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

Yuan Tan was coughing and spluttering as he finally escaped the burning camp and started the demoralising journey across the Yellow River; Cao Cao had deliberately given his generals at the northern gates of the camp a smaller force, so Yuan’s army had passed them after little more than mild harassment. Yuan Shao brought an army to meet his son’s, but it would do little more than serve as an escort as the Yuans retreated to Yè.
“Cao mocked us!” Yuan Tan cried angrily. “Now you’re here, Father, we-!”
“Cangting is lost,” Guo Tu said. “Sorry, young lord, but we cannot cross the Yellow River without a viable foothold… that foothold was Cangting, and it is lost.”
“All is lost…!” Yuan Shao whimpered. “Now I must face ridicule… my last foothold south of the river, snatched as easily as taking something from a sack!”
“We have to get back to Yè,” Guo Tu urged. “I have sent word to Pang Ji, so we should receive reinforcements to prevent Cao Cao from pursuing.”
“Beaten by a mouse!” Yuan Shao rambled. “I am a giant, with four provinces and two-hundred-thousand men, and I have been bested by conniving mouse!”
“My lord, calm down,” Chen Lin pleaded. “You-”
“Why did I not have my men cross every ford along the Yellow River and overwhelm him?” Yuan Shao lamented. “Why did I guard Cangting as a peasant guards their only valuable possession, when I could have had the entire river blanketed with soldiers and barbarian cavalry?”
“It couldn’t be helped,” Cui Yan insisted. “Men need food, and-”
“And that’s another thing I must face… Tadun,” Yuan Shao whimpered. “Will that Wuhuan king want such a weakling for an ally, or will he now try and seize all of Yòu Province, or maybe all of my domains…?”

“You let his people do as they please, and married our daughters to his men,” Shen Pei said with a tone that betrayed bitterness and contempt. “I’m sure that he will be very amiable.”
Yuan Shao laughed and said, “I imagine that you are right, Mister Shen… your words and thoughts both.”
“…Cao employed Zhang Xiu, Father!” Yuan Tan said. “Zhang Xiu!”
“Zhang Xiu???” Yuan Shao exclaimed. “Zhang Xiu, the man that killed his heir??? Is there no low to which the wretch will not stoop, fighting alongside the murderer of his kin???”
“Apparently not,” Guo Tu murmured.
“Knave… you are a hankering knave, Cao Cao, a lord of traitors and churls!” Yuan Shao cried angrily. “He brings here his collection of stolen generals from Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu, my brother and me, and former felons and wastrels!”
“…And he has won,” Cui Yan noted.
“Yes… he has won… again,” Yuan Shao whimpered. “And I must retreat… again.”

Cao Cao gathered his officials in the command tent of his Anmin headquarters and said, “A fine victory, gentlemen. Yuan Shao has not one base to the south of the Yellow River now: his grip on the provinces will weaken as his enemies smell blood, and-”

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