Chapter 433: Declaring War on Jiangdong, Cao Cao

Xu You immediately cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to my lord! It was indeed my oversight previously to have miscalculated the reactions of the people of the world, and to have underestimated the hatred the people of Youzhou hold for the foreign tribes!"

"Gongyu’s words make a great deal of sense!"

"In that case, the strategy of promising Bingzhou to the foreign tribes is not feasible!"

"However, we can use money and grain to drive the foreign tribes;"

"At the same time, Bingzhou can still serve as our bargaining chip;"

"We simply will not make an explicit promise, but rather a tacit understanding, allowing the Xiongnu and the Xianbei to grasp the implication themselves!"

"In this way, we will leave no evidence behind, yet still have sufficient benefits to mobilize the foreign tribes;"

"Once we have taken down Cao Cao or even Su Xuan, and have gained control over the better part of the world, we will have the spare capacity to mobilize our forces and drive the Xiongnu and Xianbei out of Bingzhou, reclaiming it then."

"By doing so, my lord will not only avoid bearing the infamy, but will instead be praised by the world and leave a name in the history books!"

"I ask my lord to consider this carefully!"

Many plans are not necessarily bad plans; as long as one changes the angle or the method, they can naturally become excellent plans.

As a chief strategist, if one cannot adjust plans according to the changing situation to make them feasible, one is merely a mediocrity.

Xu You thought this to himself, glancing at Guo Tu with great self-satisfaction, as if looking at a piece of trash.

"Oh?"

Lord Yuan Shao’s brows lifted upon hearing this, the worry on his face swept away, and he said with some excitement, "This is not impossible! Trading space for time;"

"Gongyu, Guo Tu, what do you think?"

He certainly could not agree directly; he had to drag those around him into the water so that they would make the decision together.

"This... is possible! It is just that the people of Bingzhou will suffer for it!"

Ju Shou said with a slight frown.

Although he disliked this method of colluding with foreign tribes to harm the Han people, the situation was such that there was no other way.

The choices and time left for Lord Yuan Shao were already running out.

In extraordinary times, one must use extraordinary methods.

"My lord is wise! Your subordinate believes it is feasible!"

Guo Tu saw that Lord Yuan Shao was completely moved, and since he himself had no better plan, even if he did not want Xu You to succeed, he could only cup his hands and agree.

He had lost this round, but there was no harm in waiting for the next.

Without reaching the final deciding round, who could say for certain whether he or Xu You would win?

At the very least, he already held some leverage over Xu You in his hands!

In ordinary times, this leverage might not be enough to break Xu You’s bones or cost him his life, forcing him out of the game entirely.

But if revealed at the right moment, it would absolutely be enough to claim Xu You’s life.

When that time came, he would be the one laughing last.

Xu You?

He was nothing more than an arrogant and conceited fool.

People! Only by staying alive can one have hope and a future.

Once dead, there is nothing left.

"Haha! Good! Then the matter is settled!"

Lord Yuan Shao laughed aloud upon seeing this, waving his hand immediately: "Guo Tu! This matter is left to you to handle!"

Upon hearing this, Guo Tu gave Xu You a triumphant look, as if to say, "See? Even if it was your idea, the person the lord chose to execute it is still me."

However, what he received in return was a look of disdain from Xu You.

"Such a thankless task—I wouldn't want to do it even if it were given to me! How much profit could there possibly be in it?"

"The key is that if one goes personally to find the Xiongnu and the Xianbei, there is considerable danger; it is completely not worth it!"

He still preferred matters of logistics and procurement, where the profits were immense.

If one didn't seize the opportunity to rake in wealth at a time like this, when would one ever do it?

Guo Tu was initially surprised by Xu You’s attitude, but upon seeing the flash of greed in Xu You’s eyes, he immediately understood Xu You’s thoughts.

Guo Tu sneered in his heart: "You are truly courting death! At a time like this, you are still thinking about lining your pockets?"

"You must know, if the war goes poorly, I will expose this matter, and you will absolutely die without a burial place!"

"This is your own doing; don't blame me! Hehe!"

At this moment, in Guo Tu’s eyes, Xu You was already a dead man.

It was not that he insisted on fighting Xu You or targeting him.

It was simply that their relationship was like fire and water, impossible to reconcile.

As long as Xu You was there, he would block his path to advancement and the opportunity to gain more benefits.

Therefore, Xu You had to die.

He also knew that Xu You likely felt the same way.

They both wanted to destroy the other.

It was just a matter of who would achieve the final victory first.

Presently, Lord Yuan Shao’s side began to take action.

The mission to the Xiongnu and Xianbei went quite smoothly.

After all, the benefits involved were too great for the Xiongnu and Xianbei to abandon.

Of course, it was also because the weather in the north had been growing increasingly harsh over the years; in winter, many cattle, sheep, and even people would freeze to death.

Lacking food, the Xiongnu and Xianbei naturally had no choice but to raid the Han people to the south.

Furthermore, they had another consideration: if they did not act now while the Great Han was in a state of chaos and division to occupy some Han territory as a foundation for survival, there would be no such good opportunity once the world was unified again.

Perhaps, by then, these Han people would turn their attention to attacking them with full force.

This was not their imagination, but a lesson learned from past historical experience.

Therefore, they needed to tear more flesh from the Han people now and suck more of their blood to strengthen themselves.

Only then could they cope with future attacks from the Han.

If they could grow strong enough, they could even turn the tables, completely occupy the Han territory, eliminate their resistance, and keep them like cattle and sheep—that was not impossible either.

Xiangyang City, Prince Zou Qian’s Mansion.

"Hehe!"

Su Xuan put down the intelligence report and sneered: "Lord Yuan Shao really cannot change his nature! He has actually gone to collude with the Xiongnu and Xianbei again?"

"The key is that this time he has gone even further, secretly promising Bingzhou to these Hu people; he truly deserves to die!"

"Jia San! Since our great alliance leader Lord Yuan wants to make a name for himself, let us help him well!"

"Have the secret guards across the country secretly begin to publicize that Lord Yuan Shao is colluding with the Xiongnu and the Xianbei, promising to cede Bingzhou to them in order to get them to attack Bingzhou!"

"I want most of the world to know about this within half a month."

He was truly angered.

Although he had anticipated it, he still despised Lord Yuan Shao’s lack of a bottom line.

"Understood!"

Jia San felt his lord’s anger and immediately accepted the order.

"Also,"

At this moment, Su Xuan continued: "I will write letters to Jia Jia Shijiu and Zhang Yan later; you must have them delivered as quickly as possible so they are clear on Lord Yuan Shao’s intentions!"

"Furthermore, communicate with Su Yu’s side to send another batch of money, grain, and military equipment to Zhang Yang and Jia Jia Shijiu to help them repel the upcoming attack from the Xiongnu and Xianbei!"

"When we take the north in the future, I will definitely sweep them away and completely annihilate these Hu people, leaving no future trouble, hmph!"

He had had enough of this back-and-forth tug-of-war and was determined not to allow the tragedy of the Five Barbarians’ chaos from his previous life to occur.

"Understood!"

Jia San accepted the order again: "I will go shortly!"

"Hmm!"

Su Xuan nodded, immediately wrote two letters, handed them to Jia San, and dismissed him.

Then, after a moment of thought, he had someone notify the commanders of each army and his strategists to come to the Prince Zou Qian’s Mansion the next day to discuss matters.

In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

Except for Huang Zhong, Gan Ning, and others who were still in the Annan region suppressing the indigenous people, the other generals of Su Xuan’s army had basically all arrived.

Once everyone was present, Su Xuan looked around and said: "Cao Cao and Lord Yuan Shao are currently preparing intensively for war;"

"In order not to put too much pressure on Cao Cao, so that he can focus on his decisive battle with Lord Yuan Shao, I intend to launch an attack on Jiangdong within half a month;"

"Brother Fengxian, Wen Zhongye, Su Zhan, are you all prepared?"

The preparation he spoke of was naturally the matter of Sun Ce’s challenge.

Although Sun Ce had not yet spoken, Liu Biao had been chased to a dead end by Sun Ce and was even captured alive yesterday!

The timing was already ripe.

He believed that if Sun Ce truly had this intention, Sun Ce would naturally send an envoy to explain the challenge when he deployed troops to Jiangdong.

"Reporting to my lord, we are ready!"

Wen Pin and the other two spoke in unison.

"Very good! Then wait for news!"

Su Xuan then looked at the others: "This campaign against Jiangdong will likely not involve any major battles, but the Jiangdong territory is a tangled web of bandits, Shanyue, and aristocratic forces; even though Sun Ce has carried out a major purge of the aristocratic forces over the past few months, many remnants still remain!"

"Therefore, for this campaign against Jiangdong, we cannot have too few troops!"

"It is my intention that, except for leaving a certain number of troops to garrison Nanyang, Lujiang, Jiujiang, and Nanjun, all other troops shall be deployed;"

"We must take the entire Jiangdong in the shortest possible time, and then assist the officials in purging the remaining aristocrats, bandits, and Shanyue in the various counties of Jiangdong!"

"Maintain order in Jiangdong, implement the new policies as quickly as possible, and only then can we free up our hands to eliminate Cao Cao, do you understand?"

Su Xuan did not mention Lord Yuan Shao; it was clear he did not think Lord Yuan Shao would be able to defeat Cao Cao.

"Understood!"

The generals were overjoyed upon hearing this.

Although more people going meant the merit would be spread thinner, at least everyone would be able to earn some merit, right?

They could not help but be happy.

Only Taishi Ci, who was left to garrison Nanyang, Huang Xu, who was left to garrison Lujiang, and Zhang Liao, who was left to garrison Jiujiang, felt some regret.

However, considering that the lord would definitely use troops against the Central Plains later.

And their garrisons were all bordering the various states of the Central Plains, so they would certainly be the vanguard army for the campaign against Cao Cao.

The disappointment in their hearts was immediately swept away.

Compared to fighting everyone for the merit of a corner of Jiangdong, it was better to wait and earn the merit of conquering the Central Plains and even the north.

That was the real prize.

Soon, Su Xuan’s side also began to take action.