Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 293 Cao Cao: I am too naive to open my heart to you
When Cao Cao saw Xu You's smiling face, he felt it was extremely hateful. The anger that he had suppressed with great difficulty could not help but rise again.

"You traitor!"

Cao Cao slapped the wine pot in Xu You's hand to the ground, stepped forward and grabbed his collar, and said with a sullen face: "I regard you as a close friend, but you are the emperor's accomplice and betrayed me in secret!"

"Is this how you repay me?"

Xu You was not to be outdone. He also glared at Cao Cao and shouted, "Everything I did was for you! Ah Man, you are too naive. You cannot defeat the emperor!"

Cao Cao laughed angrily when he heard this: "Yes, I am too naive, that's why I believed your lies and opened my heart to you!"

Two months ago, after reaching an alliance with Sun Quan, he withdrew his troops back to Xu County and told Xu You about it.

However, just a few days later, his men intercepted a secret letter sent to Yecheng, which clearly stated the alliance between him and Sun Quan and their plans for Xuzhou.

And the person who sent this secret letter was Xu You!
It was not until then that he completely understood that Xu You had always been the emperor's man, and was sent by the emperor to serve him as an insider!
"I still say the same thing. Since ancient times, those who rebel have never had a good ending."

Xu You pushed Cao Cao away, not taking his anger to heart at all. He looked like a scoundrel to the extreme, but his eyes kept meeting Cao Cao's.

"You said I betrayed you, but I was your Majesty's accomplice from the beginning to the end. How could I be said to have betrayed you? Besides, I have never done anything to harm you."

"You were deceived by Yang Biao and others before, and supported the false emperor. You had no way out. I came here to let you see the true face of the false emperor and provide you with a way out."

"And I'm urging you to surrender to the emperor because it's for your own good. Surrendering to the emperor is much better than being killed as a traitor in the end, right?"

"If I really wanted to harm you, why would I persuade you to surrender? Wouldn't it be better for me to just serve under you and be your accomplice? After you are killed by the emperor, I can enjoy wealth and glory as a meritorious official?"

"After all, I don't want to see you die tragically because we have been close friends since childhood."

"Why don't you understand my painstaking efforts?"

Xu You sighed as he spoke, his eyes filled with deep helplessness and sadness.

"Shut up!"

Cao Cao's anger intensified when he heard this. He sneered and said, "You and I are the same. Don't think I don't know what you are thinking!"

"Convincing me to surrender is a much greater achievement than being an insider! You just want to take the credit, and you still have the nerve to talk about favors?!"

"You've always been doing this for yourself!"

Cao Cao understood Xu You, just as Xu You understood him. He knew what Xu You was planning, so he would not be misled by Xu You at all.

After learning Xu You's identity, he finally understood why Xu You had been urging him to surrender. He had had some doubts before, but he had never thought about it in this direction.

Xu You did not blush at all when Cao Cao exposed his inner thoughts. He smiled and said, "You came to me today just to talk about this? No way."

"You seem to be in a bad mood. Let me guess... Was it that Bingzhou was conquered by your majesty's army and Gao Gan was defeated?"

Cao Cao's pupils suddenly shrank slightly.

Xu You keenly noticed the change in his expression and said with a smile: "It's just as I expected."

"How did you know?!"

Cao Cao's eyes became even colder. This news had just been passed back, and Xu You had been imprisoned here for two months. How could he have known about this?
Xu You said, "You are so unhappy today that you even came to me to vent your anger. This means that the reason for your unhappiness must be related to the emperor."

"And your biggest concern is that the imperial court's troops are heading south, but there are still remnants of Yuan Shao in the north, holding the emperor back."

"So I just took a wild guess."

Listening to Xu You's talk, Cao Cao became more and more surprised, and his murderous intent became stronger.

He hates people who can see through his mind.

Xu You ignored Cao Cao's murderous intentions and said, "If you have any questions, please tell me. I am bored here, but I don't mind giving you some advice."

"That's why you came here anyway."

"After all, there are some things that you are not convenient to tell Xun Yu and Xun You. I am the only one who knows you best."

Xu You once again expressed Cao Cao's inner thoughts.

Cao Cao is such a twisted person.

On the one hand, he hates others seeing through his thoughts and is suspicious of everyone; on the other hand, he hopes someone can give him advice based on his wishes.

Cao Cao stared at Xu You for a long while with deep eyes.

Finally he let go and sat down with a grim face.

"Is this right?"

Xu You couldn't help but laugh, and turned to Xu Chu who was standing outside the yard and shouted, "Xu Chu, warm up another pot of wine and send it over!"

After saying that, he sat down opposite Cao Cao, picked up a piece of cold meat with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. While eating, he asked, "Tell me, A-Man, what do you want to ask me?"

Cao Cao no longer pretended to be so serious and said calmly, "I plan to implement a strategy of exchanging families. When Sun Quan sends troops to attack Xuzhou in the spring, I will unite with the Jiangdong nobles to seize Jiangdong."

"Is this plan feasible?"

The alliance with Sun Quan was just his superficial plan. He had no intention of joining forces with Sun Quan to resist the emperor's iron hoof.

His initial goal was to seize Sun Quan's territory. As for Yanzhou and Xuzhou, he would just give them up.

Originally, he planned to proceed step by step, but after learning that the emperor had already conquered Bingzhou, he had no intention of delaying any further.

"Of course I can."

Xu You nodded and explained to Cao Cao: "You are right. You really can't confront the emperor head-on. With your strength, you have no chance of winning."

"Only if you occupy the three states of Yangzhou, Yuzhou, and Jingzhou, will you have the strength to compete with the emperor."

"Of course, I know you definitely have such a plan, so let's not talk about it for now and just talk about your seizure of Jiangdong."

"I advise you not to do this."

Cao Cao frowned and said coldly: "You said this plan is feasible, but you advised me not to do it. What do you mean?"

These words were so incomprehensible that he couldn't figure out what Xu You was trying to say, or whether he was just talking complete nonsense.

"Look, he's in a hurry."

At this time, Xu Chu brought the wine over. After Xu You poured himself a bowl, he said calmly, "Ah Man, let me ask you, if you can incite those Jiangdong nobles to surrender to you today, will they surrender to the emperor tomorrow?"

"It's the same whether they vote for you or the emperor. Anyway, it won't affect the interests of those aristocratic families. Why should they be traitors and follow you to the end?"

"So I advise you to surrender to the emperor as soon as possible and stop resisting in vain."

As Xu You said this, he was about to raise his bowl to drink.

But before he could even get the bowl to his mouth, Cao Cao, who was furious, slapped him away and cursed him: "This is all nonsense! You are just trying to persuade me to surrender!"

It turns out that Xu You went through so much trouble just to make him surrender. He actually believed that this guy was willing to give him advice!

"Just say it, why do you keep doing it?"

Xu You looked at the wine spilled all over the floor and couldn't help but get anxious. "Just think about whether what I said makes sense. Those Jiangdong nobles are fence-sitters. Am I wrong?" "And those people under you, do you really think they are loyal to you and are in solidarity with you?"

"You may not know this, but Fu Wan once went to see Xun Yu privately. Did Xun Yu mention this to you?"

"I've said it many times, you are too naive!"

"You'll suffer if you do this!"

Xu You sighed, not sure whether he was feeling sorry for Cao Cao or for the bowl of wine he had spilled.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Hearing this, Cao Cao's face suddenly showed anger, and he said angrily: "You still want to slander Wen Ruo after all this?!"

He didn't believe the words of the traitor Xu You.

"I slandered him?"

Xu You sneered, "This is what Fu Wan told me himself! He thought Xun Yu was also a loyal minister to the Han Dynasty, so he took the Queen's edict and wanted to join him in the mutiny, but was rejected by Xun Yu."

"And Fu Wan was worried that Xun Yu would report you, so he spat in your face in public at the court the next day, in the name of loyalty."

"But what's interesting is that Xun Yu did not report Fu Wan... Ah Man, why do you think that was the case?"

Cao Cao's expression couldn't help but change.

He was actually quite puzzled by Fu Wan's sudden behavior that day, but if it was true as Xu You said, Fu Wan's behavior could be explained.

Although he believed it in his heart, Cao Cao still said stubbornly: "You must be slandering me! Don't try to alienate the friendship between me and Wen Ruo!"

"Bullshit friendship!"

Xu You's face was full of mockery, and he mercilessly exposed Cao Cao, "I would rather let the world betray me than let the world betray me! You said that yourself!"

"If you cared about friendship, you wouldn't have killed Lü Bushe's family, and Chen Gong wouldn't have abandoned you!"

This sentence hit Cao Cao right in the heart.

The killing of Lü Bushe's family and the departure of Chen Gong were indeed eternal pains in his heart and past events he did not want to mention again, but at this moment they were revealed in a bloody manner by Xu You.

"Stop rambling!"

Cao Cao slammed the table, glared at Xu You, and said through gritted teeth: "What on earth do you want to say!"

He felt his head starting to ache again. If Xu You continued to tell him his ugly deeds, he felt that he would soon have another headache.

Seeing that Cao Cao was getting a little angry, Xu You stopped pressing him and said in a slower tone, "Aman, why are you unwilling to follow me and surrender to the emperor? Why do you insist on going down this path to the end?"

"Do you really want to be the emperor? I remember that your original ideal was to be a general of the Han Dynasty and a loyal minister who supported the Han Dynasty!"

"Where is Cao Mengde, the man who assassinated Dong Zhuo?"

Cao Cao opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing.

Xu You continued, "Aman, listen to my advice. Follow me and submit to the emperor. With your talent, you will surely become a famous official."

Cao Cao said with a complicated expression: "After all, I supported the false emperor and disobeyed his orders. Even if I had various reasons, I still did something rebellious."

"If I go to the emperor, I will not have a good ending."

At this moment, Cao Cao finally told Xu You what was in his heart, which was also the fundamental reason why he had always been unwilling to surrender to the emperor.

Ambition was certainly one aspect, but more importantly, he was worried about being purged. He had done quite a few rebellious things, which were noticed by Yang Biao and others.

Even though he did those things to the fake emperor, he didn't know he was a fake emperor at that time, so in the eyes of the emperor, it was equivalent to doing it to the real emperor.

Which emperor would tolerate such a bold traitor?

Even if he was not held accountable at the beginning, if one day the emperor suddenly remembered and wanted to bring up old scores, he would be finished.

"You are so paranoid!"

Xu You couldn't help but sigh and said helplessly: "Your Majesty truly has the style of Emperor Gao and Emperor Guangwu."

"Your Majesty has a broad mind, how could you care about such trivial matters? Your Majesty can tolerate and use people like Jia Xu and Yuan Xi, let alone you?"

"Listen to me, we will surrender to the emperor, and I will guarantee you and make sure you are safe!"

Xu You said this solemnly, and poured a bowl of wine into the bowl in front of Cao Cao, then looked straight at him.

Cao Cao remained silent, his heart was conflicted. He really wanted to agree to Xu You, but he couldn't help but doubt.

What if?
What if the emperor's broad-mindedness was just an act? What if Jia Xu would also be liquidated in the future? What if Xu You couldn't protect him?
"That's all."

Cao Cao finally rejected Xu You's proposal, and said calmly, "Just stay here. I won't kill you, but I won't let you leave either."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the room.

Xu You watched Cao Cao leave the study and couldn't help shaking his head. He reached out to pick up the bowl of wine that Cao Cao hadn't drunk on the table, drank it all, and then sighed heavily.

"There's no cure for paranoia."

……

Cao Cao's expression had returned to normal when he left the room.

He warned Xu Chu, "Keep watching Xu You. Don't let him leave the yard, and don't allow anyone to approach this place."

"Yes, my lord!"

Xu Chu nodded heavily in agreement.

Cao Cao then left, recalling in his mind the conversation he had just had with Xu You, including the private meeting between Xun Yu and Fu Wan.

He was not entirely sure whether what Xu You said was true, but he could not rule out the possibility that it was false. It was very possible that Xun Yu had ulterior motives.

"Could it be that Xun Yu has secretly surrendered to the emperor?"

Cao Cao couldn't help but have doubts in his heart, because he knew that Xun Yu had complicated thoughts and was still loyal to the Han Dynasty, so it was possible that he could be turned against the Han Dynasty.

You have to observe it carefully.

……

Xiangyang City, Jingzhou, the governor's residence.

Liu Biao was furious in his study at this time, and he shouted at Cai Mao and others, "Who told you to agree to Liu Jiyu's request to send troops to attack Liu Xuande?"

"How dare you conceal such a big thing! How dare you do this without telling me! Are you planning to rebel?"

"I am the Lord of Jingzhou!"

(End of this chapter)