After the New Year's Eve, although the weather warmed up and the ice and snow began to melt, it felt much colder.

Cao Cao sent someone to congratulate, unexpectedly, but also reasonable, Ye Zhao remembered that Cao Cao back then, really didn't see the shadow of a hero in troubled times, treated people sincerely, but had his own principles and persistence, and there were also smoothness, but most of the tactfulness was for self-preservation, not a conformist person, in short, putting aside all kinds of external factors, Cao Cao was probably a friend that Ye Zhao was willing to make in the real sense after he came to this world.

Cao Cao also regarded Ye Zhao as a friend, but whether it was Cao Cao or Ye Zhao, they would not succumb to each other, the two still had conflicting ideas, but it did not hinder their appreciation of each other, and now Cao Cao sent someone to congratulate him, Ye Zhao naturally could not be stingy, and warmly received Chen Qun who moved on behalf of Cao Cao.

"Brother Meng De is really willing to travel so far for a long time!" In the banquet hall of Taiwei's Mansion, Ye Zhao was on top of the handsome position, looked at Chen Qun and said with a smile: "This Chang'an is new, and there is a lot of waste to be done, if there is any neglect, you have to ask Changwen to take care of one or two, don't go to Meng De to complain, saying that I don't understand hospitality." ”

"It's too serious!" Chen Qun bowed and said: "My lord also often misses the Taiwei, and says some interesting things about Luoyang at the beginning, and often tells us that if the Taiwei can assist the Han family with him, why worry about the uncertain world." ”

"Changwen deceived me, this is by no means Mengde's words, with my understanding of that sunspot, it is estimated that he will speak ill of me behind my back, saying that I am insidious and unkind." Ye Zhao said with a smile.

An embarrassed look flashed on Chen Qun's face, Cao Cao would really say this when he was drunk, but as a subordinate, he couldn't answer Ye Zhao's words, so he could only laugh dryly twice, and changed the topic: "In the next entry into the customs, although it was abandoned after the war, this Chang'an is quite prosperous, and the people I saw along the way did not look panicked, and Taiwei really had a way to govern the place." ”

"This Chang'an has been chaotic for a long time, the people are determined, and the people's requirements are not much, they are well fed and warmly dressed, but unfortunately few people can do it." Ye Zhao said with a smile: "If Changwen is interested, let Zhicai accompany Changwen to walk more in the past few days, Meng De was called the able minister of the world by Xu Zijiang back then, the hero of the troubled times, I heard that in the Central Plains, Meng De is well governed, just to exchange exchanges, see how to make my Han more prosperous, just right, Zhicai is also a person from Yingchuan, you can also communicate." ”

"Then I'll bother Brother Xi." Chen Qun glanced at Xi Zhicai suspiciously, the circle of Yingchuan celebrities is so big, including Hanmen, even if Chen Qun has not seen it, he should have heard of it, but he has no impression of this Xi Zhicai, but as the chief mastermind under Ye Zhao, Chen Qun felt that he should have a good understanding of this Xi Zhicai, and smiled at Xi Zhicai at the moment.

Xi Zhicai smiled and returned the salute, glanced at Ye Zhao, but saw Ye Zhao winking at him, and immediately understood Ye Zhao's plan, this was to tell Cao about Guanzhong's administrative measures through Chen Qun's mouth, obviously wanting to unite with Cao Cao to suppress the family.

The family in this Guanzhong and Shuzhong has almost been suppressed by Ye Zhao, but the Central Plains is still the world of the family, and Ye Zhao's hand can't reach out to the Central Plains, so Ye Zhao hopes that someone in the Central Plains can suppress the family together like him, and Cao Cao is obviously a suitable candidate.

A long time ago, Ye Zhao had talked to Xi Zhicai about some issues about the family, the family can exist, but now the family has swelled to the point where it is enough to influence the world, and it will not create any value itself, but it enjoys eighty percent of the wealth of the Han world, which is also one of the reasons why Ye Zhao suppressed the family.

But only Ye Zhao alone is undoubtedly not enough, even if Ye Zhao has now taken the land of Guanlong and Shuzhong, but because of this, he will be fiercely resisted by the family.

Improving papermaking, ink and the invention of printing, although it can shake the foundation of the family, but can not shake its status, if you go out of the Central Plains at the moment, I am afraid that the Central Plains family would rather take refuge in Lu Bu than to seek refuge in Ye Zhao, therefore, Ye Zhao can not send troops to Kanto for the time being, he needs to imperceptibly add some ideas to the princes, after all, now Ye Zhao's new policy, for the princes, is beneficial and harmless, for their own interests, the princes will more or less follow some Guanzhong system.

First, it can suppress the family, and secondly, it can also make the family and the princes confront, so that the family will have a lot less resistance to Ye Zhao's troops, from this point of view, the princes of the world are actually Ye Zhao's chess pieces, helping Ye Zhao break the chess pieces of the family's circle in one fell swoop.

When he was in Luoyang, the Chen family because of the party ban, his father Chen Ji refused to conquer the imperial court, although he was about the same age as Ye Zhao, and he was a famous man in Yingchuan, but he did not come out, and naturally there was no intersection, but his father Chen Ji was worshiped as a general in the five senses after Dong Zhuo supported Liu Xie, and Ye Zhao had a few faces, and the two sides naturally had topics.

Ye Zhao inquired about Chen Ji's condition, and after setting up a banquet for Chen Qun, he didn't arrange Chen Qun's residence until very late.

"My lord, the minister thought that Chen Qun came this time, in addition to congratulating and sending the edict of King Yong, I am afraid that he still has something to ask for." Early the next morning, Xi Zhicai went to accompany Chen Qun to visit Chang'an, and he skipped work openly, Li Ru sat under Ye Zhao, and he didn't want to work, but told Ye Zhao about Chen Qun.

"Meng De's situation is indeed not good now, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are attacking from the north and south, Nanyang is here, and Lu Bu is an unstable factor!" Ye Zhao knocked on the table and said: "I heard that Yuan Shao has now begun to mobilize troops and horses to prepare to attack Youzhou, although Liu Yu defeated Gongsun Zhan, but his own loss is not small, now Yuan Shao is coming with the momentum of merging, Hebei, and Qingdao, then Liu Yu may not be able to cover it, once Yuan Shao swallows Youzhou, I am afraid it will be the time to go south." ”

Although it is not the same as the situation in history, Gongsun Chan has died in the hands of Liu Yu before he broke his wrist with Yuan Shao, but the general trend will not change much, and the unification of the river / north has been completed, even if Liu Yu now has Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and other fierce generals under his hands, but it is not just the fierce generals who fight, Youzhou is already poor, plus the two have been fighting endlessly over the years, the vitality of Youzhou has been almost exhausted, Liu Bei They are no longer powerful, but it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, not to mention that Youzhou has no danger to defend, and the comprehensive strength cannot fight Yuan Shao at all, It is only a matter of time before it is destroyed.

What's more, Ye Zhao didn't think that Liu Bei would be Yuan Shao's opponent at this time, although over the years, judging from the intelligence from Youzhou, Liu Bei's growth has indeed been very fast, and in addition to Zhang Fei, he has also gathered a lot of talents, but both in quantity and quality, it is difficult to compare with Yuan Shao, who is now in his heyday.

At present, Yuan Shao is in a rising period, both talent and financial resources are in a rising period, and Liu Bei, although Liu Yu is very good to Liu Bei and gives Liu Bei enough trust and rights, but even without Liu Yu, Liu Bei has mastered Youzhou, and his power has been exerted to the limit, whether it is talent, wealth or population, it is difficult to have a big growth in a short period of time.

Li Ru nodded, looked at Ye Zhao and said with a smile: "So, the minister thinks that Cao Cao sent Chen Qun here this time, I am afraid that he wants to form an alliance with the lord." ”

"Alliance?" Ye Zhao narrowed his eyes when he heard this: "If Meng De has this thought, he shouldn't let Liu Yu go!" ”

"I wonder if the lord accepts it?" Li Ru looked at Ye Zhao and asked with a smile.

"Accept it." Ye Zhao nodded naturally: "It's not a bad thing to form an alliance with Meng De now, and at most, we will help him contain Lu Bu, and order Zhang Ren to send troops to garrison Shangyong, so that Lu Bu will not dare to move lightly, and it will not affect the future development of our army, I want to promote the alliance between Meng De and Liu Yu, and attack Yuan Shao from the north and south, and the chances of victory will be greater." ”

Li Ru nodded: "If this is the case, even if Yuan Shao is defeated, then Cao Cao will have to face Liu Yu, and it will be difficult to dominate the river/north!" ”

"But the Jiangdong direction is ......" Ye Zhao shook his head, for a while, he couldn't find anyone to restrict Sun Ce's development, in Ye Zhao's opinion, Sun Ce's threat was much greater than Yuan Shu's.

"Is the lord worried about Yuan Shu?" Li Ru looked at Ye Zhaodao.

Ye Zhao shook his head: "Yuan Shu is not worried, but it is Sun Ce, and look at it, I always feel that this Jiangdong will be occupied by Sun Ce." ”

"Sun Ce?" Li Ru was stunned when he heard this, there is also information about Jiangdong, and now Sun Ce is only leading 3,000 soldiers and horses, and he is fighting against Yan Baihu in Wu County at the moment, and there are few soldiers, no matter how you look at it, it is difficult to oppose Yuan Shu.

"You and I will wait and see, but after the Xiliang is pacified, our army should also form a water army, but the generals in the army are mostly from the north, and they are not connected to water warfare." Ye Zhao sighed and said.

"If you form a water army, the minister thinks that Gan Ning is good." Li Ru pondered.

"Gan Ning?" Ye Zhao looked at Li Ru in surprise, in history, Gan Ning was indeed the general of the Eastern Wu Naval Army, but that was later, and now Gan Ning has been under his command early, and he has not been familiar with the water-based environment at all.

"Don't you know?" Li Ru looked at Ye Zhao suspiciously: "Before Gan Ning defected to the lord, he had entangled a group of idlers in the Dianjiang area and made a lot of trouble, and the eight hundred brocade thieves led by him often took the waterway, which made the officials of Ba County miserable at that time, and was often beaten by his father for this. ”

"Is there such a thing?" When Ye Zhao heard this, his eyes lit up, he didn't expect Gan Ning to have this kind of past.

"This is true, but now Gan Ning is a lot more serious, the minister thinks that he can order Gan Ning to be stationed in Yufu and Zigui to train the navy, or he can pretend to be a water thief and plunder down the river, increase his actual combat experience, and when our army sends troops to Jingxiang, he will be able to establish miraculous achievements." Li Ru bowed down and smiled.

"It's exactly what I want, it's just right, now Xingba is in Chang'an, let him come to see me!" Ye Zhao nodded approvingly when he heard this, originally recruited Gan Ning to Chang'an, which was used to prepare for the conquest of Xiliang, but now it seems that it is not necessary.