Chapter 379: Qin, Chu, Liu, and Cao, the final showdown! Race against time with Cao thieves and quickly destroy the remnants of Yuan Shang!
There was an uproar in the city gate.

Be it Cheng Yu or Guo Jia, their expressions changed.

No one expected that Yecheng would fall so quickly!
Even Yuan Shao died in this way!

Cao Cao was even more horrified. He stood there in a daze for a moment, shocked to the point of being stunned and dazed.

What shocked him was not only the fall of Yecheng, but also the fall of Yuan Shao!
The man who had known him for decades and once shared the same ideals with him, intended to save the Han Dynasty from collapse and revive the country.

They once jointly killed the Ten Eunuchs, jointly raised an army to attack Dong Zhuo, and fought back to back against enemies such as Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu.

They also parted ways and fought each other to the death for the world.

He was once forced by Yuan Shao to lose the Central Plains and was forced to flee west to Guanzhong, almost reaching a dead end.

His feelings towards Yuan Shao can be said to be a mixture of love and hate, respect and disgust. He was both his mortal enemy and his confidant.

But now, this person whom he loved and hated, just died like this?

Died at the hands of Liu Bei!

"I don't believe that Yuan Benchu ​​died just like that!"

Cao Cao suddenly woke up, snatched the urgent message from the messenger, and unfolded it impatiently with trembling hands.

At this moment, he seemed unable to accept the fact that Yuan Shao was killed.

Not until the facts of the fall of Ye City, the beheading of Yuan Shao, and the dispatch of an edict to Jizhou were clearly presented to him in black and white, did he have to face this cruel reality.

Yuan Shao, his former comrade-in-arms and now enemy, was indeed killed by Liu Bei.

"Benchu, when you were the leader of all the princes in the world, you had such a glorious life. Have you ever thought that one day you would be killed by a weaver who only made mats and sold shoes?"

"I originally thought that when the world was in chaos, it would be you and me who would decide who would rule the country, but I never thought that you would be the first to go."

"The one who will finally compete with me for the world will be a man who only makes mats and sells shoes."

"God's will is unpredictable, the world is unpredictable, the world is unpredictable..."

Cao Cao sighed with emotion and threw the information on the silk book into the wind with a helpless look on his face.

On the top of the city wall, there was an immediate uproar.

Cao Cao's sigh confirmed the news that Yecheng had fallen and Yuan Shao had been killed. All the Qin counselors and generals were shocked and stunned, and they talked about it a lot.

"Your Majesty, the speed with which Yuan Shao fell and Yecheng fell was beyond our imagination."

"When the Yuan family was at this critical moment of life and death, Yuan Shao still allowed his sons to fight for the throne. His demise was not unjust at all."

"It seems that we, the Pseudo-Wei, are too late. We must immediately capture Fucheng, take Chengdu, and take Yizhou at all costs."

"Otherwise, if Liu Bei destroys Yuan Shang first and takes all of Hebei, it won't be us who are saving the pseudo-Wei, but Liu Bei will be free to interfere with our efforts to destroy Shu."

Guo Jia spoke sternly, interrupting the discussion among the crowd.

These words also point out the top priority at the moment.

Cao Cao took a deep breath, recovered from the sadness of Yuan Shao's death, and his eyes regained their coldness.

"Feng Xiao's words make sense. The situation has come to this point. Even if I can't save the pseudo-Wei, I must at least take over Shu!"

Cao Cao spoke in a decisive tone, whipping his whip and shouting:
"What are you waiting for? Order the entire army to march day and night. I will reach Fucheng within two days!"

When the imperial edict was passed down, all the ministers led their troops and urged the soldiers to leave Jiange and rush south.

Cao Cao also left the city gate, mounted his horse and rode out.

When walking out of Jiange, Cao Cao looked back towards the north.

His gaze seemed to pass across the Qinling Mountains, across the Yellow River, across the vast Hebei Plain, and fell on Yecheng.

It fell on the body of a middle-aged man who was sitting on the throne in the golden palace with a look of high spirits on his face.

"Liu Bei, it is still unknown who will win the world!"

"Next, it's the final showdown between you and me..."

...

Yecheng, Golden Palace.

"Your Majesty, I, Tian Feng, come to pay my respects to you and thank you for saving my life."

"I have been in a state of confusion for half a year. Now I have finally met a wise master. This is truly the luck of my life."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to serve you for the rest of my life, even if it means sacrificing my life for you!"

Inside the hall, a scholar with half-white hair and beard bowed deeply to Liu Bei in front of all the ministers.

Looking at Tian Feng prostrating himself on the ground to show his loyalty, Liu Bei smiled with relief.

A few days ago, at Xiao Fang's suggestion, he went to the cell in person to release Tian Feng who was nearly killed.

After experiencing a life-and-death crisis, Tian Feng had completely given up on Yuan Shao. Moved by Liu Bei's life-saving grace and respecting his courtesy to the wise and humble, he decided to submit to him.

Liu Bei intentionally organized today's banquet to introduce Tian Feng to his ministers and to show his respect for Tian Feng.

Tian Feng took this opportunity to once again express his determination to submit and pledge his loyalty in front of all the ministers.

"Yuan Hao, get up quickly."

Liu Bei hurriedly stood up and went down the stairs, helped Tian Feng up, and said with emotion:

"My greatest gain from conquering Ye City is gaining a man like Yuan Hao who can assist the king!"

Liu Bei immediately helped Tian Feng back to his seat and poured him a glass of wine himself.

The king and his minister raised their glasses, looked at each other and laughed.

The atmosphere of the banquet became relaxed.

Liu Bei was drinking and talking, asking Tian Feng about the situation in Jizhou and even the counties and kingdoms in Hebei. Tian Feng answered his questions without hesitation. "Ye City has changed hands. Your Majesty will lead an army of 200,000 directly to Nanpi next."

"I predict that Yuan Shang will not dare to defend Nanpi to the death. He will definitely lead his army to retreat northward to the border of Youzhou and Jizhou, with his back to Youzhou and the Yishui River as a natural barrier, and hold the Yijing defense line to resist stubbornly."

"The Yijing defense line was left by Gongsun Zan, and it is as solid as a rock. If Yuan Shang can get the support of the people of Youzhou and provide him with food and manpower, it will be difficult for our army to break through it quickly."

Tian Feng deduced all the strategies that Yuan Shang would use.

Liu Bei couldn't help but nod slightly and secretly praised in his heart.

What Tian Feng said was basically consistent with Xiao Fang's deduction, which shows that his wisdom and strategy were indeed the best among all the strategists in Hebei.

After Tian Feng analyzed it, he bowed and said:

"I may be able to do my best to help the king defeat Yuan Shang and recapture Youzhou as soon as possible."

Liu Bei's eyes lit up and he quickly signaled Tian Feng to continue.

"The Tian family is the largest family in Youzhou. Although my branch of the Tian family lives in northern Ji, we have always had exchanges with other branches of the Tian family in Youzhou."

"For example, Tian Yu and Tian Chou are famous scholars of the Tian family, and they have a close relationship with me."

"If the king grants your permission, I will write to the various branches of the Tian clan in Youzhou, explain the pros and cons to them, and persuade them to abandon the Yuan clan and join the king."

"If so, the Tian family can use their influence in Youzhou to call on the heroes of Youzhou to rebel against Wei and join Chu."

"In this way, Yuan Shang will lose the support of the people of Youzhou and will not be able to obtain sufficient manpower and food supplies."

"Then even if Yijing's defenses are as solid as a rock, Yuan Shang, without Youzhou's backing, can resist the fierce attack of the king's 200,000 elite troops with only 40,000 soldiers!"

"Yijing can be conquered quickly, Yuan clan can be conquered quickly, and the king can recapture Youzhou and take over Hebei in the blink of an eye!"

Tian Feng laid out his plan in full.

Liu Bei smiled.

Guan Yu, Pang Tong and other counselors and generals all laughed.

Tian Feng was stunned.

I thought that Liu Bei would be very happy when I offered this strategy, but unexpectedly, Liu Bei burst into laughter.

All the ministers present also laughed.

Could it be that everyone was laughing at his plan, saying it was a poor and unfeasible one?

Not really…

Tian Feng was puzzled and asked:

"Your Majesty, could it be that my plan is not feasible? I wonder why Your Majesty is laughing?"

Liu Bei stopped laughing and said:
"Yuan Hao, your plan is certainly feasible. It is also a great plan to quickly defeat Yuan Shang!"

Tian Feng was confused and thought, since my plan is a good one, why are you laughing?

Liu Bei changed the subject and looked towards Xiao Fang:
"To be honest with you, Yuan Hao, Jing Lue had already proposed this plan to me before this."

"I was planning to discuss this with you after I finished this glass of wine, but I didn't expect you to bring it up first, so I laughed."

Tian Feng was shocked and looked at Xiao Fang anxiously.

Xiao Fangze looked calm and just smiled faintly:
"It seems that Yuanhao and I have similar ideas. Since Yuanhao and I think the same, it saves us a lot of trouble."

Tian Feng came back to his senses and immediately stood up with awe and bowed to Xiao Fang:
"I have long heard that Prime Minister Xiao is a man of extraordinary foresight and ingenuity, a master of strategy who has never been seen before. He is the reincarnation of the Saint of Strategy."

"Today, Feng really experienced the wisdom of Prime Minister Xiao in person. It is true that his reputation is well-deserved."

"Your Majesty, you have the assistance of a god like Prime Minister Xiao. It is truly God's blessing to the Han Dynasty. The Yuan family's defeat was not unfair at all."

Faced with Tian Feng's praise, Xiao Fang just smiled and waved his feather fan:

"Since Yuan Hao and I want to go together, we should write a letter as soon as possible to persuade the Tian family of Youzhou to submit to our Great Chu."

"I estimate that Cao Cao will defeat Liu Zhang and capture Shu in the next few days. We must race against time with Cao Cao and destroy Yuan Shang, the remnant of the Yuan family, as quickly as possible to take over Hebei."

Tian Feng readily agreed, stopped drinking, and immediately wrote a letter to Youzhou.

Letters urging people to return home were sent from Yecheng and delivered to various counties in Youzhou overnight.

After resting in Yecheng for four days, Liu Bei ordered his 200,000 troops to continue marching northward, heading directly for Youzhou.

Given that Yuan Shao was dead and Yuan Shang had fled to Youzhou, the Wei army in the northern counties of Jizhou collapsed and was vulnerable.

The defenders of Julu, Zhongshan, Hejian and other counties in northern Hebei either abandoned their cities and fled, or surrendered at the sight of the enemy.

The Chu army took over the entire Jizhou without bloodshed.

In the summer of that year, 200,000 Chu troops marched northward, unstoppable all the way, and finally reached the Yishui line.

...

When the setting sun sets.

Yuan Shang stood on the top of the Yijing city wall with a frown on his face, looking far away at the Chu army setting up camp on the other side of the river.

"Big Ear Thief, you are finally here!"

"If you have the guts, then attack me. When the food and soldiers from Youzhou arrive, I will fight you to the death and show you how solid the defenses of Yijing are!"

Yuan Shang raised a hint of pride at the corner of his mouth, and his domineering tone was revealed in his words.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Pei hurriedly climbed up the city wall, his face solemn, and said in a trembling voice:

"Sir, there is trouble in Youzhou!"

Yuan Shang, who had just uttered the arrogant words, felt his heart skip a beat and his expression suddenly changed.

(End of this chapter)