Shi A was taken directly to Li Jue's commander-in-chief's residence by the soldiers of the Xiliang Army who were guarding the city.
Li Jue had commanded the city defense for a day and was already very tired and went to sleep. When he heard that Dong Cheng's family had brought military information about Cao Zhang's army, he immediately got up and went to the hall to summon Shi A.
Shi A presented Xiahou Shang's letter to Cao Pi to Li Jue.
After Li Jue read it, he immediately lost all sleepiness and became energetic. Then he ordered the soldiers to summon Li Ying, Li Huan, Li Shi and others to discuss the response plan.
After a while, several people arrived in a hurry.
Li Ying asked anxiously: "Brother, send us here urgently. Did Cao Zhang's army launch a night attack?"
Li Jue quickly waved his hands to comfort him: "Don't worry, it's not the enemy's night attack."
He pointed at Shi A who was standing aside and introduced: "This person is a family member of General Dong Cheng. He was ordered to lurk next to Xia Houshang and Xia Houru, who were part of Cao Zhang's army. He just intercepted the letter written by Xia Houshang to Xu Du. It was delivered to me. I came here to discuss this matter with you."
Li Shi's eyes lit up first and he asked anxiously: "Father, what did the letter say?"
Li Jue handed the letter to Li Shi, and then explained to Li Ying and Li Huan: "The letter said that Cao Zhang realized that Chang'an could not be conquered by force, and was going to accompany Zhong Yao, the emperor's envoy, to Tianshui, and he wanted to recruit An in person. Ma Teng and Han Sui, win their support."
Speaking of this, he deliberately emphasized his tone: "Time is short and he has no time to mobilize the army. He only plans to bring a hundred guards and entourage and set off after dark tomorrow."
Li Shi immediately noticed the meaning of Li Jue's words: "What my father means is that there are very few guards around Cao Zhang, so we have a chance to intercept him along the way?!"
Li Jue nodded and gritted his teeth and said, "That's what I mean. Cao Zhang is the enemy's general. If we can kill him, the enemy army will be leaderless and will be in chaos. If we take the opportunity to attack again, we will definitely be able to break the enemy army." , kill that bastard Duan Yan to satisfy the hatred in my heart!"
Li Shi heard this and immediately asked for orders: "Father, I am willing to lead three thousand troops out of the city tomorrow night to ambush Cao Zhang. I will personally take his life in order to avenge him with one arrow!"
Although Li Shi's injury has improved, he still feels itching with hatred when he thinks of being plotted by Cao Zhang and being stabbed in the back.
"No! We should just stick to it now and never leave the city easily!" Li Ying immediately stood up to express his objections.
"Yes, this person's origin is unknown. Who knows whether the letter he holds is true or false. If this is Cao Zhang's plan to lure us out of the city, then if we attack rashly, wouldn't we fall into his trap!?" Li Huan also expressed his opinion. A firm objection.
"The concerns of the two worthy brothers are reasonable, but this person holds the token of General Dong Cheng, and his identity is certain. And I think that if we don't miss the opportunity before it comes again, this is indeed an opportunity for us to kill Cao Zhang. , we shouldn't miss it." Li Jue assured the two of Shi'a's identity, and then showed that he still wanted to attack.
"Brother, the so-called opportunity may be a hidden crisis. Now that we are sticking to Chang'an, the enemy cannot invade at all. There is no need for us to take risks!" Li Huan insisted on his opinion.
"They can't attack now, but how long can we defend? Should we just let Cao Zhang contact Ma Teng and Han Sui? What if these two wavering villains are really persuaded by Cao Zhang to cooperate with him? How long can we defend if they besiege us!? To defend is to sit back and wait for death. We can't just be trapped in Chang'an City waiting to die! Taking the initiative is the best choice!" Li Jue retorted to Li Huan.
"According to what Dong Cheng said in his previous letter, Cao Zhang signed a military order in front of Cao Cao during this expedition to break the city within a time limit. He cannot attack by force today. If he continues to delay, it will definitely be difficult to explain in front of Cao Cao. The design is to trick us into leaving the city. It’s his only chance to win.”
"If we go out of the city to ambush, but are caught in his ambush, the gain will not be worth the loss. I still think it is better to stick to it. As time goes by, Cao Zhang cannot defeat the enemy, and Cao Cao's military methods will take care of him. If we win without a fight, wouldn't it be true? Better?!" Li Ying also sided with Li Huan and proposed another plan to persuade Li Jue.
"Your thoughts are completely wishful thinking. Cao Zhang is Cao Cao's son, and the poisonous tiger will not eat its children. Could it be that Cao Cao would really kill Cao Zhang because he couldn't defeat Chang'an?! Our strength far exceeds that of Cao Zhang's army, with 50,000 soldiers. The number of Cao's troops is more than three times that of Cao Zhang. If we are worried about Cao Zhang's ambush, we can just send more people out of the city to intercept and kill him."
"Don't forget, we can't go out of the city to get supplies for long-term consumption. The daily consumption of 50,000 troops is far more than Cao Zhang's troops, so it is in our best interest to take the initiative and kill Cao Zhang in one fell swoop. Way!" Li Jue has now made up his mind and cannot listen to Li Huan and Li Ying's persuasion at all.
"Brother, your idea is good, but it is actually very difficult to succeed. Think about it, Cao Zhang completely inherited his father Cao Cao's treacherous character. The best example was the attack on Luoyang. How could he not have thought of taking only a hundred people to Liangzhou? , it’s such a simple truth that we will send troops to intercept and kill once we find out?!" Li Huan refused to give up and continued to persuade.
He has a cautious character, and after experiencing several duels with Cao Zhang, he realized that Cao Zhang was not easy to deal with, so he did not want to take risks easily.
Just when Li Jue wanted to refute Li Huan again, Li Shi, who had been silent, spoke up: "Father, I think what my uncle said makes sense. In fact, we can think about the problem in depth and come up with a better solution."
Li Jue didn't expect that his son would actually support Li Huan and Li Ying. He frowned slightly, but still held back his temper and asked, "How to think deeply?"
Li Shi did not directly answer Li Jue's question, but turned to look at Li Huan: "I dare to ask uncle, if you were Cao Zhang and set up this strategy to lure us out of the city, how would you arrange it?"
"If I were Cao Zhang and I made a strategy to lure the enemy out of the city, I would definitely set up an ambush on the way forward. Once our troops to intercept him appear, his ambush troops will come out and attack our army from a flank. , this is the first possibility." After thinking calmly, Li Huan gave the answer.
Li Shi nodded slightly: "Uncle, your analysis is correct. According to your statement, there should be a second possibility, so you might as well go on."
"The second possibility is that he can take advantage of our army to send troops out of the city to intercept and kill, and arrange troops to sneak attack Chang'an and try to steal the city at night!" Li Huan then expressed his second guess.
"There is another possibility, which is to have two plans in parallel, both to ambush our troops leaving the city and to steal the city at the same time!" Li Ying couldn't help but interrupt.
Li Shi nodded: "Both uncles are right, but don't forget one premise. How many troops does Cao Zhang have? If his troops are stronger than ours, with his arrangement like this, there is indeed a possibility of success. But Now, including Duan Yan's reinforcements, he only has 15,000 troops. If we divide the troops like this, will it be enough?"
After listening to Li Shi's words, Li Jue's eyes suddenly lit up: "Shi'er, your analysis makes me think of something else! If Cao Zhang really arranges it like this, then his camp may have very few defenders!"
Li Shi clapped his hands vigorously and echoed Li Jue's words: "Father said exactly what I want to say most! Cao Zhang leads us out of the city. Whether he ambushes us or steals the city, he must have enough troops to allocate them. . Then he won’t have many soldiers and horses to guard the camp. I analyze that even if he is timid and afraid of death, and the troops are divided equally into three places, the limit is to be able to leave five thousand soldiers to guard the camp!"
Hearing this, Li Huan somewhat understood what Li Shi meant: "What do you mean, we send out another army to copy Cao Zhang's camp?!"
Li Jue laughed when he heard this: "Capture the thief first, capture the king! Cao Zhang set a trap for us, but he didn't expect that we could raid his lair! If we burned his food, grass and baggage, do you think he could continue to fight?" ?!"
Li Ying immediately shook his head and said: "Brother, don't blame me for pouring cold water on you. Although your idea is good, it is still difficult to implement. Cao Zhang is an extremely cunning person. Even if he sends a large number of men to ambush or steal the city, there are still many people around him. It’s impossible not to leave someone to guard him. The people staying with him should be his most elite subordinates. We may not be able to successfully rob the camp.”
"And there is another possibility. Cao Zhang is an extremely cunning person. It is entirely possible that he could predict our surprise attack and set up an ambush to ambush us!" Li Huan also thought of the potential crisis and cautiously reminded Li Jue.
"You are absolutely right. Cao Zhang may indeed arrange troops to ambush us. Cao Zhang first arranged for people to ambush the troops I intercepted, and then arranged for people to steal the city. Now there are still people in the camp ambushing and chasing us. Do you think he is serious? Is there an endless supply of useful people?" Li Jue asked a key question.
"If Cao Zhang didn't divide his troops to make those arrangements at all, but just left all the troops in the camp for an ambush, that would be 15,000 elite troops!" Li Huan reminded anxiously.
"What's fifteen thousand? I have fifty thousand soldiers!" Li Jue said confidently.
"I sent five thousand soldiers to intercept the emperor's envoy! I left another fifteen thousand soldiers to defend the city, and dispatched thirty thousand soldiers to raid his camp. Double the number of troops and enter in sections. Even if he has an ambush, what's the point of fear? Zai?!"
A confident smile appeared on Li Jue's face, and he said coldly: "Cao Zhang is cunning and can predict. But he forgot that I, Li Jue, am the number one general of the Xiliang Army! He can predict, and so can I. I can even predict his predictions! Do you still think there are hidden dangers in my arrangement now!?"
Li Huan and Li Ying were completely speechless. They had to admit that Li Jue was indeed a cunning person. His thoughts were intertwined and intricate, and he had thought out all the potential crises in advance. Now it seemed that he was indeed looking for someone. There are no obvious flaws.
"The elder brother is brilliant, and the younger brother is completely convinced. The whole plan sounds seamless and has no obvious loopholes. Then please ask the elder brother to mobilize the soldiers and we will cooperate with the action!" Li Ying first expressed his respect to Li Jue.
"Going to attack, my eldest brother's strategy is indeed brilliant. He successfully predicted Cao Zhang's prediction. As long as we make proper arrangements, we will definitely have a chance to defeat Cao Zhang." Li Huan also agreed with Li Jue's strategy.
The recognition of Li Jue and Li Ying greatly increased Li Jue's confidence.
After the battle with Cao Zhang, Li Jue was also deeply hit by the constant losses of troops and generals.
If he can kill Cao Zhang in one fell swoop through this sneak attack, he can turn defeat into victory, regain his confidence, and go to Luoyang again in one go, or even attack Xudu and take back the emperor!
"Okay, then Brother Ying, take five thousand men to intercept the emperor's envoy! Shi'er, you stay behind to guard Chang'an, while Brother Huan and I go to raid Cao Zhang's camp in person!" Li Jue made arrangements.
"Father, how can you go out easily as a general? I ask you to stay and defend the city. My son is willing to go out of the city for you to kill the enemy!" Li Shi heard that Li Jue had arranged for him to defend the city. He expressed his strong dissatisfaction and proposed to fight with Li Jue. exchange.
"Brother, Shi'er's worries are justified. It's better for you to stick to Chang'an!" Li Huan also supported Li Shi.
Li Jue nodded: "Okay, in that case, you can follow your uncle to copy Cao Zhang's camp for my father. My father has prepared a banquet in the city and is waiting for you to return after the victory to celebrate your success!!"
