Chapter 414

Cao Cao now also wishes he could chop these selfish noble clans.

But he cannot!

Even on the surface, he has to pretend to laugh heartily: “Haha! Good! Good! Changwen, you did a great job this time! I will record a great contribution for you!”

“And you too, Yuanchang; if it weren’t for your two strategies, I would still be at a loss! I will also record a great contribution for you!”

“After taking Xiapi City and completely occupying the entire Xuzhou, I will reward you all together!”

“For now, since things are going smoothly, let everything proceed according to the plan!”

“Within ten days, I want to stand on the city walls of Xiapi City and drink to celebrate!”

"Understood!"

Zhong Yao and Chen Qun immediately bowed and accepted the order with delight.

That same day, within the city, with Lu Bu’s cooperation, Jia Thirteen quietly transferred Lu Bu’s family and the families of his military officers out through a secret underground passage.

Everything was done without a sound. Furthermore, with Cao Cao’s massive army outside the city and a multitude of affairs to attend to, Liu Bei did not notice this at all.

Meanwhile, Chen Deng, with the cooperation of the Dark Guards, successfully and quietly seized control of the West City Gate.

They were only waiting for the right moment to cooperate with Cao Cao outside the city to open the gates and take Xiapi City.

Early the next morning, Cao Cao began a probing attack on Xiapi City without any attempt at concealment.

However, facing the tight defenses of Lu Bu, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, he not only failed to gain any advantage but suffered a minor setback, losing several thousand troops without even managing to scale the city walls.

Seeing this, a pained Cao Cao had no choice but to sound the retreat, intending to regroup and plan for the next battle.

Of course, this attempt was not entirely without gains.

At the very least, he had roughly gauged the layout and combat strength of the troops within the city.

"As expected, after Liu Bei and Lu Bu joined forces, their combat strength has soared. If we attack head-on, it is impossible for us to take Xiapi City in the short term!"

"And if we drag this out, not only will the pressure on our logistics skyrocket, but our casualties will likely be immense!"

"When it comes down to it, we are suffering because we lack top-tier peak-stage Gang-Qi or Heaven-Human Realm divine generals!"

Saying this, Cao Cao asked Cao Ren and Cao Hong, who were beside him: "Zixiao! Zilian! How is the training of your Tiger and Leopard Cavalry coming along? When will they be able to display their true combat power?"

"How many men can you support with your military formation at most? Have you become proficient in using the Military Soul?"

Ever since he had seen Su Xuan and Lu Bu’s methods for military formations and Military Souls, Cao Cao had taken the matter to heart and placed great importance on it.

He had even spared no expense in resources and wealth to cultivate his own super-ace elite, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

They had been training for a year or two now; surely, there should be some results by now?

Cao Ren and Cao Hong were taken aback. They looked at each other, and Cao Ren couldn't help but bow and say: "Reporting to my lord! I can currently mobilize at most 800 men to form a military formation against the enemy. I can barely condense the Military Soul, but the combat power it exerts can only hold its own against a mid-stage Gang-Qi expert for a few dozen moves before I can no longer sustain it!"

After Cao Ren finished, Cao Hong continued: "My lord! As for me, I can currently mobilize at most 500 men to form a military formation. It can exert the strength of an early-stage Gang-Qi expert, and I can fight an early-stage Gang-Qi martial artist for twenty moves without being defeated!"

And that was only against ordinary Gang-Qi martial artists.

If it were one of those gifted ones still in their growth phase, they wouldn't even have that much confidence.

Even among martial artists of the same realm, the difference in strength could be worlds apart.

Cao Cao frowned upon hearing this: "Is that all? What about you, Wenqian?"

Yue Jin quickly replied: "Reporting to my lord! I can currently form a thousand-man military formation. With my own early-stage Gang-Qi strength combined with the formation's boost, I should be able to fight a peak-stage Gang-Qi peerless martial artist for a hundred rounds without being defeated!"

"Oh?"

Cao Cao’s face lit up with a smile, and he asked curiously: "Zhang Fei and Guan Yu should both still be peak-stage Gang-Qi peerless martial artists, right? Are you certain you can fight them for a hundred rounds without being defeated?"

"Uh..."

Yue Jin was stunned and said somewhat helplessly: "My lord! If they were fighting alone, I would have some confidence! At least, that is the case against Zhang Fei!"

"As for Guan Yu, he seems to no longer be an ordinary peak-stage Gang-Qi martial artist!"

"When we were campaigning against Lord Yuan Shu, I saw him strike. His first three slashes were exceptionally fierce, far stronger than Zhang Fei’s;"

"I estimate he has already touched the threshold of the Heaven-Human Realm! It would not be an exaggeration to call him a half-step Heaven-Human Realm expert!"

"Even if he were fighting me alone, with the power of the military formation, I have no confidence that I could withstand a hundred moves!"

A person must recognize reality.

In the past, he had always thought of himself as a martial arts genius, and that few in this world could compare to him!

He had felt that he was a talent unrecognized by the world.

But after truly witnessing the heroes of this world, Yue Jin realized his own arrogance and ignorance.

What shocked him the most were actually Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Old Dian Wei, and the others under Su Xuan.

He truly did not understand how these people cultivated.

Why could they improve so quickly?

Not to mention Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun and Old Dian Wei were not very old.

Especially Zhao Yun, who was much younger than him!

Yet he had already broken through to the Heaven-Human Realm!

It was simply inhuman!

How were others supposed to live?

How could they have the face to call themselves geniuses?

"Is that so? The gap is actually that large?"

Cao Cao’s smile faded, and he furrowed his brows: "I am not someone who doesn't understand martial arts or military formations, but I didn't expect the gap between top-tier martial artists to be this vast!"

"Sigh! It is lamentable! When will I possess my own top-tier peerless fierce generals, or even Heaven-Human divine generals?"

"It seems all the talent was snatched up by Su Boyuan in advance, leaving me unable to find such top-tier talent now!"

He knew that both Old Dian Wei and Xu Chu were from Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

They were practically his fellow countrymen.

And yet!

These people had all been discovered and recruited by Su Xuan early on. By the time he wanted to recruit people, it was already too late!

Yue Jin and the others beside him felt stifled, but they had no way to refute it.

Who told them to be so incompetent, with strength far inferior to others, failing to meet their lord's expectations?

Back when they faced Lu Bu in Yanzhou, which head-on engagement didn't end with them being thrashed by Lu Bu?

In the end, they were only able to expel Lu Bu by relying on numerical superiority and strategy to defeat him step by step.

Even then, trying to surround and capture Lu Bu was a fantasy.

Although Lu Bu had lost to Cao Cao at the time, he could leave whenever he wanted; Cao Cao simply couldn't stop him.

Zhong Yao, who was nearby, also shook his head helplessly: "My lord! This is something that cannot be helped. Who in the world doesn't know that the King of Zou Qian, Su Xuan, has a unique eye for talent and is skilled at identifying it?"

"Even though he has become alienated from most of the gentry because of his New Policies, he has continuously recruited top-tier talent to his side thanks to this ability to recognize people;"

"More importantly, he started his rise early!"

"As early as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he had already begun recruiting talent and accumulating strength!"

"Furthermore, analyzing his past, I feel that he seems to have long anticipated the result that the world would fall into great chaos."

"Therefore, long before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he was already preparing and laying out his plans step by step!"

"After years of effort and low-profile development, he has reached the position he holds today!"

"If it weren't for his hostility toward the gentry and his stubborn insistence on pushing those New Policies of his, actively seeking his own demise, the situation in this world would be vastly different!"

Back then, it wasn't just the Xun clan that had set their sights on the promising Su Xuan.

Which of the great families in Yingchuan wasn't the same?

But because the Xun clan had snatched the marriage alliance first, it was difficult for them to intervene later.

As for sending someone to be a concubine for Su Xuan?

At first, they disdained to do so, feeling that Su Xuan did not yet have the qualifications to make them bow their heads.

By the time they felt Su Xuan was qualified—perhaps even too qualified—it was already too late.

By then, Su Xuan’s wings were already full, and there were too many people wanting to curry favor with him; it was no longer easy to do so.

Coupled with his New Policies, families like Zhong Yao’s naturally grew distant from Su Xuan, completely abandoning any thoughts of marriage alliances.

Let alone defecting to him.

"Indeed!"

Chen Qun also sighed and nodded: "This man seems to have the ability to foresee the future! He always precisely finds those top-tier talents. Whether it’s Huang Zhong, Old Dian Wei, Zhao Yun, or Xu Chu and Taishi Ci, they are basically all from grassroots or local powerful clans!"

"The origins of Xi Zhicai, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and others are also not high!"

"He seems to have looked down on talent from our gentry from the very beginning! He has quite a lot of hostility toward us!"

"This destines him not to go far in the future! Heh!"

Although he admired Su Xuan’s abilities, Chen Qun also looked down on him, feeling that he was too short-sighted and underestimated the power of the gentry.

Cao Cao saw all of this, his eyes narrowing slightly as he thought: "What arrogance and conceit? With you people being so selfish and only caring about your families, it would be a miracle if Su Boyuan took a liking to you!"

"If I didn't have a choice, I wouldn't want to choose you either. I would also want to learn from Su Boyuan and carry out New Policy reforms!"

"Su Boyuan’s current New Policies are like the Shang Yang reforms of the powerful Qin. Although they offend a large group of people, they also win over the vast masses of the lower classes, giving them a way out. They will inevitably sell their lives for Su Boyuan;"

"The terror of this force even exceeds the reforms that allowed the Qin state to leap from the bottom of the seven states to the strongest."

It can only be said that Su Xuan has foresight.

The key is that his New Policies are different from the Shang Yang reforms; they are quite comprehensive.