Just when Cao Cao was determined to go to Yuzhou, the imperial court sent an angel and sent Cao Cao an edict. It turned out that the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou had resurged, and hundreds of thousands of people were entangled in poison and stubbornness to occupy Qingzhou.

Because Ao Lie went north to resist the Xianbei invasion and could not spare people to conquer Qingzhou, the central emperor Fu Song, Zhu Jun and other important ministers went to quell the rebellion in front of Liu Xie. In the previous battle against Dong, Cao Cao was a staunch supporter of Ao Lie, and followed Ao Lie's side for more than ten battles, and every battle must be defeated, so many people believe that Cao Cao is another loyal minister of the Han family who can take on a heavy responsibility after Ao Lie, and strongly advocates that when the champion Hou Ao Lie is flawless, the heavy responsibility of suppressing bandits will be handed over to Cao Cao.

After receiving the edict of the Son of Heaven, Cao Cao immediately stopped his plan to prepare for the expedition to Yuzhou, and gathered the military capital under his command to discuss the matter in the edict of the Son of Heaven. Cao Cao is a generation of heroes, yes, but Cao Cao in his youth did not have the ambition to become a king in his later years, and now Cao Cao still regards himself as a courtier of the Han Dynasty, and he still attaches great importance to Liu Xie's edict.

"Lord, what is there to hesitate about, sending troops to Qingzhou is a good thing for the country and yourself, this edict of the Son of Heaven, didn't it just give our army the righteousness of sending troops to Qingzhou?" Guo Jia was the first to speak: "According to our army's original plan, our army should have conquered Yuzhou in the south, and then marched east to plot Qingzhou and Xuzhou, but now it is just reversing the order, and it has no impact on the overall situation. ”

Cheng Yu also said: "That's right. This edict of the Son of Heaven gave our army a very good excuse, so that our army could justifiably send troops to Qingzhou, and after pacifying Qingzhou, our army turned south and took Yuzhou. At that time, the territory of the lord is facing each other from east to west, connecting north and south, and besieging Xuzhou on three sides, Xuzhou will be defeated without a fight. ”

"Plus, there's a benefit." Xun Yu said: "The lord sent troops according to the edict of the Son of Heaven, which is the teacher of the king, and can accumulate fame for the lord, so that everyone in the world knows that the lord of the Tao is a loyal and patriotic lord, why not do it?" ”

Listening to the four major strategists under his command, three of them have agreed to send troops to Qingzhou. Although the other mastermind, Xi Zhong, did not speak, but looking at his expression, he also agreed very much, and Cao Cao did not hesitate, and immediately decided to put the affairs of Yuzhou aside first, and immediately rectify the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou.

It is said to be rectified, but in fact there is nothing to rectify. Cao Cao's generals had long been ready to go to Yuzhou, and now they were just temporarily changing the direction of the expedition and making the target of the attack. From Yuzhou to Qingzhou.

Three days later, Cao Cao's 100,000-strong army embarked on a journey to conquer the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army. The Yellow Turban Army, to put it bluntly, is nothing more than a large number of homeless people. Because of lack of food, he had to stand up and rebel, and although 300,000 people sounded terrifying, his combat effectiveness was low.

When Cao Cao arrived with an army of 100,000. In just two months, the 300,000 Yellow Turban Army was defeated, and most of the Yellow Turban Army was taken prisoner. Seeing that Cao Cao was about to occupy Qingzhou. Yuan Shao of Jizhou couldn't sit still, he sent Yan Liang and Wen Chou as the main generals, and he was matched to join the army, and also led an army of 100,000 troops to enter Qingzhou from the junction of the north of Qingzhou and Jizhou in the name of conquering the Yellow Turban Army, and quickly captured the plains in the north of Qingzhou, Jinan, Le'an and Qi four counties, and also eyed the two large counties of Donglai and Beihai, which have the most extensive area. Donglai and Beihai are now Cao Cao's territory, so the trend of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao fighting in Qingzhou is presented.

Cao Cao didn't expect Yuan Shao, who had always been indecisive, to be so resolute this time, and took advantage of his confrontation with the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army to take the territory of the four counties in the north. This made Cao Cao extremely angry in his heart, he had the intention to fight with Yuan Shao, and he was afraid that the 300,000 Yellow Turban Army that had just surrendered would mutiny, but if he retreated, Cao Cao would be unwilling.

At a critical juncture, Zang Ba, who occupied Taishan County and had tens of thousands of troops, played an important role. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have the same strength and an equal area, and whoever can win over Zang Ba will have a chance of winning. So, the two sides coincidentally sent envoys to recruit Zang Ba, trying to draw Zang Ba into their camp.

In the camp of Taishan County, Zang Ba looked at the invincible Guo Tu in front of him, and smiled lightly: "What does Mr. Guo Tu mean, is he saying that he is coming for Yuan Benchu?" Guo Tu raised his head, didn't even look at Zang Ba, and pretended to be arrogant and said: "General Xuan, my lord is in Jizhou, and now he has won the four counties of Qingzhou. Since driving away Tian Feng and Zhang He, Guo Tu has regained Yuan Shao's reuse, therefore, Guo Tu thinks very highly of himself on weekdays, and he has the posture of the first son of heaven, Yuan Shao second, and he Guo Tu third, and he will put on such a hateful face to anyone.

Guo Tu's appearance had already angered the generals under Zang Ba's command, and they secretly glared at Guo Tu, as long as Zang Ba gave an order, they would rush forward and divide Guo Tu's body with a knife. Zang Ba ignored Guo Tu's pretense of arrogance, and asked with a smile: "Under Yuan Benchu's command, can a talent like Mr. have geometry?" Guo Tu said without thinking: "Although no one under my lord can compare with a certain virtuous person, dozens of people such as trial and matching, Feng Ji and so on can be called famous people in the world; Yan Liang, Wen Chou and other generals deserve to be famous generals in the world. ”

When Zang Ba heard this, he suddenly laughed, pointed at Guo Tu and said, "The villain has the ambition, it's extremely hateful!" If Yuan Benchu's command is all villains like you, sooner or later he will die! Someone came, and the stick was beaten out. After hearing Zang Ba's order, the generals and colonels who had long been in peace picked up the killing rod and beat Guo Tu out of the big tent.

Just after Guo Tu was beaten out of the big tent, Zang Ba's sergeants came to report again, saying that Cao Cao's envoy had arrived. Zang Ba hesitated for a while, but decided to meet Cao Cao's envoy first, to see what he was talking about, and to decide whether to serve Cao Cao or not.

A moment later, Guo Jia slowly walked into Zang Ba's big tent. Zang Ba secretly observed Guo Jia and found that Guo Jia was self-contained, neither as arrogant as Guo Tu, nor as weak as Cao Cao's envoy, and his demeanor was free and charming. Judging from the impression alone, Zang Ba can predict that the talents around Cao Cao are much more clever than Yuan Shao's, if it weren't for the vast land and vast territory of Jizhou, I'm afraid Yuan Shao is really not Cao Cao's opponent.

After Guo Jia entered the account, he was not in a hurry to speak, but looked around the people in the account with great interest, as if he was observing the abilities of Zang Ba's subordinates to see if they were qualified to serve Cao Cao. Guo Jia's wise eyes slid over everyone one by one, and the most sluggy fell on Zang Ba, who was sitting on the main seat. chuckled, Guo Jia said: "Announcing the general, my lord Meng Degong asked a certain person to give a message to the general, asking the general whether he would like to be a dry bone in the grave, or would he like to be a hero at that time?" ”

Zang Ba asked noncommittally, "What's the explanation?" ”

Guo Jia stretched out his hand and pointed to the north, and said: "Although Yuan Benchu has a good family background of the fourth world and the third duke, he has repeatedly done almost stupid things, such is the battle against Dong, and the Shaxian ambush champion Hou is also the same, Yuan Shaoqi is a person, rigid and self-serving, wide on the outside and taboo on the inside, but he likes to pretend to be magnificent, every critical moment, there is always a lack of decision, such a person, how is it different from the dry bones in the tomb?" My lord Meng Degong, from the end of the millennium, but decisive killing, meritocracy, in just two years, occupy the whole territory of Yanzhou and half of Qingzhou, can be described as the world's heroes. I don't know if you want to build a great cause with my lord? ”

Zang Ba naturally understands his own situation. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are both big names that Zang Ba can't provoke, although at the moment because of the Qingzhou dispute, the two of them each sent people to win them over, but that is only the need for war, if they don't work on either side, after the war, the first thing the victorious side must do is to destroy themselves; Therefore, Zang Ba understands that he must make a decision. At this moment, Zang Ba's heart is already inclined to take refuge in Cao Cao, and what he cares about now is how much benefit he can get after serving Cao Cao.

"Please Mr. Fengxiao return to Cao Gong, a certain has decided to lead the army to serve Cao Gong. But after all, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers under the command of a certain commander, and a certain still needs to give them an explanation. Zang Ba said slowly.

Guo Jia smiled when he heard this, and said heartily: "This section, the lord has already thought of it for the general. The lord decided to hand over half of Qingzhou to General Xuan for management, and after taking the four counties of Yuan Shao in the future, the lord will be on the table and show that the general is the Qingzhou pastor. ”

At present, the state pastor has gradually transformed into a feudal official with real power, Cao Cao promised Zang Ba the position of Qingzhou pastor, so that Zang Ba no longer had any worries in his heart, pushed away the table in front of him, and bowed respectfully to Guo Jia: "Mr. Fengxiao told the lord that within three days, a certain person will pack up all the food and salary in Taishan County and lead the army to vote!" In order to express his respect, Zang Ba's title to Cao Cao has been changed from Cao Gong to Lord Gong.

Guo Jia helped Zang Ba up, shook his head and said, "No! The general did not have to rush to see the lord. The lord believed in the sincerity of the general. Therefore, before coming, the lord had explained that the general could reorganize the troops and lead the army to attack Qi County, which was adjacent to Mount Tai, and the lord would contain Yuan's army in the front and create a fighter for the general. It's not a secret, it's just a Qingzhou, and the lord hasn't seen it yet. The general thought about it, what kind of situation would it appear if he took Qi County? ”

Zang Ba has experienced a hundred battles, and after receiving Guo Jia's reminder, he woke up after a little thought. If you really take Qi County, and Donglai and Beihai are connected, not only can you effectively resist Yuan Shao's army, but also cut off all the passages between Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and trap Xuzhou into a turtle in an urn. By that time, Cao Cao was entrenched in Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou and half of Qingzhou, and Yuan Shao's good days would come to an end.

Zang Ba had a heartfelt admiration for Cao Cao, took Guo Jia's hand, and said with honor: "It is a great fortune for Zang Ba to be able to serve the lord in this life!" Please tell the lord that within half a month, a certain army will definitely lead the army to conquer Qi County! (To be continued......)