Chapter 492 Pulling the Line and Closing the Net

Cao Cao wanted to plot against Xuzhou, and Yuan Xi also wanted to plot against Cao Cao in return. Under the planning of their respective advisers, both sides came up with the same idea.

The key question is, if it is just a confrontation between two forces, it would be fine, but what if other forces are involved?

Ju Su said, "The appearance of Taishan bandits in Qucheng is extremely abnormal. After the Taishan bandits surrendered to Yuan Qingzhou, they really acted so recklessly. How could Yuan Qingzhou not know?"

"Sir, have you ever thought about the impact of giving birth to two boys on the situation in Jizhou, and the changes in the hearts of the people in the Yuan family?"

"What worries me most is that Yuan Qingzhou's bottom line is likely to be very low."

After hearing this, Lu Xun couldn't help but look at Yuan Xi and found that his face twitched unconsciously.

"Also," Ju Su held up a scroll of secret letters, "this is the information sent back from Xia Pi City the day before yesterday."

"Cao Cao once sent a secret envoy with the intention of joining forces with Liu Yuzhou!"

"Not only did he promise to present a petition to Liu Yuzhou and confer him a title of marquis, he also planned to use a woman from the Xiahou clan as a marriage partner. Maybe he has already sent her over!"

"The spies did not find out what the outcome of the contact between the two sides was, but Liu Yuzhou obviously did not tell the young master about it afterwards."

"As an ally, he is unable to be open and honest with us. Can Liu Yuzhou really be trusted in this matter?"

"What if this incident in the East China Sea was a play between him and Cao Cao?"

"Cao Cao promised him a lot of benefits. It is reasonable for Liu Yuzhou to give him the East China Sea in return, right?"

"In his eyes, is the young master also a reward?"

After saying this, the three people present fell silent.

After a long while, Yuan Xi said, "I still want to give it a try, because this time, I choose to believe Liu Yuzhou."

"Isn't it possible that Cao Cao deliberately spread the rumor to make me doubt Liu Yuzhou and become suspicious?"

"And this is the best opportunity to weaken Cao Cao's strength."

"If you miss this opportunity, there may never be such a good opportunity again."

"He used the East China Sea as bait to lure me in. Why can't I use myself as bait to make him reveal his cards?"

"Since he has played his cards, there is no need for me to hide the cards in my hand."

"He wants a fight, I'll give it to him!"

When Yuan Xi finished saying this, his momentum suddenly rose, which made Lu Xun look sideways. This is the fierce tiger of the Yuan family!

Ju Su smiled bitterly and said, "Since you want to fight, you should be well prepared before you start."

"Of course," Yuan Xi said, "If we fight in Xuzhou, I won't let him come and go as he pleases, like he did the last two times!"

"Please, gentlemen, send letters to Youzhou, Guangling, Jizhou, Yangzhou, and Qingzhou immediately. In addition to our Youzhou and Guangling, promise Sun Ce, Yuan Tan, and Yuan Shang the greatest benefits we can give!"

"As many troops as Youzhou Guangling can mobilize, send them and fight with all your might!"

"I can pay any price to defeat Cao Cao!"

"I just don't believe that if I fight Cao Cao to the end, Jizhou will still side with him?"

This was also one of Yuan Xi's purposes. If the situation between him and Cao Cao became deteriorating, he would use this as an excuse to encourage Yuan Shao to attack and destroy Cao Cao!

Ju Shou and Lu Xun hurriedly accepted the order. They thought that the young master was really risking everything this time.

This is how the fight for the world works. If you are not prepared to risk your entire fortune, you are not qualified to be a chess player.

In Xia Pi City, Liu Bei summoned his subordinates and said, "I have decided to lead the troops to fight the rebellion in Donghai this time."

Mi Zhu was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly stood up to stop him, saying: "My brother is incompetent and lost Houqiu. Cao's army surrounded him but did not attack. If you go there, you will definitely fall into their trap!"

"Now there is Yuan Gonglu attacking the city from outside, so you must not act rashly, lest Xia Pi be breached, which would be the end of us all."

"Your Excellency has joined forces with Xiong Hu, and he is in Haixi. Why don't you send troops to ask him to rescue Houqiu?"

Seeing everyone agree, Liu Bei's face darkened and he said, "I have already fallen into Cao Cao's trap!"

"He sent a secret envoy last time, promising to present a petition to the Han court for me to be granted a title of marquis. This news spread quickly throughout the city!"

"I thought the matter was not a secret, but now I think Cao Cao may have spread it on purpose!"

"Think about it, what would Xionghu think if he heard this news?"

"He will definitely doubt my intentions. How can he help me get out of trouble in Houqiu?"

"I just realized that this is Cao Cao's strategy to alienate me and make Xionghu suspicious of me!"

"Cao Cao's plan is so vicious that it has made me lose my credibility. Now I can only prove my innocence!"

After hearing this, everyone was silent. They were also responsible for this matter. When Cao Cao sent the secret envoy, they were complacent and thought that as long as the matter was not leaked, they could have a good relationship with Cao Cao and join forces with Xionghu at the same time. Isn't that the best of both worlds?

And although there are rumors that Cao Cao and Xionghu are not on good terms, Cao Cao is still an assistant to Yuan Shao, and Xionghu is still a member of the Yuan family. Both sides also welcomed the emperor together. There should be no unsolvable conflicts, right?

As a result, within half a month, they were severely slapped in the face. It was not known whether Cao Cao would submit a petition or not, but he did send troops to attack Xuzhou for the third time!

No matter how stupid Liu Bei's men were, they knew that Cao Cao had tricked them. He was taking advantage of their desire to get the upper hand, so Liu Bei must have been suspected by others now!

Not to mention Yuan Tan, who was always difficult to understand, Liu Bei felt that he had done something wrong with Yuan Xi, who had been helping him.

But he couldn't defend himself!

Moreover, when everyone learned that it was Chen Qun who was responsible for sending the secret envoy by Cao Cao, they felt even more disgusted as if they had eaten shit. After Chen Qun left Liu Bei and defected to Cao Cao, he was highly appreciated. He knew the psychology of Liu Bei's subordinates very well, and led everyone into the trap step by step!

Liu Bei sighed and said, "And have you ever thought about how long Xia Pi City can be defended?"

"Yuan Gonglu has sent more troops!"

"It's not like he doesn't have talented people under his command. He can see clearly that if we want to break the impasse, we have to either attack Jingzhou or Xuzhou!"

"At first I thought he would continue to attack Jingzhou, but I didn't expect that he had secretly mobilized troops and stockpiled them at the border of Xiapi!"

"Even if we don't mobilize troops, there are nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses around Shouchun. How can we stop them?"

Jian Yong sighed, "This is due to my incompetence. No one would have thought that he would dare to attack northwards."

"He and Yuan Benchu ​​are enemies. Isn't this a premature border crossing? I thought he would at least clear out Jingzhou and Yizhou before he would have a decisive battle with Yuan Benchu!"

Liu Bei's face was gloomy. "What is the title of emperor he proclaimed himself? Have you guessed its meaning?"

Yuan Shu established himself as the Zhong clan, which means he was the second among the descendants of the second emperor.

When everyone heard this name for the first time, they all thought that Yuan Shu was worried about the reputation of the Han court, so he gave himself the title of emperor under the Son of Heaven.

Mi Zhu was puzzled and asked, "Isn't it because he feared the attack from the Han court that he gave himself this name?"

Liu Bei sneered: "You think it's too simple!"

"He appears to be submissive, but the person he is submitting to may not be the emperor, but may very well be Yuan Benchu!"

"The Yuan family has always had aspirations for the world. Yuan Gonglu, the second emperor, might be willing to be under Yuan Benchu ​​and rule the world together with him, with the Yangtze River as the boundary!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. It really was possible!

At the same time, everyone felt ashamed that as Liu Bei's subordinates, they did not see things as clearly as Liu Bei!

Guan Yu had remained silent, thinking that his elder brother was exceptional in both martial arts and talent. Now that he had been forced to this point, his hidden talents had been completely stimulated.

Liu Bei stood up suddenly and said, "If the two Yuans fight, we will be crushed into dust if we are caught in the middle with such weak strength!"

"We are now bearing the brunt of the attack. We should avoid the enemy's attack and retreat to the East China Sea. We should use Tancheng as the front line and let Yuan Shu enter Xiapi!"

"If he occupies Xiapi, with Cao Mengde of Yanzhou in the west and Yuan Xianyi of Guangling in the east, we can use their strength to resist Yuan Shu!"

"Otherwise, now that we are alone in the front, how many days can we hold out?"

"Even if we can hold on, our vitality will be greatly damaged. When Cao Cao also seizes Donghai, we will only have Pi left. Sooner or later, it will be conquered. If we fail, where can we go?"

"In this case, we should save our forces, return to defend the East China Sea, drive Cao Cao away, and approach the fierce tiger's territory to seek help. We still have a chance to make a comeback!"

Guan Yu said, "A brave man cuts off his arm. I agree with what you said, brother!"

Zhang Fei hurriedly said: "Me too!"

Seeing everyone agreeing, Liu Bei nodded and said, "In that case, let's prepare to abandon the city!"

"If the people want to stay, let them stay in the city. If they are willing to go with us, I will lead the troops to escort them to Tancheng!"

"At the same time, send a letter to Yuan Benchu ​​and Yuan Xianyi asking for help, telling them how we got into trouble the day before yesterday. If necessary, I will personally go and apologize!"

After hearing this, everyone nodded silently. They had colluded with Cao Cao in private, but suffered the consequences. Now they could be said to have brought it upon themselves.

They were too optimistic before, thinking of surviving in the cracks and playing both sides. But when Yuan Shu's army arrived, they realized that if they were not strong enough, nothing they said would work!

The final trump card must be one's own strength, everything else is fake!

Inside the military camp, secret letters were delivered to Xun You's desk like snowflakes. He shook out the bamboo slips and exclaimed, "Xionghu's hand is really big."

"If this continues, if they are allowed to collude with various parties, your strategy of confusing the enemy will be defeated."

Cao Ying spread half-true and half-false information in an attempt to alienate the relationship between Yuan Xi and Yuan Tan and Liu Bei. In the final analysis, it was all empty talk. If the other party understood what was going on, they would still side with Yuan Xi!

Cao Ren sighed and said, "Liu Bei is an extraordinary man. He is willing to give up Xia Pi. I heard that he has already taken the people and is preparing to flee to Tancheng between Xia Pi and Houqiu."

What Cao's army relies on now is the offensive of Yuan Shu's army, but it is hard to say what will happen next, because once Liu Bei's Xia Pi is captured, Cao Cao will inevitably face Yuan Shu, and there will be more variables.

Xun You smiled and said, "That's true. We don't have much time left. We only have three to five days. If we let Xionghu link up all parties and call for reinforcements, our plan will almost certainly fail."

"So now is the time for us to go all out!"

"Send a group of elite soldiers to raid Liu Bei's troops retreating to Tancheng. He has committed a serious mistake by mixing soldiers and civilians together. Once attacked, he will surely be defeated!"

"Fortunately, his generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stayed in Xia Pi to stop Yuan Shu's army. There were no capable generals in his team!"

"I'll trouble you on the way, General!"

Cao Ren smiled and said, "Don't worry, since Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are not here, I will definitely do my best to take them down!"

Xun You nodded with satisfaction, "Then the most crucial step is how to lure the fierce tiger out within three days!"

"This is the key to the whole thing. If we kill him at all costs, all the relationships between him and other parties will be broken, and Xuzhou can be taken!"

"From this point of view, even if we sacrifice the lives of 10,000 soldiers for his life, it is worth it!"

Cao Ren listened, his eyes flickered, "Sir, what do you think we should do?"