Fei Qian was making a splash in Chang'an, and Cao Cao wasn't just sitting around.

When the old year is about to pass and the new year is about to arrive, the so-called New Year greetings are secondly, and more importantly, the most important thing is to integrate and bring together the originally scattered and opposing areas into a "working together" force.

For this reason, Xun Yu had been on duty at the Chancellery for nearly a month without taking a break.

Among ancient people, bathing was a big deal, and the government even made special provisions to give officials time to go home and bathe.

It's a pity that Xun Yu didn't have time, he only had less than ten months left. It's not that Xun Yu was seriously ill, or that he was about to die due to some hidden disease, but that Queen Cao had less than ten months left before giving birth to a child.

After thinking over and over again, Yu had already made the worst plan. Now he had to race against time...

The cavalry general Fei Qian was like a tiger on the side. Although he was just lying down lazily, his power still made Xun Yu breathless. In order to integrate Jizhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other places faster and better,

Xun Yu had no other choice but to take risks.

If the child is born, everything will be fine, but if the child is born as a woman, Xun Yu will have to bear the consequences. Resigning or something has almost become inevitable. If Cao Cao can stabilize his power at that time, then he still has a chance.

After taking power again, everything can still be done. If Cao Cao cannot break Jizhou and Yuzhou into a monolith within ten months, what can he do even if he is on power?

What Xun Yu was most worried about was that the integration of Jizhou and Yuzhou was too slow. If the integration was too slow, then Cao Cao would definitely not be able to fully control the court, and if he could not fully control the court, there would inevitably be opposing voices, and this oppositional

The voice destined Cao Cao to be unable to compete with Fei Qian with all his strength, and the final result would be failure.

There are many advantages to having a large population. A large population base can support more soldiers, more taxes, etc. But also, a large population? Things are complicated, and all kinds of interests are involved, and there are no ordinary people.

It doesn't matter if it shows up, but when something is exposed, it often makes people go crazy.

Is it like a few hundred pieces of money for conquering the West? Maybe it is not a big deal for a noble family member alone, or it is not a matter at all? But once it becomes a family? Hundreds or more

If thousands of clan members are counted together, the number will immediately become much larger. Not everyone can give up easily. What if several clans are connected together? Then the number will increase even higher!

The work of the Chancellor's Desk is not only the people's livelihood and government affairs, but also the coordination work of the rear of the war. Almost every day is full. If Xun Yu hadn't been good at internal affairs, it would have been someone else who might not have been able to persevere, and

No problems yet.

You know, originally there were six people in charge of the Chancery Office in the imperial court, and they took turns taking turns? But now basically all matters, big and small, are handled by Xun Yu? You can imagine how burdensome it is.

However, Cao Cao is about to resign, which means that Xun Yu can breathe a sigh of relief.

It's just an extra breath of relief.

On the Jiangdong battlefield, Sun Quan was still unwilling to retreat. From time to time, he sent soldiers to test? Or he wanted to find a breakthrough, or he was trying to train his troops, or both, leading to small-scale battles.

It happened from time to time, but overall Cao Jun still had more victories than defeats, and controlled the north bank of the river.

At the same time, Cao Chun led two thousand cavalry from Jingzhou to Jiangxia and went straight to Youzhou, traveling more than a thousand miles. On the one hand, he gathered and organized the remaining Wuhuan people in Tadun into tribes, and on the other hand, he also filled up Yuan Xi's army.

The vacancy somewhat restricted Fei Qian's northern legion, Zhao Yun.

However, at this moment, Cao Cao suddenly received an urgent message...

Cao Cao asked Dong Zhao to start reading.

Dong Zhao was originally promoted as Xiaolian when he was young, and later served as a member of the army under Yuan Shao. He also had some meritorious deeds, but everyone knew about Yuan Shao. Once he listened to slander, he was very dissatisfied with Dong Zhao and severely punished him.

To hold him accountable, Dong Zhao had no choice but to leave Yuan Shao.

Therefore, Cao Cao's current appointment of Dong Zhao, in fact, the thoughts and intentions behind it, naturally everyone who understands understands it, but still don't understand, well, there is a pile of mud over there...

Cao Cao's move of asking Dong Zhao to read the military information was not only to show his trust in Dong Zhao, but also an even more important factor, which was that Cao Cao had some presbyopia.

At Cao Cao's age, he is currently running towards the five rings, uh, five pieces...

Although Cao Cao was unwilling to admit it, very reluctant to admit it, his physical functions had indeed begun to decline, regardless of his personal will. In order to facilitate the transmission of military information, it was impossible to fill a basket with large characters, so naturally

There are so many small letters, and it is indeed extremely painful for people with presbyopia to recognize the tiny characters on the fine silk.

Dong Zhao unfolded the information, read it up and down quickly, and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Cao Cao's eyes couldn't help but darken a little when he looked at Dong Zhao.

Dong Zhao has always attached great importance to personal deportment, such as "Taishan collapses but his appearance remains unchanged". Ever since he served as a military advisor in the army, he has been calm and composed, even when he received an emergency military situation, he was calm, but now,

Dong Zhao's expression was a little solemn, even a little surprised, and even the hand holding the information seemed to be shaking...

Cao Cao closed his eyes and did not rush to ask. When his subordinates are anxious, the leader must calm down. Otherwise, what else can be done if everyone is in chaos?

After a few breaths, Dong Zhao calmed down and slowly read out the military information. The main thing was that Fei Qian marched into the Western Regions with his troops, fought with all the countries in the Western Regions, defeated the Western Allied Forces in one fell swoop, and successfully erected the banner of the Han Dynasty at the head of the sea again, and then

About to enter the last and largest city of the Kushan people in the Western Region...

While Dong Zhao was reciting, Cao Cao closed his eyes and listened. After listening, Cao Cao slowly opened his eyes, stroked his beard, and whispered for a while: "I never thought that the thief Hu in the Western Regions would be defeated so quickly..."

…』

Although there is a long distance between Cao Cao and the Western Regions, and only one piece of information cannot fully outline the outline of the battle in the Western Regions, Cao Cao was indeed very surprised that Fei Qian launched the battle in the Western Regions so quickly and determined the victory.

accident.

You know, the Han and Xiqiang have been fighting for thirty or forty years before they even arrived in the Western Regions...

And now...

Cao Cao shook his head, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Although Cao Cao was also a Han, and he hoped in his heart that Fei Qian would win in the end and recreate the majesty of the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions, what Cao Cao did not expect was that Fei Qian could do it so fast!

Cao Cao originally thought that the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, even if they were small countries, each country had thousands or hundreds of soldiers, and then added together, there would be about 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and then Fei Qian would have to pass through the Hexi Corridor.

An expedition to the Western Regions would require at least 100,000 to 200,000 troops. At the same time, Fei Qian would also have to take care of Xianbei in the north and Jiaozhi in the south. How many soldiers would be stationed in these places?

Calculated in this way, Fei Qian marches into the Western Regions. Even with Lu Bu as the vanguard, he is afraid that it is impossible to win quickly. It is just the beginning. He may fall into the same old ways as Emperor Heng of Han and Emperor Ling of Han, and be defeated by the Western Regions.

This big quagmire makes it difficult to move forward.

Who would have expected that according to military information - in fact, the specific situation is not very clear, it is just a rough idea - that the Western Regions could not stop Lu Bu's troops, and even Fei Qian defeated the Western Regions Allied Forces without even moving.

Prepare to attack the Kushan people's strongholds in the Western Regions...

"How is the loss of the hussar?" Cao Cao asked.

Dong Zhao read it again, shook his head slowly, and said: "It's not clear in the letter... It must be quite big..."

Cao Cao hummed, frowned and said: "The barbarians in the Western Regions are like this..." Cao Cao originally wanted to say "useless", but after all, Fei Qian conquered the Western Regions, which was also a happy event from the perspective of the Han people, so everyone

He swallowed these two words and replaced them with "Unexpectedly, the front of the cavalry is so sharp..."

Dong Zhao had calmed down at this time. After thinking for a while, he comforted Cao Cao and said: "Guishang in the Western Region has not been completely defeated. There are still chariots in Shule and other countries, and they are not clear about it. The hussar has newly conquered the Western Region, and it is not stable."

, it is common sense that there will be recurrences in the future... Ming Gong is not worried about this. Although the hussar has won the first victory, he has no time to pay attention to it..."

After all, this type of information is transmitted covertly, so it is impossible to write it down clearly in detail, let alone specify some times. Therefore, Cao Cao and Dong Zhao wanted to straighten out the relationship and even the specific time of the conquest.

, is not that easy.

Cao Cao only knew that Fei Qian probably used the troops and horses of Longyou, plus part of Hanzhong and Guanzhong, mainly more than 10,000 cavalry. More detailed matters, such as the number of infantry for logistical support and the number of laborers, are not clear.

It is even more unclear how the battle was fought and what tactics were used.

Putting himself in his shoes, Cao Cao could generally guess that Lu Bu's personal bravery, coupled with the brave cavalry of the Hussar, probably taught the unprepared Western Hu people a good lesson, and they were caught off guard.

It is indeed very possible to defeat the barbarian front in the Western Regions in one fell swoop and achieve victory.

As for Cao Cao's later lamentation about the Hussars, he was quite sincere. When Cao Cao came into contact with Fei Qian, he felt that Fei Qian was not simple. Later, he discovered that Fei Qian had a unique strategic vision and pointed out Dong Zhuo's plan to move the capital. However,

God's will plays tricks on people...

Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart.

At that time, Cao Cao consciously could raise his troops to chase Dong Zhuo. Even if he could not win a big victory, he could still get some merits, and then it would not be too late to recruit Fei Qian. What he didn't expect was that he was ambushed by Dong Zhuo, and the Jujube Allied Forces again

They all had their own agendas, which led to the delay. In the end, they passed each other, one heading east and the other heading west.

To this day, Cao Cao occasionally dreams at night that he and Fei Qian have made an appointment to meet and talk outside the Jujube Camp. He wants to talk to Fei Qian about something, but when he is about to go outside the camp, he is not disturbed by this Zhang.

Miao La was hugged by Liu Dai. When he got out, he couldn't find Fei Qian. He wanted to shout but couldn't. He wanted to look for it but didn't know where to look. Then he suddenly woke up...

Cao Cao came back to his senses and heard Dong Zhao say from the side: "...for the current plan, Jingzhou should be the one...not to mention that if Qiaoqi takes this as his merit, please grant him the title again..."

Cao Cao's eyes narrowed.

This time he used troops against Jiangxia. On the one hand, Cao Cao wanted to divert internal economic pressure and obtain more resources to fill the emptiness of his own property. On the other hand, he also felt that under such huge pressure from Fei Qian, he had a relatively friendly ally.

It is always better to have one more enemy, so Cao Cao suppressed some of his dissatisfaction with Liu Biao and sent troops to fight against Jiangdong.

Although it is said that this time there is no loss, or some profit, but in fact the profit is not much. At most, it temporarily alleviates the current difficult situation, so that Cao Cao will not have to chew the soil again, or use the rat meat reserves again.

That's all...

There is still a long way to go before eating meat and drinking wine. Cao Cao has even issued an order strictly prohibiting wine-making, because wine-making will cause a large loss of food. After all, the locust plague has just passed. Who can ensure that there will not be another locust plague next year?

However, Cao Cao's alcohol prohibition did not receive support from the gentry family, and even caused a considerable degree of dissatisfaction.

The New Year is coming, and sacrificing ancestors naturally requires the use of wine and meat. How can it be done without wine? Besides, everyone has worked hard to support you, Boss Cao, okay? At the end of the year, no one is even allowed to drink wine. Is there any natural reason for this?

, are you still letting people live?

In the end, Cao Cao had no choice but to compromise and ordered a change from a comprehensive ban on alcohol to a strict ban on the sale of alcohol. Those who brew and drink their own wine can, but if they sell it, they cannot. This is an agreement with the gentry. Anyway, among the gentry's big families, there are naturally some

I have my own wine maker, so I can drink it, but I can't sell it. As for wine, proper storage will increase the quality of the wine, so I won't sell it if I don't allow it to be sold for the time being. It's not a big problem.

As for whether ordinary people drink alcohol and whether it will affect their family sacrifices, haha, who cares?

The nobles accepted it, but Cao Cao was still unhappy.
To be continued...