Chapter 30: Blitzkrieg (Part 1)

  Cao De didn't know what had happened, although he was only in charge of some administrative affairs in Yanzhou. He knew a thing or two about the current situation in Yanzhou, but he didn't know why Xun Yu had come to see him at this moment.

  Cao Demai walked into the main hall wearing a long white robe with a hint of elegance, but what he saw was Xun Yu and Cheng Yu sitting with serious faces, and beside them was a rugged general with a cold expression.

  "What brings General Xun Jun to see me?" Cao De smiled and greeted him first.

  "Take it down for me!"

  Suddenly two big men rushed out from left and right, it was Xun Yu's cold drink, instantly pressing Cao De heavily to the ground.

  "What's going on here?!" Suddenly, he realized something was off. The sudden and unexpected turn of events left Cao De momentarily at a loss for what to do.

  He snorted, and at this time the fierce general slowly walked in front of Cao De, looking at his face with an incredulous expression. The general said coldly: "Do you know what Cao Xin has done?"

  At this moment, he was stunned and pressed down by two big men. Cao Deben was a scholar, how could he struggle? At this moment, hearing the other's words, he was even more confused.

  "General Xiahou Dun, what's going on here? What about my son Cao Xin? Didn't he go to the various counties to collect taxes and grain?"

  "Hmph, collecting taxes and grains?" He coldly laughed again, but Xiahou Dun's eyes were wide with anger, about to erupt.

  However, he was immediately interrupted by Xun Yu.

  Xun Yu said: "According to reports, Cao Xin has burned all the tax lists from various places in the past few days. Our army's grain and salary have suffered greatly. The military is forbidden to receive any grain or salary, and this time not only did we not receive any, but also burned all the taxes of the people to ashes. What is your intention? According to our scouts, Cao Xin has already defected to Lü Bu! He is now sitting in Chenliu... what else do you have to say?"

  At this moment, Cao De's mind was as if struck by a thunderbolt on a clear day. As soon as the words fell, his brain suddenly went blank. Looking at Xun Yu and others' serious faces, he muttered in disbelief: "No, it's impossible... He's just a typical farmer, how could he commit such treachery? Impossible... And besides, our lord is still his uncle..."

  When they heard this, Xun Yu and others also frowned one after another, while Xiahou Dun laughed coldly again and again. "I guess it's because Yanzhou is in great chaos at the moment, so Cao Xin saw that Lv Bu's military power was too strong, so he defected to the enemy army. Such an ungrateful and treacherous child, Cao Zhangshi! What a good son you taught!"

  In short, Cao De was extremely sarcastic and ridiculed him to the extreme. At this moment, Cao De's face was completely red, and he kept muttering "impossible..." over and over again.

  He let out a sigh and waved his hand, "Take him away... throw him into the large prison, wait for Master to come back and deal with him together..."

  "Enough." Cao De was dragged out like a dead man, and at this moment, he didn't care that the other person was Cao Cao's biological brother. He didn't even care about his disheveled clothes, directly pulling him away like a prisoner on death row.

  As far as the ear can reach, there is no sound of Cao De's murmurs.

  On the other side, outside Chenliu City.

  He left Chenliu overnight, after killing Zhang Mai and Hou Cheng. Cao Xin knew that he could not stay in Chenliu for long, so he led two thousand cavalrymen out of the city under the cover of night, leaving behind only one isolated city of Chenliu.

  The two thousand war horses captured from Hou Chengjun were incorporated into his own army, and some guns and spears were taken from the Chenliu military depot to completely renovate his cavalry. Fortunately, his original Zhao Chong army of two thousand men, although initially all new recruits, were mostly northerners, with some being from Hedong, so they were not unfamiliar with horse riding. Although some people still looked a bit awkward, everyone's riding skills had made progress over the past three days.

  But for Cao Xin, choosing to equip the army with war horses is equivalent to giving up his previous combat defense system of one gun and three shields. However, the current cavalry is more inclined to attack, and everyone has a certain attacking ability. More importantly, the mobility of the cavalry is very advantageous in guerrilla warfare.

  During the Three Kingdoms period, there were no so many roads and tools, and it was impossible to implement guerrilla warfare strategies, so only war horses could quickly transfer locations to achieve unexpected effects.

  At this moment, Cao Xin sat alone on a mountain head, with a dry branch in his mouth, sitting by himself, occasionally looking at the people and horses camping not far away, and occasionally looking at the distant sky, lost in thought.

  "Ah, sir, so you're here..."

  At this time, a capable and experienced scholar suddenly ran up from behind, looking at the former's leisurely appearance, but he couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

  "Oh? So it's Zi Xiang after all." Turning his head to take a look, he saw that the person who had come was none other than Liu Xiu, whom he had recruited in Chenliu. He couldn't help but smile and say:

  At this moment, Cao Xing is still at ease, and Liu Yi is anxious: "Sir! Why do you want to come out of Chenliu again, not defending the city and waiting for reinforcements? And... why did you send people to burn all the taxes in Yanzhou? Isn't this delaying military action?"

  At this, Cao Xin was taken aback and hadn't expected the other side to ask so many questions in a row. He just smiled and said, "Zi Xiang, why are you so anxious? Let's not talk about that for now. Have the dry rations been distributed in the army?"

  Liu Yue originally wanted to refute, but after hearing the other party's question, he paused for a moment and said: "Get ready, each person only brings three days' worth of dry food and water, but this is also too little."

  "Three days? Not too little, not too much."

  "Enough food for three days, what if we run out of food after that?"

  Obviously aware of Liu's concern, Cao Xin said at this moment: "This time we are lightly equipped and the grain and grass are too important to us. It is a great disadvantage for our army's speed. Three days' dry rations will do. Before Master returns, rather than saying that we want to confront Lü Bu, it would be better to say that we must survive. In the rear of Yanzhou, try to slow down Lü Bu's advance as much as possible."

  "What? You still want to fight against Lü Bu?" A dizziness flashed through Liu Xie's mind, he had thought that Cao Xin brought these soldiers to escape, but unexpectedly the other party's idea was even more absurd than this.

  With a faint smile, Cao Xin ignored the other's stunned expression and continued to say: "Although Chenliu City is solidly fortified, our military strength is indeed lacking. If the enemy army comes with a large force, aren't we waiting to be slaughtered?"

  "Then you...are going where?"

  He bit his dry branch in his hand, Cao Xin did not immediately respond to the other's words, but only smiled faintly, looking into the distance, and silently shook his head.

  However, it seems that Cao Xin had already set a goal in his heart.

  After wiping out Lü Bu's 5,000 cavalry, the 2,000 troops he had in Chenliu Commandery would certainly be surrounded by Lü Bu, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, so they could only take things one step at a time.

  No, or rather, one must think of ways to get rid of Lü Bu and Chen Gong...

  No return after departure.