Chapter 296

"We will send people to make Cao Cao's evil deeds public; maybe the noble families of Yanzhou will rebel against him."

Liu Bei praised him inwardly; Guo Jia is indeed a master of strategy.

Liu Bei took out a bamboo slip.

"Everyone, Lu Bu has already secretly entered Yanzhou with troops; the ones leading the way for him are the Yanzhou scholars, Chen Gong and Zhang Miao!"

Jia Xu's eyes opened wide.

"My lord, Cao Cao is about to have his home stolen!"

Zhang Fei laughed.

"Damn Cao Cao, killing people in Xuzhou, now he is finished himself."

Liu Bei shook his head.

"Not necessarily finished; he still has seventy thousand troops, and our army only has twenty thousand, but he definitely can't fight in Xuzhou anymore."

Liu Bei looked into the distance.

"Yanzhou has had a large-scale locust plague this year, and grain must have been in short supply; Cao Cao made a desperate gamble, wanting to take Xuzhou's grain to fill Yanzhou's hole, but this time he is going to lose the gamble!"

Fa Zheng sighed.

"So Cao Cao used the method of massacring the city, not only to intimidate Xuzhou but also because of the lack of grain, to seize the people's grain and wealth."

Liu Bei frowned.

"Everyone, Cao Cao will definitely return his army to fight Lu Bu for half a year or even a year; Yanzhou will be engulfed in war, with grain shortages and chaos; we can move the people of Yanzhou and Yuzhou who are willing to go to Bingzhou!"

Jia Xu's eyes lit up.

"My lord is wise; let them fight, we will take the people away and leave them with an empty Yanzhou!"

"It won't be empty; there might be a million people."

Zhang Fei's face fell.

"In other words, there will be no fights later? Just escorting people again?"

Guo Jia shook his head.

"Not necessarily; Yuan Shao will not sit idly by and watch the migration of the people this time."

Guan Hai cupped his hands.

"My lord, why don't we take Yanzhou; wouldn't that be better?"

Liu Bei shook his head.

"Yanzhou is a place of four battles, with Cao Cao and Lu Bu fighting, Yuan Shao in the north, and Yuan Shu in the south; even if we occupy part of the place, we will be exhausted dealing with it."

"Even if we defeat Cao Cao and Lu Bu, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu can join the battlefield at any time."

Xun You adjusted his mood and joined the discussion.

"My lord is wise; our army is not short of grain now; people are an important resource; we will develop peacefully in Bingzhou, and as they fight and lose more people, we will clean them up together later."

Jia Xu nodded; this move is an open strategy, absolutely perfect!

Liu Bei stood up tall.

"Let's go, we are going to Tancheng now to meet Cao Cao."

Inside Tancheng,

Tao Qian was panicked all day long; as he grew older, his courage became smaller and smaller.

Tao Qian used to have a fiery temper, even publicly humiliating Zhang Wen at a banquet for officials, but now that he was old, his courage had shrunk.

Especially after being defeated by Cao Cao before and fleeing back to Tancheng in a panic, it made him even more afraid.

"What should I do?"

Cao Bao and the others were also afraid.

Chen Deng was also a bit shaky; originally, he and his father Chen Gui had secretly discussed that even if Cao Cao took Xuzhou, they, the local noble families, could continue to live good lives.

But Cao Cao had been killing all the way, and in Peng Cheng, he had killed more than one hundred thousand people; who knows if Cao Cao had gone crazy.

Chen Gui cupped his hands.

"My lord, Lord Xuande will definitely come to help, and Kong Rong and Tian Kai from Qingzhou will also come to help."

Tao Qian supported his forehead with his hand.

"Alas, I only hope so."

Chen Deng cupped his hands.

"My lord, Tancheng's walls are strong; Cao Cao will definitely not be able to break them."

Tao Qian nodded, his tone worried.

"I'm afraid that other cities will be massacred by Cao Cao; then I will be the sinner of Xuzhou!"

Outside Tancheng, the Cao Army camp was dressed in mourning clothes, and the camp was almost dyed white.

Cao Cao was also very unhappy; he had been attacking Tancheng for days without success, losing troops and generals, and the grain in the army was becoming less and less.

"Zhicai, what should we do now?"

Xi Zhicai looked at the map.

"My lord, Tancheng is strong and difficult to break in the short term; our army can turn to attack the three counties of Lü, Ju Ling, and Xia Qiu to take grain locally."

Cao Cao frowned.

"Why is there still no news from Yu Jin? I told him to attack Jimo and then march south to converge with me."

Xi Zhicai also frowned.

"It shouldn't be; Kong Rong and Tian Kai are not good generals; it's impossible for Yu Jin to have trouble, unless..."

Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai were both shocked!

"Liu Bei?!"

Cao Cao walked to the map.

"It's impossible for Liu Bei to be that fast; even if he got the news, he wouldn't be that fast traveling day and night."

"I remember he also had to take Dong Zhuo's granddaughter, Dong Bai."

"Report~!"

Eagle Eye walked in and handed over a bamboo slip.

"My lord, urgent report from Bingzhou."

Cao Cao had a bad premonition in his heart; he opened the bamboo slip and took a look.

"Liu Bei led twenty thousand cavalry stationed in Hedong to march toward Xuzhou!"

"Not good, this Liu Bei came so fast! Did he station his cavalry in Hedong beforehand?!"

Cao Cao's headache was about to flare up; he had calculated everything, but he didn't calculate that Liu Bei would come so fast!

Xi Zhicai looked at the map.

"My lord, I'm afraid Liu Bei has already arrived in Xuzhou, and perhaps Yu Jin has already..."

The two looked at each other; Liu Bei's twenty thousand iron cavalry, with intent against the unprepared, Yu Jin was in danger.

"Quick, send scouts to notify Yu Jin!"

"Understood!"

Just at this moment,

a scout rushed in.

"Report~! My lord, a large number of cavalry appeared fifty miles north of Tancheng, the number is close to twenty thousand, and they are flying the banner of General of the Left, Liu Bei!"

Cao Cao's body swayed.

"To the north?! Yu Jin!"

Xia Hou Dun, Xia Hou Yuan, and Cao Ren stepped forward one after another.

"Big Brother."

Cao Cao waved his hand.

"No matter!"

He paused, and his loud voice shouted,

"Liu Bei only has twenty thousand cavalry; our army has seventy thousand; generals, follow me to fight Liu Bei."

"Understood!"

"Li Dian, you lead five thousand troops to guard the camp; you must guard the grain well." ===== CHAPTER 297 =====