Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1192 Accident
After hearing Yuan Xi's words, Guo Jia's heart, which had been prepared to live a life of idleness and waiting for death for the past two years, was disturbed again. He thought he would spend the rest of his life in Jianghuai, but he did not expect that he would have the opportunity to catch up with the largest battle in recent years to decide the fate of the world. As a strategist, how could he not want to make achievements?

Guo Jia stood up and said to Yuan Xi decisively: "Okay!"

"Let Jia offer advice to the Lord and take over Yuzhou!"

Yuan Xi showed a happy smile on his face. In such a war that would decide the fate of the world, the more talents the better. He certainly hoped that all the strategists would participate, because this battle might be the last one of this era.

However, a few days later, news coming from Yuzhou made Guo Jia completely silent.

At that time, Yuan Xi and Guo Jia were discussing matters. Lu Xun came running over excitedly with an urgent report, saying that there was good news from the north. When Yuan Xi and Guo Jia saw the news, they were stunned.

Wei Yan actually captured Runan!
Guo Jia was confused. Although he knew that Wei Yan was a talented person, he was just a newly promoted general. He was only brought in to fill the vacancies temporarily because Shouchun lacked infantry generals.

Later, Wei Yan followed Lu Xun in harassing southern Henan. By chance, he won several battles and his military rank was promoted two levels, but he was still a middle-level general such as a Yamen Pianjiang.

At that time, Yuan Xi happened to go to Jingzhou, but he gave Wei Yan the title of General of Four Directions, let Wei Yan lead the attack on Yuzhou, and asked Yuan Shu's former surrendered generals to obey Wei Yan's orders.

Wei Yan himself found this appointment incredible. Guo Jia then advised Yuan Xi that this move was too risky. You must know that Wei Yan was facing a general from Cao's camp. If the few infantry forces in Jianghuai were destroyed, the situation in Jianghuai would be in trouble.

However, Yuan Xi still ignored the opposition and personally talked to Yuan Shu's surrendered generals one by one to appease them, thus establishing Wei Yan's position.

And Wei Yan lived up to everyone's expectations. He fought more and more fiercely. During the time when Yuan Xi was away, he led a group of Yuan Shu's former generals. The Jianghuai soldiers, who were originally weaker than Cao's army, actually fought back and forth with the Wei army led by Cao Xiu and assisted by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and even had the upper hand.

Yuan Xi and others were also amazed at Wei Yan's military achievements this time. Facing Cao Xiu, Wei Yan, with the help of Le Jin, actually led thousands of special troops to bypass the opponent's defense line, traveled more than 200 miles in a few days, and directly captured Ruyang, the rear base of the Wei army!

Originally, Cao Xiu was in charge of attack and Le Jin was in charge of defense, and the defense line was extremely solid. It seemed difficult for Wei Yan to break through, but no one expected that Wei Yan would launch such a surprise attack.

Once Ruyang was lost, the morale of the troops on the front line was in chaos. Cao Xiu and Le Jin hurried back to Ruyang to support it and wanted to recapture it again.

Now Wei Yan was defending Ruyang to the death, and Qin Yi and Qi Ji were rushing to support him from the rear, hoping to attack from both sides and completely defeat Cao Xiu and Le Jin.

The Jin army's capture of Ruyang undoubtedly revitalized the situation in Yuzhou, and it also used a small number of surprise troops, so it can be said to be a beautiful victory.

What was even more incredible to Guo Jia and Lu Xun was that Wei Yan did not use Yuan Xi's Youzhou soldiers, but the Jianghuai soldiers recruited by Lu Xun in Jianghuai. In terms of strength, they could only be ranked in the middle among all the soldiers in the world.

The generals under his command were even worse. Qin Yi, Qi Ji and other former generals of Yuan Shu were considered second-rate, but they were far inferior to generals like Le Jin and Cao Xiu.

They had never won a game against Cao's army before and were absolutely suppressed psychologically. It was amazing that such a team of soldiers and generals achieved such a great victory under the leadership of Wei Yan. Moreover, Wei Yan had won more than one game before, which shows that the victory was not a fluke.

Lu Xun said, "I found that Wei Yan's talent in commanding troops far exceeds his military strength. This is rare and precious."

"It is said that he is good at training soldiers and is very popular among the soldiers. He has a high prestige in the army. Such people are extremely rare."

"Before I came here, I learned about his practices and found that on the one hand, he was very strict in disciplining his troops, but on the other hand, he was also very generous to his subordinates."

"Because the lord strictly ordered to massacre the city, the soldiers' only income was military pay, but Wei Yan distributed the wealth and goods awarded to him after the victory to his subordinates and soldiers, so he won the hearts of the people."

"It's easier said than done. The most strict discipline of the Wei army is prohibition. They enforce orders and are impartial. Even if their own subordinates violate military law, they will be killed without mercy."

"But on the other hand, in order to avoid suspicion, he was unwilling to win people's hearts, which led to his subordinates being afraid of him but not respecting him."

"And Wei Yan's use of money to bribe his subordinates is a taboo. He dared to do this. I'm afraid the lord has told him something, right?"

Yuan Xi laughed and said, "Bo Yan really guessed it right."

"When I gave him the seal, I told him to fight with peace of mind. As long as it does not violate our military rules, he can do whatever he wants."

"Now it seems that he really didn't disappoint me."

Lu Xun nodded and said, "Especially the surprise attack on Ruyang this time, it can be regarded as a brilliant stroke in the confrontation."

"Logically speaking, Le Jin is one of the most important generals among Cao Cao's non-Cao Cao generals, and he has rich experience in major battles. He should not have made such a mistake."

"But on the one hand, Wei Yan's marching speed far exceeded his expectations, and on the other hand, choosing Ruyang as the target was also extremely clever."

"Ruyang is the hometown of the Yuan family. Naturally, its people hope that the lord will win the world. The Wei army also knows this, so they focus on defense and make it a key logistics base."

"But Wei Yan showed signs of preparing to attack from the front at the beginning. On the other hand, he personally led a special force, rushed to Ruyang day and night, and then launched a full-scale attack."

"This battle was extremely hard, and many of the soldiers were killed or wounded, but no one retreated. One of the reasons was that Wei Yan specially selected soldiers who had family members in Ruyang to attack the city."

"The families of these people were severely tortured by the Wei army, so they had a strong desire to capture the city and rescue their relatives, so everyone rushed to fight for their lives." "At the same time, Wei Yan tried to send the news of the lord's army attacking the city into the city. Many people in the city got the news and knew that their relatives who came to rescue them had suffered heavy casualties on the city wall, so they became even more angry."

"Two days later, when Le Jin and Cao Xiu learned the news and were still half a day away from returning, the people in the city finally rose up in rebellion. After paying a heavy price in blood, they finally opened a city gate and led Wei Yan's army into the city."

"This incident was very accidental. If there had been no rebellion in the city, I'm afraid Wei Yan and those thousands of people would have died under the attack of the returning Wei army and the defenders on the city wall."

"But fortunately, the bet was won. After Wei Yan captured Ruyang, he immediately recruited soldiers to defend the area."

"I guess that Cao Xiu and Le Jin will definitely rush back to Ruyang to counterattack. Although Qin Yi and Qi Ji will lead troops to rescue them, Le Jin and Cao Xiu are not so easy to deal with. If Ruyang is captured, victory will turn into defeat."

Guo Jia said, "Indeed, we should send troops to rescue them immediately, lest Ruyang be unable to defend and the soldiers be killed as well."

"But it is also very likely that Cao's army will return to Qiao County for defense. After all, that is Cao Cao's hometown. If it is seized by the lord, they will have a hard time explaining to Cao Cao."

Yuan Xi immediately ordered his troops to be assembled and rush to Yusou to provide support as quickly as possible.

He sighed and said, "It's interesting to think that Yuan's hometown and Cao's hometown are so close to each other."

"Wen Chang has just conquered the ancestral land of the Yuan family, and now he has threatened Cao Cao's hometown. I'm afraid Cao's army is also in a panic. After all, there are many members of the Cao and Xiahou families in the local area."

Lu Xun nodded and said, "That's right. Cao Xiu and Le Jin must be in a dilemma, otherwise they wouldn't be chased by Qin Yi and his men. There is news that they are sending people to relocate Cao's clan members to Yanzhou. This is simply not knowing the difference between the important and the unimportant."

"In the face of a major war, their response was so disorganized that it will be difficult to turn things around later."

Guo Jia sat aside and listened quietly. Suddenly, he fell to the ground and said in a dull tone, "Forget it. I won't follow my lord."

"The rising stars are all so talented, why do they need an old man like me to make trouble?"

Yuan Xi and Lu Xun tried to hold back their laughter and tried to persuade him, but Guo Jia just gave up and shook his head repeatedly, "Once Runan is lost, Yuzhou will have no strategic location to defend. Anyone left can win."

"If I go over now, won't it seem like I'm trying to steal the credit?"

"Bo Yan is my disciple, and he is also Wei Yan's mentor. He is two generations younger than me. How can I steal the credit for my disciple's work?"

Yuan Xi couldn't help laughing, "I want to go there too. Do I want to steal the credit from my subordinates?"

Lu Xun also advised: "Wei Yan's victory this time is certainly due to his ability as a commander, but there are also extremely lucky and accidental factors."

"In the art of war, the combination of the extraordinary and the regular is necessary. Although extraordinary and risky tactics can indeed achieve temporary victory, if you rely solely on them, you may stray from the right path and suffer a great loss in the future."

"So the Lord is going there this time to stabilize the situation. After all, Le Jin is not an ordinary person. If he lures Wei Yan to advance recklessly, he might be found out by him."

"And Wei Yan's current military strength is actually far less than that of Cao's army in Yuzhou. It's time to send reinforcements."

Yuan Xi also nodded and said, "What Boyan said is also what I thought."

"Moreover, opening up Yuzhou is of great significance. It is equivalent to connecting Huanghuai. This year, Jizhou is already difficult to determine the winner. How much we can conquer in Yuzhou will determine the situation in the coming year."

"We will set out in three days after we have assembled our troops. If you continue to act like a spoiled brat, I will tie you up and take you there."

This made Guo Jia and Lu Xun laugh. Guo Jia sat up and said with a smile: "Okay!"

"In that case, I will use this old bone to accompany my lord on a journey!"

The mansion soon became busy. Yuan Xi rushed back to Shouchun purely to reorganize the army. He reorganized the Jianghuai soldiers from Shouchun and the soldiers he brought with him under the command of different generals.

The composition of his soldiers now is extremely complex. Apart from the Youzhou soldiers who are the main force, there are also soldiers from Qingxu, Jianghuai, and this time, the soldiers brought from Jingzhou.

It was too late to train the soldiers, so they could only break up the formations of the soldiers who had not undergone labor education and let them slowly integrate into the army during the march.

Yuan Xi's lineup this time was luxurious. In addition to Guo Jia and Lu Xun who served as military advisors, there were generals such as Huang Zhong and Wen Pin, and Wei Yan who was about to join them. Their hidden strength was amazing, and their purpose was to break through Yuzhou as quickly as possible.

Yuan Xi was busy all night, and when he woke up, it was already midnight. He thought that Lu Lingqi had already gone to bed, and he didn't want to go back to disturb her, so he simply prepared to sleep in the study.

But at this moment, someone knocked on the door. Yuan Xi thought there was an urgent military situation, but when he opened the door and saw the person coming, he was quite surprised and asked, "Why is it you?"

(End of this chapter)