"I'm not going to fight this battle!" Liu Biao walked into the Taiwei Mansion angrily and shouted at Yuan Shao, "Yuan Shu didn't give me food, Cao Cao said that there was not enough to eat, and my Jingzhou soldiers were going to starve to death." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Brother Jingsheng, what kind of joke are you talking about?" Yuan Shao put down the scroll in his hand and stood up, "Now even if you are the richest in Jingzhou, you will starve to death, so we will still fight?" ”

"In my opinion, this battle will be lost." Liu Biao waved his arms angrily, "Cao Aman is suspicious, Yuan Highway is fishing in troubled waters, everyone else has their own ghosts, everyone is suspicious of each other, calculating each other, we will all die in Hebei sooner or later." ”

Yuan Shao's face was full of smiles, he squinted his eyes and looked at Liu Biao carefully, and said unhurriedly: "Brother Jingsheng, it's been decades, it's the first time I've seen you so out of shape, have you been too tired lately?" ”

Liu Biao looked up to the sky and smiled bitterly, and said in extreme frustration: "Originally, this battle would have been lost. ”

Yuan Shao walked up to him, patted him lightly on the back, and said with concern: "Brother Jingsheng, you are too tired, take a rest." ”

Liu Biao shook his head vigorously and said: "Originally, everyone wanted to fight this battle, and everyone wanted to benefit from it, but you insisted on attacking in seven ways, this is purely a self-defeating strategy." ”

"You're thinking wrong." Yuan Shao reached out and put his arm around Liu Biao's shoulder, leaned into his ear and whispered, "If you are Li Yi, how will you fight this battle?" ”

Liu Biao put down his hands and turned his head to look at Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao continued: "How can Li Yi defeat us? Our seven-way army launched an attack at the same time, who did he fight, so that in the shortest possible time, he could not only repel us, but also change the pattern of the world? ”

Liu Biao suddenly had an epiphany and said: "This is originally a defeat. ”

Yuan Shao smiled slightly: "What I am most eager to know now is who will Li Yi fight?" Hit me, or beat Cao Aman? Or, hit Gongsun Chan? ”

Liu Biao closed his eyes, shook his head painfully, and said, "I know, Li Yi will never beat me." ”

Yuan Shao turned around and picked up the document from the desk and handed it to Liu Biao, saying, "That little bastard Liu Zhang is not very ambitious. ”

Liu Biao was shocked, hurriedly took a closer look, and sneered: "He refused to recognize the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, and refused to send troops to attack Hedong in Guanzhong. This evil beast dares to hit my Jingzhou's attention again and again. ”

"I'm worried that Liu Zhang, like Han Sui, will recognize the Son of Heaven and the imperial court in Jicheng." Yuan Shao frowned, and walked back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, "Han Sui is iron-hearted this time, no matter what I promise him, he will not hesitate to refuse, which shows that Li Yi gave him not only money and food, but also confidence." Han Sui is a hidden danger, and so is Liu Zhang. ”

Liu Biao said worriedly: "Originally, if we attacked Guanzhong after entering Hebei, and Liu Zhang attacked Jingzhou, then we would be in trouble." ”

Yuan Shao waved his hand indifferently and said, "If you are vulnerable, it's not a trouble." When this battle is over, they will be in trouble. ”

Then he sat down on the desk, hurriedly wrote a warrant, and said: "I asked Gao Gan to immediately transfer a batch of grain to Liu Pan, so that the Jingzhou army could rush to Puyang as soon as possible." ”

………………

In mid-April, Yanzhou was appointed as a city-state.

The Xuzhou army marched on the endless plain.

With no rain for months, the trail was dusty and the air was scorching. In the fields on both sides of the road, busy farmers can be seen everywhere, but the farmers are not plowing in the spring, nor are they carrying water to fight drought, but in the wheat fields that are about to start harvesting, they are wielding big sticks to drive, and there are many chickens, ducks and other poultry in the fields.

Zhu Ling stopped his horse, looked back at Zhou Cang and Zang Ba behind him, and asked strangely, "What's going on?" Yanzhou people want to harvest early? ”

Zang Ba's face showed pain, stretched out his hand and pointed to the big tree next to the road, and said, "Just look at the tree and you will know." This is a locust, and the Central Plains is about to break out again. ”

Zhu Ling was shocked in his heart: "The locust plague ......"

"For more than ten years, disasters have occurred one after another on both sides of the Yellow River in the Central Plains, and the people have no way to live." Zang Ba looked up to the sky and sighed, "There are not many locusts now, and when it comes to May, the locusts will be overwhelming, and there will be nothing left wherever they pass." ”

"Will the locust plague spread to Xuzhou?" Zhou Cang asked anxiously.

Zang Ba shook his head blankly.

Zhu Ling waved his horsewhip and said loudly: "Urgently tell the lord that there may be a locust plague in the Central Plains, please make a countermeasure as soon as possible." ”

………………

In late April, Cao Cao was on the edge of his seat when the news of locusts in Jiyin County made him nervous, and he hurriedly sent people to contact officials from Renchengguo, Jiyin County, Shanyang County, and other counties, asking them to do everything possible to harvest grain and prevent the locust plague from spreading.

According to past experience, generally speaking, after floods on both sides of the Yellow River, especially in Hebei, Yan, and Qingdao, as long as there is little rain or drought in the second year, locust plagues will inevitably break out in April and May.

This year, due to the drought, many prefectures and counties in Yanzhou have given up spring plowing in April, and if there is another locust plague, the winter wheat that is about to ripen will be eaten up by locusts, and the number of hungry people will increase rapidly.

The hungry people will become displaced people if they do not receive relief, and the displaced people will immediately join up with small rebel groups active in Taishan, Yuzhou and other places, and a new wave of rebellion will immediately be set off in various parts of the Central Plains.

Cao Cao was heartbroken. The biggest reason for the failure of the coalition to defeat Dong Zhuo was because of the massive Yellow Turban Rebellion that broke out in Qingzhou, which lasted for several years and directly led to the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

Today, when the coalition forces regrouped and were ready to turn the tide, God dealt them a heavy blow again.

If the sky wants to destroy the Han Dynasty, how can manpower restore it?

Cao Cao summoned Xi Zhicai, Cheng Yu, Mao Jue and other strategists to urgently discuss countermeasures.

The outbreak of locust plague is inevitable, in another ten days and a half months, locusts may be spread all over the sky of the Central Plains, even if the sky opens our eyes, we can control the locust plague within a certain range, but Yanzhou's manpower and material resources for this will be very amazing.

Once the locust plague spreads, the counties in southern Jizhou, northern Qingzhou and northeastern Xuzhou will bear the brunt. And Yin Li, a thief from Mount Tai stationed in Mount Tai, and Liu Pi and Gong Dubu of the Yellow Turbans who are active in the Jianghuai area, will surely take advantage of the situation and attack and loot the prefectures and counties again. As a result, the three alliances will suffer a major blow.

In order to provide relief to fight the disaster and besiege the Yellow Turban Army, the three alliances seemed to have no choice but to give up the Northern Expedition to Li Yi.

However, the Northern Expedition has already begun, and the armies from all over the country are about to be assembled, and at this time it is obviously impossible to abandon the Northern Expedition because of a locust plague in the Central Plains, and the only way is to postpone the Northern Expedition.

In order to minimize the damage of this disaster, he could only ask the other princes for help in a low voice, and the main material for help was food. As long as the victims can be fed and the hungry people are not turned into displaced people, the scourge of the Yellow Turbans can be controlled, and the Northern Expedition can continue after the locust plague.

At this time, the Northern Expedition was like an arrow on the bow, and the princes had no choice but to support it if they did not support it.

………………

At the court meeting, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Yuan Shu and others stared at each other, completely unexpectedly that when the Northern Expedition was about to begin, the Central Plains would have a locust plague.

The shadow of the failure of the crusade against Dong Zhuo is still shrouded in everyone's hearts, and everyone suddenly has an ominous premonition.

"Prime Minister, have you inquired about the matter clearly? It can't be alarmist, right? Yuan Shu asked with a suspicious expression, "If you don't want to crusade against Li Yi, say it as soon as possible." I'll do you, the prime minister, and I'll take someone to fight. ”

Cao Cao didn't bother to pay attention to him, turned his face to look at Yuan Shao, and said, "Brother Ben, the Northern Expedition must be postponed. If the rear is not stable, this battle has not yet been fought, and we have already lost. ”

Yuan Shao thought for a long time before he spoke: "In my opinion, the troops still rushed to the south bank of the Yellow River as originally planned. We can postpone the attack, but we must be prepared for the Northern Frontier Army to cross the Yellow River south and launch an attack on the Central Plains when the locust plague breaks out in the Central Plains. ”

"In addition, although the armies of the Northern Expeditionary Army were assembled relatively quickly, the grain and grass of the various units could not be transported to the south bank of the Yellow River before the end of April due to various reasons, so the attack that we had originally scheduled to launch at the end of April was postponed. Now that a locust plague has broken out in the Central Plains, I think it is better to postpone it for a while longer, and set the time for the attack at the end of June. We can use these two months to make more adequate preparations for the attack, such as the stone-throwing carts used for the siege of the city, the Wuhan Iron and Steel chariots used to block the iron cavalry charging formation, the rafts used to cross the river, and other ordnance such as ballistas and sharp arrows, all of which are transported to the Yellow River battlefield as much as possible. ”

After Yuan Shao finished saying this, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Gongsun Zhan and others were overjoyed, and Liu Biao also let out a long breath.

Yuan Shu was also very happy and raised his hand in agreement. By June, if the Yangzhou army won a comprehensive victory in the Jiangdong battlefield, the Yangzhou army could go north and join the northern army to defeat Li Yi.

Cao Cao sneered: "As long as your army stays in Jiangdong honestly, even if you make a contribution to the Northern Expedition." ”

Yuan Shu sneered and said: "Don't forget, it was me who entered Luoyang back then, not you." Did you break into Luoyang? I remember that you seemed to have been beaten by Xu Rong and fled. ”

Cao Cao opened his mouth and retorted: "Did you rely on your own strength to enter Luoyang?" I remember that it seems that Li Yi led the army into Luoyang, and some people got Luoyang, but they just made peace with Li Yi and exchanged interests to get Luoyang, right? ”

Looking at Yuan Shu, whose face was stinky, Cao Cao stood up, looked around, and said loudly: "Everyone, some people were able to unite with Li Yi before, and now they are definitely possible. Therefore, we must be careful with such people, and we can learn from the past. ”

Yuan Shu couldn't hold back any longer, and jumped up to beat Cao Cao.

Cao Cao is not good at stubble, so he fought back immediately, and the two immediately scuffled. The other princes hurriedly began to pull the rack.

Taifu Liu Pet grabbed Cao Cao and persuaded him: "Don't make trouble, let's get down to business, it's important to get down to business." (To be continued.) )