Early the next morning, Shejinlu, following Cao Cao's orders, led 7,000 Han troops straight to the grain depot of the Himitai coalition.
Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and others led 5,000 Imperial Guard trainees and 5,000 Northern Army soldiers towards the northeast.
At noon, the Han troops led by Shejinlu arrived at the target location and launched a direct attack on the Japanese soldiers guarding the grain.
These Han troops, having trained under Chu You for a year and equipped with some Han military gear, were far more powerful than ordinary Japanese soldiers.
Seven thousand Han soldiers, like black waves, relentlessly assaulted the fortress of the Japanese soldiers guarding the grain supply.
Seeing the Han Chinese army's bravery, the Japanese leader guarding the grain supplies hurriedly sent messengers to the Himidae tribe for help.
The battle lasted less than half an hour before the Han troops reached the gate and began fighting the defenders for control of it.
The Guishan Valley tribe, which was the first to receive the call for help, hurriedly led eight thousand soldiers to provide support, leaving only two thousand defenders in the village.
At this time, Cao Cao and his troops were still thirty miles away from the camp of the Guishan Valley tribe.
When Cao Cao learned that the Han army's attack had gone exceptionally smoothly, he was somewhat surprised. He had not expected that the Japanese soldiers guarding the grain supplies would be so weak in combat.
"Ha~, what a miscalculation. If we had known, we would have been better off attacking the enemy's supplies ourselves. Now we've given this credit to Shejinlu for nothing!"
Cao Cao couldn't help but smile bitterly, a look of regret on his face.
Liu Bei, standing to the side, said, "Judging from this situation, the Han army will definitely capture the enemy's supply depot before the three allied forces arrive. At that time, a fierce battle will definitely break out among them. We need to change our action plan!"
Cao Cao stroked his chin and nodded: "That's right. Our original plan was to attack one of their strongholds and break their alliance. But now it seems we have plenty of time to take down three of their strongholds, cut off their retreat, and annihilate them!"
As he spoke, Cao Cao turned his gaze to Sun Jian, who was standing to the side.
"Wentai, you can lead three thousand men to attack the Cangjituo tribe in the northwest. Xuande, Benchu, and I will attack the Guishan Valley and the Bimitai tribe. After the three strongholds are destroyed, we will regroup in the middle."
"good!"
Sun Jian nodded and was about to turn around when Yuan Shao spoke up, "Mengde, leave that northwest camp to me!"
Cao Cao was slightly taken aback: "Okay, but we have to be quick, and we can't leave a single prisoner behind. We don't have enough people to guard them!"
A flicker of hesitation crossed Yuan Shao's face, but he nodded immediately: "Alright!"
After saying this, Yuan Shao turned and left to prepare his troops.
"Mengde, what is this about Yuan Chu...?"
Sun Jian, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but show a look of confusion when he saw Yuan Shao suddenly trying to take over the job from him.
"It doesn't matter who goes to fight these Japanese!"
Cao Cao smiled and shook his head, offering no further explanation.
Soon, Yuan Shao mustered three thousand northern soldiers and headed northwest.
Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian led the remaining 7,000 troops and quickened their march.
On the other side, after a fierce battle, the Han troops led by Shejinlu, having lost more than a thousand men, finally broke through the grain storage camp.
Looking at the dozens of rows of granaries behind him, Shejinlu showed a hesitant expression.
He really wanted to burn all the grain and then retreat before the enemy surrounded him, so that he could at least barely fulfill his order to seize the enemy's grain.
However, Cao Cao's order to him was to use these grains to lure the enemy out of their camp and hold them back.
Recalling the way Cao Cao had looked at him back then, Shejinlu shuddered and shook off the jumbled thoughts in his mind.
"If all my men are dead, I can just recruit more. But if I die, then I'll truly have nothing left..."
With this in mind, Shejin Ritsu began ordering his soldiers to repair the stockade walls and collect arrows, preparing for the fierce battle to come.
An hour later, the reinforcements stationed in the northeastern part of Guishan Valley arrived first.
Upon seeing the large banner with Chinese characters fluttering in the camp, the Japanese commander in charge of providing support changed his expression drastically. He never expected that the camp, guarded by four thousand men, would be breached by the Han Chinese army so quickly.
Over the past year, in order to contend with Chu You's forces, the three allied armies requisitioned most of the country's grain and stored it all here.
Now that they've fallen into the hands of the Han-controlled army, all that awaits them is hunger.
Immediately, the commander of the Guishan Valley reinforcements began to deploy his troops, dividing them into four directions to surround the Han army.
Shejinlu, who was guarding the village, watched the soldiers of the Guishan tribe below unfolding their formation and moving towards them, constantly searching for any weaknesses in their defenses.
He planned to launch an attack before the enemy could completely surround him, thus buying himself more time.
Soon, Shejin Ritsu discovered that the enemy force to the west was in a disorganized formation, seemingly a newly recruited unit.
Upon seeing this, Shejinlu's face lit up with joy. He then called one of his men over and pointed to the enemy troops that were closing in from the west.
"You must immediately muster two thousand warriors and charge into that enemy force!"
"Yes, Commander!"
The subordinate responded excitedly and loudly, then turned and quickly left.
Before long, the west gate of the camp opened wide, and two thousand Han soldiers rushed out of the camp and charged toward the Japanese reinforcements below.
Faced with the sudden and proactive attack by the Han-affiliated army, the Japanese soldiers responsible for attacking the west were caught off guard.
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