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In the north of Xudu City, next to Jian'an Palace, there is a mansion that is not inferior to the imperial palace. It covers an area of ​​several acres, carved beams, painted buildings, flying eaves and brackets, and various buildings, with a large scale.

This is the residence of the Han Prime Minister Cao Cao. Since Runan County withdrew its troops and returned north, the Cao army soldiers were exhausted, while Yuan Shao from the north was busy quelling the civil strife in Hebei and had no time to look south.

Cao Cao then covered his flag and stopped his troops, accumulated strength, trained his troops and horses, and waited for another war against Yuan Shao in autumn.

Unexpectedly, the arrival of a piece of information from Hebei made Cao Cao's idea a little shaken.

Under the night, two rows of armored warriors stood in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and were on high alert. At this time, a carriage slowly stopped in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion, and a guard ran over the steps and opened the car door.

Cheng Yu walked out of the carriage and smiled and said, "It's so late, has the Prime Minister not rest yet?"

"The Prime Minister is waiting in the study room for sir, please come with me."

Cheng Yu is in his early sixties this year, but he has the ability to maintain his health, has a clear spirit and strong spirit, and can still ride a horse and follow the army to fight north and north.

Tonight, Cao Cao specially sent someone to invite him. Now that the hour of Hai has passed, everything is silent. It is the time when people are about to rest, but the Prime Minister sent someone to come to him. Cheng Yu vaguely felt that something urgent must be done.

He followed the guards into the gate and left Cao Cao's study...

In the study, the fire brazier is burning vigorously, making the room warm as spring. There is a bronze beast incense burner in the corner of the wall, and the blue smoke is floating faintly, filling the room with a faint fragrance.

Cao Cao was sitting on the couch by the window, and there were several single couches in front of him. At this time, Cao Cao was chatting and laughing with another important aide Xun Yu.

Xun Yu was about forty years old, about seven feet tall, with a face as white jade, elegant and elegant appearance, and a complete handsome man.

But Cao Cao did not value him because he was beautiful and beautiful, but because he was outstanding ingenuity and was one of the five most important counselors under Cao Cao's tent. He was praised as my house by Cao Cao.

Cao Cao and Xun Yu were having fun talking. At this time, guards came from outside the door: "General Zhenwei is here."

General Zhenwei was Cheng Yu's title, Cao Cao nodded, "Let him come in"

After a moment, Cheng Yu walked into the room, knelt down and bowed, "I am the subordinate Cheng Yu to pay homage to the Prime Minister."

Although Cheng Yu was named General Zhenwei, Cao Cao generally called him Mr. He was the oldest of Cao Cao's five major counselors, and Cao Cao also respected him very much.

"Sir, please sit down"

Cao Cao smiled slightly, waved his hand to ask Cheng Yu to sit down, and apologized: "I'm so sorry that I'm disturbing the rest of my husband so late."

"If the Prime Minister has something to do, Cheng Yu will come naturally. This is his duty as a subordinate. The Prime Minister does not need to apologize."

Cheng Yu stroked his beard and smiled, nodded at Xun Yu again, but thought to himself that even Xun Yu was here, could it be for Yuan Shao's business

In the past two days, they received information from Hebei that Yuan Shao was seriously ill and might soon die. Yuan Shao and his nephews competed for the throne, and the open and secret struggles have reached a fever pitch.

At the same time, Cao Cao's advisers' opinions were divided into two factions, some demanded to attack Hebei while they were in chaos, but some demanded stability. The family was not the one who was in trouble.

Cheng Yu also advocated not to move his troops, but he did not do anything for Jun Zhifeng. Instead, he waited for Yuan Shao to die of illness, and the Yuan brothers had internal conflicts, killed each other, and then sent troops to defeat each other.

Cao Cao took a letter of information from the table and handed it to Cheng Yu, and said with a smile: "This is the information sent just from Jingzhou. You can take a look first, it's really interesting."

Cheng Yu was slightly stunned. He thought of the letter from Jingzhou. Could it be that the Prime Minister wanted to talk about Jingzhou? He asked with a smile: "But Liu Jing has a story again."

Cao Cao raised his head and smiled, "That's right, this little girl has turned Jingzhou upside down, and he will never give up."

Since Runan returned from withdrawing his troops, Cao Cao has been paying attention to Liu Jing's situation in Jingzhou. The incident in Rangshan left a deep impression on him. This was the first time he cared so much about an enemy boy.

He had received several pieces of information about Liu Jing and knew everything about him in Jingzhou. Unexpectedly, this little boy taught the navy captain Zhang Yun a severe lesson, which really made Cao Cao clapped and laughed.

After reading the information, Cheng Yu frowned, "Liu Biao is taking the opportunity to clean up the music department."

"I know this"

Cao Cao was not interested in Liu Biao, but he was very interested in Liu Jing now and said with a smile: "Did you say that the fire of You Jiaosu was released by this little one?"

"Prime Minister, this letter said that he released it himself."

"Why didn't I see it?"

Cao Cao quickly took the information and read it carefully again. He couldn't help but laugh: "It turns out that I wrote, but I didn't notice it, but it was his own trick, it was really his own trick. I like this kid, and it suits my spleen and stomach."

Cheng Yu smiled bitterly and said, "This is the case with the Prime Minister. No matter whether he is an enemy or a friend, as long as he likes it, he will praise him without hesitation. The same is true for Guan Yunchang back then. It has not changed at all for so many years."

Cao Cao seemed to understand Cheng Yu's thoughts and smiled and said, "I just saw this young man's affairs and found it very interesting. Of course, it was not about him tonight, but because of him, it attracted my thoughts about Jingzhou."

Cheng Yu then realized it, and smiled and said, "I guess the Prime Minister can't forget the incident in Runan."

"Well, the last time I was in Runan County, my little girl left a deep impression on me. It was like reading a book, which aroused my appetite. I always wanted to know how he performed in Jingzhou. So far, he performed well, and it was worth my continued wait and see."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao said with some regret: "The last time the information said that he was eight feet tall and had an extraordinary appearance. Unfortunately, I didn't meet him in person, but I had already ordered them to paint a portrait and would be sent soon."

Xun Yu hesitated for a moment and advised: "Prime Minister, he is just a young man after all. He can't make any big fuss in Jingzhou at least a few years later. Why should the Prime Minister focus his precious energy on him? My subordinates think that the Prime Minister has paid more attention to him than him, and even passed Yuan Shao, which is a bit of a slight prejudice."

Cao Cao smiled and waved his hand, "Yuan Benchu's affairs are of course important, but this young man's affairs involve Jingzhou, so I talk about him first, in fact, I want to discuss the plan of Jingzhou."

Xun Yu smiled and said nothing more. He didn't know why the Prime Minister suddenly thought of Jingzhou. Could it be that he wanted to attack Jingzhou?

Cheng Yu pondered for a moment and then said, "In fact, the key to Jingzhou lies in the interests of several major families. Although the north has not yet settled and there is no time to estimate Jingzhou for the time being, we can do some things first, we can contact the aristocratic families first, and promise to protect their interests. Once the north is calm, our army goes south and the Jingzhou family surrenders, Jingzhou will surely be in a state of unstoppable power and will be pacified in one battle."

Cao Cao nodded, "In fact, we have been doing things to contact the aristocratic families in Jingzhou. Both Cai and Kuai clans clearly stated that they were willing to be loyal to the Han Dynasty, but they were willing to surrender to my flexibility. However, Liu expressed his tough attitude and refused to be condemned by Xudu. He almost killed Han Song the year before yesterday. Huang Zu and Liu Bei were both hard-line factions. Now Jingzhou has many voices in fighting, and fewer people are slow. I am hesitating whether to station heavy troops in Nanyang, first eliminate Liu Bei in Xinye, kill the chicken to warn the monkey, and weaken the hard-line factions in Jingzhou."

"The Prime Minister cannot"

Xun Yu quickly opposed it, "Now that Yuan Shao is critically ill and will soon be in a lifetime, he will surely lead to a melee of fighting for the throne. At this time, the Chief will hold his troops accordingly, look at Hebei and wait for the opportunity. The South should be appeased.

If the Prime Minister's troops suppress Nanyang, they will inevitably force Liu Biao and Sun Quan to join forces, or contact the Yuan family in Hebei. If the Yuan family reconciles, it will form a force of attack from the north and the south, which will be unfavorable to the Central Plains war."

Cao Cao pondered for a moment and asked Cheng Yu again, "What about Zhongde's opinion?"

Cheng Yu knew Cao Cao's thoughts very well, because Yuan Shao was seriously ill and was about to die. The Yuan family's struggle for throne had already been established, and a civil war would inevitably form. Therefore, the Prime Minister wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to go south to wipe out Liu Biao, and then return to the army to the north to clean up the ruins of Hebei.

Although I think very well, many things are not as simple as I think.

Cheng Yu smiled slightly, "Frankly speaking, I support Ruo."

"Why is this?" Cao Cao asked in a deep voice.

He knew that Cheng Yu had always been cautious and thought about the problem carefully. Perhaps there was something he hadn't considered. He looked at Cheng Yu and waited for his explanation.

Cheng Yu said calmly: "The Han River in Jingzhou is in the north and the Yangtze River in the south. The water network is crisscrossing and the rivers are dense. I wonder if the Prime Minister is considering training the navy."

"Of course it's necessary"

"The navy was in exercise for at least one year, and there were troops mobilizations. The elite army in Jingzhou was about 140,000 to 150,000. The Prime Minister thought it was unstoppable. It was determined by one battle. At least 500,000 troops were needed. If there were not so many troops, he could only fight a protracted war. If his lips were lost, Sun Quan and Liu Zhang came to support him. Liu Bei wrote another letter to Xiliang and asked Ma Teng to attack Guanzhong.

Even if we win this battle in the end, it will definitely be a tragic victory. If the Yuan family in the north had been unified at that time, would we still have the strength to pacify the north

Or when the Battle of the South ended, we were deeply trapped in the quagmire, and the Yuan family had been unified and the army was approaching. How could we resist these things? Although there were exaggerations, the world was like chess, and we could not predict everything."

Xun Yu also advised: "Prime Minister, Liu Biao has no ambitions and is not ambition to defend himself but does not know how to make progress. This is our great blessing. Our current importance is Hebei. After completely pacifying Hebei, we will have no worries. If the Prime Minister is worried, he can order General Xiahou Dun to lead his army to Nanyang to restrain Liu Biao's main force. In this way, Jiangxia will inevitably be empty. Will Sun Quan not be moved? Once Sun Liu fights, the Prime Minister will eventually reap the profits."

Cao Cao was a talented man. He was just a little moved for a moment and wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Yuan family's civil strife to wipe out Jingzhou, but he did not take into account many details, especially the soldiers in the north were not accustomed to water wars, which required a lot of time and energy to practice, which was contrary to his idea of ​​fighting.

He also knew that once it took a long time, the north would inevitably change. At this time, Jingzhou was indeed a bit unwise. It would be better to secretly support the Jingzhou family, provoke internal strife in Jingzhou, and at the same time incite Sun and Liu to fight, so that both of them will suffer losses, and finally make a profit by themselves.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao smiled and said, "Since both of the great plans are strongly opposed, I have to obey and let the matter of going south to Jingzhou temporarily. However, if it makes sense, I might as well create conditions to let the Liu and Sun families fight together."
Chapter completed!