Xi Zhicai narrowed his eyes and said quietly: "The lord has the ambition to swallow the universe, and between gains and losses, he must be able to choose." ”

The implication of Xi Zhicai's words was to let Cao Cao abandon his father and then capture Xuzhou.

When Guo Jia heard this, he stared at Xi Zhicai in disbelief.

Perhaps, it is precisely because Xi Zhicai has not been dead for a long time that he dares to offer such a strategy.

Otherwise, even if Cao Cao accepted this strategy and offered Cao Cao a plan, he would definitely not end well in the future.

Xi Zhicai was in Guo Jia's house and talked with him for a long time before leaving.

With Bian Rang's death, the entire Yanzhou showed a strange calm. Time kept passing, but the expected civil strife still did not appear.

And a generation of top strategists Xi Zhicai, but did not wait for the so-called rebellion, and did not completely clear the internal troubles of Yanzhou for Cao Cao before his death, and passed away suddenly.

"Zhicai!"

When Cao Cao learned of Xi Zhicai's death, he hurriedly came to Xi Zhicai's mansion and hugged Xi Zhicai's body and wept bitterly.

There was drama Zhicai first, and then Guo Fengxiao, and Cao Cao's two top strategists in the Three Kingdoms period all died young.

Especially the drama Zhicai, it is only recorded in the history books: Yingchuan opera Zhicai, the planner, and the Taizu are very powerful.

According to Cao Cao's vision of knowing people, how could a strategist who could be valued by him be so bad?

Historically, after Xi Zhicai's death, Cao Cao's subordinates at that time did not have Guo Jia.

When Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, Chen Liutai guarded Zhang Miao, Zhang Miao's brother Zhang Chao, engaged in Zhonglang Xu Yan and Wang Kai and other accomplices rebelled, leading Lü Bu into Yanzhou.

For a time, several counties and county guards in Yanzhou responded to the uprising, and only the remaining three county towns of Juancheng, Fancheng, and Dong'e were still under Cao Cao's territory.

Later, after nearly a year of fierce competition, Cao Cao once again took over the entire Yanzhou. Since then, Cao Cao has become a veritable lord of Yanzhou.

It wasn't until Cao Cao welcomed back the emperor that he felt that there was no one around him who could talk about the world with him, so he wrote a book to Xun Yu and said: "After the death of Zizhicai, there is no one who can do things with him." Thou shalt be the many strangers, who shall succeed them? ”

Xun Yu recommended Guo Jia, Cao Cao summoned Guo Jia, talked with him about world affairs, and was very happy, so he said: "Those who make a lonely cause must be this person." ”

It can be seen that in Xun Yu's eyes, Guo Jia can be compared with Xi Zhicai; In Cao Cao's eyes, Guo Jia is the strategist who succeeded Xi Zhicai.

It can be said that in Cao Cao's life, there are only two masterminds, one is Xi Zhicai, and the other is Guo Jia.

The so-called mastermind is not a simple strategist.

Although the strategists of the Cao Group are also very talented, except for Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia, Cao Cao may not adopt all the strategies offered by others.

The planner is a strategist who has won the trust of the monarch and can make the monarch obey his words. In addition to this, the mastermind must also have extraordinary talent.

Only when the above three points are met can one be qualified to be called the mastermind.

There is no doubt about the role of the mastermind. They can persuade their lord to change his mind when he makes a wrong decision.

Just like the Battle of Chibi, although many people in the Cao group persuaded Cao Cao that he could not start a war on his own. But Cao Cao didn't listen, and insisted on eliminating Liu Bei and Sun Quan in one fell swoop.

After Cao Cao's defeat in the Battle of Chibi, he once sighed: "If filial piety is here, don't make you lonely here!" ”

There are two interpretations of this sentence, the first is: if Guo Jia were alive, he would definitely be able to persuade me not to start the Battle of Chibi.

The second explanation: If Fengxiao was alive, he would not have fallen for Zhou Yu's strategy.

As mentioned earlier, the role of the planner is not merely to give advice, but to the fact that the plan he offers can be adopted by the monarch.

At that time, under Cao Cao, there were so many top strategists such as Jia Xu, Cheng Yu, Xun You, Xun You, Liu Ye, Zhong Xuan, and Sima Yi, are they not as good as Guo Jia?

Not necessarily!

But their status in Cao Cao's heart is definitely not as good as Guo Jiade. The same strategy, maybe Guo Jia dedicated it to Cao Cao, Cao Cao will adopt it, and if others dedicate it to Cao Cao, he may not necessarily adopt it.

It can be said that after the death of Xi Zhicai, there was Guo Jia; After Guo Jia's death, the Cao Group no longer had a mastermind.

Although in the history books, there is no record of the glorious deeds of Xi Zhicai. But with the evaluation of Cao Cao and Xun Yu, it can be seen that Xi Zhicai's extraordinary talent.

Now Xi Zhicai unfortunately died early, but he broke Cao Cao's arm.

Guo Jia stood next to Xi Zhicai's corpse and whispered to Cao Cao: "The lord still asks for condolences!" ”

After speaking, he took out a letter from his bosom, presented it to Cao Cao with both hands, and said: "Lord, this is the letter that Zhicai gave me before he died, and he asked me to pass the letter to the lord." ＂

Although Guo Jia can guess the content of the letter. But he pretended not to know.

Cao Cao wiped a handful of tears, took the letter handed over by Guo Jia, and after opening it, he saw that there were some blood stains on the letter.

Seeing this, Cao Cao's tears couldn't help but flow. He can imagine that before Xi Zhicai died, he supported his sick body and wrote him such a letter.

After carefully reading the bloodstained letter, Cao Cao did not speak, but just folded it up and carefully put it into his arms.

The death of Xi Zhicai made Chen Xu, who was far away in Bingzhou, breathe a sigh of relief in his heart.

The entire Yanzhou occupied by Cao Cao was still peaceful, and there was no turmoil in the slightest, as Xi Zhicai had predicted. However, Cao Cao and Guo Jia knew that this was just the calm before the storm.

On this day, Cao Cao summoned the subordinate warriors and said to them: "Although I have obtained Yanzhou, the name of Yanzhou Mu is not canonized by the Son of Heaven. ”

"Before Zhicai died, he wrote a letter and asked Feng Xiao to hand it over to me on his behalf. It is already pointed out in the epistle that if you want to achieve great things, you must be justified. ”

"Therefore, I want to send an envoy to Chang'an to meet the Son of Heaven, so that I can fulfill the position of Yanzhou pastor."

Cao Cao's account was martial arts, and when he heard this, he began to whisper. Only Guo Jia stood aside and didn't say a word.

Liu Ye was the first to speak: "The words of the lord are very good, but if you want to go to Chang'an, you must first pass through Hanoi County or Henan Yin." ”

"Now that these two counties are occupied by the state army, if you want to use the road to advance westward, you must first seek Chen Wenzhao's consent."

Xun Yu also said: "Li Dao and Guo Yan are ambitious and coercive to the Son of Heaven, which is no different from Dong Zhuo. Even if the envoys sent by Yanzhou were able to go to Chang'an to meet the Son of Heaven and be canonized, it was also at the behest of Li Dao and others. ”

"The lord was once the initiator of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, acting like this, how will Yuan Benchu of Jizhou and the princes of the world think of the lord?"

Xun Yu was right, Cao Cao sent an envoy into Chang'an, although it was nominally to meet the Son of Heaven, but he also had to accept the canonization of Li Dao and others.

Since the beginning of the princes' discussion of Dong, Cao Cao has always been the only one who is the head of Yuan Shao, and the former Taishou of Dongjun and the current position of Yanzhou Pastor were all canonized by Yuan Shao.

If Cao Cao sent someone to Chang'an to meet the Son of Heaven, I am afraid that it would cause Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction.

Xun You's heart moved, and he secretly thought in his heart: "Could it be that the lord wants to get rid of Yuan Benchu and set up his own door?" ”

Although the current Cao Cao can be regarded as a prince, his position is very embarrassing.

Just like the Qingzhou Assassin Shi Shan Jing, he accepted the canonization of Gongsun Zhan, even if it was a prince, he was also a subordinate of Gongsun Zhan.

Whether Cao Cao accepted Yuan Shao's canonization, or helped Yuan Shao resist Yuan Shu and Tao Qian, he was branded by Yuan Shao on himself.

Although the resourceful people can see that Cao Cao will set up his own door sooner or later. But Cao Cao's current embarrassing position will still bring him certain difficulties.

Cao Cao sat on the main seat and watched the discussion of Wen Wu under the tent with cold eyes. After a pillar of incense, he said: "This time I went to Chang'an to accept the canonization of the Son of Heaven, not to accept the canonization of Li Dao and others. ”

"I've made up my mind, I'll say it later!"

Cao Cao's courage is beyond doubt. Once he has made up his mind, it is difficult to change his mind.

Moreover, Xi Zhicai made it very clear in his suicide note that going to Chang'an to meet the Son of Heaven has three benefits.

First, as Xun Yu thought, he could get rid of Yuan Shao's control and stand on his own.

Second, with the canonization of the imperial court, Cao Cao was able to justifiably become the pastor of Yanzhou.

Third, since the princes began to discuss Dong, the princes of Kwantung have been a little unimpressed with the appointment of the imperial court. Just like Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan, without the consent of the imperial court, they arbitrarily canonized official positions.

Even if Dong Zhuo died, after Li Dao and Guo Yan took charge of Chang'an, this phenomenon still did not change.

If Cao Cao could be the first to send someone to Chang'an, meet the Son of Heaven, and accept the canonization of the imperial court, he would show a loyal look to the Han family in front of the world.

In this way, those who are loyal to the Han family are bound to come to Cao Cao.

In this way, Cao Cao sent people to Bingzhou to discuss with Chen Xu about borrowing Hanoi County; On the one hand, he sent a messenger to prepare to bring tribute to the Son of Heaven.

Not long after the envoy of Yanzhou left, the news of Yuan Shao's defeat of Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao and Gongsun Zan fleeing back to Youzhou spread.

Along with this news, there was also an envoy from Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao's envoy was Cao Cao's friend Xu You, and after Cao Cao saw Xu You, he was very happy and pulled Xu You to say a lot of things.

The two talked for a long time before Cao Cao asked, "Ziyuan, I originally sent you to come to Yanzhou, I don't know what happened?" ”

Xu You said: "This defeat of Gongsun Zhan, Jizhou can finally free up his hands. Our director ordered Yuan Boye to assassinate Yangzhou and sent him to Yangzhou to take up his post. ”

"Yangzhou is too far away from Jizhou, my lord can't send troops to help, and I also ask Meng De to send troops to help fight and help Boye sit firmly in Yangzhou."

Boye is the cousin of Yuan Yi, he is Yuan Shao's cousin, and he has always been at odds with Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao appointed him as the assassin of Yangzhou, just to compete with Yuan Shu for Yangzhou.

When Cao Cao heard Xu You's words, he was extremely dissatisfied in his heart.