In April of the third year of the first peace, a great change occurred in Chang'an City, and when Wang Yun designed to kill Dong Zhuo, there was also a large army assembled in Yuzhou.

Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang and Yuzhou successively the year before last, and his strength was strong, with a total of 100,000 troops under his command, and they were not weak soldiers, they were all elite soldiers. There are Xu Chu, Ji Ling, and Pan Feng under his command, and the rest of Yu She, Chen Zhi, Xia Houlan and others are also brave people at the peak of their strength, Yan Xiang, Chen Zhong, Xun Yue, and Xun Yan are all scheming people, and their strength is one of the best among the princes in the world today.

The year before last, Yuan Shu successively took the two places like you and Yuzhou as his own territory, and last year, when the four sides of the world were in turmoil, Yuan Shu did not act rashly, but established contact with Gongsun Chan in the north, and the two sides traded in the Qingzhou Plain, and Yuan Shu exchanged a large amount of grain and armor for war horses to Gongsun Zhan. In order to win Yuan Shu's trust, Gongsun Zan also sent his brother Gongsun Yue to Yuan Shu's command. Although now due to the tight war between Gongsun Chan and Yuan Shao, Gongsun Chan transferred Gongsun Yue back, but although Gongsun Yue is gone, the thousand elite horses he brought to Yuan Shu were left, which can be regarded as a gift from Gongsun Chan to Yuan Shu.

After controlling the thousand fine horses given to him by Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shu's senses for Gongsun Chan are getting better and better, and now Gongsun Chan is fighting with Yuan Shao, although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are brothers, but the relationship is not very good, and Gongsun Zhan's actions are also strongly supported by Yuan Shu.

After a year of recuperation last year, Yuan Shu's control over Nanyang and Yuzhou has increased greatly, especially Nanyang. Yuan Shu was born in the Runan Yuan family, and his influence in Yuzhou is very great, with the help of the Runan Yuan family, there will basically be no opposition to Yuan Shu in Yuzhou, and some are just some pawns who have nothing to do with the overall situation.

And Nanyang is the largest county in the world, the situation is complicated, countless families are entrenched, although Yuan Shu has the position of Nanyang Taishou, but if you really want to talk about the control of Nanyang, it is not as good as these major families who have been entrenched in Nanyang for many years. However, in a year's time, Yang Hong also has a certain degree of control over Nanyang, at least these Nanyang families are no longer needed for everything.

After making sure that there would be no internal chaos in Nanyang and Yuzhou, Yuan Shu set his eyes on all directions, preparing to expand his territory and enhance his strength again.

Because Yuan Shu got an inside message from Yuan's family, Yuan Shao once returned to Runan after breaking through to the Ninggang Realm and took something from Yuan's family.

The Runan Yuan family has been inherited for many years, and there are two holy weapons enshrined in the family, which have always been used only by the head of the Yuan family or the future head of the family, and the cultivation must reach the Condensation Realm or the Void Soul Realm. And after Yuan Shao broke through to the Ning Gang Realm in cultivation, he secretly returned to Runan and persuaded a group of Yuan family elders to take one of the two holy artifacts of the Yuan family.

Yuan Shu was furious when he got the news, but he couldn't help it. With Yuan Shao here, Yuan Shu can't control the Runan Yuan clan at all, but Yuan Shao can't control the Runan Yuan clan either. Only when Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao were left with only one person left in the end, that person could take the Runan Yuan clan in their hands.

Yuan Shao took a holy weapon from the Yuan family, and Yuan Shu couldn't recover it, so he naturally set his sights on the remaining holy weapon of the Yuan family. The Yuan family's family rules, if you want to have a holy weapon, you must have the cultivation of the Condensation Gang Realm or the Void Soul Realm, Yuan Shu is only the peak of the Spirit Consciousness Realm now, and he is still a little short of breaking through to the Void Soul Realm.

In the case of not being able to get the Yuan family's remaining holy weapon for the time being, Yuan Shu's goal was to expand the territory. After some discussion with Yan Xiang, Chen Zhong, Xun Yan and others, Yuan Shu's target was set at Chenliu County in the north of Yuzhou.

In fact, Yuan Shu's goal is not just one Chen Liu, but the entire Yanzhou, and Chen Liu is just a front station. Yuan Shu's ultimate goal was to use Chen Liu to open the road to Yanzhou, and then capture Yanzhou.

In order to capture Yanzhou, Yuan Shu commanded 100,000 elite troops, except for the 20,000 who went out to stay in Nanyang and the 30,000 who needed to guard all parts of Yuzhou, the remaining 50,000 people were all gathered by Yuan Shu near Pingyu City, ready to be pulled out at any time.

And these 50,000 troops are all regular soldiers, not including auxiliary soldiers, for this plan to march into Chenliu, Yuan Shu used auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands to add up to more than 100,000 people, plus 50,000 elite soldiers, the number is close to 200,000.

At the end of April, Yuan Shu wore Rong armor, rode a snow shadow horse, and a long sword hung from his waist, heroic and brave, stepped out of the gate of Pingyu City, led 50,000 elites, known as 150,000 troops to the outside world, and went straight in the direction of Chenliu in the north.

This time he went north to stay in Chen, Yuan Shu attached great importance to it, leaving Yan Xiang, Xun Yue and Pan Feng to sit in Yuzhou, with Chen Zhong and Xun Yan as the left and right military advisors, Ji Ling, Xu Chu, Yu She, Chen Dao, Chen Lan, Lei Bo, Qiao Rui, He Man, Liu Pi, Gong Du, Bian Xi and other generals will follow the army to listen to it, and the momentum is huge.

In Pingyu City, Yuan Yao looked at the figure of Yuan Shu riding his horse away, his eyes were solemn.

To be honest, Yuan Yao didn't support the plan to go north to Chen Liu, the reason was because there was a Cao Cao in Yanzhou East County, although Cao Cao didn't show a trace of grandeur now, but Yuan Yao didn't dare to underestimate this Cao Cao. Even if Yuan Shu's current strength is very strong, he doesn't have full confidence in the face of Cao Cao and Yuan Yao.

Moreover, I heard that Cao Cao and Zhang Miao are still good friends, if Zhang Miao is attacked by Yuan Shu, even if Cao Cao's strength is not strong now, it is unlikely that he will sit idly by. Once Cao Cao intervened, it would be difficult for things to develop as Yuan Shu and others wished. However, although Yuan Yao knew Cao Cao's threat, the current Cao Cao was still dormant, and he did not show his claws and fangs to the world, and Yuan Shu actually did not take Cao Cao in his eyes.

However, although Cao Cao is very difficult to deal with, the current Yuan Shu is not the Yuan Shu of the past, not to mention that the fierce generals are like clouds and the ministers are like rain, they are also full of talents, even if they are against Cao Cao, there should be no problem with Yuan Shu's current strength. Therefore, after Yuan Shu determined the strategic plan of going north to Chenliu, although Yuan Yao was a little uneasy, he did not go all out to stop Yuan Shu, but just asked Yuan Shu to be more careful.

It's a pity that although Yuan Yao wanted to participate in the battle of Chenliu in the north this time, Yuan Shu did not let Yuan Yao participate in it out of Yuan Yao's safety considerations, but let Yuan Yao stay in Pingyu, practice martial arts and study, and at the same time practice diligently to strengthen himself.