Chapter 91: Mutual calculations

"The last general obeys the order..." Zhang Hu replied immediately. Zhang Hu led his troops for many years and knew that the current situation was so he could only hope that reinforcements would appear and help the army to rescue the siege.

"Wait a minute." Cao Zhen seemed to suddenly remember something and called Zhang Hu.

"General, what else do you have to give?"

"Zhang Hu, come here..." Cao Zhen waved to Zhang Hu, called himself to approach him, approached Zhang Hu's ear, and whispered: "When you go to Chenliu, be careful. If the Prime Minister refuses to send troops, or makes any refusal, you go to Yingchuan to find Xiahou Ba immediately. Yingchuan is not far from Xingyang, and Xiahou Ba leads his troops to come, it will be too late. Also, don't forget to find an opportunity to notify Hedong Wang Ling."

Zhang Hu is also a smart person. After hearing what Cao Zhen said, he immediately realized that Cao Zhen probably couldn't believe Xu Shu.

"Don't worry, General, I understand what to do."

...

In the Han army camp, the emperor's imperial chariot flag had been raised, which also told everyone that Adou had arrived at the front line.

Cao Zhen felt deeply uneasy. Although the spies came to report that the number of soldiers in the Han Dynasty was not as large as that of Cao's army, since Adou was willing to lead the army in person, it at least means that the other party had made up his mind to kill him.

Cao Zhen has three ways to go, either forcibly break through the siege, but in that case the losses will be huge and there is a risk of annihilation of the entire army; or wait for reinforcements to arrive, attack Xingyang on both sides and then help Cao's army break through, and maybe they can find an opportunity to counterattack immediately.

The third way is to attack the Han army camp. Now the number of people in Cao's army is advantageous, and A Dou is in the military camp. If he can break through the Han army camp, drive away or capture A Dou alive, he can directly turn defeat into victory.

Cao Zhen is not a person who likes to take risks. The first and third methods are too risky, and if you are not careful, the entire army will be wiped out. So Cao Zhen still chose to wait for reinforcements. Chenliu and Xu Shu, Yingchuan and Xiahou Ba are all close to Xingyang. Wang Ling, the governor of Bingzhou, also stationed 30,000 troops in Hedong. With Cao Zhen's current food and grass reserves, he can fully support the reinforcements.

In order to save food and grass, Cao Zhen not only ordered Xiaohu to distribute the food, but also reduced the food that had lost its combat power and seriously injured people by 80%, which was guaranteed to be unable to starve to death. Those seriously injured people originally needed a lot of nutrition to recover, but now that they don’t get enough food, it will definitely be a bad luck.

...

Zhang Hu broke out of Xingyang and ran eastward. Soon, he ran dozens of miles.

It had just rained a few days ago, and the air was still very fresh and the soil was filled with a faint fragrance. However, at this time, Zhang Hu had no time to enjoy the surrounding scenery.

"General, look!" The guard next to him pointed in front of him, and a military camp was crossing the middle.

Zhang Hu waved his hand and strangled the horse suddenly, then looked into the distance.

The flag of Cao's army fluttered in the wind, and Zhang Hu breathed a sigh of relief. In front of him was the Cao's army camp.

"You have some areas to inquire, who is the head coach in the camp?" Zhang Hu pointed to the two guards beside him.

After a while, the guard came back and reported: "General, the Prime Minister is opposite."

"Prime Minister, it's great! It turns out that the Prime Minister is here, it seems that there is no need to go to Chenliu." Zhang Hu was about to move forward when he suddenly remembered Cao Zhen's instructions.

Cao Zhen suddenly stopped, took out his seal from his arms, and handed it to the guards beside him, and said, "You guys, bring my seal and go to the chat camp for help. By the way, if the Prime Minister asks me, I will say I am still in Xingyang..."

...

Seeing several guards running towards Xu Shu camp opposite, Zhang Hu sighed slightly.

"I hope it's not what the general thinks. Prime Minister should send troops immediately." Thinking of this, Zhang Hu turned around and looked at the rest of the people and continued, "You guys, go find some food, we will rest nearby for a night. If the Prime Minister does not send troops tomorrow, we will go to Yingchuan."

...

Xu Shu held a white cloth in his hand and gently wiped the sword.

After a long time, Xu Shu gently raised the sword, a smile appeared on his face, and said to himself: "Old friend, I'm sorry for you. I've been hiding you in the sheath for decades, but now that I'm old, I'm afraid I won't have any chance to use you."

"Prime Minister..." The school walked in from outside, came to Xu Shu and said, "Prime Minister, there were several people coming outside, claiming to be under General Zhang Hu, and requesting to see the Prime Minister."

"Oh? Please come in." Xu Shu put down the sword in his hand.

Zhang Hu's guard was brought up and immediately knelt down when he saw Xu Shu: "Keep to Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the Grand Governor is trapped in Xingyang, and ask the Prime Minister to send troops to rescue him immediately."

"The Grand Governor is trapped in Xingyang? How is this possible?" Xu Shu's face appeared with surprise, but his heart was very calm.

Suddenly, Xu Shu's eyes flashed sharply, and he pointed to Zhang Hu's guard, and said, "Catch him up, he must be a spy sent by the enemy to disrupt our army. The general's army is hundreds of thousands and four or five hundred generals, so where can he be besieged!"

"Prime Minister, what I said is true. I am not a spy. If the Prime Minister doesn't believe it, I have General Zhang Hu's seal here as evidence!" The guard said, and took out Zhang Hu's seal from his arms.

Xu Shu took the seal, looked carefully, frowned slightly, and then nodded slowly: "Yes, this is indeed Zhang Hu's seal."

Next to him, a small school came to Xu Shu and said, "Prime Minister, I have seen this person. He is indeed a guard under General Zhang Hu. He was once a leader and joined the army with General Wu. Later, he was transferred to General Zhang Hu."

"Oh, since you are indeed under General Zhang Hu's command," Xu Shu nodded, and then said, "You just said that the general was surrounded, so tell me the detailed process."

"The last general obeys the order, this is the thing..." Zhang Hu, the guard, said the story.

"So that's how it is." Xu Shu frowned slightly. Xu Shu naturally would not send reinforcements. With the status of Prime Minister Xu Shu, there is no need to know anyone else's decision. Xu Shu could just cover the sky and suppress this matter.

"No..." Xu Shu suddenly realized that something was always wrong.

"Cao Zhen is surrounded by more than 100,000 troops, so he should be very anxious. In theory, sending people to find reinforcements should be sent to Cao Zhen to be relieved. What appears now is just a guard. If I were Cao Zhen, how could I place the hope of the more than 100,000 troops on this guard?" Thinking of this, Xu Shu's face became serious, he made up his mind and began to think.

"This man is just a guard, and Cao Zhen will never be able to just send a guard to support him. By the way, he just took Zhang Hu's seal. This seal of Zhang Hu is of no use except to prove his identity. He cannot transfer troops, but cannot send generals... unless Zhang Hu breaks out!"

"If Zhang Hu comes but doesn't come in person, but only sends a guard over here, why is this? Is Zhang Hu suspicious of me?"

Xu Shu shook his head secretly and thought silently in his heart: "Zhang Hu shouldn't be suspicious of me. He doesn't have the ability. In this way, Cao Zhen has suspicious of me. Since this is the case, he must not let Cao Zhen meet Yecheng. If the matter is exposed, the plan for these twenty years will be in vain."

Thinking of this, Xu Shu showed a kind smile on his face and continued, "Since that's the case, I'll send troops immediately. Tomorrow, I'll reorganize my troops to support the general tomorrow."

After Xu Shu finished speaking, he came to the table, opened the map, pointed a few times, then picked up his pen in front of Zhang Hu's guard, wrote "swishwishwishwishwish", then stood up and said, "Xingyang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Now Xingyang blocks the general's retreat, and the situation is very bad for me. I think that when the right time is selected, the general will attack with me, and attack him unpredictably, and will definitely win. The specific details are already written here. Now the battle situation of the General is urgent, so I will trouble you to work harder again. Let me bring this letter to the General!"

"I will obey the order!" Zhang Hu's guard immediately took the letter.

"Well, okay, you eat something first, rest, and then set off immediately, come and prepare a few new war horses for them..."

Zhang Hu's guard withdrew with the letter.

Xu Shu looked at the other person's back and a strange smile appeared on his face.

"Finding some people and following them."

...

Since the guards walked in, Zhang Hu has been sending people to keep an eye on the situation in Xu Shu’s military camp.

At dusk, the sun gradually sets, but Zhang Hu dared not make a fire. Because once it is fire, it is easy to be discovered by Xu Shu. Also, because there is no fire, Zhang Hu and his men can't eat hot rice, so they can only eat some dry food and drink a few sips of cold water.

"General, we're back, they're back!"

Zhang Hu looked up and saw that the few people sent by Bai Tian to find Xu Shu had already returned.

"How is it, is the Prime Minister willing to send troops?" Zhang Hu asked immediately.

"When the general comes back, the prime minister said, and immediately send troops. The prime minister also asked us to bring a letter to the general."

"Letter? What letters, take them over and take a look."

"As for order!" The guard took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Zhang Hu.

When Zhang Hu opened it, he saw that there was no special content on the letter. Apart from a few polite words and comforting words, it means that Xu Shu would send troops to support him immediately, hoping that he would be able to fight Cao Zhen to win by then.

"Since the Prime Minister is willing to send troops, that's great." Zhang Hu breathed a sigh of relief.

"General, why don't we go back immediately and tell the general?"

At this moment, Zhang Hu suddenly remembered that Cao Zhen had asked him to be more careful before. If Xu Shu agreed to send troops without taking actual actions, wouldn’t it harm Cao Zhen?
Chapter completed!