The gentle and refined young man standing behind Cao Cao is Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang.
After listening to Cao Cao's words, he smiled bitterly and said, "That Yuan family kid has a reputation as a fierce tiger. He is good at both civil and military affairs. Ang is indeed far inferior to him."
Among the counselors present, Xun Yu spoke up: "Everyone has his own strengths. You are sincere to others and you are a man of great character and broad mind. There is no need to belittle yourself."
After listening to this, Cao Cao nodded without saying anything, then shook his head slightly.
What Xun Yu said was indeed correct. Cao Ang was a kind and gentle man who handled things fairly, and was highly respected by his subordinates.
But this is also what Cao Cao was worried about. With Cao Ang's character, he would be more than capable of maintaining the status quo in a peaceful and prosperous era. But now that the world is in chaos, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and people with this character will suffer great losses.
What Cao Cao envied now was Yuan Xi, who was known as the fierce tiger of the Yuan family. In his opinion, Yuan Xi would sooner or later become a serious threat to him!
Because Yuan Xi is so much like himself!
None of the three sons of the Yuan family is easy to deal with. Yuan Tan is brave and good at fighting, Yuan Shang is powerful and good at strategy, but the one that Cao Cao least expected now is Yuan Xi, who was unknown in Beixincheng for three years but has made a big splash in the past two years.
He said, "I called you all here because there are three directions to attack from."
To the west is Lu Bu in Henei, to the south is Yuan Shu in Yuzhou, and to the east is Liu Bei in Xuzhou.
Xun Yu, Cheng Yu and others started discussing, but in the end, their voices gradually became lower.
Cao Cao was annoyed when he saw this and said, "Why, without any talent, you guys can't come up with any ideas?"
Xun Yu and Cheng Yu looked strange, thinking to themselves that this was indeed the case. This was the first time they had participated in a discussion among advisers without Xi Zhicai being present, resulting in a lack of a backbone and no one being able to convince anyone else.
Cao Cao sighed, "Zhicai is seriously ill, and you are all busy with your work. I think we should recruit talented people from all over the world."
"If you know anyone, please feel free to recommend them. If they are talented, I will definitely use them."
Xun Yu heard this and said, "I heard that Guo Jia and Guo Fengxiao have been giving Yuan Xi a lot of advice recently."
"The battle of Yijing lured Gongsun Zan out. Now the open attack on Yuyang and the covert attack on Guangling are most likely his work."
"This person is very talented, but it's a pity that he was missed."
Cheng Yu felt unhappy after hearing this. Xun Yu was obviously targeting him!
He understood what was going on. Xun Yu was a person of moral purity and was very unhappy about the fact that he made dried meat, so from then on, he had been intentionally or unintentionally going against him.
It is very likely that Xun Yu admired Guo Jia very much in private, but Guo Jia was captured by him and used as a bargaining chip to exchange with Yuan Xi. When Xun Yu said this at this time, he was secretly mocking himself.
Cheng Yu sneered in his heart. Everything he did was to take the blame for the Lord. You, Xun Yu, didn't stand up to oppose it at that time. Why are you acting like a hypocrite now?
He opened his mouth, but felt a little bored. Never mind. It had come to this. He was almost the only remaining member of the Yanzhou faction, and could not compete with the growing Yingchuan faction.
Cao Cao said, "Now I have Chang Wen to surrender, whose talent is no less than that of Guo Jia, so let's not talk about the past anymore."
"I heard that Changwen had met Yuan Xi in Xuzhou a few days ago?"
Among the counselors, Chen Qun stood up and bowed, saying, "Mr. Bingming, I did meet Yuan Xi when he was on a diplomatic mission to Xuzhou."
When Zhang Fei lost Xia Pi and Tan Cheng, Chen Qun felt that he was not valued by Liu Bei, so he did not follow him to flee to Haixi, but instead defected to Cao Cao in anger and is now highly valued.
Chen Qun added: "This guy is very eloquent. He was able to win the argument with everyone that day and was not inferior to them. He single-handedly facilitated the alliance between Yuan and Liu. He is not a simple person."
Cao Cao heard this and sighed, "This boy has a long-term vision. If Benchu had listened to him and fully supported Liu Bei, I would have had a hard time taking Xuzhou."
He said to Xun Yu: "The Yuan family is powerful, and I urgently need virtuous people to help me. I don't need to be a relative of mine. Wen Ruo said, is there anyone with great talent among my sons and nephews?"
Cao Cao now feels a little regretful. He killed too many local gentry in Yanzhou, which resulted in no one coming to him for a period of time. The same was true for Xuzhou.
After he massacred Xuzhou twice, he found that the local resistance seemed to be more intense, and the massacre in the city was counterproductive.
After hearing this, Xun Yu hurriedly said, "I have nephews in my clan, Xun You and Xun Gongda, who are talented in governing the country, and are no less talented than my eight brothers. Moreover, they are good at coming up with surprising strategies, far better than me."
"He is staying in Jingzhou temporarily. If you invite him, he will certainly agree."
Cao Cao was delighted when he heard this and said, "In that case, I will write a letter and send someone to Jingzhou!"
Cheng Yu thought to himself that this was good. Xi Zhicai was sick, and with the addition of Chen Qun, Xun You, and Xun Yu, these Yingchuan advisers were here, so he had no say at all.
The counselors discussed for a long time, but still could not decide which direction to attack.
After Lu Bu entered Henei, with the support of Zhang Yang, his army grew a lot. If Cao Cao attacked him at this time, even if he broke into Henei, he would only force him to the north and could not completely destroy him.
Moreover, in order to attack Hanoi, they must cross the Yellow River. Logistics is a huge problem for Cao's army.
As for Yuan Shu in the south, he occupied part of Jingzhou, Yuzhou and Yangzhou, and had many powerful generals under his command. He was in a strong momentum, and these territories were not easy to conquer.
Then, by comparison, Liu Bei in Xuzhou is the easiest target to bully at the moment.
Originally, the change in Xia Pi was Cao Cao's best opportunity. At that time, there was only one isolated army led by Sun Ce in the city. If Cao Cao had marched forward with all his strength, he could have killed Sun Ce and then defeated Liu Bei and occupied Xuzhou. However, Yuan Xi's interference made Xuzhou chaotic.
Although Sun Ce ran back to Guangling to fight Yuan Xi, Cao's army naturally did not give up this opportunity. However, under the leadership of Cao Ren and others, they attacked Tancheng several times, but were all blocked.
Later, Cao's army learned that a strategist named Zhou Yu was defending the city instead of Sun Ce. His command was rigorous and flawless, and Cao's army returned empty-handed several times.
Obviously, Zhou Yu is also a powerful figure who is extremely difficult to deal with!
Cao Cao was annoyed when he saw that everyone was undecided. He said, "Since you can't make a decision, then do as I say."
After hearing this, all the counselors breathed a sigh of relief and said, "We will follow your orders, sir."
Cao Cao said: "I am going to mobilize the army and attack Xia Pi with all our strength!"
"If we can't take Xuzhou, we will turn back and attack Chenliu County and kill Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao!"
After hearing this, everyone felt that this was the best option under the current circumstances and accepted the order.
When everyone left, Cheng Yu was the last one to leave, hesitant to speak. Cao Cao saw him and kept him there. After everyone had left, he said to Cheng Yu, "Zhongde, do you have anything to say?"
Cheng Yu heard this and said, "If you plot against the Zhang Miao brothers in Chenliu, I'm afraid that the governor of Dongjun, Zang Hong, will oppose it."
Juancheng, where the Cao family was located, was the seat of Yanzhou, but it was located in Dongjun.
The seat of the government of Zang Hong, the governor of Dongjun, is in Dongwuyang, not far from Juancheng. If he has any ulterior motives, Juancheng will be in a passive position.
Cao Cao listened and nodded, saying, "Zhongde's words make sense. I understand."
He added: "Zhongde, don't take Wenruo's words to heart. I know your difficulties."
Cheng Yu was moved and said goodbye before leaving.
Cao Ang saw Cheng Yu leaving and asked hesitantly, "Mr. Zhongde, do you mean to attack Zang Hong first?"
Cao Cao said: "That's right. Zhang Miao was raised by Zang Hong. If we attack Zhang Miao, Zang Hong will definitely be dissatisfied and may even raise an army to attack me."
Cao Ang said: "But Zang Hong is the leader of the Suanzao coalition. If we deal with him, won't the princes of the world come to our aid?"
Cao Cao sneered after hearing this and said, "The Suanzao people are all a bunch of servile people!"
The reason why Cao Cao despised the Sour Jujube Alliance so much was that he was not valued in this alliance and was often ridiculed.
At that time, Cao Cao was just a young man with a lot of passion. He did not participate deeply in the politics of the top aristocratic princes and did not understand the darkness in it. It was not until he suffered many losses that he slowly began to change.
What changed Cao Cao's life was his experience of participating in the Guandong Allied Forces Conference at Suanzao.
According to the "Records of the Three Kingdoms·Wei Shu·Chronicle of Emperor Wu", in the first month of the first year of Chuping (190 AD), eleven provincial and county officials simultaneously launched an attack on Dong Zhuo: General Yuan Shu, Mu of Jizhou Han Fu, Governor of Yuzhou Kong Rong, Governor of Yanzhou Liu Dai, Prefect of Henei Wang Kuang, Prefect of Bohai Yuan Shao, Prefect of Chenliu Zhang Miao, Prefect of Guangling Zhang Chao, Prefect of Dongjun Qiao Mao, Prefect of Shanyang Yuan Yi, and Prime Minister of Jibei Bao Xin.
These eleven people were the main force of the Guandong coalition forces. Each of them was a local lord, and Cao Cao at that time was just a small thug.
Cao Cao still had some ideals about restoring the Han Dynasty at that time, but his enthusiasm was soon extinguished by a series of cold water.
Although the princes from Guandong claimed to be an allied force, many of them did not show up. At that time, Yuan Shao and Wang Kuang were in Henei, Yuan Shu was in Nanyang, Han Fu was in Yecheng, Kong Zhu was in Yingchuan, and Zhang Miao, Liu Dai, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi and others were stationed in Suanzao.
They jointly raised an army to fight against Dong Zhuo, but in fact they all had their own ulterior motives. When the oath-taking ceremony was held in Suanzao, the various princes pushed each other away and were unwilling to go up to the altar to take the oath.
So everyone unanimously recommended Zang Hong, who was then a county official, to the altar. Zang Hong was a man of great courage and integrity, and was originally a Gongcao of Zhang Chao, the governor of Guangling. Zang Hong did not refuse and went up to the altar to swear an oath of blood.
But to put it bluntly, Zang Hong was pushed out to take the scapegoat, but Zang Hong was a very loyal man, so he became a leader with only a nominal title.
From the perspective of later generations, the oath that Zang Hong made on behalf of everyone was very effective.
"All of us allies must work together... If you violate this alliance, you will lose your life and have no chance to pass on your legacy. The Heavens, the Earth, and the spirits of our ancestors will all bear witness to this!"
The general idea is that anyone who breaks the oath will not have a good death.
A few years later, almost all of the eleven princes who joined the coalition but had no intention of fulfilling their promise and who prevaricated and had their own ulterior motives about attacking Dong Zhuo died.
Moreover, most of these eleven people died at the hands of their own allies.
The rest were almost all killed by Cao Cao, a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.
Of course, the princes today do not know their own fate, and Cao Cao does not know what he can do.
But Cao Cao has already begun to act.
Now the person Cao Cao wanted to kill was the important participant of the Sour Jujube Coalition at that time.
Brothers Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao.
And Zang Hong.