At this moment, Cao Cao, who is far away in Xuzhou, is also facing problems.

One of them was that Cao Cao sent someone to secretly pick up his father Cao Song and younger brother Cao De's men and horses were discovered by Tao Qian, not only did he not be able to pick them up, but instead took in a team of people.

Tao Qian even asked someone to write a letter that was close to sarcasm, saying that Cao Cao's old man Cao Song was living comfortably in Xuzhou, so there was no need for Cao Cao to think about it, or let Cao Cao think more about how to be loyal to the Han family and do more good things for the people......

made it clear that Lao Tzu was teaching his son.

"Shameless!" Cao Cao was furious, but there was nothing he could do.

Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao did not attack Tao Qian for no reason, as early as when Cao Cao pursued Yuan Shu before, Tao Qian took advantage of Cao Cao's army outside, on the one hand, to expand the territory, on the other hand, in order to support his ally Yuan Shu, sent troops to attack the south of Yanzhou, if it was not for Cao Cao's retreat, maybe they would have gone north to copy Cao Cao's nest.

This time, Cao Cao deliberately attacked the east and west, chose a completely different direction from Langya, and especially sent men and horses to meet his father Cao Song and others before the army left, but maybe it was delayed because of some unexpected incident, or Tao Qian had already taken precautions, anyway, this time the operation was not successful.

And it can be seen from this letter that it is unlikely that Cao Song will be secretly taken out in the future, and Tao Qian will inevitably be more guarded.

Now Cao Cao's situation is not as smooth as imagined by later generations, and it is still hundreds of miles away from the realm of self-confidence in life for 300 years.

In fact, there is another unavoidable reason for the conquest of Xuzhou, and this reason cannot be known. Some time ago, Cao Cao received a secret order from Yuan Shao to kill Zhang Miao.

In fact, Zhang Miao is also a person on Yuan Shao's side, but Zhang Miao is older, I don't know if it is because after the alliance of sour dates, Zhang Miao, who was originally a snake in the ground, did not get any benefits but lost a lot of grain, grass and horses, or Yuan Shao did not share some benefits to Zhang Miao after becoming the leader of the alliance and becoming a general of the chariot and cavalry, anyway, Zhang Miao's attitude towards Yuan Shao is not as respectful as it was at the beginning, and even wrote a letter, expressing some personal suggestions for some of Yuan Shao's current behaviors... …

And Yuan Shao, who is arrogant, how can he tolerate Zhang Miao to point fingers because he is older? So I didn't like to deal with Zhang Miao more and more, but I didn't expect how rude such behavior was in Zhang Miao's eyes, and I found that Zhang Miao, who had lost face, was angry, and of course couldn't help but have some words fluttering out.

In the Han Dynasty, even forgetting the time for a banquet would turn from a friend to an enemy, let alone such a situation where there was obviously some rift?

But the relationship between Cao Cao and Zhang Miao ......

When he was in Chenliu, the imperial court ordered Cao Cao to be arrested, but Zhang Miao pretended not to see it and protected Cao Cao; When recruiting soldiers that year, Zhang Miao, who was Chen Liutai's guard, not only did not stop him, but also sent some weapons; When he was in Sujube that year, Cao Cao suggested sending troops to pursue Dong Zhuo, and Zhang Miao supported part of the troops......

In this way, it can be said that Zhang Miao is very good to Cao Cao, and it can even be said that he is kind to Cao Cao. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Yuan Shao asked Cao Cao to do this to test whether Cao Cao was really on Yuan Shao's side. After all, Dongjun and Chen Liu are also relatively close, in case the two of them join forces, it will not be very fun for Yuan Shao.

But Cao Cao couldn't do it.

Or that Cao Cao still can't do it now, Cao Cao resisted the pressure and replied to Yuan Shao, saying that everyone is friends from childhood to adulthood, and they shouldn't tear each other down when the world is in turmoil......

In order to avoid Yuan Shao's reluctance to make another request and some embarrassing situations with Zhang Miao, Cao Cao simply sent troops to Xuzhou in advance, anyway, it just happened to solve the problem of food and grass for Qingzhou soldiers.

However, the granaries in the county seat of Xuzhou that were attacked have been emptied. Originally, these granaries did not have much reserves at all, and most of them only had one layer on the outside for appearance, and the inside was empty!

If you continue to fight, one is that the battle line is getting longer and longer, the overall shape of the battle situation will change, and if you don't get a counterattack by Tao Qian, you will be defeated, and on the other hand, it shows how much grain and grass can be in the newly attacked city, if it is the same as these few in your hand?

In addition to such a letter from Tao Qian that made Cao Cao feel extremely angry, there was also a letter from Cheng Yu in Yanzhou, which made Cao Cao feel cold all over his body......

Cheng Yu's letter is very simple, as simple as the words that Cheng Yu is used to, direct and sharp. The letter said that in the recent period, there have been no letters from Hedong, and there have been no letters from Hedong, not only that, but Cheng Yu also checked the records of the post station within two or three months, and visited some scholars, but there were no records of letters to and from Hedong.

In this era, if it is an ordinary person's letter, there are no more than two ways, one is to ask someone to carry it, and the other is to go to the post station. Entrusted to someone, either send their own private guards or something, or meet someone who happens to be on the way, and the post station naturally does this letter delivery business, but the cost is relatively high, and if there is no identity, the soldiers of the post station are too lazy to take care of it......

As an official in Cao Cao's forces, he naturally has some status, so it has become a relatively normal choice to exchange letters or something, and put them in the post station to go together.

Of course, if it is said that some relatively secret letters involve some things that cannot be known by others, then it must be delivered by someone to ensure safety and not leakage.

If it's an ordinary family letter......

Do I need special confidentiality?

Would you rather spend extra manpower and material resources than use a simpler post station to pass?

Cao Cao pinched Cheng Yu's letter and was silent for a long time.

What is Tao Qian, anyway, it's like that, although it is annoying, but after all, it is a confrontation between the two armies, and it can't be said who is right and who is wrong, even if Cao Cao himself is replaced by Tao Qian's position, maybe he will do even more excessively, but the news revealed in Cheng Yu's letter made Cao Cao very uneasy.

Some time ago, Xun mentioned in his letter that Wei Qi seemed to have a lot of dealings with Jizhou, and then corresponded to Cheng Yu's investigation, and then thought of the route that Wei Qi ran to at that time, it seems that it was not to take the road of Heluo, but to the road of Hanoi on the north bank of the river......

Of course, at that time, Ha Luo was resting, and it cannot be said that there must be any problems when he went to Hanoi County.

But......

Cao Cao put down the letter, frowned and turned around the big tent several times, and finally walked out of the big tent with his hands behind his back, and walked to the side, after walking through a few tents, Cao Cao stopped in front of a tent, his small eyes flickered a few times under his thick eyebrows, and then stopped the guards in front of the big tent from saluting, opened the curtain of the tent, and walked in.

Even though it was daytime, the light inside the tent was still a little dim.

"Who?! Well? Covet...... I have seen Ming Gong ......" Wei Qi raised his head from the table, and just asked with some annoyance, but saw that it was Cao Cao's figure, and hurriedly put down the pen, pushed aside the bamboo slip that was writing something, and got up to salute Cao Cao.

Cao Cao squinted his eyes, laughed twice, and said: "Zi Cha, sit, sit, sit, walk around at will, and I happened to come here, so I came here to have a look...... Busy? ”

Wei Qi also smiled and said, "It's just a little trivial......

"Oh, what's the trifle, why don't you take a look?" Cao Cao sat down and tidied up his robe, smiling as if he was talking casually.

Wei Qi was stunned.

"Oh, could it be that you can't see it?" Cao Cao squinted his eyes and said with a smile.

“…… Ming Gong said with a smile, naturally he could see it, and he ......could see it," Wei Qi said, and then took a roll of bamboo slips from the table and handed it to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao took it and unfolded it to see that it was about the allocation of money and food in the army......

"Hmm......" Cao Cao looked at it, and suddenly asked, "How much military rations are left now?" ”

Wei Qi shook his head and said: "Now the consumption is quite large, and there are not many savings, if there are no new entrants, I am afraid that it will only be more than a month at most." ”

"Hmm......" Cao Cao frowned, closed the bamboo slip, and said to Wei Qi, "The grain and grass in the public warehouses in the surrounding counties are exhausted...... I don't know if there is a good way to covet it? ”

Wei Qi pondered slightly for a while, and said, "Now there is only one in the surrounding dock forts, and there may be some money and food...... Ming Gong might as well go to Shang to borrow some grain and grass again......"

"Borrow again?" The wrinkles between Cao Cao's eyebrows were deep. The surrounding scholars have already "borrowed" once, and it is naturally difficult to "borrow" again.

Wei Qi smiled and said, "If you don't borrow ......" halfway through speaking, he raised his palm and went down.

"Hmm......" Cao Cao took a deep breath and was silent. It's not that Cao Cao is merciful, but he needs to weigh whether the consequences of doing so are worth it. Killing chickens and making an example of monkeys, a common thing, if you don't kill one or two rural heroes, don't other people think that Cao Cao is easy to talk to, so they are easy to bully? But after doing so, it will inevitably be at odds with the scholars on the side of Xuzhou, and if there is a chance to enter Xuzhou in the future, then it will add a lot of obstacles out of thin air.

Although Cao Cao has the name of Yanzhou Thorn History, he actually does not control the entire Yanzhou, part of which is in the hands of Tian Kai Liu Bei, who crossed the border, and some of which belong to the ungoverned state, such as Taishan County. And Qingzhou, erosion, even if Tian Kai Liu Bei wins, he won't be able to fully recover for a while, and he has to paste a lot of it, which is not a very suitable direction, as for Yuzhou in the south and Jizhou in the north, there is no need to say anything, so the only space that is better is Xuzhou. However, if he is completely at odds with the scholars of Xuzhou at the moment, then it means that Cao Cao will only use the same means as a rogue to treat Xuzhou for a period of time in the future, and he can plunder resources without the support of other parties.

Wei Qi's suggestion is indeed not wrong, it can indeed solve the urgent need, but is it worth it?

And for the current Cao Cao, there is an additional question to consider, is Wei Qi's suggestion a suggestion that he personally thought of, or is it a suggestion that others need him to pass on......

"This matter ......" Cao Cao hesitated, his eyes flickering.

Wei Qi looked at Cao Cao, arched his hand and said: "Ming Gong, the land of the four battles in Xuzhou, and there is a rear general wolf on the side, and far away from Yanzhou, it is inconvenient to come and go, not to mention that Tao Xuzhou has been operating for a long time, deep-rooted, and wants to win the heart of the Xuzhou scholars, and it is not appropriate to ......do it."

"Hmm......" Cao Cao still groaned.

"Ming Gong," Wei Qi saw this, so he continued, "Heluo is restless, Qingyan is uncertain, and Hebei is also undecided, in such a situation, it is useless to levy and not be stationed, if it is garrisoned, the troops are scattered, and I am afraid that others will take advantage of it." ”

"Heluo is restless, Qingyan is uncertain, and Hebei is also undecided?" Cao Cao narrowed his eyes, repeated Wei Qi's words, looked at Wei Qi, and said after a while, "...... Tomorrow, a certain person will order Zilian to send troops to borrow food from the surrounding areas......"

Wei Qi arched his hand and said, "The lord is wise. ”

Cao Cao was noncommittal, and while returning the bamboo slips to Wei Qi, he said, "Has Zi Qian written a letter to his family recently?" When the military is away, it's good to report safety......"

Wei Qi took the bamboo slip and replied casually: "Back to Ming Gong, yes, I just wrote it some time ago......"

"Did you send it back? Or is it a post station? Cao Cao flicked the corners of his clothes, as if he was playing the dust on the stain.

Wei Qi glanced up at Cao Cao before saying, "...... It should be sent back by the trustee...... It's been a long time, and I've forgotten a little about ......"

"Oh......" Cao Cao turned his head to look out of the tent and said as if he was understated, "...... Now that the road is restless, if Zi Cha's family letter is to go to the post station, there are still some soldiers to take care of it, and it is somewhat risky for this person to bring it back...... In this way, Zi Ji may as well write a letter to the family now, and send a certain post guard to Hedong, so as to avoid any accidents on the way...... After many years outside, I guess Zi Cha is also very worried about his family......"

"This ......" Wei Qian was stunned for a moment, then bowed his hand and thanked him, "Xie Minggong cares...... The post station transmission is a major military event, and how can you use public weapons to covet the selfishness of one person......"

"It's okay......" Cao Cao nodded, stood up, and said with a smile, "Zi is a model for the public...... However, the person who sent the letter must be chosen properly, and if it is lost along the way, it will not be beautiful......"

"What Ming Gong said is that he covets the ...... of teaching" Wei Qigong sent Cao Cao out of the big tent.

Cao Cao squinted his eyes and waved his hand, indicating that he would let Wei Qi do his job, and then tilted his head, walked a distance, and then turned the corner, but suddenly stopped, half turned his head, and stared at Wei Qi's tent obliquely.

At this time, Wei Qi, who was in the tent, sat down again, moved away the bamboo slip on the table with the money and food matters in the army, and exposed another roll of bamboo slips below......