Liu Bei looked at Cao Hui's slender back and almost blurted out a promise. At this time, Cao Hui's shadow disappeared behind the screen, Liu Bei only felt that his eyes were empty, and he suddenly came to his senses, and hurriedly coughed twice, covering the embarrassment on his face, and said, "Thank you General Cao for your kindness." It's just that the people of Xuzhou are in trouble and miserable, how can Liu be greedy for his children's private affairs? ”

Cao Bao saw that his careful arrangement was about to succeed, and the Cao family's status in Xuzhou would continue to be maintained, and it was even possible to go one step further and become the first family in Xuzhou.

After listening to Liu Bei's words, Cao Bao's expression was stunned, and he hurriedly said: "The last general knows that the lord already has a family, but the lord is just when the Spring and Autumn Period is prosperous, so what's the harm in marrying a few more wives and concubines?" As for the people of Xuzhou, Cao has a lot of money and is willing to donate a batch of money and grain to help the lord! ”

Cao Bao had heard that Liu Bei had a wife surnamed Gan, but he didn't know that Gan Mei was just Liu Bei's concubine, and what he meant was that as long as Liu Bei was willing, even if he let his daughter make Liu Bei small.

This Cao Hui's appearance is not under Ganmei, otherwise Lu Bu would not marry Cao Hui again if he had two beauties in history, Yan Rui and Minchan, and he would marry her as a wife rather than a concubine. Liu Bei was indeed a little fascinated just now, but he was a person who planned great things, and now the situation is unknown, he not only has to maintain his image, but also keep a clear head, and that little bit of lust has already been thrown out of the clouds by him.

Liu Bei stood up, walked up to Cao Bao, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "General Cao can take the initiative to donate money and food, and Liu has thanked General Cao on behalf of the people of Xuzhou." As for Liu's relationship with Ling Ai, please forgive Liu for not being able to obey his fate. ”

Seeing the disappointment on Cao Bao's face, Liu Bei smiled and said, "General Cao, if you can do such a righteous act, Liu will naturally not treat you badly." You can recuperate with peace of mind, and after the injury recovers, Liu will be entrusted with important tasks. ”

In history, Liu Bei came from a humble background, but he was able to attract Cao Cao's attention, and he had his own advantages, so how could he not guess Cao Bao's careful thoughts. Xuzhou's military power, Liu Bei must firmly grasp it in his hands no matter what. However, Liu Bei does not have many capable people, although Cao Bao's skills are mediocre, he is also a person who has led troops for many years, and he is more or less familiar with military affairs than others. In the current situation where no one is available, Cao Bao can be regarded as a "talent".

Cao Bao was very relieved after eating this reassuring pill, and hurriedly said: "Thank you, lord, the last general will go to General Guan tomorrow to listen to the order!" ”

He originally planned to sacrifice his daughter to Liu Bei to maintain his position as the first person in the Xuzhou army, but now Liu Bei politely refused, so he had to retreat. In fact, if Cao Bao had heard of Liu Bei's famous saying "Brothers are like siblings, wives are like clothes", he would not have such an idea.

Liu Bei walked out of Cao's Mansion with his hands behind his back with a relaxed face, and saw Jian Yong hurrying over with a team of personal soldiers.

It turned out that Jian Yong learned that Liu Bei personally sent Cao Bao home, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong, which was beneficial and harmless to shorten the distance between Liu Bei and the local scholars in Xuzhou after all. However, when he heard that Liu Bei had entered Cao's Mansion and had not come out for a long time, he couldn't help but be worried, and hurriedly ordered a team of personal soldiers to greet him.

Seeing Liu Bei walking out unscathed, Jian Yong breathed a sigh of relief, took a step forward, and arched his hand and said: "The subordinates are late to greet him, and I hope that the lord will forgive his sins!" ”

Liu Bei knew what Jian Yong was worried about, so he waved at the carriage parked outside the gate of Cao's mansion and said, "Xianhe, you came just in time, let's get in the car." ”

After Jian Yong sat down, Liu Bei continued: "Xianhe, you are too worried. Cao Bao is an incompetent person, does he dare to harm Liu? Not only did he not dare to harm Liu, but he almost dedicated his daughter to Liu. ”

When Jian Yong heard that Cao Bao was actually going to dedicate his daughter to Liu Bei, he naturally understood Cao Bao's plan, and couldn't help laughing, and said: "This is a beautiful thing, why don't you go down the river and agree to it?" The Cao family is also a big family in Xuzhou, and with the funding of the Cao family, it can alleviate the dilemma of shortage of money and food. This is the same reason as the subordinates who asked the Mi family for the lord at the beginning, and this time it was Cao Bao who took the initiative to send him, wouldn't it be more troublesome? ”

Liu Bei shook his head and said, "Mi Zhu is a righteous gentleman, but Cao Bao is a villain, how can the two be compared?" If Liu marries Cao Bao's daughter, I am afraid that he will put forward many conditions, which will be harmful to major events. ”

Regarding Liu Bei's words, Jian Yong deeply agreed. If Liu Bei marries the Mi family, Mi Zhu will definitely help Liu Bei complete the great cause. Cao Bao is different, he is afraid that he wants to seek benefits for the Cao family through his marriage with Liu Bei. Jian Yong couldn't help but nodded, and instructed the coachman: "Send the lord back to the house." ”

Liu Bei waved his hand and said, "Don't hurry back to the house first." Xianhe, let's go to the barracks and have a look. ”

After this farce in Cao Bao's mansion, Liu Bei seemed to wake up from a dream, and the thought of making out with Gan Mei just now was also thrown to Java.

In the military camp in Xuzhou, Guan Yu was seizing the time to carry out a comprehensive rectification of the army. Although the army in Xuzhou City has 50,000 people, there are nearly 10,000 war horses. However, most of these armies were laxly trained, and the strongest combat effectiveness was the army that Liu Bei brought back from Langya and originally belonged to Zang Ba. However, the Langya army was somewhat unconvinced by Liu Bei, and in the battle against Cao Cao's army some time ago, the performance of this army was somewhat ineffective.

No matter how strong Guan Yu's martial arts are, it is impossible to improve the combat effectiveness of the entire army at once, and it is impossible for the Langya army to completely return to his heart, all he can do is to break up all the troops and reorganize them, dismiss the old, weak, sick and disabled, and reduce the army of more than 50,000 people to about 35,000 people. In this way, although the total number of troops has decreased, those who remain are the elite of the army, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly improved compared with the past. Moreover, the reduction in the number of troops will greatly reduce the burden of money and food, which is particularly important for Liu Bei, who is shy in his pocket.

It's just that the soldiers who were laid off were a little miserable. Looking at the entire Han Dynasty, only Liu Xin will give generous pensions to the disabled soldiers, and those retired soldiers will also get better arrangements. The other princes did not treat their soldiers so well, and if these soldiers were dismissed, it meant that they would lose their source of livelihood. Although they usually receive military salaries, being a soldier is a dangerous profession after all, especially in this troubled world, no one knows whether they can survive the next battle, so soldiers follow the dogma of timely fun, and few people will accumulate some furniture. Now that they have been suddenly laid off, they have no savings, they have no military salary, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled, and their future can be imagined.

Hearing that 15,000 people were going to be eliminated at once, all the soldiers cheered up with twelve points, and even those Langya soldiers who were full of unconvincing faces put away their thoughts and straightened their waists. They have already left their homes, and if they are reclassified as layoffs, there is really no way to live.

Guan Yu looked at the rejuvenated soldiers in front of him, and secretly sneered in his heart, these people really don't cry when they don't see the coffin, if they had such a spirit a few days ago, Cao Jun might have retreated a long time ago.

Like Liu Bei, he only thought that Cao Jun had been unable to conquer for a long time, and the food and grass were not continued, so he chose to retreat, and until now he did not know that the real reason for Cao Cao's retreat was threatened by Liu Xin, and it can be said that Liu Xin rescued them at a critical moment. Of course, a person like Liu Bei, who is bent on great things, even if he knows that Liu Xin saved Xuzhou at the last moment, will not thank Liu Xin, he will think more about Liu Xin's ulterior motive in doing this.

Guan Yu is not a soft-hearted person, even if these soldiers in front of him have already raised the spirit of twelve, he still resolutely carries out disarmament actions in accordance with the established policy. Not a single wounded soldier remained, and all were included in the list of retrenchment. There were also some sturdy soldiers, who were also laid off by Guan Yu because they did not do their best in the defense of the city some time ago, and most of these soldiers were forcibly pulled by Liu Bei from Langya.

Many middle- and lower-ranking officers were also dismissed, many of whom had become colonels and lieutenants by virtue of their family backgrounds, and many of whom had reached their current positions by entertaining them with gifts and bragging. These people are not all incompetent, but Guan Yu himself was born poor, so he naturally looked down on these people, no matter how noisy they were, he was bent on driving them out of his army, and selecting a group of ordinary soldiers with high martial arts skills to serve as middle and lower-level officers.

As soon as this order was given, there was an uproar in the army, and the soldiers suddenly clamored. You must know that since these people can be colonels and captains, how can they not have a few cronies around them? If these lieutenants were dismissed, their cronies would lose their special status in the army, and they would naturally have to follow their masters closely.

A lieutenant couldn't hold back and came out of the crowd, shouting loudly: "The last general is not convinced, you are excluding dissidents and acting as cronies!" ”

General Cao is right, he is excluding dissidents, I can't accept it! ”

Many people in the army shouted along, and there was a lot of noise in the school yard.

Guan Yu glanced coldly at the captain surnamed Cao, and said in a deep voice, "Who are you?" Dare to shout in front of Guan! ”

The lieutenant straightened his chest and said loudly: "A certain is General Cao's own nephew, surnamed Cao Mingjin, if you remove me from my official position, my uncle will not agree!" ”

Guan Yu laughed and said, "What General Cao? Isn't it the Cao Bao who is greedy for life and afraid of death? If you want to continue to be this captain, you can do it, as long as you can catch a certain knife! Do you dare to give it a try? ”

Cao Jin was stunned for a moment, some time ago, Cao Cao's army came to attack, Guan Yu almost single-handedly resisted Cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops, and the name of bravery had already spread throughout the Xuzhou army, how could Cao Jin not know?