Chapter 27: Settling on a Plan

  "Haha, General Le has been filtered out." The speaker was none other than Liu Ye.

  Cao Cao was indeed worried that the strange wind in the morning would affect the morale of his troops, and as it turned out, even a great general like Lü Bu was affected. Cao Cao was also quite annoyed. Seeing Liu Ye laughing, Cao Cao knew he already knew the reason, so he asked with great joy: "Zi Yang, do you know why that strange wind appeared?"

  Liu Ye smiled faintly and said, "Although I don't fully understand the reason, I also roughly understand a thing or two."

  Cao Cao hastily asked: "Zi Yang is erudite, let him come and explain it to everyone."

  Liu Ye nodded and said, "Actually, the formation of strong winds is nothing more than the combination of heaven's timing and geographical features. Let's talk about geography first. The entire Peng City is surrounded by three mountains: Beigong Mountain, Guishan Mountain, and Shizi Mountain. As a result, wind can only blow in from the gaps between them. In this way, it is naturally easier to form strong winds."

  Everyone nodded in agreement, but this wasn't that hard to understand. However, having a gap without wind doesn't necessarily mean such a strong gust can be formed, so everyone continued to focus their attention on Liu Ye.

  Liu Ye smiled confidently and continued, "You all should also know that for the past few dozen days, the weather has been extremely hot with no rain." Everyone nodded in agreement, as news of the severe drought in Jiyuan had already spread. Additionally, since they had been stationed at Guangwei, it hadn't rained either. However, they didn't quite understand what this had to do with strong winds.

  Liu Ye seemed to have guessed everyone's doubts, and smiled: "Ye once saw an ancient book say that the hotter the weather, the easier it is to form strong winds. If there are lakes or rivers nearby, they will even form a dragon sucking water."

  The dragon sucked up water, that is, a tornado formed in the water, with extremely shocking destructive power. Although the people in the account had never seen such an astonishing giant wind, those who had read books could understand it from ancient records.

  At this time, Cao Cao on the main seat was puzzled: "What Ziyang said is still somewhat inexplicable." Seeing Liu Ye make a please gesture, Cao Cao continued to ask: "In the previous period of time, the weather was extremely hot, but why didn't that strange wind appear? The terrain of Pengcheng is not particularly special, and our army has encountered similar places when passing through."

  There are indeed many places surrounded by three mountains, and those mountains may not be as big as the three outside Peng City, but there will always be similar ones. However, those places do not have strange winds, and when people heard this, they looked at Liu Ye with puzzled eyes again.

  Liu Ye smiled calmly and said, "Your Excellency is unaware that besides the long period of hot weather, there is another condition for the formation of this strange wind, which is that the weather will change! Only when the weather is about to undergo a great change can such a strange wind appear!"

  "Hmm?" This time, from Cao Cao down to Xiahou brothers, Yue Jin, Yu Jin and advisors like Xun You and Guo Jia, all cast sideways glances, their eyes shining with sharp light.

  There will be a drastic change in the weather, which is extremely important for anyone who is proficient in military strategy. Although there are only a few among them who can predict the weather, after Liu Ye raised this question, almost all of them noticed this issue, reflecting the high quality of Cao's army.

  Cao Cao nodded solemnly and said: "At this time, the summer heat has not yet passed, the fierce sun has been hanging high for so long, there must be a drastic change in the weather with heavy rain!"

  Liu Ye smiled faintly and nodded: "Your Excellency is wise. If I'm not mistaken, a torrential rain will come tonight!"

  Xiahou Yuan heard this and frowned, saying: "In that case, our army should make early preparations to prevent the soldiers from getting rained on and falling ill." The others, including Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin, nodded in agreement.

  On the contrary, Cao Cao and his advisors remained silent after hearing this. After a long while, Cao Cao raised his head and asked Liu Ye in a deep voice: "Are you sure about that, Zi Yang?"

  Liu Ye smiled lightly and said, "Although it's not perfect, but it's also 80% there."

  Cao Cao excitedly clenched his fists and nodded heavily, saying: "Eight out of ten, that's enough!" After finishing, he turned his head to ask: "Gongda, Fengxiao, do you have a good plan?"

  Xun Yu and Guo Jia exchanged a glance, both seeing the smile in each other's eyes. They then turned back to Cao Cao and said in unison: "No need for anything else, just create a diversion in the east and attack from the west, catching them off guard will be enough!"

  Cao Cao burst out laughing and said: "Excellent!" He paused for a moment, then shouted: "Yu Jin, Yue Jin!"

  "The end is near!"

  "Order you two to lead your troops to ambush outside the north and south city gates of Pengcheng after nightfall, wait until you hear the sound of killing shouts in the west of the city, then attack the city. I will assign 3,000 flying hooks to each of you, and you must capture Pengcheng before dawn!"

  "Hello!"

  "Xiahou Dun!"

  "The end is near!"

  "Order you to lead the vanguard tonight, and when the storm starts, raise your flags and drums, and launch a fierce attack on the west gate. Before dawn, not a moment can be stopped!"

  "I will obey your orders!"

  "Xiahou Yuan!"

  "The end is near!"

  "Order you to lead the troops, after Yuan Rang launches the attack, go to the east of the city and ambush. Once Tao Qian abandons the city and flees, immediately strike. I want to see him alive, or see his corpse!"

  "Promise!"

  Cao Cao gave orders, and the generals all had tasks, naturally they were overjoyed. Ignoring the joyful expressions of the generals, Cao Cao turned his head to look at Xun Yu, Mao Jie and several others, his expression serious: "Gong Da, Xiao Xian, a heavy rain is approaching, you immediately let the civilians cover up our army's grain and fodder, do not let them get wet."

  Xun Yu and Mao Jie naturally knew that this matter was serious, after all, the grain and grass of Cao's army were not many. These were obtained from Guangwei to Pengcheng, attacking and capturing many cities along the way. However, most of these were small cities, and although Xuzhou was rich and prosperous, its stored grain was not much, barely enough to support Cao's army for about half a month of fighting. Therefore, Cao's army faced a lot of pressure and needed to fight quickly and decisively; otherwise, Cao Cao would not have used tactics to kill Tao Qian in Pengcheng earlier. And if the grain and grass were lost too much in this heavy rain, it was feared that Cao's army would be unable to fight again. Of course, if they could capture Pengcheng, they should get a lot of grain and grass supplies inside. But as the commander-in-chief of the army, Cao Cao would not have included such unknown calculations.

  Cao Cao gave the order, and a group of generals immediately went out to prepare for battle. However, Xun Yu, Mao Jie, and Liu Ye led several men to the rear camp to handle the grain supply. Of course, the three clever men would not forget to bring along that lazy rogue, Guo Jia. Faced with the pressure from the three of them, Guo Jia could only reveal a bitter expression. Cao Cao just burst out laughing and turned his face away without looking at him again.

  Xun Yu was in the front, Mao Jie and Liu Ye were on either side of Guo Jia, coming to the rear camp. As soon as they entered the main tent of the rear camp, the four men saw two small figures sitting in the main seat inside the tent. Xun Yu gave a wink to Guo Jia behind him, Guo Jia touched his nose and stepped forward: "Fourth Master, how did you come to the rear camp?"

  In the entire Cao camp, there was no one else who could rush about at such a young age except for Cao Zhi, and following closely behind him was Guo Huai, now his personal maid.

  Cao Zhi saw the four men arrive together, raised his small face to reveal those small tiger teeth, and smiled: "Four gentlemen, I have nothing to do with idle records of grain and grass."