“Can strategists not ascend the throne?”
Chapter 252 – Clash in Yu Province…
These two armies hurriedly made their way from Runan, specifically from the county seat of Pingyu, heading towards the Guo River.
However, initially, the two armies didn’t split up, which gave the strategists Yuan Huan and Yan Xiang a bit of time to chat.
“The lord knows that if we rashly engage with the forces of Wen Chou and Liu Bei, the chances of victory are practically non-existent,” Yuan Huan sighed. “But…”
Following the death of Qiao Rui and the lack of support from Qiao Yan at this critical moment, Yuan Shu, despite boasting daily about being the legitimate son of the Yuan clan in Runan, still hadn’t genuinely believed he could single-handedly take on eight others and directly drive Wen Chou and Liu Bei out of the region.
After a few setbacks, he was finally a bit more grounded in reality.
He mobilized all the capable subordinates he had and organized the best possible combination of generals and strategists available at the moment.
For instance, Ji Ling, although brimming with bravery and holding a high respect for noble clans, was paired with Yuan Huan.
Hailing from the Chenjun Yuan clan, Yuan Huan had enough weight to command Ji Ling.
As for Zhang Xun, he had some connections with Yuan Shu due to family ties, but his military prowess left much to be desired, so Yan Xiang was put in as his partner since their relationship with Yuan Shu was quite loose.
Having someone they considered “one of their own” in both armies might effectively prevent desertion at this time.
But then Yuan Huan couldn’t help but get a headache just thinking about the battle strategy Yuan Shu had proposed when they left Pingyu.
Some of his words were accurate, but others seemed quite naïve.
Yuan Shu claimed that Wen Chou was impatient and had seen through him back when they were still serving in Luoyang.
As for Liu Bei, well, spending so much time in Pei State without mobilizing troops clearly marked him as someone who was slow to act.
Yuan Shu asserted that he had studied military strategy quite a bit recently and knew that having a quick party facing a slow party would likely cause friction.
So he suggested that Yuan Huan stage a faux defection; with Runan’s Yuan clan originally being one with the Chenjun Yuan clan, if Yuan Huan were to abandon Yuan Shu and side with Yuan Shao, it could be justified.
If Yuan Huan defected, Wen Chou would surely rush to capture Runan, while Liu Bei might hesitate.
This could lead to splitting the two factions.
But Runan was enormous.
Large enough that even combining a few other counties in Yu Province wouldn’t make it smaller than Runan.
In such circumstances, they could take down Wen Chou and Liu Bei one by one after they dispersed their forces.
At least before this army arrived at Pingyu from the Guo River, they could capture Wen Chou first, then slowly deal with Liu Bei.
This guy’s hold within Pei State was indeed solid, which might hinder them from driving everyone out of Runan at once, but that was fine; as long as they could teach Yuan Shao a lesson first.
Yuan Huan said, “Some matters, I can’t speak directly in front of the lord, but I can discuss them with you, Yan.”
“Putting aside how credible this defection plan is at this time, whether or not Wen Chou has Yuan Benchu’s strategists accompanying him, just the act of pretending to defect—I fear that if we tell the soldiers we’re defecting, they’ll truly believe it.”
Yuan Huan was very rational.
He understood that what sounded feasible on the surface was fraught with difficulties when it came to execution.
To put it bluntly, did Yuan Shu really think he was Qiao Yan?
For Ji Ling’s army to fake a defection yet maintain order was almost impossible.
To prevent them from feigning defection, Liu Bei only needed to propose one suggestion to Wen Chou—
They could accept the defection, but when attacking Yuan Shu, Yuan Huan and Ji Ling must be detained within Pei State.
Then Yan Xiang would be left to deal with three forces; how was he supposed to fight that?
This reasoning was clear to Yuan Huan, and Yan Xiang understood it as well.
He replied, “I know where your concerns lie, but lately the lord has been dismissing my suggestions, and if I bring this up right now, it might just upset him.”
Especially since if at this critical moment he said something about Yuan Shu’s soldiers not being that obedient, it would likely provoke Yuan Shu’s ire.
He had already displeased Yuan Shu once by conceding Ye City to Yuan Shao, and bringing such matters up again would certainly be unwelcome.
“Since you’ve been upfront discussing the feasibility of this battle strategy, I might as well ask: I saw the lord propose this idea, and you seemed to have thought of something too; why didn’t you speak up right then?”
Yan Xiang hadn’t missed the hesitant expression Yuan Huan wore back then.
However, Yuan Huan hadn’t voiced any opposing views; instead, he had taken on the position, which left Yan Xiang feeling quite puzzled.
Given Yuan Shu’s respect for Yuan Huan, it would have been possible for him to suggest something.
Yuan Huan bitterly smiled, “The other solution I wanted to propose is something the lord would absolutely refuse. I thought, since we need to feign defection, the consequences of failing this facade might be less severe than what would happen if I were to secretly go ahead and declare our intentions later.”
When he mentioned Yuan Shu’s unlikely acceptance of this solution, Yan Xiang had already started guessing in his mind.
Sure enough, Yuan Huan continued, “I wonder what you think, Yan; how about we seek aid from Yang Province?”
Runan and Pei State were both adjacent to Yang Province, just north of it, so the conflicts between Runan and Pei State were indeed within Yang Province’s scope for intervention and could even catch the enemy off-guard.
But as Yuan Huan pointed out, seeking aid from Yang Province was a path Yuan Shu would never choose.
After all, Yuan Shu himself had been driven out of Yang Province.
Yuan Huan couldn’t figure out whether he had complained more about Yuan Shao or Sun Ce since Yuan Shu fled to Runan.
So if he were to suggest an alliance with Sun Ce right after Yuan Shu proposed that military strategy, Yuan Shu would probably refuse him outright.
At that point, it would truly be game over.
Seeing the realization dawn on Yan Xiang’s face, Yuan Huan felt reassured that Yan was the right person to discuss this plan with, and he continued, “The enmity between the lord and Sun Ce is merely a territorial dispute; it’s not like the deep grudge between Liu Bei and Sun Ce, which involves a personal vendetta. There’s potential for cooperation here.”
Yan Xiang nodded, “You’re right, it’s just a temporary enemy. Plus, both sides respect the authority of the Chang’an court, which puts them on the same side.”
“Moreover, if the lord were truly to be defeated by Yuan Shao and Yu Province fell under the control of the Ye City court, would that really be beneficial for Sun Ce? He just took Wu County and has more troubles coming, and he needs to head south to conquer Kuaiji, reclaiming all of Yang Province. If Yuan Shao captures Yu Province and teams up with the Xuzhou governor, Tao Gongzu, to attack Jiujiang, then Sun Ce would indeed be caught in a dire situation.”
“In that case, rather than putting himself in a passive position, it’s better for him to choose to ally with our side.”
After all, cooperation and opposition between factions can always adjust as long as there’s no irreconcilable feud.
The only issue was whether Yuan Shu would accept this matter.
But as long as they could win this battle and secure Yu Province…
Yuan Shu shouldn’t be too against it, right?
If he could think of such a reckless defection plan, this ought to seem relatively reasonable by comparison.
Yuan Huan and Yan Xiang, having achieved a consensus, immediately summoned Ji Ling and Zhang Xun.
Upon hearing about this plan that was intended to commence without Yuan Shu’s consent, Ji Ling nearly turned around to go back to Pingyu and report this scheme to Yuan Shu.
After all, he too was one of those who had been thoroughly routed by Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.
But after being told the potential consequences of a feigned defection, Ji Ling, who had little resolve to begin with, found himself at a loss for words for quite a while.
After pondering for a moment, he finally asked, “What if that little brat Sun Ce takes the opportunity to attack Runan?”
Yuan Huan replied, “At least for now, he won’t do that. Both the governor of Yu Province and the governor of Yang Province were appointed by Chang’an, and their jurisdictions are quite clear. I’ve heard that there was a trade deal between Yang Province and Chang’an just last year. If the governor of Yang Province could arbitrarily invade the territory of the Yu Province governor, would the Grand Marshal in Chang’an and those officials in Chang’an just turn a blind eye to that?”
If that were the case, where would the authority of the Chang’an court lie?
Not intervening in the dispute between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu could be explained away as being stretched too thin at the moment, but not intervening in the conflict between Yuan Shu and Sun Ce would be a different issue altogether.
Once Ji Ling realized that the problem he was worried about was not that troublesome, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. “Then let’s proceed as you suggest.”
“While we’re dragging our feet, you must definitely hurry and call for reinforcements from Yang Province, launching an attack from the other end of Pei State!”
Even making such a decision was so tough for them, let alone for Yuan Shao’s generals.
Yuan Shu’s nonsense over the years had formed quite a fixed impression on people.
It felt like this guy was too proud. Even after suffering defeat after defeat and not getting any favorable treatment from Yuan Shao, he still had to keep up this stubborn front.
Who would have thought he’d contact Sun Ce at this time?
At least, neither Wen Chou nor Liu Bei saw it coming.
So when they crossed the Guo River and headed straight for Xiyang, they suddenly found themselves ambushed by Sun Ce’s troops coming from the southeast, leaving them utterly unprepared.
Taking advantage of this, Ji Ling, stationed in Ruyin, charged out of the city to retaliate, while Zhang Xun and Yan Xiang arrived from the north, forming a sudden three-sided encirclement.
If we counted the numbers, Wen Chou and Liu Bei technically had a slight advantage, but the initiative was definitely not on their side!
The terrain in Runan was also special, with numerous rivers branching off in the northwest and southeast, making it difficult for Wen Chou and Liu Bei to retreat without interference from these waterways.
While they marched in with great momentum, these rivers couldn’t hold them back, and might have even served merely as a vital source of water supply.
But when they were caught off guard by an unexpected coalition army, those geographical barriers obviously became advantageous terrains for the southern forces to intercept the enemy.
After Yuan Huan went to Yang Province for help, Sun Ce’s side, making the decision to advance, sent not just Zhou Yu, who was stationed in Yang Province, but also Sun Ce’s cousin Sun Ben, and Han Dang, a former subordinate of Sun Jian.
As a result, this coalition army unexpectedly turned from a defensive disadvantage into a fierce tiger in the subsequent chase that unfolded in Yu Province!
The moment the news of Wen Chou’s death reached Ye City, Yuan Shao took a while to process it.
It wasn’t until a messenger from Yu Province repeated the news that Yuan Shao’s finger twitched, confirming to everyone that he had indeed heard it.
He had already realized that this was the current reality and not some joke played on him.
But how on earth did this happen!
Why would this happen!
Wen Chou died at the junction of Runan and Pei State, killed by the eighteen-year-old Zhou Yu!
Liu Bei took refuge in Xiang County under the protection of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and the people of Pei State.
Although he successfully rallied the fleeing troops around Xiang County, given the sudden assault from Yang Province that led to their defeat, gathering back any remaining troops, even if they managed to collect three out of ten, would already be considered good!
The territory south of Pei State had been entirely reclaimed by Yuan Shu’s generals.
Compared to being targeted by Qiao Yan or realizing that his ambitions had fallen behind, the blow Yuan Shao received from Yuan Shu was even harder to accept.
After a long time, he finally squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: “We underestimated Yuan Gonglu.”
Who would have thought Yuan Shu could pull off such a trick, teaming up with Sun Ce; they really had underestimated him!
To deal with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu really could lower his head.
Yuan Shao wasn’t in a great mood to begin with, since he had just received some news.
A conference on wine was about to be held in Chang’an—this was meant to further refine prohibitions on alcohol or at least implement restrictions on the beverage industry through negotiations with various stakeholders.
If this meeting could take place, it already indicated that the resistance to such alcohol restrictions from the Son of Heaven down to senior officials had become negligible.
Folks in the Chang’an court knew that Qiao Yan proposed the alcohol restrictions to centralize production and promote development, but Yuan Shao did not know that.
From Yuan Shao’s perspective, this news meant that Qiao Yan would accumulate more grain by restricting alcohol production for the upcoming “Eastern Conquest.”
Even if he were to step back, this move aimed to transition from private alcohol production to state-run, which wouldn’t be great news for him.
The huge profits within the alcohol industry could easily translate into significant income for the national treasury once it became state-owned.
So whether it was an increase in grain or finances, it was another avenue for the enemy to bolster their strength.
And here we are, with not only the “rising” on the Chang’an side, but also the “declining” on his side.
This defeat in Yu Province came way too abruptly.
To make matters worse, to declare that he absolutely rejected Yuan Shu’s unfounded accusations and to announce that his status among the Yuan clan in Runan was not inferior to Yuan Shu’s, Yuan Shao had previously proclaimed—
He felt no guilt over Yuan Ji’s death and expressed great regret, but it pained him even more that such brotherly conflict arose within the Yuan clan. He claimed that if the Yuan ancestors guided him, he would surely win this battle.
But the reality was, not only did he not win, he had his own general slain!
So all of his previous declarations turned into a joke!
Although Yuan Shao didn’t go into a hysterical rage, from the perspective of his strategists, his face alternated between green and white, and the hand on the table tightened, as if he wanted to grasp something, then he restrained himself for a long time before finally relaxing it.
Yuan Shao could already imagine what kind of uproar this news would cause in the Ye City court tomorrow.
What explanations would those people need from him?
But perhaps due to the extreme crisis, it kept his mind surprisingly clear.
When he slowly spoke up, he said, “Contact Tao Gongzu to block Sun Ce in the south, and… and let Cao Mengde dispatch troops to first take Yingchuan, then seize Runan.”
Yuan Shao knew very well what kind of temperament Yuan Shu had.
Had it not been for that, he wouldn’t think that the possibility of Yuan Shu actively teaming up with Sun Ce was practically nil.
He even had a strange feeling that this alliance with Sun Ce might not have been orchestrated by Yuan Shu himself.
But now, worrying about how this decision came to be was meaningless; he only needed to consider the future responses.
Yuan Shu had just claimed victory and was surely in a state of arrogance. Only by delivering a decisive blow could he reverse the public perception.
But just as his words fell, he heard Shen Pei say, “If you want to take advantage of Yuan Shu’s swell-headedness, that’s a good idea, but the person chosen can’t be Cao Cao. Since Yuan Shu has someone capable of coming up with a union with Sun Ce and successfully convincing him, he will inevitably also think that you might send troops to recover the situation. If Cao Cao is dispatched, the target will stand out too much, and they are bound to be prepared for it.”
Yuan Shao pondered; it indeed made sense what Shen Pei said.
Otherwise, a well-fought counter-attack would end up as an embarrassing situation for him.
Upon thinking deeper, he felt even less assured that Cao Cao would truly respect his commands at such a critical time.
It wouldn’t have mattered too much under other circumstances, but right now, it was a major mistake that could cost him the chance to turn the tides.
“Zheng Nan is right,” Ju Shou stood up and replied, “At this crucial moment, rather than having Cao Cao lead the charge against Yuan Shu, it would be better to switch to someone else. I would like to request to battle in Yu Province and ask for a person from you.”
“A person?”
Yuan Shao was more pleased than surprised by Ju Shou’s proactive request.
Ju Shou was not merely a typical strategist; with the chaos in Ji Province and Qingzhou having nearly been settled, this cavalry commander had the means to deploy troops.
With Ju Shou’s intelligence, he could definitely adapt on the fly.
Ju Shou replied, “Exactly, I just need one person and an edict. No need for any other troops.”
This was even more astonishing than his earlier request for “one person”.
But Ju Shou was not one to speak idly, nor was he a showy character; he wouldn’t propose such a thought unless he was rationally driven.
Yuan Shao patiently listened, and then heard Ju Shou say, “Please maintain order in the court, and I will lead your nephew Gao Yuancai south—”
“Directly mobilizing the private troops of the Chen Liu Gao family to strike Yu Province!”
With Ju Shou teaming up with Gao Gan to march south with private troops from Chen Liu!
This was indeed a bold decision and far more appropriate than Cao Cao leading the charge.
Yuan Shao immediately approved Ju Shou’s plan and handed him the necessary edicts for gathering the Chen Liu Gao family and the orders for Cao Cao’s dispatch.
Armed with this method to salvage the situation, though he knew the court meeting the next day wouldn’t go smoothly, Yuan Shao felt a bit of his pent-up frustration dissipate.
After dismissing his subordinates, he lay back on a soft couch and instructed someone to read the Leping Monthly Report to him.
Thinking that there surely wouldn’t be any mention of borrowing grain in this casual chit-chat column, he had them read that section, considering it a light-hearted way to gather intel on the enemy.
Then…
He heard the motivational rise-and-shine journey of some unknown guy from Ji Province.
