Chapter 200 Cao Cao's Awakening That night, in Cao's army camp, Cao Cao, Xi Zhicai and others were not sleepy at all. "Zhicai, how do you feel?" Cao Cao said in a deep voice with his back to the crowd. "Tian Chengshou and Yuan Benchu are both outstanding people!" Xi Zhicai sighed, then bowed to Mao Jie. "Xiaoxian, you are really talented!" Mao Jie gently helped Xi Zhicai up and said calmly, "Zhicai, you are overpraising me." In the past, Cao Cao would have felt that Mao Jie was too disrespectful, but now, Cao Cao understood. This was Mao Jie's character. It was normal for a talented person to have some strange temper. In history, Mao Jie was a true strategic master. When he defected to Cao Cao in 192 AD, he proposed the strategic concept of "obeying the emperor to command the disobedient, cultivating land, and storing military supplies." You know, at that time Emperor Xian of Han was still trapped in Luoyang and had not yet fled to Chang'an.
Ju Su proposed to hold the emperor hostage in 195 AD, and Xun Yu proposed to serve the emperor in 196 AD. Although the timing cannot fully explain the problem, it is enough to illustrate Mao Jie's forward-looking vision. And "cultivating crops and storing military supplies" laid a solid foundation for Cao Cao's fundamental strategy of cultivating land in the future to achieve his great cause. Such a good plan was not well-known to Cao Cao. On the one hand, it was because Cao Cao had many advisers under his command, and on the other hand, it was because of Mao Jie's bad temper. Mao Jie was known for his integrity and fairness, just like Tian Feng under Yuan Shao, except that Cao Cao was more tolerant and although he did not use him, he did not kill him either. It was not until the dispute over the crown prince that arose after Cao Cao was named Duke of Wei that Mao Jie, who had strongly supported Cao Pi and suggested that Cao Cao establish his eldest son as the crown prince to avoid repeating the disaster of Yuan Shao, was imprisoned by Cao Cao in anger. This is not just a problem between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, it is the same for any lord. Even Li Shimin, who is said to use people as a mirror, finally dug up Wei Zheng's tomb and smashed the tombstone, didn't he? As a qualified strategist, what you should do is not only to offer excellent strategies, but also to make the lord adopt excellent strategies. No matter how good a plan is, if the lord does not adopt it, what is the use? Advising the lord is one of the duties of a counselor. It is just like “Hey! Come and eat!” Even if the help is done with good intentions, if the method is wrong, it will become an insulting alms. He had Xun Yu, who also had a strong strategic vision and was good at speaking, and Xi Zhicai, who was good at analyzing the situation and understood Cao Cao's mind. As for Mao Jie, who always gave advice in a didactic tone, Cao Cao had no tendency to be masochistic, so why should he use him? But now, Cao Cao doesn't think so. Because he saw the huge gap in strength between himself and Tian Ze and Yuan Shao. Moreover, of his five great advisers, only Xun Yu was left after Tian Ze poached them, so he urgently needed Mao Jie's strength. Cao Cao looked at Mao Jie with burning eyes, stood up and bowed solemnly: "Xiaoxian, I was a little bit negligent to you before, I apologize to you here!" Mao Jie was shocked when he saw this, and immediately bowed and said, "Mingsir, how could this be possible!" "I know you have great talent but fail to make full use of it. This is really my fault!" Cao Cao sighed. Mao Jie was very moved when he heard this. He knew his temper and that only a few friends could tolerate him. Most people kept their distance from him. Because you will feel relieved when you have such an official, colleague, superior or subordinate, but if this person is your friend, I am afraid this may not be the case. It’s like everyone hopes that officials are upright, but if you have such an official friend around you, how many people would really hope that he would be ruthless and not take care of themselves? He was already very satisfied that Cao Cao could use him. Even if he could not be made his confidant, it was enough for him to display most of his talents.
And now, facing Cao Cao's sincere apology, Mao Jie was extremely moved and completely convinced. Seeing this harmonious scene between the monarch and his subjects, Xi Zhicai smiled slightly. Yuan Shao was able to fully realize and put aside his doubts under the terrifying pressure of Tian Ze, so how could Cao Cao not let go of himself? It's worth it to bow down and gain the loyalty of a top strategist. "Xiaoxian, what do you think I should do next?" Cao Cao asked sincerely. "My lord, Jie still says the same thing as before, 'Follow the emperor's orders to command the disobedient, cultivate the land, and store military supplies.'" Mao Jie said calmly. "Tian Ze is strong because it follows the fundamental way to become strong. To fight for the world and to march and fight, money and food are the foundation. We must reform the system and thoroughly integrate the people and land under our rule." "But at the same time, if a weak person wants to take advantage of the situation and defeat the strong with weakness, he must rely on external forces. The strongest external force is undoubtedly the emperor." "Especially since you are in a place surrounded by powerful enemies, diplomacy is of vital importance. Holding the emperor in our hands will be of great benefit to us in our external affairs." "After this battle, you should quickly focus on cultivating the land and pacifying the people, accumulate money and food, and wait for an opportunity to seek to welcome the emperor. In this way, you will be invincible politically and economically, and your great cause will be accomplished." Although Mao Jie did not have the military vision of Xun Yu and Xi Zhicai, he had his own unique insights in strategy. Especially after learning about the situation under Tian Ze's rule, he slowly sorted out his own set of reform methods based on it. Although it cannot be as thorough as Tian Ze, it is relatively gentle and can achieve most of its effects in the short term, which is enough. After a night of deep conversation, Cao Cao, who had not slept all night, did not feel tired at all. Instead, he became more energetic, with a bright light in his eyes. Mao Jie had a very thorough and pragmatic view of issues, and provided Cao Cao with many effective suggestions. However, Cao Cao in the past simply would not listen, and would often interrupt and reject a suggestion as soon as it was started. Now Cao Cao is eager to withdraw his troops immediately and return to Yanzhou to reform the system. But soon, Cao Cao calmed down his excitement and returned to his original slightly dull state. He was still too weak in front of Yuan Shao, so it was always good to lower his guard as much as possible. Facing a powerful enemy, we should just get through the current difficulties first. After launching fierce attacks on Huguan for more than ten days, Zang Ba did not feel much pressure. Instead, the morale of Yuan Shao's army was somewhat low. Faced with this situation, Shen Pei had to start controlling the intensity of the attack, trying to keep casualties within a certain range while ensuring a certain result, and prepare for a protracted war. After learning the news that Tian Ze's troops had entered Bingzhou, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao immediately took action. On the surface, they pretended to explore the surrounding paths and took actions such as digging tunnels under Huguan. In fact, he ordered Zhu Ling and Chunyu Qiong to lead 20,000 troops each to garrison in place, while the rest of the army began to withdraw secretly. Zhu Ling's talent "momentum" can disguise a small number of troops, pretending to be a huge formation. From a distance, it still looks like an army of 200,000, but in fact the main force has already escaped. Zang Ba and Xun You were not unaware of the changes taking place outside the city. However, they did not know whether this was a ploy to lure the enemy or a real withdrawal. Even if the main force really withdrew, they still didn't know how many troops were left behind. Therefore, in order to be safe, Zang Ba and Xun You did not dare to act rashly. The Taihang Mountains are dangerous, but because of this, information is relatively isolated. Without Tian Ze's talent bonus, they also don't have a bird's eye view and cannot grasp the overall situation. They can mostly only make speculations based on limited information. At this time, Zang Ba and Xun You did not know Tian Ze's movements, nor did they know the current situation between the two sides. They could only try their best to contact the rest of the troops in the Taihang Mountains, especially Taishi Ci.
(End of this chapter)