Chapter 934: Give Me a Pillow if You Have a Headache

In fact, people have a kind of inertia. When they get used to certain things or people, they will adopt the same pattern in the next behavior.

This pattern is called mental inertia.

Simply put, this kind of thinking model can help humans better apply the methods they have mastered to quickly solve problems. Of course, this model also has some disadvantages...

For example, now, Cao Cao is used to looking for counselors to ask questions about his troubles.

However, Cao Cao did not go to find Wei Qian or Xun Yu, because those two guys were too well-behaved. I'm afraid they would still have the same argument, which was no different from the previous estimate, so Cao Cao sauntered away. Arrive at Xi Zhicai's residence.

Without asking the guards to inform him, Cao Cao put his hands behind his back and entered the door. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Xi Zhicai drinking a small drink at the table in the lobby, looking like he was enjoying himself... …

Cao Cao's face sank, then he narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice: "Zhicai! Others are working hard, but you are drinking here, how unbecoming you are!"

Xi Zhicai was holding a wine cup when he suddenly heard Cao Cao's voice. He couldn't help but stop his hand in mid-air. He turned his head and saw that it was Cao Cao who had arrived at his home. He couldn't help but secretly murmur in his heart. After two sentences, he rolled his eyes, and immediately raised the wine baron higher, then gestured to Cao Cao, and said loudly: "You are drunk with wine, and you are full with virtue. A gentleman for ten thousand years, I will introduce you to Jingfu." When you are drunk with wine, you will eat well. A gentleman will live forever, and you will be enlightened..."

When Cao Cao heard this, his eyebrows twitched twice. After all, he couldn't hold back his laughter. He laughed out loud. Shaking his head, he walked into the hall, sat down at the table, and said, "It's not yet time for peace. Enjoy the joy of swallowing and drinking..."

Xi Zhicai saw that he had gotten away with it, but of course he couldn't push his nose in the face and continue to eat and drink in front of Boss Cao, so he put down the wine prince and said: "Mr. Cao is in trouble, if you don't think you are short of ambition and talent, you can Let’s talk about it in detail..." Although Xi Zhicai didn’t understand the sentence of later generations, what’s the point of being unhappy, and said the famous saying that everyone was happy, but there are no dishes on the table now, so we might as well use Cao Cao’s "Not" Come and have a drink.

Naturally, Cao Cao didn't know what Xi Zhicai was thinking about in his head. He asked Xi Zhicai when he saw him, and he was a little confused himself, so he said: "Now that we have few soldiers and few food supplies, and an unstable foundation, how can we be worry-free?"

Having said this, Cao Cao lowered his head and looked around on the table. When he saw that there was no second wine baron, he took the wine baron from Xi Zhicai's hand and drank it in a few sips. After a pause at the table, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh, his expression somewhat desolate.

When we started from Chenliu, we were so ambitious and ambitious, but now we have to rely on others. Although it is not as miserable as relying on others, it is not happy either and there are many constraints.

In a blink of an eye, he was already middle-aged. Although he could not say that he had accomplished nothing, he was still the governor of the place, which could be considered as an achievement. However, when he turned around and looked at Fa Xiao, who was once in Luoyang City, one was in the north, a chariot and cavalry general and a Jizhou shepherd. One is in the south, entrenched in the fertile land of Runan, and after serving as a general, whether it is territory, population, or the size of the army, it is several times that of himself...

Even if he could find an excuse in his heart to comfort himself, saying that these two guys relied on their family background to get to where they are today, and there is something great about it, Cao Cao couldn't avoid another fact.

"Where's the wine?" Cao Cao didn't need any attendants to serve him, and he didn't let Xi Zhicai do it. He found a wine jar and a wine spoon on the side of the table, and then gave himself another drink, and finished it again. .

If Er Yuan relied on his family background to achieve great success and was not worthy of respect, then the guy in Bingzhou was really a guy who couldn't even find fault with others.

In terms of family background, the second-rate noble family still belongs to the side branch. Compared with Er Yuan's family background, it is simply a world away. Even compared with his own, there is a big difference; in terms of wealth, I am afraid there is not much, at most Jing Xiang. The Huang family may have some dowry and so on, but it is definitely not as good as that guy Cao Hong; in terms of territory, let alone this, in a bitter and cold place like Bingzhou, there is no place to show off one's old face...

But under such conditions, it was pulled up abruptly, and a big flag was erected, swaggering across the country. In the battle of Yinshan, although Cao Cao hoped that Fei Qian could win, he still knew in his heart that it would not be an easy fight, so he just hoped that Fei Qian would not lose his ambition when the battle situation was unfavorable. However, he did not expect that Fei Qian would I won the battle and actually climbed Wolf Mountain again!

When the news came, Cao Cao huddled in his room alone, drank a bottle of wine, laughed for a while, cried for a while, and got drunk for a day before he returned to normal.

Confessing the wolf to Xu, this has been Cao Cao's own wish for many years!

Cao Cao seemed to have a feeling that the dream of the Han Dynasty to conquer the West seemed to be getting farther and farther away from him, as if he felt that he was just one step away. However, this short step distance was infinitely enlarged and continuously enlarged until it became Natural moat.

Xi Zhicai smashed his mouth and wanted to get back his wine prince, but he was somewhat afraid. He looked at the wine in the wine jar and decided to come up with an idea as soon as possible to kill this big thorn who was drinking his wine. Send this guy away, so as not to stay for a while without even having to drink...

In fact, Xi Zhicai also knew a little bit about Cao Cao's worries, so when Cao Cao said that he was "outnumbered", Xi Zhicai had some idea in his mind.

As for the foundation and so on, in the final analysis, it is still a lack of military rations. If there is sufficient military rations, wouldn't it be the same everywhere?

If you want soldiers, you first need money and food. If you don't have money and food, where can you recruit soldiers?

Secondly, there must be a place to recruit personnel. Now that the homeless and idlers near Dongjun have been wiped out, if you want to recruit more personnel, you must start with the tenant farmers in the countryside. , but these tenants belong to various rural tyrants. If you want to deduct the population from these people, it will undoubtedly harm the interests of these people. It would be strange if they don't jump up and make a noise.

And it’s not like there is only one prefect of Dongjun at the moment, right? If something goes wrong...

So for the matter of soldiers, we can only find other ways, but this way has some problems, but this problem is also Cao Cao's problem. Anyway, Xi Zhicai just came up with an idea, and shot It's natural for Cao Cao to decide if he doesn't make a decision.

Thinking of this, Xi Zhicai said slowly: "What is Cao Gong's worry? There is a way to solve it, but... there are also disadvantages..." No matter what, I want to make it clear first, and I have to pick it out first. As for troublesome things, it's okay to only have one or two, but not too many, otherwise you won't have time to drink.

"Oh?" Cao Cao finally put the wine master down and said happily to Xi Zhicai, "But it doesn't matter!"

Xi Zhicai pointed to the east and said: "Mr. Cao, although there is no one here to recruit...but if we go east...we have three to five million soldiers to recruit...I wonder if Mr. Cao is interested?"

Cao Cao couldn't help but be stunned.

East?

Yanzhou?

No, could it be...

Cao Cao suddenly turned his head and stared at Xi Zhicai. His eyes, which were originally the size of mung beans, suddenly turned into the size of soybeans. After a long time, he said: "... I would like to hear the details!"

Xi Zhicai shook his head and said: "Although it is said to be one million, it is actually three to five hundred thousand. However, most of them are refugees. It is not difficult to raise money. All it takes is to open up more fields and resettle them properly."

Cao Cao frowned and said, "How many troops can we fight?"

"Twenty to thirty thousand..." Xi Zhicai made a rough estimate, and it was about the same anyway, "...if he returns home, it should be more..."

Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up and sparkled. You need to know the concept of having an extra 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. Basically, it can compete with the north and the south!

Of course, there is still some gap between combatable soldiers and elite soldiers. The so-called combatable soldiers refer to the total number of people who can be mobilized as a source of troops. In fact, they are militiamen who can grab weapons when war breaks out and are usually busy with farm work.

But being able to obtain such soldiers already made Cao Cao very happy. Now even if there are two Yuans in the North and South, don’t most of the soldiers in their hands fall into this category?

"...But...he has been in peace for a long time..." Xi Zhicai looked at Cao Cao and continued, "...if he is an ordinary person...I may not be able to..."

"What Zhicai said..." Cao Cao looked at Zhicai, not knowing why. After thinking about it for a while, he said, "...I wonder who can do this?"

Xi Zhicai pointed eastward again, smiling but saying nothing.

Cao Cao thought about it for a while and suddenly realized it. He immediately left Xi Zhicai and walked out. Then he called the guards as he walked: "Come here! Go and bring some jars of the good wine from a certain family to Zhicai..."

Xi Zhicai calmly picked up the wine cup that Cao Cao left behind, and while drinking wine slowly, he responded: "Thank you, Duke Cao..."

Cao Cao waved his hand and said there was no need to pay attention, and walked out hurriedly.

Not long after, Xi Zhi had just finished drinking almost all the wine in the jar. He was holding up the jar and looking at the last few dregs of wine inside. He was wondering whether he should mix some water with it and drink it alive, or wait for what Cao Cao said. When there were several jars of good wine, Xun Yu came.

Xun Yu's long sleeves were graceful, and even with a straight face, he still had a pleasant demeanor.

Entering the lobby, Xun Yu sat down in front of Xi Zhicai and said with a serious smile: "Have you just made suggestions to Duke Cao?"

Xi Zhicai knew that he couldn't hide it from him, so he simply nodded.

"...Why?"

Xi Zhicai glanced at Xun Yu, tilted his mouth, and then imitated Xun Yu's words and said in a more serious tone: "...According to your wisdom, you should also know that there will be harm in the end..."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

After the two of them were silent for a long time, Xun Yu sighed, as if a piece of his mind had been relieved, and said with a bit of relief: "...Well, it's a pleasure to break off the relationship from now on..."

Xi Zhicai nodded and said: "Wen Ruo's words are just right. You must know that the crime of holding a jade is also a crime. Since Cao Cao is anxious... wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?"

Xun Yu nodded, then shook his head and said: "... Mr. Cao is too hasty in this matter... for fear that it will be harmful in the future..."

Xi Zhicai said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, this matter at this time, that time and that matter, there is no immutable reason... Let's talk about it in the future... Cao Gongyun has some jars of good wine, why don't Wen Ruo drink it with us?"

Xun Yu suddenly became a little angry and said, "Can you sell something just for a few jars of good wine?"

Xi Zhicai was stunned for a moment, then shook his head suddenly, and said with a serious face: "This is wrong! How can someone act like this? This wine..."

Halfway through, Xi Zhicai suddenly burst into laughter, "...This wine is a reward for someone's advice! There are first and last, and the order is different!"

Xun Yu rolled his eyes, flicked his sleeves, ignored Xi Zhicai and left.

Xi Zhicai looked at Xun Yu's back for a long time, and then suddenly sighed. He fell back half-heartedly and lay down on the mat. He looked up at the dusty and cobweb-covered lobby pillars and murmured. Said: "If you want to be a pillar... do you know that this pillar must first be chopped with a knife and ax, peel off the skin and branches, then let it dry in the shade, and then apply heavy paint before it can be hung on the house? Have you ever encountered this? Dao, axe, wind and frost, if these heads and tails are not removed, who will use them?"

Xunyu, Xunwenruo, you are different from me after all.

Since the beginning of Han Dynasty, the emperor has wanted to reuse poor families. Why?

It’s not just because it’s simple, it’s easy to pick up and even easier to throw away.

I'm just an unknown person, just a showman. Even if I restore my original name, I'm still from a humble family. If Cao Gong wants to be respected, he will be respected, and if he wants to be demoted, he will be demoted. There is no concern, no matter how sloppy I behave. , no matter how good the wine is, for Mr. Cao, it is even more joyful. It’s not that Duke Cao likes his men who are sloppy and good at drinking, but that people like me who are sloppy and good at drinking will naturally not form cliques if they are not liked by others, which will lead to too many entanglements between each other...

When Mr. Cao is here with me, he scolds me when I make mistakes, and rewards me when I have merit. When he is unhappy, he takes my wine and drinks it. When he is happy, he gives me several jars of wine. It is easy and simple, and he does not feel anything wrong or pressured, because Mr. Cao knows that I am just one person, no matter how highly praised I am, I am still just one person. But what about you?

The Xun family, a prominent family in Yingchuan, used to work in Yuan Shao's place, and now they have moved here. Is it possible that Duke Cao is not suspicious at all? You are relieved, is Mr. Cao relieved? Mr. Cao is relieved, are you? Even if you and Duke Cao are on good terms, will your family be at ease?

What should I do if I’m worried?

So wouldn't it be better to use this matter to make a handover between each other?

Mr. Xun threw away the branches that stretched out, and Mr. Cao got the firewood that can burn more vigorously. Although there may be some problems in the future, now it is undoubtedly the best choice...