Chapter 69: The four-piece puzzle of Cao Cao’s rise
Bind your hands and feet.
This is the biggest problem facing Cao Cao today...
For example, Xuzhou.
In the past, when conquering Tao Qian, the Cao family's convoy was robbed as a pretense to win the sympathy and support of the princes in the world.
But now, the pastor of Xuzhou has been replaced by Liu Bei and Lu Bu, and Tao Qian has returned to the west. It seems that the excuses and wording used to conquer Xuzhou in the past are no longer useful, and public opinion has turned more to the opposite side.
Now Lu Bu, Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu are fighting into a mess in Xuzhou, even if the final result is that all three will be defeated.
But to clean up the mess, Cao Cao's first consideration was not the issue of troops, but the issue of divisions...
Don’t underestimate the words “the teacher is famous”.
Didn't Liu Bei eat a morsel of rice from Cao Cao's house?
Why do you go to conquer others in such a good way?
If you insist on having your own way, what will the princes of the world think? What will the common people think? What will the noble families think?
Could it be that Cao Cao is imagined to be a great demon king who is keen on killing? From then on, he will be isolated and despised by the world, and no wise people will come to seek refuge with him!
Don't underestimate the power of public opinion. Dong Zhuo was punished by the princes because of his dethronement, and his head was missing.
Lessons from the past must be taken seriously...
Thinking of this, Cao Cao's face darkened, his expression was a little nervous and a little urgent, and his eyes kept looking at Yi Xiaotian, as if he was looking forward to the answer from his mouth.
"Well..."
Yi Xiaotian thought for a moment and raised his hand slightly. "The reason why Cao Cao is tied up is because he is missing the most important piece of the puzzle on his road to dominance!"
Hmm? Jigsaw puzzle?
The most important piece of the puzzle?
Cao Cao was stunned and quickly asked, "Brother Yi? What kind of puzzle is this?"
"If you want to explain this most important puzzle piece, which one should be the first to bear the brunt, I need to know, brother, what are the other three puzzle pieces that Cao Cao has assembled in the past two years?"
Yi Xiaotian took a sip of wine and organized his words slightly.
"Brother Hiding, since you are tied to Cao Cao, you should know that Cao Cao has been gradually rising from his defeat at Rongyang to now? What trajectory has he experienced in the past two years? Which three pieces of the puzzle have he assembled?
?”
Well…
Three pieces? Jigsaw puzzle?
Cao Cao was stunned. He didn't even know what these three pieces of the puzzle were.
Brother Yi's words today seem to be quite profound...
"Brother Yi, please stop showing off!" Cao Cao took the initiative to help Yi Xiaotian fill up his wine. "What are these three pieces, ah no, these four pieces of the puzzle?"
His tone was urgent, and for a moment, Cao Cao felt that he didn't understand him...
Has he collected "jigsaw puzzles" in the past few years? What are these key puzzle pieces?
This series of questions?
It seems that we have to ask Brother Yi to tell us.
For a moment, Cao Cao's ears pricked up, like those scholars and Confucian scholars kneeling in front of the Shuixie study, his eyes were full of urgency, and his heart was extremely curious...
Finally, Yi Xiaotian's words continued to spread.
"Cao Cao Chen Liu raised an army and called on all the princes in the world to attack Dong. Unfortunately, in the process of chasing Dong Zhuo, he was defeated in Rongyang and his capital was exhausted. However, Cao Cao still did not give up. With ambition and bravery, he went to Yangzhou to recruit troops. Who knows,
Things backfired, and soon I was betrayed by the new recruits..."
Yi Xiaotian told Cao Cao's trajectory before he took control of Yanzhou in detail. It seemed that the situation was a bit bleak!
Of course, Cao Cao was extremely familiar with every sentence, every word, even every place name, and every event.
Before meeting Yi Xiaotian, he had taken countless detours, narrowly escaped death countless times, and even planned to give up countless times...
Thinking of himself at that time, Cao Cao's eyes became a little complicated, and a trace of mixed emotions flashed in his eyes.
Yi Xiaotian’s words came one after another...
"Where were the other princes at that time? Dong Zhuo returned to Chang'an, and Yuan Shao captured Jizhou. Cao Cao, the herdsman of Yanzhou, twisted his neck and looked around. Except for the military regiments that originally followed him from his hometown in Qiao County, Peiguo, around him were those Cao Cao
Except for the brothers of the Xiahou family, there is no one else to accompany them..."
"It was from this moment on that Cao Cao found the first piece of the puzzle for him to set sail. He also realized an extremely important point. Yes, in this war-torn era, only blood ties can build a community of destiny...
"
"This is the first piece of the puzzle for Cao Cao's rise - the Qiao Pei Military Legion."
A lot of words.
Huo…
Cao Cao's eyes were filled with sparkle. Yes, the Qiao Pei Wu Ren Group had already been deeply implanted in his heart and became an unshakable but extremely loyal backbone in his future great cause!
Yi Xiaotian is right about this piece of the puzzle.
Even from this, Cao Cao realized a deeper truth, and he could delegate more power to the Qiao Pei Military Legion.
——This group of loyal and brave people who are connected by blood!
"What Brother Yi said is absolutely true." Cao Cao stood up solemnly and said seriously. "The Qiao Pei Military Army is the first piece of Cao Cao's puzzle and the basis for his hegemony."
"Yes, Brother Hi actually knows it in his heart, but he doesn't express it in words like me..."
Yi Xiaotian still maintains his inherent modesty...
He smiled slightly and continued.
"This is the second piece of the puzzle. Brother Hao just mentioned it. Cao Cao lowered his eyes and looked at the bottom. He defeated the Yellow Turbans and subdued them. In one fell swoop, he collected more than 300,000 soldiers and millions of men and women, and even selected the elite among them.
, formed Qingzhou soldiers, tiger and leopard cavalry..."
Speaking of this, Yi Xiaotian took the initiative to get closer to Cao Cao.
"Brother Hide, your character, your fine character, in these troubled times, the princes from all sides have to raise troops, either by relying on their military career, or by actively contacting local clans! But when Cao Cao had no one to rely on, he was stunned through his eyes.
"Sinking down to the bottom", "grassroots governance" has achieved a sudden increase in the army, and the results are not unpleasant or shocking!"
"In addition, he selected the elite and distributed the land, allowing the women, children, old and young who were originally Yellow Turban thieves to work on the farm safely, and empowered the strong men to go into battle to kill the enemy. In a short time, the people's hearts became attached to him, and millions of Yellow Turbans were willing to be loyal!"
"This is the result of 'grassroots governance', and this is also Cao Cao's second piece of the puzzle - focusing on the bottom and strengthening grassroots governance!"
Word after word passed into Cao Cao's ears...
The more he listened, the more fascinated he became, and he almost fell into it.
I had two classes today.
During the day, Brother Yi eloquently told the story of the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty, which was enlightening and thought-provoking...
At midnight, Brother Yi once again explained Cao Cao's growth trajectory and the puzzle pieces he had acquired.
Yi Xiaotian used the ideas of "Marxism-Leninism" and "Materialist Dialectics" to summarize Cao Cao's growth trajectory into a theory, and then used the theory to further guide practice, allowing people to draw nourishment from it. The end is unfathomable and wonderful!
Cao Cao was deeply impressed!
Of course, Cao Cao's heart is like a mirror...
If we say that his first piece of the puzzle, the Qiao Pei Military Legion, can be said to have been built based on Cao Cao's personal charm and family background.
Then the second piece of the puzzle, "lowering eyes" and "grassroots governance" are all attributed to Brother Yi.
If he hadn't come up with strategies to severely damage the Yellow Turbans, if he hadn't come up with ways to coopt the Yellow Turbans and appease them, if he hadn't come up with ways to allocate land to the common people...
The bottom layer of Yanzhou? How could it be as solid as a rock now?
How could Yanzhou's farmers and merchants be as vibrant as they are now?
When he thought of this, Cao Cao looked at Yi Xiaotian with eyes filled with gratitude...
This restaurant brother, who was both a teacher and a friend, brought him too many surprises from the moment he appeared.
The more he thought about it, the more curious Cao Cao became...
What is the third piece of the puzzle that Brother Yi mentioned?
Also, as Brother Yi mentioned, the most important piece of the puzzle that Cao Cao is missing? What is it?
For a moment, Cao Cao pricked up his ears, and his whole look was extremely serious and serious, just like a student listening to a professor before time travel.
