Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1149 Misstep
When the news of Yuzhou's emergency reached Yecheng, the already uneasy mood in Cao's camp was stirred up again.

The Cao army and the Jin army had been confronting each other on the border of Weijun for two months. Although Cao's camp had assembled almost all of its generals and main forces and launched a series of battles with Yuan's army, the Jin army's defense line was still slowly and steadily advancing towards Yecheng.

Cao's army was extremely uncomfortable with the trench tactics used by the Jin army. These trenches that stretched for dozens of miles and crisscrossed each other could not only destroy Cao's carefully constructed fortifications from underground, but also effectively prevent assaults by Cao's Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and Xiliang Cavalry.

This was actually a heavy blow to Cao Ying, because it meant that Cao Ying's overall planning direction was wrong.

Over the past few years, Cao's advisers have been thinking hard about how to deal with the Youzhou cavalry, and finally came to a conclusion.

Although the Youzhou cavalry is not easy to deal with, it is difficult to replenish them, and some of them have to guard the border. The cavalry tactics involved in the struggle for hegemony in the Central Plains do not exceed 10,000 people at most.

The next thing was easy to handle. Cao Ying's response was multi-pronged. First, they tried every means to reduce the number of Youzhou cavalry so that the other side would not have time to replenish them.

The second is to transfer war horses from Xiliang, vigorously expand the number of Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and at the same time draw cavalry from Xiliang to build a fast, mobile and powerful cavalry force.

The final result was that Cao's cavalry gained a numerical advantage over Yuan's army on the battlefield in Jizhou, thus achieving the goal of suppressing the situation.

On the plain of Jizhou area, which was extremely suitable for cavalry to perform well, Cao's army used the superior number of cavalry to defeat the Youzhou cavalry, reducing their numbers as much as possible or even completely eliminating them. They then used the remaining cavalry of their own to control the entire Jizhou battlefield situation and pull back the main infantry force of the Jin army, thereby completely controlling the initiative on the battlefield.

This strategy can be said to be a well-thought-out one. If Yuan Xi had not made an effective response, he would have been gradually consumed in the battle with Cao's cavalry, and then fell into a disadvantage and was ultimately unable to recover.

However, this plan did not go smoothly from the beginning. The first troops sent by Cao Cao were Ma Chao's troops, whose plan was to shake the morale of the people in the Jin territory, destroy the food and supplies, and at the same time lure out reinforcements and then surround and attack them.

As a result, Ma Chao got too carried away and fell into an ambush by Yuan Xi's army. Not only did he lose many soldiers and generals, but the Western Liang army was also completely demoralized and had no highlights in the subsequent battle of Jizhou.

Therefore, the main force of Cao's army that later confronted the Youzhou cavalry at the border of Weijun was replaced by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry led by Cao's generals. These Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, led by Cao Ren, Cao Hong and Cao Xiu, did have a numerical advantage in the early stages, making it difficult for the Youzhou cavalry to move, forcing them to take a defensive stance.

But this situation did not last long, as Yuan Xi finally took out his ultimate weapon, trench warfare.

He did not act rashly or recklessly on the border of Wei County, but instead prepared a large amount of fortification materials. Before Cao's army could react, he worked day and night to dig a shallow ditch stretching for more than a hundred miles on the border.

At first, Cao's army didn't know what Yuan Xi's army was going to do. After watching for a few days, they gradually realized that the other side was building a huge line of defense!

Generals such as Cao Ren instinctively felt that something was wrong and sent people to sabotage the Jin army's actions. However, the Jin army was well prepared and relied on the trenches to launch a series of new tactics that Cao had never heard of before.

Compared with Cao's army, which was completely ignorant of such a new thing as trench warfare, Yuan Xi's army was obviously well-trained and prepared for trench warfare. The Jin army appeared in various places in the trenches and ambushed Cao's army that rushed in. The smoke, fire, pits, tripwires, and numerous traps made Cao's army cry out in pain.

What’s even more fatal is that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry suddenly found that they were useless!

Their marching route was blocked by trenches that stretched in all directions, so they could not take advantage of their speed at all, nor could they enter the battlefield in time, making their moves completely useless.

These wasted troops meant that the Cao army that remained on the battlefield became the weaker side in the local area.

In contrast, the Youzhou cavalry of Yuan Xi's army was freed up to focus on harassing the enemy's rear and attacking food and baggage convoys, making the already logistically poor Cao army even worse.

Cao Hong, Cao Ren and others knew that this was not a solution, and they urgently asked for help from Yecheng. However, Cao Cao was ill in bed at that time, so he could only send Xun You as a military advisor to supervise the army at the front.

This was the second miscalculation of Cao Ying. Due to the deviation in intelligence, Xun You at this time regarded Yuan Xi, who was stationed in Yijing, as his imaginary enemy.

Xun Yu has studied Yuan Xi's practices in recent years and came to a conclusion based on what he found about Yuan Xi's experience of personally presiding over battles.

Yuan Xi was a man who loved to take risks. As a lord, this approach was very effective in boosting the morale of his subordinates, but it had a well-known weakness, which was that he could guess the target, that is, assassination. It must be said that his vision was very accurate. If Yuan Xi was there, he would probably fall into the trap carefully set by Cao Ying.

But no one expected that Yuan Xi actually handed over the command to Zhuge Liang and ran to Xuzhou himself!
Cao's army was caught off guard by this shock. The one in charge was the military advisor Zhuge Liang, who was naturally calm and composed, and the one on the front line was Ju Shou, who was experienced. The two of them worked together and did not fall for the trick of Cao's army at all. Instead, they used trenches and siege equipment to defeat Cao's army.

It was at this time that the shortcomings of Cao's military supervisor Xun You were revealed. He was good at general strategies, but weak in specific combat tactics. Zhuge Liang and Ju Shou were both very good at micro-management, and at one point Xun You was so overwhelmed that he could not even raise his head.

In addition, Xun You was alone, and he was unable to deal with two counselors of the same level as himself. After suffering several losses, he not only failed to stop the pace of Yuan's army, but suffered a considerable loss instead.

Xun You knew that this was not the time to show off his strength, so he quickly sent people to Yecheng to ask for help, requesting that a counselor be sent to help him.

As a result, after the news reached Yecheng, there was no news for the next half month.

Xun You murmured in his heart, could something really have happened in Yecheng?
Has Cao Cao's physical condition really deteriorated?
When he left Yecheng to rescue the front line, it was the time when the two factions of Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were fighting fiercely in private. Although they were united on the surface, at this critical period, the backbone of both sides, such as Zhong Yao, would not leave easily to avoid a one-sided situation in the city.

Xun You cursed inwardly. Both sides were afraid that their strength would be greatly damaged after defeating Yuan Xi's army, and that they would be taken advantage of by the other faction. The key point was that they might not be able to defeat the Jin army yet!
Moreover, the opponent's response was somehow completely different from Xionghu's own fighting style, which made all the strategies Xun You had prepared in advance go to waste.

This made Xun You extremely uncomfortable. He thought that all his intentions had been seen through, and he began to doubt himself for a while, until news came from Xuzhou that Yuan Xi had actually gone to Xuzhou to kill people!
Xun You couldn't believe it and thought it was a trick to provoke an attack. However, subsequent accurate news came that Yuan Xi was indeed not in Jizhou, but had gone to kill the landlords in Xuzhou and divide up the land!
After hearing the news, Xun You felt terrible. Why were you running to Xuzhou instead of staying in the most important Jizhou?
At the same time, news came that made Xun You even more shocked and uncertain. Lu Xun from Shouchun sent troops to attack Yuzhou, and Cao Zhen was defeated!

Considering that Yuan Xi went to Xuzhou, Xun You’s first reaction was that Yuan Xi had focused his main attack direction on Yuzhou!
Come to think of it, Yuan Xi's navy in Jianghuai has become a force to be reckoned with, and Cao's army's defense is not tight. If he occupies Yuzhou at this time, Cao Cao will lose an extremely important granary!
Moreover, this move could also stop Cao Zhen's troops from attacking Xuzhou, which was killing two birds with one stone. Xun You thought that Cao Zhen would be in trouble because neither Lu Xun nor Xiong Hu himself could handle them!

At the same time, Xun You was also muttering in his heart that opening up a second battlefield was tantamount to dividing the troops, especially when Jizhou had not yet gained a clear advantage. Was Xionghu's move serious or was it a feint to mobilize Cao's troops?
But at this time he was on the front line in Jizhou and could no longer participate in the discussion in Yecheng. Moreover, in Xun You's view, the situation on the battlefield was confusing and what he saw was not necessarily the truth. Only Cao Cao could have the final say.

But given Cao Cao’s current physical condition, can he really take charge of the overall situation?
Inside Yecheng, Zhong Yao was summoning generals and advisers on behalf of Cao Cao to discuss the affairs of Yuzhou.

The news that Cao Zhen was defeated and lost several towns in Runan reached Yecheng a few days ago. Logically, troops should be sent to rescue, but now there are not many generals or soldiers in Yecheng that can be mobilized.

Xiahou Dun was now in charge of logistics in the city. He frowned and said, "How can we transfer troops from Jizhou when Yuzhou is at war?"

"There are soldiers from the two states of Yanzhou and Yuzhou in the south. If we just mobilize them, we can easily gather 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers. Can't we just give Zidan an order and let him mobilize the troops on the spot?"

Someone whispered, "The order to mobilize troops needs to be signed by you personally. General Cao does not have the power to do so."

Everyone was silent. Cao Zhen was also unlucky. He was originally sent to harass Xuzhou. Just like Ma Chao at the beginning, he ended up running into a tough obstacle head-on. Not only did he fail to complete his mission, he also lost his original territory.

Meng Gongwei said: "When I was in Jingzhou, I heard that although Lu Xun was young, he was quite good at using troops. Even Zhou Yu of Jiangdong was defeated by him. If we don't send reinforcements, I'm afraid General Cao will..."

Everyone understood, the meaning was very clear, Cao Zhen could not beat the opponent!

Xiahou Dun snorted coldly, "Why, is there anyone in the city who is better at fighting than him?"

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. Cao Zhen was Cao Cao's adopted son and had always been able to take charge. If he was not capable of doing so, he could only recruit veteran generals from Cao's camp. But now all these people were on the front line in Jizhou. How could they be easily moved?
Someone murmured, "I heard that the generals and counselors who were sent to attack Yizhou have returned. If..."

Someone immediately said, "Calculating the time, it will take at least a month for him to return. I'm afraid it's too late."

Everyone was silent for a moment, but Zhong Yao turned to Xiahou Dun and said, "Why don't we go ask Mingshou?"

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Xiahou Dun hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth and saying, "Okay, I'll go find you now."

(End of this chapter)