Something that can make Cao Cao change his mind must be quite important.
Liu Xie is already quite clear about this, or in other words, the few prince-level figures he has come into contact with so far who can be called "big men in the world" seem to be able to "keep their emotions in check" most of the time.
Even if something big happens, most of them will remain unchanged even after the collapse of Mount Tai. This seems to be the case for Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, and Li Shushi.
Of course, Liu Xie had such an impression of Li Shushi only because the two people's interactions were very limited. Unlike Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao, even if they did not get along day and night, their contact time was far longer than that of Li Shushi who passed by in a hurry.
of passers-by.
In fact, there was originally a person who was more powerful than the above-mentioned princes-level figures in terms of status, and that was the late emperor Liu Hong. However, for this Han Ling Emperor, Liu Xie, apart from a serious talk before his death,
Liu Xie's impression of him was quite vague. After all, the position of prince had been reserved for a long time.
Liu Xie's elder brother Liu Bian, and although his mother was once much loved, she died after giving birth to him. He was completely fostered by the Empress Dowager Dong. In order to protect his bloodline, which was easily preserved,
Liu Hong didn't even dare to have any contact with him, for fear of irritating the intricate forces in the palace.
Speaking of which, it is not that Liu Hong had no other children, but those children had no chance to survive even childhood, so they died due to various reasons, among which infection with disease was the most commonly used excuse.
Therefore, the emperor, who was actually not without wisdom, was very close at hand, but to Liu Xie, he seemed to be far away.
It's a pity that Liu Xie is the emperor after all, and he is also an emperor who delegates all military matters to Cao Cao, so at this time he can only stand aside and wait quietly, and cannot do rude things like stretching his neck.
Even because of Cao Cao's rapidly changing expression, he became even more curious at this time.
Finally, Cao Cao sighed and handed the pieces of paper to Liu Xie.
Liu Xie carefully turned over these pieces of paper and read them several times, but all he felt was the deep malice contained in them - the contents on these pieces of paper were simple, but they were really simple, because all of them
The contents are all related to one thing, and that is the problem of food and fodder for Cao Cao's army.
But it's really complicated, because it lists a lot of data. Including population, land and local powerful people - Liu Xie can barely understand these, and then there are the relationships between these data, and a series of
Operation methods - these make Liu Xie feel like he is reading a book from heaven.
All in all, after a series of cooperation including various spies, surrenders, merchants and troops, Cao Cao's army, which had lost the "blood transfusion" of the Bingzhou Army, quickly consumed most of its food and grass in a very short period of time and fell into an unsustainable situation.
state.
Liu Xie believed that the "less than half a month" stated in the letter was too exaggerated. Let's not talk about whether the number itself was too exaggerated. It was just that the series of dazzling operations needed to be realized.
, and to realize that series of operations not only requires an extremely good trader. It also requires a talent who is proficient in at least one aspect.
Based on Yuan Shaojun's current internal situation, he wouldn't believe it if Liu Xie were killed without internal strife among these people. Of course, he wouldn't believe it if they didn't kill Liu Xie. If he wants to control those people from all walks of life, I'm afraid Yuan Shao can only
He personally took charge of the battle - the "mysterious man" who proposed this series of plans, because Liu Xie really couldn't think of anyone who would be more suitable for such a position than him.
Instinctively, Liu Xie felt that there seemed to be something wrong with this letter.
Although Liu Xie couldn't tell what the specific problem was for a while, as a person of the Ninth Five-Year Plan who has been accustomed to all kinds of political disturbances in the country for a long time, his political sense is definitely keen.
Especially after being strengthened by Cao Cao and Chen Gong.
Of course, in addition to this secretly vigilant mentality, he once again felt the shortcomings between himself and professionals.
Speaking of which, both Chen Gong and Xun Yu, as experts who were good at managing government affairs, had taught him patiently, but the knowledge he learned was more used to help him figure out whether the officials were cheating, or whether they were cheating.
things like what numbers represent, specific
He has never understood the physical issues at all. In Chen Gong's words, "Your Majesty does not need to worry about the specific details. Your Majesty only needs to understand whether his officials are attentive enough. Those professional things are still left to us."
Let these professionals handle it."
Although I thought it made sense at the time, when I saw these words that were very clear when viewed separately, but completely incomprehensible when combined, I felt that I still understood too little.
The most important thing is that if someone uses this method to fool him, he will definitely be sold and have to count the money for the other party.
It seems that both his father and Li Shushi's Bingzhou are leaders in this regard, but as mentioned before, due to various reasons, he has never been able to have more in-depth exchanges with these people.
Even the impression they left on Liu Xie was quite profound.
"Please also ask Ziyuan to teach me." After finally digesting the content revealed in the letter, Cao Cao's attitude became more sincere this time.
This time Xu You did not continue to tantalize people. In other words, he had already made Cao Cao understand his importance and no longer needed those small tricks. Now it was time for him to show his abilities.
"I believe you already know the current situation. If Yuan Shao captures Aocang and cuts off the connection between Ming Gong and Bingzhou, under Yuan Shao's subsequent series of attacks, Ming Gong will be fighting a powerful enemy alone. In this case
If you do not seek a quick victory, you will seek death. Therefore, you have a plan. Even if Yuan Shao is able to capture Aocang, it will only take three days for Yuan Shao's millions of men to defeat him without a fight."
"I would like to hear good advice." Cao Cao was waiting for this moment, how could he not be happy in his heart.
Of course, in order to show his respect for Xu You, Cao Cao put all his expressions on his face this time.
"Yuan Shao had all his grain and grass supplies and accumulated them in Wuchao, thinking that he would be safe north of Wuchaoze. He also had his close confidant Chunyu Qiong guarding him. Although he was nominally punished for his poor rescue efforts in the past, he has recently sent more troops to Qiong. So it can be seen that
I really want Qiong to step up his defense. However,
Chunyu Qiong was addicted to alcohol and had the natural danger of Wuchao, so he was unprepared. In this way, Ming Gong selected elite soldiers and falsely claimed that Yuan General Jiang Qi led his troops there to protect the food. Jiang Qi was one of Qiong's party, so he would be scornful, so he could take advantage of the opportunity.
Burn the grain, grass and baggage. Yuan's army will be in chaos within three days."
"Then if the grain, grass and baggage garrisoned in Aocang were obtained by the enemy, wouldn't the enemy army be able to hold on for a while longer?"
"If Aocang can be defended, it can be defended, but if it cannot be defended, it can be burned. Although Aocang's grain is important to our army, it cannot be compared with Wuchao, which shakes the foundation of Yuan's army. If Aocang is destroyed, our army will have nothing to store up.
If the Wuchao is destroyed, Yuan Jun will need to raise new supplies from Hebei. It will take a long time, and the morale of the army will be difficult to maintain."
Xu You knew that Liu Xie felt sorry for those grains. After all, if there was a fire in Wuchao and another fire in Aocang, I am afraid that the price of grain in the Central Plains and Hebei would inevitably skyrocket. Except for those powerful families who have accumulated a large amount of grain, the common people might have to pay for it again.
Encountering famine, and this is not caused by natural disasters, it is simply a fight between gods and mortals.
But for Xu You, he only needs to consider how to win the war. As for the remaining issues, he does not need to consider them at all. And Cao Cao, who needs to consider these issues, will not consider such issues at this time. Because if he
If he can't win, then what does it matter to him even if the people live and work in peace and contentment? Those people will not consider that Cao Cao did it for him
They even sacrificed their own hegemony for their happy life. Maybe they would laugh at Cao Cao after dinner and say "Silly x". Even if among the contemporary people, maybe one or two people out of a hundred people would say a good word about him, but a hundred years later, as the victor,
Yuan Shao will make everyone think that Cao Cao is an evil boss who is ignorant and has committed heinous crimes. The people will hate him deeply.
"Then do we need to notify the Bingzhou Army? Destroying Aocang will also be a big loss for them."
"We can't let this news leak out more (otherwise my betrayal will be more likely to be in vain), and we all know that the people of Bingzhou are being held back by monsters who don't know where they are.
Even if we knew the news, we wouldn't have enough energy to take care of this. Although we don't know what they did to continue to suffer divine punishment, but as far as we are concerned, we should not take their power into consideration from the beginning.
It’s the most appropriate choice.”
As Xu You said himself, he did not take the variable of Bingzhou Army into consideration from the beginning. It was not that he underestimated the influence of Bingzhou Army, but that all the counselors of Yuan Shao believed that the core group of Bingzhou Army was more powerful than the direct one.
Strong intervention, obvious
However, I hope to see a lose-lose situation between Cao Cao's army and Yuan Shao's army, and then the Bingzhou army can calmly stand up and clean up the situation - but because Yuan Shao's army is stronger, the Bingzhou army will naturally be more inclined to support Cao Cao's army.
.
In other words, without the emperor as a factor, Cao Cao, who was forced into a desperate situation, would definitely turn to the Bingzhou Army for help as an alternative bargaining chip. In other words, if the situation was worrying, Cao Cao would definitely manipulate the emperor to drag the Bingzhou Army into this muddy water.
among.
Therefore, in Xu You's view, it is not so much that the Bingzhou Army was held back by the "dead" they promoted, but rather that they just found a rather bizarre excuse that really cannot withstand scrutiny.
In fact, it was precisely because Xu You had such considerations that he made such a suggestion to Yuan Shao. In fact, when the light cavalry inserted between Guandu and Xuchang and gained sufficient support, Yuan Shao's army also made a move to intimidate Cao Cao's army.
During the posture, Yuan
Shao's army does not want to engage in a decisive battle with Cao Cao's army immediately, but to turn around and attack Aocang like Yuan Shao is doing now, cutting off the connection between Cao Cao's army and Bingzhou army, and of course taking out one of the main forces of Cao Cao's army stationed in Aocang.
Xiahou Dun and Yu Jinsuo.
Xu You believes that this is Yuan Shaojun's best choice - if Cao Cao focuses on dealing with the "trouble" behind him, then Yuan Shaojun can attack Aocang calmly and at the same time cooperate with those who secretly surrender to Yuan Shao to create a
The general trend is extremely unfavorable to Cao Cao's army. As long as the light troops can delay Cao Cao's army, Yuan Shao's army who captured Aocang can turn around and come back to play "catching turtles in a urn".
If Cao Cao chooses to use his own eggs to hit Yuan Shaojun's rock, it will naturally be an exciting result. Even if he does not capture Aocang, a decisive battle with Cao Cao's army will be in line with the appetite of Yuan Shao and his generals.
.
And if Cao Cao chooses to break out or continue to defend, then the strategic initiative will completely fall into the hands of Yuan Shaojun, and Cao Cao will become a stray dog and slowly die in despair.
It's just that Yuan Shao probably had lingering fears about the combat effectiveness of the Bingzhou Army. He was always worried about attracting this huge variable into this battlefield. Although one against two looked impressive, Yuan Shao's army even thought that they could do this.
At the same time, he also successfully achieved this in the early stages of the war.
When the state army and Cao Cao's army gradually recovered from the initial series of blows, Yuan Shao's army found that they fell into a huge quagmire as a result of beating the snake to death - while the Bingzhou army was still away from the battlefield.
Under such circumstances, Cao Cao's army had already firmly held back Yuan Shao's army with the support of the Bingzhou people.
As a result, the original left-leaning adventurism turned into right-leaning capitulationism, which made Yuan Shao seem to demonize the Bingzhou Army - at least Xu You thought so. Otherwise, how can one explain why Yuan Shao vetoed his perfect proposal.
Sure enough, it would be better to kick such an unreliable leader away. If you want to find a new job, you will be better off~!
Of course, the complacent Xu You couldn't notice that when he mentioned "God's punishment", the face of a certain black-skinned dwarf turned dark. However, he quickly returned to normal, so even Liu Xie didn't notice.
This change of Cao Cao.
After that, Cao Cao discussed some more specific details with Xu You, and Liu Xie listened attentively. Perhaps the letter just now stimulated him a little, so this time Liu Xie did not care about his identity.
Suitable. Transform into a "curious baby". Whenever there is something unclear,
He took the initiative to ask questions. Although it made people feel a little bored, after all, many things were common sense questions. Only an emperor like Liu Xie who always stayed in the palace would know very little about such common sense questions.
, asking some cute questions that seemed silly to the two veterans.
Of course, there is a lot of protection outside, so you don’t have to worry about the news leaking. Liu Xie is the ninth-five-year-old. The nominal boss of the two, so even if he keeps muttering in his heart, "Just ask so many questions. Just wait and dedicate the victory to you."
That'll be fine" and other words, but he had to obey orders and answer every question raised by Liu Xie carefully.
Because they could occasionally use Liu Xie's naive questions to check for gaps in their plans, the two of them couldn't answer randomly. At least Liu Xie was not stupid. The occasional inferences not only surprised the two of them, but also made them feel
to pressure.
After a while, Cao Cao ordered Cao Hong to take Xu You away and treat him well. Except for some restrictions on Xu You's personal freedom, all other standards were slightly higher than when he was with Yuan Shaojun.
.
This made Xu You, who had just experienced a major change, quite satisfied.
Of course, if it hadn't been for the major changes that had occurred, it might not have been as easy as it is now to satisfy Xu You.
So under the escort of Cao Hong, Xu You left Cao Cao's camp. In the next period of time, the two of them should stay at a fairly close distance. However, besides being greedy and stingy, Cao Hong also read a lot of books.
, I think it shouldn’t make Xu You feel like he is living in a pile of muscles.
"...How could Yuan Shao's food garrison be so unprepared? Is this really not a plan to fake surrender?"
"Yuan Shao can have many choices, whether it is according to Xu You's ideas, his own ideas, or other people's ideas. But we are different. No matter whether the Bingzhou Army is really trapped in Guanzhong and unable to support this
At this point, we obviously cannot place the possibility of victory on that illusory thing, so Xu Ziyuan is right at least in one sentence, that is, if we don't follow his strategy, then we really can only sit back and wait for death."
"But Xu You is a very greedy person, and although she did not directly participate in Yuan Shao's fight for heirs, she also played a very bad role in it. We are also aware of this. I think it is difficult to regard him as a god-given gift to us.
gift."
"Your Majesty, what you said is right, but have you forgotten what I just said? Xu You may have problems of one kind or another, but for us now, he is exactly what we need and can help
Our person. Compared with the problems he has, the benefits he can bring to us are obviously more important."
"Which is the lesser of two powers that harm each other..."
"It's great that Your Majesty understands this."
"...But what if one day the benefits he can bring to us are far less than the harm he does to us?"
"As an old friend of Ziyuan, I naturally don't want that day to happen, but... I'm just saying that if such an unfortunate day does come, I can still assure you that at least your Majesty does not need to dirty you.
As your minister, I, Cao Mengde, will definitely help you solve your problems."
"Then, everything will continue to be entrusted to Mr. Taiwei. At least compared to Xu You's personal ethics issues. Yuan Shao, that rebellious man, covets the country and the country of our Han family. He is our biggest enemy."
"Your Majesty, Cao Mengde, will definitely live up to His Majesty's will."
"...Ah, that's right!" Liu Xie, who was about to leave, suddenly stopped and asked Cao Cao, who was bowing towards his back: "I wonder if Aiqing has much respect for Yuan Fang?
Where’s the impression?”
Then Liu Xie once again saw the tangled expression on Cao Cao's face that was not common in the first place.
Pan Sen: I recommend a historical book called "My Soviet Union". The protagonist is very funny, but underneath the funnyness there are many things worth thinking about. (To be continued...)