Chapter 353 How dare you, a country bumpkin, tease me! Liu Bei is blessed with good fortune! What, Yuan Shao is awake?

"Xiao Fang?"

"Your Majesty, that man seems to be Xiao Fang!"

Guo Jia was the first to react. He pointed at the scholar in front of the Chu army and shouted in a trembling voice.

Cao Cao's heart suddenly shook, and he opened his eyes wide to look carefully.

They were nearly a hundred steps away, and although his true face could not be seen clearly, but the attire of the feather fan and the scarf, and the confident and sarcastic words, who else could it be but Xiao Fang?

"This country bumpkin is actually also in Shan County?"

"He shouldn't...should..."

Cao Cao was in a state of confusion, his voice was trembling, and he began to speak incoherently.

The fear and dread of Xiao Fang that was deeply rooted in his heart completely erupted at this moment.

The generals of the Qin army on both sides were also horrified.

Even Cao Hong, who had just been shouting for an attack, had his anger shattered when he saw Xiao Fang appear.

"My lord, Xiao Fang is not in Liyang, but hiding in Shan County. He is clearly waiting to deal with us."

"Guan Yu's battle array behind the city was suspicious in the first place. Now Xiao Fang has appeared and said that he has laid a trap. There must be something fishy going on!"

"Your Majesty, I think it is best for us to withdraw our troops as soon as possible!"

Guo Jia was the first to wake up, and he shouted at Cao Cao in an excited voice.

Cao Cao's heart trembled again, and he felt an endless chill behind him.

For a moment, he was hesitant and in a dilemma.

"My lord, there is a smoke rising behind us!"

Dian Wei, who was always looking around, was the first to notice the abnormality and shouted to warn people.

Cao Cao and the others were reminded and turned around to look. They saw more than ten smoke signals rising into the sky more than ten miles behind them.

Why did smoke suddenly appear behind us?

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, revealing deep suspicion and confusion.

Guo Jia's eyes turned slightly, his expression suddenly changed, and he exclaimed in a trembling voice:

"Your Majesty, the Chu army must have taken the water route, landed upstream, and attacked our camp!"

"This is why Guan Yu dared to line up his troops behind the city walls. He wanted to make a feint to the east and attack in the west."

"My lord, this must be Xiao Fang's trick. We have fallen into his trap!"

Cao Cao's face suddenly changed, and the hesitation and worry in his heart were instantly replaced by fear.

"Retreat, the entire army retreats immediately——"

Cao Cao's confidence was greatly shaken. He roared hoarsely, turned his horse around and rode away.

The 100,000-strong Qin army, which came with great momentum, was demoralized in a blink of an eye and retreated like a tide.

Chu army formation.

The 30,000 Chu soldiers lined up for battle were all stunned by this scene.

Just because General Guan stepped forward and shouted, and the scholar dressed like Prime Minister Xiao issued a few ultimatums, he scared away Cao Cao and his 100,000 troops?
Cao Cao is really too timid.

The 30,000 soldiers were both surprised and confused, and there was a lot of discussion for a while.

"Father, Cao Cao fell into the trap and was scared away by Lu Boyan."

Guan Ping was overjoyed and rode forward shouting.

Guan Yu stroked his beard and sneered, then glanced back at the scholar with the feather fan and said with emotion:

"He actually came up with a plan to have Boyan impersonate him, show up in front of the battle line, and scare off Cao Cao."

"Jinglue, when it comes to using wild and imaginative strategies, it's true that no one in the world can match you."

"Xiao Fang", who was sitting idly on the four-wheeled cart, also breathed a sigh of relief at this moment, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

This Xiao Fang is not that Xiao Fang, but Lu Xun.

This is exactly the secret plan left by Xiao Fang.

Taking advantage of Cao Cao's suspicion, he made Guan Yu behave in a strange way and led his troops to line up behind the city, causing Cao Cao to suspect a trick and not dare to attack.

He then took advantage of Cao Cao's fear of him and asked Lu Xun, who was somewhat similar to Cao Cao in terms of handsomeness and elegance, to pretend to be him and appear in front of the battle line, scaring Cao Cao into a panic.

As for the beacon smoke behind the Qin army, it was indeed the Chu army that took the Yellow River waterway and unexpectedly landed behind the Qin army.

However, the main force of the Chu army's navy was used to land and raid Liyang. Only about a thousand navy troops were left on the Hongnong line, led by Su Fei.

After landing, these naval forces simply followed Xiao Fang's instructions and raised dozens of smoke signals to create the illusion that the army was launching a surprise attack on the Qin army's rear.

Anyway, you, Cao Cao, can't tell the truth from the false.

After taking many measures, Cao Cao became suspicious and naturally lost the will to fight. He could only order a hasty retreat.

The threat faced by Shanxian County was thus resolved.

"Prime Minister Xiao's brilliant plan, without using a single soldier, has frightened away 100,000 Qin troops. It is truly a stroke of genius!"

Lu Xun also habitually waved his feather fan and praised it with all his might.

Then he changed the subject and said:
"Cao Cao is no mediocre man, and he has many top-notch advisers under his command. He will surely realize that we have been tricked and figure out the truth."

"If our plan succeeds, it will at most delay Cao's attack on our Shan County. In a few days, Cao will surely come back to attack.

Lu Xun's words also reminded the generals, and the excitement on the faces of Guan Ping and others gradually subsided.

At this moment, a rider came from Shaanxi City and presented a silk letter to Guan Yu.

When Guan Yu opened the silk book and glanced at it for a few times, his eyes suddenly widened.

"Hebei can be conquered and Wei can be destroyed!"

"Hahaha--"

Guan Yu suddenly burst into laughter.

Guan Ping and Lu Xun looked at each other, and a hint of surprise flashed in their eyes.

"General Yunchang, could it be that the battle in Liyang has already had an outcome?"

With Lu Xun's intelligence, when he saw Guan Yu laughing, he naturally guessed 70% of what was going on.

"Bo Yan guessed right, Li Yang has fallen!"

Guan Yu handed the silk book in his hand to Guan Ping and Lu Xun.

The two were greatly surprised. They had never expected that Liu Bei could capture Liyang so quickly.

The two of them took it and looked at it with surprise on their faces.

The process of Yuan Tan opening the city to surrender and taking Liyang without a fight was clearly described in this victory report.

"I didn't expect Yuan Tan to surrender without a fight?"

"This is truly God's help to our Great Chu, and God bless the king!"

Guan Ping suddenly looked up at Guan Yu and shouted excitedly.

Lu Xun also suddenly realized and said happily:

"Your Majesty, you have captured Liyang so quickly. After Cao Cao learns of this, he will no longer dare to attack Hongnong!"

"The threat to our western front has been lifted!" Guan Yu smiled without saying a word, stroking his beautiful beard, and looking at the retreating Qin army with a sarcastic look.

...

Twenty miles west of Shan County.

On the south bank of the Yellow River.

Cao Cao stopped his horse on the beach, looking at the twenty or so warships on the Yellow River, his brows furrowed and his face as gloomy as iron.

"Your Majesty, we have already found out the enemy's situation."

"The Chu army did land by water from the Yellow River, but the enemy troops that landed were no more than 2,000 strong."

"They didn't attack our camp or our food supply route, they just set up dozens of smoke signals behind us to create the illusion of a surprise attack by a large army."

"We may have fallen into the Chu army's trap!"

Yu Jin behind him was reporting military intelligence.

Every word seemed to add fuel to Cao Cao's heart, making the rage in his heart burn more and more fiercely.

"A country man, how dare you act like an orphan~~"

Cao Cao could no longer bear it and cursed with gritted teeth.

Just a few thousand soldiers and a few smoke signals frightened him so much that he led an army of 100,000 and fled in panic.

Shame on you...

This was clearly Xiao Fang's strategy of confusing the enemy with new troops.

That country bumpkin was just playing with him like a child!

"Your Majesty, please calm down. This was my miscalculation. I failed to see that this was Xiao Fang's strategy to confuse the enemy."

Guo Jia, who was standing behind him, looked ashamed and bowed to Cao Cao to apologize.

Cao Cao turned around suddenly and looked at Guo Jia. Words of reproach were about to come out of his mouth, but in the end he swallowed them back.

"Well, it's not all your fault."

"Since that country bumpkin has appeared in Shan County, we must be extremely careful. Even if this is a trick to confuse the enemy, it is safe for us to retreat."

"To deal with Xiao Fang, it is better to be cautious."

Cao Cao waved his hands and tried to explain his hasty retreat.

Guo Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, Cheng Yu said:
"Since we already know that this is Xiao Fang's strategy of confusing the enemy with an enemy, it can at least prove that there are no extra troops on the front line of Shan County."

"Even if Xiao Fang is in Shan County, our army still has a three-fold advantage over the enemy."

"Your Majesty, I think we should attack Shan County again."

Cao Cao was hesitant.

He was obviously afraid of Xiao Fang, but he also felt that he did have the advantage in military strength. It was a bit too cowardly for him to be scared by Xiao Fang alone and not dare to attack Shan County.

The sound of horse hooves rang out, and Yu Jin came galloping over.

"Your Majesty, my Hebei spy has just sent back intelligence."

"Yuan Tan opened the city gates and surrendered to Liu Bei a few days ago. Liyang City is now owned by the Pseudo-Chu!"

It was like a loud thunder, crashing down over the river bank.

Everyone's faces instantly changed color and they all exploded.

Cao Cao's body swayed slightly, and he looked towards the direction of Liyang with an incredulous look, his face frozen in astonishment for a moment.

"Yuan Tan actually...actually surrendered without a fight?"

"As the son of Yuan Shao, he actually surrendered to Liu Bei, his mortal enemy?"

"This, this, this is too..."

Cheng Yu's voice was hoarse, he was so shocked that he didn't know what to say.

After being shocked for a long time, Guo Jia let out a long sigh of helplessness.

"Liu Bei is indeed blessed with good fortune. He was able to capture the important town of Liyang so easily. It seems that the demise of the Yuan family is inevitable."

"As Wenhe said, the Yuan family is beyond help!"

Guo Jia shook his head and sighed, looking at Cao Cao with a bitter look, the meaning of his eyes was self-evident.

An equally bitter long sigh was heard.

Cao Cao whipped his horse whip and sighed helplessly:

"If I had known this, I wouldn't have bothered to mobilize so many troops to come and rescue the fake Wei."

"The timing has already passed. It is meaningless to attack Shan County again."

"Send my order, and withdraw the entire army to Guanzhong, and prepare to march south to conquer Shu."

...

To the north of Dangyin City is Wei Camp.

The news of the fall of Liyang and Yuan Tan's surrender to Chu had spread throughout the camp.

More than 90,000 Wei army soldiers were all shocked and stunned. For a moment, the army's morale was greatly shaken and there was a lot of discussion.

"Yuan Tan, you are such a shameless person, how dare you betray my Yuan family!"

"You are worse than a beast, and you are not worthy of being a member of the Yuan family!"

Inside the king's tent, Yuan Shang was cursing loudly, his eyes almost bursting with anger and hatred.

"The eldest son's troops have been cut by the king, and our reinforcements are blocked in Dangyin and cannot move south, so we are naturally unable to defend Liyang."

"He just disregarded his dignity and surrendered to Liu Bei in order to save his life."

Ju Su pointed out Yuan Tan's thoughts, and amidst his resentment and blame, he also intended to excuse Yuan Tan.

But to Yuan Shang, Ju Su's words implied that he was the one who attacked Yuan Tan first and forced Yuan Tan to surrender to Chu.

Sima Yi, who was standing by, felt a chill on his back as he listened to the sound. He felt guilty and glanced quietly towards Yuan Shang.

After all, it was he who proposed the strategy of reducing Yuan Tan's military power to Yuan Shang.

The strategy of guiding Liu Bei to attack Qin was also his masterpiece.

It was also he who proposed to Yuan Shang the idea of ​​marching troops south to rescue Liyang.

In other words, all his suggestions were miscalculated.

He cannot escape blame for the Wei Kingdom's fall into its current unfavorable situation.

Sima Yi was naturally feeling uneasy at this time, thinking about how to respond to Yuan Shang's thundering questioning later.

"Zhongda——"

As expected, Yuan Shang turned around, shot a dissatisfied look at Sima Yi, and opened his mouth to question him.

Before he could finish his words, the curtain was lifted and the guards hurried in.

"Your Majesty, Minister Shen has sent back an urgent report from Yecheng that the late king...he has woken up!"

Yuan Shang's body trembled, and the anger on his face suddenly turned into shock.

(End of this chapter)