Chapter 10: Yuan Shao Sends Out His Troops

  The night is dark and gloomy, the black sky is deeply frightening, only the bright moon shines with its white light illuminating the entire earth.

  In the distance, the nest of crows was still ablaze, like a dormant monster, using its own combustion to mock this quiet and dull night.

  The blazing fire of Wū Cháo, in the night sky is so dazzling, so radiant and brilliant.

  It was so bright that even the official ferry camp forty miles away could be seen clearly.

  Unfortunately, the dazzling fire of Wusuo, in the eyes of Yuan Jun, was not even a little bit magnificent and beautiful. Instead, it seemed like an endless black hole that deeply absorbed the hearts and morale of Yuan Jun's soldiers, ruthlessly crushing and dispersing them without a trace...

  The night was deep, it was time to enter the land of dreams and sleep soundly, but the camp of Yuan's army was in a state of turmoil, almost no one in the entire camp had the heart to fall asleep.

  The flames shot up to the sky in the direction of Wuchang, and tens of thousands of Yuan's troops were all stationed there. I wonder who else is heartless and can still sleep at this time?

  People like that have basically reached the end of their rope.

  Inside Yuan's camp, the soldiers and officers were all in a state of panic and disorder, rushing about and shouting to one another, creating an uproar that was as chaotic as it could be.

  At this moment, the situation inside Yuan Shao's command tent was no better than outside.

  Yuan Shao sat in the main seat with a pale face, his usual elegance and demeanor had completely disappeared, replaced by panic and terror that could not be concealed.

  As soon as the civil and military officials arrived, Yuan Shao heavily slapped the table with his hand, no longer caring about the polite words. He opened his mouth and anxiously said: "Gentlemen, the northern part of the main camp is filled with flames, it must be Cao Mengde sending troops to launch a surprise attack on Wuchao, if Wuchao has any mishap, our army will not be far from defeat! The situation is critical, who dares to lead the troops to rescue?

  Everyone looks at me, I look at you, and most of them don't dare to respond to this voice. The matter of the dark nest is too serious, it can be said that pulling one hair will move the whole body. Such a great responsibility is not easy to talk about with just words.

  Without a diamond drill bit, who dares to take on the task of rescuing the nest from this mess?

  Fortunately, Yuan Shao still had some capable generals under his command, and at critical moments, there were people who could be used.

  "I will go if you want me to."

  A faint voice responded, without a strong momentum, without a powerful war intent, but only with a hidden and unspoken maturity and stability, and saw a general wearing black armor standing out.

  His face was stern, exuding a burst of energy that could erupt at any moment. Coupled with his slightly sunken sword-like eyebrows and piercing gaze that seemed to stab into one's heart, his expression remained calm and unruffled. However, those who knew him understood that beneath his composed and detached exterior lay a fierce personality akin to that of a predatory tiger or leopard.

  This is Zhang Jaw!

  Zhang Jue's emergence was followed by another prominent general from the four courtyards of Hebei, Gao Lan, who also stepped forward to report.

  "I will follow General Zhang and go with him."

  Yuan Shao's heart, which had been hanging in suspense all this time, finally relaxed a little.

  Yan Liang and Wen Chou may be dead, but Zhang Liao and Gao Lan are still around, enough to be called the pillars of Hebei. This time, with these two going to rescue Ukou, it's doable!

  "In that case, I'll trouble Generals Zhang and Gao to lead 5,000 iron cavalry to rescue Wuchao..."

  "My lord, wait!"

  At the critical moment, Guo Tu this old fellow again stood out with a flourish, waving his sleeves and making a distant bow to Yuan Shao.

  "My lord, I have a plan to defeat Cao's army in no time. This time, Cao's army is plundering grain, which must be the result of careful planning. I reckon Cao Cao will surely go there himself. If he goes, his main camp at Guandu will definitely be empty. My lord, instead of sending troops to rescue Wuchao first, it would be better to send troops to attack Guandu first. If Cao Cao hears about it, he will surely return. This is the strategy of 'besieging Wei to rescue Zhao' used by Sun Bin."

  As soon as Guo Jia's words fell, Zhang Liao let out a disdainful laugh and said calmly: "Mr. Guo's words, please forgive me for not quite agreeing with them. In the past, when Sun Bin surrounded Wei to rescue Zhao, it was using Qi's army to lift the siege of Zhao, even if Handan City was broken, it had little impact on Qi itself. But now, Wuchao is our military lifeline, how can it be compared to Handan City in the past? Moreover, Cao Cao is full of tricks, and when he goes out, he must have precautions. If we attack Cao's camp tonight without success, Wuchao will fall instead, I wonder if Mr. Guo has any other clever strategies to save it?"

  "Ah...!" Guo Tu's face turned bright red as soon as he heard this.

  Zhang Jiao's words didn't give Guo Tu any face, and immediately made him speechless. Guo Tu was a narrow-minded person, and from this moment on, he secretly held a grudge against Zhang Jiao in his heart.

  "My lord, Zhang Jue's words are entirely based on conjecture and cannot be taken as true. The opportunity to attack Cao's camp at Guandu is a heaven-sent chance. If we do not seize it today, we will regret it forever! I implore you, my lord, to make a wise decision!"

  "Your Excellency," Zhang Jue said with a bow, "Guo Tu's plan is unwise. The most pressing matter at hand is to rescue Wu Tuo first."

  At a critical moment, Yuan Shao became hesitant again, wavering in his mind, sometimes thinking Zhang Yan's opinion was right and sometimes feeling Guo Tu's suggestion was good.

  What's good in this case?

  Yuan Shao was indecisive, but the officials and generals below were anxious, their foreheads sweating profusely. At this critical moment, delaying for even a moment would add to the danger of Ucang, so making a prompt decision was crucial.

  Then, the people below also got busy, with Gao Lan as the leader, Han Meng, Jiang Qi, Lü Kuang, Lü Xiang and others stood out one after another, saying loudly: "We agree with General Zhang's opinion, and we respectfully request that our lord quickly dispatch troops to Wushe."

  On the other side, Jiao Chu, Zhang Nan, Ma Yan, Zhang Kai and others sang a counter-melody: "We earnestly request that our lord send troops to escort us across."

  Two people's opinions coincided, Yuan Shao was still able to grind out some flavor, but a group of people blindly stirred up trouble, and now Yuan Shao completely collapsed, his brain buzzing with pain.

  "Quiet, quiet, all of you take a rest, let me think carefully..."

  Just as Yuan Shao was hesitating and wavering in his tent, a thunderous roar suddenly came from outside the camp.

  "Shut up, all of you!"

  This loud shout was actually the sound of people in the Li Ge field, and everyone turned their heads in surprise to see that Yuan Xi was standing outside the tent at some point, looking around at the crowd on both sides with a furious expression. His eyes were wide open, his lips tightly closed, and his teeth grinding back and forth inside, looking extremely anxious, but it's unclear what had happened to make him so flustered.

  "Chess?"

  Yuan Shao apparently did not expect that his normally wooden and honest second son would actually blow up in this situation, and for a moment he forgot his anger, only staring at Yuan Xi in astonishment.

  Yuan Xi stepped forward hastily and knelt down on one knee in front of Yuan Shao, saying anxiously: "Father, something big has happened!"

  "What's wrong?"

  Yuan Shao furrowed his brow; he really couldn't withstand any more storms now.

  "Third Brother, he and the troops in his camp, do not know when they slipped out of the camp. Now his camp is empty, inside except for a dozen or so patrolling soldiers, there are no others!"

  "What——?!"

  After a thunderous roar, Yuan Shao's body suddenly slumped over, almost fainting.

  "Xianfu... he... is he not in the camp?" After a while, Yuan Shao finally came back to his senses, the continuous blows had left him pale and listless, completely devoid of his usual heroic demeanor.

  "Yes!" Yuan Xi nodded firmly.

  Yuan Shao stood still for a long time, and in his mind, he recalled the scenes of Yuan Shang's strong advice to strengthen the defense of Wu Cai during the day, with cold sweat dripping down his head.

  This little scoundrel, he must have seen that I didn't send troops and took it upon himself to lead the army to help out at Ukisho. If that's really what happened...

  Yuan Shao couldn't help but shudder at the thought, and then suddenly slammed his fist on the table, stood up and roared: "Zhang Jue, Gao Lan, listen to my orders!"

  "The end is near!"

  "I appoint you two as vanguard, immediately mobilize the 5,000 iron cavalry and rush to Wuzhang to defeat Cao's army! I will personally lead the main force to follow up and respond, we must retake Wuzhang in one move!"

  Zhang Jieyu and Gao Lanruo exchanged a surprised glance at each other.

  "Alright! I'll set off immediately."

  "General, you must not do this! Rushing to rescue He Fei at Baozhou will be of no benefit. The only right course is to use our full strength to attack Guandu. This opportunity is truly hard to come by; if we don't take it today, we'll regret it later..."

  Yuan Shao suddenly flew into a rage, slamming his fist on the table and shouting: "Guandu, Guandu! You only know about Guandu! If we take Guandu, can it bring back my son's life?! My mind is made up! The army will set out immediately, with all our might to rescue Wuchao!"