The Three Kingdoms Fight for the Deer

Chapter 101 Return to Discussion
After traveling for more than half a month, Li Yuan finally returned to Xiapi. He asked people to arrange the residence of Xiao Qiao and Qiao Guolao, and then summoned Xi Zhicai and others to come to the Governor's Mansion to discuss matters.

"Everyone, although it took some time to go to Danyang this time, I finally succeeded in forming an alliance with Sun Ce." When Li Yuan broke the news, everyone was very excited.

Xi Zhicai and Cheng Yu were much calmer. They knew that it would not be difficult for Li Yuan to join forces with Sun Ce in person. The real difficulty was whether Sun Ce really had the strength to calm Jiangdong.

"My lord, Cao Cao has been attacking Qingzhou and other places recently with successive victories. He didn't stop attacking until he met Liu Bei. Do we need to step in?" Cheng Yu said, clasping his fists.

"How did Cao Cao meet Liu Bei? Could it be that Cao Cao has already started to attack Beihai, and Kong Rong asked Liu Bei for help?"

"My lord, that's exactly the case. Kong Rong was afraid of Cao Cao's sharpness, so he had to ask Liu Bei for help. Although Liu Bei didn't have many soldiers and horses, his sworn brother Guan Zhang was extremely brave. He defeated Xiahou Dun in the first battle, killing him ten times in a row. Doli, Cao Cao stopped the defeat when he arrived, but even if Cao Cao personally took command, he would not be able to gain any advantage." Cheng Yu reported to Li Yuan the situation of Cao Cao's recent battle against Liu Bei.

"In terms of strength, Cao Cao is slightly better. Because he didn't know the bravery of Guan Zhang, he suffered a big loss. If he knew Liu Bei's rescue in advance, it would be Liu Bei who suffered the loss." Li Yuan knew that although Guan Zhang was brave, Liu Bei's subordinates did not A wise man, as long as time goes by, Liu Bei will definitely lose to Cao Cao.

Xi Zhicai stood up, "However, Cao Cao and Liu Bei have not yet decided the winner. Chen Liu's Zhang Miao and Chen Gong joined forces with Lv Bu to rebel. When Cao Cao found out, he led the army back and left Xia Houyuan behind to prevent Liu Bei from pursuing."

Xi Zhicai and Cheng Yu had great admiration for Li Yuan. They had already predicted the rebellion of Chen Gong and others two months ago.

"My lord, since Cao Cao is in a hurry to go back to quell the rebellion and leave Xiahouyuan as the empress, I think I can ambush him on the way." Xi Zhicai wanted to set up Xiahouyuan in Dongping. It must be very hasty, and it is very easy to fall.

Li Yuan thought about it carefully, and finally denied Xi Zhicai's idea, "I will ignore Cao Cao for now. I have an agreement with Sun Ce to send troops from Shouchun to attack Lujiang, and take the opportunity to defeat Yuan Shu in one fell swoop."

"My lord wants to attack Yuan Shu, is there something wrong? As far as I know, Lujiang's army strength should be more than [-], and it is not easy to attack." Mi Zhu said after a long silence. Since he surrendered to Li Yuan, he has been helping Xi Zhi He only collected information everywhere, so he knew the strength of Lujiang well.

"Zizhong is right." Cheng Yu also felt that the attack on Lujiang was a bit hasty.

"You misunderstood, we don't need to attack the Lujiang River by force, but cooperate with Sun Ce internally and externally." Li Yuan said the plan discussed with Sun Ce, "I just need to send troops from Xiapi, Runan, Qiao and Guangling to Shouchun. Threatening the Lujiang River with an army of tens of thousands forced Yuan Shu to send troops to confront me head-on. At this time, the defense in the city will be relaxed, and Sun Ce will have a chance to deal with Yuan Shu. No matter how bad it is, he can set fire to the city and cause chaos in the city, and cooperate with us to attack the city."

"If this is the case, then attacking Lujiang is not as difficult as imagined. The most important thing is that Sun Ce can successfully kill Yuan Shu, so that the Yuan army will have no leader, and Lujiang will be destroyed without attack." Xi Zhicai saw at a glance that the breakthrough lies in Sun Ce, Instead of their tens of thousands of troops, Yuan Shu can stand up to thousands of troops when he dies.

"Zhongde, help me draft the documents, and then send fast horses to Runan, Qiao and Guangling, and let the prefects dispatch troops and horses to Shouchun to stand by." Li Yuan ordered.

"It's my lord." After getting the order, Zhong De went to prepare the documents.

Li Yuan suddenly remembered something and asked: "Zhicai, when I was on a boat in Jiangxia, I met a man who is proficient in the art of naval warfare. With his help, we can form a naval army. Make preparations in advance to attack Jiangdong in the future."

"Who is the name of the person my lord mentioned?"

"Gan Ning, Gan Xingba, he was a water thief in the Jingzhou waterway, known as the Jinfan thief. I meant to recruit him, but he rejected me and chose to join Liu Biao, but with Liu Biao's personality, it is impossible to reuse someone who was born as a water thief. , so I expected that he would come to Xiapi to look for me." Li Yuan briefly described the situation at that time.

"It would be great if we can form a navy. After the Lujiang River is conquered, we can build a navy around the Lujiang River, and let Gan Ning lead the training."

Xi Zhicai also agrees with Li Yuan's opinion, and training a navy is not as easy as imagined. It is not enough to build a few boats and launch them into the water to become a navy. People born and bred on the riverside, people in these places are relatively good at water, and they are used to taking boats. If you are a native of the north, not to mention being familiar with water, you will feel dizzy and vomit even when you take a boat, and you will fall down before you go into battle.

"Junior brother, how many cavalry do you have?" Li Yuan asked Zhao Yun.

"Three thousand and 650 people." Zhao Yun answered with cupped hands.

Since the last attack on Xiapi and lost part of the cavalry, there has been no replenishment, not because there are no soldiers, but because there are no horses. Only Liangzhou and Bingzhou produce good horses in the thirteen prefectures in the world. It was presented by Gongsun Zan and Ma Teng in Niannian. After several years of fighting, there are more than 3000 soldiers left, which is considered very good.

"Zizhong, I wonder if you can go to Bingzhou to buy some good horses?" Li Yuan knew the importance of cavalry, so he now tried to find ways to replenish cavalry for Zhao Yun, so he asked Mi Zhu, who was best at buying and selling.

Mi Zhu replied: "My lord, I'm afraid it's difficult to buy horses. Now Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are fighting, and there is also war between Yanzhou and Qingzhou, which is not conducive to long-distance transportation."

Li Yuan felt the same way. At this time, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao were having a great time fighting. It was time when he needed soldiers and horses. There was no time for him to buy horses. In addition, the distance was far away, which was not conducive to transportation to Xuzhou, so he was about to give up. When thinking about this, Li Yuan suddenly had an idea and said, "If you go by water, do you think it is possible?"

"How to go by water?" Mi Zhu asked doubtfully.

"I can take a boat from Guangling Jiangdu Port to Liaodong. Liaodong is also a place where horses are produced. If this road works, it can also transport horses to Xuzhou." Li Yuan knew that the waterway could go this way, but at this moment it might not be possible. Not developed.

Mi Zhu shook his head, "I haven't heard of this waterway, if it can be used, it will certainly be able to transport horses."

"After I capture the Lujiang River, let the man-made ships go to investigate." Li Yuan decided to make plans after capturing the Lujiang River. After all, the shipbuilding industry in Lujiang River is very developed, and the ships built here are well-known.

(End of this chapter)