Huainan, Shouchun.

Later General Yuan Shu's house.

In the Jishui War, Yuan Shu's 100,000 elite soldiers were broken by Lu Bu, retreated to Cheng Kuang, and then were chased by Lu Bu for hundreds of miles, until he fled back to Jiujiang County in embarrassment, and then got out of danger.

Afterwards, Yuan Shu did not allow the people around him to mention this matter again, thinking that it was the greatest shame in his life.

Back in Shouchun, Yuan Shu learned that Sun Ce had surrendered to Lü Bu, and he was so angry that he immediately sent Qiao Rui to command 30,000 troops to attack Sun Ce, but he was defeated.

Since then, Yuan Shu has been in a slump, and he no longer has the determination to compete for the world, and only thinks about shrinking in Huainan and becoming his soil emperor with peace of mind.

Not long ago, when he heard that Cao Cao and Lu Bu were in a decisive battle, Yuan Shu said in public: Cao Cao can't win against Lu Bu.

Everyone was skeptical.

Soon after, the news of the battle reached Huainan, and Cao Cao was defeated.

The generals and strategists under the tent all shouted that the lord was wise, thinking that Yuan Shu was far-sighted and had a vision that was very within the reach of others.

Yuan Shu was extremely calm about this, as if everything was under control: "If Cao Cao can unite with me in advance, maybe he will have a ninety percent chance of winning, and if he fights alone, Cao Mengde will be Lu Bu's opponent." ”

This pretending to be full of remarks made everyone awe-inspired.

However, what everyone doesn't know is that Yuan Shu is very proud, as far as he is concerned, even he can't beat Lu Bu, and no one in this world can defeat Lu Bu again.

This is the basis of Yuan Shu.

After staying in the stable life of Emperor Huainan for a long time, Yuan Shu, who enjoyed peace and happiness, had other ideas.

He called Li Feng, a favored advisor, and asked him about his destiny.

This Li Feng is a full flattering villain, to be precise, he should be a flattering villain full of erudition. In order to curry favor with Yuan Shu, he dared to say anything.

Since Yuan Shu asked him to discuss the Mandate of Heaven, Li Feng naturally guessed the meaning of his master, and said a lot of justified things: "The surname Yuan comes from Chen, Chen is Shun, and after Shun, he uses soil to bear fire, and he has to be lucky." I also thought that Yu Wenyun: Those who represent the Han Dynasty should be Tu Gao. ”

The meaning of the words is that Yuan Shu should ascend the throne and replace the Han family.

After hearing this, Yuan Shu was so happy that he flew up, and praised Li Feng with a smile.

The next day, Yuan Shu summoned his subordinates and announced to everyone in a vigorous manner: "Now the Liu family has declined in the world, and the sea is boiling, and the four generations of our Yuan family are all important ministers in the court, and the people are willing to belong to me." Since the people's will is wanted, so I want to uphold the will of heaven, conform to the people's will, and ascend the throne as emperor in Huainan, I don't know what the kings want? ”

When everyone heard this, most of them kept their heads, they knew Yuan Shu's temper, and now they were obviously on the rise, openly refuting it, where to put his face, isn't this dead?

Of course, there are really people who are not afraid of death, such as the chief bookkeeper Yan Xiang, after listening to Yuan Shu's rebellious speech without a king and a father, he bluntly pointed out: "Back then, the Zhou people from their ancestor Houji to King Wen, accumulated merit, and it can be said that there are two points in the world, but they are still cautious to be the courtiers of the Yin Shang Dynasty. Although you have been a high-ranking official for many years, I am afraid that you are not as prosperous as the Ji family; At present, although the Han family is in decline, it seems that it cannot be compared with the brutal and unscrupulous King Yin! ”

Hearing Yan Xiang's words, Yuan Shu didn't say anything, but his heart was particularly angry.

Once the thought of the emperor arises, it is like a nightmare, lingering.

Yuan Shu did not give up, wrote a letter to Yuan Shao in Hebei, and made it clear that as long as Yuan Shaoken supported him, he would be named a general, and the two brothers would rule in the north and south.

On the other side, Cao Cao, who had retreated from Yanzhou, led the remnants of the defeated army to Xuzhou and successfully rendezvoused with Xiahoudun, who was stationed in Pengcheng.

When Cao Cao asked about the situation in Xuzhou, Xiahou was embarrassed and said that he was struggling.

In the past, Liu Bei, a weaving mat vendor, has now become an official certified pastor of Xuzhou by the imperial court, and has gained a high reputation in Xuzhou, and has also received the support of many powerful families.

As for Cao Cao, in order to avenge his father, he slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent beings, and the people of Xuzhou hated Cao Jun.

In such an environment, Liu Beijun naturally sang all the way, and recovered most of Xuzhou in a few months.

Only Peng Cheng remained, still held in the hands of Cao Jun.

When Cao Cao learned that he also felt that the situation was difficult, he wrote a letter to Liu Bei, saying that he would go to visit him in person in a few days.

…………

Xuzhou City, wind and snow.

In the huge state pastor's mansion, Liu Bei, who was a pastor of Xuzhou, sat in his position and sighed leisurely.

He, the Xuzhou pastor, seems to have unlimited scenery, but in fact, he is controlled everywhere.

The lords of the Xuzhou family said that they supported him as the lord of Xuzhou, but in fact, they all held the power firmly in their own hands.

Liu Bei does not have the ruthlessness of Lu Bu who kills people and exterminates the clan at every turn, nor does he have the strong background of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others. The wealthy family in Xuzhou, he can't easily offend, let alone step on their bottom line.

After all, he is just an 'outsider' and has no roots in Xuzhou.

Fortunately, there is the Mi family to support Liu Bei and help him with all his might, otherwise, it is really difficult to move an inch.

At this time, Zhang Fei strode in, holding a scroll of letters in his hand, and his voice was particularly loud: "Big brother, Cao Cao sent someone to deliver you a letter!" ”

Cao Cao?

Liu Bei Hu hesitated, took the letter and opened it, and slowly browsed it.

"Big brother, what did Cao Cao say? Do you want to ask us to fight! Zhang Fei's eyes were like big copper bells, and the tiger's whiskers stood upside down, looking like he was gearing up.

"Cao Cao said that he would come to Xuzhou City to visit him in a few days." After Liu Bei finished reading it, he frowned slightly and told Zhang Fei the content of the letter.

"This guy still dares to come to Xuzhou City?"

Zhang Fei's expression froze, and his rough face was very puzzled. Cao Cao did all the bad things before, and he was angry and resentful in Xuzhou, didn't he come to Xuzhou City to kill himself?

"Look at this again, this is a secret letter sent by Lu Bu half a month ago." Liu Bei took out a scroll made of sheepskin from his arms and handed it to Zhang Fei.

The content is that if Liu Bei can kill Cao Cao, Lü Bu is willing to recommend him to the imperial court as the general of Zhendong.

After reading the content of the secret letter, Zhang Fei's eyebrows danced, he was quite happy, and said loudly: "That's right, with this, we are not afraid of outsiders making irresponsible remarks, there is a court here, let's just slaughter Cao Cao's bastard thing!" ”

If Cao Cao can be killed, not only will the imperial court be commended, but the people of Xuzhou will also be grateful to Dai De, which is simply a sure deal.

Zhang Fei was extremely happy, but Liu Bei sighed quietly, if things were really that simple, it would be good.

Although Liu Bei does not have control over the pattern of the world, he is also not a fool.

The letter sounded good, but Liu Bei knew that Lu Bu was clearly a weasel greeting the chickens for the New Year-he didn't have a good heart. Lu Bu was jealous of Cao Cao, so he wrote to him, wanting to borrow his hand to kill Cao Cao, or let them fight each other, dog eat dog.

In the end, it was up to Lu Bu to reap the benefits of the fisherman.

What a good idea!