Dong Zhuo increased his troops one after another, Liu Biao felt very scared, Cai Mao and others also felt that Dong Zhuo besieged but did not attack, there must be a backup strategy, the most likely is to besiege Xiang and Fan, and then divide troops to the south to occupy Jiangxia County and Nanjun, and attack Xiakou from the land to cut off Xiang and Fan's external contact.

However, they were enemies on all sides, and they were at odds with Yizhou Mu Liu Yan in the west, and they were increasingly threatened by Liangzhou Mu Zhou Fei; Jiangdong Liu Xuan's strength is too weak, and he can't protect himself, how can he help Jingzhou? The warlords of Yuzhou attacked each other and were simply unable to fight abroad.

However, Cai Mao still saw the problem, Yuzhou is the land of four wars, there are strong lords in the surrounding places, and there can only be internal fighting and no room for external development, especially Cao Cao's forces, which occupy a small territory, are surrounded by enemies on all sides, surrounded by Dong Zhuo, Gao Shun, Chen Chong and Yuan Shao, and it is only a matter of time before they are destroyed, and Cao Cao prides himself on being a scholar, and Dong Zhuo is like fire and water, the reason why Dong Zhuo still keeps him is not because he can't do anything about him, but because he hopes that Yuzhou will fight inwardly, and avoid Yuzhou being unified into a whole, which is more difficult to deal with.

So Cai Mao suggested to Liu Biao that Jiangxia County could not protect itself anyway, so it was better to concentrate forces west of the Han River, cede Jiangxia County to Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, and unite them against Dong Zhuo.

Liu Biao had already planned to give up Jiangbei, so he agreed to Cai Mao's suggestion, but insisted that Xiakou must be garrisoned by Liu Pan as his back road.

Cai Mao was overjoyed, and immediately sent someone to Yuzhang, first contact Cao Cao, if Cao Cao could not accept it, then contact Yuan Shao, and be sure to unite against Dong Zhuo.

At this time, Yuan Shu was in a predicament.

At the beginning, Liu Biao sent someone to return Sun Jian's body and exempted Huang Zu from the compensation of 200,000 stone of grain, Yuan Shu was overjoyed, but he had too much resentment with Jingzhou, how could he unite with Jingzhou?

Dong Zhuo attacked, Yuan Shu was overjoyed, this was a good opportunity to fall into the well; Proposed to Jingzhou that it should not interfere in Yangzhou's affairs in the future, and the Jingzhou army withdrew from the jurisdiction of Yangzhou and transferred Chaisang County to him Yuan Shu.

In order to avoid being attacked on both sides and avoid Yuan Shu from avenging Sun Jian, he was forced to agree to Yuan Shu's conditions.

Yuan Shu then buried Sun Jian, and exempted everyone from responsibility, Sun Ben and others were grateful to him, after receiving Sun Jian's cavalry and Danyang soldiers, in addition to transferring a part of it to his direct jurisdiction, the remaining soldiers and horses were still led by Sun Ben, Huang Gai and others, and everyone was still loyal to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu knew that the strength of the navy was limited, so he did not punish Zheng Bao, the governor of the navy, which caused some complaints from Sun Jian's old department.

In order to balance the various factions, appease Sun Jian's old army, and obtain new territory, Yuan Shu appointed Sun Ben as the Taishou of Yuzhang County in Jiangdong and Yuan Jian as the Taishou of Xin'an County, and led the army to attack Jiangdong; The navy was divided into two, one part was led by Zu Mao, and the other part continued to be led by Zheng Bao, the governor of the navy, and the two assisted Sun Ben and Yuan Jian in the battle.

Yuan Lian, whose name is Yaoqing, was born in Fule, Chenjun (now northwest of Taikang, Henan), born in "Chenjun Yuan", the son of Situ Yuan, and was trusted and respected by Yuan Shu.

Zu Mao led the naval army and took the lead in taking over Chaisang County from the Yellow Shooters of Jingzhou as a foothold to enter Yuzhang County.

Yuan Shu's plan is very good, although the naval army can't defeat Jingzhou, but it is more than enough to deal with Yangzhou Jiangdong, since this is the case, then try to Jiangdong first, and then fight Jingzhou after the strength is strong.

Everyone happily accepted the order, and now that there are many princes in the north and wars are continuous, perhaps it is the best choice to open up Jiangdong.

It is said that Lu Su of Guangling County, now the army is strong and strong, and he has been lurking, patiently waiting for the best time to attack, striving for a blow and obtaining the greatest result.

He sent a large number of scouts to pay close attention to the situation in Jiujiang County and Lujiang County.

Although Sun Jian died in battle, the officers and soldiers of Yangzhou did not suffer many losses, and their strength was still strong, and Lu Su did not act rashly.

The news came one after another, Dong Zhuo's army went south to Jingzhou, and Yuan Shu transferred troops to attack Jiangdong.

Lu Su asked Li Zhen, the Taishou of Guangling, and Sun Ping, the commander of the capital, to lead 10,000 infantry to stay behind.

The well-prepared Zhonglang general Pang De led 13,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry to attack Yinling City, isolated Ji Ling, who was stationed in Zhongli City, and with the assistance of 5,000 sailors, captured the county seat on both sides of the Huai River, as well as the county seat Shouchun City.

Lu Su himself led 5,000 Danyang soldiers, 5,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry through Hefei and went straight to Zhishu County, Lujiang County, and at the same time, blocked Yuan Shu's reinforcements to buy time for Pang De to occupy the northern counties.

The main fleet of the navy carried 5,000 infantry and went upstream, patrolling the Yangtze River to cooperate with the land war; And according to the development of the war situation, he chose the opportunity to occupy Xiang'an and Linhu counties, and formed a horn with Shu County, so as to facilitate the defense of Yuan Shu's counterattack.

Now Jiujiang County and Lujiang County are empty, and the army has been transferred by Yuan Shu; And Yuan Shu was tyrannical and lived a luxurious life, which was very unpopular in the two counties, if it were not for his strong military strength, I am afraid that many big clans would have rebelled.

And Lusu itself Huainan tyrants, in the local reputation is very good, now rise strongly, before the weak crown to control Guangling County, benevolent government, light taxes, resettlement of displaced people, appease bandits, heal the wounds of war, Guangling County quickly developed into a paradise on earth.

The local tyrants and people of Jiujiang County were both envious and jealous of Guangling County's policies, and couldn't help but be even more resentful of Yuan Shu.

Yangzhou scholars and local tyrants are far away from the Central Plains, their political status is low, they do not have much political pursuit, and they pay more attention to the actual interests at hand, and they don't care who rules, and this kind of loose policy implemented by Lu Su is undoubtedly very tempting to them.

Lu Su's army went straight to Hefei County from Dongcheng County, and the local county commander saw that Lu Su had so many troops, he was powerless to resist at all, and immediately went out to surrender, and the eastern counties were decided; He left 5,000 infantry to garrison Hefei to protect the army's retreat, and then led the army into Lujiang County.

As soon as the Lusu army moved, the scouts arranged by Yuan Shu were already aware of it, and they immediately flew to report to Yuan Shu, and at this time Yuan Shu was still far away in Xunyang City.

Yuan Shu received a report that the big thing was not good, and Xuzhou must have taken advantage of the fire to rob and immediately led troops back to help, but when he arrived in Juchao County, Shucheng had already opened the door and surrendered; Taishou Yuan Yin and Du Weile were captured.

Shu County is located in the plain, not far from the Dabie Mountain in the west, not far from Chaohu Lake and continuous hilly areas in the east, Shu County is in the gap between the two, even if he wants to go north to support, the road has been cut off by Lusu and impassable.

And then the bad news kept coming, Chaohu Water Village was occupied; Xiang'an and Linhu counties were also occupied; Zongyang County and Shuizhai were occupied.

Yuan Shu was frightened to ashes, he had been surrounded, Ji Ling must be more than lucky, and now Sun Jian's old department has gone to Jiangdong to grab territory, there are no reinforcements for the time being, even if they are transferred back, it is far from quenching their thirst.

Yang Hong also has no good way, it is difficult for a Qiao woman to cook without rice, if he loses the general Ji Ling and the officers and soldiers under his jurisdiction, Yuan Shu will lose his control over Sun Jian's old department and be cornered.

So he suggested to Yuan Shu that he negotiate peace with Lu Su, take the territory he now occupies as the boundary, and the two sides will cease fighting, on the condition that Ji Ling and the soldiers and horses under his jurisdiction be returned, otherwise the two sides will fight to the end with him.

Yuan Shu knew that the situation was grim and the consequences were serious, so he immediately adopted Yang Hong's suggestion and sent the lord Bo Yanxiang to Shucheng to negotiate with Lu Su.

However, the resentment in his heart towards the Shi clan and the Hao clan reached an unbearable level, no wonder Dong Zhuo and Gao Shun did not reuse the Shi clan and the Hao clan, but suppressed them everywhere, because they were too capricious and rebelled if they were not careful, and they must be strictly managed in the future.