Chapter 364

"What a pity! Still failed to subdue these two generals, Guan and Zhang!"

Cao Cao looked at the departing figures of Liu, Guan, and Zhang, and sighed with regret in his heart.

Especially at this very moment, with Lu Bu wreaking havoc in his territory, if he had the help of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, why worry about not being able to easily drive Lu Bu away?

Conversely, without the two generals Guan and Zhang, Cao Cao himself had no confidence in being able to easily drive Lu Bu away at this time.

It was really because the deterrence Lu Bu had given him in the past was too strong.

But no matter what, he still had to drive Lu Bu away as soon as possible.

Otherwise, how could he recuperate and how could he develop and accumulate strength?

"Let's go! We must hurry back to Yanzhou as soon as possible and expel Lu Bu!"

Cao Cao immediately withdrew his gaze and ordered Xia Xia Houyuan and the others beside him.

"Understood!"

Xia Xia Houyuan and the others immediately accepted the order and ordered the army to continue setting off, rushing toward Yanzhou in a mighty force.

Two days ago,

In Xiangyang, Jingzhou,

Su Xuan had received the intelligence sent back by the Yanzhou secret guards less than 2 hours after Lu Bu invaded Yanzhou, and Su Xuan was immediately amused: "Hehe! Old Cao is going to be in trouble this time!"

"Just finished taking Lord Yuan Shu and Yuzhou, and before he could even be happy, he ran into this kind of thing. I guess he'll be cursing soon, right?"

"You all take a look too!"

Saying this, Su Xuan handed the intelligence in his hand to Guo Jia and the others on the side to pass around and read.

Guo Jia smiled and said: "This is good news for us!"

"In this way, Cao Cao's development will be greatly dragged down!"

"Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and even Xuzhou and other places, it is imaginable that they will fall into war in the future, which will greatly drag down their respective developments."

"Indeed!"

Cheng Yu nodded affirmatively after hearing this, but looked at Guo Jia with some confusion: "However, Guo Fengxiao, why do you say that Xuzhou will also be affected? This has nothing to do with Xuzhou, right?"

Li Yan and the others also looked at Guo Jia with confusion and curiosity.

On the contrary, Xun You, Xu Shu, Tian Feng, and others smiled knowingly after hearing this.

Obviously, they had all vaguely guessed something.

Guo Jia smiled and replied: "Because, Lu Bu will definitely not be Cao Cao's opponent in the end;"

"And after he is defeated by Cao Cao, the places he can eventually flee to are nothing more than Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, or Jizhou, Bingzhou;"

"Among them, Bingzhou is barren, Qingzhou is chaotic, Chen Gong under Lu Bu will definitely not suggest he go there!"

"Jizhou has Lord Yuan Shao, and Chen Gong has ambitions, so he will also not suggest Lu Bu go there!"

"Yuzhou is Cao Cao's territory. If Lu Bu goes to Yuzhou, Cao Cao will not let it go!"

"In the end, the choice Lu Bu can make, and the best choice, is to go to Xuzhou to bully Tao Zou Qian!"

"Therefore, I said that Xuzhou will also be restless from now on!"

"In fact, even without Lu Bu, within the next year, Cao Cao should also use troops against Xuzhou, attempting to take Xuzhou."

"He must know that the time left for him to develop is running out!"

"If he cannot occupy enough territory and expand enough troops during these 2 years when the lord is cultivating talent and not expanding externally, then he won't even have a chance to fight the lord head-on."

The others' eyes lit up: "That's true!"

"As expected of you! Guo Fengxiao! You see things in the long term!"

"Hehe! It's alright!"

Guo Jia smiled proudly.

"I just hope Mengde won't be angered to death! But this is indeed beneficial to us!"

Su Xuan smiled and then looked at Xun You and asked: "Gongda! How is the selection of agents for Guanzhong and other places going?"

Xun You immediately replied: "Reporting to the lord, Guanzhong is actually the easiest to handle, because General Xu Rong is there, and externally, we have not yet leaked the news that General Xu Rong has defected to the lord."

"So, I chose to use General Xu Rong as the overt agent for Guanzhong, to gather the Xiliang troops in Guanzhong, and gradually take the entire Guanzhong region, for the sake of stability in Guanzhong!"

"In addition, I am also prepared to let Mr. Jia Xu assist General Xu Rong in handling government affairs, making plans, and so on. Also, Jia One will secretly cooperate with General Xu Rong and Mr. Jia Xu. What does the lord think?"

To make other feudal lords not suspicious, and this person must also be able to truly subdue the Xiliang troops, no one is more suitable than Xu Rong.

"A good choice!"

Su Xuan nodded with satisfaction: "Xu Rong is indeed the most suitable candidate!"

"Jia Xu and Jia One are also very suitable! I will personally send letters to the three of them separately, giving orders to let them listen to your arrangements for the time being!"

"In addition, after Xu Rong and the others integrate the Xiliang troops in Guanzhong and gain a firm foothold, they must start guarding against Ma Teng and Han Sui of Liangzhou!"

"The secret guards in Liangzhou sent news that they are already a bit restless! Tell Xu Rong and the others to be careful!"

Dong Zhuo is dead, Guanzhong is in chaos, and careerists like Ma Teng and Han Sui naturally start to be unable to sit still.

It was just that before, Su Xuan wouldn't care.

But now that he is preparing to implement the agent plan, he cannot let Ma Teng and Han Sui take advantage of the situation and find loopholes.

"Understood!"

Xun You bowed and accepted: "I have already considered this! I will remind General Xu Rong and the others!"

"It's just, my lord, in this way, do we still need to continue to absorb the population from Guanzhong to Jingzhou?"

Su Xuan shook his head after hearing this: "No need to forcibly absorb them anymore. It completely depends on the subjective wishes of the people in Guanzhong!"

"If they are willing to move to Jingzhou, then we will arrange them well;"

"If they are unwilling, then just settle them on the spot!"

"Anyway, Guanzhong is vast and sparsely populated now, and the population has decreased a lot. Even if we cannot implement new policies there for the time being, there is no need to worry about the lack of land in the short term."

"Of course, remember to remind Xu Rong and Jia Xu not to let those noble clans and powerful families in Guanzhong continue to encroach on those vacant ownerless lands, and even make them spit out the ownerless lands they swallowed before, take them back for official ownership, and then temporarily rent them to refugees without land to plant;"

"We can adopt the form of civilian military colonies to meet the food needs of the Guanzhong Corps and reduce our burden."

In this way, not only do we not need to continue to secretly transport food to the Guanzhong region for a long time, but we might even be able to obtain surplus food from Guanzhong, which is killing multiple birds with one stone.

"This is a good idea!"

Tian Feng's eyes lit up: "I think, not only Guanzhong, but Bingzhou, Hanzhong, and other places can all do this in the future."

"In the form of civilian military colonies, not only can we ensure the food production in these areas, but we can also ensure that the people in these areas are not starved to death as much as possible;"

"And it won't make the feudal lords of the world suspect that they are our agents."

"Indeed!"

Xun You also nodded affirmatively: "Then let's do it according to what the lord said!"

"By the way! My lord! For Hanzhong, if we want to take this place, I have to borrow a talent from the lord!"

"Hmm?"

Su Xuan looked at Xun You and asked: "Who? Zuo Ci?"

After all, the one occupying Hanzhong now is Zhang Lu, the leader of the Taoist Five Pecks of Rice Sect.

Dealing with such a Taoist figure, it is naturally appropriate for Mr. Zuo Ci, who is also a Taoist, to do it.

"My lord is wise!"

Xun You praised immediately: "It is indeed Mr. Zuo Yuanfang! Zhang Lu of Hanzhong is the leader of the Taoist Five Pecks of Rice Sect. It will be very difficult to subdue him with ordinary means;"

"But if we borrow the name of Taoism, with Mr. Zuo Ci as the lead, and use some divine arts and cultivation resources from the lord's Merit Pavilion as bait, there is no worry that Zhang Lu will not submit."

"Once Hanzhong is taken, the Shu lands of Yizhou will be like taking something out of a bag in the future, much easier!"

Of course, during this period, it is best to infiltrate key passes such as Jianmen Pass.

In this way, taking the Shu lands in the future will be even easier.

"Can do!"

Su Xuan nodded in agreement: "I will notify Mr. Zuo Ci later and let him cooperate with your plan!"

"In addition, for Bingzhou, I actually wanted to send a fierce general and a strategist to help, but currently the fierce generals and strategists I can bring out are already in the open, and other feudal lords basically know their information, so it is not good to send people!"

"We can only select some people proficient in military and political capabilities from the secret guards to go there and help Jia Nineteen."

"But just like this, it may not be enough, so Gongda, you still need to pay more attention to Bingzhou in the future, and give Jia Nineteen and the others more guidance and suggestions. Do you understand?"

He now somewhat regretted putting the fierce generals and strategists under his command in the open.

Of course, he didn't expect to come up with such a plan at the beginning.

At the same time, he also had to consider the feelings of the fierce generals and strategists under his command.

If he really hid them, they might not be able to accept and understand.

After all, capable people all want to make a name for themselves.

People who can endure obscurity are ultimately a very small minority.

"Understood!"

Xun You accepted the order: "I will pay more attention!"

Next, the whole world seemed to begin to enter the fast lane.

Lu Bu initially took quite a few advantages under Cao Cao and almost completely defeated Cao Cao at one point.

But gradually, the situation began to be reversed by Cao Cao, and Lu Bu began to retreat steadily.

In the end, he had to flee to Xuzhou.

Attempting to seek shelter from Tao Zou Qian.

As a result, he was rejected by Tao Zou Qian as expected.

Because Tao Zou Qian was afraid!

Afraid that Lu Bu would eventually take over the nest and snatch his Xuzhou.

After all, Lu Bu's reputation was not very good, and the key was that the strength of Lu Bu and his troops was very strong.

It would be strange if he wasn't wary.

"Hateful! This Tao Zou Qian is simply unappreciative! Since he is unwilling to accept us, then don't blame me for being impolite! ATTACK!!!"

After being rejected, Lu Bu was furious and, with the support of Chen Gong, directly launched an attack on Xuzhou.

In just a few days, he took Xiaopei and other places, directly pressing toward Xiapi City.

For a time, Tao Zou Qian was terrified and hurriedly asked other feudal lords for help.

Just in time, Liu Bei at this time had just helped Kong Rong repel the siege of the remaining Yellow Turban troops in Beihai.

After Kong Rong received Tao Zou Qian's letter for help, he thought about it, found Liu Bei, handed Tao Zou Qian's letter to Liu Bei and said: "Liu Xuande! I know you are a benevolent and righteous person! A few days ago, Tao Zou Qian of Xuzhou was attacked by Lu Bu and is already in danger! He asked me for help!"

"But I know I am powerless, but you are different, Liu Xuande! You are a capable person! You have two great generals under your command. If you are willing to go to support Tao Zou Qian to resist Lu Bu, I am willing to support you with three thousand troops. What do you think?"

Kong Rong actually had two purposes in doing this.

First, he did not want Lu Bu to really defeat Tao Zou Qian and occupy Xuzhou.