Liu Bei wants to march south next year, and now he naturally wants to blow the wind among his cronies, unify his thoughts, and get ready. Such a war cannot be fought without adequate preparation.

However, Liu Bei's self-confidence made the ministers a little surprised. If you want to swallow the Cao and Sun families in one go, what a big appetite is this, can you do it on your side?

Xun Yu, who had repeatedly calculated in his heart, said to him: "My lord, next year's southern expedition, you can ask Cao and Sun Yi, if you want to merge the two families, you can't catch it." ”

For major military affairs, it is better to be safe. It's too aggressive, if you are a little careless, take a wrong step, and if you don't do it well, you will lose everything. This will Xun You, Jia Xu and the others begin to turn their brains to think of a way.

Xun You said: "Now that Cao and Sun are fighting for Jingzhou, our army can take advantage of this good opportunity to attack Hanzhong from Chencang Road, or cross the river and take Jiangdong." This is the best policy. ”

Choose a direction to fight first, and then see if you win. Who can predict how the situation will develop then? If it didn't go well, it won. It was also unfavorable to make unfavorable progress, and the war continued for several years.

Jia Xu also means this: "In the opinion of the minister, it is better to take Jiangdong first." Yizhou has the danger of mountains and rivers, and Cao Mengde personally guards it and is heavily guarded. Although Jiangdong is hindered by a large river, there is no danger when crossing the river. The Xuzhou Sailor has been practicing for many years and is just the vanguard of the army. ”

Liu Bei thought about it, when Cao Cao went south to attack Jingzhou, Guanzhong and Liangzhou had not yet been pacified. At that time, if Cao Cao hadn't thought about eating him fat in one bite, and wanted to swallow Yangzhou after seizing Jingzhou, it is estimated that there would be nothing to do in the Battle of Chibi later. Now he has swept the north, Guanzhong, Liangzhou, and the Western Regions are all in his hands, the soldiers are full of food, and there are countless ministers and fierce generals. It is much stronger than Cao Cao who marched south in history. In this way, it is not possible for the two armies to come out together and divide Cao and Sun?

Of course, many things are not so simple, and the specific situation has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Cao Cao later sent troops several times to fight Liu Bei and Sun Quan, but he didn't fight down.

However, next year's troops, that is a sure thing. The south is now the belongings of Jingzhou, and it is estimated that it will still be fought until next year. If you don't take advantage of their weakness, you will have to wait until when.

I didn't move it before, because I wanted to take Yanzhou and Yuzhou into my pocket, but now that Yanzhou is in order, Yuzhou is also about to be. Next year, it's the best time.

So Liu Bei said: "Prepare the materials first." Next year, troops will be used in the south. ”

The ministers reported on some other work, and Liu Bei announced the dissolution of the meeting soon after. On the second day of the court meeting, Xun Yu's recital was delivered to the Son of Heaven.

Liu Bei asked Xun Yu to come forward, but he didn't want everyone to think that he was domineering. Anyway, everyone knows who Xun Yu represents. But let the agent come forward, and there will be a buffer in the middle.

The Son of Heaven picked up the piece and looked at it, and the content was Xun Yu's request to return the capital to Chang'an. Xun Yu was inside, and it was reasonable to say that the reason why the Han Dynasty was declining was all because of the chaos in Liangzhou.

Because of the Qiang chaos, too much money was consumed by the imperial court, and a large number of troops were stationed in Liangzhou, making the outside strong and the inside weak. Central emptiness. As a result, a large number of arrogant soldiers and fierce generals who do not listen to the will of the imperial court have been cultivated, and Dong Zhuo is a typical example. Even if Dong Zhuo died, the military force he left behind would not be completely wiped out until the great general Liu Bei conquered Guan and Liang a few years ago. So this is enough to prove how important Liangzhou is.

Now the north has just been settled, and the south has not yet been unified. The future of the world is not worry-free. In the north, the most likely to have turmoil, in addition to Youbian and border counties, is Liangzhou. No matter how chaotic Liangzhou is, the Western Regions, which have been finally opened, are estimated to lose control again.

Yes, please ask the Son of Heaven to agree, return the capital to Chang'an, and then make the elite soldiers defend the Guanzhong Plain, deter the disobedient people in Liangzhou and the Western Regions, and protect the mausoleums of Emperor Taizu Gao and other emperors.

After reading it, the Son of Heaven was silent. To be honest, he still wants to return to Luoyang. Luoyang is where he was born and raised. He saw off his father in Luoyang and ascended the throne as emperor in Luoyang. And Chang'an, it left too many bad impressions on him.

The palace is dilapidated, the clothes are not covered, the materials are scarce, and there is a group of lawless Liangzhou generals who are constantly coerced...... Otherwise, why did he have to go to Liu Bei.

However, he also knew that he didn't say anything about it. For many years in Liu Bei's place, he enjoyed all the treatment of the Son of Heaven except for power.

Food and clothing, guards and honor guards, and the superficial respect of the ministers. Except for the fact that he can't make decisions about military affairs, Liu Bei has done everything else.

To be honest, the Son of Heaven is very satisfied. He is a smart man, otherwise he would not have survived in the hands of Dong Zhuo, and he struggled for several years under the threat of the Liangzhou martial artists in Chang'an.

The twists and turns of fate made him realize the role of force early on. Since the world is full of people who have the biggest fist, they will listen to whomever they want, since they can listen to Dong Zhuo in Chang'an, Li Xu, and Guo Yan, why can't they listen to Liu Bei? And Liu Bei knows how to respect him more and is more subtle. gave him enough dignity as a son of heaven.

Of course, there are also many people who privately persuade him that it is time to find an opportunity to take back the power that the Son of Heaven should have. He didn't know whether Liu Bei knew these things, and he didn't know whether Liu Bei cared or not. But the Son of Heaven was either silent or declined.

Power is good, but life is more important. And he didn't have the confidence to do better than Liu Bei. If Liu Bei really quits, who will he let deal with the two princes in the south?

The survival of the Han Dynasty continued, and the power of the individual. The Son of Heaven decisively chose the former. After all, to put it mildly, that is, Liu Bei wants to usurp the throne, and the meat is rotten in the pot, after all, you can't write two Liu characters in one stroke. It's better than those rebellious ministers and thieves with foreign surnames who take the world, right?

After thinking silently for a long time, the Son of Heaven felt that returning to Chang'an was not a bad thing. The palace room in Chang'an has been repaired, and it is still very gorgeous. Changle and Weiyang, compared to Luoyang's but not the palace, are much more spectacular. And Xun Yu's reason is not unreasonable. The Son of Heaven himself has personally experienced the war, has been exposed to it by his ears and eyes, and has been taught by ministers, so he naturally knows the importance of Liangzhou.

If you return to Chang'an, then the people who follow you into the customs can suddenly make Guanzhong prosperous again, right? It can be regarded as a compensation for the broken people of Guanzhong.

After many years of war, the imperial tomb in Guanzhong was destroyed by many people. There are warlords led by Dong Zhuo, and there are also civilian tomb robbers. There were no sacrifices, and the mausoleum was destroyed. Zongmiao is more important than everything, this is the fault of my father and himself. After returning to Chang'an, the first thing is to repair the emperor's garden mausoleum, and then worship the high temple, report to Taizu and Taizong, and the foundation of the ancestors is still there. I didn't lose the Han family.

The Son of Heaven thought silently, then picked up the pen and wrote a quasi-word on Xun Yu's recital. Then put it aside, waiting for the Shangshu around him to use the seal.