The three countries are very nuclear

Chapter 635 Xi Zhicai's New Strategy

The Battle of the Three States in the third year of Chuping was of great strategic significance in the long run.

The thirteen prefectures of the Han Dynasty can be called the hinterland of the Central Plains, that is, Jizhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Sili, and parts of Jingzhou.

Most of the other states and counties are in an uncivilized state with the level of productivity in this era.

There are Nanman in Yizhou, Shanyue in Jiaozhou in Yangzhou, and Wuxi barbarians in Jingzhou. These are extremely unstable elements.In all dynasties and dynasties, the rulers have been troubled by it.

However, these barbarians live in deep mountains and old forests, and are limited by the traffic conditions of this era. Even if a lot of manpower and material resources are invested, there is no way to completely pacify them.

At that time, Zhang Ling abandoned his official position because Taoism was not valued, changed his name to Zhang Daoling, and went to Bashu to establish the Five Dou Rice Sect.

Why is it the land of Bashu?

It's not because of the traffic jams and inconvenient roads here, so the people here still live a relatively primitive life, and they even worship witches and ghosts, which is convenient for Zhang Ling to preach.

Furthermore, after the Five Dou Rice Religion gained momentum, even if the imperial court wanted to ban it, it would be powerless in the face of the terrain of Bashu and the miasma and poisonous insects spreading among the mountains.

So don't look at the size of Yizhou, Yangzhou, Jiaozhou and other places, but the productivity, population, and available arable land area are far inferior to the states in the Central Plains.

Even when the states and counties were divided in the first place, they were not divided by the size of the territory, but by the population of the dynasty.

From this point, we can also see the geographical superiority of the Central Plains where civilization has developed for thousands of years.

Now after the Battle of the Three States, Liu Bei has included Yanzhou, Jizhou and Qingzhou in his pocket.The momentum is so great that even compared to Yuan Shao, who had dominated the four prefectures in history, he is only stronger than weaker.

Therefore, most of the princes in the world are afraid of Xuzhou, and there is a tendency to unite secretly.

Just as the six countries united against Qin during the Warring States period, people of insight have already foreseen the repeating of history.

However, in Lin Chao's view, the ending this time is no different. The alliance of princes is even more fragile than the original six-nation alliance.

Although the situation in the world has not yet reached the point where fire and water are incompatible, Cao Cao's life has indeed not been easy in the past six months.

The Battle of the Three States half a year ago was a disaster for Cao Cao.Not only was all the soldiers and horses he had accumulated so hard exhausted, even the generals of the Cao family, Xiahou family and other relatives who followed him all the way died, and those who were captured were captured.

At the same time that Yuan Shao was defeated, all the princes who fought with him were captured and surrendered. Even Bao Xin, who had funded his army at the beginning, is now eating prison food in a cell in Xuzhou.

Now Cao Cao's subordinates are almost at the point where no one can use them.

Although Feng Ji, Yuan Shao's adviser, followed him on the way to escape, but it was of no use to have him alone, not even a drop in the bucket.

After Cao Cao led the defeated generals to flee to the border of Sili, he rushed all the way to Suohuai County, the prefecture of Hanoi, before finally settling down.

The reason why Cao Cao chose this place is because Huai County is adjacent to the Yellow River, only two hundred miles away from Luoyang, and the surrounding area is even more dangerous.If Liu Bei led his troops to chase and kill him, even if he couldn't resist, he could retreat calmly.

But Liu Bei obviously didn't take Cao Cao seriously. He didn't even send people to chase after him symbolically. He directly withdrew his troops and went to Qingzhou. At the same time, he began to deal with the post-war affairs of the three states.

At this time, Hanoi County is in a period without a leader.

Wang Kuang, the prefect of Hanoi, was defeated by Liu Bei and captured. After winter, he was sent by the Lin Dynasty to send a courier to Chang'an to become a singer, but the imperial court never issued an edict to remove Wang Kuang from his official position.

Li Ru, who now controls Chang'an and Xiliang armies, is neither a subordinate of Lin Chao nor a fellow of Lin Chao.If he really wanted to say it, at best he signed a gambling agreement with Lin Chao.

Gambling on whether Lin Chao can bring peace to the world, betting on whether Lin Chao can regain the glory of legal studies he longed for.

As for the others, as long as Lin Chao didn't open his mouth, Li Ru didn't bother to care.

So today's Hanoi prefect is still Wang Kuang, even if he is just a singer now.

This is cheap for Cao Cao. Although he was newly defeated, he still has thousands of soldiers after gathering the remnants under his command. Even if he occupied Huai County, he even began to manage the surrounding counties.

Now half a year has passed, with the assistance of Chen Gong, Cheng Yu, Feng Ji and others, Cao Cao has already controlled the entire western part of Hanoi County, and his command has expanded to more than [-] people.

It is worth mentioning that Cao Cao's development in Hanoi County was not smooth, but two months ago, a group of aristocratic families suddenly migrated from Yanzhou, Jizhou, and even Xuzhou.

These people were just the aristocratic families who were unwilling to endure the Lin Dynasty's taxation based on land rent. After they left, most of them returned to Yuan Shu in Yuzhou, and a very small part came to join Cao Cao.

Anyway, it is to be at odds with Liu Bei.

Moreover, the Sima clan of Hanoi, after receiving the news that Sima Fang, Sima Lang and his son died after the common people, immediately understood that this was the method of the Lin Dynasty, so they also changed their banners and stood on Cao Cao's side.

Now the Patriarch of Sima's generation is Sima Yi, who is under 14 years old!
Back then Sima Fang took his eldest son Sima Lang to serve in Xuzhou, but left Sima Yi at home, but escaped with his life and became a survivor.

The feud between father and brother is irreconcilable. Sima Yi has no other choice but to support Cao Cao with all his family resources.For this reason, the Sima family's connections in the county were mobilized to help Cao Cao manage Hanoi.

With the help of these aristocratic families and the Sima family, the development of the Cao Cao Group in the past two months can be regarded as going smoothly.

But even so, Cao Cao was still depressed.

Liu Xuande now occupies the land of the four prefectures, and the general situation has been established. Not to mention that he has only 1 troops per county, even a land with [-] troops per prefecture is far from being able to compete with it.

But he and I have become mortal enemies, and there is no room for relief... This is really a sad story.

It was not until Xi Zhicai returned two months ago, under his encouragement, that Cao Cao gradually regained his confidence.

After the battle of Guangling, in order not to repeat the same mistakes, Xi Zhicai came outside the city to watch the success or failure when the battle started in the city.

But Xiahou Dun was defeated by Tai Shici after all.Xi Zhicai had no choice but to retreat again.Later, after learning that Cao Cao was defeated, he rushed to Hanoi to join Cao Cao after going through untold hardships.

Xi Zhicai is not weak, so there are two reasons why he has been deflated repeatedly since he came out.First, Cao Cao's capital is too small.Both, Xuzhou's lineup is too strong now.

Under the ups and downs, even Xi Zhicai has great talent, but he is suppressed by Xuzhou and has no room for recovery.

Now after arriving in Hanoi, he has no opponent, and his various plans are handy.

Just when everyone thought that Hanoi County was close to Yanzhou and would be easily attacked by Liu Bei, it was Xi Zhi who stood up against all opinions and insisted on developing in Hanoi.

Xi Zhicai believes that although Cao Yuan's allied forces suffered a crushing defeat in this battle of the three states, Xuzhou only won miserably.

Coupled with Lin Chao's long-standing governance style, he must seriously manage the lands of Yanzhou and Jizhou.

Grassroots governance has always been a long process, and it will take several years for Erzhou to fully integrate into Xuzhou's system.

Therefore, within two or three years, there is no need to worry about Xuzhou attacking.

Furthermore, if you give up Hanoi and continue westward, you will enter the boundary of Liangzhou after crossing the East River.It is full of lofty mountains and mountains, it can be said that there are thousands of miles of uninhabited people, and it is not suitable for the development of power.

How foolish it is to leave the well-established Kanto and Guanzhong regions instead of operating them, but go outside the Guandong to make a living.

That's why Xi Zhicai believes that he should stick to Hanoi now, and then develop southward, occupying the eastern part of Henan Yin, and then form an offensive and defensive alliance with Yuan Shu in Yuzhou.

Since ancient times, victory or defeat has been a common matter for military strategists. Instead of fleeing westward, it is better to fight hard again. The outcome is not yet known!
After Xi Zhicai's strategic policy was announced, it was immediately approved by Chen Gong, Cheng Yu and others.

How should I put it, scholars in the Central Plains often have a sense of psychological superiority when facing frontier areas.

Even if the game of the Central Plains hegemony is temporarily lost, they are unwilling to go to Yizhou, Liangzhou and other places to survive, but to accumulate strength and look for opportunities to fight another spring.

This is the innate pattern!

After finishing speaking, Xi Zhicai made another suggestion, that is, let everyone go to Shushu together, and declare Cao Cao as Yin of Henan.

With this official position, Cao Cao can justifiably manage Henan, and also has an official bonus for governing the region.

Cao Cao had some doubts about this.

He believes that the emperor who is now in Chang'an should already be a chess game in Liu Bei's hands, so how can he let himself be the Yin of Henan.

Xi Zhicai said with a smile: "My lord, even if Liu Xuande can control Chang'an remotely, even if Liu Xuande can control Chang'an, the court cannot be monolithic. Moreover, it is unknown how much weight the emperor's edict will have now!"

Although this statement is a bit outrageous, it is indeed true.

We only care about the table above, regardless of whether the court agrees or not, this Henan Yin Cao Cao will be the one.

At Xi Zhicai's suggestion, Cao Cao immediately sent two envoys.One went to Yuzhou to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, and the other went to Chang'an to ask the imperial court for Henan Yin's official position.

And today is the day when the two messengers return.

Cao Cao was a little worried about the result, so he felt a little disappointed.

Seeing that his father refused to tell him what was on his mind, Cao Ang had no choice but to step back and go to the kitchen to see if the food was ready.

After a while, everyone under his command gradually arrived, but Cao Cao immediately suppressed the worry on his face, and greeted everyone with a smile on his face.

As a respected person, you should not show your emotions or anger!
It was the New Year's Eve, and Cao Cao planned to take this opportunity to entertain all the people under his command, and at the same time discuss what to do in the coming year.

Fortunately, the envoys who came back reported all good news to Cao Cao.

While the imperial court agreed to make Cao Cao the Yin of Henan, Yuan Shu was also willing to form an alliance with Cao Cao.

Facing the increasingly powerful Liu Bei, Yuan Shu also suffered a little loss last time, so he naturally understood that the enemy of the enemy is a friend.Although Cao Cao used to hang around behind Yuan Shao's ass, the majestic Huainan Skeleton King would not care about a dead man.

Not only was he willing to form an alliance, but Yuan Shu also assisted Cao Cao with some soldiers, horses, food and grass, just to let him occupy the land of Henan, in order to contain Liu Bei in the west in the future.

In all fairness, Skeleton King originally looked down on Cao Cao, and even didn't want to see Cao Cao's emissary at all.At the critical moment, Yuan Shu reluctantly agreed to form an alliance with Cao Cao after Zhang Zhao and the newly surrendered Xu You persuaded him.

Then he turned his head and continued to fight with Jingzhou Liu Biao...

The good news brought by the envoy can also be regarded as temporarily clearing the haze that had shrouded Cao Cao for the first half of the year.In a happy mood, Cao Cao unexpectedly drank a few more glasses.

……

Wu County, Wu County.

Wu County is the seat of Wu County, and there is a lake in the west, named: Taihu Lake.

At the end of the third year of Chuping, 17-year-old Sun Ce was standing alone on the edge of Taihu Lake, staring at the lake in a daze.

Two years ago, Sun Jian got Yuxi and wanted to return to Jiangdong, but accidentally leaked the news. As a result, he was besieged by Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu.

At a time of crisis, Sun Jian asked his eldest son, Sun Ce, to take the jade seal of Shangguo to go first, and he himself cut it off, but he ended up piercing his heart with arrows. All the generals under his command died except Cheng Pu, who escorted Sun Ce away.

Sun Ce took Yuxi and retreated along the small road all the way, but there were no pursuers on the road. After several rounds and turns, it took several months before finally returning to his hometown, Fuchun, Wujun.

Afterwards, Sun Ce waited for his father Sun Jian to join him.

But after waiting for a month or two, not only did Sun Jian not come back, but there was no news at all.

However, Sun Ce remained unmoved and continued to wait.

In his heart, his father, Sun Jian, has the courage to overlord, and he has fought on the battlefield for decades.Facing the siege of the three-way army, you may be defeated, but there is no danger of life!

But after waiting for another two months, Sun Jian still had no news.

Suddenly one day, Zhou Yu walked up to Sun Ce with a sad face and told him that Sun Jian was dead.

Now Sun Ce was stunned, and his first reaction was that it was impossible, and he stopped Zhou Yu loudly, telling him not to make jokes.

Zhou Yu immediately took out the list issued by Xuzhou, which first described the crime of Sun Jian's private possession of the jade seal of the country, and then named his fate when he was pierced by thousands of arrows.

After reading the list, Sun Ce's eyes turned black and he passed out on the ground.

But as long as the sky doesn't fall, life must go on.

More than a month later, Sun Ce finally woke up from the grief of losing his father, but his whole body seemed to be reborn.

Although he is still as bold as before, he is much more cautious in his actions, and he is even more determined than before.

Sun Jian was dead, and the burden of the Sun family fell on him, and he couldn't help but grow up.

After finishing the funeral for Sun Jian, Sun Ce immediately led his troops to move from Fuchun to Wu County, the seat of Wu County, and began the process of expanding his power.

It's a good thing to be ambitious, but the result... is really not that good.

It's not that Sun Ce is incapable, but that he has no status.

Before Sun Jian, the Sun family wasn't even considered a poor family. The reason why they can have this status is because of Sun Jian's many years of service in the battlefield.

Even so, in the eyes of those aristocratic families, the Sun family is still not on the stage.

What's more, now that Sun Jian is dead, and Sun Ce is only a boy of sixteen or seventeen, no one cares.

As for Sun Jian's official position as Yangzhou pastor, he was treated as a joke by the aristocratic family.

Under such circumstances, even with Zhou Yu's help and Sun Ce's painstaking development for nearly two years, he still has less than [-] troops under his command, and the city only has two or three counties.

　Happy Tanabata everyone!
　　Uh... Be careful tonight, don't enter the wrong room, let alone kill someone!
　　Back then, I was old because of...

　　forget it. I'm done here.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)