Chapter 301: Make me a laughing stock? Liu Bei, I hate you! Let's not be Cao Cao and destroy the killer weapon of Yuan Lao thief!

"What did you say? Say it again to me!"

Yuan Shao suddenly came to his senses, his face suddenly became as ferocious as a beast, and he roared and shouted at the medical officer.

"Boom!"

The medical officer knelt on the ground and said tremblingly:
"Your Majesty, I have tried my best, but your foot was hit by a stone bullet from the enemy army, and your bones and tendons have been broken. I am really powerless to help you."

Yuan Shao's body swayed, and a mouthful of blood came to his throat.

"Your Majesty!"

Upon seeing this, Guo Tu and others rushed forward to support him, fearing that Yuan Shao would attack him in anger and he would vomit blood and die on the spot.

Yuan Shao gritted his teeth, his face turned red, and veins on his forehead were faintly visible.

He is lame!
The king of the Great Wei was injured and became a cripple. He had to use a crutch for the rest of his life and face his subjects as a disabled person!

Throughout history, has there ever been a lame and disabled king?

As the King of the Great Wei, wouldn't he become a laughing stock of the world and leave a mark in history books for future generations to laugh at?
And the instigator of all this was Liu Bei!

"Big Ear Thief——"

"If I can't kill you, I swear I won't be a human being—"

Yuan Shao, who was extremely furious, let out a creepy angry roar like an enraged old lion.

All the ministers around were so frightened that they shuddered and couldn't even breathe.

Feng Ji rolled his eyes and took the opportunity to point the finger at Guo Tu:
"Mr. Guo, if you hadn't underestimated Liu Bei and proposed this so-called earth hill plan, how could our army be in such a mess today?"

"Also, I remember that when the Chu army's catapults appeared, the king wanted to go down the mountain to hide, but you were too arrogant and forced the king to stay."

"Now that the king is so injured, you can't escape the blame!"

Feng Ji no longer engaged in covert fighting, but instead laid his cards on the table, openly taking advantage of Guo Tu's misfortune and demanding that he be held accountable.

really.

He successfully directed Yuan Shao's anger towards Guo Tu, and glared back at Guo Tu. That extremely angry look seemed capable of killing people.

Guo Tu's heart skipped a beat and he knelt down quickly.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Tu's plan failed, and he cannot escape the blame."

"But I never expected that there would be such a change. There would be such a skilled craftsman in the army of the big-eared thieves, who could build a catapult that is more powerful than the thunder chariot!"

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Guo Tu was afraid that Yuan Shao would get angry and order him to be executed, so he kowtowed and confessed his guilt in an attempt to exonerate himself.

After all, this defeat is not just a simple loss of troops and generals.

If it was just the loss of some soldiers and horses, it would be nothing for Yuan Shao, who had a huge family and wealth. At most, he would just be blamed a few words.

But what was lost now was not just soldiers and horses, but also one of Yuan Shao's feet, turning him, the king of Wei, into a cripple!
In such a rage, it is not surprising that Yuan Shao lost his mind and wanted to take his life to vent his anger.

Yuan Shao clenched his fists, and a murderous intent emerged from his ferociously wide-open eyes.

He raised his hand and was almost ready to kill Guo Tu.

"Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"Mr. Guo really underestimated Liu Bei. He is to blame for the failure of this plan, and he caused the king to suffer this disaster."

"But I have to be fair. No one would have guessed that Liu Bei could build a catapult that was even more powerful than the Thunderbolt Chariot."

"Just like the battle of Xuzhou, no one expected that Liu Bei's army would be able to create a repeating crossbow."

"I think the blame for the defeat in this battle cannot be placed entirely on Guo Gongze."

At the critical moment, Ju Shou actually stood up and said a few fair words for Guo Tu.

Guo Tu looked at Ju Shou in surprise, his eyes clearly showing that he couldn't believe that Ju Shou, a man from Hebei, would actually speak for him.

Feng Ji glared at Ju Su fiercely, also with a look of surprise on his face.

But besides being surprised, there was also a look of anger and resentment in his eyes.

You, Ju Shou, are from our Hebei faction. Why didn't you take the opportunity to fan the flames and torture Guo Tu to death? Instead, you tried to make excuses for him?

Aren't you just being mean?
Are you the only one who is aloof?

Are you the only one who likes to be fair?

Feng Ji was very angry, but naturally he dared not say a word in front of Yuan Shao.

The murderous intent in Yuan Shao's eyes finally disappeared. After glancing at Guo Tu with disgust, he waved his hand impatiently, signaling him to stand aside and stop kneeling here and getting in the way.

Guo Tu observed his expression and immediately understood what he meant. He quickly stood up and stepped aside, not daring to breathe.

"Big-eared thief, you actually hurt me like this!"

"I will mobilize all my troops to destroy the Chu camp. I must kill the big-eared thief!!"

Yuan Shao struggled to sit up and, regardless of his foot injury, was about to lead his army to attack the city.

Everyone was surprised.

The news that Yuan Shao's foot was smashed had already spread throughout the army. Every one of the 160,000 Wei soldiers knew about it, and their morale had already been crushed.

It is obviously not a good idea for the entire army to attack the Chu camp at this time.

What's more, the Chu army's fortifications were extremely solid, and there were 80,000 troops garrisoning there. In the narrow terrain of Xiangcheng, it was not conducive for them to deploy a large army, and a strong attack would most likely be useless.

The counselors knew this, but no one dared to persuade Yuan Shao to calm down.

"Your Majesty is injured. You should focus on recuperating now. It is not appropriate to force yourself to lead the troops."

"Besides, our army cannot fully exert its strength. Even if we attack with all our might, we will not have much chance of winning. If we lose soldiers and fail to attack the enemy, it will only dampen morale."

"Forgive me for being so bold as to say that a full-scale attack at this time is not a wise move!"

At the critical moment, Ju Shou stood up again, not afraid of angering Yuan Shao, and resolutely advised. Yuan Shao forced himself to get off the ground, which hurt his foot so much that his teeth were gnashing and his mouth was tearing, and he fell down again.

The pain overwhelmed his anger, and coupled with Ju Su's advice, Yuan Shao finally calmed down completely.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

Yuan Shao grinned and shouted at Ju Shou in an unpleasant tone.

After a moment's thought, Ju Su bowed and said calmly:

"Given the current situation, it seems unlikely that we can achieve a quick victory. We must be prepared to fight Liu Bei in Xiangcheng."

"I think that in addition to our military strength, our greatest advantage is that we have 10,000 cavalrymen."

"In my opinion, Your Majesty can recover from your injuries while leading our army to confront the enemy in Xiangcheng."

"At the same time, send out the cavalry to use our mobility advantage to bypass Xiangcheng and rob the Chu army's food and grass."

"As long as we can cut off Liu Bei's food supply, within a few months, Liu Bei will run out of food and grass and retreat."

"Our army can win without fighting, just like we did at Guandu!"

After hearing Ju Su's advice, Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly brightened, and for a moment he seemed to no longer feel the pain in his feet.

Isn’t this the same tactic used against Cao Cao?

During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was already short of food. He used Ju Su's strategy and sent light cavalry to detour to the south of Guandu and continuously attacked Cao Cao's food supply.

In the end, Cao Cao had to abandon Guandu and flee south because his food and grass ran out.

"I thought it was a brilliant plan, Gongyu, isn't your plan the same as Guo Gongze's, a repeat of the old trick?"

Feng Ji was furious, so he took the opportunity to sneer at Ju Shou.

Ju Su ignored his sarcasm and bowed to Yuan Shao:

"Your Majesty, this plan of mine is indeed an imitation of the Battle of Guandu, and it seems like a repetition of an old trick."

"But as long as the same strategy can win, why can't we use it again?"

After saying this, Ju Su turned back to Feng Ji and asked:

"Feng Yuantu, in your opinion, does Liu Bei have any means to break my plan?"

Feng Ji was speechless and his expression became embarrassed.

Although he was sarcastic and dissatisfied, he had to admit that Ju Su's plan was impeccable.

Ten thousand cavalrymen and absolute cavalry advantage, this is an open conspiracy!
Yuan Shao stroked his half-white beard, his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed slowly, and some spirit reappeared in his eyes.

"You are right. Cavalry is my greatest advantage. Since I was able to defeat Cao Aman, I can use the same method to deal with the big-eared thief!

Yuan Shao nodded slightly and said happily:
"Gao Lan, Wen Chou, listen to my orders!"

"I order you two to lead 5,000 cavalry each, bypass the Chu army's defense line in Xiangcheng, penetrate deep into the enemy's rear, and raid the big-eared bandits along the Yingshui River to rob them of their food supplies!"

"Within two months, I want you to cut off the food supply of the big-eared thieves!"

The two brave generals from Hebei accepted the order with great enthusiasm.

The imperial edict was passed down and the layout to defeat the enemy was arranged. The pain in his foot came again, and Yuan Shao could not help but grimaced slightly in pain.

He gently stroked the crippled foot, deep hatred burning in his eyes again, and he gritted his teeth secretly.

"Liu Bei, you crippled one of my legs, I will make you pay with ten times or a hundred times the pain..."

...

A month later, the Chu army built a fortification.

Inside the king's tent, Liu Bei frowned as he listened to Pang Tong's report.

"Generals Wen Chou and Gao Lan each commanded 5,000 cavalrymen and continuously raided our Yingshui grain route."

"In the past month, our army's grain teams have been robbed five times, with a total loss of nearly 100,000 hu of grain and grass."

"Our army is beginning to run out of food and fodder. If this continues, the Wei army will cut off their food and fodder in a month at most!"

After Pang Tong finished reading, he handed the entire report to Liu Bei.

After reading it, Liu Bei shook his head and sighed:
"The lack of cavalry has always been the weak point of our army."

"Yuan Shao is using the same old trick again, trying to use the same tactics he used against Cao Cao at Guandu to deal with me."

Pang Tong then presented another secret report.

"The attack on the grain route is only one of the reasons. This is a secret report that Kong Ming sent from Shouchun recently, claiming that there are many powerful families and officials in Runan County who are secretly contacting Yuan Shao."

"These people obviously think that Yuan Wei is too powerful and our army will be defeated sooner or later. So they want to secretly flirt with Yuan Shao in advance to find a way out for themselves."

"If we cannot resolve the problem of the food supply route being attacked, and if there are internal troubles in Runan and other places, the morale of the army will be greatly affected, and the situation will become increasingly dangerous for our army."

Liu Bei looked at Kong Ming's secret report and his brows gradually furrowed again.

Runan is not like Jingzhou and Yangzhou. The latter were conquered by him with blood and fire. The foundation of his rule is unbreakable and it is his most stable base.

It can be said that Runan was conquered by a simple order, without going through the baptism of war, and all potential enemies were not eliminated.

What's more, Runan was Yuan Shao's hometown, and the battle of Xiangcheng took place in Runan.

Under such circumstances, it was natural that the powerful and influential families in Runan, who had originally been dissatisfied with him, began to become restless and secretly flirted with Yuan Shao.

"Shi Yuan is right. This is not a solution. We must find a way out!"

Liu Bei threw the secret report in his hand on the table and looked at Xiao Fang and Pang Tong.

Pang Tong stroked his thin beard, still thinking hard about how to break the impasse.

Xiao Fang drank the tea in the cup, put the tea bowl down gently, and said casually:
"It's easy to break the impasse. Let's first devise a plan to destroy Yuan Shao's cavalry and thwart his plan to cut off our food supply."

"Our army has a continuous supply of food and the morale of the army is as solid as a rock. Those fence-sitters in Runan will naturally not dare to act rashly!"

(End of this chapter)