No one is more worried about the sudden changes in the Central Plains than Cao cāo. However, strangely, in the face of such a bad situation, Cao cāo's headache did not occur, which is a miracle.

Of course, if you ask Cao cāo directly, then Cao cāo will tell you that at this moment he is full of unwillingness and fighting spirit. It is precisely because of this immortal heart fire that has enabled him to drive away all his worries and worries. Therefore, he stays away from people full of fighting spirit, that's all.

But no matter how unwilling Cao cāo and how high his fighting spirit are, he can change the current bad situation. The strength of Cao cāo and Yuan Shao is not much different. The reason why Cao cāo was able to gain an overall advantage in the battle of Yanzhou was because he formed a local military advantage. At the same time, Yanzhou was sparsely populated and could not resist from the city, nor could he effectively pinch the logistics line of Cao's army. This allowed Cao cāo to take advantage and forced Yuan Shao to the corner of the wall in one fell swoop.

But now that Fang Zhiwen has suddenly joined, things are in trouble. The strength comparison between the two camps is suddenly unbalanced. If we only talk about strength, it is obvious that Fang Zhiwen's strength is much stronger than Cao cāo. Fortunately, Fang Zhiwen has to take into account the other two national battlefields, so he has not invested much combat power in the Central Plains, otherwise Cao cāo would have been destroyed long ago.

But even so, Fang Zhiwen's sudden entry still ruined Cao cāo's good situation. Yanzhou, which was about to be obtained, and Central Plains, which were about to be obtained, was gone. Cao cāo's heart was naturally full of reluctance.

The bad thing is that Fang Zhiwen and Yuan Shao’s purpose is not just to take back Yanzhou, but to completely destroy Cao cāo, so Cao cāo is indeed facing a catastrophe.

In Pei County, Cao cāo's army almost filled the city. The entire city seemed to be occupied by a large group of ants. These ants were busy. Under their hard work, the city walls were slowly getting taller and thicker, but the area of ​​this city could not grow larger, and it turned out to be a military fortress, looking a bit ferocious.

Cao cāo's command center was very quiet, and everyone didn't say anything because they didn't know what to say. The situation is bad now, and the staff present knew it clearly. The other party's joint strength was strong, and this aggressive posture seemed to be immortal and never return it! If you don't have the ability to turn the tide and have no way to turn the danger into safety, don't say nonsense that does not affect the overall situation.

Cao cāo's face became more gloomy than usual. Every time Cao cāo was silent, everyone felt more and more pressure. This also shows that Cao cāo's authority is getting heavier and his majesty has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, and many people don't understand it, especially strangers, who are hard to understand. Cao cāo is just an ordinary person with a nose and eyes. Why are so many people afraid of him? The reason is that over time, the pressure brought by the power of Cao cāo has gradually become a kind of psychological weakness and even fear.

The atmosphere inside is getting heavier and heavier. Although the sun is bright outside, everyone feels very depressed and cannot be bright at all.

Cao cāo squinted his eyes and glanced at the ministers in the hall. When he saw that everyone was silent, Cao cāo must be uncomfortable, but he did not doubt the loyalty of these people because of this. He also knew that the current dilemma was not so easy to resolve. If he could not think of a solution because of his lack of ability, it would be wrong.

"The situation is not good now, and it will even become worse. Do you have nothing to say?"

The suppressed disappointment and anger in Cao cāo's tone had faintly penetrated. Everyone secretly looked at each other. It would probably not work if this continued. It would always be good to say something. But the current situation is almost a dead end. Whether you can pass the test depends on whether you can block the attack of Yuan Shao and the Fang Zhiwen Alliance. Everything else seems to be redundant.

The most important thing now is to fight the war well.

"Lord, my subordinates think that the momentum of the enemy must be stopped before they can talk about anything else."

Cao cāo frowned slightly. Of course he knew this matter. Yan Xiang's words were just nonsense. However, he did not scold Yan Xiang for being foolish, but instead looked at Xi Zhicai with anticipation.

Xi Zhicai saw Cao cāo looking at him. Although he had not yet formed a complete idea, he did not want Cao cāo to continue disappointing. It would be better to say it out for everyone to discuss it.

"Lord, the current situation is beyond words. It is natural to stabilize the front line first. However, I think that the front line is stable, and this should be worrying!"

"Oh?!" Cao cāo looked at Xi Zhicai in confusion, and his brows couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "How do you say this?"

Xi Zhicai organized his words a little, and said slowly in the curious eyes of everyone: "Lord, although Yuan Shao and Fang Zhiwen have formed a military alliance, the alliance may not be the same. Fang Zhiwen may not be able to advance rapidly. On the contrary, he will slow down at the right time and wait for Yuan Shao's people to fight with our army immediately. While defeating our army, he also needs to weaken Yuan Shao, instead of charging himself and letting Yuan Shao get a bargain behind him. This is not in line with Fang Zhiwen's character."

"This... is just Zhicai's guess. Maybe there is this possibility, but the favorable opportunity of war is sometimes fleeting. If Fang Zhiwen can easily defeat our army, why not follow the trend? If he missed the favorable opportunity, the price he paid might be high!"

Xi Zhicai looked at Yan Xiang and shook his head slightly: "No, this is not a guess, but a result derived from facts."

"Factual basis? This..."

"The fact is the strange behavior of Fang Zhiwen after he took Pengcheng. At that time, our army collapsed. He could have marched straight in and took advantage of the inadequate military deployment of our army and immediately took down important strategic points. But the fact is that he just used cavalry to roam the eastern part of Qiao County, inciting and supporting Yiren to plunder, but did not seize the time to conquer the city and territorial land, but instead placed the main force in the direction of Tancheng and Xiapi. Now he is a cavalry army with strong mobility, building a strong base in the outer city of Xiapi, doing what infantry should do, and making a long-term attack on Xiapi and completely eradicating Xuzhou, but he missed the opportunity to directly attack the center! Fang Zhiwen has many counselors and is also known as the God of War. If there is no reason, how could he make such a low-level mistake?"

"This...is true!"

"And the signs are not the end. Look at Lu Bu again. When he defeated General Xu Chu, he should take advantage of the situation to pursue our main force. At least he must entangle our main force and win time for the offensive in the south. Even if our army does not entangle with it, with Lu Bu's ability, he will definitely take advantage. However, Lu Bu was satisfied with the interception of more than 100,000 people. This is a bit strange and does not conform to Lu Bu's character. Therefore, his subordinates judged that Fang Zhiwen intended to give us time to reorganize the defense line, so why the purpose was naturally clear."

Cao cāo subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. He was convinced by Xi Zhicai's analysis. If this was the case, the current situation would not be bad enough to be redeemable, which naturally made Cao cāo's heart slightly lighter, but it was only a little lighter. Fang Zhiwen's purpose was just waiting for Yuan Shao's combat power to recover. In the future, Cao cāo will be avoided by law when facing the joint attacks of the two powerful people.

Cao cāo glanced at the people who breathed a little relieved in the hall and frowned: "Zhicai, even if your inference is correct, it is just a time to reorganize and stabilize our position. It has no essential change to the bad situation we are about to face."

Xi Zhicai nodded solemnly: "What the lord said is very much. If we want to change this situation in essence, it may be difficult. All our subordinates can think of is dividing and disintegrating the military alliance between the two. This not only takes time, but also opportunities. But no matter how you look at it, the chances are quite slim. Of course, we can also hope that the national war suddenly becomes tight, or that a natural disaster suddenly comes."

"Natural disaster?" Cao cāo said thoughtfully. This surprised Xi Zhicai slightly. Could it be that Cao cāo actually has such a prop in his hand, which can cause natural disasters?

Cao cāo pondered for a while and suddenly realized that he was distracted. He looked at the hall with expectations and couldn't help but feel a little funny: "Don't misunderstand everyone, I don't have the ability to control the punishment of heaven. Such things can't be touched by mortals!"

Xi Zhicai breathed a sigh of relief. Indeed, that kind of thing is not something that ordinary people can touch, that is really too... Forget it, since it is impossible, don't bother to think about it. Xi Zhicai grabbed the mind like a wild horse and returned to the real problem.

"Lord, if you can't count on these things with very little possibility, then if you want to completely get rid of this unfavorable situation, there is only one way left, or this is not a way at all!"

Cao cāo frowned tightly. He seemed to have guessed what Xi Zhicai wanted to say. He just made a suggestion or the next post was really a bit unbearable.

Xi Zhicai looked at Cao cāo's expression and hesitated for a moment or decided not to say it. This matter may be discussed with Cao cāo in private. Now that he can tell it, it will hurt everyone's morale.

Cao cāo was distracted again and Xi Zhicai suddenly closed his mouth, which made everyone in the hall feel a little bad guess. However, since Xi Zhicai, a smart person, didn't say anything, it would be better for everyone to hide their weaknesses. If this matter backfires, he might be charged with a crime of disrupting the morale of the army and was killed!
Chapter completed!