The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 158 This is an open conspiracy. Two cups of poisoned wine. You can choose one.
really,

When Cao Cao heard Li Yi's words, his expression changed slightly.

But he still didn't say anything and let Li Yi talk.

Liu Bei smiled slightly and asked again:

"Yuan Shao comes to Chen to ask for a title. How should we respond?"

Li Yi answered without hesitation:

"Let's see what Envoy Yuan has to say first."

So, he brought Yuan's envoy up and asked him what position Yuan Shao wanted to be given by sending the envoy to the court.

Envoy Yuan was afraid of the two men's power and knew that he would never be able to see the emperor without going through these two people.

He then told Yuan Shao's request truthfully.

That is, Yuan Shao wanted to be appointed as the general, and to be granted the authority to command the armies of You, Bing, Qing and Ji.

Well……

After listening to Yuan Shao's request, Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at each other and thought that this guy had great ambitions.

The position of general is ranked above the three ministers, which means he is truly second to none.

The emperor was granted the power to act at his own discretion when traveling.

The purpose of supervising the troops of You, Bing, Qing and Ji was to gain support in name and legally occupy the four northern states.

After listening to Yuan Shao's request, Cao Cao and Liu Bei fell silent.

After a while, Cao Cao asked first:

"Fengxiao, what do you think?"

Guo Jia frowned and said:

"This must be Yuan Shao's attempt to test us and see what Henan will do."

Liu Bei asked Li Yi beside him:
"Yuan Benchu is ambitious and wants to be appointed as the commander of the four states' troops. How do you think we should respond?"

Li Yi replied:

"It is not without precedent to have the troops of You, Bing, Qing and Ji provinces under the command of the governor."

"The former general, Yi Hou Gongsun Zan, is also in charge of these four states."

The implication was that he was advising Liu Bei not to take Yuan Shao's request for a title too seriously.

After all, political game is ultimately a game of face.

Yuan Shao was willing to come to the court just to go through the motions, but he didn't want to break off relations.

Whether you seal it or not, they have already controlled four states.

In fact, the role of the emperor, that is, the Han court, is only useful to political idiots.

For example, Lu Bu.

When you meet a real politician, you can basically just go through the motions and seek a good reputation.

For example, Ju Shou of Hebei said, "If we cannot get through, it means that Cao Cao is blocking our path to the throne."

That is, everyone is here to fight for supremacy, so who can't see the little tricks in your mind?

Zhou Yu also said to Sun Quan, "Cao pretends to be a Han prime minister, but he is actually a Han traitor."

Even if you support the emperor and hope to suppress others with political titles, they will still label you a traitor and oppose you.

In a word, the game between political groups is mainly about face.

No matter how much you save face, that is the thinking of a gangster group, not a politician.

Everyone knows the situation of the Han Dynasty and the emperor, and also knows what everyone is thinking.

As long as no one points it out loud, it's fine as long as everyone can just save face for each other.

There is a historical misunderstanding in the New Three Kingdoms that has misled many people.

That is, Yuan Shao did not accept the imperial edict sent by Cao Cao, even though it was an edict of grace and was beneficial to him.

But the reason was that if he accepted it, it would be tantamount to acknowledging that the emperor was legitimate.

If he receives an evil decree tomorrow, he will have to accept it, so he will not accept a favorable decree.

This stupid logic is actually accepted by many people.

Isn't it a common practice for politicians to accept imperial edicts that are favorable to them and reject those that are unfavorable to them?

Because that's what the princes did in history.

After Cao Cao received the emperor, he appointed himself as the general and appointed Yuan Shao as the grand marshal, thus suppressing Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao didn't recognize it at all and just rejected it with one sentence: "It's a rebellious order."

Later, Cao Cao was so frightened that he quickly admitted his mistake and gave the position of general to Yuan Shao, giving him fake authority to supervise the troops in four states.

This was an edict that was favorable to Yuan Shao, so Yuan Shao accepted it.

In the face of absolute strength, the emperor and the court are just going through the motions.

The princes had many reasons for not accepting the imperial edict that was unfavorable to them.

As long as you do a good job of saving face, no one will oppose you.

Including after Cao Cao enthroned the emperor, when others submitted petitions asking for titles, Cao Cao basically granted them any titles he could.

Because he knows that whether he blocks them or not, they are still the local tyrants in their territory.

It would be better to ban him and do him a favor.

By the way, it can also enhance the authority of the Han Dynasty court, because the princes' request for titles and tributes is an indirect recognition of the court.

"Since this is Yuan Shao's intention to test him, why not agree to it to slow him down?"

"Then we will unite with Henan to resist Hebei."

Guo Jia suggested to Cao Cao that he should agree to Yuan Shao's request.

Anyway, whether you ban them or not, they have already controlled four states.

As for the fake title of emperor, it is just a formality. When Li Jue and Guo Si were in power, a lot of people used the title of emperor. It is no longer valuable.

Ok……

Cao Cao nodded, then looked at Liu Bei and asked:

"What do you think, Xuande?"

Liu Bei's brows were filled with dismay as he analyzed:
"Yuan Shao is so powerful that Zhou has no strong enemy who can check and balance him."

"If we rashly start a war, it will be difficult to resist."

"We should take our time now and wait for the right opportunity to act."

The reason why Yuan Shen was so powerful was not only because of his background of three generations of officials, but also because of the rich Hebei Province.

More importantly, it has a good geographical location and there are no strong enemies around.

The northernmost Wuhuan people were still his allies.

This means that Yuan Shao only needs to unify the north and concentrate on attacking the south without any worries.

There would be no problem even if we pulled all the troops to the front line.

Otherwise, no matter how big the gap in productivity was, it would have been impossible for Yuan Shao to mobilize a force several times that of Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu.

The situation of the war between Yuan and Cao was as follows:
Yuan Shao had only one opponent, and Cao Cao had only one teammate.

Cao Cao has enemies in the southeast, northwest, and northeast, so he has to divide his troops to defend them.

Therefore, Cao Cao, who unified Henan, had no way of gathering troops to fight against Yuan Shao.

This is also the reason why Li Yi attaches so much importance to the alliance between Cao and Liu.

God Yuan is too powerful. There is no way to make friends with people from afar or attack nearby. We can only fight hard.

"Even so, it's not a good idea to give up the position of general to Yuan Shao like this."

Li Yi gave advice from the side.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei both looked at Li Yi and asked him what he meant.

"Since Yuan Shao has submitted a petition to the court requesting to be enthroned, he should send envoys to pay tribute."

"Pay taxes and levies to show your loyalty."

Cao Cao and Liu Bei suddenly realized.

It turned out that Li Yi meant to let Yuan Shao pay tribute and taxes, which was simply buying an official position with money.

Cao Cao has experience in this matter, as his father spent 100 million yuan to buy the position of Grand Marshal.

"...Good, in that case, let's do as Ziyu said."

Liu Bei readily agreed to Li Yi's proposal.

Sending envoys to pay tribute was also a routine operation for princes from all over the country.

With Yuan Shao's wealth and power, he would not be reluctant to spend this little money.

Of course, the amount cannot be too high, otherwise no matter how rich Yuan Shao is, he will not be taken advantage of.

The war is imminent, so make as little profit as possible.

After sending away Yuan Shao's envoy, Cao and Liu ordered Sun Ce's envoy to meet them.

It’s better to get straight to the point and ask Sun Ce what he wants.

Compared with Yuan Shao, Sun Ce needs the court's recognition even more.

The Yuan Shen family was wealthy and powerful, with three officials in four generations being dukes. He had the confidence to simply not become the emperor.

But Sun Ce was just a general who was appointed as a bandit-suppressing general by the "rebel" Yuan Shu. Without any imperial edict, he went to Jiangdong to attack the enemy's territory.

He was directly defined as "rebellion" by the Jiangdong gentry.

To explain it from a gaming perspective, Sun Ce started a war without "forging a claim", which reduced his "stability", increased his "war-weariness", and caused him to lose the support of the people.

Therefore, as soon as Sun Ce conquered Wujun and Kuaiji, he could not wait to send envoys to the court to request enthronement.

The tribute gifts were twice that of ordinary princes.

This envoy from Sun Wu was Liu You, the commander-in-chief under Sun Ce.

He bowed to Cao Cao and Liu Bei and said:
"Sikong Cao, General Liu, my lord Sun Ce has made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion in Jiangdong, so he sent me to ask for a reward."

Of course Cao Liu knew that this was Liu You's polite talk, so he did not expose him and asked him about the specific content of the reward.

Upon seeing this, Liu You very tactfully presented the list of tribute first.

They were all rare treasures from Jiangdong, and there was also a lot of food and fodder.

Although these tributes were not enough to fill the gaps in the teeth of great princes like Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

But who would complain about having too much money in their pocket?
After the two of them finished reading the list, Cao Cao spoke first:
"I heard that your lord, Sun Ce, killed high-ranking officials of the imperial court and occupied the land of Jiangdong, and he did not come to pay tribute to the imperial court."

"What's the crime?"

Liu You nodded and said:
"There must be a misunderstanding here. My lord has killed all the rebels in Jiangdong."

"Wherever the army passed, it did not harm the people, and was praised by all."

"If Cao Sikong doesn't believe it, you can send someone to investigate."

The Sun Wu envoy played a trick of avoiding the main issue.

Sun Ce enforced strict military discipline and indeed won the support of the Jiangdong military and civilians.

But all the Jiangdong nobles who opposed him were killed by him.

Even if Cao Cao were to investigate now, he would only see common people praising Sun Ce. How could there be any nobles speaking out against him?
Liu Bei said:

"Since your master has made great contributions to the court, he should pay tribute to the court every year."

It is still a trick of using both kindness and force with one person playing the good guy and the other playing the bad guy.

Liu You nodded repeatedly.

"General Liu is teaching us that the journey was delayed because of the rampage of bandits and the difficulty of the road, which prevented us from advancing."

"Now that my lord has cleared Jiangdong, there are no more thieves."

"From now on, we can pay tribute to the court every year."

Liu Bei and Cao Cao looked at each other again, and then signaled Liu You to bring up the letter in which Sun Ce requested for enthronement.

Its general content is:

Sun Ce requested to be appointed as the prefect of Kuaiji, Wu Jing as the prefect of Danyang, Sun Ben as the prefect of Yuzhang, and Zhu Zhi as the prefect of Wujun.

Simultaneously,

Sun Ce used the excuse that there were many mountainous Yue peoples in the east, west, south and east of Jiangdong in order to better maintain the stability of Yuzhang County.

He requested to divide Yuzhang into two parts, the northern part as Yuzhang County and the southern part as Luling County.

He also requested that Sun Ben's younger brother Sun Fu be appointed as the prefect of Luling.

Just by looking at this enthronement list, it is not difficult to find that the habit of the princes in the late Han Dynasty was to employ military generals from the royal family.

Cao Cao used his Cao family and Xiahou family.

Sun Ce used his Sun family.

Yuan Shao also let his three sons and nephew each rule a state in the north.

However, Sun Ce's request for a title was too greedy.

Judging from the historical line, Sun Ce did annex the entire Jiangdong.

But now Sun Ce only has Wujun and Kuaiji in his hands.

However, he granted titles to all the counties in Jiangdong to his subordinates, which was tantamount to demanding the claim of the entire Jiangdong.

Then he would have a legitimate reason to attack the remaining counties.

There is no doubt that this move was opposed by both Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

If Sun Ce really only wanted Kuaiji and Wujun, then these two people were basically doing him a favor.

After all, these two places were originally in his hands.

However, Sun Ce also demanded the claims of Yuzhang and Danyang, which Cao and Liu could not accept.

From Liu Bei's perspective,

Thanks to Li Yi's suggestion to marry Yuan's daughter, Liu Bei could be considered to have a marriage relationship with four generations of three dukes.

At that time, the prefect of Danyang, Yuan Yin, was the cousin of the Yuan girl.

Through matchmaking, Yuan Yin has verbally surrendered to Xuzhou and is willing to become Xuzhou's vassal.

Later, during the battle in Hebei, Yuan Yin could also send the brave and combat-ready Danyang soldiers to the front line to help and provide blood transfusion for Xuzhou.

If Wu Jing were appointed as the governor of Danyang, wouldn't that be tantamount to selling out Yuan Yin?
From Cao Cao's perspective,
His sphere of influence in Jiangnan was mainly Lujiang.

Although Lujiang has not been completely occupied, it is only a matter of time.

Once Lujiang is completely swallowed up, it will be directly bordering Yuzhang.

In other words, without destroying the alliance between Cao and Liu.

If Cao Cao wanted to continue expanding south of the Yangtze River, he could only attack Yuzhang.

If he agreed to give the title of Yuzhang Taishou to Sun Ben, he could even divide it into two.

The interests of Cao Ying were undoubtedly damaged.

"This is extremely inappropriate. Sun Ce borrowed his father's name but did not make any significant contribution to the court."

"How to enfeoff the counties in Jiangdong?"

"Cao disagrees!"

Cao Cao was the first to refute and rejected Sun Ce's memorial.

Liu Bei also said:

"Yes, what Cao Sikong said makes sense."

"The current Yuzhang governor Hua Xin and Hua Ziyu were appointed by the emperor himself. When they were in office, they were honest and did not trouble the people."

"The officials and the people all love him. Sun Ce has seized the land of Jiangdong without any reason, and the court has not yet held him responsible. How dare he ask to be appointed as the governor of Yuzhang?"

"As for Yuan Yin, the governor of Danyang, he also did nothing wrong while in office."

"Removing him from his post without reason may undermine your majesty's ability to reward and punish."

Cao Cao and Liu Bei agreed and directly rejected Sun Ce's request.

Liu You also knew that without the consent of the two, Sun Ce would never be recognized by the court.

So he came prepared this time, and said:
"Sikong Cao, General Liu, my lord sent us here for the purpose of paying tribute to the imperial court."

"Also let me give you two some gifts to show my Lord's kindness."

After that, he handed two gift lists to Cao Cao and Liu Bei respectively.

The gifts on this list are more than the tribute items presented to the imperial court.

In ancient times, people attached great importance to quantity, and often used it to highlight the differences in class status.

Sun Ce presented gifts to Cao and Liu that were many times the tribute.

This means that the status of the Cao and Liu families is above that of the imperial court.

I give you some respect, and I hope you can give me some respect in return.

However, these alone are obviously not enough to impress the two politicians.

Liu You saw that there was no change in Cao Cao and Liu Bei's expressions, and knew that they were not satisfied with this.

Then he whispered:
"My Lord knows that Cao Sikong and General Liu are currently focusing on the affairs of Hebei Province. My Lord is willing to share their worries."

Sure enough, after hearing these words, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were both cheered up.

If they were talking about how to deal with Yuan Shao, they wouldn't be sleepy anymore.

Now both of them are worried whether they can stop the Hebei army by themselves.

If we can get one more family into the anti-Yuan alliance, our chances of winning will increase a little.

"Please tell me in detail!" Liu Bei said hurriedly.

Liu You knew that the opportunity had come, so he said:
"Yuan Shao of Hebei controls four states and has a strong army and sufficient food."

"If Gongsun Zan were not here, we would march south."

"Prime Minister Cao and General Liu must also hope to own the land of Henan and concentrate on defending the country."

"And the land of Jiangdong can be safe and sound, right?"

The implication is that if Cao and Liu do not agree, the Sun family will surrender to Yuan Shao.

At that time, Cao and Liu will have to divide their troops to guard the land in the south.

Xiahou Dun, who was standing by, heard this and immediately said angrily:

"Do you dare to threaten the imperial court?"

"My imperial court has sent troops to destroy your Sun clan. What will you do?"

Liu You was not afraid, and answered neither humbly nor arrogantly:
"That's true. The Sun family is not one of those who are afraid of death. They are willing to fight to the death."

"It's just that I heard that Yuan Shao has been appointed as the general, given the title of Grand General, and is in charge of the troops of You, Qing, Bing, and Ji provinces."

"He holds the power of the world, and his ambitions are not small. I am afraid he will move south soon."

"If Cao Sikong and General Liu are distracted by the war in Jiangdong at this time, and Yuan Shao takes advantage of the situation and invades, it may not be a good thing."

Yuan Shao will soon march south. Unless Cao and Liu can quickly wipe out the Sun family during this period, they may be attacked from both the north and the south by the Sun and Yuan families.

The Sun family is actually not weak.

Previously, it was because Yuan Shu was in power that he placed a large number of Sun family generals under house arrest.

Yuan Shu's death actually helped the Sun family get out of trouble.

Many generals of the Sun family brought their troops to join Sun Ce, such as Sun Ben, Wu Jing, etc.

This caused the Sun family's power to surge.

At the same time, Sun Ce did not receive the support of the Jiangdong clans.

However, his classmate and good friend Zhou Yu, relying on the influence of his own family, helped him win the support of a group of families in Huainan.

For the Sun family, it is not necessary to attack Cao and Liu.

The Sun family just wanted the Jiangdong territory.

But now Cao and Liu do not have much influence on Jiangdong, what if they are really caught up in a war with Hebei.

It is difficult to stop the Sun family from encroaching on the remaining land in Jiangdong.

Liu You seized this key point and negotiated with Cao and Liu.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei both fell into deep thought, thinking about the interests involved.

We must be cautious about the dangers in the south of the Yangtze River.

Originally, the remaining forces of Yuan Shu had not been dealt with yet, and both Cao and Liu had not yet gained a foothold in Huainan.

How to send troops again to wipe out the Sun family?

Even if the Sun family is wiped out, all we will get is a blood-draining trough.

What do you mean?
As mentioned earlier, the richest place in Yangzhou is Huainan, and Huainan’s population accounts for about 60% to 80% of Yangzhou.

One of the main reasons for this is that the South was developed too late.

When Sun Ce attacked Wujun, he specifically ordered Zhu Zhi to take a detour through Qiantang, which was behind Wujun.

Because Wu County was full of lakes and swamps at that time, if you didn't take the official road, you would almost certainly get lost.

Not to mention the area further south, which is all mountains, swamps, and forests, and the productivity is extremely backward.

Many people asked Cao Cao whether he meant what he said, “If I had a son, I hope he would be like Sun Zhongmou.”

The answer is of course sincere.

For Cao Cao at that time, he really needed an heir like Sun Quan who could protect his family business.

Throughout history, Sun Quan has always been evaluated as not being good enough at conquering the world but good enough at defending the territory.

This "surplus" lies in Sun Quan's development of southeastern China.

If you ask what was Sun Quan's greatest achievement in his life, it was his development of the south of the Yangtze River, which far exceeded that of the Han Dynasty.

It not only enabled the rapid development of agriculture and handicrafts in the south of the Yangtze River, but also laid the material and social foundation for the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties.

He also first built Guangzhou and opened up Lingnan.

The first official arrival in Yizhou gave Taiwan its claim since ancient times.

In other words, the Jiangnan area at that time was essentially a place where the Sun family invested a lot of resources and spent decades to develop it into a powerful place.

It is now a desolate place. Even if we really take it down, it will only become a bleeding sink for Cao and Liu.

Not to mention, if Sun decided to go all out and fight to the death with Cao and Liu.

Even if Cao and Liu destroyed him, they would still feel a pain in their teeth.

"One more enemy is worse than one more friend."

Guo Jia whispered a reminder to Cao Cao from behind.

"Besides, we have no conflict of interest with the Sun family, and most of their territories are adjacent to the Liu family."

"If I support him, after Liu Bei and Liu Biao, raising a Xie'er will also be beneficial to my future actions."

Like Li Yi, Guo Jia also has a long-term vision.

He understood that if Cao and Liu really joined forces to destroy the Yuan family, they would divide the land of Hebei.

That opponent is undoubtedly the new powerful enemy after Yuan Shao.

It's just like Li Yi raising a concubine in the southwest of Cao Cao.

Guo Jia also suggested that Cao Cao keep Sun Ce in the southeast of Liu Bei.

It can be considered as each side laying mines to guard against the other side.

Cao Cao was a little worried and said:

"Sun Ce is brave and valiant, similar to Xiang Yu."

"If we let it stay in Wu, I'm afraid it will grow sharp fangs."

Guo Jia analyzed:
"Now the north has one superpower and two strong powers. Apart from Yuan Shao, only Ming Gong and Liu Bei are the strongest."

"You two are allies on paper. As long as the Yuan family is not destroyed, the alliance between Cao and Liu will not be broken."

"As long as Cao and Liu are allies, it will be difficult for the Sun family to leave the south of the Yangtze River."

The implication is that with the combined suppression of Cao and Liu, it would be impossible for the Sun family to become one of the three superpowers.

If he could be raised well, he would become an important force to restrain Liu Bei.

Just as Cao Cao and Guo Jia were whispering.

Liu Bei was also having secret talks with Li Yi.

"According to the military advisor's opinion, how should we deal with Sun Ce?"

Li Yi answered calmly:
"As Guo Fengxiao said, Sun Ce is frivolous and unprepared, and will die at the hands of a villain sooner or later."

"If Sun Ce dies, it will be difficult for the Sun family to produce someone capable of conquering the world. There is no need to worry."

"Danyang Yuan Yin has become a vassal of Xuzhou, so we should protect him."

"Why not give Chaisang to Sun Ce to provoke an attack on Liu Biao in the west? This is a strategy of driving a tiger to devour a wolf."

Chaisang is located in the north of Yuzhang and is an important ferry crossing.

As mentioned earlier, Yuzhang and Jingzhou are separated by the Nanling Mountains.

If Yangzhou wanted to attack Jingzhou, it could only cross Pengze Lake and take the Yangtze River waterway.

Chaisang is located in Yuzhang, an important lake ferry crossing.

Once Sun Ce took it, it would inevitably arouse Liu Biao's vigilance.

Liu Bei hesitated a little, "Liu Jingsheng and my Xuzhou have trade. If Sun Ce brings disaster to Jingzhou, will it cut off my trade route?"

Li Yi analyzed methodically:

"The Yangtze River waterway is mainly controlled by the Huang family of Jingzhou. If Sun Ce is really an ally with us, he will not be able to intercept our merchant ships on the Yangtze River waterway."

“The louder the waves, the more expensive the fish.”

"The more war there is, the more the scholars and nobles in Jingzhou will try to profit from it."

"As for Sun Ce and Liu Biao, they are both our 'allies'. We cannot intervene and just let them fight among themselves."

"If the two tigers compete for food, we can trade with them and make a profit from the war."

Liu Bei nodded, thinking that it would be a good idea to divert the disaster to the west.

Liu Biao and his Jingzhou openly formed an alliance with Xuzhou.

But is Liu Biao really a trustworthy ally?

Li Yi once said that Liu Biao was not aware of changes and was suspicious and indecisive.

In fact, both Pei Qian and Wang Can, one of the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period, had made their final judgment on Liu Biao.

Wang Can said that Liu Biao was "a man of great virtue, who sat back and watched the changes of the times and thought that King Xibo could be regulated."

That is to say, he knew that Liu Biao wanted to be King Wen of Zhou, and slowly wait until the Han Dynasty, the "Shang Dynasty", had run out of luck, and then the world would be his.

But Pei Qian said, "Liu Mu is not a hegemon, but wants to keep Xibo in his place. His downfall is imminent."

Liu Biao wanted to be King Wen of Zhou, but he did not have the ability to do so. He misjudged the situation in the world and was doomed to failure sooner or later.

During the Battle of Guandu, this guy bet on both sides, Yuan and Cao, hoping that both sides would suffer losses.

Therefore, Li Yi dared to conclude that when the day of the great battle with Yuan Shao really came.

Liu Biao, the ally of Jingzhou, would support Cao and Liu on the surface.

But he would definitely contact Yuan Shao secretly and lend him a helping hand.

In this case, he might as well drive the tiger to devour the wolf and lure Sun Ce to attack Liu Biao.

The two men had a grudge against each other, and according to Liu Biao's policy of defending Jingzhou to the death, he would never allow the Sun family to occupy the important stronghold of Chaisang.

At that time, Liu Biao will have to leave even if he doesn't want to.

In this way, there is no need to worry about Liu Biao making trouble behind the scenes, nor does there be any need to worry about Sun Ce developing too quickly.

Because Jingzhou has a strong financial foundation, it is not something that Sun Ce can easily shake.

"...Good, Ziyu's plan is the most appropriate."

Liu Bei was very satisfied with Li Yi's proposal and told Cao Cao about it immediately.

He was willing to give the right to petition Chaisang to Sun Ce, implying that Sun Ce could attack Chaisang and other places.

"...Did Liu Bei want Sun Ce to attack Liu Biao?"

Cao Cao secretly speculated on Liu Bei's intention behind this arrangement.

At the same time, he looked at Guo Jia again, asking for his opinion.

Guo Jia leaned over and whispered to Cao Cao:

"If we can unite Sun Ce and Liu Biao, we will have no worries at home and can focus on dealing with Yuan Shao."

This arrangement benefited both Cao and Liu families.

Cao Cao's rear was mainly threatened by Liu Biao, and he had recently been beaten up by Liu Biao's guest general.

Liu Bei's main rear support was Sun Ce.

The attack between Liu Biao and Sun Ce would indeed allow Cao and Liu Bei to take action and concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao.

This proposal was quite reasonable and could be accepted by both Cao and Liu families.

After discussing the specific details, he called Liu You over and told him.

The court could appoint Sun Ce as the General for Suppressing Rebellion, concurrently as the Prefect of Kuaiji, and grant him the title of Marquis of Wu.

Zhu Zhi was also appointed as the governor of Wujun.

However, Yuan Yin, the prefect of Danyang, and Hua Xin, the prefect of Yuzhang, did not make any mistakes during their tenures and cannot be replaced at will.

However, in order to commend Sun Ce for his "merit in pacifying Jiangdong", the appointment power of Chaisang can be given to Sun Ce.

The implication is that Sun Ce could attack Chaisang.

But it was not stated explicitly that Sun Ce was to attack Liu Biao.

Liu You was a smart man and understood what Cao Liu meant at a glance.

Chaisang was given to the Sun family, and the Sun family only had three directions to attack.

Cao Cao is in the north, and the Cao-Liu alliance is there. Would Sun Ce dare to go and fight against him with an egg?

As for Hua Xin in the south, it has been clearly stated that Hua Xin had done nothing wrong. Sun Ce had just received a reward from the court, so how could he dare to disobey the order?

Then only Liu Biao in the west is left.

In fact, even if Sun Ce did not attack Liu Biao, Liu Biao would take the initiative to attack.

Because Chaisang is the throat of Jing and Yang states.

Liu Biao’s foreign policy has always been “I will attack whoever attacks Jingzhou.”

He and Sun Ce had a grudge against each other for murdering their father. How could Liu Biao feel at ease when Chaisang fell into the hands of the Sun family?
Therefore, as long as Chaisang was taken, the war between Liu Biao and Sun Ce was bound to break out.

But if he didn't lead it, Sun Ce would be locked in the Jiangdong area and would have no other direction of development.

This was a conspiracy set up by Li Yi for Sun. Two cups of poisoned wine, one of which she could choose.

"Well, if your Excellency has no objection, General Liu and I will go and report to the court."

"To commend General Sun."

Cao Cao's voice came again, urging Liu You to make a quick decision.

Liu You frowned, thinking to himself that the foreign policy originally set by my lord was to make friends with Cao and Liu, attack Liu Biao in the west, and annex the land of Jingzhou.

Although he failed to obtain Yuzhang and Danyang, it was not easy to gain recognition from Cao, Liu and the imperial court.

This seems to be the best result that Sun can achieve.

Thinking of this, Liu You bowed to the two men and said:

"Sikong Cao and General Liu are very wise and righteous. My Lord is grateful to them."

Liu Bei reminded again:

"Don't forget, if there is any change in the Central Plains in the future, your lord should share the worries for the court."

The change here refers to the war with Yuan Shao.

Liu Bei also specifically referred to the imperial court and did not mention either himself or Cao Cao's family at all.

Liu You nodded repeatedly and was led to see the emperor.

After dealing with the envoys from Yuan and Sun, Liu Bei turned the topic to Zhang Xiu.

But he did not directly mention that Xuzhou had secretly accepted Zhang Xiu's surrender, only saying:

"I heard that Cao Gong attacked Nanyang before, but was defeated by Zhang Xiu, and his son died in the battle."

"I deeply regret this..."

Cao Cao thought of how Liu Bei had sent him money and food before he went on the expedition, and how after he was defeated he immediately sent people to express his condolences and also sent money and food to comfort him.

I guess what he said at this time is sincere.

Then he sighed:

"Victory and defeat are common in the military. Mistaking the strategy of a child for this is the reason for this defeat."

"Although it is not a big deal, my son Cao Ang and general Dian Wei were both killed in the battle."

"Every time Cao thought of this, he would beat his chest and stamp his feet, feeling extremely distressed."

Liu Bei spoke to comfort him again.

After some warm greetings, Liu Bei asked tentatively:
"Does Cao Gong intend to attack Zhang Xiu again next year?"

Cao Cao slapped his thigh without hesitation and said:
"That's natural!"

"The previous defeat was due to my carelessness."

"Next year, I will capture Zhang Xiu's son and bring him to my tent to avenge Wu'ang'er."

Li Yi shook his head and interrupted:

"What Cao Gong said is wrong."

"Zhang Xiu was a man of extraordinary courage and strength, and he also had Jia Xu as his counselor and Liu Biao as his financial backer."

“It’s not something that can be achieved overnight.”

"I heard that Yuan Shao has already begun to mobilize troops to the south. By next year, Yuan Shao will be able to mobilize tens of thousands of troops in Liyang and Jishui."

"If he takes advantage of Cao Gong's campaign against Zhang Xiu and attacks Xu, wouldn't Cao Gong's efforts be in vain?"

What Li Yi said was not alarmist.

Because in history, Zhang Xiu did defeat Cao Cao twice.

Although Cao Cao was well prepared for the second time, he happened to encounter Yuan Shao's surprise attack on Xu County and had to return.

As a result, Jia Xu proposed the strategy of "chasing Cao's troops twice" and he was defeated by Zhang Xiu again.

If we really have to wait until next year, we will basically be at war with Yuan Shao.

Li Yi doesn't want to be held back by his stupid teammates at this time.

Cao Cao was in the heart of the Central Plains, and Xuzhou would definitely need him to share a large number of Yuan Shao's military forces.

"Should I follow Mr. Li's advice and let Zhang Xiu take charge of the southwest without doing anything?"

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice.

……

(End of this chapter)