Ji Han Liu Zhang

After a night, the Wuchao granary was burned down, leaving only ashes on the ground. A few wisps of smoke rose from the ashes. The entire Wuchao camp was in a state of disarray due to the attack last night, and the heart of Duke Wei Yuan Shao was also in disarray.

Wuchao was burned down and all the food and grass were gone.

The situation in which the Hebei army originally had an absolute advantage has now fallen into a crisis.

Yuan Shao stood in the Wuchao camp with an extremely indifferent expression, showing no emotion of sadness or joy. No one knew what he was thinking about. The civil and military officials under his command did not dare to disturb Yuan Shao at this time. They just worked diligently to clean up the mess in the camp and count the remaining food and grass in case Yuan Shao woke up and asked about it.

When the morning sun gradually rose to the middle of the sky, Yuan Shao stood there for a long while, not knowing what was going on, and uttered the words: "Bring Chunyu Qiong."

At the order, Chunyu Qiong was brought before Yuan Shao. Although he was the person responsible for the burning of most of the Wuchao granary by Cao's army and should be punished by death, Chunyu Qiong did not show much fear on his face.

As an old friend of Yuan Shao, Chunyu Qiong was confident that Yuan Shao would take his guilt lightly this time and give him a light punishment. After some time, he would be promoted to a high position and enjoy endless benefits.

Looking at Chunyu Qiong's red nose and Chunyu Qiong's nonchalant expression, Yuan Shao smiled and stretched out his hand to signal Chunyu Qiong to look around the chaos in the Wuchao camp: "Zhong Jian, why is it like this?"

Seeing Yuan Shao's smile, Chunyu Qiong relaxed. He thought he might be able to escape even a light punishment. He said indifferently, "It's all the fault of that villain Xu You. He actually told Cao Mengde where our army stored food and the banner slogan of the army. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had what happened today."

"You're right, it's all Xu You's fault." Yuan Shao responded, as if agreeing with Chunyu Qiong's point of view.

"Of course not." Chun Yuqiong said loudly, "I have long said that Xu You is greedy for money and profit, not a good man. He has neither loyalty nor righteousness, which is why he betrayed me today and brought my army to this point."

The meaning of Chunyu Qiong's words was very clear. All the mistakes were Xu You's fault. As for him, he was not at fault at all. In short, he just needed to pass the blame on to others.

Yuan Shao laughed at Chunyu Qiong's words, but then his face turned cold in an instant, like a biting wind in the cold winter, and his tone was also extremely cold: "Zhong Jian, the army has a strict order not to drink, but I heard from the soldiers that you drank a lot of wine last night and were drunk."

"Secondly, military orders are as strong as a mountain. Those who retreat must fight. But last night, when the soldiers were in chaos and the formation was unstable, you actually ran away, causing the army to collapse and allowing Cao's army to break into the camp."

"Moreover, when Jiang Qi led his army to rescue, you did not think of reorganizing your army to fight again and attack Cao's army from both sides. Instead, you just sat back and watched, without any action."

"Zhong Jian, tell me, you have so many faults, how should I deal with you?"

Chunyu Qiong did not notice the change in Yuan Shao's expression and tone. He joked, "Mingsir, why don't you punish me by making me not drink for three... no, two and a half months to atone for my sins."

"Ha." Yuan Shao sneered: "That's it?"

"Hmm?" Seeing that Yuan Shao was not satisfied, Chun Yuqiong considered for a moment and said, "How about punishing me with thirty... twenty military sticks?"

Yuan Shao narrowed his eyes, the murderous aura in his eyes almost solidified into substance, he said without any emotion: "Zhong Jian, your sins cannot be redeemed by twenty military sticks."

Finally, at this time, Chunyu Qiong noticed that Yuan Shao's attitude was not right. He put on a serious face and no longer showed indifference. He asked tentatively: "How about fifty military sticks? If you give more, you will lose an old friend."

Chunyu Qiong called out Yuan Shao's name, just like he did when he was hanging out with Yuan Shao in Luoyang before, in an attempt to arouse Yuan Shao's affection for him and avoid a more severe punishment, which would have cost him his life.

But Yuan Shao just shook his head lightly. He seemed very dissatisfied with Chunyu Qiong's answer of taking fifty military sticks.

"Benchu." Chunyu Qiong said in a tone that sounded like he was begging for mercy: "I know that my crime this time is serious, but please give me a chance to atone for it. A man who dies in battle can be considered to have died a worthy death. If I die in prison, it would be lighter than a feather."

Yuan Shao sighed, and his gaze towards Chunyu Qiong was cold to below zero degrees: "How should someone like you change?"

After saying that, Yuan Shao waved his hand and said, "Take him away." With this voice, murderous intent was revealed.

Even if Chunyu Qiong was stupid and his brain was dazed by alcohol, he knew that Yuan Shao wanted to kill him. He pleaded while being held by two halberd soldiers: "Benchu, please forgive me this time. I will never do it again."

After pleading with Yuan Shao, seeing that Yuan Shao was unmoved, Chunyu Qiong hurriedly looked at the civil and military officials standing beside Yuan Shao, such as Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who were close to him, and his counselors Guo Tu and Feng Ji.

Just when some civil and military officials were determined to speak up for Chunyu Qiong, Yuan Shao spoke clearly: "Anyone who dares to speak up for Chunyu Qiong will be buried with Chunyu Qiong and will rest in peace in the afterlife."

Yan Liang and Wen Wei listened to the rumors and retracted their steps. Guo Tu and Feng Ji also put down their hands that were about to be raised. They understood clearly that this time, Yuan Shao was serious.

Even the God of Heaven cannot save Chunyu Qiong's life.

"Benchu, Benchu, please let me go, I beg you." Chunyu Qiong's face was filled with fear and he struggled desperately, but he was held tightly by two halberd warriors with a force of a thousand pounds. He was like a mouse caught in a mousetrap and could not break free no matter what.

"Benchu." Chunyu Qiong pleaded desperately, like a cuckoo crying blood. Now he knew he was wrong, but it seemed too late.

As a flash of knife light fell, Chunyu Qiong's head was handed to Yuan Shao on a tray. His eyes were wide open, and he couldn't believe that Yuan Shao would kill him, freezing his life at this moment.

Yuan Shao waved his hand in disgust, and Chunyu Qiong's head was immediately taken away. The civil and military officials behind him, one by one, did not have the same look of disgust as Yuan Shao, but a look of shock and panic on their faces.

It is also known that Chunyu Qiong and Yuan Shao had a close relationship and were old friends for many years. For example, in the fifth year of Zhongping, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty established eight colonels in the Western Garden, and Chunyu Qiong and Yuan Shao were both colonels. They saw each other day and night and their friendship grew stronger day by day.

But such a person was immediately executed by Yuan Shao. "Hang it at the camp gate to warn future generations." Yuan Shao issued a decision on the disposal of Chunyu Qiong's head.

At that moment, the culprit of the Wuchao attack, Chunyu Qiong, was executed, but Yuan Shao's chest was still surging with anger, and he could not calm down. Although Chunyu Qiong was killed, most of the grain stored in Wuchao was burned by Cao's army. What was supposed to happen had already happened, and the outcome was set.

"My dear, Wuchao was attacked and we are running out of food and grass. What do you think we should do?" Yuan Shao asked Tian Feng solemnly. However, without Tian Feng's answer, he knew what would happen next, which was to withdraw the troops.

Before the army moves, food and grass must go first. Without food and grass, even the most powerful army is just a bubble in the sun, disappearing in an instant. Now that the grain storage in Wuchao has been burned, there is not much food and grass left, and it may be too late to urge for food from the rear.

The only plan now is to lead the troops back north. Yuan Shao looked sad when he had this idea. Since the night before, a few strands of white hair had grown on his head out of nowhere, and his previously heroic demeanor now looked a little decadent.

Tian Feng was silent for a while, then replied: "Mingsir, Wuchao was attacked, the food and grass were burned, and the soldiers and horses were terrified. Now the army's morale is unstable. It is better to make a decision early and lead the army back north in order."

Ju Su echoed, "Mingsir, what the deputy driver said is very true. Now that we are running low on food and grass, if we stay here and eat up all the food, we will suffer endless disasters. We should lead the army back to the north and make a good plan later."

"My dear, is it only possible for us to lead the army back north?" Yuan Shao asked Tian Feng with a pleading tone, but there was more unwillingness in his tone. After all, he had led an army of 100,000 to the south, but returned without any achievement. How could he accept this?

"Only by returning north can we preserve our vitality. Otherwise, if we stay here, it will cause endless disasters." Tian Feng gave an affirmative answer.

Yuan Shao remained silent upon hearing this. He could not make up his mind for a moment. Tian Feng saw this and added fuel to the fire: "Mingsir, our army has been marching south for several months. Now our troops are old and tired, and our food supplies have been burned. If we do not want to retreat and stay here, let alone whether we can defeat Cao Mengde before the food and grass run out..."

"Let's talk about Liu Jiyu in Guanzhong. He is a man of deep thoughts and superior strategies. He is sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, intending to reap the benefits. Although there has been no movement in the past few months, Liu Jiyu will not sit idly by when there is such a good opportunity. He is sure that there will be movement in Guanzhong. It is possible that the troops in Guanzhong have already gathered and the army will march out of the pass."

After hearing the three words "Liu Jiyu", Yuan Shao finally nodded and said, "Retreat."

Just as Tian Feng said, this time the Hebei army marched south, Yuan Shao's original intention was to take over the Central Plains within a few months and not give Liu Zhang a chance to react. By then, even if Liu Zhang wanted to intervene, the Central Plains had already fallen into Yuan Shao's hands, and Liu Zhang would be powerless.

But the current development of the war was beyond Yuan Shao's expectations. On the one hand, the war was delayed for several months, and on the other hand, there was the sudden incident of Wuchao, which made Yuan Shao exhausted both physically and mentally. He had no choice but to withdraw his troops, recuperate, and then make good plans.

Although Yuan Shao decided to retreat, the 100,000-strong army did not rush north all at once. Otherwise, if there was any movement on the retreating route, a great defeat would be waiting for Yuan Shao. At that time, Cao's army would chase him closely. It is feared that only a few of the 100,000 troops in Hebei could cross the Yellow River and return to Jizhou.

Therefore, as the commander-in-chief of the army, Yuan Shao did not return north immediately. Instead, he divided the 100,000-strong army into three batches and sent troops back north one after another. He stayed in Guandu to fight with Cao's army and did the rear guard work.

As time went by, about 30,000 to 40,000 troops from Hebei returned north. The first batch of Yuan troops that withdrew left safely. When the second batch of Yuan troops left, Yuan Shao left Zhang He, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Feng Ji, Guo Tu and others to hold off Cao Cao at Guandu, and he followed the second batch of troops back north.

Cao's scouts had naturally discovered Yuan's army's departure, so Cao Cao also knew about it.

Taking advantage of the opportunity when the troops in Hebei were evacuating and the army's morale was unstable, Cao Cao deployed troops and set out to chase and kill Yuan's army. Although Yuan Shao left behind famous generals such as Zhang He, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou to cover the rear, the Yuan army was defeated under Cao Cao's offensive. For a time, the third batch of Yuan's troops returning north fell apart on the road.

In this battle, Cao Cao won a narrow victory and achieved considerable results.

"pity."

After defeating Yuan Shao and preserving the Central Plains, Cao Cao felt not happy but extremely regretful when he stood in the Yuan army camp at Guandu.

There was no other reason. Although he won the battle, Cao Cao was not very satisfied with the result. He intended to leave behind 100,000 Hebei troops here to seriously damage Hebei's vitality.

But although he won today, he only killed and captured more than 10,000 Yuan troops. For Hebei, there was no serious injury, only some scratches and a few drops of blood.

Such a result of the battle certainly could not satisfy Cao Cao.

"What a pity." Cao Cao sighed again. Even if most of the troops in Hebei were saved, he was afraid that after a few years of recuperation, they would lead another 100,000 troops south. He would have to experience today's battle again.

But, next time, can we defeat Yuan Jun as we did this time? Cao Cao asked himself this question, and he could not give a definite answer to this question.

Xu You can be said to be the first-class hero in this narrow victory over Yuan's army. Without Xu You's surrender, Cao Cao would have no way of knowing the confidential inside information such as Yuan's army's grain storage points, the generals defending Wuchao, and Yuan's army's flags and commands, and would have had no way of taking action.

However, will there be someone like Xu You who betrays his master next time?
After all, he was a man of strong character. After expressing regret in his heart for a few times, Cao Cao stopped complaining about himself. This was not his character. He would become stronger when facing a strong opponent and would not yield or bend. He was one of the most outstanding heroes in the world.

While ordering his men to clean up the battlefield and collect the spoils, Cao Cao looked west. He thought that the King of Qin must have made some moves. Or, rather, Guanzhong had already made some moves, but the journey was too long and the news had not been delivered to him yet.

There are still many disputes in the world! After a great battle, Cao Cao felt tired, but he knew that now was not the time to rest. He had to solve the problem at Guandu before solving other problems.

……

When Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were in a stalemate at Guandu for a long time, the originally peaceful Guanzhong began to operate quietly. Teams of soldiers were gathered, and officers were ready to fight. A big wave was about to be set off.

By early October, thirty or five days before Cao Cao's surprise attack on Wuchao, an army of 30,000 infantry and cavalry marched from Guanzhong toward Hedong, and another army of 20,000 infantry and cavalry marched toward Henan County.

The troops were divided into two groups, each with its own good plan. (End of this chapter)