Great Han Empire

Chapter 699
At the end of February, Fengji returned to Luoyang.

"Does Gonglu agree to attack Xuzhou after the spring?" Yuan Shao asked, "This is his best chance to occupy Xuzhou."

Feng Ji looked troubled and hesitated.

"He doesn't agree?" Yuan Shao frowned, and said dissatisfiedly, "You didn't explain the powerful relationship to him clearly? Once Li Hong occupies the Central Plains, his power will increase greatly, and not only Cao Cao will die, but we will also die. So He can't see the simple situation? Does he have to force me to drive him to Jiangdong?"

"My lord, the situation in Yangzhou has changed a lot." Feng Ji said hesitantly, "Yuan Shu is going to war with Liu Yao recently."

"Liu Yao?" Yuan Shao said slightly surprised, "Liu Yao wants to fight Yuan Shu? Why?"

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After the death of Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, Yuan Shao appointed Yuan Yi as the successor of the governor of Yangzhou, but Yuan Shu killed Yuan Yi immediately, and then he appointed his subordinate Chen Yu as the governor of Yangzhou. Go, take Yangzhou on your own behalf.Yuan Shao was furious because of this, and wished to kill Yuan Shu, but after all, the two are half brothers, so it is not good to go too far.So he instructed Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, to play the role of the emperor, and asked the emperor to send another minister to Yangzhou to succeed the governor. First, he could control Yangzhou, and second, he could limit the development of Yuan Shu's strength.

According to Yuan Shao's intention, Liu Biao recommended Yilang Liu Yao as the governor of Yangzhou in the memorial.Liu Yao is the younger brother of Liu Dai, the former Yanzhou shepherd, and has an extraordinary relationship with Yuan Shao.The court of Chang'an agreed to Liu Biao's recommendation in view of the lessons learned from Yanzhou governor Jin Shang being driven out of Yanzhou.From the perspective of the Chang'an court, Liu Yao could completely control Yangzhou with the support of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. At the same time, with Liu Yao's loyalty to the court, the court could also control Yangzhou and receive taxes from Yangzhou through him.

Liu Yao took the festival and carried the decree, went out of Wuguan to Xiangyang, and first visited Liu Biao.Liu Biao explained the situation in Yangzhou to him in detail.Now Yuan Shu has occupied Jiujiang County, and Liyang City in Jiujiang County, the governor of Yangzhou Governor's Department, is also under Yuan Shu's control. If you go directly to Jiujiang County to take office, you will definitely conflict with Yuan Shu, and your life is in danger.Liu Biao suggested that Liu Yao go down the Yangtze River and move the government office to Qu'a City in Wu County.In this way, Yuan Shu can be avoided, and the four Jiangdong counties in Yangzhou can be completely controlled.

At this time, Yuan Shao also sent a letter to Liu Yao. He also wanted Liu Yao to go to Jiangdong and control the four counties in Jiangdong.

Liu Yao followed the advice of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, took a boat down to Qu'a in Wujun with his entourage and subordinates, and rebuilt the Yangzhou Governor's Department.

Wu Jing, the prefect of Danyang, Wang Lang, the prefect of Kuaiji County, Lu Kang, the prefect of Lujiang County and other Jiangdong officials rushed to Qu'a to meet Liu Yao, expressing their respect for the current emperor and resolutely obeying Liu Yao's orders.

Yuan Shu was furious after hearing the news, but Liu Yao held the order and he was not good at making public conquests, so he had to vent his anger on the officials of Yangzhou.Since you betrayed me, I will beat you.The first to suffer was Lujiang County, located north of the Yangtze River and adjacent to Jiujiang County.Yuan Shu asked Lu Kang for money and food on the pretext of helping Tao Qian fight Cao Cao.Lu Kang refused.You are not the governor of Yangzhou, why should you dictate to me.Yuan Shu immediately sent troops to attack and occupied Lujiang County.

Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, couldn't bear to face Yuan Shu's beating like this. He immediately sent troops to drive away Danyang prefect Wu Jing.

Wu Jing is Sun Jian's wife-in-law, and he, the prefect of Danyang, was appointed by Yuan Shu.Last year, when Tao Qian counterattacked Cao Cao, Zhou Xin, the prefect of Danyang, ignored Yuan Shu's obstruction and sent troops to help, which offended Yuan Shu.As a result, the two resolved their enmity, and the contradictions became more and more serious. Later, Yuan Shu, in a rage, sent Wu Jing and Sun Ben to lead the army across the river, drove away Zhou Xin, and occupied Danyang.

Although Wu Jing's attack on Danyang was ordered by Yuan Shu, starting a war for no reason, driving out the court officials, and occupying counties without authorization is a heinous crime of treason according to the law of the Han Dynasty.It was based on this that Liu Yao led his army to attack Wu Jing.He became famous as a teacher, and soon defeated Wu Jing and Sun Ben.Wu Jing and Sun Ben withdrew from Liyang and confronted Liu Yao.

Liu Yao ordered his generals Fan Neng and Yu Mi to garrison Hengjiang, and Zhang Ying to garrison Likou to guard against Yuan Shu's attack.Yuan Shu appointed his subordinate Hui Qu as the governor of Yangzhou, Wu Jing as the governor of the army, and ordered Sun Ce, the lieutenant of Zhechong, and Sun Ben, the lieutenant of Danyang, to lead Sun Jian's old troops to Liyang and prepare to attack Liu Yao.

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"What can this bastard Yuan Shu do?" After listening to Feng Ji's narration, Yuan Shao was so angry that he slapped his palm on the case table and cursed loudly, "Wherever this bastard goes, he will fly like a dog. How could the Yuan family come out?" Such a loser?"

"Gaolu said that the Central Plains will belong to Li Hong sooner or later, and he will go to Jiangdong." Feng Ji looked at Yuan Shao who was furious, and whispered, "He has a deep prejudice against adults, and he doesn't want to make peace with adults. A letter to him..."

"How?" Yuan Shao asked angrily, "Did he burn?"

Feng Ji nodded, "Gaolu kept insulting the adults, and the insults were very ugly."

Yuan Shao's face was ashen, trembling all over, "This bastard, if it wasn't for my brother, I would have killed him a long time ago."

"My lord, in my opinion, it's better to send troops to drive him to Jiangdong." Feng Ji persuaded, "Leaving him in Jiujiang County will pose a great threat to us."

Yuan Shao immediately summoned Jushou, Tian Feng, Shenpei, Xu You, Guo Tu and others to discuss whether they should choose an opportunity to attack Yuan Shu, and several major subordinates unanimously expressed their opposition.

"Your Excellency, let the elders of the Yuan Clan go to Yangzhou in person." Ju Shou persuaded, "In order to successfully occupy Guanzhong, we must drag the Northern Xinjiang Army into Yanzhou, but in order to calm the world in the future, we must The Northern Frontier Army drove out of Yanzhou, so now Yuan Shu is very important to us. My lord should write another letter to persuade me. My lord should be very clear about who Yuan Shu is, and I believe he will make the right choice."

Tian Feng, Shen Pei and others also tried to dissuade him.

Yuan Shaoyu was still angry and insisted on solving Yuan Shu's serious trouble in a short time.If he allowed it to develop, his hegemony might be ruined by this bastard who caused trouble, and the Yuan family would also be ruined by this bastard sooner or later.

Just when Jushou and others tried to persuade him, a secret letter sent from Guanzhong made Yuan Shao dispel the idea of ​​attacking and killing Yuan Shu immediately.

With the unremitting efforts of some ministers of the Chang'an court, Dong Zhuo's old department finally had internal strife. Li Jue killed Fan Chou, and the chaos in Guanzhong began to appear.

Yuan Shao was overjoyed, and immediately ordered to prepare to enter King Qin of Guan.

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A few days later, Jushou, Tian Feng and others came up with a detailed strategy for capturing Guanzhong.

At present, there are 1 troops of Chun Yuqiong and Zhu Ling on the Kansai battlefield, 2 troops of Zhang Yang and Han Hao in Hanoi, more than [-] troops stationed in Luoyang and the Eighth Pass of Gyeonggi, and Yuan Wei and Gao Gan in Yuzhou Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Pan Feng in Nanyang also have about [-] troops.

After two years of military expansion, Yuan Shao's ministries now have more than 7 troops.

According to Jushou's arrangement, the army on the Kansai battlefield will launch an attack on Xin'an and Mianchi after the main force of the army enters the pass to contain Xu Rong's army.Zhang Yang in Hebei will lead his army to move towards Jizhou around March, making the illusion of restraining the main force of the northern Xinjiang army from crossing the south of the river.

Yuan Wei, governor of Yuzhou, Gao Gan of Chen Guoxiang, Yuan Zhong of Pei Guoxiang, and Gao Rou of Liang Guoxiang led an army of [-] to attack Chenliu and Shanyang in Yanzhou in early March, attacking Lu Bu's back, and forming an east-west pincer attack with Cao Cao. Potential.If the army can drive Lv Bu to the bank of the Yellow River between mid-March and early April, then we will have enough advantage to start a fierce battle with the northern border army going south in every city, and fight for the main force that captured Guanzhong. enough time.

"Tian Kai from Qingzhou has given us an accurate answer. He will use various excuses to delay entering the Yanzhou battlefield." Ju Shou pointed to the map and said, "What we are most worried about now is Liu Bei in Xuzhou. According to the information we have received, Liu Bei Immediately after Tao Qian died of illness, he began to expand the army, and the number of troops has reached more than 1. If these 1 people attack from behind Cao Cao, the situation in Yanzhou will inevitably be reversed. Therefore, when Yuan Shu's army attacks Xuzhou, it will directly affect Yanzhou. The development of the battle situation."

"Don't worry, Yuan Shu will definitely fight Xuzhou this time." Yuan Shao said confidently, "Compared to the four Jiangdong counties, Xuzhou is too attractive to him. If Yuan Shu takes the opportunity to occupy Xuzhou, and he now controls With Jiujiang County and Lujiang County in hand, he has seven counties, and his strength has doubled immediately. What choice do you think he will make? As long as I give him food and grass, he will fight faster than anyone else."

Ju Shou and everyone looked at each other and smiled.

"In order to attract the main forces of the northern Xinjiang army to go south, Yuan Wei's Yuzhou army will claim to have 3 troops. In addition, we also dispatched an army stationed in Luoyang to leave the tiger prison under the banner of an adult and go straight to Chen Liu. This bluff I think 3000 troops are enough."

Ju Shou then frowned, and continued: "The troops attacking Guanzhong are mainly Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi from Nanyang, and Xin Pi and Xu Qi from Yuzhou. There are a total of [-] troops. This number is obviously too small. We must get help from Jingzhou."

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Under the meticulous management of Liu Biao in the past two years, Jingzhou has developed rapidly, and the army has also expanded to 5 people.The rapid expansion of Liu Biao's strength was entirely due to the stability of Jingzhou.Although there were several small-scale rebellions in Jingzhou one after another, the scope of the war was relatively small, and Jingzhou's vitality was not hurt.In addition, due to the large number of refugees moving south, the population of Jingzhou not only did not decrease, but increased rapidly.With a larger population and more young and strong men, it will be easy to increase the number of troops.

Liu Biao was very willing and actively asked to go north to Qin Wang, but he was held back by Liu Zhang in Yizhou this time.

In order to gather enough troops to seize Guanzhong, Yuan Shao has urgently written to Liu Biao, asking him to negotiate peace with Liu Zhang temporarily.Let's talk first, then send more gifts, if it really doesn't work, call again.He asked Liu Biao to lead the main force of [-] to go northward and enter Guanzhong with him. As for Liu Zhang's Yizhou army, [-] troops were enough to deal with him.

"If Master Liu Biao can send 6 troops to King Qin of Guan, we will have [-] troops, and we will be very sure of taking Guanzhong." Ju Shou said, "However, at present, it is not only the Northern Xinjiang Army that can prevent us from taking Guanzhong. And Han Sui and Ma Teng from Xiliang."

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Last year, Yuan Tan's army was blocked by Duan Yan in Shangluo City, and was unable to join Han Sui and Ma Teng for a long time. As a result, they lost consecutive battles and were forced to retreat to Xiliang with heavy losses.Han Sui and Ma Teng therefore hated us very much and no longer trusted us.Last year, my lord sent people to contact Han Sui and Ma Teng several times, hoping to join hands with them to seize Guanzhong again, but they all refused.

If we go in this time, Han Sui and Ma Teng will definitely send troops to enter Guanzhong.For them, occupying Guanzhong is tantamount to solving the problem of survival. How could they miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

Now in Guanzhong Li Jue, Guo Si and other Dong Zhuo's old troops have about 3 troops. They are distributed in various parts of Guanzhong, but because their troops are scattered, it is difficult for us to achieve a quick victory.Once the battle in Guanzhong is protracted, Han Sui and Ma Teng may enter the pass, and the northern army may also cross the river and advance westward. In this way, there will be four major armies fighting each other in Guanzhong, and the difficulty for us to seize Guanzhong will increase greatly.

"In order to avoid this situation, we have only one way." Ju Shou pointed to Chang'an City on the map, "We took Chang'an City as quickly as possible."

"After taking Chang'an City and rescuing the emperor, we will have Guanzhong and the world."

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Yuan Shao's eyebrows were deeply furrowed, his expression was solemn, and he didn't speak for a long time.

After entering Chang'an directly and rescuing the emperor, what will he do?Respect the current emperor or immediately abolish the current emperor and rebuild the imperial line?

If I switch to respecting the current emperor, many problems and crises I face will be solved, and if I depose the emperor and rebuild the imperial line, I may become the target of public criticism and suffer a crushing defeat.

Although people like Jushou and Tian Feng don't say they respect the present day, behind the many strategies they have given themselves in the past few years, all of them have the intention of respecting the present day. Pushed to the road of having to respect the present day, and now I can't even turn back.

At this moment, if he is still stubborn, Liu Biao will never help him, even if he helps, he may become his enemy at any time.And Han Sui and Ma Teng, if they want to force them back to Xiliang, they have to respect the emperor, otherwise they will just give them an excuse to protect the emperor and attack themselves.There are also state and county officials from all over the country, including many of my own family members of the Yuan family. They all respect the current emperor. If they seized Guanzhong but immediately deposed the emperor, would they think that they were no different from Dong Zhuo?Will it turn against itself?
And Li Hong from Hebei.To seize Guanzhong by myself, what is most urgently needed is a period of development, and if you want to win this time, you can only respect the current day and keep the Northern Xinjiang Army out of Guanzhong.In order to attack and kill Li Hong in the future, the emperor's imperial edict will be needed even more.The edict issued by the only emperor of the Han Dynasty, who is respected by the whole world, is powerful enough to kill Li Hong.

Jushou and others knew what Yuan Shao was thinking, and they all sat quietly, waiting for Yuan Shao's final decision.

Yuan Shao's frown suddenly relaxed, and a gentle smile appeared on his handsome face.

"When will Duan Yan sacrifice Wuguan?" Yuan Shao asked.

"Duan Yan said that he needs the adult's personal promise." Xu You replied.

"Okay, I'll go to Wuguan." Yuan Shao smiled, "Ziyuan, take my handwritten letter and go to Xiangyang immediately. You tell brother Jing Sheng that I'll wait for him at Wuguan."

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(End of this chapter)