Liu Biao was instigated by the words of a group of generals, and his heart was hot, so he decided to start a war with the New Han Dynasty this time.

Of course, the matter has been clearly stated, if he wants to raise an army to confront the new Han Dynasty, the first thing Liu Biao needs to do is to immediately send an envoy to Xudu and Yecheng to analyze and meet Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

The first condition for starting a war with Liu Yi is to unite with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, these two princes whose strength is only stronger than him Liu Biao and not weaker than him. In this way, the decision to start a war with Liu Yi will be established.

Liu Biao seemed to have negotiated a lot at this moment, and he wrote two letters in public.

The messenger was not only responsible for delivering the letters to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but also for convincing Cao Cao and Yuan Shao after meeting them. Therefore, those who can be messengers must be able to speak well.

Liu Biao thought about it and asked Yi to be responsible for sending Yuan Shao's letter, originally, he wanted to ask one of the brothers of the Kuai family to be responsible for seeing Cao Cao, but Cai Mao automatically asked Ying and expressed his willingness to see Cao Cao.

Liu Biao didn't think much about it, so he agreed to Cai Mao's invitation, and Cai Mao went back quickly.

Then, it was a matter of pre-war preparations. The army of the New Han Dynasty may come over immediately, so as soon as he wants, he must first mobilize military horses to the area around Wancheng to build a defense line to prevent the New Han Army from moving south, and then it is a matter of adjusting grain and grass.

Originally, some of the civil servants in the council hall also asked whether they should immediately send envoys to Sichuan to meet Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, and go to discuss the union with these two princes.

However, Liu Biao took into account. He had a little conflict with Liu Zhang in Yizhou, and it is estimated that Liu Zhang may not agree to go to discuss the major affairs of the alliance with Liu Zhang so rashly. And Hanzhong Zhang Lu is even more difficult to deal with. Zhang Lu of Hanzhong is the leader of the Wudoumi Sect, although he did not openly rebel, but his nature is similar to that of the original Yellow Turban Army. Zhang Lu of Hanzhong had long drawn a clear line with the Han court, and at the same time drew a clear line with them, the princes who considered themselves Han Chen. So. Although Zhang Lu of Hanzhong did not claim the title of king, he was equivalent to the king of Hanzhong.

Moreover, although the New Han Dynasty issued an announcement to unify the Han Dynasty. However, compared to Yizhou and Hanzhong, there will be no threat from the New Han Dynasty in the first time. So. If you want to say that the princes who are least anxious to be wiped out by the New Han Dynasty may be Liu Zhang of Yizhou and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong.

Now running to discuss the alliance with these two princes will make these two people misunderstand that Liu Biao is going to ask them for help. Therefore, Liu Biao planned to wait for the alliance with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and then send messengers into Sichuan to meet Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu.

Just when Liu Biao made up his mind, if the New Han Dynasty attacked him, he decided to fight with the New Han Dynasty. Send messengers to meet Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao, who is still in Yecheng, his mood. is similar to Liu Biao, who was panicked when he heard that the New Han Dynasty was going to send troops to unify the Han Dynasty, and he was also so shocked that he was restless.

It's just that Yuan Shao doesn't have as many thoughts as Liu Biao, and he won't consider surrendering or anything. He was just worried that he had just experienced the defeat of Guandu and the morale of the army was low, and if he fought with the Xinhan army again, the odds of victory were really not high.

What's more, Yuan Shao is still unclear about Cao Cao's intentions, and he doesn't know if Cao Cao will continue to launch a new war against him.

Under the current situation, Yuan Shao felt that it was impossible for him to fight with Cao Cao and Liu Yi at the same time and remain undefeated.

But in any case, he had to be on guard before he could discuss countermeasures with his ministers. After all, Yuan Shao's power and territory are different from those of Cao Cao and Liu Biao. His powerful territory was separated from the New Han Dynasty by only a major mountain range, and there were many places in it that allowed the New Han Dynasty to send troops to attack him.

Therefore, Yuan Shaoxian divided his troops and horses into several divisions, one was naturally to stay along the Qing River, beware of Cao Cao's crossing to the north to attack his city, and the other was to enter Hanoi, mainly to guard against the New Han army from sending troops to Hanoi from Tiger Prison and launching an attack on his territory from Shangdang. In the third part, about 100,000 troops and horses were left behind to guard Yecheng, and if necessary, they could quickly support Hanoi and along the Thanh River. He himself led the fourth army of horses, about 300,000 horses, and went directly north to Xindu City.

Although Yuan Shao was indecisive, he also knew in his heart that if the New Han Dynasty wanted to attack him, it should first attack from the north to the south, and would never easily attack his powerful territory from the Tiger Prison Pass and the Shangdang area. It is much more convenient and easier to attack from the north and Pingchuan than to cross the river and attack and enter Jizhou from the mountainous Shangdang area.

Therefore, Yuan Shao first set up a defensive line in the north, sent troops into the northern county towns, and guarded some passes with dangerous terrain.

When he arrived in Xindu City, Yuan Shaocai convened a group of ministers and generals to discuss the matter.

After all, they all knew in their hearts that since the New Han Dynasty openly said that it would send troops to unify the world, then it was imperative, and there was no luck at all. Regardless of whether Liu Yi has decided where to attack first now, they Jizhou will not be able to avoid the result of being attacked by the New Han Dynasty.

Therefore, Yuan Shao's ability to react so quickly somewhat made everyone see the fact that Yuan Shao was decisive once. Rarely, this time, the ministers under Yuan Shao's account were surprisingly unanimous, and they all had no different opinions.

Well, or maybe it's because Yuan Shao lost a lot of talents in the battle of Guandu with Cao Cao, so the rest are no longer easy to separate factions and not easily lean into each other. Or, the benefits left over by the lost people are enough for them to distribute, so the ministers under Yuan Shao's account rarely worked together.

Now, Yuan Shao formally discussed with his ministers how to resist the New Han army, which might attack them at any time, Guo Tu first expressed his opinion: "My lord, in the direction of Hanoi and along the Qing River, we have natural dangers to defend, and there should not be too many problems. However, our north is too vast, even if we transfer 300,000 troops from the south, but such a long defense line may not be able to withstand the attack of the New Han army. Therefore, the subordinates suggested, first, to immediately recruit military horses, take the northern towns as units, build cities, dig chasms, and establish a solid defense line in Bohai, Hejian, Anguo, Changshan Zhending, Zhaoguo, Montenegro and other places with our Xindu City as the center. As for going deeper into the Youzhou area, his subordinates thought that they could withdraw those military horses first and take the initiative to give up those territories. ”

"Give up? We have been fighting with Gongsun Chan for so many years, and the powerful territory that we finally won was so easily surrendered? Yuan Shao said a little unwillingly.

"Well, if the lord doesn't want to give in, it's okay, but he must enter the army to Fanyang, Youzhou, with Fanyang as the center, build a defensive line, and even, our army can take the initiative to attack Zhuojun and force Liu Yi to fight a decisive battle with our army in the area of Fancheng and Zhuojun." Guo Tu saw that Yuan Shao seemed reluctant to the territory of Youzhou, so he retreated to the next way.

This, all the subordinates can understand, the dispute between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan, after several years, finally captured most of Youzhou, if you take the initiative to give up, not only Yuan Shao, but also many courtiers, are not very willing.

Many people have not yet come out of the idea that they are one of the most powerful forces in the world. Even if they are defeated by Cao Cao now, they are still a powerful force in the world. Although the New Han Army is strong, they are really reluctant to let them give away their powerful territory.

"This ......" Yuan Shao shook his head and said: "Fanyang City is too deep into the Youzhou area, Yuan is worried that once the Xinhan army really wants to attack us, Gongsun Zhan is afraid that he will not be willing to be lonely, and when the time comes, we will be trapped in Fanyang, so we can't rashly garrison Fanyang City." The relationship between Gongsun Chan and Liu Yi is not simple......"

Yuan Shao's heart, in fact, since he heard that Liu Yi was going to send troops to unify the Han Dynasty, his heart was really flustered, but he didn't know why, the more panicked, the clearer his mind became, and the more decisive he was in his heart. Perhaps, Yuan Shao's heart knows that he and Liu Yi, since the grudge in Luoyang Yihong Mansion back then, has already doomed him Yuan family and Liu Yi, and in the end, only one party can survive. The oath that Liu Yi made in Yihong Mansion at the beginning, he would think of it from time to time. Seriously, if he could do it again, Yuan Shao really didn't want to grudge with Liu Yi again.

However, it is too late to say any more. This time, Liu Yi sent troops, he had no choice, if he didn't want to die, he had to resist.

He thought for a while and said to everyone: "What the public rule said is right, we can only set up a defense line along the place just mentioned, as for the Youzhou area, we don't need to retreat and come back first, and send orders to the guards of those towns, they must defend the city to the death, and they are not allowed to withdraw until they have to." They can delay the offensive of the New Han Army for us, and buy us a little time to improve our defensive line. ”

"In addition......" Yuan Shao said this, his expression seemed to be extremely complicated, as if it was difficult to make a decision, and after a while, he seemed to be a little depressed and said: "I plan to admit defeat to Cao Cao, he Cao Cao, if he can destroy the New Han Dynasty and destroy Liu Yi in the future, I Yuan Shao will be a vassal to him, and I only ask him to join forces with us to fight against Liu Yi now." ”

"What?"

For Yuan Shao to suddenly have such a statement, all the subordinates were really surprised.

"The New Han Dynasty is too powerful, no matter what, we will not be the opponent of the New Han Dynasty in the end. Therefore, if we do not want to be destroyed by the new Han dynasty, we must seek allies. Yuan had a hunch that Liu Yi would take us first. Without the support of our allies, we will only have one way to go. ”

After Yuan Shao said this, the whole person sat down weakly. (To be continued......)