Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 170 Cao Cao: Learning from Liu Bei will lead to success
Zhang Hong was dragged out of the mansion by Chen Gong. When a cool breeze blew in his face, he felt an inexplicable chill on his back and a flash of fear in his heart.

Zhang Hong bowed solemnly and thanked him, saying, "Without Gongtai's help, I would hardly be able to leave the hall safely. Thank you very much."

"Come on, now that we're out, I'll walk with you."

Chen Gong smiled and waved his hand.

Seeing that the rain outside had stopped and raindrops falling on the leaves, Chen Gong took the fur from the guard and wrapped himself in his robe.

"Zi Gang, why are you so unwise today?"

Chen Gong and Zhang Hong paced for a while and couldn't help asking.

It is said that he and Zhang Zigang had known each other in their early years. When he was young, he entered the Imperial College. Later, he went to Waihuang to study "Han Shi", "Book of Rites" and "Zuo Zhuan" with Puyang Kai. He often traveled to Dongjun and met several times in the suburbs.

Unexpectedly, more than ten years later, the two people who had left their hometown and were living in different places would have the chance to meet unexpectedly in Jiangdong.

Otherwise, if it were someone else, Chen Gongtai would not step out to get involved, and might even offend Cao Gong.

Zhang Hong sighed slightly, looked at the upright tree, and said, "I walked around the tree three times, but which branch can I lean on? Envoy Liu's few words revealed the hearts of scholars all over the world."

There are constant wars in the world, and the people are displaced. Their scattered scholars are also homeless. Soldiers, bandits and thieves don't care whether you are a scholar or not.

Unless they are direct descendants of a powerful and prominent family who have been nurtured by their clan and do not need to be displaced, other distant relatives are no different from ordinary scholars, fleeing to various places to avoid disasters, not knowing what will happen next year, and not knowing when it will end.

In times of chaos, the chances of being employed by the princes are much greater than before, but risks also come with it.

No one knows who will win in the end, and if you make the wrong choice, you may die.

Chen Gong also recited it silently several times. In fact, he admired Liu Xuande's wisdom and strategy. He recruited talented people and treated people with kindness. Who wouldn't want to serve such a lord? In this regard, Yuan Benchu ​​and Cao Mengde were far behind.

"Gongtai, I am going to resign from my post as the head of the agricultural department and go home to live in seclusion for a while."

Zhang Hong said disheartenedly.

Unexpectedly, this decision shocked Chen Gong, and he quickly dissuaded him, "No, no, Zigang, you must not do this."

"Why?" Zhang Hong was a little confused.

Seeing that there was no one around and his followers were far away, Chen Gong leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Zi Gang, Lord Cao has been acting more and more like a legalist recently. Your advice to the emperor just now was not accepted. If you resign now, Lord Cao will think you are threatening him. If he doesn't kill you, he will lose his authority over his subordinates. Within a few days, your family will be killed."

"Zi Gang, don't disregard the lives of your entire family because of a momentary anger."

Zhang Hong was so frightened that his eyes widened in astonishment, and he asked in astonishment, "How could Lord Cao be so cruel as to kill a famous scholar without any guilt?"

His tone was full of disbelief. Even Yuan Shu of Huainan had to give him some face after hearing of his fame.

It was unheard of that Cao Mengde would send people to kill him just because he didn't want to be an official.

"Zi Gang, ever since Cao Gong was defeated by Liu Shijun in Dongjun, he has learned from his mistakes and his style of doing things has changed."

Chen Gong stroked his beard and sighed.

He and Cheng Zhongde watched Cao Cao change little by little, and he was almost no longer the Cao Mengde when he was the prefect of Dongjun.

He regarded Liu Shijun as his strongest opponent and spent all day studying Qingzhou affairs and imitating him in every aspect.

Liu Shijun liked to lead the army in person, and Cao Gong also led troops to stay in the central army and appointed Cao Ren, Cao Chun, Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun as generals. He also brought his eldest son Cao Ang and his nephew Cao Xiu to personally attack Liu Yao and Yuan Shu.

The next year, Cao Gong decided to conquer Yuzhang County and at the same time, he also ordered Wu County to build canals and ponds to irrigate farmland, and ordered the surrendered Kuaiji Prefect Wang Lang to continue to develop fertile farmland.

He wanted to vigorously improve the counties of Yangzhou, reclaim wasteland and cultivate land, and encourage farming. If Cao Gong suddenly told him one day that he wanted to survey the land in each county, Chen Gong would not be surprised at all.

In emulating Liu Shijun's example, as long as something can be used effectively, Cao Gong will vigorously promote it without hesitation.

I worked so hard for no other reason than to defeat Liu Xuande once.

The Battle of Liaocheng, where he had an army of tens of thousands but was defeated by a few thousand people, was Cao Mengde's greatest defeat in history.

The defeat in the Battle of Sishui was caused by an ambush set by Xu Rong, so he still had an excuse to comfort himself. However, the Battle of Liaocheng with Liu Bei was a frontal battle between many more and few, which ended in failure.

Meng De once said to him and Cheng Zhongde in private: Liu Xuande has a great strategy in his actions. If I follow his example in everything, I will definitely achieve success.

"Mr. Cao, this... Alas!"

Zhang Hong wanted to say something, but finally sighed helplessly.

If he had known this would happen, he would not have come to Danyang to join Cao Mengde. Now it is difficult for him to even leave.

……

After Chen Gong pushed Zhang Hong out, Cao Cao's expression did not improve.

But suddenly an assistant official came towards him with a wooden tablet, which surprised him so much that he could no longer care about Zhang Zigang's matter.

Cao Cao asked urgently: "Where is the person? Bring him in quickly."

After a while, the scholar who had traveled all the way was brought to the front of the hall. The other clerks were asked to leave. Only Cao Cao, Cheng Yu and their guards were left in the empty hall.

The scholar bowed and said, "Xin Pi from the Xin family of Yingzhou greets Lord Cao."

Cao Cao could not help but smile at Xin Pi's appearance with a turban on his head and a dusty face.

He asked with a smile, "George, why do you look so haggard?"

"I had no choice but to do this when passing through Yanzhou, and I would have to pass through Peiguo and Jiujiang later, so this is the appropriate attire."

Xin Pi agreed neither humbly nor arrogantly.

Cao Cao, sitting at the table, pointed and said with a smile: "So you came from Yuan Gonglu. He let you cross the river safely. He has become more magnanimous."

Xin Pi did not respond. How he got Yuan Gonglu to agree had nothing to do with Cao Mengde.

Xin Pi took a half step forward, bowed and said, "I am here on the orders of Lord Yuan to go to Yangzhou to help the Yuan family of Runan and Lord Cao take Xuzhou. Lord Cao, are you interested in taking the five rich counties of Xuzhou?"

Cao Cao was amazed at first, then sneered and said, "I used the same words to trick Liu Gongshan and me into attacking the Qingzhou Plain. Later, when I was defeated in Puyang, I didn't see a single soldier from Yuan's army."

"Now he wants to use the same old trick again, asking me to take the initiative to provoke Liu Xuande, lead the war to the south, and use the three counties to buy him time. How can I let Yuan Benchu ​​do what he wants?"

Xin Pi was not in a hurry, and he cupped his hands and said, "It is naturally difficult to attack Xuzhou, where the people are attached to it, but with the powerful families as internal support, it is not impossible for Cao Gong and the Yuan family of Runan to lead their armies to occupy a county each."

"Liu Xuande abolished the county soldiers in Langya, Donghai, and Xiapi and established military offices instead. However, he was only removing the control of the local nobles over the county soldiers. The next step will be to implement the land measurement order in various places. Many nobles have already joined forces to revolt in private. If Cao Gong and the Yuan family of Runan intervene, Xuzhou will surely be captured."

Xin Pi lowered his voice.

This was the news he had gathered from the Xuzhou nobles. Apart from Lord Xuande, Cao Mengde was the second person to know about it, and it was absolutely true.

　Thanks to book friend 20170715152035220 for the reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)