In March of the fifth year of Tai'an (208 A.D. Jian'an 13 years), with the destruction of the two cities of Gaotang and Zhuxian, the area north of the Yellow River was all obtained by Ye Zhao, Ye Zhao ordered the law to be the history of Jizhou Thorn, restore the livelihood of Jizhou, and at the same time ordered Fang Yuetun to garrison Gaotang and Ding Li garrison Puyang to guard against the attack of Cao's army.

Although Jizhou won the battle, but Ma Chao's loss made Ye Zhao a little heartbroken, Ma Teng found Ma Chao's body, but chased Cao Cao for nearly a hundred miles, but unfortunately Cao Cao had already taken the first step, and when Ma Teng caught up, Cao Cao had already crossed the river, and Ma Teng could only return to Jizhou with great unwillingness.

Take Jizhou, Ye Zhao did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, first, to Jizhou, Youzhou Xinding, digestion takes time, second, since he left, Zhang Yue, who stayed in the court, passed back some things that made Ye Zhao feel uneasy, which made Ye Zhao very sad, after Ye Zheng finished his marriage for a month, after Ye Zhao took over Nanyang and Runan smoothly, he sent Ye Zheng back to Chang'an.

Nominally, it was because Ye Zheng was greedy for merit, although from the point of view of the results, Ye Zheng had a lot of credit in this battle, but in fact, if any step went wrong, for Ye Zheng, Ye Zhao probably had to consider taking Ye Zheng's position from his other sons.

Accompanying him, in addition to the newlywed Yan'er's Lu Lingqi, Ye Zheng's three henchmen Guo Huai, Hao Zhao, and Wang Shuang, in addition, Ye Zhao transferred Lu Bu's general to Yulin Military Academy, responsible for the defense of Chang'an, and Cao Xing was transferred to Fengche Lieutenant.

This arrangement makes people a little incomprehensible, it stands to reason that Gao Shun and Cao Xing are the new generals, even if Ye Zhao values them and is transferred to the army to command the troops, but this time, it is the important military power of Chang'an City to the two people, you know, the commander of these two men and horses, all along, non-cronies are incompetent, and when Ye Zhao was in Chang'an, although the Yulin Military Academy Captain and Fengche Captain had them, but the two soldiers and horses were in the hands of Ye Zhao, this time, these two important military powers were placed in the hands of two newly surrendered outsiders, This makes many people unable to understand.

Of course, there are also people who can understand, but those who can understand obviously won't say anything, while Ye Zhao stayed in Luoyang, presiding over the reconstruction of Luoyang while watching the situation in the Central Plains.

During the period when Cao Cao and Ye Zhao were fighting in Jizhou, Sun Ce suddenly led the army to capture Xuzhou and waved his troops to Qingzhou.

Just when everyone thought that there would be a dragon and tiger battle between Cao Cao and Sun Ce, and a famous military general was ready to wait for both sides to lose and annex the Central Plains in one go, Cao Cao's reaction surprised most people.

Cao Cao decisively gave up Qingzhou and evacuated all the people west of Linzi, which was tantamount to giving Qingzhou to Sun Ce.

"This Cao Cao, is he stupid!?" In the temporary camp of Luoyang Xinxiu, looking at the information that had just come, Dian Wei grinned.

"He's not stupid, don't talk nonsense if you don't understand." Ye Zhao looked at the intelligence, frowned, and shook his head.

Guo Jia on the side sighed: "This person is really decisive enough, in this way, Cao Cao and Sun Ce are probably going to be an alliance!" ”

As soon as Guo Jia's words came out, not to mention Dian Wei, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Hua Xiong and others who were listening on the side were also confused when they heard this, they were robbed of the territory of the two states, not only did they not resist, but they also had to form an alliance with others, so it sounded, how did they feel that Cao Cao was a little guilty?

"Sir, it's unlikely, isn't it?" Lu Bu glanced at Jia Xu beside him, a little incredible.

"Judging from Cao Cao's current actions, it is very likely." Jia Xu shook his head, with a bit of appreciation in his eyes.

"That's politics." Ye Zhao glanced at Lu Bu and said with a smile: "Politically, the emphasis is on interests rather than personal grievances, as long as the interests are consistent, it is the revenge of killing the father, which can be put aside for the time being, although Sun Ce has seized the land of Qingxu Erzhou, but it is also fully bordered by our army, for Sun Ce, Cao Cao is sandwiched in the Central Plains, and he can only rely on him to compete with our army, and for Meng De, only by joining forces with Sun Ce, can we fight against our army, and now we are the biggest enemies of the two families, before defeating us, the two families will restrain the grudge in their hearts." ”

Since Lu Bu entered Luoyang, perhaps because his skills were abolished, he has delegated power very thoroughly, coupled with the relationship between his in-laws, the unhappiness in the past has also dissipated a lot, and he took the initiative to recommend Gao Shun and Cao Xing to Ye Zhao, which also made Ye Zhao quite satisfied, and did not treat Lu Bu harshly, while retaining Lu Bu's official title, he also allowed Lu Bu to participate in the deliberations between Ye Zhao and the generals under his command.

"So what now?" Hua Xiong looked at Ye Zhao, the two families are united, now will they fight Cao Cao first, or Sun Ce first?

"Take a break!" Ye Zhao said with a smile: "Although Cao Cao can decisively give up Erzhou, it does not mean that the generals under his command can, between the two sides, it is inevitable that there will be contradictions, and if it is too tight at the moment, it will only allow the two sides to cooperate sincerely, suspend the attack on the Central Plains, and at the same time make every effort to digest the land gained in this battle, and wait for the opportunity." ”

Of course, it can't really be as simple as waiting, with Ye Zhao's current momentum and military strength, even if he attacks, it may not be impossible to defeat it, it's just a matter of price, but Ye Zhao wants to calm the world at the lowest cost, and now the two are united, and the momentum is flourishing, Ye Zhao doesn't want to make senseless sacrifices, so he decided to suspend the progress and instead digest the newly acquired territory, however, the internal infiltration of the Cao Sun Alliance still has to continue.

Everyone saw that Ye Zhao had already made up his mind, and he didn't say much, and then, according to Ye Zhao's instructions, this time the territory expanded a lot of Jizhou, Youzhou, plus Nanyang, Runan, and Chenliu counties, how to govern and how to deploy troops is a big problem, especially the land of Runan, which is equivalent to bordering the other three princes, Jingzhou can be attacked from the fall, Sun Ce can also fight when he goes to Jiujiang, and Cao Cao's force points are more.

Once the war broke out, Runan and Chen Liu would definitely be the first place to be beaten, the foundation was too weak, but since the beginning of the year, Liu Biao has fallen ill in bed, Jingzhou is temporarily safe, and Cao Cao has just been defeated, Sun Ce has just won the land of Qingxu and Xuzhou, and he is not able to start a war again for the time being, Ye Zhao can take advantage of this time to consolidate, and the first thing to do is to expand the army.

In order to enrich Luoyang, Ye Zhao migrated 500,000 people from Nanyang, Chenliu and Jizhou into Luoyang, accelerated the reconstruction of Luoyang, and at the same time restored the population of Yanshi, Gucheng and other places in Luoyang.

And Ye Zhao, as usual, after planning the direction, let the account perform its own duties, but was responsible for supervising some important expenses, as for the rest, Ye Zhao did not participate too much, more often, he continued to train or stayed in the Shengong camp, and developed his brain with a group of craftsmen to think about what could be improved.

"My lord." On this day, as soon as Ye Zhao came back from the Shengong camp, he saw Li Ru standing at the door with a smile waiting for him.

"Wen Wei is here, but something happened?" Ye Zhao smiled and brought Li Ru into the mansion and said with a smile.

"Confucianism is here, but it is a gift to the lord on behalf of others." Li Ru said with a smile.

"Zhang Yan again?" Ye Zhao raised his eyebrows and said: "Tell him that there are clear orders in our army, no merit is rewarded, no incompetence is not official, he has the ability and meritorious service, as long as he does not make mistakes, he will have the opportunity to be promoted in the future, as for the disbandment of the Montenegrin army, it is not because of him, the Montenegrin army is uneven, and it needs to be reorganized, not because of him, don't use these side methods." ”

Perhaps because of his background, Zhang Yan has been under Ye Zhao's command, especially after the Black Mountain Army was disbanded and returned to the field by Ye Zhao, Zhang Yan seemed to have persecution paranoia, and always thought that Ye Zhao wanted to cook rabbits and dogs.

This made Ye Zhao a little crying and laughing, even if the rabbit died and the dog cooked, which round would be on him?

When Li Ru heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly, sometimes, the lord is too smart, which will make them feel a little useless as courtiers.

"The lord and the minister have different opinions." Taking a deep breath, Li Ru bowed and said, although Ye Zhao was a little dissatisfied with Zhang Yan's actions, there were some things that he still had to say.

"Speak!" Ye Zhao leaned back in his chair and looked at Li Rudao.

"The minister thought that the gift sent by Zhang Yan this time should be accepted by the lord." Li Ru bowed and said: "That Zhang Yan's move is a villain, but it is also because of the panic in his heart, if the lord does not accept it, I am afraid that Zhang Yan will think that the lord has a heart against him, although the Black Mountain Army has been dismissed, but Zhang Yan's prestige in this Taihang Mountain area can not be eliminated in a short time, at present, our army and Cao Cao, Sun Ce may start a war at any time, if Zhang Yan surrenders and rebels at this time, it will interfere with the Jizhou area, and the minister sees that this person is not ambitious, it is better to accept it to calm his heart." ”

To put it simply, Zhang Yan's gift is not to bribe Ye Zhao, Zhang Yan, who was born at the bottom, may have no problem fighting, but his political skills and vision are obviously still at the level of eating people and taking people short, so he wants to exchange for his own safety in this way, in this regard, Li Ru obviously sees it more thoroughly than Ye Zhao, although Ye Zhao is good at calculating people's hearts, but with his current status, not everyone is qualified to let him bother to calculate, at least Zhang Yan is not among them, Li Ru's reminder also made Ye Zhao come back to his senses.

"Okay, just let me see the gift from Zhang Yan." Ye Zhao waved his hand.

"Please wait, lordship." Li Ru smiled and nodded, and ordered his subordinates to go outside the door to summon the people sent by Zhang Yan.

Now Zhang Yan has been named the general of Pingbei, guarding in Jizhou, in fact, he has no military power in his hands, but is only responsible for the transfer of grain and grass in Fang Yue and Ding Li and monitoring the movements of the Wuhuan clan outside the Saiwai, Xu Rong is now named the history of Youzhou Thorn, in fact, in Youzhou, it is not his turn to intervene, to put it bluntly, although there are officials, but in fact there are not many rights.