Soon in early November, Cao Cao invited Yuan Shu to send troops to attack the pottery merchants, and Yuan Shu verbally agreed, but in fact there was no movement of a single soldier.

Cao Cao didn't care, and personally led his army to besiege Picheng. The 30,000 Cao army stormed Picheng day and night, and the pottery merchants personally went to the city to encourage the soldiers to resist stubbornly, but Cao Cao's progress was slow.

Just when Yuan Shu thought that Xiapi City would become Cao's meat grinder, when Cao and Tao were both defeated, he sent a large army to snatch the fat from Cao Cao, and took the opportunity to eliminate Cao Cao in Xiapi, and then captured Cao Cao's Zhou, Xiapi City was a sudden change.

On the eighth day of November, Cao Bao, the defender of Geyi Mountain, faced the strong pressure of Cao Cao's army and the temptation of Cao Cao's promised high-ranking officials, and raised a flag to Cao Cao. After Cao Cao occupied Geyi Mountain, Xiapicheng immediately became a lonely city, and Cao Cao sent the surrendered Taishou Changfeng of the East China Sea to say that Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others in Picheng were surrendered. Zang Ba, Sun Guan and Chang Feng and others are both Taishan County, deep friendship, due to natural disasters and man-made disasters in adulthood, life is difficult, quite a few brave people fell into the grass Taishan to do the business of occupying the mountain as the king, and then they were recruited by Tao Qian together, assisting Tao Qian to exterminate the Yellow Turban thieves in Xuzhou, all of whom were entrusted with important positions. Zangba and others learned from Chang Xuan's mouth that Ge Yi Mountain had been lost, and Xia Pi City was isolated and helpless, and was about to be lost, and Chang Feng persuaded each other with brotherhood, and Zang Ba and others decided to take refuge in Cao Cao. And that night they opened the north gate of their defense, and let Cao's army enter the city. Although Cao was forced into the city, most of the defenders were unwilling to give up resistance, and they had seen too many corpses floating down from the Surabaya River in the past two years, and they feared that if they gave up resistance, they would be slaughtered as pigs and sheep by Cao Cao like those people. Cao Cao has the heart to change his image, but he will not be soft on the people who choose to oppose him, and he does not have time to be merciful, he must fight quickly, before Yuan Shu reacts, stabilize the situation in Xiapi, under the command of Xiahou Yuan and others, Cao Jun launched a fierce attack on the stubborn Tao Shang army, due to the assistance of Zang Ba and Sun Guan, Cao's army progressed smoothly, and captured the city of Xiapi, which is known as the fortress, the defenders died more than 11,000 people, and the rest were captured. The people in the city were worried that Cao Cao would slaughter the city after breaking through Xiapi, and many people spontaneously took up arms to resist Cao's army, and later after counting, nearly 20,000 people died because of this, but this number was tampered with by Cao Cao, Cao Cao knew that if the news spread, Xuzhou people's hatred of him will undoubtedly add a heavy stroke, which is extremely unfavorable for him who is eager to stabilize Xuzhou and eliminate Xuzhou people's hatred of him, and finally announced that there are only more than 500 people killed. And most of them died at the hands of potters in the chaos of the city.

After scolding Cao Cao under the gaze of hundreds of Cao troops, the potter generously drew his sword and killed himself, Zhao Yu died in the chaos, and Chen Qi and his son, Mi Zhu and others were captured. Later, Cao Cao buried the pottery merchant next to Tao Qian's tomb, Cao Cao did not embarrass the pottery merchant's family, but they obviously could not continue to live in Xuzhou, with the hatred of the people of Xuzhou for Cao Cao and the prestige of the Tao family in Xuzhou, it is undoubtedly a huge hidden danger to put them in Xuzhou, Cao Cao did not want to continue to trouble from now on, so they all moved to Yanzhou to settle down. Cao Cao tried to persuade Chen Qi and others to serve him, but they were not interested in Cao Cao, whose hands were stained with the blood of the people of Xuzhou, and refused the olive branch thrown by Cao Cao, but Cao Cao was not angry, and let them return to their hometown after removing them from their official positions.

After capturing Picheng, Liangcheng, Siwu and other places saw that they could not do anything, and surrendered to Cao Cao after Cao Cao promised not to harm the lives of a single person in the city.

Yuan Shu couldn't help but be shocked when he learned that Cao Cao had easily defeated Xiapi, and that tens of thousands of pottery merchants' troops had been wiped out overnight. At this time, he could no longer take care of Taoguang Yanghui, and with an order, the army occupied the lower prime minister and took care of it after taking Xutai and other places, and confronted Cao Cao in Xiapi.

Yuan Shu summoned Cao Cao to discuss the ownership of Xuzhou, and Cao Cao immediately told Yuan Shu that he would withdraw from Xuzhou as promised, and cede Yaoxi, Donghai, Xiapi and other places to Yuan Shu, but his army suffered heavy casualties in the battle, hoping that Yuan Shu could allow him to borrow Xiapi to recuperate. In order to show his sincerity, he was willing to hand over Yao Ya and Donghai to Yuan Shu first.

Yuan Shu learned that Cao Cao's consumption in Xiapi was not large, and if he turned his face at this time, he might not be able to win, not to mention that Cao Cao's conquest of Xu's army and the connection between Xuzhou were cut off by his territory, to put it bluntly, it was a lone army, not to be afraid, what if Cao Cao stayed longer? As long as he cut off Cao Cao's supply lines, Cao's army would be defeated without a fight. Moreover, the two armies were still allied at this time, if they didn't even agree to Cao Cao's request, I was afraid that the people of the world would regard him as a narrow-minded person, and Yuan Shu, who was eager to be the emperor, naturally did not want to lose such a reputation, so he agreed to Cao Cao's request.

Cao Cao then sent a warm letter of thanks to Yuan Shu, and ordered all Cao troops in Yaoya and all parts of the East China Sea to evacuate and hand over the city to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu saw that Cao Cao handed over Yaoya and Donghai without hesitation, and when he was overjoyed, he also lost his original vigilance, Yang Hong and others were struggling to persuade Yuan Shu to be vigilant, or take the initiative to attack Cao Cao, where did Yuan Shu listen?

Soon after, Cao Cao told Yuan Shu that the grain harvest in Yanzhou was insufficient, the logistics supply was insufficient, and the army of Xu was short of food, and hoped that Yuan Shu would provide some grain and grass.

Yuan Shu saw that Cao Cao actually put forward the figure of 300,000 stones, and scolded Cao Cao for being insatiable, and dared to mention to himself that the army was insufficient? Yaoya and Donghai are places of abundant cereals, with good harvests over the years and overflowing treasury, but after Cao Jun handed over the handover, his people did not find a grain of grain in the warehouse, where did the grain go? Needless to say, it was naturally looted by Cao Cao, but for the sake of Cao Cao's concession of the two counties, he was not dissatisfied with it, and those materials should be regarded as military expenses for Cao Cao's army! Moreover, the potters hoarded hundreds of thousands of stone grain and grass in Xiapi, and most of these became Cao Cao's trophies, so Cao Cao would be short of grain? Only a fool would believe it! Yuan Shu was certainly not stupid, he expected that Cao Cao wanted to use Xiapi to make a deal with him in exchange for some grain, because he knew that Cao Cao had always faced a shortage of grain and grass. Yuan Shu naturally did not want to be strong against the enemy, but Cao Cao's words had already been spoken, and he couldn't say anything if he didn't make some expressions, so he told Cao Cao that he also lacked food and grass, but for the sake of the two armies, he was willing to squeeze out 10,000 stone from the rations of his army and give it to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao really did as Yuan Shu expected, unwilling to agree, in this letter to Yuan Shu said that after the attack on Xiapi, he felt very guilty about his past massacre of the people of Xuzhou, in order to atone for his crimes, he gave the captured grain to the people of Xiapi, and now his quartermaster complained to him every day that he couldn't do it anymore, because every time he finished eating, those soldiers who were not full would block the quartermaster and ask for an explanation. If it weren't for his repeated statement that Yuan Shu would not support more food, the army might mutiny at any time! Not to mention that Yuan Shu didn't believe Cao Cao's words at all, not to mention that if Cao Jun really mutinied, I am afraid that Yuan Shu would fall into Yuan Shu's hands, so Yuan Shu insisted on only giving 10,000 stones.

Cao Cao pleaded again and again, but Yuan Shu insisted on not letting go. In the end, Cao Cao told Yuan Shu that since this was the case, he also understood Yuan Shu's difficulties, but the army could not do it without food, so he had to transfer some grain from Yanzhou.

Yuan Shu naturally will not object to this, you Cao Cao will be lucky, hundreds of miles of grain road down, ten percent can leave three or four achievements is good, the more you transport, the greater the consumption, see how long you can last!

On December 13, as Yuan Shu had predicted, Cao Cao could not bear the consumption of the grain on the way, and told Yuan Shu that he intended to withdraw his troops and asked Yuan Shu to go and receive Xiapi. Yuan Shu, who was optimistic, was suddenly overjoyed, and immediately prepared to set off for Xiapi, and at the same time, Yuan Shu also paid attention to it, and prepared to return to Huainan immediately after receiving Xiapi to establish the country and claim the emperor!

Sun Ce, who was packing up and preparing to go to Xiapi with Yuan Shu, was stopped by a heroic man with a tall body and a face like beautiful jade.

"What does Gong Jin mean by this?" Sun Ce looked at this person puzzled.

No need for this, this is the famous and untimely beauty Zhou Yu in later generations! Of course, saying that he was not at the right time is actually a misunderstanding of the romance, just because there is a record of Zhou Yu dying in the romance by shouting "both Shengyu, He Shengliang", and only because Zhou Lang in the romance has become Zhuge Liang's foil!

Zhou Yu's eyes flashed with confidence, and he said: "I expect that Yuan Highway will definitely be in danger when he goes, if Bo Fu goes with him, won't he fall into danger?" ”

"Why?" Sun Ce said.

"Is Cao Cao's consumption of food and grass and the sacrifice of the lives of countless soldiers really just to avenge the killing of his father? No, never! Cao Cao's ambitions are lofty, but the surrounding situation is very unfavorable to him, so that he has been weak and difficult to grow, and the people of Xuzhou are prosperous and rich, and Xuzhou is the most important step in his plot to the world, how can he give up? ”

"I also had doubts before, but now he only has Pi, Liangcheng, Siwu, and Quyang counties in his hands, if he is not willing to give up Xuzhou, why did he give up Yaoya and Donghai to Yuan Shu, just four counties, advance and retreat, and lose contact with Xuzhou, once he has a bad relationship with Yuan Shu, isn't it a self-defeating way?"

"This is exactly where Cao Cao is clever, Bo Fu was also suspicious of Cao Cao before, but when Cao Cao sent out Yaoya and the two counties of the East China Sea, Bo Fu was convinced of it, and asked Yuan Highway how he would feel after getting Yaoya and the East China Sea?"

"Yuan Shurat's eyes are narrow, and he has been convinced of Cao Cao since he got Yaoya and the East China Sea!" Sun Ce didn't think about it.

Zhou Yu smiled: "Yes, this is Cao Cao's purpose, as long as Yuan Highway lets down his guard, then Xuzhou will be obtained by Cao Cao!" ”

Why is that? Cao Cao's soldiers were only more than 30,000 people, but Yuan Shu personally led 50,000 elites to go, how could Cao Cao resist? As long as Cao Cao can't defeat Yuan Shu in one fell swoop, Donghai, Pengcheng, and even Huainan reinforcements will be sent together, won't Cao Cao seek his own death? ”

"Bo Fu is wrong, how Cao Cao is only more than 30,000 people, according to my guess, the Cao army will never be less than 60,000 now! Cao Cao conquered 40,000 Xu's army, and there were about 30,000 left after repeated battles, but don't forget that he still has 30,000 Xuzhou troops in his hands, with his means, it must have been absorbed by him for more than a month, and Cao Cao also took the opportunity to escort the military rations to secretly transfer 5,000 elites to Xiapi! ”

"Since Cao Cao had the heart to plot against Xuzhou, why did he give up Yaoya and the East China Sea? Just to paralyze Yuan Shu? ”

"First, second, Bo Fu, please think, after Cao Cao gave up Yaoya and the East China Sea, where did Yuan Shu send troops to occupy it?"

"Taishan, Pengcheng and other counties!"

"Not bad! Cao Cao gave up Yaoya and the East China Sea, not only gathered his main force in one place, but also took the opportunity to disperse Yuan Shu's garrisons in Taishan, Pengcheng and other counties, which gave Cao Cao the opportunity to raid Taishan and other counties. Cao Cao will Yaoya, the East China Sea looted, Yuan Highway empty army, city, but no supply, once Cao Cao captured Mount Tai and other counties, cut off the supply of the Yuan army in the two counties, less than a month, Yuan army will inevitably open the city to beg to surrender! Cao Cao only handed over the two counties to Yuan Shu for a few months, not only would he not lose an inch of land, but he would earn Taishan, Pengcheng and other counties, and he could collect and surrender tens of thousands of Yuan Highway troops, wonderful! I often hear people say that Cao Cao is meticulous and intelligent, and today Fang is well-known and deserved! ”

"But all this must be based on the premise that he can quickly defeat Yuan Shu in Xiapi, if he fails, he will inevitably suffer Yuan Shu's crazy revenge, with Cao Cao's current strength, I am afraid it will be difficult to match!"

"Bo Fu and seeing that Yuan Highway's army cheered and looked defenseless, Bo Fu thought that Yuan Highway had a chance of winning? Even if Cao Cao is difficult to win in Xiapi for a while, as long as he attacks and occupies Mount Tai, Pengcheng and other places, he will have the strength to fight against Yuan Highway, and if he manages it well in the future, Yuan Shu will not be his enemy! ”

Sun Ce laughed and said: "Gong Jin praises Cao Cao for being meticulous and intelligent, in my opinion, Cao Cao is far inferior to Gong Jin, and he has hidden Yuan Shu from the carving insect tricks, but he can't hide it from Gong Jin at all!" ”

Zhou Yu smiled and didn't say anything, but in his heart he regarded Cao Cao as a great enemy.

"Once Yuan Highway is killed in Xiapi, the Shouchun group of dragons will be leaderless, and there will be chaos, and then it will be the time when Bo Fu will ride the wind and roar the world!"

Over the years, Sun Ce has been dreaming about how to restore the glory of his father, and after listening to Zhou Yu's words, he suddenly felt that he had a God-given opportunity, how could he miss it, but after thinking about it, he hesitated a little: "Yuan Shu has never trusted me, and he covets the jade seal of the country in my hand, I am afraid that it will be difficult for him to let me go!" ”

"It's easy, I heard that the old lady is not feeling well......"

"Haha, good Zhou Gongjin...... Sun Ce laughed a few times and walked out. When he walked in front of Yuan Shu, he looked sad and anxious, Yuan Shu heard that his mother was sick, but he did not suspect it, and asked him to rush back to Shouchun to visit. Sun Ce was grateful, said goodbye to Yuan Shu, and led more than 100 families to Shouchun all the way.