“Intention”: War for the Han Frontier sample -- TPMThorne.com

“Nothing fancy, as I have said often enough,” Cao Cao replied. “I’m just going to smash a large egg that rolled too far to the south for its own good.”
“Be sure and cross the Yellow River and kill him afterwards, Mengde,” Xu Yòu said tonelessly. “Don’t keep letting him get away. He wouldn’t do the same for you.”
Cao Cao’s main bodyguard, Xu Chu, was a simple man, but he was still annoyed by what seemed to be a rebuke that was aimed at his lord and master; Cao Cao stifled his own irritation at Xu Yòu’s growing arrogance and replied, “If he escapes, Ziyuan, it will not be because I wanted it so.”
“I hope not,” Xu Yòu scoffed. “It isn’t just my head that he wants; those childhood days that we shared together are long gone, and all the bonds that went with them.”
Cao Cao smiled slightly and said, “I know that. Now, then: let us do our part…”

Yuan Shao’s scouts reported Cao Cao’s preparations for departure to the command tent of the Cangting camp.
“Not again!” General Jiang Yiqu complained. “If only I had ample grain and men by the tens of thousands in this place! I would have long since torn them to shreds!”
“…What is he doing…?” Ju Hu muttered.
“Nothing yet, by the sounds of it, not if he’s going back to Guandu,” Lü Xiang said. “I say that if Cao can stockpile at Anmin, then we should do the same here and-”
“ATTACK…!”
The officers turned to face a frantic messenger, who scrabbled into the room, fell to the floor in front of them and cried, “Attacks, on all sides, the-!”
“No, no not again!” Lü Kuang exclaimed. “He can’t have outwitted us again! He can’t have!”
“We must counterattack at once!” Ju Hu said. “Someone send word to Lord Yuan; General Jiang, let us do our part!”

The formidable Jiang Yiqu nodded and followed Ju Hu’s departure.
Yuan Shao’s officers led their men out of the gates of the Cangting camp with newfound resolve, but what met them was a horrifying sight; Cao Cao had brought some 20,000 men from Guandu to the west and secret eastern positions by water and land, and they now had the camp completely surrounded.
“How…?” Ju Hu cried. “How??? HOW???”
“Does it matter???” Jiang Yiqu retorted. “We must fight back!”
But it was already too late.
“The banners of Generals Zhang Liao, Wei Xu and Cao Xing are at the western gates!” a scout reported. “The banners of Generals Zhang Hè, Gao Lan and Yue Jin are at the eastern gates; the banners of Generals Xu Huang, Qi Ji and Qin Yi are at the northern gates; the banners of Xiahou Dun, Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao are at the southern gates!”
What followed was messy and far from the finest hours of those concerned. Jiang Yiqu knew that he was no match for Zhang Liao, who was second only to his former master Lü Bu in terms of prowess on the battlefield, so Jiang resorted to leading his smaller force of men in meandering strikes on Zhang Liao’s position;

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