"Lord, that's the way it is, Lu Bu was rescued by Zhao Yun under Yuan Shu. The last general is incompetent, and the Lord is asked to punish him. ”

Cao Zhen, who was forced to retreat by Zhao Yun's shot, led the army back in disgrace, and said with shame after reporting the entire battle to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao looked into the distance expressionlessly after hearing this, and did not say a word, but the formidable power and soaring anger were as terrifying as a volcano about to erupt, which made the surrounding soldiers look frightened, and the timid ones even almost fell off their horses.

"Lord, this time it is not the crime of Zihe and Zidan, please calm your anger!" Seeing that Cao Cao was really angry, Cao Xiu, who was beside him, hurriedly interceded for Cao Chun and Cao Zhen.

Taking a deep breath and holding back the anger in his heart, Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "What about the casualties? ”

"The tiger rider lost more than 200, the leopard rider lost more than 11,200, and General Cao Chun was seriously injured and fell into a coma." Cao Zhen gritted his teeth and whispered,

Hearing the casualties of this army, which were almost the same as those of Xiahou Yuan's army, Cao Cao only felt a splitting headache, almost fell off his horse, and exclaimed in pain: "Hurt me!" ”

Cao Hong's hand was quick, and he hurriedly held it up, and shouted softly: "Don't be angry, lord!" Tell the doctor! ”

"Ahh Holding his forehead with a painful face, Cao Cao said in a low tone: "Forget it, the old problem of headache has been committed again, and those quacks can't cure it." ”

Then he looked at Cao Zhen, who was kneeling in front of him, and said softly: "Get up!" You have performed very well this time, and Lu Buzhi's escape is not you. ”

"Thank you, lord!"

"After all, I let Lu Bu run away!" Cao Cao said unwillingly: "Withdraw!" ”

Then the army slowly withdrew towards Huang County.

......

"Zhicai, Wen Ruo, what do you say about the current situation, how should I deal with it?"

After returning to Huangxian County to rest for a while, Cao Cao quickly summoned two think tanks, Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu, and frowned.

Capture Huangxian and completely take Qingzhou, but Lü Bu was rescued by Yuan Shu. Whether Cao Cao accepts it or not, this ending is already like this. Cao Cao, who captured Qingzhou, should also think about the future.

"Lord, now Gongsun Zan and Er Yuan are ready to be called emperors, Liu Bei has captured Yanzhou of our army, and now Yuan Shu has sent troops to Yuzhou, Liu Bei is simply unable to return to help and hold on, and has given up. Today, our army still occupies two states in the four states of the Central Plains, Liu Bei occupies one state, and the remaining one state will be obtained by Yuan Shu. We worked hard, but in the end, we made a wedding dress for Yuan Shu! Xi Zhicai sighed lightly.

It's okay not to mention this matter, Cao Cao looked like he had a deep hatred and hatred, but he was pitiful and calculated in the end, but Yuan Shu picked the peaches, and he still had to watch the other party pick peaches. To whom do you speak of the indignation and sorrow of your heart?

"Now there are three things for the lord to consider. First, second, Yuan and Gongsun Zan both want to be the emperor, and Liu Bei is probably also ready to move. Should the lord decide as soon as possible whether to follow the emperor and claim the king, or crusade and condemn him in the name of the emperor of the Han family? Xun Yu said very calmly.

Cao Cao said without hesitation when he heard this: "Naturally, it is in the name of the Son of Heaven to crusade against him. I hold the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty in my hand, and the Son of Heaven occupies a political advantage by courting the unsubordinate, and if I follow the emperor at the expense of the near and far, won't I let my advantage disappear? ”

"My lord, the man and the thief are not separated. If we choose this way, we will not be able to form an alliance with those princes who are called emperors, and there will be no end to the death between the two sides. Xi Zhicai reminded.

If he insists on the orthodox position, Cao Cao will inevitably become a thorn in the side of the princes of the world, and he can almost only fight alone. If he is called emperor, Cao Cao will lose his political righteousness, and it is no joke that the Han dynasty has been established for 400 years, although the Han family is now declining, but the power of people loyal to the Han family and the influence of the Han family on the people is still not small. It's a dilemma, you can't have it both ways.

After listening to what Xi Zhicai said, Cao Cao fell into hesitation again. If there was no such variable as Yuan Shu, Cao Cao would definitely not have hesitated to stick to his choice. But now that Yuan Shu's power is so great, if he does not form an alliance with Yuan Shao and Liu Bei, he will not be able to balance it at all, which makes Cao Cao feel a deep headache.

Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu didn't urge, just quietly closed their eyes and pondered, waiting for Cao Cao to make a choice. It's hard to say which of these two options is better or worse, and neither is a good choice. Who makes them the weaker side? It would be nice to have a choice.

After thinking about it for a long time, Cao Cao finally said with a resolute face: "After my Cao family is loyal to the Han family, how can I not do my best to support the Han family when the Han family is in decline, but usurp the Han dynasty to stand on its own?" A certain is willing to be a loyal minister of the Han and help the Han, although he has no regrets in death! ”

These words are righteous Ling Ran, as if they come from the heart, but there is a bit of sincerity in it, and a bit of contradiction, only Cao Cao himself knows it.

"The lord is wise!" Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu said in unison.

Xun Yu, who was still devoted to the Han family, was deeply pleased with Cao Cao's choice, and explained in a rare way: "The lord respects the Son of Heaven, not only can he accept the hearts of the people who are in the Han Dynasty in the world, but also has no great impact on uniting Yuan Shao and Liu Bei against Yuan Shu. ”

"Oh? Why? Cao Cao's eyes lit up and asked.

"First of all, for Liu Bei, whether he is called emperor or king, as a descendant of the Han family, he has this qualification, although he may not recognize the orthodoxy of the Son of Heaven served by the lord, but because of the advantage of Liu's identity, he will definitely work with the lord to suppress Eryuan and Gongsun Zhan, who are not surnamed Liu as emperors. The alliance between the lord and the lord can be regarded as justifiable, and it is clear that the rebellion will compete internally for the position of unification. ”

"Secondly, for Yuan Shao. Although the lord is called the emperor, he will have a gap with the lord, but the two sides are now bordering, and the lord has captured the meat of his mouth under his nose, Qingzhou, Yuan Shao must be very hostile to the lord in his heart. Besides, Yuan Shao was very jealous of the lord before, but he regarded the lord as a pawn under his command, how could he be willing to ally with the lord and you on the face with his arrogance? It's an alliance, can Yuan Shao communicate with the lord and help each other in attack and defense? Xun Yu said sharply. Regarding Yuan Shao's character, Xun Yu, who went to defect, can be said to have seen it very thoroughly.

"The alliance between the two sides, all Yuan Shao can do is to involve the cavalry of Yuan Shu in Youzhou, and then there is to send troops from Bingzhou to threaten Si Li and Xiliang. But even if we don't ally with it, it is estimated that Yuan Shao, who is extremely hostile to Yuan Shu, will be the same. Compared to Yuan Shu, our threat to him is too small, and it is impossible for Yuan Shao not to see this clearly. ”

"Therefore, it can be said that there is no disadvantage for the lord to serve the Son of Heaven and not to obey." Xun Yu concluded. Xi Zhicai on the side glanced at Xun Yu and frowned slightly. These words seem to be reasonable, but in fact there are quite a lot of loopholes, but since Cao Cao has made a choice, Xi Zhicai does not want to be this villain, so he should appease Cao Cao's heart.

When Cao Cao heard this, he seemed to really believe what Xun Yu said, and smiled slightly: "What Wen Ruo said is very good." ”

"Second, Yanzhou has been taken by Liu Bei, although it is now empty inside, but there is Yuan Shu around the outside, and the lord should not try to do it. For Liu Bei, does the lord want to unite with him regardless of his previous suspicions, or do he fight separately and choose the opportunity to annex him? ”

Hearing this, Cao Cao hesitated again. This question seems to be a good choice, and anyone with a discerning eye will choose to ally with Liu Bei, after all, it is difficult to stand alone, and it is too difficult to compete with Yuan Shu on your own. But in reality, there are many difficulties in forming an alliance with it.

Just like in the Three Kingdoms period in history, Zhuge Liang and Lu Su had a strong view of the overall situation, and they both saw that Wu and Shu had to unite with each other in order to compete with the powerful Wei State, Liu Bei and Sun Quan also knew this, but in fact? As soon as the pressure on Wei's side was relaxed, Eastern Wu began to take action against Shu. The most typical thing is that Lu Meng crossed the river in white clothes, which directly killed the thriving Shu State, not to mention the loss of Jingzhou, Guan Yu died in battle, and Zhang Fei and Liu Bei can be said to have died for this. After that, Liu Bei attacked Eastern Wu under the banner of avenging Guan Zhang, regardless of the overall situation, but was burned by Lu Xun and burned most of the combat power of Shu.

Qin wiped out the six countries and swept them away one by one, but the six countries seemed to be unable to see the crisis, they were simply scattered, and they were swept away one by one if they did not unite with each other. Can this be said that the Six Nations are too stupid? There are so many talents in the Six Kingdoms, and they can't even see such a simple truth?

It is a truth with Shu and Wu, many weak countries are already hostile to each other, and it is only possible to unite when the external force is strong, otherwise it will inevitably fight inwardly after a long time. Why are Cao Cao and Liu Bei now caught in infighting? It's because Yuan Shu is too patient. If Yuan Shu blindly attacked, the two of them would naturally resist to the death. But there has been no movement on Yuan Shu's side for a year and a half, and the alliance between Cao and Liu will naturally have problems.

Now Cao Cao's choice is that if Yuan Shu does not use troops for another year and a half, can he resist not swallowing Liu Bei during this period?

Yuan Shu has moved troops in the past six months, successively occupying Liangzhou, Sili and Yuzhou, and suddenly there is so much more territory, it will inevitably need to rest for a long time. And for such a long time, Cao Cao has countless opportunities to get his hands dirty. Because he is far more powerful than Liu Bei, he still has more than 100,000 troops in his hands, while Liu Bei only has more than 40,000. He had two states, especially Xuzhou, which was extremely rich, while Liu Bei only had one barren Yanzhou to fight for many years.

Liu Bei was definitely annexed by Cao Cao, but whether to ally with it or not was a choice that Cao Cao needed to make.