When Xun Yu returned to Changyi, it was the end of the year, and he didn't care about the hard work along the way, so he hurriedly asked to see Cao Cao, and reported to Cao Cao in detail what he had seen and heard and thought in the north in the past few months.

Cao Cao sent Xun Yu to the north, originally just didn't want Xun Yu to point fingers at him, because the last time Xun Yu fell into Luoyang, Cao Cao asked Liu He for help, so Xun Yu wrote a letter to Liu He, and it didn't take long for Xun You to return to Changyi safely. Cao Cao was a very suspicious person, and after this incident, he began to suspect that Xun Yu was secretly having dealings with Liu He, otherwise why did Liu He give him face so much?

When Xun Yu was still visiting wèn in the north, Cao Cao saw from the "Dahan Times" where Xun Yu went and who he met, he saw Liu He receiving Xun Yu with such a high standard, he was very unhappy, but it was not easy to say, now Xun Yu returned and put on a worried look, even if Cao Cao knew that many of the words Xun Yu said were out of public intentions, but he still couldn't listen to it, just perfunctory Xun Yu.

Xun Yu is such a smart person, he saw that Cao Cao was absent-minded and did not attach as much importance to his words as he did at the beginning, and his enthusiasm suddenly cooled down. Xun Yu returned to his house sullenly, and then he couldn't afford to be sick, and he no longer refused to give advice to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao didn't care about Xun Yu's passive sabotage, anyway, there were some available people under him, and there were Cheng Yu, Xun You, Xi Zhicai, Jiang Ji and others who left Xun Yu. After the Chinese New Year, Cao Cao suddenly remembered that he should ask Cao Hong to see what kind of feelings and gains he had when he went to the north.

Cao Cao asked Cao Hong: "Zilian, what did you see when you went to the north?" ”

Cao Hong replied truthfully: "The weather in the north is very different from that in Henan, where the people have abundant food and clothing, smooth roads, strong cities, many workshops, and strong soldiers. Liu Shiren is very good at demagoguery, and now the people there only know that there is a general, but they don't know that there is an emperor. ”

"Alas, Liu He has many wonderful ideas, and he is good at strange skills, and it is inevitable that the people of the north will be bewitched by him. Between you, if Liu Shiren waives his army to the south, Yanzhou may resist? ”

"Liu Shiren has tens of thousands of cavalry under his command, and they are fast and galloping. As long as the movement of these cavalry can be restricted, relying on the Yellow River and the fortified city, Liu Shiren may not be able to bargain! ”

Cao Cao felt that Cao Hong's views were obviously much more optimistic than Xun Yu's original statement, according to Xun Yu's statement, if Liu He concentrated his forces to attack Yanzhou, he would only have to retreat south quickly, and he would not be Liu He's opponent at all.

People often have a psychology of believing in their own people, and Cao Hong, as Cao Cao's younger brother, can naturally be attributed to the scope of his own people. So Cao Cao was more willing to believe what Cao Hong said. In view of the characteristics of the Youzhou cavalry that are good at running, Cao Cao then recruited all the strategists to discuss countermeasures.

Cheng Yujian said: "Liu He has many cavalry under his command, and because he occupies the land of Youyan, he restrained the northern Hu cavalry with cavalry. However, cavalry can only be effective if it is used on a large scale over a wide area. There are many cities in Yanzhou, and there are Juyeze among them, as long as more fortifications are built near the river. If Liu He's cavalry is not allowed to cross the river, his sharp momentum can be eliminated. ”

Xun Yu felt that Cheng Yu's construction was too simplistic, so he asked a very sharp question. Although Liu Shiren relied mostly on cavalry to win. However, there are also a large number of infantry troops under his command, many of which are elite who are good at attacking cities, such as the Zhenwei army led by Tai Shici and the Zhenwu battalion led by Xian Yufu. If Liu He attacked the city with infantry and attacked with cavalry, would our army only be trapped in the city, sit back and watch the other army cut off our army's food route outside the city, and then helplessly go out of the city to find its main force for a decisive battle? ”

Xi Zhicai said: "To deal with the Youzhou cavalry, you can use the chariot formation to block, and with the crossbow and spear, even if you encounter it in the wild, you can ensure that our army is invincible." At the beginning, Liu Shiren was in the north, and he used this method to defeat Kebineng. ”

In another time and space, at this time, Xi Zhicai had already died of illness, and Guo Jia, as the strategist who succeeded Xi Zhicai, helped Cao Cao complete the earth-shattering reversal of the Battle of Guandu. In this time and space, although Liu He pried the corner of Lao Cao early, he vigorously promoted the epidemic prevention method, and even sent people to Yanzhou to help Cao Cao prevent and control the epidemic.

Cao Cao summed up what everyone said and concluded: "What you have said is reasonable, in my opinion, when dealing with Liu Shiren's troops, when defending, they mainly rely on favorable terrain such as fortified cities and rivers to offset the rapid maneuvering of their cavalry; When attacking, it mainly relies on chariots to form a chariot formation to resist in front, supplemented by long-range weapons such as longbows and crossbows in the back. From this point of view, our army should seize the time to build more bows and crossbows and thunderbolts, and at the same time strengthen the city close to the river, and store enough food in the city. As long as these preparations are made, even if Liu He leads his army to the south, we are sure to drive it back to the north of the Yellow River! ”

After the discussion was over, Xun Yu returned to the house, but saw that Xun Yu had come over and waited for him at some point. Although Xun Yu is older than Xun Yu, his seniority is one generation lower than Xun Yu, and Xun Yu came forward to rescue him last time, so he hurriedly saluted Xun Yu.

The two were polite for a while, Xun Yu asked about the content of today's discussion, and Xun Yu told Xun Yu the truth about what everyone discussed.

After hearing this, Xun Yu shook his head vigorously, sighed and said: "If Cao Gong only sees Liu He and the heroes of the soldiers and horses, and does not see the benefits of his new policy, I am afraid that no matter how many strong bows and crossbows are built, and no matter how many fortified cities and dangerous villages are repaired, it will be impossible to escape destruction in the end!" ”

Xun You asked with some doubts: "Liu He is nominally the governor of the military and political affairs of the five northern states, but in fact he only controls the land of Youzhou and Jizhou, then Liaozhou was originally separated from Youzhou, and the north is now like a white land, the south is still in the hands of Yuan Shao, and Qingzhou has Tian Kai, Sun Shao and Kong Rong. Cao Gong now controls Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and occupies the northern part of Yangzhou, the total population under his rule may not be much less than Liu He, and the total number of soldiers is more than 100,000, and Cao Gong implements good governance in Liangzhou, can he not resist Liu He's southward movement? ”

"Liu He has already gone south! It's just that what he sent was not thousands of troops, but all kinds of means to win people's hearts. "Dahan Times" is controlled by Liu He, what he wants the people to know, he writes on it, where the people have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, it is nothing more than what Liu He says, everyone believes. All kinds of new commodities produced in the north are endless, high quality and low price, and the convoys and fleets of commercial goods that transport commercial goods from the Jicheng Workshop area every day block the roads and rivers. How many of these merchants sell to Yanzhou and Yuzhou? By the time the people of Yanzhou and Yuzhou had become accustomed to all kinds of goods produced in the north. When the time comes, without Liu He's army, the people of Yanzhou and Yuzhou will open their doors to welcome Liu He! ”

Xun Yu, as a master of strategy, has a long-term vision far beyond others, he is not like Cao Hong, a half-guy, who will only look at some superficial phenomena, he did see the fundamental difference between Youzhou and Yanzhou this time, so he was worried and hurried back to report to Cao Cao. Originally, when Xun Yu rushed all the way back, he had already come up with some countermeasures, but Cao Cao didn't like to listen to it at all. So it can only rot to the inside of the stomach. This time he came to see Xun You, in fact, he wanted to make an effort, through the mouth of Xun You, to wake up Cao Cao, so that Cao Cao was no longer blindly confident, and felt that there were hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands, as long as he did not take the initiative to provoke Liu He, there was no problem in holding the territory.

Xun Yu was taken aback by Xun Yu's analysis, and he finally discovered where the gap between himself and Xun Yu was.

"Cao Gong can't even listen to your words. How do I sober him up? ”

"If you want to wake up Cao Gong, the only way to do this is to let him send another credible person to the north, record everything he saw and hear, and submit it when he returns. Then you will give him a reminder from the side, so that he will be convinced that what I am saying is true. ”

"I don't know who has both vision and the ability to gain Cao Gong's trust?"

"Tuntian Duwei Zao can only be also!"

After a few days, Xun You found a suitable opportunity to speak. He said to Cao Cao: "I heard that Liu Biao of Jingzhou sent someone to the north to learn the method of Tuntian from Liu He, this Liu Jingsheng is really willing to seek the near and far!" If we talk about Tuntian, where are Yanzhou and Yuzhou worse than the north? ”

Cao Cao listened to Xun You's words. But I don't think Liu Biao is seeking the near and far, some time ago Tuntian Governor Zao only rushed to report to him, saying that now Yanzhou and Yuzhou can be used for Tuntian land is gone, that is to say, Yanzhou and Yuzhou's grain output is all this, don't expect to increase it.

Cao Cao would read every issue of the Dahan Times, and he read the newspaper that Liu He's policy of tuntian in the north was divided into three types: Juntun, Mintun, and Shangtun, and that grain production was increasing every year, and even if there was a continuous drought in the north the year before and last year, it could still be achieved without reducing production, which shows that the method of tuntian in the north must have unique features.

"A few years ago, when Wen Ruo reported to me about his visit to the north, he mentioned that I sent Tuntian officials to Youzhou to learn from them, and since Liu Jingsheng sent people to Youzhou, we can't lag behind. Come on, go and call Tuntian Duwei Zaoyou! ”

Xun You saw that Cao Cao really wanted to send Zaoyi to Youzhou according to Xun Yu's speculation, so he took a trip back to his house and asked his family to pass the news into Xun Yu's mansion.

After Xun Yu received the news, he immediately asked his family to pack up their things and prepare to return to Yingchuan. He packed all the gold, silver, jewelry, and various gifts that Cao Cao had given him in a box, and affixed a seal on it.

When Xun Yu left Changyi, he left a letter to Cao Cao, to the effect that he felt that his health was getting worse and worse, and he often woke up from his sleep at night, and staying with Cao Cao was just a corpse vegetarian meal, so he returned to his hometown Yingchuan to recuperate, hoping that Cao Cao would not worry.

When Cao Cao received the news, Xun Yu had already left Changyi with his family. Cao Cao thought that Xun Yu had tried his best to assist him over the years, and he regretted snubbing Xun Yu in his heart, and hurriedly sent Cao Ren out of the city to chase Xun Yu, but when Cao Ren led people to catch up with Xun Yu's convoy, he found that the Xun family had a white cover on their faces, and they looked very nervous. After Cao Ren's inquiry, he learned that Xun Yu was infected with the epidemic, and because he didn't want people to know, he left in a hurry.

At this time, it was a terrible thing to be infected with the epidemic, and Cao Ren did not dare to stop Xun Yu anymore, so he had to return to Cao Cao to regain his sight. After Cao Cao listened, he sighed and said to himself: "Mr. Wen Ruo humiliated himself so much in order to leave me, am I really wrong?" ”

In the carriage to Yingchuan, although Xun Yu was depressed, he looked like he was infected with an epidemic, and he was holding a new book jointly written by Cai Yong and Zheng Xuan, reading it with relish.

"Father, why did you leave Changyi?"

"If that's the case, you can't make Cao Gong know that it's wrong."

"Then if Gong Cao sends someone to Yingchuan to beg his father to come back in the future, will his father return to Changyi?"

"If Cao Gong is really willing to follow Youzhou to implement the new policy, he can do well without me. If he is still stubborn, what good will it do to have my help? Your father is a little tired, this time back to Yingchuan, closed the door to thank guests, reading and writing, isn't it leisurely? (To be continued......)