Chapter 198 Yuan Shu: Am I the scapegoat?
Xiling County.

The news that Cao Cao had returned in defeat spread widely.

Some of the people who spread the news were Yuan Shu's people, and some were Cao Cao's people, but their purposes were different.

Yuan Shu simply disliked Cao Cao and wanted to see him make a fool of himself.

Cao Ying.

The Chinese military tent.

The brothers Cao Ren and Cao Hong were mocking the Xiahou brothers.

"Oh, Xiahou Miaocai, you've made it. You can't even take one round."

Cao Hong mocked, "You are still a deputy admiral of the navy. What a talent! I am ashamed for your father for raising such a useless person like you!"

Xiahou Yuan was defeated and his face turned red with anger: "Cao Hong! If you have the guts, let's go fight him in single combat!"

"Come on." Cao Hong said jokingly, "I won't bully you. I'll let you have a hand."

Seeing that Xiahou Yuan was about to explode on the spot, Xiahou Dun hurriedly stopped him and said to Cao Ren, "If the captain was not here, I wouldn't mind teaching your brother a lesson."

"Huh?" Cao Ren said, holding his helmet, "I didn't expect that a defeated general would dare to talk about bravery?"

"Come, come, let me meet you. I will also learn from Zi Lian and let you hold my hand!"

"Haha!" Cao Hong laughed and said, "Come on, Xiahou boys!"

Suddenly, Xiahou Dun also got angry: "Cao! Go out and fight for three hundred rounds!"

Cao Cao, who was sitting at the top, had a face so gloomy that ink could drip from it.

These brainless people, aren’t they just cursing Cao Cao?
"enough!"

Cao Cao slapped the ashes on the table and said, "Have you had enough of this?"

"Do you want the whole city to know that you idiots are cursing your ancestors?"

Cao Cao clapped his hands angrily and asked, "Aren't the Xiahou family and the Cao family relatives?"

The four of them then lowered their heads and thought carefully, realizing that they were really scolding themselves for being so stupid.

Suddenly, the tent became eerily quiet.

Cao Cao waved his hand weakly and drove away the four idiots.

With this IQ, Cao Cao really worried whether he could take them for a tour alive.

The four guys left the tent.

Suddenly, Xiahou Dun laughed out loud.

Cao Hong was immediately unhappy, and the anger that had just been suppressed by Cao Cao rose up: "Fuck you, I'm going to kill you, you bald grandson!"

He wanted to fight with Xiahou Dun immediately.

Xiahou Dun laughed even more happily: "Isn't your grandmother my aunt? Who are you arguing with?"

Cao Hong was stunned. After careful calculation, he found that it was true.

Strictly speaking, the four of them plus Cao Cao are cousins.

The two families have been intermarried for generations, and no matter how you look at it, they are related.

Now, as long as two people start to curse each other, the other three will be implicated. This feels so wonderful.

Caoying, the central military tent.

After Cao Cao released the news, Cai Mao came to him in a hurry.

"Meng De, don't be discouraged."

Cai Mao comforted Cao Cao instead: "Victory and defeat are common in the military."

"Yangzhou Mu is not invincible. This time you can inflict heavy damage on him, which will greatly boost our morale!"

At first, Cao Cao was listening with great interest, but when he heard the last sentence, he could no longer sit still.

"Degui, if I heard correctly, you said that I severely injured the governor of Yangzhou?"

Nine hundred cavalrymen for seven hundred infantrymen, no matter how you look at it, Cao Cao was the one who suffered the most.

Unexpectedly, Cai Mao said with certainty: "Except for you, Cao Mengde, no one else in the world has caused such a huge loss to the governor of Yangzhou!"

Cao Cao no longer wanted to talk to Cai Mao.

What is this word? !
More than 700 casualties is considered a serious blow?
What does it matter if more than half of my men are injured or killed?
"Degui, I only have two thousand elite soldiers in total, and now I have suffered heavy losses because of you!"

Cao Cao didn't want to stay any longer. These people were really crazy. They had so little confidence. Why didn't they just surrender?

"We are even now. I will be going home tomorrow. You should find someone else."

This is why Cao Cao helped Yuan Shu spread the news of his defeat.

With such a powerful opponent and such cowardly and stupid teammates, Cao Cao really couldn't think of any reason to win.

How could Cai Mao let Cao Cao get away? Such a powerful and ethical helper would be hard to find even with a lantern!
"Meng De, listen to me!"

"We will bear all the losses for you. It's just a thousand war horses!"

Cai Mao said proudly: "On behalf of Jingzhou, I will give you 2,000 horses!"

"As long as you help me fight one more battle!"

Suddenly, Cao Cao's breathing became rapid.

That’s two thousand war horses!

You have to know that Jinmao has 50,000 men under his command, but the number of war horses is less than 2,000!
"really?"

"really!"

Cao Cao asked in surprise: "Only one more battle?"

"That's right!"

Cao Cao demanded, "I want the warhorse first."

He explained: "My men are good at horsemanship. If they had war horses, their fighting power would be doubled!"

Cai Mao thought for a moment and said, "No problem."

"But it will take a few days."

"During this period of time, Meng De will be needed to guard the southern part of Xiling County."

"Okay!" Cao Cao gritted his teeth and agreed: "I will guard it for nine days at most!"

"If you still don't see the warhorse after nine days," Cao Cao threatened, "don't blame me for turning against you!"

"A word is settled!"

After saying this, Cai Mao said goodbye.

Cao Cao watched Cai Mao leave, and had no idea where he would get two thousand war horses.

He simply stopped thinking too much and gave the order: "Send Cao Ren and Cao Hong to see me."

the other side.

Cai Mao walked out of Cao's camp and headed north to Xiling County to borrow a horse from Yuan Shu.

Although Yuan Shu's troops were stationed ten miles north of Xiling County, Yuan Shu himself could not stand the hardships of the military camp and ran to Xiling County to seek pleasure.

The wine here doesn't taste that good and the girls aren't pretty enough, but it's better than nothing.

When Cai Mao found Yuan Shu, the latter was drunkenly tuning the piano with two top performers.

That’s right, tuning the piano!
Yuan Shu used his talent of half-knowledge of music to teach female artists who made a living from it. Looking at the two girls' forced smiles, one could tell how difficult it was to pretend.

"Degui is here."

Yuan Shu happily showed off to Cai Mao: "Listen to my teaching of the zither technique."

Cai Mao smiled along, listened to the torture with difficulty, and even had to praise him against his will: "Lu Gong is really a musical genius!"

These words made Yuan Shu laugh.

While Yuan Shu was happy, Cai Mao struck while the iron was hot and said, "I came here this time because I want to ask Gong Lu for help. I hope you can help me again."

"What's the matter?" Yuan Shu was in high spirits, and said loudly, "Just tell me!"

Since Yuan Shu was so respectful, Cai Mao said bluntly: "I would like to borrow 2,000 excellent war horses and return them after the battle."

"How many?!"

Yuan Shu thought there was something wrong with his ears, so he dug it out twice before asking, "How many war horses do you want to borrow?"

Cai Mao said cautiously, "Two thousand horses?"

It was really because Yuan Shu had a very bad reputation. He would beat and scold the gentry at every turn without even considering who the other party was.

Having said that, given Yuan Shu's identity and background, he did have the capital to be so arrogant.

Who made Yuan Wei, the pillar of the Yuan family, still alive? As expected!

Yuan Shu immediately got angry: "How dare you lie to me!?"

"The previous batch of 6,000 sets of weapons has not been returned yet, and they are asking me to borrow 2,000 war horses!"

"Cai Mao! You have a very good plan. Do you really think that I, Yuan Shu, am easy to bully?!"

Cai Mao stood up with a wry smile and quietly retreated to the door, fearing that he would be chopped to pieces by the irrational Yuan Shu.

As expected.

Seeing that Cai Mao was about to run away, Yuan Shu became more determined and drew his sword to chase him.

"Ah!"

The zither girls screamed and fled in all directions. Cai Mao took advantage of the chaos to escape. He didn't care about anything else and packed his luggage overnight, ready to flee back to Nanyang County.

Whoever wants to take care of this mess can do so. Anyway, Cai Mao feels that he has done his best.

As for those promises, they were the business of the Jingzhou gentry and had nothing to do with Cai Mao.

The next day.

When Yuan Shu woke up from his drunken stupor, his advisers Yan Xiang and Yang Hong hurried to see him.

"Lord!"

Yan Xiang was really tired. Why was he so blind to follow such a person in the first place? He had finally established a good relationship with the Jingzhou gentry, but it was completely destroyed now.

"I heard that you drew your sword last night and tried to kill Captain Cai?"

"My lord is confused!"

Yuan Shu was immediately displeased: "Yan Xiang! Are you my advisor or a lackey of the Jingzhou nobles?"

"Cai Mao has deceived me time and again. I cannot get rid of the hatred in my heart unless I kill him!"

Yan Xiang was also a stubborn person, and he wanted to persuade Yuan Shu to return to the right path.

"My lord, if you must do this."

Yuan Shu looked at Yan Xiang, his expression seemed to be saying, why are you going on strike?
Unexpectedly, Yan Xiang thought in reverse: "Then the 6,000 sets of weapons can't be taken back!"

Yuan Shu's eyes widened: "What did you say?!"

Yan Xiang explained: "My lord, do you still not know the nature of the nobles?"

"Now that Cai Degui is leading the group, they are barely able to unite. If no one takes the lead, do you think they will acknowledge the debt?"

Yuan Shu knew without even thinking that Yan Xiang was right, but he just couldn't bring himself to say, "So what?"

"If they don't give me a gun, I can't have one?"

Yan Xiang was really defeated by this idiot, who only cared about the short-term gains and gave up the long-term benefits.

If they can indeed snatch it, they dare not refuse to give it, and then what?
What about taxes? Do we still need interpersonal relationships?
Without the support of the gentry, how could Yuan Shu transform Nanyang County into a base?
But there is no way, because Yan Xiang is blind.

"My lord, acting on impulse will only make things worse."

Yan Xiang coaxed him like a child, "Think about it, why did you go to Xiling County with all the trouble? Isn't it to drive away the governor of Yangzhou?"

"Yes!" Yuan Shu gnashed his teeth and said, "Not only will I drive away Jin Mao, I will also cut him into pieces!"

It’s so irritating!
Not only did they occupy the back garden, but they also wanted to invade the base camp?

The reason why Yuan Shu wanted to stop Jin Mao was that he thought his stealing behavior was really abominable.

In short, in Yuan Shu's heart, the whole world owes him!

Yan Xiang would not comment on this, and continued to coax: "But our strength is not enough to wipe out the governor of Yangzhou. Should we let the soldiers die instead of Cai Mao and Cao Mengde?"

After hearing this, Yuan Shu felt that it made a lot of sense, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"so what?"

"There is no regret medicine in this world."

Seeing Yuan Shu relent, Yan Xiang quickly said, "Don't worry, lord. As long as you agree to Cai Mao's request, we will take care of the rest."

"Alright." Yuan Shu said unhappily, "You can only choose the worst warhorse!"

Yan Xiang agreed repeatedly and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he walked out of Yuan Shu's temporary residence.

Yang Hong admired: "You are really amazing!"

Yan Xiang held Yang Hong's hand and said, "You are still needed for this matter. I am not good at speaking."

Yang Hong agreed.

It is interesting to say that Yuan Shu had a total of 8,000 people under his command, and he had more than 3,000 war horses when he arrived. Adding the 1,000 horses "gifted" by Cai Mao, the total number exceeded 4,000!
If such a strong basic combat power was given to Cao Cao, Guan Yu might have suffered a lot or even been captured.

...

Cai Mao had already boarded the ship when Yang Hong caught up with him on horseback and then used his eloquence to persuade him.

To be honest, Cai Mao really didn't want to continue getting involved in this muddy water.

Although Cao Cao was a good person, he had a huge appetite.

We need two thousand war horses now, and we will need more in the future.

Cai Mao knew exactly what Yuan Shu was thinking.

But this guy is really not a wise leader. Cai Mao understands that if Yuan Shu is allowed to take charge of Jingzhou, he will not be as good as the current Jingzhou governor Wang Rui.

If Cai Mao hadn't been forced to work with these two people, he would never have been the first to do so!

As the saying goes, success and failure are both due to Xiao He.

Cai Mao gained fame because of the gentry, and was also pushed to the forefront because of the gentry.

After getting Yuan Shu's approval, he actually saw two thousand war horses.

Never mind the quality of the warhorse, Cai Mao just wanted to end it quickly.

Cao’s army camp.

The Chinese military tent.

Cao Cao was surprised by Cai Mao's speed and exclaimed: "Degui is really the reincarnation of Zhang Yi!"

Cao Cao could get two thousand war horses so quickly. He knew with a simple calculation that they must have been borrowed from Yuan Shu.

"A lucky fluke."

Cai Mao was very happy to be praised. Being able to be on par with Zhang Yi was a huge honor.

"Meng De, I'll need your hard work from now on."

"I will lead the Jingzhou navy and cooperate with your actions. I just hope that we can win the next battle!"

If he doesn’t win again, Cai Mao really doesn’t want to do this anymore.

Tired, destroy it.

Cao Cao was not happy about the cooperation of 10,000 Jingzhou navy. Instead, he frowned and said, "To be honest, Degui."

"I am not sure of victory. Even if you give me 100,000 soldiers, I still cannot claim victory."

"The governor of Yangzhou came prepared."

Cai Mao did not think about winning for sure, so he said: "Meng De, go ahead and fight. I just hope there will be a good result, not a wasted trip."

Cao Cao understood immediately: "Don't worry, Degui!"

"Who else can be the military commander of Jingzhou but you?!"

Then, the two of them distributed and discussed the tactical details.

Most of the time, it was Cao Cao who was talking and Cai Mao who was listening.

Only when it comes to the part about naval battles does Cao Cao listen carefully to Cai Mao's talk.

However, Cai Mao was also a half-baked man. He had a lot of theory but very little practical experience, except for the experience of fighting against pirates.

Cao Cao was also helpless. The equipment lineup of the Jingzhou navy looked luxurious enough, but without practical combat experience, what was the difference between them and farmers with weapons?

After much thought, there isn't really a good use for it.

If it is used as a mobile turret, what if someone suddenly attacks it?
When Cao Cao raised this question, Cai Mao vowed that there was no problem.

"Jingzhou Navy has everything from tower ships to warships!"

"Yangzhou is poor. As far as I know, there is only one tower ship and ten Mengchong warships, which is less than one-tenth of the navy of Jingzhou."

Cao Cao did not comment.

This conversation is totally irrelevant. So what if the battleship is luxuriously equipped? It's just like an archer. How can he survive if he is suddenly attacked?
"That's fine." Cao Cao thought, "I'm the only one who knows what he looks like, and the enemy doesn't know."

An idea quietly grew in Cao Cao's mind and gradually took shape as a plan.

　I will resume two updates today and try to make up for the missed updates next week.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)