In the north of the Yangtze River, it is better to try our best to catch up with Cao Mengde and the emperor, and then we have to make some arrangements and assignments; and if we go further down, the river is thousands of miles away, from west to east, Yizhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, which one should be taken first, or simply

To take it all at once, you have to think carefully... So whether you agree with Cai Degui's words depends on whether His Highness has the intention to calm down Jingzhou first. If not, what about making a promise? If there is a direct march to Jingzhou

Naturally, you don’t need to pay attention to it! However, what your Highness’s plan is, it can’t be delayed even for a moment.”

Gongsun Xun was sitting in the imperial chair in the hall. After hearing this, he held his waist and was silent for a long time. After a while, he spoke seriously in the expectant eyes of all the court officials: "I won't hide it from Wenhe, Gongda, in the past Guangwu had his words.

If you are not satisfied, after pacifying Long and looking back at Shu, every time you send out troops, your hair and temples will be white...The military is constantly connected, the chaos is constant, and the people are in poverty. If I have the power, I naturally hope to calm down the world without stopping. But Guangwu

After proclaiming himself emperor, he conquered seventy-eight percent of the world in six years. However, he spent six years in Long and Shu, losing many troops and defeating many before he unified the world, but he still left the root of the Qiang chaos in Longshang. Now, if

Counting from the oath of the Changshan Alliance after Dong Zhuo's rebellion, I have conquered seven or eight of the world in six years. Therefore, although I am determined to conquer thousands of miles like a tiger, I can't help but worry that those who can travel hundreds of miles will be frustrated at the Yangtze River. On the contrary,

Slow down the pace of progress in the world."

Everyone had different expressions, but none of them spoke.

"So, I am determined to make continuous progress in the offensive, but I am not ready to finish it in one battle... There will be a disaster in Qingxu this year, and the Central Plains has been hollowed out by the war. In this battle, I intend to go to the riverside first, and then let the Central Plains

Hebei is recuperating, and instead the three auxiliaries who have not worked too much, and the Liang and Zang areas work together to plot the Shu area; and if the Shu area is lowered, the navy can threaten South China along Wu County and Kuaiji, so it is best to say

In this case, it will be as easy as taking over Jingzhou and Yangzhou... Although it may take a year or two to dominate the world, there is no possibility of repeating it!

I can deal with it calmly." After saying this, Gongsun Xun looked around and asked seriously. "What do you think?"

"I have a question." Jia Xu thought for a moment, but responded first. "If we divide our troops to pacify Shu, pacify Wu, and pacify Jianghan, will my lord still come to lead the troops in person?"

"The one who knows me is Wen He." Gongsun Xun laughed again. "This is the problem... Since I have taken the top seven or eight in the world today, although I am not planning to become famous again, I have actually achieved democracy in the world.

As a democracy in the world, taking charge of the overall situation, even if it wins, it will not be enough to add force. Once it is defeated, it will shake the world. In this case, why not send generals to take Shu, Wu, and Jianghan in turn? Victory will lead to self-improvement, and defeat will lead to nothing.

Frustration...at worst, we can just change another general and do it again."

"That being the case, I think it's very appropriate." Jia Xu leaned over and saluted.

Immediately, all the court officials, Yi Cong, and officers from Xun You on down also stood up and saluted.

"Okay, then write back to Cai Hao and ask him to hand over Nanyang to Zhong Yuanchang before the arrival of the twelfth lunar month!" Gongsun Xun obviously didn't care about this, but he took out another letter from the case while greeting everyone.

It was the letter sent by Lu Bu. Then he shook his head and threw it to Lu Meng as before. "There is another thing. Lu Fengxian said that he was appointed by the court to be the prefect of Nanyang, but later he only served as a human being.

I was ordered by the emperor... He has no intention of going against me, but he is worried that I will not be able to tolerate him, so he gathered his troops in Luyang and Luhun Pass. Now, he has voluntarily abandoned half of Yingchuan County and returned to Luyang to show his sincerity.

, I hope to be pardoned by me and continue to be the governor of Nanyang, so that he can protect the emperor from coming to see me and make peace between our monarch and his ministers."

"This is not something Lu Bu can say." Jia Xu was immediately speechless. "Someone must teach him."

"He hopes that I can pardon his father-in-law Yuan Shu." Gongsun Xun seemed to have thought of something funny, and he couldn't help laughing for a moment.

Jia Wenhe became more and more speechless and simply kept silent... Speaking of which, his second son married Lu Bu's daughter, and Yuan Gongluo was Jia Wenhe's elder!

"Is this really possible?" Xun You suddenly asked. "Although he has thousands of soldiers, most of them were recruited locally in Nanyang, and half of them are still in Luyang. And now Cao Mengde has also retreated to Luyang. I really promised him

, with the behavior of this pair of father-in-law and son-in-law, I am afraid that it will be self-defeating and ruin the reputation of His Highness in vain..."

"Yes, now that things have happened, it is no longer a matter of concern as to what happens to the emperor, so why bother with extraneous matters?" Jia Xu came back and expressed his attitude clearly.

Gongsun Xun nodded slightly, as if he had the same idea as the two military advisors.

In other words, this is the problem. Not to mention Yuan Jiujiu, whom everyone hates, at this moment, Gongsun Xun really hopes to see the discredited little emperor and the little court in Wancheng being sent here, and then there will be a '

Explain the situation' in order to further kill the final afterglow of the Han Dynasty's idea, but the premise is that you can't make mistakes, let alone be self-defeating!

It should be noted that in Nanyang now, not to mention Cai Mao, who is unlikely to be involved in this matter, as Cao Cao led the defeated troops to enter, the remaining military strength was basically divided into two, with a small force of four to five thousand troops in Wancheng. Lu Bu was in control; but more than half of the seven or eight thousand people were concentrated in Luyang, the northernmost gate of Nanyang, while Cao Cao and two generals under Lu Bu were exactly there.

In other words, if the fight really breaks out, even if Lu Bu seems to have the advantage at first glance, Gongsun Xun doesn't think this guy can outplay Cao Cao.

What's more, with Lu Bu's martial arts attitude and his father-in-law's unscrupulousness, what if this quarrel ends up destroying the little emperor?

The times are good, at this time, even if the emperor died in the conflict between Cao Cao and Lu Bu, everyone in the world will definitely blame him, Gongsun Xun, okay?

In fact, this is indeed the case. All of Lu Bu’s letters have been sent here. Is there irrefutable proof?!

At this time, Gongsun Xun really didn't need to cause trouble. The emperor could die, but there was no need to die! The emperor could send him to 'explain the situation', but he could escape to the south, away from the foundation of the Han Dynasty, and attract a group of Han Dynasty. As a die-hard loyalist, going to Jiangxia is forgotten by the world, but it’s quite appropriate, right?

Don’t you see, Gongsun Xun didn’t contact Jingze? He couldn’t have forgotten, right?

"Then write back a letter!" Gongsun Xun thought about this and ordered Wang Xiang. "Tell Lu Fengxian... his father-in-law's sin cannot be forgiven, and how can a minister take advantage of the emperor? By the way, Lu Yang , hinting that even if Cao Cao controls the troops there, he won’t be able to accomplish anything.”

Naturally, everyone had nothing to say.

In this way, everything was basically settled. In the next few days, Gongsun Xun sat in Xu County, assigned various ministries to attack the city and capture the territory, and waited for the Central Plains to be captured. As Taishi Ci led tens of thousands of Liaodong troops, Yingzhou reinforcements arrived at Lou Gui's tent , Lou Zibo also began to take on a lot of advancement tasks, and Gongsun Xun became more and more idle here in Xu County. He just kept writing letters with Liu Biao, Cai Mao, and Lu Bu for fun.

However, everything cannot be smooth sailing, especially with the level of communication these days, so just a few days later, no matter where it was thousands of miles away... Just saying that two unexpected things happened in Nanyang in front of Gongsun Xun. .

First of all, without knowing that Gongsun Xun and Cai Hao had reached a de facto agreement, Yongzhou Mu Zhongyao and Zhong Yuanchang took the victory of the decisive battle of Guandu as an opportunity to directly lead five thousand troops out of Wuguan, and then attracted people from all over Nanyang. Being caught off guard... This is of course a good thing. Without warning, Cao Cao, who has always been unable to get rid of his pursuers and can only hold on in Luyang, and the small court who had to stay in Wancheng because they were waiting for Cao Cao, can be killed in one fell swoop.

But soon, the second thing ruined Gongsun Xun's perfect idea of ​​Nanyang - Xu Rong, who had been confronting Cao Cao in Luyang and refused to let go, after hearing that Zhong Yao sent troops to Wuguan, probably to gain credit, couldn't bear it. Zhu tried to cross Funiu Mountain from the trail to achieve a miraculous feat. However, Cao Mengde noticed it in advance, and then joined forces with two of Lu Bu's generals who stayed behind in Luyang, namely Wei Xu and Huang Yuan, in the mountains to the west of Luyang. A great ambush was fought.

The front and rear valley entrances were sealed, the mountain was set on fire in the middle, and then arrows rained down one after another. When the Yan army arrived, they actually suffered a defeat?!

And we must know that in this battle, Xu Rong lost his troops and was defeated for a while. The key is that Cao Mengde seized the opportunity after this battle and was able to get rid of the large group of pursuers behind him, break away from Luyang, and calmly withdraw his troops. This can almost be declared

, Zhong Yao’s efforts with Cai Mao will be in vain!

Gongsun Xun was of course furious about this, but he could only quickly ask Cheng Pu to personally lead the Chinese army resting in Xu County to quickly march to Luyang, to meet Xu Rong's defeated troops, and to join forces to continue the pursuit.

However, when Gongsun Xun was furious because of Xu Rong in Xu County, he would never have imagined what would happen to Cao Cao, who he thought was destined to escape.

"Not to mention armaments, why is there no food in Pheasant County?" At noon on October 16, in Pheasant County, an important town north of Wancheng, Cao Mengde, who had just led seven or eight thousand soldiers and horses to retreat here, asked Wei Xu in astonishment, Huang

Second General Yuan. "Isn't this where the logistics center behind Lu Yang is?"

Generals Wei Xu and Huang Yuan just looked at each other, as if they were also a little confused.

However, after questioning the local officials, they figured out the reason - Lu Bu ordered everything to be taken away!

Moreover, Lu Fengxian seemed to have guessed that Cao Mengde and his subordinates would have doubts, so he left a special letter here.

Cao Cao opened it with his own hands and read it briefly, but the three of them were each at a loss... It turned out that Lu Bu claimed in the letter that the reason for this was because Cai Mao, who controlled the southern half of Nanyang County, had an ambiguous attitude and was vaguely interested in directly approaching Danshui.

Yongzhou Mu Zhong Yuanchang gave a sign of half of Nanyang. The situation was critical. For this reason, the small court in Wancheng hurriedly set off south two days ago, that is, just after Cao Cao won the battle, and food and ordnance were lost.

It was at that time that someone was sent to take him away.

Although Cao Cao had no choice but to accept this explanation with a wry smile, because the ambiguity between Liu Biao and Gongsun Xun was there, this situation seemed very likely to happen.

Only...

"What can we do if the situation has collapsed so far?" Cao Cao has been traveling hard for days, and he was already in a state of embarrassment due to the previous defeat. He is even more helpless now. "But Lu Fengxian is also a man who knows the army, why can't he leave some rations?

, so that the army can keep up? Please note that the pursuers are two days' journey behind us, and the cavalry may catch up tomorrow!"

Huang Yuan was dissatisfied when he heard that Cao Cao still complained about his lord. "Cao Cao thinks too much. In such a situation, how can we really retreat calmly with the whole army? Moreover, these soldiers and horses were originally recruited from Nanyang."

, and it is impossible for him to really go to Jiangxia with us. Besides, my lord has already written very clearly in the letter. After the Yan army was defeated before, he must be cautious. It is possible that he has no intention of pursuing the pursuit and just wants to take over the territory of Nanyang...

... Mr. Cao wants to complain, so why not ride with us quickly to Wancheng to meet my lord, he is still waiting for us there!"

Cao Cao did not comment, but looked at the silent Wei Xu again, and although the latter had no expression on his face, he nodded instantly: "That's the only way! But you two may as well go ahead, I will stay here to disband the troops.

Then we will meet up in Wancheng."

Cao Cao looked at this man, then looked at him and saw that he didn't care about Huang Yuan, and immediately nodded in agreement.

In this way, Cao Mengde and Huang Qianjiu went first. They only brought two to three hundred trusted soldiers, and because the hundreds of cavalry were brought back to Wancheng by Lu Bu in advance, they were short of horses and could only hurriedly find some army horses and even mules.

The donkeys gathered together and managed to get three hundred riders, and then they hurried southward, leaving only Wei Duduan behind.

But that afternoon, when he left the county seat of Pheasant County and headed south, but could not walk more than five miles along the Tui River, Cao Cao suddenly reined in his horse and proposed on the road to cross the river temporarily.

Huang Yuan thought it was ridiculous, and immediately asked on his horse: "What happened to Mr. Cao today? There was a floating bridge outside Zhi County before, but you couldn't cross it. I thought you were going to cross at the bridge in Bowang, but you ended up going

Crossing the wilderness...could it be that the previous defeat at Guandu made Cao Cao lose his mind?"

Cao Cao sneered, but the situation was helpless, so he could only explain to this tough guy: "Huang Sima, let me ask you, why do you think Wei Duwei stayed behind?"

No matter how stupid Huang Yuan is, he is still a veteran in the army. He can't even hear such a sensitive meaning, so he frowned for a moment: "What does Mr. Cao mean, Wei Duwei wants to take the opportunity to surrender? He is my lord's brother-in-law."

…”

At this point, without waiting for Cao Cao to explain, Huang Qianjiu stopped abruptly, as if he had reacted - it was for this reason that Wei Xu surrendered! Because Lu Bu's two wives and Wei Xu's sister were in Chang'an,

There are even rumors that his niece directly married Jia Xu’s second son!

In fact, Wei Xu had always been a bit grudge because Lu Bu married a daughter of the Yuan family.

When Cao Mengde saw Huang Yuan's awakening, he ignored it and crossed the river alone... In fact, Cao Cao had a lot to say about what happened today, but he was just too lazy to say it.

For example, he didn't expose Wei Xu just now because he was really worried about Huang Yuan's impatience, and Wei Xuhui would jump over the wall in a hurry. Then he would not even have time to escape, so he would cause a chaos in the army and die there. At that time, it would be better to let Wei Xu stay and surrender with peace of mind.

, and it can also delay time.

For another example, Lu Bu took away all the weapons and supplies in Pheasant County first. To be honest, Cao Cao believed that Wancheng was in danger, but was there really such an urgent situation that he would cut off the frontline supplies? Bring more.

Isn't it good for the troops to go south?

In other words, Cao Mengde had some suspicions at that time. Lu Bu and Yang Biao were worried that they would lead the army south and easily control the situation in Jiangxia, so they did such a disgusting thing.

As for why Yang Biao did it instead of Lu Bu alone? Because Cao Cao knew very well that it was impossible for Lu Bu, a warrior alone, to do this. There must be someone with rich political experience to teach him.

Of course, Cao Mengde would never say this to a warrior like Huang Yuan who was loyal to Lu Bu. Moreover, he was not worried about what would happen when he arrived in Jiangxia, because he had already arrived at Xun Yu on the border between Runan and Jiangxia.

You must be prepared, even Liu Bei will not sit back and let someone like Lu Bu control Jiangxia. When the time comes, Cao Cao will have 10,000 ways to easily control Jiangxia.
To be continued...