At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 409: Zhou Qi is seriously ill, Yuan family is in crisis

However, it is said that Cao and Yuan were fighting each other. Xiahou Dun had been attacking Youzhou for a long time but failed. Although Cao Cao was unstoppable in the early stage, the family fortune left by Yuan Shao was very strong after all. After the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan joined forces to fight against Cao, even though Cao Cao still had the advantage, he was eventually stopped at Guandu.

The two sides had been in a stalemate for more than half a year, and winter was about to begin. Cao Cao was worried that something might happen if he delayed any further, so he sent envoys to Nanyang to persuade Liu Bei to attack Yuan Tan's rear, promising that after the Yuan family was destroyed, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and Yuzhou would belong to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei was a little hesitant at this time.

Although the bait thrown by Cao Cao was very tempting, Liu Bei knew that if King Zhou Qi of Chu did not express his position, then the Cao-Liu coalition's plan to destroy the Yuan family would be a joke.

When Yuan Shao was defeated in Guangling, Cao Cao and Liu Bei raised troops, but they were eventually forced to withdraw because they were afraid of the State of Chu.

Seeing Liu Bei's hesitation, Zhang Fei could no longer hold back and stood up and shouted, "The Yuan family usurped the throne and proclaimed themselves emperor. They are traitors to the country. As a relative of the Han Dynasty, you should lead an army to defeat the traitors and revive the Han Dynasty."

"Haven't you heard that if you don't take what God has given you, you will suffer the consequences? If you miss this good opportunity, it may be difficult for you to revive the Han Dynasty in the future."

Chen Gong also said: "Although Nanyang is rich, it has a serious population loss. It is also a place surrounded by wars and has no strategic location to defend. Once the King of Chu sends troops to the north in the future, Nanyang will be in danger. Now that there is such a good opportunity, why don't you lead your troops north to take Qing and Yan as your base?"

"Even if the King of Chu wanted to march north at that time, you would still be able to fight."

Liu Bei sighed, "I know what you mean. But the King of Chu and I are allies. If I become enemies with him because of this, I will lose the trust of the world. This is the first reason. Zilong and Adou are still in Xiangyang. If I ignore the King of Chu's opposition and insist on raising troops to attack Yuan, Zilong and Adou will be in danger. This is the second reason. Chu is powerful. If the King of Chu raises troops to attack my rear, how can I resist with the land of Nanyang? At that time, I failed to defeat Yuan Tan and lost Nanyang. It was too late to regret. This is the third reason."

"I wanted to restore the Han Dynasty, but I have been wandering for half my life and have achieved nothing. Now I am fat and live in Nanyang, relying on others..."

At this point, Liu Bei felt so sad that his eyes turned red.

Although he was considered a local lord, he was actually always overshadowed by Zhou Qi. Every time he seemed to have a chance to develop, he would inexplicably lose cities and territories. In the end, after being busy for half his life, he still had to live in Nanyang, which was given up by Zhou Qi. It was no wonder that Liu Bei did this.

After hearing this, everyone stopped talking and just felt helpless.

How could they not know the issues that Liu Bei mentioned?

However, if Liu Bei and his forces wanted to develop, they had to lead their troops to the north and tear a piece of meat off the Yuan family. Otherwise, they would either have to surrender to Zhou Qi or wait for death in the future.

It was for this reason that they were so eager to march north to expand their territory, even to the point of being desperate.

But now, Liu Bei has put the bloody reality in front of everyone, and they are unable to face the reality.

The first two are fine, but the most important point is the third one. If Zhou Qi is really determined not to let Liu Bei expand his power, Liu Bei will be powerless to do anything.

After all, the gap in strength between the two sides is there.

Just as Liu Bei and his men were silent, Chen Dao came in hurriedly and bowed to Liu Bei, saying, "Mingsir, according to the spies, when the King of Chu was sailing on the Han River, a strong wind suddenly blew up on the river, causing the King of Chu's boat to capsize on the river."

"Although the navy of Jingzhou quickly rescued the king of Chu, the cold weather caused the cold to enter his body, and the king of Chu fell ill and could not get up."

"It is said that the King of Chu is already terminally ill. Even the Crown Prince Zhou Ji was urgently transferred back to Xiangyang from Chengdu to take care of the funeral and stabilize people's hearts!"

Such news was like a bolt from the blue, shocking everyone in the room speechless.

After a long silence, Chen Gong stepped forward with a look of joy and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty! This destiny is with you!"

"The King of Chu is seriously ill and Chu is internally unstable. Your Majesty is taking this opportunity to attack Yuan Tan in the north. Even if Chu is unhappy, it is powerless to stop him. As long as Your Majesty can seize Qing and Yan provinces as soon as possible, whether the King of Chu recovers in the future or the Crown Prince of Chu succeeds to the throne, Your Majesty will be able to fight him."

"I also ask the king to quickly mobilize the troops and form an alliance with Cao Gong to fight against the Yuan family!"

After the surprise, Liu Bei quickly calmed down, and then said with a sad face: "Zi Yi is such a genius, a pillar of the country, but unfortunately he fell into the water and became seriously ill. It is really God's envy of talents."

"Since Ziyi and I are allies, how can I just ignore him? I want to send Ziyu to Xiangyang to visit Ziyi. What do you think?"

When Guan Yu and other generals heard Liu Bei's words, they could not help but praise Liu Bei for his benevolence and righteousness. Faced with such a strong enemy like Zhou Qi who fell into the water and was seriously ill, he not only did not add insult to injury and gloat over his misfortune, but instead thought of visiting the other party first.

Chen Gong, Zhuge Jin and others secretly praised Liu Bei for his meticulous thinking.

Wancheng was not far from Xiangyang, and Zhuge Jin rode at full speed and arrived in Xiangyang in just two days. As soon as he entered Xiangyang City, Zhuge Jin felt that the atmosphere was a little different.

Today, the defenses of Xiangyang City are very tight. Fully armed soldiers can be seen patrolling on the road from time to time. Even the bustling market in the past has become deserted, and the smiles on people's faces have disappeared.

When Zhuge Jin came to the palace to ask to see Zhou Qi, he was bluntly rejected by Dian Wei.

Zhuge Jin was unwilling to give up and tried to find out about Zhou Qi's condition in a roundabout way, but Dian Wei only said "no comment". Zhuge Jin had no choice but to spend money to find someone in the city to get information, but many people were very secretive about Zhou Qi's condition.

Finally, Zhuge Jin simply went to visit Zhao Yun and A Dou.

After the greetings, Zhuge Jin said in a slightly euphemistic tone, "It is rumored that His Royal Highness the King of Chu fell into the water and caught a cold, causing him to be seriously ill and bedridden. General, do you know the King of Chu's current physical condition?"

Zhao Yun sat down and pondered, then said, "This incident did cause a lot of uproar a few days ago, but the city was soon put under martial law by the army, and anyone who dared to discuss this matter in public was arrested. After that, the discussion about this incident quickly disappeared."

"I also went to visit the King of Chu, but was not summoned. I don't know whether the King of Chu is in good health."

"But just the day before yesterday, I saw the dusty Crown Prince being escorted back by soldiers from Yizhou in the city. I'm sure the King of Chu is in poor health."

Zhuge Jin's eyes lit up, but he still asked cautiously, "When the prince was in Xuzhou, he practiced martial arts with Zilong. Did you come to visit Zilong when you returned to Xiangyang?"

Zhao Yun shook his head: "I guess the prince is worried about the King of Chu, so he has no time to come and visit."

Zhuge Jin immediately became alert and asked, "Then how can Zilong be sure that the man is the prince?"

Zhao Yun said, "That day, I saw the prince riding his horse into the city on the street. Although he has been away from Xiangyang for a long time, his appearance has not changed. Perhaps because of the long journey and his worry about the King of Chu, he has become a little thin and haggard."

Zhuge Jin heaved a sigh of relief and thought to himself, "If Zhou Ji really traveled thousands of miles back to Xiangyang, the King of Chu must be in a worrying state of health. In this way, you will have no worries in your northern expedition."

Thinking of this, Zhuge Jin immediately stood up and said to Zhao Yun: "Nanyang is busy with affairs. Since the King of Chu is not convenient to see guests, I will return to Wancheng first. I will come to visit you and Zilong when I have time in the future."

After saying this, Zhuge Jin ignored Zhao Yun's attempts to keep him and headed straight for Nanyang overnight.

However, when Liu Bei received the accurate information from Zhuge Jin, he did not hesitate and ordered people to draft a manifesto to punish the enemy overnight. He then mobilized all the troops in Nanyang to attack Yuan Tan's rear.

Yuan Tan was caught off guard, and several of his generals were killed by Guan Yu. He suffered heavy casualties and retreated back to Qingzhou in defeat.

Without Yuan Tan's restraint, Cao Cao felt the pressure greatly reduced. He won battle after battle against Yuan Shang, and finally forced Yuan Shang to abandon Guandu.

Cao Cao took the opportunity to cross the Yellow River and launched a fierce attack on Yuan Shang, capturing one city almost every day.

Yuan Shang was defeated and retreated into Jizhou, relying on the water of Qinghe River and Huangze Lake to defend Neihuang. If Cao's army was not bad at water battles and Yuan's family had been managing Jizhou for a long time and had a deep foundation, Neihuang might not have been able to be defended.

Cao Cao won victory after victory. He saw that as long as he could capture Neihuang, he could march straight to the capital of Zhao, Ye. He was very happy and said to his civil and military officials, "When I invited Liu Xuande to attack Yuan together, I never thought that he would send troops."

"However, fate is on my side. Who would have expected that Zhou Ziyi would fall into the water due to the storm and become seriously ill?"

At this point, Cao Cao couldn't help but burst into laughter, and all the civil and military officials under his command were also extremely happy.

Unexpectedly, Cao Cao's subsequent offensive encountered great obstacles.

In order to conquer the State of Chu in the south, Yuan Shao trained his navy for a long time. Even though he was defeated in the end, he retained most of his navy. These naval forces are now controlled by Yuan Shang, and many of them are stationed in Huangze Lake.

Now Yuan Shang relied on the natural barriers of Huangze Lake and Qinghe River to block Cao Cao's advance northward.

Yuan Shang also knew the importance of Neihuang, and during this period he recruited soldiers from all over Jizhou at all costs. In the end, he gathered an army of more than 100,000 inside and outside Neihuang.

Cao Cao divided his troops into two places and failed to capture Neihuang after a long siege. Seeing that his own troops were not at an advantage, he became anxious and even wanted to continue withdrawing troops from Guanzhong to take Jizhou in one battle.

At the same time, Liu Bei's attack on Yuan Tan was extremely successful.

This was because Liu Bei had first served as the magistrate of Pingyuan and later as the prime minister of Pingyuan, and was quite famous in Qingzhou. Therefore, when Liu Bei led his troops into Pingyuan County, local people of integrity and justice rose up in response. Yuan Tan was attacked from both inside and outside, and finally had to flee to Jinan, handing over the huge Pingyuan State to Liu Bei.

Seeing that Liu Bei was advancing like a bamboo shoot while he was blocked in Neihuang and unable to advance, Cao Cao was also worried that Liu Bei would capture Qingzhou first. So he stopped hesitating and ordered Cao Ren to draw another 30,000 troops from Guanzhong to help.

Seeing this, Cheng Yu hurriedly advised: "30,000 soldiers are almost all the troops in Guanzhong. If the Chu State takes the opportunity to attack after we withdraw them, what should we do?"

Cao Cao said in a deep voice: "Now Zhou Qi is seriously ill, Zhou Ji has returned to Xiangyang to take charge of the overall situation. Chu is already busy with its own affairs, how can it have the energy to attack Guanzhong?"

"Now our army's offensive is blocked. If we don't seize Jizhou while Chu is internally unstable, and then attack Youzhou from both sides, no matter if Zhou Ziyi recovers from his illness or Zhou Ji takes over Chu, they will never sit idly by and watch me destroy the Yuan family."

"If I don't take what God has given me, I will suffer the consequences. I have made up my mind, please don't try to persuade me!"

(End of this chapter)