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

Chapter 70 Cao Cao: "The big-eared thief has bullied me too much!" (Please read on!)

"Good! Good! Good!"

Liu Bei excitedly shook the hands of the two men, his joy evident on his face.

"I was just about to train my navy, and now I have two strong men, just like a fish in water."

Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were deeply moved and fell to their knees with red eyes.

Liu Bei invited the two men in and ordered his men to serve them wine and meat.

The two men added that they had brought their brothers with them, all of whom were good at water sports.

In fact, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were half pirates themselves, and they made a living by plundering merchant ships.

But both of them had great ambitions and knew that this was not a long-term solution, so they thought about joining the army and finding a way out for their brothers.

So they brought them together to join the army.

Liu Bei was naturally delighted by this. For him, who was about to build a navy, the more naval experts the better.

He immediately ordered his servants to give wine and meat to the warriors who came with Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin.

The two stood up again to express their gratitude.

Guangling has a dense network of waterways and many lakes, making it an ideal place for training naval forces.

After finishing the meal and wine, Liu Bei immediately appointed the two men as captains of the army and ordered them to go to Guangling with Chen Deng to train the navy.

At the same time, it was also to help Chen Deng share the military pressure.

In history, Chen Deng actually complained that he lacked powerful generals around him, so when the enemy attacked, he could only choose to defend the city.

Now Old Liu directly gave him two amphibious generals, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, which was enough for him to perform well.

Another thing is shipbuilding. At this time, there are three main types of warships:
——Warships, fighting ships, and pleasure craft.

A warship is a type of ship that is both offensive and defensive, suitable for raids.

Doujian is a large ship with a strong loading capacity, suitable for transporting naval forces and cargo.

A zoetro is a small boat with fast speed and strong maneuverability. It is suitable for carrying elite soldiers to perform special tasks or to join ships for combat.

No matter what kind of ship it is, it requires not only money but also technology.

There were not many local shipbuilding craftsmen in Xuzhou, and because of Cao Cao's conquest of Xuzhou, many craftsmen fled to Jiangdong to avoid disaster.

This made the situation in Xuzhou, which already lacked shipbuilding talent, even worse.

This is also one of the reasons why Liu Bei was unable to form a navy.

"There are many warships in Jiangdong. We can send people to Huainan to purchase warships, and then recruit skilled craftsmen in the rivers and lakes and bring them back to Xuzhou to work together."

Li Yi gave Liu Bei some advice.

Liu Bei asked who should be sent.

This is a big deal, and it can't be done just by having money.

So Li Yi recommended Lu Su.

Lu Su was a local tyrant and he was kind and generous.

It is no exaggeration to say that Xu Yang is the best person, as he is the most clean and thorough in his kindness.

Many people from Xuzhou who fled to Jiangdong for refuge were more or less helped by Lu Su.

With this network of connections, it would definitely be the best choice for Lu Su to go to Jiangdong to purchase warships and recruit craftsmen.

"good!"

Liu Bei followed his advice and ordered Lu Su to go to Jiangdong to purchase warships and recruit skilled craftsmen.

Not to mention.

……

On the other side is the Yanzhou battlefield.

Cao Cao integrated his military forces and led his troops to attack Dingtao.

Jiyin prefect Wu Zi led his troops in a fierce battle, and Cao Cao was unable to take the city for a while.

Just then, Lu Bu led his army to attack, and Cao Cao led his troops to engage in another fierce battle with Lu Bu.

After a bloody battle, Lu Bu was finally defeated.

But Cao Cao also had to stop his troops and rest.

In the military camp,
Cao Cao was counting the amount of food and grass in his tent when he suddenly heard a violent cough coming from outside the tent.

Cao Cao raised his eyes and saw that it was Xi Zhicai.

He had a thin face, dark eyes, and was wearing a fur coat, but he was still coughing.

Cao Cao was distressed:

"Zhicai is still ill and should not work hard. He should go back to the camp and rest."

He immediately ordered his servants to invite Xi Zhicai back. Xi Zhicai waved his hand and said:
"...Ahem, the battle in Yanzhou is still undecided."

"Cao Gong is a prefect, shouldering a heavy responsibility, yet he still stayed in the camp, suffering from the hardships of the weather."

"How can a sick guest be lazy and idle, and bear to see Cao Gong working alone?"

Cao Cao witnessed it and sighed bitterly.

Originally, Xi Zhicai was in good health, but for some reason he fell ill as soon as he returned from Xuzhou.

Could it be that God saw that he had committed too many murders in Xuzhou and punished him by taking his talent away from him?
Then this thief God is really cruel.

Xi Zhicai was not only Cao Cao's think tank, but also his close friend.

When the two met for the first time, they hit it off and shared similar interests.

If something really happened to Zhicai, Cao Cao really didn't know who to tell the truth to.

Especially now is the time when Cao Cao is in the most difficult and miserable situation.

"The day before yesterday, Lu Bu was defeated by you in Dingtao, but he quickly reorganized his troops and stationed them in Juye."

"The patient suspected that someone secretly provided Lü Bu with money and food so that he could regroup."

Xi Zhicai blinked and revealed this key information to Cao Cao.

"...Hiss, is this really true?"

Cao Cao stroked his long beard, then his eyes widened and he shouted angrily:
"It must be the work of that mat weaving boy. He didn't sell me food and grass the day before yesterday, but he still had enough food to support Lu Bu."

"It really makes me angry!"

cough cough...

Xi Zhicai clenched his fist and put it to his lips, coughed twice, and then said:
"Does Lord Cao know about the incident in Yuzhou?"

"Unknown."

Cao Cao has focused all his energy on the war in Yanzhou in the past two days, but has not paid much attention to Yuzhou.

Isn't it chaos over there? What happened?

"Our spies have learned that Liu Bei recommended Chen Gui as the Prime Minister of Pei and ordered him to return to Pei State. All the counties in Pei State have surrendered to him one after another."

"Liu Bei also sent Zhang Fei to lead 3,000 troops to station in Lu and threaten the flank of Mount Tai."

puff!
Cao Cao's eyes turned dark and he almost fainted from anger on the spot.

"How dare you, a mat weaver and shoe seller, deceive me like this!"

Cao Cao was furious. He had never been so angry in his life.

You were doing very well in Yanzhou, but when you turned around, you found that your hometown had been robbed?
Pei State was Cao Cao’s hometown, and his family lived there. How dare a big-eared thief steal from his home!

Moreover, he even dared to march into the State of Lu, which directly hit the heart of Yanzhou.

If the State of Lu surrendered to Liu Bei, then Yanzhou would be like placing a baby in the palm of its hand, cutting off its milk and causing it to starve to death immediately.

"This is intolerable, what else can we not tolerate?"

"Pass my order. Immediately order Cao Ren to lead 8,000 troops to attack Pei County and drive the big-eared thief back to Xuzhou!"

Cough cough cough...

Xi Zhicai's coughing became more intense. With trembling hands, he held down the furious Cao Cao and advised:
"Lord Cao, calm your wrath."

"Yanzhou is not yet pacified, so we cannot act rashly."

"Although Chen Gui is the governor of Pei, he has no jurisdiction over Qiao County."

"Liu Bei from Lu also only sent 3,000 men, which should be a test."

"If you divide your forces now, you will fall into Liu Bei's trap."

After listening to Xi Zhicai's analysis, Cao Cao finally calmed down.

That’s right, Chen Gui became the prime minister of Pei because of the influence of their Chen family, which mainly covered the area north of Pei.

South of Pei State was the base camp of the Cao and Xiahou families.

Chen Gui's hand can't reach here yet.

As for the State of Lu, Liu Bei only sent 3,000 troops to garrison there. It should be as Xi Zhicai said, it was a test and he did not necessarily really want to mobilize troops.

"...Huh, thanks to Zhicai's good advice, I almost missed the big thing."

Cao Cao sat down on the ground dejectedly, closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

……

……

　Thank you brothers for your follow-up reading. The book will be on the shelves on Sunday. I hope you brothers can accompany me to finish these last few days.

　　Thank you brothers, if you have time, you can join the group. The author will send red envelopes in the group from time to time to give back to the brothers for their support along the way.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)