Chapter 330: Xu You surrenders to Cao, a turning point in history Facing Ju Su's instructions, Feng Ji naturally did not dare to delay for a moment and hurried to Yuan Shao's tent and said: "My lord, I just inspected the camp and when I arrived at Xu You's tent, I saw that he had already left." "I wonder if the lord would give him military orders and have him return to Wei County to garrison?" Although he came to persuade, he couldn't let Yuan Shao go. He was well prepared, so he pretended not to know the details. Yuan Shao was already very angry at the time. Upon hearing this, he became furious again and said: "I wanted to save this man's life, but he betrayed me and ran away." "Where has this person gone? Come, help me to track him down and kill him!" Feng Ji saw this and naturally could not let Yuan Shao pursue, so he hurriedly persuaded him: "My lord, please don't worry. I just saw that the person was not in the camp. I don't know where he went." "If Brother Ziyuan had not left, wouldn't your actions have hurt the loyalty of a loyal minister?"

His words naturally tempted Yuan Shao to tell him the reason again. Yuan Shao immediately fell into the trap and immediately said angrily: "Xu You, along with his family, accepted bribes and has been imprisoned. How can he be considered a loyal minister?" After saying this, he told Feng Ji what had just happened in the tent. "If a person like this does something wrong now that I am gone, he will definitely surrender to the enemy. If I don't kill him, I will not be able to vent my hatred!" Feng Ji listened and pretended to be surprised, then he cried out that it was not good and said hurriedly: "My lord, Xu You knew that our army's food and grass would arrive soon. Now he is surrendering to the enemy. Isn't this a disclosure of military secrets?" "If Cao Cao knew about this, how could we protect our army's food and grass?" As soon as he finished speaking, Yuan Shao's face changed and he hurried out of the camp to call for help. But then he seemed to remember something, turned around and said with a smile: "There is no need to worry about this matter. Cao Cao has been holding on for a long time and his troops are few." "This time I will use Chunyu Qiong to lead an army of 20,000 to escort the grain and grass. Even if Cao Cao comes out in full force, it will be difficult to defeat our army!" "If he dares to go, I will make sure he is completely destroyed here. Why worry about it?" Feng Ji looked at Yuan Shao's confident look and sighed in his heart. It’s no wonder that Qin Zhen predicted that they would be defeated. Yuan Shao is indeed a bit stupid now! Even though he knew Xu You might leak the secret, he still relied on his large number of troops and was unwilling to send reinforcements! More than 20,000 soldiers and horses may seem like a lot, but in fact, if Cao Cao is focused on burning food supplies, they will not be able to defend against Cao Cao at all! After thinking about this, he had a clear idea in his mind and hurriedly bowed to Yuan Shao and said: "Cao Cao is full of tricks. My lord, you must not underestimate the enemy!" "Chun Yuqiong and his men are all brave but not wise. How can they be a match for Cao Cao?" "Even if we don't send an army, we should at least send a wise man to prevent Cao Cao from launching a surprise attack!" In fact, in the original process, Ju Su also persuaded Yuan Shao to send soldiers to escort the grain transport team, but Yuan Shao, thinking that he had a large number of soldiers, directly rejected this proposal. Now that Feng Ji had mentioned this, Yuan Shao became more concerned and nodded: "What Yuan Tu said is not wrong, but now Xu Ziyuan has defected, and you and Guo Tu are in charge of the army." "Xin Ping and Xun Chen both have family members working for Cao Cao, so I really don't have anyone I can use!"

Having said that, he looked very sad, and seemed to regret putting Tian Feng in jail. In fact, compared to Ju Su, the rebellious Tian Feng was Yuan Shao's most trusted adviser. However, his words just hit the mark of Feng Ji's heart. Seeing him sigh that there was no one around, Feng Ji smiled and said: "My lord, have you forgotten that we have Lord Ju in our army? Lord Ju is resourceful and can be sent to help us!" "If Lord Ju was around, even if Cao Cao came to attack, it would be difficult to achieve any results." When Yuan Shao heard him mention Ju Su, he hesitated for a moment, stroked his beard and said thoughtfully: "That being said, Ju Su's words have repeatedly shaken the morale of the army, and I have distanced myself from him." "Now let him go to protect the food and grass, will he be willing to do his best?" If there is one characteristic about him, it is that, like Liu Bei, he does not often show his emotions on his face. However, although he doesn't say it on the surface, he is suspicious and cautious in his heart, and privately guesses what others are thinking. In his opinion, although Ju Su was loyal, he was probably unwilling to do so because his suggestions were rejected many times. Now he wants to entrust such an important task to Ju Shou. What if Ju Shou does not do his best? Feng Ji naturally knew what Yuan Shao was thinking, and immediately tried to persuade him again: "Although Shu was not a minister of Yuan Cong, he was loyal to his duties and never slacked off." "Although I am not close to my lord now, I am always worried about state affairs." "This person has repeatedly offended us, but the Lord still entrusted him with an important task. Lord Ju is so grateful that he cannot bear grudges against him." "If you don't believe me, you can summon me to see you. I can recommend you!" Yuan Shao was a little hesitant to begin with, but when he saw Feng Ji's assurance, he immediately smiled and said: "Even if I don't believe what others say, how can I not believe what Yuan Tu says?" "Well, since Yuantu recommended it, I don't want to waste my time." "Yuan Tu only needs to pass on my military order and have him lead 3,000 soldiers to escort us!" Feng Ji was overjoyed when he got Yuan Shao's approval, and he hurried back to the tent to inform Ju Su. Upon seeing this, Ju Su gave some instructions to Feng Ji, and then led his troops towards the direction of the grain transport team. At the same time, after Xu You decided to surrender to Cao Cao, he secretly walked out of the camp and headed towards Cao Cao's camp. Unexpectedly, as soon as he reached the camp, he was caught by the ambushed scouts. Xu You hurriedly said: "I am an old friend of Cao Sikong. Tell me quickly that Xu You from Nanyang is here to see me." When the scout saw this, he rushed into the camp and told Cao Cao about it. Cao Cao was just like before, he undressed and went to sleep for a while. When he heard that Xu You was coming to surrender, he was overjoyed. He didn't even bother to put on his shoes and ran out barefoot to greet him. When they came out of the camp, they saw Xu You from afar. They clapped their hands and laughed, and then went in hand in hand. As soon as he entered the tent, Cao Cao bowed and clasped his hands in greeting, which frightened Xu You: "You are a great general, and I am a commoner, why are you so humble?" When Cao Cao saw this, he raised his head and smiled, then waved his hand and said: "You are my old friend. I am very happy to see you now!"

Xu You was moved when he saw Lao Cao's courtesy, and bowed and said: "I cannot choose a master, and I have submitted to Yuan Shao, who would not listen to my words or follow my advice. Now I have abandoned him and come to see my old friend." "I wonder if Lord Cao would be willing to accept me into his service?" Cao Cao was even more delighted to see that he had indeed come to surrender. He bowed again and said, "Since Ziyuan is willing to come, my mission is accomplished! How could I not want to come?" "But I don't know what plan Ziyuan has to teach me to defeat Shao?" But Xu You heard this, he stroked his beard and smiled, without expressing his opinion, but said: "I'm going to offer a plan today. I'm going to tell Yuan Shao to take advantage of the situation and attack Xu Du with his light cavalry, attacking both ends of the city." "I wonder what Lord Cao thinks of my plan? Can it be sold?" When Cao Cao heard this, his smile froze, and he pretended to be surprised and said: "If Yuan Shao really follows Ziyuan's plan, our army will be defeated!" "How fortunate that you have come to me, otherwise I would have died without a burial place!" Seeing this, Xu You felt even more proud, and stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I wonder how much food is left in Cao Gong's army?" Cao Cao was busy answering for a year, but was exposed by Xu You. He then answered for another half a year, but was exposed again. In fact, although Cao’s military rations are tight now, there is no longer the crisis like at the beginning of the year. After all, with the arrival of autumn grain, the problem of military food for his troops has been solved. It’s just that because of the autumn harvest, the laborers need to go home to harvest the crops. Therefore, his transportation capacity is limited now, and the army has only enough food and grass to last less than ten days. This is also the reason why he sent a letter urging Xun Yu to deliver the food quickly. After a struggle between the two, Xu You finally lost his temper and reported Cao Cao's military operations: "Since your food and fodder are running out, why don't you just tell me that you didn't write this book?" Cao Cao looked at the book and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He quickly took Xu You's hand and said: "Since Ziyuan has come here out of consideration for our old friendship, why don't you help me out of this predicament as soon as possible?" He thought to himself, I gave you the face, and now I have the substance, so it’s time for me to offer some advice, right? Xu You watched Lao Cao surrender, and then he stroked his long beard with pride and said: "Your Excellency, you are fighting a powerful enemy with a single army, and you do not seek a quick victory. This is the way to your death." "I have a plan that will defeat Yuan Shao's army within three days!" Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately asked for advice. Xu You then said leisurely: "Now I know that Yuan Shao has hundreds of thousands of dan of military rations coming here." "This army is coming from Baima and will pass through the land north of Fengqiu." "If we can destroy them all, how can Yuan Shao not be defeated?" "You can select elite soldiers and falsely claim that General Jiang Qi of Yuan led his troops to protect the grain." "If we take advantage of the opportunity to burn their food and baggage, Shao's army will be in chaos within three days."

The information about the transportation of military rations has always been top secret and Cao Cao could not obtain it at all. Now when he heard that Yuan Shao had a large amount of military supplies to be transported over, a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. He immediately bowed respectfully to Xu You again and kept Xu You in the army. So the next day, he personally selected 5,000 elite soldiers, changed into Yuan Shao's military uniforms, and prepared to march north to raid for grain. When Xu Huang heard about this, he was afraid that Xu You was up to something, so he hurried over to persuade Cao Cao: "Yuan Shao's information about military rations is of course top secret, and now that Xu You has defected, how could Yuan Shao not know?" "They know about this and will be on guard. My lord, if you go there lightly, you may be deceived!" But Lao Cao wanted to win quickly, so he stroked his beard and laughed, saying: "Otherwise, Yuan Shao is a slow-witted person and may not be able to achieve this goal." "This is an opportunity God has given us. Our army must not miss it." "Besides, if Xu You is up to something, why would he stay in our army?" "The grain robbery is a must, please don't doubt it." Xu Huang heard this and became worried. He quickly bowed to Cao Cao and said: "In this case, please follow up and ensure the safety of our lord!" Seeing his concern, Cao was moved and sent 3,000 soldiers to support him. After making these arrangements, in order to prevent Yuan Shao from raiding the camp, he asked Xun You, Jia Xu, Cao Hong and others to guard the camp. When everything was ready, he led 5,000 troops north with the protection of Le Jin and Ma Chao. By dusk, they finally received news of Yuan Shao's grain team's movements. When Cao Cao saw this, he raised Yuan Shao’s flag and marched towards the grain convoy. But at this moment, history took a turn. The grain team that was supposed to arrive at Wuchao in history came to the side of Pu River. Under Ju Su's order, the soldiers were carrying water to water the food and fodder on the carts. Chunyu Qiong was naturally puzzled when he saw this, and immediately asked Ju Su: "I know that you are here to protect us under the order of the Lord. So, is using water to irrigate the grain also the Lord's strategy?" "Although the food on the truck is all new, it won't last long if it's filled like this!" "If they get moldy, what will our soldiers eat?" It was also Ju Su who was in charge of the three armies before and had a very high prestige in the army. If someone else had done this, Chunyu Qiong would have been furious. When Ju Su heard this, he shook his head and explained: "I'm sure the enemy will come to burn our food supplies tonight, so this is the only way to protect ourselves." "General, rest assured, everything we do today will be handled by Shu Yili." "General, just lead the troops to ambush outside. I will take charge of the rest!"

"If I fail today, I will commit suicide to apologize to you, my lord, and you won't have to take the punishment!" Seeing Ju Shou being so decisive, Chunyu Qiong did not try to persuade him any further. He simply led his troops and set up camp according to Ju Shou's instructions. Just like this, both sides have made preparations, and the war that will determine the fate of the world is about to begin. (End of this chapter)