Things went very smoothly. Cao Cao thought that Meng Fan had been scared away by his 200,000-strong army, and he was overjoyed.

Moreover, having witnessed the abilities of Liu Bei and his two brothers during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, he assumed they were drawn to him by his benevolent aura and became even more complacent.

Because Liu Bei had been serving under Gongsun Zan and had not become the governor of Xu Province to oppose Cao Cao, his appearance did not alarm Cao Cao's civil officials.

Guo Jia had long seen through the ways of the world, but he remained silent and only observed how things developed.

A month later, Liu Bei finally returned to the court.

Liu Xie was humiliated by the increasingly arrogant Cao Cao far more severely than in history. Even when he went to the toilet, he was watched closely and had no rights whatsoever. The emperor was just a title.

Seeing that Liu Bei entered the palace with a solemn attitude and respectful and proper manners, and after verifying his identity, he found that he was actually his imperial uncle. Overjoyed, he immediately appointed him as General of the Left of Han and Marquis of Yicheng!

Now Liu Bei is the rightful imperial uncle of the Han Dynasty!

Cao Cao had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He summoned his advisors to discuss the matter, but they couldn't come to a conclusion, so he dropped the matter.

On this day, Guo Jia was enjoying himself in his mansion, surrounded by beautiful wives and concubines, living a carefree life.

Everyone says that Fengxiao is a man of great talent and strategy, a rare genius, but they don’t know that Fengxiao is also a mortal, and even heroes can be tempted by beautiful women.

Guo Jia knew Xun Yu had arrived when he heard this. He didn't get up, but simply waved his wife and concubines away. He then lay down on the grass without regard for his image, still holding a wine cup in his hand.

Seeing that he ignored him, Xun Yu was not embarrassed. He walked up to him and said, "Don't you think it's a waste to squander your days like this?"

Guo Jia laughed and said, "Oh? I handle official business every day and take care of my duties properly. How could I be wasting my days?"

Xun Yu couldn't help but retort angrily, "You finished processing a month's worth of official documents in half a day, and spent the rest of the time enjoying yourself. How can you claim to be handling official business every day?"

"Who says official documents are so few, just matters of grain and fodder allocation? Others take a day to calculate, but I can figure it out in a flash. Is being efficient a fault?"

"Don't forget why you came to serve our lord, not to calculate these provisions."

Guo Jia smiled knowingly and asked, "Oh? What troubles the Prime Minister now?"

Xun Yu was furious: "As a strategist, you should plan ahead and foresee the future crises of our lord. I don't believe you lack this insight."

Guo Jia laughed and said, "The Prime Minister now has a strong army and claims to be the number one warlord in the world. No one dares to provoke him. Please forgive Guo Jia for his incompetence; he has not seen any crisis."

Xun Yu saw through Guo Jia's intention to leave, and his sense of crisis intensified. He sighed and said, "With your talent, the Prime Minister will not let you leave."

Guo Jia seemed oblivious to the threat in those words, and said calmly, "Since I joined the Prime Minister's ranks, I have not displayed any talent. If the Prime Minister wants to kill me, it can only be from your mouth."

Xun Yu was speechless for a moment, then asked, "Where do you intend to go if you leave?"

"Hahaha, where there are high mountains, there are always roads for travelers; where there are deep waters, there are always ferries."

Guo Jia's words were somewhat arrogant, but Xun Yu took them as perfectly reasonable.

He understood that with Guo Jia's talent, he could shine anywhere, provided that he set his sights on that person.

"Is Cao Cao really headed for destruction?"

Guo Jia exclaimed in shock, "How dare you curse the Prime Minister! Wenruo, I've known you for so long, but I never expected you to be a traitor!"

Xun Yu shook his head with a wry smile; this Guo Fengxiao was truly impeccable.

In the following months, Yuan Shu obtained the imperial seal, claimed the mandate of heaven, and declared himself emperor in Shouchun. Cao Cao was furious and issued a proclamation to many warlords, inviting them to attack Yuan Shu.

Even though others were only going through the motions, Cao Cao still had to fight. After all, two tigers cannot share one mountain, and the Han Dynasty could not have two emperors!

Although Cao Cao had the advantage in military strength, with a force of 500,000, Yuan Shu was a fool, but his strategists were not. They guarded the city and relied on the advantageous terrain to carry out defenses.

The meaning couldn't be clearer: we can't beat you, but for every step you take forward, I'll make you pay a bloody price!

Time flies, and a year has passed quickly. Although Cao Cao has captured many cities, he has also suffered heavy losses, and even his food supplies are running out. He has no choice but to retreat.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shao in the north also captured Gongsun Zan, unifying the four northern provinces and giving him the resources to contend with Cao Cao!

Cao Cao had become quite haggard over the past year. He had been enjoying smooth sailing, but now he couldn't even handle an incompetent fool like Yuan Shu, which made him feel extremely bad.

At this moment, Liu Bei stepped forward and said that the three brothers only needed 50,000 troops to kill Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to the Huaibei region, basically conscripting all available soldiers. Yuan Shu and his group showed no signs of the aura of newly proclaimed emperors, simply hiding in their shells and refusing to engage in direct combat. Although they also lost a large amount of territory, they simply refused to fight him head-on.

Now Liu Bei actually wants to use 50,000 soldiers to claim that he can destroy Yuan Shu. Although he doesn't have much hope, Liu Bei is willing to sign a military pledge. Cao Cao didn't hesitate at all and directly gave him the military tally.

Liu Bei and his two companions knew their opportunity had come, so they immediately gathered their troops and provisions and prepared to set off.

Only after making complete preparations did Liu Bei go to see Guo Jia.

Guo Jia greeted him with a smile, his meaning implied without words.

After Liu Bei led his troops away, Guo Jia resigned from his post, and Xun Yu then realized that the person Guo Jia had chosen was actually Liu Bei, who had no foundation whatsoever.

Not only was he slow to realize it, but top strategists such as Jia Xu, Liu Ye, and Cheng Yu also reacted one after another.

They were all extremely intelligent people who worked under Cao Cao. They knew that Guo Jia was unparalleled in wisdom and had better insight than them. Since Guo Jia believed that Cao Cao would perish sooner or later and instead went to Liu Bei, it meant that Liu Bei must be stronger than Cao Cao.

They couldn't see the underlying reasons, so they could only proceed step by step.

With Liu Bei and his two companions' invincible fighting prowess, coupled with Guo Jia's unparalleled strategy, they captured three cities in a single day and reached the outskirts of Shouchun City in less than half a month!

While Guo Jia's strategy played a part in this, the martial prowess of Liu Bei and his two brothers was also enough to frighten Guo Jia.

He often saw Zhang Fei plunging his eighteen-foot spear into the city wall, then leaping up onto the wall and single-handedly striking down the defenders. He had never seen or even heard of such martial prowess before!

I doubt even Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of the Xiang Rivers, possessed such strength!

The soldiers they brought also regarded the three brothers as gods descended from heaven, and worshipped them endlessly!

When they arrived outside Shouchun City, their army numbered over 100,000. Although most of them were surrendered soldiers, ancient soldiers only knew how to obey their superiors' orders. If there was no leader, as long as they could eat their fill, they didn't care who they fought for.

Moreover, having witnessed the incredible fighting prowess of Liu Bei and his two brothers, who among them would be so foolish as to rebel?

They're really tired of living!

Sure enough, General Guan Yu rode his fast horse, dragging his sword in one hand, straight towards the city gate!

Countless arrows shot towards him from the city wall, but he easily deflected them. When he reached the city gate, he suddenly swung his broadsword in a wide arc, creating a powerful sonic boom as it slammed into the city gate!