Battle Royale of the Sinners

After promotion, Xiahou Yuan obtained all the authorities to maneuver all troops at his disposal. Nobody could command him other than Yuan Shao.

As such, Xiahou Yuan appointed Xu Chu as his vice commander and Guo Jia as the strategist of the entire army.

As soon as Guo Jia had the command token from Xiahou Yuan, he reorganized Yuan Shao's battalions. Instead of trying to break out of the city, Guo Jia suggested a plan that they stay in the city, so they could send their spies to burn or smuggle out Yuan Shao's supplies slowly.

Guo Jia's goal was to distract the soldiers in the city not to move out, so Cao Cao could begin his plan, ambushing and destroying Tian Feng Army in the north. Once that time arrived, Xiahou Yuan would get an easier time to kill Yuan Shao and everybody in his clan.

Afterward, Cao Cao could enter the city and distribute their resources to the locals, the townsmen would worship Cao Cao as their hero, boosting his reputation as a righteous lord. Then, their lord would have no problem dealing with the insurgents, rebels, Yuan Shao's remnants, and potential Tong's allies.

.

The next day morning, Xiahou Yuan took the plan and reported to Yuan Shao, requesting his authorization for the adjustment.

"Denied."

Yuan Shao flatted out, rejecting Xiahou Yuan's proposal.

"My lord, we're not going to defend the city? How about we regroup with Sir Tian Feng and reorganize."

Yuan Shao sneered at Xiahou Yuan, "It's my fault that I haven't shared my secret plan with you yet. In my plan, I want to pretend that we lose this battle. Then, we will draw Cao Cao into the city, and Tian Feng will flood everyone at the end of this month. By that time, winter will be around the corner, and Cao Cao's soldiers will die from the cold and diseases."

Xiahou Yuan's eyes sharpened when he heard that Yuan Shao revealed his secret.

"Alright. We will defend the city as it is. When will we break out, my lord?"

"Tomorrow at the latest."

Yuan Shao rearranged all troops, sending 10,000 men to defend each wall. As for the leftover, they remained inside the city as a reserve force.

.

As usual, Xiahou Yuan reported all movements to Cao Cao.

Xiahou Yuan: "What do you think?"

Cao Cao: "Putin, how is Tian Feng Army?"

Pu Jing: "Still quiet. They are still not moving from the river."

Cao Cao: "Okay. That's an interesting scheme. Benchu actually dares to kill his civilians for the sake of trapping me in the city. This version is not bad at all. At least his decision here is better than at the Guandu."

Xiahou Yuan: "What's wrong with Guandu, Mengde?"

Cao Cao: "Never mind that. Miaocai, disobey Yuan Shao's command and attack Pu Jing to the north. Pu Jing, pretend to lose and withdraw to the west. Regroup with Sun Jian."

Pu Jing acknowledged the command. However, he kept staring at the sentence, "At least his decision here is better than at the Guandu" with a frown.

Cao Cao had already heard about the Battle of Guandu's result and briefed details from Pu Jing. However, he sounded like he knew every aspect of that historic battle. Furthermore, Cao Cao seemed confident with his ploys and Guo Jia.

'Something's wrong with him.'

.

Today, Pu Jing had already moved his cannons and siege weaponry away from the battlefield ahead of time since Xiahou Yuan would be coming out to fight him.

As ordered, he withdrew most of his supplies, reserve troops, and all belongings to the west, heading to Sun Jian Army.

5,000 Footmen remained on the north as rearguards.

9 AM.

Xiahou Yuan violated Yuan Shao's order as expected. The north gate opened, and his troops rushed out to fight against Pu Jing's rearguards. Since Xiahou Yuan did not want to harm Pu Jing's men, he did not use archers and cavalries to chase them.

Meanwhile, Pu Jing had his men fought against the oncoming troops for a few minutes. Once both sides began dying, the former premier sent his signals.

"Withdraw! Full retreat!"

Everyone retreated in order.

Xiahou Yuan also shouted, "Withdraw, do not pursue, or you'll be trapped by the enemies!"

His force reentered the city while the remaining garrison soldiers cheered, believing that this general led them to victory.

Meanwhile, Huang Gai and Cao Cao lifted the siege and marched to the west wall, gathering with Sun Jian.

On the other hand, Sun Jian did not attack the city. His army kept staring at the soldiers on the wall, intimidating them with their glare.

Yuan Shao also noticed the oddness of today's battle. He left the palace and came to the west wall to observe the situation.

Confused and baffled by Cao Cao's maneuvering, he turned to Shen Pei and Guo Tu, "What are they doing? Why didn't they attack?"

"M-My lord. Sir Miao Cai sortied and repelled the enemies in the north. Afterward, all Cao Cao's troops gathered here instead of surrounding us."

"What? He won?"

"Y-Yes, my lord."

"Drag Miao Cai here. I want to know why he disobeyed my order!"

An hour later, Xiahou Yuan arrived.

"Why did you sortie? I told you to defend the city."

"My lord, I noticed that the enemies were retreating, so I attacked them, hoping to obtain their supplies and inflicted damages to their soldiers."

"Did you get anything?"

"I killed a thousand soldiers or so. Unfortunately, they didn't leave behind supply."

"…"

Yuan Shao was in a bad mood.

In his plan, Yuan Shao expected to wither Cao Cao's men with his cannons and defensive forces. However, Cao Cao also brought in cannons of his own, which ruined the first phase of Yuan Shao's strategy.

Next, the battle on the first day was a disaster to the defenders. Fortunately, Tian Feng had prepared an exit plan for them in advance. In case they would lose this battle, they could pretend to lose and escape from the city with all of their soldiers. Then, Tian Feng would destroy the dam that they built, and the water would flood the town with the directed pathways that they had dug beforehand.

Had the city been flooded, defending forces would have a hard time coping with the cold weather and the mud river. Local civilians would start dying and begging for food from the city lord. Afterward, the city would be thrown into chaos, which would ruin the morale of the Cao Cao forces.

Still, the scheme was about to be thwarted by a simple retreat order of Cao Cao.

Yuan Shao returned to a square one again. He had about 60,000 soldiers, combined with Tian Feng Army. Meanwhile, Cao Cao had 70,000 to 80,000 men remaining on the battlefield.

'Should I continue with the flood plan, or should I continue defending the city? What to do?'

Yuan Shao turned to Shen Pei and Guo Tu, but he stopped. These two strategists were not on par with Tian Feng, so Yuan Shao did not trust them.

"Miao Cai, if you're fighting all Cao Cao's soldiers with my entire army, what will you do?"

Xiahou Yuan stared into Yuan Shao's eyes, "I would recall Sir Tian Feng into the city. Then, we will repair the south wall and continue fighting in a prolonged war. We have enough supplies to last for another year. I doubt Cao Cao can last the winter."

"…"

Yuan Shao did not like the advice. He still wanted to go through with Tian Feng's plan.

"Maintain order within the city as it is. We'll wait and see how Cao Cao acts."

.

Again, Xiahou Yuan consulted with Cao Cao.

Cao Cao: "Where are they keeping their supplies?"

Xiahou Yuan: "Most of them are with Tian Feng. Yuan Shao plans to abandon the city from the very beginning, so he did not want to leave any food inside."

Cao Cao: "Okay. Tian Feng, it is. How's Guo Jia doing?"

Xiahou Yuan: "Coaxing people at the moment. He did not comment on how we are proceeding with our plans, though."

Cao Cao: "I know what he's trying to do. Tell your men to start smuggling the supplies in secret, but don't burn the granaries in the city. I'll tell you when you can switch sides."

Xiahou Yuan: "Okay."

.

Confirmed that Yuan Shao would go through with Tian Feng's deception no matter what, Cao Cao made his move.

Before Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Pu Jing gathered.

"We're going to attack Tian Feng Army outside of the city tonight."

Sun Jian and others did not say anything. Instead, they were relieved that Cao Cao finally made a logical choice.

Cao Cao found it amusing that Pu Jing and Sun Jian's subordinates did not question his tactic.

"Nobody is going to ask why I'm delaying the attack plan?"

Pu Jing rolled his eyes, "We're not genius, Mengde. Tell us if you want to flex."

"Hahaha! To be honest, I haven't planned shit! I just want to mess with Yuan Shao and see how he reacts in a different battlefield."

"What!? Then, why are you sending Xiahou Yuan and others inside Xiapi?"

"I just wanted to test how spies can use our clan chat as a communication tool. It works well."

"Then, what about the casualties!? What about the fight you rigged for Xiahou Yuan!?"

"Ah, I thought I had to give Miaocai a reason not to get himself executed by Yuan Shao. It worked, right?"

"What about our cannons!? Why are you taking them here if you're not planning to use it!?"

"That's a drill for the logistic troops. They need to carry those cannons around in the future, so they should learn it by doing it."

"… And your reason for not killing Yuan Shao when you have the chance?"

"I want to poach Tian Feng to my side. If I kill him right away, he will flee to Zhang Tong. I don't want that."

"…"

Pu Jing did not believe in Cao Cao one bit. As a former KGB agent, he detected Cao Cao's subtle gesture, indicated that he lied.

In the end, everyone led a force of 12,000 men to raid Tian Feng's camp, north of Xiapi City.

.

The night was quiet, and all soldiers traveled light, not wearing any armor.

2 AM, all 72,000 soldiers surrounded Tian Feng's fort, which was built next to their constructed dam.

Everyone could hear the sound of a flowing river. The water droplets leaking from the barricaded wooden logs and reinforced structures created a symphony of nature music, which soothed everyone that could hear them.

Because of such continuous noise, the massive army crept in the night and reached the camp undetected. Although they ran into patrol guards once in a while, the night arrows silenced them before they could have asked for help.