Chapter 308 (2/2)

Cao Cao’s battle at Guandu had been going on for months but to him, it felt like years He felt much older His black hair had also turned white

“Persevere We must persevere!” Cao Cao took a sip of wine to refresh himself His eyes were red and swollen Yuan Shao’s navy of one hundred thousand at been defeated at the Yellow River Yuan Shao felt like exploding Without a navy, his power at Guandu reduced by a substantial aer as sh Yuan Shao did not have one hundred thousand navy, he still had one hundred and fifty thousand men in his hands There were also tens of thousands of heavy cavalry and many more

It was no wonder that Yuan Shao was currently holding on to three provinces and have countless warhorses He was not like the other warlords at Central Plains, buying a horse for several hundred gold Howeer, Yuan Shao could get horses whenever he wants as there were horse farms and he could even trade them

Yuan Shao’s navy had been defeated Cao Cao also no longer had a navy So, Yuan Shao’s strategists gave hiem They planned to build a raft, to cross the Yellow River and penetrate deep into Yanzhou to do battle with Cao Cao

If the forty thousand heavy cavalry were to enter Yanzhou, Cao Cao would have a big headache trying to intercept theer Cavalry may be forhting against forty thousand was not so they or even the Wolf Cavalry would do Besides that, there were also faht, they would just get ganged up and killed

Cao Cao had a headache None of his subordinates, including Guo Jia, had a plan At that moment, he only had two options One option was to prevent Yuan Shao fro the Yellow River However, the Yellow River was very long and a lot of manpoas needed to stop Yuan Shao With one small mistake, the heavy cavalry would cross over the river and a huge disaster would follow

Another option would be to cross over to the other side and enter Yuan Shao’s territory However, that would not work at that moment as Yuan Shao still had ninety thousand troops and forty thousand cavalry Meanwhile, Cao Cao only has forty thousand troops As he had to remain in Guandu, the number of troops he could take out is only thirty thousand He was severely outnumbered Besides that, Yuan Shao also wanted to cross the river to battle against hiritted his teeth and decided to risk it by crossing the river for a decisive battle when Guo Jia suddenly stood up “Wait! Milord Do you remember about that time?”

“That time? What time?” Cao Cao already had a headache and did not want to deal with Guo Jia’s longwinded words “Feng Xiao It is already an eency If you have a plan, say it”

“Milord I do not have a plan! I aave a wry smile He did not want to keep his listener in suspense but he was not sure if the information he has was correct “Milord Do you still reiven to us by the ?”

“H…” Cao Cao could not help but look at the map on the table

“Yes It is Wuchao!” Guo Jia nodded When Cao Cao’s iven hie that victory would be at Wuchao

“This ames2!” Cao Cao rubbed his head and replied

“A child’s games may sometimes be serious!” Guo Jia smiled bitterly “Besides that, Milord Do you think we have other options?”

“This…” Cao Cao was a sceptical person It was not just Liu Mang’s vague ains and losses of the information provided to hiet if they lie to us?” Guo Jia tried to convince Cao Cao to attack Wuchao This is because Cao Cao would lose regardless of whether he attacks or defends They could only open a path with unexpected hed The Lu Bu’s Army had almost killed him the moment they entered Central Plains If Lu Bu was not around, Xuzhou would have been wealthy instead of its current bare state

After Cao Cao chased Lu Bu out of Yanzhou, Lu Bu became a pain at Xuzhou Cao Cao then joined forces with Liu Bei to chase Lu Bu out of Xuzhou If it was not because of Liu Mang, Lu Bu’s head would have already been his Right now, Cao Cao still had Lu Bu’s Sky Piercer

“Milord There are only benefits and no eternal enemies in this world If you could join forces with Liu Bei to capture Xuzhou and look pass your en Xiu for Yanzhou, why can’t you do the same for Lu Bu?” Guo Jia asked

“But the man is Lu Bu, an obstinate person” Cao Cao retorted

“Milord The current Lu Bu is not like the Lu Bu from those days!” Guo Jia shook his head and said Lu Bu used to be a egoistic ets half of Chen Gong’s words or ignored them completely However, the current Lu Bu was h he is still iiven to us by Lu Bu It is given to us by the King of Shu, Liu Mang!”

“Him?”

“Milord There are talented people in Lu Bu’s Army They are not stupid If we are defeated, Yuan Shao would occupy six states With provision and troops being supplied, there would be no one else able to defeat Yuan Shao Sun Ce, Liu Bei and Lu Bu together only have three provinces How are they going to fight Yuan Shao? On the other hand, it is different if in With Jizhou, Youzhou and other provinces in his hand, Yuan Shao would be able to retreat and recuperate We would need a few years to defeat Yuan Shao This is enough time for the outcome at Central Plains to be decided Our victory would be as though it is a lose-lose situation for us and Yuan Shao The others would be able to profit from our disaster This hy they would not wish for our defeat This is why I believe that this inforer analysed tactfully but spoke of his true feelings

“But this information is several months old Even if Lu Bu has talented people, they should not be able to guess the situation several months later!” Cao Cao was still doubtful Fortunately, a soldier froave an infor hiood friend of the Priain He does not have any good friends He was the Prime Minister of the Han Not many would claim to be his friend If there were any, they were people that conceal their feelings The agitated Cao Cao did not want to uy coht for a while before replying “This person should have come from the opposite side of the Yellow River!” This was because the h he had just crossed the river

“Froreide That meant that this person was froood friend However, besides Yuan Shao, there was one other person

“Milord The plan to break Yuan has cohed

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Okay there are ’s trebuchet 弩炮 is a ballista Based on the fact that it apparently throws stone, it is the rock throwing ballista I called it trebuchet to differentiate it with that ‘large arrow throwing trebuchet’ 床弩 Meanwhile, Liu Bei’s ‘trebuchet’ (which I believe I just called catapults in later chapters Mymachine) Thanks to this, all chapters from here onwards (and chapters I have NOT yet posted by the ti’s trebuchet as rock ballista I aes (sorry about the i/small)

PS Liu Bei’s trebuchet is literally ‘stone throwing machine’ This means that it could be a trebuchet, a trebuchet, or even the rock ballista For now, I a to call it a trebuchet