"Student Sima Yi, I have seen His Royal Highness King Jing."

Facing Sima Yi, who came uninvited, Liu Biao asked in a deep voice: "Sima Yi, you don't want to stay in Shuijing Academy to study, what are you doing here?" ”

"The students are here just to persuade His Royal Highness King Jing to rein in the precipice and not to confront the court again."

"Bold! Sima Yi, what qualifications do you have to come and persuade this king? ”

"His Royal Highness King Jing is not annoyed, and let the students speak slowly."

"Hmph, the yellow-mouthed son dares to come to me, and listen to your sophistry." Liu Biao snorted coldly and waved back.

Sima Yi straightened his clothes and asked Liu Biao solemnly: "Dare to ask King Jing, can you remember the old things of the princes discussing Dong in the past." ”

"Remember, what?"

"Since King Jing remembers, why should he repeat the mistakes of others? Thinking about Yuan Cao begging Dong in the past, the princes from all walks of life responded one after another, but looking at the present, how many of those princes in the past are still alive? Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were both treacherous, and Gongsun Chan suffered heavy losses to please Dong, but when Yuan Shao conscripted Gongsun Zhan, he did not remember the friendship of the former alliance, and Cao Cao used Dong to wash away his stigma, and in a blink of an eye, he took Liu Dai's Yanzhou foundation. Now Yuan Shao occupies Hebei, Cao Cao occupies the Central Plains, and King Jing, you are a clan relative of the Han family, Liu Zhang was rebellious before, how the end is in front of you, King Jing, why do you want to repeat the mistakes of the past? ”

"Hmph, I was born with a good mouth, but it's a pity that it's hard to talk about me. If the princes rebel against the court today, how can this king stay out of the matter. ”

"But King Jing, don't you think your choice is a bit hasty? The princes of the world are now counted as the Son of Heaven, and there are only five families. The Son of Heaven represents the orthodoxy of the Han family, Tianshi is not on the side of your alliance, the Son of Heaven holds the Xiongguan, and the geographical advantage is not on the side of your alliance, the rest of the people, the four alliances, but there are many filthy in the middle, not to mention Yuan Cao, but King Jing and Jiangdong Sun Ce, you are full of contradictions, beware of each other, let alone any sincere cooperation. ”

“…… Listening to what you say, you seem to be full of confidence in the victory of the Son of Heaven. ”

"Huh...... His Royal Highness King Jing is not a student arrogant, in the eyes of students, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are not opponents of the imperial court. Don't look at the imperial court now defending instead of attacking, it is not that the imperial court has no power to fight back, but that the imperial court is currently only trying to consume the strength of the coalition army. Thinking about the four main forces of the imperial court, now only the Han'an army has penetrated deep into Yizhou, and the remaining three armies have not moved. Even if the begging needs to be stationed in the Western Regions and cannot be moved lightly, there are still two armies available to relieve troubles and wander around. His Royal Highness King Jing, Xie Fu and You Yi are all the army of a hundred battles, Xie Fu has been fighting with the Northern Huns all the year round, and You Yi is one of the main forces when the imperial court conquers the Western Regions. ”

"Hmph, alarmist." Liu Biao snorted coldly.

"His Royal Highness King Jing, if it is not the students who are alarmist, the students know that the reason why His Royal Highness King Jing thinks so is that he feels that if the imperial court comes to attack, Cao Cao and Sun Ce will not sit idly by. However, the students still want to persuade King Jing not to pin their hopes on Cao Cao and Sun Ce. Although you are allies now, you are actually enemies, and now you are only coming together to deal with common enemies, but once the court reconciles with Yuan Shao or Cao Cao, when King Jing and you are in trouble, who will lend a helping hand, maybe it will be considered benevolence and righteousness if you don't fall into the ground. ”

Liu Biao: "......"

"His Royal Highness King Jing, the princes of the four roads are attacking the imperial court, and this momentum is indeed even greater than when the princes are begging for Dong, but as a result, the students are not optimistic. King Jing has never seen Dang Jinzi, so he doesn't know much about Dang Jinzi's temperament, and the student is fortunate to have a relationship with the Son of Heaven, and he doesn't dare to say anything else, but the character of the Son of Heaven has left a deep impression on the student. At this time, if His Royal Highness King Jing withdrew, the Son of Heaven might not settle accounts with King Jing after the war, but if Yuan Cao was defeated, King Jing would regret it too late at that time. ”

"Are you done?" Liu Biao asked.

“…… The student finished. ”

"Now that I'm done, let's go down. This time, I don't care about you for the sake of your youth and ignorance, but next time, if you dare to come here to shake the morale of the army and confuse the public, you will have to take your head to calm the army's heart. ”

"His Royal Highness King Jing ......"

"Come, send him out of the camp, and don't let him come any closer." Liu Biao commanded, and someone immediately rushed in and dragged Sima Yi out and threw him out of the barracks.

"Zhongda, how are you?" Xu Shu, Pang Tong, and Shi Tao, who were already waiting outside the camp, hurriedly came over and asked.

"I'm fine, but it's a pity that Liu Jingsheng is stubborn." Sima Yi patted the soil on his body and said with a nonchalant expression.

"Zhongda, what now?" Shi Tao asked Sima Yidao.

"Liu Biao doesn't make sense there, what is the result for you?" Sima Yi asked Pang Tong and Xu Shudao. The four of them left the Water Mirror Academy after Liu Biao announced that they had formed an alliance with Yuan Shao to fight against the imperial court. Sima Yi returned to Liu Xie's side to serve the imperial court, and Pang Tong followed Sima Yi to Guanzhong in the name of study tours, as for Xu Shu, he originally wanted to go back to Yingchuan to visit his mother first, but was told by Sima Yi that his mother had already been sent by the Son of Heaven to Guanzhong for proper placement. After learning the news, Xu Shu almost turned his face with Sima Yi, but Sima Yi cheekily apologized to Xu Shu, and Xu Shu was not good enough to break off his friendship with Sima Yi because of this matter. After all, the old mother works all day at home, which is not what Xu Shu wants to see.

Without Xu Shu knowing, Sima Yi asked Liu Xie for the position of a free rider for Xu Shu, and Xu's mother's expenses in Chang'an were also deducted from Xu Shu's salary.

"Cao Cao was not moved." Xu Shu shook his head and replied. Pang Tong on the side also shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Hehe...... It seems that I am the most unlucky, I haven't even seen Sun Ce's face. ”

"Morale, Sun Ce judges people by their appearance, and he will regret it in the future. Since it didn't work, let's go back to the Holy One first and then make a plan. ”

"Zhongda, it's not wrong for you and Yuan Zhi and Guangyuan to go to see the saint, after all, there is a relationship between the monarch and the minister, but it's not appropriate for me to save it, right?" Pang Tong frowned when he heard this.

"Suitable, how could it not be suitable? Shi Yuan, you have great talent, and the saint has also mentioned many times in his letters that he wants to meet you, but now that the opportunity is rare, how can you not go? ”

"But my uncle Pang Degong ......"

"Morale, Pang De Guild understands, and when did you Pang Shiyuan become a mother-in-law."

"Then we can say in advance, I don't necessarily leave behind to assist the Son of Heaven before I go."

"Okay, it's all up to you, you come and go freely, but according to my understanding of the Son of Heaven, you can't go nine times out of ten."

“…… Does the Son of Heaven have a habit of forcibly retaining people? ”

"That's not true, if the Son of Heaven is that kind of person, how could he let go of Guo Fengxiao under Cao Cao in the first place. However, the Son of Heaven loves talents, and on your terms, I am afraid that only the Son of Heaven will not judge people by their appearance. Sima Yi explained.

……

At Sima Yi's insistence, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and Shi Tao were pulled together outside the Han army camp in Mulansai. When Liu Xie learned that Sima Yi had come with three cattle men, he was so happy that he didn't even wear shoes, and ran out of the camp barefoot.

"Oh Zhongda, you're here. Hurry up, everybody come in and talk. Liu Xie grabbed Sima Yi and greeted everyone happily.

"Why is the lord so happy?" Sima Yi asked with some confusion.

"Alas~ You are your own person, so I won't hide some embarrassing things from you, Cao Cao's Guo Fengxiao is too smart, I have to deal with it these days, I originally wanted to transfer Jia Wenhe from Liangzhou to help, but now that you are here, Jia Wenhe doesn't have to be transferred."

"The lord has no advisers available?"

"I'm too busy to take care of it. Jia Wenhe wants to stay in Liangzhou to monitor Xiqiang, Fa Yan wants to stay in the Western Regions to assist Zhang Ren, Xun You wants to stay in Wuguan, Zhong Yu stays in Tongguan, Xun Yu needs to be responsible for the transfer of grain and grass for the whole army, and Li Ru is left to work in Yizhou for a while. ”

"Lord, I'll introduce you." Sima Yi smiled and recommended Liu Xie.

Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Shi Tao, except for Shi Tao, who is a little strange to Liu Xie, the remaining two can be described as thunderous. Zhuge Liang's death before he left the school, in Liu Xie's opinion, it is more suitable to put it on Pang Tong's body, and Xu Shu's people are in Cao Ying's heart in Han, which also makes Liu Xie feel admired.

"Zhong Da, Shi Yuan, Yuan Zhi, with the three of you, I don't believe in fighting Guo Fengxiao. Guangyuan is not good at military affairs, so go to Chang'an to assist Wenruo, where you will be able to find your place. Liu Xie unceremoniously assigned tasks to Sima Yi and the four of them.

"Lord, what are my positions?"

"The squire is under your brother's control. Come on, come on, let's get closer, let's discuss how to teach Cao Cao a lesson, let him know that he knows that I won't be easy to mess with. Liu Xie stretched out his hand to lift a curtain covering the center of the tent and beckoned everyone to gather over.

The sand table can intuitively reflect the situation of friend and foe, which is much easier to use than a flat map. Sima Yi and Pang Tong are both people who are good at military affairs, and when they saw the sand table, they immediately realized the value of this thing.

"You take a look at the sand table first, and I will explain to you the current situation of our army and the coalition army." Liu Xie took the initiative to explain to Sima Yi and others.

When Liu Xie had almost finished speaking, Sima Yi, Pang Tong and others also roughly understood. The current situation can be described as a stalemate in two words, and it is not as optimistic as Sima Yi imagined. The reason why the second army has not been mobilized so far is not that Liu Xie has reserved a back hand, but that the current northern Xiongnu have made some changes, and the imperial court does not dare to transfer the heavy troops, leaving an opportunity for the Xiongnu to go south.

"Damn the Huns, they actually want to take advantage of the fire to rob." Sima Yi scolded with some annoyance.

"Huh...... Why should Chung Tat be angry? The Huns have not always been like this, you can rest assured, this Huns will have to be cleaned up sooner or later, and I promise you, this time I will never make the same mistakes made by the first emperor. ”

"Holy Lord, since it is impossible to relieve troubles and wander, why don't the Black Mountain Army and Ma Teng's Ma Family Army move?" Xu Shu asked.

"The reason is the same as just now, Xiqiang has also not been very peaceful recently, Zhang Yan and Ma Teng need to ensure that our backyard can't catch fire."

"In other words, what the imperial court can mobilize at present is the current soldiers and horses." Pang Tong asked.

"Exactly, so Liu Biao's participation in the war still has some impact on the imperial court. However, the impact is not very great, once the hearts of the people in Yizhou are stabilized, the Han Anjun can withdraw their hands to help the war, and then the pressure on us will be reduced a lot. Liu Xie replied when he heard this.

"How long will it take?" Xu Shu asked.

"Li Ru's conservative estimate for me is that it will take a month, but I gave him two months in order to prevent him from making mistakes in his busy schedule."

"In other words, we need to hold out for two months before we can wait for a turnaround." Xu Shu frowned and said.

Seeing this, Liu Xie said: "Actually, it's not necessarily, if we can break through the way, the odds of winning will be greatly increased." ”

"Then I don't know which way the Holy One is going to break?" Pang Tong asked.

"Hmm...... Yuan Shao is now dividing his troops to attack Tongguan and Wuguan, which is considered two roads, Cao Cao and Liu Biao and Sun Ce have joined forces, which is considered a road, and I originally planned to transfer troops to Wuguan to destroy Yuan Shao all the way outside Wuguan first. But now that you're here, give me an idea. Liu Xie looked at Pang Tongdao who was talking with a smile.

"In my humble opinion, instead of breaking Yuan all the way, it is better to concentrate troops and horses to break the current enemy first." Pang Tong thought for a moment and said in a deep voice.

"Break the alliance of Cao, Liu and Sun first? Shi Yuan, isn't this a bit reluctant? Shi Tao, who was listening on the side, couldn't help but speak when he heard this.

"Huh...... Sure enough, it is a phoenix, and she has to see the problem more thoroughly than others. Liu Xie nodded and praised at this time. Xu Shu saw that Shi Tao was puzzled, and explained to him: "Yuan Shao's army is 500,000, although the troops are divided at this time, there are also 200,000 Yuan troops outside Wuguan. At this time, although the combined forces of Cao, Liu and Sun were nearly 200,000, they were easier to deal with than the 200,000 Yuan troops outside Wuguan. The Yuan army had subordinates to each other, and the orders went down, while the three families of Cao, Liu and Sun were not subordinate and wary of each other. In comparison, it is naturally easier for Cao Liu Sun to break each one. ”

Shi Tao was stunned when he heard this, and Liu Xie also said with a smile at this time: "If you want to break the current strong enemy, you need to be surprised. Zhong Da and Yuan Zhi, the two of you will rest for one night, and leave here tomorrow with Guangyuan. Guangyuan went to Wenruo to listen to it, Zhongda went to Tongguan, Yuan Zhi went to Wuguan, and I ordered the cavalry of the two passes to come to help. ”

"Cavalry?"

"Well, I was going to keep it for the pursuit, but now I'll deal with it. Shiyuan, you stay and help me deal with Guo Fengxiao, okay? Liu Xie looked at Pang Tong and asked.

"Uh...... I have heard for a long time that Guo Fengxiao has the name of a ghost, and Pang Tong is willing to help the saint. However, he also asked the saint to promise Pang Tong that Pang Tong would be allowed to leave after the matter was settled. ”

"Huh?" Liu Xie was stunned when he heard this, and Sima Yi on the side hurriedly explained: "Lord, Shi Yuan is not here to devote himself to his career, but to travel to Guanzhong. ”

"Oh, I see, yes. However, I still hope that Shiyuan can serve the imperial court in the future. Liu Xie nodded when he heard this, and said to Pang Tong with a sincere face.

……

Liu Xie is a self-aware person, he knows very well that he can be where he is today, and that is completely taking advantage of the familiar history. His current identity is the son of the Han Dynasty, and with this identity, it is much easier than others to recruit talents. Guanzhong can have today's situation, and it is definitely not the credit of Liu Xie alone. is more dependent on the group of courtiers who are loyal to the Han family. And what Liu Xie is trying to do is to give those subordinates a visible hope. Let those who decide to follow themselves see a future that can be seen and touched.

Liu Xie doesn't like to be called a widow and a lonely, although it can show that he is different, but it will also make people distance himself from Liu Xie. To make friends with profit, and if the benefit is exhausted, only by making friends with the heart can it last for a long time, Liu Xie needs confidants. This is like having both fish and bear's paws, whether to have confidants or cronies or to maintain the dignity of the emperor, Liu Xie chose the former.

Although this choice made Liu Xie lose some of the demeanor of the Wang family, and was often persuaded by the old stubborn Zheng Xuan and Kong Rong, at the same time, Liu Xie also used this method to gather a large number of capable ministers and cadres who were loyal to him. Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Zhao Yun, Dian Wei, everyone has different backgrounds, but they can rest assured to work for Liu Xie, and the reason is not because Liu Xie's attitude of employing people is reassuring. Especially after Yuan Shao played the card on the Qingjun side this time, Liu Xie's maintenance of Xun Yu made Jia Xu and Zhang Liao recognize Liu Xie, the main father.

Today, Liu Xie can be an enemy of the world in order to protect Xun Yu, a subordinate, and tomorrow he can be an enemy of himself and the world.

Perhaps Liu Xie should be grateful to Yuan Shao, because Yuan Shao's Qingjun side has made Liu Xie's Guanzhong people more cohesive than before, and most of them are tightly gathered around Liu Xie and are willing to work together with Liu Xie. The heart thinks in one place, and the strength is in one place, and the hearts of the people in the gate become like an iron plate and unbreakable.

……

Cao Jun camp

Cao Cao was looking at the two groups of people in front of him with a headache. Since the convergence of the three coalition forces, Liu Biao and Sun Ce often quarreled over some trivial matters, and Cao Cao could only persuade left and right as a peacemaker. Thanks to Guo Fengxiao's worries for Cao Cao during this time, otherwise Cao Cao would have to die of exhaustion.

"What's the reason for this time?" Cao Cao asked Sun Cedao.

"Cao Envoyjun, it's not that Bo Fu is ignorant, but that this Liu Jingzhou has two intentions, and he meets with the imperial court envoy in private, and wants to have an affair with the imperial court."

"Sun Ce, nonsense, do you have a certificate?" Liu Biao was furious and angrily reprimanded Sun Cedao.

"Hmph, my people can still fake it if they see it with their own eyes." Sun Ce snorted coldly.

"You dare to send someone to spy on this king?"

"King Jing is angry, dare to ask King Jing, what Sun Bofu said is true?" Cao Cao stopped Sun Ce, who was about to scold back, and asked Liu Biaodao with a serious face.

"Humph! This king did see Sima Yi, but so what? Cao Envoy, don't you say that you didn't see Sun Ce'er's so-called imperial envoy. Liu Biao snorted coldly.

"Hmm...... Indeed, a student named Xu Shu once came to persuade me to withdraw from the army, but I have clearly refused, I don't know how King Jing replied to that Sima Yi? ”

"Of course, this king refuses with words, how can this king be the kind of person who forgets his righteousness for profit, even if the jade seal of the country is placed in front of this king, this king will not have evil thoughts that should not be born because of this."

"Liu Biao! Who are you referring to Sang scolding Huai? Sun Ce asked angrily.

"Hmph, whoever is talking about it." Liu Biao replied disdainfully.