Starting from the Battle of Mahan, Yuan Xi and Cao Cao fought three major battles, the Battle of Guanzhong, the Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Yecheng, although Cao Cao almost captured Yecheng, but was defeated by Sima Yi with the Array of Fire Ox, and had no choice but to return to Xuchang. In the end, Hebei's overall victory ended, and Yuan Xi occupied the whole of Xuzhou, but Xuzhou was close to Jiangdong, and now in addition to fighting Cao Cao, he also had to defend Sun Quan.

For Cao Cao, although he lost a Xuzhou that was ostensibly subordinated to him, and the battle of the Central Plains was defeated, but it was not for nothing, with the assistance of Ban and Cheng Yu, Han Sui defeated Ma Chao to capture the mighty and capture Liangzhou. Although Han Sui won the entire territory of Liangzhou, he also offended Ma Teng and Yuan Xi, and decided to take refuge in Cao Cao according to the pre-war agreement and obey Cao Cao's arrangement. Although Cao Cao lost Xuzhou in this battle, there are still Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Guanzhong, there are still more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and now there is Liangzhou Han Sui to take refuge, he can also have a strong cavalry, the strength is not reduced but increased, Xiahou Yuan was named the governor of Yongliang, Han Sui was recommended as Liangzhou pastor, to assist Xiahou Yuan to guard the land of Guanzhong.

Under the protection of Pang De, Cheng Yin and Yang Qiu, Ma Chao led the remnants of the army to retreat into the Qiang tribe, and then went to Luoyang through Bingzhou and took refuge with Ma Teng. When passing by Bingzhou to join the party, Yuan Shang heard that Ma Chao and Pang De were both fierce generals in the world, and they were warmly entertained and healed Ma Chao. Ma Chao has a strong personality, and he lost Xiliang and was ashamed of Ma Teng, so he ordered Pang De to go to Luoyang to report, and he used the excuse that his injury had not healed, and stayed at Yuan Shang in Bingzhou to recuperate. Cheng Yin and Yang Qiu lost their army, even if they went to Luoyang and had Ma Teng to take care of them, they might not be able to be reused, it was better to stay in Bingzhou, Corporal Yuan Shanglixian, and it was the land of the great general Yuan Xi, and there will be a place to play in the future.

Sun Quan, the lord of Jiangdong, is convening the generals to discuss important military and political matters and discuss the direction of Jiangdong's future development. Cheng Pu, the elder of the Three Dynasties, followed Sun Quan's father and brother Sun Jian and Sun Ce to fight in the south and the north, and only then did he create the foundation of Jiangdong, but he still has a deep memory of Sun Jian's death, and stepped forward to play: "My lord, now my Jiangdong power is at its peak, but the revenge of the ancestor has not been avenged, and I ask the lord to send troops to Jiangxia, and take the head of Huang Zu to comfort the spirit of the ancestor in the sky!" ”

Of course, Sun Quan wanted to take Jiangxia to stabilize his reputation, and it was difficult for him to capture even Guangling County, not to mention Jingzhou, the strength of the naval army was on par with himself, even if his brother Sun Ce attacked Jiangxia several times in Japan without success. Sun Quan unconsciously quietly looked at Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu had already pacified the Shanyue Rebellion, followed Yuan Xi's preferential treatment to pacify Shanyue, and incorporated a powerful mountain and forest field army, called the "Liberation Army", which was Sun Ce's greatest reliance on himself.

Zhou Yu once discussed with Lu Su the way out of Jiangdong, both of them wanted to use Jingzhou as a springboard, and then seize Yizhou, divide the world in two, and then wait for the Central Plains to change, and then go north to seize the Central Plains. He once advised Sun Ce and Sun Quan to attack Jingzhou first, but both of them liked to attack Xuzhou, and they were both defeated at the hands of Chen Deng. This time, Zhou Yu just borrowed Cheng Pu's mouth and said: "My lord, what General Cheng said is very true, I heard that Liu Biao is too old to be a director, and the military and political power has fallen into the hands of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, who have always been at odds with Huang Zu, and they should attack Jiangxia to avenge the ancestors.

Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu represented the opinions of Jiangdong's military generals, and Sun Quan also had to think carefully, and seeing that the civil officials represented by Zhang Zhao chose to remain silent and acquiesced in Cheng Pu and Zhou Yu's approach. Sun Quan had no choice but to change his idea of going north again, with Zhou Yu as the main general, and Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Tai Shici and other Jiangdong generals led 50,000 troops to attack Jiangxia.

When Liu Biao of Jingzhou heard that Jiangdong had sent troops to attack Jiangxia, he immediately urgently summoned the Cai brothers, the Kuai brothers and Liu Bei to discuss. The Cai brothers naturally didn't want to send troops to support Huang Zu, but Cai Mao said disapprerovingly: "Lord, the Jiangdong rats are not enough to be troubled, Sun Quan can't lead 100,000 troops to capture a small Guangling County, let alone Zhou Yu's 50,000 army." Huang Taishou has been fighting for many years, and with Jiangxia's troops, there is no need for the lord to worry. ”

The Kuai brothers felt that Jiangxia was the gateway to Jingzhou, and they had to be guarded against, but they were very knowledgeable, and now that the Cai family was in power, it was really not appropriate to work against Cai Mao, so they fell silent. Only Liu Bei admonished: "Brother, Jiangxia is the gateway to Jingzhou, although General Huang Lao has experienced a hundred battles and will not lose to the Jiangdong Army, but just in case, it is still necessary to send troops to support, so that General Huang can fight with confidence." ”

Liu Biao had long been dissatisfied with Cai Mao's arbitrariness, and it happened that Liu Bei objected, so he pushed the boat down the river and agreed to Liu Bei's request. Cai Mao didn't dare to attack in front of Liu Huang, and said angrily: "Uncle Liu Huang is really worried, here we want to fight Cao Cao, and here we have to fight against Sun Quan, I don't know who can lead the army to support Jiangxia?" ”

Liu Bei had already had an idea, and he was not afraid of Cai Mao's questioning, so he replied: "Major General Liu Pan fought bravely, and with him going, it is enough to deal with the Jiangdong Army." "Liu Pan is Liu Biao's nephew, and he is a military force loyal to Liu Biao, even if Cai Mao has to give three points, Liu Bei recommends Liu Pan, Cai Mao will naturally not object, I just hope that this person will stay away so as to consolidate his power. The reason why Liu Bei recommended Liu Pan was that he wanted to take over Liu Pan's position after Liu Pan left, so that Liu Biao could continue to balance the forces in Jingzhou.

Compared with Jingzhou's wolf smoke, Yizhou, which is also one of the best in the world, seems to be much calmer, although there are many internal factions, but adjacent to Yizhou are not weak forces such as Nanban and Zhang Lu, or two not too strong opponents like Jingzhou Liu Biao who are satisfied with the status quo, and they cannot pose a threat to Yizhou. Because of the topography of Yizhou and Liu Zhang's lack of ambition, he is already very satisfied with living and working in peace and contentment, and it has developed very steadily.

However, Liu Zhang's subordinates were not idle, especially the main battle faction Zhang Ren, Fa Zheng, Zhang Song and others, who constantly advised that they should take the initiative to attack, pacify the Nanban and Zhang Lu, take the land of Guanzhong, and follow the example of the pre-Qin and Western Han Dynasty to dominate the world. However, Liu Zhang, who had no ambitions, refused the invitation of the main battle faction on the grounds that he did not want the people to suffer from the war again, which also greatly disappointed the main battle faction.

The princes of the world, the most unsatisfactory should be Ma Teng. Although he is now serving as a court lieutenant in the Luoyang Imperial Court, ranking first among the Jiuqing, but at this time, the Han family is declining, and there is not much glory to speak of, just spending his old age in peace. Not long ago, Pang De came to report that Xiliang was captured by Han Sui, Ma Chao went to Bingzhou to recuperate, and Ma Teng's ambition to count on Ma Chao to dominate Guanzhong was completely cool.

Fortunately, the Luoyang court has the support of the generals, and the Han family is still orthodox in the world, even if Cao Cao does not dare to risk attacking Luoyang, Emperor Han Xian still continues to be the son of the Han Dynasty with peace of mind. Zhao Yun, Pang Tong, Guo Huai, and Hao Hao were recalled to Hebei, and Yuan Xi ordered Gao Gan to lead 50,000 troops and stationed in Luoyang to fight against Xiahou Yuan with Zhang Xiu.

Yuan Xi was quite angry about Cao Cao's attack on Yecheng this time, although he rewarded Sima Yi, but Sima Yi didn't dare to be careless, this time he was smart but was mistaken by being smart, and violated the bottom line of the general. At this time, there were four people in the General's Mansion kneeling on the ground restlessly to plead guilty, except for Pang Tong, who had just joined, the other three were veterans who had followed Yuan Xi for a long time, namely Zhao Yun, Zhang Jaw, and Sima Yi.

Why do the four of them still ask for guilt when they have meritorious service in resisting Cao? It turned out that Zhao Yun and Zhang Jaw did not follow Yuan Xi's instructions and dragged Cao Cao, causing Yecheng to be attacked. Yuan Xi said coldly in a low voice, without expression, "Pang Tong, I know that you are extremely wise, and you want to take advantage of Cao Cao's northward journey to seize Guanzhong, but you are disobeying my military orders!" If it weren't for you and Ma Teng, Zilong would definitely be able to resist Cao's army for at least two months, let alone attack Yecheng, maybe Xuchang would have been taken by me! ”

Zhao Yun also knew that he was very wrong this time, and when he heard that Yecheng was attacked, he also gave up the idea of attacking Guanzhong and returned directly to Yecheng. However, after all, he still violated the military order, and said guiltily: "General, as the chief general, I listen to the words of others, disobey the general's order, and am willing to be punished." ”

Yuan Xi saw that Pang Tong was unconvinced, and said lightly: "In my place, the duty of a soldier is to obey orders, since I dare to take it, I must complete it, even if I die in battle, I must die worthwhile." As for the generals, if the military order is not affected, then die! ”

Even if Yuan Xi said it so lightly, Pang Tong was shocked into a cold sweat and confessed: "The lower official knows that he is wrong, and he is willing to be punished!" Xu Shu also asked for Pang Tong. Yuan Xi remembered his first offense, so he bypassed him and asked him to follow Xu Shu and make suggestions for himself together.

Zhao Yun is upright, suitable for being a general, charging into battle, not suitable for commanding a party, and it is also his own mistake, so he ordered Zhao Yun to think about it behind closed doors, train soldiers and horses with peace of mind, and stop issuing money for one year. Zhao Yun and Pang Tong thanked Yuan Xi for his extra kindness, and after getting Yuan Xi's permission, they left the Great General's Mansion. Yuan Xi only left Zhang Jaw and Sima Yi, and the situation of these two people was much more serious than Zhao Yun and Pang Tong!