On the twenty-seventh day of the fifth month in the seventh year of the Jian'an Era, just as Liu Zhang, Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei closed in on Cao Cao from all four sides.
Luoyang, the ancient capital of a hundred years lying deep within Cao's territory, was taken in a surprise raid by Xu Shu, Liu Bei's Chancellor of Pei.
Almost no one had imagined that, before launching his campaign, Guan Yu would set his sights on a city so deep in enemy territory.
Nor had anyone imagined that Xu Shu, a civil official who had remained obscure and silent for years, would race hundreds of li to raid Luoyang.
With all these factors combined, Luoyang was seized first by Liu Bei's army, and this move was undoubtedly fatal to Cao's forces.
For Luoyang's strategic value now even exceeded that of Guanzhong, where the Son of Heaven resided. It was a crossroads linking all four directions.
More importantly, this was where Cao Cao stored his grain. The provisions supplied to Hebei and Henan both passed through this place.
It could be said that Luoyang's fall declared that the cities of the Central Plains had lost their grain and troop reinforcements from Guanzhong.
Once the news emerged, the realm was shaken. From top to bottom, Cao's army was gripped by fear, and all of Cao Cao's civil and military officials were aghast.
Yet before this, in early May, Guan Yu had already launched an attack on Cao's forces in Yingchuan.
For taking Luoyang was merely the first step of Guan Yu's strategy. His true intention was to annihilate all of Cao's troops in the Central Plains.
At this time, Cao's army still had more than fifty thousand troops in the Central Plains. Thirty thousand were stationed in Chenliu, while Cao