Chengdu.

Xi Zhicai stood in the yard, looking at the twisting figure on the window, frowned, and shouted softly: "Get out!" Cao Anmin, who was blocking him, was about to speak, but Xi Zhicai raised his arm, swung the bamboo slip in his hand and slapped Cao Anmin's face with a "pop". Cao Anmin was caught off guard, subconsciously covered his face, screamed, his face was hot and swollen quickly.

The figure on the window stopped. After a while, the door opened wide. Cao Cao walked out while carrying his pants. Seeing Xi Zhicai angry, he was stunned for a moment, and then winked at the aggrieved Cao Anmin.

"Go and prepare for the midnight snack. I have something to discuss with the priest."

Cao Anmin responded and hurriedly slipped out. He also felt embarrassed, but what could he do? Among the people around Cao Cao, he was the only one who was suitable for doing this. Others were either unwilling or Cao Cao was embarrassed.

Cao Cao led Xi Zhicai to the hall, and asked someone to light a few more lamps, took the opportunity to stabilize his emotions, and then invited Xi Zhicai to take his seat, laughed and said, "Zhicai, what emergency is there?"

"General, do you want to change your clothes first?" Xi Zhicai stood still and glanced at the silent inner room. "Autumn harvest is coming, the Central Plains war is about to begin, and the imperial edicts and letters from Yuan Benchu ​​are coming one after another. If you don't take this opportunity to rectify the troops and horses and make achievements, but you are doing such a ridiculous thing, aren't you afraid that the soldiers will be discouraged?"

Cao Cao's face changed and he patted his knees, feeling helpless. "What can I do? Yizhou Xinde, people's hearts are not stable, and Ding Chong is eyeing Hanzhong again. It is impossible to leave Xiangyang. It is easy to go through the Three Gorges and it is difficult to return. If it is not good, it will be difficult to retreat again. Besides, my wife and daughter are in Sun Ce's hands. If I send troops, what should he do if he really kills them?"

"You can rescue Mrs. Ding by hiding in the room and relieve Ding Chong's anger?"

Cao Cao smiled awkwardly and said, "I am also trying to calm Yizhou..."

Xi Zhicai interrupted Cao Cao without hesitation. "The one who can represent the hearts of the people of Yizhou is the scholars and officials of Yizhou, not these foolish men and women who are foolish. If the general wants to follow Liu Yan's footsteps, he might as well continue your practice. But if you want to build something, you should make a decision in time. Zhou Yu has already seized Jingzhou. If Yuan Benchu ​​cannot win after this autumn, Sun Ce will definitely aim at Yizhou."

After Xi Zhicai finished speaking, he threw the bamboo slips in his hand to Cao Cao and left without looking back. Cao Cao held the bamboo slips in his hand, the smile on his face dissipated, and looked at them in the light. The bamboo slips were letters written by Ding Chong, and his tone was very harsh. He told Cao Cao, if you want to marry Wu, please write a document of Heli first, and make sure that he has to do with Mrs. Ding, and then whatever you want to do has nothing to do with the Ding family. Otherwise, you can only take Wu as your concubine.

Cao Cao grinned, tapped his palms with bamboo slips, and his eyes turned around. Xi Zhicai had already left, and Cao Anmin didn't dare to come back. Several close guards hid in the darkness. The courtyard was very quiet, so quiet that it was scary. Cao Cao thought for a while and got up and returned to the inner room. Mrs. Lu had already put on her clothes, wearing a Taoist crown, a Taoist robe, and a cold face. She looked like she was keeping people from thousands of miles away, but she was still cold and charming.

Only the messy pillow mat on the couch could tell Cao Cao how this cold woman was just as enthusiastic as fire and moaned like a stream. He knew that Xi Zhicai's words hurt her self-esteem, and he must now make a decision whether to choose the Heavenly Master or the Yizhou scholar-officials, and he can only choose one of two, not both.

"Will the lady abandon me?"

Mrs. Lu looked at Cao Cao quietly, remained silent for a moment, and said lightly: "Although the general has the intention to be on the Tao, he has not yet completed his earthly affairs and should not practice Taoism."

Cao Cao sighed. "Why did my wife say that? Could it be that I am disgusted with my ignorant qualifications and I am not worthy of practicing Taoism?"

Mrs. Lu stared at Cao Cao for a moment. "General, practicing Taoism is to be brave and diligent, not indulging in lust, nor to escape. If you have distracting thoughts in your heart, you will fall into the inferior. Not only will you not be able to practice Taoism, it will not be beneficial to your body and mind, but it will harm your body. Haven't you noticed that you can't hold on for a few breaths and your mind will be shaken for a thousand miles. If you continue like this, even if you marry Wu, you may have children."

Cao Cao blushed and a little embarrassed. "What do you say? I'm just a little tired." He shouted twice, and felt short of breath. "I... have too many worries recently, so don't mind."

"It's okay, I am in my own way, not afraid of common rumors. It just affects the general's reputation, so I am uneasy." Mrs. Lu stood up and bowed to salute. "General, let's leave now, I hope the general can work hard. When the world is peaceful, I will wait for the general's vanguard in Qingcheng Mountain." After saying that, he took a light step and floated past Cao Cao. Cao Cao stretched out his hand and wanted to hold her, but he only touched the belt. The belt slid past his palm, and his touch was still there, and Mrs. Lu was gone.

Cao Cao sighed, sat down cross-legged, held his cheek, bent his waist, looked at the bamboo slips in his hand, and became more angry as he thought about it. He folded the bamboo slips into two sections and threw them out from a distance. Ren Jun happened to walk in and see clearly. He walked to the steps, picked up the bamboo slips and took a look, and quickly came to Cao Cao. Cao Cao rolled his eyelids and glanced at him.

"Madam Tianshi has left, you don't have to persuade him anymore, right?"

"Mrs. Tianshi is gone?" Ren Jun was shocked and then smiled relieved. Cao Cao saw it sincerely and was in a bad mood, but he didn't want to have a conflict with Ren Jun, so he changed the topic and said, "What's the bad news?"

Ren Jun quickly handed over the copper tube in his hand. "General, the drought in Guanzhong is severe, and the winter wheat is almost gone. Many people fled to Hanzhong, and some people are entering Yizhou. The grain storage in the plank road di Pavilion is in urgent need of food, and Ba County and Guanghan will be affected soon. We must prepare in advance, otherwise there will be civil unrest."

Cao Cao did not dare to be negligent, so he quickly took the copper tube, took out the paper roll inside, and spread it out and read it carefully. After reading it, he frowned and thought. "Is there an envoy in Chang'an in Jizhou?"

"Yes, he is the general's old friend, Xu You, Nanyang."

"Does Jizhou plan to export food to Chang'an?"

Ren Jun pondered for a moment and shook his head. "I didn't receive any similar news. I only heard that Xu You bought it in Chang'an, which raised the price of horses very high."

"Oh, it's extremely ignorant." Cao Cao stomped his feet. "It was an attacker and Sun Ce was a defender. How many war horses could he need? Raising the horse price would only make Han Sui and Ma Teng cheaper, which implicated us. Han Sui and Ma Teng used this money to buy grain in Jingzhou, and finally made Zhou Yu cheaper. I immediately wrote to the court and said that Yizhou was willing to export grain to save disasters. Easily, six hundred miles, hurry up!"

Ren Jun looked at Cao Cao in surprise. "General, Yizhou... Is there so much food? If we send the food to Chang'an, will we still send troops to Jingzhou? If it is the leader of the Yuan..."

Cao Cao glanced at Ren Jun and grinned. "I am sharing the worries for the leader Yuan. He just squeezed Yang Biao and Xun Yu down and asked Huang Wan to replace Zhu Jun. At this time, a drought occurred. Isn't it a warning from God? He can't draw out food to support Chang'an. I'll help him stabilize Guanzhong. Wouldn't it be good if he still blames us for not taking action, it would be difficult for us to do so."

"But we don't have that much food either."

"The two evils are the least. If we can use food to buy time, it will be beneficial to us." Cao Cao paused and said, "It would be even better if we could take this opportunity to drive Ding Chong away and control Hanzhong in our hands. Please give me a wine, and I will discuss it with him."
Chapter completed!