Three Kingdoms, Myth

Cao Cao was stunned, his face growing even more somber. Little did he know that at this moment, Yue Jin was already surrounded by Lü Bu's forces in Fanyang. If it weren't for his duty to defend the town, Yue Jin would have already retreated. Upon receiving the news of Cao Cao's defeat, he would certainly retreat to Chenliu.

"Out of sixty-three thousand troops, only fewer than fifty remain..." Cao Cao murmured to himself. These sixty-three thousand soldiers represented all the grain reserves of Nanyang, the wealthiest region in the land. They were veteran soldiers trained over more than a year of continuous battles with Yuan Shu, and they were Cao Cao's trump card, painstakingly cultivated with all his effort—only to be lost in a single stroke.

"Master, we can recruit more soldiers, and weapons can be forged again. As long as we return to Yanzhou, Wenruo will surely handle these matters," Cheng Yu said, immediately bringing up Xun Yu. At this point, only Xun Yu could save the situation; no one else had a chance.

"Let's go back to Yanzhou!" Cao Cao said, with little else to say. Cheng Yu was unaware of the full situation and still believed Nanyang had grain reserves. But Cao Cao knew all too well.

Xun You's heart was filled with bitterness. Over sixty thousand battle-hardened veterans, fully equipped, all lost on the plains of Xuzhou.

Cao Cao, leading the way on horseback, felt a deep pain in his heart. Over sixty thousand battle-hardened soldiers... Xun Wenruo had recruited a full one hundred thousand new troops, constantly replenishing the numbers during their repeated clashes with Yuan Shu, always keeping the count at one hundred thousand. Now, of the seventy thousand or so that remained, only about one thousand were left with Cao Ren to defend Wancheng, three thousand with Yue Jin at Fanyang, and the remaining sixty thousand had perished at the hands of Liu Bei.

Realizing this, Xun You felt a sense of despair. In Yanzhou, they had at most fifteen thousand veteran soldiers left. As for the so-called hundred thousand strong in the farming militia, they were merely numbers on paper—barely even capable of serving as auxiliary troops on the battlefield.

Cao Cao looked up at the sky with a bitter expression. He silently prayed for good weather this year. Otherwise, he would have no choice but to abandon most of Yanzhou. With no troops to defend it, he lacked the manpower to hold even Nanyang, Chenliu, and Yingchuan.

Xun You, after considering all the possibilities, could only reluctantly give up. As he had said, with no troops left, Yanzhou was utterly defenseless.

Cao Cao's face was pale. Even if he drained the resources of the Wei clan in Hedong and the Wei clan in Chenliu, there was no way to support a three hundred thousand strong army. Not to mention the need for training, purchasing new weapons, and maintaining existing equipment. He now deeply understood that it would take over a year before he could regain his strength.

Xun You furrowed his brow. In the past, he hadn't paid much attention to it, but now he wondered—how did Liu Bei manage to sustain an army of 130,000?

Liu Bei was entirely unaware of Xun You and Cao Cao's concerns. He was currently hosting a banquet to celebrate his victory. For Liu Bei, having slain Cao Cao, captured over forty thousand of his soldiers, and seized enough weapons and armor to equip an additional sixty thousand troops, he could now easily raise a new army of over sixty thousand men, fully armed and ready for battle.

Unlike Cao Cao, Liu Bei's farming militia was also subjected to intensive training, albeit at half the level of his regular troops. However, with tens of thousands of these farming soldiers at his disposal, Yu Jin could quickly select the fittest among them for further training. In just over a month, he could merge these six thousand new recruits into his veteran units and reorganize all his forces. By using two-thirds of his veterans as the backbone of his new units, Liu Bei could ensure that his army's combat effectiveness would not diminish. In other words, thanks to Cao Cao's blunder, Liu Bei no longer needed to worry about the equipment and training of his regular troops—he could draw six thousand men from his farming militia to form a new army.

Meanwhile, Tao Qian, bedridden and weak, listened to Chen Deng read the reports. He waved his hand, signaling Chen Deng to leave.

At this point, Tao Qian had already come to terms with many things. Cao Cao clearly hadn't received his message, and Liu Xuande had truly come to fight Cao Cao because he couldn't stand the man's actions, not to interfere with Xuzhou's affairs.

Tao Qian, lying on his bed, realized he didn't have much time left. He thought with a hint of guilt. As death approached, he found clarity in his thoughts. No longer concerned with anything else, he now focused solely on his family's future. Why not go with the flow and hand Xuzhou over to Liu Bei? Since Liu Bei also disapproved of the aristocratic families who treated the common people like livestock, their ideologies didn't conflict.

Tao Qian's eyes gleamed coldly. He had long restrained the aristocratic families of Xuzhou, but now, as death loomed, he wouldn't allow these scourges to plague his successor.

Tao Qian sat up in bed, his body weak but his eyes shining with determination. The aristocratic families of Xuzhou had hindered him for years; he would not allow them to continue making trouble for his successor.