The Taishan army went south from Pingcheng in October, and killed Taiyuan in the middle of the month, not to mention that it would have to fight with the Kansai army later, and this incident alone has already shaken the princes of the world.

Among them, the most shocked was Cao Cao in Qingzhou.

It was a cold month, and Qingzhou Jinan Dongping Mausoleum once again ushered in a heavy snowfall.

The whole city is wrapped in cold clothes, and it is extraordinarily enchanting.

In the midst of the heavy snow, the patrol troops in the city were still faithful to their duties and patrolled the streets. Some of the officials were also carrying firewood to nearby houses in the heavy snow.

In the early morning, when the snow had just fallen, Cao Cao, the lord of Qingzhou, ordered Yousi to distribute firewood and winter clothes to the poor in the city to help them survive the cold winter.

These actions made Cao Cao more popular with the people of Dongpingling, and it can be said that the three years that he was in charge of Dongpingling did benefit the people here.

But even with such a popular foundation, the staff of the state shogunate were still persuading Cao Cao to move the state from Dongpingling to Linzi of the Qi state.

There are two main reasons for them to move to the state. One is that Dongpingling is too close to the front line of the plains and is not safe. The other is that in the future, the main business direction of Qingzhou will be the south, and Dongpingling to Xuzhou is too far away, a bit out of reach.

But Cao Cao did not accept it, and still regarded Dongping Mausoleum as the location of the shogunate. It's just that Cao Hong was sent out of the town of Qi, and his meaning is unpredictable.

At this time, in the shogunate of the eastern general of Qingzhou Military Town, Cao Cao was enjoying the snow with warm wine.

The shogunate where he is now located is not the original Taishofu, but a new foundation was chosen and rebuilt.

This is not that Cao Cao's great cause has not been accomplished and he has begun to enjoy.

Instead, he has to take into account Xun Yu's emotions.

The Taishou Mansion back then had too many sad memories of Xun Yu. Especially the ruined building behind the mansion is the place where his father died.

Although Xun Yu had never shown any abnormal emotions, Cao Cao had to think about it.

In addition, he attacked Xuzhou before and killed Tao Qian in one fell swoop. The positions of his Xuzhou Mu and Zhendong generals were vacant.

Later, the Kyoto court played a small trick, that is, to divide Tao Qian's position in two. He gave the festival of General Zhendong to Cao Cao, but handed over the seal of Xuzhou Mu to Chen Deng.

This simple way of checks and balances, of course, Cao Cao knew and was very disdainful.

If you don't give it, he'll take it. So how is Chen Deng his opponent?

However, since he got the festival in the east of the town, Cao Cao naturally began to prepare for the shogunate and built this mansion.

The pavilion where he admires the snow is the place where he relaxes every day.

On each side of the pavilion is written:

"Zhou Gong spits and feeds, and the world returns to the heart"

Its meaning is lofty and heroic. But only Xu Chu and other personal soldiers knew that whenever the Lord was worried, he would always come here alone and pour himself a drink.

What worries did Cao Cao encounter that he couldn't get rid of?

In fact, Cao Cao has developed very well during this year.

Since he entered Jinan in the second year of the Republic, after a series of deep-rooted roots, he has collected the people of Yingchuan and the courage of Peiguo, and has become a self-contained entity. After that, they went down to the south to gather all, and the north merged with the plains, and the place they passed, the wind was invincible, and the world was shaken.

Then, he successively clashed with the two main forces of the Taishan Army in the Central Plains, and won and lost each other. It was also by virtue of this battle that he Cao Cao sat firmly in Qingzhou and became the hope of all the Beidi Liushi and Qingzhou Tushi.

In the second half of the year, he went south to attack Xuzhou, although he almost failed to swallow Xuzhou in one breath, but he also swallowed half of Xuzhou, and the rest was only eaten on a plate, which could be destroyed at any time.

But since October, the situation has changed subtly.

This change is not on Cao Cao's side, but on the Taishan army.

The Taishan army shook a shot and dropped him back from the Xuzhou battlefield with suspicious soldiers, in fact, to attack and merge the state.

From this point of view, this is still good news, after all, Cao Cao has gained more time to develop. But in the long run, this is not the case.

If it is said that the Taishan army entrenched in the Youji area was still a game of coiling dragons, but after they won and merged the state, it would have become a situation of flying dragons in the sky.

The mountains and rivers of the state are on the surface, and the backbone of the world can be said to extend in all directions.

Once the Taishan army takes and annexes the state, it will be difficult to check and balance.

However, Cao Cao also saw that judging from the behavior of the Taishan army in attacking and merging states, its follow-up strategy will revolve around the two capitals in the northwest, and the attention to the Central Plains and Qingzhou will be reduced.

So in the future, it will be a critical period for Cao Cao's development.

For Cao Cao, the best situation now is that the Taishan army is in the bloody battle of Bingzhou and Guanxi, and it is deeply involved. And he can calmly clean up Xuzhou, and then go south to Huaiyang.

But there are still two hidden worries, that is, the location of Mount Tai and Yuan Shao's strategic development.

The Qingzhou Army has developed to the present, and in fact, it has increasingly discovered the geographical shortcomings of Qingzhou. The east of Qingzhou is the sea, and if you want to develop, you can only open up from the north, west and south.

However, to the north of Qingzhou is the Yellow River, which is also the key point of defense against the Taishan army, so the strategy for this direction is very clear, that is, to deploy layers of fortresses and defend them.

And to the west of Qingzhou? It's Yanzhou.

It was possible to attack here, but it was blocked by the mountains of Yimengtailu.

Cao Cao admired Zhang Chong of the Taishan Army very much, and believed that his strategic vision was the top in the world. Since he left Mount Tai to fight in the world, the Mount Tai area has never given up, and even used it as a center of gravity to build.

And now? Mount Tai is like a knife against Cao Cao's waist, and it is really like a man's back.

So did Cao Cao ever think about attacking Mount Tai?

Yes, but he knew it wasn't realistic.

The Taishan area is too dangerous, how many soldiers does Cao Cao have enough to fill in?

Therefore, the road of Qingzhou's westward development was blocked by the Taishan army. As a result, Cao Cao could only attack Xuzhou in the south.

This Qingxu integration is Cao Cao's strategy in advance, and there is nothing wrong with this.

But when Yuan Shao began to jump from Yiyang Sanguan Frog to Jiangxia, Cao Cao found a problem.

That is, there is a major contradiction between his follow-up strategy and Yuan Shao's strategic direction.

In the original plan, after taking Xuzhou, Cao's army would attack the Jiujiang and Yuzhang areas of Yangzhou along the Yangtze River, with the fundamental purpose of taking the Yangtze River.

This is the back road left by Cao Cao for himself, once he loses the struggle with the Taishan army in the Central Plains, he will at least have the south, and when the time comes, with the Yangtze River, the world is still unknown.

But what about now? You tell me, you Yuan Shao has thick eyebrows and big eyes, and you are going to retreat to the Yangtze River? Didn't you say that you were going to fight the Central Plains with the Taishan Army?

At this moment, once Yuan Shao takes Jingzhou, he will occupy the head of the Yangtze River. And even if he won the waist and tail of the Yangtze River, he was still at a disadvantage in the overall geopolitical situation.

Yuan Shao in the upper reaches could attack him at any time by going south downstream. At that time, he will really have to rely on Yuan Shao's snort.

However, these are all long-term things, and what worries Cao Cao the most is the immediate matter.

That is, there are internal worries in the army.

Cao Jun has developed rapidly in the past two years, but the faster he develops, the greater the internal troubles.

In the basic plate of the Cao family, the core is the 3,000 Kwantung Army he brought down from the Cuihan battlefield. And now? Cao Cao had 50 battalions under Cao Cao, with 50,000 soldiers, plus the generals, Tuntian soldiers, etc., with a total of 100,000 troops.

In two years, the army has expanded to such a point, how can Cao Cao not be worried?

Some of these forces are in the hands of his fellow sects, some are in the hands of his core Yuancong, and some are surrendered heroes, but the most are the generals of the plains.

What are the generals of the plains?

It is the judge, Gai Tong, Xian Yufu, Gongsun Yue, Gongsun Fan, Wei You, Cheng Xu, Qi Zhou. Previously, the generals of the Plains had a force of up to 40,000 troops.

After that, Sun Jian, who was the backbone, was squeezed out by Liu He, and could only lead 800 troops south to return to Wu, but now he has successively won Wu County and some counties of Huiji, which can be said to have a good momentum.

But even after Sun Jian left, the remaining troops were as many as 30,000, accounting for one-third of Cao Cao's total troops.

Although these plain generals also have contradictions. If the Gongsun family and Xian Yufu have a grudge, Liu Yu's old department represented by Liu Jaw will not deal with the trial and match group.

But this still made Cao Cao lie on his side, and he was afraid that one day these people would also collude with outsiders.

After all, Yuan Shao's development is much better than that of Cao Cao. In the past, if the judge was able to cooperate with himself and take Liu Yu's army, it would be possible to fall to Yuan Shao again.

But worry is worry, Cao Cao still can't make any radical moves against the trial and others.

So, he decided to adopt a strategy of disintegration and disintegration.

The snow was falling, Cao Cao was still thinking, and at this time Xu Chu came over and whispered:

"My lord?"

Cao Cao looked up.

Xu Chu continued:

"Lord, Hua Jun is here."

The so-called Huajun? Hua Xin also.

Since he met Hua Xin in the camp of the plains, Cao Cao felt that this person was a talent, and he also had a fate with himself.

After that, he had been serving in the camp on the front line of the Plains, and he was very familiar with the generals of the Plains, so Cao Cao put the breakthrough on this person.

So after hearing Hua Xin coming, Cao Cao hurriedly got up to greet him.

Then in the goose and goose snow, a handsome tall scholar stepped on the snow, and the snow-white mink fur set off this person more handsomely.

This person is none other than Hua Xin.

Seeing Cao Cao coming, this person hurriedly stepped forward, saluted respectfully, and threw himself to the ground, not caring about the thick snow on the ground.

Hua Xin is a famous Confucian in Qingzhou, and he is the most knowledgeable. And he has always had great ambitions and is very happy about his career, so for Cao Cao, he has always been a big gift, and he does not dare to slack off.

Over there, Cao Cao saw Hua Xin doing this big gift, so he hurriedly stepped forward and pulled it up, and while dusting the snow for Hua Xin, he complained:

"Huajun, there is no need for this between you and me."

But having said that, Cao Cao was very satisfied in his heart, and secretly thought that Hua Xin was his own person.

For Hua Xin's strong signal of progress, Cao Cao can certainly accept it.

And over there, Hua Xin became more and more respectful:

"My lord, how can the courtesy of the people and ministers be bad. The hearts of the people in this world are scattered, just because they don't know this ceremony, and they can't know it. ”

Of course, Cao Cao has a different opinion on this answer, but since Hua Xin insisted, he was certainly happy to see it.

Then he pulled Hua Xin to the pavilion and personally warmed a glass of wine for him.

After Cao Cao toasted a cup of Huaxin, he asked:

"Hua Jun, you are a famous scholar, please tell me a passage of "Analects" for me."

Hua Xin sighed in his heart and asked carefully:

"I don't know which passage the lord wants to hear."

Cao Cao replied lightly:

"Just listen to "Ji's Will Cut Away"?."

At this moment, Hua Xin's heart was no longer chuckling, but beating wildly, he tried to stabilize his mind and asked:

"I wonder why the lord is listening to this?"

Cao Cao glanced at Hua Xin with a smile, and then laughed at himself:

"Isn't this what Gong Xun mentioned when he advised me not to cut Xu a few days ago. I just want you to tell me about it. ”

Hua Xin knew about it.

Xun Gong is Xun Shuang, Xun Yu's uncle, who is upright and strong, and was invited by Xun Yu to Qingzhou to assist Cao Cao. Because of his high morality, Cao Cao has always honored him as Duke Xun.

At that time, after Cao Cao arranged a plain defense, he determined that the main direction of attack of the Taishan army was the northwest, and he wanted to immediately send troops south to Xuzhou.

But at that time, Xun Shuang admonished, and directly admonished Cao Cao with "Ji's General Cutting Away".

Although Xun Shuang only mentioned it at that time, who was not familiar with the "Analects", didn't know that the most important sentence in this article was "I am afraid of Ji Sun's worries, not in the moment, but within the Xiao Wall." ”

Who is Dawn? It's clear, Xuzhou, of course.

But who is the one who caused the wall? Or who does Cao Cao think he is?

For a while, even Hua Xin didn't dare to think about it.

He could only honestly tell this to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao listened and drank slowly, and he was not in a hurry, until Hua Xin finished speaking, and a glass of wine was just finished.

The warm wine is comfortable to drink but also easy to get up, but Cao Cao is in good spirits at this moment, he slowly put down the wine cup, stroked his hair and sighed:

"Yes, honestly. The master said, 'The tiger comes out of the coffin, and the turtle and jade are destroyed in the coffin.' Whose fault is it?' ”

Then Cao Cao looked at Hua Xin and asked:

"If I know that my worries are within the Xiao wall and I don't do it, will I be to blame?"

Hua Xin will face tremendous pressure and squeeze out a smile:

"The Master's words are naturally golden and jade. But there is one thing that is inappropriate, that is, neither the tiger nor the turtle jade are human, they are either chaotic and ignorant, or they are dead things, so they naturally cannot be responsible for the result. But people are human because they listen to persuasion. ”

Cao Cao smiled inexplicably and chewed:

"Listen to persuasion? Hmph, it's a good listen. ”

Hua Xin actually understands that what "Ji's Will Cut Away" just now is all fake. This is because the Lord has become suspicious of the trial and others.

Why is Hua Xin sure that Cao Cao is suspicious of trial matching? This is Hua Xin's cleverness, he understands that the reason why he is here to listen to such a passage is because he belongs to the line of the generals of the Plains.

And he Huaxin happens to be the bridge between Cao Cao and them. If he doesn't answer well, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for the judge and others.

So he answered a key thing, that is, the problem of judging and others was not as serious as Cao Cao thought, and it was far from the word Xiao Wall.

To paraphrase a phrase, it is only an internal contradiction now, not to the extent of a contradiction between the enemy and us. Since it is internal, it is necessary to focus on education. And Hua Xin said that these people who judge them are the most aware of current affairs and will never resist.

Seeing Cao Cao chewing these two words at this moment, Hua Xin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that the Lord is also a persuader.

Finally, as if to be sure, Cao Cao asked again:

"Do you think they really listen to persuasion?"

Hua Xin nodded hurriedly.

"Then how do you persuade it?"

Hua Xin immediately replied:

"You don't need to work the Lord, as long as the Lord calls you over for a drink."

Cao Cao stroked his beard and groaned, and finally spoke:

"Okay, then it's up to Hua Jun to bother, and you will make an appointment for me to come to my cold pavilion for a gathering."

"Let's just say that I, Cao Cao, want to cook wine with everyone and listen to Hua Jun talk about the Analects."

Hua Xin sang with his sleeves.

A crisis seems to have been resolved, and yet it seems as if it never existed.