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

Chang'an City, Imperial Palace.

On the imperial desk in the Golden Palace, a battle report that Zhang He had just delivered was already placed on the desk.

Also displayed was a map of the layout of the enemy and our side in Jieting.

"This thief Cao Xiu is the best among the younger generation of the Cao family. He is known as the Cao family's talent. I heard that he is a very talented general."

"I didn't expect this bandit to abandon the city and go up the mountain, trapping himself on the lonely mountain, making it easy for Zhang He and Ma Su to cut off their access to water."

"Now it seems that this person is just a name with empty reputation and is just talking big on paper."

Liu Bei pointed at the map and saw through the fatal flaw of the Qin army at a glance.

Zhang He's 800-li battle report detailed how the 7,000 Qin troops abandoned Jieting City and moved their camp to the mountains, as well as his tactics of surrounding the mountain with 30,000 soldiers and horses to cut off the enemy's water supply.

From Liu Bei to Huang Zhong and Ma Chao, all the generals on the field were "veterans" who had been on the battlefield for a long time. Naturally, they could see the flaws of the Qin army at a glance.

All the ministers nodded in agreement, and the atmosphere became relaxed and optimistic.

"It seems that within three days at most, the Qin army will be exhausted and thirsty and will be forced to come down the mountain to fight."

"Our army has 30,000 troops, four times the number of Cao Xiu's troops. It will be easy to annihilate them in one fell swoop."

"Your Majesty should receive the victory report of the recovery of Jieting in four days at most."

Ma Chao's optimistic prediction was recognized by most people.

Xiao Fang did not make any statement. He gently waved his feather fan and stared at the layout diagram in silence.

He is very strange.

In history, Ma Su abandoned the city and went up the mountain. Eventually, the water supply was cut off, which led to the collapse of the entire army and the loss of Jieting.

Why did Cao Xiu make the same choice?

If we say that Ma Su back then was incompetent, it would be because he had been a strategist for many years and lacked actual experience in commanding troops.

Although Cao Xiu was young, he was considered a veteran among the Cao family's children and it was impossible for him to lack practical experience.

Then why did he make the same stupid mistake and take the same path as Ma Su did?

"Unless they have the same difficulties and have to make the same seemingly 'stupid' choice!"

Such speculation flashed through Xiao Fang's mind.

Seeing Xiao Fang remained silent, Liu Bei asked:

"Prime Minister, do you think that Zhang He and Ma Su's tactics against the enemy are inappropriate?"

Xiao Fang did not answer. After a moment's silence, he suddenly understood and couldn't help but smile.

Liu Bei looked suspicious.

All the ministers looked bewildered and looked at their prime minister who suddenly burst into laughter.

"Your Majesty, Zhang He and his men are right in their tactics against the enemy."

Xiao Fang changed the subject and said:

"However, they can cut off Cao Xiu's visible water source, but they cannot cut off his hidden water source. I am afraid they will force Cao Xiu to go down the mountain and die."

This statement came out.

Everyone in the Golden Palace was stunned, all of them were completely confused.

"Dark...dark water source? I don't quite understand what the Prime Minister means."

Liu Bei looked dazed and confused.

Everyone looked at Xiao Fang with curiosity.

"Cao Xiu has been in battle for a long time, and he is definitely not a paper strategist with a vain reputation. He naturally knows that if we rashly set up camp on Nanping Mountain, our army will cut off the water supply from the Longshui River on the north slope."

"Knowing the risks, he still dared to make this choice, which means he must be fearless and not afraid of having his water supply cut off."

"From this, I would like to make a bold guess. In addition to the obvious source of Longshui in front of the north slope, Cao Xiu must have another hidden source of water that he could secretly draw water from without our army noticing."

"That's why he dared to violate the art of war and station his entire division on the isolated mountain of Nanping Mountain!" Xiao Fang pointed at the point on the map with his feather fan and revealed the mystery.

At this moment, he also understood why Ma Su made the mistake of "talking about war on paper" in history and left Jieting City to defend Nanping Mountain.

The city of Jieting was breached, and the Wei army came too quickly. There was no time to build and reinforce the city in a hurry. How could they withstand the fierce attack of the Wei army that was several times their number?

Unable to defend Jieting City, they had to find another way and choose to move their troops to Nanping Mountain and defend themselves by taking advantage of the mountain.

Nanping Mountain is isolated on the plain, with only one side leading to the bottom of the mountain, and the other three sides are cliffs, making it a truly isolated mountain.

Once you go up the mountain, it is like going to a desperate place, and the water supply will definitely be cut off.

Knowing the risk, Ma Su still chose to move his troops to a remote place. The only reasonable explanation is that there is a second hidden water source in Nanping Mountain.

As for the defeat later on, it was probably because Zhang He discovered the hidden water source and cut it off, which led to the collapse of the army's morale.

This only shows that Zhang He is very powerful, but it cannot prove that Ma Su is stupid and has a false reputation.

Moreover, Zhuge Liang executed Ma Su later not because Ma Su disobeyed his military orders and set up camp on the mountain, which led to the loss of Jieting.

The reason why the brother-in-law executed Ma Su was that after the defeat, Ma Su abandoned his army and fled back alone.

"Your Excellency, what you said makes sense. I have been in contact with Cao Xiu for a long time. Although he cannot be called a famous general, his military talent is at least above average in the contemporary world."

"I don't quite believe that he would make such a bad mistake. As the Prime Minister inferred, there must be a second water source on Nanping Mountain."

Liu Ye also stood up and agreed with Xiao Fang's judgment.

After all, he had been a minister of the Qin State and was an old acquaintance of Cao Xiu, so he naturally had the most say in his abilities.

"I remember now. Jieting is backed by Longshan Mountain, which is a place with many springs. Jieting is also called Jiequanting, so there must be springs there."

Ma Chao, a native of Xiliang, also recalled the old days at this moment.

There was a sudden burst of discussion in the hall.

"That's it, that's it."

"The Prime Minister is far away in Chang'an, but he was able to figure out that a small mountain like Nanping has a hidden spring!"

"The Prime Minister is still my wise and wise Prime Minister who knows everything about the world."

Liu Bei suddenly realized and sighed, but suddenly frowned:
"If that's the case, then wouldn't Zhang He and his men's siege tactics be ineffective?"

"Cao Cao must have led his entire army to rescue Jieting. If they cannot quickly defeat Cao Xiu and capture Jieting, won't they be attacked from both sides?"

All the ministers were reminded and suddenly became nervous.

Xiao Fang, however, looked relaxed and smiled faintly:
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. You should have confidence in Zhang He and Ma Su."

"I dare to assert that, with their intelligence and talent, Cao Xiu's little trick will definitely not be hidden from their eyes."

"Your Majesty, just rest assured and wait for their victory news."

Liu Bei was stunned at first, but then he realized and smiled with relief.

...

Jieting, on Nanping Mountain, Qinying.

Inside the big tent, there were sounds of water and singing.

Cao Xiu was humming an off-tune tune while taking a nice hot bath, occasionally taking a sip from his wine glass, feeling so comfortable.

"Zhang He, Ma Su, you two thought you had cut off my water supply, but you never expected that I would dare to be so 'extravagant', haha——"

Thinking about getting out quickly, Cao Xiu felt even happier and couldn't help but let out a sarcastic sneer.

"General, General, something terrible is happening!"

The guards stumbled into the tent, knelt down and shouted:
"A huge fire broke out in our camp at the foot of the mountain, and our hidden spring water source was cut off by the Han army!"

The laughter stopped abruptly and the wine glass in his hand fell into the water.

Cao Xiu froze in the bathtub. (End of this chapter)