The importance of this battle with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's heart is very clear, he doesn't want to be as confused as that younger brother Yuan Shu, he has sent troops to provoke Cao Cao many times, but he is at both ends, and he does not dare to make up his mind to fight Cao Cao to the death. In the end, it ended in a fiasco.

Seriously, Yuan Shao believes that Yuan Shu's original strength was not much weaker than Cao Cao's, and even, shortly after the initial capture of Yangzhou, Yuan Shu's strength was far stronger than Cao Cao's. At that time, if Yuan Shu could make up his mind to get rid of Cao Cao, who was above his neck, and was willing to apologize to Yuan Shao and give him some benefits, then, if the two brothers joined forces, Cao Cao would have been wiped out long ago. So now, half of the Han Dynasty is already the two of them, and the brothers are of the same heart, how can they care about Liu Yi of the New Han Dynasty anymore?

To start a war with Cao Cao, we must be fully prepared, and then if we don't fight, we must fight a decisive battle to the end, and Cao Cao must not be given a chance to turn over.

Yuan Shu wanted to fight, but also feared, wanted to fight but did not dare to fight, and was finally destroyed. Yuan Shao secretly encouraged himself to minimize the impact of being attacked by Cao Cao this time, and he must fight with Cao Cao to the end!

After sending Zhang He and Gao Ran to be responsible for the escort of grain and grass, Yuan Shao ordered him to review the match, and he immediately returned to Yecheng to supervise the grain and grass, and beware of Cao Cao's small army and horses sneaking into Yecheng to cause sabotage.

Wuchao is the place where Yuan Shaotun accumulates grain and grass, behind Yanjin.

Yuan Shao thought that if he fought with Cao Cao, it would go well. He can attack and kill all the way to Xudu, so his grain and grass must not be too far away from his army. He thought. Let his grain and grass move with his army, and all of them will be transported across the Yellow River and stored in the camp of his army. It's just that Guandu has not been captured for the time being, and Yuan Shao does not dare to easily transport all the grain and grass across the south bank of the Yellow River. Therefore, Yuan Shao felt that it was the safest way to hide his military rations in Wuchao. If the attack on Cao Cao goes well, then the military rations in the black nest. It can also be transported quickly across the Yellow River. In case the attack did not go well, Yuan Shao felt that his army could also retreat to the north bank of the Yellow River and garrison Yanjin. Rely on the Yellow River to confront Cao's army, and then find an opportunity to fight Cao Cao.

In any case, his military rations are near his own army, and he never has to worry about food shortages. So. Only then can he concentrate on dealing with Cao Cao.

Yuan Shao thought about it and felt that the most important thing was to protect the safety of the black nest, because there was a large amount of military rations hidden there. So he ordered that the generals Chun Yuqiong, Wei Yuanjin, Han Juzi, Lu Weihuang, Zhao Rui and other generals led tens of thousands of troops and horses to enter Wuchao to prevent Cao Cao from sending a small army and horses to sneak attack and rob grain.

At this time, Xu You, Yuan Shao's adviser, came to Yuan Shao again to give some advice.

Xu You said to Yuan Shao: "My lord." This time our grain and grass were destroyed by Cao Jun, his subordinates thought. It's just a coincidence, the lord shouldn't be too worried, and he can't mess up because of this blow. ”

"Oh? How did I mess with myself? Yuan Shao saw that it was Xu You, and glanced at Xu You vigilantly.

Xu You, whose words are far away, had a friendship with Cao Cao when he was young. For these, Yuan Shao also knows the way, so this time when attacking Cao Cao, when Yuan Shao's advisers offered their own strategies, Yuan Shao would always have a certain vigilance against Xu You, he was afraid that Xu You would remember his relationship with Cao Cao and assassinate himself.

Of course, the main reason is that Yuan Shao was not wary of Xu You because Xu You had a friendship with Cao Cao when he was young, mainly because of Xu You's character problems.

Xu You is talented, but he is not a great talent, compared to Guo Tu, Xin Ping, Sewing Ji and other strategists, Xu You's talent is not very prominent in Yuan Shao's mind.

Besides, sometimes, Yuan Shao always feels that Xu Yu is too unpositional, sometimes he seems sanctimonious, and sometimes he makes people feel that he is too dirty, and the strategies he seeks are also yin and yang, which makes Yuan Shao feel that he always has no position and no bottom.

In addition, Yuan Shao was also a little contemptuous of Xu You's personality, and his often open-mouthed behavior made him feel that he was annoying.

Well, how do you say this?

Yuan Shao knew that before Xu You served himself, Xu You had a good relationship with the two successive Jizhou Assassins, and Yuan Shao also knew that Xu You was connected with Wang Fen, Peiguo Zhou Jing and other local Shi Tuhao during the Yellow Turban Riots, and actually wanted to abolish the first emperor at that time.

The behavior of Xu You and others, Yuan Shao felt that it was simply a joke, so ambitious, unrealistic, and fantastical.

At that time, the momentum of the Yellow Turban Army was so great that it was quickly suppressed, and he promised these people, what ability did he have to abolish the Spirit Emperor? Is the emperor what they say they want to abolish it? What are they? They're killing themselves. Sure enough, they were quickly suppressed, and Xu Yu fled.

Seriously, at that time, Yuan Shao was on the side of the imperial court, like Xu You, who intended to abolish the emperor, was rebelling and Yuan Shao's enemy. If Xu Yu fell into Yuan Shao's hands at that time, Yuan Shao estimated that he would behead him as soon as possible, and use his head to report to the imperial court.

If it weren't for the death of Emperor Ling and Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing, Yuan Shao was forced to leave Luoyang to find a way to survive and begin to seek self-reliance.

The reason why Yuan Shao felt that Xu You had no position as a man was because he had abolished the emperor and rebelled, but he often advertised himself as a Han minister, and often said that he wanted to support the Han family or something. This girl, she obviously wants to be anti-Han, what else do you say about Kuang Fu Han Room? Even the emperor has reversed, is it necessary to say that he is a Hanchen?

is such a person, when Lu Bu jumped out of Guanzhong and took Emperor Xian to make a deal with Cao Cao, it was this Xu Yu who persuaded Yuan Shao to welcome back Emperor Xian and take Emperor Xian from Cao Cao's hands.

Well, if you get the emperor, you can be like Dong Zhuo at the beginning, Liu Yi at that time, and Cao Cao now, you can coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes. For this, Yuan Shao's heart is very clear. However, Yuan Shao at that time. It is true that he is tired of groveling to the Han family, and has already made up his mind to stand on his own. Therefore, Xu Yu's advice. made Yuan Shao think that Xu You was too ignorant of affairs, and he was too unpositional. The anti-imperialist wants to usher in the dedication of the emperor, what is this called?

It was the same before, Yuan Shao thought about preparing well and then sending troops to attack Cao Cao, while Xu Yu repeatedly said that he would send troops to attack Cao Cao as soon as possible.

Right now. When Yuan Shao had just given the order for a group of generals to move separately for the safety of their own military rations, Xu You said that Yuan Shao was like this. It's a mess or something, which makes Yuan Shao a little uncomfortable.

What are you doing, wouldn't you have reported it earlier? But I have made command arrangements. What do you mean by that?

But. Yuan Shao still held back his temper first and saw what Xu You would say this time.

"My lord, tonight's robbery of our army's grain and grass by Cao's army is purely an accident, although there is a loss, but for our army, this is only a small setback, and the loss is a small way. The lord doesn't have to be too serious, and he doesn't have to move his military horses frequently. Let Cao Cao's scouts see some clues from the movement of our military horses. It is better to be still, the lord cannot transfer all the generals from our army camp, because our camp is the foundation, there are no generals in charge, if Cao Cao wants to fight a decisive battle with us, without a group of generals, we are afraid that we will suffer. Xu Yu said.

Xu Yu is indeed a bit arrogant, and he always likes to put on a superior appearance, and Yuan Shao's personality is sometimes really too feminine, and he rarely shows the sense of majesty he deserves. Yuan Shao is more like a peacemaker among the strategists, and when the strategists under him have disputes, he will only mediate, and very seriously analyze who is right and who is wrong in what those strategists say.

Of course, with Yuan Shao's indecisive character, when he had to listen carefully to the arguments of those advisers, he would also feel as if everyone had a point, making it difficult for him to decide. It is precisely because of various reasons that individual strategists with talents dare to say anything in front of Yuan Shao.

Xu You is a strategist who doesn't care much about what Yuan Shao will think of him, on his face, there is a stinky fart look that you don't listen to the old man, and you suffer in front of you, with an expression that you love to listen or not, what we say is the truth, and it is none of our business that you suffer a loss.

He continued: "Cao Cao is actually not as fearful as you imagined, and he does not have three heads and six arms, Xu Mou thinks that it is the lord that you are afraid of Cao Cao, right?" If the lord can listen to Xu Mou's words, please don't act rashly, don't change the route and way of transporting our grain at will, and don't casually mobilize military horses to go to the place where we store grain, because this is equivalent to directly telling Cao Cao where our grain is stored. The so-called 100 dense and one sparse, if there is a mental calculation or no intention, no matter how we defend, I am afraid that there will be problems. ”

"Am I cowardly? I'll be afraid of him Cao Cao? If Xu You could tell Yuan Shao well, Yuan Shaoxing would still be able to listen to Xu You's words, but Xu You's obvious words with an arrogant attitude aroused Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction with Xu You in his heart, and then he couldn't listen to Xu You's words even more, and he was a little disgusted with Xu You.

"Uh, lord, Xu didn't mean that." Xu You may have noticed that he was a little speechless at this moment, and hurriedly shook his hand and said: "Lord, Xu just said that now we should brake quietly, as long as we stalemate with Cao Cao for some time, then Cao Cao will collapse by himself, and we don't need to attack." ”

"Oh? Why? "Yuan Shao heard Xu You defeat Cao Cao so easily, he actually let Cao Cao defeat himself without fighting? Hehe, he felt that Xu You had made the mistake of opening his mouth again. If Cao Cao was really defeated so easily, wouldn't all the effort he had done before be in vain? What else do you need to do? Wouldn't it be better to sit back and wait for Cao Cao to perish himself? But let's hear what he has to do with it.

Xu You took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Yuan Shao with a smile.

"Oh? What is it? Yuan Shao was a little curious and asked the left and right to present it.

"This is a letter that Xu asked the spies to capture Cao Cao's messenger, and he searched out from the Cao Cao messenger, this letter is a letter sent by Cao Cao to Xu Du for 100,000 urgent food." Xu Yu said: "According to Xu's observation, Cao Cao's army is now estimated to be seriously short of grain and grass, otherwise, there is no need for him to send such a 100,000 urgent food reminder letter to Xu Du. Cao Cao's current shortage of food must have reached a very critical point. As long as the lord doesn't move for the time being. As long as the army is in Guandu, in time, Cao Cao can be defeated without a fight, and when the time comes, we can capture Guandu in one fell swoop, and the army will approach Xudu. ”

"Of course, if the lord really doesn't want to be so passive. Waiting for Cao Cao's army and horses to collapse themselves, then the lord can also take the initiative strategy. For example, send an army to bypass Guandu and capture Xudu directly, regardless of whether it can capture Xudu or not. It will surely make Cao Cao frightened. Speed up the possibility of his defeat. Xu Yu Peipei said.

Yuan Shao took a cursory glance at the letter presented by Xu You, and then raised the letter in his hand, and said with a smile: "Ha Luha, Xu You, Xu You, what do you mean is that based on this letter, you can conclude that Cao Cao is short of food?" Ha Lu Ha ......"

Yuan Shao seemed to be very funny and said to Xu You: "You are too naïve, right?" As you said, Cao Cao is not to be feared. Now Cao Cao is short of food, so we will sit and wait here. Can you wait for Cao Cao to rout himself? ”

"Exactly!" Xu Yu seemed to say calmly.

"Humph! If Yuan believes your words, maybe it will not be Cao Cao who will be defeated, but I, Yuan Shao! Yuan Shao's face turned pale, and he said angrily to Xu You: "I don't care how you got this secret letter from Cao Cao, because Yuan Shao also sent a lot of scouts to intercept Cao Cao's information, but he has never made any achievements, you are good, but you have obtained Cao Cao's secret letter." Guandu is not too far away from Xudu, and the transfer of grain and grass to Guandu also needs an urgent order of 100,000? ”

"What? Lord, are you suspicious of Xu? Xu You's expression changed when he heard that Yuan Shao actually suspected the origin of his secret letter from Cao Cao.

"Yuan doesn't tell you this, I mean, even if your secret letter from Cao Cao is normal, but what if this is a conspiracy of Cao Cao? Cao Cao is scheming, how can he be despised it? What if Yuan easily divided his troops to attack Xu Du and fell into Cao Cao's ambush? What's more, how can there be such an easy war in the whole world? Our army can easily obtain Guandu without fighting? Hehe, how long have we been fighting bloodily in our army? But you still haven't been able to capture Guandu Pass, it's better for you to easily loosen your mouth, and say that you can let Cao Cao's army collapse by itself, can you really do that, we still need to use these hundreds of thousands of troops? ”

"Uh...... Lord, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the so-called battlefield, ever-changing, with the development, the timing is different, there will be a lot of fleeting fighters, and now our army has a late advantage. This is the time to wait for Cao's army to retreat on its own, and then send our army to chase after it. If the lord now transfers all the generals to our rear to protect the grain and grass, then as soon as Cao Cao's army retreats, who will we send to lead the army to pursue Cao Cao? Please think twice! Xu Youbai knelt down and said.

For Xu You, he really felt that he could see it very clearly, don't look at Cao Cao's desperate resistance now, but that is already the end of the people's strong crossbow, as long as it drags on for a while, Cao Cao's army will naturally run out of food and retreat, and he will give Guandu away.

Of course, Cao Cao's food was exhausted, but it did not mean that Cao Cao had failed, so what Xu Yu hoped most was to let Yuan Shaoke listen to his plan, and now divide his troops to bypass Guandu, raid Cao Cao's rear, and shake Cao Cao's army, so that Cao Cao's defeat and escape can be accelerated. Otherwise, Xu Yu knows the character of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao will definitely not be easily defeated, if he is about to run out of food, Cao Cao will inevitably struggle with Yuan Shao after a fish is dead. Otherwise, it is to lead the army back to Xudu to defend it, so that there will be an army of 300,000 or 400,000 Cao Cao in Xudu to defend it, and Yuan Shao talks about conquering Xudu, how easy is it? When that day really comes, Yuan Shao's army has already killed Xu Du, Cao Cao has no choice, when the time comes, he will order the military horses from all over the country to counterattack Yuan Shao desperately. For example, let Cao Cao's army horses in Yanzhou cross the river to Hebei, attack Yuan Shao's city, and wave his army to Yecheng, so that Yuan Shao can also be forced to retreat back to Hebei.

Anyway, Yuan Shao seems to have the advantage now, but he may not necessarily win this war, if he really wants to win Cao Cao, he must be fast, and Cao Cao cannot be allowed to return to Xudu. Otherwise, what if Yuan Shao won the official crossing? It can't kill Cao Cao, forcing Cao Cao to be anxious, and biting Yuan Shao back when the dog jumps over the wall in a hurry, it will make Yuan Shao change from active to passive.

In fact, this is also the case, even in history, even if Cao Cao lost the battle of Guandu, it does not mean that Cao Cao will perish because of this battle. At that time, Cao Cao just didn't want Yuan Shao's army to advance to Xudu and shake the foundation of the imperial court. At that time, Cao Cao actually had many ways to deal with the attack of Yuan Shao's army.

During the Battle of Guandu in history, Cao Cao won the territory of power, including Luoyang and Chang'an in Guanzhong, even if the Battle of Guandu failed, it would not affect Cao Cao's fundamentals, at most he was in a passive position. If you wait for Cao Cao to adjust, you can turn passive into active at any time.

Now, Cao Cao and Liu Yi have the same mentality, that is, they don't want to be destroyed by Yuan Shao's army in the area that he has already governed. is really desperate, Cao Cao can now start a full-scale war with Yuan Shao, so that Yuan Shao can take care of one and lose the other.

Cao Yuan's two powerful defense lines are thousands of miles long, and no one can defend against whom, it depends on who is better at chess in the end, can find better fighters, and defeat the opponent.

"Don't say more, the generals will act according to the order, Guandu will attack, and our grain and grass must be guaranteed, Mr. Xu didn't say that as long as we wait, we can defeat Cao Cao, then, let's wait and see if Cao Cao will collapse without a fight!" Yuan Shao waved Xu Yu back impatiently, not wanting to listen to him again.

Xu You had no choice but to return to the camp depressed.

Xu Youzhi said that the fact should be as Yuan Shao said, as long as he stalemate with Cao Cao's army for a period of time, Cao Cao will definitely run out of food and retreat. Yuan Shao won the official crossing, and it was only a matter of time. However, now that Yuan Shao has made so many moves at once in order to protect the military rations, I am afraid that there will be some variables in this. In front of Yuan Shao, Xu You showed a little contempt for Cao Cao, but in fact, he didn't dare to take Cao Cao seriously, he was worried, worried that Yuan Shao's military rations would be lost.

Since Cao Cao can destroy Yuan Shao's batch of grain under Yuan Shao's nose, who dares to guarantee that there will be no problems with the grain and grass that Yuan Shao escorts again? Who would dare to guarantee that Yuan Shao's Wuchao granary would be spied out by Cao Cao's scouts and then raided?

Xu You saw very clearly that on the defense line on the south bank of the Yellow River, which was thousands of miles long, there were still tens of thousands of Cao Cao's army, and Cao Cao's military horses could also cross the river north at any time and recapture Puyang, Baima and other cities. If this is the case, then the Wuchao behind Yanjin will bear the brunt of the attack and will be attacked by the Cao army who crossed the river from Yanzhou East County.

At this moment, Xu Yu also saw the entire battle situation very clearly, and felt that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, in fact, each had a chance to defeat the other party, and it depended on who was better at seizing the opportunity, hitting the opponent's weak link with a snake seven inches.

Wars are fought with money and food, and no matter which aspect it is, if there is a shortage of military rations, it is equivalent to the side that is likely to lose.

Originally, Xu You wanted to wait with peace of mind, and when Yuan Shao suffered some more losses, he would make a suggestion to Yuan Shao, so that Yuan Shao could adopt his strategy.

But I don't know, I was ordered to return to Yecheng to supervise the trial and distribution of grain transportation, but it was found that Xu You had a lot of things to do with the people's money, which also involved some cases of private sales of military grain, Xu You also allowed his sons and nephews to sell public grain privately, and the money went into his own.

Yuan Shao received this letter exposing Xu You's crimes, he couldn't help but be furious, threw the letter to the ground, and stepped on the left and right and scolded: "Xu You, Yuan treats him well, but he still dares to be greedy for money?" In vain, he still has the face to offer advice to Yuan Shao, Xu You has an old relationship with Cao Cao, the last time he offered a plan to let Yuan send an army to attack Xu Du, I am afraid that he also received Cao Cao's property, especially as Cao Cao's fine work, came to Yuan, and induced Yuan to fall for Cao Cao's tricks, right? is such a treacherous and money-greedy villain, what is the use of Yuan Shao keeping him? Someone came, quickly took Xu Yu down, escorted back to Yecheng, and after a certain victory Cao, returned to Yecheng to behead the public, in order to show Yuan Shao's clear governance, and never allow villains to be greedy for military rations. ”

Greedy for military food is a capital crime, Xu You is really in danger this time, Yuan Shao wants to behead him on the spot, and he has nothing to say. (To be continued......)