Chapter 3: Vision Should be Broad and Far-Sighted

  The crowd dispersed, leaving only Cao Cao and the eunuch Cao Jie who attended him - in fact, Cao Jie was no longer a minor eunuch, as with Liu Xuan's increasingly stable position, Cao Jie had also been formally promoted to Zhong Changshi.

  In the eunuchs, the position of Zhong Changshi can be considered as reaching the pinnacle. Although the power may not be as great as that of Zhang Rang and the ten attendants, the status in the imperial court is still above that of the majority of civil and military officials. Cao Jie was promoted to Zhong Changshi at a young age, which makes people sigh that this kid has been lucky and has relied on Liu Xuan early on, and it is also due to the current situation.

  At this time, the current leader of the eunuchs was serving Liu Xuan with great care, just like usual. His demeanor didn't have even half a bit of the air of a regular attendant, and he looked almost no different from an ordinary household servant.

  Liu Xuan was also quite satisfied with this arrangement. Having someone so loyal and hardworking to serve him by his side meant he could avoid a lot of trouble.

  Besides, if the inner court is in charge of too many government affairs, it may not be a good thing. Cao Pi is not suitable for handling government affairs at present, and it's not easy to idle around every day. It's just right to learn and do things by his side.

  When Cao Jie refilled their teacups, Liu Xuan turned around and ordered: "Go fetch that map."

  During this time, Cao Cao remained silent, quietly sitting in his original position, without even glancing sideways, and didn't even touch the tea in front of him.

  Liu Xuan turned his head and took a look, seeing that Cao Cao's figure was now much more slender than before, although he still couldn't be considered tall, but at least it could be considered normal height.

  Also, due to the rapid growth in height, the originally slightly wide body shape has also become slender, and that face has undergone some changes, with a slightly sunken cheek making his square-shaped face more majestic.

  Wearing a golden crown on his head, although he was not wearing armor, the murderous aura cultivated in the battlefield could still be seen at a glance. At this time, Cao Cao was even more close to the image of Cao Cao that Liu Xuan had seen in those games before.

  Perhaps because his image has become better and better, Cao Cao's mood in the past two years has also been very good. Thinking back to when he first stood up straight with his waist, even wanting to make eye contact with Liu Xuan required him to look up.

  Although I haven't caught up with Tianzi's height yet, at least I'm almost catching up with Liu Bei. How can my mood not be good? Moreover, as time passes and I practice the techniques taught by Liu Xuan, my energy has become more abundant. These two months have been exciting, and I've even had thoughts of taking a concubine.

  As he gained more benefits, Cao Cao gradually felt the intangibility of the Son of Heaven - he now finally believed that what Liu Xuan had said earlier about cultivating to a deep level, achieving immortality and not dying was not an exaggeration. Following this cultivation method, could he really achieve longevity and become an immortal being like a god?

  This is not all, becoming an immortal without power or influence would be boring. What truly excites him is that he can cultivate and doesn't have to give up any of his worldly powers, which is vastly different from the legends about cultivators or Taoist practitioners who need to avoid the world.

  "However, Your Majesty has granted me so many favors, if I don't achieve something myself, I'm afraid..."

  As time passed, Cao Cao gradually accepted the identity of the Son of Heaven. Although it would take some time for him to truly be loyal, Cao Cao now understood that as long as he continued to serve under Liu Xuan, the emperor would not treat himself unfairly and he would also gain more benefits - these benefits would make himself healthier, stronger and live longer.

  With these few things, he was confident that with his own ability, he could achieve something earth-shattering, and at that time, his power would be even greater. So, to fulfill his long-held dreams, it was almost a matter of course.

  Liu Xuan's actions today are also proving Cao Cao's speculation.

  Not to mention anything else, just the prescription that Liu Xuan took out to make the mount stronger, even if the final effect is not so exaggerated, as long as it can make the war horse stronger by five points or even three points, it's still an incredible thing. With good war horses and elite soldiers, and the generals have become incredibly powerful after cultivating.

  Not to mention pacifying the world, even if all the surrounding tribes of the Great Han were slaughtered, it's not impossible. Thinking that this matter could be accomplished by himself, Cao Cao suddenly had great expectations for the future.

  In fact, the prescription that Liu Xuan took out far exceeded Cao Cao's expectations. What he gave today was just some of the most basic prescriptions, and except for one key medicine, all the others were ordinary medicinal herbs that could be collected or even cultivated on this earth.

  The crucial part, however, is the essence refined from ordinary medicinal herbs by Liu Xuan. This task isn't actually difficult, just troublesome and time-consuming. What's most frustrating for Liu Xuan is that currently, no one else can do this work except him.

  Even Liu Xuan, after going through the dragon egg phase, was only able to achieve this after giving birth to a small golden dragon. Therefore, this prescription is not crucial; what's crucial is the part of the medicinal herb essence that Liu Xuan personally refined. Fortunately, this part of the medicinal herb essence is enough to solve the problem of mounts for Cao Cao's 5,000 tiger and leopard cavalry.

  "This prescription can only make the war horses slightly stronger at first, but in fact, the best way is to feed them from a young age, so that the war horses grown up with this feeding method are the kind of strong and powerful war horses Liu Xuan said. Although adult war horses also have an effect, they are not as good as those raised from a young age."

  Shun Kou told Cao Cao some key points about the prescription, then explained some specific usage methods, and only then did Liu Xuan start discussing other matters with Cao Cao.

  "Meng De, can you be dissatisfied with me for giving the position of General Who Conquers the West to Feng Xian?"

  "I dare not!" Cao Cao hastily replied when he heard Liu Xuan mention this matter.

  But Liu Xuan detected a hint of dissatisfaction in Cao Cao's words: "How dare I... still have some discontent."

  Cao Cao remained silent, for Liu Xuan had indeed spoken his mind, but he thought the Emperor must have other plans, so he didn't say anything.

  At this time, Cao Pi returned with a large scroll in his hand. Liu Xuan saw it and waved his hand: "Meng De, take a look at this, and you will understand what I mean."

  Cao Guo saw Liu Xuan's hint, and immediately understood in his heart. He put the scroll on the ground and pushed it forward with a swish. The large scroll suddenly unfolded on the carpet of the side hall, occupying the space in the hall, and the thick carpet was covered underneath.

  Cao Cao looked at the picture and didn't understand what it was at first, but after looking for a while, his eyelid suddenly twitched: "This is..."

  "This is a world map, it's all the land under heaven."

  Liu Xuan didn't bother to sell any favors to Cao Cao, and stood up straight. He then casually picked up a long stick from beside him and pointed at a spot on the map: "This is where our Great Han is located!"

  "...world map..."

  Cao Cao also stood up, because only then could he see the huge map clearly. When Liu Xuan pointed out the location of the Great Han with a long stick, he was also shocked: "Actually... it's so vast?"

  He naturally wouldn't think that the Great Han's territory was small. The Han Dynasty was indeed very large, and he had a concept of it in his mind, but such a large dynasty actually only occupied such a small piece on this map, which made him feel a bit unbelievable.

  Liu Xuan was not surprised at Cao Cao's surprise. People of this era, although they had a basic understanding of the vastness of the world, did not know how big it was. At most, they only knew that there were still very vast lands outside the Great Han, and in the far west, there were also powerful countries - the Han Dynasty had had several simple exchanges with the Roman Empire, knowing each other's existence.

  There were also frequent exchanges between the dynasties that existed in the two vast empires, especially the Kushan and Parthian empires to the west of the Great Han, which would later be referred to as one of the four great powers of Eurasia along with the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty.

  For this part of world history, Liu Xuan is absolutely seven holes through six holes: one hole is not through, and these knowledge are still flipping through the many records of the royal family to have a vague concept.

  The world map he drew only has the outline of the entire world, indicating where the sea and land are, but there is no indication of national borders.

  Just by looking at him pointing out where the Han Dynasty was with a wooden stick, one can already know.

  Cao Cao was also a worldly man, but when he saw that the Han Dynasty still had such a large piece of land outside, he suddenly didn't know how to react - more importantly, he couldn't understand what the emperor meant by taking out this map.

  "Isn't it the ambition of an emperor to have achievements that will last for generations and expand his territory?"

  After some thought, it seems that this idea is the most reliable, but he doesn't know how big Liu Xuan's ambition is. Just comparing the size of the land occupied by the Han Dynasty, perhaps the emperor wants to expand it by about 30%?

  Liu Xuan smiled: "Actually, taking out this map is to tell Meng De that there's no need to pay attention to that insignificant Western Expedition General, and it's not necessarily going west to expand the territory for the Great Han!"

  He pointed to the north of the Han Dynasty and then pointed to the east of the Han Dynasty: "These places are waiting for Meng De to lead his troops to conquer. With so much land, is it still afraid that there will be no battle?"

  Cao Cao only understood at this point that Liu Xuan had left him behind and taken out the map (he hadn't suspected its authenticity), in order to appease him, from which it can be inferred that the Emperor valued him highly, so thinking of this he no longer had any dissatisfaction.

  However, the Emperor said go east...

  "The entire eastern side is all sea water, although there is also land, but it doesn't seem to be very vast... and that vast expanse of land seems too far away?"

  At this time, Cao Cao was considering how to truly fulfill the emperor's ambition and also satisfy his own ambition. He began to seriously think about where Han should expand its territory.

  In his view, the north was a place of bitter cold and was not suitable for habitation, so he looked more towards other directions: "Is it that Your Majesty's intention is to go south?"