Before Tao Qian was critically ill, Gao Shun received a messenger from him, one was to invite him to receive Xuzhou, and the other was to ask his children and grandchildren to return to Xuzhou to arrange the future.

Gao Shun and others hurried up and went straight to Xuzhou.

By the time he arrived, it was already the winter moon of the first year of Xingping (196), and Tao Qian was almost dying.

Along with Gao Shun, Xu Lin and the 10,000 cavalry under his jurisdiction also went south.

Tao Qian explained the aftermath to his children and grandchildren in front of the hospital bed, and the two sons had no complaints about their father's resignation of the position of assassin, after all, they knew their own level, and if they forcibly took over, they would only end up with a ruined family.

At this time, Gao Shun arrived, and the Xuzhou officials had guessed the result, and it was the best result for the champion Hou to take over Xuzhou, so that it would not cause war for Xuzhou, and would ensure the safety and stability of Xuzhou.

Tao Qian was not completely relieved until he completely handed over the 12,000 Danyang soldiers to Gao Shun.

Gao Shun was grateful for Tao Qian's selflessness and promised him that at least three generations of his family would be rich and worry-free.

Tao Qian left with peace of mind, because he knew that Gao Shun could not guarantee what would happen after three generations.

He was sixty-six years old, three years longer than in history.

Tao Qian had a good reputation during his lifetime, and he has always appeared in front of everyone with the kind face of a loyal elder, and his existence has exempted Xuzhou from many wars, making Xuzhou very rich and happy, and accepting a large number of displaced people from Yuzhou and Yangzhou, so that they can live a good life, and the people of Xuzhou can be said to be grateful to Tao Qian.

Tao Qian's friends before his death all came.

Zheng Xuan, Kong Rong and others came in person, and Zheng Xuan personally wrote a eulogy for him.

Gongsun Zhan, who had been taken care of and recommended by Tao Qian, came in person.

For example, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Kang, Cao Cao, Lu Su and other princes all sent envoys.

The imperial court also sent emissaries.

The funeral was presided over by Xuzhou celebrity Chen Jue, which was also one of Gao Shun's means to stabilize Xuzhou.

With the support of Gao Shun, Tao Qian's funeral was extremely grand.

The Cao family and the Chen family, the big families in Xuzhou, had little power to be suppressed by Tao Qian, and they were powerless to oppose it, so they could only accept Gao Shun to settle in Xuzhou.

The only counties under Tao Qian were Donghai County, Xiapi State and Pengcheng State, and the Taishou and Xiangguo of the three places were all senior civil officials sent by Fang Liang, and the county magistrates, county lieutenants, and county officials of each county were also sent by Fang Liang.

Most of the middle and low-level officers in the army were also sent by Fang Liang, and many of them had served as military commanders and captains; In addition, Gao Shun received the Danyang soldiers directly under Tao Qian, and the remaining captains such as Zhang Min were not to be afraid.

Don't drive Zhao Yu and Wang Lang in Zhizhong, both are civil officials, and they are powerless to object, Gao Shun announced that he would continue to stay in office; Elfang was appointed to be a different driver; The remaining officials are all system civil officials brought by Gao Shun.

Gao Shun appointed Xu Lin as the general of Zhonglang and the assassin of Xuzhou, and quickly reported it to the imperial court.

Xu Lin was administratively and militarily under the jurisdiction of Fang Liang.

After Xu Lin took office, he first grasped military power, with 10,000 cavalry and 12,000 Danyang soldiers in hand, and he was very confident, and there were many facial features arranged by Qingzhou to serve as grassroots officers, no matter how he arranged it, there would not be much resistance.

The first thing he did was to evaluate the army according to the model of northern Xinjiang.

The original 8,000 cavalry, with no limit on the amount, as long as they could not meet the requirements, all became infantry.

The infantry should be reduced from the current 60,000 (not including Danyang soldiers) to 30,000 to 40,000.

Xuzhou has only three counties for the time being, there is no need to raise so many troops, it is necessary to establish elite soldiers and strong soldiers, Tao Qian's nearly 100,000 troops before this is a pure waste.

In order to strengthen Xuzhou's military power and facilitate management, Gao Shun decided to return Langya County to Xuzhou; Of course, Chengyang County is still under the jurisdiction of Qingzhou, which is to facilitate Qingzhou's defense.

Zhonglang, who was stationed in Langya County, will be temporarily under the command of Xu Lin from now on.

Xu Lin is related to Gao Shun, Zhang Meng is not dissatisfied with this, and his martial arts are not as good as Xu Lin.

Considering the naval army of Guangling County and the convenience of supporting Qinguan in Jiangdong, under the instruction of Gao Shun, Xu Lin sent an envoy to Lu Su to ask for Guangling County.

Guangling and Qinguan's station Dantu face each other from the north and south across the river.

The envoy was engaged in Sun Qian.

Lu Su remained silent.

Sun Qian explained to him the situation in Xuzhou, the new Xuzhou Thorn Shi is the wife and brother of the champion, and Xuzhou has recovered the hometown of Langya County, now the army is strong and strong, if it cannot recover Guangling County, it will inevitably lead to the recurrence of war.

Lu Su said: "Gongyou, Su is a native of Xuzhou Xiapi, and Xuzhou is one, and it is reasonable to return Guangling County, but Su's family is in Dongcheng County, and now Dongcheng County and Huailing County have been placed under the jurisdiction of Jiujiang County, can these two counties be left?" ”

Sun Gan said: "Since Zijing is so reasonable, we Xuzhou can also be unrighteous, Dongcheng County can belong to Jiujiang County, but Huailing County is the southern gateway of Xiapi Kingdom, and it is not convenient to defend if it is lost, so it cannot meet Zijing's requirements." ”

Lu Su knew that this was the overall arrangement of the lord Gao Shun, and he could leave Dongcheng County, and he had been able to explain to his subordinates in terms of face, so he agreed with Sun Gan's opinion, leaving only Dongcheng County, and the rest of the counties were returned to Xuzhou.

At this time, Lu Su only left the original Jiujiang County, Lujiang County and Huaixi County, Hefei County and Lu'an County that he set up alone, less than fifty counties, and his strength was medium in the surrounding area.

Moreover, the territory was surrounded by many princes, and it was very difficult to develop, and this was contrary to the plan he had formulated with Gao Shun to go south to Jiangdong, and Gao Shun did not give him new instructions, which made him very confused.

So, Lu Su took the opportunity of attending Tao Qian's funeral to send an envoy to Xuzhou and deal with matters such as the handover of Guangling County; Sun Qian returned to Xuzhou with him.

In Gao Shun's impression, the dividing line between the north and south of China is not the Yangtze River, but the Qinling-Huai River.

When there was a north-south split regime in China, the Qinling-Huai River line was the area most fiercely contested by the two sides.

The most fiercely contested in the Qinling Mountains was Hanzhong County.

Xiangyang City is the node of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River, and has always been a battleground for soldiers.

And the importance of the Huai River is greater, the Huai River is not like the Yellow River, it will not freeze in winter, it is easy to defend, so there is an old saying, to defend the river must guard the Huai, if the southern regime loses the Huai River basin in the north of the river, it is not far from the occupation of the south.

In view of the important position of the Huai River basin and the subsequent division between the north and the south, Gao Shun decided that Yangzhou would no longer govern the land north of the Yangtze River in the future; The Huai River valley in Jiangbei will not be under the jurisdiction of one state, at least under the joint jurisdiction of two states, which is also one of the important reasons why Gao Shun returned Guangling County to Xuzhou.

The envoys sent by Lu Su focused on the water army, hoping to get more water army.

Gao Shun was very happy and promised to build a new large shipyard in Chaohu, and now all the sailors under the jurisdiction of Lusu can be transferred away and continue to be under his jurisdiction, but the Guangling Shipyard will be returned to Xuzhou after that.

As for Lusu's future positioning, Gao Shun's instructions were flexible and changeable, and in the future, he could go south to Yangzhou and Jingzhou to the west, and he should also be prepared to go north to Yuzhou, which must be adjusted at any time according to the development of the form.

However, no matter how the situation changes, it is fundamental to have strong military strength, otherwise it will be empty talk, and it is hoped that Lu Su will not relax the training of infantry and cavalry while building a naval army.

Lu Su got the report of the envoy and kept smiling, he didn't expect the lord Gao Shun to attach so much importance to him, it turned out that his position was so important, and it was also beneficial to live in the land of the four wars.

When he heard the news, he rushed from Guangling County to Xiapi City and suggested to Gao Shun to set up a port on the coast.

Gao Shun has no opinion on this, he doesn't know how to sail, so it's better to leave it to someone who knows how to manage.

Gao Wei first proposed the construction of ports in Qu County in Donghai County and Haixi County in Xiapi County, and applied for the establishment of Hai'an County from the east of Hailing County, which was under the jurisdiction of the naval army and established a military port.

Gao Shun allowed them one by one.

Gao Wei's spirit is invigorated, in this way, it can be connected with Qingzhou's Haiqu Port, Buqi Port (Qingdao) and so on, which is convenient for the navy to go north or south, and also convenient for the supply of merchant ships, which is of great significance for the development of navigation.

After dealing with all the things in Xuzhou, it was already the first year of the first year of the first peace, and it was close to the New Year, and Gao Shun hurriedly returned to Jizhou.