Cao Chun lives in Tancheng, has his own mansion, has his own servants, Liu Bei really didn't say anything to his brother-in-law, except for not letting him go out of Tancheng, the rest is up to him.

Even in his spare time, Liu Bei would personally go to Cao Chun's mansion and have a few sips with his brother-in-law when he had nothing to do.

At the same time, Liu Bei will regularly spread the news of Cao Chun to Cao Cao's military camp, promote the benevolence of the imperial court, and treat Cao Chun so favorably even if he arrests him...... It fully shows the benevolence of the imperial court.

The news reached Cao Cao's camp, and all the generals knew that Cao Chun was very safe at the moment, and they were all assured.

But at the same time, the generals were somewhat suspicious about the matter of going north to conquer Liu Bei.

After all, Cao Chun is still in Liu Bei's hands now, and the treatment is good, at this time, Cao Cao did not think about finding a way to save Cao Chun, but went north to fight Liu Bei, in case he really annoyed Liu Bei and ruined Cao Chun's life, is this a bit unthinking of the friendship of the same clan......

The rest of the things, everyone is a little afraid to think about it.

After Cao Cao recently went north, he was repeatedly bullied by Liu Bei on the plain battlefield, and he was quite depressed, although he also tried his best to find a way to lead Liu Bei's troops into the mountains and forests, but Liu Bei is still very calm now, but he is not in a plan, so Cao Cao has not been able to open the situation.

Now Cao Cao's troops are blocked by Liu Bei in the Huaibei area, unable to enter the army, and his heart is already quite depressed.

After the news of Cao Chun's presence in Tancheng reached Cao Cao, Cao Cao laughed at the time, and he didn't know whether he was annoyed or angry.

"This person with big ears has a lot of means, I think he has Liu Jian's true biography!"

The military advisor Xi Zhicai has been following Cao Cao's side, listened to Cao Cao's words, and said: "Zihe and Liu Xuande have a friendship between Qin and Jin. Now Liu Bei treats him like this, which also shows that Liu Bei is a good person. ”

"He, like Liu Jian, is based on benevolence and righteousness."

"According to the last official's opinion, Liu Bei treated Zihe well, and at the same time spread this news everywhere, I don't think it completely disturbs the hearts of our army, it should have another deep meaning."

When Cao Cao heard this, he didn't show any surprise.

He said: "Zhicai's words are very true, Cao Mou knows in his heart, Liu Bei's move has a deep meaning, it is to want to negotiate peace with Cao!" ”

"He wants Cao to retreat."

Xi Zhicai said: "Although Liu Xuande has fought with us, he has not been attacking with all his might, and he has a tendency not to disturb us. ”

Cao Cao sighed: "Zhicai, in fact, Cao has always had a concern in his heart, that is, where should Cao go in the future?" ”

When Xi Zhi heard this, his face was also worried.

"Didn't the lord think about this before he came to Jiangdong?"

Cao Cao nodded and said: "I thought about it, but there are many things, and it has not developed as Cao thought." ”

"Back then, when Cao came here, he only thought of relying on the geographical advantages of the south of the Yangtze River, separating the southeast, watching the general trend of the world, watching Dong Zhuo, Yuan's, Liu Jian and other heroes compete, developing with peace of mind, looking for opportunities to enter the Central Plains, and then becoming a big thing in one fell swoop......"

When he said this, it was inconvenient to see the look in Cao Cao's eyes suddenly darkened, and he sighed.

"It's just that I never expected that Liu Jian's development speed was too fast."

"No one could have imagined that he would occupy the imperial court and unify the northern states in such a short period of time."

"Especially after Liu Jian occupied the imperial court, he was able to use such a fast speed to stabilize the north, and all industries developed rapidly, which Cao never expected."

"According to Cao's assumption, it should take at least another ten years for Liu Jian to achieve today's achievements."

"And these ten years are enough for Cao to do a lot of things."

"Everything is different now."

"Today, Liu Jian is the most powerful."

"He occupied the imperial court, occupied the orthodoxy, occupied the place with the richest economy, the place with the most war horses, the place with the most grain, the place with the most iron tools, and the place with the most commercial and trade industries in the Han Dynasty......"

"Hey, with the current trend of the world's heroes, it has to be Cao Mou and Yuan Shao, Yuan Yi and others to unite before it is possible to compete with Liu Jian."

"No single family can be Liu Jian's opponent, but if it continues to fight like this, when will it be a head? Is it really possible for us to defeat Liu Jian and reorganize the imperial court? ”

When Xi Zhicai heard this, he also smiled helplessly: "What the lord thinks is indeed far-reaching. ”

"It's just that with the current trend, the lord of this road has to continue to walk."

"The lord really doesn't have the ability to eliminate Liu Jian."

"Could it be that the lord wants to submit to Liu Jian?"

When Cao Cao heard this, he stretched out his hand and rubbed his eyebrows, and said, "Even if I am submissive to Liu Jian, I am afraid that there may not be any good results." ”

"Cao has ruled the southeast for many years, and he has been deeply rooted here, and he will be jealous if he returns the next day."

"Moreover, Cao is also a supporter of Yuan Shao, and over the years, he has been deeply bound to the Yuan family in terms of interests."

"Liu Deran and the Yuan family are already dying, and once Cao, who is a supporter of Yuan Shao, returns to obedience, no one can say what kind of fate he will get."

Moreover, even if Liu Jian does not harm Cao and agrees to Cao's submission, Cao now has a great influence in the southeast...... Cao is obedient, will Cao's descendants still be tolerated by the Han Dynasty? ”

Cao didn't count these in his heart, and now, Cao is a person on the cusp...... Where is the road? Cao didn't know in his heart. ”

Xi Zhicai said: "In this case, there is only one way for the lord to go." ”

"What way?"

"With Liu Jian's current monstrous momentum, although it cannot be completely defeated, it is not impossible for the lord to unite with Yuan Shao and hold on to the danger of the three rivers, so it is possible to support it for ten or even twenty years...... But the specific day that can be supported, it is not easy to speculate in the heart of the last official, but the last official feels, with Liu Jian's ambition, he will not want to spend indefinitely with the lord and Yuan Shao and others, within ten years, if Liu Jian can't take Jiangnan, the court will take the initiative to appease the lord and make the lord submit, it may not be impossible. ”

Cao Cao said: "Then you still have to surrender to the imperial court?" ”

Xi Zhicai shook his head and said: "This submission is different from the direct and passive initiative to submit to Liu Jian, as long as the lord can hold the Yangtze River and not be invaded by the northern army, it is undefeated, so you can put forward conditions to Liu Jian...... For example, it is not impossible for Liu Jian to promise the lord to make the lord Yongzhen southeast. ”

"At that time, the lord can divide the south of the Yangtze River and pay tribute to the court every year, so that the lord himself and his children and grandchildren can be guaranteed."

Cao Cao smiled when he heard this.

"Yes, so far, there is only one way to go, even if you can't achieve a great cause, but if you can permanently dominate the party, it is also an excellent thing for Cao."

"At the mercy of others in the court, where is it comfortable to have a dominant party?"

Xi Zhicai nodded and said, "So what the lord has to do now is to make war with Liu Jian and negotiate peace with Liu Jian, but he can't submit to him." ”

"There must be a war between the two sides, and we must let Liu Jian know that although his power is strong, he wants to pacify Jiangdong. But it has to expend a huge amount of energy and national strength. ”

"And to negotiate peace with the lord and appease the lord is undoubtedly the best choice for the imperial court."

Cao Cao nodded: "That's right,"

"In the future, the relationship between Jiangdong and Yuan Shao, as well as the imperial court, is quite delicate, not only to borrow Yuan Shao to attack the imperial court, so that the imperial court will retreat from our difficulties, but at the same time, we must not tie up too closely with Yuan Shao, and we must advance and retreat freely."

Xi Zhicai said: "Even if it is borrowed from Yuan Shao to compete with the imperial court, the relationship with the imperial court should not be too stiff, and Liu Jian must have a war, but also a peace, this balance and trade-off, only the lord himself can control it." ”

Cao Cao said: "Fortunately, Cao still left a hand back then, and married that Liu Xuande. ”

"Now, Zihe is in his hands, and Liu Bei deliberately spreads his favors to Zihe everywhere, but I still want to use this matter to negotiate with Cao."

"Okay, Cao Mou will take advantage of the matter of Zihe to negotiate with Liu Xuande this time."

"Zhicai, in a while, you will find Yuan Si for Cao, and ask him to go to Tancheng on behalf of Cao, and meet with Liu Bei to discuss the matter of our army to redeem his son and return to Jiangdong!"

"Remember, if you want Gu Yuansian to be as high-profile as possible all the way, it's best to make this matter known to everyone."

"Liu Xuande is not Liu Deran after all, so it should be much easier to deal with."

……

……

In this way, Cao Cao showed a situation of taking care of both sides, while he continued to fight with Liu Bei, and on the other hand, he began to send people to contact Liu Bei to discuss the matter of ransom Cao Chun's return to Jiangdong.

After all, Cao Chun is Cao Cao's brother of the same clan, and it is understandable that Cao Cao made peace with Liu Bei for his safety.

Even if this matter finally reached Yuan Shao's ears, Cao Cao could explain it clearly in front of Yuan Shao.

After all, it wasn't his Yuan family's own brother who was arrested, and Yuan Shao had no qualifications to accuse him of Cao Cao.

So, Cao Cao sent an envoy Gu Yong to communicate with Liu Bei and discuss how to redeem Cao Chun.

For Cao Cao, whether he can return to Cao Chun is a small matter, the key is that once the two sides hold peace talks, this war must be temporarily suspended.

Whether it is for Cao Cao or Liu Bei, during this period of peace talks, it is not appropriate to use too many troops on the other side, so as to ensure that the conflict between the two sides can be reduced, but Cao Cao's soldiers and horses are still displayed in Xiapi State, constantly exerting political deterrence on Xuzhou.

This can be regarded as being in harmony with Cao Cao's mind.

It can be regarded as responding to Yuan Shao's request to contain Liu Bei on the Xuzhou side, so that Liu Bei cannot go to other places to support.

In a sense, although the conflict between the two sides is inevitable, in this case, it can reduce the conflict between the two sides.

Now that Cao Cao has made up his mind, the measurement of this "degree" needs to be controlled by himself.

……

……

Compared with other places on the north-south border, the fighting in Xuzhou was the mildest.

First, Ma Teng and Han Sui led more than ten rebels to attack Longxi here, but this time Zhang Fei was not used to them.

He had already made sufficient preparations, and at the same time received Xu Rong's support.

This time Zhang Fei was no longer conservative, he invited Lu Bu and Zhang He and other generals to go into battle together, and Zhang Fei personally led the army in the center and duel with Ma Teng and Han Sui.

Many Wubao in Longxi County have become the forefront of the Liangzhou Production and Construction Corps, and Zhang Fei's soldiers and horses are the elite of the elite, and the current Liangzhou Production and Construction Corps has taken root in Longxi County, and there is a steady supply of grain and grass.

Even if he can't wipe out Ma Teng and Han Sui at once, but if he fights a protracted war, and then uses this war to give the other side a little bit of power, Zhang Fei feels that he can still do this.

There will definitely be no embarrassment when Dong Zhuo led an army of 100,000 to the west.

As for Yuzhou, Sun Cezun Yuan Shao's order has led the old army of the Sun family, including the soldiers he re-recruited in Yuzhou, to march towards Yanzhou, and Gongsun Zan is also in close contact with Sun Ce.

On the Ruoyang side, Zhao Yun and Fu Zhi's partners also started a head-to-head battle with Yuan Shaojun.

This time, Yuan Shao personally led the troops, and the momentum was quite huge, and Zhao Yun moved the battle line forward in order to protect Tuntian in Sizhou, blocking Yuan Shao outside Luyang.

Don't look at Yuan Shao's momentum in the north, there are far more soldiers and horses than Zhao Yun 2, but Zhao Yun's honor guard is still cavalry!

Not bad, cavalry!

The killer weapon of the northern army is the cavalry!

It's old-fashioned, but it works.

Once Yuan Shao's army and Zhao Yun's army met on the plain, Zhao Yun immediately used his strong white horse army to charge Yuan's army.

After the opponent's army formation was completely dispersed, other covering troops were sent to rush forward to fight Yuan's army.

Although Yuan Shao had a lot of men and horses, after being beaten by Zhao Yun's cavalry several times on the plain battlefield, he didn't get any bargains, and his heart was extremely depressed, so they wanted to set up a strong crossbow array, and then find a suitable place to ambush Zhao Yun's cavalry and give the other party a heavy blow.

The problem is that Zhao Yun has also been marching in the border county for many years, and he has a very good grasp of the battlefield.

Although there are many talents in Jingzhou under Yuan Shao, they are far less experienced than Zhao Yun at the military level, especially in the Pingyuan Station.

And Zhao Yun's two lieutenants, Yan Liang and Wen Chou, are also fierce generals who are proficient in cavalry battle formations.

These generals from Hebei are all good at using cavalry to set up formations.

These three men took turns to put the cavalry into battle, which caused a great obstacle to Yuan Shao's army.

Yuan Shao wanted to destroy the Tuntian in Sizhou, but the cavalry used by Zhao Yun, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others was extremely powerful.

They were always able to strike at Yuan Shao's soldiers who went to destroy Tuntian at the first time, so that Yuan Shao's plan could not fully succeed.

Of course, Yuan Shao also won part of the tuntian in Sizhou, and it is impossible that there will be no results at all, but the effect is much worse than he expected.

At the same time, Yuan Yi of Yizhou also began to send his troops and horses north, secretly wanting to get out of the Great Scattered Pass and go straight to Chang'an.

On the other hand, Yuan Shao sent his general Huang Zu and several other fierce generals from Jingzhou to prepare to Hongnong County to quietly take Empress Dowager He and Liu Wei to Jingzhou, so that his political goal was achieved.

Even if he can't destroy Liu Jian's development layout in the north at the first moment, as long as King Hongnong and Empress Dowager He are snatched back to Jingzhou, then Yuan Shao will be worth the trip.

The problem is that Liu Jian has long known about Yuan Shao's arrangement.

King Hongnong was just a pawn he used to attract Yuan Shao's army.

Liu Jian had already sent Xu Huang to ambush an army in Hongnong.

Although there are not many people, it is no problem to defeat Huang Zu by surprise.

Liu Jian knew that once Yuan Shao's plan to meet King Hongnong went bankrupt, his entire layout would be disrupted.

When the time comes, it will be a good opportunity for you to fight back.

(End of chapter)