Yuan Shao was at a disadvantage in the duel between bows and arrows and throwing stones. He was unwilling to retreat like this, so he ordered Zhang He to lead the cavalry and chariots to rush to Cao Cao's Guandu camp, with the intention of breaking down Cao Cao's defense line with his only advantage of military strength.

Zhang He did not agree with this: "Cao Cao is obviously on the defensive position and will definitely be prepared for the various attacks we may take. It is unlikely that the last general will succeed when launching the offensive rashly. By then, the loss of troops will shake our morale even more."

Zhang He's proposal was approved by all the generals, and even Xu You, who strongly advocated the attack, believed that a frontal impact was not the best strategy.

However, Guo Tu believed that Yuan's army had many to few but had been confronted with him for a long time. He worked hard to lose his spirit and then became exhausted, and the morale of the army would be at risk of gradually disintegrating. Therefore, he and Feng Ji tried their best to dissuade Yuan Shao from sending troops to fight, so as not to slacken the soldiers' spirit.

Xun Chen, who was standing aside, never said anything, but there were different opinions on both sides. Yuan Shao, who was in a dilemma, saw that he remained silent, so he asked him for advice. Xun Chen looked at Zhang He, Xu You, and then looked at Guo Tu on the other side. Feng Ji knew in his heart that his opinion would directly decide whether to send troops. After pondering for a moment, Xun Chen stood up and said to Yuan Shao:

"Report to the lord, our army's hard-working troops have been expeditioned so far, just to defeat Cao Cao and occupy the four places of Yan, Yu and Xusi, and use this as a springboard to advance the world. Now Cao Cao is in a state of power to defend Guandu, and because he has attacked General Zhang He's ambush and lost his troops, he must not send troops to attack again but to defend. If we still hold on, the food and grass consumption of more than 100,000 troops will be huge. Once the food and grass are cut off, it will be unfavorable for our army. As for war or defense, please give up your lord."

After hearing Xun Chen's words, Guo Tu and Feng Ji both showed satisfied smiles on their faces, because anyone with discerning eyes could hear that although Xun Chen did not go to any side on the surface, his words were full of the intention of persuading Yuan Shao to take the initiative to send troops.

Yuan Shao felt confident when he got Xun Chen's advice, so he insisted on sending troops despite the opposition of Zhang He and Xu You.

Seeing that it was difficult to change Yuan Shao's idea, Zhang He had to lead the fastest cavalry to attack Guandu camp.

The news of Zhang He leading the army to attack came to Cao's camp, and all the generals were afraid. Cao Cao knew that Zhang He was not so easy to deal with, and was coming again, so he asked Guo Jia: "Zhang He led the cavalry to attack our camp, and the thunder chariot would be unable to do anything to him. If he fought, I knew that I was not sure that I could retreat to the enemy. I wonder what good strategies did sir?"

Guo Jia pondered for a moment and replied: "Did Cao Gong keep the feather arrow that Yuan Shao shot into our army a few days ago?"

"If it takes time to produce 50,000 or 60,000 feather arrows, the arrows shot by Yuan Shao just supplement our army's lack of feather arrows. How can we bear to abandon it?"

After receiving Cao Cao's affirmative answer, Guo Jia smiled and said, "In this way, Zhang He's army has already had the idea to retreat."

According to Guo Jia's arrangement, Cao Cao divided the 500 soldiers of the Gongyu Camp into three rows and placed them within the wooden railing wall. After Zhang He's army arrived in scattered, Guo Jia gave the order, and three teams of archers shot bows and arrows at Zhang He's cavalry in turn.

For a moment, arrows fell like rain, and the cavalry was not like infantry with shields to resist. Cao's uninterrupted strong bows and hard shooting caused heavy losses to the cavalry led by Zhang He. The continuous rain of arrows blocked the way of the cavalry, and had already lost most of the people before the Guandu camp.

Seeing that it was difficult to win, Zhang He would be wiped out and led his army back.

When Cao Cao's archers saw that Yuan's army had retreated, they raised their longbows in their hands to celebrate.

The loss of troops and generals again completely made Yuan Shao give up the idea of ​​a rush to attack and strong attack. He was very dissatisfied with Guo Tu and Feng Ji Xianshu's mistakes. In order to protect himself, Guo Tu pushed all the responsibility for defeat on Zhang He:

"Our army could have taken advantage of the night when the enemy's vision was unknown, but General Zhang took a sunny day and attacked in the sun and turned into a living target for Cao's archers. Isn't this like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth?"

"Mr. Sima, the marching leader, is not so bad. Cao Cao is well aware of military tactics and will definitely prevent our army from attacking at night. It is not only difficult to succeed in the attack, but may be ambushed."

Yuan Shao was troubled by the debate between Zhang He and Guo Tu and lost his mind for a moment.

Seeing this, Xu You said, "Lord, don't be upset about this loss of battle. I think the food contained in Cao Cao's army is not much, and it will be deducted after a long time, while our army will have abundant food and grass. Such a confrontation is beneficial to us, so Cao Cao will be defeated sooner or later."

At this time, Yuan Shao noticed that the gap between Cao Cao and himself was not just in terms of military strength, but even the most important food and grass was not as good as himself. After hearing Xu You's words, he woke up the dreamer. He immediately relaxed his heart and confronted Cao Cao openly.

As expected, the military rations Cao Cao carried could not withstand long-term consumption at all. He wanted to wait for Yuan Shao to take the initiative to attack him and fight against the defensive counterattack. However, Yuan Shao's military inaction over the past few days actually gave Cao Cao a headache.

Even though Ren Jun was well-organized and allocated limited resources well to avoid wasting, it was difficult for a good cook to cook without rice, and the difficulty in military rations still forced Ren Jun to send a letter to Cao Cao, asking for the replenishment of the grain as soon as possible.

Seeing Ren Jun running around for food and supplies for several days, he was already exhausted. After watching him report the achievements of the past few days to him, Cao Cao stepped forward and helped Ren Jun, who was kneeling on the ground, gently dusted off the dust on Ren Jun's hair, and said:

"If you don't leave the fifteenth, Yuan Shao will be defeated, and then the envoy will not have to work so hard."

That being said, Cao Cao was basically unimaginable. He wanted to discuss with Guo Jia and Xun You to retreat to defend Xu Du while the military morale was disintegrating when the military rations were exhausted, but then he thought that Guo Jia and Xun You would definitely not agree to do this, so he deliberately bypassed them and wrote a letter to Xu Du, and discussed the withdrawal with Xun You, who had always had a strong view of the overall situation.

Shortly after the letter was sent, Guo Jia brought Sima Yi to Cao's tent.

When they saw Cao Cao's sad face, both of them saw that Cao Cao had already thought of retreating. Sima Yi considered that once Cao Cao retreated, he would have no way to live, so he bluntly expressed Cao Cao's concern:

"In the past, the strength of Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang and Xiang Yu was very different. Emperor Gaozu was almost defeated in the battle of Xingyang and Chenggao, but he still refused to retreat. In fact, once he had the intention of retreating, he would inevitably lose his might and finally defeated the arrogant Xiang Yu. Now all the soldiers in your hands are one to be a hundred, and they will guard Guandu and fight against Yuan Shao without any inch. If you say that you will not only lose all your advantages in front of you, but you will probably also be like the thousand-mile dike that is defeated by an ant hole, and the defeat is fully demonstrated!"

Sima Yi's tone was very tough. The reason why he stood firmly on Cao Cao's side was because Yuan Shao was disrespectful to the emperor and had great rebellious behavior. Once Cao Cao failed, Liu Xie fell into the four prefectures of Hebei and included Yuan Shao, who was in the four prefectures of Henan, and no one could shake his status. By then, the period of monarchy and usurpation of the throne would not be far away.

Seeing Sima Yi's generous speech, Guo Jia said something straight to Cao Cao's heart, and he had no need to say much.

Soon Xun Yu replied to Cao Cao, and what he said was almost the same as Sima Yi, and the situation was clear to Cao Cao, and there was no way out to retreat. Soon there would be a change. At this time, we must not destroy the Great Wall. What Sima Yi and Xun Yu said made Cao Cao firmly determined not to retreat and fight to the end, and began to actively plan and gather food and grass in the territory he controlled.

After Liu Bei, who was hiding in Runan, learned that the matter of Cao Cao's shortage of food was discovered by Liu Bei, who was hiding in Runan, he immediately contacted Yuan Shao and asked him to send troops to plunder Cao Cao's food route west. He never thought that he would be exposed and intercepted by Cao Cao. He ordered Cao Ren to ambush and Ji Luoshan to defeat the general situation. Then the matter of Liu Bei hiding in Runan was also learned by Cao Cao. He immediately sent Liu Pi and Liu Bei, who were in high morale after the victory, to recapture the counties in Runan in one fell swoop, and calmed down the hidden worries in the south.

Later, in order to alleviate the problem of Cao Cao's shortage of food, Cao Ren specially intercepted the grain transport convoy west of Yuan Shao with Shi Huan. Although he won several attacks, he had very little food and grass intercepted, and could only briefly support Cao Cao's Guandu camp.

In the dark night, Guo Jia and Sima Yi sat opposite each other on both sides of the table, with only a candle fire between the two.

Although Cao Cao was determined to stick to Guandu, the situation in front of him was very unoptimistic.

"The food and grass collected by General Cao Ren and Ren Jun will not last long. I think the battle must end within this period."

Guo Jia pointed out the most serious situation now. After hearing this, Sima Yi stood up and said nothing. He walked to the sand table and gently twisted a piece of the baby with his right hand and turned it between his fingers, staring at every corner on the sand table:

"Where do you think Yuan Shao will put his heavy grain storage area?"

This was exactly what Guo Jia thought about before. Unexpectedly, Sima Yi also thought of it. Guo Jia also stood up and went to the sand table to hold his shoulders. He looked at the location behind Yangwu, which might be the place where Yuan Shao had food. Then he asked Sima Yi:

"Where do you think it will be?"

Sima Yi looked up and turned his head to look at Guo Jia. After a while of silence, he placed the stone in his hand on Wuyuan:

"I guess I will be here because it is closest to Yuan Shao's camp and convenient to replenish supplies nearby. Even if it is invaded, you can arrive at the rescue soon. In addition..."

"There is another place..." Guo Jia also twisted a stone on the sand tray and placed it in Wuchao, near Wuchao Ze in the south:

"Although this place is not close to Wuyuan from Yangwu, it is a place that seems foolproof on the surface."

Guo Jia's analysis is also very reasonable, which shows that both of them have thought of going together:

That is, the light cavalry detours Yuan Shao’s rear to burn his food and grass to seize his supplies. Even if Yuan Shao has too many troops, he will be unable to sustain himself without military rations.

However, this time the raid deep behind enemy lines must be hit in one blow. If you guess wrong, you will be alerted and there will be no chance.

Sima Yi and Guo Jia dared not bet on their own luck in this regard.

Suddenly, Sima Yi thought of something and asked Guo Jia: "Is there anyone in Yuan Shao's army who holds important positions and has an old relationship with Cao Cao?"

"I hold an important position and have an old age with Cao Cao?" Guo Jia quickly thought of someone:

"Yes, Xu You and Xu Ziyuan."

Now Guo Jia fully understood Sima Yi's intentions and began to prepare for the next plan...

Two days later, Xu You in Yuan Shao's army saw that such a stalemate was not a solution, so he suggested:

"Cao Cao is already in poverty. He sent the emperor back to Xudu recently. It can be seen that he knows that there is no possibility of victory. Now Xudu is empty in defense. We can take advantage of the situation to send a cavalry to attack Xudu and welcome the emperor. By then, Cao Cao will collapse without fighting."

However, Yuan Shao said with his temperament: "The thief Cao is hateful, I must capture him alive in front of the formation."

In fact, the previous sneak attack on Xu Du and the loss of Ju Yi made Yuan Shao feel heartbroken. In addition, several failures of the lonely army made him dare not take any risky moves, so he did not adopt Xu You's strategy.

In fact, Xu You suggested attacking Xu at this time, because Cao Cao and Cao Ren's main forces were attracted to the rebellion in Runan because of Liu Pi and Liu Bei, and Xu Du's defense was empty and it was difficult for Cao Cao to divide his troops to rescue him.

After returning to the camp, Xu You sighed that Yuan Shao might fail if he missed the opportunity.

At this moment, a soldier outside the door heard something that made Xu You overjoyed:

Xu You's subordinates shot and killed a cavalry who was heading to Hanoi to urge grain, and intercepted the letter written by Cao Cao on him.

The content made Xu You read it and quickly reported to Yuan Shao without thinking, because this letter was Cao Cao's death talisman for Xu You, and it was also an excellent opportunity for Yuan Shao to win in a short time.

After Xingye arrived at Yuan Shao's camp, Xu You found that Yuan Shao was reading an urgent letter from Yecheng.

Yuan Shao saw Xu You coming and his face was obviously not very good, but Xu You didn't care about so much, so he quickly presented the bamboo slips in his hand to Yuan Shao and said enthusiastically: "Report to the lord, Cao Cao has no food for the next day. We can wait until tomorrow to force the army to cover it up. If Cao Cao's soldiers do not have military rations, they will inevitably have a great morale. But a battle will determine the world!"

On the contrary, Yuan Shao was not as happy as Xu You expected, but instead smiled with an angry smile:

"Ziyuan's family style is so good. He dares to take advantage of our army to seize military rations in Yecheng!"

After saying that, Yuan Shao said that the letter sent by Shen Pei was thrown to the ground in front of Xu You:

"Shen Pei has captured all the illegal people in your family, and you dare to use Cao Cao's obvious trick to lure the enemy to deceive our army into ambushing. You are so brave!"

After reading the letter, Xu You was shocked. His nephew was indeed very greedy. For this reason, he missed his husband to suppress this matter. He never thought that Shen Pei could actually stab Yuan Shao in the ears, which showed that Shen Pei could no longer tolerate him.

Seeing that Yuan Shao was going to punish Xu You, Xun Chen quickly stood up and pleaded for mercy:

"Mr. Ziyuan devoted all his energy to the Lord. Even if his nephew does not do his duty, he does not have to take his anger on Mr., beg the Lord to calm his anger."

Yuan Shao didn't want to kill the strategist and generals in front of the battlefield, so he shouted back from Xu You.

Shortly after walking out of Yuan Shao's camp, Xun Chen chased after him and persuaded:

"The lord has always been suspicious, so don't worry too much."

Xu You sighed to the sky and said, "My Lord is not enough to make a plan. It seems that Yuanying has no place for me to be a foothold."

"Sir, are you going to leave Yuanying?" Xun Chen saw that Xu You's words were already intent.

"Haha, even if I stay here, I will definitely not be adopted by Yuan Shao if I give advice. Will I still stay here and wait for death?"

After saying that, Xu You left Yuanying, and Xun Chen stopped him from stopping him from watching him leave.

Soon Xu You came to Cao Cao's tent, and Sima Yi and Guo Jia also learned that Yuan Shao's grain camp was in Wuchao.

"You guessed it right."

Facing Sima Yi's tone as if he was admitting defeat, Guo Jia smiled:

"No, it's because you don't understand Yuan Shao. You think of him too smart."

In fact, the person who sent spies to report Xu You's nephew's corrupt nephew was arranged by Guo Jia. The things that Xu You had been familiar with Cao Cao would definitely arouse Yuan Shao's suspicion at this checkpoint. Xu You was a smart person and would not stay in Yuanying for a long time. Everything was as Guo Jia expected: Xu You took his anger on Yuan Shao because of Yuan Shao's suspicion and the act of killing his family, and came to Cao's camp to inform Cao Cao in detail, and strongly suggested that Cao Cao send troops to attack Wuchao.

Cao Cao had no choice but to decide to take risks, keep Guo Jia, Cao Hong, Xun You, Yu Jin guarded the Guandu camp, and took Zhang Liao, Le Jin and others to attack Wuchao while the night was shining. Sima Yi noticed that Guo Jia's health was not optimistic and could not follow the army, so he insisted on following the army to attack. Guo Jia thought that this time he was going to attack was a very risky behavior, which he wanted to refuse, but Cao Cao agreed.

In order to avoid disturbing Yuan's army along the way, Cao Cao adopted Xu You's plan and everyone changed into the captured Yuan's army armor. When he met Yuan's army, he called it the men of Jiang Qi's army. He strangled the horse's mouth along the way and did not make him neigh the horse, and went straight to Wuchao camp.

Wuchao defender Chunyu Qiong and Han Meng were unprepared and rushed to face the defeat of Cao Cao.

On the one hand, Cao Cao sent a few men to escort the food and grass he needed to detour back to Guandu camp. On the other hand, he personally led his army to set fire to the camp, fought with Yuan's army to death, and beheaded the defending general Chunyu Qiong and Zhu Yuanjin.
Chapter completed!