A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"What's the matter that you're in such a panic?"

Yuan Shao was disturbed from his sleep and was a bit grumpy when he woke up, but he also knew that Shen Pei would never have acted so rudely unless it was something extremely urgent.

"The sky in the direction of Wuchao is completely crimson. In my judgment, the entire Wuchao must have been set ablaze to produce this scene!"

"Crow's Nest?"

"The Crow's Nest?!"

Yuan Shao shouted, "My provisions!"

"Can this be confirmed?"

Just as Shen Pei was about to answer, Feng Ji and Guo Tu walked in. At this moment, they no longer cared about vying for power.

"My lord, we just received news from the remnants of the Wuchao army. They were attacked by Cao Cao's forces at night, and the entire Wuchao is engulfed in flames. General Chunyu Yue has sent them here immediately to request reinforcements!"

"You bastard, you piece of trash!"

"If that piece of trash appeared before me right now, I'd gladly draw my sword and chop him to pieces!"

Yuan Shao, dressed in his pajamas, paced back and forth in his tent, cursing loudly.

He hurriedly ran to the outside of the camp, looked at the crimson sky, and began to hurl insults at Cao Cao.

"It's over! My million-strong army's food supply has been destroyed!"

"Father, Cao Cao can't have gone far. Let's hurry and support Wuchao! We're sure we can salvage a lot of grain!"

Yuan Shang stepped forward and spoke.

"Father, Wuchao contains most of our army's provisions. If all of Wuchao's provisions are burned, our army will likely have less than seven days' worth of provisions left!"

"The nest of crows is still more than ten miles away, yet it is already ablaze with flames reaching the sky; how could human power possibly extinguish it!"

"Without supplies, the army cannot hold out for long! We should lead our troops into battle and fight Cao Cao to the death!"

Yuan Tan retorted that the fire on the horizon was impossible to extinguish and could only be allowed to burn itself out.

Yuan Shao's eyes flickered slightly; he felt that Yuan Tan's words made sense.

Moreover, Wuchao was defended by 200,000 troops. If Cao Cao's army wanted to surround Wuchao and burn it before the news spread, it would require at least a million men.

Even if those 20 defenders just stood there and let themselves be hacked down, it would take them several hours to kill them.

If we seize this opportunity to break through Cao Cao's camp, wouldn't we have enough supplies?!

Moreover, Cao Cao's army will surely suffer a major blow to morale if they lose their main camp, and without food and supplies, they will undoubtedly be defeated!

Yuan Shao shared his analysis with his generals, who also found it reasonable.

Shen Pei frowned slightly, but did not notice any loopholes. With 20 troops defending the city, the Qi army would need a lot of manpower to break through easily.

Out of caution and a bad feeling, he still advised:

"My lord, Cao Cao's cunning is known throughout the land. Should we reconsider this matter?"

However, Yuan Shao's patience with Shen Pei had run out, and he was no longer willing to listen to Shen Pei.

He entrusted the entire army to Shen Pei's command, but the result has been devastating losses, with all the supplies burned to the ground.

"No need for further explanation!"

"Immediately issue the order to abandon Wuchao, mobilize troops, and personally lead them in a surprise attack on the enemy camp!"

"Yes, sir!"

By the time the Jin army arrived at the Qi army camp, it was already dawn.

In the dim light of dawn, Yuan Shao could clearly see the emptiness of Cao Cao's camp.

There was little smoke from cooking fires and few people around.

Yuan Shao smiled; just as he had expected.

He still mistakenly trusted Shen Pei. If he had been put in charge of the army from the beginning, they might have defeated Cao Cao by now.

"All troops, follow me and charge! Capture the Qi army's camp!"

Yuan Shao drew his sword and charged ahead of the Qi army camp.

"The Jin army is here!"

The Qi soldiers stationed there shouted, but how could their small numbers possibly stop the million-strong Jin army personally led by Yuan Shao?

They were easily broken into!

When most of the Jin army stormed into the Qi army camp, Yuan Shao found that the tents were empty, filled only with scarecrows.

At this moment, a large number of Qi soldiers emerged from all around the camp, each carrying a fire arrow.

"Yuan Shao, you've fallen into our trap! Dismount and face your death!"

Huang Zhong's booming voice rang out, and Yuan Shao reined in his horse and turned around, "The Qi army has laid an ambush! Quickly issue the order to retreat! Retreat immediately!"

Huang Zhong laughed heartily and nocked an arrow from his bow.

"Brothers, fire the arrows!"

Countless rockets, like stars in the sky, fell into the Qi army camp, igniting the flammable materials they had buried.

The Qi army camp was also engulfed in flames, and countless arrows fell into the Jin army, throwing them into chaos.

Although the Qi army's camp was large, it would still be extremely crowded to gather a million men together and turn the army around.

Flames erupted, arrows rained down, men and horses clashed, and chaos ensued.

Of those who manage to break through, only 1 out of 10 survives.

After Yuan Shao charged out, he spent a lot of time before finally arriving at the walls of Guandu.

"wrong!"

Shen Pei stepped forward again to stop it.

"My lord, after Cao Cao burned Wuchao, he set a trap in the main camp. The Qi army did not return to the main camp. Where did they go?"

"Our army's Guandu camp!"

"Doesn't my lord find the guards at this camp somewhat unusual?"

"Under normal circumstances, someone should have already come out of the city to greet us!"

Shen Pei's words alerted Yuan Shao. He squinted at the soldiers guarding the Guandu camp, only to find that they were all unfamiliar faces.

At this moment, a remnant of the army arrived from the side. Yuan Shao recognized him as Gao Gan, the nephew he had ordered to stay behind at the main camp.

"Your Majesty, Cao Cao has launched a surprise attack on our camp! The soldiers from Wuchao who came to report the attack were actually Cao Cao's soldiers in disguise. They have captured our camp through an inside-outside attack!"

"What?!"

Yuan Shao stared at the camp before him, and a mouthful of blood gushed out.

Seeing that the plan to lure Yuan Shao in had failed, Cao Cao ordered his men to change the flags and step forward.

The Jin army flags on the city walls were all replaced with Qi army flags, and Yuan Shao felt a chill in his heart.

"Brother Benchu, how have you been?"

Cao Cao stood on the city wall and spoke to Yuan Shao below.

"Cao Cao, I will kill you!"

Yuan Shao shouted vehemently, his voice like the mournful cry of a cuckoo.

"Brother Benchu, my head is right here, waiting for you to take it."

Cao Cao stretched his neck and used his hand as a knife to slash at it.

Yuan Shao was so enraged that his three spirits were pounding wildly, and his anger was so intense that it almost consumed his reason.

"Charge forward, retake the camp, and kill Cao Cao!"

Enraged, Yuan Shao immediately gave the order, but Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, Yuan Shang, Shen Pei, and others around him quickly tried to stop him.

"My lord, let's return to Ji Province immediately! We still have Ji Province!"

"Brother Wei is still in Ji Province. With the land of Hebei and the vast grasslands, we will surely rise again and regain our strength. At that time, we will definitely use Cao Cao as a sacrifice to our banner!"

Shen Pei's words jolted Yuan Shao awake, "I regret not bringing Wei Wu along, or this will happen!"

Yuan Shao said with heartache.

Wei Wu originally wanted to join the army, but Yuan Shao felt he had the upper hand and that such a large rear area needed a trustworthy person to guard it.

He trusted no one but Wei Wu.

Therefore, Wei Wu was not allowed to accompany the army, which led to today's great defeat.

"If Wei Wushang were still alive, how could we have suffered this defeat!"

"If Ju Yi were still alive, how could we have suffered such a devastating defeat!"

"Heaven will favor Cao Cao, not Yuan Shao!"

"We're retreating to Jizhou!"

Yuan Shao gave Cao Cao a deep look before leading his army in retreat.

"He actually managed to hold back."

Cao Cao chuckled, "I hope you like the gift."