Chapter 329: Planning for Jingnan, a brilliant plan In October of the fifth year of Jian'an, after stabilizing the situation in Jiaozhou, Qin Zhen sent Lu Xun as an envoy to persuade Zhang Xian. It was said to be persuasion, but in fact the purpose was to pick the ripe peach of Jingnan. Before this, since the third year of Jian'an, Liu Biao and Zhang Xian had started a two-year-long tug-of-war. Thanks to Zhang Xian's prestige and connections in Jingnan, Liu Biao failed to successfully eliminate Zhang Xian for several years. The reason why an envoy was sent now was because according to Qin Zhen's estimation, Zhang Xian was very likely terminally ill. After all, in the original history, although Zhang Xian’s birth and death years are unknown, according to records, he responded to Cao Cao in the fifth year of Jian'an and died of illness in the same year. Combined with Zhang Xian’s previous experience of raising an army, Qin Zhen inferred that Zhang Xian’s life trajectory should not have been affected. If we infer from this incident, then now is the best time for them to take action. Of course, due to the inconvenience of transportation, Zhang Xian might have died, but they didn’t know it yet.

But this did not affect the overall situation, because after Zhang Xian's death, the alliance status of Jingnan was not dissolved, but was inherited by his son Zhang Yi. The premise for Qin Zhen to persuade Zhang Xian was that the Jingnan coalition forces were now at the end of their rope! If we don't join them, we will be wiped out by Liu Biao sooner or later. Only by joining them can we save our lives. This was also Qin Zhen's first step to seize Jingzhou by causing conflicts in southern Jingzhou. It would be best if we could control all of Jingnan. If we can't, it will arouse Liu Biao's hostility. If Liu Biao chose to stop, he would gradually encroach on the land of Jingzhou. If Liu Biao chose to go to war directly, they could seize Jingzhou legitimately! This approach is indeed somewhat unethical, but it is indeed the best excuse to start a war now. Under Qin Zhen's order, Lu Xun headed towards Changsha with Qin Zhen's handwritten letter. At the same time, on the Guandu battlefield, it is said that since March, the armies of Cao and Yuan began to confront each other. As of October, the two armies had been confronting each other for more than half a year. During this period of time, the two armies almost exhausted all their war potential. At the beginning of March, Cao Cao was preparing to retreat to Chenliu to hold his ground because of running out of food, but was persuaded by Guo Jia. Finally, according to Xun Yu's suggestion, 5,000 war horses were exchanged for 300,000 shi of grain and fodder for Liu Bei's army. Just as Guo Jia had inferred, Liu Bei's army did not reject this proposal because they were extremely short of horses. At the same time as Cao Cao delivered the war horses, a large amount of food and fodder was transported from Runan to the Guandu front, allowing Cao Cao to survive the most difficult stage. In August, when Cao's army collected summer grain, Xun Yu was the first to deliver supplies to Cao Cao. After obtaining supplies, Cao Cao held out until September despite the pressure from Yuan Shao, who had several times more troops than him. In contrast, after half a year of fierce attack, Yuan Shao's offensive gradually became weak and his food and grass were no longer enough. Yuan Shao had no choice but to retreat his camp thirty miles to the north of the Honggou Canal to rest. Upon seeing this, Cao Cao adopted a strategy of plundering with light troops, and began to harass Yuan Shao's long supply lines with the troops of Xiahou Yuan, Cheng Yu and others.

This move inevitably led Yuan Shao into a food crisis, and the army's combat effectiveness plummeted. In order to prevent harassment from Cao Cao's small troops, Yuan Shao sent General Han Meng to escort more than a thousand carts of food and fodder south. However, Cao Cao's scout troops obtained the news in advance and raided Yuan Shao's grain transport team with generals Xu Huang, Shi Huan and others. In this battle, Xu Huang, Shi Huan and others successfully raided the grain transport team and burned nearly 100,000 shi of Yuan Shao's grain. After receiving the news, Yuan Shao was furious and sent messengers to the north to urge for food and fodder. After Shen Pei received the letter, he ordered Chunyu Qiong and others to lead an army of 20,000 to escort 500,000 shi of grain and fodder southward. But at this time, a military report sent by Cao Cao to Xuchang urging for food and grass was obtained by Xu You. After receiving the military report, Xu You came to Yuan Shao with an excited look on his face and said: "My lord, Cao Cao has been fighting with our army for a long time, and his subordinates are already moved." "If they continue to harass here, Xuchang will be left empty. If we send an army south to attack Xuchang by surprise, Xuchang will surely fall." "Once Xuchang is captured, Cao's army will be left without food. Our army can attack them from both sides and win in one fell swoop!" In front of him, Yuan Shao looked much older than when he defeated Gongsun Zan last year. In fact, in terms of age, Yuan Shao is only five years older than Cao Cao, and is only in his early fifties this year. But since the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao's mental state has deteriorated. Until now, his temples are already gray, and he seems to be dying. As the mind determines appearance, Yuan Shao frowned and said, facing Xu You's surprise attack plan: "I followed your plan and went south to attack Xuchang, but it was ineffective and I also lost many soldiers." "Even though we have this book now, how can we be sure that it is not Cao Cao's plan to lure the enemy?" "I see that Cao Cao has many tricks, and the news is untrue. Don't believe it!" At this point in the battle, he no longer had the confidence he had before, and he didn't want to lose his troops again because of mistakes. When Xu You saw that Yuan Shao had directly concluded that it was a strategy to lure the enemy, he could not help but say in a deep voice: "Cao Cao has many tricks up his sleeve. If we don't take them now, we will suffer from them in the future!" He tried to persuade him, but Yuan Shao refused. While they were talking, a messenger came into the camp. Facing Yuan Shao, he reported to him about Shen Pei's grain transportation and also presented a book to Yuan Shao. When Yuan Shao saw the wooden letter, he was immediately furious and pointed at Xu You and started to curse: "You are such a wretch! How dare you offer me this plan?" "You have a history with Cao Cao. I think you have accepted bribes from him and are acting as a spy for him. You want to win over our army!" "According to the law, you should be beheaded. I will leave my head here for the time being. Please leave immediately. From now on, you are not allowed to come to see me again without permission!" This scolding made Xu You confused and he hurriedly asked the reason. Yuan Shao threw the book to the ground and told him to get out of the camp and read it himself.

When Xu You saw it, he hurriedly picked up the wooden tablet and walked out of the camp. After taking a closer look, his eyes widened. It turned out that what was written on the wooden tablet was not about anything else, but a private complaint from Shen Pei. Xu You was greedy for money and often accepted bribes, which led to his sons and nephews being corrupt as well. As a result, his nephew was caught by Shen Pei for bribery, and Shen Pei took the opportunity to detain his entire family. After reading the letter, Xu You threw the wooden tablet on the ground and said angrily: "Shen Pei is just a man. What do we have to worry about? Guo Tu, Feng Ji and others are all villains. Why do you specifically target my children?" In a moment of anger, he returned to his tent in a daze. Thinking about Yuan Shao's refusal to listen to his advice and now being framed by Shen Pei, he became angrier and angrier. Suddenly seeing a long sword in the tent, he wanted to draw the sword and commit suicide to show his loyalty. Unexpectedly, seeing this, the people around him hurriedly tried to dissuade him, warning him: "In the past, Cao Cao did not listen to Qin Zhen's advice, so Qin Zhen got angry and defected to Liu Bei, leading to the current situation." "Yuan Shao will not listen to the advice, and will be captured sooner or later. Since you have a long history with Cao Gong, why don't you abandon the dark and join the light?" When Xu You heard this, he immediately stopped moving and said to himself: "Since Qin Zhen did it, why can't I do it? In the past, this man defected to Liu Bei, and got what he got today!" "If I can enter Cao's camp and help Cao Mengde win, I will surely rise to prominence in the future!" Thinking of this, he was enlightened, packed his luggage, and headed out of the camp. But Xu You didn't know that as soon as he entered the camp, a soldier came towards Feng Ji's tent. Seeing Feng Ji, he talked about everything. When Feng Ji heard that Xu You had left, he immediately slammed the table and exclaimed: "Could it be that Qin Zixuan is really capable of such extraordinary foresight? Why is his prediction so accurate?" Having said this, he no longer hesitated and walked towards Ju Su's tent. In fact, ever since they received Qin Zhen's letter, Feng Ji and Ju Su have been secretly monitoring Xu You's movements. As time passed, the two had lost confidence in Qin Zhen's predictions. After all, Qin Zhen is thousands of miles away, so it would not be surprising if he could make some short-term judgments based on intelligence. But more than half a year had passed, and neither Xu You nor the food and fodder problem arose. On the contrary, Han Meng's grain transportation was ambushed by a general under Cao Cao, and it was not Chunyu Qiong who was responsible. This clearly proves that Qin Zhen's prediction was not that accurate and not very credible. But at this time, after seeing Xu You escape from the camp because his family was arrested, the value of Qin Zhen's letter suddenly soared. Because the first person Qin Zhen called his attention to was Xu You, and now that Xu You has left, it means something is about to happen. Therefore, even Ju Shou, after hearing the news, looked at Feng Ji in surprise and said: "Is what Yuan Tu said true? Did Xu You really leave the camp with his luggage?"

Seeing that he didn't believe it, Feng Ji smiled bitterly and pointed at the soldiers outside the camp and said: "When I first heard about this, I didn't quite believe it, but this is the situation now!" "Shen Pei, this fellow, knew that our army was short of food and morale was low, yet he still approved the arrest of Xu You's family!" "Xu Ziyuan has always been proud of himself, how could he tolerate such harsh criticism?" "I have received news that the person transporting the grain is none other than Chun Yuqiong!" "This man is leading an army of 20,000 and has ordered his generals to bring in food!" "Think about it, Lord Ju. Qin Zhen wrote these two names by hand. Now these two people are both correct!" "Then will our army's defeat also come as expected?" When Ju Su heard this, he was not happy at all. Instead, he said solemnly: "If this is true, Qin Zhen is too terrifying!" "We were able to infer this half a year ago. If we become enemies in the future, what chance do we have of winning?" The thing he was most worried about really happened. Qin Zhen accurately predicted the reason for their defeat! This is not good news. Although they may be able to win now, Qin Zhen's monster-level predictive ability is not something they can defeat. Is it really that God will not destroy the Han Dynasty? Two hundred years ago, a great magician appeared, and now there is another Qin Chen to help! Thinking of this, Ju Su felt his whole body go numb, as if billions of ants were crawling on him. He originally thought that the Han Dynasty would fall and that he could assist Yuan Shao in establishing a new dynasty. But now, he felt like he was going against the will of heaven, as if a pair of eyes were staring at them from behind. We will not allow these "traitors" to harm the Han Dynasty! Just as he was afraid, Feng Ji hurriedly grabbed his hand and said: "Mr. Ju, now is not the time for us to chat!" "This thief Xu You knows the movement of our army's food and fodder. If we don't act quickly, we will all be controlled by Cao Cao!" "Now that we know Cao Cao is going to attack our food supplies, what should we do?" Compared with Ju Shou, although Feng Ji also commanded the army, he was not as experienced in fighting as Ju Shou. Now that he saw that Qin Zhen had come true in everything he said, he was afraid that things would be difficult to reverse. But when Ju Shou heard this, he shook his head lightly, stood up and said: "Don't worry about this. If we don't know the reason for our defeat, we will be helpless." "Now that we know Cao Cao is coming, how can we let him have his way?" "Brother Yuantu, please go to the Lord and recommend me to go and protect the grain and grass." "As long as this is accomplished, I will discipline Cao Cao so that he will never return!" Having said this, he put his hands behind his back, looking very confident. If Qin Zhen were here, he might not be able to deal with him, but if it was just Cao Cao, he would definitely win! (End of this chapter)