In the blink of an eye, Xingping's three years came to an end, ushering in 197 AD.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao maintained restraint, and although there were some minor disputes on the border between the two armies, they still maintained their usual friendship on the surface.

Yuan Shu stayed in Yinling until the third year of Xingping before returning to Shouchun. When he returned to Shouchun, he wanted to trouble Sun Ce, but he received an unexpected joy - the jade seal of the country! When Sun Ce dedicated the jade seal of the country to Yuan, Yuan Shu immediately selectively forgot what Sun Ce had done not long ago, which made Yang Hong and others very puzzled, and loudly asked Sun Ce why he escaped from the battle, why he plotted misdeeds in Shouchun, why he was always unwilling to give the jade seal to Yuan Shu, and did not want to use the jade seal to get rid of the crime until he committed a mortal crime? In this regard, Sun Ce's answer was that he did not run away from the battle, it was indeed just when his mother was unwell, as the eldest son, he had to return to Shouchun to serve his mother's knees, in order to show the truth, he also called two famous doctors in Shouchun to Yuan Shu, and used their mouths to prove that what he said was true; As for plotting misdeeds in Shouchun, it is a rumor spread by people with ulterior motives, when Yuan Shu fell into Cao Cao's trick in Xiapi, the news reached Shouchun immediately caused an earthquake, he was worried that someone would fish in the water and destroy Yuan Shu's foundation, so he loyally helped Yuan Shu, and stabilized the situation in Shouchun before Yuan Shu returned to Shouchun, and he said that when Shouchun stabilized, he immediately gave up all rights and lived at home (in fact, because after the news of Yuan Shu was unhindered to Shouchun, he lost the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, I also have to worry that Yuan Shu may be convicted at any time and have to rest at home); And the jade seal is even more strange to him, because he has not known the whereabouts of the jade seal before, he told Yuan Shu that after Sun Jian's death, his mother found the jade seal when she was packing up her husband's relics, and her mother was a deep woman, and she didn't know that the jade seal was important, but when it was a relic of her deceased husband, she kept it by her side for a thought, this time her mother was seriously ill and thought that she was about to die, so she handed over the jade seal to him, and asked him to bury her and the jade seal together after his mother's death, and his mother wanted to take the relics left by her husband to see her husband! Only then did he know that the jade seal had always been in the hands of his mother, and he knew that the jade seal was the important weapon of the country, and only those who returned to the destiny of heaven could have it, so as soon as he got the jade seal, he immediately dedicated it to Yuan Shu, and also patted Yuan Shu's sycophant, saying that "those who represent the Han Dynasty should be Tu Gaoye", and now Yuan Shu has obtained the jade seal, which indicates that Yuan Shu is the person who belongs to the destiny of heaven! Yuan Shu was very satisfied with Sun Ce's answer, not only did he not blame, but also comforted him. waited until Sun Ce left before he privately revealed his true thoughts to Yang Hong, and he didn't believe a word of Sun Ce's words, but there was no empirical evidence to prove that Sun Ce had rebelled, and Sun Ce had meritorious service in offering the jade seal, so it would be difficult to convince Sun Ce to be severely punished in this case. Besides, Sun Ce still has use value for him, Sun Ce is a person with strong martial arts, and he is nicknamed Xiaobawang, so he looks at the generals under Yuan Shu, and no one can match him above the martial arts, and Sun Ce is also followed by many Sun Jian's old departments, such as Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Huang Gai, Zhu Zhi, etc., these people are all battle-hardened people, rather than cutting them with a knife, it is better to let them be "loyal" to Yuan Shu when they fight in the south and north in the future. Yang Hong was relieved after learning that Yuan Shu did not really listen to Sun Ce's sophistry.

And the state, Yuan Shao touched a big nail after the whole winter did not launch another attack, Yuan Shao was in full swing in the rear to reorganize the army, Shan Fu was not idle, he took advantage of the winter road difficult to travel, the Huns in the jurisdiction of the Fifth Field Army were cleared one by one (here to explain, in the twenty-fourth year of Emperor Guangwu's construction, that is, in the forty-eighth year of A.D., the Huns were divided, and the king of the day surrendered to the Han Dynasty and was placed in Bingzhou, so there are many Xiongnu descendants distributed in the territory of Bingzhou, after more than 100 years, They are no different from the Han people, from clothing, food to production methods are all sinicized, they are naturally not in the list of purging and suppressing, and those who are exterminated are the Northern Xiongnu who rushed into the state from Mobei to "fight the grass valley").

When the Huns were exterminated, the construction project was not delayed at all, and after a long winter, Shan Fu re-established a strong defense line of more than 200 miles at the site of the Great Wall of King Wuling of Zhao, and tens of thousands of elite soldiers of the Fifth Field Army were stationed on the defense line, which could effectively resist the threat from the east.

At the same time, the entire Fifth Field Army area from the grassland to the defense line of the Great Wall of Zhao Wuling Mountain, and then to Shangjun, Shan Fu organized manpower to further improve the layout of the beacon towers, using a large number of scattered beacon towers, Shan Fu could timely grasp the movement of every enemy army that rushed into the defense area, and eliminate it in the shortest possible time.

After receiving the support of Yuan Shao in Fuluo, the Xiongnu followed Yuan Shao's orders and launched three more attacks on Shuofang in winter, thanks to the great role of the beacon tower, they were repulsed twice, and once they were surrounded by the army of the Fifth Field Army and had to flee into the desert, nearly 2,000 people, and finally less than 100 people escaped from the desert alive and surrendered to Shan Fu.

After Yu Fuluo hit the wall again and again, he no longer dared to order his soldiers to step into the land of Shu for half a step, but Yuan Shao's materials there were rightly followed, you must know that the place where Yuan Shao and him met can be much longer in Shu, once Yuan Shao provokes him, I am afraid that Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Jizhou will not be at peace, after all, the relationship between him and Yuan Shao is just a mutual use, and the two sides have staged bloody killings one after another two years ago. At this time, Yuan Shao's energy was still left on his biggest enemy, Liu Zhang, so Yuan Shao could only pinch his nose and endure Yu Fuluo's behavior of only taking benefits and not doing things!

At the beginning of the new year, Liu Zhang summoned the high-level officials of Shu and decided to go on another expedition. In this regard, Xun Yu, Xu Huang and others did not object. It has been almost a year since the establishment of the Shu Kingdom, in this nearly a year, the pains brought by the reform have disappeared, all walks of life are developing towards the good side in an orderly manner, and after the internal worries have been removed, it is time for the army's eyes to turn to the outside, otherwise once the comfortable life is too long, the army will easily lose its blood!

For the goal of the expedition, Liu Zhang did not choose Yuan Shao, nor did he choose Lu Bu, or Cao Cao or Yuan Shu, but favored Liu Xuan in the south of the Yangtze River!

Speaking of which, Liu Miao is still Liu Zhang's distant cousin, why would Liu Zhang be in a hurry to choose him as his next enemy? There are two main reasons, one is that Shu has just stepped into the right track, Liu Zhang is worried that if he chooses a strong opponent at this time, once the war drags on for a long time, it will affect the stability of the country, so after comparison, Liu Zhang believes that the most suitable at this time is the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River, in history, Sun Ce only used thousands of soldiers and horses to lay the foundation of Eastern Wu in one fell swoop, and Liu Zhang's third field army in Yuzhang has 167,000 horses, even if half of the guard Yuan Shu is left, the troops that can be used are also 80,000, and it is not easy to sweep Jiangnan? Second, once the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River were captured, Liu Zhang had an outlet to the sea, as a guest of later generations, Liu Zhang deeply knew the importance of sea power to a country, and the sea was like a treasure trove that could almost never be emptied, well, it may be a bit far to say this, it is difficult to engage in overseas colonization with current technology, but Liu Zhang has the wisdom and insight of more people who have appeared in the sea for nearly two thousand years, once there is an outlet to the sea, there are some things that can be manufactured with the current manufacturing capacity, and he can begin to slowly guide and develop. When the time comes, you can't go to a far place, and the country in the east that has brought endless disasters to the people will be destroyed humanely in advance, it can still be done, after all, Xu Fu led a sea ship to that island country when Qin Shi Huang was in charge, but this is not the most important reason why Liu Zhang is eager to find an outlet to the sea, the biggest purpose of finding this outlet is to quickly build a navy on the basis of several major naval fleets, why does Liu Zhang need a navy so urgently? When the map of the Han Empire is placed in front of you, looking at the details of the princes marked on it, you will have an epiphany, once Shu has a navy, then no matter Huainan, Xuzhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou, will become the back garden of Shu, there is no coastal defense concept at all, I am afraid it is a fool's dream to block the amphibious landing (I am afraid that even if there is this advanced concept, it is difficult to do it with the current scientific and technological strength, after all, even in the 21st century, as a defensive side, even if there is developed science and technology, advanced weapons and equipment, It is also very difficult to resist the enemy's amphibious landing). However, what Liu Zhang wants to build is not a real navy, because the real navy is to use the ocean as a battlefield, and his shrunken version of the navy only needs to sail along the coastline for dozens of miles, and then find a suitable place to dock, and use the soldiers on the ship to suddenly appear in the back of the enemy and stab him fiercely. Perhaps, this navy is more like the sailors in the last years of the Qing Empire!

With the strength of the Third Field Army, it was easy to capture the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River, but the question was in what name to send troops? After all, the people pay attention to a justifiable name, before Liu Zhang had a high-sounding reason for the alliance against Dong Zhuo, Zhang Lu, Jingzhou, and the Northern Expedition, even if he fought a battle with Yuan Shao in Bingzhou, the same is true, at that time, Lu Bu gave him half of the state in the name of dedication, and he had the responsibility of protecting the territory and the people, and Yuan Shao arranged heavy troops in Bingzhou, and he naturally deserved to send troops! If Liu Zhang sent troops to attack a local magistrate appointed by the emperor of the Han Empire for no reason, if the name is not right, he will not be good, I am afraid that he will give people a handle, which will greatly damage his reputation.