In the Yuan Family camp, there was a new batch of generals from the Cao Family camp, greatly increasing their strength.
Bai Xiaowen sent other Cao Family generals to gather up the troops that escaped from the Anyang Battle.
However, there were three other people that Bai Xiaowen cared about who did not surrender.
Two of them were prisoners, Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai.
When Xun Yu went to persuade them to surrender, Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai had already heard the news of Cao Cao killing himself. They coughed up blood and were sick in bed.
In fact, both of them blamed themselves for what had happened.
As the strategist, they used Cao Xiong as bait to let the Yuan Family split up their forces to kill Cao Xiong. The plan to kill two birds with one stone was originally suggested by Guo Jia and perfected by Xi Zhicai.
In the end, this plan was seen through by the enemy, causing the Cao Army to lose the initiative and suffer a huge loss.
In comparison, the generals in Cao Cao's camp did not have so much psychological burden. Especially Zhang Liao and the others, who had only followed Cao Cao for a short period of time and had not formed the concept of serving him as their Lord. Furthermore, they had already tried their best in the war, so of course, they would not feel guilty.
Guo Jia was a very conceited person, and he was indeed a first-rate strategist, so he had high expectations for himself. It was easy to imagine how big of a blow it was to them that such a huge strategic failure had led to the death of the lord they were assisting.
Needless to say, Cao Cao and the two of them were really close. Such a relationship between Lord and Minister was something that had been passed down since ancient times. However, now, it only added to their sadness.
As for Bai Xiaowen's recruitment, the two strategists resolutely rejected him.
Guo Jia asked someone to pass on the message, "When the two of us come up with a strategy, we rely on this small square cun (square cun: the heart). Now that it is a mess, we are already useless. Even if we help you, it is useless. If you want to kill us to prevent future problems, we will open our necks. If you don't kill us, we will live in seclusion and not care about worldly matters. "
Of course, Bai Xiaowen would not kill the two of them. The main reason was that the two of them were scholars, so killing them would only harm them.
After receiving the message, Bai Xiaowen did not force them.
Strategists like Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai were too arrogant and couldn't afford to lose. Note that the word 'can't afford to lose' doesn't mean that he can't renege on his debt. It means that he can't afford to lose, and he doesn't dare to lose! If an important plan had failed, he would have to worry a lot more as a strategist in the future. Simply put, his confidence had been beaten to a pulp.
Bai Xiaowen asked himself if he would have the same self-doubt if he had lost once.
It was hard to say. Because Bai Xiaowen had never lost a single match.
However, Bai Xiaowen hoped that he could be more resilient and learn from the indomitable Cao Cao and Sima Yi. Losing a plan was not scary. What was scary was losing confidence.
This time Guo Jiahe and Xi Zhicai vomited blood and fell ill, which confirmed a saying: "Deep love does not live long, extreme wisdom will be damaged."
Bai Xiaowen could only ask the medical officers to take care of Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai's bodies. He also made it clear to them that they were free to go after they recovered.
As for the other talent, it was Jia Xu.
Jia Xu's level of strategy was top-notch in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Moreover, this guy had a strong desire to survive. He had the feeling of "you die, you die, I live." If he could catch him, Bai Xiaowen was 100% confident that he could get Jia Xu to assist him.
However, Jia Xu had already run away!
After Bai Xiaowen investigated, he found out that Jia Xu and Guo Jia had followed Cao Cao to the North. However, on the night of the decisive battle, Bai Xiaowen lured Xiahou Dun away. After that, Jia Xu ran away silently.
In the end, the southern camp was burned. Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai were caught, but Jia Xu was not caught.
Bai Xiaowen could not do anything about it. He could not arrest Jia Xu. Otherwise, if he was forced into a corner, it would be troublesome for him to run to the other factions.
It was also worth mentioning that Liu Ye, another strategist of Cao Cao, had also disappeared.
The time of his disappearance was very intriguing. It happened to be the same time when Richard, the leader of the Divine Court, escaped from the Three Kingdoms.
Bai Xiaowen couldn't figure out if Liu Ye's disappearance was a coincidence, or if he was one of the hunters from the Divine Court Training Camp in disguise.
As for the other strategists, such as Cheng Yu, they were similar to Dong Zhao. They did not have any special skills to assist their lord.
When Bai Xiaowen was in Xudu, he met the senior officers in charge of Henan's various provinces and counties, letting them return to their original positions. Among them, the outstanding ones, like Zhong Yao, were rewarded and promoted, thus rapidly stabilizing the people's hearts in Henan.
At this point, the first phase of the main mission had taken 13 days.
Bai Xiaowen then gathered the civil and military officials and held another high-level military meeting. He planned to use the authority to formulate national policy to find the next target for the Yuan camp's grand unification mission.
This time, Tian Feng, Xun Yu, and many other strategists had the same attitude. They wanted to eliminate the bandits, reorganize the internal affairs, and digest the fruits of victory.
One tension and one relaxation, the way of civil and military officials.
Bai Xiaowen also understood this truth. His fist had to be retracted first before he punched out. Only then would it be more powerful. From a long-term perspective, if he had three months to half a year to reorganize the internal affairs and connect Henan and Hebei into an iron plate, Bai Xiaowen would be almost invincible in the world.
Cao Cao, who had also unified the north, lost so tragically in the Battle of Red Cliff, but still dominated the north. His strength was so strong that only the Sun and Liu could compete with him. It was clear how terrifying Bai Xiaowen's potential was at this time.
It was one thing to know this truth.
But the spiritual world's rules did not recognize it!
Counting Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain, the bandits of Qingzhou, the bandits of Bingzhou, and so on, they still did not trigger the second grand unification mission.
However, Bai Xiaowen was not in a hurry.
Thanks to the rapid defeat of Cao Cao's camp, the current White Phoenix team still had nearly 30 days of free exploration in the Three Kingdoms.
As long as the next grand unification mission was triggered within these 30 days, it would be fine.
If they could not, they could forcefully raise the goal, such as annexing Jingzhou or Yizhou, etc. They would be able to trigger the second phase of the mission.
Hence, after Bai Xiaowen discussed with the civil and military officials of the camp, he decided not to expand. Instead, he would attack the bandits, train the elite troops, and store up grain.
The scattered troops of the Cao Family organization were gathered to 70,000 people.
The overall combat quality of these 70,000 people was not weak. They were stronger than the 60,000 elite troops that Bai Xiaowen picked out from the 120,000 Yuan army. They could all be placed into the army.
However, Bai Xiaowen still ordered 20,000 people to be eliminated and used for farming.
His concept was that quality was more important than quantity. Sitting in the north, 100,000 elite troops were enough. Like how Cao Cao was so proud after unifying the north and sent a million troops to conquer Jiangdong, Bai Xiaowen did not approve of it.
However, the peaceful days of farming and training only lasted for a few days before another matter came knocking on their door.
The Xiliang army sent an envoy to Yedu!
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