The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 326 Cao Cao prepares for battle
In the following days, Dongfang Sheng followed Cao Cao around in Xudu.

The first thing Cao Cao did was to dispel the fear of Yuan Shao among the generals and counselors under his command.

Of course, Dongfang Sheng also met a historical celebrity, Kong Rong, who is the protagonist of "Rong is four years old and can make pears" and the twentieth grandson of Confucius.

Of course, at this time, Kong Rong was in charge of the Royal Clothes, Treasures, and Precious Meals in the Shaofu. Simply put, this was a fat job, and of course it was an insignificant job.

And why does a master like Cao Cao who values ​​talents like Kong Rong let someone like Kong Rong act as such a spare time?In the subsequent collective meeting, Dongfang Sheng also understood a little bit when he heard Kong Rong directly refute Xun Yu's views of Cao Qiang and Yuan Ruo.

Kong Rong and Cao Cao are not on the same road!Dongfang Sheng immediately discovered the existence of some royalists among the troops under Cao Cao's command, and immediately had some calculations in his mind.

After appeasing the interior, Cao Cao actually thought of a wonderful and bold plan. He wanted to sneak attack Yuan Shao through Hanoi, which he occupied before.

Hanoi was originally Zhang Yang's territory, but not long ago, Zhang Yang split into two factions, the Cao Cao faction and the Yuan Yuan faction. People from these two factions supported Cao Cao and Yuan Shao respectively.

Zhang Yang was sadly killed by General Yang Chou who supported Cao at first, but later he was killed by General Sui Gu who supported Yuan.

Finally, before Yuan Shao said that he would attack Cao Cao, Cao Cao sent troops to destroy Suigu and occupied Hanoi.

Of course, this plan came to nothing in the end, because Yuan Shao was not Yuan Shu. Although he was somewhat conceited, he was not stupid.

However, Hanoi has already fallen into the hands of Cao Cao, and he can threaten Yuan Shao's attack on the back of Xu Du's army. Dongfang Sheng really feels that Cao Cao's move is very forward-looking.

For Liu Biao and Sun Ce, the two unstable factors, Cao Cao adopted a strategy of combining kindness and power. On the one hand, he added officials and ranks to these two people in the name of Xiandi, and on the other hand, he and Sun Ce formed a son and daughter family, and also wanted Sun Ce to put him in the same place. His younger brother, Sun Quan, was sent to Xu Du as a hostage.

Liu Biao sent an envoy over, and Cao Cao received him directly with the most solemn etiquette, which of course received very good results.

In the end, Dongfang Sheng saw Cao Cao's most powerful move. In the name of Emperor Xian, Cao Cao issued an edict to order Yuyang prefect Xianyu to assist the governor of the six counties of Youzhou, and ambushed a time bomb directly behind Yuan Shao, defeating Yuan Shao's army.

After all these things were done, Cao Cao directly determined the strategic plan with Yuan Shao: strike late and retreat to advance.

Organize defenses with Baima, Guandu, and Xudu as the main directions.

The first line of defense was on the south bank of the Yellow River, with a total of 2000 infantry and cavalry led by the general under his command to defend the Yanjin and Yuanwu lines at the Yellow River ferry.Liu Yan, the prefect of Dongjun, defended the white horse, mainly delaying and destroying Yuan Jun's crossing of the river;
General Zhenwei Cheng Yu led [-] soldiers to defend Juancheng on the right side of Baima, and Wei Zhong served as the prefect of Hanoi to contain Yuan Shao's troops in Bingzhou.

The second line of defense is mainly Guandu. Cao Cao intends to personally lead nearly [-] elite soldiers to garrison, and the Minister in hand orders Xun Yu to stay in Xudu and take charge of the rear affairs.

Cao Cao planned to use Guandu as the main battlefield. After setting everything up, he and Dongfang Sheng strolled in Xudu City. Cao Cao asked, "Does Meng Ren know why I choose Guandu as the main battlefield?"

Dongfang Sheng shook his head and said, "Please teach me, Mr. Cao."

"Guandu is located in the front. Although it is not a canyon, it is full of sand dunes. Both sides of it are impassable places such as water and mud. It is the only horn that Yuan Shao must pass through. It is only tens of miles wide. The mouth is the best place to ambush Yuan Shao."

After Cao Cao squatted on the ground and used a branch to roughly draw the location of Guandu's field, Dongfang Sheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly that Cao Cao's military talent really lived up to its reputation.

Just when Cao Cao wanted to talk about some of his plans, a Cao soldier rushed over from behind, and even came to Cao Cao smoothly all the way, and the soldiers who followed Cao Cao did not stop him.

Cao Cao's brows twitched immediately when he saw this Cao Bing. After the Cao Bing whispered something in Cao Cao's ear, Cao Cao's expression changed drastically.

"Big Ear Thief!" Cao Cao shouted angrily.

As soon as Dongfang Sheng heard about the big-eared thief, he immediately understood that it was Liu's big-eared trouble, and Liu Bei was a bit ignorant when he said it.

He has never been reconciled to being a horse boy, so when he was with Cao Cao, he began to contact a group of royalists, including Dong Cheng, the well-known chariot general Dong Cheng, and Changshui school lieutenant Zhong Ji, general Wu Zilan, Wang Zifu and others planned to kill Cao Cao together.

Before this plan was implemented, Cao Cao sent Liu Bei to Xuzhou to prevent Yuan Shu from going north. After Liu Bei repelled Yuan Shu, he stayed in Xuzhou. After hearing the news that Yuan Shao was going to attack Cao Cao, he immediately killed the Xuzhou appointed by Cao Cao. The governor, Che Zhou, raised the banner of anti-Cao.

Liu Bei already had a foundation in Xuzhou. As soon as he rebelled against Cao Cao, a number of counties and counties in Xuzhou followed him to rebel against Cao Cao. The commander-in-chief of Donghai County Chang Xi followed Liu Bei directly.

Then Liu Daer joined Yuan Shao, and his army strength soared to tens of thousands. At the same time, he began to frantically seize the remaining places in Xuzhou.

Liu Da Er's hand can be said to be extremely beautiful, and Cao Cao couldn't think of a good way for a while.

Yuan Shao's soldiers were about to approach, and another incident like this happened by his side, Liu Daer really knew how to count time.

Dongfang Sheng was silent for a while and then said: "If Mr. Cao believes in me, leave Xuzhou to me."

Cao Cao took a deep look at Dongfang Sheng, and finally he could only let out a long sigh and said, "I'll have to thank Mengren for this matter."

If it weren't for him being unable to take action now, Cao Cao would never let Dongfang Sheng conquer Liu Bei. He would rather calm down Liu Bei himself than let Dongfang Sheng go.

It's just that the current situation is so critical, Cao Cao has no choice but to give up the small and take the big.

However, due to political considerations, Cao Cao sent an additional general named Wang Zhong to follow Dongfang Sheng to conquer Liu Bei.

Moreover, Cao Cao also listed Dongfang Sheng as General Pingdong and Marquis of Guanzhong.Of course, this title does not have a fief, it is a miscellaneous number, and only from the Marquis of Guannei can there be a fief.

Dongfang Sheng changed his official seal, and of course he didn't forget to give his generals and counselors a legitimate court status. Taking advantage of this opportunity to go out in the name of the court, don't do it for nothing, and Cao Cao didn't tangle in this matter. He readily agreed to Dongfang Sheng.

The first thing Dongfang Sheng did before conquering Liu Bei was to send a group of scout battalions to sneak into Xuzhou to find out Liu Bei's background.

(End of this chapter)