Chapter 10 Winning the Central Plains Section 12 Yuan Shaoshu told Liu Biao and asked him to carefully consider the matter of attacking Jiangdong.

Cao Agui, the descendant of this eunuch, is despicable and capricious, and in his eyes, except for his own life and interests, he has no Han society at all, let alone any loyalty, and is not trustworthy.

If Brother Jingsheng helps him to obtain Jiangdong, I am afraid that with his belief in survival, it will be very unfavorable to both you and me in the future, as well as to Dahan Sheji.

Therefore, I think it is better for you to withdraw your troops to Jingzhou, put down the rebellion of Zhang Xian in Changsha as soon as possible, and let Sun Ce and Zhou Yu join forces to deal with Cao Cao and trap him in the Jianghuai area.

Cao Cao was surrounded by enemies on all sides, and there were many crises, so he had no choice but to take advantage of the Northern Xinjiang Army to attack Luoyang and send troops to the Central Plains to seek a way to survive for himself.

Judging from the news brought back by Liu Pan, the biggest reason why Cao Cao married Li Hong and negotiated peace was to stabilize the Northern Frontier Army in the Central Plains in order to gain time to seize Jiangdong.

He did whatever it took to do this, and even when Li Hong offered to let him marry his daughter to a Hu man, he agreed.

Li Hong was insulting him, and he accepted the shame. Cao Cao is a man who never suffers, and when he takes Jiangdong and his survival is guaranteed, he is bound to launch a crazy revenge on Li Hong.

What we have to do is to make Cao Cao's strategy to seize Jiangdong completely fail, so that he will lose the guarantee of survival, and he will lose his mind under the great existential crisis, and fight Li Hong to the death.

As long as Li Hong and Cao Cao fight, Luoyang, Yuzhou, and Jingzhou will have time to recuperate, and we will also have the opportunity to counterattack.

Judging from the current situation, after the beginning of spring, Hebei is very likely to attack Luoyang. Guanzhong, Yingchuan and other places are likely to become the first choice of attack targets for the Northern Xinjiang Army, and these places are about to burst into war.

In order to block the army in Northern Xinjiang, Brother Jingsheng will be asked to send troops to help. If the Northern Frontier Army is unable to conquer Luoyang, Li Hong's pace of sweeping the world will be greatly delayed.

At this time, no matter whether he changes the target of the attack and leads his troops to fight Xuzhou or Guanzhong, we can gain enough time to recover our strength.

Once we have regained our strength, we will be able to help Han Sui and Cao Cao so that the Northern Xinjiang Army will gain nothing on the battlefields of Guanzhong and Xuzhou.

In this way, the situation in the world will change significantly over time. The forces of Luoyang, Guanzhong, Jingzhou, Xuzhou, Jingzhou, Jiangdong, and even Yizhou will once again unite to fight Hebei.

We are looking forward to the Second Central Plains War and the defeat of the Northern Xinjiang Army to revitalize Sheji. After the letter was sent away, Yuan Shao felt very unsteady, feeling that a pair of invisible big hands were jamming his neck, suffocating himself and in pain.

The real crisis is not in the Central Plains, not in Xuzhou, not in Guanzhong, but in Luoyang, in your own home.

I know very well who is the mastermind behind the assassination in Shaancheng. Some cronies and officials such as Feng Ji and trial are also very clear.

After Yuan Tan lost Guanzhong and suffered a great loss in strength, after the forces of Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, Xu Yu and other forces were eradicated or severely attacked, there was no possibility for him to inherit the head of the Yuan family.

When Yuan Shao stabilized the situation in the Central Plains, he would definitely establish an heir to establish the identity of the heir and end the long-standing dispute for the heir.

Once Yuan Shang's identity as the heir is established, Yuan Tan's fate can be imagined. Yuan Tan is the eldest son of the righteous in-law, and he has an army in his hands, so he is too much of a threat to Yuan Shang.

Yuan Shang and his group of staunch supporters, such as Feng Ji and Xian, such as his mother's clan forces, would definitely try to kill him for the sake of Yuan Shang's safety.

Yuan Tan was cornered, and just when he was at a loss and worried, he suddenly became Han Sui's son-in-law.

I don't know if this incident made Yuan Tan feel that he had a way out, so he didn't hesitate and immediately took the risk.

However, Yuan Shao escaped this catastrophe, and he did not die. He couldn't face this tragedy, and he didn't want to make up his mind to find evidence to kill Yuan Tan, so he could only remove Yuan Tan's wings as quickly as possible and minimize Yuan Tan's threat to himself.

Yuan Tan is my child, and he has no choice but to kill me, and he can only blame himself for being too partial, causing this tragedy of cannibalism.

As early as when he was planning to abolish Chang Liyu, Fu Zhi, Xu You and others advised him not to do this, but he couldn't listen to it and insisted on going his own way, and the result was ...... Now it's too late.

If Yuan Tan kills himself, with his prestige in Luoyang and the strength in his hands, he will definitely be able to inherit his title and the position of the head of the Yuan family, there is no doubt about it.

And the people who helped him quickly stabilize Luoyang and control all the forces of the army and Yuan Lords were the respected civil and military officials such as Fu Zhu, Tian Feng and Chun Yuqiong.

He couldn't kill Yuan Tan, so he had to kill Chun Yuqiong, kill Fu Zhu and Tian Feng, so that Yuan Tan completely lost the hope of winning the heir.

Chun Yuqiong is innocent, he has been friends with him for decades, although he does not approve of abolishing his elders and children, he will never help Yuan Tan kill himself.

Tian Feng had just been released from prison, and Fu Zhu had been in Nanyang, the two of them were loyal to him, and had helped him build a large foundation, with the character of the two of them, they would not risk the Luoyang chaos to help Yuan Tan assassinate him.

The three of them are innocent, but the three of them must die, for Yuan Tan, for themselves, for Yuan Valve, and for their own inheritance.

Thinking of Xu You, who had died, and thinking of Fu Zhu, Tian Feng and Chun Yuqiong, who had just entered the ground, Yuan Shao felt that he had changed, he had become bloody and cruel, he had become inhumane, and black and white, good and evil had been reversed in his heart.

The thing I hated and hated the most when I was young is now doing it, and I do it very naturally, for a very reason, without the slightest guilt or uneasiness.

He has become a butcher, a butcher who has lost his mind and killed innocents indiscriminately. With the death of Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, Xu You, and Chun Yuqiong, and with the death and dethronement of their relatives and protégés, several forces that have always posed the greatest threat to themselves have been successfully destroyed.

Now that he has completely controlled the military and political power in Luoyang, there is no one who can restrain and restrain himself, and now the only one who can threaten himself is Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan's approach is too crazy. If the matter of establishing an heir cannot be properly resolved, Yuan Tan may continue to assassinate himself or assassinate Yuan Shang.

If he dies suddenly, Yuan will definitely split. Just like himself and Yuan Shu back then, they fought for the position of the head of the family, but now it is not like ten years ago, and the situation is different now.

Once Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang fought, Yuan Valve would be wiped out. He must find a way to solve this matter as soon as possible and completely remove Yuan Tan's threat to himself, Yuan Shang and Yuan Valve.

Under the first lunar month, Yuan Shao wrote in the name of the Son of Heaven to Liu Biao, Liu Bei, Yuan Tan and other civil and military officials from all over the country to meet the Son of Heaven in Nanyang to discuss a good strategy for retreating from the enemy.

Feng Ji persuaded Yuan Shao to write a letter to Cao Cao as well. Although Cao Cao will definitely not go to Nanyang, Cao Cao has not publicly betrayed the alliance, and his current identity is still the prime minister, so he cannot be left aside and treated as a betrayer.

Cao Cao and Li Hong married and negotiated peace, and there were reasons that he had no choice but to win over him in the current situation.

Even if Cao Cao stepped on two boats like Han Sui, it would be better than forcing Cao Cao to openly betray the alliance and defect to Hebei.

Yuan Shao thought about it for a while, accepted Feng Ji's suggestion, and Cao Cao wrote a letter with extremely harsh wording.

warn him not to be treacherous, lest he end up in a different place and the nine clans will be wiped out.

You and Li Hong have a deep hatred with the old Yellow Turban Army, even if Li Hong takes you in now and treats you as a dog, but when Li Hong calms down the world, you, a lackey, still can't escape the fate of being cooked.

Under the first month, the senior cadres stationed in Guanxi instead of Chun Yuqiong received a secret order from Yuan Shao. Once Yuan Tan leaves Tongguan, you will rush to Guanzhong with my orders and take over Yuan Tan's army.

Gao Gan was very surprised and hurriedly discussed with Gao Rou. Could it be that the mastermind behind the assassination in Shaancheng is really Yuan Tan?

Gao Rou advised him not to think nonsense, just follow the order. Most of Yuan Tan's subordinates are our friends, and it should be smooth to take over the army at Tongguan.

Gao Gan hesitated again and again, still not at ease,

"Uncle won't kill Xiansi, right? Do you want to send someone to remind him? ”

"You want to die." Gao Rou scolded angrily,

"Tiger poison doesn't eat children, you don't understand such a simple truth? If my uncle wanted to kill Xiansi, he wouldn't have deceived him to Nanyang. ”

"Plotting to assassinate your own father? Is this possible? ”

"It wouldn't have been." Gao Rou pointed to Yuan Shao's secret order,

"But now it seems that Brother Xiansi is obviously crazy." Under the first lunar month, after Yuan Tan received Yuan Shao's letter in Tongguan, he urgently summoned Guo Tu and Liu Xian to discuss.

If you don't go to Nanyang, you will undoubtedly not recruit yourself, and you will purely look for death, but if you go, the consequences are unpredictable. Guo Tu and Liu Xian persuaded him to go, if Yuan Shao wanted to kill him, he would have done it a long time ago.

"The lord put all the blame for the assassination on Chun Yuqiong, Fu Zhu and Tian Feng, and took advantage of the situation to eradicate their forces, which shows that the lord has no intention of killing you." Guo Tu said,

"Besides, you don't have any evidence in your hands to prove that you did this assassination, how did he kill you?"

"But if I leave, Guanzhong won't be able to come back." Yuan Tan smiled bitterly,

"This time I went to Nanyang to discuss the matter, and it was my father's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and he wanted to take away the military power in my hands. After leaving Guanzhong, if I want to turn over again, it will be very difficult. ”

"Then you'd be wrong." Guo Tu smiled,

"If the adults stay in Guanzhong, there will be a dead end, and if the adults go to Nanyang or Yuzhou, they can turn over at any time. Don't forget, that's where your Yuan family is rooted. Yuan Tan's eyes lit up, and he suddenly realized.

February, Nanyang. Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Liu Bei, Yuan Tan, Xun Chen and others rushed to Wancheng one after another. After everyone met with the Son of Heaven, they immediately discussed countermeasures to fight Hebei.

Luoyang, Guanzhong and Yuzhou were of course the main battlefields, and wherever fierce battles took place in these three places, Jingzhou's support was the key to reaching the Northern Xinjiang Army.

Therefore, Yuan Shao asked Liu Biao to focus on the overall situation, withdraw his troops from Yuzhang County in Jiangdong as soon as possible, and put his main forces into quelling the Changsha rebellion to stabilize Jingzhou.

Liu Biao's naval division had begun to withdraw at this time, preparing to attack Changsha at the end of this month to quell the rebellion.

In addition, he was also very interested in Yizhou, and wanted to take this opportunity to send an army west into Ba County, meet Zhao Wei to attack Chengdu, and planned to solve Liu Zhang first, and then take the opportunity to occupy Yizhou.

Yuan Shao did not agree, he believed that if this year's battle was fought well, the situation in the Central Plains would be stabilized.

"After we form a confrontation situation with the Northern Xinjiang Army, it will not be too late for Brother Jingsheng to attack Yizhou again, why rush at this moment?" Liu Biao said that now that Liu Zhang is being attacked by Zhao Wei and Zhang Lu from the north and south, it is the best opportunity to seize Yizhou in one fell swoop.

If Liu Zhang defeats Zhao Wei or Zhang Lu, it will be difficult for me to fight Yizhou again. If Liu Biao takes Yizhou, its strength will definitely surpass Yuan Shao's, and it will also occupy the strong advantage of capturing Guanzhong in the north and advancing eastward into the Central Plains, which Yuan Shao does not want to see.

Fortunately, Jingzhou was unstable at this time, and Liu Biao still needed time to quell Zhang Xian's rebellion in Changsha, so Yuan Shao still had time to deal with it.

Yuan Shao decided to seize Yizhou ahead of Liu Biao. He secretly ordered Xin Bi, who had rushed to Hanzhong to be appeased, to immediately change his appeasement strategy and find a way to marry Zhang Lu.

Win over Zhang Lu first, and then wait for the opportunity to send troops to attack Chengdu with Zhang Lu. Yuan Shao was very affectionate to Yuan Tan and did not express any dissatisfaction.

Yuan Tan used the loss of Guanzhong as an excuse to resign from Yuan Shao again, saying that his responsibility was too great and it was not appropriate to lead troops, so he should go back to his hometown Runan to take care of the house.

Yuan Shao was slightly surprised, but then he also understood Yuan Tan's intentions. He thought for a while, and said to Yuan Tan with a pleasant face, although you lost Guanzhong, you can't escape back to your hometown because of this.

That's too boring. I think the Jianghuai area is very chaotic now, you just go to Peiguo to serve as the state minister, maneuver between Cao Cao, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, stabilize the Jianghuai counties as soon as possible, and strive to unite the armies of Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu to attack Yanzhou together when the Northern Xinjiang Army attacks Luoyang, contain the strength of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and make the merit a crime.

Yuan Tan did not hesitate and immediately received the order. This arrangement of my father has a lot of mystery inside. If he can't stand in Jianghuai, he can't fight Cao Cao and Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, of course, he won't have a chance to go to Luoyang.

But once he gained a foothold in Jianghuai and helped his father establish the king's business, it was difficult to say what the future would be.

Success or failure depends on your own ability. Cao Cao wrote and tried his best to explain the reason why he and Li Hong agreed to make peace.

Now that Xuzhou is in crisis, and you can't help, in order to survive in Xuzhou, I can only make this decision.

But my loyalty to the Son of Heaven and the imperial court will remain unchanged until death, as long as I stabilize Xuzhou, I will definitely go north to attack Yanzhou, if I violate this oath, the heavens and the earth will be destroyed.

Then Cao Cao did something that surprised Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and others. Cao Cao took the initiative to ask to marry Yuan Valve, and asked his son Cao Quan to marry Yuan Tan's daughter.

In other words, Cao Cao was willing to surrender himself and marry Yuan Tan. Today's Cao Cao is struggling in Xuzhou, and it seems that he has really reached the end of the road.

He first took the initiative to marry Li Hong, married his daughter to the Hu generals under Li Hong, and suffered humiliation.

Now he whispered again, he wanted to marry Yuan Tan and worship Yuan Shao as an elder, so compromised, it can be seen that he is in a difficult situation now.

Yuan Shao agreed. Yuan Tan is about to go to Peiguo, and if he wants to gain a foothold in the Jianghuai area, if he can marry Cao Cao, the benefits are of course self-evident.

February, Jinyang. The death of several old ministers gave the eldest princess a great shock, making her very frightened in addition to grief, worried that the great cause of Zhongxing would suffer a major setback.

After attending the funeral of Ding Palace, the eldest princess immediately sent someone to invite Taishi Ling Ma Feng to Phoenix Terrace to ask about the celestial phenomena.

This Lord Ma Feng was born in the Ma family, the first gate of Sanfu, and was the first official in Jizhou Mansion. When Ma Riyan, Zhang Wen and other ministers rebuilt the imperial court in Jinyang, he went to Jinyang with Jizhou Mu Hanfu, and successively served as a subordinate in the Eldest Princess's Mansion and the Prime Minister's Mansion.

Taishi Ling is in charge of the ephemeris of the heavenly time, and when there is a funeral sacrifice in the imperial court, he is in charge of the auspicious day and the taboo of the season, and is also responsible for recording the disaster and other things.

Therefore, this Lord Ma often goes in and out of the palace and is very familiar with the eldest princess. After Ma Feng knelt down and bowed to the eldest princess, he didn't wait for the eldest princess to ask, and immediately played the gift of watching the stars recently.

"Chang'an, Guanzhong, Luoyang, Guandong, I'm afraid there have been wars raging in the past two years. However, Hebei has been in good weather in recent years, and there should be no disasters. ”

"Within a month, this dynasty has lost four important ministers in a row, what are the signs on the stars?" The eldest princess asked worriedly,

"Is this fierce, or auspicious?" Ma Feng hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Hebei is too heavy, the blood is soaring, and the celestial phenomena will inevitably be variable, so ......" The eldest princess's face changed slightly, and a trace of anger immediately flashed in her eyes.

Ma Feng hurriedly changed his words,

"However, this will not affect the progress of the great cause of Zhongxing, please don't worry too much about Your Highness."

"Hmph......" The eldest princess sneered, and reached out to take a roll of bamboo slips from the desk,

"I see you have something to say."

"Some time ago, I asked you to record the major events of this dynasty in the past ten years. You write well, but ......" The eldest princess put the bamboo slip in her hand on the desk and slowly unfolded it, pointing to one of the words and said,

"At that time, the general was deeply praised by the emperor and was repeatedly rewarded, but you said in the record that the general wantonly trampled on the law, and the anti-corruption methods were bloody and cruel, and he was the first cool official in the four hundred years of this dynasty." The eldest princess looked up at Ma Feng and asked angrily,

"Why are you writing that?"

"It's a fact, I didn't slander the general, it was like that back then." Ma Feng's face did not change, and he bowed down and said,

"Now that the general has mobilized the army to arrest people in Qingdao and Yanzhou, thousands of heads will soon fall to the ground. When I record this incident, I will still say that he is the first cool official of the Han Dynasty in the past 400 years, and he is still arrogant and perverts the law, and there is no Son of Heaven and the court in his eyes, let alone the law of the Han Dynasty. ”

"I don't write that." The eldest princess threw the bamboo slip in her hand in front of Ma Feng,

"Changed it immediately."

"Your Highness, the great general Sima of this dynasty has a respected status, since he can break the law, why can't others break the law? He can kill people without scruples, why can't others enclose land without scruples? He is not only a cool official, but also a lawless rebel thief. "The eldest princess was so angry that her face changed color,

"Will you change it?"

"Don't change."

"Drag it out to