I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 573 Liu Jian’s actions and plot against Xuzhou

Indeed, as Cao Cao said, he understood Liu Jian better than Zhou Yu.

Although Cao Cao is now confused about how Liu Jian came to Xuzhou like a heavenly soldier, figuring out how Liu Jian came to Xuzhou is not the most important thing for Cao Cao.

When Liu Jian came to Xuzhou, even if the number of soldiers and horses in Xuzhou did not increase, the situation was different from the past.

At least when Liu Bei came to support Xuzhou previously, it was only his personal arbitrary behavior and did not directly involve the core forces of the entire Hebei Group.

But now that Liu Jian is here, if Cao Cao insists on fighting Liu Jian, it will mean that the Cao Group takes the initiative to compete with the Hebei Group and become their opponent.

Cao Cao knew very well that his current strength was not as good as Liu Jian. He could not compete with Liu Jian alone. He had to embrace Yuan Shao's thigh and form a team to compete with Liu Jian.

However, taking the initiative to confront Liu Jian was not in line with the current strategy of the Yuan Shao Group, and Cao Cao was not quite sure of Yuan Shao's attitude.

In any case, there is no need to fight Liu Jian.

Moreover, Cao Cao knew Liu Jian's purpose of coming to Xuzhou very clearly.

According to Cao Cao's understanding of Liu Jian, Liu Jian came here because he was worried about Liu Bei's safety and was afraid that something would happen to Liu Bei in Xuzhou.

Second, now that the coalition forces of Tao Qian and Yuan Shu have been defeated, Xuzhou's internal power has become a vacuum.

Liu Jian must have come to occupy Xuzhou.

Liu Jian wanted to occupy Xuzhou, so naturally Cao Cao couldn't fight with him head-on.

However, Cao Cao would not give up the territories he had already obtained, such as Xiapi Kingdom and Guangling, easily.

What Cao Cao meant was to draw the land as the boundary and use the Sishui River as the boundary to include Xiapi Kingdom and Guangling in the south of Xuzhou into his own territory.

As for the vast area north of Xuzhou, Liu Jian can do whatever he wants to do with it.

The reason why Cao Cao had such an idea was because Cao Cao knew that Liu Jian would not use troops easily now.

First of all, Hebei is currently undergoing a large-scale construction project, and various projects are being carried out in an orderly manner.

I heard that in Hebei, Liu Jian invested a lot of money and manpower in order to establish a transportation system between Hebei and Liaodong dominated by shipping and trade. Other local technical industries are also booming. Now the scale of foreign wars is too large and it is not necessary. It is in line with Hebei’s actual interests.

Secondly, after all, Liu Jian was the Fuyuan general appointed by the imperial court, and he was dedicated to foreign affairs. However, the affairs in Xuzhou belonged to the Han Dynasty. Now that Liu Jian was involved, he was somewhat overstepping his authority. After all, Tao Qian was not dead yet.

Of course, Liu Jian could also disobey the court's instructions, directly intervene in Xuzhou's internal affairs, and use Xuzhou as his base to go south to deal with Cao Cao. That would not be a big deal, but Liu Jian has been promoting himself over the years as the most loyal Han Dynasty character.

Cao Cao felt that Liu Jian would not give up the personality he had maintained for so many years just because of Xiapi and Guangling.

And for Liu Jian now, the most important thing is to bring northern Xuzhou into his hands.

The two sides are now on strike, allowing Liu Jian to establish his presence in Xuzhou with peace of mind, win over Xuzhou's people, and smoothly transition Xuzhou from Tao Qian's hands. This may be the most important thing for Liu Jian.

Sometimes, Cao Cao is really a roundworm in Liu Jian's stomach.

To a certain extent, this was a win-win approach, and Cao Cao felt that Liu Jian would definitely agree.

So he sent someone to tell Zhou Yu not to act rashly for the time being. He wanted to send someone to negotiate peace with Liu Jian.

It's just that Cao Cao doesn't know yet that Cao Chun has fallen into Liu Jian's hands... If he knew, Cao Cao would probably go crazy.

But I guess he will find out soon!

With Cao Chun's bargaining chip in hand, Liu Jian will take the initiative when negotiating peace with Cao Cao.

……

……

Liu Jian's troops slowly moved northward.

After entering the boundary of the East China Sea, he ordered people to notify Xiao Jian and Liu Rong and asked them to lead their troops back to the East China Sea.

Liu Jian, on the other hand, was going to Tancheng to meet Tao Qian.

However, before entering Tancheng, Liu Jian felt that he still had some things to do.

The current commander-in-chief of the school office in Xuzhou is Li Gu, one of Wang Yue's six disciples. This man is the most clever among Wang Yue's disciples, and Jia Xu also admires this man's ability. , so he handed over the border issues with Jiangdong, Xuzhou and other places to his commander-in-chief.

Because the war in Xuzhou was urgent and there were many things that needed to be done, Li Gu, who was in charge of the southeast area, arrived in Xuzhou in person very early.The first task of the school captain in the southeastern territory is to stay and obey Liu Jian's instructions and arrangements.

After Liu Jian and others' troops arrived in the southern part of the East China Sea, Li Gu quickly came to see them.

"The last official, Li Gu, pays homage to the lord."

"Get up. During this period, I probably know everything that the school affairs office has been doing in the southeast. You have done a great job. You are worthy of being the disciple of the Wang family, and my devoted cultivation of you senior brothers is not in vain. From now on, I will entrust you with all the matters in the Southeast. I will expand the membership of the school affairs office, including the allocation of funds. I will also favor it according to the completion of your tasks. I hope you can make greater achievements, but don’t It’s going to disappoint me.”

Li Gu was overjoyed when he heard this. He hurriedly bowed to Liu Jian and said, "I am willing to serve my lord to the death."

What a motivated and diligent person desires most is to meet a boss who appreciates him.

For Li Gu, the boss Liu Jian is obviously hard to come by.

He can understand himself, understand himself, and provide greater support and help for his career, allowing Li Gu to fully utilize his abilities on the front line.

Li Gu felt really lucky in his heart.

Although Liu Jian is in a superior position, he is able to feel the situation of his subordinates from their perspective, analyze what they need, and provide it to them within his own ability to help them achieve more achievements. One thing is that among the princes and patriarchs of the entire Han Dynasty, Liu Jian can be said to be the most responsible and ranked number one.

"Remember, the school affairs office in the southeast, in addition to Xuzhou, must make every effort to penetrate into Shouchun, Jiangdong and other places."

"Especially for Cao Cao's every move in Jiangdong, I must keep an eye on him."

"If you have ten points of strength, remember that eight points of strength should be used on the Cao family in Yangzhou."

Liu Jian's words can be said to be very clear, and Li Gu naturally knew it in his heart.

He hurriedly said: "I must obey my lord's instructions carefully and keep my lord's instructions in mind."

"Very good, there is one more thing to do now. No matter how much money is spent, as well as manpower and material resources, let me publicize Liu Xuande's achievements in conquering Cao Cao in Xuzhou. At the same time, Xuande must be vigorously promoted. This time when he was besieged by Sun Jian and Cao Ren in Yi County, the more miserable Xuande's situation was, the better. It was widely spread that Xuande was Xuzhou's benefactor, but when he saw that he was in danger, he couldn't get it. The Xuzhou headquarters will provide assistance one by one."

"We must make this matter known to everyone and spread it from word of mouth."

"That's the general meaning. As for the details, you should consider it yourself. I don't give you more permission. Do you understand what I mean?"

Li Gu naturally knew what Liu Jian was thinking.

He bowed quickly and long to Liu Jian.

"Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely handle this matter as soon as possible."

"very good."

"Go do something."

"promise"

Afterwards, Li Gu quickly retreated.

Liu Jian admired him for being straightforward and concise, both in doing things and speaking.

Looking at Li Gu walking out, Liu Jian's lips slowly raised a smile.

Whether it was Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, their methods of seizing Xuzhou were too drastic. To be honest, actions similar to theirs would really disgust the locals in Xuzhou.

Especially for Cao Cao, in the name of avenging his father, Yuan Shao let Sun Jian live in Pengcheng Kingdom. This was to take advantage of the chaos and rob people's territory.

How could the local heroes and scholars in Xuzhou tolerate such behavior?

Of course he, Liu Jian, also wanted to plot Xuzhou, but his methods must be better than Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

To seize it by force, to be honest, it still took some inferior routes.

If you don't use force to seize it, but let Tao Qian take the course of Xuzhou's transition, this is what a real master would do.

Of course, for a profit-seeking person like Tao Qian, if you ask him to hand over Xuzhou to you directly, it will be very difficult for him. Even if he is over 60 years old, he will not give up his own territory and interests easily.

Tao Qian also has direct descendants who are close to him, and these people will not be so willing to watch Tao Qian hand Xuzhou into the hands of others, destroying Xuzhou's original inherent chain of interests, so this pressure from public opinion is a prelude.

As for the rest, just wait until Liu Jian returns to Tancheng and meets with Tao Qian and his subordinates. Everyone will have their own moves and show off their abilities.

(End of this chapter)