Yuan Shao took Zhao Yun and Dian Wei and led the army back to the camp. When they arrived at the camp, they were naturally followed by Guo Jia, Wen Chou and other men.
On the one hand, Yuan Shao ordered a banquet to be held to celebrate Dian Wei's great achievements. On the other hand, Yuan Shao asked Zhao Yun to settle the soldiers who were going on the expedition. After taking protective measures, he came over to celebrate together.
After Zhao Yun took the order, Yuan Shao led the generals and Guo Jia and his party towards his tent. Guo Jia had already prepared the banquet.
After opening the tent, everyone found their seats and sat down without any courtesy. Yuan Shao asked the shadow guards to be on guard outside and not let anyone else go except Zhao Yun, and then he went to the commander's position alone.
Without leaving everyone waiting, Yuan Shao picked up the tea and said. During the war, people were not allowed to drink alcohol, so they drank tea instead of wine.
"It is thanks to General Dian Wei that we can intimidate the troops of Xiliang today. Of course, everyone has contributed a lot. I will keep these in my heart and will not forget everyone's contribution. Here I will drink tea instead of wine and go first. Thank you all.”
Seeing Yuan Shao's praises, he was very enthusiastic about boxing. Everyone was very happy and complimented each other a lot.
"Thank you so much, lord. We don't dare to take credit for it. This great victory was possible only because of lord's strategic planning and command, as well as the whole army's common hatred for the enemy. It's all thanks to your lord's great blessings, and I can't bear my meager contribution." That’s all.”
Yuan Shao said that he was a little elated and enjoyed this very much. He continued to greet everyone to eat more and celebrate.
After a while, Zhao Yun arrived and joined the celebration. Naturally, there was another burst of noise and excitement, which was very unpleasant.
After three rounds of wine and five kinds of food, we saw that we were almost done eating. It was time to get down to business and talk about future combat strategies.
Therefore, Yuan Shao was a bit aggressive and spoke without waiting for the banquet to end.
"Everyone should have an idea of the strength of the Xiliang Army today. Is the next step going to be war or peace? Please fight it out for me!"
The words went out for a long time, but there was no answer. Yuan Shao was very surprised. This was not like everyone else's style.
Looking up curiously, it turned out that everyone was focused on Guo Jia, waiting for the military advisor's opinion. You should not express your opinions easily, so as not to harm the country and the people.
Looking at Guo Jia again, he didn't feel anything about it, or he pretended not to know anything. He just ate and drank to himself, which made the atmosphere very awkward for a while.
Yuan Shao saw that the public would attach great importance to the advisor's opinions, and he felt very satisfied at first. But now I see that everyone is a little dependent on their opinions, so I frown a little.
I thought to myself that this was not a good thing. A qualified general must have his own independent thoughts and judgments. If you rely solely on counselors, something will happen sooner or later.
It seems that we need to find a way to solve this problem, but now is not the time to think about it. Let us first ask about the strategy for dealing with Xiliang. We will talk about this later.
Therefore, Yuan Shao had no choice but to ask Guo Jiadao by name, "In this case, Fengxiao, please come out and express your opinion so that everyone can take it as a reference."
Guo Jia originally didn't want to speak out, or to be precise, he didn't want to make suggestions on such an occasion. Because he also keenly felt that since the last time everyone offered advice, they now rely too much on counselors. This is not a good thing. I should look for an opportunity to remind my lord.
But when I saw my lord asking about it, I had to give him face, so I said it confidently.
"This is very simple. We just need to stay here and wait for the Xiliang generals to come automatically."
"Oh, what Fengxiao means is that Ma Teng, Han Sui and the others will automatically come to help us?" Yuan Shao became interested and asked.
Guo Jia nodded and confirmed, "Of course, and it's a great gift."
No way, we haven’t fought yet. We just met today, and the enemy troops will come to seek refuge. This is impossible.
All the generals were a little unconvinced. They felt that what Guo Jia said was very evil. It would be too easy to fight like this. Yuan Shao was also dubious about this, not very sure.
While he was questioning, he suddenly heard the shadow guard outside shouting a report.
"My lord, there are confidants of Han Sui of Xiliang outside, and they have sent a letter saying that they have important matters to discuss."
What, sending a letter at this time clearly shows your intention to surrender. Sure enough, Guo Jia had guessed it. The military advisor was really amazing.
Yuan Shao was also a little impressed, so he asked the shadow guard to bring the letter in. He read it carefully and admired Guo Jia even more.
"As expected by Feng Xiao, Han Sui was prepared to surrender to the court in the hope of some benefits."
After Yuan Shao finished speaking, he circulated Han Sui's autographed letter for everyone to read. Sure enough, he planned to surrender to the imperial court, but it was a bit unpleasant. He thought about surrendering before the battle started. It was really a pustule.
Guo Jia took a look at the contents of the letter and saw that everyone despised Han Sui and seemed to look down on him. He had to speak out and reminded him.
"Everyone must not underestimate Han Sui. His nickname of the Nine Bends of the Yellow River is not for nothing. In my opinion, he should not only express his sincerity of surrender to us, but also others."
Is there anyone else? Zhao Yun expressed that he didn't understand and asked, "May I ask the military advisor Han Sui if there is anyone else besides surrendering to us? Who else can represent the imperial court besides us, and who has the strength to do so?"
"Haha, Zilong, you have to know that we are just a member of the imperial court, and we cannot fully represent the imperial court. Apart from us, there are many important officials in the imperial court, such as Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, etc. In my opinion, they are not willing to accept it. Lonely, he must be jumping up and down."
Guo Jia smiled and explained it to Zhao Yun, and only then did Zhao Yun understand the power of it. As expected, things are not simple. There are so many literati and those who play politics are dirty.
Through the questions and answers between Zhao Yun and Guo Jia, Yuan Shao also clarified these relationships and understood Han Sui's intentions.
It turned out that this was his plan, and he wanted to use his letters to sow discord between the court and Yuan Shao, and also to sow discord with Ma Teng. He just wanted to reap the benefits and watch the show quietly.
I have to admire Han Sui's scheming. If he might have been deceived by him, luckily Guo Jia, his chief adviser, said that he had seen through everything.
Now that you have seen through it, there will definitely be a way to deal with it. Yuan Shao was curious and looking forward to Guo Jia's countermeasures and asked for advice.
"Since Fengxiao has seen through Han Sui's trick, he must have a plan to break it. Please come quickly and let Han Sui steal the chicken but lose the rice."
Guo Jia didn't want to impress anyone. He smiled and told Yuan Shao and Zhao Yun his thoughts. That's all we need to do.
As for Dian Wei and Wen Chou, what made Yuan Shao and the others praise them greatly was except after they had seen Guo Jia before. He didn't say a word, didn't care at all about what we were discussing, he just ate and drank.
I thought to myself, we don’t have enough education and don’t understand, so we just need to follow the Lord’s orders. This made Yuan Shao like it very much. If there is a general like this, what more could I ask for!
