"Those who follow me will prosper and those who go against me will perish!"
"If Zhang Liao persists in his obsession, he will have no choice but to die!"
Lu Bu said coldly.
"I would like to be a lobbyist for you and see what Zhang Liao thinks."
Chen Gong said in a deep voice.
This was something he had started planning when he was besieging Xiapi City. Zhang Liao was now considered a force in Xuzhou and had value in winning over.
After all, Zhang Liao has not experienced war, and the strength of his army has not been affected. If Zhang Liao insists on going against Lu Bu.
For Lu Bu, this is not a good thing. You must know that behind every war is countless money and food. The army is a bottomless pit that swallows up money and food, and a war will make the bottomless pit wider.
Like Xuzhou's current situation where everything is prosperous, it is wise to start a war without starting a war, cultivate one's character and improve one's strength.
"Then there's the Labor Tower."
Lu Bu was also relieved to let Chen Gong work as a lobbyist. After all, Zhang Liao would not kill Chen Gong.
Now Chen Gong is the number one counselor under Lu Bu. Lu Bu also has many things that he doesn't understand. He can ask Chen Gong for advice. If Chen Gong dies, then Lu Bu will really be blinded.
…
Cao Cao slowly woke up and saw Guo Jia's eager face, asking: "Where is the lonely army?"
"The Prime Minister was defeated, completely defeated, nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses were killed or injured."
Guo Jia said seriously.
"Cough cough cough!"
When Cao Cao heard this, he couldn't help but get excited and coughed.
This made Guo Jia very anxious, and he immediately shouted and asked his personal guards to find the doctor.
"It's okay if you don't need Fengxiao. I can still hold on."
Cao Cao turned pale and shook his head.
He was furious for a moment, but it was fine when he calmed down. Then Cao Cao sighed: "This defeat is all Gu's fault. If we had evacuated earlier and not taken risks, we wouldn't have been defeated!"
Cao Cao directly took the blame on himself, feeling that if he hadn't been greedy for credit and insisted on a decisive battle with Lu Bu, and sent Cao Hong to attack the city, resulting in the annihilation of the entire Tiger and Leopard Cavalry army, all the fault would have been on him.
"Prime Minister, it's my fault. I shouldn't have persuaded the Prime Minister to insist on a decisive battle with Lu Bu. If I had listened to Mr. Gongda, I could have suffered such a huge defeat!"
Guo Jia said heartbrokenly.
The defeat of Cao Cao's army will definitely shake Cao Cao's position in the court, and there will definitely be a few clowns to criticize him.
However, the army is in the hands of Cao Cao, and these clowns pose no threat.
The only worry is that of Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao is ambitious and will never give up when he sees Cao Cao being weak.
If the defeat of this battle leads to the defeat of the war between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, then Guo Jia will be a sinner through the ages.
"Fengxiao, you are just the one who came up with the idea, and Gu is the executor. You don't have to blame yourself too much. The plan now is to make amends, rather than regretting and blaming yourself here."
Cao Cao forced himself to cheer up and said.
As a generational hero, Cao Cao cannot lose his glory because of a small setback.
Otherwise, when Cao Cao teased Aunt Zhang Xiu and was defeated by Zhang Xiu, he would be in despair.
Later, they conquered Zhang Xiu. Although they won, they did not completely defeat Zhang Xiu. Today, Zhang Xiu still dominates Wancheng and forms his own faction.
But as long as there is a chance, Cao Cao will definitely continue to conquer Zhang Xiu. After all, Yuan Shao is watching covetously, and Cao Cao cannot attack one force with all his strength.
As for why you want to kill Lu Bu so much?
The main reason is that Lu Bu is too annoying. As Guo Jia said, Lu Bu, this harmful man, is very likely to stab Cao Cao during the decisive battle with Yuan Shao!
So Cao Cao made up his mind to encircle Lu Bu, but the result was obvious and ended in failure.
Now Cao Cao can only shrink his territory, recuperate, and hope that Yuan Shao will not attack. At the same time, this defeat also fueled Lu Bu's ambitions.
We must think of a way to tightly contain Lu Bu in Xuzhou, otherwise this harmful spirit will come out to cause trouble.
"You can make Liu Bei the governor of Xuzhou and let Liu Guan and Zhang restrain Lu Bu!"
Guo Jiayu made a surprising statement, which surprised Cao Cao.
According to Cao Cao's idea, one of Chen Gui and Chen Deng should be made the governor of Xuzhou to contain Lu Bu. However, Guo Jia asked Liu Bei to be the governor of Xuzhou. Cao Cao didn't understand what this was.
"Filial piety, what does this mean?"
Cao Cao asked.
"Both Liu, Guan, and Zhang are capable of commanding and training troops, and Liu Bei is ambitious and difficult to control. I originally wanted to get rid of Liu Bei after Lu Bu."
"It seems that this plan is no longer feasible. Since Liu Bei cannot be killed, then let Liu Bei be reused and let Liu Bei and Lu Bu continue to fight!"
"As for Chen Gui and Chen Deng, they also have meritorious service and can be named the Grand Administrator of Guanglingjun and the Grand Administrator of Xiapi County."
Guo Jia explained the strategies he thought of to Cao Cao one by one.
"Chen Deng, Chen Gui and his son have so many plans. I'm afraid they will feel unwilling to just become the governor. Moreover, Liu Bei was appointed the governor of Xuzhou without any merit. Chen Gui and his son must be very unbalanced."
Cao Cao replied.
"Prime Minister, what you want is this effect. Liu Bei is good at communication and can win people's hearts. Then Chen Deng admires Liu Bei very much. And with the help of Mi Zhu, a wealthy businessman in Xuzhou, Liu Bei will be able to make a comeback soon."
"The two sides should be able to get along very harmoniously in the early stage. After all, there is a powerful enemy Lu Bu who is eyeing them. In order to deal with Lu Bu, they must unite."
"If Lu Bu is driven away and Liu Bei has a legitimate governor of Xuzhou, wouldn't he be able to secure Xuzhou and give the prime minister another powerful enemy?"
"At this time, as long as you make a little effort to destroy the trust between Liu Bei and Chen Deng, the two will definitely have conflicts over their official positions. If the Prime Minister continues to attack, he will get twice the result with half the effort!"
"If neither Liu Bei nor Chen Deng and his son can defeat Lu Bu, it doesn't matter. The prime minister can also take advantage of this period to increase his strength. Lu Bu deserves it!"
Guo Jia's thinking can be said to be comprehensive and has included all possible outcomes. No matter who wins, Lu Bu or Liu Bei, it will have no impact on Cao Cao.
It's best to fight to the death and both sides suffer losses. This is also the situation that Cao Cao is most happy to see.
"Wonderful, very wonderful."
Cao Cao couldn't help but praise.
This tactic of driving away tigers and devouring wolves was used by Guo Jina like a firebrand, which was far more sophisticated than promoting Chen Gui and his son to be the governor of Xuzhou.
After all, Chen Gui and his son only had charisma as a family and could provide money and food, but they were completely blind when it came to military training.
Liu Guanzhang traveled to countless places, but he was still able to train elite soldiers. This shows that Liu Guanzhang's military training ability is still good.
As long as Chen Gui and his son help Liu Guanzhang wholeheartedly, they may really be able to compete with Lu Bu.
"Zhang Liao is standing still. I'm afraid he has created a rift with Lu Bu. The prime minister can send a lobbyist to make Zhang Liao and Lu Bu turn against each other, which will make Lu Bu a strong enemy again!"
Guo Jia continued to offer advice.
"Zhang Liao is so powerful, how can he still be afraid of Lu Bu?"
Cao Cao had never known Zhang Liao and was not very familiar with him.
"Zhang Liao was young and promising, with great military exploits. He fought many tough battles for Lu Bu, and even General Xiahou Dun was defeated by him."
"His strength is infinitely close to that of a divine general, or has already reached the level of a divine general, and his tactics are so extraordinary that even Lu Bu would have a headache when he saw him."
Guo Jia had investigated Zhang Liao and uncovered all of Zhang Liao's deeds, so he was naturally very familiar with him.
"Is there any chance that such a powerful general can be acquired?"
After hearing Guo Jia's description, Cao Cao suddenly became interested and spoke.
