At the beginning of 194 AD, the pattern of the world became more complex.

Cao Cao went through a lot of hardships, and finally gained a firm foothold, a year ago, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army made great progress, even broke Yanzhou counties, and beheaded Yanzhou Assassin Liu Dai.

Jibei Prime Minister Bao Xin and others welcomed Cao Cao as the pastor of Yanzhou. Cao Cao and Bao Xin joined forces to attack the Yellow Turbans. Bao Xin died in battle, and Cao Cao "set up a strange ambush and fought day and night", and finally defeated the Yellow Turban.

In the winter of that year, more than 300,000 people were killed, and the population was more than 1 million. Cao Cao collected its elite and formed a new army, called the Qingzhou soldiers.

At the same time, Cao Cao conquered Yuzhou, continued to grow and develop, with 60,000 soldiers and horses, strong soldiers and horses, and also recruited the fierce general Xu Chu, as well as the strategist Guo Jia and others, it can be said that the fierce generals are like clouds, and there are many strategists.

At this point, no one dared to underestimate Cao Cao, and even Yuan Shao began to deliberately cater to him, wanting to form an alliance to fight against Liu Yi in Youzhou.

But Cao Cao knows better than anyone that Yuan Shao is like a grasshopper after the autumn at this time, he can't jump for a few days, and every time he sends it away vaguely, he doesn't want to provoke Liu Yi's big trouble.

And Liu Bei has lived in Xuzhou for a long time, and finally made some achievements, that is, Xuzhou Mu Taoqian was boiled to death, as the uncle of the Han Emperor, Liu Bei, suddenly changed shotguns, came to a gorgeous turn, and directly changed from a homeless man to Xuzhou Mu.

When Tao Qian died of illness, he said that his son was not suitable to be an official, Liu Bei understood Tao Qian's meaning, and immediately agreed to it.

But Liu Bei thought about it afterwards, this Xuzhou was not his Liu Bei's own territory after all, although Tao Qian's two sons were not suitable for being officials, it did not mean that the gate lord clan in Xuzhou would not nominate one of them as a puppet.

Liu Bei, who wanted to get ahead, secretly used some means to get rid of these two people in order to eliminate this hidden danger.

Poor Tao Qian has worked hard all his life, and in the end, it was all empty, and his family was ruined.

Yuan Shu, one of the two Yuans, was not idle, and in 193 AD, Yuan Shu and the Yanzhou assassin Shi Jinshang, appointed by the puppet imperial court, waved an army to attack Cao Cao's Yanzhou.

Yuan Shutun's army was in Fengqiu, and then there were the remnants of the Black Mountain thieves and the Xiongnu in Fuluo, etc., who came thousands of miles to help in the war, and Cao Cao fought in Kuangting, but they were all defeated.

Yuan Shu retired to Yongqiu, returned to Shouchun in the south, and the guard Chen Yu did not let him enter the city, Yuan Shu retreated to Yinling, gathered troops to attack Chen Yu, Chen Yu was defeated, and fled back to Xiapi while the chaos was lost.

Yuan Shu led the rest of the troops to Jiujiang County, killed Chen Wen, the assassin of Yangzhou, and led Yangzhou Mu, also known as Xuzhou Bo, and Feng generals Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui were generals.

After Li Dao and others invaded Chang'an, in order to maintain their own interests, they wanted to befriend Yuan Shu, so they awarded Yuan Shuzuo the general, fake the festival, and entered the Marquis of Yang Zhai, and sent Taifu Ma Riyan to various places to hold a ceremony for the marquis of the general, but after arriving in Yangzhou, Yuan Shu robbed Ma Riyan of the military runes, and then imprisoned him and did not let him go back.

The land of Yangzhou completely fell into the hands of Yuan Shu and became his hall of words, which became extravagant and built a large number of buildings.

Liu Biao, who was also a nobleman of the Han Dynasty, also completed the unification of the eight counties of Jingzhou, and in the first year of the first peace (190), Wang Rong, the assassin of Jingzhou, was killed by Sun Jian, and Dong Zhuo sent Liu Biao to succeed him.

Due to the prosperity of the Jiangnan sect at that time, Yuan Shutun was in Luyang, and he had all the people of Nanyang. Wu Rensu was the Taishou of Changsha, and Bei Yu was the magistrate of Huarong County, each of them according to the militia and hegemony in the local area, which made Liu Biao unable to take office directly. He then went to Jingzhou anonymously and celibately before he was appointed.

After Liu Biao arrived in Jingzhou, he entered Yicheng on a single horse and conspired with Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, a native of Lu County, Yanzhong, and Cai Mao, a native of Xiangyang.

Liu Biao asked: "The thieves here are very prosperous, and the masses are not attached, so Yuan Shu has made trouble, and the disaster has now come!" I want to recruit troops here, but I'm afraid they won't be able to gather, so what are you going to do? ”

Kuai Liang said: "The reason why the masses are not attached is because of the lack of benevolence, and the reason why the masses are dependent and cannot govern is because of the lack of righteousness; If the way of benevolence and righteousness can be done, then the people will return like the downward trend of the water, so why worry about the inroads of those who come and ask for the strategy of raising the army? ”

Liu Biao asked Kuai Yue again, and Kuai Yue said: "Those who govern peace take benevolence and righteousness first, and those who govern chaos take power and scheming first." There are not many soldiers, but they can win their people. Yuan Shu is brave and unbreakable, Su Dai and Bei Yu are all brave martial artists, so there is nothing to worry about. The leader of the thieves is greedy and violent, and his subordinates are worried. I have some people under my command who are usually cultivated, and if they are sent to show their benefit, the leader of the sect and thieves will definitely come with the crowd. The king will punish those who have no way, and then use them with others. The people of such a state are happy to stay in this state, and when they know that the envoy is virtuous, he will definitely help the old and bring the weak. Then the soldiers gathered and attached, according to Jiangling in the south, Xiangyang in the north, and the eight counties of Jingzhou could be passed on. Although Yuan Shu and the others came, there was nothing they could do. ”

Liu Biao sighed: "Zirou (Kuai Liangzi) can be said to be the theory of Yongji. The plan of the different degree (Kuai Yue character) can be said to be the strategy of the murderer. ”

He asked Kuai Yue to send people to lure 55 thieves to the banquet, kill all of them, and attack their subordinates together.

Only the Jiangxia thieves Zhang Hu and Chen Sheng supported the crowd to defend Xiangyang, and Liu Biao sent Kuai Yue and Pang Ji to ride alone to surrender them. When the county magistrate of Jingzhou heard that Liu Biaowei was famous, most of them took off their seals and fled.

At this point, Liu Biao controlled the seven counties of Jingzhou except Nanyang County, and managed the troops in Xiangyang to observe the changes of time.

At that time, the Kwantung Prefecture raised troops to fight against Dong, but Liu Biao did not join the coalition army against Dong. And Liu Biao also recommended Yuan Shu to be the Taishou of Nanyang and temporarily show favor to him.

In the second year of the first peace, Yuan Shu sent Sun Jian to attack Liu Biao, and Liu Biao sent Jiangxia Taishou Huang Zu to face the battle in Fancheng and Deng County.

Sun Jian defeated Huang Zu and besieged Xiangyang. Liu Biao sent Huang Zu to sneak out of the city at night to mobilize reinforcements from various counties, and when Huang Zu led the army to return to Xiangyang, Sun Jian met the attack, and Huang Zu was defeated and fled into Da Xian Mountain.

Sun Jian took advantage of the victory to chase after him overnight, and Huang Zu's troops lurked in the bamboo grove and shot Sun Jian to death with a hidden arrow. After Sun Jian's death, Liu Biao cut off Yuan Shu's grain route, making it impossible for him to entrench himself in Nanyang, forcing him to flee in the direction of Yanyu, which indirectly contributed to the later battle between Yuan Shu and Cao Cao in Kuangting.

This move not only completely eliminated Yuan Shu's ambition to covet Jingzhou, but also used the power of Cao Cao's army to weaken Yuan Shu's power, making it even more distant from Jingzhou, reducing the threat to Jingzhou, and consolidating his own dominance in Jingzhou.

In the same year, Yizhou Mu Liu Yan made more than 1,000 rides in the car. Liu Biao went to the imperial court, saying that Liu Yan seemed to have signs of Zixia discussing the theory of saints in Xihe.

In the third year of the first peace, Dong Zhuo was killed, and the rest of the troops Li Dao and Guo Yan entered Chang'an. In October, Liu Biao sent envoys to the court to pay tribute, and Li Dao sent Zhong Xuan, the squire of the Yellow Gate, to worship Liu Biao as the general of Zhennan and the pastor of Jingzhou, and was named the Marquis of Wu, allowing the establishment of Changshi, Sima, and Zhonglang, who had the power to open the palace and summon Peng's subordinates, and the etiquette was like the three dukes; He also sent Zuo Zhonglang to confer Zhu Tan on his holiday, and supervised the military of Jiao, Yang, and Yizhou.

Li Dao used this to tie Liu Biao as his foreign aid. But in the end, Liu Biao just thought about himself, and didn't pay attention to the personal affection with Li Dao and others.

Liu Yan of Yizhou originally wanted to establish himself as the emperor, but after Liu Biao dismantled the backstage, he began to pretend to be sick and asked the imperial court to send his son Liu Zhang, the commander of Fengche, from the capital to Yizhou, and Liu Yan took the opportunity to leave him behind.

Since then, Liu Yan has disobeyed orders, acted arbitrarily, and lived a free life.

For example, the Xiliang warlords Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Jiangdong Sun Ce are secretly developing their own strength, intending to dominate one side.

Yuan Shao, who was in torment, finally ushered in good news, under the planning of Xu You and other strategists, Zang Hong, the assassin of Qingzhou, was willing to serve Yuan Shao, which made Yuan Shao add tens of thousands of horses, and once again threatened to gather heavy troops to recruit Liu Yi.

The princes of the world are like eight immortals crossing the sea, and they begin to show their magical powers, and they all have the heart of being the king and hegemon, without exception.