After the arrangement was completed, Yuan Shu waved these people away and asked them to go down to arrange it, leaving only Jia Xu.

"Wen He. How do you think I should handle my alliance with Liu Bei this time?" Yuan Shu asked.

"Don't avoid, don't give in, don't fight, don't grab. Just as Liu Bei acted when he was in alliance with Cao Cao, so will my lord act." Jia Xu said calmly.

Yuan Shu curled his lips when he heard this: "You are always so to the point when you speak. This time Liu Bei wants to use us as guns, why don't we take advantage of him? If we capture Tongguan, we will pay him, and after we capture Sili, we will withdraw."

Jia Xu bowed in admiration and said: "My lord is wise."

Yuan Shu squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of Tongguan: "Liu Bei wants to drive away tigers and devour wolves, so why don't I just want to reap the benefits? Let's see who of us has the better plan this time."

...

In front of Tongguan, heavy snow drifted for several days and then calmed down again. The warm sunshine shone on the thick layer of snow under the pass, which was pure white and extremely dazzling. The biting north wind was still howling, making people listen to it.

Feeling cold.

Cao Xiu, a son of Cao Cao and Cao Hong's nephew, was regarded by Cao Cao as his own son and had a cautious temperament. When Cao Cao raised a rebel army to attack Dong Zhuo in Yanzhou, the young Cao Xiu changed his name and returned to the Central Plains from Wu, a thousand miles away, via Jingzhou.

He defected to Cao Cao and was called the "Thousand-mile Horse" by Cao Cao. He later followed Cao Cao in the north and south, and once commanded the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

At this time, Cao Xiu was not yet the future great Sima of Wei who had experienced many battles. As a fledgling, he was entrusted with the important task of guarding Tongguan. Although Cao Cao raised his troops to attack Lu Bu and sent out all his good generals,

This also shows that Cao Cao attaches great importance to it and is optimistic about it.

Standing on Tongguan, looking at the white snow scene after the heavy snowfall, Cao Xiu felt very calm and enjoying himself. He closed his eyes and felt the tranquility between heaven and earth.

After taking a deep breath of cold air and sobering up for a few minutes, he stood on the city wall wearing a black cloak, looking at the lights of Liu Bei's army camp in the distance, a trace of fear and vigilance flashed unconsciously in his eyes.

He has been stationed here for more than a month. Liu Bei's army has not moved at all. It seems that he compromised so easily and made no move. But Cao Xiu became more and more uneasy in his heart. The peaceful camp in the distance seemed to be completely invisible.

From the deep altar at the bottom, bloodthirsty beasts surge out at any time.

"How many days have it been since my lord sent out troops?" Cao Xiu stared at Liu Bei's camp in the distance and asked calmly.

"General, it's been five days." replied the soldiers guarding Cao Xiu.

"Oh, it's been five days. Liu Bei must also know the news." Cao Xiu murmured softly.

"Where are the envoys sent to reward Liu Bei and Yuan Shu?" Cao Xiu asked again.

"It's expected to arrive tomorrow."

Cao Xiu nodded slightly, and his tense mood eased a little. Although the emperor's official title was just a false name, it was enough to stabilize Liu Bei. After all, Liu Bei had always relied on his reputation as a descendant of the Han Dynasty to get around.

He would not easily disobey the orders of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty.

Just when Cao Xiu was about to go down the city wall to rest, suddenly, there was some movement outside Liu Bei's camp in the distance. Cao Xiu quickly looked carefully, and sure enough, a large army slowly walked out of Liu Bei's camp.

"What's going on? Is Liu Bei planning to attack the city?" Cao Xiu immediately warned.

The deputy general on the side looked at the black snake-shaped army in the distance, shook his head and said: "General, the enemy rushed over without forming a formation. It shouldn't be to attack the city."

The inexperienced Cao Xiu's face turned slightly red. He realized that he was a little too nervous, and quickly explained: "We have to be more vigilant if the other party takes action. Liu Bei must have bad intentions."

"What the general said makes sense." The deputy general nodded and said, "But I don't know why the other party came in such a hurry? Could it be that they want to negotiate with us?"

Many thoughts flashed through Cao Xiu's mind, and then he took a few steps back: "Send someone to keep an eye on you, and report any situation to me as soon as possible. I'll wait below first. If Liu Bei wants to negotiate with someone, you can

He said that I occasionally caught wind and cold and was bedridden."

A hint of admiration flashed in the deputy general's eyes. This airborne young man also had some experience.

"General, don't worry."

After saying this, Cao Xiu and his guards slowly came down from the city wall and went inside Tongguan to wait for news.

For a long time, the voice of request for negotiation that he expected did not appear. Instead, there was a faint sound of some iron and wood objects rubbing against each other.

"What's going on?" Cao Xiu frowned.

Then he saw a soldier who was delivering orders running down the city wall and reported to him: "General, Liu Beijun sent more than a thousand soldiers to clear the snow under the city wall for some reason."

"Cleaning up the snow?" Cao Xiu asked confused: "Is it possible that Liu Bei plans to attack Tongguan?"

"Is Liu Bei among these thousands of people?" Cao Xiu asked as if he remembered something.

"Liu Bei was not found."

Cao Xiu nodded and walked out directly: "I will go up to the city wall and take a look. You will pass this information to Shizhong Xun as quickly as possible."

"promise!"

Arriving at the pass, Cao Xiu lay down by the city wall and took a closer look. Sure enough, a group of people in front of the pass were using crudely made tools to clear the snow in front of Tongguan.

At the same time, the deputy general also came up and warned: "General, if these people act like this, Liu Bei's army may change."

Cao Xiu was also full of vigilance and said solemnly: "I understand."

Then Cao Xiu tentatively shouted at these people: "Who are you? What do you want?"

A man under the city wall who was obviously a general raised his head and replied loudly: "General, we are all under Liu Shijun, and we are here to clean up the snow in front of Tongguan."

"Why are you clearing the snow? Is it possible that you are going to abandon the alliance and attack Tongguan?"

The general under the city hurriedly said: "General, we don't dare to do this. Your Majesty ordered us to do this to avoid heavy wind and snow blocking the pass in the future. Our army will cross the border and return to Yuzhou soon, so be prepared in advance to be prepared!"

Cao Xiu snorted coldly when he heard this: "It's still more than a month before the time we agreed on. Liu Shijun is really anxious!"

Hearing Cao Xiu's mocking words, the generals in the city quickly complained: "We are also acting under orders! I hope the general can forgive me!"

The deputy general was furious when he heard this and whispered: "General, these people obviously have bad intentions. There are only more than a thousand of them. If someone had not sent troops to drive them away or detain them, Liu Bei would not dare to attack the city."

Cao Xiu pondered for a moment and said decisively: "No! My lord has just sent out troops, and our army is empty inside. It is difficult to make such a powerful enemy."

The deputy general said anxiously: "But they are so unscrupulous, they obviously want to attack Tongguan!"

Cao Xiu suddenly brightened up and said confidently: "I understand!"

"What does the general understand?"

Cao Xiu pointed at Liu Bei's soldiers who were clearing the snow below: "Liu Xuande did this on purpose. He wanted us to think that he had bad intentions and attack these soldiers. This way he could use this as an excuse to force us to shorten our retreat.

time to buy more time for him to return to Yuzhou. After all, our army is internally empty and it is not suitable to be an enemy. We can only choose to compromise when we are in a loss."

When the deputy general heard this, he suddenly realized: "General, you are wise! Liu Bei is really cunning. If the general hadn't named him, we would have really fallen into the trap."

As if he had a pearl of wisdom in his hand, Cao Xiu said confidently: "The more he behaves like this, the more we will ignore him to see what other tricks he has."

Looking at the ground being cleared below, the lieutenant general hesitated and said, "But general, what if the other side really wants to attack the city?"

Cao Xiu waved his hands confidently: "Impossible, Liu Bei's army only has 40,000 men, and we have 30,000 elites, and there is danger of Tongguan. Unless Liu Bei is crazy, there is no way he will take action. He did it,

We can easily repel it."
Chapter completed!