Chapter 136: Military Strategy Master, Surprise Attack [Subscribe]

The next day at noon, Cao Cao arrived at Changyuan County, Dongjun.

Zhang Miao followed beside him.

What surprised him was that Zhang Liao, who was thought to be stationed in Qiao County, Yuzhou and serving as the commander of Cao's army, also came to Dongjun.

The troops of Cao's army seemed to be gathering in Dongjun.

Zhang Miao followed Cao Cao and saw that the number of Cao's troops was at least close to 30,000.

In addition to the more than one thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry who followed Zhao Yun to fight, the remaining two thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry also gathered in Changyuan.

In other words, Yuzhou was empty at this time, and all the troops in Cao's camp were withdrawn to fight the current battle.

Zhang Miao was in the central army's tent and asked Cao Cao:

"Meng De, did you transfer the troops led by Zhang Liao from Qiao County to Kuangting?

This is too dangerous. If Yuan Shu's men attack Qiao County, not only will your newly acquired Yuzhou be unstable, but your family will also be in danger."

"He won't have the chance to attack Yuzhou." Cao Cao said calmly.

Yuan Shu's current troops and power are stronger than those of other princes.

If Cao Cao wanted to defeat him and at the same time declare war on Xuzhou, he had to concentrate all his efforts and mobilize troops to achieve the expected results.

"Wenhe, let's get started. Start with Kuangting and defeat Yuan Shu's main force!"

Jia Xu agreed and someone went down to pass on the order.

Changheng County.

After sunset, Liu Xiang, a general under Yuan Shu, personally inspected the food and military preparations.

At noon, he was secretly surprised to find that Cao's army suddenly appeared and besieged Kuang Ting.

Cao's army came too fast.

They had only been in Kuangting for one day when they reported to the various counties in Yanzhou, accusing Cao Cao of having come to power in an illegitimate manner.

The next day, Cao's army arrived at Kuangting and surrounded it with heavy troops.

To mobilize tens of thousands of troops, one day was not enough time to prepare food and fodder.

But Cao's army appeared before their eyes and surrounded Changyuan County.

The speed of the process was different from what Yuan Shu and Liu Xiang had predicted.

This shows that Cao Cao had deployed his troops in advance, otherwise he would not have been able to react so quickly.

As soon as Liu Xiang's army closed the Changyuan city gate, Cao's army completed the siege outside the city in the blink of an eye.

Liu Xian was somewhat thankful that he had made adequate preparations before the war. The food he brought with him, plus the food stored in Changyuan County, could barely sustain him for half a month.

This time is enough for Yuan Shu's follow-up troops to come up and support him.

By then, we can defeat Cao's army by attacking from both inside and outside.

"…Cao's army is still gathering towards Changyuan. At present, there are at least 30,000 soldiers. Cao Cao is using all his strength."

Through the precious bamboo slips, Liu Xian reported the changes in Changyuan to Yuan Shu in a timely manner.

Yuan Shu, who was stationed at Fengqiu, sneered, "Cao Aman must have withdrawn a certain group of troops to implement a false and real strategy.

If he has more troops in Changyuan, the other route will be empty. No matter how hard he struggles, he is doomed to fail..."

Liu Xian looked at the handwriting sent back by Yuan Shu in his hand, and the message card was immediately broken into pieces and could no longer be used.

It’s a pity for Liu Xiang.

He only had three messages in total, and he used one.

Boom boom boom!
Suddenly, the sound of war drums was heard outside the city.

Liu Xiang was surprised and thought: Cao’s army is going to attack the city overnight?

He walked out of the official inn in the county, climbed to the top of the city wall, and looked out.

Ji Jun, an official from Changyuan County, also came.

He has a pale face and no beard, and is middle-aged.

The two of them looked out of the city side by side.

Cao's army was powerful, with tens of thousands of cavalry and infantry lined up outside the city, equipped with all kinds of siege equipment.

"It seems that there are more Cao troops than at noon." Ji Jun's face turned a little pale.

Liu Xiang is an ordinary man, but with a stocky build, and is wearing armor:
"Cao Cao dispatched so many troops, and among the three routes of troops in Yuzhou, Qingzhou, and Xuzhou, one of them must be a fake one.

I have passed the news to General Yuan, and the general will soon find out what Cao Mengde is up to.

As long as we seize the direction of his false troops and attack fiercely, Cao Mengde will soon be defeated and he will definitely lose this battle."

"It is said that Cao Mengde is good at using troops and is cunning and resourceful. I don't think so. He is too impatient."

After Liu Xiang and Yuan Shu heard the news, they calmed down and remained calm.

"He has to hurry, otherwise we will inform all the counties that he came to power illegitimately. If we delay any further, I'm afraid there will be more accidents."

Ji Jun said: "The entire Yanzhou, and even the world, are paying attention to this battle. If Cao Cao loses the first battle, more people from the Yanzhou nobles will oppose him, and he will be in a desperate situation!"

"That's right. I just need to stay in the city and see what he can do to me."

"Within three to five days, the general and I will cooperate and Cao Cao will be defeated!"

Boom boom boom!
War drums were beating outside the city.

What Liu Xiang didn't know was that someone in the city heard the drum beats and got the signal to take action.

Li Liang, a minor official who was guarding the Changyuan granary, threw a tinderbox into the grain pile while inspecting the granary calmly.

After more than ten breaths, flames burst out from this grain stack and the fire quickly spread to the surrounding grain stacks.

Ten more breaths later, flames shot up into the sky.

The fact that the fire spread so quickly indicated that kerosene had seeped into the grain stack beforehand.

Li Liang was only responsible for starting the fire. He didn't know who came here first and when the grain was soaked with kerosene.

When kerosene seeps in, it cannot be seen from the outside and no abnormality can be smelled, so people cannot discover it in advance.

It is not easy to do this.

Perhaps before yesterday, kerosene had seeped into these grain stacks... Li Liang guessed.

After all, Liu Xian led his troops into the city yesterday and immediately took over the food supplies and guarded them at every level.

It would be impossible to do it after yesterday.

If the kerosene had been buried before yesterday, someone would have needed to have determined in advance that this place would be taken over by Yuan Shu's men and made arrangements in advance.

This seems even more incredible.

Whether it was before yesterday or after yesterday, there were always things that Li Liang couldn't understand.

He simply didn't think too much about it and just focused on completing his part.

After he set the fire, people in the city ran around in chaos, busy trying to put out the fire.

Li Liang escaped and came to a courtyard in the city.

Here he saw an old woman with a thin and hunched figure.

No one could tell from this old woman that she was Bian Qingyu, one of the three famous beauties.

Cao Cao was responsible for predicting Yuan Shu's combat intentions.

Bian Qingyu's Qingbi Li ambushed secretly and went to the granary in the city in advance and infiltrated kerosene.

Light it tonight and cause food shortage in the city.

Outside the city, Cao's army was besieging it.

When Liu Xiang received the news that the grain supplies had been burned, he felt dizzy.

The food supplies in the city were burned, which meant that they only had the marching rations they carried with them, which could only last for three or four days at most. Outside the city, Cao's army had taken advantage of the situation and launched a siege.

Liu Xiang quickly informed Yuan Shu of the news again through a brief message.

Fengqiu Camp.

Yuan Shu had more than 50,000 elite troops stationed here.

Yuan Shu personally took charge of the army.

He was also shocked when he received the news that the grain and grass in Changyuan County had been burned.

Liu Xiang served as the vanguard and led his troops to Kuangting.

It's actually a bait.

Yuan Shu's goal was to lure Cao Cao to attack, and then he would move forward from Fengqiu and cooperate with Liu Xiang to swallow up Cao Cao's troops.

This is a tactic to lure the snake out of its hole.

But he didn't expect Cao Cao to come so quickly and besiege Changyuan County in one day.

The grain in the county town was burned again.

Yuan Shu summoned all his generals to discuss the matter and decided to send troops to reinforce Liu Xiang in order to defeat Cao's army.

Yuan Shu originally intended to lure Cao Cao's troops here, and this did not conflict with his original plan at this moment.

The next day, Yuan Shu's troops in Fengqiu left the camp and headed towards Kuangting, preparing to assist Liu Xian.

Fengqiu is southwest of Kuangting, and the two places are less than a hundred miles apart.

Yuan Shu personally led an army of nearly 30,000, with scouts sent out in all directions to explore the road conditions and advance towards Changyuan.

The army was huge, with a mixture of cavalry and infantry.

We set out early in the morning and by the afternoon we were nearly halfway through the journey.

Through investigation, Yuan Shu learned that Cao's army had attacked the city several times since last night and had been fighting with Liu Xiang's troops.

In the center of the army, Yuan Shu, protected by soldiers, held a classic book in his hand.

It was the Book of Changes that the Yuan family had studied for generations that had been blessed by the Yuan family's ancestors, three officials in four generations, who had helped to bless their fortunes generation after generation.

Every direct descendant of the Yuan family can, with the help of their practice of the Book of Changes, borrow power from the original bamboo slips of the Book of Changes in the clan, which can be used as military strategies when commanding troops, or as cultural power when reading.

During the march, Yuan Shu picked up a ray of military aura from his advisers and soldiers, sent it into the Book of Changes, and then drew it to bless himself while observing the areas along the march.

With the blessing of the Book of Changes, Yuan Shu mastered the military tactics of observing the enemy without any study, and was able to see through all concealments and ambushes.

But he didn't notice anything unusual along the way.

The connection with Liu Xiang also proves that Cao's army was fighting a siege outside Changyuan County.

Yuan Shu knew that Cao Cao was good at using strategies and was afraid of being ambushed, so he was very cautious.

At this time, Yuan's troops were marching quickly along the official road, with smoke and dust rising everywhere.

However, neither the scouts nor Yuan Shu's method of observing the enemy could discover that Cao Cao and Zhang Liao, with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry and the elite troops of Bingzhou, were lying in ambush behind the rolling hills two or three miles away under the cover of military tactics.

[You activate the military strategy that combines Concealing the Heaven and Crossing the Sea and Secretly Crossing Chencang, extract the attributes of Concealing the Heaven and Secretly Crossing. Your military strategy blends with the heaven and earth, making the ambush you are about to launch unknown.]

[Yuan Shu used the ancient scroll of the Yuan family's Book of Changes to strengthen himself, but you still managed to deceive him]

Behind the hill, there was a thin mist around Cao Cao and his companions, blending with the luck of heaven and earth and concealing the movements of their troops.

Four thousand Bingzhou troops and two thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

The six thousand soldiers were the most elite force under Cao Cao's command.

"Governor, start. The scouts are approaching."

Zhang Liao saw that some of Yuan Shu's scouts were dispersing and approaching the mountains where they were.

They had been hiding further away, preparing to take action before approaching within three or more miles.

If the scouts are too close, even military tactics will not be able to keep them hidden.

Cao Cao slowly raised his arm.

Following his gesture, all six thousand cavalrymen raised their spears, with solemn expressions.

The six thousand soldiers were organized as one, ready to go.

Suddenly, Cao Cao issued an order for a surprise attack!
boom--

Thousands of war horses ran at the same time, like thousands of arrows shot from a bow.

The sound of hooves was stimulated by military tactics and became even more powerful.

On the official road, Yuan Shu's face suddenly changed.

Liu Xiang saw with his own eyes that Cao's army was attacking Changyuan County, which was a strategy of Cao Cao to confuse the enemy.

Even with the help of the Book of Changes, it was not possible to see through Cao Jun’s concealment!

Yuan Shu sent Liu Xian to station troops in Changyuan, hoping to lure Cao Cao to attack.

However, Cao Cao was a master of military strategy. He took advantage of the siege of Changyuan to force Yuan Shu to come to its aid, thus forming a surprise attack situation of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements.

The ground was shaking with the sound of thousands of horses galloping.

In their haste to hurry on, Yuan Shu's troops left their flank exposed and were stabbed directly by Cao's troops who rushed out sideways.

Zhang Liao was the spearhead of the entire army, and on his left and right were Cao Chun and Cao Ren, two fierce generals of the Cao family, who led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

Over the past year or so, Zhang Liao has led troops in many battles and is gradually approaching his peak state.

He rode his horse at the forefront of thousands of galloping horses, holding a bronze halberd in his hand.

This halberd is one of the bronze magic weapons that Ling Jin retrieved!
As the power in his body was infused into the halberd, it emitted a faint green light that became brighter and brighter.

The entire army followed Zhang Liao and raised their spears!

Yuan Shu's troops quickly turned their horses' heads to avoid being attacked from the flank.

But it was too late.

A distance of two or three miles was just enough for a charge for the cavalry.

The Cao army rushed out from behind the low hill and continued to accelerate, using this distance to build up momentum.

When the military momentum reached its peak, Cao's army and Yuan Shu's army clashed.

boom--

The two armies collided amidst flying arrows.

At this moment, all members of Cao's army thrust their spears out, retracted them, stabbed again, retracted them, and stabbed again at an astonishing frequency!

Just like in countless training sessions, aim at the opponent's throat, eyes, and face and thrust forward with all your strength.

As long as you can get ahead of your opponent, you can survive.

Simple and fierce.

Click!
Weapons clashed with flesh and blood, and the sound of spears piercing into human bodies continued.

Zhang Liao's concentrated troops, the momentum of the surprise attack, the positional advantage of attacking from the flank... all these accumulations became the reason why Cao's army had the upper hand at the moment of the battle.

After a collision, Yuan Shu's men fell off their horses one after another.

There were many people who were pierced in the face by this blow.

From the perspective of Cao Cao, who was stationed on the hill, it seemed that Yuan Shu's troops were cut in half after the contact.

Zhang Liao was the first to break through the enemy's ranks, showing extraordinary bravery!

"Governor, I'm going too!" Dian Wei said.

Before the battle, Cao Cao asked him and Xu Chu to join the battle as well.

Cao Cao also had hidden protective forces around him, as well as Zhang Huai and a thousand personal soldiers who had not moved.

The next moment, Dian Wei's roar was like a raging wave, combined with Xu Chu's tiger-like roar, and both rushed towards the battlefield!
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(End of this chapter)