Ji Han Liu Zhang

Changan.

The struggle among the princes is not like gambling, which requires fair play. Instead, when you can see the opponent's cards, you should seize the opportunity to peek at the opponent's cards in order to grasp the opponent's full strengths and weaknesses.

Therefore, Liu Zhang ordered Xun You, Jia Xu, Fa Zheng and others to secretly organize a team of spies to spy on the strengths and weaknesses of the princes of all parties, so as to gain the upper hand in the struggle for hegemony among the heroes.

Just like now, Fa Zheng reported the situation in Hedong to Liu Zhang: "Hedong Governor Wang Yi is greedy for the power he has monopolized and is unwilling to give up Hedong easily. He has now sent General Fan Xian from the county to station in Donghuan to prevent Gao Mo from entering Hedong."

Fa Zheng was not only aware of Wang Yi's situation, but also of Gao Gan's situation in Huguan: "Gao Gan could not move forward and had to stay in Huguan... According to the documents delivered by the spies, Gao Gan was furious that Wang Yi blocked his entry into Hedong, and now Gao Gan has repeatedly sent envoys to Yecheng, trying to persuade Yuan Shao to send troops to Hedong and behead Wang Yi to vent his humiliation today."

"Do you think Yuan Shao will send troops to Hedong?" After listening to Fa Zheng's report, Liu Zhang took the opportunity to ask Fa Zheng.

After thinking for a moment, Fa Zheng slowly shook his head and said, "In my opinion, Yuan Shao wants to wipe out Gongsun Zan in Pingyi County, and he also wants to stop the Black Mountain bandits from helping Gongsun. I'm afraid it will be difficult to allocate troops to Gao Gan. Gao Gan's plan to attack Hedong is indeed difficult to implement."

Liu Zhang nodded, and then he asked Jia Xu: "Wenhe, what do you think?" As the saying goes, "partial listening leads to ignorance, while listening to both sides leads to enlightenment." Liu Zhang planned to listen to the opinions of other advisers.

Jia Xu, who was shrewd and calculating, stroked his beard and echoed Fa Zheng's words: "Xu's opinion is the same as Xiaozhi's. Gongsun Zan is a threat to Yuan Shao. If Gongsun is not pacified and Yi County is not conquered, Yuan Shao will always have internal worries and will not be able to move forward... Yuan Shao should be trying his best to pacify Gongsun but will not care about Gao Gan, so he will not send any soldiers to Huguan."

"However," Jia Xu said, "Shangdang County is located in Bingzhou, which has always been a place where elite soldiers and brave generals come from. The soldiers of Shangdang County can also be used. If a senior official integrates the county soldiers and leads them to Hedong, the outcome is unknown."

Liu Zhang nodded when he heard this. The best soldiers in the world are located in Bingliang. There has long been a saying in the world that "Bingliang has strong soldiers". This situation is caused by the geographical location of the two states of Bingliang.

Bingliang and Liangzhou were bordered by fierce barbarians such as the Xiongnu and the Western Qiang. If a Bingliang person was a little weak, he would be devoured by the barbarians long ago. Therefore, the people of Bingliang and Liangzhou admired martial arts. Even women could carry halberds, hold spears, and use bows and arrows, just as good as men.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, many warriors from Bingzhou also became famous. For example, Lü Bu, the best general in the Three Kingdoms, was from Wuyuan County, Bingzhou, and Zhang Liao and Zhang Wenyuan, who defeated 100,000 with only 800 men, were from Mayi, Yanmen. They were all brave and powerful generals.

As a result, Liu Zhang told Jia Xu that Gao Gan might summon the troops from Shangdang County and lead them to attack Hedong. He thought the probability was quite high.

However, Liu Zhang thought that Gao Gan's chance of conquering Hedong was not very high. After all, everyone had seen the world, and none of the heroes who survived the war were cowards. Every prince had some powerful means.

Although Wang Yi, the prefect of Hedong, was not well-known in history, the fact that he had been able to gain a foothold in Hedong for more than ten years and remain standing was enough to prove that Wang Yi was no ordinary person. If Wang Yi had been weaker, he would have been devoured by the hungry wolves in the troubled times early on.

"Let's wait and see, and act accordingly." Liu Zhang gave his conclusion. He decided to wait and see for a while and make further discussions based on the current situation.

Liu Zhang was not too worried about the possibility of Gao Gan taking Hedong in one fell swoop. After all, Hedong and Guanzhong were separated by only a river. If there was any change, he could quickly come up with a response strategy and would definitely not give Gao Gan the opportunity to swallow up Hedong County in one go. After the meeting, Liu Zhang read the recent detailed information collected by the scouts on the situation in Bingzhou. If he wanted to attack Hedong, he should have some understanding of the separatist regimes in the entire Bingzhou so that he could make a proper strategy.

After reading it, Liu Zhang frowned slightly and looked unhappy. At the end of the Han Dynasty, most of the counties in Bingzhou were occupied by the Xiongnu and Wuhuan.

Bingzhou, the Dai area where Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty started his career and the land that was opened up by successive monarchs of Zhao State, one of the heroes of the Warring States Period, after hundreds of years of Han territory, seems to be in the trend of being occupied by barbarians again.

Liu Zhang was well versed in history. He knew that this was the root of disaster that had been planted since the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty. As early as the Jianwu period of Emperor Guangwu, the Chanyu of the Southern Xiongnu had moved into Meizhi County in the north of Xihe County in Bingzhou. In the 25th year of Jianwu, the Wuhuan outside the Great Wall came to the imperial court and were settled in Youzhou and Bingzhou by Emperor Guangwu. Among them, Bingzhou consisted of three counties: Yanmen, Taiyuan and Shuofang.

At first, relying on the military achievements of the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu and Wuhuan who moved to the interior did not dare to make any unusual moves.

But during the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, Duan Xing, one of the Three Ming of Liang Province, issued a warning that the Xiongnu and Wuhuan, which were located in Yunzhong and Wuyuan and more than 2,000 miles west of Hanyang, were showing a tendency to grow stronger. If they were not restricted and punished, their fate would be unrepeatable in the future.

Although Duan Xing was highly alert and his suggestions were very good, they could not be implemented at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there was no ability to implement them.

When the world was in chaos, the Xiongnu and Wuhuan were like wild beasts released from a cage and were extremely happy. For example, the five counties of Bingzhou, namely Dingxiang, Yunzhong, Wuyuan, Shuofang and Shangjun, became the playgrounds of the Xiongnu and Wuhuan.

In order to avoid the war, the Han people in Bingzhou had to gather in fortresses to protect themselves for a while. Of course, more people chose to flee to other places, away from the chaotic Bingzhou, in order to seek a glimmer of hope for survival.

Liu Zhang searched the historical materials of the Three Kingdoms in his mind. He vaguely remembered that in the 18th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao changed the 13 states into nine states and merged the remaining parts of Bingzhou into Jizhou. When Cao Pi came to power, Cao Pi re-established Bingzhou, but basically gave up the north of Xingling and gave it to the Xiongnu and Wuhuan.

"Bingzhou is uneasy!" Liu Zhang thought about the future. If he wanted to conquer Bingzhou in the future, he would need to eliminate the Xiongnu and Wuhuan who were rooted in Bingzhou and get rid of the fishy smell of Bingzhou.

Otherwise, if the Xiongnu and Wuhuan occupied Bingzhou and he was in Chang'an, the Hu cavalry could travel from Taiyuan to Hedong and reach Pubanjin in a few days, which would put great pressure on Chang'an.

The layout seemed a bit too far-fetched, so Liu Zhang withdrew the idea. Now he needed to focus on Hedong to ensure that Hedong would not fall into Yuan Shao's hands. At least he had to form a situation where Hedong was equally divided to prevent Yuan's army from being stationed in Puban, separated from him by only a river.

"Lou Fa." Liu Zhang muttered a name. Lou Fa, the General of the Central Army stationed at Pubanjin, was the closest to Hedong and could respond very quickly to the situation in Hedong.

Perhaps he should send someone to inform Lou Fa, and let Lou Fa make a response according to the current situation, and not to appeal to him, so as not to miss the opportunity. (End of this chapter)