Your Majesty, please spare Diao Chan; your yang energy is too strong.

And you can also get Zhang Hegao Lanxin's comments and temporarily establish friendship with them, why not?

As for your final battle.

If we consider Zhou Hengzhi as an ordinary bandit, then helping Yuan Shao is perfectly understandable.

Because he lacked the ability to unify the world.

Unfortunately, he will never know what Zhou Heng is really thinking.

At that time.........

Whom to help?

Or perhaps it's a case of sitting back and watching the tigers fight, reaping the benefits without lifting a finger—it remains to be seen.

Wouldn't it be better if I let you be the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?

Why would I go through all that trouble to fight Cao Cao? Am I crazy?

As for Mi Zhu, he had already made arrangements before he came.

That will definitely give Yuan Shao a big surprise.

This is also why Zhou Heng's attitude made a complete 180-degree turn.

Yuan Shao was indeed powerful.

However, it does have one major flaw.

That means having an inflated sense of self-importance.

They never pay attention to others.

Even when Zhou Heng schemed against him time and time again, he remained the same.

In his eyes, Zhou Heng was just a commoner, and his subordinates were all ordinary people.

If we were to say who in this world is least qualified to seize power...

That must be Zhou Heng.

However, things changed drastically the moment he acquired the Zhen family's possessions.

"Alright, have your troops prepare for battle."

"If I am not mistaken, with our deployment of troops, the warlords of the land will surely accelerate their efforts to eliminate Yuan Shu."

"Besides preventing us from helping Yuan Shu."

"They must have had a plan, to take over Jianghuai before we could react."

"Such an opportunity should not be given to others."

Zhou Heng waved his hand and said.

"Yes."

The generals accepted the order.

"Okay, all of you go down."

After everyone had left, Zhou Heng looked into the darkness in the distance.

"Come out."

The next moment, a dark figure slowly emerged from the darkness.

"Lord."

The dark figure fell to his knees with a thud.

"Zhou Cang, please rise quickly."

Zhou Heng quickly helped the other person up.

Yes, the person who appeared was none other than Zhou Cang, whom Zhou Heng had been lying in ambush in the Jianghuai region.

Now it's time to close the net.

The other party has finally made it through.

"Thank you, my lord."

Zhou Cang was moved.

"We're brothers, no need for formalities. By the way, how's the Jianghuai project I asked you to set up going?"

Zhou Heng gently patted the other person's shoulder.

"Reporting to my lord, during this period of time, as you requested, I have gathered a considerable number of people in the name of the merchant guild, and now our intelligence network covers the entire city."

"We now have seven or eight hundred men. They are ready to risk their lives to open the city gates for you whenever you need them."

Zhou Cang said.

"Very good. You've worked hard these past few days. If we can successfully take over Jianghuai this time, you will deserve the greatest credit."

Zhou Heng nodded.

"My lord, the situation in Shouchun is dire. Liu Biao has launched a major offensive against Shouchun, and Yuan Shu's troops are running low on supplies. I'm afraid they'll run out of food and ammunition in at most a month."

"My lord, you should make preparations in advance."

"Furthermore, as far as I know, Yuan Shu's power is waning, his men have long lost the will to fight, their fighting strength has greatly declined, and even Yuan Shu's civil and military officials have begun to harbor disloyal thoughts."

"Among them, Yang Hong had been in very close contact with Sun Ce of Jiangdong some time ago, and it seems that he might be considering joining Sun Ce."

"Qiao Rui, a general under Yuan Shao, was ordered to stay and defend Qiyang against Cao Cao. He was defeated and killed by Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao's army is advancing like a whirlwind and has reached the city of Shouchun. Now Shouchun is completely surrounded and Yuan Shu has no way to escape."

"And then there's Yan Xiang, Yuan Shu's top strategist. I think he's worth trying to win over."

"Some time ago, Yan Xiang used the story of King Wen of Zhou, who, despite possessing two-thirds of the world, still submitted to the Yin dynasty, to advise Yuan Shu, which angered Yuan Shu. Now that Yuan Shu dislikes him, I think that if we can win him over, we can greatly consolidate the power under Yuan Shu's command."

"So some time ago, Mao Ran extended an olive branch to him."

"Now that they have agreed, they may be able to lend us a hand."

Zhou Cang said.

"Yan Xiang?"

Zhou Heng frowned deeply.

"Indeed, I originally wanted to win over Yang Hong, but he thinks we are just a bunch of bandits and outlaws who are unlikely to achieve anything great."

Instead, he turned to Sun Ce of Jiangdong.

"He's truly not a human being."

Zhou Cang said through gritted teeth.

"Yang Hong is indeed a good man, but he likes to speculate and profiteer. If you don't want to, then forget about him."

"On the contrary, it's this Yan Xiang..."

Zhou Heng tried hard to recall the image in his mind.

"What's wrong, my lord?"

Zhou Cang was somewhat puzzled.

"This man is extremely loyal to Yuan Shu, and I'm afraid he's not the kind of person who would surrender so easily."

"For the time being, let's ignore him. With Yuan Shu's daughter around, we already have enough leverage to win over Yuan Shu's forces."

"It doesn't matter whether we have Yan Xiang or not."

"Also, what did Cao Cao say?"

Zhou Heng waved his hand.

If we were to ask who Zhou Heng feared among Yuan Shu's subordinates, it would be a matter of great concern.

That was definitely not Ji Ling, nor Yang Hong, but Yan Xiang.

This person truly possesses the talent to revitalize a nation.

However, he was born into a prominent family in the Jianghuai region.

He only recognized the Yuan family, which had produced four generations of high-ranking officials.

Even Yuan Shao, a son of a concubine from the Yuan family who had served as high-ranking officials for four generations, was not someone he took seriously.

How could they possibly associate with a bandit like myself?

There must be something fishy going on when things seem unpredictable.

"it is good."

"During this period, Cao Cao also kept sending messages to Shouchun."

"This has caused widespread panic in Shouchun, and no one supports Yuan Shu anymore."

"Yuan Shu, whose morale had already plummeted, lost all will to fight after this incident."

"I'm afraid it won't be long before Shouchun is taken over."

"I heard that they even bribed one of Yuan Shu's generals, waiting for the right moment to open the city gates and welcome Cao Cao into the city."

"Yuan Shu can now place all his hopes on his lord."

"In his view, as long as the lord arrives, he will surely be able to work with him from within and without to defeat these rebels."

Zhou Cang said.

"Ha, Yuan Shu, when will you stop being so naive?"

Zhou Heng shook his head.

That's not it. He didn't look down on the Skeleton King; he never respected the Skeleton King.

A good hand of cards played badly.

If this were the starting point, any other warlord in the world would surely have done a better job.

Even if it were Zhou Heng.

They had already unified the world.

It turns out he was the only one who was so stupid, squandering a winning hand.

Now they're actually pinning all their hopes on themselves, the traitors.