Chapter 258: Will the Battle of Guandu be won or lost? A blacksmith must be strong himself! Military Advisor, do you want to hand over the imperial seal or not?

Gao Shun returns home!

Old Liu's face was full of smiles, and the word "joy" was written all over his face.

Kill Lu Bu, capture Shouchun, take all of Huainan, and get a great general named Gao Shun!
The battle of Huainan ended perfectly and brought unexpectedly rich rewards. Even though Old Liu was not easily surprised by fame or disgrace, he could not hide his pride now.

"Pass the order down. Have a celebration banquet tonight. I want to celebrate this achievement with all the generals!"

"Take all the wine and meat to reward the soldiers of the three armies!"

Old Liu laughed heartily and waved his hand to give orders.

Inside and outside the city, thousands of Liu army soldiers cheered loudly.

That night, the soldiers of the three armies had plenty of wine and meat, and sang and danced, celebrating the victory of taking Shouchun.

A banquet has been set up in the former pseudo-imperial palace, today's provincial capital.

Old Liu and his generals chatted happily and drank heartily.

After several rounds of drinking, the personal guards hurried in and presented intelligence from spies in Xuzhou.

Liu Bei took the information with a smile, but after just one look, the smile on his face disappeared.

"Yuan Tan has taken Xuzhou!"

These words instantly silenced the chatter and laughter in the lobby.

Everyone put down their wine glasses and looked at Liu Bei with vigilance.

Liu Bei sat back in his seat and ordered Chen Dao to read out the latest information in public.

This is the last urgent report sent back by the spy from Xia Pi.

It was announced that General Cao Ren had abandoned Xia Pi City a few days ago and led more than 20,000 Cao troops to withdraw from Xuzhou and retreat towards Guandu.

Yuan Tan immediately captured Xia Pi City without bloodshed.

After learning that Xia Pi had fallen and Cao Ren had withdrawn from Xuzhou, Xia Pi, Pengcheng and other counties and states in southern Xu declared their allegiance to the Yuan family.

Even in Guangling County south of the Huai River, a few cities presented surrender letters to Xia Pi and declared their support for the Yuan family.

At this point, the five counties and kingdoms of Xuzhou had basically been occupied by Yuan Tan.

During the brief silence, a discussion broke out in the hall.

Although Liu Bei and his generals were mentally prepared for Yuan Tan's capture of Xuzhou, they were still shocked when Xuzhou actually returned to Yuan.

After all, this means that Liu Bei's territory is directly adjacent to Yuan's territory, and the possibility of a direct military conflict has increased dramatically.

They followed Liu Bei, and even though they defeated Lu Bu and conquered Huainan, their self-confidence soared.

However, this self-confidence has not yet expanded to the point where he does not take the Yuan family seriously at all.

At this time, Yuan Shao was at least a giant that controlled Ji, Qing, You, Bing and Xu, as well as half of Yanzhou!
Although Liu Bei took over Huainan and controlled Jing and Yang, he only controlled two states after all, and the gap between him and Yuan Shao was still huge.

"Jinglue, the Yuan family has taken over Xuzhou, and Cao Ren has abandoned Xiapi and retreated westward. What do you think?"

Liu Bei put down his wine glass and looked at Xiao Fang.

"In Fang's opinion, Cao Cao may not be able to hold on any longer, and the outcome of the Battle of Guandu will soon be decided."

Xiao Fang, however, was sipping his wine leisurely, his expression remaining calm.

"Cao Ren is the best general of the Cao family. He is very good at defending a city. According to previous intelligence reports, if he chooses to hold on to Xia Pi, Yuan Tan may not be able to capture it even if he is given another half a year."

"But Cao Cao could have held out for another half a year in Xiapi, but he ordered Cao Ren to abandon Xuzhou and retreat westwards. This can only mean that he was about to collapse in Guandu."

"Once Guandu is lost, Cao Cao will have no choice but to retreat to Xudu, and the vast prefectures and counties east of Guandu will be forced to abandon them."

"If Cao Ren still holds on to Xiapi at this time, there is a possibility that Yuan Shao will cut off his retreat and turn him into an isolated army."

"Cao Ren and this army of 20,000 are so valuable to Cao Cao that Cao Cao would rather give up Xuzhou than sacrifice them."

"So in order to preserve his strength, Cao Cao had no choice but to make the painful decision and summon Cao Ren to retreat westward in advance."

Xiao Fang calmly pointed out the difficulties Cao Cao was facing.

Liu Bei seemed to understand something, and after a moment of hesitation, he asked again:
"Then according to the military advisor, who will have the last laugh in this Battle of Guandu, Yuan or Cao?"

Xiao Fang took a sip of wine and said with a meaningful tone:

"If Cao Cao wants to win the Battle of Guandu, he can only achieve a surprise victory by burning Yuan Shao's granary in Wuchao and crushing the morale of Yuan Shao's army in one fell swoop."

"It's a pity that Xu You was transferred by Yuan Shao to Xuzhou to assist Yuan Tan. Cao Cao's risky move may not work."

Be it Liu Bei or the other generals, they were all shocked when they heard what Xiao Fang said.

This military advisor of ours, who was far away in Huainan, had actually already come up with a plan to turn the tide for Cao Cao?
Did you calculate that Wuchao was Yuan Shao's grain storage place?

It seems that he had a better understanding of the Battle of Guandu than Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, the two parties involved!
This ability to take a comprehensive view of the situation truly impressed Lao Liu and the other generals.

"Burning the granary camp is indeed a brilliant strategy to defeat the strong with the weak, but..."

Liu Bei nodded in agreement at first, but then changed the subject:
"The military advisor said that if Xu You is not at Guandu, Cao Cao will not be able to burn Yuan Shao's granary. I am a little confused by this. What does the military advisor mean?"

Everyone's eyes widened with blank curiosity.

"Well..."

Xiao Fang coughed lightly a few times but did not explain.

Both the world and history books seem to believe that Cao Cao's victory over Yuan Shao at Guandu was an inevitable outcome.

In Xiao Fang's view, Cao Cao's victory was completely accidental.

The key to the victory of Guandu was the burning of Wuchao. Yuan Shao was not stupid. The Wuchao granary was seventy miles away from the front line, and there must have been many checkpoints in between to prevent Cao Cao's sneak attack.

Unless Cao Cao had opened a map, how could it be possible for him to lead a group of troops, bypass the front line of Yuan’s army, avoid the layers of checkpoints and spies, penetrate seventy miles behind enemy lines, and reach Yuan Shao’s granary without being noticed?

The only explanation is that Cao Cao got the secrets of Yuan’s military outposts, which allowed him to avoid Yuan’s eyes and ears and successfully launch a surprise attack on Wuchao.

Such a secret must be known to only a few important officials in Yuan’s camp.

As an old subordinate of Yuan Shao and one of his most trusted advisers, Xu You was naturally one of them.

It was Xu You's defection that leaked the secrets of Yuan army's deployment to Cao Cao, giving Cao Cao the chance to burn Wuchao.

So when Cao Cao learned that Xu You came to surrender alone, he was so excited that he didn't even bother to pick up his fallen shoes and happily went to greet him in person, which was embarrassing.

But the current situation is that Xu You is in Xuzhou, assisting Yuan Tan.

Even if Shen Pei had targeted members of the Xu clan in Yecheng and forced Xu You to rebel, it would have been impossible for Xu You to travel thousands of miles to Guandu to surrender to Cao Cao.

Even if Xu You really traveled thousands of miles to join Cao Cao as happened in history, he would not have the secrets of Yuan’s army’s defense at Guandu.

Without these secrets and without Xu You as a guide, how could Cao Cao have successfully launched a surprise attack on Wuchao?

"Xu You is not important, and neither is who wins or loses the Battle of Guandu."

"The most important thing is that you should appease the Huainan people as soon as possible, reorganize the surrendered troops, restore the people's livelihood and economy, and make yourself stronger."

"As the saying goes, a blacksmith must be strong himself. As long as we are strong enough, it doesn't matter who wins or loses."

Xiao Fang changed the subject from Xu You and gave Lao Liu a bowl of chicken soup.

Liu Bei agreed with this.

"Military Advisor Jinglue said that a blacksmith must be strong himself to forge iron. Liao thinks that what he said is absolutely true."

"But I think that whoever wins the Battle of Guandu will have a great impact on us."

"Yuan Shao is already the strongest in the world. If he defeats Cao Cao and seizes the two rivers, it means that most of the north will be swallowed up by him!"

"The threat he poses to us is far greater than Cao Cao's."

However, Zhang Liao stood up and put forward his own different views.

Xiao Fang looked at Zhang Liao with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

As expected of a famous general who could be included in the Temple of Martial Arts, Zhang Liao was not just a military general, but also quite wise. Otherwise, how could he have bullied Sun Shiwan time and time again?
Judging from what he just said, not only is his wisdom online, but he also shows considerable strength in seeing the overall situation.

"Wenyuan is right. After Yuan Shao defeated Cao Cao, he dominated the two rivers. His strength is indeed unrivaled in the world."

Old Liu stroked his thin beard and nodded slightly, with a hint of fear flashing across his brows.

"If Yuan Shao wins, even if he dominates the two rivers, his old age will be his weak point."

"Moreover, Yuan Shao favored his youngest son Yuan Shang, and allowed his eldest son Yuan Tan to command a large number of troops and control several states. He allowed his sons to fight for the throne and indulged his advisers in open and covert struggles."

"So Yuan Shao may seem powerful and formidable on the surface, but he is actually fraught with hidden dangers and crises."

"If Cao Cao wins, although he may not have an advantage over the lord in terms of strength, his people are united and have no internal strife. They can combine all their strength into one fist and use it together."

"So in my opinion, whether Yuan Shao wins or Cao Cao wins, it will have both advantages and disadvantages for the lord, and we can't generalize."

Xiao Fang made another analysis, and then said firmly:
"So no matter who wins or loses between Yuan and Cao, it doesn't matter to us. All we have to do is make ourselves stronger."

"The most urgent thing now is to pacify the people of Huainan as soon as possible, march north to fight, and expand northward as much as possible to strengthen our strength before the victory or defeat of Yuan and Cao is decided!"

After hearing these words, Zhang Liao suddenly understood and couldn't help but show admiration on his face.

Liu Bei's slightly frowned brows relaxed, and he nodded happily:

"Jing Lue's words make sense. Whoever wins or loses the Battle of Guandu will have advantages and disadvantages for us."

"Just as the military advisor said, we should calm the people of Huainan as soon as possible, and before Yuan and Cao decide the winner, we should send our troops into the Central Plains!"

All the generals stood up and accepted the order with great enthusiasm.

The general strategy had been decided, so Liu Bei no longer thought about it and continued to drink with everyone to celebrate the achievement of capturing Shouchun.

At nightfall, the banquet ended and everyone left with great pleasure.

When Xiao Fang was about to leave, he was pulled into a side hall by the brothers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu.

The door of the hall was closed, and there were only three of them left in the hall.

When Xiao Fang was confused and bewildered, he saw Zhang Fei take out something from his arms like a magic trick and hold it in Xiao Fang's hand.

"Military Advisor, what do you think this is?"

There was excitement in Zhang Fei's eyes as he carefully held the thing in front of Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang looked at it for a few seconds and found that it looked like a seal. He picked it up and looked at it again. He saw eight words engraved on it:
Those who receive orders from heaven will live long and prosperous lives.

"The Imperial Seal, this is the Imperial Seal!?"

Xiao Fang's eyes suddenly focused and he immediately recognized the object.

"The military advisor has also figured it out. This thing is the imperial seal."

"This is what I found from one of Lu Bu's captured guards when I intercepted him yesterday. I think the four servants wanted to take him with them to break out, but they didn't expect to be intercepted by us."

After Zhang Fei finished explaining the whole situation, he lowered his voice and said:
"When I got this thing, I showed it to my second brother first. I originally wanted to give it to my eldest brother."

"But my second brother said that we should not rush to give it to my elder brother. It would be better to consult with you, the military advisor, first."

"Military Advisor, what do you think? Should we present this imperial seal to our brother?"

(End of this chapter)