A Strategist's Schemes-Can You Call Them Bluffing?!

It was actually inappropriate to say that there was a labor shortage. The entire Qingzhou had already heard that there was food to eat in Qi Commandery, and as long as one was willing to work, one could eat one's fill at every meal!

The consequence of this news spreading throughout Qingzhou was that large numbers of Qingzhou Yellow Turbans began consciously gathering toward Qi Commandery. If it were not currently the season between harvests, with neither food for migration nor time to leave the crops they had already planted unattended, Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, Peiyuan, and the others surrounding Qi Commandery would never have been able to stop the surging tide of people.

It was precisely during this season between harvests that Gongsun Zan's army finally stormed into Jizhou and clashed head-on with Yuan Shao.

As far as direct combat went, Yuan Shao's Jizhou army was truly no match for the tiger-and-wolf force under Gongsun Zan. Although he was outnumbered—Gongsun Zan had brought only his fifteen thousand White Horse Yicong—he still battered Yuan Shao into a sorry state.

What did people mean by saying cavalry was bad at besieging cities? That applied to nomadic peoples. In Gongsun Zan's hands, the White Horse Yicong were used to devastating effect. In the very first month alone, they broke through six counties in Hejian Commandery, and most of Hejian's territory fell. Under this fierce offensive, Yuan Shao nearly lost all confidence. Even the group of strategists under him wore grim expressions.

Yuan Shao's eyes raked fiercely across the faces of the strategists, and his voice brimmed with anger. "Wasn't the plan supposed to be foolproof? Lure Gongsun Zan into becoming enraged and raising his army; cavalry is bad at assaulting fortified positions; he has marched a great distance and cannot sustain a