Du Xi defected to Cao Cao and became an extremely active figure in the Yingchuan faction.

Now that he stood up to openly confront Yang Xiu, he was also relying on his family background to highlight his upright side. When he said this, some people in the Yingchuan faction secretly cheered in their hearts, thinking that there was going to be a good show to watch.

But everyone, including Zhong Yao and Xun You, frowned slightly. In their opinion, Du Xi did not consider the occasion and went a little too far.

Now is the time for Cao Cao to solicit everyone's ideas to resist the biggest and most dangerous external enemy, and Du Xi's intention is clear at a glance, which is to build momentum for the fight for the crown prince. This is an internal private matter. Is it appropriate to not be consistent in facing the enemy when facing a powerful enemy?

Looking at Yang Xiu's confident look, it seemed that he had expected this kind of thing. The other party dug a trap and you, Du Xi, jumped into it. Where is your brain?

The one who knows best what my subordinates are thinking is the King of Wei. He has seen all these clownish behaviors of your Yingchuan Sect. What will he think of the Yingchuan Sect?
Xun You immediately made a gesture to another person beside him, and that person understood and stepped out of the group and said, "Master Yang, this question is very good."

"This is the key to this battle. Yang Zhubu's words hit the nail on the head. He is indeed a talented strategist."

This is a combination of sarcasm and flattery. When everyone looked, they saw that the person who was speaking was Zhao Yan, who was also one of the four famous scholars of Yingchuan.

Zhao Yan had been well-versed in classics and history since childhood, and had a keen eye for observation and a sophisticated character. When he now began to praise the Cao Zhi faction, the Yingchuan faction on the scene all seemed to be thinking about something and fell silent for a moment.

Zhao Yan, however, looked open-minded and talked freely.

"In Yan's opinion, Xionghu's strengths are that most of its soldiers are from the north, have cruel personalities, are fierce in battle formations, and are difficult to deal with."

"Second, You and Bing are rich in salt and iron, and have sufficient weapons and armor."

"Third, they have many trade routes and abundant reserves of goods and food, so they can resist for a long time."

"Although these three are a bit troublesome, they are all crooked and evil and cannot cover up their identities as traitors. Now, Your Majesty is supporting the Han Dynasty and is ordered to fight against the rebellion. Although the tigers are cruel, they will sooner or later be defeated by the righteous cause." After hearing this, everyone agreed. Seeing this, Yang Xiu sighed in his heart and thought that the Yingchuan School was indeed full of talented people. He deliberately set a trap, but the other party easily jumped over it and was not fooled at all.

Moreover, among the four famous scholars of Yingchuan, Du Xi and Zhao Yan were relatively ordinary. The other two, Xin Pi and Chen Qun, were the real trouble. In addition to the four famous scholars, the Yingchuan faction was full of talents, and almost all of them stood on Cao Pi's side.

In comparison, the Cao Zhi faction on his side seemed a little weak.

Yang Xiu said, "What Zhao Sikong said is correct. The most troublesome thing about Xionghu is that it has a huge amount of food and supplies."

"Supply is of the utmost importance. If we don't limit the strengths of the fierce tiger, our army in Jizhou may run out of food before the fierce tiger does. That would be troublesome."

Everyone looked solemn. Yang Xiu hit the nail on the head. If the two armies were to fight head-on, and neither side made major mistakes, the side that persisted longer would naturally have a better chance of winning.

On this point, any discerning person can see that Cao's camp is naturally inferior to Yuan Xi's. In the past few years, Cao Cao has been fishing in Guanzhong and Yanzhou. In order to capture a place, he often mobilized a large army. Although he won in the end, the amount of money and food he spent was an extremely terrifying figure.

On the contrary, Yuan Xi seemed to pay much attention to business, which was disdained by the scholars in Cao's camp. Moreover, the troops he had mobilized in the wars in recent years were far fewer than those of Cao Cao, so his reserve strength was naturally much deeper than that of Cao's camp.

This creates a big problem. When dealing with an opponent like Yuan Xi, you cannot fight a war of attrition. The best way is to concentrate all your superior forces and decide the outcome in a short period of time.

Cao Cao did the same. The number of troops deployed by Cao’s camp now, including those who have not yet arrived at the battlefield or have just been conscripted, will exceed 200,000!

With so many troops, of course they had to fight a quick battle. However, Cao's camp never expected that Yuan Xi, who never mobilized troops aggressively, would actually use a force similar to that of Cao's camp this time to fight back.

This was undoubtedly a preparation for a long-term war, and the pressure was on Cao Cao's side, because he could not afford to maintain such a large force.

Therefore, Cao Ying is now willing to fight against Yuan Xi and fill the gap with casualties. The two sides will consume each other's strength, and Cao Ying can also reduce some pressure. However, this is only a temporary solution, because Yuan Xi's army is also losing soldiers. He has more reserves than Cao Cao, and can hold out longer than Cao Ying.

Yang Xiu was keenly aware of this and pointed it out directly in class. This is why Cao Cao has not spoken anything until now, because this really hit the nail on the head.

The Yingchuan faction also reacted at this time. Yang Xiu was openly discussing the matter at hand and almost led everyone into a trap!
So everyone immediately agreed, and at the same time many people felt a little jealous, which gave Yang Xiu's faction the upper hand!

Yang Xiu took advantage of the situation and said, "So in order to have a chance of victory, we must cut off the supply line of the fierce tiger. I think the most important place is Qingzhou!"

"Qingzhou, especially Huangxian Wharf, relies on the water transport line to transport food and weapons from Qingxu, Jianghuai, accounting for more than half of the fierce tiger's logistics. With this line, the difficulty of defeating the fierce tiger has more than doubled!"

"And if we occupy Qingzhou, or even don't occupy it, as long as we destroy the Huanghuai water transport route in Qingzhou, we can greatly suppress Xionghu's food logistics supply and force him to mobilize food from Youzhou."

"In this case, once they start running out of food, they will inevitably fall into a panic!"

"In Xiu's opinion, Xionghu has never fought a war with more than 100,000 people. He doesn't know how terrible it is for so many people to be short of food. So he is not alert to this and does not focus on defending Qingzhou. This is our great opportunity!"

Yang Xiu's idea really hit the nail on the head for the critical entry point in the current war. Not only did officials from Cao Zhi's faction agree with it, but even Xun You and Zhong Yao also spoke out in agreement.

Cao Cao nodded slightly, and he looked at Yang Xiu deeply, which made Yang Xiu's heart jump. He couldn't help but look away and lowered his head.

Cao Cao said, "Ancestor De did not disappoint me. The rest of you should think carefully about what to do now."

Everyone in the Yingchuan faction was startled, as they all knew that Cao Cao's words had a hidden meaning. Among them, those who understood it best, such as Zhong Yao, knew that Cao Cao was indeed taking the opportunity to warn them.

Because the Yingchuan faction had become too powerful, some of its members began to act arrogantly, privately causing dissatisfaction among some members of the Cao clan.

A few days ago, because of a trivial matter, many people thought that the suspicious Cao Cao would severely punish Yang Xiu, but later he let it go lightly. At that time, Xun You was still puzzled and asked Zhong Yao privately.

Zhong Yao replied: "Right now, we support the Second Young Master. It seems that our power is much greater than that of Yang Xiu's faction, but it is also more likely to be suspected by the Lord."

"My lord, for the sake of balance, you must keep Yang Xiu. On the contrary, we must act cautiously and not be too obvious, otherwise we will be killed."

Xun You collected his thoughts and thought to himself that whether the power was great or weak was all decided by the lord's words. It was really like living with a tiger to serve the lord.

(End of this chapter)