Chapter Eighty: One Stone, Three Birds

  Tai Shi Zi and others were also stunned, looking at Li Chong, thinking how could there be such a shameless person. They had just formed an alliance with Gong Sun Zan for a few days, and as soon as they got the benefits, they turned around and sold out Gong Sun Zan. This turnaround was too fast!

  "Lord, what's the benefit of betraying Gongsun Zan?" Taishi Ci asked doubtfully.

  Li Chong smiled slightly and said to Cheng Yu: "Trouble you, Mr. Cheng, to explain it to everyone!"

  Cheng Yu smiled slightly and stroked his long beard, saying: "This is a plan that kills two birds with one stone..."

  "Firstly, if the lord betrays Gongsun Zan, Liu Yu will definitely be furious, which is inevitable. Then Liu Yu will certainly accelerate the deployment of troops in secret, trying to catch Gongsun Zan off guard. At this time, Gongsun Zan is not in Beiping, but is building a city and defending it east of Jicheng. If Liu Yu acts quickly enough, Gongsun Zan may not even have time to mobilize his troops, and there is a possibility that he will be defeated by Liu Yu in one battle."

  "Secondly, even if Gongsun Zan holds the eastern city, hastily deploying troops will still give Liu Yu an opportunity to take advantage of. Even if he defeats Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan's losses will certainly exceed expectations, which would be very beneficial for our lord."

  After listening to Cheng Yu's words, Taishi Ci and others all nodded in agreement, thinking that it would be best if Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan fought each other to mutual defeat, and then everyone could pick up the peaches. Of course, it would be even better if Liu Yu happened to destroy Zhang Yan.

  "There's another thing..." Li Chong continued, "I reckon Liu Yu will also find someone to form an alliance against Gongsun Zan. This person is probably Yuan Shao, who is well-versed in the art of strategy and tactics. He won't fail to understand the principle of 'sitting on a mountain and watching tigers fight'. Regardless of whether Gongsun Zan or Liu Yu wins or loses, once both sides are exhausted from fighting, Yuan Shao will definitely send troops to attack one side. The only question is what choice Yuan Shao will make. However, I reckon the possibility of Yuan Shao attacking Gongsun Zan is higher. In that case, we can rest easy."

  Cheng Yu's eyes rolled, and he smiled: "Yuan Shao's mobilization of troops can't deceive Gongsun Zan, and with my plan, Gongsun Zan will definitely go to war against Yuan Shao."

  "Not bad!" Li Chong also laughed and said: "I don't believe Gong Sun Zan won't fall for it, haha..."

  Looking at Li Chong and Cheng Yu's despicable appearance, the generals secretly cursed: You two are not good things! Gongsun Zan and our lord formed an alliance, it was a great misfortune, it would be better to send troops ourselves.

  Anyway, Gong Sunzhan has already put one foot into the muddy pit now.

  As expected, after Liu Yu's report, Li Chong immediately accelerated the deployment of troops in secret. In February of the first year of Ping (AD 190), as soon as the weather warmed up, Liu Yu led his army to besiege Gong Sun Zan in the eastern city, catching him off guard. At that time, there were only over two thousand people left in Gong Sun Zan's city, and things were extremely critical.

  Liu Yu thought that victory was within his grasp and became even more arrogant, claiming that this time he would only kill Gongsun Zan.

  Gongsun Zan was besieged in the eastern city, and his troops were not yet by his side. This made Li Chong and Yuan Shao overjoyed, thinking that Gongsun Zan would surely be defeated and their greatest worry would soon be eliminated.

  However, the two overestimated Liu Yu's military strength. Liu Yu mobilized a large army of 100,000 men to attack Gong Sun Zan's East City, which had only a few thousand soldiers and horses. The battle lasted for three days, but the East City remained intact without any damage.

  What made the two men even more shocked was that Gongsun Zan gathered hundreds of elite soldiers, launched a surprise attack on Liu Yu under the cover of night, and burned down Liu Yu's grain depot. In his panic, Liu Yu fled on horseback, and his troops also scattered in all directions, each with their own thoughts. Gongsun Zan took advantage of the situation to pursue them, surrounding Liu Yu in Yong County.

  More than ten days later, Gongsun Zan's reinforcements arrived and launched a surprise attack on Yangping County, capturing Liu Yu alive.

  Gongsun Zan captured Liu Yu, took the opportunity to occupy Jicheng, and dominated Youzhou. The speed was so fast that Yuan Shao and Li Chong were stunned. At this time, Yuan Shao had just gathered his troops and had not yet left Handan, while Li Chong had also just gathered his army and was about to make a show of sending troops to Dailing Prefecture, but Liu Yu was already finished.

  "Damn it!" Li Chong and Yuan Shao cursed simultaneously from hundreds of miles apart.

  "What's next?" After scolding, Yuan Shao and Li Chong began to scratch their heads for the second question.

  Yuan Shao's problem is whether to fight or not. If he doesn't fight, his army will be in a state of disarray and he can only watch as Gongsun Zan gradually consolidates his position in Youzhou. If he does fight, his own supplies are still insufficient, and Gongsun Zan's military strength is at its peak, making it difficult to gain the upper hand.

  Li Chong's problem is quite amusing, that is to see if Yuan Shao will fight or not. If Yuan Shao fights, he can fight too; if Yuan Shao doesn't fight, going up there would be suicidal.

  Cheng Yu had originally planned to send a group of soldiers disguised as Gong Sun Zan's troops to harass Yuan Shao, in the hopes of provoking him into attacking Gong Sun Zan. However, both sides were now on high alert and ready for battle, making such a move unnecessary.

  After weighing the pros and cons, Yuan Shao decided to send troops to attack Gongsun Zan. As soon as Yuan Shao's army moved, Gongsun Zan was unwilling to show weakness and also sent troops southward. The two armies met in the Hejian area and confronted each other.

  Li Chong took advantage of the situation to conquer the various counties of Yanmen. At this time, Li Chong occupied a position of great righteousness and also had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. Therefore, the various counties of Yanmen surrendered one after another. Li Chong did not have the energy to govern these county cities, but only levied grain and grass from each county, mobilized soldiers, and gathered more than 9,000 soldiers.

  After the discussion, Li Chong decided to send troops to Dài Prefecture to test whether Gongsun Zan had any intention of fulfilling the alliance agreement. When they arrived at Píngchéng County, Li Chong left Liao Hua to guard and transport food, while he led Cheng Yu, Jiang Qin, Zhou Tai, and Taishi Ci with 5,000 troops to advance on Dài Prefecture.

  As soon as they entered the border of Youzhou, Taishi Ci sent someone to report that Gongsun Zan's scouts were blocking the road ahead. Li Chong then let Cheng Yu and Jiang Qin lead the main army, while he himself took Zhou Tai and a small group of light cavalry to advance.

  When Li Chong rushed to the front, Taishi Ci's cavalry had already set up camp. Li Chong hastily led over a hundred horsemen to go and take a look, but saw that dozens of horsemen were blocking the way ahead, only about 100 meters away.

  Li Zhong immediately shouted: "I am the Taishou of Yanmen, the vanguard soldiers are in front, send someone over to respond."

  Before his words were finished, a white horse galloped in with a messenger on its back.

  Li Chong looked at the white horse guard in front of him and shouted loudly: "Soldiers ahead, why are you blocking our army's path?"

  Bai Ma Jihou replied in a loud voice, "This land is within the borders of Youzhou. As the Grand Governor of Yanmen, why do you lead your troops to invade and harass the borders of my Youzhou?"

  Li Chong said displeased: "There is no agreement with your family master, to raise troops together to attack Liu Yu, after the matter is successful, your family master will let go of the governorship of Dai Prefecture, but you don't quickly open up the road, otherwise, don't blame this official for being ruthless."

  Baima scolded, "Obviously you don't know that Gongsun Zan and Li Chong have formed an alliance. After a brief moment of hesitation, he said loudly: 'Sir, I don't know about the alliance with our lord, please withdraw your troops quickly, I will report to General Gongsun, otherwise, don't blame my spear for being ruthless.'"

  "Hahaha……" Li Chong burst out laughing on his horse, at this moment Li Chong really didn't want to take the lead and make a move against Gongsun Zan, if he was going to fight, he would wait until after Yuan Shao did. However, the scout's words were too arrogant, treating his hundreds of elite cavalry as nothing, did he think Li Chong was afraid of Gongsun Zan and didn't dare kill anyone?

  Li Zhong turned to Tai Shi Ci beside him and said: "Zi Yi, hold the array for me, watch me take down this man personally."