Chapter Fifty-two: The Wise General

  Gao Shun, who was already excited, didn't notice Wang Xu's astonished expression at all, and instead thought that Wang Xu was testing him. He immediately replied: "General Wang shook his head just now, which must have had a deeper meaning, but I'm so foolish, it took me half a day to figure it out, I'm really ashamed!"

  Wang Xu's face was rarely red, but also because of this remark he reacted. Absolutely cannot let Gao Shun look down on him, the status he had established in his heart with great difficulty must be maintained.

  But he himself was also full of curiosity, eager to know what was going on. After thinking for a moment, he couldn't help but put on an innocent and teachable look, nodding his head with a satisfied expression: "Hehe! General Gao's understanding is beyond ordinary people, it's really rare that you can understand so quickly, but I don't know what you've thought of?"

  Upon hearing this, Gao Shun did not hesitate and immediately said: "General Huangfu's reputation is known throughout the world, of course he can't see through Bo Cai's fake defeat. But he deliberately fell into it, his purpose was to seek a defeat, and wasn't this defeat in harmony with Bo Cai's plan? This is truly a clever trick, turning the tables on him, how could that scoundrel Bo Cai see through it?"

  Gao Shun, getting more and more excited, didn't care about Wang Xu's changing facial expression, and continued to say: "This is not all, this plan will be revealed, our army will retreat. Bo will see that there is an opportunity to take advantage of, and will certainly abandon Yingying, pursuing us all the way! Isn't this lifting the siege of Yingying? Moreover, I think that General Huangfu has already set up a rear ambush, waiting for Bo to become arrogant and careless, then giving him a fatal blow! This is a triple gain!"

  Wang Xu's heart almost jumped out at this moment, what kind of person is this? Such a heaven-defying plan can be thought of? Always thought that he was already considered extremely intelligent, but now it seems that if he didn't have some knowledge from later generations, if they were to face off...

  As he thought of this, Wang Xu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine! He also didn't have the mood to continue chatting with Gao Shun, and immediately ordered: "Gao Shun, since you already know the cause and effect, now go down and prepare well! At dawn tomorrow, don't miss the opportunity to retreat, if you are trapped in the battlefield, it would be a pity!"

  "Promise!"

  He nodded, and with an excited look still on his face, he bowed respectfully to Wang Xu and quickly walked out.

  Wang Xu was no slower. Seeing Gao Shun leave, he immediately flipped over and stood up, without saying a word, quickly rushing towards Huangfu Song's large tent...

  As soon as he entered the tent of Huangfu Song, he saw that there was only one person sitting at the desk behind him in deep thought. Wang Xu immediately opened his mouth to ask: "General Huangfu, I have something unclear and came to ask for your guidance!"

  "Huh?"

  Huangfu Song heard this and couldn't help but raise his head to take a look. Seeing that the person who came was Wang Xu, he smiled slightly and said: "General Wang, what is unclear?"

  Wang Xu didn't hesitate, turned around and pulled down the door curtain of the big tent. Under Huangfu Song's puzzled gaze, he took a step forward and said: "General Huangfu, I don't know if the action plan you mentioned during today's military meeting was to use their strategy against them?"

  Huang Fu's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and he immediately looked at Wang Xu in astonishment. But then he pretended to be puzzled and asked: "What makes you say that, General Wang?"

  Seeing Huang Fu's expression just now, Wang Xu had already determined 70-80% in his heart. He couldn't help but smile and said: "General, why must you hide it? Don't tell me that the general still wants to say that he didn't see through the clumsy trick of the bandit leader Bo Zhong?"

  Hearing this, Huang Fu suddenly burst out laughing. He looked at Wang Xu with delight and said: "I didn't expect that in our army, only you would have such insight! Truly, heroes emerge in youth!"

  "Haha!"

  Wang Xu's brain nerves had not yet died, so he couldn't possibly say anything that was both high-sounding and understandable. So he just smiled and calmly accepted the praise.

  Huang Fu Cong, however, didn't think much of it and looked Wang Xu up and down before smiling and saying: "Since you've already figured it out, why didn't you speak up during the military council earlier?"

  When the other side asked this somewhat familiar question, Wang Xu also thickened his skin and repeated Gao Shun's answer: "Although I have seen the clues, I haven't thought of a solution. And looking at General's daily behavior, he must have known too, so there is no need to say it."

  "What a great King Xu, at such a young age, he already has such a demeanor, it's really rare!" As expected, as soon as these words came out, Huangfu Song couldn't help but praise him.

  "Haha! General Huangfu is overpraising me!"

  After finishing speaking, Wang Xu also felt a bit apprehensive and couldn't bear to continue pretending anymore, so he immediately changed the subject.

  "In the end, it was all because of General's arrangement today. I really can't understand why General would use a tactic like this, although it can lift the siege of Yingchuan, but it doesn't seem easy to defeat Bo at all! Moreover, this plan is too risky, once we fail to grasp the changes in the battle situation, there is a great possibility that the fake defeat will turn into a real defeat!"

  Seeing Wang Xu being so astute, Huangfu Song did not conceal it and immediately explained: "Actually, this is just like what I said in the military meeting earlier. It's an unavoidable measure. Yingyin is a strategic location that absolutely cannot be lost. If it falls, the Yellow Turbans will use it as a base and will surely sweep southward like a broken bamboo. At that time, the main force of the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan will join forces with those in Nanyang Commandery, and the consequences will be unbearable to think about. We have been stuck here for over half a month, without any strategy to defeat the enemy, so we can only temporarily lure them away like this. At the same time, because I knew this plan was perilous, I had already sent someone back to the capital to seek reinforcements. Currently, His Majesty has dispatched Cavalry Commandant Cao Cao to lead troops here, so it can be said that complete preparations have been made, eliminating any worries about the rear!"

  "Oh? Then how does General Huangfu plan to defeat Bo now?"

  Upon hearing this, Huangfu Song sighed and shook his head slowly: "This is exactly what I'm worried about! I've had many discussions with Gong Wei (Zhu Xu's courtesy name), but we still can't think of a good solution. So we decided to temporarily pretend to be defeated, retreat to Changsha first, wait for Bao Zhen to become arrogant, and then look for a strategy to defeat the enemy. This is better than being stuck here."

  So that's how it was, Wang Xu finally knew the whole story and couldn't believe history was like this. It was precisely because of Zhu Jun's defeat that Huang Zu became arrogant and gradually lost his cautious heart, not paying attention to whether the place where he set up camp had any hidden dangers. And so, there was also the later move by Huangfu Song, quietly waiting for an opportunity to change the situation with the fire at Changsha. This is indeed the art of seeking change in danger...

  At this point, Wang Xu really had a deep respect for Huangfu Song and Zhu Zan. Although the downfall of the Yellow Turbans was due to many complex historical reasons and inevitability, without these two great Han dynasty loyal ministers who stemmed the tide, it's possible that the Yellow Turbans might not have been eliminated!

  Alas! What a pity! The fate of these two loyal ministers will be somewhat tragic in the future...

  However, now is not the time to think so far ahead. After Wang Xu quietly gazed at this majestic general for a long time, he slowly came back to his senses. "General Huangfu, since Yingyin is so important, if you withdraw your troops, aren't you afraid that other small groups of Yellow Turbans will take advantage of the situation and seize the city? I suppose there aren't many soldiers in Yingyin City either? Otherwise, even with an army of 100,000, General Bo's three-pronged attack would have been defeated long ago, given your abilities.

  "Ah!"

  He took a deep breath and nodded slightly, "Indeed, as you said, there are not many soldiers in Yingyin City, with a total of less than 5,000 people. Moreover, they are almost all the remnants of defeated troops from various places, and they do not have enough combat effectiveness in a short period of time. If it were not for the fact that many powerful families in Yingyin had sent their own soldiers and servants to assist in the battle, I'm afraid the city would have fallen before we arrived!"

  But afterwards, Huangfu Song smiled and said: "But you don't have to worry too much, as long as Bo Cai's army is successfully lured away by us, the other Yellow Turbans with a force of less than 40,000 will not be able to take down Ying Yin!"

  "What? General Huangfu, what does this mean?"

  "Hehe! You're still young, so you might not understand that this Yingchuan County has always been a place where outstanding people emerge! Nowadays, within the city of Yingyin, there are three people who stand out exceptionally. Although they're not very old, they're already famous scholars in the world! As long as they're around, even if it's impossible to achieve great things due to actual circumstances, defending this land is more than enough!"

  Upon hearing this, Wang Xu suddenly became curious about who could have earned Huang Fu's praise. He couldn't help but ask: "With a motley crew of personal troops and defeated generals, how did they manage to gain General Huang Fu's trust? They must be extraordinary people, but I wonder which three individuals they are?"

  Huangfu Song smiled faintly, but what he said next almost made Wang Xu drool...