The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 60: People’s joys and sorrows are not the same (Please read on!)
Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, Xu Sheng and others were sent by Lao Liu to Xiangben, Lanling and Chengxian respectively to take over the work of county magistrates.

This is Lao Liu's forced feeding. After all, the replenishment of talents cannot keep up with the expansion of Lao Liu's territory.

Fortunately, these people all have a good political foundation and have achieved a lot after taking office.

On the other hand, the Lu family and the Mi family jointly mobilized caravans to cooperate in the refined salt trade and strictly restricted the independent production of salt by the private sector.

As a "state-owned enterprise", it brought a lot of wealth to Xuzhou through the sale of refined salt.

……

Time flies. With the smooth development of projects such as military farming, military training, salt making, and grain collection, Xuzhou began to become full of vitality, and all things began to flourish.

Although it is still incomparable to Xuzhou before Cao Cao's invasion, the people of Xuzhou have already lived the best life in recent years.

The common people are all grateful for the virtue of Liu Bei and Li Yi.

And the areas where only a few people were left after the massacre were gradually populated under the arrangements of Liu Bei and others.

Some are happy, some are worried.

It is now the second year of Xingping (195 AD), and Cao Cao has been fighting with Lu Bu for more than half a year since he went back to rescue Yanzhou.

During this period, Cao Cao lived on pins and needles every day, as if he was sitting on pins and needles, and he could not eat or sleep at night.

It was a low point in his life.

When Lü Bu attacked and captured Yanzhou, Zhang Miao and Chen Gong cooperated with each other. With a call, the counties and prefectures of Yanzhou responded one after another and all rebelled.

Only Juancheng, Dong'a and Fanxian were left struggling.

From this we can see that Zhang Miao did have enough prestige in Yanzhou, while Cao Cao was indeed unpopular in Yanzhou.

Because Juancheng was the place where Cao Cao started his business, the city walls were strong and Xun Yu was guarding it, so there was no rebellion and he helped Cao Cao to defend his one acre and three mu of land.

Dong'a is Cheng Yu's hometown. He is a local tyrant in Dong'a. In his early years, he helped his hometown resist bandits, so he has a high prestige in Dong'a.

There was no rebellion in this county either.

As for Fan County, it was saved with the joint efforts of Cheng Yu and Xun Yu.

In such a vast Yanzhou, there are only three counties. How could Cao Cao not be worried?

At present, Lu Bu occupied Puyang. Cao Cao took the initiative to lead his troops to attack and almost died at the hands of Lu Bu.

Fortunately, Dian Wei fought bravely to protect him, so he managed to save his life.

"Is there any news from Benchu?"

Cao Cao frowned and asked Xun Yu who was standing beside him.

At the most critical moment, Cao Cao still had to turn to his elder brother Yuan Shao for help.

“…Uh, I do have it.”

Xun Yu answered hesitantly.

"Oh?" Cao Cao was delighted. "Since you have the news, why not report it earlier? What did Benchu say?"

Cao Cao seemed very excited. He believed that Yuan Shao would not leave him to die.

"This……"

Xun Yu was a little hesitant and didn't know how to explain to Cao Cao.

"...Hmm?" Cao Cao frowned, "Could it be that Benchu is unwilling to help?"

"Not really."

Xun Yu shook his head. "Mr. Yuan thinks that Lü Bu is now powerful, and the lord has suffered a defeat in Pengcheng, and the army has run out of food. It is better to move to Yecheng."

what! ?

Cao Cao was slightly startled, "Could it be that Benchu has abandoned me?"

"Zang Hong has already recaptured Dongwuyang. Lord Yuan has definitely not given up on his lord."

Xun Yu gently soothed Cao Cao's emotions and advised him to remain calm at this moment.

Cao Cao stood with his hands behind his back, a look of anxiety on his face.

"Lü Bu gained a state overnight, but he could not occupy Dongping, cut off the strategic roads of Kangfu and Taishan to control me, and instead stationed his troops in Puyang."

“I already know he is incompetent.”

"If we have three months' worth of food, why should we fear Lü Bu?"

Lu Bu really had a great start. Before Cao Cao came back, he had already reduced Cao Cao to only three counties.

They even kidnapped Cao Cao's general Xiahou Dun.

As it turned out, the people in Lu Bu's group were really just a bunch of bandits who lacked political acumen.

After kidnapping Cao Cao's general, he did not think about how to make good use of this political bargaining chip, but instead used Xiahou Dun as a human hostage to extort ransom.

In the end, Xiahou Dun was rescued by Han Hao, and Cao Cao successfully rushed back to Yanzhou and stopped Lu Bu's offensive. Yuan Shao in the north also sent Zang Hong to help Cao Cao.

In this way, Lu Bu turned the favorable opening situation into the current tense situation.

Although Cao Cao was defeated by Lu Bu in Puyang, he knew that Lu Bu would definitely not be his opponent in the end.

It's only a matter of time before he is defeated.

But now Cao Cao can't wait any longer, as the military supplies have been exhausted.

Yuan Shao's brother also advised him to give up Yanzhou and move to Jizhou.

"…Is this the only way to Ye?"

Cao Cao sighed.

In history, he really planned to go to Yecheng to join Yuan Shao.

But once moving to Jizhou, it would be tantamount to giving up the territory that they had worked so hard to obtain, and they might even withdraw from the historical stage of the struggle for hegemony.

That's why Xun Yu seemed hesitant. He knew that the situation was very difficult and Cao Cao's nerves were at their most sensitive, so he must not be irritated.

At this time, Cheng Yu came in to see him.

He had just returned from leading troops in Dong'a when he saw Xun Yu discussing with Cao Cao whether to move to Yecheng.

He stepped forward and stopped him sternly:

"My lord, please don't do this foolish thing!"

"Zhongde is back, please sit down."

Cao Cao had a good relationship with Cheng Yu in private, and he did not put on airs in front of him.

Cheng Yu said loudly:

"Yuan Shao occupied the lands of Yan and Zhao and had the ambition to conquer the whole world, but his wisdom was not enough to help him."

"Does Cao Gong think he can do anything inferior to this?"

"Can you, with your dragon and tiger power, do what Han and Peng did?"

"Although Yanzhou is in ruins, we still have three cities and no less than 10,000 soldiers who can fight."

"With Cao Gong's divine power, and the combined efforts of Wen Ruo, Yu and others, if we recruit and use them, we can achieve the goal of becoming a hegemon."

"May Cao Gong think carefully and thrice before acting!"

The implication of Cheng Yu's words was very clear. He was telling you clearly that Yuan Shao could not accomplish anything and that you had no future following him.

Now we can only achieve the goal of becoming king and hegemon by defeating Lu Bu and recovering Yanzhou.

"How could I not know?"

"But the army is short of food and can't hold out for long."

Cao Cao rubbed his temple with his hand, his expression extremely solemn.

Cheng Yu said loudly:
"This is an easy task. Yu went to Dong'a and came back. There is a lot of food stored there, enough for our army to eat."

Cao Cao was delighted when he heard this:

"As long as we have food, it's good! Then Lu Bu won't be a threat!"

Of course, although Cheng Yu was teased as a cannibal.

But Dong'a did have stored food. The so-called cannibalism was "mixed with human jerky", which meant eating it mixed with human flesh, not eating pure human food.

"But relying on the grain from Dong'a County alone may not be enough. You can send people to other counties to purchase grain."

Cao Cao was cautious and wanted to keep an extra insurance policy.

Cheng Yu reminded:
"I heard that Xuzhou had a good harvest last year. We can send someone to buy it secretly now."

Cheng Yu also knew that Cao Cao had a bad reputation in Xuzhou, so he advised him to secretly send someone to purchase food.

Xun Yu shook his head:
"I sent someone there last month, and Liu Bei has ordered his men to seal up the treasury, not allowing even a grain of grain to flow out."

"The caravan I sent out failed to buy a single bushel of grain."

Liu Bei!

Cao Cao was furious when he heard this and slammed the table and stood up.

……

……

　Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read! Please read!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)