Chapter 663

Another few days passed,

Cao Ren finally led his troops back and reported to Cao Cao: "My Lord! This time we intercepted Liu Bei and the others halfway, routed their army, killed over ten thousand enemies, and captured tens of thousands, but Liu Bei ultimately escaped!"

"However, the number of people around them at that time was no more than 2,000!"

Cao Cao rubbed his temples with a headache upon hearing this, looked at Cao Ren, who had a look of seeking credit, and couldn't help but scold angrily: "Do you think you did a good job? Should I praise you? Hmm?"

Cao Ren: "..."

He had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the next moment Cao Cao slammed the table, stood up angrily, and reprimanded: "I told you long ago! I wanted to capture Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Especially Guan Yu Yu alive, capture Zhang Fei and Especially Guan Yu Yu alive! You completely treated my words as wind in your ears, didn't you?"

"Don't you know that our army currently lacks peerless fierce generals or Heaven-Man divine generals who can make the final decision?"

Cao Ren replied helplessly: "My Lord! I naturally know this, but you also know the strength of Zhang Fei and Especially Guan Yu Yu!"

"They are already powerful enough, and on top of that, they formed a military formation to launch a surprise attack; how could we stop them?"

"It's already not bad that we were able to keep most of their troops!"

"If you are not satisfied, I am willing to accept punishment."

He felt that his Big Brother was making things difficult for him.

Since you know how powerful Zhang Fei and Especially Guan Yu Yu are, and you also know that our strength is far inferior to theirs.

And you still want us to capture them alive; isn't this making things difficult for an honest man?

If they could capture them alive, wouldn't they be even more powerful than them?

This isn't a matter of being strong just because there are many people, or that having many people is useful?

Once personal martial arts reach a certain level, if someone is determined to leave, human wave tactics simply cannot keep them.

Not to mention that they can also form military formations to launch surprise attacks.

"You..."

Cao Cao's expression stalled upon hearing Cao Ren's complaints and rebuttals. He had the heart to continue getting angry, but ultimately sighed and waved his hand: "Forget it! Let's not talk about this! It was indeed difficult for you!"

"I was just angry for a moment, just lamenting!"

"Without top-tier Gangjin fierce generals or Heaven-Man divine generals, we will always lack confidence when facing Boyuan in the future!"

"Do you know where Liu Bei and the others finally fled to?"

Sure enough, such things could not be forced.

Cao Ren felt much better upon hearing this: "Big Brother, you are being too serious! We indeed failed to complete your mission!"

"As for Liu Bei and the others? We pursued them all the way until we saw them flee into the depths of the Taishan Mountains, and then we had to withdraw!"

"With their strength, the poisonous insects and fierce beasts in these mountains obviously couldn't do anything to them. Looking at the direction, I estimate they should eventually appear in Qingzhou."

Cao Cao frowned slightly upon hearing this: "Qingzhou? I heard that Yuan Shao's troops are already attacking Qingzhou! Liu Bei wouldn't run to defect to Yuan Shao, would he?"

Cao Ren was also stunned, cold sweat dripping from his forehead: "No way, right? Liu Bei was once the King of Qi; he wouldn't be that spineless, would he?"

Does he not have any demeanor of a king left?

"That's not necessarily true!"

Cao Cao shook his head: "That is Liu Bei! This person is extremely good at enduring; he might not be incapable of doing such a thing!"

Liu Bei had done even more shameless things; what was this?

"If that's the case, we will have trouble when we go to war with Yuan Shao in the future!"

Cao Ren twisted his brows and said with annoyance.

He hated himself for not being able to take down Liu Bei and the others.

This was simply letting a tiger return to the mountains!

"Forget it!"

Cao Cao finally shook his head and comforted: "If I gain it, it is my luck; if I lose it, it is my fate! Things have come to this, there is nothing to struggle with!"

"Cao Ren! Next, I want to leave you in Xuzhou to reorganize the military equipment, and at the same time, cooperate with Changwen to govern and stabilize Xuzhou. Is there any problem?"

He still didn't feel at ease without leaving one of his own people.

Even with Chen Qun, he never considered him one of his own.

Chen Qun and the others were just employees.

People who put family interests first can only be used, not fully trusted.

Only people from his Cao clan and Xiahou clan could be fully trusted.

Hmm! Old Cao's full trust was only ninety percent; the remaining ten percent was the final stubbornness of his suspicious nature.

"Understood!"

Cao Ren immediately cupped his hands and took the order: "Please rest assured, Big Brother, I will manage Xuzhou well!"

"By the way! Big Brother! What are you going to do about Chen Deng?"

Cao Cao glanced at Cao Ren and said angrily: "Don't worry about this matter!"

"This person has merit in helping me take Xuzhou, so he cannot be moved lightly;"

"I plan to keep him in Xuzhou to assist Chen Qun in governing Xuzhou."

"Ah?"

Cao Ren was stunned: "Why? Big Brother, you shouldn't trust him, right?"

"That's right!"

Cao Cao nodded affirmatively: "But what does that have to do with me employing him?"

"This person has never truly been loyal to Liu Bei from beginning to end; he has always only cared about the interests of his own family!"

"Although he cannot be heavily used or trusted, his ability is not a problem!"

"How can I not use such a great talent?"

"In addition, his Xuzhou Chen clan has deep roots in Xuzhou; with his help, we can stabilize Xuzhou and control Xuzhou as quickly as possible;"

"I will instruct Chen Qun to guard against him, and with you leading the army here to watch, what could possibly go wrong?"

One cannot give up eating just because of a choking incident, right?

The talent he can use under his command is also limited.

"In the future, if I want to be unrestricted by these scholar-official families, I have to learn from Boyuan and cultivate my own talent!"

"After I defeat Boyuan and take the whole world, perhaps I can use Boyuan's hand to cultivate talent, suppress these scholar-official families, and complete the new policy cleansing!"

Cao Cao thought to himself.

The more he secretly competed with these scholar-official families, and the more he understood the results of Su Xuan's new policies, the more he felt that the scholar-official families were a tumor that must be restricted.

Su Xuan's new policies were very good.

Of course, the premise for everything was that he could defeat Yuan Shao and Su Xuan later.

Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to reach this step at all!

"That is also true!"

Cao Ren suddenly realized: "Big Brother, you are still the best! You have thought everything through clearly! Hehe!"

PS: Seeking first subscriptions, custom subscriptions, and support!