Chapter 242 Thank you for the gift, Cao! Jia Xu, you have made us suffer! Xiao Fang: Send Cao Ang's head to Cao Cao!

Cao Cao’s eldest son?

Cao Ang?

Guan Ping lowered his head and looked at the head in surprise.

Lu Xun and Xu Chu also had surprised expressions on their faces, and they all gathered towards the bloody head.

The three men originally thought that Ma Dai was the commander of Cao's army, but they never expected that Cao Cao actually sent his eldest son Cao Ang to lead the army.

And the eldest son of the Cao family couldn't even escape and was beheaded by Guan Ping with a single sword!

"I understand. These 7,000 troops are Cao Cao's last mobile force. How could he trust them to be led by a general from another family, let alone a Xiliang man?"

"And the generals of the Cao and Xiahou clans were all leading troops outside and had no time to spare, so Cao Cao could only let his eldest son lead the army to rescue Lu Bu."

Lu Xun revealed Cao Cao's motive in one sentence.

Xu Chu suddenly realized and slapped his thigh:

"No wonder the guy who fought with me called himself Dian Wei, the commander of Cao Cao's personal guards."

"I am surprised that Cao Cao had no generals to use and he even sent his own personal guard commander to Huainan."

"It turns out that Dian Wei was sent by him to protect his precious son!"

All doubts are cleared.

Guan Ping, the only one who remained silent, suddenly burst into laughter, his laughter full of ecstasy.

That’s Cao Cao’s eldest son!
He originally thought that he had killed just an ordinary young general of Cao's army, which was a merit but not a great achievement.

After all, it's just a small role.

However, he did not expect that he accidentally killed Cao Cao's eldest son!
He is the crown prince of the Cao family, the future successor to the Cao family's foundation, and Cao Cao's most trusted and beloved eldest son!

This is a truly great product!

After killing such a heavyweight enemy, in the blink of an eye, the small achievement turned into a great feat!
"Oh, oh, oh, my luck is really good. Cao the thief actually gave me such a great achievement!"

Guan Ping was extremely excited, his joy clearly visible on his face.

Xu Chu looked at Guan Ping with envy and sighed:
"General Xiaoguan, you are so lucky. I was originally going for Cao Ang. If I hadn't been stopped by Dian Wei, this great achievement would have been mine."

Lu Xun smiled and said:
"General Xiao Guan, congratulations on your remarkable achievement. The Guan family is indeed a family of heroes who have a great reputation!"

Faced with the compliments and envy from the two, Guan Ping just laughed.

Ma Dai, who was standing by, was stunned.

Killing Cao Cao's eldest son meant creating a blood feud with Cao Cao. Could Cao Cao let them go, or spare Liu Bei?

These three people did not take such a serious incident seriously at all. Instead, they regarded it as a great achievement!
Do you really not take Cao Cao seriously?

"You...you killed Lord Cao's eldest son, the future heir of the Cao family!"

"Aren't you afraid that one day Cao Gong will mobilize all his troops to come south to seek revenge on your General Zuo?"

Ma Dai couldn't help but question.

Guan Ping and the other two stopped talking, looked at each other, sneered disapprovingly, and all looked at Ma Dai.

"The thief Cao sent his son to attack my uncle, so it is only natural for me to kill his son!"

"Don't even mention whether Cao can survive Yuan Shao. Even if he wins the Battle of Guandu, what will happen if he leads his troops south to fight against my uncle?"

"My uncle is the Lord of Heaven's Will. He has a famous general like my father who is ready to fight for him, and a strategist like Xiao who gives him advice. He has counselors like rain, generals like clouds, and countless heroes under his command!"

"If Cao the thief dares to attack, my uncle will make sure he never returns and will die without a burial place!"

"No, there is no need to wait for him to attack. After my uncle takes Huainan, he will lead his troops to the north to defeat Cao the thief and reunite them in the underworld!"

Guan Ping was not afraid at all. Instead, he was full of heroic spirit and responded with a series of heroic words.

Lu Xun and Xu Chu also kept nodding their heads, their faces showing confidence.

It was obvious that the two of them had unwavering faith in Liu Bei, and they also had deep faith that Liu Bei would launch a northern expedition in the future to defeat Yuan and Cao and unify the world.

Ma Dai froze in place, listening to Guan Ping's bold words with a look of shock, his whole body in a daze.

He obviously couldn't understand why Guan Ping was so arrogant, and why people like Lu Xun and Xu Chu were so confident in Liu Bei and so contemptuous of Cao Cao.

"Since General Xiaoguan beheaded Cao Ang, send Cao Ang's head and Ma Dai to Shouchun."

Lu Xun reminded from the side.

Guan Ping nodded in agreement, then took off Cao Ang's head and ordered that the head and Ma Dai's be sent to Shouchun.

Ma Dai was in a trance, with a dull look in his eyes, as he was carried away by Liu Jun's soldiers.

Sudden.

He suddenly thought of something and stopped walking. He turned around and shouted to Guan Ping and the other two:

"We were ambushed by you and attacked by you halfway across the river. I have nothing to say about this defeat."

"There's only one thing I don't understand, and I hope you can tell me."

Lu Xun waved his hand to signal the soldiers to wait, then nodded slightly, indicating that if they didn't understand anything, they could just ask.

Ma Dai turned around and looked at Lu Xun, his expression changed to confusion and suspicion.

"I want to know, how did you figure out that Lord Cao would send us to attack Yangquan?"

Ma Dai asked the first confusing question.

"Because our military advisor Xiao is very smart, he predicted that Cao Cao would be afraid of being attacked from both sides, and would definitely not stand by and watch Lü Bu die. He would gather an army to attack Yangquan anyway."

Lu Xun seemed to have anticipated his question and gave the answer without hesitation.

Ma Dai showed no surprise on his face, instead he sighed softly:
"People say that Xiao Jinglue is the reincarnation of the sage of strategy. Today it seems that the rumors are indeed true. Cao Gong's thoughts are indeed under his control."

After sighing for a while, Ma Dai's face became more suspicious, and he asked again: "It's not surprising that your military advisor Xiao calculated that we would launch a surprise attack on Yangquan, but I really want to know, how did you know that we would launch a surprise attack today, and how did you set up an ambush at the ferry in advance?"

Ma Dai asked the biggest question and confusion in his mind.

“Looking back, that’s the answer you want to know.”

Lu Xun smiled slightly and raised his hand to point behind him, at the hills on the west bank of the Yingshui River.

Ma Dai turned around and looked in the direction he pointed, but all he saw was a hill and above the hill, there was still smoke from the war that had not yet dissipated.

He turned to look at Lu Xun, his eyes still confused, obviously unable to hear Lu Xun's profound meaning.

"Military Advisor Xiao said that if we want to know in advance that you are coming, the best way is to build beacon towers on both sides of the Yingshui River and use beacons to transmit messages."

"But if I build a beacon tower openly, it will surely alert you, and the beacon tower will lose its meaning."

"Military Advisor Xiao is well aware of the terrain of the Yingshui River. He knew that the east bank of the Yingshui River is flat while the west bank is mountainous. These hills and highlands along the way can be used as natural beacon towers without you noticing."

"That's why we knew you were coming to attack us, and why we were able to set up an ambush at the ferry in advance and attack you halfway across the river."

Lu Xun did not bother to keep him in suspense, and revealed the truth in a few words.

Ma Dai suddenly woke up, turned around abruptly and looked at the smoke rising above the Yingshui River.

finally understood.

No wonder he had a sense of having seen it before when he inadvertently noticed the smoke rising from the hills on the west bank before leaving Yingkou.

Because it’s not like I’ve seen it before, but I have definitely seen it!

On the way south, when he was within a hundred miles of the Huai River, he accidentally saw the same wolf smoke rising from the hills on the west bank several times.

At that time, he subconsciously thought that the smoke signals were just wildfires started by the mountain people and did not think about it too deeply.

Now that the truth was revealed, he suddenly realized that these smoke signals were actually deliberately released by Liu's soldiers as a warning to Yangquan City!

And the one who came up with this ingenious idea was Xiao Fang.

"That's it, that's it."

"I didn't expect that those smoke signals were actually warnings from your beacon towers!"

"To be able to come up with such a brilliant plan, that Military Advisor Xiao is worthy of the title of Strategy Sage. He is truly a god!"

"With such wisdom, even Jia Wenhe would be far behind."

"Jia Xu, Jia Xu, you miscalculated after all. You shouldn't have persuaded your uncle to send troops to fight against Liu Xuande..."

Ma Dai muttered to himself, falling into a trance.

Seeing that his doubts had been resolved, Lu Xun waved his hand and signaled the soldiers to escort him away.

So a group of people, carrying Ma Dai and Cao Ang's head, rushed to Shouchun overnight.

...

One day later.

South of Shouchun City, Liu Jun’s main camp.

Inside the Chinese military tent.

Liu Bei had already received the battle report written by Lu Xun, and Cao Ang's head was also placed on the table.

Inside the big tent, all the generals were excited.

"The military advisor is really a master of foresight. Cao Cao actually mobilized the soldiers from Xiliang to serve him and launched a surprise attack on Yangquan!"

"I didn't expect Cao Cao to send his eldest son to lead the army. Now he has lost not only his son but also his troops."

"General Xiaoguan has beheaded Cao's eldest son. This is a remarkable feat. What a heavy blow this will deal to Cao's army!"

"General Yunchang is indeed a man of honor!"

"Lu Boyan's wisdom is indeed amazing. His strategy of attacking the enemy halfway across the river is indeed brilliant."

"Cao has lost his son and thousands of soldiers. He is no longer able to intervene in the battle of Shouchun."

...

The generals were excited and delighted, and waves of excited discussions arose one after another.

When Guan Yu saw his son's great achievements and heard the praises from his generals, he stroked his beautiful beard with his hand, unable to hide the pride on his face.

"Jinglue, your plan has thwarted Cao Cao's plot to save Lu Bu and killed his son Cao Ang, allowing us to rest easy on the western front. It's really..."

Liu Bei studied the battle report in his hand, then looked at Cao Ang's head in front of him. His heart was filled with emotion, and for a moment he didn't know how to evaluate Xiao Fang's brilliant strategy.

Xiao Fang smiled faintly, gently waving his feather fan and said:
"It was within Fang's expectation that Cao Cao would lose more than he gained, but it was a pleasant surprise that General Xiaoguan killed his eldest son."

"As for his persuasion of Ma Teng to send troops to help him make up for his weakness of insufficient manpower, it was also somewhat unexpected."

"But Zhongkang's capture of Ma Dai alive is another unexpected surprise."

Liu Bei nodded slightly, put away his sighs, and asked again:
"Jinglue, in your opinion, how should we deal with Ma Dai?"

Liu Bei just finished speaking.

Zhang Fei jumped up and shouted:

"Ma Teng dares to be an enemy of my brother. He really doesn't know how to live or die. What is there for Ma Dai to hesitate about? Naturally, I will chop him down with a knife and teach Ma Teng a lesson!"

All the generals nodded in agreement, and most of them advocated killing Ma Dai in revenge for Ma Teng.

Xiao Fang shook his head:
"General Yide is wrong. I said that Ma Dai is a pleasant surprise. How can we kill him just like that?"

"My lord, you should treat him with courtesy and appease him, then let him take Cao Ang's head back to Guandu and tell Cao Cao a message!"

(End of this chapter)