Unlike Sun Ce's understanding of the situation, Tao Qian sent 4,000 Danyang soldiers to Liu Bei at the beginning, not to win him over.

Among the Qingxu counties, Pingyuan County is the westernmost county, directly bordering Jizhou, and even the county is in the north of the Yellow River. To defend Pingyuan County is to defend Qingzhou. If you hold Qingzhou, you will also hold Xuzhou. Liu Bei's role is not trivial.

But Liu Bei didn't have any soldiers at that time. Although he is Gongsun Zhan's fellow disciple, it is said that the relationship is also good - at least that's what Liu Bei said, but Gongsun Chan not only didn't let Liu Bei be the assassin of Qingzhou, but also didn't give him many soldiers. In addition to the county soldiers of Pingyuan County, Liu Bei only had less than 2,000 foot cavalry under his command at that time. The heroes of Pingyuan County looked down on Liu Bei, and some people even wanted to assassinate Liu Bei, not to mention that Liu Bei was in danger of defending Pingyuan County. In this case, of course Liu Bei wanted to ask Tian Kai for someone, but Tian Kai had no one, so the two had a bad quarrel. Later, it was Tao Qian who took the initiative to provide 4,000 Danyang soldiers to Liu Bei, and the matter was resolved.

The purpose of providing these 4,000 soldiers was to give Liu Bei the ability to hold Pingyuan County, and letting these people listen to Liu Bei's words was naturally the first step. In order to allow Liu Bei to subdue those soldiers, Tao Qian not only sent the families of these 4,000 soldiers to the plains, but also cut off their supply of money and food.

The recruited soldiers are for money and food, and whoever gives them food and pay, they will follow him. With Tao Qian's active cooperation, Liu Bei won the hearts of the people in just a few months.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei accepted Yuan Shao's appointment and betrayed the alliance, and the intermediary was Chen Deng.

Sun Ce will be skeptical. It was different from the history he knew. In his opinion, Tao Qian still has the possibility of digging the corner of Gongsun Zhan's wall, but he is not on the surface, after all, Liu Bei is still in Pingyuan County and has not been to Xuzhou. Otherwise, Tian Kai would not be so easy to speak, and he would have turned his face a long time ago.

But this is no longer important, the families of the four thousand soldiers are controlled by Liu Bei, and it is not so easy to get people back.

Sun Ce didn't pay attention to these details, the main purpose at the moment was how to repel Liu Bei and recapture Xiao County. Xiao County is the gateway to Xuzhou, and to recapture Xiao County is to guard the west gate of Xuzhou. If we can get closer and seize Peixian to the north, Xuzhou will be completely safe. Pei County was originally a subordinate county of Pei State, and he was already very restrained if he did not invade Yanzhou, how could he let Liu Bei invade Yuzhou. Everyone must drive Liu Bei away.

The interests were the same, and Sun Ce and Tao Ying hit it off.

The negotiations went smoothly and Elk Zhu was very satisfied. If the two sides don't talk happily, it's not easy for him to be an intermediary, especially if he still wants his younger brother Lu Zhu to follow Sun Ce on the expedition.

But not all issues went smoothly, and how to deal with the Yellow Turban Army was a trouble. Tao Qian, Tian Kai and the Yellow Turban have been fighting for a long time, and the hatred between the two sides is very deep, and it is not so easy to make them laugh and enmity.

Seeing that Tao Ying was embarrassed and refused to agree, Sun Ce still wanted to persuade again, Guo Jia shook his head quietly. Although Sun Ce didn't know what Guo Jia wanted to say, he believed Guo Jia and didn't say anything more. Tao Ying was afraid that Sun Ce would mention the matter of the yellow turban again, so he left in a hurry after agreeing on the time to send troops, and he didn't even eat.

After sending Tao Ying away, Sun Ce returned to the big tent, and Guo Jia said: "General, some stupid people can't be saved, Tao Qian's father and son, Tian Kai are all in this category. No matter how much you say, they won't listen. We contacted us, and when the time came, it was just in time to receive Qingxu Erzhou. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Who is the Yellow Turban? Peasants who have lost their land and have no place to stand. Who are Tao Qian and Tian Kai? They were originally poor families and even ordinary people, but they just happened to be officials by chance. Can being recognized by the family if you become an official? Chen Deng did not support Tao Qian and accepted Yuan Shao's appointment in a grand manner. The people of Qingzhou also did not support Tian Kai, so that he could only stay in the lonely city and sit back and watch the Qingxu Yellow Turban pass through Qingzhou and enter Bohai County. If it weren't for Gongsun Zhan's bravery, the situation would be unimaginable. Now Gongsun Chan has surrendered tens of thousands of yellow turbans, and their strength has risen sharply, they still regard the yellow scarves as enemies, and they don't know how to recruit yellow scarves to improve themselves, what is it if they are not stupid? This is a gift from God to the general, and the general must not refuse. ”

Sun Ce patted the back of his head and smiled dumbly. He only cared about dealing with Liu Bei and Yuan Shao, and wanted to enhance the strength of Tian Kai and Tao Qian, but he forgot that these two people did not have such insight. Why did Gongsun Chan have the courage to compete with Yuan Shao? Because he defeated the Qingxu Yellow Turban who went north and surrendered more than 10,000 people. Why was Cao Cao able to rise quickly and occupy Yanzhou? Because he recruited 300,000 Qingzhou Yellow Turbans and formed the Qingzhou soldiers. The Yellow Turban Army is the labor force, it is the source of soldiers, those who win win, and those who lose lose, Tian Kai and Tao Qian did not see this, and they were really stupid to be enemies with the Yellow Turbans.

It's true that they have the responsibility to defend the land, but the powerful families don't want to take care of them, and they still guard the soil.

Heaven does not take, ominous. You don't want it, I want it.

"The question now is how to place these Yellow Turbans." Guo Jia patted his thigh and said slowly: "Qingxu and Xuzhou were originally rich lands, not only self-sufficient, but also subsidized Youzhou every year. It is only in recent years that it has been hit by disasters, especially in Pingyuan County, the most populous county, which has suffered heavy losses due to the diversion of the Yellow River. The number of yellow turbans in Qingxu Erzhou is the largest, and it is precisely for this reason. If you don't want to find a way to resettle these people, recruiting and surrendering is also an empty word. ”

Sun Ce nodded again and again. However, he doesn't think that this is a problem that can't be solved, isn't it just a few million people, there are many places in Jiangnan that can be cultivated, let alone millions, as long as the arrangements are made properly and enough resettlement funds and food are raised, 10 million people are no problem.

Guo Jia pulled over the map and dotted on it. "Taihang is in the west, Mount Tai is in the east, and controlling these two mountains is equivalent to closing the door to the south of Hebei. Even if Yuan Shao sent troops to Yanzhou, he didn't dare to go deeper, and the general had another chance to fight for the Central Plains. ”

Sun Ce's heart moved, and a plan came to mind. "Fengxiao, you said that we are now joining forces with Gongsun Chan and killing Yuan Shao first, is it possible?"

Guo Jia shook his head. "Impossible."

"Why?"

"General, Gongsun Chan is just a brave man, he doesn't know how to use people, and he is good at killing in person, he is only suitable for being a fighting general, too many troops are not a good thing for him, but a disaster. If he has the insight and mind of a general, he is not in a hurry to fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, but selects the elite and draws the generals, maybe there will be a little chance. But he took advantage of the power of a great victory and wanted to take revenge, which was really self-defeating. ”

Sun Ce looked at Guo Jia, smiled but didn't say a word, but his heart blossomed.

What is Talent? That's talent! It hadn't happened yet, and he had already guessed the outcome. It is not a matter of pinching your fingers, but an accurate analysis of various factors on both sides. He knew that there was a plug-in in the result, but he didn't know the reason for it, and when the historical trajectory changed, he was not much sure, but it was better for Guo Jia, without any plug-ins, and he came to a conclusion with his true skills.

At this time, someone came to report that someone outside the camp claimed to be surnamed Jiao, the word Zhongqing, and he was a Cangcao official of Lujiang County, and he was in a hurry to see.

Sun Ce clapped his hands. "It's broken, something happened to Lujiang."