Chapter 687

"It seems! Following Cao Cao has a better chance of winning than following Yuan Shao! It seems we have to continue to wait and see, and temporarily stay on Cao Cao's side to contribute; what if Cao Cao wins?"

There were quite a few people who had such thoughts!

"Since that's the case, then follow what you said, Wenruo!"

"Immediately send envoys to Jia Wu and Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Army, and persuade them to send troops against Yuan Shao after we start a war with Yuan Shao!"

"In addition, all armies should quickly prepare for war!"

"Yes!"

All the civil and military officials accepted the order together and quickly began to act.

A few days later, Cao Cao successfully reached cooperation with Jia Wu and Zhang Yan, and Jia Wu and Zhang Yan successively deployed troops on the border to deter Yuan Shao.

This forced Yuan Shao to send troops to deal with them separately.

Together, these two sides took away his 100,000-strong army, and the troops he could mobilize under his command were temporarily left with only over 300,000.

"Damn it! Good for you, Cao Mengde, I didn't expect you to play dirty tricks! It's simply unreasonable!"

"Guo Tu, what's going on with Zhang Yan? Didn't he form an alliance with us? Why did he turn to Cao Cao now?"

Yuan Shao was extremely furious and glared at Guo Tu, questioning him.

"Uh..."

Guo Tu defended bitterly: "My lord! This is also something that couldn't be helped! Ever since we eliminated Gongsun Zan and took Youzhou, he started to guard against us, and you also issued an order to start targeting him;"

"Not only did we strictly guard against him and not give him a chance to plunder down the mountain, but we also cut off his trade routes; the relationship with him had long since broken down!"

"It was something that couldn't be helped that Zhang Yan would make such a choice!"

How could this matter be blamed on him?

If it were to be blamed, shouldn't it be blamed on Yuan Shao himself?

You said that since you felt Zhang Yan was a threat, you should either beat him to death directly or temporarily wait and see, waiting for the opportunity to deal with the other party.

Directly making it so neither up nor down, clearly targeting and suppressing the other party; others are not fools, how could they not have precautions and reactions?

"This..."

Yuan Shao had really forgotten about this, and his brow wrinkled, feeling somewhat embarrassed in his heart.

He remembered that he seemed to have really issued such an order.

Because, back then, he schemed against Zhang Yan, letting him deal with Jia Wu, but in the end, Zhang Yan actually slacked off and united with Jia Wu to act against him.

The original strategy to weaken Zhang Yan and Jia Wu had no effect at all, but instead made them vigilant.

What to do?

"Is there any countermeasure?"

Yuan Shao found it hard to answer, so he immediately changed the subject and asked instead.

Guo Tu shook his head directly; clearly, he had no good solution for the time being.

Xu You and Seeing Ju Shou also frowned and began to think hard.

After a long time, Seeing Ju Shou bowed and said: "My lord, there is no good way at present! The only feasible way might be that we can perhaps send people to contact the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and even Wuhuan people again, and let them send troops against Zhang Yan and Jia Wu; we don't ask to eliminate Zhang Yan directly, but at least contain their troops, so that we can completely free up our hands and concentrate our strength to deal with Cao Cao;"

"After dealing with Cao Cao, we can turn back to eliminate them."

"That won't work, right?"

Yuan Shao frowned upon hearing this: "We contacted the Xiongnu and Xianbei to target Jia Wu before, which resulted in their heavy losses; they already have quite a few opinions about us!"

"Especially since Zhang Yan didn't really contribute; it's probably unlikely to let them send troops against Zhang Yan and Jia Wu now!"

Other races are not fools either; it's impossible to always be used as a gun for him.

"Not necessarily!"

At this time, Xu You could not help but pinch his beard and speak: "We certainly made the Xiongnu and Xianbei somewhat dissatisfied because of previous matters, but their hatred for Jia Wu and Zhang Yan is even greater;"

"They must be tempted to send troops against Jia Wu and Zhang Yan; although they may not be willing to take action, everything in this world has a price; if they are unwilling to send troops, it can only be because the benefits are not enough;"

"What if the lord is willing to promise Bingzhou to them?"

"If the lord is willing to provide a certain amount of money and grain? I don't believe they won't be tempted!"

"Hmm?"

Yuan Shao's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this; these words made sense, and he was about to say something.

"No! My lord! Absolutely not!"

The next moment, Seeing Ju Shou shouted directly and glared at Xu You: "Xu You, what kind of intention do you have to come up with such a bad idea? Money and grain can be given, but the matter of promising Bingzhou is absolutely impossible!"

"If this matter is leaked... No, no! If it is really done, this matter will inevitably be exposed; at that time, the lord will probably be infamous for ten thousand years, be poked in the spine by the people of the world, and be spurned by all the people!"

"Uniting with other races to attack Han forces has already affected the lord's reputation, but it can still be borne; but promising Han land to other races is absolutely a way to death; my lord, this method is absolutely not feasible!"

"Exactly!"

At this time, Guo Tu ignored Xu You's ugly face and added: "Xu You, you haven't forgotten the fact that the people in Youzhou and parts of Jizhou have suffered from the plunder and harm of northern other races for generations, right?"

"If the lord really dares to promise Bingzhou to the northern other races, not to mention how other warlords and scholar-official families in the world will see the lord and how they will react, aren't you afraid that the people of Youzhou and Jizhou will start a riot?"

"You are digging the lord's foundation! Your intention is punishable!"

Speaking of this, Guo Tu immediately bowed to Yuan Shao with a solemn face: "My lord, Xu You wants to harm the lord, please punish him for the crime of harming the lord!"

Although Guo Tu knew it was impossible to really make Yuan Shao punish Xu You.

But he was very willing to do something to disgust Xu You.

Xu You stared at Guo Tu with a gloomy face; if looks could kill, Guo Tu would have been hacked into ten thousand pieces by Xu You by now.

He didn't hate Seeing Ju Shou at this time, because Seeing Ju Shou wasn't deliberately targeting him; he was just talking about the matter itself.

Moreover, he had also reacted at this time; Seeing Ju Shou's words made a lot of sense, and it really couldn't be done.

At least not explicitly stated.

Allowing it and explicitly stating it were completely different things.

"Xu You, what do you say?"

Yuan Shao did not reply to Guo Tu, but looked at Xu You and asked.

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