Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 202 Yuan Shu: My situation is so dangerous?
In the vast wilderness, a few elks waded across the stream, lowering their heads to chew fresh wormwood. Occasionally, a hare ran by quickly, causing the weeds to scatter and tremble.

A gust of south wind blew by, and the elk stopped eating, listened to something with their ears tilted, and suddenly they were frightened and scattered.

"Hoo ho ho..."

The sound of the ground shaking became louder and louder, and a black shadow in the distance was like a rolling wave, roaring like thunder and lightning on the flat ground, raising dust. At a glance, there were the rumbling of carriages and the neighing of horses. The knights raised their heads and raised their arms to hold the "Han" flag high, and the red banner fluttered in the wind and covered the sky.

Liu Bei stayed in Qiao County for three days, and he clearly rejected the offers from Cao, Xiahou, Xu, and Ding to send him beautiful maids and concubines to alleviate the boredom of his expedition.

Even if he sent the daughter of the clan to the military camp, he immediately sent someone to send her back, explaining: "The military has always been strict, and women are absolutely not allowed to stay overnight in the military camp. I hope you can understand."

Seeing that Lord Xuande was not pretending, everyone put their worries aside and asked, "Lord Xuande is also the governor of Xuzhou. He must have maids to take care of his daily life. The servants are too rude and not careful enough. It is better to keep a few more. We can send the women to Xuzhou in a carriage now."

Liu Bei said quickly: "No need to be polite. I already have three concubines in Xuzhou. Besides, I am busy with state affairs every day and have no time to care about other things."

Many nobles felt a little disappointed after hearing this, but they soon cheered up and thought to themselves, "Since Lord Xuande can take concubines in Xuzhou, it means he enjoys sex. We can find out his preferences by sending people to inquire. Does he like tender and voluptuous girls, or girls with slender waists, or girls with tall bodies and graceful figures? As long as we can find a girl with a beautiful face, I don't believe Lord Xuande will not take her in."

Liu Bei didn't expect that there were still people who refused to change their ways. After seeing dozens of girls being sent back, he found Lu Su and asked him to send back all the women rescued from the Yellow Turban camp who had families to return home.

Those who had nowhere to go were sent to Xiang County, where they would be chosen as wives for the soldiers who had no wives at home after the war.

When Zhou Yu arrived in Qiao County and heard that the Yellow Turbans were defeated in just one hour, he immediately volunteered to take a boat to Longkang County to persuade Sun Bofu to surrender and at the same time plan to capture Zhang Xun.

Liu Bei then nodded in agreement, and asked Zhou Yu to keep his presence as low as possible so that Yuan Shu would mistakenly believe that there were still soldiers in Longkang. If Jiujiang and Xiacai also let their guard down, he could lead his troops to launch a surprise attack and take them down, and then they could go straight to Shouchun.

After hearing this, Zhou Yu bowed and left.

Then Liu Bei incorporated the many knights recommended by Xu Chu with his chest guaranteed into the Ruichongying infantry, and asked Guan Hai to lead the Xuanfengying and the surrendered Yellow Turban soldiers to go to Ling County to wipe out the last Yellow Turban bandits in Runan, while he himself led the cavalry all the way south along the Qiao River.

The distance from Qiao County to Longkang is more than several hundred miles, which is equivalent to spanning most of Yuzhou. During the march, Liu Bei captured Shansang County, which was located on the east side of Qiao River and belonged to Runan County.

Although it was only a small city, if it was not captured, the grain supply would be easily cut off. So he would rather spend some time and order the auxiliary soldiers to cut wood and build siege equipment to attack the city. With Zhang Liao's permission to go first, the city was breached in less than two hours.

Liu Bei left some auxiliary soldiers to garrison here in case of any changes in Runan County. He continued to lead the cavalry southward. When he was more than a hundred miles away from Longkang, he was shocked by a piece of news that the scouts hurriedly reported.

The Yuan army in Huainan actually fought and attacked each other in Longkang...which shocked the whole of Huainan.

Zhang Xun, a general under Yuan Shu, saw that Sun Ce was slow to take action and suspected that Sun Ce was secretly colluding with Liu Bei, so he secretly wrote a letter to Yuan Ce. When Yuan Shu received the letter, he was furious and wanted to imprison all members of the Sun family and then investigate the matter.

The Chief Clerk Yang Hong said anxiously, "Even if there is a change in the Sun family, it is only Sun Bofu, and has nothing to do with others. Yuan Gong must not act out of anger, otherwise everything will be ruined. If you want to do big things in the future, you will need the full support of the Sun family." The Chief Clerk Yan Xiang also stood up and tried his best to dissuade Yuan Shu, saying, "It is still unknown whether Sun Ce is colluding with Liu Xuande. Even if we take action, we can't let the news leak out easily."

"There are three reasons. First, Sun Ce holds Sun Jian's old subordinates in his hands. His military strength is second to none in Huainan. If a rebellion is provoked, it will be difficult to quell in a short time. Second, Sun Ce still has Sun Xiang and Sun Ben who escaped from Jiangdong and are still serving under Yuan Gong. Moreover, Sun Ce has made great contributions in the war. If he is imprisoned hastily, it will chill people's hearts. Third, Liu Bei has already marched into Pei to fight the Yellow Turbans. If he hears that there is a rebellion in Huainan, he will definitely lead his army here.

Taishi Ci, who is stationed in Xia Pi County, will also make some unusual movements, which means he will attack Jiujiang County from both sides. Ji Ling is not in Yinling at the moment. If Yinling County is lost, the seven counties of Jiujiang will be targeted by the Qingzhou army, and Liu Xuande will press from the north again.

May I ask whether Mr. Yuan was planning to move to Lujiang or retreat to Runan?"

Yan Xiang pointed out that Yuan Shu subconsciously neglected his own situation. Looking at the large number of soldiers and armors rampant in Huainan, he was actually unable to advance or retreat, and could not deal with it.

He wanted to capture Yuzhou but was blocked by Liu Bei's army. He wanted to take over several counties of Yangzhou but was blocked by Cao Mengde from Yanzhou who occupied Jiangdong. As for taking Jingzhou, that was even more impossible. Even Sun Wentai, the most capable general under his command, was defeated in Jingzhou and was driven out of Nanyang by Liu Biao and fled to Shouchun.

As an aide to his boss, Yan Xiang actually wanted to scold his benefactor and wake him up. He said, "You are now caught between Liu Xuande, Cao Mengde and Liu Jingsheng. As long as any of these people has an enterprising spirit, they will surely capture Huainan."

Therefore, although Huainan is rich, it is a place surrounded by enemies and cannot be defended without a strong army. It is necessary to win over the hearts of more brave generals and soldiers. As a result, Yuan Gong teased Sun Ce several times.

This is the case with the fledgling Sun Bofu. If it were his father Sun Wentai, he would have drawn his sword long ago.

Yan Xiang sighed in his heart.

Later, he also had Yang Hong create a prophecy that the one who would lead the Han people would be Dangtu Gao and Yuan Gonglu, thus provoking Liu Xuande as well.

Yan Xiang secretly sighed and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Yuan, please stop making trouble. If we continue like this, we will die earlier than Yuan Benchu ​​of Yecheng and have no place to bury our bodies."

After hearing Yan Xiang's analysis, Yuan Shu frowned and asked, "Then how should we deal with Sun Lang's matter?"

Yan Xiang cupped his hands and said, "Lord Yuan, you can have Qiao Rui stationed in Xiacai lead Chang Nu, Liu Xiang, Chen Lan and others to lead 6,000 soldiers and bring money to Longkang with great fanfare to take charge of the army's expedition. Then, when you lead the army to attack Pei, you can take the opportunity to reward the soldiers more and hold a banquet to entertain Sun Ce and his generals. When they are defenseless, you can imprison Sun Ce and his men and deprive them of their military power, and send fast horses to send them back to Shouchun to find out the truth of the matter."

"Your Excellency is wise because you listen to all sides. This matter is of great importance and cannot be hastily decided. Please think twice, Mr. Yuan."

Yan Xiang stood up and bowed.

Yuan Shu pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "What Master Yan said makes sense. I will follow your advice and order Qiao Rui to lead Chang Nu, Liu Xiang, Chen Lan and others to take over Sun Lang's soldiers."

Unexpectedly, Yuan Shu and his trusted aides did not expect that what seemed to be an easy task was accidentally leaked by Qiao Rui, allowing Sun Ce to learn about it in advance.

(End of this chapter)