Having finished with Liu Bei's side, let us turn our gaze to Cao Cao's.
Ever since Guo Jia had laid out his plan that day, Cao Cao had naturally drilled his troops and prepared for war, ready to launch an eastern campaign against Yuan Shu.
Yet before he could set out, he received a letter from the envoy Wang Bu.
As mentioned earlier, in order to spur Sun Ce into sending troops, Cao Cao had specifically dispatched the envoy Wang Bu south.
This southern mission was not merely to have Sun Ce send troops; it also came with no small number of benefits.
Just as he had increased Liu Bei's food fief, Cao Cao memorialized the court to appoint Sun Ce as Colonel of Cavalry, allow him to inherit his father's title of Marquis of Wucheng, and concurrently serve as Administrator of Kuaiji.
Before the envoy had even arrived, Sun Ce in the south had already heard the news and directly had someone tell Wang Bu that this would not do!
It turned out that ever since Sun Ce had headed south three years ago, he had relied on barely more than a thousand troops to fight battle after battle. He first defeated Liu Yao, then crushed Xu Gong, and afterward defeated Wang Lang.
By now, he had occupied Wu Commandery, Kuaiji, and parts of Yuzhang, Danyang, and other regions, commanding sixty to seventy thousand men.
By rights, Sun Ce should at the very least have been granted the rank of general, like Liu Bei and Lu Bu.
But Old Cao had pinched pennies and only offered him the military post of Colonel of Cavalry.
What kind of office was Colonel of Cavalry? It did not even measure up to a Colonel!
With Sun Ce's explosive temper, how could he