After pondering it for a while, Wang Yan chuckled as he refilled Jia Xu's tea. "What do you think I should do, Wenhe?"
Jia Xu nodded and made a show of polite modesty. Turning his teacup in his hand and feeling the scalding heat against his fingertips, he said, "Now that Yuan Shao has been defeated and destroyed, Cao Cao occupies Henan. Fearing our growing power, he will surely abandon Henan and head south to Jiangnan. Liu Bei, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu of Jiangnan will inevitably unite against Cao Cao. If Cao Cao heads south, he will certainly drive the people of Henan with him. The General has long said that people and land are the foundations of prosperity and strength. We absolutely cannot allow Cao Cao to drive Henan's people south, leaving Henan as empty land. That is not what we want. Therefore, while Cao Cao is still reorganizing Henan, we should send troops to pressure him into heading south early and fighting there, without sweeping away Henan's people."
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had fought over Henan's resources. It was necessary for one of them to emerge victorious.
If Yuan Shao wanted to flee and take a roundabout route south, Cao Cao would not let him pass. There were indeed other routes, such as crossing the river from Jing Province, but only Yuan Shao and his civil and military retainers could make it through—at most, along with twenty or thirty thousand troops.
And if Cao Cao wanted to flee, Yuan Shao would attack him like mad, while Yuan Shu and Liu Biao would resist him just as fiercely. Even if he managed to cross the river, his strength would be badly depleted. He might not even be able to defeat Liu Bei.
Still, as they had said