In mid-February, Shanyang County, Yanzhou, Bianqiu City. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Spring is cold, dead trees are springing, and occasionally a faint green can be seen dotted across the endless fields.

Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan marched side by side, followed by a group of iron cavalry guards.

Several scouts came from a distance and reported in a loud voice: "My lord, Liu Yuanjun is hurrying to his horse and whip. ”

"Let's go, let's hurry up." Cao Cao turned his head to look at Gongsun Zhan, raised his whip and said with a smile, "This time, Liu Xuande was able to give up his previous suspicion and shake hands with me, it is all your credit." ”

"Where ......" Gongsun Zhan shook his hand, "Although I have a deep relationship with Xuande, he can come to Yanzhou to discuss major matters with us, not because of my face, but because today's situation forces him to come." ”

Cao Cao smiled noncommittally, his face showing a deep sadness.

Ever since he drove the Northern Xinjiang Army out of Yanzhou and restabilized Yanzhou three years ago with the help of natural disasters, he has faced a severe existential crisis.

In the following two years, Yanzhou experienced war and crumbling, while Hebei was thriving and becoming stronger and stronger, although Yanzhou had Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao supporting each other on the east and west, but under the front and rear attacks of Li Yi in the north and Liu Bei in the south, life was very sad.

Fortunately, when Cao Cao was in the most difficult time, Li Yi rushed to Guanzhong with the main force of the Northern Xinjiang Army, and fought fiercely with Yuan Shao in Guanzhong and Guanxi. And he took the opportunity to join forces with Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, defeated Xuzhou, and even seized the territory of the two counties of Xuzhou, so he got the most precious respite.

Then the weather was not beautiful, even heavy rain, the Yellow River overflowed, and Yanzhou and Qingzhou were about to suffer serious disasters. At this moment of life and death, Cao Cao did not hesitate and ordered the northern embankment of the Yellow River to be dug up, allowing the flood to ravage Hebei.

Almost at the same time, Gongsun Chan also ordered the northern embankment of the Qingzhou section of the Yellow River to be dug up. He and Cao Cao not only have a good heart when it comes to harming others and benefiting others, but they even come up with the same methods.

The disaster of the flood was temporarily avoided, but the enmity with Hebei was also deepened.

At this time, the strength of both of them is not very strong. Both men faced an attack from Hebei, and both men had many common interests, so they quickly came together and formed alliances to help each other.

Since the second half of the previous year, Hebei has entered a state of recuperation and recuperation, and no longer sends troops to cross the river to the south to fight, but Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan did not feel relaxed, because Hebei has a large land and a large population, and recuperation can make Hebei's strength recover quickly, and the survival pressure of their own two sides suddenly increased.

While Yuan Shao was working hard in Guanzhong, Cao Cao also began to fully implement the tuntian and expand the army in his own territory.

Gongsun Zhan also risked being attacked by the Northern Xinjiang Army, and couldn't wait to launch an attack on Liu Yu in Southern Qingzhou, trying to expand his living space.

In order to help Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao once placed troops at the border to contain Liu Bei's forces.

Liu Bei is a subordinate of Gongsun Zhan, and once defeated Kong Rong with Gongsun Zhan and captured the eastern region of Qingzhou, no matter what the considerations, Liu Bei is not good at sending troops to help Liu Yu, so Cao Cao's threat is just an opportunity for him to watch from the sidelines.

Gongsun Zhan drove away Liu Yu, took the entire Qingzhou, and completely turned his face with Hebei, and the next thing was to further deepen the cooperation with Cao Cao, because at this time, the Central Plains was full of prophecies that the Yuan family was about to replace the Han Dynasty, and Yuan Shao, whose strength had surged, also seemed to have this ambition.

As a result, the future situation has become confusing, and it is difficult to say. Once Yuan Shao usurped the Han Dynasty and became independent, he would definitely become the first target of Hebei's attack, and because of the lack of Yuan Shao's favorable assistance, the difficulty of these people's survival would increase.

Last fall, Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan got together several times, and both of them felt weak. Qingzhou and Yanzhou are on the south bank of the Yellow River, and if the Northern Xinjiang Army crosses the river to the south, the two states will bear the brunt, and it will be difficult to block the attack of the Northern Xinjiang Army.

The two were at a loss and worried.

Gongsun Zhan had considered forming an alliance with Liu Bei in Xuzhou, and the three states were huddled together, but Liu Bei and Hebei have always maintained a friendly relationship, because when he was facing the disaster of destruction, it was the Northern Xinjiang Army that extended a helping hand, so that he finally retained the territory in the northern region of Xuzhou and would not be destroyed by Cao Cao and others.

In addition, Cao Cao and the people of Xuzhou had a deep blood feud, and even if Liu Bei had the intention of forming an alliance, he could not convince the Xuzhou officials.

But Cao Cao thought the idea was very good, and he was confident that he would persuade Liu Bei to form an alliance with the three families.

Cao Cao believes that first, he and Gongsun Zhan respect the son of today, which is consistent with Liu Bei; Second, Li Yi held the Son of Heaven hostage and plotted to usurp the throne, and he was the enemy of the world, and Liu Bei would have to turn against Li Yi sooner or later.

As for the hatred between him and the people of Xuzhou, Cao Cao thinks it is not worth mentioning, he and Tao Qian have a grudge against killing their father, and now that Tao Qian is dead, hundreds of thousands of yellow turban remnants have also been killed, and the grudge between each other has been resolved, what hatred is there at all? Now everyone's goal is to kill the rebels and rejuvenate the country, under this premise, this personal grudge can be counted?

Gongsun Zan thought about it, Cao Cao's words were very reasonable, so he came forward to invite Liu Bei to discuss the alliance.

In the past two years, under Liu Bei's careful governance, Xuzhou's strength has recovered, but because Xuzhou has been repeatedly hit hard in the past few years, first the Yellow Turban Army was raging, and then Cao Cao continued to slaughter the city, Xuzhou has become full of holes, and it is difficult to recover to the previous level in the short term.

What's more, Xuzhou was also divided by Cao Cao and Yuan Shu, so Liu Bei is having a very hard time now, he has Cao Cao in front of him, and Yuan Shu who is still ghostly, and when he fights with Cao Cao, he worries about Yuan Shu, and when he fights with Yuan Shu, he worries about Cao Cao, and he loses one and the other, and he can't please both ends, so he heard that Cao Cao is willing to reconcile, and he is very moved.

Liu Bei discussed with his subordinates, and Jian Yong, Sun Gan and others all supported reconciliation with Cao Cao. After forming an alliance with Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shu did not dare to fight Xuzhou, Xuzhou had no worries before and after, and he could quickly recover his strength.

Chen Qi, Chen Deng and other former Xuzhou scholars and officials also agreed to reconcile, because this kind of reconciliation can not only allow Xuzhou to win development, but also benefit Xuzhou's gate valve clans.

The military generals of Xuzhou were opposed, especially Zang Ba, who was stationed in Langya County, and resolutely opposed it.

Liu Bei hesitated, because once this matter spread, it would be equivalent to turning his face with Hebei, and the result was difficult to predict. After thinking about it repeatedly, Liu Bei immediately adopted a middle way, not to openly form an alliance with Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan, but to maintain close contact in private, and to communicate with each other between the three states, and to strive for the development of strength first.

Liu Bei immediately sent Jian Yong, Gongsun Zhan sent Guan Jing, and Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu and Mao Jue.

At this time, shocking news came from Hebei, the old ministers who had traveled to Hebei from Luoyang and Chang'an courts died of illness one after another, and the Jicheng court completely fell under the control of Li Yi, and the Son of Heaven was almost reduced to a puppet.

Although it was announced to the public that these ministers were all sick and dead, in the eyes of these princes, it was Li Yi who killed these ministers, and the so-called death was just an excuse.

This news, coupled with the proverbs of the Yuan family and the deduction of "the five virtues are always said", immediately plunged the prefectures and counties into panic.

Li Yi was ferocious, killing ministers one after another, his usurpation intention has been revealed, and the next step is estimated to be to sweep the world.

Yuan Shao was originally the backbone of the fight against Li Yi and the hope of reviving the Han Dynasty. But at this time, he was like Li Yi and wanted to stand on his own behalf of Han. It has become an indisputable fact that Hanzuo was severed and the country changed hands.

Cao Cao, Gongsun Zhan and Liu Bei had a premonition that the situation in the world was about to change greatly, and the three of them immediately met to discuss the plan to eliminate traitors and rejuvenate the Han.

………………

Liu Bei saw Cao Cao and Gongsun Zhan who came to greet him from afar, and hurriedly dismounted to meet him.

Cao Cao was a minister in the court very early, Gongsun Zhan was the general of Youzhou before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, although Liu Bei got a position of county governor after quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but compared with them, the qualifications are far from each other, and the age is several years younger, so the etiquette is naturally a little more respectful.

The three of them greeted each other very affectionately, and then took a ride together.

Cao Cao talked about the matter of Luoyang, and he said loudly: "Yuan Shao was impatient to usurp the Han Dynasty and stand on his own, so he secretly instructed his confidant Geng Bao to write a book, and used the words of Wei Wei and the five virtues to create momentum for his accession to the throne, but there were many opponents in Luoyang. The Northeast Frontier Army of Hebei also deployed troops in the Yellow River, forcing Yuan Shao to give up the idea of usurping the Han Dynasty and killing Geng Bao. ”

Yuan Shao's move exposed his original intentions, and many Luoyang officials were dissatisfied with him, and many people resigned for fear of being killed. After Yuan Shao's plot failed, he turned to continue the old road of rebuilding the imperial unity, but he was obviously unwilling and hesitated to rebuild the imperial unity. ”

"Now there is a question worth paying attention to, that is, Yuan Shao tried his best to spread the Yuan dynasty and the Han dynasty, which shows that he is quite determined to change the dynasty, if Hebei suddenly falls into chaos at this time, there is a mutiny like Chang'an, and the threat is eliminated, will he try to usurp the Han again? Once Yuan Shao usurped the Han Dynasty, we would be in trouble. ”

"He and Li Yi got into a fight, who are we helping? If we help Yuan Shao, we will be a Han rebellion, and the three of us obviously won't do it. What about helping Li Yi? Li Yi killed the minister in Jicheng, and he was suspected of holding the monarch hostage, which was simply a worse rebellion than Dong Zhuo, and even if we helped him, who could guarantee that he would not usurp the society in the future? Won't kill us? If we don't help Yuan Shao or Li Yi, and sit on the wall and watch, then once the two decide the winner, our disaster will come. ”

"At present, the strength of the three of us together, we can compete with Hebei, and we can also have a long and short relationship with Yuan Shao, but Hebei has an emperor and a court, which has invisibly multiplied Hebei's strength, Yuan Shao has the strength of Yuan Valve's and the Guanzhong that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, on the other hand, we are in the Central Plains, where we are in the land of four wars, and we have nothing to rely on in our hands."

"In addition, we have a fatal flaw, we are an alliance of three families, and we are prone to all kinds of problems, so although we have the strength to compete with them, we do not have the capital to compete with them. In other words, we want to form a three-legged trend with Li Yi in Hebei and Yuan Shao in Luoyang, but it is not possible at present, and the alliance of the three has not yet reached this strength. (To be continued.) )