After taking down Hua County, Cao Cao suddenly stopped all military operations and instead arranged fortifications around Hua County, entering a state of attack and defense.

With one go, he declined again and died three times. Cao Cao led his army to conquer the North Bank Ferry overnight, seized Yanjin, and captured Huaxian again, and successfully extended his tentacles into Jizhou. After a night and half a day of hard work, his subordinates were already exhausted. Cao Cao could not use this tired army to fight. The strategic purpose had already reached, so there was no rush to do the rest.

Now Cao Cao needs to have enough patience to wait, waiting for Xiahou Yuan's reinforcements, and also waiting for Yuan's army to be in chaos without fighting. After taking down the county, Cao Cao had sent someone to send orders to Xiahou Yuan, asking him to immediately lead the 30,000 troops from his headquarters to support him, and to join the 30,000 troops left by Guo Jia there on the south bank of the Yellow River, truly forming a trend of attacking between the north and the south, encircling the Yuan army led by Shen Pei, and ready to swallow this Yuan army at any time. After fighting last night, Cao Cao calculated through the battle that there are only 80,000 or 90,000 troops left by Shen Pei's subordinates. It is not too difficult to occupy it.

On the other hand, Cao Cao was waiting for Ao Lie to win the battle results and wait for Ao Lie to defeat Yuan Shao's main force again. When the war in the north came, it would inevitably cause panic on the soldiers of the Shenpai division in the south. By that time, Cao Cao's opportunity would come. If Shenpai's troops could be annexed, Cao Cao would have tens of thousands of additional combat power. He valued population and resources. Cao Cao was not inferior to Ao Lie at all. In Cao Cao's eyes, the Yuan army commanded by Shenpai was a big piece of fat, and it would be a pity not to eat it. As for whether Ao Lie could defeat Yuan Shao as Cao Cao thought, Cao Cao was not worried at all, or in other words, Cao Cao was very confident in Ao Lie, an opponent and friend who was both enemies and friends.

In Cao Cao's strategic concept, the first is to find a suitable base in Jizhou. Now he has achieved this goal; the second is to annex the troops led by Shenpai, incorporate the subdued surrendered troops into his own troops, and strengthen the personnel and combat effectiveness of his troops; the third is to take advantage of the annexation of Shenpai's troops, while Ao Lie was fighting with the remaining Yuan army in the north, he conquered the cities and landed in the south and captured two to three counties in Jizhou. Cao Cao knew that Yuan Shao's foundation in Jizhou was extremely solid, as the saying goes, a century-legged insect died without being stiff. It is certain that he was defeated by Ao Lie, but it would not be so easy for Ao Lie to completely eliminate Yuan Shao in a short time. Therefore, Cao Cao still has a lot of opportunities to occupy the counties and counties in Jizhou in the future, and he is not in a hurry.

Yuan Shao returned to the north of Jizhou. After fleeing in a hurry for three days, he finally met the 150,000 reinforcements led by Yuan Shang in Xinhe County, Anping. After obtaining this powerful reinforcement, Yuan Shao's confidence was enough again. He led his troops to station in Xinhe and sent troops everywhere to gather the collapsed soldiers, preparing to fight Ao Lie again here.

Many people in the Yuan army, who were defeated by the Yan army in the Hejian camp, did not know that the food and grass had been burned by the Yan army. After receiving the news that Yuan Shao was stationed in Xinhe, they immediately gathered with Yuan Shao. In their thinking, only by following Yuan Shao could there be food. Many people knew that Yuan Shao's food and grass had been burned, but they still returned to Yuan Shao with a try-and-see attitude. With reinforcements, it means that new food and grass were transported. Even if the food and grass were not sufficient, it would be better than starving to death. Of course, there were many Yuan army who refused to return to Yuan camp no matter what. They took off Yuan army's armor, put on the clothes of ordinary people, returned to their hometowns, and completed reunion with their families.

After five days of gathering the remaining defeated generals, Yuan Shao pulled up a team of 100,000 people again. In addition to the 300,000 troops who were killed and surrendered, Yuan Shao could only gather so many. In cooperation with the 150,000 troops brought by Yuan Shang, attacking 250,000 troops stationed in Xinhe, the number of troops still had an absolute advantage, nearly twice as high as the Yan army and Jiangdong army under Ao Lie. What Yuan Shao didn't know was that he could mobilize reinforcements, and Ao Lie was also mobilizing reinforcements. Now, 20,000 Yan army infantry and 20,000 elite navy troops were coming along with water and land under the leadership of Taishi Ci and Gan Ning.

Ao Lie's navy was unrivaled in the north of the Han Dynasty. When the seas near the five northern prefectures were close to Gan Ning, they had already been wiped out by the 60,000 Yan army naval army under the principle of Gan Ning's war training. Dozens of pirates and water bandits of all sizes were all eliminated by Gan Ning. The Yan army's navy also increased its strength. Without Ao Lie's expansion of the navy, it quickly grew from 40,000 to 60,000. This was still Gan Ning adhered to Ao Lie's purpose of training troops. Based on the idea of ​​not being insignificant than being indiscriminate, he reorganized a large number of conquered pirates and water bandits, selected the elites and eliminated the old and weak, and carried out round after round of selection to remove the drought and retain the essence, and then compressed the navy's organization to 60,000.

Therefore, the waters near the five northern prefectures had quietly become the territorial waters of the Yan army, and Gan Ning was able to sail south smoothly and unimpededly, coming to Jizhou before the infantry and cavalry led by Taishici, and met with Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin who were guarding the Bohai Sea, and then immediately sent someone to ask Ao Lie for the next action.

After Ao Lie learned that Gan Ning had arrived in the Bohai Sea, he immediately issued an edict, asking Gan Ning to lead 20,000 Qilin Army to enter the interior of Jizhou along the mouth of the Yellow River, and carry out a small-scale harassing battle near Anping where Yuan Shao stationed his troops, disrupting Yuan Shao's sight.

The second day after Gan Ning arrived, Taishi Ci also brought 20,000 infantry and cavalry. Ao Lie asked Taishi Ci to rush to Zhongshan without stopping to take over Zhao Yun to guard there. After these days of restoring energy, Zhao Yun's troops were in full spirit and could just advance westward to attack Changshan. Zhao Yun was very familiar with every tree and grass in Changshan, and no one was more suitable to attack Changshan than him.

In this way, while Yuan Shao gathered the remaining defeated generals, Ao Lie also launched the next round of action. A new round of competition is quietly brewing, and the decisive battle between Mars and Earth is about to be staged.

At 10:00 p.m. at night, Zhuge Liang came to Ao Lie's room alone and saw Ao Lie studying the Thirteenth chapter of Guigu under the candlelight. So he coughed gently, which attracted Ao Lie's attention.

Ao Lie smiled slightly and asked Zhuge Liang: "Kong Ming, it's already deep at night, why haven't you been asleep yet?" Zhuge Liang walked forward a few steps, came to Ao Lie, and smiled back. He also said softly: "Didn't the King of Yan sleep? Actually, there is something that Liang came here that he couldn't find the right direction. I came to ask the King of Yan for advice."

Ao Lie looked at Zhuge Liang with great interest and said strangely: "There are things you, Mr. Wolong, can't understand? Interestingly, let's listen. In addition, there is no one at the moment. Don't always open your mouth and shut up the King of Yan, it sounds awkward. Let's sit down."

Zhuge Liang sat obediently on the chair opposite Ao Lie and said, "Brother, Cao Cao has now extended his tentacles into Jizhou. After Yuan Shao's defeat, two leaders will surely appear in Jizhou. That is, the eldest brother and Cao Cao share Jizhou equally. With Cao Cao's strategy, he will definitely get a piece of the pie in Jizhou. In this way, isn't it equivalent to helping us increase Cao Cao's strength? Once Cao Cao gains power, it will be difficult for us to deal with him. Therefore, Liang felt a little confused about how to control Cao Cao and how to control him."

Ao Lie smiled slightly. This question was actually not difficult to imagine for Zhuge Liang. However, Cao Cao's reputation has never been very good. He took advantage of the emperor's order to conquer Yanzhou and took Yanzhou and Yuzhou in one fell swoop. Later, he blatantly used troops to Qingzhou, and then took Xuzhou on the grounds of revenge for his father. At the beginning of the city, he massacred a large number of people in Xuzhou died unjustly. Cao Cao had already been loyal to the image of the Han Dynasty from the beginning. He gradually transformed to another opposite direction. In other words, after Cao Cao obtained a large amount of city land and the number of soldiers and horses, he gradually became free from the shackles of the Han Dynasty and carried out dictatorship.

Ao Lie joined forces with Cao Cao to fight against Yuan Shao, and implemented a strategy of getting along with far and near attacks. Zhuge Liang had no reason to not understand such a simple truth. The crux of preventing Zhuge Liang from thinking clearly was Zhuge Liang's heart. Although Zhuge Liang had never expressed his support for the Han Dynasty in public, it did not mean that he was not loyal to the Han Dynasty. On the contrary, Zhuge Liang always placed the Han Dynasty in the most important position in his heart, so he could not tolerate Cao Cao who gradually showed his ambitions. In a sentence of later generations, Cao Cao now has become a thief in the eyes of Zhuge Liang, and the Han Dynasty and the thief are incompatible. This is why Zhuge Liang was not willing to join Cao Cao.

Ao Lie naturally understood Zhuge Liang's thoughts very well. In history, Cao Cao's strength and reputation were much greater than Liu Bei. Cao Cao occupied the entire north, while Liu Bei only owned a small Xinye County. In such a huge gap, Zhuge Liang still defected to Liu Bei. This was not only because Liu Bei hypocritically acted as a three-visit cottage, but more importantly, Zhuge Liang could not tolerate himself betraying himself to the Han thief Cao Cao.

After thinking for a while, Ao Lie said, "Kongming, your concerns, I understand, you are afraid that you will be involved in Cao Cao and you will be criticized in the future, right? You are not afraid of being a silly person, what are you afraid of? Besides, after Yuan Shao was destroyed, Cao Cao is Cao Cao, and he is a certain person, we will draw a clear line with Cao Cao. If Cao Cao stands on the opposite side of the people of the Han Dynasty one day in the future, he will definitely not show mercy. As for how to suppress Cao Cao, I have not yet thought of an excellent solution to this point. To defeat Yuan Shao, we must rely on Cao Cao's strength.

Only by joining Cao Cao can we defeat Yuan Shao. After all, Yuan Shao's family has a rich family background. The wealth left by the four generations and three masters of the Yuan family, whether in terms of connections or money, is much higher than ours. In addition, Jizhou is also known as the largest state in the Central Plains, which makes Yuan Shao richer and more powerful. It is also forced by the situation that we join Cao Cao. However, one thing we may be able to make use of, and Liu Bei, who has won Jingzhou, has long been dissatisfied with Cao Cao for a long time. Letting Liu Bei make trouble behind Cao Cao and restrain Cao Cao is a good move."

Zhuge Liang heard this and said in a deep thought: "Liu Bei has been displaced for a long time and is a hero who is rare. Half of Jingzhou will definitely not satisfy his appetite. This is indeed a good move. However, Liu Bei's chief military advisor Pang Shiyuan is a classmate of Liang. His talent is not inferior to Liang. If you want to hide from Shiyuan, you must seize the opportunity. When our army and Cao Cao dissolved the alliance, it is a bit difficult to provoke Liu Bei's harassment behind Cao Cao."

Ao Lie smiled maliciously and said, "It is your strategist's business. This warrior is just asking. Go and discuss with Mr. Wenhe and others to make a plan." In the words, Ao Lie looked like a hand-off manager and threw this difficult problem directly to Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang looked at Ao Lie helplessly and said angrily: "Brother, you are such a scoundrel. Are you embarrassed to call yourself a warrior? You are so smarter than a monkey when you wear a bunch of hair."

Ao Lie's smile became stronger, and he reached out to point at the overlord gun leaning in the corner of the room: "If I weren't a warrior, could I play with it? So, I am a real warrior, and my brain is not as useful as you literati."

He patted his forehead speechlessly, and Zhuge Liang turned around and walked out of Ao Lie's room. He suddenly realized that Ao Lie was even more cunning than he thought. Fortunately, he was worried that Cao Cao would take the opportunity to divide Jizhou with Ao Lie. Now it seems that with Ao Lie's cunning, he didn't have to worry about anything at all. Whoever could take away the benefits in Ao Lie's hands would be a hell!
Chapter completed!