EBE Chapter 57 Chen Gong Collapses! He Can't Understand Where Cao Cao Was Hiding His Skills?
Chapter 57 Chen Gong Collapses! He Can't Understand Where Cao Cao Was Hiding His Skills?
After Cheng Yu left Liu Dai, no civil or military official dared to offer Liu Dai any advice.
Naturally, Liu Dai agreed to cooperate with several Yellow Turban leaders, planning to launch an attack from Shanyang to encircle Cao Cao and his forces from both sides!
Despite Liu Dai's previous friendly relationship with Cao Cao and his seemingly amicable attempts to reach a cooperation agreement, he was still a good friend of Cao Cao.
That's because Liu Dai's strength at the time was insufficient, and he could only hope to accelerate the unification of Yanzhou by relying on Cao Cao's power.
Now it's completely different.
With the assurances of several Yellow Turban leaders, Liu Dai no longer cared about Cao Cao, let alone Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu's forces!
Liu Dai thought he had kept the news of his military expedition well hidden.
Unexpectedly, apart from the Cao army intelligence unit under Li Dian's command, there were other units involved.
Even Zhang Miao and Bao Xin soon received reports from spies that Liu Dai was about to raise an army!
……
Yanzhou border
Cao Cao, Zhang Miao, Bao Xin, Su Yu, Chen Gong, and Yu Jin were currently sitting in the main camp discussing matters.
In the past few days, several Yellow Turban leaders have continued to direct their soldiers to attack the defensive line.
However, the intensity of the attack is clearly not as fierce as it was at the beginning.
Everyone gets tired.
The Yellow Turban rebels of Qingzhou didn't have much food left; every meal they ate was one less meal they had.
If they can't get into Yanzhou, it means there will be no new supplies coming in.
Under such circumstances, the morale of the Yellow Turban soldiers could not possibly be high.
If the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou have no other schemes and rely solely on fierce attacks on the border, it is almost impossible for them to make any further progress in the short term.
but.
The key topic of discussion among the people in the camp today was Liu Dai.
Chen Gong coldly laughed:
"Our governor is truly a once-in-a-century talent!"
"Instead of helping us fight against foreign enemies, they have joined forces with them to take advantage of our misfortune and try to seize the entire Yanzhou."
Bao Xin said indignantly:
"No wonder this guy didn't respond to Mr. Bao's call before; he was waiting for Mr. Bao here!"
"I would rather die than hand over Yanzhou to him!"
Bao Xin was furious.
Although his relationship with Liu Dai was not good.
But no matter how bad the relationship is, they are still the local officials of Yanzhou.
How could a dignified governor of Yanzhou join forces with bandits to deal with his own people in Yanzhou?
This is crazy...
If this were placed in later generations, wouldn't it be a perfect example of a walking 500,000?
Zhang Miao lamented:
"Gentlemen, Liu Dai is indeed despicable."
"But he commanded 20,000 troops and held the title of governor."
"If the soldiers on the border were to learn that Liu Dai was assisting the Yellow Turban rebels, how could their morale not collapse?"
Zhang Miao's concerns were entirely correct.
Regardless of how much power Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou, actually wielded.
The title of Governor of Yanzhou truly belonged to Liu Dai.
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao suddenly laughed and said:
"Meng Zhuo, don't worry."
"Liu Dai will never reach the border."
"Um???"
What does Mengde mean by this?
Zhang Miao raised his chubby forehead instantly, looking at Cao Cao with a puzzled expression.
Su Yu, standing to the side, explained with a smile:
"Gentlemen, is Liu Dai's attempt to assist the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou in fighting against the soldiers of Yanzhou just?"
Bao Xin immediately said:
"Is that even a question?!"
"Any soldier with even a shred of conscience would probably hate him to the core!"
Su Yu clapped his hands:
"Isn't this right?"
"Liu Dai's behavior is neither morally sound nor in line with the will of the people."
"Even from Liu Dai's own perspective, he might have had a legitimate reason to act."
"But in the eyes of the soldiers, such behavior was treason!"
"There is no need to send troops to deal with Liu Dai. Just send spies to incite Liu Dai's army, and Liu Dai will be too busy to take care of himself."
"How can a mere prefect who has lost the people's respect and support continue to sit on the throne?"
Chen Gong gave Su Yu a deep look.
His intuition told him that Su Yu was lying to him!
Su Yu's remarks just now sounded normal, but at the same time, they were very inspiring.
But is that really the case?
Su Yu did not recommend sending troops to deal with Liu Dai because he and Cao Cao had already made plans!
Su Yu would never allow Zhang Miao and Bao Xin to participate in dividing up Liu Dai's 20,000 soldiers.
Liu Dai has truly lost the hearts of the people.
But at the same time, he is also a huge source of experience!
Whoever can consume this experience pack first will become the next governor of Yanzhou!
Apart from Cao Cao, who was fully aware of the situation, and Chen Gong, who was filled with doubts.
Bao Xin, Zhang Miao, and Yu Jin were unaware of the verbal trap set by Su Yu.
Bao Xin quickly praised Su Yu's plan:
"Mr. Su is absolutely right!"
"Since Liu Dai is no longer a threat, let's continue to focus our efforts on dealing with the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou!"
Just as Zhang Miao was about to nod, Chen Gong gave him a subtle look.
……
After the temporary meeting
Chen Gong couldn't wait to say to Zhang Miao:
"Meng Zhuo, I have a feeling that Su Ziyi has ulterior motives."
(Chen Gong addressed Zhang Miao by his courtesy name because the two were not truly in a ruler-subject relationship. In the original history, Chen Gong and Zhang Miao joined Lü Bu's forces, acknowledging Lü Bu as their lord, which would have been a true ruler-subject relationship.)
Zhang Miao shook his head and said:
"Gongtai, aren't you overthinking this?"
"I think what Su Ziyi said is not wrong."
Chen Gong rolled his eyes, speechless.
“Meng Zhuo, Su Ziyi’s strategic abilities are no less than mine, and may even be better.”
"This guy doesn't look like the type to suffer a loss."
Zhang Miao scratched his head and asked in confusion:
"But Cao Cao's 20,000 troops are now all deployed on the border."
"He can't possibly conjure up a new army again, can he?"
At this point, Chen Gong also got a little stuck.
While strategy is the key to victory, wisdom and strategy are crucial.
However, without sufficient strength as a foundation, even the most brilliant strategy will be greatly diminished in effectiveness.
For details, see the battle between Jiang Wei and Deng Ai.
In terms of battle record, Deng Ai's win rate was much higher than Jiang Wei's.
But can we arbitrarily conclude that Deng Ai was definitely more capable than Jiang Wei?
Obviously it can't be done.
When Jiang Wei officially became the Grand General of Shu Han, the internal state of Shu Han was already in a very bad state.
Chen Shou recorded that "the people looked pale and sickly."
Years of warfare, coupled with internal conflicts, severely weakened the Shu Han state.
On the other hand, Deng Ai had the powerful national strength of Wei as his support.
Simply put, Deng Ai could lose, and even if he lost, he could still transfer troops from other places to replenish his strength next time.
If Jiang Wei loses, every soldier who dies will be one less to lose.
Under such circumstances, how could Jiang Wei not be meticulous in his calculations?
Often, even when they have the upper hand, they are forced to retreat in order to minimize their own losses, creating the illusion that they have been defeated.
At this moment, Cao Cao's situation was not as dire as Jiang Wei's.
Indeed, Cao Cao only had 20,000 troops in total.
Chen Gong had his doubts, but he couldn't think of any other way to conjure up troops from Cao Cao's hands.
Or rather, where did Cao Cao get the strength to secretly devour Liu Dai on his own?
……