Chapter 23: Test

"Under the general's command, the soldiers are strong and brave, and they have sufficient food and supplies. They use the Central Plains as the basis and Jingyi as the front to capture the southeast corner. It is precisely because of the power of Mount Tai to press down the eggs, so why should we use a plan?" Lu Su smiled slightly, staring at Cao Chong's expression without blinking.

Cao Chong raised his eyebrows, and a faint smile hung on the corner of his mouth. He looked directly at Lu Su, but he didn't say anything, he said good or bad, but he just looked at him.

Lu Su was a little shy when he saw him, his eyes flashed, he avoided him, and then said, "What the general is worried about is that Sun and Liu are still fighting, and the casualties will be severe. In addition, the autumn harvest is approaching. At this time, when the war is in progress, a large number of civilians will be called to interfere with the farming season."

Cao Chong nodded, but still said nothing, and continued to look like he was asking for it.

Lu Su was a little confused about what Cao Chong was thinking. He wanted to say a few words casually, see how Cao Chong answered, and then judged his true thoughts. Unexpectedly, Cao Chong just listened but did not express any opinions, which made people feel a little confused. He looked at Zhou Yu again, but found that Zhou Yu was joking with Pang Tong with his body sideways, as if he felt Lu Su's gaze. Zhou Yu glanced over, but with a hint of laughter, as if he understood Lu Su's current mood of being confused, and he was very sympathetic and enjoyed it.

Lu Su was secretly annoyed in his heart. He knew what Zhou Yu was thinking, but had no choice but to use the tea to sort out his thoughts and continued: "If the general is worried about these things, it would be okay. General Zuo spent some time on purchasing grain some time ago, and he didn't have much accumulation. He was unable to fight at this time, so he must wait for the autumn harvest. Jiaozhou's autumn harvest was ten days and half a month before Jingzhou. I guess he would use this time difference to collect the food from Jiaozhou and fight for Jingzhou again. Even if he had nothing to gain, he could interrupt the general's arrangement."

Cao Chong said "Oh", but he had never thought about this problem. The autumn harvest in Jiaozhou had to be earlier. If this was the case, the situation Lu Su said was really possible. Although he would not be confused, he would be affected at the beginning, but it was completely possible. However, even if Liu Bei could take advantage of it, what could he do?

"However, this is just a little trick and cannot change the overall situation." Seeing that Cao Chong's face was a little surprised, Lu Su added another sentence, and then came up with an idea: "The general can also transport grain from Jiangbei and launch an offensive in advance. With the strength of Jingzhou, he took the initiative to disrupt General Zuo's arrangements. In this way, General Zuo will inevitably fall into trouble due to shortage of food, and even if the elite troops are ineffective."

"What should I do when Jiangdong?" Cao Chong pondered for a moment and asked again.

"As soon as the left general is destroyed, Jiangdong will be unable to support it. At that time, the general will attack if he wants to attack, and if he wants to appease him, he will be pacified. Everything will go well."

Cao Chong blinked, straightened his body forward, sat back on his heel, raised his hand to wipe the ends of his hair, thought for a while and said, "What will Sun Kuaiji do when I conquer Jiaozhou?"

"Because of the Jiaozhou incident, General Zuo and Sun Kuaiji have already turned aside. If the general attacks Jiaozhou, Lord Sun Kuaiji should help him." Lu Su smiled and said disapprovingly.

Cao Chong glanced at him, smiled, and bowed to Lu Su: "What Zijing said is very helpful, thank you very much."

Lu Su hurriedly replied the gift.

Cao Chong then turned to Zhou Yu and asked about the progress of the recruitment. Zhou Yu said that Liu Bei had been delaying and had no sincerity to surrender. Now he felt that it would be meaningless to continue recruiting and would rather use troops to attack. Cao Chong agreed, but he said that he should be prepared for both hands. Before fighting, he still could not give up the plan of recruitment. People should still be sent, and soldiers should be prepared. Zhou Yu was irresistible. If you said you wanted to recruit, I would go to recruit. If you said you wanted to attack, I would just watch from the side. He nodded and said yes.

Cao Chong immediately asked Zhang Ren about the preparations on Quanling. Zhang Ren was in a good mood. During this period, he relied on Zhuge Liang's military farming in Lingling County. He was addicted to bullying the weak with the strong. He defeated Liu Bei, who was eager to come to grab food many times. Although he had no big victory, he had never suffered any losses. Being able to defeat Liu Bei, who was famous all over the world, was a very happy thing. When he heard Cao Chong ask him, he quickly introduced Lingling's defense.

"General, Quanling has many military farms. Last year, it has harvested a lot and is enough to provide the army with a year's resources. If the general wants to capture Jiaozhou, Zhang Ren is willing to be the vanguard." Old Zhang Ren was a little anxious, for fear that Cao Chong would hand over the important task of capturing Jiaozhou to Deng Ai or Huang Zhong, and he would take the auxiliary attack again, so he would not be able to make great achievements. Therefore, he had to ask for battle before Cao Chong decided. Even if Cao Chong did not allow him to attack the vanguard in the end, he would at least show his loyalty.

"Don't worry, veteran generals, if you want to deal with states, you must work for veteran generals." Cao Chong smiled and comforted: "Three people come and work hard. I will prepare some wine to wash the dust for the three people, and then discuss official duties. How about it?"

When Zhang Ren and others heard this, they thanked him quickly.

Cai Mao has made a lot of money recently, and he heard that his daughter said that Sun Shangxiang is pregnant. Xun Wenqian has fallen out of favor recently. He immediately made up his mind and decided to hold Cao Chong's thick leg. When Cao Chong crossed the river, he brought out dozens of jars of good wine he carried with him to Cao Chong. Cao Chong refused for a while but did not refuse, so he had to accept it. It is just right to use this wine to entertain Zhou Yu and others. The wine of the Cai family is well-known. Although the wine industry in Xiangyang is now very famous, this kind of good wine is basically on the market.

If you can't buy it, you have money and have nowhere to buy it. This time, if you have good wine for money, these people naturally let go of it. They were very happy and shouted happily and drank it. Liao Li, the prefect of Changsha, also had a flushed face. Even Pang Tong and Zhang Song, who had been used to drinking the fine wine from the Cai family, could not stop the fragrance of the wine. The clown's face was like a pig's liver. They drank more than a dozen jars of wine at one time. When they finished drinking, only three guests who were still a little restrained were left. All those who were accompanying the guests had been poured down.

Cao Chong was half drunk, but his consciousness was still clear. He sent someone to see Zhou Yu and the other two away, and forced himself to return to the inner room. Big Shuang and Xiao Shuang sat opposite each other, holding his cheeks and watching the lights in a daze. He heard Cao Chong's footsteps and stood up quickly. Cao Chong shook and looked at the pair of sisters, smiled and reached out to put them on their shoulders, his tongue was a little knotted: "The same thing, I... can't recognize... come, which... is Big Shuang? Which is... Xiao Shuang?"

"Young master is really drunk too much. No matter how delicious the wine from Sister Cai's house is, it cannot be so drunk." Dashuang pouted in pain and helped Cao Chong lie down on the couch. Xiao Shuang quickly brought the copper basin with his hands and feet. He wiped his face with a hot towel and made Cao Chong feel comfortable and almost screamed. Then Dashuang came to sober up the sobering soup for Cao Chong to drink.

Cao Chong leaned halfway on the couch, looking at the busy big and small pair, suddenly a very absurd feeling. He was determined to kill Liu Bei, but he was so at ease that Liu Bei's two daughters would serve him in daily life. In the near future, they would have to give birth to a son for themselves. This kind of thing could happen. In the past, he would never have thought of it.

"Big Shuang..." Cao Chong shouted.

"Young Master," Da Shuang put down the work in his hand, sat beside Cao Chong with a palm fan, reached out and pulled a strand of hair on Cao Chong's forehead, looked at his red face and asked with a smile: "What's wrong? Are you getting better?"

Cao Chong looked at her slightly red face and reached out to hold her plump little hand in the palm of his hand. He moved his mouth twice, but didn't say anything. He really couldn't ask.

"Young Master wants to ask what we are thinking?" Xiao Shuangban, who was cleaning up the bed, leaned forward and looked up at Cao Chong. The collar was open, and a jade-like white flashed.

"Ah...um..." Cao Chong swallowed and responded casually. Damn, I didn't notice that these two little girls from back then had developed into two gorgeous flowers, and they were very lucky. It has been five years since they were around them, and it's so fucking fast.

"Have you ever thought about Mrs. Xiahou?" Xiaoshuang suddenly found that there was a clear problem with Cao Chong's eyes. After looking at him, he realized that he had a posture that was really indecent. He quickly turned around to avoid Cao Chong's wolf-like gaze.

Cao Chong was a little embarrassed and hurriedly covered up, "You said Mrs. Xiahou, what do I want her to do?"

Xiaoshuang's voice was a little dry, with some resentment: "Madam Xiahou was so old that she was taken away by General Zhang. Now she is only over twenty years old. How would she feel if General Zhang died in a battle?"

Cao Chong was silent. Of course he knew about Mrs. Xiahou's situation. When he went to Dai County last time, he stopped in Zhuo County and went to see her specifically. He wanted to persuade her to return to the Central Plains and find a suitable family to remarry, but she was tired of talking and she didn't want to stay in Zhuo County alone. Cao Chong couldn't even understand why a woman who was stolen did this. Is it so good to be loyal these days?

"We are already lucky compared to Mrs. Xiahou." Dashuang also said with a bad expression, and the pony fan in his hand was weak: "Compared with the sisters and brothers who were thrown away by their father and didn't even know life or death, we can at least live."

Cao Chong's mind gradually woke up. He sat up, pulled one with one hand, and said seriously: "Da Shuang, Xiao Shuang, I can tell you clearly that although the court still needs to be pampered, you must know that the situation in the past six months is extremely unlikely to be pampered. Your father... I just want to tell you in advance, it was the same thing I said five years ago. If you can't face a enemy who killed your father, I... will never force you."

When Dashuang heard this, he immediately became a little anxious. Cao Chong had not touched them for more than five years. The reason for the store was that they were still young, but now Cai Ji was only one year older than them and had already bloomed countless times, but they were still virgins. Dashuang had always felt that he had not been put into the room by him, and the time had not come. Unexpectedly, Cao Chong kept this mind, for fear that they would leave. Although Cao Chong was focusing on them, she really hurt her heart and almost cried. Although Xiaoshuang was a little more restrained, her mind was similar to Dashuang. When he heard Cao Chong's words, he raised his slender eyebrows. Cao Chong quickly added: "But I can't bear to let it go. I will be very sad if you leave."

"Bah!" Da Shuang blushed, and whispered him, lowered his head and cried. Xiao Shuang's raised eyebrows slowly flattened. She looked at Cao Chong gratefully, shook her head and said, "I asked my son to bring us here just to fulfill our filial piety. We can't decide whether he can surrender. The son has also tried his best. As for the result, it was decided by God and not what we dared to hope for."

Cao Chong didn't say anything more, but just held their hands. After a long time, he said: "Since that's the case, I'll send someone to your father's place while I still have time and ask him to send someone to Changsha. I will officially welcome you into the store."

"Young Master..." The sisters were surprised and happy, looking at each other, and their faces were red with shame. Da Shuang cried in joy, threw the palm fan in his hand and threw it into Cao Chong's arms, crying indescribable, but Xiao Shuang was stunned for a moment and bowed slowly: "Thank you, Young Master."

In the inn, Zhou Yu and Lu Su were sitting face to face. On a red-lacquered chessboard, black and white chess pieces were fighting. The victory and defeat were about to happen. Two cups of tea exuded a faint fragrance.

"Bang!" Zhou Yu threw a snow-white chess piece and smiled proudly. He threw the remaining chess piece in his hand into the chess box, clapped his hands, picked up the teacup next to him with one hand, and looked at Lu Su who was frowning with his frown: "Zijing, you lost again."

Lu Su was in a state of discomfort. He scattered the chess pieces in his hand into the chess box in unhappy. The shiny black chess pieces made a buzzing sound, and it seemed to hit Lu Su's heart. He stared at the chessboard for a long time, feeling a little upset, and had the urge to sweep all the white and dazzling chess pieces in front of him to the ground.

But he held back that he could not be so disobedient in front of Zhou Yu, although Zhou Yu was his closest friend.

"Zijing, do you still want to think about General Cao?" Zhou Yu was in a good mood and asked leisurely.

"He..." Lu Su sighed, stretched out his hand to pick up the black chess piece on the chessboard, and put it into his left palm piece one by one. "Gongjin, I can't see what he is thinking, right..." Lu Su felt that Cao Chong's attitude during the day disappointed him. He lost confidence in his waiting for the past few months, but he didn't want to say it. Once he said it, things seemed to have no turning point. What should he do? Jiangdong can't go back. Do you really have to die in his hometown?

He was a little angry. When he was idle at home and was watching the world, Liu Ye wrote to him to go north to join Cao Cao. He had already agreed, but after listening to Zhou Yu's advice, he came to Jiangdong. Sun Quan had just taken over Jiangdong. He asked Zhang Zhao about internal affairs and external affairs, and he respected him, the person recommended by Zhou Yu. After he offered a third of the strategy, although Sun Quan did not immediately use him, he valued him very much. Zhang Zhao thought he was wild and rough and had been with Sun many times.

Quan criticized him in front of him, but Sun Quan disagreed. Instead, he gave him a tent to his mother, rewarded him with a lot of things, and compensated him for the loss of his migration to Jiangdong. Cao Cao went to Jingzhou, and he received Sun Quan's wedding gift because he advocated resisting Cao. He was famous for a while and seemed to have finally made a breakthrough. However, unexpectedly, the situation then took a sharp turn. Although he became the governor, he lost Sun Quan's trust and had to leave Jiangdong sadly within a few years.

Success is Zhou Yu, failure is Zhou Yu.

Lu Su raised his eyelids and glanced at Zhou Yu who was smiling and silent, and sighed in his heart. If he had heard Liu Ye at the beginning, he would have been better than he is now.

"Zi Jing," Zhou Yu seemed to feel Lu Su's mood. He put down his teacup, supported his knees with his hands, leaned forward, and said sincerely: "I told you before that General Cao doesn't like mysterious and let you speak frankly. You just want to make some mysterious and use such a clumsy strategy to try him. What's the point now? When you met Sun Kuaiji, you proposed a third-point strategy as soon as you met. How could you be so happy? Why are you so many things now?"

"If I don't try him, how do you know how he will treat me?" Lu Su gave him a blank look and was a little unhappy about Sun Quan and the third-point strategy. "How did Sun Kuaiji value you and me at the beginning, so what now? I think it's because I didn't try him well."

Zhou Yu looked at him for a long time and burst out laughing. Lu Su was a little angry and glared at the sight of him. Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Yu raised his hand to stop him, lowered his head and thought for a while and said, "Zi Jing, do you know what Kong Ming is doing now?"

"Farm in Longzhong." Lu Su said angrily.

"Well, you know? Kong Ming was captured, and Cao Zhennan came to invite him in person. As a result, Kong Ming was rejected in order to show off his character. As a result, he was furious and stopped pursuing him. He put such a big shot back to Longzhong to farm. How about you...better than Kong Ming?"

"It's a big deal." Lu Su was a little surprised. He knew that Zhuge Liang did not accept Cao Chong's enlistment, but he always thought that Zhuge Liang was loyal to Liu Bei and was unwilling to serve Cao Chong, but he did not expect that this was the reason. After thinking about it this way, he had no confidence in Cao Chong.

"This Cao Zhennan is very strange. He seems to value talents very much, but he doesn't. My classmate Jiang Ziyi learned the art of being tempted. When he first joined his disciple, he wanted to ask him for a maid. Now Liu Bei's daughter Dashuang was rejected by him. However, Ziyi was in his hands and was very proud of negotiations. He held many times and held talks with Sun Kuaiji and said that he had made contributions to surrendering Liu Zhang. Zhang Yongnian was wronged in front of the prime minister at first, and he came to the door in person. He had a great conversation. Now he is the first confidant in his mansion. When Pang Shiyuan first met, he proposed to ask for 300 acres of land, but he also refused by him. Of course, Shiyuan is now his chief adviser, no less than Xun Gongda's position in the prime minister's mansion. You all know these, but have you ever thought about it?"

He looked at Lu Su who was thinking, smiled slightly, sat back on his heel, and took a comfortable sip of the somewhat cold tea.

"What do you mean is that I'm doing this more?"

"That's right. In my opinion, although this person is young, he has a sense of pride. He doesn't like those who are mysterious, but can treat people with sincerity. This is a step further than the Prime Minister. What's more important is..." Zhou Yu paused: "Although he doesn't show off mountains or waters in normal times, it seems that many tricks come from his subordinates, he is unpredictable and has a kind of inexplicable confidence. This confidence is so strong that he is not afraid of his subordinates betray him. I... can't figure out where his confidence comes from, but since he gave the celestial phenomena of the nine... nine planets in Xiangyang, I seem to understand a little."

"That nonsense celestial phenomenon?" Lu Su curled his lips and said disdainfully: "What did you understand from here?"

"Hehehe..." Zhou Yu looked at Lu Su's disdainful look and smiled: "Nonsense? Do you know the result of Yu Zhongxiang's debate with him for a day?"

"Why do I care about that?" Lu Su shook his head and expressed no interest.

Zhou Yu smiled slightly. He knew that Lu Su didn't read much, and he was even more ignorant of the Book of Changes. He also looked down on the famous scholars who talked about Xuan and Xu, and even had some power. He stopped teasing Lu Su and continued: "I don't know what he said to Yu Zhongxiang, but I know that Yu Zhongxiang was fascinated by stargazing like Zhou Zhongzhi and Zhang Nan from Yizhou, and used a big tube to look at the stars all day long. By the way, that big tube seemed to be the clairvoy that Cao Zhennan specially made for them. Cao Zhennan discovered that Wulin fired in Jiangling with this clairvoy, and as a result, he occupied the important land of Tiger Leaping Gorge two days before Liu Bei... turned a big victory that we expected without suspense into a crushing defeat."

"Qianliyan?" Lu Su suddenly became energetic. He was puzzled by how Cao Chong could block the Tiger Leaping Gorge in front of Liu Bei. Today, he suddenly realized that he was not convinced and half-doubted about something like Qianliyan.

"Yes, Qianliyan, but these seem to be just a small task for Cao Zhennan. I have never heard of him learning Yi, but he can tell the Yixue that everyone like Yu Zhongxiang cannot tell. I have never heard of him as a craftsman, but he can make such a magical thing as Qianliyan. I have never heard of him going to Yizhou, but he can find a talent like Zhang Yongnian who is ashamed of. Do you think this is normal?" Zhou Yu smiled, and he raised his hand and gestured, pointing to the top of his head: "I always feel that he has secrets that we don't understand. He seems to be standing at a height outside and looking down at the world, not like you and me, no matter how wise you are, he is just one of the many people. He is just a little smarter, and his vision can never break out of the ranges he sees."

"Is that true?" Lu Su said half-joking and half-sentient: "That's not what was still being ruined by Cao Zihuan."

Zhou Yu didn't care about Lu Su's disdain. He just thought and said, "Zijing, after I arrived in Xu County, I saw too many people and the undercurrents below the Pinghe River of Xu County. I don't know how far the man can go, but I believe that the one who can go the farthest is not the indecisive emperor, nor the ruthless Cao Zihuan, but this seemingly confused Cao Cangshu."

"How can you see it?" Lu Su stopped smiling, and the contempt on his face also stopped. He looked at Zhou Yu seriously: "Where did you know?"

"From his demeanor, from his indescribable self-confidence," Zhou Yu said word by word: "Only people with such strong self-confidence can use people like you and me well, and will not be as worried as the emperor, and want to use people and guard against them."

"No wonder you changed your attitude." Lu Su smiled and joked: "Do you regret it now? If I had known this, I wouldn't have made a statement at the beginning."

"Ma Youchang also killed his beloved general Park Xinshou. Isn't he still his military plan now?" Zhou Yu smiled lightly and said, "Zijing, don't worry about me, but think about how you plan again. If I can't do it, as long as I don't go against him, this Weiwei is still good at it. Although he can't be compared with the third minister of the ancestors, being a Nine Minister is worthy of my Zhou family."

"This person is interesting." Zhou Yu smiled faintly and raised the teacup.
Chapter completed!