Chapter 656

"Yes!"

Zhong Yao and Chen Qun bowed and accepted the order happily.

In the city, that day, Jia Shisan, with Lu Bu's cooperation, quietly transferred Lu Bu and the families of his generals away through an underground secret passage.

All of this was done quietly; coupled with the need to face Cao Cao's army outside the city and the many affairs, Liu Bei didn't notice this at all.

At the same time, Chen Deng, with the cooperation of the Dark Guard, successfully and quietly took control of the West Gate.

Just waiting for the right time, he would cooperate with Cao Cao outside the city to open the city gates and take Xiapi City.

Early the next morning, Cao Cao began to launch a tentative attack on Xiapi City without any concealment.

But facing the tight defense of Lu Bu, Liu, Guan, and Zhang, he not only failed to take advantage but also suffered a small loss, losing thousands of troops, and couldn't even climb the city wall.

Seeing this situation, Cao Cao had to withdraw his troops with a heartache, preparing to discuss and fight again later.

Of course, this was not without any gains.

At least, he roughly figured out the layout and combat power of the troops in the city.

"Sure enough, after Liu Bei and Lu Bu joined forces, their combat power soared; if we attack by force, it is impossible for us to take this Xiapi City in the short term!"

"And if it drags on for a long time, not only will the logistical pressure increase sharply, but the casualties will likely be huge!"

"In the final analysis, it is because we suffer from not having top-tier Gangjin peak or even Heaven-Man Realm divine generals!"

Speaking of this, Cao Cao asked Cao Ren and Cao Hong on the side, "Zixiao! Zilian! How is the training of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry going? When will they be able to exert their true combat power?"

"How many people can you reach at most with the military formation addition? Have you mastered the military soul yet?"

Since seeing Su Xuan and Lu Bu's military formation and military soul methods, Cao Cao has taken this matter to heart and attached great importance to it.

He even spared no resources and money to cultivate his own super ace elite, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

This training has been going on for a year or two; by now, there should be some results, right?

Cao Ren and Cao Hong were stunned upon hearing this, looked at each other, and Cao Ren couldn't help but bow, "Reporting to the Great King! I can currently mobilize at most 800 people to form a military formation to face the enemy, and the military soul can barely be condensed, but the combat power exerted can at most contend with a mid-stage Gangjin warrior for dozens of moves before being unable to persist!"

Cao Hong, after Cao Ren finished speaking, continued, "My Lord! As for me, I can currently mobilize at most 500 people to form a military formation, which can exert the strength of an early-stage Gangjin warrior and can fight an early-stage Gangjin general for twenty moves without being defeated!"

This still has to be an ordinary Gangjin general.

If it were that kind of gifted Gangjin general who is still in the growth stage, they wouldn't even have this confidence.

Even for generals of the same realm, the strength is actually vastly different.

Cao Cao frowned upon hearing this, "Is it only this much? What about you, Wenqian?"

Yue Jin replied quickly, "Reporting to the Lord! The end general can currently form a thousand-man military formation; with my early-stage Gangjin strength, coupled with the military formation addition, I should be able to fight a peak Gangjin peerless general for a hundred rounds without being defeated!"

"Oh?"

Cao Cao smiled upon hearing this and asked curiously, "Zhang Fei and Guan Yu should also be peak Gangjin peerless generals, right? Are you sure you can fight them for a hundred rounds without being defeated?"

"Uh..."

Yue Jin was stunned and somewhat helpless, "My Lord! If they were fighting alone, I would have some confidence! At least, that's the case when facing Zhang Fei!"

"As for Guan Yu, he seems to be no longer an ordinary peak Gangjin warrior!"

"When I watched him fight during the campaign against Yuan Shu, his first three strikes were fierce and abnormal, more than a notch stronger than Zhang Fei's;"

"The end general estimates that he has already touched the threshold of the Heaven-Man Realm! It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a half-step Heaven-Man Realm!"

"Even if he were fighting me alone, with the addition of the military formation power, I wouldn't have the confidence to withstand a hundred moves!"

Being a person! You have to recognize reality.

In the past, he always thought he was a martial arts genius, and there were few people in the world who could compare with him!

He was someone who didn't meet his match in the past.

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

What shocked him the most was actually Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Dian Wei, and others under Su Xuan's command.

He really doesn't understand how these people cultivate?

Why can they improve so fast?

Not to mention Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun and Dian Wei are not old.

Especially Zhao Yun, he is much younger than me!

Yet he broke through to the Heaven-Man Realm so early!

Simply not treating people as humans!

How are others supposed to live?

How can they have the nerve to call themselves geniuses?

"Is that so? Is the gap really that big?"

Cao Cao's smile faded upon hearing this, and he frowned, "I am not someone who doesn't understand martial arts and military formations, but I didn't expect the gap between top-tier martial artists to be so big!"

"Sigh! It's a pity! When will I be able to possess my own top-tier peerless fierce generals or even Heaven-Man divine generals?"

"It seems that talents have all been taken away by Boyuan in advance, making it so that I can't find such top-tier talents now!"

He knows that whether it is Dian Wei or Xu Chu, they are both from Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

They are half-fellows with him.

And the result?

These people were all 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 on the side felt aggrieved, but they couldn't refute anything.

Who told them not to be competitive themselves, and their strength was far inferior to others, and they couldn't reach the Lord's expectations?

When they faced Lu Bu in Yanzhou, which time wasn't they beaten up by Lu Bu in a head-on battle?

Finally, they were able to expel Lu Bu by relying on numerical advantage and schemes to defeat Lu Bu step by step.

Even so, it was a fantasy for them to want to surround and take Lu Bu.

Although Lu Bu was defeated by Cao Cao at the time, he could leave whenever he wanted, and Cao Cao couldn't stop him at all.

Zhong Yao on the side also shook his head helplessly, "My Lord! This is something that can't be helped; who in the world doesn't know that King Qian, Su Xuan, has a unique eye and is good at identifying talent?"

"Even though he was alienated from most of the gentry because of the new policies, he relied on this ability to identify people to constantly recruit top-tier talents;"

"More importantly, he started his business early!"

"As early as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he had already begun to recruit talent and accumulate strength!"

"Even now, analyzing his past, I feel that he seemed to have predicted the result of the world's chaos long ago;"

"Therefore, long before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he had already been preparing and laying out step by step!"

"After years of hard work and low-key development, this is the situation he has today!"

"If it weren't for his hostility toward the gentry and his blind push for his so-called new policies, he would have been courting death! The situation in the world would be very different!"

At the beginning, it wasn't just the Xun clan that took a fancy to the promising Su Xuan.

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

But because they were preempted by the Xun clan in marriage, it was not easy for them to intervene later.

As for sending people to be concubines for Su Xuan?

At first, they disdained to do so, feeling that Su Xuan didn't have the qualifications to make them bow their heads.

By the time they felt Su Xuan had the qualifications, or even too many qualifications, it was already too late.

At that time, Su Xuan's wings were already full, and there were already too many people who wanted to curry favor with him; it was not easy to curry favor with him.

Plus he came up with new policies, so Zhong Yao and other families naturally alienated themselves from Su Xuan and completely gave up the idea of marrying into Su Xuan's family.

Let alone seeking refuge.

"Indeed!"

Chen Qun also nodded with emotion, "This person seems to have the ability to predict the future! He always finds those top-tier talents accurately; whether it is Huang Zhong, Dian Wei, Zhao Yun, or Xu Chu, Taishici, they are basically from grassroots or local powerful families!"

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

"He seems to have looked down on the talents of our gentry from the beginning! He has great hostility toward us!"

"This determines that he won't go far in the future! Hehe!"

Although he admires Su Xuan's ability, Chen Qun also looks down on Su Xuan, feeling that he is too short-sighted and underestimates the power of the gentry.

Cao Cao saw all this in his eyes, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he thought, "How arrogant and conceited? It's strange that Boyuan would take a fancy to you people who are selfish and only for the family!"

"If I didn't have a choice, I wouldn't want to choose you either; I also want to learn from Boyuan and carry out new policy reforms!"

"Boyuan's new policies are like the Shang Yang reforms of the strong Qin; although they will offend a large group of people, they can also win over the vast number of bottom-level common people and give them a way out, so they will inevitably sell their lives for Boyuan;"

"The terror of this power even exceeds the reforms that allowed the Qin State to jump 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 and are quite perfect.