Chapter 105: Guo Jia Loves to Laze Around

Wang Zhong’s eyes immediately darted around. If marching an army could earn him credit for relieving Pengcheng, he was eager to go. “Really, Baron, can you be so sure?”

“This mere Chang Xi—could the General of the Household really be afraid of him?” Mo Xiaobai would not reveal his entire plan, so he deliberately goaded him.

After all, he just needed to coax this guy onto the path.

“I naturally am not afraid of Chang Xi, but what about my Lord?”

“If the General of the Household does not believe me, perhaps an order from my Lord will arrive tonight.” Mo Xiaobai curled his lips into a smile. He was confident that Cao Cao would issue such an order.

Because the situation now differed from his past life. In the past, Liu Ye died unexpectedly, and Cao Cao failed to get the enhanced and modified thunderous catapult. Without it, the stone-throwers inside the camp could not break through the arrow tower. So in the past, Wang Zhong did not want to go, and Cao Cao agreed, needing to save these reserves to flatten the annoying earth mound before the great battle began.

Now that Liu Ye had successfully delivered the blueprint for building the thunderous catapult, there would soon be a batch of enhanced stone-throwers inside the camp. Cao Cao could attack and break the earth mound whenever he wanted.

With this, Wang Zhong’s group of reserves left at Guandu was almost useless.

Just as Chen Jiao came to seek help, it was highly likely that Cao Cao would deploy Wang Zhong. If Mo Xiaobai just added some encouragement from the side, it was certain that the reserves from the Rear Camp would head to the Xu Province battlefield.

“If a messenger really comes with an order, I will receive it and go to Pengcheng,” Wang Zhong finally made up his mind. After saying this, he sat back in the General of the Household’s seat, looking anxiously toward the outside of the tent.

His expression was extremely conflicted; he both hoped for the messenger to appear and prayed that he would not come.

Mo Xiaobai could only sit beside him, waiting in helplessness.

They waited until evening.

No messenger came, but when night fell, Chen Jiao himself arrived.

He did not come empty-handed; he brought an order from Cao Cao.

“Jibi has finally arrived,” Wang Zhong sighed in relief after seeing Chen Jiao produce the handwritten order from Cao Cao.

He had waited almost all afternoon and was about to collapse.

Chen Jiao’s mind was filled with finding help for Chen Deng. He did not understand what Wang Zhong meant and immediately grabbed him, saying, “General of the Household, please follow me to see my Lord. We will receive the order and leave the main camp tonight.”

“Leave tonight?”

“Leave tonight!”

Chen Jiao held on tight without letting go. Wang Zhong’s lips twitched; he really wanted to say that he did not want to go.

But seeing Cao Cao’s handwritten order and the Baron beside him with a semi-smile, Wang Zhong gritted his teeth. “Please let go. I will go see my Lord right away. Baron, you come with me.”

“Yes!”

Upon hearing this, Mo Xiaobai’s face instantly broke into a wide smile.

All the effort of the past few hours had not been wasted!

The three of them hurried toward the Central Army under the cover of night. Wang Zhong took no attending soldiers, and Mo Xiaobai did not let Li Guang or Li Ji follow. They walked through the dark places under the night sky, circling for a while before reaching the Minister of Works’s command tent of the Central Army.

It was unavoidable. The arrow tower on the earth mound outside gave special attention to Cao Cao’s Central Army. Even stepping into a place with a little light was not entirely safe.

Standing outside the Minister of Works’s tent, Mo Xiaobai was not allowed to enter and had no intention of checking what Cao Cao looked like now. He simply glanced around left and right and walked up to a standing Soldier. “May I ask where the tent of the Advisor Fengxiao is?”

“Reporting to the Baron, the tent of Military Advisor Guo is right there.”

Following the Soldier’s finger, Mo Xiaobai saw a small tent less than 30 meters away from the command tent.

So close to Cao Cao’s command tent?

Could the two really be best friends?

Mo Xiaobai nodded to thank the Soldier for pointing the way and took a few slow steps to Guo Jia’s tent. “Newly promoted Colonel has come to pay respects to Military Advisor Guo.”

“Come in.”

A weak voice came from inside the tent. Mo Xiaobai raised an eyebrow, lifted the curtain, and walked in.

The first thing he saw was bamboo slips scattered all over the ground.

Next came a messy desk and bowls.

Finally, Mo Xiaobai’s eyes locked onto a disheveled middle-aged man with bamboo slips covering his head, slumped sideways beside the desk.

Was this Guo Jia?

The Guo Jia known by the saying, “The naturally born Guo Fengxiao, a hero who tops all scholars”?

The man leaning against the desk heard the footsteps approaching. He made no move to stand up. Covering his eyes, he spoke, “If you do not speak within three breaths, you will leave.”

You are slumping in that Ge You pose; what am I supposed to say?

Mo Xiaobai had imagined what the scene would be like when he first met famous scholars of the End of Han like Guo Jia and Xun You.

Would it be fighting bravely together? Or chatting and drinking tea together?

However, Mo Xiaobai never expected to see Guo Jia in front of him looking no different from a corpse ready to die.

Could he be fake?

“Let’s test if he is really Guo Jia.”

Mo Xiaobai’s eyes spun. He did not speak yet, but he reached into his Xumi Bag and took out something.

A wine jar the size of a palm!

As soon as the wine jar appeared, Mo Xiaobai saw the originally lazy, slumped figure suddenly stretch its body straight, lift its head slightly, and seem to sniff the air.

The next moment, the middle-aged man threw off the bamboo slips, jumped up with a “swish,” and stared straight at Mo Xiaobai. “Baron, you have private wine in the army! I will report this to my Lord right now.”

Seeing the man’s huge reaction, Mo Xiaobai said seriously, “Now I believe you really are Guo Fengxiao.”

“Am I not Guo Jia? Then who is Guo Jia?”

The thin middle-aged man asked back, took two or three steps to Mo Xiaobai, and sniffed hard for a long time before suddenly opening his eyes. “It smells of Ganoderma. It is a great-tonifying good wine.”

Wow, my little brother Fengxiao.

The wine jar hasn’t even been opened, and he can smell it.

“Quick, quick, quick, open it for me to taste. Once I taste it, I will take it to the Minister of Works to try. That way, the Minister of Works will not punish you,” Guo Jia urged urgently, his eyes fixed on Mo Xiaobai’s hands. If he were not physically weak now, he might have grabbed it himself.

Seeing Guo Jia acting like a drunkard, Mo Xiaobai shook his head wordlessly. “The wine is real, but it is not for you, Fengxiao, to drink.”

“How outrageous! The wine is right before my eyes. Who dares not let me take a sip?” Guo Jia, seeing the wine jar, looked as if he had seen a life-saving immortal pill. But he spoke too quickly and began to pant again.

Oh, crap!

If you suddenly fall ill and die, don’t blame me!

Mo Xiaobai’s forehead twitched. He quickly took out another, slightly larger wine jar. “If Fengxiao really wants a drink, you can drink this wine.”

After finally calming his breathing, Guo Jia glanced at the other large wine jar and immediately shook his head. “This wine is just ordinary rice wine. There is nothing special about it. I want to drink the jar with Ganoderma.”

“Ganoderma Wine won’t work. It has a great use elsewhere.”

“It’s just a tonic wine. How can it be useful?”

“To calculate against Yuan Shao.”

Mo Xiaobai shook his Ganoderma Wine and spoke. “This wine is indeed a great tonic, but one sip makes you drunk. I have a plan, but I am not sure if it is feasible. I have come specially to seek your advice, Fengxiao.”

“Um~ Using a jar of wine to plan against Yuan Shao?”

Guo Jia muttered, then waved his sleeve. “Let’s not worry about whether Yuan Benchu lives or dies first. Baron, please pour me a bowl of rice wine. Satisfying my stomach’s desire is the most urgent matter.”