Chapter 513 Waiting for the Opportunity

After hearing Yuan Xi's words, Ju Su was a little confused, but Lu Xun beside him seemed to understand something.

During this period of time, he collected intelligence sent by spies from all sides and knew far more details than Ju Su. He kept an eye on the locations in Yuzhou and found that the places where Yuan Xi was encircled were all the most prosperous grain-producing areas in Yuzhou.

His eyes lit up and he said, "Your Excellency, do you mean that there might be a problem with Yuan Gonglu's food?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Bo Yan said it well."

"I predict that there will be a large locust outbreak in Yuzhou this year."

Ju Shou and Lu Xun were both shocked when they heard this.

Locust plagues are extremely dangerous. Wherever they go, thousands of miles of land will be barren. Especially when a large locust plague occurs, it can be said that wherever it goes, the grain harvest of that year will be wasted.

This is not as simple as starving. Except for the wealthy and powerful people with huge savings, farmers in the late Han Dynasty had no ability or reserves to deal with disasters. The result of having no harvest was that they could not survive at all.

So in order to survive, people either had to flee their homes and become refugees, or sell their children, eat their own children, or sell their entire families to the powerful as slaves.

The chain reaction caused by this is destructive, because these lands are not only the basis for the farmers' livelihood, but also the source of food for the soldiers, merchants and industrialists, and the supply of military rations for the soldiers.

If this chain is broken now, the soldiers will lack food and there will be no need to fight, as they will naturally disintegrate.

Ju Shou and Lu Xun looked at each other, their faces lit up with joy, and they said in unison: "If your prediction is correct, if there is a locust plague in Yuzhou, then the hundreds of thousands of troops that are so aggressive now..."

Yuan Xi nodded, "That's right. If the military rations are cut off, I'm afraid that Yuan Shu's army, which is at its peak, will collapse without a fight. At the very least, they will be forced to withdraw."

Ju Shou and Lu Xun were both shocked. Although they didn't know how Yuan Xi knew the future, from past experience, Yuan Xi's predictions about such things had never failed.

After Yuan Shu's army established itself in later generations, it was extremely powerful. Although it suffered several defeats, it was never seriously damaged. After all, Yuzhou and Yangzhou occupied by Yuan Shu were both rich places with abundant grain. As long as the food supply was guaranteed, there would be a steady supply of soldiers.

Therefore, before the locust plague occurred, although Yuan Shu was extremely licentious and exploited the people, the people and soldiers under his rule at least had food to eat and did not starve to death, so they were able to hold on.

But when the locust plague came, everything was different.

According to later records, a locust plague broke out in May of the second year of Jian'an (197 AD), causing great famine throughout the country and people in the Jianghuai area eating each other.

As a result, there was chaos under Yuan Shu's rule.

"Records of Emperor Wu" records that when Yuan Shu was in Jiang and Huai, he took Pu Luo as a supply, causing people to eat each other and the state was in depression.

"Biography of Yuan Shu" records that Yuan Shu, from the governor of Jiujiang, was appointed as the prefect of Huainan. He appointed dukes and ministers, held sacrifices in the southern and northern suburbs, and his extravagance became increasingly serious. The hundreds of concubines in the harem all wore silk and gauze, and the rest had rice and meat while the soldiers were freezing and starving. The area between the Yangtze River and the Huai River was completely emptied, and the people ate each other.

Despite the locust plague, Yuan Shu continued to live an extravagant life, but he did not realize his mistake in time. This was because the locust plague had a lag effect and its impact would not appear until several months later. During this period, the more abundant the food reserves were, the more likely it was to become complacent.

Yuan Shu was just like that. He thought he had good soldiers and sufficient food, so he didn't care. It was not until the granary was empty and the soldiers began to disperse that he realized it, but it was too late to regret.

During the same period, the situation in Yanzhou, which was adjacent to Yuzhou, was not much better.

"Biography of Xun Yu" records that in the summer of the second year of Jian'an, Taizu's army attacked Chengshi and there was a severe famine and people were cannibalizing each other.

Yanzhou and Yuzhou were originally brothers in distress with frequent locust plagues. As a result, neither side could hold on and the scale of the war became much smaller. But in the end, when Yuan Shu was defeated, Cao Cao still gained a lot of benefits by relying on his territory and proximity to Yuan Shu.

What Yuan Xi relies on now is the natural disasters that are beyond human control and will still happen as they did in later generations.

He thought that the current situation in the world had changed beyond recognition because of his intervention, and his advantage in predicting the future was becoming smaller and smaller. The only thing he had left was natural disasters.

But having something is better than having nothing, and as his strength increases, Yuan Xi will become the target of public criticism and the road to hegemony will become more difficult. After all, no matter how powerful a person is, he can never fight against a group of people.

Lu Xun said, "In this case, facing the powerful Yuan Shu army, should we keep our troops in place, defend the city and wait for a counterattack, and then strike a fatal blow when the enemy's backyard catches fire?"

Yuan Xi nodded, "Yes, but we also need to be prepared."

"Although Guangling is close to the sea, there are still large inland plains. If the locust plague in Yuzhou spreads over, Xuzhou will also suffer heavy losses."

"What Boyan needs to do is to have the people ready to harvest the grain at any time. If necessary, they should start harvesting the grain even if it is not yet ripe. At the same time, we must not let Yuan Shu's army and Cao Cao's army know about this, so as not to be on guard."

"As for what measures to take, it will depend on Boyan to think carefully."

Lu Xun agreed quickly, thinking that making the other party complacent about the early harvest would not be an easy task, and he had to think of a way.

However, war involves many factors. If Yuan Shu's army and Cao Cao's army suffer disasters, but Yuan Xi's army has sufficient food, the gap in strength and morale between the two sides will gradually widen.

At that time, as long as the enemy is cut off from food and collapses, Yuan Xi's army will launch a large-scale attack and defeat them in one fell swoop. If all goes well, they will not only be able to recapture Xia Pi, but also attack Yuan Shu's hometown!

Lu Xun knew that this matter was of great importance, and his expression became serious.

Half a month later, news came from many places in Guangling that granaries were on fire. There were also rumors that Guangling's grain reserves had run out, causing the Guangling defenders in Tangyi to panic and they were in danger several times under the attacks of Yuan Shu's army.

Chen Deng in Guangling urgently mobilized food and grass to support Anyi. After receiving the food and grass, Taishi Ci appeased the soldiers in the city and calmed the morale of the army.

Subsequently, Guangling launched a large-scale search and arrest. After more than a month, several spies who set the fire were caught. After interrogation, their heads were chopped off and hung on the city walls. Only then did the destruction of Guangling slowly stop.

After Chen Deng, Taishi Ci and others received the news, they all recalled the last civil strife in Qucheng. They were both worried. It seemed that the forces hostile to Yuan Xi had penetrated so deeply that they could even infiltrate the important granary.

Cao Cao, who was in Tancheng, also got the news. He smiled and said to Cheng Yu, "Gongda is really amazing."

Cheng Yu quickly said modestly: "It's all because of your great prestige. It's a pity that those spies were too impatient."

"As for the rest of the people, Yu has already followed the Lord's instructions and ordered them to stay in hiding and not act rashly for the time being."

Cao Cao nodded slightly. "The arson was a little too smooth this time, so it exposed them."

"However, these Taoist priests of the Taiping Dao have completely sided with us because of the incident in which the evil tiger killed Zhang Jiao's daughter. It will be much easier for us to act in the future."

He then wondered, "I heard that the vicious tiger captured Zhang Jiao's daughter and took her to Youzhou, and then disappeared. Did he really kill her?"

"In case there isn't..."

Cheng Yu hurriedly laughed and said, "According to Yang Feng's temper, he will definitely not surrender to the fierce tiger."

"And now that the news has been released, the entire Taiping Dao will regard Yuan Xi as their mortal enemy. After a few years, we will have complete control over the Taiping Dao. Whether he dies in the end or not will not be relevant to the overall situation."

Cao Cao nodded slightly, but Xun You on the side seemed to want to say something but hesitated. Finally, when he saw that Cao Cao and Cheng Yu were talking happily, he swallowed the words that were on his lips.

He originally wanted to remind Cheng Yu that he always felt that the incident of the spies burning grain was a bit strange and seemed a bit deliberate.

But this is just a feeling. Xun You himself has no evidence. Instead, he heard that Anyi was almost lost due to lack of food and unstable military morale. If Guangling had used a trick, would he put his city in such a dangerous situation?

Isn't this price too high?

Am I thinking too much?

Moreover, Cheng Yu was directly responsible for the Taiping Dao spies. If he questioned him, it would appear that he was fighting for power, which would be disliked by Cao Cao.

Among Cao Cao's advisers, except for Cheng Yu, the Yingchuan faction had completely occupied a dominant position. After Xi Zhicai's death, Cheng Yu had the longest seniority. If Xun You expressed his doubts about Cheng Yu, he would probably be suspected and targeted for dissidents.

Xun You thought about it again and again, and finally decided that there was no need to bring it up again. It didn't seem to be a big deal anyway. Now the battle situation in Xuzhou was still about the competition for the two key cities of Xia Pi and Pengcheng.

As long as they hold on to the two cities, Yuan Shu's army will be dragged down sooner or later. The only force they need to guard against is Yuan Xi's army, with which they have already fallen out.

Cao Cao and his advisers have not yet reached a conclusion on how to deal with this force. After the battle of Haixi, everyone realized that they had underestimated the determination of Yuan Xi, this ferocious tiger.

There wouldn't have been so many deaths on both sides!

After this battle, both sides were badly hurt and fell into an extremely embarrassing situation. Their relationship was even more broken and they were at loggerheads.

Moreover, the sneak attack on Xuzhou was clearly a breach of trust by Cao Cao, so even though the Han court sent an edict to mediate, Yuan Xi did not respond at all.

Cao Cao received news that officials led by Kong Rong of the Han court impeached Cao Cao. Although it was suppressed by Liu Xie, it still caused a very bad impact in the court and the country.

Cao Cao is currently busy dealing with Yuan Shu. He is secretly fussing in his heart that once he defeats Yuan Shu, he will teach those ministers in the Han court who oppose him a bloody lesson!

Including as for Yuan Xi, Cao Cao agreed to reconcile with Yuan Xi on the surface, but in fact he wanted to kill him as soon as possible.

Such a threatening person must not be allowed to stay!

Compared with Yuan Xi's ruthless pursuit of them, Cao Cao deliberately befriended Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang in private, and gave and promised them many benefits in private. This effort was finally rewarded. It is not known what Yuan Shang did in Yecheng. Yuan Shao did not express any responsibility for the attack between Cao Cao and Yuan Xi.

Perhaps considering his friendship with Cao Cao, or perhaps because he felt that Cao Cao could still be used, Yuan Shao finally rejected Yuan Xi's proposal to attack Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao learned about it, he secretly wiped his sweat. He felt more and more that the fierce tiger was too dangerous. It seemed that every move hit his weak spot. If Yuan Shao was a little more inclined to Yuan Xi, he would be in big trouble!

The most urgent task is to do the best possible to take down Yuan Shu before falling out with Yuan Shao!

At this time, in Rencheng, Yanzhou, Yang Feng was walking slowly with her horse. After leaving Haixi, she headed west, first entering Taishan County, and then entering Jibei State.