He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Chapter 112 Cao Cao's Misjudgment

This crazy move made Cao Cao sigh. Everyone had witnessed Sun Ce's abilities all along. Although he was still not as good as Cao Cao and Liu Bei, he was already a very powerful figure in the second tier.

Even if Sun Ce wins this battle, he will only temporarily suppress the anger of everyone in Jiangdong. When Sun Ce weakens, they will still rebel. At that time, Sun Ce, who has offended everyone in Jiangdong, will he be able to get away with it? He'll be lucky to even have a whole corpse.

Seeing that Cao Cao seemed uninterested in the situation in the south, Cheng Yu couldn't help but remind him, "But my lord, if Hua Xin and the others win this time, then Liu Biao will truly be uncontrollable."

Cao Cao thought about it and realized it made sense. Hua Xin was Liu Biao's vassal. If he won, it would be the same as Liu Biao winning. If Liu Biao won, most of the counties in Jiangdong would fall into his hands.

If we calculate carefully, if we really let Liu Biao go unchecked, it won't be long before he becomes a super monster spanning two provinces and thirteen counties. The number of soldiers and provisions that such a vast territory could produce would be an astronomical figure.

Cao Cao was already struggling to keep an eye on his elder brother, Liu Bei, and Liu Biao in the south had also become a major threat.

Especially Lü Bu, the notorious general who betrayed his country; who knew when he would defect to Liu Biao? Not to mention, Lü Bu had a dark history of twice attacking Cao Cao, making him arguably the person with the most broken promises in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Everyone had to be wary when dealing with him.

This uncertainty worried Cao Cao and his men, who feared that Liu Biao might one day decide to march north with ambitious plans. Then Liu Biao would compose a poem to express his aspirations:

With the Han dynasty's writing system and chariots unified, how could the Central Plains have separate borders?

With a million troops on the Yellow River, we will stand atop the first peak of Mangshan!

From this perspective, Liu Bei's threat level drops considerably. Especially considering that when he saw an opportunity in Runan Commandery, Liu Bei managed to restrain himself and immediately halt his army's advance. Knowing when to take risks and when to be cautious is what makes him truly difficult to deal with.

Cao Cao didn't know that Liu Biao didn't have that kind of courage, but how could he gamble on something like this? If he won, Liu Biao would still be the same troublesome Liu Biao; if he lost, Liu Biao would transform into a raging dragon crossing the river and devour the Central Plains.

"It seems that our army still needs to think of a way to help Sun Ce."

As Cao Cao spoke, he looked at the others, seemingly wanting to hear their opinions.

Xun Yu put down his newspaper at this time. Because he was in charge of Cao Cao's logistics, he had to report on the current material reserves and what these materials were originally intended for before the battle: "Thanks to last year's land reclamation, we have indeed received a lot of grain. However, considering that Yuan Shao's southward advance is only a matter of time, the current reserves are obviously not enough to support an attack. Therefore, I think we should focus on strategy this time and not talk about sending troops."

Please explain in detail.

Xunzi, however, offered Cao Cao a perspective from a geopolitical standpoint: "Liu Biao's strength will certainly influence other regional warlords, with Liu Zhang and Lü Bu being the most affected. As for Lü Bu, I can't say for sure; given his character, he might just side with Liu Biao one day."

When the topic of criticizing Lü Bu came up, Cao Cao's thoughts also came to mind: "Indeed, this clumsy Lü Bu. First he killed Ding Yuan, then he harmed the traitor Dong Zhuo. After Liu Bei took him in, he tried to launch a surprise attack on Xiapi. In the end, what did he get? Nothing more than his wife and children being separated from him. Yet this man still enjoys doing it. I really can't understand what he's thinking."

Xun Yu naturally looked down on such a person, a fickle and treacherous villain who would have been dead long ago if he hadn't been so skilled in combat. He continued, "This person is not worth mentioning. The more crucial factor is the attitude of the other warlords towards Liu Biao and the imperial court. Someone like Liu Bei certainly cannot sit idly by and watch Liu Biao annex Jiangdong; otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of recommending Liu Qi to be the governor of Yangzhou."

"If our lord truly wishes to contain Liu Biao, then Liu Bei's involvement is indispensable. In addition, we must also try our best to win over Liu Zhang of Yi Province, and it would be best to reach some agreement with him."

Cao Cao largely agreed with the first part of Xun Yu's words, acknowledging that Liu Bei was indeed a man with great political acumen. However, Cao Cao held a different view regarding the latter part of Xun Yu's assessment of Liu Zhang: "Liu Zhang is of little use. He couldn't even manage such a favorable environment as Shu. He is nothing but a mediocre and incompetent man. To send him to compete with Liu Biao is clearly giving him too much credit."

Cao Cao gave such a low evaluation, yet the people in the room all nodded, expressing their strong agreement with Cao Cao's view. Liu Zhang of Yizhou was far more weak than Liu Biao. In the context of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where powerful families held sway over everyone else, Liu Zhang was actually helpless against the Dongzhou troops left to him by his father.

In full view of everyone, the Dongzhou soldiers dared to plunder the people, yet Liu Zhang didn't dare utter a single word about it. This was no longer just a case of being weak in secret; it was weakness in the open.

However, Xun Yu didn't care about these factors, or rather, it was precisely because of these reasons that he was more optimistic about the relationship with Liu Zhang: "It is precisely because Liu Zhang is not a formidable character that the court should appease him."

"Although Liu Bei is a hundred times stronger than Liu Zhang, he is simply too strong. The risks of cooperating with him are obviously greater than those of Liu Zhang, not to mention that it wasn't long ago when they threw the envoy off the building."

Liu Zhang was a bit weak, but he was easy to control.

Liu Bei was too strong, perhaps even too strong.

This was the choice facing Cao Cao. In a time when the margin for error was extremely low, Cao Cao could only choose a more prudent option, which was to cooperate with Liu Zhang.

At this point, Xiahou Dun finally had something to say: "This matter is simple. Our department has already reached a considerable scale in Shu. As long as the lord gives the order, they can immediately make contact with the officials in Yizhou."

Xiahou Dun's reorganization of the intelligence department had a profound impact, essentially creating a more advanced department from scratch. After thoroughly learning from the lessons of the two destructions of the Xuzhou intelligence network, he developed a new training system and a new model.

Consequently, Xuzhou also established specialized security personnel and an internal intelligence department for its top officials. As the two sides engaged in power struggles, the professional skills of these individuals continuously improved, demonstrating a level of strength far exceeding that of their contemporaries.

This made Cao Cao's spies extremely difficult to deal with. Other warlords simply couldn't adapt to these intelligence agents, whose ranks had risen so much, who were now able to fight the Xuzhou police to a standstill. In some cases, Cao Cao's spies even knew what certain northwestern warlords ate for dinner before the warlords themselves did.

What does this mean? It means that apart from finding it difficult to gather intelligence under Liu Bei, Cao Cao was quite adept at other tasks and did not find them complicated at all.

Liu Zhang was in a similar situation. Because of his appearance, which did not resemble that of a ruler, many people in Shu were dissatisfied with him. Of course, some people still liked him, but others who were eager to make achievements could not accept him. As soon as Cao Cao made contact, the other side immediately began to show goodwill.

"Make contact first. If the time is right, the court will send an envoy to Yizhou. Don't let those people do anything too complicated. Just let them give Liu Zhang advice that is inclined towards the court. Don't do anything else. In particular, make sure that these people don't expose the connection between the court and them, so that these righteous men won't be harmed."

With the Han dynasty in decline, those willing to cooperate with the court are becoming increasingly rare, so it's best to preserve them if possible.

After Cao Cao decided to cooperate with Liu Zhang, his next thought was how to cause trouble for Liu Biao: "Now that the partner has been chosen, what method should the court use to help my nephew Sun?"

As Cao Cao asked the question, the others began to chime in with their opinions: "Wouldn't it be better to issue a proclamation denouncing Liu Biao? At least it would boost Sun Ce's morale."

"That's not enough; it won't have much impact on Liu Biao. Besides, although Liu Biao is powerful, he hasn't yet made any disloyal moves, so it's not appropriate to write a proclamation right away."

"Could we organize a large-scale military operation near Liu Biao's territory to attract his attention?"

"That's good. Let's leave it at that. We can't rush these things. We can take our time."

However, Cao Cao and the others who were talking inevitably fell into a misconception: that Liu Biao's strength on paper was far greater than the strength he could actually exert.

To put it simply, Liu Biao was like a heavyweight boxer. When Cao Cao and the others saw his physique data of over 300 jin (150 kg), they thought he was a powerful opponent of the fleshy kind. But when the fight actually started, they found that Liu Biao's Jingzhou was just a weakling with a big stomach.

A strategic miscalculation can sometimes be more dangerous and fatal than a natural disaster.

Xiapi, Xuzhou.

After seeing Mi Zhu suffer so many attacks, Lu Wan was very worried. What if he couldn't think straight and committed suicide?

It is indeed possible. After all, in history, after Mi Fang's rebellion, even though Liu Bei personally went to persuade Mi Zhu, he was still depressed and died less than a year later.

This won't do. Director Lu felt he needed to talk to him and make him understand that what happened before was purely someone trying to exploit the situation, and Chen Deng's intelligence department just happened to stumble upon the secret meeting. It was a combination of coincidences that ultimately led to everything that happened today.

Mi Zhu was thoroughly humiliated at the meeting that day, and returned home in a daze, falling ill the next day.

Actually, it wasn't such a coincidence. He had some hidden health problems due to frequent overtime work. It's just that Mi Zhu was in good spirits and very positive at the time, which is why he didn't notice anything wrong with his body.

But this incident allowed him to vent his anger, and Mi Zhu couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed right there in the house, which startled his younger siblings, who rushed him to the hospital crying and shouting.

Lu Wan casually bought some souvenirs on the street and arrived at Xuzhou Hospital. It was a place that he and Mi Zhu had discussed for a long time before deciding to build, and now Mi Zhu was able to enjoy medical resources.

The oxcart stopped, and Lu Guan entered the hospital directly through the officials' private passage without attracting anyone's attention.

As soon as Lu Wan entered, several doctors from the hospital came to greet her. Lu's medical knowledge was groundbreaking; even a small amount of information she shared would be enough for these doctors to study for a long time.

However, Lu Wan had important matters to attend to and didn't have much time to discuss this, so she only picked two more meaningful questions to share her thoughts on, leaving the rest for them to figure out on their own.

Hua Tuo, now the director of Xuzhou Hospital, came to Lu Wan's rescue. With a wave of his hand, he sent the doctors back: "Go back to treating your patients. Don't get in the way. If you want ideas, go and research them yourself. Do you have to rely on others for everything?"

The doctors who had been bothering Lu Wan saw their leader get angry and left with their tongues sticking out, leaving Hua Tuo and Lu Wan standing there alone.

Lu Wan smiled at the middle-aged man in front of her and said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Hua, for getting me out of this predicament. I didn't expect the doctors to be so enthusiastic, grabbing me right away."

"Haha, it seems these guys are even more formidable than Yuan Shu's army. After all, even Yuan Shu couldn't capture Chief of Staff Lu, but we succeeded."

Hua Tuo was in a good mood and even joked with Lu Wan. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lu Wan began to discuss serious matters with Hua Tuo: "How is Mr. Mi's health?"

Hua Tuo, who had been joking, sighed, clearly indicating to Mi Zhu: "The patient's problem isn't actually that serious; just take the medicine on time."

.

Upon hearing this, Lu Wan understood that Mi Zhu was making trouble for himself; otherwise, Hua Tuo wouldn't have sighed and said it wasn't a big problem.

Lu Wan thought for a moment and said to Hua Tuo, "How about this, I'll talk to Mr. Mi. I was originally going to visit him anyway, so it'll be perfect to do both things at the same time."

Hua Tuo nodded. They were truly at their wits' end. No matter how much they pleaded, Mi Zhu refused to cooperate with the treatment, and even refused to eat. If this continued, a minor illness would turn into a major one.

Arriving at the ward door, Lu Wan pushed it open and entered. She saw Mi Zhu gazing calmly upwards, as if he were in deep meditation. Mi Fang, standing beside him, looked at Mi Zhu with a worried expression, as if she had something to say but dared not.

Hearing the door open, Mi Zhu didn't react at all, but Mi Fang looked up and saw that the person who came in was actually Lu Wan.

As soon as Mi Fang saw Lu Wan, he jumped up from the mat like a spring. He wanted to say a few harsh words, but then he remembered that Lu Wan's position was much higher than his, so he lowered his head and muttered curses.

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