After Liu Zeping destroyed Yuan Shu, the news of Gongsun Zhan's defeat and self-immolation also came from Youzhou, and the pattern of disputes among the princes in the world was quietly reshuffled. And Yuan Shao wants to dominate the world, the biggest competitor is Cao Cao, who coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the pattern of Yuan Cao's rivalry has become an irreversible trend, in comparison, the contradiction between Cao Cao and Xuzhou seems insignificant.

When Gongsun Chan was defeated, Liu Ze was most concerned about Liu Bei's message, but the news from Youzhou was not too bad, Gongsun Chan set himself on fire in Yijing Building, and entrusted Liu Bei alone, Liu Bei and the five tigers under Gongsun Zhan's account Yan Gang, Zou Dan, Guan Jing, Tian Kai, and Shan Jing led the remnants to protect the young lord Gongsun Xu to break out of the encirclement and go to Liaodong. Liu Bei finally did not choose to come to Xuzhou after the defeat of Gongsun Zhan, which made Liu Ze feel some regrets, but since Liu Bei was safe, it made him feel a lot more at ease, and it was not easy to live in this troubled world.

Yuan Shao unified Hebei, the greatest pressure is naturally Cao Cao, don't look at Cao Cao's coercion of the Son of Heaven to order the princes, holding the power of the court, but his life is not very easy, there is Yuan Shao in the north, Liu Ze in the east, Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao in the south, Han Sui, Ma Teng in the west, and Cao Cao is in the hinterland of the Central Plains, at this time it is appropriate to describe it as embattled. The news just came that Yuan Shao ordered Chun Yuqiong and Jiang Qi to lead 150,000 troops and camp in Liyang, with the intention of spying on Henan. The big showdown between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao is about to kick off.

Cao Cao is the number one hero in the Three Kingdoms, and Liu Ze wants to go further. Sooner or later, he will have to fight with Cao Cao, and now if he wants to defeat Cao Cao, it is actually not too difficult, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are about to compete for Guandu, as long as Liu Ze stabs Cao Cao in the back, it can be the last straw that crushes the camel.

It is not difficult to solve Cao Cao, but the difficult thing is that the situation in this post-Cao Cao era is not something that Liu Ze can control.

After defeating Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's power will be more powerful than ever, and Yuan Shao's ambition to dominate the world will be even more inflated. Liu Ze has no reason to think that Yuan Shao, who was born with Yuan Shu's father, does not have the greed to be the emperor. In the face of absolute power, many people find it difficult to withstand the temptation, and Yuan Shao will never be an exception. In the post-Cao Cao era, it will be a situation in which Yuan Shao's family dominates. And Liu Ze in Xuzhou. will undoubtedly become Yuan Shao's first target to dominate the world.

Sun Ce of Jiangdong is now sitting on the four counties of Jiangdong. The ambition of outward expansion is also obvious, Jingzhou and Huainan are all targets that Sun Ce can choose to attack, but they have Liu Ze's strong cunzài. Sun Ce didn't dare to act rashly for the time being. But once Liu Ze was involved in the Central Plains war, how could Sun Ce let go of this God-given opportunity, and when Xuzhou was caught between Yuan Shao and Sun Ce, Liu Ze could not see any way out.

In Liu Ze's established strategy of defending the north and attacking the south, taking Huainan is the first first step, and then using Huainan as the bridgehead, whether it is to attack Jiangdong in the south or Jingzhou in the west, it can be used as a choice. Once involved in the war in the Central Plains, this will completely go against Liu Ze's original strategic concept, and the consequences will be unpredictable by Liu Ze.

So despite the greatest temptation to eradicate Cao Cao in one fell swoop, Liu Ze still did not blindly change his established strategy, Cao Cao will be his ultimate opponent, the biggest obstacle to the world, but the war with Cao Cao is by no means now.

Similarly, Cao Cao, who was standing on the cusp of the storm, would not lightly choose Xuzhou as a hostile target, and now the situation of Yuan Cao's rivalry has gradually become clear and irreconcilable, and Cao Cao wants to make enemies for himself, which is completely the rhythm of death. So Cao Cao's mentality at the moment is the same as Liu Ze's, try his best to win over the allies, even if it is an olive branch thrown by Zhang Xiu, who has a deep hatred of blood, Cao Cao has to continue, not that Cao Cao's belly can really hold up the boat, but as a politician's minimum strategic consideration, an expedient measure, Liu Ze at this time is not Cao Cao's choice of opponents but allies who need to be wooed, even if they can't be allies, it's best not to become enemies for the time being.

"There is no need to rush to conclusions. The general trend of the world is changing rapidly, and only by planning and then acting can we be invincible. Liu Ze finally made a summary, ready to wait and see what happens, and then decide whether to go to Xuchang or not depending on the development of the situation.

Although he was waiting to see what happened, Liu Ze was not idle, and ordered Zhao Yun to lead the Second Infantry Division and the First Cavalry Division of the First Army to station in Xiaopei, and ordered Tai Shici of the Fifth Army to expand in the direction of Runan, and in the name of exterminating Liu Pi and Gongdu's Yellow Turban Army, he grabbed territory under the nose of Cao Jun. At the same time, Liu Ze ordered that there should be no friction with the Cao army as much as possible, and that all the cities occupied by the Yellow Turban Army could be seized one by one, and that all the cities that the Cao army had already controlled should not clash with them.

The situation in Runan County is already a mess, the forces of the Yellow Turban Army and Cao Cao are staggered, attacking each other, many cities belong to the Yellow Turban Xi surnamed Cao, and after the Fifth Army is mixed in, the situation is becoming more and more chaotic. The Fifth Army swept strongly across Runan, Lianke Xiyang, Baoxin, Anyang, Xinxi, Xincai, Gushi and other county towns, and the Yellow Turban forces were scattered one after another. Although Liu Ze's order was to try not to have friction with the Cao army, in the process of chasing and suppressing the Yellow Turban Army, it was inevitable that some things would happen like misfire, and some small conflicts were inevitable. Tai Shi Ci has ordered all soldiers and horses to exercise restraint and not take the initiative to provoke trouble, but for Cao Jun's blatant provocation, it is still necessary to resolutely fight back, which is reasonable, advantageous and modest, which is Liu Ze's special request to Tai Shi Ci.

Liu Ze's purpose was not to make a name for himself in Runan, nor did he want to snatch the entire Runan down, but to maintain a kind of coercion in Runan and put a little pressure on Cao Cao.

Runan is Cao Cao's rear, without Runan, Xu Du will have no barrier, although Liu Pi Gong Du is happy in Runan, but in Cao Cao's eyes, these are just ringworm scabies, not to worry, but after Liu Ze's army stepped into Runan, it made Cao Cao nervous, Runan is very important to Xu Du, and there is absolutely no room for loss. So Cao Cao immediately appointed Cao Ren as the assassin of Yuzhou and led his troops into Pingyu.

However, Cao Cao's order was the same as Liu Ze's, requiring Cao Ren to exercise restraint as much as possible, mainly to fight against the forces of the Yellow Turban Army, and not to clash with the Xuzhou Army.

As a result, a wonderful scene occurred in the situation in Runan, where the Cao army and the Xuzhou army each held one place, although there was some small friction with each other, but under the tacit understanding of the two sides, the situation was not expanded. Although Cao Jun and Xuzhou Army were more restrained when they confronted each other, they spared no effort to crack down on the Yellow Turbans, and sprinkled all the grievances they received on the other side on the heads of the Yellow Turban Army.

Although the situation in Runan was still under control, Cao Cao did feel the pressure. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty summoned Liu Ze to lead troops into Beijing, how could he hide the treacherous Cao Cao, the reason why Cao Cao dared to agree was that he was completely fearless, not to mention that Liu Ze could not pour troops from all over Xuzhou to Xuchang, even if Liu Ze brought all the troops over, Cao Cao might not be afraid, but had the intention of inducing Liu Ze to throw himself into the net. However, the development of the shape is becoming more and more unfavorable to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao after destroying Gongsun Zhan, the intention of the southern invasion is obvious, with Cao Cao's current strength, Yuan Shao can be regarded as a cut behind the boss. And the Xuzhou army continued to make small moves in Xiaopei and Runan, which gave Cao Cao a headache, and once Liu Ze and Yuan Shao joined forces, Cao Cao would be difficult to deal with anyway.

What Cao Cao needs now is to devote all his troops and energy to the northern front, so as to deal with Yuan Shao's attack, and Cao Cao, the three princes of Liu Ze, Zhang Xiu, and Liu Biao on the southern front, can't take care of it at all, and can only use the means of wooing. Fortunately, Liu Biao pursues the golden mean of not offending me and not offending me, and he is already satisfied if he can hold on to his one-third of an acre of land in Jingzhou, and he has no intention of going north at all. Although Zhang Xiu defeated Cao Cao in the battle of confusing water the year before last, Zhang Xiu was trapped in Wancheng, which had already been looted by Yuan Shu, and was struggling, so he had to hand over the letter of surrender to Cao Cao again. Cao Cao carried forward the style of surrendering and accepting rebellion, and completely ignored Zhang Xiu, who had a deep hatred of blood, accepted Zhang Xiu, and named Zhang Xiu as a general of Yangwu, which can be regarded as relieving the crisis in the southwest.

But what really gave Cao Cao a headache was Liu Ze from the southeast, Liu Ze, who controlled the nine counties of Xu Huai, was not as light as Zhang Xiu, and Liu Ze's infiltration of Runan, which had been regarded by Cao Cao as his own backyard, made Cao Cao anxious. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty wanted to take the opportunity of Liu Ze to escort the jade seal back to the capital and let Liu Ze lead the troops into King Qin, but in fact, he gave Cao Cao a chance to communicate with Liu Ze face-to-face at close range, but unfortunately Liu Ze was not on the road, and he didn't say that he couldn't come, but he used injury as an excuse to delay it again and again. This time, Cao Cao was anxious to reconcile with Liu Ze, and borrowed the name of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to give Liu Ze an edict again, and his tone was also a lot more euphemistic, saying that the jade seal of the country is an important weapon of the country, and it should not be left outside.

After Liu Ze received the edict, he just smiled lightly, ignored it, and refused to answer the call again on the grounds that the arrow wound had not healed. From the first edict to the second edict, Liu Ze saw the change in Cao Cao's attitude, but he understood that this time was still not the time for him to travel, and if he wanted to maximize his interests, he had to wait a little longer, but Liu Ze believed that this time would not be too far away. (To be continued......)