Chapter 207: Xu Zhiyang
Sure enough, after the trial match was finished, Yuan Shao was not angry at all, but took the initiative to comfort him: "Zhengnan's words are also reasonable, please be patient and don't be impatient."
< br>Afterwards, he turned to Xin Ping and said: "Zhongzhi is loyal to the country and has no flaws in his career. This is not ungratefulness, but actually righteousness. It's just that Liu Xuande is loyal, righteous, benevolent, humble and generous. He is not an enemy of our state. If he is The people in the world may be suspicious of rashly raising troops."
As soon as Yuan Shao said this, the matter was concluded.
Liu Bei is a good man, we cannot beat him.
Then Yuan Shao immediately affirmed Xin Ping's loyalty and made it clear that Xin Ping proposed this idea not out of selfishness, let alone ungratefulness, but for the sake of the state and the commander-in-chief, regardless of his own reputation.
After receiving Yuan Shao's affirmation, Xin Ping bowed in admiration: "Ming Gong is magnanimous and elegant, beyond the reach of Ping Ping."
"Ming Gong has great views."
Everyone in the review hall bowed their heads and bowed to the ground.
"Everyone, please get up quickly."
At this moment, Yuan Shao was still very satisfied with Xin Ping. He could put his loyalty to himself above his righteousness to his friends. How could Yuan Shao not be moved by this?
Many people think that Yuan Shao was already changing dynasties when he was in Hebei, but in fact this perception is extremely wrong.
Yuan Shao faced no less problems than Cao Cao, or even more.
Cao Cao at least still has the basic base of the Cao family and the Xiahou family. These two families have given full support to Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao does not have such a base. The die-hard loyalists of the Yuan family are either in Runan County or in Runan County. After being given away by Yuan Shu, he really didn't have many men.
From Yuan Shao's perspective, not to mention the Hebei faction, even the Henan faction that relied on him clearly opposed his change of dynasty.
On the eve of the Battle of Guandu, it was the year when Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan.
Yuan Shao made two tentative moves. The first time was to neglect paying tribute. He refused to continue paying tribute to the court on the grounds that Cao Cao had kidnapped Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.
This time of testing won the support of the ministers. After all, Yuan and Cao were about to start a war. If they continued to pay tribute, it would be tantamount to siding with the enemy.
But Yuan Shao misjudged the situation and thought that everyone had completely given up their respect and support for the Han Dynasty, so with secret joy and anxiety, he arranged the second test in full swing.
The second time was to instruct Geng Baomi, the chief secretary of the general's palace, to say: "The red virtue has declined, Yuan is Huang Yin, and it is better to obey the will of heaven."
This means that the days of the old Liu family have come to an end. The Yuan family is the successor of Yu Shun, and Huang De replaces Chi De. This is to follow the will of God and replace the Liu family in the world.
In order to see everyone's reaction to his proclaimed emperor, Yuan Shao disclosed Geng Bao's remarks to his military officials.
The idea is beautiful, but the reality is skinny.
Hebei hero Yuan Shao felt his weakness and powerlessness for the first time.
Because the result of Yuan Shao's temptation is that the debater thinks that Bao is a monster and should be punished. Shaonai kills Bao to relieve himself.
Not only did all his subordinates believe that Geng Bao's evil words deceived the public and confused the public and should be beheaded, but even the state and county officials also fiercely opposed it.
The scholars in Henan and Hebei actually abandoned their previous suspicions and spoke in unison. The momentum was so great that Yuan Shao was shocked and had to kill Bao to relieve himself.
This time the incident is typical of a small incident with big consequences. From then on, the conflicts between Yuan Shao and the people of Hebei became more and more serious.
In order to become the emperor, you kicked your nose in my face and spit on me, but I tolerated it.
But it turns out that you don’t want me to be the emperor at all, so wouldn’t my tolerance be in vain?
Therefore, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the problem of loyalty to the Han Dynasty in the families of warlords was actually very big, because people in this era were far from accustomed to the concept of warlords being emperors.
A lot of people only think that warlords are their superiors. In essence, everyone is still a minister under the Han Dynasty, and they are doing the great cause of bringing order to chaos.
Although the Han Dynasty was a dual monarchy, there was one fundamental difference from the feudal system in the West, that is, the emperor was the monarch of everyone. This cannot be questioned.
For most scholars at that time, the local warlords were indeed our lords, but the Han emperor was our emperor even more.
The last usurper, Wang Mang, ended badly.
Among the thirteen states in the world, there are four states with the surname Liu. Who knows if there will be a second Emperor Guangwu among them, so the nobles have always maintained a very conservative attitude towards changing dynasties.
This problem is especially obvious for Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Yan, and Liu Biao, because when they established their businesses, they received investment from many gentry families.
Liu Bei and Sun Ce are completely different. Their internal purity is relatively higher. Liu Bei has never had any big nobles invest heavily in him, while Sun Ce simply killed all the big nobles in Jiangdong.
Although these things have not happened yet, Yuan Shao is still somewhat aware of the conservative attitude of Hebei scholars.
For this reason, Yuan Shao valued Xin Ping's "selfless" loyalty very much and did not hesitate to reward him heavily.
After being praised by Yuan Shao, Xin Ping reported again: "Ming Gong, there is one more thing that needs to be reported."
Yuan Shao looked relaxed and spoke magnanimously: "Oh, what else does Zhongzhi have to do? But That's all."
"This is the current situation of General Zuo."
General Zuo is Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu is not a brother-in-law to Yuan Shao, but he is also a sworn enemy.
The words "General Zuo" came out of Xin Ping's mouth, and Yuan Shao's relaxed expression suddenly disappeared.
This half-brother is simply the person Yuan Shao hates the most.
Theoretically speaking, the number one heir to the Yuan family is Yuan Ji, and he, Yuan Shao, should be the number two heir.
Now that Yuan Ji is dead, he, Yuan Shao, is the natural leader of the clan.
But after the Luoyang Incident, Yuan Shu used the advantage of running south to embezzle most of the Yuan family's wealth. This made Yuan Shao, who already had a bad relationship with Yuan Shu and believed that he was the true heir of the Yuan family, How to accept it.
Yuan Shao snorted coldly and nodded: "Zhongzhi, please speak."
Therefore, Xin Ping described the events in the Huaisi and Jiangdong areas one by one, especially Yuan Shu's army to attack Liu Bei. The two armies clashed in Guangling City, and finally Liu Bei's army successfully defeated Yuan Shu.
And Sun Ce successfully attacked Dan Tu, successfully swept half of Wu County, and reported everything to Yuan Shao and everyone in the hall, including Liu Yao's squeezing and frustration.
Yuan Shao's face was a little gloomy. He did not expect that Yuan Shu would show signs of resurgence.
He couldn't help but resent Cao Cao. During the Battle of Kuangting, if his younger brother hadn't deliberately indulged him, Yuan Shu should have been captured alive even if he had three lives. But it happened that Cao Cao only surrounded but did not capture him. He attacked for six hundred miles and won three battles and three victories, but he just opened the door and drove Yuan Shu all the way to Huaisi.
To say that there is no leakage here is to think that Yuan Shao is really a fool.
It's just that the situation is more urgent than others. Yuan Shao, who failed to deal with Gongsun Zan, couldn't do without Cao Cao and had to vigorously assist him. Not only did he send Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao to lead 5,000 elite troops to directly support him, but he also provided tens of thousands of shi of food and grass.
You must know that these days, big families don’t have much food left. There are only one and a half big grain farmers like Liu Biao in the whole Han Dynasty, and the other half is Liu Zhang.
Yuan Shao really squeezed out so much grain to save money. For this reason, he even deducted the supply from Ju Yi. If he didn't want to help Cao Cao, these tens of thousands of stones of grain would at least be enough for Ju Yi. Yiduo could have held on for a month or two, or retreated calmly, so why did he suffer such a disastrous defeat?
Yuan Shao worked hard to regain his composure and asked: "What do you think, gentlemen?"
"Ming Gong, perhaps Xu Zhiyang can be used!"
Jushuo spoke for the first time. At this time, Jushuo's status could be called the second person in Hebei in the true sense. He had the power of the governor to control the armies, and his right to speak was quite important.
"Xuzhou Liu Shijun has always been at odds with General Zuo. General Zuo coveted Xuzhou. Not only did he call himself Xuzhou Bo, but he also continued to erode the perimeter of Xuzhou. This shows that there is a great contradiction between them. , This is what Jizhou can take advantage of."
"If Liu Shijun goes south to attack General Zuo, regardless of victory or defeat, it will be a great thing for Jizhou to win. , then General Zuo will be defeated. If Liu Shijun is defeated, then I may be able to capture all of Qingzhou and even send troops to assist Xu."
After hearing Ju Shou's words, Yuan Shao was refreshed and asked everyone: " You are very clear about this, so what else can you say?"
Jushou has always been resourceful and decisive, with a long-term vision and ambitions for the world. He can be said to be the most talented person in Yuan Shao's camp. , once advised Yuan Shao on strategic strategies, which opened Yuan Shao's eyes and relied on him as a think tank.
Jushou doesn't speak easily, but when he does speak, he will have unique insights.
Yuan Shao also went through two stages with Jushou. In the first stage, he obeyed his advice and his power continued to grow. In the latter stage, he suspected that Jushou had selfish motives and began to disobey his advice. In the end, Guandu was defeated miserably.
Jushou said: "If Ming Gong can lure Liu Shijun to go south, he can achieve three benefits with one stone." "How can there be three benefits?"
Yuan Shao only Two advantages came to mind. The first advantage was naturally to divert Liu Bei's attention from Qingzhou. No matter how good Yuan Shu was, he was still a strong vassal in Huaisi. If Liu Bei didn't go all out, he might not be able to defeat Yuan Shu.
In this way, once Xu Yang starts the war, Liu Bei will naturally not be able to care about Qingzhou. As long as Liu Bei doesn't want to expand to Qingzhou, Yuan Shao is willing to maintain the current peaceful state with him.
The second wonderful thing is naturally to attack Yuan Shu.
At this point, whoever causes trouble for Yuan Shu is my good brother, Yuan Shao.
Even if Liu Bei really killed Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao would only applaud and praise him.
As for the third wonderful thing, Yuan Shao couldn't think of it.
"In the past, Duke Ming sent Yuan Yi south to fight for Yuzhou, but he was defeated by General Zuo. From then on, Runan was no longer owned by the general."
Jushu was talking about the history of Yangzhou governor reported by Yuan Shao in the past. Yuan Yi is one of the few direct descendants of the Yuan family head who supports Yuan Shao. He has always been on Yuan Shao's side, and Yuan Shao also trusts him quite a lot.
Therefore, Yuan Shao reported Yuan Yi as the governor of Yangzhou and wanted to seize the power of Yangzhou.
It’s just that Yuan Yi was no match for Yuan Shu at all, and was immediately beaten to pieces by the latter. On his way to flee to Pei State, he was killed by his own rebel soldiers.
There is another very interesting thing here. The reason why Yuan Yi was sent to the south by Yuan Shao to serve as the governor of Yangzhou was actually to make room for Cao Cao.
Yuan Yi's last official position was the prefect of Shanyang County in Yanzhou, which also means that Shanyang County is almost Yuan Shao's territory.
The reason why Liu Dai could not command Yanzhou at the beginning was because several counties in Yanzhou were actually controlled by Yuan Shao's influence, and Shanyang County was one of them.
After Liu Dai died in battle, Cao Cao, welcomed by local scholars and supported by Yuan Shao, successfully ascended the throne of Yanzhou Mu and became a back-to-back ally with Yuan Shao.
It’s just that Yanzhou East County is a huge loophole.
As we all know, there were always some very awkward and abnormal divisions in the division of counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to curb local independence.
Yanzhou is no exception. The most twisted thing about him is the division of Dongjun.
The entire Dongjun area spans both sides of the Yellow River, as if it were a sandwich, sandwiching the Yellow River.
In this way, theoretically, a long strip of riverside area north of the Yellow River is managed by Yanzhou.
In this way, Tao Qian took advantage of the opportunity. He once sent troops from Taishan County to the north, and actually attacked and stationed troops in Fagan County, Dongjun. At the same time, he joined forces with Liu Bei, Shan Jing, and Tian Kai under Gongsun Zan. It directly threatened Yuan Shao's base camp Yecheng, as well as Cao Cao's base camp Dongwuyang and Juancheng.
Fagan County is not only located to the north of the Yellow River, but also less than two hundred miles away from Yecheng in a straight line. There is no need to cross the Yellow River, which is more convenient than going to Dongjun County to govern Puyang.
One can imagine how great a threat this poses to Yecheng.
Yuan and Cao immediately joined forces to organize a counterattack and successfully defeated this Gongsun Alliance action.
Subsequently, Yuan and Cao immediately discussed a solution to this problem and finally reached an agreement.
Cao Cao ceded the territory of Dongjun north of the Yellow River to Yuan Shao. This is why Yuan Shao's favorite general Zang Hong later served as the prefect of Yanzhou Dongjun.
Yuan Shao ceded Shanyang County to Cao Cao. In order to compensate Yuan Yi for losing his position as Shanyang Prefect, Yuan Shao provided money, grain and troops to support Yuan Yi's move south to Yangzhou to serve as the governor of Yangzhou.
Both Yuan and Cao were very satisfied with this territorial exchange.
Yuan Shaoquan took the land in Hebei and was able to support Yuan Yi's advance in Yangzhou, while Cao Cao exchanged the ruined half of Dongjun for the intact Shanyang County. It can be said that everyone was happy.
This strategic plan was proposed by Ju Shou.
It's just that Jushou didn't expect that Yuan Yi, who went south to Yangzhou, was easily defeated by Yuan Shu, and he couldn't even save his own life.
A more related effect is that the base of the Yuan family in Runan County has been directly invested in Yuan Shu's command, and Yuan Shao's influence on his hometown in Runan County has plummeted.
This made Yuan Shao quite dissatisfied, but he was helpless.
"Ming Gong can choose a reliable person to represent him as the governor of Runan, and then ask Liu Shijun to send troops to support him. In this way, Ming Gong can regain the foundation of Runan and break the arm of General Zuo. . ”
Jushou’s opinion made Yuan Shao’s eyes light up and his heart moved.
Runan County is the second largest county in the world, and it is not as dilapidated as Nanyang County. It still maintains a population of more than one million. A mere county has almost caught up with the population of Xuzhou. .
If Yuan Shao could take Runan County out of Yuan Shu's mouth, it would be like breaking an arm of Yuan Shu. The latter's reputation and strength would be greatly reduced.
At the same time, its location is extremely important. It is the heart of Yuzhou, bordering Yangzhou to the southeast, Jingzhou to the southwest, and Yanzhou to the north. If Runan County can be controlled, it can echo Hebei and coordinate the north and south.
If Yuan Shao were to send troops in person, it would not be that there would be no troops to send. The main reason is that the troops sent by Yuan Shao would immediately become trees without roots and water without sources. It would be easy to follow Yuan Yi's example. ’s footsteps.
If Liu Bei is allowed to send troops, not only will the risk be transferred to Liu Bei, but Runan is only separated from Xuzhou by the state of Pei. The state of Pei is still a county that Xuzhou can influence, so it naturally does not have the disadvantages of Yuan's army. and defects.
Yuan Shao hesitated for a long time in the end, but still did not make up his mind. Instead, he considered: "This strategy is very good, but the risk is also great, and let me think twice."
Although Yuan Shao did not mention the risk. What is it specifically, but everyone here knows that the biggest risk is whether Liu Bei will take over.
How to make Liu Bei willing to send troops to protect Yuan Shao's people to take office without overwhelming the guest, this still requires Yuan Shao to think carefully.
After the review, Guo Tu, Guo Yuan, and Xin Pi came to Xin Ping's house together.
Guo Yuan is the nephew of Guo Tu, the nephew of Zhong Yao, and the nephew of Xin Ping and Xin Pi.
It can be seen that the marriages between the Yingchuan family are complicated, deep-rooted and crisscrossed.
After Xin Pingping retired, Guo Yuan was the first to speak. He couldn't suppress the doubts in his heart: "Uncle, you decided on the strategy of Xu Zhiyang yesterday, why are you hiding your clumsiness today? ?”
Everyone present, Xin Ping's close relatives and close friends, were in the same small circle, so naturally they could exchange the most secret information.
After Xin Ping came back, he prepared a description of Liu Bei's kindness, thinking that he could be used as an aid but not as an enemy.
But Xin Ping was thoughtful and determined that Liu Bei had ambitions for the world and would definitely conflict with Yuan Shao in the future.
Therefore, he deliberately invited Yuan Shao to go south to Qingxu first. As long as he was rejected by Yuan Shao, even if there were troubles in the future, it would not be his fault.
What's more, he also successfully diverted the trouble to the east and used the information gap to severely deceive the Hebei guy.
Even if Jushou and Tian Feng were full of wisdom and tricks, they would never have thought that they would step into the trap just because they didn't understand Xuzhou and Liu Bei.
Regarding Guo Yuan's question, Xin Ping explained: "Wenyuan, it's okay for us to discuss this matter in private, but in the hall, my uncle is the only person who should not propose this policy."
< br>Guo Yuan was still puzzled and looked confused.
Guo Tu smiled and stroked his beard and said: "Wenyuan, your uncle just offered the strategy of going south to Qingxu to attack Liu Bei, and then he turned around and offered to unite Liu Bei, use Xu to control Yang, and borrow troops to enter Runan. This is not Is it the same as telling others that your uncle is cheating?"
Guo Yuan thought about it carefully and suddenly realized that it was really like this.
But after Guo Yuan solved one problem, he thought of another and asked Guo Tu: "Father, didn't you hate Liu Bei in the past? Why are you speaking for him now?"
It was okay if Guo Yuan didn't ask. When he asked, Guo Tu's face suddenly turned red and he hesitated.
The Xin brothers burst out laughing.
If others don’t know, how can they still be unclear?
Part of the cartload of money and silk goods sent by Liu Bei belonged to Guo Tu.
He received such a heavy gift and had no deep hatred. Although Guo Gongze was a villain, his strength was his agility, so naturally he could no longer be an enemy of Xuzhou.
(End of this chapter)