Chapter 359: Difficult Situation, Cao Cao Repents In June of the sixth year of Jian'an, in Hedong County, the war situation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's armies had stabilized. Long before the war began, both the Cao and Yuan families were full of confidence, thinking that the world's hegemony would be decided after this battle. But what neither family expected was that this war lasted for nearly two years with no winner determined. At the beginning of the war, Cao Cao took the initiative and intended to seize strategic locations before Yuan Shao returned. However, due to the gap in strength between the two families, Cao Cao's advantage was gradually reversed until the Battle of Guandu broke out. In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was unexpectedly defeated and lost Yanzhou. Yuan Shao gained the upper hand and continued to move south. Just when everyone in the world thought that Cao Cao would never recover, he carved out a new place for himself in Bingzhou. So when Liu Bei's army captured Jingzhou, the Cao and Yuan families were actually engaged in a tug-of-war over Yanzhou and Bingzhou. Due to Cao Cao's harassment, Yuan Shao was unable to stabilize the situation in Yanzhou and sought advice from Ju Su and Tian Feng several times.

Finally, under the persuasion of the two, Yuan Shao stationed Zhang He, Gao Lan and other generals in Yanzhou, and personally returned to the army to resist Cao Cao. By that time, Cao Cao had already defeated Gao Gan's army and almost captured the two large counties of Shangdang and Taiyuan. As a result, as Yuan Shao returned, the Southern Xiongnu suddenly rebelled against Cao Cao, broke out from Puzi and other places, and cut off Cao Cao's retreat. This move almost led to another defeat for Cao Cao. Fortunately, Guo Jia arrived in time and provoked a conflict between the Qiang and the Xiongnu, forcing the Xiongnu to retreat. Cao Cao was furious and decided not to fight with Yuan Shao anymore. He turned back and attacked Mei Ji, directly challenging the Xiongnu royal court. The Huns at this time were not as powerful as they were in the early Han Dynasty. Since the rise of the Xianbei, the Huns began to decline. Faced with Cao Cao's surprise attack, the Southern Xiongnu were unable to resist, and tens of thousands of their young and strong men were slaughtered. They had no choice but to surrender to Cao Cao. Although this move allowed Cao Cao to get rid of a major threat, it also made him miss the best opportunity to seize Bingzhou. Finally, the Battle of Bingzhou ended, Cao Cao captured Shangdang County, garrisoned it with General Xiahou Dun, and then returned to the court. After two years of war, even though Yuan Shao had a large family and a great fortune, his war potential had been exhausted and he had no choice but to recuperate. As a result, just when the two families were about to stop fighting, news came that Liu Bei had captured Jingzhou. At this time, Cao Cao had become much thinner than he had been two years ago, and wrinkles and white hair were gradually appearing on his face. He sat in the tent, holding a scroll of Wei Liao Zi in his hand, and looked at Guo Jia in disbelief. "Feng Xiao is saying that Liu Biao has already offered Jingzhou to Liu Bei, allowing Liu Bei to take control of the entire Jingzhou?" In front of him, Guo Jia was getting thinner and thinner, and his face was a little darker. He nodded when he heard this: "That's right, but it wasn't Liu Biao who presented it. In fact, when Liu Bei arrived in Xiangyang, Liu Biao's troops had already been wiped out!" "According to our spies, Liu Bei surrounded Xiangyang at that time, and Liu Biao only had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses." "Cai Mao and Liu Pan were both defeated by Qin Zhen, and Jiangling also fell into the hands of Liu Bei, so they had no choice but to surrender." "It's said that Jingzhou was offered, but in fact Jingzhou was seized by Liu Bei with his troops. It was a robbery!" As soon as he finished speaking, Cao Cao threw the book on the table and said angrily: "Liu Bei is sending troops to Jingzhou. It's such a big event. Why didn't Feng Xiao inform me of this in advance?"

As he said this, the look in his eyes as he looked at Guo Jia in front of him was already full of hostility and suspicion. As far as he could remember, the last time he heard news about Liu Bei was in November last year. At that time, Liu Bei was still recuperating, and Qin Zhen had just captured Jiaozhou. Although it was a threat to them, it was still within their acceptable range. As a result, just as he had made a truce with Yuan Shao, Guo Jia came running to tell him that Liu Bei had already captured Jingzhou! You have to know that, that is Jingzhou, with eight counties and more than one hundred counties. Even if you exclude Nanyang, there are more than sixty counties. Liu Bei captured such a big state, but he didn't even know when Liu Bei sent troops! This was clearly a dereliction of duty on the part of Guo Jia, who was doing intelligence work, and it was not even as simple as dereliction of duty. If he had known the news earlier, even if he had left Yuan Shao alone, he would not have allowed Liu Bei to seize Jingzhou. But in Lao Cao's eyes, Guo Jia looked exhausted. He bowed and said: "It's not that I don't want to report it to you, my lord. It's just that Liu Bei's army is too fast and our army has no time to react!" As he said this, he looked at the information sent by his spy, and a bit of embarrassment appeared on his face: "In fact, I just recently received the letter from Liu Bei about sending troops, and I was just about to report it to you, my lord." "But before I could report it, news came from the south that Liu Bei had captured Jiangxia." "We were still in Bingzhou at that time. Even if the lord knew about this, what would it be of any use?" "It was only to cause trouble to my lord, so I did not report it until today when news came from the south that Xiangyang had fallen." "The two secret reports were only sent more than ten days apart, and our army has only just arrived here, let alone marching south in advance." Faced with Guo Jia's explanation, the anger in Cao Cao's eyes diminished a lot. It was also because the news was too explosive that he ignored the factor of time. It is true that he did not know that Liu Bei had mobilized his army, but even if he knew, what could he do! Because he was too far away from Jingzhou, there was a great delay in the transmission of intelligence. According to the time calculation, assuming he knew that Liu Bei was mobilizing his troops and was preparing to return to reinforce, by the time the information arrived, Liu Bei had already sent troops for a month. It would take him two or three months to march from Bingzhou to Jingzhou unless he had cavalry to help. Judging from the time, even if he returned as soon as he received the news, it would be impossible for him to stop Liu Bei from seizing Jingzhou. Therefore, there was nothing wrong with Guo Jia's judgment. Even if the news was told to him, it would be of no use. After calming down, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, lowered his head and sighed: "It was Cao who was rude and wrongly blamed Fengxiao. I hope Fengxiao won't be offended!" "But Liu Biao has an army of 100,000, and our army has been unable to defeat him despite several battles." "How could Liu Bei pacify the eight counties of Jingzhou within a few months?" Although he accepted the reality that Liu Bei took Jingzhou, he was now full of doubts. You know, it took him two times to capture Nanyang. How did Liu Bei take Jingzhou so quickly? "It's Qin Zhen!" As soon as Lao Cao asked this, Guo Jia lowered his head and replied: "Liu Bei's capture of Jingzhou was 70% due to Qin Zhen's contribution, and the remaining 30% was due to the efforts of various parties."

"I made a wrong estimate. I thought Qin Zhen would stop the war if he took Jiaozhou." "But according to our military spies, Qin Zhen contacted Zhang Xian after integrating the troops in Jiaozhou." "He persuaded Zhang Xian to surrender, and was able to conquer the three counties in southern Jing and enter the heart of Jingzhou." "When Liu Bei first set out, Qin Zhen had already defeated Liu Pan, a general under Liu Biao." "He took advantage of this opportunity to seize Wuling County. As soon as Liu Bei arrived in Jingzhou, the four counties in southern Jingzhou were already in his possession!" "Later, Pang Tong, a native of Xiangyang, persuaded Huang Zu to surrender and helped Liu Bei defeat Wen Pin with his strategy." "Once Wen Pin was defeated, the Huang family joined Liu Bei's army, and Jiangxia fell into Liu Bei's hands." "Liu Bei subdued the navy of Jingzhou, and used the navy to intercept the Han River, seize Zhangling County and besiege Xiangyang." "At this time, Qin Zhen defeated Cai Mao, seized Jiangling by fraud, and killed Liu Pan!" "At this point, all of Liu Biao's troops stationed outside the city were defeated, leaving only the isolated city of Xiangyang undefended." At this point, Guo Jia sighed, no longer as high-spirited as before: "If Qin Zixuan had not taken the four southern counties first, it would have taken Liu Bei half a year to seize Jingzhou!" As he spoke, Cao Cao's doubts gradually turned into disappointment: "Qin Zhen, it's Qin Zhen again. Could it be that Qin Zixuan is the bad luck star in my life?" "Why is it that after I lost this person, the situation has gone from bad to worse and it is difficult to recover." "Liu Bei gained this man, and he became even more powerful than a tiger, and even achieved the power he has today?" After he said this, a hint of self-mockery appeared on his face, and he felt extremely bitter. Strictly speaking, Qin Zhen's role in Lao Cao's heart changes with the situation. When Qin Zhen was still around, Cao was at his peak and felt that he had the world in his hands. Although Yuan Shao was powerful, he would only end up defeated in front of him and was no match for him at all. As Qin Zhen left and he was defeated in Wancheng, Cao's mentality changed a little. He felt both regret and resentment until Qin Zhen appeared again and followed an unknown Liu Bei. At that time, Cao Cao just felt that Qin Zhen was deliberately trying to anger him, because he would have to surrender to Liu Bei when there were so many other people to surrender to. What kind of person is Liu Bei? He is not even as good as Sun Ce, Lu Bu and other people. How can he compare with Cao Cao? So when he met Qin Zhen again in Runan, although he felt a little uncomfortable, he still held his breath in his heart. He wanted to win, wanted to defeat Liu Bei, and wanted to prove that he could become powerful even without Qin Zhen! Therefore, he appointed Xun You, accepted Jia Xu, and actively prepared for the battle with Yuan Shao. The result was that he failed to defeat Yuan Shao, and not only did he lose his troops and generals, but he also lost Yanzhou. He originally thought that no matter how bad the situation was, he would one day defeat Yuan Shao. But now, Liu Bei seized Jiaozhou and Jingzhou with the help of Qin Zhen. If you think about it carefully, except for Qingzhou which had nothing to do with Qin Zhen, the rest of the territories under Liu Bei were almost all conquered by Qin Zhen. Without Qin Zhen, Liu Bei could not enter Huainan, defeat Sun Ce, capture Lu Bu, pacify the Shanyue, or take over Jiaozhou.

Not to mention that it took only three months to achieve the result of occupying the entire Jingzhou! Suppose, just suppose, that he did not doubt Qin Zhen at the beginning, but entrusted him with an important task. Does that mean that these territories do not belong to Liu Bei, but to Cao Cao? If he had such a large territory and such a large number of troops, would he really have such a hard time fighting and even be defeated by Yuan Shao? Not to mention such a large territory, even if he was only given Yuzhou and Xuzhou, he had the confidence that he could defeat Yuan Shao. But the reality is so bleak. These territories and Qin Zhen belong to Liu Bei and have nothing to do with him. Thinking of this, he could no longer suppress the regret in his heart, and looked at Guo Jia and said: "If Zixuan is still under my command, what is the situation today?" Guo Jia, who had urged him not to regret in the past, also lowered his head and said: "If that's the case, I don't know, maybe." He did not continue to say that perhaps the world had been pacified; Perhaps the Han Dynasty would never have the current situation; Perhaps Cao Cao had already claimed to be alone and successful in supporting the Han Dynasty; Perhaps it will be better than the current situation anyway. But the most uncomfortable thing in the world is often the word "maybe". Because in this world, there is no medicine for regret. (End of this chapter)