Chapter 39: The Cunning Plan of Cao Anmin (Part 2)

  Cao Xin walked in the large camp set up in the farmland of Yangyi County, with Dian Wei and He Qi following behind him.

  Walking into the central army tent, Cao Xin looked at his brothers who had been fighting to the death for him and went over to ask about their well-being one by one. After a while, he sighed: "These days, my brothers have followed me through thick and thin, I am deeply ashamed..."

  Liu Yue, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but be moved by these words. "Sir, you don't have to say that. We all know that everything you've done is for the lord and for the people of Xizhou. Although we brothers have suffered a bit in recent days, not one of us has complained."

  As if he hadn't heard the other's words, Cao Xin took a step forward and walked into the central military tent, plopping himself down in the main seat. With a serious expression, he asked: "Have all the deceased brothers been properly buried?"

  Liu Yudao said: "All have been buried safely."

  He nodded and then said to Dian Wei: "Distribute the weapons of Yangyi County to those three hundred brothers who have surrendered to us, as well as war horses."

  After giving such orders, Cao Xin handed over the grain, equipment and personnel one by one, and those 300 robust men who followed He Qi to rely on themselves also got their formations in turn.

  At this time, Liu Yue said: "Sir, our casualties are not small this time. Even with these 300 people, we still have less than 1,500 soldiers and horses, and we also need to feed those 3,000 captives. If we go on like this, our food and grass will be insufficient in five days."

  Upon hearing this, all the generals nodded in agreement, but He Qi remained silent beside them.

  Cao Xin's mouth curled up slightly as he watched all of this, but instead turned to He Qi beside him and said, "What do you think, Gong Miao?"

  Gong Miao was He Qi's courtesy name. In ancient times, addressing someone by their courtesy name was a sign of respect. Because He Qi had helped him capture Yangyi County, Cao Xin ordered Gong Miao to temporarily take over as the county governor, just like Dian Wei. Due to heavy casualties, Zhou Yu temporarily took on the role of protecting Cao Xin.

  At this time, He Qi listened to Cao Xin's question and immediately became serious. He said solemnly: "General, since the military rations are not enough for five days, if we don't give them food and grass, I'm afraid there will be a mutiny. If we let them think of ways to get food on their own, the civilians in the city will definitely be affected, the people's hearts will be chaotic, which is very unfavorable to our army."

  Satisfied, he nodded and Cao Xin said: "Then in your opinion, what should be done?"

  A faintly solemn expression appeared on his handsome face, and He Qi's mouth corners suddenly spat out two words, "Kill him."

  Cao Xin was somewhat surprised, he didn't expect the other party to be a tough guy after all. He thought that judging from his appearance, he should be a regular and upright general, but it turned out that in major events, he was not ambiguous at all.

  Cao Xin smiled lightly and turned to look at the other generals, saying: "What do you think?"

  Dian Wei said: "Why don't we just capture him instead!"

  "No, no, no," said Zhou Yu, "Brother He Qi is right, it's better to kill him." His face was still swollen and bruised, but he spoke decisively.

  Liu Yue said, "Our military rations are indeed a problem, but killing these captives is not advisable, after all, they are three thousand lives. I think it's better to recruit them..."

  "Foolish!"

  Just then, before anyone could finish speaking, Cao Xin suddenly shouted loudly from his seat.

  One sentence, in an instant, made everyone's spirits involuntarily lift.

  All he saw was Cao Xin shaking his head and saying loudly: "These three thousand people, in my eyes, are like a thousand troops and horses! He is the hundred million great army! Is the heavenly soldier heavenly general!!!!!!"

  Everyone was confused again by Cao Xin's words, and they didn't know what he was talking about. To be sure, these captives were all a bunch of cowards, at least in the eyes of Dian Wei and Zhou Cang. As for such surrendered soldiers, they couldn't understand the meaning of Cao Xin's words for the time being.

  However, Cao Xin smiled again and said: "These three thousand people, we used them well, they are heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals. If we use them poorly, they are just a group of shrimp soldiers. What's the point of recruiting them? Kill them? That's just a pile of crap! What can we get from it?" Cao Xin continued: "Gong Miao and Zi Xiang said that our military rations are insufficient, but..."

  At this point, Cao Xin deliberately paused for a moment, looking at the stunned crowd in front of him. Cao Xin suddenly shouted again: "If these prisoners can be used, heavenly soldiers and generals will come from heaven! Not to mention five days' worth of military rations! Five days!" Zhang stretched out his five fingers, and a majestic aura suddenly spread out, making the surrounding generals involuntarily moved. Then Cao Xin shouted again: "Even if it's a million stones of grain, I, Cao Xin, will unhesitatingly give it to them! Because we must win this battle!"

  Suddenly, when the two words "must win" came out of his mouth, all the generals couldn't help but swallow their saliva at this moment. They didn't know what else they could do with more than a thousand people, facing Lü Bu's remaining 20,000 troops.

  But as soon as Cao Xin's words came out, the crowd seemed to have changed their minds, or in a subtle way, they had a brand new understanding of the general in front of them.

  It's not just Di Wei and Liu Yue, but also He Qi. In their hearts, there was a subtle excitement that was slowly simmering.

  "Sir, what heavenly soldiers and generals?" Liu clearly began to believe Cao's words and asked first.

  He smiled and at this time Cao Xin did not immediately respond to the other party, but instead lazily sat in the main seat, closing his eyes to meditate.

  However, no one asked again, after all they knew that during this period, under the leadership of General Cao Xin, they had never lost once, only a series of surprises and elusive strategies.

  At this time, everyone was glad that they had followed the right person. Perhaps, they thought that the invincible Lü Bu had met his match.

  Salt Lake City, Utah State Capitol

  General Zhang Liao led five thousand elite cavalrymen to garrison Wu Yan City.

  At this moment, the night had gradually deepened, and Zhang Liao sat alone in the hall, throwing aside the messy military reports on the desk, his mind restless.

  These days, for some reason, a large number of people from Wucheng have been migrating out, and although many who wanted to leave were controlled today, the people's grievances have suddenly surged, and it is impossible to stop them. Zhang Liao was getting more and more anxious as he thought about it.

  Thinking back to when I was serving under Ding Yuan, how carefree I was. But after Lü Bu killed Ding Yuan and I joined Dong Zhuo's camp, Zhang Liao suffered greatly in his heart. Until now, at the age of 25, these years have been like living as a walking corpse, without a single day of true happiness. And with Lü Bu attacking Chenliu, things are going from bad to worse, and I even heard that there's someone named Cao Xing who is quite formidable.

  Zhang Liao actually admired Lü Bu's bravery, otherwise he wouldn't have followed him for so many years. However, he didn't expect that such a person would be attacking Jiyuan for so many days and making no progress, even being repeatedly blocked by an 18-year-old general named Cao Xing.

  Looking at the lengthy and verbose military report, Zhang Liao couldn't help but feel a sense of loneliness, yet he couldn't help but be puzzled.

  "What kind of person is Cao Xin after all..."