After Chen Gong left, Cao Cao immediately summoned Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun and others to gather together to secretly discuss the next strategic direction.

But before discussing it, Cao Cao looked at Xiahou Yuan with complicated eyes: "Miaocai, why didn't you inform me in advance about the assassination of Guo Fengxiao? Do you know the consequences of acting on your own?"

Xiahou Yuan was a straightforward person, and his mind was not filled with complicated thoughts. He was obviously stunned when he heard Cao Cao's words: "This... My Lord, didn't you tell me that the military advisor's orders are your orders? Shouldn't I obey his instructions?"

Cao Cao was almost choked to death by Xiahou Yuan's words.

Xiahou Dun was so angry that he cursed: "You are such a stubborn person! Those words you said in front of everyone are usually just for show. For such a major action, shouldn't you have asked Chen Gongtai in advance whether he had obtained the lord's authorization? As a military advisor, can he directly mobilize soldiers or even a general like you without going through the lord? Are you the lord's subordinate, or Chen Gongtai's subordinate?"

Xiahou Yuan was a little naive, but not stupid. When he heard this, he immediately understood that Cao Cao was neither aware of nor would he agree to the killing of Guo Jia.

"I admit my crime, please punish me, lord!"

Xiahou Yuan did not make any excuses, nor did he shirk his responsibility. He simply admitted his mistake and accepted the punishment.

Fortunately, Cao Cao knew that Xiahou Yuan did not do it on purpose, and since he was one of his own, he simply fined him a few months' salary and then gave him a few military sticks.

With Xiahou Yuan's strong physique, this military stick was not even a tickle to him. It was just for show to the soldiers below.

Seeing that his brother still hadn't figured it out, Xiahou Dun sighed, "Fortunately, the lord is magnanimous and doesn't bother with you. Otherwise, you would be sentenced to death for this matter alone."

After all, they were all brothers, so Cao Cao did not blame Xiahou Yuan too much. Instead, he comforted him with a pleasant face, saying, "Yuan Rang, you don't have to be like this. You are a talented person with an upright mind. It was just that you were not careful at the moment, so you were deceived. Just be careful next time."

In fact, despite all the cursing from Xiahou Dun, he said that on purpose. After playing the villain, he let Cao Cao play the hero to win the hearts of the people.

No matter how serious the matter was, as long as it was not a direct betrayal, Cao Cao would never be so cruel as to deal with a trusted general like Xiahou Yuan.

You should know that Xiahou Yuan was not only brave in battle, but also extremely loyal to Cao Cao. When Cao Cao first started his career, he followed him and was loyal to him. Xiahou Yuan himself was also very good at leading troops in battle. He was a descendant of Xiahou Ying, the Grand Coachman of the Western Han Dynasty. Not only was his wife the sister-in-law of Cao Cao, they were also related by marriage.

More importantly, Cao Cao was implicated in a case in his hometown in his early years, and it was only thanks to Xiahou Yuan that he took the blame that he was able to remain safe and sound.

With such a close relationship, how could Cao Cao really deal with Xiahou Yuan?
Just deduct some salary and give a few beatings, just show your respect.

After the punishment, Cao Cao comforted Xiahou Yuan and told him not to think too much about it. If he encountered such a thing again in the future, he should remember to ask for his instructions first.

Xiahou Yuan was quite moved. Even though he had made such a big mistake, his lord still chose to be tolerant. He became more determined to follow Cao Cao until death and fight for him across the world.

In the small study, the north wind was blowing snow outside the window and candlelight was shining inside the room.

Several people gathered in front of the map to discuss tactics together.

The more they discussed it, the more difficult it seemed. Xiangfan was a hellish place, and anyone who went there would end up with a bloody head if they didn't have an absolutely superior force and a powerful general who could defeat a thousand men.

Cao Ren asked with confusion, "My Lord, there is one thing I don't understand."

Cao Cao had always admired his cousin Cao Ren. When he heard that Cao Ren had questions, he smiled and said, "Zi Xiao, if you have anything to say, you may as well speak frankly."

Cao Ren and Wang Jing were of similar age and had already made their mark under Cao Cao. He was an excellent choice in both civil and military strategy and was the one that Cao Cao focused on cultivating.

He looked serious, bowed to Cao Cao, and then asked, "Even if our army joins hands with Yuan Shu, Xiangfan is doomed to be difficult to capture. Why don't we listen to the military advisor's advice and join forces with Liu Biao, allowing him to capture Jingbei, while our army can get support from Jingzhou and take advantage of the situation to advance to Runan?"

Although Runan is the base camp of the Yuan family, the current person in power is Kong Jun. However, after the campaign against Dong Zhuo ended, Kong Jun became seriously ill and is now almost dying.

As long as they work together with Liu Biao to destroy Yuan Shu, it would be easy to seize Runan. At that time, using Runan as a base, they could attack Lujiang in the east and seize Xinye in the south, which would be much more comfortable than being trapped in Xu County.

Cao Ren's question actually represents the doubts in the hearts of many generals in Cao Cao's army. After all, it is a well-known fact that Xiangfan is the fortress of the world and difficult to capture. On the contrary, the generals and soldiers of Runan are weak and tired. It is a piece of fat meat at your fingertips. You just need to open your mouth and take a bite at any time.

Moreover, even from a geographical point of view, attacking Runan from Xu County is much more reliable than crossing the Yangtze River to attack Xiangfan.

When it comes to fighting, the most taboo thing is to seek something far away instead of something near you, and to send troops on an expedition far away.

There is no doubt that Cao Ren's view is correct to some extent.

But after Cao Cao heard this, his face was filled with disappointment. He looked around before looking at Cao Ren: "Zixiao, if I'm right, this is what Gongtai said to you, right?"

"Ah? Does the lord think that what the military advisor said is wrong?"

Cao Ren was surprised. After all, although Cao Cao and Chen Gong had arguments from time to time, they had never thought of a split. Even though Chen Gong secretly mobilized Xiahou Yuan to kill Guo Jia, they did not think there was anything wrong.

After all, Guo Jia was Wang Jing's adviser, not their colleague.

Cao Cao sighed: "Gongtai's strategic vision is certainly good, but in many cases, a good strategy may not be suitable. We should not lose strategic flexibility for the sake of temporary benefits."

Cao Cao then analyzed the current situation of his forces to everyone: "Our army failed to advance to Yanzhou, and now we can only retreat to Xu County. It can be said that we are located in a place where we are surrounded by enemies and there is no strategic location to defend. The front, back, left, and right may all become directions for the enemy to invade."

Cao Cao pointed in the direction of Xu County on the map, and then circled around it: "Please look, everyone, our army's western front is the main force of Yuan Shu's army entrenched in Nanyang County, and to the east is Chen Wang Liu Chong, who has 100,000 soldiers and abundant money and food, and to the south is Jingzhou Liu Biao. The southwest direction of Runan Kong Zhu, which seems to be the easiest to break through, is also a poisoned bait. If you eat it, you will die."

"Can't we occupy Runan?"

Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and others were obviously unwilling to believe it after hearing it.

Cao Cao had no choice but to explain the pros and cons to them: "Taking Runan is tantamount to openly making an enemy of Yuan Shu, and will also offend the entire Yuan family of Runan. You must know that the Yuan family is deeply rooted in Runan, and their followers are everywhere. Even if we can capture it, our army is like sitting on a stove piled with firewood. It only takes a small flame to kill me."

Cao Cao then pointed to Xuzhou and Jingzhou and said, "Tao Qian and Yuan Shu are still allies at this time. He will definitely take advantage of our army's instability to launch an attack. Liu Biao of Jingzhou will never stop after taking Jingzhou. Our army is caught in the middle. The only way to survive is to join forces with Yuan Shu."

"not to mention……"

At this point, Cao Cao looked towards the north, especially towards Changyi in Yanzhou, and said with a complicated look: "What's more, even if Gongtai can really persuade Tao Qian and Liu Biao to join forces with our army to fight against Wang Yuanxu, do you think Liu Biao will be the first to lead the charge?"

The four of them shook their heads when they heard this.

Cao Cao asked again: "Could that be Tao Qian?"

The four of them shook their heads again.

At this point, Cao Cao also raised his head and sighed: "So, when the time comes, won't we be the only ones left to fight to the death? If you must choose an opponent, would you rather choose Jingzhou Liu Jingsheng or Qihou Wang Yuanxu?"

At this point, Cao Ren and the others also understood.

If possible, they wouldn't want to choose anyone.

But now they have to choose one of the two difficult problems, and they can only choose the opponent who seems to be obviously easier to deal with.

Wang Jing was a master of martial arts, and the Northern Army swept the battlefield undefeated. The Battle of Yanzhou proved that Wang Jing had numerous brave generals under his command, including Xu Huang, Yan Xing, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Dian Wei, Taishi Ci, etc., who all performed brilliantly and attracted the attention of the world's heroes. Compared with fighting these peerless generals on the battlefield, it was obviously easier to deal with Liu Biao, who was busy entertaining guests and reciting poems in Jingzhou every day.

In order to boost morale, Cao Cao said, "There is another great advantage to attacking Liu Biao, which is that our army can get the secret assistance of Marquis Qi. I have a secret agreement with Yuan Xu that as long as I march into Jingzhou, he will provide me with the necessary manpower and material resources. The battle of Xiangfan may seem like a dead end, but in fact it is the only way to survive."

"On the contrary, advancing to Runan may seem beneficial, but in fact it is just a temporary solution. What awaits us is only a slow death."

Cao Cao had long seen through the situation clearly and knew that his only way to break free from the shackles was to march south to attack Liu Biao and capture Xiangyang.

By then, the sea will be wide enough for fish to leap and the sky will be high enough for birds to fly, and he will still have the opportunity to participate in the fight for world domination.

Otherwise, if he had listened to Chen Gong's advice, the best outcome for him would have been to be locked up in Yuzhou, facing enormous military pressure from Wang Jing at all times, caught in a dilemma, and becoming a puppet of the aristocratic families and powerful clans like Liu Biao, or even being pushed to the front line to fight Wang Jing desperately.

No matter whether I win or lose, my ending will probably not be very good.

Looking at the map, Cao Cao felt that his life was so difficult. In this game of dominating the world, his life started from hell.

…………

Yanzhou, Changyi.

Wang Jing, the city's northern engineering officer, is inspecting the site.

The so-called engineering officials were the official factories set up in local areas by the imperial court during the Han Dynasty. According to the "Geographical Records" in Volume 28 of the "Book of Han", engineering officials were clearly set up in Henan, Sichuan, Henei, Nanyang, Jinan, Taishan, Guanghan and Shu counties at that time.

During the Western Han Dynasty, all local officials were directly under the jurisdiction of the central government's Minister of Agriculture. It was not until the Eastern Han Dynasty that management authority was delegated to the counties and kingdoms. This also represented the growth of the political power of local powerful families, which began to break away from the control of the Han imperial power.

It was also from that time that local factory officials began to take on the task of producing military equipment. Different regions had different production numbers. The large number of bows and crossbows that Wang Jing had taken away from the Luoyang armory had bone sticks made of ox bones, about half a palm wide.

The bone sticks are engraved with words containing the names and specifications of the tribute items, the names of officials and craftsmen at all levels, etc., proving that these instruments were all manufactured by officials in Yanzhou and finally transferred to the capital Luoyang.

The Yanhan Dynasty was able to maintain strong external combat capabilities even when surrounded by foreign tribes, and this system of official production played an indispensable role.

Having said that, after personally inspecting the process, Wang Jing still observed the production process with a modern perspective and found many problems. He then raised them in front of Lu Fang and urged him to make modifications.

Now that Zhai Jie was promoted to Chief Architect, the former steward Lu Fang was naturally also highly valued by Wang Jing and was transferred to Yanzhou to be responsible for reforming the original production system of engineering officials.

The official workshop in Changyi City, Yanzhou was the first pilot project. Wang Jing wanted to use the technical background of the Mohists to replicate the former military industry of the Qin Dynasty.

Yanzhou is a place of war. If all the weapons are transported from Luoyang, the cost is a small matter. What is feared is the delay of the war. If Yanzhou can produce all the weapons by itself, it will naturally save the trouble of transporting them from Luoyang, and it will also have more initiative in the formulation of tactics, which is of great significance.

The Lu side did not dare to take Wang Jing's request lightly, and ordered people to write it down one by one and compile it into a book as the tone for future reforms.

As the two were chatting, a secret guard hurriedly walked up to Wang Jing and said, "General, there is an urgent report from Xu County."

"Oh, let me see."

Wang Jing took the secret letter and cut open the sealing wax with the anti-counterfeiting seal. Just by glancing at the mark, Wang Jing knew that the letter was sent back by Shi A, and it was extremely important information.

Wang Jing quickly scanned the contents of the letter, his face showing joy, and then ordered: "Go and invite Feng Xiao and Gong Da, and tell them that I have something important to discuss with them."

"Order."

After finishing speaking, Wang Jing left the office of the engineer and returned to the governor’s residence.

After a while, Guo Jia and Xun You came hurriedly and asked, "Why did the lord summon you?"

"This is the information Zijun sent back. Please review it, my two military advisors."

A moment later, the secret letter was thrown into the fire pot and turned into ashes in an instant.

Guo Jia pinched the newly grown beard on his chin and said with a smile: "It seems that Cao Mengde and Chen Gongtai are about to officially break up. Congratulations, my lord, you will get a fighting dog."

Xun You shook his head and laughed: "Feng Xiao, if Meng De heard you describe him like this, he would probably be very unhappy."

As a human being, who would want to be ordered around like a dog by others?
However, the cruel reality before Cao Cao has left him with no choice. It doesn't matter whether he serves Wang Jing as a dog or a noble family as a dog. After all, Wang Jing's "bid" is higher, and with Jingzhou as bait, there is no need to worry that Cao Cao will not take the bait.

It turned out that the message sent back by Shi A's pigeon mentioned that in order to develop a catapult that could break through the wall of Xiangfan City, Cao Cao tried to vigorously promote Mohism and train specialized craftsmen and technical talents.

This was originally a very normal policy measure, but it was beneficial to Cao Cao's fight for hegemony over the world, but it was greatly disadvantageous to the aristocratic families' monopoly on knowledge and academic discourse.

The "Mojing" that Wang Jing gave to Cao Cao seems to be a technical book, but in fact it is a kind of "poisonous" thought.

Because "Mo Jing" and Mohism essentially represent the interests of the social group of craftsmen, as well as an idealistic concept of governing the country, such as employing talents, denying nepotism, etc. Its core idea is almost contrary to Confucianism.

After all, Confucianism today has been transformed into the shape of aristocratic families and powerful clans, emphasizing "relationships" and "family background", and the conflict with Mohism in fundamental concepts is difficult to reconcile.

In order to promote Mohism, Cao Cao had to make use of Mohists and protect the interests of craftsmen. This behavior was tantamount to a provocation to the local aristocratic families, especially the gentry who monopolized the bureaucratic system by relying on Confucianism.

Xun You commented: "Although Cao Cao is forcing this to happen, I'm afraid it will be difficult to convince everyone. Once the army goes out, there will be chaos in the rear."

Guo Jia sighed, "Cao Cao was too confident. He thought that since Xu County was where he started his career, he could completely control the situation. He didn't know that with Chen Gong as his insider, Liu Biao only needed to send out thousands of elite soldiers, hiding during the day and moving at night, to easily sneak attack his rear and cut off his retreat."

Once the retreat was cut off, most of Cao Cao's soldiers were from Xu County, and the morale of the army would probably be shaken immediately, and the army would collapse without a fight.

"According to the intelligence collected by Shi A, the price of grain in Xu County has skyrocketed, and the grain stored by the people has been forcibly requisitioned. It seems that Cao Cao has already gathered his troops and is preparing for a war."

Wang Jing looked at the map and said, "Ru'nan's terrain is rugged and flat, with many lakes and swamps, and is not suitable for the use of siege equipment. So it is self-evident who Cao Cao's target is."

"It's a very cold winter with heavy snow. Cao Cao would definitely not choose to send troops at this time. If he really wants to send troops, he will definitely choose the beginning of spring next year."

Xun You's judgment was accurate. It was not impossible to send troops in winter. As long as they had enough warm clothes and enough food and were willing to pay a high price, they would naturally be qualified to violate the normal seasonal rules and achieve the goal of winning by surprise.

But the problem was that Cao Cao's army was almost penniless at that time, so how could he afford to squander like this?
With tens of thousands of main forces marching and fighting in winter, the loss of food alone is probably several times that of usual times. Non-combat casualties such as freezing to death and frostbite are enough to make any general collapse.

Coupled with the expenses for warm clothing and firewood, Cao Cao's army's logistics system could hardly bear it.

These winter supplies cannot be conjured up on the spur of the moment. Without sufficient reserves, if the soldiers are forced to fight in the severe cold weather of winter, there will probably be a large-scale mutiny in the army before they even see victory.

After all, the soldiers of Cao Cao's army are all flesh and blood, not the wooden terracotta warriors of the Qin Dynasty.

Guo Jia pointed to the location of Nanyang County on the map and made his own guess: "If Cao Cao really wanted to mobilize troops against Liu Biao, he would first gather his forces and march towards Wancheng, pretending to be ready for a decisive battle with Yuan Shu, but in fact he would secretly join forces with Yuan Shu's army, and after receiving combat supplies, he would march lightly and quickly to launch a surprise attack on Xinye." (End of this chapter)