Chapter 89 Guo Jia's sadness, Cao Cao's determination "Why on earth is this happening? Why is Liu Bei's army approaching Shouchun?" After hearing the news revealed by Guo Jia, Cao Cao's eyes widened immediately, and there was a hint of anger in his eyes when he looked at Guo Jia! Because the fundamental reason for their sending troops this time was to destroy Liu Bei before he became powerful. But now, Liu Bei's growth rate seems to be beyond his imagination! In Cao Cao's view, Liu Bei's base was far away in Xiang County. Although it was not as far away from Shouchun as his base from Xuchang to Pingyu, the troops they mobilized and the time of their uprising were different! You know, he raised an army of 80,000 in total and was the first to do so. Up to now, he has only just reached the city of Pingyu. Liu Bei sent out only more than 10,000 troops, and started his rebellion half a month later than Liu Bei. But now Liu Bei has already reached the city of Shouchun. Could it be that Yuan Shu’s army is made of paper? Facing Liu Bei's army marching southward, don't you know how to resist? There are five or six cities in total from Xiang County to the south! Even if you hold on for a few days, Liu Bei won't be able to break through so quickly! Therefore, Cao Cao was very angry now, and his mood, which had just improved a little, took a sharp turn for the worse!

They were already short of food, and if Liu Bei allowed Shouchun. Even if they defeated Yuan Shu, they would not have the energy to continue attacking Liu Bei. If we wait another half year and Liu Bei gets his foothold, he will become a small warlord like Lu Bu and Sun Ce. It looks like there aren't many soldiers, but when they fight each other, they're more tooth-breaking than the last! Especially since Liu Bei has a monster like Qin Zhen under his command, you can't suppress him at all. And more importantly, if he hadn't asked, Guo Jia wouldn't even tell him. Isn't this concealing military intelligence? As he was thinking, Lao Cao moved his lips and seemed to want to say something but stopped himself several times. He really wanted to ask Guo Jia, do you also want to surrender to the enemy like Qin Zhen did? But after watching for a while, he saw that Guo Jia didn't say a word, so he sighed again and said: "Why is Fengxiao silent? What is the reason?" "I know Fengxiao will not hide it from me for no reason!" After he said this, Guo Jia sighed: "My Lord, please know that I have not spoken of this matter because the current situation is too chaotic!" "I see that my lord is busy with state affairs and suffers from an old illness. I am afraid that this matter will anger my lord, so I can't bear to tell him about this!" With his intelligence and talent, it is unknown whether Cao Cao would be angry. But just because he knew this, he didn't want to cause trouble for Lao Cao. Because Cao Cao suffered from migraine, once he went out to fight and the affairs were complicated, he might have an attack. Food, drought and military affairs are already troublesome enough now. There was no need for him to put any more pressure on Cao Cao. Moreover, in his opinion, the speed of Liu Bei's army's attack was not something they could control at all. With Qin Zhen's advice and strategies, Yuan Shu's army is nothing but paper! Even if Lao Cao knew about this kind of thing, he could only worry and sigh, and it would not be of any help at all. Therefore, Guo Jia originally planned to capture Shangcai and then inform Cao.

I just didn't expect Cao Cao to ask about it. Seeing Cao Cao's attitude soften, Guo Jia simply turned around and bowed, saying: "My lord, if you want to blame me, you can punish me. Don't get angry and hurt your health." "You must know that the lives of more than 100,000 soldiers in our army depend on you, my lord!" "Guo Jia is just a scholar, he is not important. If we want to make a big plan, we still need the Lord to make the decision!" As he made this statement, the anger and suspicion on Cao Cao's face gradually faded away. It is true that people are all made of flesh and blood. Although Cao Cao is suspicious, he also has feelings. The reason why he didn't kill Qin Zhen before was because he had feelings for Qin Zhen. The two have been in business together for many years, so even if they are wary of each other, they can't just kill each other. Later, when Qin Zhen left, although he hated and resented him and wanted to kill him, he also felt guilty. And now, he could naturally feel the concern that Guo Jia showed from the bottom of his heart. Moreover, Guo Jia was not like Qin Zhen. He had no ideological conflicts with him, nor did he have the potential to be a powerful official like Qin Zhen. He was just a simple confidant. Therefore, Cao Cao was only angry for a while, then he sighed: "Although I know Fengxiao has good intentions, you shouldn't hide such an important matter from me!" "You must know that I regard Fengxiao as my confidant. Many of the ministers around me are either afraid of me, respect me, or hate me, but none of them are as close to me as Fengxiao!" "Now that Qin Zixuan has abandoned me, and Wenruo and Zhongde are not here, Fengxiao is the only person I can trust." "It's fine if others hide it from me, but if Fengxiao continues to hide it from me, I really don't know who I should trust anymore!" There was a sense of infinite loneliness in his words. He was trying to comfort Guo Jia, but he was also complaining to him again. When Guo Jia heard this, he was moved and knelt on the ground: "My lord, you can't do this. Everything that happened here is Jia's fault!" "Don't worry, my lord. I will report everything to you in the future. I will repay your trust and kindness with my life!" Seeing Guo Jia's regret, Cao Cao quickly stood up from his seat, helped Guo Jia up and said: "I don't blame Feng Xiao, it's really a military matter that can't be concealed. Although I know Feng Xiao has good intentions, I can't just pretend I don't know." "Fengxiao, don't do this again. You must know that there are people in the army who are investigating. If you do this again in the future, you may be framed by others!" Although the Xiaoshi was an intelligence agency that supervised all officials, it also supervised the civil and military officials under Cao Cao and was only responsible to Cao Cao. Cao Cao's words were both a comfort and a warning. The subtext was to tell Guo Jia, I know you are good to me, but if you do it again, I will not only punish you, but the school officials will not forgive you either! I can help you here, but I’m afraid someone will frame you! However, Lao Cao had his own routine, and the beating was not obvious. Guo Jia did not care, but just nodded and said: "Thank you for your concern, my lord. I will never do this again in the future!" After comforting Guo Jia, Cao Cao returned to his seat and said in a deep voice: "Fengxiao, don't go and pass on the message now. Report to me every move of Liu Bei's army during this period!"

Seeing this, Guo Jia sorted out his thoughts, came to Cao Cao, and told him all the information he had collected during this period. This, of course, includes not only Liu Bei's march into Shouchun, but also other movements of Liu Bei's army. For example, he was in close contact with Liu Chong and traded food and supplies with him. He also seemed to have connections with Liu Pi, Gong Du and other tribes in Runan. Of course, some of the information was not discovered, such as Liu Bei contacting Chen Deng and Zang Ba, which were all arranged by Xu Shu. Their spies haven't penetrated far enough to find out everything. But even so, the news he revealed was enough to shock Cao Cao. Hearing that Liu Bei was making contact with Liu Chong, Cao Cao could not help but exclaimed: "Liu Bei was in contact with Liu Chong, why didn't Feng Xiao tell me?" Seeing Cao Cao's behavior, Guo Jia said with a serious face: "Because I judge that this is the enemy's plan to disrupt our army's morale!" He did not tell Cao Cao about this because he knew Cao Cao too well. Qin Zhen's strategy was designed to take advantage of Cao Cao's suspicion. As long as Cao Cao didn't know, there would be no problem. If Cao Cao gets to know this, it will be a disaster! After all, Liu Chong was located in the State of Chen, and his strategic value was too great. If Cao Cao knew about this, he probably wouldn't dare to advance. Therefore, when Guo Jia learned of this information, his first reaction was to stop it first and wait until Yuan Shu was defeated. However, he had already opened up to Cao Cao at this point, so he no longer concealed the truth and said: "My lord, you must know that Zixuan has always used every possible means in his schemes!" “Where there is a plan, there is a plan!” "If our army is worried about this, then we have fallen into the enemy's trap!" But as he said this, Lao Cao was already feeling very uneasy. Just as Qin Zhen expected, this move was very effective against Cao Cao. After all, although what Guo Jia said made sense, what if Qin Zhen really had a way to persuade Liu Chong? Don't be afraid of ten thousand things, just be prepared for the worst! Now that his main forces have been deployed, what will happen if Liu Chong launches an attack on Chenliu and Jiyin? You must know that Liu Chong is not a simple prince. If it was any other prince, it would be fine, but Liu Chong has a criminal record! When Emperor Ling of Han was in power, it was rumored that Liu Chong offered sacrifices to the gods together with Wei Yin, the prime minister of Chen State. This was a serious crime of usurping the throne, but fortunately Emperor Ling of Han could not bear it, so he was spared. Later, when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, Liu Chong reorganized his army to defend himself and took in tens of thousands of refugees. When he was fighting against Dong Zhuo, he stationed his troops in Yangxia and proclaimed himself the General Assisting Han. All these actions indicate that Liu Chong is ambitious, but not very courageous! Once such people are used by ambitious people, it will be a disaster. Although the Chen State did not have many soldiers and horses, if they were really persuaded by Liu Bei, it would be tantamount to stabbing him in the back!

As a counselor, Guo Jia can put everything aside and make his own judgment. But Cao Cao couldn't do that. If Liu Chong stabbed him in the back, the consequences would be something he couldn't bear! Even Liu Chong didn't need to stab Liu Bei directly. He only needed to cooperate with Liu Bei to easily cut off his connection with the east of Yanzhou. So thinking of this, Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "Although it may be a move by the enemy to confuse the enemy, we cannot ignore it!" "Quickly send a message to Wen Ruo to closely monitor Chen Guo's every move." "If Liu Chong really has rebellious intentions, report it to the court immediately and send troops to the State of Chen!" "Also send 5,000 troops north to provide support for Miao Cai and guard against Liu Chong's rebellion." "At the same time, order Cheng Zhongde to go south to Juyang and closely monitor the actions of Liu Bei's army!" He did not touch Liu Chong before, firstly because he had no reason, and secondly because he wanted to take over the State of Chen peacefully. But the current situation does not allow him to tolerate Liu Chong any longer. If Liu Chong really dared to take action, he wouldn't mind killing Liu Chong as well. When Guo Jia heard what Cao Cao said, he couldn't help but sigh. Their current situation is so difficult, and adding Liu Chong will tie up another part of the troops, which will also increase the intelligence pressure on him. But just as he was sighing, Cao Cao spoke again: "If what Fengxiao just said is true, the plunder of our army's food and grass in the rear may not be caused by refugees who have become bandits, but by the remnants of the Yellow Turbans?" Hearing this, Guo Jia nodded and said: "Perhaps they are the ones, but Liu Pi's main force lives in the mountains and is difficult to find." "Our army cannot be distracted now to wipe out the enemy!" But as soon as he finished speaking, Cao Cao said angrily; "They are just a bunch of bandits. Why should our army be afraid of them? Send a message to Xun Yu to mobilize Li Zheng from Kunyang to march eastward to protect our army's food and grass!" "After our army defeats Yuan Shu, I will personally lead the troops to attack him!" Upon hearing this, Guo Jia's heart sank again. Just these three pieces of information would cause so much trouble for their rear! Qin Zhen is really annoying. He has many different methods and he just wants to increase his intensity in every way. I didn’t realize it when we were friends, but only when we became enemies did I realize how troublesome this guy was. These are just the means he could find. There are so many other tricks up his sleeve, which is really annoying. While he was thinking, Cao Cao spoke again: "Besides this, is there any intelligence about the enemy?" Guo Jia immediately shook his head and said: "Besides what I have said, there is nothing else important!" Seeing this, Cao Cao nodded. It seemed that Guo Jia had no bad intentions. These actions were obviously Qin Zhen's tricks. Although Guo Jia was suppressing the situation, it did not affect the overall situation. In the final analysis, it was all for his own consideration.

Thinking about this, Lao Cao stroked his beard with satisfaction and smiled: "Feng Xiao also said that this matter would anger Cao. Now I see that they are just trivial matters. As long as Cao knows, he will be able to deal with them!" "Are you feeling a bit annoyed?" "That's enough for now. Remember not to do this again in the future!" When Guo Jia heard this, he smiled bitterly to himself. If he hadn't kept the information suppressed until now, I wonder how much of a headache Cao would have had. How could he be so relaxed now? In order to help Lao Cao achieve his ambition, he risked his entire life and fortune! But even though he thought so in his heart, he didn't want to offend Lao Cao, so he could only bow and smile: "So I know it's not difficult for you, lord. I'm just worrying too much. Please forgive me, lord!" Seeing Guo Jia's performance, Cao Cao's mood improved again and he said in a deep voice: "Although this threat has been resolved, Liu Bei's advance is very fast. Our army cannot take it lightly. We must defeat Yuan Shu quickly before making any further plans!" "Go and pass the order immediately. March to Shangcai today. There must be no mistakes!" "I will defeat Yuan Shu within a month!" Upon hearing this, Guo Jia immediately took the order and left, ordering the three armies to turn around and attack Shangcai. (End of this chapter)