The cold wind was bitter, and the fluttering wind blade was wrapped in snowflakes like flying flakes, and the first snow of the second year of Jian'an quietly came. ()

Snowflakes flutter in the morning, fly all over the sky at noon, and in the afternoon the goose feathers and snow are overwhelming.

The biting cold wind and snowflakes danced together, sweeping the land of the north, covering the mountains and rivers in the wilderness with holy velvet flowers, and shrouding the entire Youzhou in the cold wind of ice and snow.

After a night, heavy snow blocked the road and everything fell silent. The Upper Valley County, which had been sharpening its knives, died down, and all of them were hidden under the ice and snow, and all of them were terminated by this sudden heavy snowfall. Shanggu County and even the entire Youzhou were immersed in a short and idyllic calm, the sword light and sword shadow were gone, the Jin Ge Iron Horse disappeared, and the war in full swing also stopped. One qiē is brewing under the snowflakes, one qiē is waiting to explode, and one qiē is advancing steadily and methodically in a silent and orderly manner.

Snowflakes fall, washing the dust of the world, drifting and slowly piling up into a thick snow-white carpet, recording the footprints in tranquility, silently telling the story of winter: it was a snowy winter, snowflakes fluttering, fluttering

When the sky of Youzhou is covered with goose feathers and heavy snow, the sky of Huainan is overcast, the smoke is still there, the war is raging, and the tempering of blood and fire is still staged.

After Yuan Shu was proclaimed emperor in Shouchun, the princes of the towns of the Son of Heaven were despised and became the target of the public, Liu Biao of Jingzhou took the lead in sending troops to crusade, and then Jiangdong Sun Ce broke away from Yuan Shu and stood on his own, so he sent troops to attack Lujiang and officially joined the alliance to crusade against Yuan Shu.

When the war fell into a stalemate, Jiangdong Sun Ce had already left the Lujiang camp. Quietly returned to Koto. The war in Huainan did not go well, which made Sun Ce realize that the battle against Yuan Shu was not an overnight thing, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou seemed to be eager to exterminate Yuan Shu. Instead, he plotted against Yuzhou under the rule of Yuan Shu, waiting for an opportunity to expand his territory and strengthen his strength. In view of this, Sun Ce is not a mediocre person, although he is very covetous of the two counties of Jiujiang and Lujiang under Yuan Shu's rule, he knows that his foundation is in Jiangdong, and the rear has not yet been pacified. He was powerless to plot against Huainan County. And Jingzhou Liu Biao's plan to plot Yuzhou just reminded him, letting him know that if he wants to go outside, he must first settle the inside, and it is imperative to pacify Jiangdong quickly.

So Sun Ce left some soldiers and horses to continue to feint to attack Lujiang. And he returned to Jiangdong with another part and captured Danyang County, trying to pocket all the four counties of Jiangdong. In late autumn, Sun Ce suddenly led his troops back to Jiangdong. Starry Night raided Danyang County. drove away Yuan Yin, the Taishou of Danyang appointed by Yuan Shu, and completely occupied the whole county of Danyang. Then he made persistent efforts and continuously sent troops to sweep away the remnants of Yuan Shu's planting in the counties and counties of Jiangdong, and collected about eighty percent of the counties in Jiangdong under his command.

In the middle of winter, Sun Ce sent a secret envoy to Guangling, where he secretly conspired with Wu Jing (his uncle), the Taishou of Guangling, and united with Sun Ben (cousin), the general of Guangling, to turn his back on Yuan Shu. After receiving the secret letter, the two immediately coerced Guangling soldiers and horses and money and grain to defect to Sun Ce, which greatly increased Sun Ce's strength. It really has the strength to dominate Jiangdong.

Under the advantages of the other, Huainan Yuanshu lost large areas of land such as Danyang and Guangling in just a few months. Coupled with the betrayal of Jiangdong Sun Ce, it was like stabbing him in the back, which caused Yuan Shu's strength to plummet and his power to be frustrated. At the same time, with Liu Biao increasing his army by tens of thousands again, Yuan Shu's pressure doubled, and he was not optimistic. But how did he know that Liu Biao mobilized heavy troops to besiege Jiujiang, but in fact he was encircling the point to send reinforcements, clearly threatening Shouchun, but in fact waiting for an opportunity to annex Yuzhou, encroaching on Yuan Shu's territory step by step, and forcing him to retreat in Jiujiang County, but he didn't know that his territory was shrinking rapidly, and his living space was getting smaller and smaller.

When the Huainan war situation was unclear and unclear, the battle for Qingzhou, thousands of miles away, was in a white-hot stage, and Cao Cao's army and Jizhou army fought fiercely under Linzi City. In the months of fighting, Cao Cao led the occupation of most of the counties in Qingzhou, while Yuan Tan only had Pingyuan County, Qi State and part of Jinan State in his hands, and the remaining counties all fell into Cao Cao's hands.

Not only that, but Cao Cao's army now occupies an absolute advantage. Since the war, Cao Cao has mobilized 110,000 troops to participate in the war, which is almost all the soldiers and horses he can mobilize, leaving only 40,000 soldiers and horses to stay in the counties of Yanzhou. It can be said that Cao Cao's expedition to Qingzhou this time was almost desperate, completely losing his rear to the Xiliang army, once the Xiliang army suddenly attacked, it would be almost effortless to capture Yanzhou in one fell swoop.

This is another big gamble, Cao Cao is betting that Li Li will not break the covenant, and suddenly attack him. And this kind of gamble is not the first time for Cao Cao, to be precise, it should be the third time. The first time was when his Yanzhou foundation was taken away by Lu Bu, and when he was in a desperate situation, he resolutely decided to participate in the Central Plains Alliance and join forces with Yuan Shao and other princes to crusade against Xiliang Li Li.

The second big gamble was the Battle of Loudiyuan. At that time, Cao Cao suffered a heavy setback, and the foundation of Yanzhou was invaded by Lu Bu, and all the available soldiers in his hands added up to less than 50,000, and there was a shortage of money and food, and there was a lack of ordnance, almost nothing, and it really reached the point of exhaustion. Once the Sili War is over, there will be no more princes like Cao Cao in the world, and he has no way out except to be defeated and killed or sent to the fence. As a last resort, Cao Cao brazenly decided to secretly form an alliance with his enemy Li Li, at the cost of betraying the intelligence of the allies and the allies of the princes, seeking living space and waiting for an opportunity to show his strength. Fortunately, he finally won the bet, not only did his strength recover as before, but he also received a large amount of grain and grass baggage, which gave him the ability to quickly counterattack Lü Bu and retake Yanzhou.

After three years, Cao Cao once again made a bold decision and made a desperate attempt to win Qingzhou, which was his third big gamble. This is not to say that he likes to take risks, but that he is forced to do so; Without the courage to gamble, he would not have been able to gain the opportunity to expand his territory and strength.

The situation in the world has unfolded to this day, the Han family was overthrown, Liu Xie died suddenly, and since then the emperor has been cut off, and since then it has been the world of the princes of each town. And he Cao Cao is between the two major princes and overlords of Jizhou Yuan Shao and Xiliang Li Li, no matter which of the two overlords wants to dominate the Central Plains, they will definitely attack him, and he faces only two choices, either surrender or perish, there is no other choice.

In addition, the prefectures and counties around Yanzhou are also extremely limited and in a worrying situation. To the north is Jizhou Yuan Shao, and to the west is Xiliang Lili. To the south is Yuzhou, which was occupied by Lü Bu and Yuan Shu in Xuzhou, and to the east is Qingzhou under Yuan Shao. Originally, Cao Cao planned to attack Xuzhou, eradicate Lü Bu, and then plot against Yuzhou. Occupy Huainan, so that you can compete with Li Li of Xiliang and have the strength to confront the Xiliang army head-on. However, this long-term strategy faced great risks, and the princes who directly threatened him were Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Li Li of Xiliang, who occupied the hinterland of the Central Plains.

It is based on this concern. After Cao Cao recaptured Yanzhou, he did not dare to move lightly, hesitated, and never dared to take the step of expansion lightly.

As Li Li went out to fight against the thief, he ordered the princes of each town to crusade against Eryuan. Cao Cao immediately realized that the opportunity he had been waiting for for had finally come. Prior to this, he faced great danger in leading his troops south to conquer Xuzhou, but the danger of going north to Jizhou or attacking Qingzhou was much smaller. Because this is the perfect opportunity for him to remove the two mountains that weigh on his head. As long as he defeated Yuan Shao of Jizhou, he would eliminate his worries. Knock down the mountain behind you. Only then can he strengthen his own strength, so that he has the strength to confront Xiliang Li Li. Otherwise, he has been sandwiched between the two princes, trying to survive in the cracks, and sooner or later he will perish. Only by overthrowing one prince can he have room to survive, have a chance to grow stronger, and then compete with another prince.

So Cao Cao made a desperate bet after careful consideration. Fight hard and do your best to attack Qingzhou. Trying to seize the land of a state from Yuan Shao. If it was possible, he also longed to swallow Yuan Shao's power in one bite; If so, then he will have the strength to confront Li Li head-on. Don't look at Li Li's current strength, if he Cao Cao completely occupies the three states of Qingzhou, Jizhou and Yanzhou, then it is still unknown who will die in the end.

The battle against Yuan had been going on for months, and Cao Cao was initially worried that Li Li might break his alliance and send troops to attack Yanzhou, but now he was relieved. Now, Li Litun is subordinate to the army, and Zhang Liao led an army of 200,000 to march east through Bingzhou to assist Gongsun Zan of Youzhou in attacking Jizhou. As a result, Li Li had not many soldiers available in his hands. Although Li Li had 500,000 troops, he still had four states to garrison, and after mobilizing 200,000 troops to the east, Li Li's troops and horses were overstretched, and there were no more available soldiers. As a result, Cao Cao will be safe, and he can let go of his hands and feet to attack Qingzhou, strive to take the entire territory of Qingzhou by the end of the year, and then plot against Jizhou.

In addition, the reason why Cao Cao was confident that he would take Qingzhou by the end of the year was because Yuan Shao, who was sitting in Jizhou, was now being pinned down by Zhou Yu's army in Hanoi, so he had no time to take care of it. This gave Cao Cao an extremely favorable condition, allowing him to storm Qingzhou without any scruples, causing Yuan Tan to lose again and again, losing the city and losing land in a row.

The war in Qingzhou was urgent and precarious, so that Yuan Shao, who was sitting in Jizhou, could not be calm, and had the intention to send troops to help Yuan Tan, but he was worried that the Xiliang army in Hanoi would suddenly attack. For Yuan Shao, Hanoi County is indeed a fateful place. At the beginning, he did everything possible to win over Hanoi to publicize it, and his purpose was to occupy the Yellow River moat, so as to resist the Western Liang army. Unexpectedly, he was defeated in the battle of Si Li, not only did he not defeat Li Li, but also lost Hanoi County. As a result, at present, Zhou Yu's army is stationed in Hanoi, although it is still stationary, it still forces Yuan Shao to mobilize heavy troops to confront it, and always guard against the attack of the Xiliang army.

The Western Liang army had to defend against it, but Yuan Shao couldn't sit idly by and watch Qingzhou fall into the hands of Cao Cao. Just when he was at a loss, Xu Yu offered him a plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, even if he couldn't save the defeat of Qingzhou, he could also seize Youzhou as much as possible. Subsequently, Guo Tu offered another plan to unite with Yuan Shu in Huainan to plan civil strife in Jingzhou and force Liu Biao to withdraw his troops, so as to achieve the goal of splitting the alliance against Yuan.

At this time of life and death, Yuan Shao did not hesitate at all, and immediately agreed to the plan of the two, and then sent someone to implement it.

In the cold winter, more than ten Yuan Shao envoys went to the major tribes of Wuhuan with heavy money to meet the tribal leaders. Yuan Shao, as the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, issued an edict on his behalf, and gave Wuhuan Lingdun, Nanlou, Su Fuyan and Wuyan the title and seal of the order, and promised a heavy amount of money, which the leaders of the ministry gladly accepted

On the other hand, Yuan Shao's envoys also entered Bingzhou in disguise, and then entered Jingzhou through Sili, and from there, a conspiracy against the Yuan alliance quietly unfolded.

―――――――――― To be Continued ―――――――――― (To be Continued......

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