In August of the third year of Chuping (192 AD), Qiao Rui led 50,000 Yangzhou soldiers to Jiangxia and joined Ji Lingjun. Gan Ning also led 30,000 Nanyang elite soldiers to Xiling and took over the defense of Jiangxia. After Gan Ning arrived, the first thing he did was to order the Jiangxia army to retreat to Xiling City, put on a posture of perseverance, and let Ji Ling lead his troops to besiege the city. The two sides relied on Xiling City to launch a fierce confrontation, Ji Ling besieged for three days, losing tens of thousands of soldiers, but there was no way to take Gan Ning.

And in September, a major event occurred in Wancheng. Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty called on the princes of the world to jointly crusade against Lu Bu and Liu Biao on the grounds that they had stolen the jade seal of the country!

It is not a trivial matter for the emperor to lose the heirloom jade seal, which directly affects the legitimacy of the emperor's rule. It stands to reason that He Xian controlled the emperor and the imperial court, and should try his best to hide this matter. But to Liu Biao's surprise, He Xian dared to order the princes of the world to crusade against him in the form of a notice to the world, and he immediately panicked. Liu Biao took the jade seal of the country as a talisman to save his life, thinking that once the war was unfavorable and he was cornered, he could sacrifice the treasure to Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu in exchange for their protection.

He Xian did this, which was tantamount to turning Liu Biao's talisman into a life-urging talisman. As the saying goes, "Pifu is not guilty, Huaibi is guilty", Liu Biao and Lu Bu occupy Yanzhou, and they have already fought with Cao Cao, if they are attracting the covetousness of Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu, then there is basically no way to live! After Yu Lu Bu's urgent consultation, Liu Biao decided to ask Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu for help at the cost of inheriting the jade seal. Whoever can help Cao Cao run away, Liu Biao will dedicate the jade seal of the country to whom.

Liu Biao and Lu Bu's response is equivalent to being expected by the Nanyang Army, and next, it depends on who will take the bait first among the two Yuan. In He Xian's opinion, it is more likely that Yuan Shu will be tricked.

Jizhou, Yecheng.

After Yuan Shao received Liu Biao's letter asking for help, he convened the civil and military generals to discuss whether to send troops to Yanzhou.

"Lord, by all means, this is He Xian'er's two tigers' plan to eat! He used the jade seal of the country as bait to lure our army into the Central Plains and fight with Cao Cao, so he could reap the benefits of the fisherman! The first to stand up against it was Tian Feng, a strategist recruited by Yuan Shao.

"Yuan Hao's words are wrong! The jade seal of the country is the important weapon of the country, and the virtuous live in it. Now that the lord is in the land of Ji and Merge, looking around the universe, how can he turn a blind eye to Chongbao because he is worried about having a bad relationship with Cao Cao? Yuan Shao's senior strategist Feng Ji put forward a different opinion. As the strategist who followed Yuan Shao for the longest time, he found out from Yuan Shao's hesitant expression that Yuan Shao was very eager to get the jade seal of the country.

"No matter how valuable the jade seal is, it is nothing outside the body. You can't eat food, you can't warm your sleep, and the people who get it attract the princes' sideways, what's the use? The lord's plan for the first time should be to completely defeat Gongsun Zhan and expel him from Youzhou, and then look north and south, which should be the right way! "Tian Feng is a straight-hearted, with a very high IQ, and his EQ is in arrears, if he votes for a master, he may be able to show his talents, and if he votes for Yuan Shao, he will die unjustly sooner or later.

Tian Feng's words, every word is fine, Yuan Shao knows that it is reasonable, but he can't be ruthless.

Xu You, Xun Chen, Guo Tu and others are all elites, seeing Yuan Shao's uncertain face, how can they not know what Yuan Shao thinks in his heart. But abandoning Youzhou and chasing the jade seal is tantamount to sacrificing the basics, so they simply chose to keep their mouths shut and see how Yuan Shao decides.

Yuan Shao looked around, and finally set his eyes on the judge. The judge is an upright person, and knows how to mediate, and he is deeply respected by Yuan Shao, and was appointed as the chief shogunate, which is equivalent to the head of the strategists.

The judge knew that he couldn't give advice, and after pondering for a long time, he gritted his teeth and said: "Lord, Youzhou is important, and the jade seal of the country is also important. It is unwise to abandon Youzhou and chase the jade seal, and it is disloyal to abandon the jade seal to chase Youzhou. For the sake of today's plan, it is better to respond to the call of the imperial court, send a document to denounce Liu Biao's villain behavior, and order him to return to the jade seal. At the same time, step up the pace of attacking Yan, and it is necessary to defeat Gongsun Zhan's main force before he can have time to look south. In this way, it increased the prestige of the lord in the hearts of the people of the world, preserved the friendship with Cao Cao, improved the relationship with He Xian, and did not affect the established strategic plan, which can be described as a complete strategy! ”

After hearing this, Yuan Shao sighed: "Is it really impossible to take care of it? ”

The judge said: "Although the jade seal is beautiful, it is poison!" The lord is mighty in the sea, and there is no need for the blessing of the jade seal. It's better to watch from the sidelines and see what a bloody storm this jade seal will set off! ”

"I'll leave the matter of the text to Zhengnan and Kong Zhang!" Yuan Shao said, got up, left the chamber, and turned into the inner hall. Trial, Chen Lin hurriedly bowed down to receive the order.

Unlike the entanglement in Jizhou, Yangzhou Shouchun is much happier. Yuan Shu is not like Yuan Shao, he doesn't like to collect strategists, and he expresses his opinions in a large area, and finally makes himself very entangled. He directly told his mastermind Yan Xiang: In order to get the jade seal of the country, I am going to rescue Liu Biao and Lu Bu, you can tell me, what should I do?

Yan Xiang analyzed Yuan Shu's current military composition, heavy grain and grass in his heart, and then said to Yuan Shu: "My lord, if you want to send troops to Yanzhou, you must withdraw the 100,000 troops that attacked Jiangxia. It is impossible for Yangzhou to send more than 50,000 troops, unless Sun Jian is willing to lead the troops to the battle! “

Speaking of Sun Jian, Yuan Shu is a belly of fire. I think that at the beginning, Lao Tzu gave you soldiers, gave you food, gave you weapons and armor, and ordered you to attack Jiangdong. I didn't expect you to stand firm in Jiangdong now, turn your face and don't recognize people, let you fight Jiangxia, and push back and push, it's not a thing!

"Don't call Sun Jian! If the troops are insufficient, then recall the army of Ji Ling! He Xian's main force has already reinforced Jiangxia, and it is not a way to go down like this! After Benzhou got the jade seal of the country and got the world's first military general, Lu Bu, he turned around and cleaned up Sun Jian's treacherous man first! Yuan Shu said angrily.

Yan Xiang was well versed in Yuan Shu's character and knew that he was a master who would repay him. He said that he wanted to clean up Sun Jian, and it was really very likely that he would make a big move. But Yan Xiang received a lot of benefits from Sun Jian, and every month a lot of gold, silver, jade and other things were brought from Jiangdong, if Yan Xiang did not inform Sun Jian of this matter, it would be a little unreasonable. So, he secretly wrote down this incident and prepared to find an opportunity to secretly inform Sun Jian. Collect money from people and eliminate disasters for others. Even if the disaster can't be eliminated, you have to ventilate and report in advance, so that Sun Jian can be prepared. In general, Yan Xiang is a greedy but principled person.

In October of the third year of Chuping (192 AD), the Yangzhou army officially announced its withdrawal after attacking Jiangxia for more than four months and besieging Xiling City for more than two months. Gan Ning originally wanted to pursue and eat the rear army of Yangzhou. Unexpectedly, Ji Ling actually broke off the queen in person, and fought a big battle with the Nanyang army led by Gan Ning outside Qichun City, regardless of victory or defeat. Gan Ning couldn't get a bargain, so he stopped pursuing, concentrated on sorting out Jiangxia military affairs, set up a naval army, recruited young people with good water nature, and formed the Nanyang naval army.