Three Kingdoms: I, the eldest son of Cao, a loving father of a great man!

"Oh? Why is that?" Cao Cao asked curiously.

Xun You explained, "Lü Bu is unruly and likes to act arbitrarily.

If the lord can give him authority, then he will definitely be loyal to the lord.

It's just that he is brave but not wise, so he can't achieve great things."

Cao Cao stroked his beard, pondered for a while and said, "Lu Bu is indeed a talented person. It would be great if we could recruit him."

Xun You said: "My lord, I suggest that you start from Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is now leaderless, and the lord can take this opportunity to capture Xuzhou.

Lu Bu is an ambitious man and will definitely get closer to his lord.

Then my lord can use his power to attack Cao Ang. This way we can attack from both sides at the same time."

Cao Cao's eyes lit up: "Mr. Zhongde, you are really amazing. I will send someone to Xuzhou now."

Cao Cao immediately ordered his men to go to Xuzhou to lobby Lu Bu, hoping that Lu Bu would join him.

When Lu Bu received someone from Cao Cao's men who came to persuade him, he cursed inwardly: Cao Cao is indeed an evil thief with evil intentions. He wants to steal my credit.

Lu Bu was disdainful of Cao Cao's actions. He thought that it was a joke that Cao Cao was trying to bribe him.

So Lu Bu directly rejected the request of Cao Cao's men.

Cao Cao's men immediately felt that Lu Bu was too ignorant.

Cao Cao's men then told Cao Cao about Lu Bu's attitude, saying that Lu Bu rejected their proposal. Cao Cao was furious and decided to personally go to Xuzhou to destroy Lu Bu.

Cao Cao was preparing to lead a large army to Xuzhou, and Xun Yu advised Cao Cao against it.

"My lord, Xuzhou is a place where good and bad people mix together. Lu Bu is especially brave and good at fighting. I'm afraid your move is inappropriate."

After listening to Xun Yu's advice, Cao Cao thought for a while and then said.

"Mr. Yuan Hao, your concerns are justified. Xuzhou is a mixed bag of people, and it is not suitable for me to go there. Why not let Xiaolian go there?"

Xun Yu's face changed: "My lord, Xiaolian is still young and not qualified for the position."

"It won't hurt for young people to have some experience." However, Cao Cao insisted on letting Xiahou Yuan go to Xuzhou because he was impressed by Xiahou Dun's ability.

Although Xiahou Dun was not as powerful as the generals under Cao Cao, he was almost the same, and Cao Cao also wanted to test the situation in Xuzhou through Xiahou Yuan.

Cao Cao thought that Lu Bu was quite strong, but Xiahou Yuan might not be inferior to Lu Bu.

Xiahou Yuan was a top general under Cao Cao. He was absolutely obedient to Cao Cao's orders and immediately agreed to go to Xuzhou to take charge of Cao Cao's affairs.

Cao Ang did not know the purpose of Cao Cao sending Xiahou Yuan to Xuzhou. Cao Ang was now leading the army to the Northern Expedition.

Cao Ang’s Northern Expedition plan was very simple, which was to carry out the Northern Expedition around the Beihai Kingdom.

Originally, Cao Ang planned to select soldiers from the two counties of Dongjun and Yuzhou to form an army for the Northern Expedition.

However, Cao Ang considered that although he had many officers under his command, there were only a few generals who could command the army.

Therefore, Cao Ang changed his mind and decided to draw troops from various counties to form a Northern Expedition Army.

When the county governors received Cao Ang's order, they all hurriedly expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Northern Expedition.

They knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and anyone who dared to fall behind would be seeking death.

The county magistrates of various counties mobilized their troops to rush to the front line to join the Northern Expedition.

The organization of the Northern Expedition Army was soon improved.

Each county established generals at various levels according to the level of their positions, and the army of each county was also organized according to the military establishment.

The county governors had no objection to Cao Ang's arrangement. After all, the more rigorous the organization of the Northern Expedition Army, the greater the benefits they would gain.

Anyway, Cao Ang’s Northern Expedition Army were all Cao Ang’s private army, so as long as it didn’t involve their interests, it would be fine.

The counties and prefectures formed the Northern Expedition Army very quickly. In just three days, Cao Ang completed the formation of the Northern Expedition Army.

As for the officers, Cao Ang also had a preliminary choice, namely Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao and Huang Zhong. These three people were familiar to Cao Ang, and they also had enough prestige.

Cao Ang kept these three people by his side, and handed the remaining officers over to Ju Shou, Guo Jia, Zhuge Jin, Pang Tong and Jia Xu.

Ju Shou, Guo Jia and Pang Tong were responsible for forming the Northern Expedition Army, while Zhuge Jin, Jia Xu and Pang Tong were responsible for commanding the various troops in combat.

Cao Ang had full trust in Zhuge Jin and the other three. After all, they had followed him for a long time and had their own ways of governing the local area.

After Cao Ang had made all the important matters clear, he left Luoyang and prepared to head north to Yangzhou.

After Cao Ang left Luoyang, Luoyang fell into peace.

After Cao Cao's forces in Luoyang were completely eliminated, Cao Cao felt the pressure was relieved a lot.

Cao Cao was somewhat interested in Cao Ang's Northern Expedition and decided to go there himself.

Of course, it was impossible for Cao Cao to really take everyone with him to the battle.

At the same time, Cao Cao also planned to completely disintegrate the power of the Xuzhou families in this Northern Expedition, making Xuzhou within Cao Cao's control.

Cao Ang was unaware of Cao Cao's plans.

Cao Ang led his army out of Xuchang and headed towards Yangzhou.

After Cao Ang left, Cao Cao called everyone together to discuss what to do next.

Xiahou Yuan stood up and said, "My lord, I am willing to lead the cavalry to follow you to Yangzhou."

Cao Cao shook his head slightly: "Brother Mengde, Wentai, Fengxiao, Yuanhao and Boda are all in Xuchang.

It may take a long time for us to return, and I wonder if they can hold on."

Cao Cao was worried that something might happen if he was away for too long.

After all, Cao Cao doesn't have many advisers under him now, and there are only a few who can be relied upon.

If something goes wrong, Cao Cao will be in trouble.

Xiahou Yuan understood what Cao Cao was worried about: "My lord, I have arranged enough manpower to resist Cao Ang's attack."

"Oh? You can achieve this level so quickly, it's really not easy." Cao Cao exclaimed.

"This is all thanks to the precious sword bestowed by my lord. Otherwise, I would not have been able to command the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry so quickly." Xiahou Yuan said respectfully.

Cao Cao laughed and said, "In that case, I will follow Feng Xiao's advice and let you lead 500 cavalrymen to follow me south to Yangzhou.

The rest of the troops will continue to stay in Xuchang to prevent a surprise attack from Yuan Shao or Liu Bei."

"Yes! I will go and gather 500 cavalrymen right away." Xiahou Yuan bowed and retreated.

After Xiahou Yuan left, Cao Cao said to Chen Gong, "Ziyuan, what do you think of Fengxiao's proposal?"

“My lord, what General Xiahou said makes a lot of sense.

Cao Ang's northern expedition this time was definitely intended to annex the Beihai Kingdom, and the Beihai Kingdom was the richest place in Xuzhou, so Cao Ang would certainly not give it up easily.

My lord, you can take this opportunity to build your foundation in Xuzhou." Chen Gong agreed.

"Ziyuan is right. It's a pity that Yuan Shu and I have an old grudge and cannot unite.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have to work so hard." Cao Cao said regretfully.

Chen Gong consoled him, "My lord, you and Yuan Shu will be enemies sooner or later, and there will be a fierce battle sooner or later.

Besides, Yuan Shu and Sun Ce will be in trouble sooner or later if they collude with each other.

If you can take advantage of the situation to annex Yuan Shu, it will be a great achievement."

"Well, you see things more clearly." Cao Cao was convinced by Chen Gong.

Cao Cao was also a decisive person. He immediately ordered everyone to attack and divided his troops into three groups to charge towards the front line.

But Cao Ang was very angry at Cao Cao's behavior. (End of this chapter)