The news of Cao Cao's troops was not only known by Liu Lan for the first time, but also reached Yuan Shao's ears, for Cao Cao's troops, his intentions were not very clear at first, from beginning to end, he didn't know where Cao Cao would use as a breakthrough point, and even he specially called Fu Zhu to analyze for him.

There are many possibilities, but confronting Liu Lan is obviously not the most important thing, it is more about ensuring his own interests, that is to say, he attacked Liu Lan, first of all, to ensure the interests of the Central Plains, and secondly, the possible benefits of Xuzhou, as for his secret alliance with Yuan Shu, to put it bluntly, this cooperation is regarded as the key to ensuring the interests of the Central Plains, and they have become a thing of the past.

Could it be that Cao Cao is going to turn against them?

Obviously, he didn't have the guts, he was just going left and right, and even he had another bold idea, after glancing at the frustrated professor, he said slowly: "I'm thinking, Cao Cao's purpose is really to drive Liu Lan away, or just to drive Liu Lan out of Xuzhou, as for whether he will develop in the south, I don't care at all." ”

"It's possible, but it's not big." Without thinking, he said: "If the Battle of Jiujiang is not fought, then Yuan Shao fully believes that there is such a possibility, but looking at Cao Cao's reaction, it is unlikely that he hopes that Liu Lan will develop in the south, but he may have the opportunity to defeat Liu Lan, but if Liu Lan wants to retreat to Moling, Cao Cao will not be able to do anything, so he can only sigh." ”

Therefore, he felt that Cao Cao's main goal was actually to completely solve Liu Lan's troubles, otherwise, even if he won Xuzhou, he would be uneasy every day under Liu Lan's threat, so if Cao Cao wanted to establish a longer career, the first thing was to eliminate the threats one by one, rather than letting the tiger return to the mountain and leaving Liu Lan with a big trouble.

Endless troubles, even if you win Xuzhou in the end, there are countless troubles, and that is more than worth the loss.

"You're right, this possibility is even greater, but with the strength of Cao Cao and Yuan Shu, it will be difficult to defeat Liu Lan, don't expect him to stay in Xuzhou, to be honest, if Liu Lan really wants to go to Moling, even we are not sure to leave him."

"If that's the case, then Cao Cao will be in trouble in this battle." He said with a smile on his face.

"Whether he wins or loses, it's a good thing for us, don't worry too much about them, as for Liu Lan, in fact, I really hope that he can defeat Cao Cao, then Cao Cao must flee west to Sili, and we can focus on Liu Lan, after all, Liu Lan is our real enemy, otherwise if we use troops against Cao Cao, Liu Lan will inevitably take advantage of it, and when we solve Cao Cao, maybe we will not be able to compete with him at that time."

Fu Zhu stroked his hair and agreed, and said: "As the lord said, now it depends on the outcome of this battle in Peixian." ”

While Yuan Shao was paying attention to the battlefield in Xuzhou, the vanguard of the Cao army led by Xiahou Yuan rushed to Peixian. Pei County has been under construction since the Liu Lan period, expanded for the first time in the Jianyong period, and has now expanded three times, and the scale of the city has completely become the scale of a large city. The city wall reached six zhang and was more than four zhang wide, and when Xiahou Yuan led 10,000 infantry to a slow stop a few miles away, Pei County in front of him gave him a complete headache.

The last time I came to Pei County, it was two years ago, but in this short period of two years, the scale of Pei County has expanded again, and the key to making him frown is that the city wall is getting higher and higher.

Before, Cao Gong said that Peixian would be a hard bone, and Xiahou Yuan was still a little unimpressed in his heart, but now he believes that it is not easy for him to capture such a big city with 10,000 people.

And the general who defends the city, Xiahou Yuan has also heard of it, Xu Sheng, this person's reputation is not big, but he can be Lu Bu at the moment, and even let Lu Bu choose to bypass Pei County and pounce directly on Xuzhou during the second battle of Xuzhou, this person is still somewhat capable, although he has talked to Lu Bu about this person, but Lu Bu said that he is worthless, Xiahou Yuan does not believe his words at all, if he really says so unbearable, Lu Bu's reaction will not be so big, which shows that this guard general is definitely capable.

He is just embarrassed, saying that Peixian must not act rashly in this battle, at least he cannot ignore the enemy on the opposite side and treat them as soft persimmons.

He immediately turned back and shouted to the guards, "The whole army comes with me." He led the troops to retreat quickly, the troops rushed for a long time, almost without rest, at the moment of rest, they all collapsed to the ground, but at the moment when Xiahou Yuan gave the order, everyone reacted very quickly, instantly assembled, followed him to the west, retreated for a full ten miles, and then began to set up camp.

Among the troops of the Cao army, the brothers and nephews of the Cao family and the Xiahou family are many generals in the army, it can be said that the generals of the Cao army, if they are not really capable, will not be touched by outsiders at all, and this point, in fact, is also obvious within Liu Lan, Liu Lan mainly relied on his old department of Youbeiping, which is now the Liaodong Department, and the opponent Xu Sheng he had to deal with was not from the Liaodong Department.

This situation is what he learned when he left Fengguo County, and he really didn't care too much about it at the time, after all, the Liaodong Department in Xuzhou was not the same as their situation, but he only found out now that it didn't seem to be the same, if it was the previous Pei County, it would not be easy to arrange it for Xu Sheng, but it would not be simple for such a heavy town to be handed over to him to defend.

It is not impossible for a non-Liaodong general to gain a foothold in Xuzhou, but look at the person under Liu Lan's account who can really defend one side, that one is not a cronie from Qingzhou, maybe you will say Zang Ba, but does Zang Ba Liu Lan really trust? Not necessarily, so it is even more commendable to Xu Sheng.

Xiahou Yuan showed his face and left, Xu Sheng, who had heard the news, looked in their direction from the top of the city tower, at this moment they had already become countless black spots in his eyes, completely integrated with the distant scenery, and quickly disappeared.

"What is Cao Jun doing here?" I don't know when, Xu Sheng found Shan Zichun who appeared beside him, and the moment he found himself, Shan Zichun asked out loud.

"Maybe it's daunting, maybe it's to bypass Peixian, maybe it's using other crooked brains."

"Maybe they're waiting for the main force?" Shan Zichun said along with Xu Sheng's words.

"There is also this possibility, but in my experience of leading troops, in such a situation, they often have no chance of winning, and they are afraid that our army may sneak attack at night, so they choose to retreat, but it can be seen from this that the Cao army does not have many troops, and it is the same as our original idea, and their main force cannot be so fast."

"General Xu is right." Shan Zichun is like a student in front of Xu Sheng in front of a teacher, indeed when Xu Sheng was a lieutenant in Pei County, he Shan Zichun was just a small official under Guoyuan's account, and his qualifications are far from being comparable to him, so the respect he deserves is essential, plus he regards Xu Sheng as a military teacher, so he is particularly respectful, but respect is respect, Shan Zichun is not like other students, what the teacher says, he will choose to trust unconditionally, but will look at this matter from his own perspective, If it was really what Xu Sheng said, he absorbed it himself, but if there was a difference with Xu Sheng, he would also ask it, if Xu Sheng could convince him, then if he couldn't convince him, then he wouldn't respect this teacher so much, but would directly point out the problem.

At this point, Guo Yuan is one of the reasons why he admires him the most, and Xu Sheng has not had a similar situation so far, he has such an upright character, he can only meet a Shangguan like Guo Yuan, otherwise, it is inevitable that he will be hated by others.

However, Xu Sheng, who is a military general, doesn't have so many fancy intestines, and Shan Zichun didn't say anything, but suddenly said to him: "General Xu, do you think it is possible that the enemy army is deliberately confusing us?" ”

Xu Sheng hesitated for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Probably not, although I can't be sure, but if I lead the troops, I won't make it so complicated, don't you think it's too cumbersome for them to do this?" If we don't go out of the city, how can he confuse us with this? ”

Shan Zichun's eyes showed the kind of look after careful thinking, although there are still many ways to do this, but Xu Sheng's ability to stay in Peixian for so many years shows that he is very trusted by the lord, otherwise, it would be impossible to lead troops to fight in Xuzhou for so many years.

In this case, in addition to Xu Huang under Liu Lan's account, there is only Xu Sheng, and the other one has not been transferred several times, even if it is Zhao Yun, he only became the governor of Xuzhou later, and Guan Yu has left his own figure in all armies, but Xu Sheng is different, from beginning to end, he is in Pei County, and it is no wonder that many people secretly compare him and Xu Huang to Xuzhou Erxu, and they are really the Erxu of iron and the soldiers of flowing water.

Only this point, his military teacher is not ordinary, and with the understanding of these days, it is even more eye-opening for Xu Sheng, his kung fu is not only powerful, but also very proficient in strategy, more than a star and a half stronger than many of the reckless brave generals he met in Xuzhou.

In Xuzhou, he has seen many of his generals, to be honest, there are only a few generals who really have brains, and the rest are either mediocre in qualifications or simple-minded, one is very hard-working but because of their limited ability, it is difficult to go further, and the other part is simply simple-minded and only knows how to fight, such people are less likely to be in charge, of course, there are a few special cases among them, such as Zhang Fei, but you really think that General Zhang Fei is the kind of simple-minded, A reckless man with well-developed limbs, then you are really deceived by his appearance.

In Xuzhou, many of the evaluations of Zhang Fei are brave and ruthless, in the words of the military advisor Xu Shu, he is wise and foolish, if Zhang Fei is really just because he has the strength of two arms, then he can't live now, after all, how brave a person is, even if it is Lu Bu, in the end, he didn't end up homeless.

And such a brave and ruthless general grabbed a lot of money in Xuzhou, but why only Tai Shici, Zhang Jaw and Zhang Fei stood out, so that Liu Lan could trust him so much, this already explains everything, not to mention that Xu Sheng's deployment of city defense in the past few days really opened his eyes.

Especially with regard to the soldiers, he knew how to arouse the enthusiasm of the soldiers, so that their morale was always very strong, and there was no dissatisfaction, not even the tension of the big war.

Shan Zichun was very emotional, what he had learned in the past few years was enough for him to benefit him for a lifetime, and this situation was exactly like when he went down to the pavilions with Guoyuan to understand the people's feelings.

If you hold the shelf, then you will definitely not be able to integrate into the people, and this Xu Sheng is completely like this, it is said that Xuzhou Guan Yu loves soldiers like a son, but this Xu Sheng, I am afraid that Guan Yu does not have to be vague at all, and even do better, just ask, with such a group of soldiers who are willing to work for him, Pei County really has nothing to worry about.

In Xuzhou, he has seen many of his generals, to be honest, there are only a few generals who really have brains, and the rest are either mediocre in qualifications or simple-minded, one is very hard-working but because of their limited ability, it is difficult to go further, and the other part is simply simple-minded and only knows how to fight, such people are less likely to be in charge, of course, there are a few special cases among them, such as Zhang Fei, but you really think that General Zhang Fei is the kind of simple-minded, A reckless man with well-developed limbs, then you are really deceived by his appearance.

In Xuzhou, many of the evaluations of Zhang Fei are brave and ruthless, in the words of the military advisor Xu Shu, he is wise and foolish, if Zhang Fei is really just because he has the strength of two arms, then he can't live now, after all, how brave a person is, even if it is Lu Bu, in the end, he didn't end up homeless.

And such a brave and ruthless general grabbed a lot of money in Xuzhou, but why only Tai Shici, Zhang Jaw and Zhang Fei stood out, so that Liu Lan could trust him so much, this already explains everything, not to mention that Xu Sheng's deployment of city defense in the past few days really opened his eyes.

Especially with regard to the soldiers, he knew how to arouse the enthusiasm of the soldiers, so that their morale was always very strong, and there was no dissatisfaction, not even the tension of the big war.

Shan Zichun was very emotional, what he had learned in the past few years was enough for him to benefit him for a lifetime, and this situation was exactly like when he went down to the pavilions with Guoyuan to understand the people's feelings.

If you hold the shelf, then you will definitely not be able to integrate into the people, and this Xu Sheng is completely like this, it is said that Xuzhou Guan Yu loves soldiers like a son, but this Xu Sheng, I am afraid that Guan Yu does not have to be vague at all, and even do better, just ask, with such a group of soldiers who are willing to work for him, Pei County really has nothing to worry about.