Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 978 Winning Trust
After hearing this, Liu Bei asked doubtfully: "Sending troops from Fancheng?"

"Don't you understand, isn't Fancheng closer to Cao Cao's territory?"

"Yun Chang was originally stationed in Fancheng, and it was extremely difficult to defend Cao Cao's offensive. What if we divide our troops again and Cao Cao takes the opportunity to attack the city?"

Pang Tong said: "What we want is to shake Cao's army."

"If they see that Fancheng is empty, they will definitely send troops to fight. By then, as long as they defend Fancheng, they will be able to contain Cao's army."

"When the time comes, whether we return to rescue Fancheng or go directly eastward to cut off the retreat of Cao's army attacking in the direction of Shouchun, we can give it a serious blow."

After hearing this, Liu Bei asked: "Although this plan is clever, Cao Cao may not be fooled."

"Yun Chang has defended Fancheng well in the past two years. Even if a large part of his troops are transferred, Cao Jun may not be willing to attack Fancheng, right?"

Pang Tong said: "So we need to move General Guan away."

"Not only that, but General Guan is also required to lead troops to attack Cao Cao's hinterland, so that Cao Cao has to save him and has to confront General Guan head-on."

After hearing this, Liu Bei was surprised and asked, "Isn't this too risky?"

Xu Shu remained silent. He and Pang Tong actually had different styles. Pang Tong tended to take risks, while he was mature and prudent. But this time, he couldn't imagine why Pang Tong would be so aggressive. The situation was obviously not that bad!
Pang Tong sighed: "Otherwise, it would not be enough for De Cao (Mr. Shui Jing) to miss the calculation."

He said to Xu Shu: "I still haven't figured out why De Cao went to Cao Cao. Did Yuan Zhi see any clues before?"

Xu Shu also shook his head repeatedly. When Liu Bei took him to Lumen Mountain to ask Pang Tong to come out, Xu Shu also wanted to persuade Si Shuijing to serve Liu Bei, but he politely refused.

Xu Shu didn't take it seriously at that time, guessing that the other party wanted to live in seclusion, so he didn't think much about it and returned to Xiangyang with Liu Beipang.

But half a year later, news suddenly came that Shui Jing went to Xudu and took refuge with Cao Cao!

This made Liu Bei very angry. Xu Shu then remembered that Shui Jing's name was Sima Decao and that he was from Yingchuan. The Sima family in Yingchuan had a close relationship with Cao Cao. I'm afraid there was no hidden secret, but he was the one before. Ignored!
But no matter what, Shui Jing's defection to Cao Cao is not a good thing for Xu Shu and Pang Tong, because he has given guidance to the two of them and understands their thoughts very well. If Cao Cao's camp offers advice against him, then he will be very passive here. Got it!

No wonder Shi Tao, Meng Jian and others also defected to Cao Cao earlier, maybe Shui Jing also played a role in it?

Liu Bei still had no idea, so he pointed at the map and said, "If Cao Jun proceeds like this, how should we respond?"

To be honest, Liu Bei had been fighting for nearly twenty years, from Youzhou to Qingzhou, and then to Xuzhou and Yuzhou. Although he was defeated repeatedly, the reason for the defeat in many cases was not his fault, but mainly due to his own limitations and the fact that his opponents were too strong.

Even so, among Liu Bei's troops, the one who can fight the most is Liu Bei himself. Especially when it comes to numbers of less than 10,000 people, Liu Bei is quite good at it.

This is also the reason why Liu Bei has doubts about Pang Tong. In his opinion, although Pang Tong was recommended by Xu Shu, his two military advisors have not fought many battles together. He invited them here mainly to supplement internal affairs strategies. Although he has shortcomings, when it comes to fighting, can Pang Tong really compare to himself who has been fighting for twenty years?

When Pang Tong saw Liu Bei asking questions, he knew that the other party was testing him. He was obviously doubtful about his strategy. He suppressed his unhappiness and answered Liu Bei's questions one by one.

The two of them asked and answered questions, and spent half an hour exploring the possibilities on the battlefield in Fancheng. Finally, Liu Bei suddenly discovered that Pang Tong was not only familiar with the art of war, but he was not just talking about it on paper. All the difficulties that occurred have been taken into consideration!

He was overjoyed and said: "Sir, you are really awesome, you must have been too worried!"

"But my brother Yun Chang is arrogant. Now he is in charge of Fancheng. If he is asked to send troops, I'm afraid he may not be convinced."

"I want you to go and persuade my brother in the name of leading the army to support Fancheng, and explain to him in detail how to attack Cao Cao, and be responsible for supporting Yunchang and guarding Fancheng. How about that?"

After hearing this, Pang Tong quickly bowed and said, "I will live up to my lord's trust and guarantee with my life that Fancheng will not be lost!"

He immediately took the sealing talisman and went to Xiangyang City to mobilize troops. After Pang Tong left, Xu Shu said to Liu Bei: "My lord, don't worry. Shi Yuan has taken on this important task at a young age. Aren't you afraid of making mistakes?"

Liu Bei smiled and said: "Yuan Zhi recommended him, why are you hesitant now?"

"I feel very relieved. Not only is Yu Shiyuan indeed a person who can be trusted, but I am also very relieved about Fan Cheng."

"In the past few years, Yunchang has built city defenses in Fancheng, and also built auxiliary cities, building an extremely strong defense line. If it were someone else to defend it, Cao's army might not be able to reach the city."

"Shi Yuan is well versed in the art of war. He has dealt with the deduction in the map just now. With the help of the generals and officials in Fancheng, I believe there will be no problems."

The next day, Pang Tong led thousands of soldiers and horses from Xiangyang to Fancheng and met Guan Yu.

Guan Yu was sitting at the top. Seeing that Pang Tong's face was still a little childish, he said, "Are you the military advisor that my elder brother is looking for?"

"Have you ever fought in a war?" Pang Tong said, "No."

After hearing this, Guan Yu sneered slightly and said: "Brother is really confused. Fancheng is such an important place. How can you send someone who has never fought in a war to take charge?"

"If I trust you and lead the troops to fight, if you lose the city, how can I deal with my brother?"

Pang Tong said: "I guarantee with the head on my neck that Fancheng will not be lost."

After hearing this, Guan Yu became even more disdainful, "If Fancheng is captured by the enemy, you will naturally die. What's the use of having your head then?"

Pang Tong said: "If the general doesn't believe it, he can lead his own army and march north to Wancheng to prove it by defeating Cao's army. How about that?"

Guan Yu shook his head and said, "That's not right. Your soldiers were all recruited with great effort by my elder brother. If they were destroyed by you in one battle, wouldn't it be a disservice to my elder brother?"

Pang Tong finally couldn't bear it anymore and said: "This won't work, and that won't work either. What does the general want me to do?"

When Guan Yu saw it, he laughed and said, "I thought you had no temper!"

"I won't bully you either, because I went out of the city to harass Cao Jun a few days ago and only returned two days ago. Now in Fancheng, I have accumulated hundreds of unfinished military and administrative affairs for a month. How about you do it for me?"

"I'll give you five days, but if there are too many mistakes or omissions, just go back where you came from."

After hearing this, Pang Tong stood up and said: "It's settled, it doesn't take five days, only one day is enough!"

Guan Yu sneered and said, "What a shame!"

"Young people are too arrogant. I say it before you. If you make too many mistakes, I will drive you out of the city in public and make you lose face!"

Pang Tong also became angry, stood up and said: "Okay, then please take a good look at it, general!"

Guan Yu secretly sneered. He personally led the way and led Pang Tong to a large room. He opened the door and looked around. The table on the ground was full of bamboo slips. There were probably hundreds of scrolls.

Pang Tong didn't answer. He stepped forward, unfolded a scroll of bamboo slips, glanced at it for a moment, then wrote a few words at the end with a red pen, then rolled it up and threw it aside.

He read quickly and wrote quickly. In a short while, he had seven or eight bamboo slips beside him.

Guan Yu looked at it and sneered in his heart. He was pretending. Many military and internal affairs in Fancheng are very complicated. How can they be explained in a few words?

It seems that this person must have written nonsense for the sake of face. In this case, I will be rude. I will point out his mistakes later, and then have him driven out of the city immediately, so that this person who is seeking fame will lose his face!

Guan Yu made up his mind, walked forward, bent down to pick up a roll of bamboo slips, and started to read through it.

This was an official's complaint about the poor mobilization of food in the city. Someone had mentioned it before, but when it came to the Jingzhou nobles, Guan Yu thought for a long time and couldn't make up his mind. Pang Tong wrote a few sentences, really thinking that he could solve?
Guan Yu spread the bamboo slips to the end with disdain, glanced at them briefly, and subconsciously wanted to throw the bamboo slips aside, but his hand suddenly stopped.

Although Pang Tong didn't write many words, he proposed a relatively appropriate solution. This was something Guan Yu had never thought of before, and it was indeed quite feasible!
Guan Yu looked at the comments, which were scrawled but without any nonsense. He couldn't help but tighten his fingers. He then bent down and picked up another tube of bamboo slips.

This is a deputy general's military information regarding Wancheng, where Zhang Xiu repeatedly sent troops to harass, and wanted to ask Guan Yu where to set up defenses to effectively contain the opposite offensive.

Several routes from Wancheng to Fancheng appeared in Guan Yu's mind, and he immediately found the two most likely ones, and thought of the two most suitable places to block them.

He pulled the bamboo slip to the end and found that what Pang Tong had written was exactly the two places Guan Yu was thinking of!
Guan Yu's expression finally became serious at this time. He put the two bamboo slips away, and then picked up the remaining bamboo slips to look at them.

As for being fast at reading, Pang Tong was also fast at writing. In less than half a day, Pang Tong had read all the two to three hundred bamboo slips and waited quietly for Guan Yu to look through the remaining dozens of bamboo slips.

After another half an hour, Guan Yu finally read all the remaining bamboo slips. He put down the last bamboo slips and took a long breath. Then he faced Pang Tong, cupped his hands and said, "There are hundreds of things to do, but there are none." Every mistake is made, Mr. Guan’s talent is indeed genuine and I admire him.”

"Yu's words were offensive earlier, please don't blame me sir."

Pang Tong hurriedly returned the gift, and the previous unhappiness in his heart was wiped away. When he was in Xiangyang, his subordinates said that Guan Yu was arrogant and looked down on others, which made everyone privately complain.

When Pang Tong met for the first time today, he found that what everyone said was indeed true. In addition, Guan Yu looked down on him, so he felt suffocated in his heart, so he tried his best to win the bet.

Fortunately, when he was in Xiangyang, he was responsible for handling the intelligence and affairs of Fancheng, and he did enough homework before setting off, so he was familiar with it. Only then did he make a splash and win Guan Yu's respect.

However, Pang Tong also understood that only if he had this talent, he would be valued by Guan Yu. Other mediocre officials naturally did not receive such treatment.

(End of this chapter)