In the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Chuang abandoned Qingzhou and went to Liaodong.

Wang Xiu, the prefect of Donglai County, did not follow Liu Chuang, and stayed in Donglai County. Yuan Tan occupied the position of Beihai Kingdom and dismissed Wang Xiu's position as the prefect of Donglai County, and appointed his close confidant Hua Yan to take over Donglai. At that time, Chen Yu, a native of Huaipu, Xia Pi State, Xuzhou, came alone from Xuzhou. When Yuan Tan saw it, he immediately treated him as a guest of honor.

Subsequently, Yuan Tan appointed Chen Yu as Prime Minister of Beihai.

However, neither Chen Yu nor Hua Yan expected that it had been less than two months since they took office, and Cao Cao suddenly launched an attack.

As Xiahou Yuan arrived at Taishan County, Zang Ba immediately attacked Beihai Kingdom from Langya. In order to cooperate with Zang Ba's offensive, Xiahou Yuan feinted the attack in Taishan County to attract Yuan Tan's attention. Yuan Tan never expected that Cao Cao would choose to take the initiative to attack at this time.

Caught off guard, Yuan Tan responded hastily, was defeated by Xiahou Yuan, and retreated to Le'an.

At the same time, Chen Yu was defeated by Zang Ba first and fled from Beihai Kingdom in a hurry. Then, Zang Ba invited Wang Xiu, a native of Beihai Kingdom, and under the leadership of Wang Xiu, he used Wu Dun, Sun Guan and Yin Li as the vanguard to attack Donglai County. Hua Yan fought to the death for three days in Donglai, and Huang County was defeated.

Hua Yan died in battle, and Donglai County then fell into Cao Cao's hands.

Zang Ba immediately asked Cao Cao for his merits and strongly recommended Wang Xiu.

After Cao Cao learned about it, he once again appointed King Xiu as the prefect of Donglai County and ordered him to appease the people in Donglai.

Then Zang Ba stationed troops in Ju County, forming a joint attack with Xiahou Yuan, and looked at Qi County. At this time, Yuan Tan was panicked and hurriedly dispatched troops and prepared to fight against Xiahou Yuan Zang Ba. However, after Zang Ba and Xiahou Yuan captured the three places of Donglai and Jinan Kingdom, they stopped the attacks at the same time, and recruited soldiers and horses from the three places, maintaining the pressure of Qi County, which made Yuan Tan panic.

As the war broke out in Qingzhou, Yuan Shao also felt the atmosphere of war that was coming to his face.

Faced with Cao Cao's provocation, Yuan Shao naturally could not give up. The previous failure to recruit Zhang Xiu was not a big deal in Yuan Shao's opinion.

Now that he is strong in his army, he doesn't take Zhang Xiu seriously.

So, Yuan Shao issued a conscript order to the four prefectures again, and at the same time gathered 150,000 troops and more than 10,000 horses, gathered in Neihuang and prepared to launch a counterattack.

Cao Cao knew very well that his family was weak.

He owned the three states of Yan, Xu and Yu, but in addition to Yuzhou, Xuzhou had been through war for a long time and the people were exhausted. Sun Ce, the little overlord of Jiangdong, was even more full of wings and had to be guarded. At the same time, although Heluo and Guanzhong surrendered to Cao Cao, the people were exhausted.

In this case, Cao Cao knew very well that the troops of the two places could not be transferred, otherwise it would be a step further for the two places.

But in this way, Cao Cao could only use tens of thousands of soldiers.

Yuan Shao continued to recruit soldiers in Jizhou, with a huge momentum... If the Yellow River is used as the natural barrier, it will not be able to defend at all, and the troops will be dispersed. Under Xun Yu's persuasion, Cao Cao decided to use Guandu as the main battlefield and invite Yuan Shao to fight to the death with him in Guandu.

This Guandu is generally located in Zhongmu in later generations.

Located in the upper reaches of the gulf, it is near the Bian River.

The west of the Honggou connects Hulao, Gong and Luo Passes; the east is Huai Si, which is the barrier between the north and east of Xudu. Moreover, Guandu is close to Xudu, which can shorten the logistics supply line. For Cao Cao, this can undoubtedly reduce his logistics pressure and improve combat effectiveness...

But at this moment, Yuan Shu, who was far away in Shouchun, suddenly decided to go north to Qingzhou and meet with Yuan Tan.

"Lord, you must not be a place where Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao join forces. Be sure to trap Yuan Shu in the Huainan area."

Cao Cao was also quite troubled, "Who can go to Xuzhou and intercept Yuan Shu?"

All the generals asked for their orders, but Cao Cao didn't agree.

"What do you think, Liu Xuande?"

Calculate the time, Liu Bei has been in Xudu for nearly a year.

Over the past year, Liu Bei has been living a quiet life and is extremely low-key, and does not even contact others.

Cao Cao was careful about Liu Bei when Liu Chuang was running away. However, judging from the current situation, Liu Bei seemed very honest.

This also made Cao Cao less wary of Liu Bei.

Cao Cao naturally praised Liu Bei's ability very much.

Now that Yuan Shu wanted to use Xuzhou, Cao Cao couldn't think of a suitable candidate for a while, and his eyes naturally fell on Liu Bei.

Guo Jiawen frowned, "Liu Xuande is a person with a deep mind and must not be used."

Xun Yu also said: "Liu Bei has great ambitions. Although he is now in Xudu, I think this person has the ambition of Goujian. If he lets this person go, it will inevitably cause trouble. Please think twice."

The entire Yingchuan Group does not have a good impression of Liu Bei.

But the more this happens, the more uncomfortable Cao Cao feels... The grudge between Liu Bei and the Yingchuan group arose because of Liu Chuang. Although Liu Chuang has left Xudu now, it does not mean that the Yingchuan gentry will reconcile with Liu Bei. On the contrary, the Yingchuan gentry became more and more angry with Liu Bei.

But this also made Cao Cao feel very uncomfortable...

"Since that's the case, let me think twice."

Seeing that everyone disagreed with letting Liu Bei go to Xuzhou, Cao Cao was not willing to force his appointment.

However, after the meeting, Cao Cao left Jia Xu, "Wenhe, when discussing with everyone, why did Wenhe refuse to speak for a long time?"

Jia Xu has a clear face and a slightly deep eye socket, so he also looks deep.

He smiled slightly, "The lord has already decided in his heart, why should Xu show off again?"

"But……"

Before Cao Cao finished speaking, Jia Xu said, "Lord, now it is an extraordinary time. Yuan Shao's intention to plan to rebel is obvious.

In my opinion, what Wen Ruo and their oppose is not due to personal grudges.

Although I don’t know Liu Bei, since Wen Ruo and others said that this person is not trustworthy, it is not a false statement. However, if the lord thinks that this person is suitable, he will let it go. Of course, the premise is that the lord must be able to control this person."

Cao Cao heard this and was silent!

Control Liu Bei?

Cao Cao glanced at the corner of his mouth and had already made a decision in his heart.

"If it weren't for Wenhe's wake up, I almost went astray. Thank you for your advice."

Actually, did Jia Xu give some advice?

He said nothing, and the nonsense he said was just following Cao Cao's thoughts.

Jia Xu knew very well that he had been in favor of Cao Cao and had very little experience, so he was very careful when speaking and doing things. In addition, Xun Yu and others were all from Yingchuan's prominent clans, and Jia Xu didn't want to offend Xun Yu and others. Cao Cao was willing to use Liu Bei, and he didn't want to have a dispute with Cao Cao because of this matter. What kind of person is your Cao Cao's business. If you think anyone can be used and you can control this person, it's just use... Even if something happens, it's your Cao Cao's problem, and it has nothing to do with me.

And Xun Yu and the others are even more likely to feel dissatisfied with me because of this.

Anyway, I will not offend either!

When Jia Xu was young, he was also proud and full of ambition.

Now, he is fifty-two, and he is older than Cao Cao, but he has accomplished nothing.

Years of setbacks and hardships have made Jia Xu know how to protect himself more than anyone else. Later generations say that Jia Xu was a poisonous man who was just a traitor. After all, Jia Xu was just to protect himself! Even if he was coaxing Li Jue and Guo Si to counterattack Chang'an, the same was true.

However, while protecting himself, he knows how to observe his words and expressions.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

With the rise of war in Qingzhou, Yuan Shao naturally had no time to worry about Liaodong.

Therefore, he didn't care much about the conflict in Liaodong, so he let Liu Chuang and Tadun go to trouble. Anyway, with Yuan Xi in Youzhou and Chunyu Qiong in charge of western Liaoning, he was not afraid of making any tricks. Besides, was Gongsun Du from Liaodong a vegetarian?

Although he was a little afraid of Liu Chuang, Yuan Shao cared about Cao Cao even more.

He dispatched troops and was ready to go, but where did he get the spirit? Pay attention to Liu Chuang?

However, if Yuan Shao doesn't pay attention, it doesn't mean that others will ignore it.

Yecheng, Tianfu.

Tian Feng set up a banquet in the mansion and invited Ju Su to come and drink.

The two have a very good relationship. Since the Han Fu era, they have been colleagues, fellow townsmen, and close friends.

"Yuan Hao invited me here, but he wouldn't really just treat me to a bar."

After three rounds of drinking, Ju Su refused Tian Feng's toast, his eyes stared at Tian Feng.

Tian Feng shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty and you really don't rub the sand... I thought about talking about it later, but you took the initiative to ask.

Duke, have you ever noticed these news reports from Youzhou?"

Ju Su smiled slightly, "Of course I have noticed that the second young master said, "Didn't the situation be calm?"

"Still calm?"

With a hint of playfulness in Tian Feng's eyes, he asked softly: "Mr., this western Liaoning is almost overwhelming. Do you still say that the weather is calm?"

Ju Shu's eyelids drooped, "What can I do if I turn the sky over?"

Tian Feng smiled wryly and said, "Young Master, young master, is not up to you. Then Liu Chuang came from Qingzhou to Liaoxi, and had no foundation. What kind of storms can he cause? Let him be in Liaodong, and Gongsun Du will deal with him. At that time, we only need to secretly maintain the balance between Central and Liaodong, not only can we control Liu Chuang, but also suppress Gongsun Du. After defeating Cao Cao, we will deal with Liaodong, and we will even be able to take it back without any blood.

Now, the second young master gave Liu Chuang enough excuses for this fuss.

I thought that if this continues, I am afraid that Liaodong will be gained by Liu Chuang sooner or later. Even if there are two young masters, it will be difficult for him to tie his hands and feet."

"What do you want?"

Ju Su still looked like an ancient well without any slightest.

"Do you send troops? I'm afraid you dare to send troops, Xiuru will immediately turn against you."

Tian Feng, silent!

After a while, he suddenly asked, "Don't you, what do you think will be the winner?"

Ju Su remained silent, picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one go.

"Let Ziyi go to Youzhou."
To be continued...