However, it is said that after Cao Cao repelled the attacks of Yuan Shu and Tao Qian, Yuan Shu gave up Yuzhou, retreated to Shouchun, and led Yangzhou Mu himself, and at the same time served as Xuzhou Bo. Later, Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui were generals. Li Dao and Guo Yan also knew that they could not confront the group of heroes with their strength, and wanted to make friends with Yuan Shu, so they awarded General Zuo, fake the festival, and entered the Marquis of Yang Zhai.

And Yuan Shu was indeed stupid to accept Li Dao's order. You must know that Li Dao, Guo Yan and others are anti-thieves, and Yuan Shu is in the same stream as anti-thieves, which is simply self-willing. However, Yuan Shu wants to be the emperor himself, and cooperating with Li Dao and Guo Yan is not a big deal.

Yuan Shu ran away, and Yuzhou was naturally ownerless. Many Taishou in Yuzhou are also very clever, and decisively recommend Cao Cao as the assassin of Yuzhou, how could Cao Cao refuse.

Therefore, Cao Cao also nominally occupied the land of Erzhou. Of course, Yanzhou has been completely controlled by Cao Cao after Cao Cao's rectification. As for Yuzhou, although most of the county guards recognized Cao Cao as the assassin of Yuzhou, it would take some time for Cao Cao to control Yuzhou in his hands. After all, the county guards of Yuzhou are not fools, they control the power, how can it be so easy to hand over the power to Cao Cao.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with Cao Cao, at least for now. Today's Cao Cao has set his sights on Tao Qian's Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is rich in grain, if it can occupy as a granary, it must be extremely beneficial for the conquest of the world.

Originally, Cao Cao still adhered to the duty of a courtier and would not attack others casually. Who knew that Tao Qian was dead, and cooperated with Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shu to strike first, which gave Cao Cao a reason to attack. And Tao Qian didn't do anything wrong, even if there was no reason for this time, Cao Cao would have made a move on his Xuzhou sooner or later. In the troubled times, there is no one who is right or wrong, it depends on whose fist is big, and the victory is the right side. Xuzhou has abundant food and materials, strong people and strong horses, and it is not difficult to pull up an army of 100,000 casually. The key problem is that Tao Qian is already old and has no ambitions, so he wants to guard his one-acre and one-third of the field, so he will follow such a conservative strategy. Who knew that Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu were not people who had made great achievements, and the tripartite alliance coupled with the cooperation of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and the Black Mountain Yellow Turban, they couldn't even kill Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and in the end, Yuan Shu coveted his Xuzhou.

Tao Qian naturally regretted not being at the beginning, but now he is helpless.

Xuzhou Zhizhi Pi, in the government, Tao Qian sat at the head of the case, and there were other drivers engaged in Mi Zhu, Wang Lang in the governance, Chen Deng, the captain of the agricultural school, etc., and there were other generals Cao Bao, Zhang Min and so on.

In fact, Xuzhou, as a large state, naturally has more than such talents.

Let's say that Zang Ba of Taishan County, when the Yellow Turban Uprising, Zang Ba, who was a thief of Taishan, followed Tao Qian to fight against the Yellow Turban Thief, so he was appointed as a cavalry captain, stationed in Kaiyang, and had generals Sun Guan, Yin Li, etc., all of whom were brave warriors. However, Zang Ba was originally a Taishan thief, advocating bravery, and he was only forced to fight the Yellow Turban Thief with Tao Qian, so he naturally would not be loyal to Tao Qian. Therefore, Tao Qian did not have the ability to mobilize Zang Ba's team.

Secondly, there are celebrities like Zhang Zhao in Xuzhou.

Zhang Zhao is a great figure, when Sun Ce died, he left "ask Zhang Zhao if he is not decisive in internal affairs, and ask Zhou Yu if he is not decisive in foreign affairs", which shows Zhang Zhao's ability. However, it is also still a problem, Tao Qian is incapable, how could Zhang Zhao take refuge in Tao Qian? Tao Qian was also ruthless, and directly detained Zhang Zhao.

At the same time, Chen Qi, the father of Chen Deng, the captain of the Diannong School, is also a talented and strategic, and his wisdom and strategy can also be called a first-class strategist. Chen Qi is old, maybe he is self-cultivation, so he didn't contribute to Tao Qian. Therefore, as a large state, the people under Tao Qian's command are a little insufficient.

Tao Qian glanced at the civil and military forces on both sides of his command, and asked with a sad face: "Everyone, now that Cao Cao has invaded my Xuzhou, do you have a good plan?"

For Tao Qian, many people present had some complaints in their hearts.

At the beginning, Cao Cao conquest of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban, this can be regarded as eliminating harm for the people, and it is good for you to Tao Qian. teamed up with Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shu to invade people's homes, but instead of eating the meat, he made a commotion, which was also Tao Qian's own fault. When Tao Qian wanted to send troops to Yanzhou, many people under Tao Qian's command persuaded him. However, Tao Qian didn't listen, and they were helpless.

Now that people have a reason to beat you, you start putting on a dead face and asking people to give you ideas, what did you do in the first place?

I think so, but the idea is still to be thought of. After all, Cao Cao's attack on Xuzhou would not do them any good. Now they are all important officials under Tao Qian, and if Xuzhou is taken by Cao Cao, they may be able to take refuge in Cao Cao. However, at that time, they have no status.

"My lord, Cao Cao is so rampant, we should hit him head-on and let him know how powerful I am in Xuzhou. ”

On the side of the general, a handsome man stood up and said angrily. This person's name is Cao Hong, and he has the same name as Cao Cao's Cao Hong. However, Cao Hong is not a child of Cao Cao's clan.

This Cao Hong is the son of the Cao family, a big family in Xuzhou, and the younger brother of Cao Bao. Who Cao Bao is, most people know.

Maybe Cao Bao is not very famous now, but after Lu Bu came to Xuzhou, Cao Bao became famous. Because Cao Bao married his daughter to Lü Bu as a concubine, and rebelled against Liu Bei, allowing Lü Bu to occupy Xuzhou. And this qiē, Cao Bao's credit is the greatest.

Why do you say that Cao Bao's credit is the greatest?

This is going to start with Tao Qian, Tao Qian's father, who once served as the magistrate of Yuyao County. Tao Qian's father died when he was young, and when he was a teenager, he was famous for his dissolute personality in the county, and at the age of 14, he used cloth as a battle flag and rode a bamboo horse to play with the children in the village. His fellow villager, Gan Gong, who had been the Taishou of Cangwu, met Tao Qian when he went out, and saw Tao Qian's extraordinary appearance, so he called a car to talk to him, and was very happy, and married his daughter to Tao Qian, Gan Gong's wife was very angry about this, but Gan Gong said to his wife: "This child has a strange appearance, and he will become a great weapon when he grows up." Tao Qian later liked to study, first admitted to the students, served as an official in the state and county, and then was promoted to Maocai, worshiped Shang Shulang, and successively served as the commander of Shu County and the commander of Lu County.

Later, he moved to Youzhou and was worshiped as a speaker.

In March of the second year of Zhongping, Beigong Boyu and others led Qianghu to invade Sanfu, and Emperor Ling sent Huangfu Song, the general of the left chariot cavalry, to lead the army to crusade, and Huangfu Song asked the generals to accompany him, and summoned Tao Qian to go out with the captain of Yangwu to defeat the rebels. In July, Huangfu Song was demoted and reduced under their slander because he had offended Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang.

In October of the fifth year of Zhongping, the yellow turbans of Qing and Xu Prefecture rose again and attacked the counties. The imperial court used Tao Qian as the assassin of Xuzhou to suppress the Yellow Turban Army.

Since then, Tao Qian has gradually grown up in Xuzhou. After Tao Qian grew up, he began to like the rich and the poor, but he forgot that when he was not yet powerful, Gan Gong saw his extraordinary, so he married his daughter to him. Therefore, Tao Qian has the same virtue as Yuan Shao, and likes to appoint the children of the big families, but looks down on the children of the poor family.

For example, when Tao Qian first arrived in Xuzhou, he didn't look down on Zang Ba very much, and he didn't go to Zhao'an's family. Therefore, Zang Bacai has never been waiting to see Tao Qian. In addition, Sun Guan, Xu Sheng, Lu Dai and others are all from the cold family of Xuzhou and have not been reused by Tao Qian. In the end, they went to Cao Cao and Sun Quan respectively, and they were reused, and they all became generals or assassins of a state. Tao Qian and Yuan Shao have the same hobby of employing people, and defeat is inevitable.

However, it was said that Cao Bao was a child of the Cao family of the Xuzhou clan, and Tao Qian naturally attached great importance to it. Moreover, Cao Bao has some military ability, so Tao Qian handed over most of the military power in Xuzhou to Cao Bao to control, except for his own 30,000 Danyang soldiers. After Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei took office as the pastor of Xuzhou. Liu Bei is a hero, so he naturally will not let the military power fall into the hands of others. However, Liu Bei has only been in office for a long time, of course, he can't start with Cao Bao, after all, Cao Bao was personally appointed by Tao Qian, if Liu Bei just took office and attacked Tao Qian's old officials, it will definitely cause panic, and Liu Bei will not be able to sit in the position of Xuzhou Mu. Therefore, Liu Bei decided to slowly get Cao Bao done.

As a result, Cao Bao hadn't done it yet, Lu Bu came, Cao Bao and Lu Bu looked at each other, and together they pitted Liu Bei. Cao Cao controlled the military power of Xuzhou, and it was easy to take Xuzhou, so Cao Bao's credit was the greatest.

However, there is one thing that makes people wonder. Lu Bu is such a hero, his wives and concubines are all beautiful women, even if they are his wife Yan, her appearance is stunning. Cao Bao is five big and three thick, and his daughter doesn't know what she looks like, why is she taken a fancy to Lu Bu? Of course, what does Cao Bao's daughter look like, I will talk about it later, and now I will continue to talk about Xuzhou.

Tao Qian glanced at Cao Hong lightly, and secretly scolded the fool in his heart.

If you can do Cao Cao, and you still use your nonsense here, labor and management would have led troops to fight a long time ago. I didn't see the last time I joined forces with others and was beaten by Cao Cao, could it be that this time because of the battle on the Xuzhou turf, my side has a home advantage?

However, Tao Qian did not scold Cao Hong, after all, this Cao Hong is Cao Bao's brother, and he is also the son of the Cao family of the Xuzhou clan. Now Tao Qian still relies on Cao Bao very much, so he still deliberately pretended to be satisfied and nodded. Cao Hong was still very proud when he saw this, thinking that Tao Qian agreed with his point of view.

Of course, Cao Hong is a bit stupid, which doesn't mean that others are also stupid.

"Fifth brother, Hugh is talking nonsense, and he won't retreat!"

The person who spoke was naturally Cao Bao, and after the depressed Cao Hong was drunk, Cao Bao stood up and saluted, and said: "My lord, Cao Cao's invasion of my Xuzhou is a matter of disobedience, and we can pay tribute to the court, if the court is willing to come forward, it is the best, if it refuses to come forward, there is no loss to us; secondly, the lord can gather the soldiers of various counties, reorganize the military horses, and guard against Cao Cao; also, Gongsun Zhan appointed his subordinate Tian Kai as the Qingzhou Assassin History, and the Lord and Gongsun Chan have an alliance covenant, and they can ask Tian Kai for help. Beihai Kongrong is known as a virtuous person, and adults can also ask for help. Finally, the lord can write a letter to Cao Cao's camp, stating the danger of war between the two sides. If Cao Cao insists on fighting, my Xuzhou soldiers will also accompany him to the end. ”

This Cao Bao is really not a reckless man, every point is justified and well-founded, which makes people cheer loudly. Especially the last sentence, Tao Qian's heart was full of joy, he was not afraid of war, he was afraid of innocent people being implicated, if Cao Cao must fight, the soldiers of Xuzhou were willing to accompany him to the end, saying that it was so sonorous and powerful, full of momentum.

Of course, as for how the soldiers in Xuzhou would react at that time, it was not something that Tao Qian could imagine.

"What General Cao said is very much in line with my opinion, so I will follow what General Cao said. ”

There was no flaw in what Cao Bao said, at least everyone present felt that it was feasible.

"Ladies and gentlemen, who can send the letter to Cao Cao's camp?"

Tao Qian's question was not answered, and everyone knew that it was not a good errand. Now that Xuzhou and Cao Cao are at war, when the envoy goes to Cao Cao's camp, if Cao Cao kills the envoy regardless of morality, there is no place to cry. Even if Cao Cao didn't kill the envoy, he would at least be humiliated. No one is stupid, and no one will send a thankless task to the door to do.

"My lord, there will be a candidate at the end, but it is the most suitable. ”

It was Cao Bao who spoke, and I saw Cao Bao's eyes turn around, staring at someone present, looking a little ill-intentioned. Obviously, Cao Bao had already had such an idea when he proposed peace negotiations with Cao Cao before.

Tao Qian naturally noticed Cao Bao's gaze, but he still pretended not to see it, and asked curiously, "I don't know who General Cao's candidate is?"

"The last general thinks that Mi Beijia can take on this responsibility!"

Cao Bao's shining eyes looked at Mi Zhu, who was there with the old god, and a smile flashed at the corner of his mouth.

As the saying goes, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are rivers and lakes, there are contradictions. And this Cao Bao naturally has contradictions with Mi Zhu, so he will push this thankless task to Mi Zhu.

Speaking of which, Cao Bao and Mi Zhu have no personal grudges, mainly family conflicts.

Mi Zhu is a Xuzhou businessman, and he is a very wealthy Xuzhou businessman. No one knows how much wealth the Mi family has. However, in history, Mi Zhu married his sister to Liu Bei and gave 2,000 domestic servants, as well as tens of millions of gold and silver treasures. Mi Zhu has so much dowry if he marries a younger sister, and Mi Zhu's own assets are definitely not this number, at least ten times the amount. From this, we can know how rich the Mi family is.

The Mi family is not an official family, but a businessman. But the main reason why he was able to be appointed by Tao Qian as a different driver was that the Mi family had money and could fund Tao Qian's army. And Tao Qian gets a lot of money from the Mi family every year.

As one of the big clans in Xuzhou, the Cao family naturally also has a business. In this way, there must be a conflict with the Mi family. It's just that Cao Bao is Tao Qian's general, Mi Zhu is Tao Qian's minister, everyone's strength is comparable, and Cao Bao can't help Mi Zhu. Now, there is an envoy Cao Ying, a difficult bone to gnaw, and Cao Bao certainly doesn't mind giving Mi Zhu a set.

"General Cao, such a task, I'm afraid it's difficult for Mi Beijia to be competent?"

Tao Qian did not directly agree with Cao Bao's words, but frowned and said with some embarrassment. Maybe many people think that Tao Qian is a good person, then, you are very wrong.

Tao Qian said this, obviously uneasy and kind. He said so directly that Mi Zhu was incompetent, and indirectly looked down on Mi Zhu's ability. If it were someone else, I would definitely jump out in a huff, who said I couldn't do it, I would like to show you. And Tao Qian said this, naturally taking retreat as advance, wanting to force Mi Zhu to stand up and recommend himself.

It's a pity that Mi Zhu's expression remained unchanged, his eyebrows were lowered, and he didn't seem to hear Tao Qian's words at all.

But it was said that Tao Qian got a huge amount of money from Mi Zhu every year, why did he still persecute Mi Zhu so much now, it seemed that he wanted to put Mi Zhu in danger.

It's very simple, wealth is moving.

The assets of the Mi family are rich and rival the country, although Mi Zhu has funded Tao Qian, but after all, it is not Tao Qian's property. Therefore, Tao Qian's best idea is to take the huge assets for himself. If Tao Qian dares to come hard, it is estimated that he will not have to go to the street the next day, and he will be drowned by the spittle of the people. And it is also difficult for Tao Qian to find Mi Zhu's ballast, Mi Zhu has always been low-key, and does not value power, there is no fault at all, and Tao Qian has no reason to seize Mi Zhu's family wealth.

Therefore, if you want to encroach on the assets of the Mi family, it is best to solve Mi Zhu. As for Mi Zhu's younger brother Mi Fang, that is an idiot, as long as Mi Zhu is not there, it is easy to solve Mi Fang.

"My lord's words are not right, and the general will think that Mi Beijia is definitely the best candidate. ”

"Oh, what does General Cao mean by that?"

Tao Qian's expression remained unchanged, and he was not dissatisfied at all because of Cao Bao's rebuttal. Obviously, if Cao Bao can say the reason for Mi Zhu to be the envoy to Cao Ying, Tao Qian will also agree very much, thinking of the Mi family's huge wealth, Tao Qian's heartbeat suddenly sped up a lot.

Cao Bao glanced at Mi Zhu, snorted coldly in his heart, and then said: "Mi Beijia has a reputation for benevolence and righteousness in Xuzhou, and no one can compare with him. Cao Cao must have known the reputation of Mi Beijia, and how could he dare to harm Mi Beijia's life? Moreover, Mi Beijia has always been eloquent, and this time he sent Cao Ying, no one could take on this responsibility. ”

If Mi Zhu's name of benevolence and righteousness is incomparable, no one really has anything to say. However, when it comes to eloquence, Mi Zhu is actually average. Moreover, Mi Zhu is kind and elegant, has the style of a gentleman, and is not good at sophistry with others, at least many civil officials present are better than Mi Zhu. However, this errand was dangerous, and no one stood up to refute Cao Bao's words. The Cao family and the Mi family are both big clans in Xuzhou, and the two families are fighting with immortals, and others will not be stupidly involved.

"I see!"

Tao Qian pretended to have a look of sudden realization, then looked at Mi Zhu and asked, "Mi Beijia, what do you think of letting you send Cao Ying this time?" If Mi Beijia is unwilling, I will not force it. ”

Mi Zhu stood up, bowed, and said indifferently: "As an official of the adult, the subordinate should share the worries and solve problems for the adult, and he is willing to be the messenger this time." ”

Mi Zhu did not refuse, but simply took on the task.

In this way, it is naturally a happy thing for all.