Cao Cao was still at home discussing his next course of action with a few strategists. He heard that the Emperor's envoy had already arrived in Chen Liu and was about to read out the imperial edict to him.
He hurriedly led his subordinates out of the city, only to discover that the envoy was actually Lu Bu. The expression on his face was interesting. It first turned from white to red, then turned white again. After being stunned for a while, Xun Yu reminded him to let Lu Bu into the main tent.
Lu Bu didn't waste any more time with him. After Cao Cao and his subordinates knelt on the ground, he immediately read out the imperial edict. Although he was secretly happy, he still had a serious expression on his face. Xu Zhu was still on the ground, and his eyes were still filled with killing intent. Who knew if Cao Cao had any secret plans? It was better to leave as soon as possible.
When Cao Cao heard that he had been appointed as the prefect of Dongjun, he finally understood Dong Zhuo's evil intentions. Although he was angry, he still accepted the edict happily. He still had no territory.
After announcing the imperial edict, Cao Cao knew that he couldn't touch Lu Bu now. Moreover, he had a group of people in the big tent, and there was a big man stronger than Xu Zhu standing behind Lu Bu. If he wanted to make a move, he didn't know who would take advantage of him.
The special envoy had given such a big gift, so Cao Cao couldn't be shabby. If a politician didn't have the awareness to stand up for chastity in front of a whore, then he shouldn't be doing well. First, they sent a batch of gold, silver, and jewelry, and then they invited Lu Bu to a banquet.
The two of them sat down, and Cao Cao's strategists and generals followed them. None of them talked about the battle a month ago. Lu Bu was also happy to do so, so that the tiger fanatic would not be unable to change his mind and make things difficult for both sides.
After a feast of delicacies and some flattery, Lu Bu decided to take his leave. They had different paths, so they would not conspire with each other. Moreover, they were enemies who fought to the death. If Cao Cao were to fake the edict again and use him as a sacrifice, it would not be fun.
After leaving Chen Liu, Lu Bu began to seriously consider the matter of strategists. Cao Cao did not find Guo Jia, which surprised him. It seemed that he really had to look around and find a few internal affairs talents.
Standing at the entrance of the camp, he watched Lu Bu's figure disappear at the end of the road. Only then did Cao Cao bring his subordinates back to the main tent.
"What do you think we should do?”Cao Cao asked. Although he knew that Dong Zhuo didn't have good intentions and was clearly trying to drive the tiger to swallow the wolf, he was still a little worried. However, with such a big piece of cake in front of her, no matter how dangerous it was, she had to swallow him first.
"Is there a need to ask? Why didn't Big Brother just take over?”Xiahou Dun was a straightforward man with a relatively simple mind. He would say whatever he wanted.
"Yes, I am. We have the imperial edict in our hands. Liu Dai won't dare to do anything to us.”Cao Hong echoed. He and Cao Ren were Cao Cao's brothers. When Cao Cao raised his army, they had already followed him.
"Mister Xun, what do you think?" Cao Cao nodded at his two brothers and looked at Xun Yu, who was sitting on his left.
"In my opinion, my lord can take advantage of the fact that the news has yet to spread and send elite soldiers to sneak into East County City and occupy it in one fell swoop. When Liu Dai comes to attack, he can then send an army to launch a sneak attack. In this way, Liu Dai's army could be defeated and East County would be within his grasp.”Xun Yu thought for a moment and said slowly.
His plan was quite reasonable, but Cao Cao didn't like it. He didn't say anything and looked at Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu saw Cao Cao's gaze and naturally knew what he wanted to say. In fact, the strategists in the tent already knew what Cao Cao wanted to do. However, due to their image, they kept quiet. Cheng Yu had no choice but to be the villain. We will divide the army into three groups. The first group will seize East County, the second group will ambush Liu Dai's army, and the third group will pretend to be Liu Dai's defeated army and enter Yanzhou. If that's the case, Yanzhou will be settled."
"Good! Use this plan. Since Liu Dai is unkind, don't blame me for being unrighteous.”After Cao Cao finished speaking, he slammed the table in front of him and accidentally swept the imperial edict on the table into the furnace beside him.
In fact, he had never thought of letting Liu Dai see his imperial edict. Otherwise, he would have given up East County obediently. In that case, he would have no excuse to occupy Yanzhou.
After deciding on the plan, Cao Cao immediately ordered Xun Yu to lead Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and 3,000 elite soldiers to Dongjun. That night, they took Dongjun City and captured the 5,000 soldiers guarding the city.
When Liu Dai learned of this, he was naturally furious. He immediately gathered 30,000 soldiers and charged toward East County. In Yanzhou City, there were only 10,000 guards left. There was nothing he could do. Although Cao Cao's army was small, Cao Cao's reputation was there. He also had so many generals. If there were fewer people, he would not be at ease.
When he found out that Liu Dai had already dispatched his troops, Cao Cao immediately led eight thousand men, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan to lie in ambush outside Dongjun City. Meanwhile, Cheng Yu led Li Dian and Le Jin with five thousand men and sneaked towards Yanzhou City. As for Xu Zhu and the other strategists who had yet to recover from their injuries, they naturally stayed in the relatively safe Chen Liu.
Although Cao Cao's plan was very successful. However, it would be very difficult to take down Liu Dai's 30,000-strong army with just 10,000 soldiers. Moreover, Liu Dai had been extremely careful along the way. Therefore, when they saw that the situation was not right, they immediately ordered the retreat. As a result, they only lost about 3,000 people.
In the battle of Yanzhou City, although Cheng Yu had successfully tricked the city gates open, the generals guarding the city had unexpectedly discovered that although Cao Cao's army's armor was tattered, everyone had weapons. They immediately organized their soldiers to seize the city gates.
The armies of both sides began to fight at the narrow city gates. Although the Cao army bravely advanced, the defenders had the geographical advantage and attacked from above. Thus, after suffering more than a thousand casualties, Cheng Yu chose to retreat, and the defenders naturally did not dare to pursue.
Fortunately, Cheng Yu was smarter. He didn't retreat along the main road, but lay in ambush on both sides of the main road. When Liu Dai's army withdrew, they intercepted Liu Dai's army and, together with Xiahou Dun, who had caught up with them, wiped out more than five thousand enemy soldiers before they returned to East County together. It could be considered as making up for their mistakes.
From then on, Cao Cao and Liu Dai divided Yanzhou and began the year-long battle for Yanzhou.
Lu Bu's group turned south from Chenliu, passing through Yuzhou and Yingchuan, finally arriving at Nanyang County in Jingzhou.
Along the way, bandits and Yellow Turbans kept coming. Fortunately, they had not undergone any formal training. Although they had lost more than a hundred people along the way, they had reached Nanyang easily.
According to Lu Bu's plan, after he gave Yuan Shu an imperial edict, he could travel around Jingzhou and Yangzhou and poach a few famous people back. It would pave the way for his future development.
Not only did he want to find a few strategists to go back, but he also wanted to find a powerful ally in the south so that they could shine together. However, there were pitifully few candidates. Other than Sun Jian, there was no one more suitable.
Lu Bu knew that Sun Jian had a daughter, Sun Shangxiang, who was also Liu Bei's wife. She had originally planned to meet the guide, but she was only a few years old now. She was too young. Besides, he was three years older than Sun Jian. Moreover, Sun Jian's hatred for him was not just ordinary.
In Nanyang City, Lu Bu did not see Yuan Shu. He had already led his army to attack Xiangyang and was now at the city gates.
Since it was on the way, Lu Bu took the imperial edict to Yuan Shu's camp at Xiangyang City.
Yuan Shu was not as cunning as Cao Cao. When he heard that Lu Bu was here to deliver an imperial edict, he immediately greeted Lu Bu with the highest etiquette.
Lu Bu didn't say anything to him. He didn't even bother to read it and directly handed the imperial edict to Yuan Shu who was kneeling on the ground.
Seeing that the imperial edict wanted him to go to Xiangyang and Jiangxia to quell the rebellion, he immediately became happy. He immediately began to read aloud in front of the three armies. With the Imperial Court's instructions, the morale of Yuan Shu's army immediately soared, and they no longer cared about the two defeats they had suffered.
Yuan Shu also wanted to ask Lu Bu to help him kill a few generals of the Jing State and win a few battles. However, his reputation was too bad, and he was rejected by Lu Bu.
Seeing that the effect had been achieved, Lu Bu knew that even if Sun Jian failed, Yuan Shu would not retreat. He planned to go south to Changsha to take a look. No matter what, he had to ease the relationship between Sun Jian and himself to lay the foundation for future cooperation.
However, this was not an easy journey. Liu Biao had to deal with two battles, and the entire Jingzhou had been mobilized. It was impossible for their thousand men to quietly pass through the territory.
Moreover, the rivers of Jingzhou crisscrossed. It was extremely difficult for cavalry to pass through here.
In the end, Lu Bu decided to leave the thousand cavalrymen behind and let them stay outside Nanyang City. He would give Yuan Shu such a big gift and some rations. Yuan Shu would not be stingy.
Lu Bu only brought Dian Wei and his personal guards along. When they arrived at Jiangxia County, they realized that there was a problem. In order to prevent Sun Jian and Yuan Shu from reinforcing each other, all the big ships had been conscripted by Liu Biao. The only ones left were small fishing boats. Horses could not board these boats at all.
In the end, Lu Bu had no choice but to sell all his horses and board the fishing boat. Fortunately, his Red Hare Horse didn't come. Otherwise, he would have to return to Nanyang. His cavalry was stationed outside the city. He couldn't bear to let his guards send this horse to Nanyang. If it was robbed, he would really want to cry.
The three boats rowed back and forth for the entire morning before they finally sent off the fifty-two people. There was no other way. There were many sentries along the coast, so they could only avoid them. There were also countless rapids on the river. If they were not careful, the ship would be destroyed and people would die.
After crossing the Yangtze River, Lu Bu spent a lot of money to hire a guide to take him to Changsha County. In times of war, the control was very strict. Without a pass or going out at will, it was easy to be caught as a spy. And this time, there was basically no return. If the money was low, no one would do it.
When they reached Changsha County in the dark, the guide immediately left them. Lu Bu could only grope his way forward. This time, something really happened.
Just as they reached Dongting Lake and were about to head south along the Xiangjiang River, they were surrounded by a group of more than a thousand soldiers.
(My current collection is 888. The number is quite good, but it's still too little. Everyone, please help me. Let me go up to 1,000.) There's another chapter at night)
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