Chapter 108: Making a Plan

Mo Xiaobai returned to the barren hill with Li Guang just in time for the soldiers to eat.

When he arrived at the campfire where Wang Zhong, Chen Jiao, Li Ji, and others were sitting, Mo Xiaobai had no sooner sat down than Wang Zhong spoke up first: “Baron, did you discover any trace of the rebel Chang Xi’s troops while scouting?”

“That is correct. Although Chang Xi was appointed as the Grand Administrator of Donghai by the Minister of Works, he is still the same pirate at heart. Once he gathered a few thousand soldiers, he could not resist sending troops to raid the counties,” Mo Xiaobai nodded and reported truthfully. However, only after he finished speaking did he realize he had slipped up.

The moment Mo Xiaobai’s voice fell, Wang Zhong’s face changed expression: “A few thousand soldiers? The rebels are this power ful?”

He was really just terrified of death!

Mo Xiaobai complained helplessly in his heart, I haven’t even told you about the number of Players. If I told you that even on the Pengcheng battlefield, which the least favored by Players, had seven or eight thousand Players surrounding Chang Xi, you would probably turn around and head straight back to Guandu.

“A few thousand is just the total number of Chang Xi’s followers, men, and women. It counts for nothing.”

Mo Xiaobai shook his head and picked up a broken branch to gesture on the ground: “General of the Household, please see. When Chang Xi rebelled in Nanhai, he gathered more than twenty thousand people and led a large group of bandits to Pengcheng. But given his greedy nature, could he possibly leave all the counties in Nanhai behind? He must have left about three thousand rebels there to raid and plunder.”

“From the time he arrived in Pengcheng until now, it has been about twenty days since he fought against Zang Ba. Although he has never fully attacked the city, his daily probing attacks did not spare any lives. The casualties must have been at least one or two thousand.”

“Right now, he surrounds Pengcheng with a large force, waiting for Zang Ba to surrender, but I reckon his remaining force will not exceed ten thousand. As for the rest of the rebels, just as I saw earlier, they have already scattered into the eight counties around Pengcheng to burn, kill, and rob. These rebels cannot be gathered together in the short term. So, although Chang Xi seems to have a large and powerful force, he is actually not a tough nut to crack.”

Not a tough nut to crack?

But there are still ten thousand of them!

With only the small number of my troops, I am not enough to fight Chang Xi head-on.

Although Wang Zhong listened carefully to Mo Xiaobai’s analysis, he still shook his head firmly: “We could send more Scouts. If there is a chance to enter Pengcheng, we will lead the troops to go there. If there is no such possibility, then… then we will return to Guandu to report to the Minister of Works and accept punishment.”

He would rather go back to Cao Cao to admit punishment than fight Chang Xi.

Mo Xiaobai had expected Wang Zhong to be very cowardly when he came, but he did not expect him to be cowardly to this extreme.

Dealing with a superior like this, Mo Xiaobai really had the impulse to kill Wang Zhong with a single sword strike.

Why did Cao Cao give the command of the Rear Camp to a useless coward like you?

Mo Xiaobai was speechless. But if Cao Cao far away in Guandu knew this, he might just helplessly shrug his shoulders.

“What can I do? All my great generals have their own defense lines to guard. There is no one else left but this guy.”

Mo Xiaobai actually knew this as well. So, he took a deep breath, told himself not to get angry at a coward, and then subtly gave a look to Chen Jiao.

Chen Jiao was a high-intelligence talent who could be friends with Chen Deng. How could he not understand Mo Xiaobai’s meaning? Besides, Chen Jiao relied on these troops to help Chen Deng defend the city. No matter what, he would not let Wang Zhong return.

So, after nodding subtly to Mo Xiaobai, Chen Jiao immediately advised: “General, do not speak such discouraging words. Chang Xi is cunning and fickle. Like a weed on the wall, he leans to whichever side is winning. Right now, he holds a large force but has no thought of capturing Pengcheng. Instead, he is plundering the countryside on a large scale. This shows that he commands his troops without any method and does not understand military affairs at all. Such bandits, even if they gather many people, will never become a major threat. One strike can break them.”

“General must not forget the words of the Minister of Works when we left. The battle for Pengcheng concerns the survival of Xu Province. If Xu Province is lost, then Xudu will be in danger. If the General is timid for a moment and causes the eastern gate of Xudu to open wide, how will the Minister of Works deal with us? The General should consider this carefully.”

Chen Jiao’s persuasion was a mix of temptation and threat.

For Wang Zhong, who wanted to rise in rank and make money but feared death, this was the perfect argument.

Wang Zhong knew the Minister of Works was usually ruthless and could kill people even in his dreams. If he really made Cao Cao angry, even if he went back, he would likely be killed anyway.

Frowning and thinking for a long time, he finally cried out in despair: “It is not because I am cowardly. It is truly because of the huge difference in our forces. How can we fight the enemy?”

Seeing that Wang Zhong finally did not say the word “leave” again, Mo Xiaobai spoke up: “I have a plan to force Chang Xi to surrender.”

“Does the Baron have a strategy?”

“Of course.”

Mo Xiaobai nodded understandingly. If he did not have some certainty, how could he have left the main battlefield at Guandu to come to Xu Province?

Since he came here, it was to earn Merits!

“We only need to locate Chang Xi’s main camp. We will then launch a lightning-fast attack directly at his central tent. We do not need to kill many rebels. We just need to kill our way to Chang Xi’s side and pretend that the main force of the Cao Army has arrived. Given Chang Xi’s fickle nature, he will definitely surrender on the spot.”

“Huh? Just like that?”

“Yes, it is that simple.”

Mo Xiaobai had no intention of coming up with any messy plans. A bandit who could surrender and rebel repeatedly was probably not much better at fearing death than Wang Zhong.

Chang Xi had no thought of fighting Cao Cao in a major battle. He only liked to pick up leftovers from behind.

“Of course, while this plan seems simple, the process is not easy. Our troops must not reveal themselves in advance. Once revealed and Chang Xi finds out, this rogue will become reckless while secretly adding precautions.”

After adding this, Mo Xiaobai turned to look at Li Ji: “If Commander Maogong leads the troops forward, can he arrive silently outside Chang Xi’s camp?”

“This is not difficult.”

Li Ji nodded confidently. He had conducted ambushes and surprise attacks more than once or twice. This was his favorite way of fighting.

After getting Li Ji’s answer, Mo Xiaobai continued to ask Li Guang: “If the Flying General scouts the rebel camp, how many days will it take?”

“Within two days, I can report on the enemy situation in the rebel camp.”

Li Guang answered proudly as well. When he went crazy, he dared to personally risk his life to scout camps even during the attacks on the Northern Desert. The current situation was really not worth putting in his eyes.

After both of his great generals promised, Mo Xiaobai slowly looked at Wang Zhong: “May I ask, General, can we fight?”

Just kidding, this was a Li Ji plus Li Guang combination!

One was strategic, the other was brave. Not to mention fighting Chang Xi, even going to Guangling to fight Sun Ce would still be a winning situation. Mo Xiaobai really did not believe a small bandit leader could stop their advance.

Wang Zhong saw that Mo Xiaobai and his two generals beside him were full of confidence. Along the way, he had also seen Li Ji and Li Guang command troops, so he did not need to look to know they were rare talents.

When such military talents made a promise, their credibility was very high.

“I can temporarily hand over my troops to you, but please, Baron, be extremely cautious.” Wang Zhong felt like an arrow on the string, compelled to fire. Since he had no ability of his own, he had to rely on Mo Xiaobai.

“Please, General, do not worry. When the main army returns to the camp, it will likely be the time for the General to be enfeoffed as a Marquis.” Mo Xiaobai knew that taking command like this was a bit unfair, so he simply let Wang Zh in on some “future information”. This guy had already served enough in the Cao Camp. If he really had one or two impressive war merits, being enfeoffed as a Marquis in advance was very possible.

Hearing Mo Xiaobai’s words, Wang Zhong, who had been a bit depressed, immediately beamed with joy: “Do not speak rashly, do not speak rashly. We are simply serving the Minister of Works. How dare we greedily seek a high Marquis title?”

Dare not?

Hehe!

Your mouth was twisted to the side just now!