Following Xu Chu, Zhang Yan was more than half a head shorter than him.

Standing facing Cao Cao, Zhang Yan bowed and said, "I have met Cao Gong until the end of the day."

Looking at Zhang Yan standing in front of him, Cao Cao asked, "I heard that the general was stationed in Taihang, why did he come to me?"

"I heard that Mr. Cao was going to fight the decisive battle with the Yuan family, so I came to ask for the battle." Zhang Yan raised his head and said to Cao Cao.

"The general is not my subordinate, why do you come to ask me for battle?" Cao Cao said: "If the general is willing to attack the Yuan family, just send troops."

"I heard that Cao Gong was a hero of the times." Zhang Yan replied: "I have the heart to lead the Taihang tribe to join the Cao family, and I would like to ask Cao Gong not to refuse."

"What the general means is that he intends to contribute to me?" Cao Cao asked.

"That's right." Zhang Yan replied: "I have 100,000 tribes under my command. I wish to be the leader of Cao Gongma from now on."

After staring at Zhang Yan for a long time, Cao Cao said, "Since the general is willing to serve, I will give you a chance."

"Please tell me, Mr. Cao." Zhang Yan said: "As long as Mr. Cao gives orders, the last general will die without hesitation!"

"Will the general bring his subordinates here?" Cao Cao asked.

"I did not bring my subordinates back to Cao Gong." Zhang Yan said: "I don't know Cao Gong's intentions. I am worried that it will cause misunderstandings to bring my subordinates, so I will referendum to Cao Gong first."

"I was discussing with everyone to use troops to the Yuan family. I wonder how long it will take for General Zhang to mobilize troops?" Cao Cao asked.

"It's winter now, and the army will definitely be affected." Zhang Yan said: "It will probably take more than a month..."

"Everyone." Looking around everyone, Cao Cao asked with a smile: "How long will it take for the New Year?"

"There are less than two months left." Xun Yu replied.

"We have been besieging Yecheng several times. How about this New Year in Yecheng?" Cao Cao asked everyone again.

Everyone looked at each other and Guo Jia asked, "Does Cao mean to ask General Zhang to lead his army to capture Yecheng?"

"No." Cao Cao's eyes fell on Zhang Yan's face: "General Zhang, if I want you to deal with Yuan Shang alone, how likely do you have to win?"

"Ten." Zhang Yan said without thinking: "Yuan Shang is already at the end of his strength, but I have an army of 100,000. It's only a blink of an eye to defeat him."

"Since General Zhang is confident of defeating Yuan Shang, I can lead my army to attack Yecheng again." Cao Cao said: "Whether it is taking Yecheng or taking Yuan Shang's head, I will reward the general."

"Thank you, Mr. Cao, for your conscience." Zhang Yan said: "I will go back to Taihang to prepare the troops and horses, and come back to join Cao Gong in a month."

Zhang Yan took his leave and watched him walk out of the hall. Cao Cao asked everyone: "Do you think Zhang Yan is true or false when he surrenders to me?"

"It must be true." Jia Xu said: "Although Zhang Yan claims to be a 100,000 army under his command, he has only 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers in war, and the rest are old, weak, women and children. He has been trapped in Taihang for a long time, and Zhang Yan is also poor. Once Cao Duke occupys Hebei, he will definitely send troops to encircle and suppress Taihang. This person is aware of the current affairs and will come first to serve before Cao Duke encircles and suppresses him. In this way, he can preserve his strength and not be wiped out by Cao Duke in the future."

"What do you mean?" Cao Cao asked the others again.

"Mr. Jia is right." Guo Jia said: "I also think Zhang Yan will not be cheating. He had fought with the Yuan family for several years and had long been aggravated with the Yuan family. Now he can serve Cao Gong, and on the one hand, he can protect himself, and on the other hand, he can avenge the Yuan family's attacks. For Zhang Yan, doing this is undoubtedly only beneficial but no harm."

Cao Cao nodded: "Since you all say that, I will believe him once."

Yuan Shang's army besieged Nanpi, Yuan Tan asked Cao Cao for help, but Cao Cao was waiting for Zhang Yan to lead the Heishan army from Taihang.

The situation in Hebei was extremely complicated for a while.

Compared with Hebei, Shouchun and other places are at this time peaceful.

It has been a long time since I returned to Shouchun. Cao Shuo checked around the city during the day except for being with his wife at night.

Sitting in the study, Deng Zhan walked in from outside the door after listening to the war in Hebei reported by Huo Wu.

"Young Master, General Cai is looking for a meeting." Deng Zhan said to Cao Shuo.

"Cai Ji?" Cao Shuo asked, "When did he come back?"

"It's not long since I came back." Deng Zhan said: "I'm waiting outside the door."

"Please invite him in." Cao Shu ordered.

After Deng Zhan withdrew, Cai Ji walked in.

When Cao Shuo saw Cai Ji, he almost dared to recognize him.

Not only was his beard unshaven, his hair was also very messy, his bun was casually nested, hanging crookedly on the top of his head, and his armor was covered with dust.

"How did you look like this?" Looking at Cai Ji, Cao Shu said: "You are not the General of the Central Army of Faqiu, and you don't have to drill holes like the Diziying. How could you ruin yourself and lose your human form?"

Cai Ji grinned: "Young Master wants me to be a road construction general. I thought that if I just gave some orders to others, I didn't know what to do after all, so I checked around, and I had to walk on every road and check it, so I didn't pay much attention to modifying my face as before."

"You are really capable of doing some serious things." Cao Shuo said with a smile: "Sit down and say."

Cai Ji thanked him and asked, "How many roads are being built now? How are they all?"

"There are currently three roads under construction." Cai Ji said: "Shouchun leads to Wancheng, Shouchun leads to Donglai, and Shouchun leads to Haixi."

"I came back from Haixi, but I didn't see the road you built." Cao Shuo said.

"The young master doesn't know anything." Cai Ji said: "The road we built is a new road, and the young master follows the old road. The two roads are more than ten miles apart, so the young master has not seen it."

"Since there is an old road, why not pave along the original road?" Cao Shuo said: "If you follow the old road to pave bluestone, you should save a lot of effort."

"Go back to the young master." Cai Ji said: "Although paving bluestone along the old road is labor-saving, the road is much further than the new road. And I also thought about opening up a new road without moving the old road. When the new road is built, the original road can still be walked, so that it will not affect pedestrians' walking."

"You are considering it reasonably," Cao Shu said: "I have been a road construction general for just a few days and can actually consider it so thoroughly, which shows that I have not misunderstood the person."

"Who is the young master?" Cai Ji said: "If you want to know the wise eyes, who else can there be in the world besides the young master?"

"Yes, I'm a pig with a wise eye." Cao Shuo said with a smile: "You pig, now you finally have a personal appearance and can do something real."

Cai Ji was stunned at first, then understood what Cao Shu meant, and said with a smile: "It wasn't because he was by the young master, so he didn't have to think about anything. Of course, he was as stupid as a pig."

?ps: Twelve chapters have been uploaded from midnight to now, seven of which are yesterday, which means there are still five chapters to be written today, but it is getting late...
Chapter completed!