With Cao Cao by my side, what do I have to fear from the world?

Chapter 80, Cao Ang volunteered for battle.
During the meal, Guo Jia also came over. No matter how top-notch he was, he couldn't be of much help in the siege. With nothing else to do, he heard that Liu Xie was treating the wounded, so he came over out of curiosity to take a look.

While bandaging the wounded, Liu Xie was also instructing several armored soldiers.

"Look carefully, this kind of simple bandaging is actually very easy to learn. First of all, you can't be afraid of blood or dirt..."

Liu Xie taught very patiently. He skillfully bandaged the wound on the spot and taught the lesson. After a while, he casually pointed to a soldier and said, "This person only has a knife wound on his arm. The tendons and bones are not damaged. Lin Tong, you try it."

"I... Your Majesty, am I capable?" Lin Tong was both nervous and excited when her name was called.

Liu Xie nodded encouragingly, "Come on, give it a try. A real man shouldn't dawdle."

Lin Tong hesitated for a moment, then mustered her courage and walked over.

Guo Jia watched with great interest. Lin Tong was a novice after all, and her movements were clumsy and awkward, which disappointed Guo Jia.

Liu Xie wasn't in a hurry and continued to encourage, "Very good, it's your first time, take your time. Um, Li Erniu, go and bandage that one."

While giving instructions, Liu Xie also assigned tasks to everyone, and he did not stop when he saw Guo Jia.

I waited until I wasn't too busy before I came over to talk to him.

"Fengxiao, what brings you here?" Liu Xie didn't even bother to wipe the blood off his hands.

Guo Jia sincerely praised, "Your Majesty, I didn't expect you to personally treat the wounded soldiers. You must be very tired. However, it's clear that these people are novices. Wouldn't it be better to recruit more medical officers to accompany the army on the next expedition?"

Liu Xie shook his head. "Fengxiao, you make it sound so easy. Where are there so many physicians? Besides, even someone who doesn't know medicine can easily learn to bandage and treat wounds with a little training."

"They've only just started learning today, so please excuse their poor skills. But have you considered that if these people were to specialize in bandaging people and focus on doing one thing, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect, they would become more and more proficient and be able to help a lot in the future?"

"Oh?" Guo Jia sat down on a wooden stake next to him without any hesitation, looking at Liu Xie, and gradually became thoughtful.

"In fact, many things will be very effective as long as people focus on doing them, even if they don't know anything at first."

Liu Xie smiled and picked up a stool. "For example, this small stool. I only need to teach a few people to make it. These people specialize in making this. In less than ten or twenty days, they will be experts at making this."

"The same principle applies to bandaging wounds. How to treat knife wounds and arrow wounds? As long as the steps and methods are taught to others, these people can replace the physicians and treat external injuries themselves. These people will only be responsible for bandaging wounds. Specialized people will do specialized tasks. Once they are proficient, they will definitely achieve twice the result with half the effort."

"Specialized people do specialized tasks."

Guo Jia muttered to himself, his eyes growing brighter.

Liu Xie sat down next to him. "Yes, it's a very simple principle. For example, these people, once they learn how to bandage wounds, can just focus on that one thing from now on. Don't let them charge into battle anymore. Otherwise, if they die, won't we have to find someone else to bandage their wounds again?"

“Everyone doesn’t need to have a lot of skills. Even if you only know one, you can just focus on doing one thing. Moreover, many skills are not difficult to learn. In the future, we can even set up such academies and invite people to teach everyone.”

"Your Majesty's ideas are indeed unique, which has enlightened me greatly. I have learned a lot."

With just a little guidance, a person as intelligent as Guo Jia could fully understand.

He immediately nodded and instructed the soldiers who were learning bandaging from Liu Xie: "From now on, you will not go into battle. Stay here and treat your wounds. You must learn well from His Majesty. If others want to join, and His Majesty thinks they have good aptitude, that is also fine."

Guo Jia was the military advisor and was highly valued by Cao Cao, so his words naturally carried a lot of weight.

Upon returning and meeting Cao Cao, Guo Jia specifically reported this matter to Cao Cao, who nodded repeatedly in approval.

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Your Majesty is intelligent and always has ingenious ideas. He has indeed helped us a lot. As long as it is useful, Your Majesty can do it freely."

On the first day, Liu Xie only taught ten new recruits. On the second day, he still taught the same ten people, but he also specially selected ten skillful recruits to observe from the side.

Those who bandaged were only responsible for bandaging, those who observed were only responsible for observing, and Liu Xie provided serious guidance from the side. By the fourth day, the first batch of new recruits who were observing had already tried to get started.

Then, Liu Xie selected a few more people to continue observing.

Zhao Yun stayed by his side the whole time. At first, Zhao Yun thought that Liu Xie's efforts would be thankless and would not be effective in a short time. However, in just a few days, Liu Xie had led a rescue team of more than 30 people.

Of course, these people were only responsible for simple bandaging, but even so, they were a great help.

Cao Cao also took some time to visit, and after seeing it, he was full of praise.

Cao Cao immediately declared that a special team would be established to be solely responsible for bandaging wounds.

With the emperor personally instructing them, the soldiers were exceptionally enthusiastic about learning.

Liu Xie was approachable and would sometimes tell jokes to ease the atmosphere.

Wherever Liu Xie appeared, these lower-ranking soldiers all liked him very much.

The Battle of Qiyang was becoming increasingly intense, and the siege had dragged on without success. Cao Cao was also facing trouble. In the past few days, Liu Xie noticed that Guo Jia also looked worried. After probing him several times, Guo Jia finally couldn't help but reveal the truth.

"Your Majesty, our supplies are running low. This is a serious matter, and you must not tell anyone." "The army's food supply is about to run out?"

Liu Xie was not too surprised, as the Han Dynasty had been facing food shortages in various regions for the past few years.

Historically, more than half of the battles during the Three Kingdoms period inevitably involved food shortages.

For example, during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions, he had to retreat several times due to problems with supplies.

But this time, Liu Xie wasn't worried; he suddenly smiled.

Guo Jia was taken aback and asked, "Your Majesty, Cao Cao is worried about this matter, yet you can still laugh. Why is that?"

Liu Xie calmly said, "I trust Cao Cao; he will surely find a way."

Guo Jia was skeptical, but two days later, Cao Cao suddenly had a solution.

He summoned Wang Hou, the grain distribution official, to his tent and secretly instructed him to use a small measuring cup to distribute the grain.

Wang Hou did not want to do this, but when he thought that it was Cao Cao's order, he dared not disobey and had no choice but to obey.

Soon, this sparked conflict within the army. Some soldiers complained that the porridge was too thin and contained very few grains of rice, and began to riot. Even General Cao Ren was angered by this.

Liu Xie was too lazy to get involved in such matters. In the end, Cao Cao killed Wang Hou, hung Wang Hou's head on a flagpole, and then distributed the grain again using large measures. Cao Cao took the opportunity to boost morale and personally participated in the battle, capturing Qiyang in one fell swoop.

Cao Ang rushed over excitedly to tell Liu Xie the good news. Liu Xie just smiled faintly and said to Cao Ang, "Zixiu, you are the eldest son and have always followed Cao Gong. But when it's time to show your abilities, you still need to seize more opportunities in the future. You must become independent as soon as possible. Only in this way will Cao Gong appreciate you more and more, and the soldiers will be willing to support you."

After getting to know him for a while, Liu Xie discovered that Cao Ang was good in every way, except that he was too easygoing. He was deeply influenced by Lady Ding in this respect. He didn't compete for anything and wasn't in a hurry to show off.

He did whatever Cao Cao asked him to do, and never tried to do anything to please Cao Cao.

Liu Xie had to give him a proper nudge. Cao Ang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Does Your Majesty mean that I should ask my father for orders to pursue Yuan's troops?"

Liu nodded. "Cao Cao is a man of great talent and strategy, and you are also skilled in both literature and martial arts, but you are too modest. You need to show more of your abilities."

"Alright, I'll go ask my father for permission right away."

Liu Xie then said, "Yu Jin and Xu Huang are both good men. You might as well take them with you on your campaign."

"Thank you for the reminder, Your Majesty!" Cao Ang bowed and took his leave, then went to see Cao Cao.

Upon hearing his son volunteer for the order, Cao Cao was taken aback at first, then smiled with satisfaction.

"Zixiu, it's rare that you volunteered. Very well, I grant your request!"

Cao Cao didn't care about the extent of the victory; once Qiyang was captured, the war against Chen was essentially over.

Seeing his son step forward was what made Cao Cao happiest.

After Cao Ang left, Cao Cao stood up, looked around for a long time, and said with great emotion, "Zixiu is skilled in both literature and martial arts, but his temperament is too easygoing. This time, he finally took the initiative to stand up and share my burdens."

Which father doesn't hope his son will become successful and surpass him?

Cao Cao was no exception; he also wanted his son to be able to take on responsibilities as soon as possible.

Unlike other warlords, Cao Cao rose to power by relying on the strength of his clan. Throughout his life on the battlefield, until his old age, Cao Cao trusted the strength of his clan the most.

He hoped that more and more members of the Cao family would be able to stand on their own. Cao Ang was his own son, and Cao Cao had even higher expectations for him!

Less than two days later, the good news arrived: Cao Ang had won a great victory, and Yu Jin had personally killed Qiao Rui.

On the way back, Cao Ang was very happy and kept explaining the course of the battle to Liu Xie.

Liu Xie sat in the carriage, listening with satisfaction, while his hands kept writing something.

"Your Majesty, what are you writing?"

"Zixiu, what do you think is most important in this chaotic world?" Liu Xie suddenly looked up and asked.

Cao Ang thought for a moment and replied, "Military strength should be the most important thing. Take Yuan Shao in Hebei, for example. I heard from Father that Yuan Shao has hundreds of thousands of troops, and Father is really worried about him."

Liu Xie shook his head. “It is easy to find a thousand soldiers, but difficult to find a general. Talent is the most important thing. Those who can govern the country, offer advice and strategies, and lead troops into battle are all rare talents. In this respect, you should learn more from your father. I am writing a letter now to help Cao Cao recruit talents.”

"Recruiting talent? To whom does His Majesty intend to write a letter?" Cao Ang grew increasingly curious, and even Cao Ren, who was passing by outside the carriage, slowed down and listened intently.

(End of this chapter)