Chapter 86 The Emperor’s Edict

Guo Jia smiled faintly and said: "Although Lu Bu is brave, he is unintelligent. Although Chen Gong is wise, he is disloyal. Chen Gong had previously secretly welcomed Lu Bu to attack Yanzhou and betrayed Duke Ming. I heard that when he went to Xuzhou to Pi, he also fought with

Lu Bu's generals plotted a rebellion and wanted to welcome Yuan Shu. A person who changes hands and rebels repeatedly is bound to be disloyal. If he is disloyal, it will be difficult to use his wisdom."

Cao Cao nodded slightly and said: "Well, Chen Gongtai is an ambitious man. He wants to be the leader rather than a good plan!"

"Yes, Chen Gong wants to use Lu Bu as a puppet, but Lu Bu is a repetitive person and cannot listen to his words. As a result, the two of them cannot work together, and their power is weak. And the generals are plotting rebellion, which also shows that Lu Bu is unkind.

If this is the case, the soldiers cannot be loyal and sacrifice their lives. From this we can see that Lu Bu is not afraid."

Cao Cao laughed and said: "Haha, what Fengxiao said is just as I meant."

"Liu Bei is not like that." Guo Jia went on to say, "Liu Bei has ambitions, which can be seen from the fact that he gave up Yuzhou and took Xuzhou. Now Xuzhou is captured by Lu Bu, but Liu Bei does not compete with him for Xuzhou, but goes far away to Donglai.

Being willing to serve as the governor of a county, it seems that he has no intention of fighting for the state, but in fact he is retreating in order to advance. The so-called fighting means not fighting, and not fighting means fighting!"

"Oh, why do you say that?"

Recently, Cao Cao has mainly focused on welcoming the emperor. After moving the emperor to Xu County, he mainly focused on Zhang Xiu, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu and others. Yuan Shao in Jizhou is also the focus of his defense. For those who run to Donglai

Liu Bei ignored it.

He knew that Liu Bei was ambitious, but Liu Bei lost Xuzhou and had only a thousand soldiers and horses. He thought that he ran to Donglai because he knew it would be difficult to compete with Lu Bu for Xuzhou, which was a helpless move.

Liu Bei only had a chaotic county like Donglai, and it was difficult for him to compete in the world, so he didn't pay attention to Liu Bei.

"Ming Gong, now Jizhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou and other states have their owners. In the Central Plains, only Yuzhou and Qingzhou can accommodate them. Yuzhou is located between the three states of Yanxu and Yang. If you occupy this state, it will be difficult to develop.

. Qingzhou is different. Qingzhou is far away from the sea and is beyond the reach of Ming Gong. Although Yuan Shao occupied Qingzhou, Gongsun of Youzhou was not destroyed. Liu Bei was in the far county of Donglai, and Yuan was also beyond his power. This was why Liu Bei occupied Donglai.

The meaning of Lai."

Cao Cao listened, nodded secretly, thought for a moment, and said: "So, Liu Xuande wants to develop secretly?"

"Exactly," Guo Jia replied, "Just think about it, Duke Ming, what was the first thing Liu Bei did after arriving in Donglai? Yuan Shao sent his eldest son to lead the army to capture Qingzhou, and Liu Bei was able to capture Donglai.

Kong Rong, the governor of Qingzhou, not only did not help Kong Qingzhou defend the state against the enemy, but he sent envoys to persuade Kong Rong to surrender the state. From this we can see that Liu Bei did not want to be an enemy of the Yuan family, but wanted to secretly protect the state under the protection of the Yuan family.

Seek development.”

"Moreover, Liu Bei arrived in Donglai and vigorously suppressed bandits. In just three months, he beheaded three of the four major bandits in Donglai County. Guan Cheng also fled to Beihai and did not dare to set foot in Donglai. The bandits were all eliminated.

After that, Liu Bei cut taxes and exempted people from taxes, and recruited refugees. All these things were done to prepare for development."

"Because of Liu Bei's move, people who had left home to escape the chaos returned to their hometowns one after another, and people from other prefectures and counties also moved to Donglai. If there are many people in Donglai, the fields can be cultivated. If the fields are cultivated, there will be abundant food and a large number of people.

If there is enough food, Liu Bei will be strong in less than five years."

"Also, may I know that Mr. Liu Bei has two generals with bad faces and red faces under his command?"

Cao Cao had been listening quietly. At this time, he heard Guo Jia ask a question and replied: "I have heard of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. These two are indeed brave. They fought with Tao Qian when they attacked Tao Qian. If Liu Xuande's soldiers were not small and mixed, he would not be able to fight."

At that time, I couldn't win so easily. I heard that when the black-faced general attacked the Yellow Turban Guanhai, he once defeated thousands of people with a horizontal spear. Such a fierce general, it's a pity that I can't use it!"

Guo Jia said: "Liu Bei has such a fierce general and is supported by wise and resourceful people. He is the man named Zhou Xing."

"Haha, I have heard about this man. I heard that when he went to see Lu Bu for Liu Xuande, he made sarcastic remarks and angered Lu Bu's generals. He also defeated two generals in Lu Bu's army. He also persuaded Lu Bu to give him five thousand shi of food.

This is a man of both wisdom and courage! What a pity! What a pity!"

After speaking, Cao Cao shook his head repeatedly, but it was a pity that such a talent could not be used by himself.

"Zhou Xing was indeed very resourceful. Liu Bei was able to annihilate the Yellow Turban bandits in such a short period of time, and he deserves the first credit. Later, the Liaodong soldiers and horses came to attack, and Liu Bei was able to resist the enemy at Jinkou, forcing the Liaodong soldiers and horses to retreat. Liu Bei went to Donglai

At that time, there were less than two thousand soldiers and horses, but now there are six or seven thousand soldiers, Donglai is peaceful again, and the people have returned to their hearts. If such a person takes Qingzhou in the future, he can seize Jizhou to the west and Xuzhou to the south, he will definitely be a big trouble for Ming Gong.

!"

Cao Cao had never thought carefully about the impact of Liu Bei's occupation of Donglai on him before. Now listening to Guo Jiayi's analysis, he feels that Liu Bei is indeed capable and ambitious, and will definitely be his strong enemy in the future.

After thinking for a while, Cao Cao secretly shook his head and sighed: "Zhang Xiu in Nanyang has not been eliminated, Lu Bu in Xuzhou has not been destroyed, and Yuan Shu is still watching in Huainan, and Xu Du has not been able to find peace. Yuan Benchu ​​is a formidable enemy in Jizhou, and Liu Xuande is far away.

Donglai, it’s beyond my power!”

Guo Jia smiled and said: "Ming Gong, you don't need to eliminate Liu Bei, but you can break down his power and make him without soldiers, then you will have nothing to worry about."

"How to do it?" Cao Cao asked urgently.

"Liu Bei is a royal clan relative of the Liu family, and this person often aims to help the Han Dynasty. If the emperor is willing, Ming Gong, you can ask the emperor to recruit Liu Bei to serve as minister in the court. If Liu Bei refuses, it will show his disloyalty and damage him.

Reputation. If he comes to promise, he will be unable to do anything. The two generals under his command may still be used by Duke Ming!"

Guo Jia mainly fell in love with Liu Bei's emphasis on reputation. If Liu Bei openly refused the emperor's edict, he could be accused of disloyalty, and he could even be removed from the post of Donglai Governor, so that he would not have a real name. In that case, Liu Bei would

Just like a traitor.

Cao Cao didn't think so. Instead of dealing with Liu Bei, he actually wanted to conquer Liu Bei.

Although he knew that it would be very difficult to conquer Liu Bei, if he dealt with Liu Bei, he would most likely push Liu Bei into Yuan Shao's camp, which would be even more detrimental to him.

However, the method proposed by Guo Jia is not impossible. It can at least test Liu Bei and confirm whether he is really ambitious.

If he comes in response to the imperial edict, there is no need to say anything. If he refuses the call, it can be determined that he has the ambition to compete in the world.

"Well," Cao Cao nodded after thinking about it, "We can recruit Liu Xuande to be the chief agricultural officer."

Cao Cao and Guo Jia discussed the general situation of the world again. What Guo Jia said was very consistent with his wishes, so he immediately stayed in the army and took charge.

As Guo Jia mentioned, Cao Cao sent an envoy to summon Liu Bei, the prefect of Donglai, to serve as one of the nine ministers in the imperial court.
Chapter completed!