Chapter 257 Cao Cao’s worries!
On the east bank of the Xiang River, inside Cao’s camp.

Looking at the Xiang River flowing eastward, Cao Cao looked into the distance with extremely complicated feelings.

The closer he got to Xiangyang, the more uneasy he felt inside, but Cao Cao couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.

"rustle."

There was a sound of footsteps, and then Xun Yu's voice was heard.

"My lord is worried?"

Cao Cao turned around, looked at the familiar face, and said with a wry smile: "The war is coming, how can I not be worried?"

"Liu Biao, Liu Bei, and even Ye Feng who was watching not far away."

"None of these people does not want the land of Jingxiang."

"This place is like a piece of fat meat. Everyone is eyeing it and wants to take it for themselves."

"We are like trying to pull chestnuts out of the fire. It's extremely dangerous."

Xun Yu smiled and said calmly: "It may seem like trying to pull chestnuts out of the fire, but it is actually not as difficult as you might think."

"Qingzhou and Yanzhou are still undecided. Ye Feng will not focus on Jingxiang at this time."

"After all, internal stability is more important to him."

"Otherwise, those aristocratic families will just cut off his food supply at the critical moment of the war. At that time, he will really be unable to live or die."

"Liu Bei, who retreated from Runan, had only less than 20,000 elite soldiers around him, and his right-hand man Zhang Fei, who was in the middle stage of the Heavenly General, had died in Runan City. He was simply unable to confront his lord head-on."

"Liu Biao lost most of his elite troops in the Battle of Runan. Two important men under his command, Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, are willing to help you. Together with our 40,000 elite troops, we can take Xiangyang and kill Liu Biao as easily as taking something out of a bag."

"Why worry so much?"

Cao Cao smiled bitterly and said, "I know all these things, but I don't know why I always feel something is wrong."

"A bad feeling?"

Xun Yu was silent for a long time: "My Lord, do you think everything is going too smoothly?"

Cao Cao was stunned, with a hint of astonishment in his eyes: "Do you feel the same way?"

Xun Yu nodded: "What you said just now is what everyone is thinking, but it is not what I am thinking."

"I also feel that an invisible net is enveloping us."

“This big net could swallow us up.”

Cao Cao frowned: "Do you feel the same way?"

"But why?"

"I thought about it over and over again, but I couldn't figure out where the danger was."

Xun Yu pointed to the sky in the north and said, "Do you think Ye Feng will follow our arrangement and continue to stay in Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and Xuzhou, instead of setting his sights on Jingxiang?"

Cao Cao was stunned: "Isn't he afraid?"

Xun Yu asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"In the Battle of Runan, the three reinforcements were completely defeated by him, and countless elites were lost. Now, who in the world would not be terrified when Ye Feng's name is mentioned?"

"Due to Ye Feng's power, even if he doesn't go to Qingzhou or Yanzhou in person, who would dare to disobey his orders?"

"So it doesn't make much difference whether he goes or not."

"But you should know the importance of Jingxiang."

"Liu Bei, Cao Gong, and Liu Biao are the only half of the remaining princes in the world. They will annihilate us in one fell swoop, open up a gap in the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, and unify the world."

“How tempting is this?”

"Could it be that Ye Feng would turn a blind eye?"

Cao Cao pondered for a long time, then smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, Ye Feng is a serious threat to us."

"As long as we take action, he will definitely act upon hearing the news." "Wen Ruo, do you think we should really give Liu Biao..."

Xun Yu sighed softly: "If we don't take down Liu Biao, we can't stop Ye Feng. How can we succeed if we can't work together?"

"But the cost is too high. Even making enemies with Liu Bei in advance will weaken our strength."

"After much thought, I think that if I want to be more cautious, I have to discuss this with Liu Bei."

"if."

Cao Cao's eyes flashed with solemnity, and he nodded heavily after a long while: "As long as a unified command can be established as soon as possible, I can agree to any conditions."

"But we don't have much time, because we must act on the wedding day, otherwise Cai Mao will change his mind."

Xun Yu nodded and said, "Don't worry, my lord. I will ask Gongda (Xun You's courtesy name) to contact Liu Bei and see if he can convince him."

Cao Cao looked at Xiangyang City and said, "The road ahead is very difficult. If it weren't for your help, I would not be able to hold on."

"Wen Ruo, you've worked hard."

Xun Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "We are all for the Han Dynasty, why bother?"

"It's a pity that Sun Jian is still unwilling to help, otherwise why would he compromise with Liu Bei?"

Yuzhang, Nanchang City.

After Sun Jian was unable to escape, he recruited troops in Changsha but did not fight to the death with Liu Chuan. Instead, he gave up decisively and followed the advice of his subordinate Zhang Zhao to directly swallow up Yuan Shu's original territory.

Over the past six months, many places including Yuzhang, Lujiang, Jiujiang and Hefei have been captured by it.

Originally, Sun Jian was full of confidence, thinking that he could dominate the southeast by getting rid of Liu Yao. However, when the result of the Battle of Runan came back, Sun Jian, who was originally preparing to march to Moling with great enthusiasm, was immediately poured a basin of cold water on his head.

In the prefect's mansion, Sun Jian's brows were furrowed and his face was hesitant.

Below, Zhang Zhao, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu stood with their hands hanging down.

After a while, Sun Ce could no longer hold back his temper and said, "Father, why do we have to give up the attack on Moling? Liu Yao's elite troops have been dispersed, and now is the best time for us to send troops."

"If we take Shouchun and Moling, the whole of Yangzhou will fall into our hands."

"By the time."

Sun Jian sighed and said, "Look, this is the news from Runan and Xuzhou just now."

"Ye Feng's movements are really fast."

The other three people hurriedly took the envelope from Sun Jian's hand, read it carefully, and everyone gasped.

They didn't expect Ye Feng to have such a big appetite. After ambushing the armies of Liu Yao, Tao Qian and Cao Cao, he also set up a dragnet in the camp outside the city and captured Liu Bei and Wen Pin's troops in one fell swoop.

With such haste and ingenuity in design, the three of them simply couldn't believe that all this was real.

It was credible that Sun Jian actually took it out, so it must have been confirmed again and again.

The three people had different expressions on their faces. After a long while, Sun Ce said, "The more it is at this time, the more we should strengthen our own strength."

"Yangzhou is a piece of fat meat. As long as we devour it, we have the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. We can't say that we will definitely win against Ye Feng, but at least we can protect ourselves."

"If Ye Feng continues to go south to Jingxiang, we can go north to Xuzhou."

"While they are pacifying the southwest, if we continue to expand our victory, we may be able to compete with them."

"Father, don't waste time."

"Now time is life for us."

Sun Jian sighed: "You have never dealt with Ye Feng, so you don't know how powerful he is."

"There are more than ten lords, all of them are amazing and talented, but so many of them plotted against the immature Ye Feng, and he was defeated miserably."

"The results of every subsequent war also prove this point."

"Do you think we are his match?"

(End of this chapter)