Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 325 Yuan and Cao
During the Battle of Bai Ma against Yan Liang, Xiahou Dun was wounded by a hidden arrow. Although he did not die, he had a huge wound on his forehead so deep that the bone was visible... no, it was a huge wound that had already injured his skull!
After the treatment, he still looked very ferocious, and was later called "General Tianmu"...
Xun You, who had been assisting Xiahou Dun in garrisoning at Bai Ma, suggested that Xiahou Dun "pretend to be dead" - this is not a grammatical error, it means pretending to be dead!
Of course, it wasn't to let Xiahou Dun really die, but just to let the other party see that he was "faking his death".
That is, on the one hand, they informed the squad leaders and sergeants that their commander, Xiahou Dun, was no longer in danger, and on the other hand, they pretended that the entire army was in mourning and on high alert...
If they really wanted to fake their own death, it would be impossible for even the grassroots generals to know about it. In this case... the morale of the entire army would be able to tell at a glance that it was a fraud, not to mention that there might be traitors who informed the enemy!
Even Yan Liang and Chunyu Qiong easily "saw through" this fake death, so they were cautious about Cao's army's several attempts to lure the enemy.
It was not until the central army, led by Yuan Shao himself, crossed Baimajin that large-scale fighting began...
Xiahou Dun’s “pretended death in battle” did not delay for too long. After Yuan Shao’s central army arrived, they quickly launched a general attack.
In fact, this kind of strategy of confusing the enemy with enemies is not afraid of having smart people. The reason why Yuan Shao "saw through" it so quickly was not because Yuan Shao was so decisive, but because the internal conflicts among Yuan Shao's group of advisers were extremely serious!
On the one hand, it was because of Yuan Shao's suspicion that his subordinates were afraid to unite and he was unwilling for his subordinates to form a group. On the other hand, it was also because of Yuan Shao's intention to depose and enthrone that made his civil servants want to "take sides".
So when Yuan Shao learned about Bai Ma's situation...
"This could be a trick of Cao's army to confuse the enemy , but... it could also be that he has thought ahead and is using an easily detectable trick to lure us into attacking." Shen Pei said a few words cautiously.
After Guo Tu noticed Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction, he immediately retorted: "What you have said is useless! I think we should cut the Gordian knot and strike first!"
Guo Tu didn't dare to guarantee whether it was a tactic to confuse the enemy, but since Shen Pei said to be careful, he had to say to attack immediately.
The reason was simple: Shen Pei supported Yuan Shao's youngest son Yuan Shang, while Guo Tu supported Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan.
Perhaps because the advantage was too great, Yuan Shao's advisers had probably forgotten that this was a stage for the struggle for hegemony in troubled times, and began to indulge in palace fighting and party strife!
"War is a matter of great importance to a state and must be treated with caution..." Xin Ping tried to smooth things over.
"My lord, you are rich in four states. Now A'man is just a mantis trying to stop a chariot. What can he do even if he has some tricks? My lord, you might as well use the central army to force him, and at the same time send out a surprise force to attack Xuchang!" Xu You's eyes turned and offered advice to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao was troubled by the noise, and finally felt that what Xu You said made sense, so he decided to launch a full-scale attack on Bai Ma - sometimes it is very simple to crack the strategy of confusing the enemy!
However, Yuan Shao rejected the suggestion of a surprise attack on Xuchang, which made Xu You sigh inwardly.
Xu You and the Yuan Shao brothers, as well as Cao Cao, all knew each other in their early years. After Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao started their rebellions respectively, Xu You took a liking to Yuan Shao at first sight. The same experience also included Chunyu Qiong, who was also one of the Eight Captains of Xiyuan at the time.
Facts so far have proved that Xu You and Chunyu Qiong have good vision!
In fact, it was not because the two of them had much courage. After all, when they were in Luoyang, among the officials and sons of the same circle as them, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had always had a more prominent presence.
In contrast, Yuan Shu was a knight-errant in his early years, and became particular about ostentation after entering officialdom. His personality was very inconsistent, giving people the impression that he always looked down on others. For "acquaintances" like them, it was not difficult to avoid Yuan Shu's traps.
It is true that six or seven years ago, Yuan Shu was the most powerful son of three generations of dukes among the feudal lords. Now his roots have been dug up by Bai Tu, which makes Xu You very happy and proves his own vision.
As for Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, relatively speaking, they were both easy to get along with. Although Yuan Shao was also from the Yuan family, he was a bastard's son.
In name, Yuan Shao was Yuan Feng's illegitimate son, but he was adopted by Yuan Cheng. Yuan Cheng died early and had no other children. So, by this calculation, he should be Yuan Cheng's legitimate son, right?
But in fact, this cannot be counted as there is a hidden story here - Yuan Shao is not an ordinary concubine's son, but an illegitimate child.
The reason why he was adopted by Yuan Cheng in the first place was not because Yuan Feng had foreseen that Yuan Cheng would die young and have no other children, but because he wanted to cover up the shame.
Yuan Cheng accepted the adoption just to help his brother cover up his shame, not because he couldn't have a child himself...
It was only because Yuan Cheng died early and had no offspring that Yuan Feng continued to address Yuan Shao as his uncle and nephew, and Yuan Shao also had the unofficial identity of a "legitimate son".
Therefore, this adoption seemed somewhat improper and unreasonable, and Yuan Shu looked down on his illegitimate brother. This also made Yuan Shao more "humble" than Yuan Shu, and everyone was more willing to play with Yuan Shao.
When in Luoyang, Yuan Shao was like a big brother, always protecting others. Even if someone with no ability wanted to make friends with him, he would pretend to be generous and give money and hold a banquet...
However, Yuan Shao’s ability to judge people was limited, and because of his background, he attached great importance to “reputation”. Sometimes when capable but unknown people came to work for him, he would respond with the attitude of “I can afford to support another idle person.”
Compared with the contributions these talented people made to him, Yuan Shao was more intoxicated with the satisfaction he felt when he accepted the talents.
This made Yuan Shao really have a lot of idle people, and some talented people would become dissatisfied with his approach and leave.
As for Cao Cao...
When he was in Luoyang, he was just a young man, and his "sense of existence" was not the same as Yuan Shao's!
This can be seen from the performance of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao after Dong Zhuo entered the court - Yuan Shao returned to his hometown to recruit soldiers and Cao Cao... took a knife and wanted to make an extreme one-on-one exchange!
For example, although Xu You and Chunyu Qiong got along well with Cao Cao at the beginning, they looked down on him in their hearts. Even now, Xu You habitually calls him by his nickname "Aman".
However, unlike Chunyu Qiong, who was a complete drinking buddy, Xu You looked down on Cao Cao in his heart, but was more sentimental and still cared about their childhood friendship.
Initially, Xu You urged Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to make peace with each other, but... after Cao Cao welcomed the emperor, his ambitions grew, and the conflict between him and Yuan Shao naturally became more and more acute. Xu You now also understood that the two sides could no longer coexist.
Xu You suggested to directly attack the city, hoping to make Cao Cao realize the reality. When Xudu was captured, Cao Cao would have no choice but to surrender in front of the battle line...
Of course, given Cao Cao's status, the best outcome after surrendering would be to be given an empty title and sent to Yecheng for confinement.
Xu Youlian had already prepared what kind of wine and food to bring when he visited Cao Cao in the future, and how to pretend to be nice without causing any trouble with his words. Unfortunately... Yuan Shao did not agree.
This is obviously a more favorable option for Yuan Shao!
Xu You didn't know why, but in his eyes, "Aman", who was just a small character, seemed to have a great weight in Yuan Shao's heart, making Yuan Shao obsessed with defeating Cao Cao head-on...
At this time, Cao Cao was beating drums and gongs as if he was going to support Bai Ma, while he led 30,000 elite soldiers, including the most elite 5,000 Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and quietly crossed the Yellow River from Yanjin, southwest of Bai Ma Jin, which is further upstream of the Yellow River, and came to the north bank!
