As soon as he sent away the 100,000 majestic Northern Expeditionary Army, Liu Yu received the news that Hedong Taishou Niu Fu personally came to surrender the letter.

"Ah Niu, you won't blame your uncle for not saving your father-in-law, right?" Liu Yu met this young man who had always respected him in the study.

"How could the little nephew blame the uncle?" Niu Fu was still the same, and said to Liu Yu respectfully: "The little nephew knows that my uncle has my uncle's position and concerns, not to mention that if it weren't for my uncle's letter, we would probably be caught off guard by the princes' alliance." Besides, the death of his father-in-law was done by Cao Cao, so what is the matter with the uncle, the uncle does not have to blame himself! ”

What a sensible lad! Liu Yu nodded secretly, and asked with a pleasant face: "Ah Niu, why did you come to hand over the book in person, can't you just send a messenger?" ”

Niu Fu's face turned red, and he said with some embarrassment: "The little nephew has never been interested in government affairs, and he wants to cross the battlefield in his dreams. After handing over the surrender letter this time, the little nephew never thought about going back to be the boring Hedong Taishou at all. I also asked my uncle to let me be the general, so that my little nephew could go into battle to kill the enemy. After finishing speaking, he knelt on the ground, with a posture that Liu Yu would not get up if he didn't agree.

Niu Fu has good martial arts, and he is also proficient in Dong Zhuo's left and right archery skills, in terms of the speed of archery alone, he is still above Huang Zhong and Tai Shici, and it will definitely not suffer a loss to accept him Liu Yu! So, Liu Yu helped him up and said: "Now in my sphere of influence, only Youbei and Bingzhou have a war situation, well, then you can lead 10,000 people to Youbei to fight the alien race!" How's that, satisfied? ”

Niu Fu said with some hesitation: "Uncle." Can the little nephew go to the state? ”

Liu Yu was taken aback, and said suspiciously: "What, do you want to beat your former colleagues?" ”

"It's not." Ushisuke shook his head. explained: "Uncle, you don't know, in fact, there are many soldiers in Bingzhou who worship you very much, if there is a little nephew who is a model who leads by example, I believe that many people will surrender, and we can also fight a few less unjust battles!" ”

Leading by example? Paradigm? Can these two words be used like that? But his statement is good, if you can fight less, you will fight less, and if you can, don't die. They are all the descendants of Yan and Huang and the sons and daughters of China, so why bother with internal friction? !

"Okay." Liu Yu nodded and agreed: "I'll give you a warrant." Leave now, believing you'll be able to catch up with the Northern Expeditionary Force before dark! ”

Niu Fu happily replied, "Yes, my lord! ”

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The development of things was indeed as expected by Liu Yu and several military advisors, although the troops of Lu Bu and others had super combat effectiveness. However, due to the lack of logistical support from the family faction. So it didn't cause much loss to Liu Yujun. In general, Liu Yujun still occupied five of the six counties in Bingzhou, including Yanmen, Xinxing, Jinyang, Leping, and Hexi, and most of Shangdang County fell into the hands of Liu Yujun.

At present, only the Shangdang City backed by Taihang Mountain is still in the hands of Lu Bu and Wei Zhongdao, because of its dangerous terrain, in order to avoid causing too many casualties to Liu Yujun, Huang Zhong and others besieged but did not attack, and harassed Shangdang City day and night with tired tactics. Just when Lu Bu and Wei Zhongdao were dealing with the wheel battle of forgetting to sleep and eat, Liu Yu met with Dong Min, the current patriarch of the Dong family.

"Hou Ye Liu. I don't know what you plan to do with the more than 300 members of my Dong family? Dong Min's tone has a strong sense of vicissitudes.

Liu Yu smiled at him soothingly, and said in a harmonious voice: "Don't worry." I won't hand you over to the court! ”

Dong Min was inexplicably surprised, and said hesitantly: "But didn't the edict of the Son of Heaven say that he would punish my Dong family's nine clans......"

Liu Yu pursed his lips disdainfully, waved his hand and said, "Do you think the imperial court or the little emperor can restrain me?" ”

Dong Min was stunned for a moment, and then showed ecstasy, he knelt on the ground, his voice trembling slightly because he was too excited: "Dong Min on behalf of the three hundred and twenty-six members of the Dong family to thank Hou Ye for his life, in the future, Hou Ye will have a life, and my Dong family will not hesitate even if he goes to the soup and fire!" ”

"Alright, get up. In the past, I still recognized the title that Brother Dong gave you, but the fief was confiscated and only given to Fenglu. In addition, the disciples of your Dong family are free to participate in the military and political examinations established by me, and those who are familiar with guò can become officials and generals. But my ugly words are ahead, you must abide by my rules whether you are an official or doing business or eating, drinking and having fun under my rule, don't be as unscrupulous as Brother Dong when he was in charge, once you commit a crime, I will never miss the old love! Do you understand? ”

Dong Min nodded again and again: "The minister understands, lord." When the minister goes back, he must warn the children of his family well, if they have committed a crime, not to mention the law of the country, even the family law of the family cannot tolerate them, please rest assured! ”

This Dong Min is quite clever, and he started calling me "lord" so soon, well, yes, promising! Liu Yu nodded at him and said lightly: "You go down first, well, by the way, call your nephew Dong Huang, I want to meet him." ”

This Dong Huang was recommended to Liu Yu by He Man, and when He Man trained the guards named by Dong Zhuo as the "Flying Bear Army", Dong Huang was the deputy sent to him by Dong Zhuo. According to He Man, Dong Huang is a strong martial artist, a humble person, and a very high leadership ability, and he is really a rare general.

But Liu Yu didn't believe what He Man said, after all, Liu Yu has a lot of famous general-level talents who have withstood the test of history, but this Dong Huang and Liu Yu have never heard much, so I want to meet him today to see if He Man has that insight.

As expected, after seeing Dong Huang with his own eyes, Liu Yu really wanted to kick He Man, who was talking big, and Liu Yu grabbed a lot of talents like Dong Huang. But it's okay, after all, he didn't recommend a waste to Liu Yu, and with Dong Huang's talent, he can still be a county Sima.

In the next few days, Liu Yu successively arranged new jobs for Dong's generals such as Li Dao and Guo Yan. Then, in order not to let others say that he occupied the pit and did not, Liu Yu distributed his long title: appointed Xun You as the assassin of Yuzhou, and had full authority to handle the government affairs of Yuzhou; Appointed Zhang Hong as the assassin of the state. Full authority to deal with state affairs; Wang Lie, a famous man who had recently taken refuge in Liu Yu, was appointed as Henan Yin, with full authority to handle the affairs of the department.

And it was a bit inappropriate for You Heng to serve as the Yuzhou Commander again, so Liu Yu created a new position for him that could justifiably manage the government affairs of all Liu Yu's territories. And named "Prime Minister". At the same time, Xun Yu and Zhang Zhao were appointed as "vice premiers" to assist You Heng in handling local government affairs.

Of course, whether it was the appointment of officials or the establishment of new official positions, Liu Yu did not ask the imperial court for instructions, and Liu Yu's subordinates seemed to have forgotten this, and no one had ever reminded Liu Yu.

Liu Yu, who completely delegated affairs, felt very relaxed, and he also got good news from the party in his leisure. But alas. Although he captured Shangdang City at a very small cost, he failed to catch Lu Bu and Wei Zhongdao, the two most important elements who undermined social stability and unity.

These two people are really lucky, they can still escape under the siege of 100,000 troops. Terrific! But why are the two of them always together? Liu Yu's rich imagination immediately moved wildly, one is masculine handsome, the other is feminine and beautiful, is this a pair of good friends......

Although it is not finished. But after all, it was at a very small price to take down this famous coal and iron town. Person. You can't be too greedy! Therefore, Liu Yu still has a big official position and a big reward for money. In order to strengthen the defense capability of the state, Liu Yu appointed the warlike Niu Fu as the general of the Xiongnu, and asked him to station in Yanmen with 30,000 elite cavalry to defend against the Xiongnu. Then he transferred Gao Ran from Jiguan to Huguan as a guard, which is not only a traffic artery connecting Jizhou with Jizhou, but also the first line of defense against Yuan Shao, but it is not allowed to be sloppy!

After the annexation of the state was completely pacified, Liu Yu presented himself to the imperial court. I respectfully ask the emperor to return the capital. However, the letter asking the emperor to return the capital was rejected. Cao Cao's reason for giving Liu Yu was. The little emperor was determined to recreate the majesty of the Han Dynasty, so he decided to make the capital Chang'an. Cao Lao traitor not only rejected Liu Yu's offer, but also wanted to take advantage of Liu Yu, he actually asked Liu Yu in the name of the Son of Heaven to escort the tribute that had not been handed over last year due to the Dong Rebellion to Chang'an!

As the first powerful minister of the Han Dynasty, Liu Yu, who was also the pillar of the country and the son-in-law of Emperor Huan, would naturally respect the emperor's will, and the ten carts of tribute were soon taken away by the Qin messenger sent by the imperial court. It's a pity that now is a troubled time, bandits are rampant, and the team escorting the tribute was attacked as soon as it left the Hangu Pass.

The tacit cooperation, the excellent equipment, the strong combat power, and the large number of bandits were simply incredible, and they completely annihilated a thousand of Cao Cao's most elite tiger and leopard riders in just one pillar of incense. After this, the gang of bandits did not kill Qin Cha and his entourage, but hurriedly fled to Shouyang Mountain with tribute. After this incident, Liu Yu immediately launched a vigorous campaign to suppress bandits throughout the territory, but Cao Cao did nothing, but never asked Liu Yu for tribute again.

After teaching Cao Cao, who wanted to take advantage of his own family, Liu Yu happily convened a congress of Wenchen and strategists, first, to hear about the recent general trend of the world, and secondly, to discuss the future development with them.

Because of the large number of government affairs, the Wenchen side only sent You Heng as a representative, and he was the first to speak: "My lord, our army currently directly controls the entire territory of Yuzhou, Sili, and Bingzhou, as well as Nanyang County and Nanjun in Jingzhou, Yuyang County and Changli County in Youzhou, and Chenliu County in Yanzhou, a total of 22 counties, with a population of about 16 million, a grain output of more than 50 million stones, and an annual endowment of 13 million taels. ”

Liu Yu was taken aback and said: "Didn't I reduce or exempt a lot of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, why is the annual tax so much higher than before?" ”

You Heng looked at Liu Yu with a warm admiration and said, "The reason why the annual endowment is not reduced is because of the very practical commercial tax system formulated by you, my lord. Under the rule of the lord, not only was agriculture developed, but the prosperity of its merchants was far greater than that of other counties. In addition, the wine, tea, ceramics, glass, silk and other materials developed by the lord sell well all over the country, and attract countless merchants. Today's business tax revenue has reached more than 60% of the total tax revenue, so it is not surprising that there is such a high annual tax! ”

Liu Yu nodded with satisfaction, and said to Guo Jia, Tian Feng and other strategists: "With such a strong economic backing, there are many things we can do freely!" ”

All the strategists showed a knowing smile, and Liu Yu then asked Li Ru, "What are the actions of the various forces now?" ”

Li Ru smiled gloomily and said: "Cao Cao recently suddenly issued a large number of promotion orders, respectively appointing the former general Shouchun Taishou Yuan Shu as the Yangzhou Mu, the former Jizhou Thorn Shi Yuan Shao as the former general leading Jizhou Mu, the former Xuzhou Thorn Shi Taoqian as the left general leading Xuzhou Mu, the former Jibei Prime Minister Bao Xin as the right general leading Yanzhou Mu, the former Wuwei Taishou Ma Teng as the Zhenxi General leading Liangzhou Mu, the former Changsha Taishou Liu Bei as the Zhennan General leading Jingzhou Mu, the former Beiping Taishou Gongsun Zan as the Zhenbei General to eat in the six counties of Younan, Sun Jian, the former Taishou of Wu County, was the general of Zhendong and ate in the six counties of Jiangdong."

Liu Yu was taken aback again and asked, "What does Cao Cao want to do?" ”

Guo Jia smiled: "Don't be surprised. Cao Cao's move was just to restrain the power of our army and the major princes. ”

"How?"

"Youzhou Mu Liu Yu, Yanzhou Thorn Shi Liu Dai, Jingzhou Thorn Shi Liu Biao, Yangzhou Thorn Shi Liu Miao all have a deep relationship with the main bus, and many officials in these four states have gone out of my Yuzhou, it can be said that these four states have been controlled in disguise in the hands of the lord. Of course, outsiders don't know this. They only know that the four prefectures of You, Yan, Jing, and Yang are known as Yuzhou's horses, but even this is enough to make people with hearts feel panicked. Therefore, Cao Cao sent him in a high position, and let Gongsun Zhan, Bao Xin, Liu Bei and Yuan Shu restrain the four states. ”

Raising his eyebrows, Liu Yu said, "Then what should we do?" ”

Guo Jia said very easily: "After discussing with several other military advisors, I believe that there are Cheng Yu's military divisions and two generals Dian Wei and Hua Xiong in Youzhou, and Gongsun Zhan is not a matter of concern; Chen Gong's military division will go to Yanzhou to cooperate with the three generals Zhang He, Li Dian and Gan Ning to deal with Bao Xin; Tian Feng's military division will also go to Yangzhou with General Ji Ling to command the battle against Yuan Shu. In these three battlefields, our army will undoubtedly achieve complete victory, and You, Yan and Erzhou will also completely fall into the hands of the lord. ”

"Isn't it! You said that Yanzhou would completely fall into my hands, I believe that. But Youzhou is the base camp of the Gongsun family, will they let us succeed? ”

"Please rest assured, the ministers have already made a plan for the Gongsun family. And this plan is now being implemented by Cheng Yu's military division. ”

"What's the plan? Tell me about it! Liu Yu was very interested in this.

Guo Jia smiled mysteriously at Liu Yu and refused: "Don't ask, my lord, anyway, the final result will definitely make you satisfied!" ”

Everyone else also laughed "hehe", and Liu Yu was the only one who didn't seem to know. But. Liu Yu didn't care about this either. Anyway, these people are absolutely loyal to him, even if there are some small actions in secret, it is harmless, but it can enhance the relationship between monarchs and ministers! Smiling, Liu Yu changed the topic: "What about Jingzhou?" How do we deal with Liu Bei? ”

Guo Jia's face became no longer relaxed, and he said a little helplessly: "Liu Bei is benevolent in Changsha, and the popularity is extremely high, his subordinates Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are brave and unstoppable, and Pang Degong is resourceful. And the soldiers are well fed, which is very difficult to do! ”

Liu Yu, who recommended Pang Degong to Liu Bei, now doesn't feel like lifting a stone to shoot himself in the foot. After all, he has too much "convenience" in this world, and he has no sense of struggle in "Heaven and Dragon Slayer" and "The Legend of Double Dragons of the Tang Dynasty". It can be said that in this world similar to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Yu is "playing" in addition to cultivation! Fighting for world domination, for him at this time, it is just a game to adjust his mood! It's a little more difficult, but it's more fun!

Perhaps misunderstood Liu Yu's silence, Guo Jiahui said in a relaxed tone: "Don't worry, lord. Although the ministers could not dedicate all the nine counties of Jingzhou to the lord, they could still do it lightly by dividing the river and ruling it. Moreover, in addition to Changsha, the three counties of Wuling, Lingling, and Guilin in the four counties of Jingnan are all vast and sparsely populated, and there are many different races, so it is not easy to manage, and there is no loss in handing it over to Liu Bei. Jingzhou's center of gravity is all in Jingbei, as long as we control the five counties of Nanyang, Nanjun, Shangyong, Xiangyang, and Jiangxia. ”

"I'm afraid that the personnel we currently sent in Jingzhou are not enough to resist Liu Bei, right?"

"Yes, my lord. After discussion, the ministers decided to send Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue to Jingzhou, the two of them were born in the Jingzhou clan, and had great influence in the northern area of Jingzhou, and could coordinate the various wealthy clans to resist Liu Bei together. Jiangxia County straddles the Yangtze River, and its strategic position is extremely important, and only a person like General Huang Zhong can defend it! ”

"Then can we only get half of Yangzhou?" Liu Yu suddenly remembered Sun Jianlai, who was eating in the six counties of Jiangdong.

Guo Jia nodded and said: "We don't have the energy to compete with Sun Jian for the control of the six counties of Danyang, Wujun, Huiji, Yuzhang, Jiujiang, and Jian'an, and it would be good to be able to eat Shouchun in Jiangbei, Lujiang and Anhui in Jiangxi." ”

Liu Yu snorted. He asked again: "When we deal with Gongsun Zhan, Liu Bei and others, will Sun Jian and Yuan Shao take advantage of the fire to rob them?" ”

Guo Jia said confidently: "Don't worry, lord!" Sun Jian, Yuan Shao, Tao Qian and others will definitely take advantage of the gap to receive and consolidate their new territory. There will be no interest in messing with us. Even if they do come, they are not afraid, and the ministers will guard against them in advance! ”

Looking at Guo Jia's appearance, Liu Yu simply waved his hand and said, "Then act according to the plan, but you must remember that our army must not take the initiative to cause trouble, but there is no need to be afraid." As soon as someone dares to interfere with our interests, no matter who they are. No mercy! ”

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The development of things was both expected by Liu Yu and unexpected.

Bao Xin first thought that he could easily take over Yanzhou with the emperor's holy decree, but after being ignored by the Taishou in various places. He also did not measure his strength to "raise the army of Jibei to fight against the rebellious ministers", but was defeated by Chen Gong with a strategy, and was finally chased and killed by Zhang He on the way to Jibei.

Yuan Shu's subordinates were inferior to Ji Ling in martial arts and wisdom as Tian Feng, and their soldiers' training equipment was far inferior to Liu Yujun's. In the end, he was naturally beaten and fled across the river. But he was defeated. However, the loss of soldiers and horses was not large, and none of the senior generals and confidants were killed. After arriving in Jiangdong, he gathered his generals and went to Jiujiang to defend the border. And this Jiujiang Taishou, who is said to be a protégé of the Yuan family and has received the great favor of the Yuan family, not only accepted the leadership of Yuan Shu, the "Yangzhou Mu", but also persuaded Yuzhang Taishou for him. With the strong support of these two fish and rice towns, Yuan Zhoumu's power began to expand rapidly.

As for Liu Bei's behavior, Liu Yu felt pleased. As if he knew Liu Yu's thoughts, he did not send a single soldier to cross the river, but asked several generals under him to take over the three counties of Wuling, Lingling, and Guilin, and the two sides had a tacit understanding to row the river and rule.

And Gongsun Chan didn't know why not only did he not take action to defend the rights of his Zhenbei general. On the contrary, after handing over the seal ribbon of the Beiping Taishou to his younger brother Sun Yue, he led an army of 50,000 into Qingzhou in the name of exterminating the remnants of the Yellow Turban. and occupied Beihai County and Dongnai County. Liu Yu was very surprised by his behavior, you must know that Qingzhou is not the jurisdiction of General Zhenbei, he has no right to lead troops in it at all, he does this blatantly not to take the emperor and the court in his eyes. It seems that the era of division and warlord melee is coming!

In order to survive in this troubled era, the four people who were very self-aware, Liu Yu, Liu Dai, Liu Biao, and Liu Miao finally chose to take refuge in Liu Yu, and Liu Yu naturally would not refuse, and after recruiting these four people back to Luoyang, Liu Yu re-awarded them official positions.

Liu Yu appointed Liu Yu as the Zongzheng of the Nine Qings, responsible for the affairs of the imperial family and relatives; appointed Liu Biao as the great Honglu among the Nine Qings, responsible for receiving guests; appointed Liu Dai as the guard lieutenant in the Nine Qings, responsible for the palace gate guards; Liu Miao was appointed as one of the nine Qings, Taichang was in charge of the ceremonial music society and the ceremonies of the temple.

Some officials said that Liu Yu was not qualified to be appointed and dismissed from these official positions, but Liu Yu had other plans in his heart, so he insisted on issuing a promotion order. And Liu Yu also arranged for someone to take over the vacated position: Cheng Yu was appointed as the assassin of Youzhou, Manzhong was appointed as the assassin of Yanzhou, Kuai Yue was appointed as the assassin of Jingzhou, and Liu Ye was appointed as the assassin of Yangzhou.

In order to cope with this troubled era and keep the Qiqi that Liu Yu now has, Liu Yu began to create several new official positions and made appointments: Huang Zhong was appointed as the general of Jingzhou to lead Jiangxia Taishou, with full responsibility for the defense of Jingbei; Zhang He was appointed as the general of Yanzhou to lead the northern Taishou of Ji, and was fully responsible for the defense of Yuan Shaojun, Gongsun Zhan's army, and Tao Qian's army; Zhang Liao was appointed as the general of Yangzhou to lead Hefei Taishou, and was fully responsible for the defense of Sun Jian, Yuan Shu, and Tao Qian; Gao Shun was appointed as the general of Bingzhou to lead the party Taishou, focusing on the defense of Yuan Shao east of Taihang Mountain, and by the way, he also monitored Cao Cao west of Luliang Mountain. In addition, Liu Yu also asked Fang Yue to take Zhang Liao's place and become Sima of Hanoi County; asked Ji Ling to take Gao Shun's place and become the captain of the school.

Winter goes to autumn, a year has passed in a blink of an eye, and now Liu Yu has completely digested the newly acquired territory, and both the institutional atmosphere and the people's expectations have basically been on par with Yuzhou. Today, Liu Yu has 800,000 well-trained and well-equipped standing troops, and the number of ordinary people under his command has reached an astonishing figure of 24 million, the grain output is nearly 70 million stones, and the annual endowment is as high as 23 million taels! Now, it's time for that plan, too! (To be continued......)