In March of the fifth year of Tai'an (the 13th year of Jian'an in 208 AD), with the defeat of the two counties in Gaotang, the areas north of the Yellow River were all obtained by Ye Zhao. Ye Zhao ordered Fa Zheng to be the governor of Jizhou and restored the people's livelihood in Jizhou. At the same time, Fang Yue was ordered to station troops in Gaotang and Ding Li stationed in Puyang to guard against the attack of Cao's army. At this point, all the two places in Jizhou and Youzhou were obtained by Ye Zhao. Ye Zhao had already gained half of the country and his reputation was as high as the sky.

Although Jizhou won a battle, Ma Chao's losses made Ye Zhao feel a little sad. After finding Ma Chao's body, Ma Teng chased Cao Cao for nearly a hundred miles. Unfortunately, Cao Cao had already taken the lead. When Ma Teng caught up, Cao Cao had already crossed the river, and Ma Teng could only retreat back to Jizhou with great reluctance.

After taking Jizhou, Ye Zhao did not take advantage of the victory to pursue it. First, to come to Jizhou and Youzhou Xinding, it takes time to digest it. Second, since he left, Zhang Yue, who stayed in the court, sent back some things that made Ye Zhao uneasy, which made Ye Zhao very upset. One month after Ye Zheng got married, after Ye Zhao successfully took over Nanyang and Runan, he sent Ye Zheng back to Chang'an.

In name, it was because Ye Zheng was greedy for merit and proactive. Although Ye Zheng made great contributions in this battle from the result, in fact, if there was any problem with any step, for Ye Zheng, Ye Zhao probably had to consider taking over Ye Zheng from his other sons.

In addition to the newlywed Lu Lingqi, the three confidants of Ye Zheng, Guo Huai, Hao Zhao and Wang Shuang were also traveling with him. In addition, Ye Zhao transferred Lu Bu's general to the Yulin Army Captain, responsible for Chang'an defense, and Cao Xing transferred the position to the Fengche Commander.

This arrangement made people a little confused. Logically speaking, Gao Shun and Cao Xing were newly surrendered generals. Even if Ye Zhao valued them and transferred them to the army to command troops, this time, he gave the important military power of Chang'an City to two people. You must know that the commanders of these two people have always been incompetent without their confidants. Moreover, when Ye Zhao was in Chang'an, although there were Yulin Military Captains and Fengche Commanders, the two troops were controlled by Ye Zhao. This time, he placed these two important military powers in the hands of two foreigners who had just been surrendered, which made many people unable to understand.

Of course, there are also people who can see clearly, but those who can see clearly will not say anything. Ye Zhao stayed in Luoyang, presided over the reconstruction work of Luoyang while watching the situation in the Central Plains.

While Cao Cao and Ye Zhao were fighting in Jizhou, Sun Ce suddenly led his army to capture Xuzhou and commanded Qingzhou. Now Cao Cao was newly defeated. Facing Sun Ce's fierce attack, Cao Cao could not mobilize many people to resist for a while.

Just when everyone thought there would be a battle between Cao Cao and Sun Ce, and a famous general was ready to wait until both sides suffered losses, and annexed the Central Plains in one breath, Cao Cao's reaction surprised most people.

Cao Cao decisively gave up Qingzhou and withdrew all the people west of Linzi, which was equivalent to surrendering Qingzhou to Sun Ce.

"Is this Cao Cao stupid?" Dian Wei grinned in the temporary camp in Xinxiu in Luoyang.

"He is not stupid. Don't talk nonsense if you don't know." Ye Zhao looked at the information, frowned, and shook his head.

Guo Jia, who was standing beside him, sighed: "This person is really decisive enough. In this way, Cao Cao and Sun Ce may be in alliance!"

As soon as Guo Jia said this, let alone Dian Wei, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Hua Xiong and others who were listening on the side were confused when they heard this. They were robbed of the territory of the two states. Not only did they not resist, they also wanted to form an alliance with others. Sounds like this, why did Cao Cao feel a little cowardly?

"Sir, this is unlikely, right?" Lu Bu looked at Jia Xu beside him, a little incredible.

"From Cao Cao's current actions, it is very likely." Jia Xu shook his head, with a hint of appreciation in his eyes.

"This is politics." Ye Zhao glanced at Lu Bu and said with a smile: "Politics, it emphasizes interests rather than personal grievances. As long as the interests are consistent, even the grievances of killing fathers can be put aside for the time being. Although Sun Ce captured the two states of Qingxu, he was also fully bordered by our army. For Sun Ce, Cao Cao was sandwiched in the Central Plains and could only rely on him to compete with our army. For Meng De, he could only fight with our army by joining forces with Sun Ce. Now we are the biggest enemies of the two families. Before defeating us, the two families will restrain their hatred."

Since entering Luoyang, Lu Bu has been delegated to power because of his ability, and his in-laws have been completely delegated. With the relationship between his in-laws, the unhappiness of the past has also disappeared a lot. He even took the initiative to recommend Gao Shun and Cao Xing to Ye Zhao, which also made Ye Zhao quite satisfied. He did not treat Lu Bu harshly. While retaining Lu Bu's official title, he also allowed Lu Bu to participate in the discussions between Ye Zhao and his generals.

"What should I do now?" Hua Xiong looked at Ye Zhao. The two families joined forces. Should we fight Cao Cao first or Sun Ce first?

"Slow down for a moment!" Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Although Cao Cao was able to give up the two states decisively, it does not mean that the generals under his command can do it. It is inevitable that conflicts arise between the two sides. If it is too tight at this moment, it will only allow both sides to cooperate sincerely and temporarily suspend the attack on the Central Plains. At the same time, it will be more than enough to digest the place where the battle is obtained and wait for the opportunity."

Of course, it is impossible to be so simple. With Ye Zhao's current momentum and military strength, even if he attacks strongly, he may not be able to defeat him. It is just a matter of cost. However, Ye Zhao wants to pacify the world at the lowest price. Now that the two companies are united, the momentum is in full swing. Ye Zhao does not want to make unnecessary sacrifices, so he decided to delay the progress and instead digest the newly acquired territory. However, the internal infiltration of the Caosun Alliance must continue.

Seeing that Ye Zhao had already made up his mind, everyone stopped talking. Next, according to Ye Zhao's instructions, the territory suddenly expanded a lot this time, Youzhou, and Nanyang, Runan and Chenliu counties. How to manage and deploy troops is a big problem, especially the land of Runan, which is equivalent to bordering the other three princes. Jingzhou can attack from descending, Sun Ce can fight even when he goes to Jiujiang, and Cao Cao's efforts will be even more.

Once the war occurs, Runan and Chen Liu will definitely be the first place to be beaten, and their foundation is too weak. However, since the beginning of the year, Liu Biao fell ill in bed and Jingzhou was temporarily safe. Cao Cao had just lost a new defeat, and Sun Ce had just won the land of Qingxu and the two prefectures, and he was not able to start a war again. Ye Zhao could take advantage of this period to consolidate, and the first thing he had to do was to expand the army.

In order to enrich Luoyang, Ye Zhao migrated 500,000 people from Nanyang, Chenliu and Jizhou to Luoyang, accelerate the reconstruction of Luoyang, and at the same time restore the population of Yanshi, Gucheng and other places in Luoyang. The entire Luoyang was in a busy state.

Ye Zhao, as usual, after planning the direction, he let his subordinates perform their duties, but he was responsible for supervising and some important expenses. As for the others, Ye Zhao did not participate too much. Most of the time, he continued to train troops or stayed in the Shengong Camp, and developed his brains with a group of craftsmen to think about what could be improved.

"Lord." On that day, Ye Zhao had just returned from the Shengong Camp and saw Li Ru standing at the door waiting for him with a smile.

"Wenyou is here, but something happened?" Ye Zhao smiled and brought Li Ru into the mansion and said with a smile.

"The Ru came here to offer gifts to the lord on behalf of others." Li Ru smiled.

"It's Zhang Yan again?" Ye Zhao raised his eyebrows and said, "Tell him that our army has clear orders, no rewards for all merits, no authority, no authority, he has the ability and also has meritorious achievements. As long as he does not make mistakes, he will have his own opportunity to be promoted in the future. As for the dissolution of the Heishan Army, it is not because of his reasons. The Heishan Army is of varying quality and needs to be rectified again, not because of his reasons. Don't use these side-by-side methods again."

Perhaps because of his background, Zhang Yan joined Ye Zhao's command, especially after the Black Mountain Army was disbanded and returned to the field, Zhang Yan seemed to have persecuted paranoia and always thought that Ye Zhao wanted to cook a rabbit and a dog.

This made Ye Zhao feel a little amused. Even if the rabbit is dead and the dog is cooked, which round will it take him?

When Li Ru heard this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Sometimes, the lord is too smart, which makes them feel a little useless as ministers.

"Lord, I have different opinions." After taking a deep breath, Li Ru bowed and said, although Ye Zhao was a little dissatisfied with Zhang Yan's actions, he still had to say something.

"Tell me!" Ye Zhao leaned on the back of the chair and looked at Li Rudao.

"I think that the gifts sent by Zhang Yan this time will be accepted by the lord." Li Ru bowed and said, "That Zhang Yan's move is a villain, but it is also because of his panic. If the lord does not accept it, I am afraid that Zhang Yan will think that the lord is determined to target him. Although the Black Mountain Army has been disbanded, Zhang Yan's reputation in this Taihang Mountain area cannot be eliminated in a short time. At present, our army and Cao Cao and Sun Ce may go to war at any time. If Zhang Yan surrenders and rebels again at this time, it will interfere with the Jizhou area. Moreover, I think this person is not an ambitious person, so it is better to accept it to calm his heart."

Simply put, Zhang Yan did not give gifts to Ye Zhao. Zhang Yan, who was from the bottom, might have no problem in fighting, but his political skills and vision were obviously still at the level of being soft-hearted and short-handed, so he wanted to exchange his own safety in this way. On this point, Li Ru obviously saw more thoroughly than Ye Zhao. Although Ye Zhao was good at calculating people's hearts, with his current status, not everyone is qualified to make him worry about it. At least Zhang Yan is not listed here. Li Ru's reminder also made Ye Zhao feel reminiscent.

"Well, let me see the gift Zhang Yan gave." Ye Zhao waved his hand.

"Please wait a moment." Li Ru nodded with a smile and ordered his servants to go outside the door to summon the people sent by Zhang Yan.
Chapter completed!