Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 229

The gentle young man standing behind Cao Cao is Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang.

After hearing Cao Cao's words, he smiled wryly and said, "Then the son of the Yuan family has the reputation of being a fierce tiger, and he has both civil and military skills. Ang is indeed far inferior to him."

Among the counselors present, Xun Yu said: "Everyone has their own strengths, and the young master treats others with sincerity. He is a man with a big heart, so don't underestimate yourself."

Cao Cao listened, nodded and said nothing, then shook his head slightly.

What Xun Yu said was right, Cao Ang was generous and gentle, he handled things fairly, and was respected by his subordinates.

But this is also what Cao Cao was worried about. If Cao Ang's character was in a peaceful and prosperous age, it would be more than enough to keep things safe, but now the world is in chaos, and if he does extraordinary things in extraordinary times, this kind of character will suffer a lot.

What Cao Cao admires now is Yuan Xi, who is known as the fierce tiger of the Yuan family. In his opinion, Yuan Xi will sooner or later become his confidant's serious trouble!

Because that Yuan Xi is so similar to himself!
None of the three sons of the Yuan family is easy to deal with. Yuan Tan is brave and good at fighting, and Yuan Shang is powerful and resourceful. However, the most unexpected thing for Cao Cao now is Yuan Xi, who was unknown in Beixincheng for three years and became a blockbuster in the past two years.

He opened the mouth and said: "I called you here because there are three directions right now, where exactly are you going to fight?"

Lu Bu in Hanoi in the west, Yuan Shu in Yuzhou in the south, and Liu Bei in Xuzhou in the east.

Xun Yu, Cheng Yu and the others started to discuss, but the voices of the last few slowly fell down.

When Cao Cao saw it, he felt a little annoyed, and said, "Why, without ambition, you can't come up with ideas?"

Xun Yu and Cheng Yu had strange expressions on their faces, and their hearts were really like this. This was the first time they participated in a counselor's discussion without Xi Zhicai present.

Cao Cao sighed: "Zhicai is seriously ill, everyone is busy with affairs, I wonder if it is necessary to recruit talents from all over the world."

"If you have acquaintances, you don't hesitate to recommend them. If you really have talents, I will definitely reuse them."

After hearing this, Xun Yu said, "I heard that Guo Jia and Guo Fengxiao have made a lot of suggestions for Yuan Xi recently."

"The Battle of Yijing lured Gongsun Zan, and now the attack on Yuyang and Guangling is most likely all done by him."

"This is a great talent, it's a pity that I missed it."

When Cheng Yu heard this, he felt unhappy. This Xun Yu secretly poked at him, obviously targeting him!

He understood what was going on, Xun Yu was obsessed with morality and cleanliness, and was very displeased with his jerky, so since then, he has been against himself intentionally or unintentionally.

Xun Yu probably admired Guo Jia very much in private, but Guo Jia was arrested by himself as a bargaining chip with Yuan Xi. When Xun Yu said this at this time, he was still teasing himself secretly.

Cheng Yu sneered in his heart. Everything he did was a scapegoat for Duke Ming. You Xun Yu didn't stand up to object at that time, so what a hypocrite you are now!

He opened his mouth, and felt a little dispirited, forget it, anyway, he is almost the only remaining Yanzhou faction, and he can't compete with the growing Yingchuan faction.

Cao Cao said: "Now I have Changwen to join me, and his talent is no less than that of Guo Jia. Don't mention the past."

"I heard that Changwen met Yuan Xi in Xuzhou a few days ago?"

Among the counselors, Chen Qun got up and cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Bingming, when Yuan Xi was sent as an envoy to Xuzhou, Qun did meet Yuan Xi once."

When Zhang Fei lost Xiapi Tancheng, Chen Qun felt that he was not valued by Liu Bei, so he did not follow him to Haixi, but angrily defected to Cao Cao, and is now very popular.

Chen Qun said again: "This son is as eloquent as a tongue. He fought with everyone with his tongue that day, and he did not fall behind. He single-handedly facilitated the alliance between Yuan and Liu. He is not a simple person."

Cao Cao listened and sighed: "This son has a long-term vision. If I had listened to his words and supported Liu Bei with all my strength, I would really not be able to attack Xuzhou."

He said to Xun Yu: "The Yuan family is very powerful, and I urgently need the help of virtuous people. I don't need to be close to each other. I heard from Wen Ruo, among the sons and nephews, is there a great talent?"

Cao Cao also regrets it now. He killed the local gentry in Yanzhou too much, so no one defected to him for a period of time, and the same is true in Xuzhou.

After he massacred Xuzhou twice, he found that the local resistance seemed to have become more intense, and the massacre of the city was counterproductive.

Xun Yu heard this, and hurriedly said: "You have a nephew in the family, Xun You and Xun Gongda, who have great talents in managing the world, no less than Yu's eight brothers, and they are good at making strange strategies, far beyond Yu."

"He is currently staying in Jingzhou temporarily. If the Lord Ming asks, he will definitely agree."

After hearing this, Cao Cao was overjoyed and said, "Since this is the case, I will write a book and send it to Jingzhou!"

Cheng Yu thought in his heart that it was all right now, Xi Zhicai was ill, and Chen Qun Xun You, plus Xun Yu, these Yingchuan counselors were here, so he had nothing to say.

A group of counselors discussed for a long time, but in the end they still did not decide which direction to attack.

After Lu Bu entered Hanoi, with Zhang Yang's support, his army grew considerably. Cao Cao went to attack him at this time. Even if he entered Hanoi, he would only force him to the north and could not completely destroy him.

Moreover, to fight Hanoi, one must cross the Yellow River. For Cao Jun, logistics is a huge problem.

As for Yuan Shu in the south, he occupies a part of Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and Yangzhou, and has a lot of strong generals under his command, and his momentum is strong. These territories are not easy to fight.

Compared with Liu Bei in Xuzhou, he is currently the best soft persimmon.

Originally, the change in Xiapi was Cao Cao's best chance. At that time, there was only one Sun Ce army alone in the city. If Cao Cao marched with all his strength, he could kill Sun Ce and defeat Liu Bei, then he would be able to occupy Xuzhou. However, Yuan Xi's disturbance caused Xuzhou to be chaotic. Unbearable.

Although Sun Ce ran back to Guangling to fight Yuan Xi, Cao Jun naturally did not give up this opportunity, but under the leadership of Cao Ren and others, they attacked and tested Tancheng several times, but they were all blocked.

Later, Cao Jun learned that there was a counselor named Zhou Yu who replaced Sun Ce to defend the city.

Obviously, Zhou Yu is also a formidable character who is extremely difficult to deal with!

Seeing that the crowd was indecisive, Cao Cao felt irritable, and said, "Since you can't make a decision, then do as I want."

After hearing this, all the counselors breathed a sigh of relief, and said one after another, "I would like to follow Minggong's orders."

Cao Cao said: "I am going to mobilize the army and attack Xiapi with all my strength!"

"If Xuzhou cannot be defeated, then return to attack Chenliu County and kill Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao!"

After hearing this, everyone felt that under the current situation, this should be the best choice, and they took orders one after another.

When the crowd left, Cheng Yu was at the end, hesitating to speak, Cao Cao saw him and kept him there, and after they were all gone, he said to Cheng Yu, "Zhongde, do you have something to say?"

After hearing this, Cheng Yu said, "If Duke Ming plots against Chen Liu's Zhang Miao brothers, I'm afraid Zang Hong, the prefect of Dongjun, will object."

Juancheng, where the Cao family is located, is the seat of Yanzhou, but it is located in Dongjun.

The governor of Dongjun Zang Hong's seat is in Dongwuyang, not far from Juancheng. If he has a different intention, Juancheng will be very passive.

Cao Cao nodded and said, "Zhongde is right, I understand."

He said again: "Zhongde don't take Wen Ruo's words to heart, I know your difficulties."

Cheng Yu was moved in his heart, so he said goodbye and went out.

Seeing Cheng Yu leave, Cao Ang hesitated and said, "Mr. Zhong De means to attack Zang Hong first?"

Cao Cao said: "That's right, Zhang Miao is the leader of Zang Hong. If we want to attack Zhang Miao, Zang Hong will definitely be dissatisfied and even attack me."

Cao Ang said: "But Zang Hong is the leader of the Suanzao coalition army, if we deal with him, will the princes of the world come together to help?"

When Cao Cao heard this, he sneered and said, "Everyone in Suanzao is a bunch of scumbags!"

The reason why Cao Cao despises the Suanzao coalition army so much is because he was not valued in this alliance back then, and was ridiculed many times.

At that time, Cao Cao was just a passionate young man who didn't deeply participate in the politics of the top gentry princes. He didn't understand the darkness in it. He didn't slowly start to change until he suffered a lot.

What changed Cao Cao's life was his experience when he participated in the Kwantung Allied Forces of the Suanzao League.

"Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · Emperor Wu Ji" records that in the first month of the first year of Chuping (190), there were eleven prefectures and counties who launched an army against Dong Zhuo at the same time: General Yuan Shu, Jizhou Mu Hanfu, Yuzhou Governor Kong Ni, and Yanzhou Governor Liu Dai, governor of Hanoi Wang Kuang, governor of Bohai Yuan Shao, governor of Chenliu Zhang Miao, governor of Guangling Zhang Chao, governor of Dongjun Qiao Mao, governor of Sanyang Yuan Yi, and governor of Jibei Bao Xin.

These 11 people are the main force of the Kwantung Allied Forces, and everyone is a prince. At this time, Cao Cao is just a small thug.

At that time, Cao Cao still had some ideals for revitalizing the Han Dynasty, but soon his enthusiasm was extinguished by the ensuing basins of cold water.

Although the Kwantung princes claimed to be a coalition army, many of them were not present. At that time Yuan Shao and Wang Kuang were in Hanoi, Yuan Shu was in Nanyang, Han Fu was in Yecheng, Kong Ni was in Yingchuan, Zhang Miao, Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi, etc. People stationed in Suanzao.

They jointly raised troops to challenge Dong, but in fact they had their own ulterior motives. When Suanzao held the oath, the princes from all walks of life gave way to each other and refused to go to the altar to take the oath.

So everyone recommended Zang Hong, who was a county official at the time, to go to the altar. Zang Hong was a heroic man with a filial and honest background.

But to put it bluntly, Zang Hong was pushed out to take the blame, but Zang Hong is very loyal, so he became a leader with an equal reputation.

From the perspective of later generations, the oath made by Zang Hong for everyone is very effective.

"Where we are in an alliance, we will work together... If you stick to this alliance, you will lose your life, and you will not be able to pass it on. The emperor's queen, the ancestors' bright spirits, we all learn from it!"

The general idea is that those who violate the oath will die a bad death.

A few years later, the eleven princes who participated in this coalition army but did not want to keep their promises at all, and tried to evade the attack on Dong Zhuo with their own agendas, almost all died unexpectedly.

Moreover, most of these eleven people died at the hands of their allies.

The remaining people were almost settled by Cao Cao, a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, today's lords don't know their own destiny, and Cao Cao doesn't know how far he can go.

But Cao Cao has already started to act.

What Cao Cao wants to kill now is an important participant in the Suanzao coalition at that time.

Brother Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao.

And, Zang Hong.

(End of this chapter)