After Zhang Xiu, Huang Zhong, Gan Ning and others attacked and defeated Cao Cao at night, they reoccupied Wancheng. Subsequently, the counties north of Nanyang that had surrendered to Cao Cao suddenly turned against Cao Cao at this time.

After Cao Cao gathered the stragglers, he stayed in Wuyin City to recuperate from his injuries, and Cao Hong was responsible for leading the army to fight against Zhang Xiu and others. However, due to the fact that the Qingzhou army did not obey Cao Hong's command and only cared about looting, the army was unfavorable, and was defeated by Zhang Xiu and others in ambush. In desperation, Cao Cao had no choice but to withdraw his troops and return to Xuchang.

Subsequently, Zhang Xiu sent Jia Xu as an envoy to Xuzhou to discuss the alliance with us.

After listening to Jia Xu's narration, I couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I said earlier that people with too muddy brains can't lead a team well; And Cao Cao's actions just confirmed what I said. ”

Jia Xu couldn't help but say: "The young general's words are incisive and thought-provoking; I don't know what the two generals mean about the alliance? ”

But he saw Feng Xian and said: "The alliance between you and my two armies will be beneficial to both sides; Please reply to General Zhang, we have no objection to this matter. ”

Jia Xu bowed down and said, "Since the matter has been discussed, then I will leave." ”

Feng Xian nodded and said, "Okay, I won't keep you either." ”

After Jia Xu left, Feng Xian suddenly said with a slight smile: "Now that Gongda and Feng Xiao have entered the Cao army, Gongjin has also successfully separated the relationship between Yuan Shu and Sun Ce, and now Zhang Xiu has formed an alliance with us to be responsible for containing Cao Cao, and after the craftsmen from Huo Village arrive, we can form a powerful army without worry; Brother Xian, you really have a deep enough layout in this game! ”

I chuckled and said, "If you want to achieve something in life, you must go through some hardships and setbacks, which are laws that cannot be changed at any time; If you don't think long enough, you can easily lead to defeat. ”

Speaking of which, we caught Cao Cao in the previous battle in Puyang, if we had killed him directly at that time. There is absolutely no such influence as it is today. The more Cao Cao tried to achieve his goals by some external means, the more the world would be disappointed in what he had done, and the more he would enhance our reputation and value in the world. Therefore, previous failures are necessary and foreshadowing for real success. Of course, except for Feng Xian and me, others don't know the inside story at all, and even the people next to our pillow don't know anything about it.

Feng Xian couldn't help but nod and said, "Yes; But I'm still a little worried, will it seem too scheming to lay out like ours? ”

I smiled and said, "That depends on what we're up for; The world is in turmoil right now. Everyone in the world wants to make achievements, so the pressure of competition is very high; If we don't think about it from a long-term perspective, then if we want to succeed, we must do a lot of things that should not be done, but that success will not last long, people's hearts will still fight after all, and troubled times will come back after all; And what we need to do is not only to end the chaos in our own country, but also to end the eternal strife of mankind; Although this task is very arduous and requires the efforts of our next generation and even the next generation, it is precisely because of the arduousness that its meaning and value can be reflected; This is the path we have to go. It is also the road that has to be walked; No matter how heavy our scheming is, it doesn't matter, after all, what we do is not to selfishly compete for that little bit of profit; We're not just for ourselves. There is no need to worry about misunderstanding. ”

Feng Xian nodded and said, "Well, I understand; Then who should we deal with next, Cao Cao or Liu Bei? ”

I shook my head and said, "No, the next thing to deal with is Yuan Shu." ”

"Yuan Shu?" Bong Xian groaned slightly. He said: "Now the more threatening to us should be Cao Cao and Liu Bei, but why do you have to deal with Yuan Shu first?" ”

I replied: "Yuan Shu himself has plans to stand on his own, and now he has obtained the imperial seal. At present, he is planning to become emperor, and he is already a deviant in name, so he must be more famous to deal with him first; Although Cao Cao is the biggest threat to us, after all, he is still a loyal monarch in name, so it is not appropriate for us to deal with him for the time being; As for Liu Bei, although he doesn't have any foresight, he has the reputation of benevolence and righteousness at the moment, so it is not appropriate to deal with him first. ”

Feng Xian nodded and said, "What the virtuous brother said is reasonable; After dealing with Yuan Shu, do you start to deal with Cao Cao, or do you deal with Yuan Shao first? ”

I replied: "Now that Yuan Shao has taken Qingzhou, it won't be long before Dongjun is also taken; And Yuan Shao himself felt quite a headache for Cao Cao's actions of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes, although he couldn't do anything to Cao Cao at the moment, but the final hostility between the two was inevitable; Therefore, we must first help Cao Cao deal with Yuan Shao, once Yuan Shao is eliminated, the overall situation will basically be decided. ”

Feng Xian couldn't help but say: "As the virtuous brother said, if we first destroy Yuan Shu and take the two counties of Jiujiang and Lujiang, and then assist Sun Ce to pacify Jiangdong, then we can take advantage of the situation to go north and capture Qingzhou; At that time, the above table will recommend Yiwu as the pastor of the state, and together with Uncle Zhi of Hanoi, you can attack Jizhou left and right; Once we defeat Yuan Shao and take Jizhou, it will be easy for General Gongsun to recover Youzhou; And the situation has developed to this point, how can Cao Cao fight against us with only the land of Yan and Henan? I see, such an exquisite layout of the virtuous brother is really breathtaking, and the brother almost failed to understand the mystery of this! ”

I said, "No matter how exquisite the layout is, it depends on whether it is beautiful or not." ”

The situation did not develop in the future as I expected. In early February, Gongsun Zhan's army adopted the same system as ours, which was to adopt the system of military-civilian joint tun, so that he harvested 3 million stone of grain last year. After confronting Koji Yi and others for more than a year, they were finally repelled due to the lack of food and grass on the other side. Although Liu He and others surrendered to other cities, and Gongsun Zhan was unable to recover the lost territory in a short time, he was still holding his position and being responsible for containing Yuan Shao's rear in accordance with the previous agreement with us.

After the defeat of Koyi, Yuan Shao ordered him to temporarily stop the attack on Gongsun Zhan, and then mobilized men and horses from Qingzhou to reinforce Zang Hong. By late February, Puyang had been breached, and Zang Hong was captured by Yuan Shao and ordered to be executed.

Before dying. Zang Hong made a lot of remarks, counting Yuan Shao's disloyalty and injustice. Immediately, Zang Hong's fellow villager friend Chen Rong pleaded with Yuan Shao for him, although Yuan Shao also had the idea of letting Zang Hong go, but he was worried that once he did this, there would be more and more people who betrayed him in the future. So, Chen Rong asked to die with Zang Hong, and Yuan Shao fulfilled him.

As a result, those scholars who worked for Yuan Shao privately talked about it, thinking that he had killed two loyal men in a row. It really shouldn't be. As a result, many people changed their views on Yuan Shao for a while, and Lu Yi was also one of those people.

After occupying Dongjun in its entirety, Yuan Shao wrote to Cao Cao, asking him to move the Son of Heaven to Juancheng Dingdu. Cao Cao was naturally unwilling, so he immediately rejected Yuan Shao's request. Yuan Shao was very dissatisfied with this, so he sent another letter back to Cao Cao, which was full of threats.

Threats to Yuan Shao. Cao Cao felt both angry and worried, so he came up with the idea of sending troops to attack Yuan Shao and make a preemptive strike. But he was a little worried that doing so would hurt Yuan Shao and make others benefit from it. Because there is no good countermeasure under the heart. His mood suddenly became quite irritable, and others were a little confused when they saw it, thinking that it was caused by being defeated by Zhang Xiu last time.

Xun Yu knew that Cao Cao must have other worries, so he went to ask Cao Cao and said, "Cao Gong has been moody recently. But what's bothering? ”

Cao Cao sighed, then showed Yuan Shao's letter to Xun Yu, and said, "Yuan Shao asked me to move the capital of the Son of Heaven to Juancheng. I did not agree, so he put down his nonsense, saying that if I did not obey, I would lead an army of 100,000 to set foot in Xudu; I wanted to take advantage of his current vitality to strike first, but I was afraid that I would not be able to defeat him in a short time, and if I fought with him, I would probably benefit the others. I couldn't think of a proper solution, so I was bothered. ”

Xun Yu said disapprenously: "Actually, Cao Gong doesn't have to worry about this. ”

Cao Cao asked, "Oh?" Why? ”

Xun Yu said: "Since you have concerns about this, then Yuan Shao also has concerns about this; When the rear is not yet stable, Yuan Shao will definitely not easily meet you; Besides, if you really want to fight, Yuan Shao may not be able to win against you. ”

"Oh?" Cao Cao couldn't help but look moved, but asked, "How do you say this?" ”

Xun Yu said: "You have four victories, but you can beat Yuan Shao; Yuan Shao is wide on the outside and taboo on the inside, and he is suspicious, but you don't ask about relatives, only it is appropriate, this is the victory of the degree; Yuan Shao decided to hesitate, so as to miss the opportunity, you are decisive and adaptable, which is the victory of the plan; Yuan Shao's army is relaxed, the army has no discipline, you have strict laws and regulations, rewards and punishments must be carried out, this is the victory of the martial arts; Yuan Shaogu is famous, treat people falsely, you treat people with sincerity, do not try to be famous, this is the victory of virtue; If you have these four wins, Yuan Shao will definitely lose. ”

Cao Cao listened to Xun Yu's analysis, and his heart was suddenly relieved. Immediately, he couldn't help but say: "It's a great blessing to have you on the side!" ”

Xun Yu said: "Cao Gong has won the award; In fact, Gongda, Fengxiao and others are also very intelligent, and Cao Gong should talk to the two of them more. ”

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Well, what you said is reasonable. ”

Subsequently, Cao Cao summoned Xun You and Guo Jia to discuss the military and asked them what they thought of the current situation. Both of them thought that if we didn't get rid of Feng Xian and me first, it would not be easy for Yuan Shao to get it, otherwise once we connected with Yuan Shao, it would become a big disaster.

After listening to the analysis of the two, Cao Cao suddenly worried about Ma Teng, Han Sui, Li Dao, Guo Yan and others in Guanxi, and was afraid that they would connect with Yuan Shao. The two suggested that he should not worry too much, those people would inevitably support their own troops when they saw the chaos in the Kwantung region, so they only needed to give them a favor to appease them a little, and then send a lieutenant to garrison Chang'an to supervise them, which would ensure that the Kansai would be able to settle down in a short period of time.

Cao Cao adopted this suggestion, appointed Shang Shu and Zhong Xuan as the lieutenant of the school, and ordered him to go to Chang'an to supervise the generals in Guanxi.

Cao Cao's move is also in our plan. The reason why Xun You and Guo Jia proposed that he get rid of us first was to create an image of a traitor who persecuted Zhongliang for him. In addition, if he takes Jizhou first, it will be very disadvantageous to our future plans. Therefore, Cao Cao must not be allowed to take Jizhou first, although dealing with us in advance is indeed in line with his immediate interests. (To be continued......)