Overlord!

Chapter 123 The World Famous General Liu Xuande

If you want to send envoys to the emperor in Luoyang, you must seriously consider this scale.

The long history Zhang Zhao said very solemnly: "We are now facing two difficulties in sending Fu to Luoyang. One is how much Fu to send? If you send less, it will not be enough to accomplish things, and if you send more, Jiangdong will not be enough. Yang Feng personally led the army to guard the carriages. , Sending the emperor back to the east was named General Xingyi. Zhang Yang, the prefect of Hanoi, sent thousands of troops to carry grain to help the emperor move eastward, so he was named General Anguo, Kaifu, and Marquis of Jinyang, and the prefect of Hedong Wang Yi only sent silk, but he only added the title of Marquis of Anyang Ting."

"This was the case when the emperor was in a difficult situation. Now Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, has been persuaded by the eunuch Zhao Qi to send troops to Luoyang to help repair the palace; the military capital committee has lost, successively. Such meritorious deeds, but the imperial court has not continued to confer his post , still lead Zhennan General as before."

"I sent envoys to the east of the Yangtze River to pay tribute. No matter the scale, wealth, or number of times before and after, it cannot compare with Jingzhou, which is close to Luoyang."

"It's hard to decide how much you lose."

The title of Jingzhou Mu, the general of Zhennan, was bestowed on Liu Biao by Li Jue.Moreover, he was allowed to open the government office and the three divisions of Yitong, to set up a long history, a Sima, and a Zhonglang, and to give him the power to recruit subordinates.

But in fact, Liu Biao’s tribute this time was not in vain. The court still repatriated Zuo Zhonglang general Zhu Dan to confer festivals on Liu Biao to increase his prestige.

As the Jingzhou pastor, and supervised the three prefectures of Jiaojiao, Yangzhou, and Yi, basically the entire south was handed over to him for ruling.

In this case, even if Jiangdong sent an envoy to pay tribute, the imperial court would not be able to give Jiangdong the authority of Yangzhou Mu.

It is impossible for the court to offend Liu Biao for Sun Ce.After all, one is near and the other is far away, one can pay tribute at any time, but the other is blocked by the road.One is the loss of the Military Assets Commission, which continues continuously.After another tribute this time, I don't know if there will be a next time.

If the tribute envoys sent by Sun Ce could not firmly express Jiangdong's attitude to the court, even the young emperor would know how to choose between Liu Biao and Sun Ce.

So the current situation is that Jiangdong must show the court that he is willing to support the authority of the court.Don't think about sending a meager tribute, just dismiss the emperor.

If there were too few tributes, the imperial court would probably have the same attitude as Jiang Dong, not to mention heavy rewards, and Jiang Dong would be sent away by just being named a captain of cavalry.

"On the other hand, Jiangdong's tribute has to pass through Yuan Shu and Cao Cao's two power territories. There are too many tributes, and how to transport them is a problem." Zhang Zhao said solemnly: "These two princes are not concerned about reputation. People who have committed atrocities and plundered so that they can win over the world. Looting tributes is not unacceptable for these two people."

Everyone agrees on this.

Before Mao Jie made a strategic plan for Cao Cao, Cao Cao was a grassroots king in troubled times, really not much different from Yuan Shu.Even more cruel than Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu wanted to become emperor, at least he had to worry about his reputation.

Cao Cao was so cruel that even gods and ghosts were afraid of it. Cannibalism, looting, digging graves, stealing hills, massacring three tribes, killing scholars indiscriminately, there was nothing he dared not do.

He was able to take down Yanzhou, and that had nothing to do with political strategy or winning over the family.There is only one reason, he can fight, maybe even better than Han Xin.With a force of only 2 to 70 troops, the flying general Lu Bu lost more than [-] cities in a year, and killed the entire Yanzhou aristocratic family. The powerful dare not look sideways, trembling, lest the devil's butcher's knife cut on his head .

With such a reputation, no one in the world would be surprised that he robbed the tributes sent to the emperor by other states and counties.And as the scale of the tribute increases, the probability of him looting the tribute will also increase linearly.

Anyway, it was Yuan Shu's forces who robbed him, so he felt at ease.If there is only a meager tribute, he may still have scruples about his reputation.But if hundreds of carts, or even thousands of carts, carrying countless grains, silk, and even silk, are traveling for more than ten miles, then he may not be able to hold back.

But for Cao Cao, Sun Ce can still have expectations.Because he is very persuasive, he is definitely a hero.He may not be able to bear it himself, but Xun Yu, the loyal minister of the big man beside him, will definitely come out to stop him.Then he will definitely heed the advice and stop this kind of plundering of tributes from the perspective of long-term interests.

The Jiangdong ministers only considered Cao Cao, but not Xun Yu, so the judgment was not necessarily accurate.

But regarding Yuan Shu, Sun Ce and the Jiangdong ministers had the same views.

This vassal is furiously raising troops, accumulating grain to train troops, raising various resources, and preparing to attack Xuzhou.

And Jiang Dong, who is a powerful vassal under his command, only supported him with two generals.But he sent a large number of troops and carts carrying countless money, food and silk, across his defense area to the emperor of the Han Dynasty?
What do you make Yuan Shu think?
Not to mention that he is narrow-minded, even if he is a normal hero, he will be furious at the first moment and want to clean up his subordinate town.He asked Jiangdong to immediately dispatch an army of [-] and raise [-] stones and grains to accompany the Huainan campaign.

On these two issues, others have nothing to say.

If there was only one counselor under his command, Sun Ce would have to be caught blind.

But Sun Ce's greatest advantage was the abundance of talented people under his command. Zhang Hong, who had an overview of military and political affairs, stood up and said solemnly, "This matter is not difficult. I will do my best for the general."

"Let's talk about crossing Yuan Shu's and Cao Cao's borders first. At this time, as long as you select capable officials, lead your troops to plan, and march carefully, you will be able to avoid the two sides' investigation. With the current situation, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao's main energy is on Northeast. The Lujiang, Runan, and Yingchuan areas that I sent the tribute to pass through are all in the southwest. They are not where the heart of these two people is located. The garrison must be very limited. Especially since the two people are short of supplies, it is impossible to disperse the army. , heavily stationed in the southwest."

Everyone immediately looked at the map in the direction of his fingers.

The main force of Yuan Shu's army, Sun Ce, and others are very clear.Both Wu Jing and Sun Ben wrote to say that they had been dispatched to the Zhongli area in the northeast of Jiujiang County.This is already the boundary of Jiujiang County, and it enters the boundary of Xuzhou to the east.Both of them were appointed to command thousands of troops, and they would follow the main force of Yuan Shu's army and march directly along the Huaihe River.

Zhongli is on the bank of the Huaihe River, if Yuan Shu sent an army of [-] troops down the river, and the army marched rapidly, he could occupy the entire Huainan area in one fell swoop and divide the entire Guangling into two.The vast territory in the south, Huailing, Xutai, Huaiyin, Huaipu along the Huaihe River, Hailing, Jiangdu, Gaoyou, etc., and more than ten counties in the south, including Guangling, the county government, will be conquered by the army in one fell swoop. Isolated in the south of the Huaihe River.

Except for Jun County and Haixi County, the entire Guangling County will be easily brought under Yuan Shu's control.Even the four counties of Xiapi State were included in Yuan Shu's territory because they were isolated to the south of the Huai River.

Of course, according to military investigations, it seems that Xuzhou had already made preparations. Liu Bei, who led Xuzhou's herdsmen, had already led his army to the Xutai and Huaiyin areas, and set up strict defenses, preparing to confront Yuan Shu.

This made the generals of Yuan Shujun feel very tricky.

Sun Ben even sent a letter back to Sun Ce, reminding him to pay attention to this Xuzhou shepherd Liu Bei.Looking at this person's military deployment, he is extremely good at the art of war, and he can be regarded as a top general in the world. If he becomes powerful, he will become a big problem in the future.

And the reason why veteran generals like Sun Ben and Wu Jing feel so emotional with just one rumor is because Liu Bei's deployment does not care about the gains and losses of a city or a pool at all.He voluntarily gave up the border barrier in Huailing County, then retreated nearly a hundred miles, and deliberately chose the Xutai area where the Huaihe River is winding and lingering, and there are many swamps.

He chose to fight against Yuan Shu here, it can be said that he made full use of his strengths and avoided his weaknesses.If the army fought in Huai Ling, it would be closer to Shouchun, Yuan Shu's seat, and Yuan Shu's main force, food and grass would be stationed in Zhongli.As long as you go down the Huaihe River for dozens of miles, you can reach the battlefield. The terrain in this section is flat and the water flow is stable. Using water to transport grain can be said to be the best use of Yuan Shu's advantages.

The battle at Xutai was hundreds of miles away from Shouchun. The key is that this section of the Huaihe River has an extremely steep and turbulent flow. Within a few miles, the direction was changed drastically, almost 180 degrees from north to south, and the direction was turned sharply. After going south for nearly a hundred miles, it began to change direction from northwest to southeast, and then from southeast to northeast.

Such a circle of rivers, it seems that God is joking with the world.The turbulent water flow will cause a considerable delay in water transportation, making logistics transportation extremely difficult.

However, Liu Bei's Xuzhou army approached Xiapi, his governing place, and could enter the Huaihe River by going straight south along Surabaya, and then just go westward along a section of the Huaihe River where the water flow stabilized, and it could reach Xutai directly.

Liu Bei can smoothly transport [-] or even more than [-] shi into Xutai with [-] shi.

And if Yuan Shu abandons the ship and transports it by land, it may cost [-] or even [-] shi to transport [-] shi of grain.

This situation is somewhat similar to the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao gave up the White Horse and Yanjin lines at Xun Yu's suggestion and retreated to Guandu.It is to make the battlefield closer to Xudu, and away from Yecheng, Yuan Shao's ruling place.

It can be said that Liu Bei's military strategic vision is top-notch in the world. Without the intervention of top advisers to help others make suggestions, he can completely compete with Cao Cao, Lu Bu and other famous generals in the world.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to become famous in just one or two years under his command, and quickly become the enemy of thousands of people.You must know that before Liu Bei entered Xuzhou, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were just two other Sima under his command, and they had not experienced any major battles at all.

Just like what Liu Bei said to Tai Shici, did Kong Beihai know that there is Liu Bei evil in the world?Even if Liu Bei is like this, who in the world knows what his two other Sima who command a few hundred plays are.Even if you can fight again, the impact it can cause is very limited.But the Battle of Huainan was over. From Yuan Shu to Lu Bu, from Lu Bu to Cao Cao, and from Cao Cao to Yuan Shao, everyone knew that Liu Bei was the top general in the world, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were the generals of the bear and tiger, and they were enemies of ten thousand people.

Wu Jing is a simple and honest person. Facing such a powerful enemy, he suggested Yuan Shu not to rush to attack, but to send troops and corvees to build water transport in Huai Ling and control the Huai River.As long as this section of water flow can be leveled and the north-south waterway shortened by hundreds of miles, the army can flow eastward along the flat and straight Huaihe River, transporting [-] shi of grain by water only consumes one or two thousand shi of grain, and can save tens of thousands of shi Shipping charges.With many generals and many generals, Duke Ming will be able to easily defeat Liu Bei.

But Yuan Shu was so overjoyed that he couldn't accept such an inexplicable suggestion at all.He said, I, Yuan Shu, have never heard of Liu Daer, a mat-weaver and shoe-seller in my life (Shu's birth year has passed, and I have never heard of Liu Bei in the world).When the army swings, it can be conquered when it arrives.Building the canal is completely superfluous.

He has committed the common fault of scholar-bureaucrats being arrogant, and his perspective is a fixed scholar's perspective and inertia.He was born a scholar, so he will habitually look at the world with the rules of a scholar. You Liu Bei didn't even get a filial piety, and you didn't have any reputation or praise among scholars.What is it?That's why he said that he had never heard of Liu Bei's name.This name refers to the reputation among scholars.

What's more, his cruelty is unacceptable. He, Yuan Shu, contributed money and strength to help the people of Xuzhou build the Huaihe River.How would it benefit Yuan Shu if he leveled the turbulent waters of the Huaihe River?
He doesn't even pay attention to the life and death of the people under his rule. Will he pay attention to the people who are still in Liu Bei's power?Spending money to help Liu Bei repair water conservancy in Xuzhou, is he mentally ill?Is this what Yuan Gonglu, the fierce ghost in his way, would do?

In this state of mind, Yuan Shu contemptuously thought that as long as he could mobilize an army of [-] to attack, he would be able to defeat Liu Bei in one fell swoop and take down a large number of territories in Xiapi and Guangling without any extra troubles.

All his energy was put on the deployment of troops, and his eyes were all on the offensive line of the [-] troops along the Huaihe River.

In today's world, Yuan Shu is the only prince who can bring out an army of [-] to march across the battlefield.

The others, Yuan Benchu ​​and Liu Jingsheng, claim to have only one hundred thousand armors, but only a few tens of thousands of soldiers can be used to fight.As for Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Gongsun Zan, they are mere thieves and thieves, with no more than [-] to [-] soldiers, and no more than seven or eight soldiers.

As for Sun Ce, Huang Zu and others, Yuan Shu didn't pay attention to them at all. Like Zhang Xiu, if you put it nicely, they are called Qiang Fan, but if you put it badly, they are just the guard dogs of the princes, and they are not even comparable to Yuan Shu and other princes. .

Of course, for such an idiot, Sun Ce and the ministers under him also looked down on him very much. Among the ministers at present, except Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong, they all thought that he was not good enough, so they left him and defected to Sun Ce's command.

And Zhang Hong went directly to Sun Ce, and looked down on Yuan Shu very much, saying: "In Yuan Shu's territory, moral government is not cultivated, bandits are everywhere, north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River, there are wild grass and clouds. One man advocates chaos, and thousands follow him. There are thousands of people here. There are tens of thousands of bandits and grass bandits, rampant in the states and counties, and those who gather in the mountains and forests are innumerable. Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, is a noble and arrogant man. He only cares about plundering counties and counties, completely ignoring people's livelihood and rioting bandits. Generals only need to choose good soldiers and good generals , capable ministers and officials, leading the army to lie down day and night, crossing Lujiang County is as easy as flipping the palm of your hand."

Everyone nodded one after another. Indeed, given the security situation in Lujiang, there are thousands of bandits and water bandits everywhere. They loot everywhere and run amok across the county.

Jiangdong's tribute team, even if thousands of people pass by, is not conspicuous among these bandits one after another.

And it is very possible that the army has already passed through Lujiang County, and Liu Xun, the prefect of Lujiang, did not know that such an army had ever passed by.

It is still the most typical situation, in this chaotic world, where your army is stationed can you effectively control which territory.

A large number of Liu Xun's troops were recruited to the northernmost border of Jiujiang County in the northeast. His weak control ability in Lujiang must be even weaker.When bandits and bandits are rampant, they must shrink their defenses to prevent bandits and rebels from attacking counties.

In this case, as long as the tribute team is cautious, they can avoid the city and pass through Lujiang County.

(End of this chapter)