Cao Cao's situation was even worse than Fang Zhiwen imagined.

Fang Zhiwen's grain base is calculated according to the cultivated area of the land, but these lands do not all belong to Cao Cao, no matter how ruthless Cao Cao is, he does not dare to really rob all the grain belonging to the Shi clan on the land under his jurisdiction, so there is no need for others to fight, and his own internal division will be directly divided.

What's more, in Qian County, most of the land actually belonged to the Cao family and the generals and officials under Cao Cao, so even if Cao Cao was hungry for the grain, he could only watch it, which was untouchable.

However, at this time of crisis, Cao Cao still had good things enough to comfort his bitter soul, Xun You and Cheng Yu finally joined his banner, which gave Cao Cao a strong assistant in politics and military strategy, and it was considered to have completed the establishment of a high-end civil official system.

Xun You was appointed to engage in the Taishou Mansion, Cheng Yu was appointed to join the military, one in charge of the government, one in charge of the army, plus Xi Zhicai, the master of strategy, Cao Cao's troika came alive, which can be said to be Cao Cao's biggest gain during this time.

However, the harvest of talents does not mean the harvest of grain, therefore, after some careful deliberation, Cao Cao decided to do something to Xuzhou, historically, when Cao Cao did something to Xuzhou, he was looking for the reason why his father was killed by Tao Qian's men.

Speaking of which, that reason is also a bit controversial, it is said that Tao Qian had no reason to take the initiative to provoke Cao Cao at that time, and besides, killing Cao Cao's father had no effect on Cao Cao at all. If it is said that it was done by a small military academy itself, and he dared to move Cao Cao's father with his identity, it would be strange if there was no insider here. Of course, it is obviously too shocking to say that Cao Cao made his own hand, but there are many people like Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, etc., who will use this black hand to provoke the conflict between Cao Cao and Tao Qian, and Cao Cao is just taking advantage of the situation to exert his power.

Now Cao Cao also needed an excuse, of course, he couldn't send his father to be killed, so Cao Cao wrote a letter to Tao Qian to borrow grain, which was a considerable amount of money. Whether Tao Qian can take it out Cao Cao doesn't know, if Tao Qian can really take it out, then Cao Cao may not necessarily have to go to war now, now is obviously not the best time, if Tao Qian can break the fortune and eliminate the disaster. Cao Cao can also be a favor. Anyway, Cao Cao has no intention of repaying these loans, and he can even continue to borrow them next year.

If Tao Qian refuses to borrow, then Cao Cao has an excuse, if he looks ugly. If you want to look good, you can start from the border friction and let your cavalry cross the border to rob, which will inevitably lead to conflicts. When the time comes, it is Tao Qian's fault to catch the bite of the conflict, and it is natural to start a crusade again.

Besides, Tao Qian, after receiving Cao Cao's letter, Tao Qian immediately became numb, Tao Qian is just not warlike, not a stupid, Cao Cao's trick he can still see, the problem is that it is one thing to see it, and it is another thing to be able to deal with it, so Tao Qian, who was a little panicked, called a meeting of his subordinates.

Tao Qian still has capable people under him. Famous people Zhao Yu, Xu Fang, and Wang Lang are all Tao Qian's trusted subordinates, and the celebrity Zhen Rong of the Three Kingdoms is also Tao Qian's subordinate.

Then there is Chen Qi, the head of the Chen family in Xiapi, and his son Chen Deng, both of whom are known for their resourcefulness in Xiapi City, and Chen Deng is still Tao Qian's official now, and Tao Qian is still very optimistic about Chen Deng. As for Chen Qi, he has always been reluctant to go out and is a rich man at home.

In addition, Mi Zhu, who is not engaged in driving, as for the commander Cao Bao, he naturally can't be left behind, so Tao Qian's mansion is now full of officials. Tao Qian's two sons were not interested in official careers, so they were not in the ordinary

"Everyone. What is the purpose of Cao Cao's letter, don't ask, don't say that Xuzhou can't take out such a large amount of money and grain now, even if it can be taken out, it can't resist Cao Cao's begging for years, but if you don't give it, Cao Cao will definitely raise troops to rob it, do you have a good way to solve this dilemma? ”

Tao Qian's eyes looked eagerly at the subordinates sitting down, Tao Qian was very confused now, and he couldn't think of any good way, whether he could avoid the great disaster in Xuzhou, he could only rely on them.

"My lord, the so-called soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, Cao Cao will come to fight, are you afraid that they won't succeed?" Cao Bao said with a big grin, but Zhen Rong looked a little approving, and nodded lightly.

Tao Qian naturally knows the temperament of these two people, one is that he doesn't know the height of the sky, and he doesn't care about the world because of his prominent family background, and the other is a bold and fearless character, these two people are people who can only do things, and they can't let them come up with ideas, and the ideas they can come up with are basically bad ideas.

Tao Qian ignored Cao Bao, turned his gaze to Zhao Yu and asked, "Zhengqing, what do you think?" ”

Zhao Yu frowned and said in a deep voice: "As the lord said, Cao Cao is now here for money and food, if you want to avoid this disaster, one is to let Cao Cao take what he wants, and the other is to defeat him, in addition, his subordinates can't think of any other good way." But if I use the military strength of Xuzhou, if I want to defeat Cao Cao, I'm afraid it will not be so easy1

"Why did Lord Zhao say this, is my Xuzhou army so unbearable?" Zhen Rong squinted and looked at Zhao Yu with unkind eyes, this Zhao Yu is an upright person, and often reports some of Zhen Rong's shady behaviors to Tao Qian, so Zhen Rong has always been unpleasant to Zhao Yu, not to mention, as a military figure, Zhen Rong still has to protect the reputation of his army.

"The general knows in his heart that if the general feels that he can resist Cao Cao's army, then there is nothing to say below, so we will unanimously support the general to repel Cao's army

"Hmph1

Silence 1 Tao Qian unceremoniously stopped Di Rong, Di Rong didn't dare to show off half a point in front of Tao Qian, he honestly closed his mouth, but still glared at Zhao Yu dissatisfied.

"Where's Yuanlong? What do you think? ”

Chen Deng was a little hesitant, in fact, the interests of the Chen family in Xuzhou are very heavy, and it would still hurt to rob Cao Cao like this, but it is not realistic to rely on these old soldiers in Xuzhou now to resist Cao Cao. If you think about it, you can only ask for foreign help, but as the saying goes, it's easier to ask God than to send God! If it's not a god or a ghost who is invited, it will be even worse, so Chen Deng is a little conflicted in his heart now, but Tao Qian asked, Chen Deng also had to say his immature thoughts, maybe everyone discussed it together, and maybe they could get a better way.

"My lord, my subordinates think that it is definitely not okay to send grain to Cao Cao, this kind of thing has one and two, and then it will never end forever, even if I have been stable and rich in Xuzhou under the rule of adults for many years, I can't bear Cao Cao's mouth of swallowing elephants, so this is definitely not advisable 1

Tao Qian nodded and motioned for Chen Deng to continue.

"As for resistance, although my Xuzhou army is not incapable of fighting, but the number is really limited, and my Xuzhou army has never participated in actual combat, at most it is to exterminate some bandits, the biggest battle is just to fight with the rabble of the Yellow Turban Army, while Cao Cao's army is a strong army that has fought against the strongest army in the entire Han Dynasty, if you only rely on my Xuzhou army, I am afraid it will be too strong to do it1

"What Yuan Long said is very much, mainly because the number of our army is insufficient, and there is also a gap in armament 1 Zhu Rong hurriedly followed up and patched, in fact, everyone here knows that Chen Deng said this only to give the military a face, and the point of Chen Deng's words is that the Xuzhou army cannot stop Cao Cao's strong army!

"Yuanlong, you mean to ask for foreign aid?" Wang Lang willingly lifted the sedan chair for Chen Deng, Chen Deng smiled slightly and nodded yes.

"Yes, however, it's a bit particular about who to ask for this foreign aid, don't block the wolf at the front door, but put a tiger in the back door, then you can't regret it, and your subordinates hesitate for this1

Tao Qian stroked his beard and thought silently, he hadn't thought about asking for help, when he saw this letter, his first thought was to find someone to ask for help, and this person could only be Sun Jian, who had a very good relationship with him.

However, Sun Jian is now busy dealing with Liu Xuan, obviously out of reach, and Sun Jian also fought with Cao Cao before, and the result was also an undefeated situation, and now if Sun Jian sends troops to help Tao Qian again, it is likely that Cao Cao will go south to Lujiang to retaliate against Sun Jian.

Looking at the surroundings again, it seems that only Yuan Shao can help, but Tao Qian hates Yuan Shao very much, thinking that this person's ambition is too big, in the final analysis, the current situation of the Han is inseparable from the Yuan family, so Tao Qian, who has a round personality and a square personality, will not approve of Yuan Shao.

Except for these two people, Tao Qian really couldn't think of anyone who could help him.

"Yuanlong, let's talk about where you want to invite foreign aid from."

"This was originally the best to invite Sun Wentai, but Lord Sun is probably not having time to withdraw now, as for Yuan Shao in the north, this person may not really help us, when Cao Cao and Yuan Shu competed, Yuan Shao still sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, not to mention that now, Yuan Shao is more likely to fall into the hole against the weaker side when we are fighting with Cao Cao."

Everyone nodded, admitting that Chen Deng's statement was reasonable, unless Xuzhou changed banners, Yuan Shao should not be so kind to help Xuzhou.

"What if we provide Yuan Shao with money and food?" Mi Zhu interjected and asked, in Mi Zhu's opinion, if you can use money and food to invite mercenaries to block Cao Cao, and spend less than what Cao Cao asked, then it is worth it, this is the vision of a businessman.

Everyone's eyes looked at Chen Deng again, Chen Deng frowned and shook his head: "To Yuan Shao and Cao Cao is the same truth, Yuan Shao's greed is no less than Cao Cao, give Cao Cao and can keep Xuzhou peaceful for a few years, if it is given to Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao's army may not leave in Xuzhou." ”

Mi Zhu moved the corners of his mouth, and finally didn't say anything more, letting Tao Qian take refuge in Yuan Shao, obviously not working, besides, Mi Zhu didn't know how Yuan Shao would treat himself, if he could keep the current situation in Xuzhou, don't risk betting on Yuan Shao.

Chen Deng glanced at Mi Zhu and saw Mi Zhu's thoughts clearly.