Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 522
In June of the second year of Jian'an, there were huge locusts all over the world, eating each other.

In front of Yuan Xi is a table full of bamboo slips. These are all information sent from various places. There are only a few numbers on each bamboo slip, which are similar to the previous sentence. From them, Yuan Xi sees the tragedy of the world.

The battle for Xuzhou, as he had expected, became more intense, because both Yuan Shu and Cao Cao's army knew that with the locust plague, both sides had no way out.

Especially Yuan Shu's army, the rear is empty of food. If they withdraw now, the soldiers will have no food, and there will be chaos. In this case, they simply fight to the death with Cao's army. If they win and occupy Xuzhou, they will open up the road to the north, and there will be a chance of victory.

Even if they don't win, they can still consume some of their soldiers and alleviate the shortage of food rations.

At this point, Yuan Xi and his counselors had already anticipated this, but this situation was limited to the local competition in Xuzhou.

The counselors under Yuan Shu are not vegetarians. Yuzhou has a profound background and is enough to make separate arrangements. However, this is not what Yuan Xi can consider. Now he needs to find a suitable opportunity to enter the battlefield of Xiapi Tan City.

But before that, he needed to see Cao Jun's reaction.

If there are other changes in the mobilization of Cao's army, another guess of Ju Shou and Lu Xun will become a reality.

A few days later, news came that Tancheng had been captured by Yuan Shu's army!
Yuan Xi asked Lu Xun who had sent the news: "Bo Yan thinks that Cao Cao's army was defeated or that he withdrew on his own initiative?"

After hearing this, Lu Xun said without hesitation: "We should take the initiative to evacuate."

"The spies reported that there were not many soldiers behind Cao's army. Not only did the entire army not collapse, but they accelerated towards the west."

Yuan Xi keenly captured the key point, "To the west?"

"Not to the north, but to the west? Are you sure?"

Lu Xun nodded heavily, "Yes, his troops did not go north to Pengcheng, but entered the country of Pei!"

Yuan Xi's face turned ugly after hearing this, "Cao Cao is so awesome."

"The thing we were most worried about has happened!"

Lu Xun smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, Cao Mengde is indeed a rare expert in this world."

"If it hadn't been for this locust plague, his intentions in Xiapi might not have been exposed so easily. If we had fought against Yuan Shu's army and entangled the main force of Yuan Shu's army for him, we would have fulfilled his wishes."

"However, he was also short of food at the rear and was forced to return to Yanzhou early. As we had guessed before, Cao Mengde's real intention was not to go south from Xiapi to Shouchun, but to enter Yuzhou from Yanzhou!"

Yuan Xi and Lu Lingqi spread out the linen map together, pointed to the two counties of Yanzhou and Yuzhou and said, "Bo Yan thinks, where did they encounter them at this time?"

Lu Xun pointed to the area between Chen and Liang in Yuzhou, "It's probably right here."

Yuan Xi sighed: "I also think the chances are higher in Chen State."

"The death of Chen King Liu Chong is an unsolved case. Although it was clearly Cao Cao who went south to conquer Chen State, judging from Cao Cao's military strength afterwards, he did not obtain all Chen State soldiers."

"Does this mean that Yuan Shu had already taken action before and the benefits were equally divided between the two parties?"

Lu Xun nodded and said, "It's possible."

"It wasn't my sworn brother who reminded me. I didn't really realize it at first. Yuan Shu had already had thoughts about Chen Guo."

"The position of Chen State is very important. If you go west, you can attack Yingchuan, and then plot Jingzhou. If you go north, you can attack Chenliu, and then plot Yanzhou. If you break through Chenliu, you can threaten Cao Cao's base camp Juancheng!"

Yuan Xi nodded, because Cao Cao did not welcome the emperor to Xu County in this life, so the government was still in Juancheng, Dongjun. If Yuan Shu wanted to completely defeat Cao Cao, he would definitely attack his base camp.

Yuan Shu's attack in Xiapi was not a real offensive, but a cover-up to divert Cao Cao's main force away from Yanzhou!

As long as Cao Cao is led south from Xuzhou, there will be a gap in Yanzhou's defense. At this time, Yuan Shu only needs to send his army north to defeat Cao Cao's garrison in Chen State, and then he can cut off the supply route of Cao Cao's army and attack Huanglong!

As for why the Yuan family, which had the advantage in military strength, would adopt such a strange strategy, it lies in Yuan Xi's judgment based on the history of later generations.

Because later Yuan Shu personally led his army to defeat Chen State and threatened Xuchang, Cao Cao personally led his troops to march eastward to stop Yuan Shu. However, after Yuan Shu heard about it, he did not dare to fight in person. Instead, he abandoned his army and fled back to Huainan, leaving behind his general Zhang Xun. , Qiao Rui, Li Feng and others retreated to Qixian.

Cao Cao sent his troops to attack and defeated Yuan's army. He killed Yuan's generals Qiao Rui, Li Feng, Liang Gang, Lejiu and many others. Zhang Xun survived and fled back to Huainan. Yuan Shu has been in ruins ever since.

Yuan Xi saw from this period of history that Yuan Shu was extremely afraid of Cao Cao, which showed that his counselors and generals had no confidence in defeating Cao Cao, and later facts also proved that Yuan Shu could not defeat Cao Cao!

Therefore, Yuan Xi always felt that Yuan Shujun's movements were strange at first. After trying to propose this idea, Lu Xun went back to discuss with Jushou for several days, and finally the two of them came to a conclusion.

If Yuan Xi's guess is correct, Yuan Shu is acting.

What makes the two of them even more worried is that it is very likely that Cao Cao is also cooperating with Yuan Shu in acting!
The real purpose of the two is to use the strategy of attacking in the east and attacking in the west, pulling the opponent's main force, waiting for opportunities to find the weak points of the opponent's troops, and then joining forces together to take the opportunity to invade the opponent's hinterland from the junction of Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and go straight to the opponent's lair!This strategy is actually very risky, because the warring area between the two parties is between the Huai River and the Yellow River, separated by the Huai River, and they can easily fall into supply difficulties, so the two sides should not easily adopt this radical strategy.

But now all the conditions that catalyzed this situation have been met.

The most important factor is the locust plague in the two states.

With the locust plague breaking out, both sides are expected to have no grain harvest in the second half of the year. If they fail to capture the other side's territory, I'm afraid a large number of people on their side will starve to death.

So the only option left for both sides is to concentrate all their forces and fight quickly before they run out of food!

Cao Cao made a plan early in the morning. He used tens of thousands of troops to pretend to capture Xuzhou, and even fought with Yuan Xi, making Yuan Shu's army think that Cao Cao's main force must move south from Xuzhou, so he attacked Tancheng with all his strength, intending to consume Cao Cao's main force.

The performance was extremely realistic and almost fooled everyone, but Lu Xun raised a question at that time.

Why did Cao Cao have the confidence to offend so many enemies? Why did he think that after defeating Liu Bei and offending Yuan Xi, he could still defend Xiapi against Yuan Shu's army's massive attack?
Isn't he afraid that everyone will unite to deal with him?
Inspired by Lu Xun, Yuan Xi thought of future generations and put forward his own ideas.

I'm afraid Yuan Shu doesn't want to have a decisive battle with Cao Cao at all!
It's no wonder that among Cao Cao's troops, the one with the strongest battlefield planning ability is Cao Cao himself.

The same is true in later generations. When Liu Bei faced Cao Cao's subordinates, he could fight back and forth, but once Cao Cao personally conquered them, Liu Bei would not be able to do it immediately.

In the late Han Dynasty, an era of abundant military virtue, the princes from all sides knew very well who could fight or not.

And despite the fact that Yuan Shu sent out three armies of tens of thousands, the soldiers were actually mixed, as shown by the fact that he didn't capture even a single city!
So Yuan Xi and Jushou Lu Xun came up with a guess after ruling out the possibilities one by one.

Yuan Shu's so-called [-]-strong army was a miscellaneous army with the weakest combat power that was temporarily put together by his subordinates!
It claims to have an army of 30 people. Although it is certainly not actually that many, it still has tens of thousands of elite soldiers. Where have these soldiers gone now?
Everyone speculated and came to a conclusion.

The real main force of Yuan Shu's army should go all the way to block Lu Bu's army in Yingchuan, and the other way should go north from Shouchun to attack Chen Guoliang!
As intelligence from all sides gradually came in, everyone's guesses were gradually confirmed. While Yuan Xi lamented that Yuan Shu also had many capable people, he was worried about a possibility.

Was Cao Cao prepared for this?
If Cao Cao had guessed Yuan Shu's movements a long time ago, he would definitely use the army he had hidden as a trump card in Chen Guo to give Yuan Shu's army a head-on blow!
The movement of Cao Cao's army as they withdrew from Xiapi today completely confirmed this idea.

Cao Cao had been prepared for a long time. Cao Cao's army withdrew from Xiapi and entered Liang from Pei State to outflank Yuan Shu's army. As a result, Yuan Shu's army marching north to Chen State would be in danger!
Yuan Xi and Lu Xun pointed at the map and reviewed it, and finally the whole thing was sorted out.

Lu Lingqi listened on the sidelines, and finally couldn't help but sigh: "Strategy for war is such a laborious matter. My head is about to explode just listening to it."

"If my father were in Yuan Shu's position, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to deal with a treacherous villain like Cao Cao."

"Your father has suffered a lot from Cao Cao. Will he be in danger in Chenliu?"

After hearing this, Lu Xun said: "Madam, there is no need to worry. Marquis Wen's army should not be the focus of both sides."

Lu Lingqi felt slightly relieved, then her face froze.

Doesn't this mean that my father is of no importance to Yuan Shu and Cao Cao?
Yuan Xi saw Lu Lingqi's thoughts and said with a smile: "It would be best if Marquis Wen doesn't get involved."

"This whirlpool will soon involve everyone, but I still can't tell who will be the final winner."

"The two armies of Yuan and Cao are fighting, and we are temporarily unable to intervene. The urgent problem before us now is, how to deal with Yuan Shu's army staying in Xiapi?"

"You know, if we fight with him and play into Cao Cao's hands, we will be holding back one of Yuan Shu's troops for him. Wouldn't we be doing Cao Cao a favor?"

Lu Xun nodded and said: "Yes, in fact, the best option for us is to drive them out of Xiapi, preferably to the west, so that this force can contain Cao Cao's retreat."

"But this is just our wishful thinking. Yuan Shu's army in Pizhong under Tan City has at least 5 to 1 people. We only have more than [-] people at full strength. They will definitely defend the city. Why should they retreat?"

"And when they retreat, they will retreat south to Shouchun, and they will never go west. Doesn't this mean that they are giving me a way to go south to Shouchun? They wouldn't do this even if I gave them a hundred courages."

Yuan Xi smiled bitterly and said: "But if they are in Xiapi, we will not be able to attack Shouchun. If Cao Cao defeats Yuan Shu and goes south, occupying Yuzhou step by step, we will not be able to catch up."

Lu Xun also began to think deeply, and he couldn't think of a good solution at the moment.

Another day later, news came that Yuan Shu's army and Cao Cao's army were fighting in Chen State. Almost all the generals of Yuan Shu's army were out, not only Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui who had been released, but also Bai Bo's army, Yang Feng and Han Siam, who had surrendered before. !

After Yuan Xi heard the news, he was also anxious, but he didn't have many cards in his hand now.

But two days later, an unexpected opportunity came.

He took the secret message from Ling County and smiled at Lu Xun: "Now, I can give it a try."

(End of this chapter)