Three Kingdoms: Stealing the Tiger Talisman and forcing Yuan Shao to become a monk

Chapter 380: Cao Cao's Conspiracy, Combine Vertically and Horizontally!
The changes in the four states of the Central Plains are actually not difficult to understand. The local officials were only shocked by the increase in the actual taxation of the government after the loss of the family.

This growth is naturally great news for Yuan Shao.

But it fell to Cao Cao's ears, but it was no less than bad news.

The four prefectures of the Central Plains, the rich land, even after the war devastated the people and displaced them, as long as there is a chance, they will soon regain their vitality.

After all, the four states in the Central Plains are currently under the rule of Hebei. With Hebei's powerful power and fierce reputation, no prince has dared to declare war forcefully.

Coupled with the absence of the oppression of the aristocratic family above the head, the taxes promoted in Hebei, compared with the taxes in the Lingdi period, can be called a benevolent government that is hard to find in the world.

After all, under the high-handed rule of Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan, the aristocratic families within the sphere of influence in Hebei all kept to themselves and did not dare to play word games to come up with fancy tax collection schemes.

As for the officials in those places, all of them are also cautious and self-denying.

It's not because of how good their personal qualities are, but because of them, no, to be precise, everyone in the world can feel it.

If there is no accident, if Hebei is allowed to develop like this, the Yuan family of Hebei is very likely to become the pioneer of the next dynasty.

Those who join the Yuan family at this time, but those who have a heart, will not think about using their official position and power to make money, but wholeheartedly want to make some achievements and increase their reputation. Fortunately, Yuan Shao or Yuan Tan Brush your face there.

When the world is unified in the future, they will be the sure servants of the dragon!When the time comes, fame and wealth, can they be less?
It's not as good as it is now, it's much better to risk being found out by the officials to engage in corruption for a little bit of petty profit!

It was under the influence of this concept that the people's livelihood in the four states of the Central Plains began a rapid recovery that can almost be described with the naked eye.

Under the influence of the concept of work-for-relief, the dilapidated state city was rebuilt by a large number of refugees recruited by officials from all over the country.

After repairing the state city, those refugees did not leave, but stayed in the local area and began to reclaim the fields that had just been abandoned.

Come to think of it, wait until the twelfth lunar month of this year, leaving aside Xuzhou where Yuan Tan is in charge.

Just the remaining three states in the Central Plains alone produce a lot of food and grass!

And this is only the first year!

Regarding the news that Yuan Tan has been publicizing to the outside world, he will launch an attack on Cao Wei next year.

Cao Cao also heard about it, but he never took it seriously.

In Cao Cao's view, no matter how quickly Xuzhou's people's power recovered under Yuan Tan's rule, they would never be able to support a big battle without three to five years of effort.

Cao Cao's only worry is his old rival Yuan Shao who is still recuperating in Yecheng, Hebei Province.

Originally, Cao Cao thought that it would be at least three to five years before the next war.

In the past three to five years, Cao Cao is confident that he can manage Sili like an iron bucket. If he is lucky, he might be able to take Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Xichuan into his pocket.

By that time, even if Cao Cao could not defeat Yuan Shao in one fell swoop, at least he would have the qualifications to compete with Yuan Shao again for the world.

But now, seeing the terrifying recovery speed of the four states in the Central Plains, Cao Cao felt afraid for the first time.

No one knows the current power of the Cao Wei Group better than him, the master.

Against the princes such as Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, Zhang Lu, and Ma Teng, Cao Cao was not in vain, and he was even able to fight back, biting off a few pieces of meat from them.

But against Yuan Shao, with Cao Wei's current family background, Cao Cao didn't think his chances of winning were great. If he died, his chances of winning were only [-]%.

This is still based on the premise that that guy Yuan Tan will not suddenly come out to make trouble for him like in the previous wars.

But if you think about it with your brain, you know, if Yuan Shao really went to war with Cao Cao, how could Yuan Tan not get involved?
In this way, Cao Wei's chances of winning are even more negligible, probably not even one-tenth.

Even though Hebei has not yet shown signs of attacking Sili.

But judging from the current situation of the recovery of the four states in the Central Plains, even if there is no attack in the year after tomorrow, it will be two years later.

The preparations in Hebei are probably almost done.

By then, God knows how far Hebei's power will expand!
"We must make preparations early! At least, we can't let that fellow Yuan Shao recuperate so peacefully!"

A stern light flashed in Cao Cao's eyes, and he gave a cold shout.

He already had a decision in his mind.

The current Cao Wei can't afford to harass the states in the Central Plains.

But it doesn't mean that other princes don't have this opportunity.

Among other things, Liu Biao would definitely not be willing to have such a large piece of flesh cut off by Yuan Tan before.

In addition, there are Zhang Lu from Xichuan and Liu Zhang from Yizhou.

Although the two of them were beaten so badly in the battle of Wuxiang, it has been two years since the battle of Wuxiang.

In the past two years, Hebei has not been idle, but Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang have not been idle either.

As a prince of one side, Zhang Lu or Liu Zhang's understanding of troubled times, even if there are more or less flaws in character.

But when it is necessary, he also dares to make some bold decisions.

As long as the people sent can give a little inducement, Cao Cao felt that it would not be a big problem to persuade these three families to join forces to create obstacles for the Yuan family and curb the growth of the Yuan family's strength in the next two years.

The most important of these lies in the choice of messengers.

Just looking around, Cao Cao found sadly that although there were many advisers under his command, they could really complete this set of vertical and horizontal strategies.

It seems that apart from Guo Jia, there is no second candidate.

Although Jia Xu has good eloquence, he is more good at disintegrating and disintegrating within the hostile forces.

And Cheng Yu's talent mainly lies in the strategy on the battlefield.

After calculations, it seems that only Guo Jia, an all-rounder, can complete Cao Cao's strategic concept.

But when he thought of Guo Jia's body at this moment, Cao Cao couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Since the first year of Ding'an, Guo Jia's health has been deteriorating, although there is the Wu Qinxi training plan that Hua Tuo prescribed to Guo Jia before.

But Guo Jia's character is to do whatever he wants, and he is also a drunkard and an avid fan of alchemy in the Han Dynasty.

Compared to the miserable five-animal show that Hua Tuo asked him to do every day, Guo Jia would rather go to the golden elixir.

Every time after taking the golden pill, Guo Jia felt that his body became more and more stable, and even his spirit seemed to calm down a lot.

If Yuan Tan were here, he wouldn't need to feel his pulse to know that Guo Jia was purely in a state of heavy metal poisoning.

The reason why he is still able to advise Cao Cao is purely because his own IQ is so high that even heavy metal poisoning does not affect the activity of his brain cells.

It's just that his body has really reached the point of terminal illness.

Even if Yuan Tan made a move now, he would be helpless.

Although Cao Cao is not Yuan Tan, and does not have the insight of Yuan Tan's descendants, he also learned from Guo Jia's doctor that even if Guo Jia is recuperating every day, he will only be able to survive until the end of next autumn at most.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao couldn't help but feel regret flashing across his eyes.

(End of this chapter)