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

Chapter 93 Cao Cao: The big-eared man has bullied me too much...so I should ask for peace with him (Please subscribe!)
"what!!!"

"Guo Gong is an incompetent rat, retreating without even fighting!"

At this time, Cao Cao in Juancheng was furious.

He drew his sword and cut the table in front of him into two pieces.

If Guo Gong was in front of him, he would want to tear him into pieces.

"This kid is unworthy of being a famous scholar. He first rebelled against Liang, and now he dares to follow the big-eared thief and become my enemy!"

Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, Man Chong, Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Yu Jin, Li Dian and other civil and military officials were all in the hall.

Except for Xi Zhicai who was seriously ill and unable to come, everyone who could come came.

"If I had not been trapped in the war with Lu Bu, I would have personally led troops to Liang State and killed Guo Gong."

"Then I will kill his corpse and avenge my hatred!"

Everyone remained silent, thinking that attacking from three directions at the same time would cause trouble for Liu Bei.

Let him stop expanding into Yuzhou.

As a result, Yuan Tan was useless. Not only was he captured alive, but he also lost many soldiers and generals, which was a disgrace to him.

Guo Gong was even more outrageous. He actually retreated without fighting, causing Liu Da'er to retreat without losing a single soldier.

What’s even more hateful is that Guo Gong is suspected to have surrendered to Liu Bei.

Good guy, not only can we not let Guo Gong’s troops pose a threat to Liu Bei.

Instead, it gave Liu Bei another obstacle in Yuzhou?
But the person who made Cao Cao most angry was Yuan Shu.

This guy just sat on the mountain and watched the fight between tigers. He had already sent Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui to lead 20,000 troops to the north, but he was slow to attack.

He wanted to wait for Guo Gong and Yuan Tan to divert Liu Bei's firepower and then take advantage of the situation to rob him.

"Dry bones in a grave! Dry bones in a grave!"

Cao Cao yelled hysterically:
"They are all a bunch of incompetent people who are more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything!"

"I feel deeply ashamed for conspiring with this kind of people! Deeply ashamed!"

Cao Cao was so angry that he stamped his feet and wondered how there could be such stupid people in the world?
The three armies attack at the same time, and the situation is like a flying dragon.

I was beaten like this by you three losers.

Cao Cao was so angry that he almost vomited blood.

"No need to persuade me, after I kill Lu Bu, I will lead my troops to Xuzhou to punish Liu Bei!"

We didn’t advise...

Everyone was thinking that Cao Cao was really furious.

But as subordinates, faced with this situation, they could only choose to remain silent and allow Cao Cao to vent his anger.

A long time passed.

Cao Cao scolded Liu Bei from his origin to his family background until he could no longer scold him.

Only then did his anger gradually subside.

"...That's all."

Cao Cao sat down on the ground exhausted, and his sanity recovered a lot.

"Gentlemen, it seems that it is time to make peace with Liu Bei."

This is Cao Cao who has regained his sanity.

When he was furious just now, he even threatened to lead his troops to find Liu Bei and hold him accountable.

Now that he had vented his anger, he knew the right thing to do was to make peace with Liu Bei.

But what's the cost?
Cao Cao looked at Man Chong and said dejectedly:

"Bo Ning, please go to Xuzhou and meet Liu Bei."

"Just say that I am willing to share Yuzhou with him."

Yes, the price was to let Liu Bei participate in the division of Yuzhou's power.

Originally, Yuzhou was the province of Cao Cao and Yuan Shu.

But judging from the fact that Liu Bei first let Chen Gui return to the position of Prime Minister of Pei and then let Zhang Fei lead troops into Lu, Liu Bei already had the intention of getting involved in Yuzhou.

Although Xi Zhicai had already offered a plan to send troops in three directions in an attempt to drive Liu Bei's forces out of Yuzhou.

But judging from the results, Xi Zhicai lost.

He lost to the master behind Liu Bei.

The winner will be the king and the loser will be the bandit, there is no room for argument.

Since Cao Cao lost, he could only allow Liu Bei to extend his big hand into his Yuzhou.

"What are you going to do, sir?"

Man Chong bowed and asked.

Cao Cao just felt a headache and stared at the map of Yuzhou.

Cao Cao was reluctant to give up any inch of land there.

His family business is originally in Yuzhou, and the future development focus will definitely also be in Yuzhou.

Now he had to give up part of the land to Liu Bei, and Cao Cao's heart was bleeding.

"Since Liu Bei wants Lu and Pei, I will give these two places to him."

"What do you think?"

Originally, these two places did not belong to Cao Cao, so he was relatively not that distressed about them.

From a geographical perspective, the states of Lu and Pei just covered the western part of Xuzhou.

It borders Pengcheng to the west of Xuzhou.

It is equivalent to giving Xuzhou a buffer zone.

We all know that Xuzhou's terrain is mainly plains, which are easy to attack but difficult to defend.

If there could be two more buffer zones, Lu and Pei, in the west, Xuzhou's national defense would be further enhanced.

At least the situation in history where Lu Bu launched a surprise attack on Xia Pi will not happen again.

Due to the lack of a buffer zone, Lu Bu had almost no trouble marching forward and went straight to the capital of Xia Pi.

For Lao Liu, it was too dangerous.

"I'm afraid Liu Bei's appetite is not limited to this."

Man Chong sighed and said helplessly.

"What do you mean by that?"

Cao Cao frowned and had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Please watch, my lord."

Man Chong tapped lightly on the map with his hand.

"Lu State went straight to the heart of Yanzhou, but Liu Bei abandoned Mount Tai and marched into Lu State."

"Besides, they recovered Langya last year, and the Taishan generals they obtained, such as Zang Ba, all came from Taishan County."

"I'm afraid Liu Bei..."

Although he hadn't finished his words, Cao Cao already knew what Man Chong wanted to say.

In addition to Lupei, Liu Bei also wanted Mount Tai.

Mount Tai is adjacent to Pengcheng and Langya.

If it were connected with the states of Lu and Pei, the western part of Xuzhou would be completely safe.

Next, if someone wanted to attack Xuzhou, there were only two ways to go. Either bypass Mount Tai, enter Langya from Qingzhou, and go south to seize Xuzhou.

Either start from Yangzhou, go north to attack Guangling, and then go from south to north to capture Xuzhou.

But whether it was Qingzhou or Yangzhou, neither of them was controlled by Cao Cao.

The two places were respectively controlled by the two most powerful princes of the time, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao was like an outsider, and was unknowingly kicked out of the discussion on the issues in Xuzhou.

"Is this Li Yi's revenge against me?"

Cao Cao sent someone to inquire and found out that his cavalry had chased Li Yi before, but was rescued by Liu Bei.

Li Yi devoted himself to giving advice to Liu Bei.

Cao Cao unknowingly dug a big hole for himself.

If I had known this would happen, I should have massacred the whole place.

Now, under Li Yi's planning, the situation in Xuzhou is becoming more and more stable.

Once Lupei and Taishan are cut off, the western part of Xuzhou will be safe.

Qingzhou in the north also seemed to have made peace with Xuzhou and started trading with each other.

The only threat left was Yuan Shu from the south, who happened to be Liu Bei's main target.

Wonderful, wonderful...

Cao Cao became more and more impressed by Li Yi's plans, but then he felt regretful:
"Such a genius cannot be mine."

"How hateful and lamentable..."

"Mingsir, what about Taishan County...?"

Man Chong continued to ask, wanting to see what Cao Cao’s attitude towards Mount Tai was.

Mount Tai is not in Yuzhou, it is in Yanzhou.

As the governor of Yanzhou, it would be really twisted for Cao Cao to give up Mount Tai to Liu Bei.

However, although Taishan County belongs to Yanzhou in terms of administrative division, its geographical location is very suitable for Xuzhou.

Because Taishan County has the dangers of Mengshan and Taishan.

It is simply a natural barrier on the left wing of Xuzhou, making up for the disadvantage of Xuzhou having no strategic location to defend.

More importantly, the people of Mount Tai are tough and the soldiers there are all brave and good at fighting.

When Tao Qian dominated Xuzhou, he relied on the Danyang soldiers he brought from Danyang.

However, Danyang is in Yangzhou, and it is difficult for either Liu Bei or Tao Qian to recover.

But the Taishan soldiers are different, they just need to control Taishan.

Then, by utilizing the influence of Zang Ba and his group of Taishan generals, he could continuously recruit soldiers from Taishan to replenish his blood.

There are many rivers in Mount Tai. If we can connect them with Lupei, we can rely on water transportation.

The local iron ore and soldiers could be continuously transported to Xuzhou.

Li Yi has built a war machine for Liu Bei...

The more Cao Cao thought about it, the more afraid he became. He always felt that Liu Bei would become a more formidable opponent than Yuan Shao in the future.

Xun Yu stood up and put forward his own opinion:

"Taishan was never mine. Now Lu Bu is the primary threat. Getting rid of Lu Bu is the most urgent task."

The original governor of Taishan County was Ying Shao.

However, he was implicated in Cao Cao's attack on Xuzhou and was forced to go north to join Yuan Shao.

Mount Tai became a no-man's land.

Surrounded by the three states of Qing, Xu and Yan, it was neutral.

There are many bandits in the country. If we really want to move into Mount Tai, I'm afraid it will take a lot of effort to suppress them.

"Liu Bei has already taken Lu and Pei. If we give Taishan to Liu Bei, his power will extend to Qing, Xu and Yan states."

"I am afraid that he will become a great enemy of our army in the future."

Cao Cao rubbed his temples, expressing his inner uneasiness.

Xun Yu stroked his beard and analyzed seriously:
"Zang Ba originally ruled Langya and was a king, but he surrendered to Liu Bei under pressure."

"Now we can use the strategy of driving the tiger to devour the wolf, and recommend Zang Ba to be the prime minister of Lu and show him kindness."

"In the future, I won't say that it is for my use, so that it can remain neutral."

Originally, he wanted to recommend Zang Ba as the governor of Mount Tai, but this action violated the Three Mutual Laws.

He was then changed to Prime Minister of Lu.

But no matter what, a thorn was planted in Liu Bei's camp.

"This is a great plan!"

Cao Cao nodded and said to Man Chong:
"Bo Ning would rather go to Xuzhou and tell Liu Bei that I am willing to give Lupei to him."

"As for Fei County, Nanwuyang, Hua County, Nancheng and other places in Taishan County, they can also be handed over to him."

Although Cao Cao's tone was calm when he said this, his heart was bleeding.

These counties are located in strategic locations and are very important.

But Cao Cao now had to appease Liu Bei, in case he really got ruthless and openly cooperated with Lu Bu to deal with him.

That is definitely not what Cao Cao wants to see.

Cheng Yu rolled his eyes and added:
“Since Wen Ruoxian is trying to drive the tiger to devour the wolf, we might as well go a step further.”

"Your Excellency may recommend Liu Bei's men as county magistrates, and then recommend Lu Bu's men as county magistrates as well."

"This is to sow discord between the Lu and Liu families, so that they cannot get along."

In fact, there were quite a few famous people from Yanzhou under Lu Bu's command, and even many of his soldiers were recruited by Yanzhou nobles.

In fact, half of Lu Bu's body is tied to the Yanzhou nobles.

What Cheng Yu meant was that since Liu Bei wanted to get involved in Yanzhou, he should create a conflict of interest between him and the Yanzhou scholars under Lu Bu.

Even if I can't cause a fight between the two families, it's better to make them appear to be united but actually be at odds with each other so that they can't join forces to deal with me.

"That's it!"

Cao Cao clapped his hands and adopted the suggestions of Cheng Yu and Xun Yu.

Before Man Chong set out, Cao Cao found him alone and said to him privately:
"Bo Ning, I want to ask you one more thing."

"Please speak, sir."

Man Chong listened attentively.

"When you go to Xuzhou and see Li Yi, tell him that I want to recommend him as the Prime Minister of Chen."

"You can order him to come to Chen State to take up his post immediately."

After saying this, he did not forget to hand Man Chong a brocade box and added:

"When you see Li Yi, give him this brocade box."

Man Chong was slightly startled:
"My Lord, are you thinking...?"

Cao Cao waved his hand and said no more.

"You go ahead and meet Li Yi. Tell me what he means."

...

(End of this chapter)