When Yuan Shao led an army of 50,000 to the city of Luoyang, the city had been taken over by the Yanzhou army.

Although the Luoyang Imperial Palace was destroyed, the Luoyang Imperial City was still there. The city was high and the walls were thick, and the main gate was as high as six feet high. It was still one of the few strong cities in the world.

However, Cao Cao did not intend to meet Yuan Shao in a war. After hearing the news, he immediately rushed from Changle Palace in the ruins to the city gate and personally welcomed Yuan Shao into the city.

"Brother Benchu ​​is exhausted all the way, please come to the city to rest. Brother Yu learned that Brother Benchu ​​led his army to pick him up, and prepared the tent in advance, and waited for Brother National Taiwan University to come."

After a little greeting, Cao Cao welcomed Yuan Shao into the city. The two of them ran side by side, followed by a large group of Jizhou Army. Facing Yuan Shao, whose strength had been mostly restored, Cao Cao was still as humble and polite as ever, and regarded it as meeting old friends, with a very low attitude, and was led by Yuan Shao everywhere.

Cao Cao's humble and aggrieved expression made Yuan Shao very happy. He nodded and smiled, "Since Meng De's intentions are all in his heart, I am ashamed of my brother. However, the march of the troops under Meng De's command was extremely fast. Two days ago, the scouts reported that Meng De had set out from the prefecture, but unexpectedly, he rushed to welcome the sage in front of Wei's brother. This move really surprised Wei's brother. It is said that Meng De led a newly formed war cavalry, called the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry". But the cavalry guarding the city in front of him?"

Cao Cao's expression did not change at all when he heard this, as if he had already expected that Yuan Shao would have asked this question, so he smiled calmly and said, "I dare not ask for help from Brother Benchu, and there is indeed such a thing. To be ashamed, I originally wanted to form a cavalry of 20,000 or 30,000 people, but the counties and counties in Yanzhou were repeatedly suffering from war. There was a shortage of money and food, and the supplies were short of, and I was unable to buy excellent war horses. Therefore, I only got five thousand cavalry after I put them together. It was really difficult to enter the eyes of the Fang family and it was difficult to speak of."

Speaking of this, Cao Cao pointed to the armored soldiers standing on the city tower and smiled: "Brother Benchu, look, these soldiers are all in a variety of armor, both green and black, either wearing heavy armor or light armor. They are so illusory that it is really unpredictable. Please don't laugh at me."

Yuan Shao looked up at the city guards on the city tower. As Cao Cao said, the armor on these armors were of different colors and had armor of all colors; and the weapons were not uniform, either spears, halberds, or long handled swords. There were all kinds of weapons. They were really a cavalry made up of good and bad quality.

Seeing this, Yuan Shao smiled cheerfully: "Meng De is too humble. In just one year, it is not easy for Meng De to form 5,000 cavalry. As of today, the number of cavalry under his command is only 30,000, which is really unsatisfactory. It is hard to say. Today, the excellent war horses mainly come from the Western Regions, Bingzhou and Youzhou and other border prefectures. However, these areas with abundant war horses are all at the hands of Li Zhe and Gongsun Lao Zhe. The situation is so bad, it is not easy for us to form tens of thousands of cavalry, and we can only sigh!" Perhaps I felt that my words were a bit heavy, and Yuan Shao ridiculed Cao Cao and then made up his own words to avoid Cao Cao being too embarrassed.

However, the difference between the 5,000 cavalry and the 30,000 cavalry is obvious at a glance. As long as you are not a fool, no one can hear the sarcasm in Yuan Shao's words. From this, it can be seen that Yuan Shao has always been resentful of Cao Cao's escape in the battle of Sili, and swept away 50,000 troops and a large number of food, grass and supplies.

Because of this, the unbreakable Yuan-Cao alliance appeared in irreparable rifts, which led to the rupture of the alliance, suspicion and suspicion of each other, and guarded against each other. Fortunately, the two sides have not yet officially broken up, so they can still stand together with talking and laughing, but there is no trust between them anymore, and they are separated from each other, and the day of war is not far away.

However, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were born in a noble family and were well versed in the way of making scenes. Before they officially turned against each other, they were still brothers and harmonious. However, once there was a conflict of interest, they were both smiling brightly now, and when they really started, they would definitely be cruel and ruthless. If they didn't move, they would be eliminated. If they moved, they would be able to eliminate the other party quickly and avoid future troubles forever.

As an old friend who has been together for more than 20 years, the two know very well about each other's personality. They often have a smile or an inadvertent word to guess what the other person is thinking, or what he is thinking. This is by no means a silence or an alarmist statement, but a fact. The so-called old friend, if he can't even understand the other person's personality and temper, he will not be considered a real friend.

After hearing Yuan Shao's sarcastic words, Cao Cao's expression changed slightly, but he still had a smile on his face. After a little silent and thought, he smiled calmly: "What Brother Benchu ​​said is very true. If you are not careful, Li Zhe has already bought the prefectures and counties that produce war horses, which makes it impossible for us to buy excellent war horses. Most of the cavalry mounts under his command are second-class war horses secretly sold by merchants in Xiliang, or old horses and hordes eliminated by the Xiliang army. In addition, it has been rumored in recent years that Li Zhe has secretly formed an alliance with Gongsun Zan of Youzhou to trade with each other. The transaction location is located in Yanmen, Bingzhou, passing through Yinshan, passing through the grassland, communicating with each other, and trading frequently.

At the same time, in recent years, Gongsun Zan has repeatedly offered war horses to Li thieves, and in four years he has successively offered no less than 30,000 excellent war horses. Li thieves gave a large amount of winter clothes, bedding and daily necessities, and exchanged silk for the iron and stone of Youzhou. Then he sold a large number of weapons to Gongsun Zan for his recruitment of troops and horses and quickly strengthened his strength. Brother Benchu ​​must be on guard!"

Cao Cao avoided the important and looked down on it. He seemed to be sarcastic about Yuan Shao, but in fact he was competing against each other and did not give in. What was Yuan Shao's biggest pain point? It was Gongsun Zan, Youzhou. Gongsun Zan repeatedly sent troops to invade the territory, but Yuan Shao led troops to conquer Youzhou many times, but he was still unable to do anything to Gongsun Zan. Instead, he was attacked by Gongsun Zan many times and suffered heavy losses. During the Sili War, if Ju Yi had not defended properly, he would have almost cut off his old nest in Jizhou by Gongsun Zan.

In addition, Yuan Shao has the largest state in the world, with sufficient money and food and a large population, but has been stagnant for many years, trapped in the same place and could not make any progress. The fundamental reason is that behind him, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou was restrained and restrained everywhere, forcing him to first eliminate Gongsun Zan before he could plot against other prefectures and counties. Therefore, Gongsun Zan was both a major concern for Yuan Shao and his pain point. However, Cao Cao mentioned Gongsun Zan of Youzhou in front of him. Although his words were all for Yuan Shao's sake and kind-hearted reminders. In fact, his intentions were sinister and very vicious.

"Hmph! Yuan will conquer Youzhou sooner or later, and will destroy the old thief Gongsun to pieces!" Yuan Shao said with a blushing face and gritted his teeth. This harsh words in anger sounded completely against Gongsun Zan, but the cold snorted something else. It was obviously not against Gongsun Zan, but Cao Cao around him.

"Brother Benchu ​​calms down. The military tent has arrived. Please rest for a while, and then we will talk again." He smiled and comforted Yuan Shao. Cao Cao held the horse in front of the tent. Yuan Shao forced his anger, waved his hand to thank him, then turned over and dismounted and walked straight into the tent.

After Yuan Shao left, Xu You rode his horse to Cao Cao and whispered with a smile: "Why should Meng De have a quarrel with my lord? I have known each other for many years, so didn't Meng De know that my lord is very good-looking. What's wrong with a little tolerating?"

Cao Cao turned his head when he heard this. The smile on his face instantly retreated, and he said in a deep voice with a expressionless face: "Ziyuan is such a bad word. We have known each other for many years. After careful calculation, it has been more than twenty years. For so many years, Cao has tolerated everywhere and followed Benchu's lead in everything, but what's the result? When Cao was in a desperate situation, Benchu ​​had helped him; Cao was tolerant everywhere. Did Benchu ​​appreciate it? Tolerance is limited. The reason why Cao gave him courtesy is because he was older, not weak and can be bullied!" These words were inconvenient to say directly in front of Yuan Shao, so as not to be unable to come to Taiwan, but he could say it without any scruples in front of Xu You.

"Meng De doesn't have to be angry, just pretend I didn't say anything." Xu You smiled embarrassedly, then looked around and saw that the Cao army camp was located in the north of the ruins of the palace. The tent prepared for Yuan Shao was alone in the south of the palace, with a distance of nearly ten miles between them. In addition, the emperor and all officials were nowhere to be seen, and it must have been placed in the tent in the north by Cao Cao.

"Meng De is really a person who is interested. He has chosen a camp for our Jizhou army early. My next lord thanked me first. After we have settled it, we will go to meet the emperor and the officials in the court. We still need to arrange soldiers to set up camps. If you are rude, please forgive me and lose your companionship." After saying that, Xu You bowed his hand, then turned around and shouted loudly as the army camped on the spot.

Watching Xu You leave, Cao Cao glanced at Yuan Shao's camp, then pulled his horse and turned around, waved his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to return to the camp.

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An hour later, when Yuan Shao led his civil and military personnel to Cao's camp to meet the emperor, the city gate guard hurried into the tent to report, and there were another prince and a lot of soldiers and horses.

Immediately, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao led their generals to the city tower and saw about 40,000 infantry and cavalry galloping straight to the city gate. The big word "Liu" on the flags was very conspicuous.

"This is the army under the tent of Liu Bei in Xuzhou. He also came with him, Lu Bu, who lives in Xiaopei, and his wolf cavalry." Cao Cao recognized at a glance that the army in front of him was the Xuzhou army. After all, he fought twice with the Xuzhou army, and fought for a year, and he soon finished fighting with Lu Bu's army, so he was very familiar with the weapons and armor of the Xuzhou army and the Lu Bu army.

"Liu Bei came to get another kick, what do you mean?" Yuan Shao frowned and asked in a bad tone.

Cao Cao smiled slightly: "Why should I ask clearly if I have asked you brother? Liu Bei, the previous generation, entered the alliance halfway through, and his intentions were obvious, but in the end he was defeated and returned without anything. This time, the emperor issued the order to serve the king, and all the princes received the imperial edicts one after another. You and I were closest to Luoyang, so we arrived first, and these princes who were slightly far away must come later."

Yuan Shao nodded slightly and said in a deep voice: "What should we do now? Should we refuse or let him enter the city?"

Cao Cao smiled calmly and said, "Brother Benchu ​​is joking. All the princes are ordered to take over the command. How can we stop us? What's more, this is within Sili, only more than 200 miles from the Xingyang camp. With the speed of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry, we can reach the city within one day. Therefore, we must not fight against all the princes, otherwise we will be captured by Li thieves in one net, and no one can escape!"

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"Ah——!" The generals exclaimed, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were pale and shocked. Then, Cao Cao took the lead in coming back to his senses and made a quick decision: "Brother Benchu ​​immediately left the city to inform Liu Bei and Lu Bu of this matter, so that they would not have to enter the city and rest on the spot. Cao then arranged for the emperor and officials to leave Luoyang and move to Nanyang!"

At this time, Yuan Shao was already panicked. After hearing this, he nodded without thinking and immediately led a group of generals downstairs. Cao Cao also left the city tower and set out to arrange for the army to withdraw from Luoyang and escort the emperor and officials to Nanyang County to avoid the pursuit of the Western Liang Iron Cavalry.

As for why Cao Cao chose to retreat to Nanyang, no one raised questions at this moment, and he agreed unanimously. Because when they learned that the cavalry of Xiliang had already come, they were in chaos and Cao Cao proposed to retreat to Nanyang, they immediately thought that the only vassal force among the princes who could fight head-on with the Xiliang army was Liu Biao in Jingzhou. Therefore, they had no objection at all, and unanimously agreed with Cao Cao's arrangement and led the army to Nanyang, the imperial township.

—————————To be continued———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Chapter completed!