When the rugged, impassable Xiao Mountain disappeared behind him.
When the perilous passes that one man could hold against ten thousand opened before his eyes, undefended.
When the surging Yellow River appeared before him.
When the somewhat dilapidated Guanzhong, its desolate fields and roadsides strewn with bones, unfolded before his eyes, scene after scene.
Cao Cao finally could not help sighing. "So this is Guanzhong, where the dragons of three dynasties-Zhou, Qin, and Han-first rose."
He gazed at the army stretching far into the distance behind him. Its camps alone extended for miles, and its front and rear could not even see one another. No army since the final years of the Later Han had possessed such strength.
He felt he was truly far too fortunate.
Yuan Shao had been powerful, but his lands lay open to attack on all sides. He had faced formidable northern enemies such as Gongsun Zan and Yan State in succession. During his earth-shaking war with Cao Cao, Yan State had launched a surprise attack, leaving Cao Cao to reap the fisherman's profit and pluck the peach.
His greatest enemy had died under a combined assault.
Encountering such a thing once was already extraordinarily fortunate. Never had he imagined that he could repeat it in Guanzhong.
Even Ma Chao, that fierce general of Liangzhou and ruthless hero of Guanzhong, had encountered a powerful enemy from beyond the Great Han, leaving Cao Cao once again the oriole waiting behind the mantis.
Everything had gone far too smoothly.
So smoothly that Cao Cao himself wondered whether he truly enjoyed the protection of the Mandate of Heaven.
"Ma Chao, oh, Ma Chao."
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes slightly, a chilling murderous intent within them.
There was considerable bad blood between Cao Cao and Ma Chao.
Urging his