"Simply explain the purpose of this operation..." Liu Tao nodded to Cao Cao and began to explain, "Our goal is to immediately rush to Hedong, and then defeat the entire Hedong area north of the Yellow River, at least a few counties in the north."

"Most of Dong Zhuo's troops are from Liangzhou, and many of them are from Hedong. They are not unable to fight in winter, so their subordinates are a little confused..." Cao Cao raised his own question.

"Two reasons!" Liu Tao compared two fingers, "One Dong Zhuo probably wouldn't have thought that I would go south at this time, and then fight at this time. This place can be used as a frontline position in the spring of next year. After all, if you want to go south, you have to cross mountains and ridges, so we are very passive."

Going north from Hedong or Hanoi, you need to cross a section of mountains. Cao Cao still knows this and agrees with this statement.

"The other reason is because of Meng De!" Liu Tao looked at Cao Cao.

"Subordinate?" Cao Cao was a little curious, it was actually related to him.

"With Meng De's talent, how can a lieutenant be enough? But you just came, and you can't be too high at once." Liu Tao looked embarrassed, "After discussing... you are appointed as the prefect of Hedong, the captain of Jianwei, and stationed in Hedong!"

So that's it. He defeated Hedong and handed it over to him to lead the military and political power.

Even if it belongs to Liu Tao in name, Hedong has become his foundation. It is hard to say that this thing is nominally, just like Bao Xin and Zhang Miao, who are nominally superiors and subordinates to Liu Dai.

However, Cao Cao obviously thought more. Was he considering whether Liu Tao trusted himself unconditionally or was he wary of himself?

Placed in Hedong, this means directly radiating to Liangzhou and Sizhou, and even going east through Hanoi to Jizhou. This is an important position, and generally speaking, it must be stationed by the confidants.

Similarly, this location is separated from Bingzhou by a mountain range, which means that there is still a gap between the two sides. If he wants to go north to rebel, he has to cross mountains and ridges. In this process, the other side can ambush and counterattack at any time.

There should be both... Cao Cao finally made a conclusion. If he thinks from his standpoint, he should have both.

However, a group of people came over to surrender, and if they could trust them directly and unconditionally... he might think that Liu Tao was stupid, at most he was a little cute.

Cao Cao had no objection to this arrangement. It was actually good to have a territory. He could wait and see, develop, make achievements, and show his ambitions. Perhaps, this is the best arrangement, the premise is to see how many counties it can be built.

Liu Tao’s meaning is very obvious. How many counties are captured, how many counties are there under his rule as the “Hedong Prefect”.

"It depends entirely on the arrangement of the general, and my subordinates will never refuse!" Cao Cao immediately stated that there was no need to call him lord. After all, Liu Tao had to be the emperor, and it was just a matter of getting the procedures. Then he would just call himself a "subject".

"Speaking of this, have you brought the talents I mentioned?" Liu Tao looked at the army behind Cao Cao curiously.

"All of them are relatives, so they naturally followed." Cao Cao said proudly. He had to call Xiahou Dun and others over and introduce them. Of course, he did not forget to introduce Wei Zi, Lou Gui and Xi Zhicai.

"Ha! Are you Xi Zhong?" Liu Tao's attention quickly shifted to Xi Zhicai.

"It was Xi... the general who heard about Xi's name?" Xi Zhicai was very surprised. He seemed to have never had contact with this general before, so why did the other party seem to be familiar with him?

"Wen Ruo is under my command, and I hoped that he would introduce you to me at the beginning, but your situation was a bit special at that time, so it has been delayed until now." Liu Tao sighed.

When Xi Zhicai heard this, he remembered that Xun Yu did plan to introduce him to him two years ago. At that time, Liu Tao was still the prefect of Yunzhong. However, his mother was bedridden and could not come. Unexpectedly, she had wasted two years of time.

"I plan to appoint you as our military advisor. I wonder if I can give you a favor?" Liu Tao immediately proposed an invitation.

It’s okay for Lou Gui, he is not very familiar with him and does not know how talented he is. But Xi Zhicai, it’s best not to leave it for Cao Cao!

"This time I went north, I was originally listening to it under the general's command." Xi Zhicai didn't expect that things would change in this direction. He originally planned to take Cao Cao's path to see if there is room for improvement.

After all, he is a poor family, and there is not much room for the rise of the poor family. Although the world has begun to be in chaos, the poor family, especially the ranger or the children of good families, have very little room for the rise of the poor family.

This is also the reason why Le Jin surrendered to Liu Dai and wanted to bring a thousand soldiers with him, which was nothing more than to improve his own power. Xu Chu brought five hundred clan members with him, which was the same.

In order to highlight their orthodoxy, those who were born in the Han Dynasty did not dare to break the rules randomly. The selection of talents still relies on the "filial piety and integrity system". Simply put, it is to highlight orthodoxy that has to maintain tradition.

Not to mention the separatist forces of local gentry, why do others support you to the throne? Of course, they hope to share the cake. So you can give it to you with large pieces, but small pieces must belong to us, poor families and good families, and at most some leftover cream is eaten.

There is probably only one Liu Tao in the whole world. As a relative of the Han family, he can reform it if he can say it.

In fact, he understands the most clearly: what traditions and what kind of profit distribution are all shit, and strength is the bottom line!

He has been preparing for the issue of talent monopoly, which is the biggest threat to him, for three years, and at most two years, he can start taking the exam and admit talents. In the future, talents will be self-sufficient and no longer need to expect the effectiveness of those in the wild.

What about the Dragon and Phoenix Chicken? It’s not enough to say that there are no good talents that you have cultivated. Even if one or two are unable to compare with them, then there are only one hundred or a thousand to see who can’t bear the explosion first!

"Meng De, don't you mind transferring someone here?" Liu Tao looked at Cao Cao with a smile.

"My subordinates are under the command of the general. No one is subject to the transfer of anyone, and no subordinates have any objections." Cao Cao expressed his opinion, but he was a little heartbroken. After coming over and contacting him, he also knew that Xi Zhi was really capable and his strategy was even higher than Lou Gui.

But he didn't expect that Xi Zhicai was on Liu Tao's list of attention from the beginning. According to this, he and Xi Zhicai should belong to the same level.

"I don't move the others and continue to join your command... I think they just came and didn't accept me." Liu Tao looked at Xiahou Dun and others behind Cao Cao.

Liu Tao's words were indeed what everyone thought, but they were embarrassed to be said so bluntly.

"You are the prefect, so you can arrange it as you wish." Liu Tao added immediately.

"As for the order!" Cao Cao nodded. In this way, the county magistrate and the commander can also be controlled by him. Not to mention anything else, the county magistrate can actually give it to Wei Zi, and then the chief magistrate can give it to Lou Gui.

Of course, he did not forget what he needed to do first to obtain these actual powers.
Chapter completed!