Knowing that Xun Yu had no intention of being above the court, Cao Cao promoted his nephew Xun Yu. This person is also a talented person, and he is the body of the Yingchuan clan, so becoming the head of the Wenchen is naturally expected. Now that he has stepped forward, he has a suggestion to say.

"Your Majesty, Zhang Chao's sudden appearance in Qingzhou is indeed not what I expected, but when I think about it, this is also unexpected by the Celestial Empire, if we can make good use of it, it will be a great opportunity."

Seeing Xun You stand up, Cao Cao's face looked much better, "Well, what is Gongda's opinion?" ”

"Your Majesty, I can't talk about Gao Jian, but if we can trap Zhang Chao in Qingzhou, it is impossible for the Celestial Empire not to come to the rescue, at that time, we can also surround the point and send reinforcements, and annihilate the enemy one by one with superior forces. Xun You looked at Cao Cao with hope as he spoke, apparently believing that the famous lord would understand the meaning of his words.

Sure enough, as soon as this remark fell, Cao Cao was overjoyed, "Yes, in the past, Zhang Zhiyuan liked to use this way to deal with others, such as in the battle of Chang'an with Liu Bei, he used this method to hit Guan Yunchang hard, and now, we can also use the same method, hahaha." ”

Cao Cao is not bad at scheming, but he was really angry with the situation in front of him, and now as soon as Xun Yu reminded him, he was like a mouthful, and he immediately rejoiced. "Lone ordered, Cao Zhang was the main general, Deng Zhong was the deputy general, led 200,000 troops to Linzi, and it was a great achievement to trap Zhang Chao first. The rest of the people are ready to ambush the reinforcements of the Celestial Empire at any time. ”

Cao Cao was happy, and this made the decision to surround Zhang Chao. In his opinion, even if Zhang Zhiyuan can't be caught, if he can be surrounded, he can mobilize the army of the Celestial Empire very well, and at that time, the initiative will be in his own hands.

Cao Zhang received the order, and took the deputy general Deng Zhong and 200,000 troops to Linzi City, Qingzhou overnight. Just before he arrived, Zhang Chao did leave there first, turned to Beihai, and after entering Jimo, he headed towards Huangxian in Donglai County.

Zhang Chao deliberately avoided his edge, and Cao Zhang, who was behind him, pursued all the way, as if he was afraid that he would escape the target, and in addition to the necessary food and drink along the way, he was always in a hurry.

The 200,000 army appeared on the road to Huangxian at the speed of a hurried march, but they never expected that here, Zhang Chao had already arranged a pocket and was just waiting for the other party to drill.

Ten days of running day and night, the 200,000 army has long been exhausted, but in order to surround Zhang Chao, the main general Cao Zhang did not allow the army to rest, but followed all the way, until outside Huang County, suddenly encountered the siege of the Celestial Empire army, under the first battle, Cao Zhang, whose combat strength was less than 30%, was defeated, in addition to his desperate breakthrough with 50,000 soldiers, including the deputy general Deng Zhong, 150,000 people were all destroyed.

After Cao Cao then came to Qingzhou with a large army, he met Cao Zhang, who was leading a defeated army, here.

When he learned that there were only 50,000 horses left in the 200,000-strong army, Cao Cao was angry on the spot, if it wasn't for Xun You and others to obstruct him, he was afraid that Cao Zhang would be punished by military justice.

"Wang Shangxi was angry, no one would have thought that Zhang Zhiyuan would notify the Waterway Legion to come here early, and he caught us off guard with a leisurely waiting." Xun You and the others knelt on the ground and pleaded for Cao Zhang.

Indeed, Zhang Chao turned out to be more than 40,000 cavalry, and he transferred the waterway corps from Cen to Huangxian from the head of the belt county in Liaodong early on.

Cao Cao knew that if he hadn't strictly ordered Cao Zhang to block Zhang Chao in Qingzhou, there would be no defeat today, so he had to sigh and say that the sky would not die.

Just when Cao Cao rushed to Qingzhou with a large army, Guo Jia of Si Li commanded his three legions to start a counterattack, recapturing the land occupied by the original Si Li in one fell swoop, so that Cao Cao's surprise attack was completely broken.

When Cao Cao in Qingzhou learned that Xiahou Xuan's subordinates, who stayed in Sili, were oppressed by the heavy army and had to withdraw from Sili and defend Yanzhou, he knew that he had lost to Zhang Chao this time, and thought that if he was defeated, he would lose the best opportunity to attack, so he discussed the matter of defense with his ministers.

On the warship in the sea, Zhang Chao was indeed in a good mood at this moment, drinking with Gan Ning, the commander of the waterway corps, and Jia Xu, the military advisor.

Zhang Chaobing made a move, disappeared from everyone's sight, and then suddenly appeared in Qingzhou, disrupted Cao Cao's plan, and used himself as bait to severely damage Cao's army, and achieved a great victory of killing 40,000 enemies and capturing 110,000 enemies.

With these 110,000 captives, the difference in strength between Zhang Chao and Cao Cao became even greater, which laid a solid foundation for his future march into the Central Plains.

On the warship, looking at the 110,000 captives on other ships, Zhang Chao laughed and said: "These people will be sent to the waterway legion, and you can also expand the army to 300,000, and if you have food and grass, it will naturally be distributed every month in the future." ”

"Your Majesty." The corps commander Gan Ning and the military advisor Jia Xu hurriedly knelt on the ground and thanked him.

The two knew very well that once the waterway legion expanded to 300,000, it would be equivalent to becoming the head of all the legions in terms of numbers, and with this, their future status would also rise.

"Haha, get up." Zhang Chao was in a good mood, so he laughed and said to Gan Ning and Jia Xu.

In fact, Zhang Chao has the capital to be happy.

He disappeared for nearly a month, and the Celestial Empire was not in civil strife. Although some people hesitated, they all made the right choice in the end, which was enough to comfort Zhang Chao.

Seeing that Zhang Chao was so happy, Gan Ning, the commander of the waterway corps who was already a little ready to move, said: "Your Majesty, I don't know when we can wave our army to recover the Central Plains?" ”

"Huh? Xingba is in a hurry? Zhang Chao asked with a smile.

"Yes, I'm in a hurry. In fact, the current strength of my Celestial Empire, whether it is to deal with that Cao Apu or Liu Da'er, is it not a problem, even if this is the case, why wait? Gan Ning said in a somewhat anxious voice.

As a former Jinfan thief, Gan Ning is warlike in his bones. Now what he hopes most is to be able to take the waterway army to the Yangtze River, and he wants to use this to tell everyone that the thief who was once looked down upon has returned, but he has indeed returned to his hometown in fine clothes.

Seeing that Gan Ning did not hide the thoughts in his heart, Zhang Chao smiled with satisfaction: "Okay, as a general, you should have such courage." It's just that as for when to subdue the Central Plains, hehe, what do you think of Wen He? ”

Jia Xu, who was named by name, was asked by Zhang Chao, and said with a smile in his eyes: "The emperor has a good plan, do you still need to move the door and get an axe?" ”

"Hey, my thoughts are mine, and now I want to hear from you, what is there to say." Zhang Chao waved his hand with a smile, he knew Jia Xu's ability, in fact, he really wanted to hear his thoughts this time.

Seeing that Zhang Chao really wanted to hear it, rather than saying it casually, Jia Xu's face became a lot more positive. In other words, the current Zhang Chao is not the previous lord, this is the lord of a country, the emperor of a country, even if Jia Xu is talking about something, he can't speak freely, but he must make adequate preparations.

Zhang Chao didn't ask, but still sat there and drank tea slowly, until about a pillar of incense, Jia Xu, who had closed his eyes, suddenly opened his eyes and said: "In my opinion, the initiative is in the hands of the emperor, and it is feasible to attack and defend." ”

"It's all possible, so let's talk about it." Zhang Chao smiled, he knew that with Jia Xu's character, he would rarely do anything risky, no, the offense and defense were all said, this is to be invincible first.

Feeling that Zhang Chao saw his thoughts, Jia Xu smiled and said: "Your Majesty, if today, only Cao Cao and Liu Bei'er can compete with the Celestial Empire, but when it comes to strength and territory, they are all inferior, so it is up to the emperor to fight or fight." ”

Zhang Chao naturally knew that with the current strength of the Celestial Empire, the initiative to recover the world was on his own, that is to say, Jia Xu's words were equivalent to not saying anything. "Wenhe, this is your dishonesty."

opened his mouth to point out that Jia Xu was playing word games, and Zhang Chao was telling the other party, don't use your tricks of protecting yourself in front of me.

In history, Jia Xu was Zhang Xiu's advisor, and he designed Cao Cao to ambush him, causing him to lose 50,000 soldiers and horses, and Cao's generals Yu Ban and Lu Qian were also seriously injured.

Later, Jia Xu returned to Cao Cao with Zhang Xiu, and since then he has become one of Cao Cao's most important advisers. Cao Cao trusted Jia Xu very much. However, Jia Xu did not get carried away because of Cao Cao's appreciation. He thought that he was not Cao Cao's former minister, and he was worried about being suspicious of Cao Cao, so he was cautious in everything and tried his best to protect himself.

Every time the court ended, Jia Xu immediately went home, closed the door, and never interacted with people in private. Except for taking what he deserves, he does not take any foreign wealth. Not only that, but he also forbade his children to marry the powerful. When Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi was in power, Jia Xu was entrusted with the important task of Taiwei because of his merits. But Jia Xu is not proud of his achievements, and still lives a quiet life.

Jia Xu was in troubled times, and he was in the center of the power struggle, so he was cautious and cautious, and he was well versed in the truth of self-preservation, so he was able to die at the age of seventy-seven.

It can be said that he is a person who has lived for a long time. And now, when facing Zhang Chao, he is also cautious, which is also his way of life and character. But it did make Zhang Chao a little displeased.

Don't talk about it, in terms of his courage, Zhang Chao thinks that he has it, and he is familiar with historical events, plus his subordinates are like clouds, just a Jia Xu, even if something goes wrong, he can't make waves.