In the winter of the second year of Jian'an, Jianghuai encountered a great drought, and in the spring of the third year of Jian'an, the counties and counties of Jianghuai suffered a great famine, and the tragedy of cannibalism can be seen everywhere. Shu Shao, who was the prime minister of Pei Guo at the time, persuaded Yuan Shu to distribute grain to help the hungry people, but Yuan Shu was furious when he heard it and beheaded him. Since then, there have been starvations everywhere between the Jianghuai and the Huai, which has caused the strength of Yuan Shu to be damaged, and it has shown a trend of decline.

In May, Xuzhou Lü Bu led 60,000 cavalry to raid the north bank of the Jianghuai River, defeating Yuan Shu's general Zhang Xun and forcing Yuan Shu's army to retreat to the south bank. The defeat on the north shore exacerbated the decline of Yuan Shu, and it was precarious. Subsequently, Yuan Shu's generals Chen Lan and Lei Bo rebelled, led their troops to loot a large number of grains and grasses, and fled to Lishan, supporting their own troops and occupying the mountain as the king.

Following the rebellion led by the two generals Chen Lan and Lei Bo, the long history Yang Hong, the general Lu Mian and Jiangdong Sun Ce secretly corresponded with each other, and the relationship was **, and there seemed to be a tendency to abandon Yuan Shu and switch to Sun Ce. At the same time, Sun Ce, who occupied the four counties of Jiangdong, sent troops to Lujiang and repeatedly defeated Liu Xun, the Taishou of Lujiang, so that Lujiang was in danger. For this reason, Liu Xun, the Taishou of Lujiang, repeatedly asked Yuan Shu for help, but Yuan Shu had no troops to send, so he could only sit back and watch Lujiang fall.

As of August of the third year of Jian'an, Huainan Yuan Shuzhong rebelled and left, and the decline was irreversible, and the situation was getting worse day by day, and it was on the verge of life and death.

Compared with the precarious Huainan Yuan Shu, the Hebei battlefield was relatively calm. For several months, whether it was Wei County, which was overwhelmed by a large army, or Qinghe State, which was in danger, there were constant small fights, but no large-scale war broke out.

At present, Zhou Yu is under the account of Chen Bing Wei County of the Xiliang Army, and the soldiers are directed at Yecheng, which is a great threat to Yuan Shao. However, since the Western Liang army set out for Wei County, in addition to the first few sieges, it has been several months. No more movement. Tens of thousands of Western Liang army cavalry were stationed on the border of Wei County, but they always stood still, neither advancing nor retreating. As a result, the defenders of Jizhou were on guard for several months, not admitting that it was just a false alarm.

Zhou Yu's troops did not move, and Cao Cao, who had already pocketed Qingzhou, also did not attack Jizhou with all his might. Cao's army stationed troops in the plains, and from time to time sent troops to attack and harass the Qinghe country in Jizhou, looting a large amount of money and grain, but they did not attack strongly. It made the Qing River country tremble, fearful, and panicked.

A few months down. The defenders of the Qinghe Kingdom have been basically wiped out by the Cao army, and as soon as the army arrives, the Qinghe Kingdom will be in the bag. However, Cao Cao was not in a hurry to take over Qinghe State, and let it be on his lips. But he still refused to swallow it. What is the purpose of this move? I'm afraid only Cao Cao himself and his cronies and advisers will know.

As of August of the third year of Jian'an, the battlefield in Hebei was still not in flames, and the Xiliang Army and the Cao Army had formed a two-sided attack on Jizhou, and the sabre-rattling was tense, but there was no movement for a long time. Invisibly, the two armies of the Yuan Alliance and the Jizhou Army formed a relatively relaxed stalemate and confrontation, and the three parties were waiting in each other's stalemate, consuming their military strength in waiting. Sit back and watch the time go by.

Perhaps, the soldiers and horses of the three parties on the battlefield in Hebei are waiting for an opportunity. Or wait for the moment. Once it is expected that the Chinese fighter will appear, it will set off an unprecedented war, thus completely changing the situation in the Central Plains. If Yuan Shao of Jizhou is defeated, then the ownership of Jizhou, the largest state in the Central Plains, is a heavy choice in front of the Yuan Alliance.

Whoever can occupy Jizhou means that whoever can seize the opportunity in the future battle for the Central Plains, and then dominate the Central Plains. This is undoubtedly a huge temptation that cannot be refused, neither Cao Cao nor Li Li can make concessions on the ownership of Jizhou, this is undoubted, and it is also an unavoidable objective fact.

It is precisely because Jizhou itself has an extremely important strategic position, as well as the powerful Jizhou army in the hands of Yuan Shao of Jizhou, that the Xiliang army under Zhou Yu and the army under Cao Cao did not dare to act rashly, and they were extremely cautious in the use of troops, lest they make mistakes and make the slightest mistake.

It is worth mentioning that both the Xiliang Army and the Cao Army have the same worries, worried that once they force Yuan Shao into a hurry, Yuan Shao will make a desperate bet, put aside the other way of soldiers and horses, and concentrate his forces to deal with him, it will be a big deal, and the result will inevitably be that he will not be able to eat and walk around, and the loss will be great! After all, Yuan Shao still had no less than 200,000 troops in his hands, and his strength was far above the armies of Cao Cao and Zhou Yu; Only the alliance of the two sides can nibble on Yuan Shao, otherwise neither side is Yuan Shao's opponent.

Of course, there is a premise in this, that is, Li Li is pinned down in Youzhou and cannot return to help.

It was precisely because the Youzhou battlefield contained a large part of the strength of the Xiliang Army that Zhou Yu's troops and horses were overstretched, so that the Hebei battlefield fell into a stalemate. Otherwise, the Xiliang Army is fully capable and powerful to fight against Yuan Shao of Jizhou alone, and its strength is still above Yuan Shao.

In contrast, although Yanzhou Cao Cao's strength increased greatly after occupying Qingzhou, he was still inferior to Yuan Shao of Jizhou. Because before the fall of Qingzhou, Yuan Shao had swept away all the soldiers, horses, money, and grain in all counties and counties of Qingzhou, leaving Cao Cao with a mess full of holes and a mess, and did not pick up substantial benefits. The Qingzhou that Cao Cao obtained was, at best, tens of thousands of young men and empty cities with empty treasury, as well as hungry people and robbers who took advantage of the fire to rob.

Therefore, it is not so much that Cao Cao has been confronting the Jizhou army in the past few months, it is better to say that he is taking advantage of this rare time to vigorously restore the livelihood of the people in Qingzhou. We have rectified the rule of officials, reassigned officials to take over the counties and counties, and made great efforts to rectify public order and eliminate bandits. And the reason why he did this was to eat Qingzhou into his stomach; Only by fundamentally mastering all the counties can we completely occupy Qingzhou and truly take it for ourselves.

This is: only when you eat it in your stomach can you count it as your own.

Under the dual-mindedness, Cao Cao was not enthusiastic about attacking Yuan Shao in Jizhou. In order to avoid leaving a false pretense, he was caught by Li Li in the future, and while he was busy rectifying Qingzhou, he sent a small force to attack and harass the Qinghe Kingdom. In this way, there will be no delay, you can not only get the benefits of controlling Qingzhou, but also do not fall into the handle, the best of both worlds, why not.

In addition, the reason why Cao Cao did not contribute to the work also had another intention, that is, he tried to defeat Yuan Shao by the hands of the Western Liang army. Wait until the last moment, and then lead the army to attack Jizhou with all your might, so as to grab the fruits of victory, and no matter how bad it is, you can get a piece of the pie. No one knows better than Cao Cao how deep Yuan Shao's roots are in Jizhou, and it is not an easy thing to occupy Jizhou. Even if Yuan Shao is defeated, Jizhou is not something that anyone can occupy??????

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Plains County, Plains City County Guard. This is now the location of the Chinese army under Cao Cao, and Cao Cao and his generals and staff live in the county guard mansion, which is convenient for mobilizing the army at any time.

It's late August, and it's three days before autumn and September.

"Bang!"

A loud bang broke the calm of the hall of the county guard's mansion, and the hall rumbled with a long echo that lingered around the beams.

On the steps of the main hall, Cao Cao, who had entered middle age, stood up, furious, with a five-inch-long black beard under his chin, and a pair of sharp eyes like falcons glaring at Cao Ren under the hall, with a heavy and rapid snort with a "whirring" throat blockage.

"How can this be true? Why is such important news being reported today? What are the scouts, scouts, and sentinels doing, it's been three months since the war in Youzhou ended, why is the news coming back now? In the midst of the loud reprimand, Cao Cao, who was slightly blessed, reprimanded Cao Ren and walked up to Cao Ren angrily, looking at the posture as if he wanted to devour Cao Ren alive.

Gasping violently, Cao Cao paused, and after taking a breath, he scolded sharply: "Cao Ren, why are you suing me?" Is there ever a shortage of money and grain that the treasury allocates to the craftsmen and scouts every year? If there is no shortage, why can't Youzhou find out such an important military situation? ”

Cao Cao's face was full of gloomy face, and Cao Ren, who bowed down in fright, had a red face and red ears, his whole body trembled, and he couldn't help but take two steps back, and then knelt down in front of Cao Cao with a face full of shame, and he didn't dare to answer in fear, let alone know how to answer. This is the first time in Cao Ren's memory that Cao Cao was furious, and the unprecedented cold sword-like eyes, as well as the fierce look in his eyes, scared Cao Ren so hard that he knelt on his knees and didn't dare to speak.

But Cao Ren's frightened demeanor did not dispel Cao Cao's anger, only to see Cao Cao shout angrily: "It's been three months! The war in Youzhou ended in early June, and the two barbarian tribes of Wuhuan and Xianbei surrendered to Li Li one after another, and by the end of July they had all migrated to Bingzhou and Liangzhou. How many major events have happened during this period, and why hasn't there been any news from the fine work?

In three months, what are Li Li and the Xiliang Army under his command doing, have they already gone south to Zhuojun and are preparing to attack Jizhou? With such an important military situation, you and the others don't know anything, Mo Feier and the others want me Cao Cao to go to Youzhou in person to find out the news? ”

The more he talked, the more angry he became, Cao Cao said angrily: "Last year, Youzhou was taken by Li Libing bloodlessly, and you only found out the news afterwards." For this reason, our army sent hundreds of more detailed workers into Youzhou, the purpose of which was to be able to find out every move of Li Li and the Xiliang army in time. But?????? Wait for this time to repeat the mistakes of the past again and delay the military situation again! If you are so stupid, what is the use of me waiting? ”

After a pause, Cao Cao said sharply: "Where are the left and right?" Drag Cao Ren down and behead him in public to set an example! ”

Cao Ren is in charge of all the details of Cao Jun's work and the eyeliner planted in various places, that is, Cao Jun's intelligence organization. In addition to him, there is another person in charge of intelligence, and that is Xun Yu. However, Xun Yu's holdings of detailed work were extremely limited, and his authority was very small, limited to the territory of Yanzhou and Qingzhou under Cao Cao's rule, and all other information was in Cao Ren's control.

Seeing that Cao Cao was angry and wanted to behead Cao Ren, the four cronies and strategists standing in the hall were silent at this moment. Cheng Yu, Man Chong and Liu Ye lowered their heads and didn't dare to look at Cao Cao, but Xun Yu stepped forward and said respectfully: "The lord is angry." This delay in the military situation is not General Cao Ren's fault, and I implore the lord to keep people under the sword, and let the ministers explain the reason. ”

“??????”

—————— to be continued———————————— (To be continued......