Huang Zhong has been a little entangled lately.

Gao Shun asked Zhang Ji to go out to diagnose and treat Huang Xu, and successfully cured Huang Xu's stubborn illness for many years, which is tantamount to making himself owe the other party a great favor.

Although Zhang Ji said that because Huang Xu's body foundation was not laid when he was young, even if he recovers now, it is estimated that it will be difficult to live past the age of 50. But even so, what else can Huang Zhong complain about? You must know that no one in the past invited doctors thought that Huang Xu could live safely past the age of fifteen, and now that his son has increased his life expectancy by more than thirty years, how can Huang Zhong still be dissatisfied?

It's just that this debt is too great, so big that Huang Zhong can't repay it at all.

How could Huang Zhong not understand Gao Shun's thoughts? I will save your son's life, and you will serve my lord Cao Cao.

It's just that Huang Zhong has never had the idea of serving Cao Cao. Cao Cao is the culprit in conquering Wancheng, how can he die for him?

Even if his beloved son was able to prolong his life, Huang Zhong still did not want to be in Cao Jun. However, the grace of saving the son is as heavy as Mount Tai, and it has always pressed on Huang Zhong's heart, making him extremely troubled.

After Huang Xu recovered from his illness, Gao Shun also came to see Huang Zhong and revealed his intention to recruit him for Cao Cao. In this regard, Huang Zhong didn't want to agree, but the other party was so kind to him, so Huang Zhong couldn't rush him out. After much deliberation, in the end, Huang Zhong only gave an ambiguous answer such as "let me think about it for a few more days".

Cao Cao also learned about Huang Zhong's courage from Gao Shun, and Cao Cao, who loved talent like his life, naturally wanted to include this general in his account. Cao Cao also heard about the relationship between Gao Shun and Huang Zhong, Gao Shun saved Huang Zhong's beloved son, but he was never able to completely convince the other party to join Cao. In this regard, Cao Cao thought about it for a while, and soon had a plan, after all, when it comes to figuring out and controlling people's hearts, Cao Cao is undoubtedly much better than Gao Shun. On the second day after Gao Shun failed to recruit Huang Zhong, Cao Cao went to the Han Emperor and posthumously crowned Liu Pan, the Taishou of Wancheng, as the general of Pingnan and the Marquis of Zhengang.

Huang Zhong's reluctance to serve himself is not in Liu Biao, but in Liu Pan, not so much that Huang Zhong is loyal to Liu Biao, but that he can't let go of Liu Pan's kindness. Cao Cao chased Liu Pan in order to show Huang Zhong: "I didn't intend to harm Liu Pan, on the contrary, I still respect him very much." ”

Anyway, chasing a deceased general will not cause any loss to himself, but can win Huang Zhong's trust, so why not do it? As for Liu Pan's death, it was caused by Wei Yan, and it had nothing to do with himself, and he could have said that he originally planned to treat Liu Pan after capturing Wancheng, anyway, the parties are dead and can make it up whatever they want.

I have to say that Cao Cao's hand is still very effective, and it can be regarded as a great courtesy to posthumously crown the deceased general with a hostile position, so that Huang Zhong's opinion of Cao Cao has improved a lot. Cao Cao then went to recruit Huang Zhong in person, and his words and deeds were extremely sincere. The grace of saving the son is in the front, and the love of chasing the seal is in the back, and now coupled with Cao Cao's condescension to invite him personally, how could Huang Zhong not be moved by this, so he returned to Cao Cao and expressed his willingness to serve him.

Cao Cao was overjoyed and immediately named Huang Zhong as a general.

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The stars shifted, and the time soon entered 196 AD.

At the beginning of the year, Emperor Xian issued an edict to change the era name and change the yuan to Jian'an.

In the past year, there have been many major events.

First of all, there were successive battles between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu, and the two sides fought a lot of times, although many times they were small fights, but big conflicts were not uncommon, but most of the time it was Cao's side that had the upper hand. At the end of last year, Huang Zhong shot and killed Ji Ling, a general under Yuan Shu, in front of the two armies, which greatly hit the vitality of Yuan Shu's army, so that now Yuan Shu can only shrink in Shouchun City, and dare not lead the army out to fight Cao's army for a moment.

On the other hand, Wucheng Hou Sun Jian also completely dominated the entire Jiangdong. After unifying all the large and small forces in Jiangdong, Sun Jian went to the imperial court and asked him to be named a former general and worship Wu Hou. At this time, Cao Cao was dealing with Yuan Shu, and there was a great enemy in the north, Yuan Shao, who did not want to make enemies with Sun Jian, so he allowed it.

After Sun Jian became Wu Hou, he set his sights on the north, wanting to defeat Yuan Shu and seize his Shouchun as the base of his Central Plains strategy. His son Sun Ce's friend, Jianwei Zhonglang persuaded Zhou Yu and said: "Now there are many princes in the north, and Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are both the heroes of one side. Although Jiangdong is now determined, it is still not comparable to Yuan and Cao in terms of strength, and it is unwise to rashly launch a war in the Central Plains, so it is better to attack Liu Biao in the west. If Jingzhou can be captured, the land of Jingwu can be connected, and with the Yangtze River being blocked, no matter how the situation in the north changes, the lord can divide one side and occupy an invincible position. At that time, if Yuan and Cao compete, the lord can still wait for the opportunity to take advantage of the fisherman. ”

In response to Zhou Yu's advances, Sun insisted on goodness and began to attack Jingzhou. Also at the end of last year, Sun Jian left Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and other veterans to garrison various parts of Jiangdong, and personally led the army, together with Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Zhou Tai, Chen Wu and other generals to attack Jiangxia. After more than a month, Jiangxia was broken, and Huang Zu was killed by Sun Ce.

Having successively lost Wancheng, the barrier in the north, and Jiangxia, the barrier in the south, Liu Biao's situation can be described as extremely bad.

Also last year, Yizhou Mu Liu Yan passed away, and his son Liu Zhang succeeded him and took charge of Yizhou.

Ma Teng and Han Sui settled in Liangzhou, and their power became stronger and stronger, and they gradually became the big lords of one party.

Last year, there was a lot of turmoil, and less than half a month after entering the first year of Jian'an, an earth-shattering event happened: Yuan Shao presented the emperor and asked him to be named the Duke of Ye.

It is said that it has been several years since the jade seal fell into the hands of Yuan Shao. With such a precious thing, how could Yuan Shao's ambition be suppressed?

The human mind has a great relationship with the environment around him and the things he possesses. Historically, Yuan Shu obtained the jade seal from Sun Ce, and his ambition was greatly expanded, so he made the absurd move of becoming emperor. And in this time and space, due to the lack of the temptation of the jade seal, although Yuan Shu's ambition is not small, he has never had the intention of becoming an emperor.

And since Yuan Shao got the jade seal, he has always had a different kind of mind in his heart. It's just that he is not as stupid and unscrupulous as his own brother, and he knows the serious consequences of his actions.

It's a pity that the existence of the heirloom jade seal is like the most vicious curse, constantly tempting Yuan Shao's heart.

If you can't be called the emperor, then you can always be the king.

However, when Yuan Shao proposed his idea of wanting to be king to many strategists, he was unanimously opposed. Even Guo Tu and Tian Feng, who are usually incompatible and have opinions that must be to the left, are actually speaking in a unified voice at this moment and resolutely oppose Yuan Shao's claim to be king.

"If it is not the Liu family, the king will be attacked by the whole world." The fate of the king may not be better than that of the emperor, Gaozu's edict is not casually said, even if the Han family has declined to a certain extent, but some principles and bottom lines are far from being destroyed at once.

However, although Guo Tu and Tian Feng are both opposed to Yuan Shao's claim to be king, there are still huge differences between the two on the specific details.

Tian Feng resolutely opposed all of Yuan Shao's transgressions, while Guo Tu asked Yuan Shao to lower his requirements and not to be called the king, but to be called the public first.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been five knights in the world: duke, marquis, earl, son, and male. During the Warring States Period, the Qin State did business and changed the law, and there were 20 knights. After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and established the Han Dynasty, he still inherited the Qin Dynasty's twentieth rank system in the title system, and the highest title was "Hou". At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang also named eight heroes as kings with different surnames, but they were swept away one by one soon after, and stipulated that non-Liu surnames could not be kings, and from then on, the highest title that heroes with different surnames could obtain was Hou. Now Guo Tu came up with such a compromise and workaround, the court reinstated the official name, and at the same time, Yuan Shao led the Ye Gong himself. In this way, Yuan Shao's status is above all the princes in the world, which can be described as extremely glorious, but the position of the duke is inferior to the prince, which is definitely not a violation of the edict of the ancestors in the past.

Yuan Shao heard Guo Tuce and was overjoyed. Immediately, regardless of the hard persuasion of Tian Feng, Fu Zhu and others, he reinstated the position of the prince of the imperial court in the antique system, and invited himself to be the Duke of Ye.

As soon as this watch arrived in Xuchang, it immediately set off an uproar.