After sending Chen Tong away, Cao Cao dismissed the guests with the excuse that he was busy with military affairs and only called Xi Zhong over.
"Tomorrow, Cao Cao will lead his troops out and Chen Liu will be handed over to Zhicai.”
Chen Liu was Zhang Miao's territory, how could it be Xi Zhong's turn to manage it?
Without saying anything, Xi Zhong already understood.
Cao Cao was leaving a path of retreat for himself. If he was not successful in dealing with Dong, he would retreat to Chenliu to seek development.
As for Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chen Liuyuan? Naturally, there were ten thousand ways to make him give up his position to preserve Cao Cao's positive and sunny image.
Of course, it was necessary to leave a backup plan.
Xi Zhong was certain that there was no chance of success for the dukes to attack Dong.
In front of that huge cake of benefits, how many people really cared about Tian Zi's life? This farce was not so much a show of loyalty to the Great Han Dynasty, but rather a large-scale show.
After all, as long as the momentum of the crusade against Dong was greater, the people who raised the army would all have a righteous cause.
"Lord, how many soldiers do you want to lead?”
"I will command eight hundred cavalry and five thousand infantry. Dian Zijin, Zi Xiao, Zi Lian, and Yuan Rang will do. What does Zhicai think?"
Xi Zhong nodded in praise." Chen Tong is indeed valiant. He can be a vanguard general when he advances, and can protect the Lord when he retreats. Cao Ren is calm and steady, and can lead the army together with the lord. Cao Hongshan led the infantry. General Xiahou was also in charge of 800 cavalry from the side. Clear and concise, my lord is wise. However, he had probably brought too many soldiers.”
"Oh? What do you think?"
Xi Zhong waved his hand. May I ask, my lord, how many troops does Yuan Benchu, the prefect of Bohai Sea, lead?”
"I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but based on my understanding of Yuan Shao, there are roughly 30,000.”
Xi Zhong smiled." If that's the case, my lord will send 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry to meet the alliance."”
"This…" Cao Cao originally felt that he had gone too far.
He clearly gathered more than 15,000 righteous soldiers, but only 5,000 people were sent to save the Han Dynasty.
Unexpectedly, Xi Zhong went even further. He cut the number of people by nearly half the moment he opened his mouth.
"My lord, remember, you can take the initiative to take on the responsibility of robbing food, fighting generals, and chasing after the remnants of the army. If the city is attacked and the pass is conquered, the two armies will face each other on the grounds that they have few soldiers and generals. Given Yuan Benchu's personality, he would definitely not care about such trivial matters with his down-and-out childhood friend.”
He almost told Cao Cao directly," You can snatch the credit, the benefits, and the limelight. The hard work of sending troops, food, and manpower was all pushed to others.
It was indeed a little too much.
Originally, Cao Cao had raised the banner to gather all the heroes in the world.
Even Cao Cao himself didn't know if his subordinates were loyal to the Han Dynasty or to him.
Xi Zhong's words completely dispelled Cao Cao's doubts.
At least for now, his chief strategist was purely loyal to Cao Cao.
If Xi Zhong had the slightest intention of being friendly to the Han Dynasty, he would not have said such words.
Cao Cao stood rooted to the ground for a long time and muttered,""Did Zhicai see Yuan Shao before?”
He finally knew why Xi Zhong had specifically asked Yuan Shao about it before he made up his mind.
This number of troops was clearly specially designed for Yuan Benchu.
If he really did this, Yuan Shao might laugh at Cao Cao at the beginning of the alliance meeting, but he would definitely support him without fear.
Cao Cao knew this because he was Yuan Shao's childhood friend. He understood Yuan Shao and also knew Yuan Shao's forgiving personality.
Especially those close to him. If you didn't do as well as him, he wouldn't be stingy with helping and supporting you. On the contrary, if your career was doing well and thriving, that fellow would deliberately suppress and be on guard against you.
"I've never seen it with my own eyes. I've only heard a little about it." Xi Zhong smiled mysteriously.”
"Sir, you're a genius! After the war, he changed his cavalry to 300 and infantry to 3,000.”
"I'm here to congratulate my lord on your victory.”
..........
After a secret discussion, the list of people to go out was confirmed.
The people who were able to follow the army were naturally happy. They had already packed their luggage and gathered at the west gate of Chen Liu.
Those who were not selected were extremely unwilling.
They all left the city to request for battle, surrounding Cao Cao's chariot.
Le Jin and Li Dian were still manageable.
The two of them had never shown their ability to command troops. When they first joined, they were even Chen Tong's background wall. In a few moves, they were swept away by the Black Dragon Halberd and lost their weapons. It was reasonable that they were not particularly valued by the lord. They just wanted to have a chance to perform and let Cao Cao see their value.
The ones who were truly jealous were Xiahou Yuan and Dian Wei.
One was using the excuse that he was skilled in archery and riding to support the central army and insisted on following them out.
The other was brave and recommended himself as Cao Cao's personal guard.
This was what Cao Cao was afraid of.
To prevent Yuan Shao from being jealous, he had brought less troops. If Yuan Shao saw the bravery of his generals, all his efforts would be wasted.
To be honest, he didn't even want to bring Xiahou Dun, let alone Xiahou Yuan and Dian Wei.
"Does Miao Cai think that the garrison is not important? There are still more than 12,000 of our soldiers in Chenliu City. If they all leave, who should I hand them over to?”
Xiahou Yuan wanted to recommend Le Jin and Li Dian.
However, these two were new to the Cao clan and weren't related to the Cao clan. If he were to hand over all these assets to them, not only would Cao Cao not feel at ease, even Xiahou Yuan himself wouldn't feel at ease.
"Then don't forget me when you go out next time."”
"You and I are blood brothers. Even if I, Cao Cao, forget myself, I will not forget you.”
"That's good."
After dealing with Xiahou Yuan, Dian Wei said in a muffled voice,""My lord, don't look at me. I'm not good at commanding troops. It's useless to leave me here. It's better to follow my lord.”
"Does Old Dian think that Zi Jin can't protect me alone?”
"That's not it. Brother Chen is brave and good at fighting. However, one person was short, while two people were long. It was always good to have someone to take care of him.”
"To think that Dong Zhuo only has Lu Bu protecting him. I'm just a small cavalry captain, but I have two fierce generals by my side.”
"Why bother with others? Whoever dares to criticize me, I'll kill him with my halberd.”
He was also a generous person who dared to say anything.
Seeing that words were useless, Cao Cao immediately pulled his old face and shouted,
"Once the military disaster occurs, the world will be in chaos. There will be many opportunities in the future. If you protect the military counselor in Chen Liu, there will naturally be many opportunities in the future. If you disobey the order before the battle, I will send you to feed the horses now.”
When Dian Wei heard that, he instantly wilted.
He did not dare to act rashly and obediently retreated.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]