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Jizhou, Yecheng. The Che Cavalry General's Mansion standing in the center is definitely second to none among the many princes' shogunates, majestic, majestic and luxurious, quite domineering and full of royal style.

As the largest state in the Central Plains, Jizhou has a vast territory, rich people, prosperous markets and shops, and its wealth ranks first in the Central Plains; With a population of more than 5 million, it ranks first among the states of the Han Dynasty, which makes the princes of all parties envious and coveted.

Before the Sili War, Yuan Shao of Jizhou had more than 300,000 troops, overwhelming the Central Plains, faintly revealing the posture of the overlord of the Central Plains, and the momentum was unprecedented, forcing the Central Plains to take Yuan Shao's horse as the leader, and no one dared to touch its edge.

After the defeat of Hangu, Yuan Shao's soldiers and horses were lost more than half, and the grain and grass were heavily lost, and the money and grain accumulated in Jizhou for many years were squandered, and the vitality was greatly damaged, and the strength plummeted.

Subsequently, Gongsun Zhan of Youzhou, who had been peeping at for a long time, took advantage of the situation to attack on a large scale, causing the counties and counties of Qingzhou that had already been in the bag to gain and lose, and many cities fell one after another, and the territory shrank sharply. Forced into desperation, Yuan Shao had no choice but to shrink his troops, defend the city to the death, resist step by step. After half a year of competition, Yuan Shao of Jizhou finally stifled the offensive momentum of Gongsun Zhan, turned defense into offense, and after several fierce battles, recaptured half of the city, swept away the decline and gradually recovered some vitality.

However, the huge deficit in the division war cannot be filled, and the shrinkage of the territory is still inevitable. The treasury is empty, the troops are insufficient, and the money and food are still stretched. These problems and difficulties need to be resolved urgently. But he was unable to solve it, which made Jizhou Yuan Shao completely lose the aura of the former hegemon, and his overall strength dropped by forty percent, which was slightly inferior to Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, and was comparable to the strength of Cao Cao, who recaptured Yanzhou.

Since then, the forces of the various princes in the Central Plains have faintly formed an extremely delicate situation, and the gap between the forces of all parties is not large, and they are evenly matched. It is in a relatively balanced situation.

Balance means that all forces have the opportunity to develop and grow, and they check and restrain each other. What followed was mutual wariness and eyeing each other. If we want to upset this delicate balance, we must weaken or completely destroy the power of one side of the princes, forcing others to have no way out. It can only grow and develop in its own right. Then he stood out and became the leader of the Central Plains.

If it was in the past, in the face of this situation, Yuan Shao would definitely join forces with Cao Cao to form an alliance to attack Gongsun Zan in Youzhou. That's what they did before, but it was Yuan Shao of Jizhou who benefited the most, and Cao Cao could only get some money and grain to compensate for his weight, and he didn't get actual benefits or any territory.

However, the current situation in the Central Plains is different from the past. The Xiliang army looked at the side, forcing Yanzhou Cao Cao not to dare to act rashly. It is even more impossible to join forces with Yuan Shao to attack Youzhou. In this way, Youzhou Gongsun Zan is safe for the time being, and Jizhou Yuan Shao can not get any help, so he can only seek development on his own, try his best to make up for the huge deficit after the fiasco of Si Li, recruit troops, and actively expand his troops, in order to make a comeback and reproduce the glory of the past.

Under the mutual restraint of various forces, Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao each buried their heads in development and accumulated strength. In this process, the advantages of Jizhou's strong foundation have been highlighted, with abundant people and a large population, and its development potential and speed are obviously ahead of the surrounding forces.

For most of the year, Yuan Shao of Jizhou resisted the attack of Gongsun Zhan, and at the same time raised money and food to recruit troops and horses, and united the major families and powerful gentry in Jizhou to advance and retreat, share glory and disgrace, and share interests. The endless and interlocking means tied the Jizhou family and the powerful to their chariots, which allowed Yuan Shao to receive a lot of funding in a very short period of time, raised countless money and food, and recruited soldiers and horses.

By the end of the year, Yuan Shao's troops and horses had expanded to more than 200,000 troops again, once again surpassing Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, and re-pocketing most of the counties and counties of Qingzhou, forcing Gongsun Zan to retreat from the defense, recovering most of his strength, and once again ranking first among the princes of the Central Plains. However, although the number of soldiers and horses in Jizhou has swelled sharply, it is not much different from that before the Great War, but the combat effectiveness is far from what it used to be.

At the same time, Yuan Shao also has a large number of civil and military generals under his command, and his talents are good. Since Yan Liang and Wen Chou were successively damaged in the hands of the Xiliang generals, the four court pillars of Hebei have been incomplete, but it is the battle of Sili that makes some buried generals stand out, and the performance is not bad. Therefore, the four court pillars under Yuan Shao have been completed again, they are: Zhang He, Gao Lan, Zhao and Jiang Qi. In addition, in the repeated confrontations with Gongsun Zhan, the Jizhou general Ju Yi made great contributions, and turned the tide several times, which is really the pillar of Jizhou and indispensable. Therefore, Yuan Shao once praised Ju Yi in public as the backbone of Jizhou, and he was really handsome, and officially appointed him as a general.

So far, Ju Yi has become the commander of the army of Jizhou second only to Yuan Shao, and he is the first general of Jizhou, who is above 10,000 people under one person.

————————— small dividing lines——————————

Shortly after the New Year's Pass, on the twentieth day of the first month, the shogunate of the general's palace of the chariot cavalry gathered to convene the military generals to discuss major matters.

When the subordinates of Jizhou entered the lobby one after another, Yuan Shao was already sitting on the main seat, holding the bamboo slip in his hand, but his eyes were not on the bamboo slip, but staring at the handsome case without blinking, frowning, as if he had encountered something hesitant to decide, and was weighing the pros and cons.

After everyone knelt down and bowed, Yuan Shao didn't say much, raised his hand and handed the bamboo slip to the attendants, and motioned for everyone in the hall to circulate it.

After a while, Yuan Shao asked straightforwardly: "Everyone said that this general is edicted or not, should you welcome the Son of Heaven and hundreds of officials to Jizhou?" What should be done if the edict is given, and what should be done if the edict is not given? This is really straightforward, and he clearly told everyone his difficult to make a choice, which shows that Yuan Shao's personality has changed a lot since the fiasco of Si Li, not only did he not sink here, but he became more and more decisive, and he was not ambiguous in case of trouble, and directly threw it out for everyone to discuss.

At this moment, there are nearly 100 people sitting on both sides of the hall, and the people in the forefront on both sides are the military generals who Yuan Shao relied on. The first place on the left is Guo Tu, Xu You is the first to be at the bottom of it, followed by the advisers such as Judge, Xin Bi, Xin Ping, and Chen Lin; On the right is the lineup of military generals, headed by General Ju Yi, followed by Yuan Shao's two sons: Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, and then dozens of generals such as Si Tingzhu.

It is worth mentioning that with the departure of Tian Feng and Xun Chen one after another, Guo Tu can be said to be blessed if he does not die in a catastrophe, and finally came out of the way and sat on the position of the head of Wenchen, that is, Jizhou Don't drive, won the trust of Yuan Shao, and relied on it as his arm.

When Yuan Shao's voice fell, Guo Tu closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, not the first to speak, maybe he still couldn't figure out Yuan Shao's intentions, so he didn't want to speak first, so as not to understand the intention of deviation, which would damage his reputation as a driver in Jizhou.

Seeing that Guo Tu was silent, it was inconvenient for Xu You, Xian Pei and the Xin brothers to speak rashly even if they had already made a decision, and then they turned their eyes to the general Ju Yi opposite.

Although General Ju Yi was a little unpopular among the subordinates in Jizhou and was alone, he was deeply supported by the soldiers in the army and had a high prestige. The most important thing is that he has a remarkable record, and the battle of the army is absolutely first-class, in the repeated battles with Youzhou Gongsun Zhan, he has used his troops well, won many battles, and has not been defeated so far. This is all a real sword and a real gun, so that although the officials of Jizhou have never forgotten the history of Ju Yi's traitor and seek glory, they have no good impression at all, but they have to admit that Jizhou can quickly recover after the fiasco of Si Li, Ju Yi has made great contributions, and he is inseparable from him in commanding the army.

This is the time of great controversy, a breeding ground for heroes, and a golden age for military generals to lead the way. Therefore, Ju Yi had a great deal of power and weight in the deliberations of the shogunate, but every word that came out of his mouth, even Yuan Shao could not ignore it, and it must be seriously considered and decided.

"The edict makes it very clear that the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials have left the boundary of Xiliang and will arrive in Luoyang, the eastern capital, in a few days, so the edict ordered all the princes to enter the king of Jingqin to discuss the righteous act of crusading against Li Li in Xiliang."

Speaking of this, Ju Yi paused, looked up at Yuan Shao, and said respectfully: "The last general thinks that the crusade against the Xiliang Army mentioned in the edict can be put aside for the time being. The previous lord and the princes of all walks of life have proved that the princes of all walks of life did not contribute to the army, feared the head and tail, and deliberately preserved their strength, trying to instigate others to fight with the Xiliang army. However, looking at the world, the princes and overlords who have survived to this day are not mediocre people, and no one is a fool, and they will definitely not do their best to fight with the Xiliang army. Therefore, regardless of the matter of uniting the princes to crusade against Li Li, whether it can be succeeded in the end depends on whether the other princes agree to send troops and whether they can unite as one to participate in the righteous act. This is the key reason why Ju Yi is unsociable, uncovering Yuan Shao's scars in public, although this is also the case, but some things are known, but they can't be said in public, otherwise how can the superior have face?

Yuan Shao, who was on the upper echelon, had slightly red cheeks, a heavy gloom flashed under his eyes, and he said perfunctorily: "Well, what the general said is reasonable, the matter of jointly sending troops to fight against thieves has been put aside, and a group of rabble is helpless against Li thieves." The general continued to talk about welcoming the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials. ”

Ju Yi clearly saw the anger in Yuan Shao's eyes, but he didn't care about it, and he didn't take it to heart. Because he firmly believes that loyalty is good for deeds, there are some things that others dare not say, but he dares to speak out; If Yuan Shao really listened to it and corrected it accordingly, it would undoubtedly be very beneficial to the entire Jizhou army.

"The Lord is wise. As for the matter of welcoming the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials, the end will regard this fact as a golden opportunity, which must not be missed, it is imperative, and it is determined to be achieved. The reason why Li Li and his Xiliang Army can be as strong as they are today is because of their ability to control the Son of Heaven and hundreds of officials, otherwise in just a few years, how could they be so powerful! Therefore, the last general implored the lord not to hesitate, and set out as soon as possible, otherwise the other princes would be the first to arrive, and it would be too late to regret it at that time! ”

—————————— To be Continued ———————————— (To be Continued......