Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Although Li Ji somewhat hoped that Tao Qian would develop evil thoughts and send people to kill Cao Song, thus completely becoming enemies with Cao Cao, Li Ji also knew that the possibility was very slim.

There was indeed a captain named Zhang Kai under Tao Qian's command. He was from the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou. During the period when Cao Cao was pacifying the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, he led his troops south to join Tao Qian.

Although Cao Song carried a lot of valuables, they were not enough to tempt Tao Qian.

And because Tao Qian had formed an alliance with Liu Bei early on, no one had ever invaded Xuzhou until now. Cao Cao also did not have the courage to do so, so there was no enmity between Tao and Cao.

Tao Qian also always adhered to the idea of ​​​​holding Xuzhou and had no intention of expanding outward.

In other words, even if Tao Qian wanted to expand, he was powerless.

When Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, it became the foundation for his ambition to conquer the Central Plains. He could send out a powerful army from Xuzhou to dominate the Central Plains.

But in Tao Qian's hands, Xuzhou was a war zone surrounded by Yang, Yu, Yan and Qing states. It was still possible to defend the territory, but it was quite weak in expansion.

More importantly, the older Tao Qian got, the more he behaved like a fence-sitter, which was why Li Ji was secretly dissatisfied and wanted to persuade Liu Bei to replace him.

The reason why Tao Qian was able to keep Xuzhou temporarily stable during the turbulent times was not because of his great talent and strategy, but because he relied on the alliance with Liu Bei to intimidate the princes from all directions.

But since the battle against Dong Zhuo, Tao Qian's behavior has been that he is unwilling to offend anyone. He cooperates with his ally Liu Bei, but he makes excuses when it comes to sending troops.

During the great battle with Yuan Shu in Jingzhou, Li Ji asked Liu Bei to send a letter to Xuzhou, intending to ask Tao Qian to send troops from Xuzhou to attack Yuzhou.

However, Tao Qian's response was to decline on the pretext of illness, which made Li Ji very dissatisfied. Otherwise, if Tao Qian sent troops to respond, he would have gained more than just the city of Ruyin.
……

The seat of Xuzhou was in the governor's mansion in Tan County.

(PS: The actual seat of Xuzhou was not Xiapi, but Tan County, Donghai County.)
Naturally, Tao Qian could not be kept in the dark about Cao Song's massive relocation.

If we say that during the period of fighting against Dong Zhuo, Tao Qian still retained some courage, but in the few years after the end of the campaign, Tao Qian's face aged almost visibly.

The reason for this was that in the battle against Dong Zhuo, Tao Qian witnessed how powerful the Han Dynasty was, and he even had nightmares for several months after returning to Xuzhou.

In the past, Tao Qian also considered himself a brave general. He fought in the army for many years and served as the Yangwu Commandery Commandant, where he quelled the Qiang rebellion in the Sanfu area.

However, he witnessed the bravery of generals like Lu Bu, the wisdom of strategists like Li Ji, and saw the strongest soldiers in the world such as the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, and the White Horse Volunteers.

Tao Qian's spirit completely dissipated without him noticing.

Before he became the governor of Xuzhou, Tao Qian also served as the chief official of Shu County. He was honest in his administration and his integrity during his tenure was so good that he never even embezzled 500 coins.

But after Tao Qian returned to Xuzhou, he began to change his past style. He constantly suppressed the Xuzhou gentry, amassed wealth and exploited them, and at the same time, he tried his best to make friends with the princes around Xuzhou.

The alliance with Liu Bei was still maintained, and even during festivals generous gifts were sent to Yangzhou to be presented to Liu Bei, Li Ji, Guan Yu and others.

However, Tao Qian also had no enmity with Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others.

Tao Qian's fingers unconsciously stroked the documents sent back from Langya Kingdom, and he was unconsciously a little absent-minded.

Tao Qian didn't know how long he could hold on to the position of Mu of Xuzhou. He knew that he was old and weak and could hardly compete with other heroes.

More importantly, Tao Qian knew very well that his sons Tao Shang and Tao Ying were both mediocre, addicts to eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, and knew nothing about governing a country or military strategy.

Even if Xuzhou was passed to Tao Shang and Tao Ying, it would be difficult to resist foreign enemies, and there was a risk of death at the hands of the nobles under their rule. Tao Qian rubbed his cloudy eyes with some effort, came back to his senses in a trance, and finally put the document in his hand aside.

Now Tao Qian only wants to ensure the stability of Xuzhou, then accumulate more wealth for his two unfilial sons, and finally sell Xuzhou for a good price in exchange for wealth and stability for his descendants.

Tao Qian was quite tempted by Cao Song's hundreds of carts of wealth, but after thinking it over again and again, in order to avoid enmity with Cao Cao, Tao Qian gave up this tempting idea.

"If we let Cao Song go and let the people of Xuzhou suffer for a few years, a hundred cartloads of wealth will be accumulated in a short time."

Tao Qian thought so, and then issued a document, ordering officials and generals at all levels of Langya State not to stop Cao Song, and to provide some convenience to Cao Song within the scope of their duties in order to send Cao Song away from Xuzhou safely.

After receiving this document, officials in the counties of Langya State dared not to embarrass Cao Song.

Wherever Cao Song's huge moving caravan passed, they were treated with courtesy by the chief officials of various counties and prefectures. Some even held banquets to please Cao Song.

Tao Qian did not want to offend Cao Cao, and the officials in the counties of Langya State adjacent to Qingzhou also had their own little thoughts.

Born in a turbulent time, Tao Qian showed himself to be incompetent and cowardly. Officials from various counties naturally wanted to please Cao Song, perhaps to leave themselves a way out on Cao Cao's side.

As for this series of banquets, Cao Song accepted almost all of them and made generous promises to all the officials.

At that time, Cao Song and his young son Cao De passed through Dongguan County of Langya State. There was another banquet and entertainment, which opened Cao Song's eyes and made him very happy. He even felt like an old horse in the stable and exclaimed that it was wonderful.

When the banquet was over, Cao Song's legs were so weak and trembling that he couldn't even get into the carriage. He only climbed into the carriage with the help of his youngest son Cao De.

Cao Song looked at Cao De, who had also consumed a lot of energy and jumped onto the carriage nimbly, and could not help but sigh.

"I am old..."

The carriage started slowly, carrying Cao Song to the temple outside the city where the Cao family's caravan could rest.

After all, the caravan was huge, with more than a hundred carts of treasures and goods alone, and the number of maids and servants accompanying them added up to nearly a thousand.

The city might not be able to temporarily free up such a large area for the caravan to rest, and entering and leaving the city was also a hassle, plus Cao Song was quite a devout Buddhist.

Therefore, on the way to Qingzhou, Cao's caravan mostly rested in temples outside the city.

After Cao De sat firmly in the carriage, he took the initiative to massage Cao Song's legs and acted coquettishly.

"How is father old? Not to mention that father taught those three beautiful maids so much that they could hardly bear it, and wherever father passed by, everyone called him "Old Commander" respectfully."

When Cao Song heard this, he was overjoyed.

"De'er is good at making his father happy, fortunately he is not like Meng De."

The smile on Cao De's face became a little unnatural, but the movements he made while massaging Cao Song's legs became increasingly gentle.

"Brother is now the ruler of Qingzhou. He is worthy of being a regional overlord. I need to learn a lot from you."

Cao Song stroked Cao De gently with one hand and said with a smile.

"Don't worry, De'er. Although Meng De is usually disrespectful, since your father has asked for an official position for you in Qingzhou, Meng De dare not disobey." (End of this chapter)