Chapter 303: I was the first to destroy Chu, who dares to laugh at me again? Lao Liu: Put away the fishing rod, and wipe out all the Wei cavalry!

"Yuancai?"

Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly widened, and he looked as shocked as if he had seen a ghost.

Senior official!

The man in front of him was his nephew who was captured by Liu Bei when he attacked Xiaxiang during his conquest of Huainan.

Now, almost two years have passed, and Yuan Shao was almost forgetting that he had such a nephew trapped in Liu Bei's hands, but Gao Gan incredibly came back!

No limbs missing, it's kneeling in front of him intact?

After a moment of astonishment, Yuan Shao was suddenly overjoyed. He hurriedly struggled forward with his crutches and helped his nephew up.

"Uncle, uncle~~"

Gao Gan was so happy that he cried and threw himself into Yuan Shao's arms and burst into tears.

Inside the big tent, the original military meeting suddenly turned into a touching scene of uncle and nephew reunion.

Ju Su, Feng Ji and other counselors looked at each other, confusion flashing in their eyes.

"Yuancai, weren't you detained by that big-eared thief? How did you manage to come back alive today?"

After crying with joy, Yuan Shao finally regained his composure and couldn't help but become suspicious.

Gao Gan also calmed down, wiped away the tears from his eyes and said:

"I was originally imprisoned in Shouchun, and it was Li Tong who led his men to break into the prison and rescue me."

"He sent his men to take a shortcut and bring the child back."

Li Tong?
Yuan Shao was obviously unfamiliar with this name and turned his eyes to look at his advisers.

"This Li Tong was originally from Jiangxia. In his early years, he gathered a group of people and moved north to Runan, where he became a local tyrant. Later, he joined Cao Cao."

"Later, Cao Cao fled to Guanzhong, and Liu Bei took advantage of the situation to lead his army to invade Runan County. Li Tong also surrendered to Liu Bei."

"So, Li Tong is half Runan."

Xin Pi revealed Li Tong's background.

Yuan Shao had already guessed most of what was going on, but he still asked:

"Yuancai, since Li Tong is Liu Bei's subordinate, why would he risk his life to save you?"

Gao Gan helped Yuan Shao sit down, with a hint of pride on his face:
"Li Tong said that he surrendered to Liu Bei out of necessity. In fact, he originally wanted to surrender to his uncle."

"Now my uncle is leading my Wei Kingdom's Heavenly Master southwards. It is no surprise that they will defeat Liu Bei and take over Runan. Li Tong wants to submit to my uncle, so he wants me to introduce him to him."

Yuan Shao smiled.

As he expected, Li Tong and the powerful families in Runan were all pessimistic about Liu Bei, so they all secretly sent letters of surrender, vying with each other to express their desire to submit.

Since Li Tong is considered a local boss in Runan, it is reasonable for him to follow the trend and join him.

The difference is that Li Tong is smarter than other powerful scholars and knows how to use the merit of rescuing senior officials to demonstrate his sincerity to the government through practical actions.

"It seems that this Li Tong is indeed a man who knows the current situation. He has done a great job in saving you. When I recover Runan in the future, I will definitely reward him handsomely."

Yuan Shao nodded slightly, very satisfied with what Li Tong had done.

Yuan Shao was naturally very happy to see the uncle and nephew get together, so he ordered a banquet to welcome his nephew.

Ju Su frowned, cupped his hands and tried to dissuade him:
"Your Majesty, the Chu army's grain team may set out at any time. Should we gather all the cavalry to rob the grain? We should come to a conclusion as soon as possible."

"I think we should first discuss a countermeasure, and then Your Majesty can welcome Master Yuancai."

Ju Su's words brought Yuan Shao back to the point.

The joy on Yuan Shao's face disappeared and his expression became gloomy again.

Hearing the word "grain robbery", Gao Gan's expression was shocked, as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Uncle, when Li Tong sent me away, he also gave me some information about the Chu army. Please let me tell you about it."

"Li Tong claimed that the 150,000 hu of grain that Liu Bei loaded onto the ship in Shouchun was actually filled with sand, not rice."

"There are thousands of crossbowmen hidden in the Chu army's grain protection team."

"Their real food and fodder is loaded on ships downstream at Zhongli, and will be sent north along the Woshui River and detoured to Xiangcheng!"

As soon as Gao Gan said this, it was like thunder exploding in the tent.

Be it Yuan Shao, Ju Shou or Feng Ji, their expressions changed drastically in an instant.

"Bring the map!"

Yuan Shao forced himself to stand up with the help of a cane, waved his hands and shouted.

He took the map and spread it out on the table.

Ju Su, Feng Ji and other counselors all stood up and stepped forward to watch.

When Gao Gan saw this sudden tense scene, he looked dazed and confused, and didn't know what to do for a moment.

Yuan Shao glanced at the map, then turned to his advisers:

"Gong Yu, Yuan Tu, what do you think?"

Ju Su showed a rare confidence on his face, pointing at the map and saying:
"From this it seems that Liu Bei's journey along the Yingshui River was a pretense to escort grain, but in reality it was just a bait to lure all my cavalry here so that we can use the crossbows to inflict heavy damage in one fell swoop."

"Liu Bei was also prepared for defeat. If he was defeated, at most he would lose tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but not 150,000 bushels of grain and grass."

"And his real grain team took advantage of the fact that my cavalry was transferred away and went north along the Woshui River, then landed at Chengfu, and then took the land route through Xinyang and the cities of Song State to Xiangcheng."

"Although this grain route is far, it avoids our cavalry and can ensure that the grain and fodder are safely delivered to Xiangcheng."

"Your Majesty, this plan of killing two birds with one stone must be the work of Xiao Fang!" All the counselors nodded. Even Guo Tu and Xin Pi, who were from the Ruying faction, had to acknowledge Ju Su's judgment.

"Xiao Fang, this country bumpkin, is really cunning and deceitful. Liu Bei and he are really birds of a feather!"

Yuan Shao had a look of disgust on his face, and turned his gaze towards Gao Gan with relief:
"Fortunately, Yuancai escaped in time and brought back such crucial information. God really blessed me!"

Ju Su was about to speak again.

Feng Ji's eyes turned and he spoke first:
"My lord, the big-eared thief wants to kill two birds with one stone and hide his true identity from the world, so let's use a trick on him."

"Your Majesty, you can send a small group of cavalry to pretend to attack the big-eared thieves on the Yingshui River, but send the main cavalry north to Chengfu to attack the real grain transport team of the Chu army."

"The crossbowmen of the big-eared thieves should have been deployed all along the Yingshui River. We don't have to worry about the Woshui River anymore. We can easily break through it!"

Ju Su frowned slightly and glanced at Feng Ji. It was obvious that he did not want to hide the fact from Feng Ji and said what he wanted to say first.

Yuan Shao nodded heavily and pointed at the map:
"Just as Yuan Tu said, I will use his own tactics to defeat that country bumpkin's evil plan!"

When Gao Gan heard this, he immediately said with emotion:
"Uncle, please allow me to join this battle, and go to Chengfu together to rob the food team of the big-eared thieves!"

He was the nephew of the King of Wei, but he became a prisoner of Liu Bei and was imprisoned for almost two years.

Although Liu Bei did not treat him badly during the past two years and provided him with good food and drink.

But he always hoped to wash away this shame.

The opportunity finally came today.

First, he brought back key intelligence and made a contribution. If he personally participated in the grain robbery and burned Liu Bei's 150,000 hu of grain, he would have made another contribution.

After these two great achievements, the shame of being captured will be completely washed away, and no one in the Wei State will dare to laugh at his shameful experience of being captured.

Moreover, if he won this battle, he would be able to cut off Liu Bei's food supply and vent his resentment for being imprisoned for two years.

Best of both worlds...

Yuan Shao naturally understood his nephew's thoughts, so he said happily:

"Okay, Yuancai, you and Gao Lan will go to Chengfu to intercept the food team of the big-eared bandits, so as to avenge our previous humiliation!"

Gao Lan was overjoyed and accepted the order generously.

...

In the Chu camp, inside the king’s tent.

At this time, Liu Bei had just received the secret report sent by Zhuge Liang from Shouchun.

"Jinglue, Kong Ming said in the letter that he had followed your plan and had Li Tong pretend to rescue Gao Gan from prison."

"Li Tong has let the senior official go, and has also passed on the false information you entrusted to him, word for word."

"Everything is in your plan."

Liu Bei smiled and showed the silk letter to Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang took the secret report, glanced at it, and said with a smile:

"Kong Ming acted flawlessly, and Li Tong also did a great job. After this battle, the king should reward them generously."

"That's natural."

Liu Bei nodded slightly, but asked curiously:

"Jinglue, how do you know that Li Tong is worthy of my trust and will never defect to Yuan Shao?"

"You know, this guy is also a powerful man in Runan, and he can be considered half a fellow countryman with Yuan Shao."

Liu Bei's doubts were also the doubts of everyone else.

As Runan was Yuan Shao's hometown, it had been common for the powerful families in the county to secretly communicate with Yuan Shao since the war between Wei and Chu broke out.

After all, Yuan Shao controlled six states and seemed to be more powerful on the surface, so he had a better chance of winning.

If Yuan Shao had won, unified the world and founded the Yuan Dynasty, Runan would have become an imperial capital, and the benefits of this would be immeasurable.

Xiao Fang's judgment on Li Tong was naturally not groundless.

He remembered that Li Tong in history took the initiative to surrender to Cao Cao and was entrusted by Cao Cao to guard Runan.

Later, during the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao used the title of General Zheng Nan as bait to lure Li Tong into rebelling against Cao Cao with Runan County.

The result was that Li Tong sternly refused.

From this, it can be proved that it is difficult to judge whether Li Tong was loyal to Cao Cao, but it is certain that he had no good feelings towards Yuan Shao.

That's why Xiao Fang had absolute confidence. He used Li Tong to stage a drama and used Gao Gan as a mouthpiece to make Yuan Shao mistakenly believe that Lao Liu would transport troops by Woshui.

As for the Battle of Guandu this time, perhaps it was because Yuan Shao was too confident that he did not use a heavy reward to lure Li Tong into surrender as he did in history.

Then, according to common sense, Yuan Shao judged that it was reasonable for Li Tong, the local tyrant of Runan, to reveal the secret of the Chu army's grain transportation in order to rescue his nephew Gao Gan in order to show his loyalty to him.

"Well, I have my reasons, but it's not important anymore."

Xiao Fang evaded the question casually and pointed his feather fan to the north:
"With the intelligence Gao Gan brought back, Yuan Shao will definitely gather all his cavalry and head to Chengfu to intercept our so-called 'grain transport team'."

"My lord, the fish has been hooked. It's time for us to reel in the fishing rod."

Liu Bei then put away his curiosity, and a hint of murderous intent flashed across his eyes.

"Send a message to Yide to immediately escort the grain and fodder from Shouchun and transport it to the Xiangcheng front via the Yingshui River."

"Order Huang Hansheng and Zhang Wenyuan to follow the plan and pretend to transport grain from Zhongli to the Woshui River and head north. Then, seize the opportunity to wipe out the main force of the Wei cavalry!"

(End of this chapter)