Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

More importantly, whether Liu Bei could dominate Jiangdong has no real connection with the title of "Mr. Yangzhou".

Even if the imperial court refused to give the title of "Mr. Yangzhou" to Liu Bei, after Liu Bei actually controlled the entire Yangzhou, he could send other officials to serve as Mu of Yangzhou, but they would only be puppets in Liu Bei's hands.

Even someone else was nominally appointed as the "Mr. Yangzhou", which would give Li Ji an excuse to conquer all over Yangzhou and put the blame on the so-called "Mr. Yangzhou".

However, Chen Gong was also aware that his prediction was wrong. Even if he explained more at this time, Lu Bu would be even more unhappy given his personality.

Therefore, Chen Gong sighed secretly, then bowed his hands and admitted his fault. "I am not very talented and learned, and I never expected that the Marquis Guoshi would have such a brilliant plan. Please punish me, Marquis Wushuang."

"That's all..."

Lu Bu might be dissatisfied with Chen Gong, but he would not hold Chen Gong accountable for it. He just said something.

"But if you are not sure about something in the future, please don't say it, so as to avoid making a big mistake."

Chen Gong had a frozen face and said nothing more. He just bowed and stepped aside.

Just looking at Chen Gong's somewhat dejected expression, Zhang Liao, who was standing on the other side and ranked second only to Zhang Xiu in the row of generals, felt a little reluctant and wanted to say something to help Chen Gong.

But after raising his feet slightly, Zhang Liao still did not stand out from the crowd.

It was not that Zhang Liao was worried about being blamed by Lu Bu, but Zhang Liao knew better why Lu Bu had betrayed his master twice, so he was quite wary of and did not like the factions among his civil and military officials.

Even though Zhang Liao and Chen Gong had no personal relationship and were acting out of public interest, he still had to worry about being misunderstood by Lu Bu.

And at this moment, Chen Qun spoke with an elegant and calm expression.

"It is really difficult for Brother Gongtai to be like this, Wushuang Marquis. After all, Wu County is thousands of miles away, and the opponent is the most famous strategist in the world, Guoshi Marquis."

"Let alone Brother Gongtai, no one else would dare to say that they can predict the fate of the National Scholar without any mistakes."

These words, which fully demonstrated his impartiality and protected Chen Gong, undoubtedly made everyone present feel more favorable towards Chen Qun.

Only Chen Gong secretly glanced at Chen Qun with a hint of disgust in his eyes, knowing that Chen Qun's words were tantamount to adding insult to injury and adding fuel to the fire.

While Lu Bu was quite impressed and satisfied with Chen Qun's words, he also remembered some rumors and said.

"I heard that Liu Bei once brought Li Ji to Yingchuan to visit Chen? I wonder if Changwen has already met Liu Bei and Li Ji?"

"I dare not deceive Marquis Wushuang. I have indeed seen him." Chen Qun replied with a bow.

"Oh? What does Changwen think of Liu Bei and Li Ji? And they came to visit to seek support from the Yingchuan Chen family, so why didn't Changwen agree?" Lu Bu asked.

"Uncle Liu is a benevolent gentleman; Marquis Guoshi is also worthy of his reputation. Although we only met once and exchanged a few words, he knows everything about astronomy and geography, military deployment, and governance."

Chen Qun answered calmly, which made Chen Gong unable to help but glance at Chen Qun again. He felt that Chen Qun was really hypocritical.

With the connections of the Yingchuan Chen family, Chen Qun was naturally not an unknown person. On the contrary, Chen Qun was the most famous among all the talented people in Yingchuan.

But compared with the world-famous Li Ji, Chen Qun was just a man who had not yet entered officialdom and had only a nominal reputation.

What to ask, what to know...

It seems that he is praising Li Ji, but in fact he is subtly expressing that he is not inferior to Li Ji.

Unfortunately, compared with the counselors who could hide countless thoughts in just a few words, Lu Bu and the other generals present naturally could not hear the problem.

Chen Qun paused for a moment before continuing.

"Uncle Liu may be a benevolent ruler, but Marquis Wushuang is the white jade pillar that supports the Han Dynasty and the purple gold beam that protects the court."

"And my Yingchuan Chen family has been enjoying the Han Dynasty's salary for generations. Now that the Han Dynasty is in trouble, we should do our utmost to help Wushuang Hou to quell the chaos and support the Han Dynasty. How can we follow Uncle Liu and live in seclusion in a corner?"

This righteous flattery undoubtedly portrayed the Yingchuan Chen family as being wholeheartedly dedicated to the public, and it also flattered the naive Lu Bu to the point that he almost had a brain orgasm.

Before this, Lu Bu's life was a mess. He was either fighting with the Hu people in Bingzhou or suffering from Ding Yuan's suppression and empty promises.

After serving under Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu was often excluded by the generals of Xiliang. He had to be careful in his actions and had to flatter Dong Zhuo from time to time.

Even Lu Bu often had to personally escort Dong Zhuo in and out of the palace to kill time. How could he have enjoyed the high-end horses of Chen Qun, who was from a top aristocratic family?
"Good good!"

Lu Bu couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile on his face and said.

"This marquis will not forget the public spirit of Yingchuan Chen, and will go to the palace to report to Your Majesty on a certain day. If such a loyal and patriotic minister is not rewarded, how can the people be convinced?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Qun responded with an unperturbed attitude. The other generals present also looked at Chen Qun, who was good at handling affairs, with kind eyes.

Only Chen Gong's face looked extremely ugly, but he was helpless.

Compared with Chen Qun's good communication skills, Chen Gong was not good at socializing, and he could not say anything to flatter Lu Bu. However, Chen Gong also knew that Lu Bu's group needed the support of Yingchuan Chen family, and it was not only Yingchuan Chen family that could help Lu Bu quickly control the Sili area.

More importantly, with the huge influence of Yingchuan Chen family in Yanzhou, the resistance that Lu Bu will face in conquering Yanzhou in the future will be greatly reduced.

What worries Chen Gong is the situation in Yangzhou...

Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence, coupled with the help of state-owned marquises and a group of powerful generals, will undoubtedly make him a formidable enemy once he captures Yangzhou.

But when Lu Bu shifted the topic to other aspects, and even at the end of the meeting, Chen Gong, who had been deep in thought and remained silent, could not find a way to further restrain Liu Bei for a long time.

The only way to delay and hinder Liu Bei's outward expansion is to place hope on Yuan Shu, Liu Biao and Tao Qian.

Especially when thinking about the relationship between Liu Biao, Tao Qian and Liu Bei, which made it difficult for Liu Bei to attack, it seemed that the only choice was Yuan Shu, which made Chen Gong feel a lot more at ease.

With the Yuan family's foundation and influence in the Central Plains, they are by no means an easy opponent to deal with. It would be best if both sides could fight to the death and suffer losses on both sides.

As long as Yuan Shu could completely control the two large population groups of Nanyang County and Ruyang County, the population under Yuan Shu's rule in just these two counties would be enough to be comparable to the entire Yangzhou.

(PS: Nanyang County and Runan County are the largest counties in the world in terms of population, except for Wu County. The population of both counties can easily exceed two million. If you add up some illegal households, the population of the two counties must be five million.)
What Chen Gong didn't know was that Yuan Shu, whom he had high hopes for, had learned the news about the "Anti-Wu Alliance" but did not take it seriously at all.

In Yuan Shu's eyes:
Jiangdong family?

What kind of stinky fish and rotten shrimp is that?
Liu Bei?

He was just a nouveau riche who got lucky temporarily.

Yuan Shu did not care about the news about the "Anti-Wu Alliance" at all. After Yuan Shu returned to Nanyang County, he did not rush to Runan County to take office. Instead, he frantically sent a large number of spies to the vicinity of Xiangyang to find the whereabouts of the imperial seal.

The imperial seal, the most valuable national treasure, was the focus of Yuan Shu's attention.

Yuan Shao, who had already returned to Bohai County at this time, attached great importance to the death of Sun Jian and the news of the anti-Wu alliance.

But Yuan Shao, who was far away on the north bank of the Yellow River, was unable to do anything about it. Instead, he secretly despised the incompetence and meanness of the Jiangdong family.

Not to mention that the emergence of the anti-Wu alliance was not only a provocation to Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance, but also revealed a narrow-minded and ignorant attitude.

Even if Yuan Shao sometimes wanted to secretly hold Liu Bei back, he had to do it secretly to avoid giving others a chance to talk about him.

As a result, the Jiangdong noble families were fine. They openly formed the "Anti-Wu Alliance" and showed a firm attitude of standing by the thief Dong. Even if Yuan Shao wanted to make things difficult for Liu Bei in this matter, he didn't know how to express it.

In addition, Yuan Shao was even more wary of Li Ji, who was rumored to have planned to destroy the anti-Wu coalition forces thousands of miles away. He also sent a lot of people to Jingzhou to try to confirm or find the whereabouts of the imperial seal.

However, after Yuan Shao returned to Jizhou, he discovered that the situation in Jizhou seemed to have been severely dug by Chen Gong.

Originally, Yuan Shao was about to completely subdue Han Fu, the former governor of Jizhou, by relying on the prestige of the Yuan family.

Therefore, what Yuan Shao wanted was naturally to control Bingzhou in the name of Bingzhou Mu, and at the same time control the entire Jizhou through Han Fu.

In this way, Bing and Ji states were connected, and for Yuan Shao, there was no shortage of land for raising horses and producing grain, and the foundation for dominating the world was laid.

However, after Han Fu was promoted to the post of Jizhou Mu, his series of actions after returning to Jizhou clearly showed that Han Fu, who had originally been obedient to Yuan Shao, had begun to have other ideas.

Moreover, Gongsun Zan actually sent people to the Bohai government office to take over Bohai in the name of Bohai County Magistrate.

In Yuan Shao's view, Gongsun Zan was simply ungrateful and did not take himself, the leader of the alliance, seriously at all. Yuan Shao was so angry that he secretly arranged for people to kill all the people sent by Gongsun Zan.

It was not until later that Yuan Shao discovered that the person sent by Gongsun Zan was actually his own cousin Gongsun Yue.

This made Yuan Shao, who had only given Gongsun Zan a warning, deeply regretful, and the relationship between the two sides deteriorated to the extreme. Han Fu even took the opportunity to contact Gongsun Zan.

At this point, the situation in the entire Jizhou had undoubtedly become extremely complicated, forcing Yuan Shao to devote most of his energy to it.

For a time, after the anti-Dong coalition forces dispersed, the conflicts in various places undoubtedly became increasingly acute, and there was a feeling that a war was about to break out.

And now Cao Cao is also leading his troops to stay in Yingchuan County.

As news came in from all sides, Cao Cao couldn't help but reveal an ecstatic smile on his face, and spoke to a handsome man sitting below him, who was elegant and graceful with extraordinary grace.

"Wen Ruo is truly a rare genius who is no less talented than the national scholar!"

"Xu Ziyuan really persuaded Yuan Benchu ​​to kill Gongsun Zan's envoy. Now Yuan Benchu ​​and Gongsun Zan have become enemies. In addition, Wen Ruo secretly sent someone to persuade Han Fu."

"Yuan Benchu, who was originally full of vigor and pride and claimed that he could control the two states of Ji and Bing with a single order, is probably having trouble sleeping and eating, and can't care about us for the time being."

Upon hearing this, Xun Yu, whose appearance was as beautiful as jade, bowed slightly to show his humility and said.

"Compared with the national scholar, Yu is still far behind. But now is the great opportunity for my lord, and we must not miss it!" (End of this chapter)