Chapter 21: The Sentries

  "This young fellow, why does he look so much like Yuan Shao when he was young!"

  Xun Yu had once served as an aide under Yuan Shao's command, so he was naturally very familiar with Yuan Shao's appearance. Now, looking at the young man leading the troops besieging the city below, his appearance was vastly different from Yuan Shao's youthful demeanor.

  Xun Yu was shocked and uneasy in his heart, a bad idea began to linger in his mind.

  Could this young man be Yuan Shao's son?

  It's not that Xun Yu was afraid of Yuan Shao's inexperienced son, but rather he had a deep understanding of Yuan Shao, which couldn't be compared to ordinary people.

  Xun Yu knew from his early days of serving under Yuan Shao that Yuan Shao was notoriously overindulgent towards his children, and this only became more pronounced as he grew older. This ruler of Hebei may have appeared arrogant and indulgent on the surface, but when it came to his sons and daughters, they were truly precious to him. Just by looking at how he governed the four provinces of Hebei, one could see several flaws.

  Hebei four states, Yuan Shao left his most beloved third son, Yuan Shang, by his side to govern Jizhou together with him. The other three states, Qingzhou, Youzhou and Pingzhou were all handed over to his two sons and one nephew to manage.

  Yuan Tan guarded Qingzhou, Yuan Xi guarded Youzhou, and Gao Gan guarded Bingzhou. The entire Hebei region was under the control of the Yuan family.

  In Xun Yu's view, this is the fundamental way to govern! But from it, we can also see that Yuan Shao attaches much more importance and trust to his family than other warlords.

  If this kid is Yuan Shao's son, according to Yuan Shao's character of protecting his son to the extreme, for the safety of his son, he would not have sent fewer troops in this battle.

  It's like this, I'm afraid it's all over for Xu!

  Xun Yu's face immediately turned stern as he cleared his mind, and he shouted down at Yuan Shang below the city wall: "A general has come to our camp; may I ask for your name?"

  Yuan Shang heard this and smiled slightly, Ah, great, just asked the right thing!

  "Alright! I am a great general of today, the son of General Yuan Shao, the governor of Ji Province. And one of the three nobles of Ji Province is none other than Yuan Shang!"

  Xun Yu heard this and felt a pang of sadness in his heart, indeed!

  It's really "what you fear comes to what", Yuan Shao's third son, Yuan Chang, who in the world does not know that Yuan Shao loves this son the most. This time even this little boy has gone onto the battlefield, the troops and horses attacking Xuchang will surely be extremely powerful!

  Xun Yu let out a long sigh and turned to the attending officer, saying in a low voice: "Order all units to keep watch day and night, guard the city well, don't give Yuan's army any chance. I will write a letter to Lord Cao, ordering him to lead his troops here quickly!"

  "Hello!"

  In less than half a day's time, the northern gate of Xudu opened up a path, and more than ten riders galloped out on fast horses, rushing in all directions, crisscrossing various main roads, some taking the main road, others going through mountains and forests, or taking small winding paths, flying towards the north.

  The news was soon detected by Yuan's scouts and quickly reported to Yuan Shang.

  Yuan Shang couldn't help but burst out laughing upon hearing the news: "So they finally sent someone to report back? One group even sent over a dozen riders, Cao's army is indeed ridiculously efficient! Alright, excellent! Pass down the order to all officers and soldiers, we're not attacking the city, let's retreat!"

  Zhang Jue rode forward and said to Yuan Shang, "The scouts sent by Xuchang will inform Cao Cao, with his swift military tactics, I'm afraid he'll return in an instant, and must seal off all roads leading north. Young master, how shall we retreat this time?"

  Yuan Shang's expression changed, and he nodded: "Yes, Cao Cao's army is pressing in on us, it's unlikely we can return by the original route. General Zhang, do you know of any roads that can take us back to Hebei?"

  Zhang Jue heard this and pulled out a small, leather-bound map from his bosom. He slowly unfolded it in front of Yuan Shang, pointing to the winding roads on the map as he spoke: "Apart from going straight from Guandu to Baima Crossing, there are two other routes we can take. One is to go through Tongguan and pass through the area between the rivers to reach Pingzhou, where Gao Gan is. The second is to go via Xuzhou, passing through Beihai to reach Qingzhou, where Yuan Tan is. Both places have vast territories that are difficult to traverse, so Cao's army will find it hard to send elite troops to seal off all the key roads. However, these routes are quite circuitous and would take a lot of time."

  Yuan Shang heard this and stroked his chin thoughtfully, then said: "The terrain of Guanzhong is too treacherous, the passes are steep and lofty, it's not suitable for our large number of cavalry to advance. The road to Xuzhou is flat and level, we can gallop freely, let's head in the direction of Xuzhou!"

  At this time, Gao Lan also rode his horse to the front of Yuan Shang, heard that his big mouth opened, and said with some worry: "However... Third Master, we detour through Xuzhou back to Hebei, the journey is too far, this time light cavalry raiding Xuchang, three armies soldiers each only brought seven days' dry rations, I'm afraid it won't be enough, can't hold on until Hebei..."

  "Is there not enough dry rations?" Yuan Shang's expression turned slightly solemn upon hearing this.

  Yuan Shang shook his head and said, "If it's not enough, then so be it. We'll think of another way halfway through. In any case, the order is to immediately regroup our troops and retreat to Xuzhou at full speed."

  "Promise!"

  The two generals turned their horses and left. They had just taken a few steps when they suddenly heard Yuan Shang shouting loudly, "Wait!"

  The second turned his head in puzzlement and looked at Yuan Shang with curiosity.

  "We can't rush off yet, we still have one more thing to take care of."

  The Ministry of Works

  Xun Yu wrote the urgent letter and made over a dozen copies, then selected more than a dozen clever soldiers from the army, ordering each of them to take one copy and set off immediately. Taking advantage of the fact that the main force of Yuan's army had not yet arrived, he ensured that the urgent letter was delivered into Cao Cao's hands, requesting him to send troops quickly to rescue them.

  After everything was settled smoothly, Xun Yu finally let out a long sigh and sat down, rubbing his tired forehead, feeling slightly relieved in his heart.

  More than ten riders sent urgent letters, setting out from different directions and roads. If nothing else, at least one should have reached Cao Cao's hands?

  Just one letter! As long as one letter is delivered, all problems will be solved effortlessly.

  Xun Yu was pondering when he suddenly heard another urgent and rapid footsteps outside the door.

  But it was the attendant who rushed into the study, hastily rushing towards Xun Yu and making a hasty bow, saying: "Lord! Lord Xun!"

  Xun Yu's heart skipped a beat, he hastily turned his head and asked the attendant officer with a serious expression: "What? Isn't Yuan's army starting to attack the city?"

  The attendant officer shook his head, with a strange expression on his face, and said to Xun Yu: "My lord, this is a very strange thing! After our scouts rushed out, the momentum of Yuan's army was not as strong as it was just now. The dust in the distance has disappeared, and only surrounded the four gates, sitting on the ground, not attacking the city, I don't know what's going on..."

  Xun Yu was taken aback upon hearing this.

  After a while, Fang saw the usually elegant Secretary General suddenly slap the table and sigh: "I was careless for a moment, fell into the trick of 'flowers blooming on trees' by that little yellow-mouthed kid... it's really laughable to the extreme... Come, quickly bring me a bamboo slip, I want to write another letter to His Excellency... asking him... not to send troops to rescue Xudu!"