Chapter 10: Winning the Central Plains, Section 56

At this moment, whether it is to stick to Luoyang or enter Shu in the west, it needs the help of Jingzhou. If Luoyang is lost, Jingzhou will not be guaranteed, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao are tightly tied together by the rope of fate, and they have to live and die together and tide over difficulties together. However, Jingzhou has been conquering continuously in the past two years, and the loss is too great, and Liu Biao is also difficult to continue.

Seeing Liu Biao's embarrassed old face, Yuan Shao and Liu Bei both knew what Liu Biao was thinking. Yuan Shao hesitated for a long time, and after carefully weighing the pros and cons, he still decided to let Liu Biao and Liu Bei jointly send troops to Yizhou.

To attack Yizhou, Jingzhou needed to bear the money, food, and ordnance of the army of the Western Expedition, and needed the help of Jingzhou's sailors, Liu Biao tried his best to help, but in the end he couldn't get any benefits, of course he was unwilling. However, once the two sides jointly send troops, even if Liu Bei is still the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, because the money and grain are controlled by the Jingzhou Army, he will only help the Jingzhou people fight at most, and Yizhou will definitely be Liu Biao's in the future. If Liu Bei wants to occupy Yizhou, he must tear his face with Liu Biao and drive the Jingzhou army out of Bashu. Yuan Shao's biggest worry was that the two sides would fight after they conquered Chengdu, not to mention the opening of the Western Road War, and even Yizhou could not control it.

Yuan Shao found Liu Bei and told him about his worries, very sorry. He originally let Liu Beixi enter Shu with good intentions, so that he could not only repay Liu Bei's favor, but also make Liu Bei grateful to himself and help him open up the battlefield on the western road to keep Luoyang. But in the face of huge interests, no one wants to give them away. Liu Biao made an obstacle from this, which caused a twist and turn in this matter.

Liu Bei looked calm, expressed understanding, and comforted Yuan Shao in turn. When he first received Yuan Shao's letter, he was also excited about it, but after calming down, he had a hunch that things would not go as smoothly as Yuan Shao imagined. Now that the internal strife in Yizhou is fierce, it is the best opportunity for other forces to seize Yizhou. However, this rare opportunity was created by the people of Jingzhou, and it has nothing to do with Yuan Shao and Liu Bei. Moreover, Liu Biao currently has the strength to seize Yizhou, and he is certainly unwilling to give up this benefit.

At the beginning, Yuan Shao arranged for Liu Beixi to enter Shu, in addition to letting him open up the battlefield on the western road, there was also an unspeakable purpose. Because the situation in Luoyang is critical, he wants to leave a way back for himself. Once Luoyang is lost, he will have to rely on Yuzhou to make a comeback, and for this he must first drive Liu Bei away. Liu Biao agreed to Liu Beixi's entry into Shu for the same reason. Liu Bei had an army in his hands. This army left Yuzhou to stay by Liu Biao's side, which made Liu Biao restless. Both of them wanted to drive Liu Bei away, and it happened that the current situation urgently needed Liu Bei to occupy Yizhou with his army to open up the western battlefield for the coalition army, so it was a foregone conclusion that Liu Bei would enter Shu in the west.

Originally, this was a good thing to kill multiple birds with one stone, but Liu Biao and the officials of Jingzhou saw that Liu Bei was embarrassed, and Yuan Shao used the peace talks to ease the current tension, and their minds changed again. Liu Bei still had about 15,000 people in his hands, but he had no food, no ordnance, and no sailors. With his own strength, he couldn't enter Shu at all, and he had to rely on Liu Biao's help. Liu Biao and the officials of Jingzhou believed that since Liu Bei did not have the strength to occupy Yizhou, and the situation in Jingzhou had improved with the armistice of the Jiangxia battlefield and the stalemate of the Yingchuan battlefield, and they had the ability to draw some troops to the west, so why should they give up Yizhou to Liu Bei?

Liu Bei said to Yuan Shao that now the situation is critical, it is better to take Chengdu first. After Yizhou was basically stabilized, I first attacked Guanzhong in the north according to Hanzhong. As long as I can win Guanzhong, Luoyang will have no worries, and the situation in the world will be completely changed because of this.

Liu Bei had no choice but to settle for the next best. In any case, he has soldiers in his hands, he is the main force in fighting Yizhou, and he is the main force in opening up the battlefield on the Western Road, and Liu Biao always has to give himself a place to survive. Hanzhong is the western gateway of Bashu, and it is also the first choice for Guanzhong to attack Bashu in the south, and the war will continue in the future. He took the initiative to ask to stay in this place of four wars, and Liu Biao definitely couldn't ask for it. Although Hanzhong is a place where all parties must fight and a place of death, it is also the place with the most opportunities. At that time, Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, won the world based on Hanzhong, and today he may be able to protect Zuen and revitalize the Han Dynasty with Guanzhong as the foundation.

Yuan Shao was grateful, and tears welled up in his eyes. This matter was finally agreed smoothly because Liu Bei took the initiative to give in, but Liu Biao pressed forward step by step, and then gave Yuan Shao an accident again.

Liu Biao proposed to move the Son of Heaven to Xiangyang.

Yuan Shao was furious. Liu Biao's reasons are very sufficient, making Yuan Shao irrefutable. Luoyang has basically fallen into the encirclement of the Northern Xinjiang Army, if the Northern Xinjiang Army traps Yuan Shao in the Eight Passes next year and kills Nanyang with a sharp partial division, who can guarantee the safety of the Son of Heaven? If the Son of Heaven has an accident, the chances of the coalition army turning defeat into victory are even slimmer. Liu Biao's words are almost a naked threat, if you don't agree to move the Son of Heaven to Nanyang, I will be perfunctory, let the Northern Xinjiang Army surround Luoyang, and trap you to death completely. At that time, you will not be able to protect yourself, and you will not be able to take care of Nanyang, and I can also control the Son of Heaven.

Yuan Shao regrets it now. Knowing this, it was better to take the Son of Heaven to Luoyang. If the Son of Heaven is in Luoyang now, Liu Biao and Liu Bei must ensure the safety of the Son of Heaven no matter what, and the Northern Xinjiang Army may not be able to occupy Yingchuan to form a siege of Luoyang.

Liu Bei spoke at this time, and he resolutely supported Liu Biao's opinion. As early as last year's Central Plains War, Liu Biao and Liu Bei had plotted to take the Son of Heaven to Xiangyang to get rid of Yuan Shao's control, and now this opportunity has suddenly come, how can Liu Bei let it go? Bringing the Son of Heaven to Xiangyang is equivalent to the imperial control in the hands of the ministers of the clan, which can greatly increase the strength of the clan and enhance the confidence of the coalition army to defeat Hebei and revitalize Sheji, which is a major event related to the fate of Han Zuo.

The two clan ministers threatened Yuan Shao at the same time, forcing Yuan Shao to a dead end. He had no choice, no choice at all, he could only agree.

Liu Biao won a big victory and smiled. This was the happiest day of his eleven years, and he had not been happy since he fled from Luoyang in the sixth year of Zhongping (189 AD). He knelt in front of the Son of Heaven and wept with joy, as if he saw the re-emergence of the Great Han.

Yuan Shao was very angry, he had always threatened others, and today he was threatened by others, he felt that he had no face, and he hated Liu Biao and Liu Bei. The only thing that made him feel comfortable was that Liu Biao and Liu Bei suddenly refreshed themselves after getting the Son of Heaven, as if they were a different person, full of infinite fighting spirit. While thanking Yuan Shao, the two said in unison that they would help him defend Luoyang at all costs, even if he was broken. From their excited tones, from their excited faces, and from their hot eyes, Yuan Shao could strongly feel their determination and confidence to hold Luoyang.

It seems that after getting the Son of Heaven, the two clan ministers bravely took up the important task of saving Sheji. In their eyes, the mighty Northern Frontier Army is probably just a piece of fallen leaves. Yuan Shao seemed to have learned something from this, but for him, it was already too late.

October, Jinyang.

The eldest princess quietly completed the redistribution of power through the revision and improvement of the functions and responsibilities of the government such as Shangshutai and Zhongshujian, and through the reappointment of the ministers. The court has been stable, and there has been no chaos that the eldest princess feared. Throughout August and September, the most striking aspect of the Jinyang court was the appointment of new officials, including the replacement of local state and county officials, but the increase in troops was relatively quiet.

In the autumn harvest season in October, because of the tight supply of grain and grass, a large number of people returned to their hometowns to participate in the autumn harvest and autumn planting, and the battlefields gradually calmed down.

The general of the left chariot cavalry, Xian Yufu, and the Taiwei Yang Biao convened many subordinates of the Dasima Mansion and the Taiwei Mansion to discuss the huge logistics needed to attack Luoyang every day, which involved the preparation of money, food, ordnance, materials, civilian craftsmen, reserve soldiers, and so on. Considering the size of the battlefield, the number of troops used, and the length of the attack, it may be the most important in this dynasty, the eldest princess specially issued an edict, asking the imperial court to do their best to cooperate, without any prevarication and delay.

Under the recommendation of Zhao Qi, Cai Yong, Yang Biao, Yang Qi, Zhao Wen and other ministers, Guan and Luoshi people came out one after another, and the government offices at all levels of Jingzhaoyin, Feng Yi, and Fufeng counties were quickly rebuilt. By the beginning of October, many places in the Sansuke area had begun to implement the new field system and were ready for autumn planting. The people were emotionally stable, full of confidence in the imperial court, and full of hope for the future. The only thing that made the eldest princess unhappy was that many of the wealthy people of the original Guanzhong Gate Valve clan were reluctant to move back to Guanzhong, and they were obviously still waiting to see the situation in Guanzhong.

For this reason, the eldest princess summoned Taishi Ling Ma Feng, Shanglin Yuan Ling Xu Ling, Taicang Ling Lizhong and other Guanzhong officials to consult countermeasures. Ma Feng said with a smile, His Royal Highness was too worried, these people ran to Guanzhong two months ago to recover their land, and the reason why many people did not rebuild or repair the manor was because they wanted to wait for the result of the imperial court's decision to determine the capital. If the capital is Chang'an, they will buy land in Chang'an City to build a new house, and they don't want to miss this opportunity.

The eldest princess suddenly thought of the financial problem of rebuilding Chang'an, so she asked them if they had a solution to their urgent needs. Xu Ling replied that with the current financial resources of the imperial court, it would be very difficult to rebuild Weiyang Palace in the short term, let alone restore Chang'an City to the majesty it was before Wang Mang's chaotic government burned the city. In addition, in recent years, the imperial court has to spend a lot of money to pacify the world, and the battle to counterbalance the rebellion still has to be fought, and it is difficult for the imperial court to get rid of the tension in recent years. Therefore, the best solution is to demolish the imperial palace in Luoyang and move it to Chang'an. In this way, the imperial court can not only save a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but also completely cut off the delusion of some people who plan to return to Luoyang in a few years.

The eldest princess immediately summoned Prime Minister Cai Yong and other ministers and put forward a proposal to relocate the Luoyang Imperial Palace to Chang'an as a whole, trying to persuade some ministers who opposed the proposal to set the capital of Chang'an under the pretext of insufficient wealth. The debate continues, and it is still intense.

The eldest princess was depressed and at a loss. However, Master Zheng Xuan still brought good news. Master Dong Zhongshu's "Three Unifications" has gradually restored its former status in the hearts of the scholars, as long as the time is right, it is still very promising to use the "Three Unifications" as the basis to prove that the Han Dynasty inherits the virtue of "soil", and then uses this as the basis to determine the capital of Chang'an.

November, Jinyang.

Master Xiangkai came to Jinyang to meet the Son of Heaven and the eldest princess, and said that there was an auspicious performance.

The eldest princess was overjoyed and summoned the master to the court with the Son of Heaven.

Master Xiangkai has a childish face, and his white robe is scattered, looking like a fairy wind and bones. In front of the Son of Heaven, the eldest princess and the ministers, he talked about a lot of auspicious things. What is the star in the western sky, what dragon is out of Qishan, there are more than a dozen cases, and everything is said to have a nose and eyes, which is vivid. All auspicious rui proves one thing, the revitalization of Sheji is in sight, and the place of prosperity of the Han Dynasty should be in Chang'an, Guanzhong.

Master Xiangkai is too famous, the art of looking at qi is also very superb, perennial travel all over the world widely seen, he said that there is auspiciousness, that is there auspiciousness. Although Prime Minister Cai Yong, Taichang Xu Shao, Taishi Ling Ma Feng and others are also masters of this way, they still dare not speak nonsense in front of Master Xiangkai. The masters all said that they saw the auspicious prosperity of the society, but you said that you didn't see it, isn't that self-defeating?

The officials of Northern Xinjiang reacted the fastest, Xian Yufu, Xu Rong, Li Wei, Tian Chou and others did not wait for the master to finish speaking, and took the lead in kneeling down in the hall, congratulating the Son of Heaven in unison, and the cheers were deafening for a while.

Liu He, Xu Shao, Zhang Fan, Liu Fang, Chen Qun, Yuan Lian, Chen Gong and other ministers followed closely and hurriedly congratulated them. This kind of thing can't be hesitated, no matter what Master Xiangkai said is true or not, congratulations first.

Cai Yong, Yang Biao, Xun You, Zhang Miao, Kong Rong and other ministers were shocked and looked at each other. Although he had the heart to ask carefully to find out the truth, in the face of the earth-shattering cheers in the court, no one dared to speak, so he had to kneel down and pretend to congratulate loudly.

After Master Xiangkai finished speaking, he handed over the book table that recorded auspiciousness, bid farewell to the Son of Heaven and the eldest princess, and rode out of the palace on a little donkey and walked away.

After the dispersal of the dynasty, Cai Yong hurriedly sent someone to find it, but Master Xiangkai Shenlong saw the head and the tail, and there was no shadow for a long time.

The Son of Heaven and the eldest princess issued an edict to tell the world about the auspicious things.

The prosperity of the community is in sight, and everyone in the world is ecstatic. Hebei caused a sensation, and officials from all over the country came to congratulate them.

Zheng Xuan, Wang Jian, Zhang Zhen, Hu Zhao and other Hebei Confucians united scholars from all over the world, and all the beings jointly signed the table, based on the "three unification theory" of Master Dong Zhongshu, and the auspicious rui that happened in various places as evidence, the Han Dynasty should inherit the soil virtue, and the capital should be set in Chang'an, so that the society will be revitalized, the country and the people will be safe, and the foundation of the Han Dynasty for thousands of generations can be guaranteed.

By the end of November, the saying that "the Han Dynasty should inherit the soil and the capital should be set in Chang'an" has become the consensus of Hebei up and down.

The speed of development of events far exceeded the expectations of the eldest princess and the imperial court, and the eager desire of the Han people for the stability of the society formed a huge force, pushing the imperial court to go faster and faster on the road of Zhongxing.

In November, Jingzhou, Nanjun, Yiling (now Yichang).

Liu Bei hurried to Yiling to meet Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, Zhu Zhu and others. At this moment, the army had arrived first and rested for ten days, making all preparations for the westward march into Ba County.

The Jingzhou army was led by Liu Pan and Kuai Liang, with 5,000 sailors and 5,000 foot soldiers, and the accompanying civil and military generals included Huang Zhong, Li Yan, Gan Ning, Yi Yi, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Shen Mi, Lou Fa and others.

After Liu Bei met with Liu Pan and others, the first military meeting of the Western Expeditionary Army was held.

Liu Bei, as the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, immediately said a few words about the scene, and immediately humbly said that he did not know anything about the terrain of Bashu, and implored the officials of Jingzhou to give more advice on the way to the Western Expedition. Deputy Commander Liu Pan said with a smile, although we have been in Jingzhou for many years, we have never been to Yizhou because of the difficulty of Shu Road, and we don't know anything about the terrain of Yizhou. Then he pointed to Gan Ning, Shen Mi, and Lou Fa and said, these three adults are all from Yizhou, and they were generals of the Yizhou army in the past, and they are very familiar with the terrain of Yizhou. Whether the Western Expedition can succeed depends on the guidance of the three of them.

Gan Ning, a burly man in his thirties, stood up and met Liu Bei again. Liu Bei heard that his accent didn't look like he was from Yizhou, so he asked casually. Gan Ning said that he was originally from Nanyang, and when he was nine years old, he moved to Yizhou because his father was an official in Linjiang, Ba County. Liu Bei asked him to sit down, turned around and asked Kuai Liang to talk about the strategy of westward expansion.

Today's chaotic situation in Yizhou was planned by Kuai Liang, and the policy of the western expedition to Yizhou was also formulated by him, and his position in the western expedition army was very important. When Liu Bei left Wancheng, Liu Biao repeatedly instructed him, asking him to believe in Kuailiang. The generals in the Western Expeditionary Army are almost all unfamiliar with Yizhou, while Kuai Liang is more familiar with Yizhou, and many Yizhou scholars are his good friends.

Kuai Liang pointed to a handsome young man beside him, "Kong Ming, you explain the attack strategy in detail to your lords. ”

December, Jinyang.

After the autumn harvest and autumn planting were completed, the recruits were ordered to assemble and rush to Chang'an, Pubanjin in Hedong, and Chenliu in Yanzhou for training.

The general wrote to the eldest princess and the general of the left chariot cavalry, Xian Yufu, that there was little resistance to the discussion of the capital now, and asked the generals of the DPRK and China to focus on discussing the strategy of attack, and asked the generals to return to various places as soon as possible after the year and prepare to start attacking Luoyang.

In December, Xian Yufu, the general of the Left Cavalry, convened the generals to discuss the military of the Great Sima Mansion.

After summing up the successes and failures of the battlefields of Guanzhong, Guanxi, and Yingchuan, the main topic of the military discussion changed to the Battle of Luoyang.

Xian Yufu said that although the general is being ordered to appease Yuan Shao, the possibility of success in the peace negotiation is too small, and this battle will definitely be fought, so you adults should not have any illusions. He warned the generals that the current situation today is not as good as imagined, and the western Xinjiang may become the biggest obstacle to pacifying the world, so whether Luoyang can be conquered next year will directly determine the fate of the Han Sheji, and you must do your best to kill the enemy bravely.

General Yang Wei and Shi Zhangliao, the governor of the Great Sima Mansion, gave the generals a detailed explanation of the battlefield situation, attack strategy and troop deployment. Jump to