Chapter 481 Intelligence Advantage
Everyone nodded in agreement. Yuan Shao frowned and asked, "Then according to your two opinions, how should we destroy Xu Huang's cavalry?"
Shen Pei said in a deep voice: "These cavalrymen of Xu Huang are all scouts. They harass everywhere in units of a thousand or tens of thousands of cavalry. They cannot break into the city, and can only harass our logistics and baggage troops."
"Our supplies can last for a long time now, so the role of these rangers will not be obvious in the short term."
"But if time goes on for a long time, when our supplies are insufficient, I'm afraid it will be difficult. Moreover, the pressure caused by these cavalry cannot be ignored. If we allow them to wreak havoc, it will inevitably cause the morale of the soldiers under our command to drop."
"As for these cavalrymen, it is easy to deal with them. The most critical issue lies in intelligence!"
Having said that, Shen Pei couldn't help but look at Xu You.
In this battle, he was not the protagonist, but Xu You.
The gap between them and Tian Ze was so big that it could not be made up in terms of strength, and they could only create opportunities by relying on their huge intelligence advantage.
At this moment, even if they no longer got along with Xu You, Shen Pei and others couldn't help but feel fortunate to have such an intelligence chief around them.
"Don't worry, my lord. You will create opportunities and nibble away these cavalrymen bit by bit until they are forced out of Qingzhou or completely eliminated!" Xu You said confidently.
Just kidding, Yuan Shao has spent a lot of money on him in the past two years, and even borrowed money from Liu Bei, Sun Ce and other princes to spend on him.
Through this, he has established an intelligence network among the counties and prefectures of Qingzhou that can quickly transmit information.
With the help of some hidden paths and beacon towers, as well as one's own keen judgment of intelligence, one can definitely seize the initiative.
If Tian Ze were here, he might not dare to be so confident.
However, Tian Ze was fighting on two fronts. Although fewer troops were deployed in the Yizhou direction, it was the focus, and their talents would definitely not be wasted in the Central Plains battlefield where they were almost "sure to win."
This gave him an opportunity to operate.
"However, we should not rush into this matter. Let's wait for another half a month until Cao Mengde arrives, and then it won't be too late to use military force," said Ju Su.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao nodded slightly.
Only a patient hunter can catch prey, and what he lacks the least now is patience.
Moreover, Cao Cao's reinforcements are crucial to this battle. If they wait for a while and join forces with Cao Cao, they will be able to deal with Xu Huang's cavalry with stronger forces and more careful deployment.
Of course, Xu You was not idle either. He began to integrate the intelligence he had in his hands every day.
All human beings have certain thinking habits.
Each cavalry unit has different styles of behavior, marching preferences, harassment frequency, etc. Xu You has the advantage of intelligence, combined with Xun Chen who is good at calculating people's hearts.
The marching trajectory of Xu Huang’s army is being gradually reviewed and mastered.
Xu Huang felt a little uncomfortable with Yuan Shao's army's continuous retreat.
Although everything seemed to be going well, he knew that Yuan Shao would never give up so easily and must be preparing a big move for him.
But now he had no better choice but to ask his cavalry to be more vigilant to avoid ambushes.
Xu Huang was well aware of the drawbacks of adopting this cavalry harassment tactic, and in many cases he would rather make some mistakes than let his cavalry take risks.
However, there are many times when you are not careful enough to guard against unintentional things.
Cao Cao arrived much faster than Yuan Shao had imagined, and the reinforcements he provided were also far greater than Yuan Shao had imagined.
When Yuan Shao learned that Cao Cao had brought 150,000 elite troops, including 30,000 cavalry, his eyes widened. "Cao Mengde, what a courage." Ju Su couldn't help but sigh.
In order to aid his own side, Cao Cao really put all his efforts this time, and it was even questionable whether the remaining troops could defend Yanzhou.
Yuan Shao was overjoyed and went out of the city to greet him personally. After the two princes met and greeted each other, they immediately went into the tent to discuss strategies to defeat the enemy with Shen Pei, Xu You, Ju Su and others.
After hearing Yuan Shao's plan, Cao Cao couldn't help but look at Xu You with some surprise.
He knew that although his childhood friend was not of good character, he had considerable abilities, but he never expected that he was so capable.
"Lord Cao, based on our current deduction experiments, we have been able to predict the movements of about 30% of Xu Huang's cavalry based on intelligence calculations, and the accuracy rate is over 80%." Shen Pei said.
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao couldn't help but gasp.
The combination of Xu You, the strategist who was best at intelligence, and Xun Chen, the strategist who was best at understanding people's hearts, were able to unleash such terrifying power.
It has to be said that the civil and military talents under Yuan Shao were absolutely of high quality.
Even though they were beaten back a lot by Tian Ze, they still have so many heroes, and their strengths are among the best in the world, and they are even more terrifying when they work together.
"Meng De, you are best at using the tactics of the army to determine its real and fake strengths. With such an intelligence advantage, do you dare to teach Tian Ze a profound lesson?" Yuan Shao looked straight at Cao Cao and asked in a deep voice.
Cao Cao's eyes were bright, and he met Yuan Shao's gaze and said loudly: "How dare I not accept Benchu's invitation?"
Now that they have no way out, why don't they dare to give it a try?
Xu You smiled slightly, walked to the map again, pointed to the red dot on it and said, "According to our intelligence analysis over the past few days, a 1,000-man cavalry squad under Xu Huang's command will appear in the Linqu area in the north of Qingzhou the day after tomorrow."
"The nearest cavalry in the surrounding area is probably only a day away, so we can give it a try."
Cao Cao nodded slightly.
They don't have many cavalry under their command, and they can't fight head-on because of their limited capital.
The number of cavalry under Xu Huang's command was nearly twice theirs, and facing their cavalry at one against two was definitely not a problem.
In this situation, if we don't have a three to five times cavalry advantage, we probably won't be able to achieve good results.
"Okay! I will take Xiahou Yuan and lead 5,000 elite cavalry to investigate and make sure we succeed." Cao Cao said.
Yuan Shao smiled faintly: "Meng De is very courageous. I am not good at leading troops, and I need to stay here, so I will not accompany you."
"In this battle, my subordinates Yan Liang and Wen Chou will each lead 3,000 cavalry to help you. Both of them are under your command and can be deployed at will."
Yan Liang and Wen Gu were silent, and without hesitation stepped out of the line and bowed, saying, "Greetings, General Cao!"
Seeing this, Cao Cao was slightly stunned and looked at Yuan Shao in disbelief.
"Benchu, you are..."
Yuan Shao smiled calmly: "With a powerful enemy at hand, what's the difference between you and me?"
"In the past, although we all tried our best, we were still no match for Tian Ze."
"Tian Ze is getting stronger and stronger, while we are getting weaker and weaker. If we continue like before, I'm afraid we won't have a chance of winning."
"Since we have reached such a desperate situation, what is there to worry about? You and I will fight side by side, and there is no difference between us!"
(End of this chapter)
