Just when Jizhou Yuan Shao was restless and afraid of Zhao Xing. Cao Cao, who was across the river, was not having a good time. To say that this time to encircle and merge states, Cao Heizi's losses are not less than Yuan Shao's.

Yuan Shao was captured by two generals, but he was a third-rate commodity, and Cao Cao's loss of Cao Hong was his cousin, not only a confidant general, but also a second-rate general. Yuan Shao lost a total of 10,000 soldiers, compared with his total of 60,000 troops, a loss of one-sixth, and Cao Cao lost a total of 5,000 soldiers, compared with his total of 30,000 troops, also a loss of one-sixth.

Cao Cao recalled that when he was the pastor of Yanzhou, he only had 10,000 soldiers and horses, but he was able to sweep the Yellow Turban thief army in Yizhou in October and the moon. This thing is really embarrassing, and this breath is really hard to swallow!

Not long after Cao Cao returned to Chenliu, the news of the Jin Kingdom came, which made him even more worried and entangled in his heart. Compared with the state, although Yanzhou is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, the land is fertile, the population is concentrated, after Cao Cao's eight years of governance, it is also vibrant, but unfortunately the territory is too small, and close to the Sili area, as soon as there is a wind and grass, the central army of the imperial court can go out of the tiger prison and keep an eye on Yanzhou's every move.

So far, Cao Cao has not shown the essence of a hero, but has left a good image of the court and all parties to govern the world. In fact, Lao Cao was forced to do this, who was willing to be a puppet at the mercy of others? But the reality forced him to clamp his tail and be a man.

The example of merging states is there, Zhao Xing has not completely turned his face with the imperial court, but only expressed some ambition and disobedience, and he was surrounded by nearly 500,000 troops of the imperial court and the forces of various states. If he Cao Heizi does this, it is estimated that it will not be long before he will be completely wiped out.

Compared with the annexation of the state, Yanzhou is really unsafe to defend, and it belongs to a typical place of four wars, that is, the "grass belly" on the military terrain. Cao Cao had been jealous of Xuzhou and Qingzhou to the east of Yanzhou for a long time, but he had no excuse to start a war. Attacking Zhao Xing in Bingzhou, Lao Cao thought that he was not an opponent, but he was still very confident in cleaning up Tao Qian and Kong Rong in the east of Yanzhou.

The siege and annexation of the state caused Lao Cao to suffer a lot of losses, and now how to deal with the aftermath has become the first problem to face. Cao Heizi knew Zhao Xing's character too well that "oil can be squeezed out of the stone", and when he remembered that his cousin and thousands of soldiers were still holding it in Zhao Xing's hands, his heart couldn't help but twitch. This time, without a little blood, it was difficult to exchange Cao Hong and thousands of soldiers from Zhao Xing's hands.

A little blood, Cao Cao is still bearable, what Cao Cao is really worried about is the judgment of the general trend of the world. Cao Cao's vision is not bad at all, and he is even an outstanding politician and military strategist. He had clearly foreseen that Dahan had come to this point, but he was struggling to support himself, and in fact he was not far from falling apart. Although there are people of insight such as Lu Zhi, Zhong Xuan, Chen Qun, and Liu Bei in the court now, after all, the Han Dynasty has reached the field of terminal illness, and it is not just a few people who can return to the sky.

The strong rise of the Jin Kingdom is tantamount to putting a heavy stone on the decaying house of the Han Dynasty, which was originally leaky and broken. However, as long as Zhao Xing didn't push hard, no one would dare to spread wild on the roof of the big man. Whoever does it will give Zhao Xing an excuse and reason to do it, and Cao Cao believes that as long as Zhao Xing is recruited by the imperial court, he will definitely crush all other forces that dare to jump out and claim the king.

Only Zhao Xing is allowed to prevent fire, and no one else is allowed to light the lamp, this is the situation of the Han Dynasty today......

Cao Cao's top strategists were only a lot more than Yuan Shao, so naturally they couldn't look at the lord and sigh all the time, in the face of today's chaotic situation, what were their eyes and opinions?

Wang Zuozhicai Xun Yu believes that Yanzhou must be patient and wait at present, on the one hand, it must maintain good relations with the central court, and on the other hand, it must step up the accumulation of strength, and wait for the general trend of the world to change. Xun Yu is very sure that Zhao Xing will definitely not settle down for too long in the Jin Kingdom, even if other forces do not make a move, he will launch an attack on the surrounding forces after completely controlling the Jin Kingdom, especially Yuan Shao in Jizhou and Dong Zhuo in Liangzhou will bear the brunt.

Cheng Yu and Xun Yu have a supportive and affirmative attitude towards Xun Yu's judgment. Cheng Yu added: "The failure of the coalition forces on the Eastern Front to make progress is not unrelated to the mutiny of Tai Shici, the general of the army under the command of Kong Rong in Qingzhou. ”

Xun You said: "Xuzhou Tao Qian is old and decaying, half a foot has stepped into the tomb, once Tao Qian dies, the imperial court will inevitably appoint a new state pastor to Xuzhou." It is better to plan early, secretly buy some forces of the imperial court, and recommend Liu Ye, a descendant of the Han family, to go to Xuzhou, so that you can take Xuzhou without a single soldier. ”

Xi Zhicai said: "Now the most anxious is Jizhou Yuan Shao, it is estimated that it will not be long before a messenger from Hebei will come to contact Cao Gong, we might as well push the boat down the river, and temporarily agree to Yuan Shao's request, and form an alliance with him, so that he feels some reliance, once Zhao Xing makes a move on Yuan Shao, then depending on the situation, he will send troops to capture Qingxu or go north to fight for the land of Hebei." ”

Xun Yu also said to Cao Cao, Yanzhou can send a group of craftsmen to the Jin Kingdom to learn arts, and send some scholars to study in Taihang Academy, although it may not be able to learn all the strategies of the Jin Kingdom, but as long as there are people to come and go, it can promote the continuous improvement of some industries in Yanzhou. Xun Yu especially reminded Cao Cao to pay attention to strengthening the collection and sorting out of various intelligence of the Jin State, especially to guard against the business trips sent by the Jin State to various places, there must be a lot of detailed work in this.

Cao Cao not only listened carefully to the opinions put forward by these strategists under him, but also added his own analysis and thinking. He seriously recalled the changes in Bingzhou and the various important events in which Zhao Xing had participated since he first met Zhao Xing.

In the end, Cao Cao came to the conclusion that Zhao Xing's vision is very keen and long-term, and he does not only care about immediate interests in doing anything, and sometimes he painstakingly digs a pit, and he can wait for many years to push people into the pit. For example, at the beginning, Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo were asked to be with the snake, but it was not until seven years later that they used a trick to surrender, and they crippled the invincible Dong Zhuo at once.

Cao Cao also felt that Zhao Xing had superb means far ahead of the times in forming and training the army, and the demonic ones were almost not like the people of this era, as if they could see through the historical trend. Zhao Xing's elite soldier line, even if others can see it at a glance, they can't learn it alive or dead.

For this almost demonic opponent, Cao Cao felt a sense of powerlessness from the bottom of his heart, and now he had to endure the restlessness and uneasiness in his heart, quietly waiting for Zhao Xing's next possible move, and then make a decision that was in line with the Yanzhou forces.