The night is deep, and the military camp has gradually become quiet. Except for the soldiers on patrol and on duty, most of the soldiers have fallen asleep.
Cao Zhang was lying alone in the sleeping tent, but his heart was up and down. He had no intention of falling asleep and was still thinking hard about how to defeat the enemy.
He originally thought that after killing Li Jue's two nephews and wounding Li Shi, Li Jue would become angry and go out of the city for a decisive battle.
Facing the Xiliang army in a field battle, Cao Zhang still had the confidence to win.
But now Li Jue chose to hold on to the city and refused to fight even if he was killed. This greatly exceeded Cao Zhang's expectations.
Cao Zhang realized that he had underestimated Li Jue's mind and ability to command troops. After all, he was once the most powerful general under Dong Zhuo. After Dong Zhuo's death, he led the Xiliang army for many years. He was definitely not an incompetent idiot.
But now there is no point in re-examining Li Jue. The most important thing is to come up with practical ways to defeat the enemy.
The current situation is that if you want to defeat Li Jue, you must find a way to lure him out of Chang'an and look for opportunities in the field. But under the current circumstances, is there any way to lure Li Jue out of Chang'an?
Cao Zhang became more and more annoyed as he thought about it, so he simply turned over and sat up, and slowly walked out of his sleeping tent.
Li Jin and several soldiers who were guarding outside the camp saw Cao Zhang walking out and hurriedly bowed and saluted together.
Cao Zhang waved to them gently and said to Li Jin: "Ji Ji, I can't sleep, so I just want to walk around and think about things. Let's not disturb too many people, just follow me."
Li Jin nodded knowingly and waved his hands to give gesture instructions to the soldiers.
The soldiers received the order and stayed where they were. Only Li Jin followed Cao Zhang at a certain distance.
Cao Zhang walked slowly, and the night breeze blew, which instantly made his mind clearer. Start recalling how Li Jue was destroyed in history.
According to the records in "Three Kingdoms" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Cao Cao sent his servant Pei Mao to lead the Kansai generals Duan Xuan and others to attack Li Jue, and finally killed Li Jue.
When Cao Zhang thought of this, his heart suddenly moved and his mood suddenly became brighter.
Leading the army to attack Li Jue by himself was equivalent to taking Pei Mao's place, but the Kansai generals Duan Xuan and others did not participate, so he was fighting alone.
The Guanzhong area has always been in a state of warlord separatism. Among them, Ma Teng and Han Sui were the most powerful. Together with Duan Xuan, Liang Xing, Zhang Heng and others, there were more than a dozen warlord separatist forces.
If you can find a way to make history repeat itself, mobilize all these warlords to work for yourself, and join forces to besiege Li Jue, your chances of winning will be greatly enhanced.
Cao Zhang became excited instantly, turned around quickly, and decided to go to Xu Shu to discuss the feasibility of this plan.
He couldn't help but quicken his pace and ran towards Xu Shu's tent.
Li Jin didn't know what happened, so he quickly followed.
Cao Zhang came to Xu Shu's tent and was about to rush in. Unexpectedly, someone walked out hurriedly and bumped into a man full of arms. Their heads had a close contact like a comet hitting the earth.
"Ouch!" The person hit by Cao Zhang covered his head and groaned in pain, but it was Xu Shu.
He saw Cao Zhang clearly in front of him and apologized quickly: "Master, I didn't know you were here. How offensive it is."
Cao Zhang also rubbed his head vigorously and waved his hands quickly: "I don't blame you, I left in a hurry. Yuan Zhi, I have thought of a countermeasure and want to discuss it with you."
Xu Shu responded: "I also thought of a countermeasure and wanted to find the young master."
"That's good, let's go and talk to you in your tent." Cao Zhang greeted Xu Shu and said.
The two of them rubbed their sore heads together and walked into Xu Shu's tent, while Li Jin stayed outside and was on guard.
"Yuan Zhi, please tell me first, what countermeasures have you thought of?" As soon as Cao Zhang sat down, he anxiously urged Xu Shu to speak first.
Xu Shu nodded and expressed his thoughts: "Master, I have carefully analyzed the strength of both the enemy and ours. Li Jue occupies a favorable location and has five times as many troops as us. It is indeed difficult to win with only our own strength. So I thought of I followed one of the thirty-six strategies you wrote - killing someone with a borrowed knife!"
Cao Zhang looked at Xu Shu and laughed: "The sword Yuan Zhi mentioned should be the Kansai warlords headed by Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Duan Xuan, right?!"
Xu Shu also had a smile on his face, and said to Cao Zhang with admiration: "Young Master is wise, that's what my subordinates think. Ma Teng, Han Sui, Duan Xuan and others are all Guanzhong warlords with very strong power, and they They all have issues with Li Jue, and if we can call on them to besiege Li Jue together, it will greatly increase our chances of winning."
"Heroes have similar ideas. I also thought of this method. I wanted to discuss it with you Yuan Zhi. I didn't expect that you think so too. That would be great." Cao Zhang said happily.
"Young Master is far superior to Xu Shu in talent and learning. I just thought that you have arrived at the door of my tent. I admire you so much!" Xu Shu respectfully expressed his awe to Cao Zhang.
"You're welcome Yuan Zhi, there is no distinction between you and me as brothers." Cao Zhang responded with a smile.
He said this, but in his heart he admired Xu Shu even more. After all, he had the memory of his previous life as a basis for the idea of borrowing the power of Ma Teng, Han Sui and others to deal with Li Jue.
Xu Shu thought of it entirely based on his own mind. His vision and strategy were beyond his comparison. No wonder Liu Bei was so sad when he lost Xu Shu.
"Yuan Zhi, although I have thought of uniting with Ma Teng, Han Sui and others, we still need your advice on how to impress them and make them work for us." Cao Zhang asked Xu Shu seriously.
Xu Shu looked at Cao Zhang and smiled slightly, with some confidence in his eyes, and said firmly: "Sir, although the Kansai warlords have their own agendas, they are always sensitive to their interests. I think as long as you report it to Sikong, in the name of the emperor, you can With their rewards and status, they must be unable to refuse this temptation, and they should be able to submit easily."
Cao Zhang beamed when he heard this, nodded and praised: "Yuan Zhi, you are really smart. This strategy can cleverly use the selfish motives of Ma Teng, Han Sui and Duan Xuan to achieve our goal of killing Li Jue and pacifying Guanzhong."
Xu Shu nodded: "Young Master is wise. I believe Sikong also understands that by uniting all the forces opposed to Li Jue, he can win faster, stabilize the Guanzhong area, and give him more energy to compete in the Central Plains. He will definitely not refuse the Young Master's proposal. "
Cao Zhang stood up and said resolutely: "Okay, I will write a letter to my father now and ask him to report to the emperor to reward these Guanxi warlords with official positions. As long as the imperial court's rewards and rewards arrive, we can go to see Ma Teng, Han Sui and others formed a coalition with them to besiege Li Jue!"
Xu Shu nodded: "Then just rest in peace and wait for Xu Dusikong's reply!"...
