115 Cao Cao: May I borrow your head for a moment?

The Battle of Guandu remained in a stalemate, and the key to victory lay with Xu You. Yet, at this juncture, Xu You had not yet defected.

Guo Jia had already laid his trap, waiting for this big fish to swim into the net. However, more than ten days passed, and still, there was no sign of Xu You. In the Cao camp, Cao Cao was growing anxious. And he had every reason to be—at such a critical moment, worry was inevitable.

Cao Cao’s food supplies were critically low. Even by thinning the soldiers' rations from solid to liquid, they could not hold out much longer. In these times, why would a man risk his neck as a soldier? Was it not just for a full stomach? Now that they couldn't even get a decent meal, there was no heart left for fighting.

It was time for the daily ration distribution. Whenever this moment arrived, the soldiers in charge of the mess hall trembled with fear. The gruel had grown thinner by the day; by now, it was so watery one could see their own reflection in it. The steamed buns were dark and coarse, filled with wild greens. Simply put, the military rations had become nearly inedible.

"Damn it!"
"This gruel is thinner than my own piss."
"Eating this every day, how are we supposed to have the strength to fight?"
"If you ask me, let’s just stop fighting and surrender!"

Holding their bowls and gnawing on the bitter wild-green buns, the soldiers grumbled incessantly. Having consumed this swill for days, they were constipated, and their urine had turned a scorched yellow, sometimes even flecked with blood. The men had long since reached their limit; complaining was the least of it. If things continued this way, a full-blown mutiny was imminent.

One soldier, while chewing on a bun, felt a sharp "crunch" and spat out a hard object. Looking down, he saw it was half of his own molar, covered in blood. The coarse bun contained a small stone, which had snapped his tooth.

"Damn it!" The soldier slammed his bowl and the half-eaten bun onto the ground, shouting, "To hell with this! Eating this slop, being a soldier, fighting this meaningless war—I’m done!"

Human emotion, when suppressed and then sparked, needs only a vent to explode like a volcano.

"Clatter."

Suddenly, the sound of bowls hitting the ground echoed continuously. Large numbers of soldiers stood up, shouting in unison.

"We want solid food!"
"We won't eat this trash; even a dog would turn its nose up at it!"
"Grain! We need grain!"

One man started the riot, and a crowd followed. Within moments, at least a thousand soldiers had gathered, clamoring loudly.

Soon, Xu Chu arrived with a large detachment of troops, surrounding the mutinous soldiers.

"Who is making trouble?"

"I want to see who dares to stir up chaos. You don't want to eat? Fine, then you won't ever have to eat again!" With that, Xu Chu swung his blade and decapitated the ringleader.

Holding the head in one hand and his blood-stained broadsword in the other, Xu Chu glared with wide, furious eyes. "None of you want to eat, is that it?"

"Do you want to end up like him?"

In the Cao camp, who did not know of Xu Chu? His sudden, brutal execution terrified the soldiers, their legs trembling uncontrollably.

"Gulp!" The soldiers in the front swallowed hard, stammering, "We'll eat, we'll eat, we'll eat!"

"No wasting food! Whoever dropped it on the ground, pick it up and eat it!" Xu Chu roared, brandishing his blade.

Seeing Xu Chu’s predatory glare, the soldiers lost their nerve. They scrambled to pick up the wild-green buns from the dirt, even swallowing them mixed with mud, terrified that if Xu Chu caught them not eating, he would take their heads next.

The Cao camp was truly out of grain. For days, not just the soldiers, but even Xu Chu and Cao Cao himself had been eating the same rations. Although this small-scale riot was suppressed, suppression was no solution. If the grain supply was not replenished, a larger revolt was inevitable.

Wang Hou, the grain officer in charge of logistics, realized that suppression would not last. It was his duty to manage the allocation of grain once it arrived at the camp. But a clever housewife cannot cook without rice; with the camp's supplies exhausted, Wang Hou was at his wit's end.

He approached Xu Chu and whispered, "General Xu Chu, please keep watch here and ensure no further trouble breaks out. I will go to the Prime Minister and see if there is any way to appease the men."

As it turned out, Wang Hou had signed his own death warrant. He should have known that by asking Xu Chu to let him go to Cao Cao for a solution, he himself would become the solution.

Xu Chu patted his chest and grunted, "Go ahead. With me here, no one will dare to cause trouble."

Wang Hou did not dare to delay. He ran all the way to Cao Cao’s main tent.

"My Lord, a disaster! A disaster!" Wang Hou panted, breathless and frantic. "My Lord, it happened like this..."

He recounted the entire incident to Cao Cao, from beginning to end. After listening, Cao Cao fell into deep thought.

Guo Jia had guaranteed that within three to ten days, Xu You would defect with the defense plans for Wuchao. If they could just hold out until then, the Battle of Guandu would be won. According to the original plan, the grain, if rationed strictly as it was now, would have lasted until Xu You’s arrival. But now, with the soldiers on the verge of mutiny, he had to find a way to appease them, or they would turn against him before Xu You even appeared.

The urgent priority was to calm the troops. A solution? What solution could there be?

As Cao Cao’s gaze inadvertently landed on the grain officer Wang Hou, a plan formed.

"Come here, Wang Hou!" Cao Cao beckoned.

The Prime Minister’s command could not be refused. Wang Hou stepped forward, only for Cao Cao to say, "I do have a way to appease the soldiers, but I must borrow something from you."

Hearing that the Prime Minister wanted to borrow something, Wang Hou immediately knelt, swearing his loyalty. "My Lord, please speak. Whatever I, Wang Hou, possess, I am willing to lend to you."

The moment the words left his lips, a sharp metallic ring echoed as Cao Cao drew his Yitian sword. Sharp enough to slice through iron like mud, the blade severed Wang Hou’s head in a single stroke.

As Wang Hou’s head hit the ground, his eyes remained wide open in disbelief. Even in death, he could not understand why Cao Cao had suddenly killed him.

"There is no other way," Cao Cao said, sheathing his sword and looking down at the severed head. "I had to borrow your head for a moment."