Guo Jia is worthy of being the chief strategist under Cao Cao's account, and when he saw that he was speechless at this time, he was listening to his words, and he talked about it confidently: "My lord, since the time when the princes of the Eighteenth Route of Kanto discussed Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao has been the leader of the alliance, and since then, he has divided Hebei, recruited troops and horses, and has many strategists under him, and there are not a few good generals; After Gongsun Chan is pacified, his ambitions will inevitably point to the Central Plains, if the lord destroys Yuan Shu at this moment, he will inevitably give him a reason to send troops, so that he can send troops to fight against us in a righteous and bright way! ”

After Cao Cao heard this, he patted his head, "Oh, Fengxiao's words are exactly what I thought." After speaking, he saw Liu Ye's swollen red face, and hurriedly comforted: "However, what Zi Yang said is not unreasonable, there is no high or low between strategists, not to mention that you are both my Cao Mengde's courtiers, so you must not damage our unity because of this small difference of opinion." ”

After Liu Ye heard this, he felt a little more comfortable, and nodded his head again and again.

Cao Cao is not an assertive person, and his strategy is not inferior to every strategist present, but the reason why he still lets his subordinates speak, is mainly because he wants to brainstorm and fully absorb everyone's opinions.

At this moment, Cao Mengde was squinting his small eyes, thinking carefully about a question.

That is, Zhao Yue is coming, how can he take into account the external discussion and the friendly exchange internally at the same time? After a while, Cao Cao smiled, he suddenly thought of a good idea, so he opened his mouth and said to Xiahoudun: "Yuan Rang, Zhao Changjiao is going to come to Xuchang recently, you go down now to prepare, and lead five thousand elite cavalry to meet it. ”

Xiahoudun hurriedly received the order, ignoring the delicious food that had not yet been tasted at the banquet, got up and took the talisman handed over by Cao Cao, turned around and walked out of the mansion.

Cao Cao's mansion is not big, and it is not like Zhao Yue, and it is only a small place in Luoyang City, and a unique mansion has been established, during which various flowers and plants are planted, and it is also decorated with due bronze and silver decorations, and there are not a few servants and maids who let themselves go.

This is enough to see Cao Cao's frugality and incorruptibility.

After Xiahoudun left, Cheng Yu asked puzzledly: "Lord, Fang is discussing whether to send troops to exterminate Yuan Shu, and how to deal with Sun Ce's hostility, why did the lord suddenly change his mouth and order to send a general to lead heavy troops to meet the visitors from Luoyang?" Could it be that the lord decided to let Yuan Shu go to Hebei, and even more so to implement a defense against Sun Ce? With all due respect, that would be too passive, and I would be afraid of being a fish on the chopping board of others. ”

Cao Cao listened to Cheng Yu's words, just smiled slightly, and did not speak, in fact, he already had an idea in his heart, a good way to receive Zhao Yue and show Zhao Yue his strength, and at the same time to annihilate the remnants of Yuan Shu's army and start a war with Sun Ce.

However, he didn't say it directly, just waved his hand and smiled: "Eh, Fang Fengxiao analyzed the matter so thoroughly, if I rashly annihilate Yuan Shu again, I am afraid that Yuan Shao will come to ask for the guilt, our current strength is really not his opponent." ”

When Cheng Yu heard this, he just wanted to speak again, but he heard Guo Jia on the side say calmly: "Since the lord has decided to send troops to conquer Yuan Shu, and at the same time start a war with Sun Ce, why should he say this joke to us?" ”

When Cao Cao heard this, he was stunned at first, then pointed at Guo Jia, and said with a hearty smile: "Hahaha, those who know me, Feng Xiaoye!" Yes, I sent Xiahoudun to lead heavy troops to pick up Zhao Yue, just to show that young man my military might, I heard that he brought 3,000 people, I want him to see, is his subordinate soldiers brave, or my Central Plains soldiers are strong! ”

Speaking of this, Cao Cao paused, looked around the banquet, and then continued with a serious expression: "Before he arrives in Xuchang, I will first let the envoy go to Xuzhou with a book, teach Zang Ba to destroy Yuan Shu, send the head here, and show the young Zhao Yue, well, on the banquet for him, the head of Yuan Highway is a gift!" ”

Cao Cao's treatment of Zhao Yue was very subtle, neither too boastful nor derogatory, but just kept repeating that Zhao Yue was a young man, which made some people at the banquet not quite understand Cao Cao's true attitude towards Zhao Yue.

Yu Ban was sitting cross-legged on the table, with a serious appearance, it seemed that he was very confident in his martial arts, listening to Cao Cao's words, he couldn't hold back the mood of meritorious service in his heart, and kept asking: "Lord, what next?" What should Sun Ce do over there? ”

Cao Cao smiled treacherously: "Sun Ce's side? When the time comes, we and the coalition forces will fight with Sun Ce, which will inevitably let the outside world see the unity of our two forces, so that Yuan Shao will not dare to raise troops in the Central Plains, and at the same time, let Zhao Yue follow Kuang Ting, and see the demeanor and growth of our army again. We can't hear about him all these days, and not let him see what we are capable of! ”

After saying that, Cao Cao couldn't help but get up, half-knelt on the seat, stretched out his hand, and slapped the table. Seeing this, all the civil ministers and military generals during the banquet praised in unison: "Lord Shengming! ”

After Guo Jia finished speaking, he actually understood in his heart that Cao Cao's move was so morale-inspiring, but in fact, he was also afraid of Zhao Yue, who had just established Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, so he wanted to take this opportunity to see how capable Zhao Yue's soldiers, generals and strategists were.

However, Cao Cao said that he was going to fight against Sun Ce, and all the strategists did not refute it, in fact, they all just acquiesced in their hearts that this time to send troops to fight against Sun Ce was just a test for each other.

The only reason is that there is Yuan Shao to the north of Cao Cao, and Liu Biao to the left of Sun Ce.

For Sun Ce, who had just occupied Shouchun, he let his younger brother Sun Quan and the two most proud ministers manage the affairs of the city, also to exercise his brother's ability, and he himself trained with Zhou Yu in Jiujiang Port in order to deter Cao Cao in the Central Plains.

Zhou Yu had already expected that Cao Cao would not easily allow the young Sun Ce to show off his might in front of him, so he proposed to Sun Ce that he use Lu Su as an envoy to go to Chen Ce, a bandit who was active in the Lujiang area, and ask him to send troops to Shouchun to resist the upcoming Cao Cao's army.

Sun Ce readily agreed, and even sent Tai Shici, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin, three generals, to lead 20,000 troops to Shouchun to jointly defend against the enemy, but he himself was not ready to go to Shouchun with his righteous brother Zhou Gongjin to help his younger brother, he wanted to see what Sun Quan would do, whether he would lose Shouchun, or completely defeat the enemy.

Thinking of this, Sun Ce would talk with Zhou Yu at the wine table and laugh out loud. (To be continued.) )