The game starts with Cao Cao as the main character, and the beauty sheds countless tears.

Chapter 174 The struggle between the Celestial Dragons and Yuan Shao: Why welcome Liu Xie?

"My surname is Cao, and my courtesy name is Mengde."

Cao Cao spoke calmly, but his eyes were secretly observing Xu Huang.

Based on his years of experience in judging people, the burly man in the white turban in front of him didn't seem like a bandit.

It's not that people with a bad appetite can't become heroes.

Rather, it's their temperament that's completely different from that of military generals from military families.

Xu Huang gives the impression of being a very steady and reliable military general.

Suddenly, three words popped into Cao Cao's mind.

Zhou Yafu!

Perhaps Xu Huang's martial arts skills are not as good as those of freaks like Zhao Yun, Dian Wei, and Xu Chu.

But that steady aura instantly made Cao Cao want to recruit him.

Just do it.

Adhering to the principle that wildflowers are always fragrant and that one should never let a chance to flirt with a widow last overnight, Cao Cao immediately extended an olive branch:

"Would you be willing to join my Cao camp, Warrior Xu?"

"Perhaps Cao couldn't offer Xu Zhuangshi any high-ranking official position or generous salary at the beginning."

"But with the heroic bearing of General Xu, who is like Zhou Yafu reborn, I, Cao, will certainly not allow General Xu's brilliance to be tarnished!"

Although Zhou Yafu was accused of treason during the Western Han Dynasty due to Emperor Jing's questionable actions, he eventually starved himself to death.

However, all the emperors of the Han Dynasty after Emperor Jing of Han acknowledged that Zhou Yafu had turned the tide and saved the country from collapse, praising him as a great hero of the Han Dynasty.

Cao Cao praised Xu Huang as having the bravery of Zhou Yafu, which is a very high compliment.

This also hints at Xu Huang.

As long as Xu Huang performs meritorious service under his command, he will be promoted like a rocket!

A hint of longing flickered in Xu Huang's eyes.

But then, he shook his head painfully and refused:

"Thank you for your kindness, Governor Cao, but my lord is General Yang Feng, and I cannot betray him and serve another."

Xu Huang did not reveal to Cao Cao that his elderly mother had been kidnapped by Yang Feng, and Cao Cao was unaware of it for the time being.

Cao Cao was quite disappointed to hear Xu Huang's refusal.

But at this moment, the more important thing is to appease Liu Xie.

Cao Cao could only sigh sadly, regretting that he had no chance with Xu Huang, and then turned around and led his army to find Liu Xie.

Su Yu, riding two horses, Jueying and Zhaohuang Feidian, arrived beside Cao Cao and gave Jueying to Cao Cao.

"My lord, it's a waste to leave it there."

"Then Xu Huang will not escape your grasp."

"Besides, look at Xu Huang's expression just now. His eyes clearly showed longing, but he rejected you."

"If he's not waiting for a higher price, then he has some unspeakable reason."

"My lord, do you think he is more like the former or the latter?"

Cao Cao pondered:

“Xu Huang’s appearance is quite different from yours, Ziyi. He doesn’t seem like a cunning person.”

"It seems there must be some hidden story that I, Cao, am unaware of!"

Upon hearing this, Su Yu suddenly pointed behind him and shouted:

"My lord! There's a widow over there!"

"Where? Where?"

Cao Cao turned his head to look, but found no one there. Enraged, he said:

"See, Cao was right, wasn't he? Ziyi, you're a cunning scoundrel!"

"And what about you, my lord?"

"Cao? He's a cunning fellow too!"

Cao Cao remained extremely calm.

Su Yu couldn't help but laugh:

"So, we've gone along with each other, committed the same evil deeds, and are birds of a feather?"

Cao Cao laughed even more heartily:

“With Ziyi by my side, Cao is never alone, no matter how bad things get.”

"To have Ziyi as a friend is the greatest fortune of my life."

Su Yu said thoughtfully:

"We can't be too bad; it's okay if we trick Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu a bit more."

"If Wenruo ever opposes you, don't send him an empty box in a fit of anger to scare him."

“Wenruo, who always maintains a stable mental state despite facing endless official duties every day, was quite frightened.”

Cao Cao shook his head:

"Why are you scaring me out of nowhere?"

"But Your Majesty, Ziyi, what attitude do you think we should adopt towards him?"

Su Yu sighed:

"Hopefully he'll be sensible enough to know his place."

"After all, the Han Dynasty is already in such a state."

"He doesn't have the ability to pacify the world. He can't just wait for us to finish all this and then reap the rewards, can he?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao's expression became extremely complex.

Before the coalition against Dong Zhuo, he still had some hope for the Han Dynasty.

But after going through so much.

Cao Cao was increasingly able to understand what the term "powerful minister" truly meant.

Welcoming Liu Xie was inevitable.

Su Yu also knew that Liu Xie had caused quite a few troubles in the original history.

But no matter how well Cao Cao developed, if he didn't welcome Liu Xie, he wouldn't be able to achieve his goals.

Yuan Shao only needed to raise his arm and call to action, and the situation would immediately reverse.

This is not an exaggeration, but a real event that almost happened during the Battle of Guandu in history!

According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao personally burned two large boxes of letters written by his officers and soldiers to Yuan Shao.

When Cao Cao burned those letters, one wonders if he felt a chill in his heart.

After years of hard work and development, their territory was finally about the same size as Yuan Shao's.

Thinking to myself, I finally have the ability to fight my old big brother to the death!

As a result, while Yuan Shao was fighting a desperate battle with the Heavenly Dragons and also fighting the Battle of Guandu, there were still so many people in Cao Cao's camp who wanted to defect to Yuan Shao!

Put yourself in their shoes, and you'll understand how devastating this is!

To put it bluntly, what was the difference between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao?

It lies in its profound heritage!

It was due to the disaster of the Party Prohibitions!

What was the "Disaster of the Party Prohibitions"?

When Liu Hong had just ascended the throne two or three years earlier, in order to consolidate his power, he deliberately supported the eunuch group headed by the Ten Attendants to suppress the scholar-official group.

The scholar-official class lacked a unified leader, and each faction acted independently, resulting in their utter defeat at the hands of the eunuch faction.

Countless people were murdered or imprisoned.

At the critical moment, Yuan Wei, the fourth uncle of the Yuan family and the previous head of the family, stepped forward to organize the scholar-official group to launch a counterattack.

At the same time, Yuan Shao also founded an organization called "Friends of the Runners" to hide and rescue scholar-officials.

The most impressive thing about the Yuan family is not their status as four generations of high-ranking officials.

In fact, Yang Biao's family has been in power for five generations!

Ju Shou's family was the only one of their kind, with eight generations of high-ranking officials, making them Liu Xiu's strongest business partner back then.

But what makes the Ju family so powerful?

What's impressive is that he's not arrogant at all; he's very low-key.

However, living in seclusion in the city does not mean not competing; it simply means the time is not yet right.

Ju Shou did not want to be a feudal lord; his goal was to use the feudal lords as puppets!

So what is the most powerful identity of the Yuan family?

He is the leader of all the prominent families in the world!

Through the persecution of the party, the Yuan family established this identity.

All the powerful families in the land, including the Cao, Xiahou, and Ding families, owe a debt of gratitude to the Yuan family.

This is what makes the Yuan family so formidable!

It's possible for Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu to fight amongst themselves.

Other warlords from powerful families wanted to rebel against the Yuan family.

Do you want to fight the Yuan family to the death?

We have to invoke the banner of the Han emperor.

Otherwise, it would be betraying the entire clan!

Is Cao Cao capable of directly waging war against this group now?

Obviously it can't be done.

The consequence of the war was that the two and a half states that had been acquired were instantly overrun with rebellions.

Welcoming Liu Xie would be of no use to Yuan Shao, and might even have a negative effect.

But for Cao Cao, if he didn't welcome Liu Xie, he would never be able to defeat Yuan Shao.

As long as Yuan Shao stands on the moral high ground to criticize Cao Cao, problems will immediately arise in Cao Cao's rear!

At first glance, Yuan Shu inherited Yuzhou, Nanyang, and Huainan, starting with three golden eggs, which seemed incredibly powerful.

But in terms of reputation, ten of him couldn't match Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao was the behind-the-scenes boss of the "Friends of the Runners" organization and the successor to Yuan Wei in terms of prestige!

This is the core reason why the powerful families of Ji Province rebelled against Han Fu and welcomed Yuan Shao into Ji Province.

In terms of morality, Yuan Shao was truly the only moral paragon at the end of the Han Dynasty, an existence unmatched by anyone.

Even Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and others initially sided with Yuan Shao rather than Cao Cao.

In the eyes of all the powerful clans, Yuan Shao was always the first choice.

Of course, because the elders of the Yuan family supported Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu was still able to barely compete with Yuan Shao before he declared himself emperor.

After Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, Yuan Shao was about to win without lifting a finger.

Cao Cao?

Ah, little brother! You wait, I'll deal with the Celestial Dragons and you at the same time.

……