Chapter 649

Cao Cao can even roughly guess why Su Xuan let him and Yuan Shao and other warlords fight for hegemony in the Central Plains and the northern provinces, while temporarily staying in Jingzhou to develop and not expand outward.

Is it really just because he doesn't have enough officials for his new policies?

Not necessarily!

And no one stipulated that after taking territory, one must rush to complete the reforms quickly, right?

It is completely possible to take it step by step, slowly!

At most, some hidden dangers will be left temporarily, but these can all be cleared one by one in the future.

But Su Xuan did not send troops,

First, because Su Xuan has absolute confidence in his own strength.

He feels that even if Cao Cao and Yuan Shao and other warlords continue to expand their power, they will not be his match in the future.

Second, because Su Xuan does not want to cause too many casualties among the common people.

He wants to reduce the number of wars and wait for these warlords to expand with all their might, then achieve success in one battle.

"Yuanchang, you first find a way to contact Chen Deng, try to incite him to rebel, and then let him be our inside agent!"

"As for flooding, we can temporarily make preliminary preparations; if we can avoid it, we should try not to use this strategy. It is indeed too harmful to heaven and the gains don't outweigh the losses!"

"What I want is a complete Xiapi City, not a ruin!"

"Otherwise, it would be better to let Liu Bei and the others occupy Xuzhou!"

Cao Cao immediately ordered Zhong Yao.

"Yes!"

Although Zhong Yao was very surprised in his heart and felt that this didn't sound like something Cao Cao would say, he still agreed.

The strategy has already been given; how Cao Cao chooses is not something he can control.

Cao Cao is not a master who is easy to fool and manipulate.

At this moment, this conversation was heard clearly by Jia Shisan using his spirit beast.

His expression changed slightly, "I almost forgot about this!"

"If they really use flooding to deal with Xiapi City, I'm afraid hundreds of thousands of common people will suffer!"

"This is absolutely not allowed!"

Saying this, he had someone call Chen Deng and told Chen Deng the content of Zhong Yao's two strategies.

Then he said, "Yuanlong! It seems that our previous arrangements were not perfect enough! We may need to make adjustments!"

"No matter what, we cannot let Cao Cao choose the flooding method in the end!"

"Otherwise, we won't be able to answer to the Lord!"

"In addition, I will pass this news to the Lord later; I believe the Lord will not agree to let Cao Cao have the opportunity to use flooding!"

"Therefore, you might have to be wronged and secretly seek refuge with Cao Cao, and then act as an inside agent to help Cao Cao breach the city. What do you think?"

It would undoubtedly damage Chen Deng's reputation and carry the stigma of betraying his master.

"That doesn't matter!"

Chen Deng shook his head, "I actually anticipated this, so from beginning to end, I never recognized Liu Bei as my master!"

"I have always addressed him as the King of Qi, just to prevent such a situation from appearing!"

"Therefore, there is no need to worry about me; secretly seeking refuge with Cao Cao is not a problem!"

"In fact, from the moment I knew the Lord was not prepared to take Xuzhou temporarily, I understood that this situation would appear!"

"Later, I might even have to betray Cao Cao, so I don't plan to completely seek refuge with Cao Cao later either; it is enough to maintain a simple superior-subordinate relationship!"

"Anyway, our family has always given outsiders the feeling that everything is based on family interests;"

"If things are completely contrary to family interests, we will stop losses in time and make corresponding changes;"

"It's just right to take advantage of this now!"

"Of course, this will make Cao Cao not trust my Chen clan too much later, and it's impossible to give me heavy responsibilities, but this is also what I want!"

"It is enough to continue to stay in Xuzhou and remain in office later!"

"I am still waiting for the day the Lord sends troops to Xuzhou, so I can act as an inside agent to help the Lord take Xuzhou easily!"

"So, there is no grievance or not!"

"It's just that, in this way, it might not be able to drag on for too long!"