On the bank of the Lishui River, Lu Bu asked the red rabbit horse to stop by the river to drink water by himself, and he found a bluestone to sit down, running around for days, not to mention ordinary soldiers, even Lu Bu also felt a little tired and war-weary.

"Lord, the spies are back!" Hao Zhao came to Lu Bu's side, bowed to Lu Bu and said: "Crossing the river from here, there is a mountainous dense forest on the other bank, there are not many Cao troops in Ye County, and they have to guard the city, but there are some township pavilions along the way that cannot be avoided." ”

"Enough!" Lu Bu picked up a puff of river water and splashed it on his face, the cold river water shocked his spirits, and he straightened up and came: "Get on the horse and cross the river!" ”

"Whoa!"

……

In the fifth year of Jian'an, with the end of the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's prestige should have risen sharply, but a fire in Xuchang could not be hidden at all, and after Lu Bu left Kunyang, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao had already gotten the news.

"Lu Bu!" Wancheng, General's Mansion.

Zhang Xiu handed the bamboo note in his hand to Jia Xu beside him and said, "Sir, you said that without the Son of Heaven, does this Cao Cao still have a chance to win the Central Plains?" ”

Jia Xu took the bamboo paper, read it, and said with a smile: "Then it depends on whether Lu Bu can bring the Son of Heaven back to Xuzhou this time." ”

"Oh?" Zhang Xiu looked at Jia Xu and said: "Xuzhou has been in turmoil several times, the population has withered, if it is really as Mr. said, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, then the prestige will inevitably be shocked, Lu Bu has seized the Son of Heaven, Cao Cao will definitely refuse to give up, Lu Bu only relies on Xuzhou, how can he stop Cao Jun?" ”

"Although the momentum is rising, it does not mean that Cao Jun's strength will also soar." Jia Xu put his hands behind his back and said in a deep voice: "If there is no Lu Bu's hand, Cao Cao can take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the influence of this battle, but if the son is robbed today, if he can't recover the Son of Heaven in time, then Cao Cao's momentum is strong, but he has lost the righteousness, although Yuan Shao is defeated, but the foundation is not injured, if Cao Cao attacks the river again. The northern land will be counterattacked, but if Cao Cao turns to attack Lü Bu, it will not only give Yuan Shao a chance to recuperate, but at the same time, Lü Bu holds the name of righteousness and can order the princes of the Quartet to attack Cao Cao. ”

"Lu Bu is like Cao Cao who coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, but the princes will listen to him?" Zhang Xiu frowned.

"No, it won't." Jia Xu shook his head and said: "But it is an opportunity to defeat Cao Cao, lord, if Cao Cao concentrates all his strength to attack Xuzhou, the land of Yuzhou is at his fingertips, will the lord send troops?" ”

Zhang Xiu hesitated for a moment and nodded silently, he was forced by the situation before, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were not something he could afford to provoke, so he chose to hibernate, but if Cao Cao was weak, Zhang Xiu would never mind falling into the ground, after all, there was actually a big feud between him and Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's eldest son, the love of the general, died in the hands of Zhang Xiu, if there is a choice, Zhang Xiu will never want Cao Cao to sit big, if it is really like Jia Xu said, Zhang Xiu will definitely send troops.

"If there is a name for sending troops on top of this, will the lord accept it?" Jia Xu smiled.

"Yes!" This time, Zhang Xiu did not hesitate, and at the same time understood what Jia Xu meant, Lu Bu held the righteousness in his hands, if he wanted to sway the princes because of this, it would be impossible, but if he took advantage of the situation, give them a name to send troops, they would definitely accept it, not only Zhang Xiu, Yuan Shao, Guanzhong generals, and even Liu Bei, who had a grudge against Lu Bu, probably would not refuse.

"Although Cao Gong's momentum is strong, but after this battle, his strength has also been lost a lot, and the minister expects that if Lu Bu really returns to Xuzhou, Cao Gong will never wave his troops to attack, give Lu Bu a tongue, and even take the initiative to write a book to worship the Son of Heaven, in order to stop Lu Bu's idea of going west, and even form an alliance with Lu Bu to resist Yuan Shao!" Jia Xu smiled.

Even if Yuan Shao is defeated, he is still the strongest prince today.

"In this way, wouldn't it be better if we could snatch the Son of Heaven from Lu Bu's hands?" Zhang Xiu smiled.

"Son of Heaven, Lu Bu can get it, Cao Cao can get it, Yuan Shao can get it, but only the lord can't get it." Jia Xu shook his head and said.

"Why is that?" Zhang Xiu was stunned and said, everyone else can get it, but can't it yourself?

"Although the lord is now in Nanyang, but this is the land of four wars, if the lord wins the Son of Heaven, I am afraid that Liu Biao, Cao Cao and Liu Bei will attack." Jia Xu shook his head and said: "Lu Bu has the courage of a tiger, and his subordinates are all elite soldiers, and he has defeated Jiangdong before, and Cao Gong does not dare to compete with it, and although the land of Xuzhou has been poisoned several times, it has also robbed the land of a county in Nanyang, Yuan Shao has just suffered a big defeat at this time, and he is never willing to let Cao Cao get the Son of Heaven again, so he will take a hand to contain it, and Xuzhou seems to be a place of four battles, but in fact it is as stable as Mount Tai, and once the lord gets the Son of Heaven, Liu Biao will not give up, and even Liu Bei will come to take each other, and it will provoke Lu Bu, the lord has worked with Lu Bu, Know the person's temperament. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiu sighed and nodded.

"Lord!" Hu Che'er strode in from outside the door, nodded at Jia Xu, and handed a letter to Zhang Xiudao: "I just caught a Cao Jun outside the city and sent this letter, saying that it was for Mr. Wenhe. ”

"Oh?" When Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu heard this, their eyebrows raised slightly.

Jia Xu looked at Zhang Xiu, and after Zhang Xiu nodded, Jia Xu took the letter and opened it, and quickly read it, frowning slightly.

"Whose letter is it?" Zhang Xiu hurriedly asked.

"Guo Fengxiao." Jia Xu said in a deep voice.

"That drunkard under Cao Cao?" Zhang Xiu still had some impression of Guo Jia, and asked out loud.

"He's no ordinary drunkard!" Jia Xu handed the letter to Zhang Xiu and said with a wry smile: "It seems that it is difficult to stay out of this matter." ”

"He wants us to help?" After reading the bamboo paper, Zhang Xiu frowned and said, "Don't pay attention to it." ”

"If we let Lu Bu escape, I'm afraid we will usher in Cao Cao's attack first!" Jia Xu smiled bitterly: "Cao Cao has long had the intention of capturing Nanyang, but because of the setback in Xuzhou and the pressure of Yuan Shao, he failed to go south. ”

When Zhang Xiu heard this, he couldn't help but be silent, Cao Jun's combat strength, he had already seen it, the most elite of the Nanyang Army was the Xiliang Iron Cavalry left by Zhang Ji, but there were not many of them, and the land of Nanyang was different from the north, the role of cavalry was not as good as infantry, if Cao Cao really led the army south, I am afraid it would be difficult to resist, otherwise he would not have to lead the horse into the city for Cao Cao in humiliation last time.

"So what now?" Zhang Xiu smiled bitterly, it is not easy to offend both sides, but if it is a threat, it is obvious that Cao Cao is more threatening than Lu Bu.

"You can send a team of men and horses to Zhongyang Mountain to garrison, which can be regarded as helping Cao's army." Jia Xu pondered: "But there don't be too many people, five hundred people are enough." ”

"Why Zhongyang Mountain?" Zhang Xiu wondered.

"There are 5,000 Cao troops stationed in Duyang, if Lu Buruo is killed from Xuchang, if he wants to return to Xuzhou, he can't go to the hinterland of the Cao army, and the main road to Runan is afraid that it has been blocked by the Cao army at this moment. Jia Xu laughed.

"Five hundred, I'm afraid it's hard to stop him!" Zhang Xiu was a little entangled and said, he had seen Lu Bu's bravery, Mo said that there might be other people around him, Lu Bu alone, the battle formation of five hundred people could be killed by him.

"There's no need to do your best, even the lord can send some more old and weak to go, could it be that the lord really wants to help Cao Jun capture Lu Bu?" Jia Xu laughed.

Zhang Xiu suddenly heard this, turned his head to look at Hu Che'er and said, "Sir's words, the general should have heard it, you can arrange this matter." ”

"Whoa!" Hu Che'er agreed and bowed to leave.