When Yang Rui arrived at Changyi City, Qiao Mao seemed to have found a pillar of support and told Yang Rui everything. It turned out that although Qiao Mao had taken Changyi City, Liu Dai had stationed a lot of troops in the city. Qiao Mao had suffered a lot of losses during the siege. If Liu Dai counterattacked, Qiao Mao was very worried about whether he could defend Changyi City.
"At this point, there's no point in worrying too much. Brother Yuanwei, just prepare to deal with Liu Dai's attack," Yang Rui immediately said.
Not only were Yang Rui's generals not by his side, but he also had to take care of the migration of NPCs. Furthermore, Yuan Shao was eyeing him from the North, so he couldn't help Qiao Mao for the time being. Even if Yang Rui's forces grew stronger in the future, he wouldn't be able to protect Qiao Mao all the time.
"However, Brother Yuanwei, you don't have to worry too much. Although Liu Dai has taken down Puyang City, I believe that it will take some time for him to reorganize it. Brother Yuanwei should use this time to strengthen Changyi City's defenses and prepare for Liu Dai's attack.
Moreover, Yuan Shao has already left Puyang City. With Liu Dai's forces alone, it is uncertain if he will come to attack Changyi City. Even if he does come, Brother Yuanwei's forces are not much weaker than his. You only need to rely on Changyi City's geographical advantage to defend.
Of course, I, Blazing Sun, am going to Henan to bring back Gao Shun, Zhang Ning, and a few other capable generals. Brother Yuanwei, you only need to defend for a few days until my generals return. If Liu Dai still dares to attack, I and Brother Yuanwei will work together to defeat his army! "
While letting Qiao Mao understand the situation, Yang Rui did not forget to encourage Qiao Mao to strengthen his confidence in defending the city.
"How long will it take for General Lie Yang to leave?"
"Only a few days."
"Sigh … That's the only way. I hope we can wait until General Blazing Sun returns! I don't have any capable strategists in my tent, so I'll need General Lie Yang's advice on how to defend the city. "Qiao Mao sighed.
Obviously, Yang Rui's words did not give Qiao Mao much confidence. Qiao Mao had used Yang Rui's Golden Cicada's Shell Escape plan to prevent a disaster and take down Changyi City. Because of this, Qiao Mao had already approved of Yang Rui's strategy, which was why he asked this question.
Qiao Mao trusted him. On the contrary, Yang Rui felt a headache coming on. When it came to strategy, Yang Rui was just a layman. The last time he was able to come up with the golden cicada's shell escape plan, it was just a coincidence. At this time, Qiao Mao asked him about it again. . Yang Rui was at his wit's end.
Yang Rui wanted to tell the truth and say that he did not have a good plan. However, seeing Qiao Mao's expectant look, if he did not come up with a plan, it would greatly affect Qiao Mao's confidence in defending the city. Therefore, after racking his brains, he finally came up with a plan for Qiao Mao.
"Brother Yuanwei and Liu Dai have been together for a long time, so you know each other very well. I believe that Liu Dai is also very familiar with Brother Yuanwei's personality. Therefore, only a surprise can win. Brother Yuanwei, why don't we do this …"
Yang Rui's hard work was not in vain. After Yang Rui told Qiao Mao his plan, the yellow light that represented the success of the plan appeared again. Although it was only a faint layer, it completely enveloped Yang Rui and Qiao Mao.
This was once again out of Yang Rui's expectations. He did not expect that ever since his Art of War skill, Sun Tzu's Art of War (Thirteen Chapters) had reached the level of [Know the Surface], he would be able to use it again. This time, he was able to use it again. This was definitely an unexpected surprise!
"This plan is very good, very good! General Blazing Sun is indeed a great talent! Hahaha, a great talent! "
While listening to Yang Rui's plan, Qiao Mao's somewhat helpless expression gradually relaxed. When Yang Rui finished explaining the plan, Qiao Mao could not help but laugh and praise Yang Rui's plan.
Actually, Yang Rui's plan was not as mysterious as Qiao Mao had described it to be. It was just an empty city plan that Yang Rui had designed based on Qiao Mao's personality. However, it also happened to coincide with the empty city plan in Sun Tzu's Art of War (Thirteen Chapters). This allowed Yang Rui's newly learned stratagem to be effective again. Of course, Qiao Mao would follow suit.
After interacting with Qiao Mao for a while, according to Yang Rui's understanding, Qiao Mao should be a scholarly Marquis. He was also more conservative when doing things. Yang Rui had reason to believe that Liu Dai should also be aware of Qiao Mao's temperament.
Therefore, Yang Rui suggested that Qiao Mao deliberately reveal his weakness when Liu Dai attacked. He would act as if he was caught off guard and only place a few soldiers in the open. This would lure Liu Dai into attacking and then kill him before he could react. This might work!
For Qiao Mao, if Liu Dai really attacked, he would be facing a battle with his back to the river. If he won, he would continue to rule over his own territory. If he lost, he would die without a burial place. Therefore, after Yang Rui suggested the empty city plan, Qiao Mao showed his true colors as a Marquis. He immediately expressed that he would follow Yang Rui's plan. He would burn the boats and kill Liu Dai.
Qiao Mao's attitude might have been partly influenced by Yang Rui's stratagem skills. Moreover, he had benefited from Yang Rui's stratagem once before. Therefore, he happily accepted Yang Rui's plan. However, it was undeniable that Yang Rui's plan was a good one since it was in line with Sun Tzu's Art of War (Thirteen Chapters). With Qiao Mao's current situation, it was time for him to go all out. He just needed to see how the situation would develop and how Liu Dai would react.
Yang Rui proposed an empty city strategy to Qiao Mao and reminded him to increase his efforts to defend the city. After that, he did not linger any longer. He immediately left Changyi City, riding his Flying Carpet in the direction of Hulao Pass.
Qiao Mao naturally would not stay any longer. He was still waiting for Yang Rui to bring back his generals as soon as possible to assist Changyi City. Yang Rui's plan had a chance to catch Liu Dai off guard. However, it was very difficult to completely solve the problem. Therefore, Qiao Mao was still very anxious about Yang Rui's return.
In fact, Yang Rui did not have much confidence that he would be able to come back in time to assist Qiao Mao. Therefore, before he left, Yang Rui was still hesitating about whether he should remind Qiao Mao that if he really could not defeat Liu Dai's army, he could go to Qingzhou, Taishan County, or even Dashan City to temporarily hide. However, in the end, Yang Rui did not mention this.
First of all, if Qiao Mao could not defeat Liu Dai, he would naturally think of escaping. Even if Yang Rui did not mention it, he would probably go to Qingzhou. Secondly, if Qiao Mao could not even overcome this hurdle, he might not be able to take on the responsibility of being Qingzhou's barrier in the future. He was destined to not be able to play the role of the alliance.
Speaking of which, although Yang Rui had guessed that Yuan Shao might be a threat to Qingzhou's Pingyuan County, he was still a little slow in taking measures to deal with Yuan Shao and Liu Dai. By the time he understood from Yuan Shao that Yuan Shao and Liu Dai would definitely take action, he already felt like he was being led by the nose by the other party.
Fortunately, Yang Rui did not blindly seek to earn merit points and points from the Dong Zhuo Rebellion storyline. In the end, he decided to first stabilize Qingzhou. Only then did he have the chance to compete with Yuan Shao and Liu Dai in terms of speed. If not for this situation, it was very likely that Yang Rui would be in an even more passive situation.
Yang Rui had been thinking about the measures to deal with Yuan Shao and Liu Dai's troops as he quickly traveled west. After about six hours, he finally met Gao Shun and a group of soldiers, who were the first to migrate with the river yin NPCs, just as he was about to reach Hulao Pass. This somewhat exceeded Yang Rui's expectations. He did not expect Gao Shun to pass through Hulao Pass so quickly.
However, when he looked at the NPC citizens behind Gao Shun, he saw that there was not even 1% of what there was when they set off. Hence, while Yang Rui was overjoyed, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
"Gao Shun greets my lord!" After Gao Shun greeted Yang Rui, he did not wait for Yang Rui to ask him any questions before he told him what he had encountered.
"… My lord, you once told me to lead the migrating citizens to move quickly. I did not dare to be negligent and have been urging them to move quickly. Two days ago, a portion of the citizens had already passed through Hulao Pass. At that moment, military lieutenant Cao Cao suddenly led his troops to seal off the pass. Before that, only a small portion of the migrating citizens had passed through the pass.
"At that time, I saw that military lieutenant Cao Cao was definitely going to make things difficult for us. Hence, I went up and respectfully asked him for advice, hoping that he would let us go on account of my lord. However, General Cao said that he wanted to hold a banquet to entertain my lord and send my lord back to Qingzhou. He insisted on seeing my lord before he would let us go.
"When I saw that things were not going well, I sent my soldiers to Heyin to inform Zhang Ning, Zhang Liao, and the others. At the same time, I made preparations to forcefully charge through the pass. I only needed to wait for the sky to turn dark or for some other suitable opportunity to take Hulao Pass.
"Who knew that after half a day, General Cao sent someone down to the pass, saying that my lord is benevolent and cannot bear to see the people of Heyin suffer in the Luoyang area. General Cao deeply admires you. Furthermore, General Cao and my lord are comrades. Hence, he can let us pass through Hulao Pass. However, he wants us to act as if we are going to forcefully attack Hulao Pass. There is no need for us to actually do anything during this period of time. All we have to do is shout and charge through the pass.
Gao Shun heard that the person's words did not seem fake. He knew that there was something fishy going on. If it was as General Cao had said, then they would have avoided the loss of a meeting on the battlefield. "Given the grandeur of Hulao Pass, there will probably be casualties. Hence, Gao Shun agreed.
However, Gao Shun did not dare to believe his words completely. When the sky gradually darkened, I sent a small group to the pass to make a ruckus. As expected, General Cao retreated on his own accord. Our soldiers quickly took over the pass. Only then was Gao Shun able to pass through the pass and catch up to a portion of the migrating citizens … "
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