The news of this battle was even discovered by the scouts around Cao's army, which shocked all the surrounding princes.
Wuhuan was able to occupy the northern part of Youzhou and had been harassing Youzhou for several years. Even Gongsun Zan could not catch them all. Now he was wiped out by Cao Cao. How could the surrounding princes not be surprised?
What's more important is not these, but that Cao Cao had just fought a battle with Yuan Shao. Originally, he had insufficient troops and resources, but he still wiped out the Wuhuan clan.
The news of Cao Cao's victory made the surrounding Lu Bu and Zhang Xiu completely abandon the idea of becoming enemies with Cao Cao.
Sizhou, Lu Bu's territory, although Zhang Yang took the initiative to cede the territory to Lu Bu, under the governance of Lu Bu and Chen Gong, the population of Sizhou still did not improve at all.
The land of Sizhou has long been desolate and desolate after experiencing Dong Zhuo's rebellion in Luoyang and Guo Si's riot under Jia Xu's poisonous scheme.
Chen Gong had already thought of this. It was precisely because of this that Chen Gong took the risk to get a piece of the pie from Cao Cao. Unfortunately, he underestimated Cao Cao.
"Gongtai, now Sizhou's grain production capacity is limiting our development!" Lu Bu frowned and looked at Chen Gong aside and said.
Now Sizhou's food supply, even if it were given to Lu Bu with one hundred thousand soldiers, he would not be able to afford it.
"Besides, Sizhou is close to Cao Cao's territory, so we don't have any room for development at all!"
Lu Bu's face didn't look good. If he attacked other states and counties, Cao Cao would definitely not sit idly by and watch.
"With Cao Mengde's temperament, Sizhou will definitely attack us next!"
Chen Gongnai was an old friend of Cao Cao, and he was very familiar with him. He closed his eyes and thought for a while. Now that Cao Cao has recovered Bingzhou, only Liangzhou and Sizhou are left in the north.
If Cao Cao wanted to unify the north, he would definitely attack them. But now Lu Bu's troops are like a mantis trying to block Cao Cao's attack and are vulnerable to a single blow.
A trace of worry appeared on Lu Bu's expression, "Strategic Advisor, what should we do next?"
Chen Gong exhaled, looked at Lu Bu and said, "Give Sizhou away!"
Lu Bu showed a hint of shock and said angrily: "This is the Sizhou that brother Zhang Yang gave to me. How can I give it up?"
Regarding this, Chen Gong was also helpless. How could he not know?
He could only shake his head and say: "Sizhou has a lack of population, so it will be useless for us to stick here!"
The reason why Lu Bu was able to occupy Sizhou for such a long time was not because other princes had no intention of attacking, but because there was no population or cultivated land in it, so it was of no significance at all.
If you want to make use of this land, I'm afraid it will require a lot of manpower, material and financial resources. This transaction is obviously not very cost-effective.
Hearing what Chen Gong said, Lu Bu also fell silent, while Zhang Yang on the side looked thoughtful.
"Brother Gongtai, what do you mean?"
Now that Chen Gong has said so, he has obviously already thought of a way out.
Sure enough, Chen Gong nodded and said: "Give Sizhou to Cao Cao, and we will send our troops south to attack Zhangxiu of Nanyang!"
Hearing this, the two of them looked shocked, fell silent, and began to think carefully.
Nanyang has fertile land and abundant population. It is also the central fortress of the world and a battleground for military strategists. If we occupy this place and develop it, it will definitely not be like Sizhou.
Lu Bu nodded thoughtfully: "I think this plan is feasible!"
Zhang Yang on the side did not show any arrogance, nodded and said: "I also think what Brother Gongtai said is reasonable."
Chen Gong nodded and smiled: "If Cao Cao accepts Sizhou, he will definitely be hampered by Sizhou's lack of population and barren land."
"We will attack Nanyang Wuyou then!"
At this moment in Xuchang, Zhao Feng returned with Xianbei's letter of peace.
"Lord, the military advisor is back!"
Hearing this, Cao Cao looked happy. Now the Wuhuan and Xianbei rebellion in Bingzhou has been resolved.
If all these six states could be developed, with the yield of sweet potatoes and the influence of the farming system, the territory would be really harmless to Cao Cao.
"Haha, military advisor, you are finally back!"
Cao Cao personally came out to greet Zhao Feng. He looked at Zhao Feng in front of him, with a complicated look in his eyes, but he still didn't show it, leaving only a smile outside.
The surrounding soldiers had long been accustomed to this scene, and among the entire Cao army, only Zhao Feng could receive such treatment.
Ordinary people would be even more envious, but Zhao Feng smiled and said: "My lord, this trip to the Northern Expedition to Wuhuan has an unexpected surprise."
Upon hearing the news, Cao Cao immediately showed an interesting look. What other surprises could there be in the Northern Expedition to Wuhuan?
Then Cao Cao immediately asked: "May I ask the military advisor, what is the unexpected surprise?"
Zhao Feng took out the peace letter in his hand and handed it to Cao Cao.
Looking at this letter, Cao Cao showed curiosity and took it and looked at it carefully.
After a while, Cao Cao laughed.
"Haha, military advisor, we actually captured the leader of Xianbei during this trip? We even got 60,000 war horses and 20,000 slaves?"
"Currently, Bingzhou has a shortage of labor force, so it can be sent to Bingzhou to make up for the labor shortage."
In fact, compared to these, these 60,000 war horses are what makes Cao Cao happy. In today's world, war horses are like gold. The main problem in building a cavalry army is that there are not enough war horses.
"According to what is written in the peace petition, wouldn't it mean that Cao Jun will never worry about his horses again?"
Zhao Feng smiled and shook his head: "It's not as good as he thought. The current Xianbei leader is just temporarily used to control the situation in Xianbei. He has no influence in Xianbei. It's useless to kill him. It's better to exchange for supplies.
.”
This Tuoba Zhen is probably just a clan leader of the Tuoba family who was pushed out as a puppet. From just a few words, Zhao Feng could already tell that this person would not last long.
Cao Cao also nodded. With the character of foreigners like Xianbei, it is a miracle that this peace letter can last for a year.
What's more, Xianbei will inevitably have a new king soon, but Cao Cao is still very satisfied with this harvest.
Sixty thousand war horses was a huge sum of money for a man with scarce horse resources. Then Cao Cao continued: "Since the merger of the states has become a certainty, we should march westward to Sizhou!"
Cao Cao could have led his troops to capture Sizhou at will, but Zhao Feng refused.
Because the population of Sizhou is sparse, it is better to let Lu Bu take care of it first, and then move westward.
Although the population of Sizhou has not increased significantly now, it was already very good compared to the beginning.
Zhao Feng nodded calmly. With Sizhou Lu Bu's military strength, he didn't need to say anything more.
"But if my lord wants to capture Sizhou, there is no need to worry."
Cao Cao looked puzzled. Is there anything special about capturing Sizhou?
"What do you mean, military advisor?"
Zhao Feng said calmly: "The army should be reorganized. At the same time, soldiers should be recruited from various places again, and the slaves should be allowed to develop farmland."
After hearing this, Cao Cao showed doubts. With his current strength, he didn't need to rest and recuperate if he wanted to advance westward. However, after thinking about it carefully, he came up with some reasons.