On the surface, since he was awarded the title, Liu Bei seemed to have suddenly changed the political status gap between himself and Cao Cao. For this reason, many officials in the court were close to Liu Bei, the emperor who fell from the sky, for various purposes.

According to Cao Cao's spy report, Liu Bei did not act as proud because of his change in his identity. On the contrary, although many officials are much lower in positions than Liu Bei, Liu Bei still looks humble.

After sitting there listening to the spy's report, Cao Cao's face was very serious. He understood that in fact, the reason why Liu Bei did this was to increase his political influence in the name of being generous, kind and respectful to the wise and polite. Although it seemed very regular, his heart was never as honest as he pretended on the surface. To staying with him like this is like standing on the pillow.

At this moment, the news from Youzhou spread throughout the court, that was, Gongsun Zan rejected Yuan Shao's request for reconciliation, so Yuan Shao sent Zhang He, who had already been stationed near Yijing as the vanguard, and took the newly married Yuan Xi's army to fight. After Gongsun Zan mistakenly thought that Gongsun Xu's reinforcements arrived, he rashly sent troops and was defeated by Zhang He, forcing him to retreat to the city, and then Yuan Shao adopted Zhang He's strategy to dig tunnels and sneak in, and gradually killed Zhongjing that Gongsun Zan had tried his best to build. Gongsun Zan, who was desperate, set fire to death after killing his family.

Since then, Yuan Shao has fully controlled the four prefectures of Qingyou and Ji, and it will be a matter of time before he goes south without any concern for the rear.

To a certain extent, this incident caused quite a lot of fluctuations within Xu Du. Of course, this fluctuation had a great impact on Cao Cao, because the target Yuan Shao was going to attack next was himself.

It is precisely because of this that while planning a battle with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao did not want anyone behind him to stab him.

After Liu Bei was named the emperor's uncle, Dong Cheng, who was also a royal relative, invited Liu Bei to the mansion several times, but Liu Bei refused politely, which made Dong Cheng quite annoyed. However, after calming down, he found that Liu Bei seemed to be deliberately rejecting him. The reason was that under Cao Cao's surveillance, it was impossible for him to accept his invitation openly, as this would arouse Cao Cao's suspicion.

The next morning, someone stood at Liu Bei's door and knocked on the door of his house. Liu Bei stepped forward and found that the visitor was an old woman with a hunchback. She wrapped a headscarf and held a basket in her hand and said in a hoarse voice:

"Can the master need peaches, bamboo shoots, straw mats and brown rice at home?"

After looking up and down at the old woman in front of her, Liu Bei looked around and smiled meaningfully to her and said:

"It depends on what price you give me..."

The old woman also smiled and said, "Can you go into the house and talk about it in detail?"

Liu Bei let go of his body and opened the door and let the old man go in. After entering the inner hall, Liu Bei looked at the old woman with his back to him and said with a smile: "The dignified general Dong Guojiu pretended to be an old woman, which really made me look very eye-opener..."

After hearing this, the so-called old woman straightened her waist, reached out to take off the turban on her head and showed Dong Cheng's appearance. He also smiled and turned around and replied to Liu Bei: "Isn't it just to wait for me to come to my house in person?"

Both sides were tacitly aware. Liu Bei invited Dong Cheng to take a seat and then held the tea stove and poured tea for him personally. The heat from the tea cup lingered between the two. Liu Bei put down the tea stove and asked, "I wonder what the uncle is doing to Liu Bei?"

Dong Cheng picked up the teacup and gently blew away the heat lingering on the edge of the cup, glanced at Liu Bei, and asked back:

"I wonder how the emperor uncle views today's situation?"

Liu Bei also picked up the teacup and put it on his lips and took a sip. He replied: "Now that Yuan Shao has unified Hebei, there is no other enemy in the area north of the Yellow River. If he wants to further expand his floor, he can only attack the Central Plains occupied by Cao Cao. The two have a strategic confrontation with the Yellow River as the border. I think a big battle is inevitable."

Dong Cheng continued to ask Liu Bei: "Then what will happen if the emperor thinks if the two of them fight together?"

Liu Bei, holding the teacup, looked at Dong Cheng sitting opposite him, and knew what his intention was:

"I don't have a deep understanding of the military war, so it's difficult to speculate."

Dong Cheng, who knew in his heart that Liu Bei was obviously trying to be careless with him, simply pointed out what Liu Bei wanted to say:

"According to the emperor's words, Yuan Shao has controlled the four prefectures in Hebei, and his territory has been fully bordered by Xuzhou, Yanzhou and Sili, controlled by Cao Cao. The situation on the front battlefield has been initially formed. He has no concerns from the rear. The troops he can mobilize can reach hundreds of thousands and have a large number of supplies and food support from the four prefectures. However, Cao Cao is not the case. He has just pacified Xuzhou. There are Liu Biao, Zhang Xiu, Sun Ce in the south, and Ma Teng and Han Sui in the west. He has no way to show all his strength to compete with Yuan Shao, so the result is very obvious, that is, Cao Cao will be defeated..."

Based on objective conditions, what Dong Cheng said makes sense, and Liu Bei did not refute:

"What the uncle said is not without reason, it's just that you, Cao Cao, are the same magistrates as the court. I'm afraid this is not consistent with your position, right?"

"Since I've already spoken, I might as well speak to the emperor's uncle."

Dong Cheng saw that his intention had been made clear by Liu Bei, and he did not hide it:

"Since Emperor He of Han, the Han regime has fallen into the hands of treacherous ministers. First, eunuchs interfered in politics, the Yellow Turban rebelled, and Dong Zhuo entered Beijing and Li Jue and Guo Si rebelled. Now, Cao Cao has emerged, holding the power of the court and domineering."

Liu Bei reminded him: "What the uncle said is a bit too extreme. I see that Cao Gong did not rebel. Moreover, he has moved His Majesty to Xudu until now, and he is respectful and polite to Your Majesty, and adheres to the way of the ruler and the subjects. He has no behavior of overrepresenting the law, and is not comparable to Dong Zhuo and others."

After hearing Liu Bei's words, Dong Cheng couldn't suppress his emotions. He stood up and supported the table with his hands and looked down at Liu Bei:

"The emperor's words are bad. Haven't there been enough evil consequences in his eyes caused by foreign officials' interference in politics? The fact that Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty is still vivid in his mind. Now Cao Cao's foundation is not stable, so he dare not usurp the position of the emperor. Once his foundation is stable, not only will Yuan Shao be helpless with him, but we must also live a dark life under his domineering and powerful rule, and the country and the country will also be poisoned."

Seeing Dong Cheng look quite angry and embarrassed, Liu Bei quickly reached out to ask him to sit down:

"Uncle Guo is calm. You have said so much to me. What kind of effort does Xuande do for you?"

The topic returned to the fundamental reason why Dong Cheng came to find Liu Bei. Dong Cheng looked around and confirmed that there was no one else. After coming forward and whispered to Liu Bei: "For the sake of the present, we can only secretly kill Cao Cao and then appease Yuan Shao. Only in this way can we stop Yuan Shao's army from attacking, and we and Your Majesty can also be preserved."

Liu Bei had already guessed what Dong Cheng said to him as soon as he entered the door.

Dong Cheng let him in because Liu Bei understood what he meant after hearing this. Therefore, he thought Liu Bei would agree to his proposal, but he didn't expect that Liu Bei did not do as he wanted:
Chapter completed!