"Thank you for your hard work, Yuan Rang (Xiahou Dun's name)." Cao Cao comforted Xiahou Dun and then asked him to go down and rest.

"Zi Tong, I'll leave the matter to you." Cao Cao told Jiang Ji that he brought Jiang Ji to Runan this time, because he planned to appoint Jiang Ji as the prefect of Runan and govern Runan for him.

When Pingyu City was captured, other counties in Runan would soon be pacified. Runan can be said to be Cao Cao's possession. However, although Runan was pacified, the imprint left by Liu Bei and the influence after the war would take some time to truly master Runan.

Jiang Ji was Cao Cao's confidant and had extraordinary abilities. He was more than enough to manage Runan.

Jiang Ji also knew his task, so he nodded and agreed.

After Cao Cao stayed in Runan for a few days and handed over everything to Jiang Ji, he took the team back to Xudu.

As soon as he returned to Xudu, Cao Cao had not yet rested, he received a news that Liu Bei had already taken refuge in Liu Biao and was appointed as the prefect of Xinye by Liu Biao.

When Cao Cao heard this, he was shocked. Liu Bei was so lucky. At the same time, he cursed Liu Biao in his heart, and was so confused that he dared to accept Liu Bei.

Xinye is only two hundred miles away from Wancheng. Although it is just a small city and cannot be compared with Wancheng, Cao Cao was still worried. The impression Liu Bei left in Runan made Cao Cao too deep, so Cao Cao couldn't sleep well at night.

So, the next day, Cao Cao entered the palace immediately and asked Emperor Xian to issue two imperial edicts, one to commend Cao Cao for his contribution to pacifying Runan, and the other to say that Liu Bei colluded with Yuan Shu, which was Liu Bei instigated Yuan Shu to become emperor, and gave Liu Bei a mark of a traitor.

These two imperial edicts helped Cao Cao restore a lot of his reputation and smeared Liu Bei, causing Liu Bei to curse Cao Cao day and night in Xinye.

After doing this, Cao Cao wanted to get all the troops to deal with Liu Bei, and then he saw that the road was not smooth, so he took Liu Biao away as well.

However, he was persuaded by his subordinates.

Cheng Yu persuaded: "My lord, you must not. The north has not yet settled, and Liu Biao is strong. Once the stalemate cannot be reached, Liu Zhe or Gongsun Zan will attack, and disaster will come."

Man Chong also said: "Lord, Yuan Shu has not yet settled, so you should not easily have disputes with others."

After hearing their words, Cao Cao calmed down his original impatient mood. He positioned Liu Bei as a traitor, colluded with Yuan Shu, and beat Liu Bei. If he didn't beat Yuan Shu, it would be easy for the world to criticize. What's more, he would run to beat Liu Bei, and it would be bad if he met Liu Biao behind Liu Bei.

Liu Biao is not Liu Bei. He is much stronger than Liu Bei and Cao Cao. The two of them can't fight in one or two days. If the rear is empty and the hometown is taken away by someone, he will become a brother and brother with Liu Bei.

Cao Cao fell silent and thought carefully about his subordinates' words.

Cheng Yu took the opportunity to say, "Lord, although Liu Bei became the prefect of Xinye, Liu Biao was uneasy. He used Liu Bei as a shield to guard against us."

"Xinye City is small and has insufficient population and supplies. Even with Liu Bei's ability, it is impossible to quickly recover its strength. If we attack Liu Bei, we may ask Liu Biao to support Liu Bei and quickly recover Liu Bei's strength. If we show that we have no intention of going south, Liu Bei will not get support from Liu Biao, but may be suspicious of Liu Biao. After all, Liu Bei has many civil and military personnel and should not be underestimated. Why not let them fight against each other and take the opportunity to enter in the future?"

Cheng Yu's words made Cao Cao calmer, his eyes flashed and he kept thinking.

Liu Bei was stationed in Xinye, but he was obviously a gun envoy by Liu Biao, who asked him to guard against Cao Cao and stationed on the front line.

As Cheng Yu said, Liu Bei had no foundation in Xinye. Xinye's resources made it impossible for Liu Bei to quickly recover his strength and could not achieve the strength he had when he was in Runan.

If Cao Cao attacked, Liu Biao would definitely join forces with Liu Bei, and then Cao Cao would have no chance of winning against the two families. If Cao Cao did not attack, Liu Biao would definitely be concerned about Liu Bei and would not be fully helpful to Liu Bei. At that time, as long as Cao Cao bribed the people around Liu Biao and lobbled Liu Biao, he would definitely make Liu Biao have a dispute with Liu Bei. At that time, if the two fight, they would be injured. Even the winning side would have a great loss of strength, and the pressure of Cao Cao going south would be much less.

"If it weren't for you, I would have almost missed the big thing." Cao Cao sighed, saying that he had considered it clearly and accepted the opinions of his subordinates.

Cao Cao, who calmed down, was undoubtedly an excellent leader. He quickly accepted the opinions of his subordinates and focused his attention around him.

Cao Cao asked, "What are Gongsun Zan doing now?"

After Yuan Shu became emperor, Liu Bei was the first to attack Yuan Shu, Cao Cao was the second, and Gongsun Zan acted the slowest, but he also sent troops.

"Retreat."

Cheng Yu, who had already grasped the movements of Gongsun Zan, replied: "After Liu Bei was defeated by us, Gongsun Zan immediately withdrew from Shouchun and deployed heavy troops in the Pengcheng area of ​​Xiaopei to prevent being attacked."
Chapter completed!