Great Han Empire

Chapter 678
Li Hong smiled wryly.Gongsun Zan sent troops at this time, and the timing was very good. After Jizhou was hit by this attack, he was immediately caught in a dilemma. Should he go north to attack Gongsun Zan or go south to occupy Yanzhou?
Jizhou at the moment is actually very chaotic.In the north, there are people who have moved back to Jizhou from various border counties in northern Xinjiang, and in the south, there are refugees from Yanzhou and Qingzhou, and more and more people are pouring into Jizhou.While the prefectures of Jizhou were busy with resettling the relocated people and refugees, they were also busy with autumn harvest and autumn planting. At the same time, they also had to provide relief to the victims and prevent the spread of the plague. Therefore, officials at all levels were very busy.For them, what Jizhou needs most now is stability, not rekindling the flames of war.

Considering the safety of Jizhou, many officials in the three governments tended to shake hands with Youzhou to make peace.

Gongsun Zan chose this time to launch the attack, obviously after deliberation. With his current strength, he could not defeat the Northern Border Army, and his real purpose might still be for money and food.

Although there was a truce between Jizhou and Youzhou, Liu Yu refused to obey the imperial order and hand over the military affairs of Youzhou to Li Hong, so the two sides were still in a state of confrontation. In this case, of course Li Hong would not allocate money and food to Youzhou.Youzhou has not received support from Jizhou for four consecutive years, and its embarrassment can be imagined.Youzhou was short of money and food, and Gongsun Zan had to expand his army to prepare for war in order to resist the attack of the northern army.How many days can Youzhou survive on the little money that Gongsun Zan plundered back from Jizhou?

After Gongsun Zan beat him like this, Youzhou became more difficult and dangerous.In desperation, Liu Yu had only one choice, to come forward again to negotiate peace with Jizhou, obey the imperial court's will, admit the fact that Li Hong supervised six prefectures and four counties, and hand over Youzhou under Li Hong's control in exchange for Youzhou's much-needed peace. food and security.

Sima Lang of the Great Sima Mansion even believed that Liu Yu had instigated Gongsun Zan's attack.Sima Lang said with great regret that the rear is unstable, and it is difficult for us to occupy Yanzhou.At this moment, it is still best to concentrate on occupying Youzhou, and stabilize the three states of Hebei first.

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Sima Lang's words were refuted by Liu Fang and Liu Fan. Both of them used to be Liu Yu's subordinates, and they respected Liu Yu very much. They thought that Sima Lang didn't understand Master Taifu at all, and it was pure nonsense.

"Master Tai Tu will never do such a thing." Liu Fan said excitedly, "Under the governance of Master Tai Tu in the past few years, Youzhou can barely be self-sufficient, and he does not need Jizhou's money and food support. , can you see the refugees who escaped from Youzhou? This is the merit of Master Taifu."

"Taking a step back, even if Youzhou needs money and food support, with the relationship between the General and the Taifu, as long as the Taifu asks, the General will not agree? He will definitely send the money and food to Youzhou without hesitation. "Liu Fan waved his hand and said, "The reason why Gongsun Zan wants to attack Jizhou with all his might this time is very simple. He wants to use the safety of Youzhou to force Master Taifu to ask for money and food from the General, and to force Master Taifu to agree to his army expansion so that he can quickly Restore your strength."

"After Gongsun Zan was defeated and returned to Youzhou this time, his strength dropped sharply. He wanted to recruit soldiers from Zhuojun to supplement the army, but Lord Taifu resolutely refused. In Lord Taifu's view, the fewer Youzhou troops, the more powerful Youzhou will be." Safety. Gongsun Zan is not strong enough, so Master Taifu can control him. If Master Taifu controls Gongsun Zan, Youzhou and Jizhou will live in peace, and the general will have no reason to go north to attack Youzhou, but Gongsun Zan is unwilling. The heart of a villain measures the heart of a gentleman, he was worried that the Grand Tutor would betray him and kill him, so he tried every means to break free from the control of the Grand Tutor, to restore his strength, and to occupy Youzhou."

Liu Fan, Liu Fang and others believed that if the Northern Xinjiang Army took the opportunity to send troops to attack Youzhou, they would fall into Gongsun Zan's trick.In order to keep Youzhou, Liu Yu had no choice but to agree to Gongsun Zan's rapid military expansion. This is not conducive to the stability of Jizhou and Youzhou. The best way is to take the initiative to negotiate a peace with Master Taifu and wait for the opportunity to completely solve Gongsun Zan. uprooted the scourge.

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"I think it's too late." Tian Chou sighed, "Master Taifu knew that after Gongsun Zan sent troops again, in order to prevent the northern army from taking the opportunity to invade Youzhou, he must have recruited all the [-] field soldiers in Zhuojun. The sudden increase of [-] troops in Youzhou means that there must be a shortage of money and food, so Master Taifu must get money and food from Jizhou."

"Master Taifu is very clear that if Youzhou wants to get Jizhou's money and food, there are only two ways. One is that Youzhou is weak and poses no threat to Jizhou, and the other is that Youzhou is powerful and poses a great threat to Jizhou. Now Gongsun Zan has angered us Now, the only way for Youzhou to get money and food is to rapidly expand its army and increase its strength. In other words, Gongsun Zan's plan has succeeded."

"Now is the autumn harvest and autumn planting season in October. It is a good time to go south to plunder. If the Youzhou army swarms down, the losses in Jizhou will be very staggering. If we want to avoid the huge losses caused to Jizhou by the war between the two sides, then Only take the initiative to negotiate peace with Master Tai Tuo, and take the initiative to promise to give them money and food. After a period of stalemate between the two sides, winter has come, so they can only strike. When tomorrow spring, their strength will be stronger. If we want to occupy Youzhou, we will It's getting harder."

Therefore, Tian Chou suggested that, starting from the overall situation of quickly stabilizing Jizhou, this year's battle should not be fought anyway, and it is better to immediately send people to Youzhou to discuss peace with Master Taifu.

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Li Hong and Zhu Mu looked at each other and sighed.

Today's predicament is more or less related to the fact that Li Hong led the Northern Expeditionary Army to Youzhou to suppress the rebellion.When the Northern Expeditionary Army arrived in Youzhou, the first battle was to defeat the rebels in Jicheng.At that time, there were [-] rebel prisoners. After discussing with each other, Liu Yu and Li Hong personally took them to Zhuojun to garrison fields.Soon, after Gongsun Zan's army captured Feiru City in Liaoxi County, tens of thousands of rebels were captured, and these prisoners were also sent to Zhuojun to farm.Later, Liu Yu rebuilt the [-] frontier army in Youzhou, and its main source of troops was these soldiers.

"If I had known what happened today, it would have been better to take these Yellow Turban captives to northern Xinjiang to farm fields." Zhu Mu complained in a low voice.

"That's impossible." Li Hong shook his head and said, "Master Taifu first proposed to let the rebels capture the fields. At that time, Lord Taifu thought that letting these rebels capture the fields would not only solve the military rations of the Youzhou frontier army. It can also solve the problem of the source of troops in Youzhou." Then he showed anger on his face, and said bitterly, "In my opinion, the reason for today's situation is ultimately Yuan Shao's damn 'reconstruction of the imperial lineage'. ' Discussion. If Master Tai Tuo hadn't been described by him as some kind of 'true dragon emperor', why would we have to fight against Master Tai Tuo today? The three states in Hebei have long been stable."

Zhu Mu looked at Li Hong, knowing that he could not be cruel enough to use troops against the Grand Tutor, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"Lord Xun, what advice does the Princess's Mansion have on this?" Zhu Mu asked, seeing that Xun You had been silent, clasping his hands.

Recently, the eldest princess and all the elders have been busy inviting famous Confucian scholars from all over the country, repairing the Handan University Hall, and discussing reform strategies, and rarely participated in the collegial meeting of the three prefectures.Especially in the past few days, many famous scholars who gathered in Handan started an all-night "clear discussion" in the Handan University Hall. ", the problem of scale in the application of national policies.In the land clearing in Jizhou this time, there is obviously the suspicion of abusing the criminal law.Therefore, many scholars questioned and sharply criticized the "severe punishment" in the New Deal. The most severe criticism was Master Xiangkai who deliberately rushed back to Handan to participate in the "clear discussion".Master Xiangkai believes in Huang and Lao's learning, and admires the "quiet and inaction" way of governing the country. It is normal to have criticisms about this.

The eldest princess and the elders were too busy, so they handed over the daily affairs of the mansion to Xun You, Sima Zhi, and Zhang Fan, who had less seniority.

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Although Xun You has been famous for a long time, he is humble and kind, without the airs of a celebrity, nor the arrogance of a son of a noble family, and gets along very well with his superiors and subordinates.

Seeing Zhu Mu's inquiry, he smiled and said slowly: "The stability and development of Jizhou is the foundation of revitalizing the country, and all our strategies must be designed for this purpose. Therefore, our first priority is to take down Youzhou. State, completely control the land of the three states in Hebei. Only with a solid foundation can we develop. The reason is very simple, but development takes time, so the second thing we have to do is to use all means to attack and weaken the forces of all parties , to prepare for the pacification of the world in the future. We are strong, but if others are also strong, when will we be able to pacify the world? This reason is also very simple."

"It seems that it is very difficult to win Youzhou at present." Xun You continued, "I think the suggestions of your lords are very reasonable. The initiative to propose a peace is the best strategy at present, but the peace is not the goal, but our occupation of Youzhou means. The purpose of the peace negotiation is only one, and that is to occupy Youzhou, so we attack Gongsun Zan while negotiating peace. If you beat him, if you don’t insist on beating him, how long will this matter be delayed? If Youzhou is not captured, Jizhou will not be stable, and we will be powerless to pacify the world. The greater the difficulty, the more we must fight.”

"Gongsun Zan's strength is limited. When he hit us, it was just a bluff. When we beat him, he couldn't take it anymore. We asked General Quyi to lead a large army. We defeated Longguo, entered Zhuojun, and continued to fight until the next day. Until the snow. We have no money and food for Youzhou, and we will not give Youzhou any breathing time. The country is about to fall, and what we lack is time. We don’t even have time to breathe. Why should we give the enemy time to breathe? Resolutely fight Enter Youzhou."

Li Hong and all the officials looked at the impassioned Xun You with serious expressions.

"Winter is coming soon, and the time left for the army to attack Youzhou is too short. Therefore, negotiating peace with Liu Yu is the most important thing in the whole winter. Spring is here. If Liu Yu can't contribute to the revitalization of the country, Then we will directly occupy Youzhou."

"This winter, there is no war in Youzhou, so where should the main force of our army be?" Xun You stood up, walked to the map in a leisurely manner, pointed to the Yellow River across the Central Plains, and said, "It should be on the north bank of the Yellow River."

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Xun You then carefully analyzed the situation in Qingzhou and Yanzhou and the strengths and weaknesses of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, the Yellow Turban Army and other forces.

If we cross the river and go down to Yanzhou, there will only be one result, that is, Yuan Shao will unite with all other forces to attack us, and our situation will be very difficult, and it is very likely that we will be attacked by the enemy and fight on two fronts.It is precisely because of this concern that your lords strongly advocated giving up going south just now.

But the problem is that what we see, others will also see, and what we think, others will also think.If Yuan Shao and other forces overcome various difficulties and join hands to fight Jizhou when we fight Youzhou this year and next year, we will be very dangerous.Therefore, we must firmly control the situation in Yanzhou and minimize this danger.

There are many ways to control the situation in Yanzhou, such as using methods such as alienation, division, bribery, and lure to make the various forces involved in Yanzhou and the officials of the counties in Yanzhou suspect and kill each other, conquer each other, and attack and weaken them as much as possible. In a word, as long as Yanzhou and even the entire Central Plains are in chaos, the flames of war are billowing, and even the blood is red, we will win.Not only can we gain enough time to occupy Youzhou to stabilize Hebei, but we can also develop Hebei's strength, calm the world at the fastest speed, and revive the country.

To achieve this goal, it takes time and the right timing.We have that moment now.

When we fight Youzhou this year, we can help Cao Cao fight Yuan Shu.Yuan Shao wanted to drive away the wolves and let the tigers and wolves fight each other, but the tiger is too weak at the moment, we have to help a group of this tiger, and wound Yuan Shu, the wolf, so that his eyes are full of golden flowers.

In winter, after the Yellow River freezes, tigers and wolves are all scarred, so our second chance will come, and we will send troops to occupy all the counties and counties on the north bank of the Yellow River, including the northern part of Qingzhou Plain County and the northern part of Yanzhou East County. .

We occupy the north bank of the Yellow River for only one purpose, and that is to protect Jizhou.

Occupying the north bank of the Yellow River, we can prevent the Yellow Turban Army and refugees from crossing the river, and we can also quickly fight from these places to the south bank of the Yellow River.As long as we stand on this land, we will be a huge threat to the enemies on the south bank of the Yellow River.In the future, if Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Tian Kai and others go north to attack Jizhou, this is the frontier battlefield to prevent them from attacking Jizhou. No matter how they burn, kill, or rob, it has nothing to do with Jizhou.At the same time, because of the existence of this buffer zone, we can win time to counterattack. Even if we can't beat them, we can buy enough time to retreat calmly and minimize losses.

This piece of land is very important to the development of Hebei, just like General Xu Rong's defense of Kansai, it is directly related to our life and death.

When next spring, when we are going to attack Youzhou with all our strength, will we send Jin Shang, the governor of Yanzhou, to Yanzhou to start the war in Yanzhou again?And General Xu Rong in Kansai, should he also stretch his muscles?
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(End of this chapter)