Chapter 1952 Enemy or Friend, Enemy or Friend


    Fei lurked in Chang''an and made a splash, and Cao Cao was not all sitting idle.


    When the old year is about to pass and the new year is about to come, the so-called New Year greetings are second, and more important is the full integration, bringing together the originally scattered and opposing areas into a "concerted effort" force.


    For this reason, Xun Yu has been on duty at Shangshutai for nearly a month without taking a rest.


    Among the ancient people, bathing was a big event, and even the government had to make special regulations to give officials time to go home and take a bath.


    It''s a pity that Xun Yu doesn''t have time, he only has less than ten months left. It''s not that Xun Yu is seriously ill, or that he is about to die from some hidden disease, but that Empress Cao is less than ten months away from giving birth. After thinking about it repeatedly, Xun Yu has already made the worst plan. Now he has to race against time...


    Hussar General Fei Qian is like a fierce tiger on the sidelines. Although he is lying lazily now, his power still makes Xun Yu breathless. In order to integrate Jizhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other places faster and better, Xun Yu had no choice but to take risks.


    If you give birth to a son, everything will be fine, but if you give birth to a woman, Xun Yu can only bear the consequences. Resignation or something is almost inevitable. If at that time, Cao Cao was more or less able to stabilize his power, then he would still have a chance to come back to power, and everything could be done. If Cao Cao could not break Jizhou and Yuzhou into a monolith within ten months, what would he do even if he was on stage? ?


    What Xun Yu is most worried about is that the integration of Jizhou and Yuzhou is too slow. If the integration is too slow, then Cao Cao will definitely not be able to completely control the court, and if he cannot fully control the court, there will inevitably be voices from the opposite side, and this voice from the opposite side is doomed for Cao Cao to be unable to contend with Fei Qian with all his strength, and in the end The result is bound to be failure.


    There are more people, the benefits of having more people, a large population base, can support more soldiers, more taxes, etc., but also, a large population makes things complicated, and various interests are involved. It''s nothing to show up, and when something is exposed, it often makes people crazy.


    It''s like a few hundred more or less Zhengxi coins. Maybe it''s not a big deal for a scholar''s son alone, or it''s not a big deal at all, but once it becomes a family, hundreds of coins If thousands of clansmen count together, the number will immediately become much larger, and not everyone can give up easily. If several families are connected together, then this number will increase even more!


    The work of Shangshutai is not only the people''s livelihood and government affairs, but also the overall planning work behind the war. Almost every day is full. If Xun Yu himself is good at internal affairs, he may not be able to persevere if he is replaced by someone else. No problem.


    You must know that there were six people in charge of the Shangshutai in the imperial court, and then they were on duty, but now basically all the big and small things are handled by Xun Yu, and the burden can be imagined.


    However, Cao Cao is about to be a teacher, which means that Xun Yu can take a breather.


    It was just an extra breath of relief.


    On the Jiangdong battlefield, Sun Quan was still not reconciled after retreating back. From time to time, he sent soldiers to test, or to find a breakthrough, or to use it to train troops, or both, so that small-scale battles It happened from time to time, but on the whole, Cao Jun still wins more and loses less, controlling the north bank of the river.


    At the same time, Cao Chun led 2,000 cavalry from Jiangxia, Jingzhou, to Youzhou, traveling more than a thousand miles. On the one hand, he collected and organized the remaining Wuhuan people in Tadun, and on the other hand, it was also to fill Yuan Xi''s The vacancy has somewhat restricted Zhao Yun, Fei Qian''s northern army.


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


    Cao Cao asked Dong Zhao to start reading.


    Dong Zhao, originally promoted as Xiaolian when he was young, later took up the post of joining the army under Yuan Shao''s account. There are also some meritorious deeds, but Yuan Shao, everyone knows that he was very dissatisfied with Dong Zhao after hearing the slander once, and severely pursued the responsibility, which caused Dong Zhao to leave Yuan Shao.


    So Cao Cao appointed Dong Zhao at the moment. In fact, the thoughts and intentions behind it are naturally understood by anyone who understands, but don’t you still don’t understand? Well, there is a pile of mud over there...


    Cao Cao''s act of asking Dong Zhao to recite the military situation, on the one hand, is to show his trust in Dong Zhao, and there is another more important factor, that is, Cao Cao is a bit presbyopic.


    Cao Cao''s age, now he is rushing to the fifth ring, uh, five cards...


    Although Cao Cao is unwilling to admit it, very unwilling, but it is true that his physical functions have begun to decline, regardless of his personal will. In order to facilitate the transmission of military information, it is impossible to fill a basket with large characters. Naturally, it is as small as possible. It is indeed extremely painful for presbyopia to recognize the small characters on the fine silk.


    Dong Zhao unfolded the information, first quickly read it up and down, and couldn''t help but sucked in a breath of cold air.


    Cao Cao looked at Dong Zhao and couldn''t help but sink a little bit.


    Dong Zhao has always attached great importance to personal manners. For example, what is "Mount Tai collapsed before, but the color does not change". Since serving as a military officer in the army to sacrifice wine, he has been calm and calm. Even when he received an emergency military situation, he was calm, but now, Dong Zhao''s expression was serious, even a little surprised, and even the hand holding the information seemed to tremble...


    Cao Cao closed his eyes and did not rush to ask. If the subordinates are in a hurry, the leader must calm down, otherwise there will be a mess up and down, what else is there to do?


    After a few breaths, Dong Zhao calmed down, and slowly read the military situation. The main reason is that Fei Qian marched into the Western Regions, fought against the countries of the Western Regions, and defeated the Western Regions Allied Forces in one fell swoop, successfully erected the Han flag again at Haitou, and then It is about to enter the last and largest city of Guishan people in the Western Regions...


    While Dong Zhao was reading, Cao Cao listened with his eyes closed. After listening, Cao Cao slowly opened his eyes, stroked his beard, and said in a low voice after a while: "I never thought that the thief from the Western Regions would lose so quickly..."


    Although the distance between Cao Cao and the Western Regions is very far, and only one piece of information cannot fully outline the outline of the battle in the Western Regions, Cao Cao is indeed very happy that Fei Qian started the battle in the Western Regions so quickly and confirmed the victory. accident.


    You know, the Han and Xiqiang have been fighting for 30 to 40 years before even reaching the Western Regions...


    And now...


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


    Although Cao Cao is also a Han Chinese, and he also hopes that Fei Qian will win in the end, and then reproduce the majestic appearance of the big man in the Western Regions, but what Cao Cao did not expect is that Fei Qian can do it so fast!


    Cao Cao originally thought that the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, even if they are small countries, each country has thousands of soldiers, and when added together, there are at least 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and then Feiqian must pass through the Hexi Corridor. For an expedition to the Western Regions, at least 100,000 to 200,000 people will be mobilized. At the same time, Fei Qian will also need to take care of Xianbei in the north and Jiaozhi in the south. How many soldiers should be stationed in these places?


    In this way, even if Fei Qian marched into the Western Regions, even with Lu Bu as the vanguard, he might not be able to win quickly. This big quagmire is dragging an inch.


    Who would have thought that according to what was said in the military situation—in fact, the specific situation is not very clear, it is just a general idea—the Western Regions could not stop Lu Bu’s advance, and even Fei Qian did not move, defeated the Western Regions Allied Forces, and even prepared to attack Guishan people''s stronghold in the Western Regions...


    『How about the loss of the hussars? ’ Cao Cao asked.


    Dong Zhao read it again, shook his head slowly, and said: "The letter is not clear...it should be quite small..."


    Cao Cao hummed, frowned and said, "The barbarians of the Western Regions are so..." Cao Cao originally wanted to say the word "useless", but after all, Fei Qian conquered the Western Regions. Swallowed these two words and replaced them with "Unexpectedly, the sharp edge of the hussars..."


    Dong Zhao had calmed down now, and after thinking for a while, he comforted Cao Cao and said, "Guishuang in the Western Regions has not yet been completely defeated, and there are still countries such as Cheshi Shule, and it is not clear. , It is common sense that there will be repetitions later...Ming Gong is not worried about this, although the hussars have won for the first time, but they have no time to take care of them...』


    After all, this type of information is passed on in secret, so it is impossible to write it in detail, let alone specify some time, so Cao Cao and Dong Zhao want to smooth out the context and even the time of the specific conquest. , is not so easy.


    Cao Cao only knew that Fei Qian probably used the soldiers and horses of Longyou, plus a part of Hanzhong and Guanzhong, mainly more than 10,000 cavalry. More detailed things, such as the number of infantry and labor for logistics support, are not clear. It is even more impossible to know how to fight and what tactics to use.


    Putting himself in the situation, Cao Cao can generally guess a little bit. Lu Bu''s personal bravery, coupled with the brave cavalry of the hussars, probably taught the unprepared Western Regions a good lesson. Caught off guard, It is indeed very possible to defeat the front of the barbarians in the Western Regions in one fell swoop and win the victory.


    As for Cao Cao''s laments behind the hussars, there are seven or eight parts of the sincerity. When Cao Cao came into contact with Fei Qian, he felt that Fei Qian was not simple. Later, he also discovered that Fei Qian had a unique strategic vision, pointing out Dong Zhuo''s plan to move the capital, but God''s will tricks people...


    Cao Cao couldn''t help sighing slightly in his heart.


    At that time, Cao Cao consciously raised his troops to chase and kill Dong Zhuo. Even if he couldn''t win a big victory, he could still get some meritorious service, and then it would not be too late to recruit Fei Qian, but what he didn''t expect was that he was ambushed by Dong Zhuo instead, and the Suanzao allied forces also They each had their own ghosts, so that they were delayed, and finally passed each other, one heading east and the other heading west.


    Until now, Cao Cao occasionally dreamed at night that he and Fei Qian had made an appointment to meet and talk outside Suanzao camp, and wanted to talk to Fei Qian about something, but when he was about to go outside the camp, he was caught by this Zhang. Miao held on to being hugged by that Liu Dai, and after getting out, he couldn''t find Fei Qian, wanted to shout but couldn''t, wanted to find but didn''t know where to find it, and then woke up...


    Cao Cao came back to his senses, and heard Dong Zhao say from the side: "... For the present plan, it should be Jingzhou... What''s more, if the hussars take advantage of this, please seal it again..."


    Cao Cao''s eyes were fixed.


    For Jiang Xia''s use of troops this time, on the one hand, Cao Cao wanted to divert the internal economic pressure and obtain more resources to fill the emptiness of his own property; on the other hand, he also felt that under the pressure of Fei Qian, there was a relatively friendly ally It is always better than one more enemy, so Cao Cao suppressed some 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 is to temporarily ease the current difficult situation, so that Cao Cao will not want to gnaw the soil again, or use the rat meat reserve again That''s all...


    There is still a long way to go to eat meat and drink alcohol. Cao Cao has even issued an order to strictly prohibit wine making, because wine making will cause a lot of food loss. After all, the locust plague has just passed. Who can guarantee that there will be no locust plague again next year?


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


    The new year is coming, so it is natural to use wine and meat to worship ancestors. How can it be done without wine? Besides, the big guy has worked so hard to support you, Boss Cao, okay, it’s been a whole year, and you don’t even let people drink alcohol. Is there any reason for this, and let people live?


    In the end, Cao Cao could only compromise and ordered a change from a comprehensive ban on alcohol to a strict ban on the sale of alcohol. Self-brewing and self-drinking is fine, but if it is sold, it is not acceptable. This is an agreement with the gentry. Anyway, among the big gentry families, they naturally have their own winemakers, so some of them drink, but they can’t sell it. As for wine, proper storage will increase the quality of the wine, so if you don’t sell it for the time being, don’t sell it. Not a big problem.


    As for whether ordinary people drink alcohol or not, will it affect their family sacrifices? Ha ha, who cares?


    The gentry accepted it, but Cao Cao was still unhappy.


    Cao Cao said that this is definitely not because of his small belly and the mentality of retribution, but Cao Cao thinks this is a provocation to his authority...


    These guys are against Prohibition now, who knows what they might be against in the future? On that day, the objection came to Cao Cao''s own head, saying that the place where Cao Cao''s head grew was wrong, and he wanted to change to a new place?


    The reason why Cao Cao doesn''t treat these gentry toughly now, with patience and concession, doesn''t mean that Cao Cao is willing to accept this kind of patience and concession!


    So Cao Cao agreed to Xun Yu''s plan.


    Internally, to strengthen the consolidation of the gentry in various states, using the "examination" system as the starting point, while externally, it is to strengthen Cao Cao''s power, using Empress Cao as an opportunity.


    Sometimes, the difference between an enemy and an ally is actually two words, interest.


    Different from what most people guessed, the next position Cao Cao plans to take is not the position of the head of the country, but the "General"...


    If you want to be the head of the state, you can do it when Cao Cao sent his daughter to the palace. Why wait until now? Although this move made the two women lose their happiness, Cao Cao thought it was necessary. The men of the Cao family and Xiahou family fought desperately on the battlefield and worked hard in the officialdom, so do the women of the Cao family and Xiahou family only know how to eat and drink, without giving or sacrificing anything?


    So Cao Cao doesn''t regret it, uh, or rather, he can''t regret it. At least when Cao Cao thinks of Mrs. Ding and his daughter, he must repeat in his heart again, no regrets.


    Now, Empress Cao has paved a road for Cao Cao, a road that can be sealed on Fei Qian''s head, the road of a great general.


    The highest realm of foreign relatives in the Han Dynasty was the general.


    Although it is said that most of the great generals in the Han Dynasty had some problems with their fate, it was generally a matter of the death of the great generals, and Cao Cao, if he couldn’t take care of the present, then what’s the point of talking about and thinking about the problems after death ?


    The road of the Great General is ahead, but it is still difficult to walk up.


    Just compare how to advance.


    He Jin is also a great general, but after He Jin became a great general, not everyone thinks that He Jin is a "great general". Back then, He Jin was favored by his younger sister before being a general, and he was appointed as a doctor. He served as the general of Huben Zhonglang and the prefect of Yingchuan. Therefore, during the Yellow Turban Uprising, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty worshiped him as a general and headed the capital, but in fact He Jin''s prestige in the army was not high, and he did not receive much support from the gentry.


    Although it is said that after He Jin took office, he was Zhang Dawei. He taught martial arts in the capital and formed a camp. Zhong Daquan, all kinds of people, looked beautiful, but in fact they were empty. In the end, they were gently pushed by a few eunuchs, and the shelf that had been built collapsed to the ground.


    This is a **** lesson, just a few feet away. Cao Cao doesn’t want to be like He Jin, whose head was beheaded and thrown out from behind the palace wall...


    Therefore, Cao Cao grasped military power very tightly.


    But military power alone is not enough, at least not for now. Cao Cao cannot stand up from the position of Sikong, and then sit firmly in the position of general.


    Also need to have enough military merit...


    Especially compared to the **** guy Fei Qian.


    Originally, if Yuan Tan was still alive, then most of Jizhou could be used as a highlight of Cao Cao''s military exploits, suppressing the gentry in Yuzhou and Yuzhou to have nothing to say, but Yuan Tan died, and Jizhou was almost disturbed by Fei Qian It is not perfect, so it can be said that there are loopholes and flaws.


    Jiang Xia may not be a military achievement that can be publicized.


    After all, this **** hussar general has done an excellent job in expanding the territory in terms of military exploits, so good that other people of the same generation feel that Ya pears are indeed much bigger than ordinary pears...


    Therefore, Cao Cao can only seek second best. Since he can''t play tricks on military exploits, he can only seek progress in his connections, and Liu Biao is Cao Cao''s goal.


    Cao Cao hoped to take this opportunity of assistance to get Liu Biao to support him, and took the initiative to recommend Cao Cao as a general, instead of Cao Cao saying that he would be a general. I''m in poor health, and I''ll talk about it after I recover...


    In a sense, Cao Cao and Liu Biao were allies before, but this does not mean that Cao Cao and Liu Biao have been good friends all their lives. When there are differences, especially major differences, even father and son, wife and children will kill each other , let alone just friends?


    『Jingzhou...』 Cao Cao pondered, his eyes slightly cold.


    (end of this chapter)