Chapter 422: The debut of the rising star of the Han Dynasty! The dog-skin plaster can no longer be made, and we have to fight even if we don’t want to!
"Taking the initiative to withdraw the troops to the south can indeed lead Cao Ren and Yu Fuluo to go out of the pass and head south, in an attempt to recapture Hedong."

"But the Xiongnu have 50,000 cavalrymen, and we only have 10,000 cavalrymen. Even though our armor and weapons are better, the disparity in strength is so huge that it will be difficult to defeat an enemy cavalry that is five times our size."

Even Ma Chao, who was arrogant and claimed to be invincible in cavalry combat, was now afraid of the number of Hun cavalry.

Moreover, with the lessons learned from the previous time, it was not realistic to defeat the Xiongnu cavalry by using the repeating crossbows or the old tricks of the Que Yue formation.

The counselors fell into deep thought.

Xiao Fang actually had a good plan in mind. When he was about to speak, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Ma Su beside him. He looked eager to try and seemed to have also thought of a way to break the impasse.

Xiao Fang took back the plan that was about to come out of his mouth, turned around and asked:

"You Chang, do you have a good strategy to defeat the Xiongnu cavalry? Why not tell me about it?"

Ma Su!

Everyone's eyes were focused on the young new champion.

As the first top scorer in the Han Dynasty's imperial examination, Liu Bei originally wanted to entrust Ma Su with important tasks.

But after Xiao Fang's reminder, in order to avoid forcing Ma Su to grow too fast, Liu Bei arranged Ma Su into Xiao Fang's prime minister's office, and let Xiao Fang cultivate and train him.

In this war against Qin, Ma Su followed Xiao Fang as a military officer in the prime minister's office.

Xiao Fang did not completely suppress this young rising star. He still gave him the opportunity to show his face and be in the limelight.

Now is the time for Xiao Fang to let Ma Su show himself and display his wisdom and talent in front of Liu Bei and his ministers.

A look of surprise flashed across Ma Su's eyes, and he quickly looked at Xiao Fang.

He obviously couldn't believe that Xiao Fang would give him the opportunity to show up at such an important military meeting.

For a moment, Ma Su was a little flattered.

Xiao Fang nodded slightly to show encouragement.

Ma Su then took a deep breath, calmed himself, then stood up and walked into the tent.

"Your Majesty, I have thought of a plan. If we use this plan, and add my 10,000 cavalry, we may be able to completely wipe out the 50,000 Xiongnu cavalry!"

There was a sudden uproar in the big tent.

That’s 50,000 Hun cavalry!

Can we destroy it with just one strategy?

This big man, the newly crowned top scholar, is really quite arrogant.

Even Fa Zheng had a surprised look on his face. He looked at Ma Su with curiosity, wondering what kind of brilliant ideas Ma Youchang could come up with.

"You Chang, if you have any tricks, tell me quickly."

Liu Bei also became excited and hurriedly waved his hand to ask.

Ma Su coughed dryly, then slowly told his plan.

Whether it's Liu Bei, Fa Zheng, Ma Chao or Zhao Yun...

The curiosity in everyone's eyes was replaced by surprise in a blink of an eye, and they even looked at them with admiration.

Even Xiao Fang nodded repeatedly and praised him in his heart.

He had a plan in mind for how to defeat the 50,000 Xiongnu cavalry, and had already thought of a way to defeat the enemy.'

To his surprise, Ma Su's plan to defeat the enemy was better than the one he had thought of.

Even more imaginative and unexpected!
"Your Majesty, Ma Youchang's plan is truly a brilliant one!"

"I think this plan is feasible. It will catch the Xiongnu off guard and wipe out 50,000 enemy cavalry in one fell swoop!"

Even a conceited person like Fa Zheng could not help but applaud and cheer for Ma Su's strategy.

"Jinglue, Jinglue, you have never made a mistake in judging people."

"This Ma Youchang is indeed as you said, a man of extraordinary ideas and great talent!"

Liu Bei looked at Ma Su with a look full of satisfaction, as if he had finally found his true love.

All the ministers present praised him highly and acknowledged Ma Su's wisdom.

Ma Su had never experienced such a scene before, being praised so highly by so many big shots. He was flattered for a moment and didn't know what to do.

"You Chang, this plan of yours is truly a stroke of genius!"

"Not bad, not bad. Keep up the good work."

Xiao Fang also nodded in approval, and then bowed to Liu Bei:

"Your Majesty, there is no time to lose. Let's quickly follow You Chang's plan and withdraw our troops for now to lure the snake out of its hole."

...

The next day, 100,000 Han troops began to abandon their camp and retreat southward.

The army then gave up the attack on Baibo Pass, and began to slowly retreat towards Anyi City with 30,000 infantry and cavalry as the rear guard.

At the same time, Liu Bei spread the word that the Han army could not capture Baibo Pass, and planned to leave 50,000 troops to guard Hedong, and the rest of the troops would change course to Shangdang County and attack Huguan.

Fa Zheng's strategy was indeed effective and successfully lured Cao Ren out of Baibo Pass.

There's nothing we can do about it, it's because he has so few soldiers.

The garrison at Huguan currently consists of only more than 10,000 people.

Even if Liu Bei only led more than 50,000 people to attack Huguan, he still had a five-fold advantage in terms of military strength and had the upper hand.

Moreover, the Huguan area is mainly mountainous, which is not conducive to the mobility of the Xiongnu cavalry and they cannot rob the Han army's food supply routes.

"We must pin Liu Bei down in Hedong and wait until he runs out of food and withdraws from Hedong. We must not let him attack Huguan instead!"

After Cao Ren weighed the pros and cons, he naturally made a decision immediately.

Cao Ren then led a Qin-Xiongnu coalition force of nearly 70,000 troops, drove out of Baibo Pass, and pursued the Han army all the way south.

…Four days later, twenty miles north of Anyi City.

The allied forces’ main camp, the central military tent.

"According to my spies, Liu Bei led all 70,000 main forces yesterday and left Anyi and headed eastward towards Jiguan."

"The number of soldiers and horses left to guard Anyi is only over 30,000."

General Liang Xing presented the latest intelligence.

Cao Ren was startled and snatched the silk book from Liang Xing's hand and read it quickly.

This information was really beyond his expectations.

According to his original idea, he was biting so hard that Liu Bei would definitely not dare to easily lead the main force to leave Hedong and go to Huguan.

So for Liu Bei, the safest approach would be to stop in Anyi and then turn back to fight him.

If they could inflict severe damage on him and force the Qin-Xiongnu coalition forces to retreat to Baibo Pass, Liu Bei would be able to attack Hu Pass without any worries.

He is certainly not stupid and would not easily confront Liu Bei head-on.

If you, Liu Bei, stop at Anyi, I will station my troops twenty miles away and keep them still.

If you lead your army back to attack, I will retreat in big strides.

In short, I will always keep a distance of twenty miles from you, Liu Bei. If you advance, I will retreat, and if you retreat, I will advance. I will be like a dog-skin plaster sticking to your back, making it impossible for you to tear it off or get rid of it.

Who would have thought that Liu Bei would not play the game of you advance and I retreat with you, but would leave 30,000 men to guard Anyi and fight with you, and directly lead 70,000 troops to Huguan!

Not following the script...

"Liu Bei, I have 70,000 allied troops. Are you really going to lead the main force to attack Huguan with only 30,000 troops to hold me back?"

"Big-eared thief, you underestimate me, Cao Ren!"

After confirming with his own eyes that the intelligence was correct, Cao Ren was both surprised and annoyed.

"Bang!"

Yu Fuluo smashed his wine glass on the table and slammed the table and shouted:

"That Liu Bei is so arrogant and doesn't take us seriously. He is really arrogant!"

"General Cao, what are we waiting for? The 70,000-strong coalition army will march south immediately. We will conquer Pingyi and kill all the 30,000 Han troops to show Liu Bei our power!"

Cao Ren's spirits perked up, and a hint of excitement suddenly ignited in his eyes.

With 70,000 troops versus 30,000, our side does have the advantage in terms of military strength.

If he could capture Anyi, he would not only be able to recover the seat of Hedong County and annihilate 30,000 Han troops, but also cut off the retreat of the Han troops at Pubanjin, putting the more than 40,000 Han troops in a situation where they would be attacked from both sides by him and Cao Cao.

In this way, there would be an opportunity to take advantage of the victory to recapture Pubanjin and annihilate another 40,000 Han troops.

Hedong was recovered in one fell swoop, the connection between Bingzhou and Guanzhong was opened up, and 70,000 Han troops were annihilated!
Not only will the crisis in Bingzhou be resolved, but the situation in which Qin was passively beaten throughout the Qin-Han War will also be reversed in one fell swoop!
The more Cao Ren thought about it, the more excited he became, and he stood up suddenly.

"General Huqi, you should be cautious about this matter."

Xun You spoke in time and interrupted Cao Ren's decision.

"Liu Bei knew that my coalition army had 70,000 soldiers, but he still dared to leave only 30,000 soldiers to defend Anyi. In my opinion, he may not be arrogant, but he is just confident."

"Liu Bei has always been experienced in military affairs, and he has many talented people under his command. Xiao Fang is even more of a sage of strategy."

"You is just worried, is there any trickery in Liu Bei's deployment?"

Xun You poured a bucket of cold water on Cao Ren's head, instantly extinguishing most of Cao Ren's impulse.

All the losses I suffered and the setbacks I encountered all came to my mind one by one.

"Gongda's words make sense. All of Liu Bei's advisers are cunning and deceitful, especially Xiao Fang, that country bumpkin."

"Liu Bei's move is indeed illogical. Is there really a trick behind it?"

Cao Ren felt a chill on his back and began to hesitate.

Yu Furuo, who was standing by, couldn't bear to watch it anymore.

"General Cao, you guys are too scared of Liu Bei, aren't you?"

"I know Liu Bei is powerful, and I've also heard that Xiao Fang is very smart, but now the difference between the strong and the weak is clear. I have 50,000 cavalrymen, so what do you have to be afraid of?"

"Besides, even if Liu Bei really had a trick, would you just leave Anyi unattacked and allow Liu Bei to lead the main force to attack Huguan?"

"That place is mostly mountainous, my 50,000 cavalry can't exert their power, and it will be difficult to rob the Han army's food supply route!"

Yu Fuluo used both sarcasm and reminders in a few words to make Cao Ren lose face, but at the same time he suddenly realized his mistake.

"This Xiongnu chieftain's last sentence is quite right. I can't just sit back and watch Liu Bei attack Huguan!"

"Since I want to stop the big-eared thief from attacking Huguan, I can only capture Anyi and force the big-eared thief to return..."

Cao Ren's thoughts raced, and in a blink of an eye he had weighed the pros and cons. The hesitation in his eyes turned into determination.

"I have your help, the Great Chanyu, and 50,000 Xiongnu cavalry at my disposal, so why should I fear the big-eared thief?"

Cao Ren's fighting spirit was aroused, and he shouted sternly:
"Tell my generals that the coalition forces will move south immediately!"

"I will conquer Pingyi, annihilate all 30,000 Han troops, and pin that big-eared thief and his main force firmly to Hedong!"

Xun You wanted to object, but when the words came to his lips, he stopped himself.

Yu Furuo could see it, so he could naturally see that the only way to stop Liu Bei from attacking Huguan was to launch an offensive against Anyi.

He couldn't think of a better strategy, so he could only keep quiet.

On the day.

Cao Ren then mobilized all 70,000 Qin-Xiongnu coalition forces, marched south along the Fen River, and attacked Anyi City directly.

(End of this chapter)