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Xun Yu @ RoT wiki | RoT @ wikipedia | A linked list of Xun Yu's scenes in RoT @ mangafox

"Master Water Mirror has been teaching military strategies for many years. From time to time, one student would stand out amongst his classmates in terms of ingenuity and mastery of strategies. Eventually, eight such students were recognized by the Master as Geniuses, and were told to hide their identities before leaving the school for fear of being threatened by ambitious warlords." -- Eight Geniuses @ RoT wiki.

Xun Yu was the second of the Eight Geniuses, and the third one to be unmasked. Xun Yu's story begins with an invitation.

At the time, a tyrant warlord by the name of Dong Zhuo controlled the child emperor and had a stranglehold upon China; a grand alliance of warlords gathered to oppose him. This alliance was known as the Guandong Alliance, and at its head was Yuan Shao. Xun Yu was invited to their main camp by the first genius, Yuan Fang, who served Yuan Shao and hoped to secure Xun Yu as an advisor. Xun Yu came, but not as the VIP they expected; bypassing the lavish display they had prepared, Xun Yu instead entered the camp disguised as a messenger, so that he could spy upon the true face of Yuan Shao's Army while going unnoticed. What he discovered within was nothing more than a farce – the warlords gathered feasted, partied, and schemed against one another instead of working together to defeat Dong Zhuo, and left the few warlords who actually attempted to battle without back-up, effectively stranding them and leaving them in a no-win situation. When Yuan Fang finally found him and asked for Xun Yu's thoughts, Xun Yu firmly declined the offer and scolded his shixiong for allowing the abhorrent behaviour he perceived, before stating that he had already found a warlord to serve – one that he expected great things of.

Xun Yu then returned to his new master, Cao Cao, just as Cao Cao returned with a small number of troops from a resounding defeat in battle against Dong Zhuo's forces. Xun Yu, much to the horror of the troops around him, congratulated Cao Cao on his timely defeat. They were then set upon by refugees; while other warlords in the alliance simply handed out rations to the refugees to buy goodwill, Xun Yu refused, telling the refugees that rations were reserved for battles only. As Xun Yu was aware, these were not any old refugees, but remnants of the defeated Yellow Turban Army – frustrated that the Alliance handed out rations but refused to fight Dong Zhuo for years, then had started to pull out claiming a lack of rations, they pledged themselves to Cao Cao's service, who'd proven himself willing to fight corruption for the good of the land. Xun Yu had just secured his lord an incredible number of soldiers, without requiring conscription, rations or money.

With that move, Xun Yu had secured his place as one of Cao Cao's advisors. Dong Zhuo was killed by his adopted son, Lu Bu, then driven out of the capital by the remnants of Dong Zhuo's generals, who then turned on one another until there were only two, Guo Si and Li Jue, who jointly controlled the child emperor.

Soon after the third genius Jia Xu paid Xun Yu and Cao Cao a visit; secretly Jia Xu recommended the fourth genius to Cao Cao. The fourth genius, Guo Jia, joined Cao Cao's forces shortly after, and a campaign was launched to take the region of Xuzhou. Once Tanxian's administrator was killed, Cao Cao returned to Yanzhou, the region in which his main city was, and left Guo Jia in charge.

However the battle at Xuzhou was eventually lost, and Cao Cao's main city of Puyang was taken by Lu Bu. Cao Cao faked his own death in the nearby West City to lure in Lu Bu. Meanwhile, Xun Yu paid visit to two people in the North City, just outside of Puyang: one General Gao, and Sima Yi. Sima Yi was head of the Sima clan, a rich merchant clan with an elite group of assassins. Xun Yu struck a deal with Sima Yi in order to have his assassins rescue Cao Cao from Lu Bu at the right time and secured Gao's support in the upcoming battle.

Xun Yu then proceeded to where Cao Cao's main forces were waiting. Xun Yu took control and ordered the bulk of the force to head to Puyang, to go to Cao Cao's aid. He took five thousand troops with him and headed to Chenliu, in order to engage Lu Bu's strategist, Chen Gong, and Chen Gong's troops. Xun Yu set up archers, and with the help of Sima Yi, stalled Chen Gong, until the arrival of the former Yellow Turban forces. Lu Bu and Chen Gong were unware that these Yellow Turbans were the very same that Xun Yu had already recruited for Cao Cao, and had believed them to be on their side, so were in for a nasty surprise when their true allegiance was unveiled. Xun Yu then defeated Chen Gong with a rain of arrows. Not only that, but the defection of Yellow Turban forces revealed that the rations harvested from their native Runan, which Lu Bu had believed his, were in actual fact Cao Cao's. Cao Cao's forces reclaimed Puyang and gained Chenliu; all of Yanzhou surrendered to Cao Cao. Lu Bu lost his military foothold.

Xun Yu had his own plans, now that Cao Cao was in a strong position.

The child emperor's situation was growing ever more dire; Guo Si and Li Jue's in-fighting grew more heated. One of Li Jue's subordinates, Yang Feng, secretly escaped the capital with the child emperor in tow. Serving beneath him was a man named Xu Huang – who was there secretly under Xun Yu's order. Guo Si and Li Jue called a truce to head after Yang Feng, but had their full forces at the ready, to fight between themselves one they retrieved the emperor. When all three collided, a fourth force appeared: Cao Cao, with Xun Yu as their chief planner. Cao Cao's forces drove Guo Si and Li Jue into a retreat back to the capital. Xun Yu predicted that their heads would shortly be presented to Cao Cao without their interference, and the capital would become his without any casualties. After, the remainder of Dong Zhuo's forces would join him, one against bolstering the Cao Army numbers significantly.

Xun Yu then accepted the remaining battalions' surrender, having recognised that they were common people forced to fight for Guo Si and Li Jue. After sending them home with the intention of encouraging agriculture in the capital, Xun Yu ordered respectable burials for court officials in Cao Cao's name. The emperor was now in Cao Cao's company. Lastly, Xun Yu and Xu Huang reunited; Xun Yu had Yang Feng killed by his archers in an ambush. Once Guo Si and Li Jue's heads were delivered to Cao Cao, as per Xun Yu's prediction, Cao Cao escorted the child emperor back to the capital.

Xun Yu was given the rank of Prefect Imperial Secreteriat, within the Imperial Han court.

Xun Yu next appeared in the aftermath of an alliance against Cao Cao, in which an attempted assassination resulted in the death of Cao Cao's eldest son and his bodyguard. The Sima clan's involvement was implicated, and they were massacred in retaliation.

With Cao Cao weakened and lacking rations, Xun Yu and his nephew, Xun You, turned to diplomacy to negate two of Cao Cao's enemies: Lu Bu and Yuan Shu. Xun Yu provided Lu Bu with an edict naming him Imperial Han's General of the Left, legitimising his rule over Xuzhou, and overriding his plans to attack Cao Cao. At the same time, Xun You convinced Yuan Shu to ally with Cao Cao against Lu Bu, should Lu Bu mobilise on Yuan Shu. As it turned out, Lu Bu's allies, the outlaws of Xuzhou, marched upon Yuan Shu under Lu Bu's name that same day – under the instruction of Xun Yu, their true employer.

Thus Lu Bu and Yuan Shu went to war, leaving only reinforcements for Yuan Shu from the Yuan Army, lead by Yuan Shao, as an external problem.

It was then that Xun Yu had a secret visitor; Sima Lang of the Sima clan, Sima Yi's older brother and one of the few clan survivors. He implored Xun Yu for help, and promised to give Cao Cao much needed rations in return. Xun Yu agreed to speak for them once the rations were received.

With both Xun Yu and Guo Jia having made deals and willing to speak for them, the remnants of the Sima clan submitted to Cao Cao; Sima Yi in particular serving as an advisor.

Xun Yu, with that in order, travelled to personally handle the last of the diplomacy, under Imperial Han's name. Yuan Shao was a lord concerned with a good reputation; he agreed he would not reinforce Yuan Shu, ending Cao Cao's immediate threats.

This did not last long, however. While Xun Yu was in Yuan Shao's territory, some of Lu Bu's men arrived on scene. On Chen Gong's orders, Xun Yu was taken hostage.

A month passed. Tensions between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao rose, sparked by Xun Yu's disappearance and accusations on both side. Without Xun Yu there as ambassador between Cao Cao and the emperor, their relationship also became strained, and the emperor approached Lu Bu. Xun Yu was still Lu Bu's captive; Lu Bu tried to persuade Xun Yu to defect from Cao Cao, but Xun Yu refused. In an effort to break his spirit, Lu Bu had Xun Yu accompany one of his generals, Gao Shun, as Gao Shun fought off one of Cao Cao's attacking troops lead by the fearsome Xiahou brothers, defeating them.

A fire was set at Lu Bu's ration depot; it spread to Xun Yu's location. Xun Yu escaped and returned to Cao Cao's main camp. During his time with Lu Bu, Xun Yu had examined Lu Bu's military set up; with this information he and Guo Jia made a plan of action – unaware that it was false information, and that the whole fire had been orchestrated by Chen Gong, to secure a victory.

That defeat, however, did not end Cao Cao's campaign against Lu Bu. While Guo Jia and Sima Yi worked together to trap Lu Bu's forces in Xiapi and flood the city, leaving it only a matter of time before Lu Bu was defeated once and for all, Xun Yu wielded diplomacy to great effect. Chen Gong had made arrangements with Yuan Shu and intended to use their men to cover a retreat; Xun Yu intervened, and not only caused them to return home, but also convinced Yuan Shu to sign a non-aggression treaty with Cao Cao.

Xun Yu then asked Chen Gong to change sides. Chen Gong refused, but Xun Yu let Chen Gong live, in hopes that Chen Gong would change his mind.

Later, Xun Yu paid a visit to warlord Liu Bei. He asked Liu Bei to march on Yuan Shu, under the Han banner – Yuan Shu had made a pact with Cao, not Han, and Liu Bei claimed relation to the emperor. All military needs would be provided, and so Liu Bei agreed.

Not long after, Cao Cao's forces broke through the main gate of Xiapi, the famous White Gate Tower. Lu Bu's remaining forces either surrendered or were captured. Twelve days, and Lu Bu's forces were annihilated. Xun Yu entered the city alongside the third genius, Jia Xu; after a discussion, he ordered the White Gate Tower to be destroyed. Two days later he left with the main army, to return to the capital, and explain the situation to the emperor.

This was not his only reason for leaving however. Chen Gong refused to surrender, and was later executed, something that Xun Yu could not bear to watch.

With Lu Bu's army defeated, and Lu Bu himself executed, Yuan Shu was the next to be destroyed.

Soon, the battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao was close at hand. Xun Yu was stationed at Cao Cao's first line of defence in Xuzhou. Reports came that there was enemy troop movement in the east, a vital area for them; the slow warning from their scouts suggested no ordinary commander was in charge, too. Xun Yu headed their response force personally.

The enemy commander turned out to be none other than the first genius, Yuan Fang. Xun Yu was determined to win. Yet Yuan Fang, the stronger of the two geniuses, outmanoeuvred Xun Yu and ambushed him with archers – shooting Xun Yu in the chest, and destroying the bond between the Eight Geniuses.

Xun Yu survived his wound, but it was severe enough that it meant that he could no longer take part in the upcoming battle of Guandu.
It was not until later, when he was stable, though still confined to bed rest, that Xun Yu discovered he was not the only one Yuan Fang had targeted, courtesy of reports from the general Cao Ren and the doctor Hua Tuo. The Cao Army's eight main decision makers had been assassinated. Xun Yu suggested replacements. Their key figures had also been targeted. A plague had been spread to Guo Jia, who lived, but was firmly out of action while he recovered. Jia Xu was kept preoccupied trying to settle a potential rebellion incited by Yuan Fang. Xun Yu likewise instructed who to leave deployment matters to.

It was then that he realised there was one more key figure Yuan Fang would target. He frantically warned Cao Ren and Hua Tuo that Sima Yi would also be in trouble, hoping that it wasn't already too late.

TBC