Fighting with Cao Ju, it is estimated that few of these princes are not timid, even if it is Sun Jian, he does not dare to guarantee that Cao Ju will be defeated, and Yuan Shao certainly does not have this certainty.

Yuan Shao shouted angrily: "Yuan Highway, what do you mean by this? ”

Yuan Shu Yin and Yang said in a strange tone: "I don't mean much, just remind you and the others, Cao Ju is good at fighting, he has a lot of martial arts, and there are 300,000 troops, and then there is the danger of Tongguan and Hangu, and you and others are going west, and the chances of winning are not much." ”

This truth, no one does not understand, what Yuan Shao said in his mouth to crusade against Cao Ju with Cao Cao, one is to win over Cao Cao, and the other is to establish authority in front of the princes.

Seeing this, Wang Yun hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded: "The two generals, both are the pillars of the country, how can there be differences because of the crusade against the Cao thief, in the old man's opinion, the highway general is reasonable, the Cao thief has the advantage of geographical advantages, the original general can not be easily discussed, and it is the best policy to stabilize the situation in the Kwantung region first." ”

With Wang Yun's intervention, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu took advantage of the situation to step down, and no one mentioned this matter anymore.

Although after such a fuss, the major policy was decided, that is, the princes of Kwantung all obeyed Liu Xie as the emperor and did not recognize Liu Wei as the emperor.

The reason is very simple, that is, Emperor Ling's edict, although it can no longer be found, but after Jian Shuo received the edict, he once said it to several cronies around him, and among these people, two of them did not die, which is enough to prove the matter.

As a result, in the first district of Kyushu in Jiangbei, only Cao Ju in Yongzhou and Ding Yuan in Bingzhou obeyed Liu Wei as the emperor, and the other seven states all obeyed Liu Xie as the emperor, including Han Sui and Ma Teng in Liangzhou.

At first glance, Cao Ju's situation was very unfavorable, Yongzhou was under the east-west attack of Liangzhou and Sili region, while Bingzhou was surrounded by Youzhou, Jizhou and Sili region on three sides.

However, Bingzhou is mountainous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Ding Yuan has more generals such as Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, and the attack is insufficient, but there is absolutely no problem in holding and not losing Bingzhou.

Not to mention Cao Ju's side, the two natural dangers of Hangu and Tongguan are enough to block the armies of the Kwantung princes outside the two passes, so what Cao Ju really needs to deal with is only Han Sui and Ma Teng in Liangzhou.

The four states in the south of the Yangtze River, not to mention that Jiaozhou is too far away, and the Shi family is even more indisobedient, and Liu Yan of Yizhou, Liu Biao of Jingzhou and Liu Miao of Yangzhou are all relatives of the Han family, and these three states are also the three largest states in the Han region, and the territory of the three states together is definitely larger than the area of the first district of Kyushu in Jiangbei.

For the two sons of heaven in Jiangbei, Liu Yan and the three of them are also a little entangled, both of them are the sons of Emperor Ling, and they are brothers, which one should they obey as the emperor.

At this time, in the Great General's Mansion in Yongzhou, a discussion was underway about the future of Cao Ju's development.

This time, it was also the strategists under Cao Ju who had different opinions on the general direction for the first time.

If Cao Ju wants to develop, he must not go east to Guguan, because now is not the time, first, the strength is not enough to eliminate the Kwantung princes, and second, there are still two forces behind Liangzhou and Yizhou.

Therefore, Cao Ju's first development direction is either to attack Liang in the northwest, or to go south to Hanzhong, and then attack Yizhou.

Xi Zhong advocated taking Liangzhou first, and the people who supported Xi Zhong were Du Xi and Zhao Yan. Zhao Yan is a new member of Cao Ju's camp, he was originally a friend of Du Xi, and when he got Du Xi's letter, Cao Ju had already gone west to Yongzhou, so Zhao Yan went straight to Yongzhou and took refuge in Cao Ju, which was naturally also highly used.

Yan Zhong advocated occupying Hanzhong first, curbing the possibility of Yizhou going north, and then taking Liangzhou, and He Hao's view was the same as Yan Zhong's.

In fact, these two views are almost the same, both put Liangzhou in a very first place, because between Liangzhou and Chang'an, there is almost no danger to defend, and Liangzhou has many cavalry, and you can come to Chang'an City in one day. It's just that Yan Zhong and He Hao are more worried, worried that when Cao Ju's army attacks Liangzhou, Liu Yan of Yizhou will send troops north to threaten Chang'an.

Xi Zhong hugged his fists and said: "The lord, Liu Yan's fourth son, but he only favors his youngest son Liu Zhang, and, not long ago, Liu Yan said that he was sick and asked the court to send Liu Zhang to Yizhou to visit the patient, but Liu Yan took the opportunity to leave him behind. This is enough to see that Liu Yan has no ambition to dominate, and he just wants to stick to a corner and live for a long time. ”

Zhao Yan followed and said: "That's right, my lord, when the princes of the world were discussing Dong, Liu Yan did not move, which shows that his heart is not subordinate. Moreover, I had heard that Liu Yan wanted to be the pastor of Jiaozhou, but because of Dong Fu's private words, Yizhou would have a son of heaven in the future, so Liu Yan asked him to be the pastor of Yizhou. ”

"Therefore, the lord only needs to send a person who can speak well, carry the jewels and ancient jade to the south, and divide Liu Yan in the name of the Son of Heaven, and he will be the king of Yizhou for generations, then Liu Yan will gladly accept it, in this way, the lord will conquer Liangzhou, Liu Yan will not only not be the enemy of the lord, but the lord can even ask Liu Yan to send grain."

"Yizhou has enough food, and Liu Yan wants to show his loyalty in front of the Son of Heaven, so he will definitely agree, so that the main public soldier will not only have no worries about Liangzhou, but also make up for the lack of food and grass in our army, killing two birds with one stone."

Yan Zhong disagreed, and said: "Lord, it is precisely because Liu Yan has the heart of disobedience, if the lord goes west to conquer Han Ma, Liu Yan will definitely go out of Hanzhong, attack Chang'an, and coerce the Son of Heaven to Mianyang to order Jing Yang." Once the lord captures Hanzhong, he can contain the throat of Yizhou, and the lord can even block Liu Yan's army from the danger of Hanzhong and go west with peace of mind. ”

He Hao then added: "Zhang Lu in Hanzhong is at odds with Liu Yan, if the lord attacks Hanzhong, Liu Yan will not send troops, then Zhang Lu is isolated and helpless, and he is by no means the opponent of the lord." ”

"Definitely." Xi Zhong shook his head and said, "Zhang Lu's mother had an affair with Liu Yan, Liu Yan treated Zhang Lu like a parent, and he sent Zhang Lu to guard Hanzhong, but he deliberately disagreed with Zhang Lu, which was actually a situation for the people of the world, and this was also the reason why Liu Yan did not send troops to the north during Dong Zhuo's rebellion. ”

Seeing that Yan Zhong was going to say more, Cao Ju frowned, waved his hand, stopped Yan Zhong, and said: "You don't need to say anything, you have made up your mind, you will make up your mind to fight Liu Yan in the south and invade Han Ma in the west." ”

Liu Yan in the south and Han Ma in the west are the strategies of Xi Zhong, that is to say, Cao Ju is ready to use the strategy of Xi Zhong.

Yan Zhong listened, and a trace of loss flashed in his eyes, but he quickly adjusted his mentality and began to plan for Cao Ju in this strategy, and so did He Hao.

This is the quality that a mature strategist should have, and he will not be dissatisfied with the fact that the lord has not adopted his own strategy, or even deliberately drag his feet, but actively change his thinking and fully support the strategy chosen by the lord.

After some discussion, Cao Ju decided to take Du Xi as an angel and carry the edict of the Son of Heaven south to Yizhou to reward Liu Yan.