"Brother Meng De is really as wise as the sea." After thinking about it carefully, Liu Bei couldn't help but admire.

In terms of overall strategy, Cao Cao outperformed him too much. He always has his eyes on a corner of the place, and he takes it for granted. Cao Cao, on the other hand, is able to put himself in the shoes of all parties and think from all angles, and has a long-term vision.

Cao Cao didn't take Liu Bei's praise to heart. This kind of strategy, even if he doesn't say it, Chen Qun will also inform Liu Bei.

"Second, what we should do is not to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, but to reap the benefits of the fisherman, but to participate in it." Cao Cao said.

"Why? The struggle between Rome and Sabbath was so fierce, what good is it for us to be involved? And just as Brother Meng De said, they are all wary of us and take the initiative to participate in it, for fear that it will cause fear and vigilance and even attack them en masse. ”

"Because the difference in strength between Rome and Rest is too great." Cao Cao said: "Last year, Rome once again attacked Mesopotamia at rest, and has captured Seleucia and Ctesiphon. Now, the new ruler Vologis VI has just ascended to the throne, and he is in a time of internal and external troubles. There are many disobedient people in the internal royal family, and there are also many ambitious people within the empire. At this time, if we don't help, I'm afraid we won't be able to rest for a few years. ”

"So what? Rest and fall, isn't it just the right time for us to eat it? Liu Bei said.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei like a fool, this thing is really long arms and short knowledge.

"How many people do we have? How many troops are there? How many people know Greek and Sabbath? What do you take to eat and rest, really rest that the local forces are vegetarians! ”

"The rest now is like the Han Dynasty twenty years ago, just a Yellow Turban Rebellion and Dong Zhuo's disaster can open up the troubled times. Do you think a great man who is completely rotten internally is strong, or is a group of princes like wolves and tigers strong? ”

Liu Bei was stunned when he heard this, and was silent. This question, as a member of the Han family and a staunch imperial Han ist, he could not answer.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Qiang people and the Xianbei and Wuhuan in the north, and even the Southern Xiongnu could bully the Han at will, and these nomadic forces made the scalp of the Han worried. As a result, when the troubled times came, they suddenly changed.

Ma Teng Han of Xiliang then obeyed the Qiang people, not to mention arbitrary instructions, at least there would be no chaos. The Southern Xiongnu in the state were directly driven away by Yuan Shao without a single soldier and beaten away. And the Xianbei and Wuhuan in the north, plus the homeless Southern Xiongnu, the three were tied together, and they were almost wiped out by Gongsun Zhan.

No one would believe this from the perspective of national strength alone. The problem that the powerful Han could not solve, after the split, was easily solved by the small princes in various places.

Especially Gongsun Zhan, the combat power shown is much stronger than that of the Great Han. The three major alien races in the north that they fought by themselves almost wiped out, and I really have to admire their strength.

"National strength, population, money and food can certainly measure whether a country is strong or not, but whether the state of the country is rotten or thriving is also the key. Although the former Han was powerful on the surface, it was rotten on the inside. The combat power it can show is probably not as good as you and me, let alone Yuan Highway. Therefore, the current Great Chu is already unbelievably strong, the national strength is comparable to the Han Dynasty at its peak, and the military strength is more than ten times that of the Han Dynasty ten years ago. Cao Cao sighed.

"In the same way, you and I plus Yuan Benchu can't swallow the rest at all, even if they swallow it forcibly, it will be difficult to digest without a few decades. And after the rest is destroyed, the separatist forces in various parts of the country will rise up, and then we will face an enemy far more powerful than a rest. Therefore, we cannot allow Sabbath to fall when we do not have enough people, troops, and people who know Greek and Sabbath. A decaying rest is the most beneficial thing for us. ”

The language and culture are different, so how easy is it to rule? Yuan Shu had talked to Cao Cao about this. The best way to conquer a country and a people is to conquer and destroy their culture. Otherwise, the rebellion will continue like weeds.

"But in this case, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time!" Liu Bei shook his head slightly.

"It will take a long time and effort to swallow a small one. It's better to lay a good foundation at the beginning than to keep closing all kinds of loopholes later. Just like Yuan Highway, he chose Yangzhou at the beginning and gave up so much, isn't it just for the initial purity? Only benign development can grow, and hastily swallowing it to worsen the situation can only make it difficult for oneself to extricate oneself. Cao Cao said.

"We want to make a good image in the hearts of the resting people that we are here to help them save them. In this way, they will gain their trust and righteousness, and become the 'orthodoxy' in their hearts. You know this better than I do. It is more difficult to swallow the big with a small and take the initiative, which may be even more difficult than you and I imagined. Politically, we need to unify our thinking, we need to suppress the people militarily, we need to ensure that the people's livelihood is improved, and we need to integrate culture. Cao Cao shook his head and said.

Yuan Highway once said that colonization is very different from annexation. Pure military coercion is unreliable, and there are too many things that need to be done to truly annex and rest. At the very least, we must understand the rest, go deep into the rest, and let the resters see us as their own and not as outsiders. ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he sighed lightly and said: "It seems that it is really too difficult for me to think, and it is really difficult to create a foundation in a foreign country!" It's a pity that you and I have a decent army, but the population is too small. Otherwise, everything can be much easier. ”

"yes!" Cao Cao also sighed: "Only now do I understand that the most important thing for a country to be strong is the size of its population. I can't complain that Yuan Highway gritted his teeth with hatred for you and me, after all, we have done too many stupid things to kill chickens and take eggs. It is only now that we understand the importance of population. ”

"Can you discuss with Yuan Highway and ask for more people?" Liu Bei said suddenly.

Cao Cao rolled his eyes: "You think too much, and Yuan Highway is an important person, what is the difference between that and plucking from the iron rooster?" ”

"Yuan Highway now has a population of nearly 40 million, so what about sharing some with us? You and I, plus Yuan Benchu, have a total population of only five or six million. Liu Bei was unwilling.

"So what? Do you really think Yuan Highway is a saint! How could he be so selfless with such a lewd character? It would be good to divide a few of my population, and let the relatives of my soldiers go with you. Cao Cao said speechlessly.

"To put it mildly, you and I and Yuan Benchu are just three chess pieces for him Yuan Highway to throw stones and ask for directions. Even if I am defeated, it will not affect it in the slightest. Yuan Highway helped us because of the affection of the same Han people, giving us a chance and giving the Han people a greater future. If we are defeated, we can only blame ourselves for not being angry, and if we win, we have to think of his goodness. Cao Cao said: "This is a profiteer, you really think he is a good man." ”

Liu Bei was silent for a moment, gritted his teeth and said, "What you said is right, he is a profiteer." used an illusory future, easily exchanged the world from you, me and Yuan Benchu, and let you and me work for him. ”

"Jiang Taigong fished the bait, if you and I were not strong-willed, how could we fall for his plan? While giving us the future, he erased our present, slackened our fighting spirit, and easily took away the world, which is indeed a traitor. Cao Cao smiled bitterly.

Just because you can see through it doesn't mean you won't be fooled. This is different from Cao and Yuan in the Battle of Guandu, on the one hand, Yuan Shu's use of troops is more stable and powerful, which is desperate. On the other hand, the future that Yuan Shu gave the three of them was the real future, not a temporary deception, and there was no need to worry about settling accounts after the autumn.

It was such a small conspiracy, but the three of them were completely separated from morality, and they lost the last chance to fight for the world, although the opportunity was very small. But even so, Cao Cao and the others still had to appreciate it, which was the most maddening thing for Cao Cao.