Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1102
Nowadays, all forces in the world regard Jiangdong as prey. This is also because with Jiangdong's current strength, it has almost withdrawn from the ranks of fighting for the world, and it can only be regarded as prey.

Originally, as one of the major chess players, Jiangdong was qualified enough to participate in the game for the world, but it was defeated twice by Yuan Xi, which seriously damaged its vitality. If it could retreat to Jiangdong and recuperate, it might be able to make a comeback in a few years.

However, Yuan Xi did not give Sun Quan this opportunity. He took advantage of Sun Quan's rout in the Battle of Hefei and sent troops quickly and decisively, hitting Sun Quan's weak spot, breaking through the Jiangdong navy blockade, and entering Wujun.

From then on, Jiangdong's operations in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River completely collapsed. The natural barrier was gone, and the cities along the river in Wujun and Kuaiji were successively captured, so that Jiangdong could only defend in Yuzhang and Danyang counties. The situation was so dire that even Pang Tong believed that with Liu Bei's military strength, he would have a chance to defeat Jiangdong if he developed for two or three years.

Several months passed, and as expected, Liu Biao finally died of illness, leaving behind a mess. His second son Liu Cong inherited Jingzhou and, under the leadership of the Cai family, began to plan to surrender to Cao Cao.

After Liu Bei learned the news, he adopted Pang Tong's strategy and began to secretly plot to seize Jingzhou. He had already repaid Liu Biao's favor. Now, if Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao's army could control the upper reaches of the river and attack Liu Bei downstream. This was something Liu Bei could not tolerate!
So Liu Bei began to secretly prepare for war and at the same time transferred his generals to the border where Liu Cong's forces intersected. This expedition was planned by Pang Tong and mobilized a large number of generals. In addition to his direct generals such as Guan, Zhang, Chen Shi, there were also newly defected people from Jingzhou such as Huo Jun, Fu Zhuo, Li Yan, etc. As soon as the army was prepared, they began to plot against Liu Cong's territory.

In order to concentrate on dealing with Liu Cong, Liu Bei agreed to Pang Tong's strategy of temporarily making peace with Sun Quan. However, Liu Bei felt that this was a bit unfair to Yuan Xi, so he wrote a special letter to Lu Xun in Shouchun.

The letter was named as a family letter, seemingly a reminiscence between father-in-law and son-in-law, but it still vaguely pointed out the difficulties Liu Bei faced in negotiating peace with Jiangdong. After receiving it, Lu Xun immediately forwarded the letter to Jicheng.

When Yuan Xi received the letter, spring had already arrived in the north. He told the contents of the letter to Ju Shou and others present, saying, "Lord Xuande has finally made up his mind to establish his foundation."

"It is reasonable for him to stabilize Jiangdong and take action against Liu Cong first. After all, if Cao's army gets Liu Cong's territory, Lord Xuande will repeat the same mistake and lose the territory again, and then be chased by Cao's army."

"He will not make the same mistake again. After all, at his age, he doesn't have many opportunities to make mistakes."

"And I also told Lord Xuande that if Liu Cong succeeded to the throne after Liu Biao's death, he would definitely surrender to Cao Cao. Now that Liu Cong has shown this sign, Lord Xuande will naturally take the initiative."

He thought that Liu Cong was courting death. Later, he surrendered to Cao Cao without informing Liu Bei, which cut off Liu Bei's retreat and nearly led to his defeat and death in the surprise attack by Cao's army.

Now that Liu Bei knows that Liu Cong wants to betray him, he will naturally not be a good guy anymore and will definitely fight with all his strength.

Tian Feng stroked his beard and said with deep emotion: "Liu Jingsheng was a hero all his life, but he became confused in old age and made the same mistake as Benchu ​​Gong."

"He conquered Jingzhou single-handedly, hoping to have his offspring inherit it. Now it seems that he will probably lose everything, including the money he put in."

"With the example of Benchu ​​Gong, he still wants to jump into the trap. It can only be said that he is too careless."

Ju Su said, "He has no other choice. The Kuai and Cai families are powerful. If the eldest son Liu Qi is allowed to succeed, there will be more chaos. At least Liu Cong will succeed. Liu Qi, who has no power, will not be able to stir up any trouble. He just chose the lesser of two evils."

Everyone immediately thought of the internal strife between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, and they lamented for a moment that the Yuan family had a very good situation, but it was destroyed by the internal strife between the two. If not, how could Cao Cao have the current situation in the Central Plains?
But sometimes, although it seems that they make the same mistakes, there are actually many differences in the details. Liu Cong seems to be the same as Yuan Shang in that both are more favored, but his current situation is actually worse than Yuan Shang's.

The Yuan family was led by various sons, and none of them was willing to submit to the other. But Yuan Shang at least occupied Jizhou, and with Yecheng as his backing, he was strong enough to fight Cao Cao back and forth. As for Jingzhou, it was completely powerless to fight against Cao Cao, and surrender was the collective choice of the Jingzhou gentry.

Zhuge Liang said, "The nobles of Jingxiang are good at defending the status quo but not at advancing. In times of crisis, they all want to protect themselves and urge the lord to surrender. This is understandable."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Even Kong Ming's old friends and acquaintances have joined Cao Cao. The title of Son of Heaven is indeed useful."

Zhuge Liang knew that Yuan Xi was talking about Sima Hui, Meng Gongwei and others, so he said: "Those who surrender to Cao may not be sincere, and those who do not surrender may not have no private connections with Cao Cao."

"I'm afraid those old friends of mine are not devoted to Cao Cao, otherwise, with their intelligence, they would not have asked to go with Cao Cao."

"Now they all hold idle positions in Xudu, and I'm afraid they are just living on their salaries."

Everyone laughed when they heard this. Tian Feng sighed, "Being a parasite under Cao Cao may not be a bad thing. Cao's camp is not a peaceful place."

Yuan Xi said: "The behavior of the scholars in Jingxiang is that they don't want to fight anymore."

“Famous scholars may discuss world affairs, but only after seeing the dead on the battlefield will they feel the fear of death around them.”

"Without the ambition to pacify the world, it is difficult to persevere, and Xi has come this far thanks to the help of those who have great ambitions."

Everyone said they dared not to do so, but Tian Feng said, "The ambition of the subordinates ultimately depends on the ambition of the lord."

"My lord has the ambition to pacify the world, and our ambition will grow accordingly."

"On the contrary, Liu Cong only wanted to save his life. Ambitious people had already left and joined others. The rest were naturally those who curry favor with the powerful and protect themselves."

Ju Su said: "That also depends on whether ambition and ability match each other." "The lord is good at fighting and has a keen eye. He discovered young talents such as Kong Ming and Boyan, which is why we have come this far."

"On the other hand, although Sun Quan had ambitions, his ability did not match his ambitions, so he naturally came to a dead end."

When everyone thought of the vast land of Jiangdong that was lost in one battle with Sun Quan, they all smiled knowingly.

Zhuge Liang was a little annoyed and said, "I am a little unwilling to accept this. If we had been able to defeat Zhou Yu thoroughly that day, Jiangdong might have already fallen into the hands of the lord."

"But Zhou Yu's response was extremely appropriate. In the last days of his life, he did his best to block the multiple attacks of Liang and General Gan, and defended Jiangdong impeccably, allowing it to survive until now."

"Although he passed away due to illness, I deeply admire his act of protecting Jiangdong with his life. It's a pity that the two sides are at loggerheads and I can't go over to pay my respects."

Ju Su said: "Lord Xuande plans to seize Jingzhou first, so he is temporarily negotiating peace with Jiangdong. We are also unable to deal with Sun Quan for the time being, and I am afraid that he will hold out for a few more years."

Tian Feng snorted and said, "Do you think Liu Bei will completely join forces with Sun Quan in the future?"

"Either of them alone would not be enough to fight against the Lord and Cao Cao, but that may not be the case after they join forces."

"In this way, they can become a third party force that cannot be ignored."

Ju Su's face changed when he heard this, and he said, "This possibility cannot be ruled out."

"That would be quite troublesome."

Zhuge Liang said, "That being said, there are many variables. The key to the matter now is not in Jiangdong, but in Jizhou right in front of us."

"As long as Cao Cao is driven out of Jizhou, you will be able to occupy the most important area in the Central Plains. By then, Cao Cao will find it difficult to stir up any trouble with only Guanzhong."

Everyone agreed, "That's right, we just need to do the things at hand well, Jiangdong is not enough."

Tian Feng smiled evilly and said, "My lord, do you still have a trump card?"

"Then use Madam Wu's relationship to get Sun Quan to come to Jicheng to recognize his father. If he doesn't come, it would be unfilial. Let's see how he responds!"

Everyone couldn't stop laughing. Yuan Xi looked embarrassed and said, "We can only disgust him a little. The decisive factor is to win the battle."

"Fortunately, Lu Su and Jiang Qin have joined me. Although they still have some grudges, there is no problem in letting them fight Cao Cao."

"So I have arranged for them to be in charge of the Yellow River navy's military deployment, so that the three of you can free up your hands and concentrate on surrounding Yecheng with Cao's army and fighting with infantry and cavalry!"

After hearing this, Ju Shou and the other two could not suppress their excitement. The amount of troops mobilized in this war, the number of generals, and the number of counselors were all at the peak in recent years, far more than the last Jianghuai War which was mainly fought by navy.

The outcome of the battle for Jizhou will determine who will rule the world, so both Yuan Xi and Cao Cao will put all their territories on the table without reservation.

The number of soldiers and generals mobilized by Cao Cao was also the largest in history. This was an unprecedented large-scale decisive battle, exceeding any previous one. Both sides had no confidence in whether they could mobilize and command so many people at the same time, Yuan Xi and Cao Cao even more so.

At the same time, Cao Cao sat on a high platform in Yecheng and summoned his most trusted subordinates to discuss how to have a decisive battle with Yuan Xi.

The people who came this time were all carefully selected by Cao Cao. Those who were slightly suspicious or had unclear background were excluded and stayed in Xu Du.

Except for Chen Qun, who was arranged by Cao Cao to be in charge of Xu Du, the only real counselors present were Xun You and Zhong Yao, while people like Xun Chen, Xin Pi, and Sima Hui were all excluded.

The only other civil servants present were Hua Xin, Chen Lin, and Yang Xiu.

Yang Xiu himself was actually quite surprised at his selection. He muttered to himself that he should not be qualified to participate in such an occasion. What was Cao Cao going to do?
The military generals were the group that Cao Cao relied on more. They were all generals from the Cao and Xiahou families, headed by Xiahou Dun, followed by Cao Ren, Cao Xiu and others.

Cao Cao looked around at everyone and slowly said, "Everyone, this battle will determine our survival!"

“Even if we have to fight the fierce tiger to the last man, we must not let it take Jizhou!”

(End of this chapter)