Super Cultivation System of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 621: Cao-Yuan War
Xi Zhong shook his head slightly, "No, Liu He must be eliminated as soon as possible. This man is extraordinary in knowledge, courage, and heart. If he continues to be in office, within three to five years, the northern states and counties will have no place to stay and will have no choice but to surrender. If we kill him now, there is still hope. Otherwise, the fate of the world will be uncertain."

"Aren't you contradicting yourself?" Xiahou Yuan shouted rudely.

"Hey, Miaocai, don't interrupt Zhicai." Cao Cao said, and although Xiahou Yuan was unwilling, he had to retreat.

Xi Zhong paused for a moment, then continued to explain: "Our army will show weakness to Yuan Shu, but the opposite to Liu He."

Cao Cao raised his eyebrows and asked: "How is it the opposite?"

"After taking Luoyang, Liu He will lead his army to take over. There will be military sentries stationed outside the city, soldiers lined up on the city walls, and the city will be in good order. After ambushing and killing Liu He, Cheng Liang, Zhu Ye and others may act rashly, while Zhang Yong, Gao Shun and others will think that Luoyang City is well defended and difficult to capture, so they will retreat to Henei and take their time. If this is the case, our army will have time to absorb Yuan Shu and Yuzhou's troops one by one. Otherwise, with our current strength alone, it will be absolutely difficult to resist the strong attack of Bingzhou's army."

Cao Cao nodded unconsciously, "Zhicai is right, it should be so. Therefore, our army must not fight Yuan Shu head-on, otherwise both sides will suffer losses, and our strength will be reduced to one tenth. Liu He and others will certainly treat us as nothing and we will be vulnerable. Therefore, once Liu He dies, Guan Yu and others will definitely lead their troops to attack. When his army of hundreds of thousands surrounds us, I am afraid that we will not be able to escape even if we have wings."

"My Lord, that is exactly what happened. Moreover, by quickly destroying Yuan Shu at a very low cost, we can show him that our army is quite capable and that we are also demonstrating our strength."

"In addition, this matter must be started immediately. Wenhe and the lord had calculated when they were making the plan. After the Yellow River flood, Liu He would definitely be short of food. Now he has fought many battles with Yuan Shao and consumed a lot of food. Even if he got the Jizhou granary, I don't think it would last too long. So we should launch the plan now, occupy Luoyang, and kill Liu He. Even if Guan Yu and others are impulsive and try to attack our army, our army still has a chance of winning because of the lack of food and grass in the rear. If we delay, I'm afraid we won't have such an advantage. And after the victory, there is no need to go to Jinyang to report the victory immediately. We can delay for three or four days, and after our army has surrendered Yuan Shu's troops and arranged the city properly, we can send Liu He to come, which will increase our chances of winning by three points."

"So that's how it is. I understand. I understand." Xiahou Yuan suddenly realized.

Cao Cao asked, "In your opinion, what is the fastest way to capture Luoyang?"

Xi Zhong said without hesitation: "Just as the lord said, Yuan Shu is now arrogant and does not take our army seriously at all. He must be eager to wipe out our army, so as to occupy Yu and Yan provinces and Luoyang City, increase his strength, and then fight a decisive battle with Liu He to fight for the world. Our army can take advantage of this mentality..."

On this day, Liu He was personally training his troops in the military camp.

Since the battle of Jizhou, the army has been expanded. Now, there are Gao Shun's 30,000 Han Wu soldiers, Zhang Yong's 30,000 Golden Sword Camp, Ye Xiang's 20,000 Shenji Camp, Guan Yu's 20,000 Purple Gold Dragon Cavalry, Zhao Yun's 10,000 Flying Feather Cavalry, Zhu Ye's 500 Thunder God Cavalry, Cheng Liang's 100 Divine Tiger Cavalry. Apart from these, the rest are ordinary troops. Although they are still elite, they are still far behind those powerful armies.

However, his financial resources were limited after all, and he could not afford to support too many soldiers like the Han Wuzu. The expenses of these troops, including weapons, armor, and even food, were much higher than those of ordinary armies. Just these tens of thousands of elite and powerful special forces would cost him more than 1 billion gold and millions of food a year. If he expanded the scale further, he would probably go bankrupt.

Therefore, the only way to continue to improve combat effectiveness is to strictly train the remaining hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers. After all, they are the majority of the troops under his command.

While he was practicing, two pigeons flew over and landed on the ground not far from Liu He.

"Oh? There are actually two carrier pigeons. Is there any news from Luoyang?

Liu He was not too concerned about the news about Guan Yu and the others. It was not that he did not care, but because the result was already very obvious. Even if there was no news, he could have guessed it. In comparison, he was more eager to know the movements of Yuan Shu and Cao Cao in Luoyang.

He unfolded the two letters and found that the letter from Jizhou was just as he expected. Guan Yu and others had settled all the cities in Jizhou, and the court's notice of tax exemption for one year had also been posted. Now everyone was happy. Occasionally, there were a few people who took advantage of their power to bully others, but they were brought to justice by Guan Yu and others. Soon, the people of Jizhou applauded the court.

As for the letter from Luoyang, Liu He frowned.

"Go, go home."

Liu He handed over the training to others, rode his own horse named Baiyu Qianlizhui, and hurried back to the general's mansion. Xun Yu and others saw him hurriedly coming back and hurriedly asked: "My lord, what happened?"

Liu He handed the letter to Cui Jun: "Take a look."

The three of them gathered together, and after reading it, their expressions changed.

"It was said not long ago that there would be no major war in Luoyang, but I didn't expect it to start now?"

Liu He said in a deep voice: "I knew Cao Cao's character. If things have come to this point, how could he just sit there and watch without taking any action?"

Cui Jun pondered, "It seems that he has been deliberately showing weakness to Yuan Shu for the past few months, making Yuan Shu complacent and careless, hoping to kill him with one strike today."

"That must be the case," Xun You also said, "He deliberately attacked Luoyang, pretended to be defeated, and pretended to evacuate from Hulao Pass. With Yuan Shu's character, how could he not chase him?"

Cui Jun looked disdainful: "Such an obvious ambush could only be set by a fool like Yuan Shu. It's a pity that his army of tens of thousands was almost wiped out overnight, and most of the troops surrendered to Cao Cao. If Ji Ling hadn't led his personal guards to break through at the risk of their lives, I'm afraid Yuan Shu would have followed his brother to the underworld."

Xun Yu looked at the letter again and again: "It's not just that. Cao Cao launched an offensive at this time. I'm afraid he has other intentions besides Yuan Shu."

Liu He looked at him: "What does Wen Ruo mean? Is he coming for me?"

Xun Yu nodded confidently: "My lord has mentioned to us more than once that Cao Cao is ambitious and broad-minded, far beyond the reach of the two Yuans, Gongsun Zan, Liu Biao and others. My lord also believes that from the Luoyang Rebellion to the Yellow River Flood, they were all planned by this man, and even Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were just his banners."

Liu He said solemnly: "Well, I am absolutely sure about this matter."

"That's it." Xun Yu did not inquire into why Liu He knew such a secret, but went straight to the point.

"A person who acts so cruelly, plots so carefully, and has such a long-term vision, goes to such great lengths to hide his power, is it just for a mere Luoyang City?"

"Uncle, you hit the nail on the head. You also thought so."

Xun You took over the conversation and said, "Seventy percent of the people in Luoyang have been relocated by our army, and many of the remaining people have fled the city due to months of fighting. Now Luoyang is an empty city, and it is not far from the truth. If the city is still as prosperous as it was in the past, and the emperor is in charge, it would be understandable for him to go to such lengths to capture it. He is just threatening the emperor to control the princes. But is an empty city worth his efforts?"

Liu He's heart tightened after hearing what they said: "If he came for me, what kind of trap will be behind it?"

To be honest, there are so many heroes in the history of the Three Kingdoms, but there are only a few who can really make Liu He nervous when facing enemies. And Cao Cao, the Emperor Wu of Wei in the original history, is obviously one of the best among them.

When I learned from the system that it was Cao Cao and Jia Xu who arranged this series of strategies, although I and Xun Yu and others secretly broke it in the end, what if I didn't have this reminder from the system? There is no doubt that I would have fallen into their scheme and fought to the death with Yuan Shu in Luoyang, and Cao Cao would have benefited in the end. Even if I didn't perish, I would have lost soldiers and generals, and my strength would have been greatly reduced. After that, not only would I not be able to take revenge, but I would also have to face Yuan Shao's fierce attack, and my life and death would really be uncertain.

Cao Cao was so scheming and resourceful, and he kept targeting him, which made Liu He inevitably feel a headache.

(End of this chapter)