Chapter 288: Equal
A few days later, Guo Jia arrived in Luoyang on horseback.

Along the way, on both sides of the Luo River, there were soldiers from Guanzhong harvesting and drying wheat.

On the Luo River, a fleet from Guanzhong was sailing downstream towards the mouth of the Luo River.

After the Guanzhong scouts along the way confirmed Guo Jia's identity as an envoy, they sent people to escort and monitor him and did not make things difficult for him.

In this way, Guo Jia went around and around, going against the Yishui River and came to Longmen Mountain near Yique Pass, where he appeared intact in front of the black bear.

When he arrived, Black Bear was directing Lu Bu to carve rocks, and they finally confirmed that this was the location of the Longmen Grottoes.

He didn't have the time to stay here and spend decades carving some cultural treasures. Seeing Guo Jia again, Black Bear raised his eyebrows: "It's you, I remember you called yourself Guo Liang last time, who is Guo Liang?"

"The Grand Marshal has a good memory. The Guo Liang I impersonated is actually the younger brother of Guo Huai from Taiyuan."

Guo Jia was not wearing the serious black official uniform. Today he was wearing a loose blue shirt and a light green hat. He did not carry a sword, and looked like a scholar who was out for a walk at the doorstep of his home.

He has dressed as casually as possible to downplay his official identity.

Black Bear asked, "How are Guo Huai, Wang Ling and others doing these days?"

"It was a very cold winter, and Guo Huai and others suffered a lot of casualties."

Guo Jia pointed to the northeast: "They retreated to Youzhou. I heard that Guo Huai's brothers were all killed and Wang Ling's feet were frozen."

"All the brothers are dead?"

Black Bear muttered to himself and couldn't help laughing: "What a clever way to die."

He looked at Guo Jia intently: "Xiahou Dun retreated to avoid the battle and gave me the wheat. I will not do anything too extreme. The paddy fields are maintained as before. I don't think Xiahou Dun would make such a plan alone. Tell me directly, what does Cao Cao want to do."

Guo Jia was stunned, and took out a piece of silk from his sleeve and presented it to him: "Here is Cao Gong's handwritten letter."

At this time, Lu Bu stepped forward, took the rolled-up silk book and brought it back. Black Bear spread it out and read it from top to bottom: "Prince Chen... Haha, don't try to hide this kind of alienation plot from me."

He rolled the silk book into a ball and threw it to Guo Jia. Black Bear raised his chin and said, "If you have anything else to say, just say it."

Some things cannot be written in words.

Guo Jia put away the silk book, folded it, and put it back into his left sleeve. He sat up straight and said, "What does the Grand Marshal want?"

"What I want, Cao Cao can't give it to me, and neither can any of you."

Black Bear's eyes were indifferent. He no longer needed to control his emotions to be confused about anything. He really looked down upon the other person's belongings.

I asked, "Tell me about Cao Cao's plan. Let's exchange ideas and see if we can find common ground while reserving differences and each get what we need."

Guo Jia coughed twice and saw that there was only one person nearby, "Taishi Wengong", so he said: "Regarding the alliance between Hebei and Jingzhou, I believe that the Grand Marshal also knows that the situation changes and the enemy changes. The Yuan family in Hebei cannot even get along with each other, let alone be allies; the two Lius in Jingzhou hinder each other and guard against each other. If the situation changes, how can they abide by the alliance and stick to their own way?"

"Don't speak ill of my allies. No matter how bad they are, they are still my reliable allies at the moment. Tell us what you think and go back after you're done."

"Yes."

Guo Jia pointed to the northeast and said, "Can we induce Yuan to break the alliance here?"

"I think your attempt to instigate Yuan Shang to break the alliance is fake, but your real intention is to stir up internal strife between Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang."

Black Bear glanced at Guo Jia and asked, "What should we do with Xian Yu Fu?"

Guo Jia said nothing. From the moment he pointed to the northeast, many things were already determined.

"Being Cao Cao's ally is a dangerous thing, and being his subordinate is even more dangerous. Fortunately, I am his enemy."

Black Bear smiled and said, "So, this time you are going to chase Liu Bei and march your army straight to Jingxiang?"

"It is worthwhile to lose Xianyu Fu and the six counties of Youzhou that are good-looking but useless in exchange for an opportunity to get rid of Liu Xuande and severely damage Jingzhou. If Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang fight each other, it will be a pleasant surprise."

Black Bear raised his hand and touched his chin, pondering, and then asked: "Aren't you afraid that Sun Quan and the Jiangdong Army will be disappointed by treating Xianyu Fu and the six counties of Youzhou like this? Oh~! I understand, Sun Quan has not attacked Jiangxia so far, you want to eat him."

Staring at Guo Jia: "What about Zang Ba? Or have you found a way to deal with and contain Zang Ba?"

Xianyu Fu, Sun Quan, and Zang Ba are these three people who are considered to be Cao Cao's subordinate forces, and they are arranged in this order from high to low in terms of independence.

If the guess is correct, Cao Cao's credit to subordinate forces will become zero again in the future. The last time it became zero was when Cao Cao forced Zhang Xiu's aunt into marriage, trying to swallow Zhang Xiu in one bite.

To re-establish credibility was the surrender of Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu... This credibility was built on the corpse of Cao Ang.

Guo Jia remained silent. While Black Bear was thinking silently, Guo Jia carefully glanced at the masked Tai Shi Wengong.

He clenched his hands in his sleeves secretly, then slowly relaxed them, his face showing a calm expression.

Seeing that Guo Jia was unwilling to elaborate, Black Bear raised his hand and pointed to the northwest Hetao direction: "You give the six counties of Youzhou to Yuan Xi, and I will have no choice but to send troops to recover the four counties of Shuofang."

After thinking for a while, he said to Guo Jia: "You are not straightforward. My plan is to fight with the Western Xianbei after taking Hetao. If they refuse to fight me, I will go to fight the Qiang in Hehuang and then conquer the four counties in Hexi. During this period, if you dare to advance to Hangu Pass or cross the Han River, I will advance to Yingchuan and welcome the emperor back to the old capital!"

Guo Jia said nothing about the battle plan described by Black Bear.

Just by pointing to the northeast, Black Bear guessed so many things. If he said a few more words and caused other troubles, the responsibility would fall on him.

A year had passed, and Black Bear didn't expect that Guo Jia had changed so much that he had become a taciturn person.

Feeling bored, he said with a smile: "There is no fourth person here, I will perform a trick for Fengxiao."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and rolled up his right sleeve, revealing his forearm. He pointed his palm above his head and when he showed it to Guo Jia with his backhand, a blood peach appeared.

Guo Jia's eyes narrowed. "The Grand Marshal has great skills. I heard from Chen Jun Yuan Yaoqing that the Grand Marshal's hands are as fast as lightning, and ordinary people like me cannot catch up with them. That's why this strange phenomenon occurs."

"What does Yuan Huan know about the secrets of his sleeves?"

Black Bear said with disdain, and looked at Guo Jia again: "There are peach forests and peach mountains in Tongguan. These are the spring peaches I picked when I passed by. Mr. Fengxiao, please try one."

As he spoke, he pointed at the table in front of Guo Jia. On the table was a fruit plate with five green, firm peaches the size of eggs.

Guo Jia lowered his eyebrows and looked at the ordinary raw peaches on the table, then looked at the huge blood peach that appeared in Black Bear's hand and disappeared from his sight.

"It's hard to refuse the kindness of the Grand Marshal."

Guo Jia said with a smile, picked up a green peach and squeezed it to confirm that it was a raw peach.

When he went to see Black Bear again, he unexpectedly looked at him coldly: "Your reaction doesn't seem like a normal person. Did you know something you shouldn't know?"

Guo Jia restrained his smile, glanced at Lu Bu again, and let out a long breath: "Isn't the Grand Marshal so intolerant?"

"I admire your courage."

After Black Bear finished speaking, he raised his hand and the table in front of him was covered with densely packed blood peaches. On the top of the blood peaches that looked like a pyramid was a longevity peach that had ripened this year.

Black Bear picked up the longevity peach and said, "This thing can extend your life for several years. Not only humans, but also ghosts and gods like it. As the saying goes, if you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening. Is it worth exchanging your life for this news?"

Guo Jia's scalp tingled and his face lost color: "I wish to follow Zhang Wenyuan's example and abandon the dark and join the light!"

"I don't trust you. You're too smart."

The black bear stood up, and all the blood peaches and longevity peaches on the table disappeared. He turned around and walked down the mountain.

Guo Jia stood up and stepped back. He took out a dagger from his left sleeve with his right hand and pointed it at Lu Bu, continuing to step back.

Lu Bu stepped forward, grabbed the lacquered wooden table, took a big step forward and smashed it hard at Guo Jia.

Guo Jia turned around and was about to run, but was hit on the back of the head by a hard table that was swinging towards him quickly. He immediately collapsed to the ground and convulsed.

As a result, Lu Bu stepped forward and stepped on Guo Jia's throat with his heavy steel boots, severely ravaging him.

The black bear then glanced back, not wanting to use even a drop of his black magic power, and mounted his dried horse and rode away.

Ever since Guo Jia suggested digging the Sishui River and the Yishui River to flood Xia Pi City, it was destined that they were not on the same side.

The black bear heard the sound of horse hooves behind him and saw Lu Bu riding his horse to chase him. He frowned, then looked at Lu Bu and suddenly realized something.

Cao Cao was able to abandon even subordinate forces such as Xianyu Fu, Sun Quan, and Zang Ba, and used Guo Jia to verify a guess, and then used his own hand to cut off the distracting thoughts of the people of Yingchuan... How should I put it, it was a great profit.

(End of this chapter)