Mid-February.
Su Ran brought Zhao Ba and his family into Xuchang City.
He gave Zhao Ba's family a residence that Cao Cao had given him. After settling them down, he brought Zhao Ba to the Bei Wei Army camp.
In less than three to five days, Zhao Ba had successfully subdued all the soldiers of the Back Wei Army and became a true vanguard general.
He ordered Zhao Ba to lead the Bei Wei Army and continue to train according to his requirements.
He entered the city once again and asked Cao Cao for a position for Zhao Ba.
"Yi An, you're finally back.”
"You'll be gone for a month or two. I'm really worried that you'll leave.”
Sikong Manor.
When Cao Cao saw Su Ran enter the residence, he held Su Ran's hand happily and complained.
"Since I've already submitted to my lord, how can I just leave?”Su Ran didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Didn't you leave Liu Bei just like that?”
Cao Cao looked at Su Ran and mumbled.
"That was Liu Bei's fault. I had no choice but to leave.”Su Ran smiled." My lord is not Liu Bei.”
"As long as my lord doesn't disappoint me, how can I disappoint my lord?”
Hearing this.
Cao Cao nodded proudly,"Of course."”
"A genius like Yi An, it's not too much for me to hold him in my hands, how could I let him down?”
It was a little mushy.
Something was wrong.
This was not Cao Cao's style.
Su Ran looked at Cao Cao suspiciously and sized him up.
That's right.
It was indeed Cao Cao.
He hesitated for a moment before saying," My lord, what happened?”
"Sigh…"
Cao Cao let out a long sigh and released Su Ran's hand." After the New Year, I received news that many civil and military officials in the court were secretly communicating with Yuan Shao.”
"They serve under me and receive my salary, but in their hearts, they are looking forward to Yuan Benchu…"
Cao Cao was a little resentful.
Other than being inferior to Yuan Shao in terms of birth, which aspect was he not much stronger than Yuan Shao?
But now, it was all good.
Before the battle between the two of them started, the people under them already wanted to surrender to Yuan Shao.
Among them, other than the aristocratic families, there were also many people of insight he had recruited back then.
This made him very uncomfortable.
He was the one who recruited him, so why did he have a heart for Yuan Shao?
He was very angry.
Su Ran understood.
Cao Cao was afraid that he would learn from those people and turn to Yuan Shao to become Yuan Shao's adviser.
"Yuan Shao is a person who likes to be grandiose and achieve great things. He is arbitrary and has no plans. Other than the reputation of the four generations and three dukes, he is incomparable to my lord in every aspect.”
"The civil and military officials of the court, those who are loyal to Yuan Shao, are just opportunists.”
Su Ran smiled and comforted Cao Cao.
"Although that's the case, Yuan Shao is indeed much stronger than me. He has four prefectures, is famous, has no lack of money and food, has countless advisors, a thousand battle generals, and a million soldiers.”
"Now that my subordinates are on Yuan Shao's side, we've already lost thirty percent of the battle before we even fought it.”
Cao Cao was deeply worried.
Between him and Yuan Shao, there would be a battle sooner or later.
And it wouldn't take too long.
The shortest was a year, and the longest was three years.
With the current situation, if they were to fight Yuan Shao, their chances of winning were very low.
"My lord, although Yuan Shao is strong, he is only strong on the outside but weak on the inside. There are many factions under his command, and they are all fighting and scheming against each other.”
"Although there are many troops under his command, there are many miscellaneous soldiers. Moreover, it is inconvenient to command, resulting in unclear orders.”
"And because he is the heir of the four generations and three dukes, he has to take care of the interests of all sides and pay attention to balance. This will make the civil and military talents unable to be used to their full potential, and the soldiers unable to be used to their full potential.”
"I feel that the lord has already won half of the battle.”
Su Ran's analysis made sense, and Cao Cao's eyes lit up.
The frustration in his heart for many days was swept away.
He looked at Su Ran with bright eyes and said happily,"I didn't expect Yi An to have such a strategy in his heart.”
Of course.
Cao Cao also understood that these words were mostly words of comfort.
It was not that easy to defeat Yuan Shao, he still had to plan in many ways.
Retracting his thoughts, Cao Cao looked at Su Ran and said,"Yi 'an, now that the New Year has passed, all the places have begun spring plowing. It's time to prepare to go to Xuzhou.”
"After expelling Lu Bu and obtaining Xuzhou, I will be able to face Yuan Shao with all my might without any future troubles.”
Su Ran nodded.
Xuzhou was definitely going to be taken.
Otherwise, it would threaten Yuzhou and Yangzhou.
Moreover, Lu Bu had always been unpredictable, so he might have joined forces with Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao.
This unstable factor had to be removed in advance.
"Has there been any news from Xu Prefecture?"
Su Ran asked.
"A few days ago, Liu Bei sent a letter saying that Lu Bu was training in Xiapi. He estimated that Lu Bu would attack Xiaopei after the spring plowing, so he asked me to gather troops and be ready to support him at any time.”
"The letter is here."
Cao Cao stood up and took Liu Bei's letter and handed it to Su Ran.
After checking it, Su Ran understood.
"It seems that Liu Bei is anxious. He is afraid of losing Xiao Pei and ruining the lord's plan to take Xuzhou.”
A smile appeared on his face.
Cao Cao asked,"Then when do you think we should start?"”
"Let's reorganize the army first. There's no hurry to move.”Su Ran shook his head." I asked you to use Guangling Prefecture as a price to make Liu Bei and you work together to attack Lu Bu.”
"For the sake of Guangling, Liu Bei will definitely go all out against Lu Bu. Let's just sit back and watch the tigers fight.”
In his previous life, a great man had said this.
If you save people and lose land, you can get people and land.
If the land is preserved and the people are lost, the people and the land will be lost.
It seemed that Liu Bei did not understand this logic.
"You…"
Cao Cao smiled and pointed at Su Ran.
This scheme really had some of Jia Xu's flavor.
Back then, Jia Xu's vicious plan had caused chaos in the world and caused Situ Wangyun to die.
Su Ran was not inferior to Jia Xu.
But this time, the one crying was Liu Bei.
"However, in order to make Liu Bei feel at ease, my lord can also send a letter saying that he is already mobilizing troops.”
Cao Cao agreed.
"Oh right, I almost forgot one more thing.”
"What is it?"
"Lu Bu has Chen Gong to advise him, and Jian Yong and Sun Qian are not resourceful people. They definitely can't calculate Chen Gong's plans. We need to let Liu Bei guard Xiao Pei for a few more days and remind Liu Bei to defend Xiao Pei and not go out to meet the enemy.”
Su Ran recalled the history.
Chen Gong's plan to lure the enemy out of the city had lured Liu Bei's army out of Xiaopei, and they were defeated by Lu Bu's cavalry.
Since he knew about this, he naturally had to avoid it in advance.
After all, the longer Liu Bei defended, the more time Lu Bu would lose, and the more advantageous it would be for them.
"How should I remind him of this?"
Cao Cao frowned.
The situation on the battlefield changed rapidly, and he could not give Liu Bei an order directly.
"In the letter my lord wrote to Liu Bei, you can leave a code word for communication.”
"In this way, even if Chen Gong has any schemes, it will be difficult to lure Liu Bei out of the city.”
Cao Cao's eyes lit up.
"This is a wonderful idea!"
"Let's do it."
Su Ran smiled and nodded. Then, she started talking about Zhao Ba's official position.
"This matter is easy. I will immediately report to the emperor and give him the position of a partial general. After he has rendered meritorious service, he will be rewarded.”
"Thank you, my lord."
Su Ran cupped her hands and bowed.
Cao Cao waved his hand nonchalantly.
However, the more he looked at Su Ran, the more satisfied he became. He could not help but mention what he was thinking about before.
"Yi An, I have a daughter named Cao Huan. She's of age to be married…"
Cough cough!
Su Ran looked at Cao Cao guiltily.
It seemed like he didn't hide the relationship between him and Cao Huan from Cao Cao.
However, his current foundation was not strong enough. Marrying Cao Huan was equivalent to marrying into his family. It would only make him a laughing stock, a laughing stock for the scholars, and even more so, he would be hated by others.
This matter cannot be rushed.
"Let's…talk about this in the future…"
Su Ran said with a puzzled expression.
A real man should first establish a career before starting a family.
He had lofty aspirations in his heart, so he naturally could not be affected by a mere marriage!
Cao Cao nodded and did not say anything else.
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