Chapter 685

"Yes!"

Xu You and the others accepted the order.

Then, Yuan Shao's forces operated at full capacity and began to prepare.

Cao Cao was constantly paying attention to Yuan Shao's side, and with such a big movement and such an obvious purpose, Cao Cao naturally received the news immediately.

He suddenly looked solemn: "Yuan Benchu is preparing for war! He is in a hurry to start a war with me! It seems he can't wait!"

Cao Cao, who had just returned to Xu Chang, immediately summoned all the civil and military officials under his command, and after everyone arrived, he looked around and said: "News from the North says that Yuan Shao is actively conscripting soldiers and collecting supplies recently; clearly, he is preparing for war!"

"And his target is inevitably us!"

"This battle is clearly unavoidable! Do you have any good countermeasures?"

He originally wanted to continue to accumulate strength for a year or a half before starting a war with Yuan Shao.

After all, Xuzhou was newly acquired and hadn't had time to be completely digested, but Yuan Shao had already started preparing for war.

This disrupted his rhythm.

"It seems Yuan Shao is not completely useless! Hehe!"

"However, that's true; Yuan Benchu back then was at least a young talent of a generation, with extraordinary intelligence and means;"

"The frequent bad moves later were actually just appearances; they were all just deliberately done to achieve the goals of his Yuan family and even Yuan Shao himself!"

"I really cannot underestimate him!"

Cao Cao thought to himself.

Of course, Cao Cao would not overestimate Yuan Shao or fear him excessively.

Because he knew Yuan Shao too well.

When you know someone too well, you lose the sense of awe for them.

Hmm! The premise is that you also possess the strength to protect yourself.

"This..."

All the civil and military officials looked at each other.

"My lord! What else is there to say? We'll just prepare for war! Yuan Shao alone is not unbeatable!"

"Exactly! Exactly! Yuan Benchu is nothing more than this! Fighting Gongsun Zan took so long; that's no skill! Much worse than you, my lord!"

"My lord! The end general requests to fight!"

"..."

The martial generals were all like they had been injected with chicken blood, shouting to fight one after another, as if Yuan Shao were like a stray dog that could be defeated with a wave of the hand.

Instead, it was the civil officials and strategists.

Except for a few truly loyal ones like Xun Yu, the rest had flickering eyes, and their thoughts were complicated.

These people had not had few dealings with Yuan Shao's side on weekdays, and the exchanges between them had never stopped.

In fact, they had not had few leaks of Cao Cao's information and secrets to Yuan Shao.

They didn't really want to directly betray and defect to Yuan Shao; they were just placing bets on both sides.

Because, compared to Yuan Shao, who had been in the position of Three Excellencies for four generations, they actually didn't think Cao Cao could beat Yuan Shao.

It was very necessary to leave a retreat for themselves and their families behind them.

Of course, the fact that they were two-faced like this also had something to do with Cao Cao's low background as a descendant of a eunuch.

In the end, even if they defected to Cao Cao, it was only because Cao Cao was powerful for a while and there were benefits to be gained by following him.

Deep down, these people from great families still looked down on Cao Cao.

They felt that as a descendant of a eunuch, why should he be so glorious?

In the future, we will definitely be able to replace him.

There were not a few scholar-official families who had such ideas.

Doesn't Cao Cao know this?

Not necessarily!

He is so smart, he should be able to see through this.

But what if he sees through it?

He is not Su Xuan; he does not have Su Xuan's ability, courage, and opportunities, and he dares not directly carry out new policies without relying on these scholar-official families, or even suppressing them to develop and strengthen himself.

So, Cao Cao actually often envied Su Xuan.

Because Su Xuan achieved what he wanted to do but couldn't, and got what he wanted but couldn't ask for.

However, he was not jealous of Su Xuan.

Because Su Xuan's success today was all earned by his own efforts, not just luck or chance.

If it were him in Su Xuan's position back then, he couldn't have achieved Su Xuan's level either.

Times make heroes, but first you must have the capital and ability to become a hero.

"My lord!"

Seeing that others were discussing and didn't know how to speak, Xun Yu finally stood out and bowed: "In my opinion, the gap between us and Yuan Shao is not big;"

"Yuan Shao sits on the three provinces of Ji, You, and Qing;"

"Among them, Youzhou is newly acquired, and Qingzhou has not even been fully taken;"

"Plus Yuan Shao has been fighting Gongsun Zan for many years, consuming countless money and grain; his foundation has long been exhausted!"

"On the contrary, the lord also possesses three provinces; Yanzhou has been mastered for a long time, Yuzhou has been completely digested, and Xuzhou is rich and has not experienced major wars, preserving considerable population and wealth; even if we have newly acquired Xuzhou, if necessary, we can still forcibly conscript a lot of money, grain, and even young men;"

"In this way, we can even occupy some advantages compared to Yuan Shao in these aspects!"

"The only gap might be that we have relatively fewer cavalry!"

"In addition, Yuan Shao and Jia Wu of Bingzhou are at odds; we can completely send an envoy to Jia Wu and form an alliance to deal with Yuan Shao together!"

"It doesn't even need him to deal with Yuan Shao's main force; he only needs to send troops from Bingzhou to deter Jizhou and even Yecheng to help us contain a considerable part of Yuan Shao's troops;"

"Let Yuan Shao have to fight on two fronts!"

"Also, we can send an envoy to Zhang Yan of the Heishan Army and try to persuade him to send troops against Yuan Shao when Yuan Shao starts a war with us;"

"If it succeeds, Yuan Shao will face the dilemma of fighting on three fronts;"

"At that time, defeating Yuan Shao and taking the three northern provinces will be an easy task."

"Hmm?"

Cao Cao was very happy, but he was a bit confused and asked: "Wenruo, everything else you said is very good, but this Heishan Army is an ally of Yuan Shao, right? How can we persuade him to use troops against Yuan Shao?"

This is almost impossible!

Could it be...

Recalling the various behaviors of the Heishan Army in the past, Cao Cao's eyes began to shine slightly.

Xun Yu replied immediately: "On the surface, it is indeed so! But in my opinion, the facts are not like this!"

"Looking at the various behaviors of Zhang Yan of the Heishan Army in the past, it seems they are allied with Yuan Shao, but in reality, it is just an exchange of interests!"

"Yuan Shao provides money and grain, and he provides strength;"

"But that was when Gongsun Zan still existed, and he could gain benefits by being in the middle;"

"Nowadays, Yuan Shao has completely eliminated the Gongsun Zan force and taken the entire Youzhou; can he still tolerate the existence of a force like the Heishan Army that is not directly controlled and may threaten his hinterland, Jizhou, at any time?"

"I don't think so! Yuan Shao is probably more eager to eliminate Zhang Yan of the Heishan Army than anyone else at this time!"

"This can be seen from the fact that he instigated Zhang Yan of the Heishan Army to attack Jia Wu of Bingzhou a few months ago!"

"Yuan Shao is clearly trying to drive the tiger to swallow the wolf, wanting to let the Heishan Army and Jia Wu fight each other and both suffer, and then he can come out to eliminate both sides;"

"But Yuan Shao clearly underestimated Jia Wu and Zhang Yan; these two are clearly not easy to deal with! They both saw through Yuan Shao's intentions;"

"Therefore, although Zhang Yan and Jia Wu fought, they were just acting for Yuan Shao, the Xiongnu, and the Xianbei to see!"

"It can be seen from the battle losses that whether it was the Heishan Army or Jia Wu's troops, the losses from fighting each other were very small;"

"Yuan Shao knew about this later, but he couldn't do anything about Zhang Yan!"

"He could only cut off cooperation, and Zhang Yan withdrew his troops;"

"The alliance relationship between the two sides has clearly broken down; this is our opportunity!"

"Therefore, I suggest that the main force send envoys to Jia Wu and Zhang Yan to unite them against Yuan Shao."

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