Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 379: The Beginning of the Sun-Cao-Liu Alliance
April, the second year of Jianxing. Wancheng, Prime Minister's Mansion.

In the hall, Yuan Shu was wearing a crown and a tasseled crown. From a distance, he looked like an emperor. As he paced with his hands behind his back, he gradually became more noble, not like a commoner in a cloak of wealth.

"Did Sun Jian surrender to Liu Zhang?" Yuan Shu asked.

"Your Majesty, Sun Jian captured Fucheng in January, Luocheng in February, and besieged Chengdu in March. Chengdu has a large population and abundant grain reserves. If Liu Zhang does not surrender, we will not be able to take it even after countless months of siege," said Yan Xiang.

Yuan Shu frowned and said, "The auspicious time is the 24th of this month, and it is only half a month away. If we cannot capture Chengdu and report the victory to Wancheng, we will miss the day of enthronement."

"Your Majesty, if you cannot make it to the auspicious time, you might as well ascend the throne first. After all, among all the counties in Bashu, only Hanzhong and Shu counties have failed to surrender. Zhang Lu, the governor of Hanzhong County, relied on Zhang Yu as an ally and refused to submit to Your Majesty; all the counties in Shu County surrendered, and only the city of Chengdu has not been annexed, but it is also a matter of time." Deng Cha said.

Yuan Shu was a little unhappy and said, "Jiaozhou failed to make a memorial, Yizhou failed to submit completely, and Huainan was in chaos due to Cao Gong. Only the Wuxi barbarians in Jingnan celebrated. This must have disappointed me."

In the year when Cao Cao went south to Huainan, Yuan Shu sent people to persuade Lu Kang of Lujiang to surrender. However, Lu Kang regarded Yuan Shu as a traitor and refused to submit, so Yuan Shu sent Huang Zu to lead troops to attack.

Lu Kang contacted Liu Yao and Cao Cao, hoping to get their help. So when Huang Zu was besieging the city, Cao Cao led thousands of elite soldiers and defeated Huang Zu in Lujiang, thus lifting the siege of Lujiang. After the siege was lifted, Cao Cao knew the key to establishing his reputation, so he did not dare to covet Lujiang. He only asked for 30,000 hu of grain as military rations and led his troops back to Guangling.

This year, Lu Kang, who was in his seventies, suddenly fell ill and was bedridden. Considering the key to Lujiang County, Yuan Shu had the potential to usurp the Han Dynasty. The governor Liu Yao was not good at military strategy, only Cao Cao had great strategy, and because the Cao family was popular in Lujiang, he invited Cao Cao to Lujiang and gave the position of county governor to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was overjoyed. Following Xun Yu's suggestion, he went to Lujiang County in person to pay a visit to Lu Kang. After some humility, he finally accepted Lujiang County. However, one month after Lu Kang gave up the prefecture, he died due to worsening illness.

After taking over Lujiang County, Cao Cao expanded from one county to two counties. In order to better control Lujiang County, Cao Cao moved the seat of government to Shu County in Lujiang, and the former Guangling County was handed over to Xiahou Dun as the prefect.

Yuan Shu was furious when he learned that Cao Cao had obtained Lujiang County for no reason, so he ordered Huang Zu and Yuan Si to lead 30,000 troops to attack Lujiang County. Cao Cao used a false surrender strategy to lure the two men deep into Juchao, and then set up an ambush to defeat them. The two men were defeated and fled, and Cao Cao killed and captured thousands of prisoners, winning a great victory, so Huang Zu dared not attack Cao Cao again.

Although Cao Cao won the battle, he knew that his foundation was not deep and he did not have many elite soldiers and naval forces, so he did not cross the river. Instead, he chose to govern Lujiang and Guangling counties, and intended to take over Jiujiang County, in order to achieve the initial strategy of having the Huai River as the boundary in the north and the Yangtze River as the border in the south.

As for Jiaozhou, the former governor of Jiaozhou was Zhu Fu, who had fallen out with Yuan Shu because he had protected Liu Bei. He asked Liu Bei to recruit 3,000 soldiers and station them in Xiemu to prepare for Yuan Shu's troops. However, at the end of the year, because Zhu Fu's tax collection was too high, the barbarian leaders rioted, killed Zhu Fu and caused chaos in Jiaoling.

Upon learning of Zhu Fu's death, Yuan Shu immediately appointed Xiang Xi as the governor of Jiaozhou and ordered him to lead troops to attack Liu Bei and take control of Jiaozhou. However, Liu Bei set an ambush at Xiemu and defeated Xiang Xi with fire, thus thwarting Yuan Shu's attempt to seize Jiaozhou.

After defeating Xiang Xi, Liu Bei followed Jian Yong's advice and turned back to attack Guangxin. He took Cangwu County as a temporary base to observe the situation and contact the governors of various counties, hoping to continue to fight against Yuan.

However, at this time, Jiaozhi prefect Shi Xie took advantage of the Shi family's reputation in Jiaozhou and recommended Shi Yi as the prefect of Hepu, Shi Ren as the prefect of Jiuzhen, and Shi Wu as the prefect of Nanhai.

Shi Xie learned that Liu Bei occupied Cangwu and planned to contact him to fight against Yuan. Shi Xie, who wanted to establish his own regime, hoped that Liu Bei could help him resist the troops of Jingzhou, so he and Shi Yi, Shi, Shi Wu and others recommended Liu Bei as the governor of Jiaozhou.

In March, Liu Bei met with the envoys of the Shi clan in Guangxin, called himself the former general, and issued a manifesto to attack Yuan. Yuan Shu knew about the changes in Jiaozhou, and although he disliked Liu Bei, he had to ignore Liu Bei temporarily because Jiaozhou was remote.

Liu Bei wanted to march north to attack Yuan Shu, but due to his limited military resources and unstable foundation, he had to govern Cangwu County first and appointed Guan Yu as the governor of Yulin, trying to expand the territory in preparation for the subsequent attack on Yuan Shu.

Cao Cao became powerful in Jianghuai, and Liu Bei's uprising in Jiaoling did not affect Yuan Shu's rule in Jingnan and Jiangzuo, but it made Yuan Shu, who was about to become emperor, lose face. In order to gain some face before becoming emperor, Yuan Shu could only pin his hopes on Bashu.

Cai Mao hesitated for a moment and said, "The reason why Liu Zhang refused to surrender is that he feared that Your Majesty would harm him. Therefore, Your Majesty might as well send someone to Chengdu with an imperial edict, promising that when Your Majesty ascends the throne, Liu Zhang will be granted the title of Marquis of a county, so as to appease Liu Zhang."

"Can!"

Yuan Shu waved his hand and said, "Follow Degui's advice and send someone to Bashu as soon as possible. Make sure to send the seal of Yizhou governor and Liu Zhang's surrender letter to Wancheng before ascending the throne."

"promise!"

Yuan Shu then asked everyone, "How about the coronation ceremony? Is Yang Biao willing to be the Minister of Education?"

"Yang Biao said that the emperor is wise and the Han Dynasty has not yet perished. Please be cautious, Your Majesty. I will now take sick leave and not go out." Deng Cha said.

"ordinary man!"

Yuan Shu sneered and asked, "Where are the others?"

"Jin Shang, Xu Qiu, and Shisun Rui are unwilling to serve as the Three Dukes, no matter how much we persuade them!" Cai Mao shook his head and said. "Cut off their food rations and let those who are willing to serve as the Three Dukes!" Yuan Shu said dissatisfiedly.

"promise!"

Then, Yuan Shu asked about some details of the enthronement, and then he deliberately asked everyone to leave.
Before leaving, Cai Mao hesitated for a while and said, "Your Majesty, I heard that Sun Jian appointed many officials in Bashu and placed his confidants in key positions. Now Sun Jian has a large army and trusted the officials in Bashu. If there is a sudden change, it may be disadvantageous to Your Majesty. So in Mao's opinion, Your Majesty should send someone to replace him to prevent Sun Jian from becoming too powerful in Bashu!"

Yuan Shu hesitated for a moment and said, "I know what Degui means. On the day I proclaim myself emperor, I will summon Sun Jian back to Wan."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

How could Yuan Shu not know about Sun Jian's actions in Bashu? It was only because the war situation in Bashu could not be separated from Sun Jian that he had to let Sun Jian stay in Bashu and tacitly allowed Sun Jian to place people in Bashu. However, Yuan Shu had already made preparations. He planned to use his accession to the throne as an excuse to let Sun Jian put down his troops and horses in Wancheng, so as to divide the Sun family.

When Yuan Shu was about to become emperor and was thinking about Liu Zhang's surrender, Sun Jian and Sun Ce joined forces and the two armies surrounded Chengdu.

Inside the tent, Sun Jian received an urgent letter from Yuan Shu and said to his attendants with a smile, "Yuan Shu is so eager to become emperor that he wants to confer titles of Marquis Wan Hu and Liu Zhang."

When Sun Ce was browsing the documents, he saw Yuan Shu praising Sun Jian and saying that he would appoint Sun Jian as a general and let him return to Wancheng to report on his work. He frowned and said, "It is only a matter of time before Liu Zhang surrenders. Now that he has been promised the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households, I expect Liu Zhang to surrender soon. But Yuan Shu asked my father to return to Wancheng to report on his work. I think it is not possible!"

"Why not?" Han Dang asked.

Sun Ce said to his confidants in the tent, "Yuan Shu was worried that my father would gain power by relying on the army, so he summoned him back to the country. Now he summoned my father back to Wan again on the pretext of proclaiming himself emperor. It may be true that he appointed my father as the general, but he actually wants to take away my father's military power."

After a pause, Sun Ce emphasized, "Besides, if Yuan Shu proclaims himself emperor, he will depose the emperor and establish himself as the emperor, which will be condemned by both humans and gods. If my father returns to Wan, his reputation will be ruined."

"Bofu has foresight!"

Seeing his eldest son so outstanding, Sun Jian was very pleased and said, "Now Yuan Shu is waiting for Yizhou to surrender and proclaim himself emperor. How can I do what he wants? I want to delay the opportunity and go to Badong County. When Yuan Shu proclaims himself emperor, I will issue a letter to attack Yuan and have Sun Jing blockade Yufu to prevent Yuan Shu's army from entering Shu."

"What should the Yuan family's generals in Shu do?" asked Sun Ce.

"This is not difficult!"

Huan Jie said: "The general has traveled far to Badong. The junior general can invite Yuan Shu's generals to a banquet on the pretext of celebrating Yuan Shu's ascension to the throne. Then, hide the swordsmen and kill them. With the general's military token, he can take control of the military power of all the generals. Only the governors of Guanghan, Shu and Baxi counties need to be taken care of by other people."

Sun Jian nodded and said, "The plan of setting up an ambush and killing at a banquet is a good one. It can help us regain control of the army without causing any disturbances. The governors of Guanghan, Shu, and Baxi are easy to kill, but the governor of Guanghan and Baxi may need to be killed by someone."

Then Sun Jian looked at Huan Jie and said, "When the time comes, Bo Xu will take my order and lead his troops to Guanghan to kill the governor of Guanghan. After that, you will temporarily serve as the governor of Guanghan."

"As ordered!"

"As for Brazil County?"

Sun Jian thought for a while and said, "Let Gongshi lead the troops to attack Zhang Lu, and let Yuan Yi, the governor of Baxi, go with him. Then we can ambush and kill Yuan Yi in the camp. After Yuan Yi dies, Gongshi will be the governor and govern Baxi for me temporarily."

"Yes!" Xu Zhen bowed in response.

Xu Zhen was Sun Jian's brother-in-law. He was originally a powerful man in Wu County and had been good friends with Sun Jian since childhood. Sun Jian admired Xu Zhen and married his sister to him.

When Sun Jian was the governor of Yuzhou, he called on fellow villagers from Wujun to join him, and Xu Zhen led his clansmen to join him. Because of his strict character, Sun Jian took him as his confidant, and now he is a general in the army.

Xu Zhen had a son named Xu Kun, who followed Sun Jian earlier than his father and followed him to conquer Longyou and fight against Dong Zhuo. He was now a general. In history, Xu Kun was a founding hero of the early Eastern Wu Dynasty. He was deeply trusted by Sun Ce and was appointed as the lieutenant general of the army, in charge of all the armies of the Sun family.

After Sun Ce's death, Xu Kun became the person who held military power in the Sun family. In order to win over Xu Kun, Sun Quan married his daughter. With Xu Kun's death, Sun Quan got the military power.

Today, the Xu family's power under Sun Jian is also strong, and they are qualified to serve as prefects.

(End of this chapter)