Three Kingdoms: Wolong's brother-in-law, tricking Liu Bei into seizing Jingzhou

Cao Cao’s eyes can kill!
Guo Jia was trembling with fear, his face showing a mixture of guilt and self-blame.

He blamed himself from the bottom of his heart.

During the Battle of Weishui, Zhang Song attacked Pang De for secretly communicating with Liu Bei. Given Cao Cao's suspicious character, he almost captured Pang De on the spot.

It was he who dissuaded Cao Cao from his murderous intention in time on the grounds of considering the overall situation and not discouraging the soldiers of Xiliang.

He never expected that his advice would lead to such a disaster!

Pound actually rebelled!

At the most critical moment, he stabbed Cao Cao in the back.

A fatal blow.

If the granary was burned, the morale of the 90,000 soldiers would collapse in an instant, and Chang'an would fall without a fight. He would become the biggest sinner of the Qin State!

How could he be worthy of Cao Cao's trust in him, and how could he have the face to occupy the position of Qin's number one strategist?
"Your Majesty, I was wrong. I didn't expect Pang De to be so disloyal and unrighteous that he would actually betray the Qin Empire!"

"I am guilty, and I am willing to accept your Majesty's punishment!"

Guo Jia first blamed himself and pleaded guilty, then he bowed and said:

"But the current situation is urgent. It is not the time for Your Majesty to blame me. Your Majesty should quickly dispatch troops to rescue the granary. If Pang De really burns my granary, the whole thing will be over—"

Compared to Zhang Song who was busy taking advantage of the situation to overthrow Guo Jia, Guo Jia, the target of the attack, first thought of the overall situation of Cao Cao defending Chang'an.

Cao Cao suddenly realized what was happening, and without bothering to blame Guo Jia any more, he shouted:
"Xu Huang, you lead 10,000 soldiers to continue to defend the east gate. I will personally lead 5,000 soldiers to rescue the granary!"

"Also, immediately dispatch 5,000 soldiers from each of the two southwest gates to rush to the granary to quell the rebellion!"

"No matter what the cost, you must protect the granary for me!"

Cao Cao was forced into a corner and regardless of the tense situation at the East Gate and his limited military strength, he actually dispatched 5,000 troops to quell the rebellion.

Even half of the troops had to be withdrawn from the South Gate and the West Gate, without worrying about whether the Han army would take advantage of the situation to attack.

He even delegated the power of commanding the East Gate to Xu Huang, a military general from another family.

"Your Majesty, the enemy has an army of 80,000. It is already difficult for our army to fight with the current strength. If another 5,000 soldiers are withdrawn, I cannot guarantee that I can hold on!"

Xu Huang did not dare to accept the order and had to report the truth.

Cao Cao waved his hand and said sternly:
"You just need to hold out for half an hour. Within half an hour, I will chop off Pang De's head and return with him."

"If you lose the defense within half an hour, I will forgive you. If you lose the defense within half an hour, you will be beheaded!"

After saying this, Cao Cao pushed everyone away, jumped on his horse, and galloped towards the city.

Zhang Song glanced at Guo Jia and hurriedly followed Cao Cao out of the city.

Guo Jia stood stiffly where he was, watching Cao Cao's departing figure. He let out a long, bitter and helpless sigh, his brows filled with self-blame and regret.

Just as Cao Cao left the city and rode away with his army, thick smoke rose into the sky above the granary in the south city.

Guo Jia's heart skipped a beat and a thick layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

The fire in the direction of the granary meant that Pang De had defeated Xiahou Jie, seized control of the granary, and had started setting fire.

The burning of food and fodder was inevitable.

Next, they could only hope that Cao Hong and Cao Cao would arrive in time, defeat Pang De and his Xiliang rebels, regain control of the granary in time, and rescue as much food and grass as possible that had not been burned.

Even if they could snatch tens of thousands of hu, the 90,000-strong army would not run out of food that day and could still hold out for about ten days.

Ten days is enough time to urgently transfer a batch of food and fodder from Longxi to Chang'an for emergency relief, so as to stabilize the morale of the army and prevent it from collapsing.

"Your Majesty, hurry up, hurry up..."

Guo Jia muttered to himself and prayed secretly in his heart, his nerves were already tense to the extreme.

outside the city.

The Han army's central formation. "Your Majesty, there is a fire in the south of Chang'an. It's from the direction of the granary. Pang De and Jia Xu have taken action!"

Zhao Yun pointed his Longdan spear at the southern city wall of Chang'an and shouted excitedly.

Liu Bei looked south and saw thick smoke rising above the south city, indicating that a huge fire was raging.

The Qin State granary is just south of the city. With such thick smoke, what else could it be but a burning granary?

"Heaven wants Cao Cao to die!"

Liu Bei was greatly encouraged and pointed his whip forward:
"Pass the order down. The three armies must obey orders and continue to attack Chang'an City fiercely and defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop!"

"Today, I will conquer Chang'an!"

The drums of war sounded again.

The Han army rushed towards the east gate wall like a tide, wave after wave, and the attack became more fierce.

And in the city of Chang'an.

Cao Cao was riding his horse at full speed, leading his troops to the south city in a hurry.

Before they had walked a hundred steps, thick smoke rose above the south city, indicating that the Western Liang army had captured the granary.

"Damn it, that idiot Xiahou Jie, did he lose the granary so quickly?"

Cao Cao was so angry that he gritted his teeth and cursed, and had to urge his soldiers to run away regardless of the consequences.

"Your Majesty, don't panic. The granary contains hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain and there are hundreds of granaries alone. How can they all be burned down in a short time?"

"I believe that General Wei is currently leading his troops in a fierce battle with Pang De's rebels. He has more soldiers than the rebels, and he may have defeated Pang De, recaptured the granary, and is currently putting out the fire."

"Even if we can't put out the fire in the granary, we should be able to rescue at least 70,000 to 80,000 bushels of grain, so our army won't run out of food that day and their morale won't collapse."

"We can stabilize the morale of the army and hold out until the new grain arrives in Chang'an!"

Zhang Song beside him gasped and comforted Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's anxious mood was slightly relieved, and he nodded repeatedly:
"You're right. Zi Lian should have wiped out the rebels. There's still hope. There's still hope—"

Before he could finish his words, teams of defeated soldiers in front of him collapsed from the direction of the south city like stray dogs.

Cao Cao's face changed suddenly. He reined in his horse and looked at the fleeing soldiers in astonishment.

These troops are clearly reserve troops and should be under the control of Cao Hong, who are currently attacking the rebels.

But they returned in defeat?

Is it possible…

Cao Cao shuddered, his hand tripped, and the horsewhip fell out of his hand and fell to the ground.

Zhang Song, who was standing by, was also confused and panicked when he saw this, and didn't know what to do.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty——"

A general came crying, dismounted from his horse, and knelt in front of Cao Cao's horse.

It’s the reserve general Lu Qian!
"What's going on? Where is Cao Hong? What's going on with the granary?"

Cao Cao's face was ferocious, and he shouted at Lu Qian almost like a roar.

Lü Qian had a sad face, knelt on the ground, and cried:
"Your Majesty, when General Wei led us to the granary, it was too late. Xiahou Jie was killed by Pang De, and the Xiliang army had already set fire to the granary."

"General Wei led us to fight desperately to kill the Xiliang army, in order to recapture the granary and rescue some food and grass."

"Who would have thought that at the critical moment, Liu Ye, Jia Xu and other rebels led their private soldiers to attack us, attacking us from both sides and defeating us."

"Our army was routed, and General Wei was killed by Pang De!"

Cao Cao froze. (End of this chapter)