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

"Zhou Heng, you really are a heartless person. We fought to the death there, and you took all the benefits."

Cao Cao was so angry that he gritted his teeth.

"Haha, Cao Cao, the Jianghuai region originally belonged to my father-in-law Yuan Shu."

"Now that I am his son-in-law, it is only right and reasonable for me to enter Jianghuai and take over his territory."

Zhou Heng said with a smile.

"Zixiu, are you really going to go this far?"

A murderous intent flickered in Cao Cao's eyes.

He put in all his effort, but got nothing in return; Zhou Heng took it all.

How could he possibly tolerate this?

Today, no matter what, we must get some benefits from Zhou Heng's side.

"Today we are enemies, not friends, so why bother with such high-sounding words?"

"If you, Cao Cao, really want it, then show me your strength."

"Let's have a real fight, stop talking nonsense here."

"No one will give up their kingdom to you for no reason."

Zhou Heng said dismissively.

Jiraiya knew what Cao Cao was thinking, but now that the money was in his pocket, he wanted him to take it out.

Are you kidding me?

Have you ever seen anyone spit out the meat they've already eaten?

It's obviously impossible.

Moreover, his current strength is no longer that of the ignorant person he once was.

They might be capable of fighting you head-on.

It's impossible to unify the world if you always stay in the background and remain the sixth-ranking official.

This time, he wants to prove it to the world.

I have the ability.

"Alright, alright, if that's the case, then don't blame me."

"Attack the city!"

Cao Cao was furious.

The fact that the prize he was about to have slipped away had driven him to madness.

Besides, they still have the coalition forces at their disposal.

Naturally, there was no fear whatsoever.

He immediately gave the order, and his troops began to attack the city.

............

However, he had a large number of soldiers under his command.

But Zhou Heng today is no longer the same naive young man he once was.

He had 170,000 soldiers under his command.

In addition, there were Yuan Shao's troops that had been subdued earlier.

His troops numbered nearly 250,000.

There were also nearly 20,000 cavalrymen.

What concept is this?

At a time when the various warlords are still fighting each other, 20,000 cavalrymen can be considered a formidable force.

It is more than capable of fighting the opponent head-on.

They were no longer afraid of the other party at all.

Not to mention the food supplies.

He intended to establish a foothold in the Jianghuai region, and also seized Shouchun, a major granary area.

It also has the support of two extremely wealthy families.

I can definitely afford to wait it out with you.

But you don't have much time to waste here.

Compared to the consumption of resources, I have a greater advantage than you.

In addition, the long distance they traveled made resupply a very difficult problem.

Stay here and keep wasting time with Zhou Heng.

There is absolutely no benefit to it.

The outcome of this battle was predictable.

After three months of hard work.

They still couldn't capture even a single city gate.

This enraged Cao Cao.

But that's not the key point.

The key point is...

Taking advantage of this period, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan one after another.

In just three months.

They had already completely subdued Gongsun Zan.

By this time, he had almost unified the entire north, except for Cao Cao.

Their military might was aimed directly at Yanzhou.

For a time, Cao Cao was so angry that he went crazy, but there was nothing he could do about it.

They had no choice but to retreat.

Because if he continues to linger here...

Once we wait for Yuan Shao's army to march south.

All that awaited him was destruction.

Unless Cao Cao was an idiot, he would never have made such a foolish decision.

So after much hesitation, they finally decided to withdraw their troops.

With Cao Cao's retreat, the other warlords naturally had no reason to stay any longer.

It's very simple.

Cao Cao was the main force of their army.

Even when Cao Cao was here, they couldn't defeat Zhou Heng.

Not to mention that Cao Cao has now retreated.

Left with no other option, they had to retreat.

Thus... after three months of fighting.

Zhou Heng finally secured the prime location of Jianghuai.

It's not just Shouchun.

As the Allied forces retreated.

Zhou Heng struck while the iron was hot.

They directly recovered all of Yuan Shu's previous territories.

Cao Cao is currently preoccupied with dealing with Yuan Shao and has no time to contend with Zhou Heng.

Even if they were very unhappy, they had no choice but to give up the Jianghuai region that they had once seized.

Being attacked from both sides is not what he wants to see.

Once he left, the other feudal lords had nothing more to say.

Liu Biao had no ambition to become a powerful ruler.

Now that Cao Cao has retreated, it is not what he wants to see if he can fight Zhou Heng to the death with his own strength.

Therefore, as long as Zhou Heng does not threaten his homeland of Jingzhou.

He didn't really want to fight Zhou Heng to the bitter end.

As for Lü Bu and Liu Bei, these two minor warlords, Cao Cao, the major warlord, has already left. What are they still doing here?

Waiting to die?

The Zhou Heng of today is no longer the Zhou Heng of the past.

Even so, they had to become cautious.

Ultimately, they had no choice but to retreat.

Lü Bu returned to Xuzhou.

Liu Bei, on the other hand, remained with Cao Cao.

No, he wanted to go back to Cao Cao.

It was simply that there was no other way.

Because all the troops under his command were Cao Cao's troops.

Where would you go if you don't go with Cao Cao?

There was nowhere for him to hide in the world.

Jianghuai was occupied by Zhou Heng.

Lü Bu returned to Xuzhou.

If he wants to take Xuzhou, he must fight a battle with Lü Bu.

With his current strength, he could defeat Lü Bu, who had 30,000 troops.

We are still somewhat strapped for cash.

Not to mention that Zhou Heng also left 30,000 troops in Xuzhou.

There was almost no other way but to fight against Yuan Shao alongside Cao Cao.

But he wasn't stupid.

Neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao could tolerate Liu Bei, regardless of who won.

So take advantage of this time.

He was also exchanging flirtatious glances with Liu Biao.

After all, they were all from royal families.

Now that Liu Biao is old, he knows his son's character inside and out.

In these rapidly changing times, the goal is to preserve Jingzhou.

It's not that simple.

Therefore, they took the opportunity to extend an olive branch to Liu Biao.

As for Sun Ce in the end.

That's all; Cao Cao and Liu Biao acted as a check and balance.

They want to take over Jianghuai.

It's just idiotic dreams.

It remains to be seen whether they can establish a foothold in Jiangdong with only a few thousand soldiers under their command.

In the end, they could only retreat helplessly.

Thus, after three years of time travel, Zhou Heng finally conquered the Jianghuai region.

That means I have a means of making a living.

However, if you think that Zhou Heng's ultimate goal is to take over Jianghuai...

That would be very wrong.

His ultimate goal was to take advantage of the convenient transportation network of the Jianghuai region.

This led to a unified empire.

Now that Cao Cao is in a standoff with Yuan Shao, how could he possibly miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?