"Brother Sima Yi, I wonder if you noticed this?"
Zhuge Liang put the question to Sima Yi.
Sima Yi froze. Seeing everyone turn toward him, he immediately understood what Zhuge Liang meant, and his feelings grew complicated.
Zhuge Liang was giving him a chance to show his abilities.
Though he felt somewhat uncomfortable, he could hardly refuse to answer a question directed at him. He slowly nodded and said, "Indeed, the Cao Army seems to have no more troops at Guandu."
"We originally dared not launch an all-out assault to break the formation because we feared the Cao Army had troops lying in ambush. But throughout today's pursuit, we saw no further Cao Army reinforcements arrive. This suggests that their forces at Guandu may consist of those ten thousand men alone."
Everyone was startled by these words.
"What?"
Lü Bu crushed the wine cup in his hand, his ox-like eyes widening. "You're saying a mere ten thousand men held us up for half a month?"
He found this utterly absurd. Had they known, why would they have been so cautious? They could simply have swept straight through in one push!
However powerful the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation was, it could not withstand his thirty thousand elite troops!
"It is only a conjecture."
Sima Yi offered no definitive conclusion, explaining, "By our original assessment, having abandoned Yan Province, the Cao Thief could not possibly abandon Yu Province as well."
"As Guandu is Xu County's final barrier, the Cao Thief should have deployed the vast majority of his troops here."
"Yet for some reason, we have seen only ten thousand men."
Given Guandu's importance, ten thousand men were plainly insufficient. How could Cao Cao possibly not deploy his forces here?
But if he had deployed them here, why had no other