For Cao Cao, the only person who could make him nervous has become a prisoner of his own, which greatly enhanced his psychological pressure on Yuan Shao to fight.

Good news came one after another. With Zhong Yao's excellent lobbying, Ma Teng and Han Sui were willing to surrender to the court, and sent one of their sons to Xu County as hostages to show that they had no different intentions.

While making an increase in troops from Xuzhou to Qingzhou, considering that Liu Yan, who was left in Baimajin, was short of troops, Cao Cao ordered Yu Jin to lead more than 2,000 infantry and cavalry to defend Yanjin, an important strategic ferry position on the south bank of the Yellow River. At the same time, he deployed the main force he could use in the Guandu area designated by Guo Jia and Xun You to prepare for war. He also personally led his most elite troops, 600 people, to take the initiative to go north and enter the boundary of Jizhou. He occupied Li Yang, where Yuan Shao had not yet sent troops to guard it.

Yuan Shao was very angry when he learned that Cao Cao had taken the initiative to provoke him. During the military discussion, he threatened to pacify Xu County and dismember Cao Cao's five horses. He immediately ordered Yan Liang and Wen Chou to lead his army to retake Li Yang, but this action was opposed by the military governor around him, Ju Su, and he said to Yuan Shao:

"Our army has just captured Gongsun Zan. Although it was very glorious on the surface, the soldiers were actually exhausted. Even if they wanted to fight against Cao, they should make progress instead of making a rash progress."

Anyone who is familiar with Ju Su knows that he is a direct admonisher like Tian Feng, but Yuan Shao has become angry at his words of hurting his face. However, Ju Su has a high prestige in the army. Yuan Shao cannot do anything to him with a moment of anger, so he can only ask unhappy: "Our army has begun to dispatch. What is the purpose of sir saying these words that corrupt the morale of the army at this time?"

The strategists on the side, such as Xu You, Xun Chen and others, could see that Yuan Shao was suppressing his anger, but he didn't say a word.

Ju Su explained: "I dare not, I just eat the king's fortune and bear the worries of my king. I am deeply grateful to the Lord's Lord. It is my duty to advise you before the Lord makes a mistake. When Cao Cao just welcomed the Emperor, it is the best practice for you to attack him. However, this attack on Cao Cao was an unwise move, but you have already raised troops. I can only suggest that you hold your troops temporarily and wait for the opportunity."

"Waiting for the opportunity?" Yuan Shao frowned: "Sir, I am familiar with military tactics, but I don't know that the importance of victory or defeat lies in one go?"

At this time, Zhang He, who was standing next to Xun Chen, couldn't stand it anymore, so he stood up and said to Yuan Shao:

"Lord, although Mr. Ju Shu said righteously, it is not without reason. Please think twice."

Zhang He made the most military achievements in the war to defeat Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao wanted to punish Ju Su but could not find a reason. Seeing Zhang He come out to express his love, he just gave Yuan Shao a step:

"Since that's the case, then we all go back and think about it."

After saying that, Yuan Shao left, and the issue of raising an army to go south was temporarily put on hold.

Just when Yuan Shao was in a daze, Zhang Xiu, who was far away in Wan County, Nanyang, was also closely watching the battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

Considering that he had formed an indissoluble bond between him and Cao Cao, Zhang Xiu initially stood firmly on the purpose of uniting Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao and finally dividing the territory of Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

However, when Liu Biao joined forces with Zhang Xiu to attack Cao Cao, he was restrained by Cao Hong and Cao Chun's army and did not make any substantial progress, which made Liu Biao start to retreat and tried his best to delay Zhang Xiu's next increase in troops and food, which allowed Zhang Xiu to slowly see Liu Biao's nature of no ambitions.

He sighed several times for this, and all these were seen by Jia Xu beside him.

Once at a banquet, Jia Xu tried to ask Zhang Xiu: "Does the general still insist on joining Liu Biao?"

This sentence hit Zhang Xiu's thoughts, because Zhang Xiu was thinking about this at this moment, and now he actually said it through Jia Xu's mouth. He sighed again in helplessness:

"Mr. Zhang He, the second junior brother, is highly valued by Yuan Shao in Hebei, and his third junior brother, Zhang Ren, also has his own place in Xichuan. What about me? Living under Liu Biao makes the king not a king or a minister, and I am useless to have martial arts but useless to use martial arts."

After saying that, Zhang Xiu tightly pinched the wine bottle in his hand. Until the copper wine bottle was slightly changed by himself, he raised his head and drank the wine in the wine bottle in one fell swoop. His resentment was beyond words.

Jia Xu could see Zhang Xiu's unwillingness and cowardice. When Zhang Xiu picked up the wine pot and poured wine again, he reached out and gently pressed Zhang Xiu's thick and powerful arm, and said slowly:

"The general is extremely brave, not something that is not a person like Liu Biao who is not a hero. The key reason why Liu Biao does not entrust you with respect is that he has a grudge against you for killing your father. If you continue to stay here, you will be suspicious of Liu Biao sooner or later..."

Jia Xu lowered his tone, looked out the window and gently moved his face to Zhang Xiu's ear, and muttered a few words in a low voice.

When Zhang Xiu heard this, his expression changed drastically. He stood up and looked down at Jia Xu with a shocked look:

"What? Let me surrender to Cao Cao!"

Before Zhang Xiu finished speaking, Jia Xu comforted him and sat down and explained in detail:

"The reason why the general was so surprised was nothing more than thinking about the killing of Cao Cao's beloved son and general in the past. He thought that Cao Cao would hate you in his heart. If it was normal, the general's concern was very correct. But at this time, Cao Cao was a traitor of the world and had a very strong mind. At this moment, he was not strong enough to fight against Yuan Shao, and he was very afraid of you. At this time, you surrender to Cao Cao as a timely help. Not only can he let you all your grudges, but he will also entrust him to use it."

After hearing Jia Xu's words, Zhang Xiu's heart began to shake, but he still had other concerns:

"Cao Cao can always ignore me, but my strength is also very limited. It is not that Cao Cao can win 100% if he gets it. Moreover, the princes are not optimistic about Cao Cao and are ready to rush forward to divide the land when Cao Cao is defeated. I will surrender to Cao Cao at this time. If he fails..."

Jia Xu disagreed with Zhang Xiu's concerns, and he said that he would convince Zhang Xiu almost the same as Guo Jia's theory of victory or defeat.

After hesitating for a night, Zhang Xiu finally made up his mind to write a letter and send someone to Liyang City.

After reading the letter, Cao Cao suddenly began to laugh to the sky, and the laughter continued for a long time, which surprised the civil and military officials around him.

Then Cao Cao told everyone that Zhang Xiu was willing to leave Liu Biao and surrender to him, which caused everyone's controversy.

Yu Jinshi said he would not accept Zhang Xiu. He believed that Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao and the revenge of killing his son and generals was not worthy of trusting. The previous defeat in Wancheng is still vivid in my mind. Today, Zhang Xiu surrendered again was simply a ill-gotten plot.

This statement has been recognized by a large number of people, but Guo Jia and Xun You do not think so. Xun You said to Cao Cao:

"If you have the opposite strength to Yuan Shao, then Zhang Xiu's motive is still questionable. But now Cao Gong is at a clear disadvantage compared to Yuan Shao. Even if Zhang Xiu does not need to go deep into the enemy camp in this way, he can still watch the success or failure, and there is no need to be such trouble."

Guo Jia added: "In contrast, Liu Biao killed Zhang Ji. Even though Zhang Xiu didn't care, Liu Biao never believed Zhang Xiu. Over time, it led to the panic in Zhang Xiu's heart. It was a matter of time before he came to surrender to Liu Biao. I think you want to show your sincerity at this time, so I suggest that you not only accept Zhang Xiu, but also express your kindness."

With the guarantees of the two chief advisers, Cao Cao overturned the opposition's remarks and personally replied to the letter and agreed to Zhang Xiu's surrender again.

Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu came to Liyang with a nervous mood, accompanied by Cao Cao's personal soldiers.

When Cao Cao saw Zhang Xiu, he hurried up and held Zhang Xiu's hand tightly, asked him about his well-being, and did not mention his deep hatred before, which was much beyond Zhang Xiu's expectations.

What surprised Zhang Xiu was still behind. In order to relieve Zhang Xiu's intention, Cao Cao specially adopted himself to his deceased brother Cao Bin as a matchmaker to marry Zhang Xiu's daughter. Zhang Xiu couldn't believe his ears.

Fortunately, Jia Xu agreed to Cao Cao's engagement on behalf of Zhang Xiu at this time, so that the warmth of the scene would not cool down.

After the banquet, Cao Cao arranged for Zhang Xiu to take his troops to Chenliu first and then dispatch him. Zhang Xiu was grateful for Cao Cao's kindness without grudges and swore a lot to Cao Cao in a very emotional way, and then led his army to Chenliu to obey orders.

After Zhang Xiu left, Cao Cao ordered people to send a letter to Li Tong, who was stationed in Runan, and asked him to secretly monitor Zhang Xiu's actions.

This is Cao Cao's nature, just as he said in his own words:

No one is completely trustworthy, and you must be careful of the people around you until the last moment of your life.

Cao Cao, who thought Zhang Xiu had left Liu Biao, had no other hidden dangers behind him except Sun Ce, heard an incredible thing:

The prefect of Guangling, Chen Deng, was seriously ill. Liu Bei took this opportunity to contact the forces in Xuzhou to occupy Guangling and instigated Changfeng in the East China Sea. Two groups of troops attacked Xia Pi, and Che Zhou, who was seriously short of troops, could not resist it.
Chapter completed!