Gou writes entries in the Three Kingdoms

Jianye, meeting hall.

Liu Xuan stood in front of the map, looking at the territory of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao displayed on the map, frowning and thinking.

"My lord, do you want to defeat Yuan Shao and Cao Cao as soon as possible?"

Seeing Liu Xuan's embarrassed look, Zhuge Liang asked.

Liu Xuan nodded, "Yes, I'm thinking about how to eliminate Yuan Cao's power as soon as possible without causing too much loss."

"Actually, with my current strength, I can defeat Yuan Cao's army in one fell swoop with my current strength. However, their sphere of influence covers the entire north. If they focus on avoiding the war, with the strategic depth of the north, the war will be delayed for a long time."

Zhuge Liang approached the map and thought for a moment.
"It is not the best choice to start a war with Yuan Cao at the same time. If we cannot defeat them in one blow, it will lead to the two families joining forces, which will make it more difficult to deal with."

Liu Xuandao: "It is precisely with this in mind that I am in every possible difficulty. Moreover, now that Liu Bei has officially started a war with our army, most of our troops need to be transferred to the Yuzhou border, and the navy also needs to set up defenses along the rivers and mountains. At this time, with If the two families go to war, there is no chance of winning."

Zhuge Liang pointed to the land of Youzhou in Jizhou on the map and said: "Yuan Shaohu is in the land of Youzhou and wants to conquer the Central Plains, while Cao Cao is firmly guarding Yanzhou and Qingzhou, like a wolf looking north. As long as we don't take the initiative to join in, the fight between tiger and wolf will not stop. My lord, why don't you take this opportunity to drive the tiger away and devour the wolf, and then capture the weak tiger?"

"Driving the tiger to swallow the wolf?" Liu Xuan looked at Zhuge Liang and motioned for him to continue.

"Although Yuan Shao in Jizhou and Cao Cao in Yanzhou seem to be equally matched now, in fact, Yuan Shao was changed by Yuan Tan and his strength is not as good as before, and the hidden danger of the dispute between Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan will break out sooner or later. If the war stops, it is very likely that Falling apart on its own.”

"But in that case, it will only give Cao Cao an advantage, so the lord can secretly support Yuan Shang to defeat Cao Cao. When Cao Cao is defeated, Yuan Shao's strength will be almost exhausted. Like a wounded tiger, it looks majestic, but in fact it is no longer a threat. , my lord can win in one battle. Moreover, our army will never suffer too much loss."

Liu Xuan's expression changed.
"Kong Ming, please imitate it in the military book. If we secretly support Yuan Shao, how will his war with Cao Cao end?"

Zhuge Liang smiled confidently,
"No need to deduce, Yuan Shao's winning rate is over [-]%."

"But since the Lord is interested in this simulating military strategy, Liang will simulate it for the Lord now."

After that, he took out the military book that could be simulated, worked on it, added the configuration of the two armies and various conditions, and then started the simulation with a thought.

I saw that the pattern on the military book immediately changed into a sand table-like appearance. On the sand table, the two forces set up their formations to conquer each other. In a moment, the simulation was over.

The results show that Yuan Shao's winning rate is 73%, and Cao Cao's winning rate is 27%.

It is almost completely consistent with what Zhuge Liang himself deduced.

However, after the simulated military strategy is completed, it also includes the results of the combat power of both sides after the simulation.

The results show that if Yuan Shao wins, his strength will be reduced to [-]% of his original strength.

But if Cao Cao wins, his strength will be [-]% higher than before.

Although Cao Cao only has a winning rate of more than [-]%, once he succeeds, his strength will be greatly increased.

If Cao Cao's strength increases by [-]%, Liu Xuan will have to face the attack from Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and will fall into an extremely passive situation.

After reading the simulation results, Liu Xuan immediately made up his mind.

Cao Cao must not be allowed to win.

Just as he was talking, Cheng Hu came to report.
"My lord, Yuan Shang personally went to Guangling to ask for an audience with my lord."

Liu Xuan and Zhuge Liang looked at each other and instantly understood: the opportunity has come.

Yuan Shang did not come directly to Jianye, but went to Guangling, which only means one thing.

He came here for the alloy steel armor and other war preparation supplies.

Liu Xuan's weapons workshop and warship factory were both located in Guangling. Even after Jiangdong was captured, the industry was not transferred.

After all, Guangling is located in the Jiangbei Plain, and its population is not as dense as Jianye, so it is very suitable for expanding the scale of the factory.

Liu Xuan took Zhuge Liang and others and immediately set off back to Guangling.

Yuan Shang has been waiting in Guangling for two days, and from time to time he wants to get into the Guangling workshop. If it weren't for the face of the noble family, he would have to lead people to break in.

Seeing Liu Xuan's arrival, Yuan Shang couldn't help but complain.
"His Royal Highness the King of Huaiyang's subordinates are so rude. I, Yuan Shang, am also a big buyer of your Guangling workshop. I wanted to enter the workshop to check it out, but I was blocked from entering."

Yuan Shang specially came to Guangling directly this time because he wanted to find an opportunity to see if Liu Xuan had any other useful weapons and armor here.

The previous alloy steel armor was so easy to use that it could even turn the tide of a small battle.

This time, Yuan Shang came with the purpose of getting more advanced weapons from Liu Xuan no matter what.

That’s why I always wanted to go in and check it out in person.

Liu Xuan laughed: "Master Yuan wants to inspect the Guangling workshop, just tell me directly. You are our distinguished guest and a big buyer. It is natural for you to enter the workshop and take a look."

After finishing speaking, Liu Xuan turned to the management around him with a straight face: "From now on, when Mr. Yuan comes, you can look around in the workshop. If Mr. Yuan wants to experience something, he must actively cooperate. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Your Highness."

Yuan Shang felt so satisfied that Liu Xuan valued him so much, and his face instantly became excited.

"His Royal Highness the King of Huaiyang is really grand. Haha, it seems that this trip is right. I just want to see what other good things there are in His Highness's workshop."

Liu Xuan made a gesture, "Please."

Yuan Shang followed Liu Xuan into the Guangling workshop. As soon as he entered the door, he was attracted by the various strange and ingenious tools displayed in the workshop.

Roaring steam engines, huge punch presses, shining silver alloy steel armor, and alloy weapons glowing with cold light,
Exquisite arm crossbows, ejectable hooks, steam engine transport vehicles, etc.

The officials of the workshop specially stayed with Yuan Shang and carefully explained the function, lethality, etc. of each item to Yuan Shang.

Yuan Shang's eyes lit up when he heard that he wanted to buy almost every one of them.

After the visit, Liu Xuan brought the somewhat excited Yuan Shang to the living room.

"Master Yuan came to Guangling this time, presumably not just to visit my Guangling workshop, right?"

"Haha, His Highness the King of Huaiyang was joking. Now that our army is about to fight Cao Cao, I naturally did not go to Guangling just to visit."

Yuan Shang smiled and said, "But after this visit, I am fully confident that I can defeat Cao Cao in one battle. However, I need more support from His Highness."

Liu Xuan was noncommittal, "What kind of support does Young Master Yuan need?"

Yuan Shangdao: "Your Highness, the weapons and armor from Guangling Workshop, as well as many other equipment, are materials that we urgently need. I know that Cao Cao went to war with Your Highness in Xuchang at the beginning of the year, and you were also hostile. His Highness's support of our supplies can be regarded as Allies help each other."

Good guy, Liu Xuan cursed in his heart, this Yuan Shang might not look like a young master from aristocratic family, but his calculations are unambiguous.Having said so much, how dare you want to get supplies for free?

"Haha, although Cao Cao and I are enemies, I defeated Cao Cao in the battle of Xuchang. I have not yet finished digesting the newly occupied Yuzhou and Xuzhou, so I am not in a hurry to deal with Cao Cao."

"Uh, but I'm anxious." Yuan Shang said, "Cao Cao set up a poisonous plot to trap and kill my eldest brother. My father is talking about avenging his eldest brother all day long. I am here just to collect supplies for war preparations."

Liu Xuan pretended to be embarrassed and thought for a long time before speaking,

"Logically speaking, the things produced in this Guangling workshop are all weapons, armors and war machines, and they are all our secrets. But Mr. Yuan came to visit in person, and you and I are considered allies. If I don't agree at all, it would seem I'm stingy."

"Well, let's follow the old rules. If Mr. Yuan wants the things from my Guangling workshop, just give them the cost price. I will just do business and not get involved in the dispute between you and Cao Cao. how?"

Yuan Shang was relieved when he saw Liu Xuan finally speaking.

Although he didn't get the supplies in vain, being able to get Liu Xuan to sell the supplies was not considered a failure.

"In that case, thank you for your support, Your Highness."

Liu Xuan smiled and said: "It doesn't matter, the supervisor of the workshop happens to be here. Just tell the supervisor what you want, and he will calculate the price for you. As usual, I will send a ship to Jizhou for you. "

After hearing this, Yuan Shang quickly thanked Liu Xuan and checked the supplies with the workshop supervisor.

After some negotiations, the workshop supervisor reported the final results to Liu Xuan and Yuan Shang.

"It is settled that the total price of the alloy steel armor, steam crash car, alloy sword and other materials purchased by Mr. Yuan this time is 20 billion 850 million yuan."

Liu Xuan waved his hand, "Young Master Yuan can be considered a repeat customer, so the digits of the 850 million will be omitted. Let's round up the 20 billion."

"Uh, this is so much money."

Yuan Shang's heart skipped a beat after hearing the supervisor's quotation.

Two billion is not a small sum. Even if he is the fourth and third prince of the Yuan family, with his influence spread all over the three states of You and Hebei, he should not have that much money in the treasury.

What's more, at the beginning of the year, Yuan Tan had already spent hundreds of millions to buy thousands of sets of alloy steel armor.
Later, he also came to purchase alloy steel armor. Although he did not spend so much cash, he used Bohai County in Jizhou as a mortgage, and he had to pay a lot of interest every month.

"Well, Your Highness the King of Huaiyang, the amount of this purchase is a bit large. I'm afraid I won't be able to come up with that much cash at the moment. Why don't we use the previous method and treat the 20 billion as borrowed by me from Your Highness? Don't worry, The monthly interest will still be paid as usual.”

Liu Xuan was a little confused: "The Bohai County that Master Yuan mortgaged last time was the territory assigned to you by Yuan Gong. It is reasonable to use it as a mortgage. This time it is 20 billion. Master Yuan still has so much land to mortgage?"

Yuan Shang patted his chest and said proudly: "Your Highness, you can rest assured. I, Yuan Shang, am no longer what I used to be. After my eldest brother died, my father was ill and had handed over most of the things in Jizhou and Youzhou to me, pledging one or two taels. The county still has the power."

"Then where does Young Master Yuan want to pledge this time? If it's 20 billion, one county might not be enough."

Yuan Shang tentatively asked: "Your Highness, what about Hejian County and Pingyuan County? These two counties happen to be connected to Bohai County."

Liu Xuan smiled and nodded, "Actually, it doesn't matter. It's just a mortgage anyway. When Mr. Yuan pays back the money, the land in these three counties will still belong to the Yuan family."

Yuan Shang was overjoyed, "Then it's settled. Don't worry, Your Highness, I will take the initiative to send someone to deliver the monthly interest."

"Then I wish Mr. Yuan a great victory."

After Yuan Shang left, Liu Xuan asked Zhuge Liang:

"Kong Ming, Yuan Shang has obtained these supplies, and it is estimated that he will start a war against Cao Cao soon. Let's wait and see what happens."

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, "Although according to the direction of the battle we simulated, this battle is roughly the same, but after all, Cao Cao has a lot of talents under his command, we still have to pay more attention to it, and if necessary, we have to give Yuan Shang another hand."

"That's natural, but I don't think Yuan Shang is a kind person. We can help him, but we must not let him really rise, otherwise it will be troublesome to deal with it later."

"Don't worry, my lord, I will keep people paying attention to the war in the north and make further simulations in time."

Let us say that Yuan Shang returned to Jizhou and received a large number of weapons, armor and other war machines sent by Liu Xuan's fleet on the coast of Hejian County. He seemed very high-spirited and immediately reported to Yuan Shao, preparing to assemble an army to attack Cao Cao.

As for the cost of obtaining these supplies, Yuan Shang did not mention it to Yuan Shao at all.

Although the land of the three counties is used as a mortgage, the land is dead and will not move on its own. As long as Cao Cao is defeated and all the land of Yanzhou and Qingzhou is taken over, Liu Xuan will still have the strength to get back the principal. It’s hard to say.

Now, let Liu Xuan earn some interest money.

At the end of the autumn of 204 AD, Yuan Shaozhao informed Hebei and ordered Yuan Shang to be the successor of the Yuan family. At the same time, with Yuan Shang as the commander, he integrated Jizhou and merged the states. Youzhou had a total of 20 troops and launched another attack on Cao Cao.

Among them, one hundred thousand troops from Jizhou set out from Liyang to attack Yanzhou.

One hundred thousand soldiers and horses from Youzhou set off from the plains and headed straight to the hinterland of Qingzhou.

Cao Cao had already stationed all his troops and horses on the river line, and he personally led Yanzhou troops and horses to guard Baima.

Cao Ren was ordered to lead Qingzhou soldiers and horses to set up defenses along the coast to resist the Youzhou army.

For a moment, a terrifying battle broke out again along the river.

Since Yuan Shang experienced the pleasure of fighting with elite soldiers, he has paid more and more attention to the arming of head strength.

The newly arrived alloy steel armor was equipped on the most elite troops in Hebei. Together with the previous 5000 soldiers, the size of the armored battalion under Yuan Shang already reached [-] people.

Most of the arm crossbows, alloy steel shields, and steam engine chariots purchased this time were given to this armored battalion.

Relying on this powerful vanguard, Yuan's army was unstoppable and captured Baima within three days, and the army once again broke into Yanzhou.

Cao Cao had to send the most elite tiger and leopard cavalry to fight. Along with the tiger and leopard cavalry, there was also a heavy infantry of about 5000 people.

The armors of these five thousand heavy infantrymen were also alloy steel armors.

It turns out that Guo Jia planned to ambush Yuan Tan in Hulu Valley last time and burned all of Yuan Tan's [-] armored battalions to death in the valley.

After the war, Cao Jun stripped off all the alloy steel armor of eight thousand soldiers, except for more than 2000 sets of armor that were burned and deformed and could not be used.

Five thousand sets of undamaged alloy steel armor were actually assembled.

The officers and soldiers of Cao's army had seen the power of this kind of armor, and they would naturally reuse it.

So he followed suit and selected five thousand elite men to form a heavy infantry battalion.

The tiger and leopard cavalry plus the heavy infantry battalion were able to withstand Yuan Shang's [-] armored battalion without falling behind. (End of chapter)