Zhuge Xuan spent the end of the first year of Jian'an on the sickbed, and ushered in the second year of Jian'an. At this time www.biquge.info his body was getting weaker and weaker, and he couldn't even speak. Lying in bed, he was very weak, and he had no other hobbies, but he just wanted to listen to others. Being bedridden for a long time made his personality a little impatient. Sometimes when others don't speak, he is upset. Because he thought it was too boring.

After returning to Xiangyang, Zhang Ji still became Zhuge Xuan's physician and was fully responsible for the conditioning of Zhuge Xuan's injuries. Although no matter who can see that Zhuge Xuan is basically hopeless, Zhang Ji, who is one of Zhuge Xuan's close friends, still has no intention of giving up. He was still busy with Zhuge Xuan's body. For those visitors who came to visit Zhuge Xuan, he would ask the other party what he was going to say in advance. If those words were enough to affect Zhuge Xuan's mood, he would tell the other party very seriously: "Don't talk about these words." ”

The Spring Festival of the second year of Jian'an may still be calm for Jingzhou. Although Sun Ce, who had a grudge against Liu Biao in the east, had nominally taken over the prefectures and counties of Jiangdong and threatened to attack Jingzhou, he had not yet had the strength to do so until his own foundation was stable. He can only work in secret, desperately trying to develop his army, territory and economy. The territory of Jiangdong is large enough, but the population is too small, and from time to time there are attacks from the people of Shangoe. All of this made Sun Ce's pace of progress be dragged down, and it became enough to make him frown.

At this time, another big thing broke out. According to Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou, Yuan Shu, the later general who claimed to be the Bo of Xuzhou, proclaimed himself emperor in Shouchun, and the country name was "Zhongjia". It's a country name that makes people laugh, but no one laughs at it. Everyone was shocked by the news. Since the "Yellow Turban Rebellion", the various regions have been divided, but no matter how arrogant these princes are in the local area, how arrogant they are, and how they do not take the emperor in their eyes, no one has ever dared to call themselves emperors. Even Dong Zhuo, who was the most reviled at the beginning, did not do this.

This is obviously a big impactful event. But Zhang Ji was about to talk to Zhuge Xuan about it when a guest mentioned it, but he waved his hand and let him in.

"Why?" Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang were puzzled by this, and they questioned Zhang Ji in unison: "Wouldn't letting my father-in-law (uncle) know such a thing would affect his body?" ”

"Hah! How is this possible! Zhang Ji laughed weirdly. He was not an ordinary doctor, but also a Confucian with a wealth of knowledge. To Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang's questions, he replied like this: If the person who claims to be the emperor is Cao Cao, then this matter is very tricky and is likely to affect Mr. Zhuge 's health. However, the protagonist is Yuan Shu. It's a stupid thing for a fool to do, and there's no need to worry about it.

"That's right!" Li Sheng was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then nodded lightly. Concerned about the chaos, he forgot for a while the final outcome of this incident in history - that ended with Yuan Shu being completely defeated by Liu Bei and dying, and the huge strength entrenched in Huainan was suddenly wiped out under the joint strangulation of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Ce.

"It's stupid." Li Sheng whispered underestimation.

"What are you talking about?" Zhuge Liang didn't hear clearly, and asked him strangely.

"No, nothing! Let's go in and hear what our Father has to say. Li Sheng shook his head a little panicked, and took the lead in pushing Zhuge Xuan's bedroom open. Where, the visiting guest has already told him what happened, and he is still very detailed.

"This matter may be beneficial to Cao Cao." Zhuge Xuan, who was lying on the hospital bed, whispered. At present, he is already extremely weak, and it seems to be very difficult to even say such a sentence.

"How do you say that?" Zhuge Liang wanted to ask this at the time, but when he saw his uncle working so hard, he opened his mouth and didn't say it.

He was pulled outside by Li Sheng. "My father-in-law is very weak and uncomfortable now, so let's not trouble him. I think it's better for us to ask Mr. Zhongjing about this question. Li Sheng suggested to Zhuge Liang as quietly as possible. They all knew that Zhang Ji was erudite and talented, so they decided to let Mr. Zhang explain the meaning of Zhuge Xuan's words.

"Hmm...... I think that's what he thinks! After listening to the questions raised by Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang, Zhang Ji pondered for a while and said: "Cao Cao controls the imperial court, so what he says can represent the meaning of the imperial court. Because Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, Cao Cao could crusade against him in the name of rebellious righteousness. This crime was brought on by Yuan Shu, so Yuan Shu and the people around Yuan Shu, as well as his allies, were bound to leave him one after another in order not to bear this charge. This increased over time, and for Cao Cao, he could first announce the order to crusade against Yuan Shu, and then slowly make all preparations for the crusade against Yuan Shu. This time can be arbitrarily extended, and the longer the time drags on, the more fugitives under Yuan Shu will be, and the easier it will be for Cao Cao to crusade against Yuan Shu in the future. Cao Cao is a very intelligent person, and he will make the most of everything in front of him.

"I see, that's it!" Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang both had a feeling of sudden realization, and they looked at Zhang Ji with their adoring eyes. The scorching flames that came out of those two pairs of eyes almost scorched this middle-aged physician and Confucian.

"Please, don't look at me like that, okay?" Zhang Ji couldn't bear the scorching heat, and said involuntarily. In general, he's not the kind of person who doesn't smile. Although he was in his forties, he was as energetic as an ordinary young man. On weekdays, he also plays with Zhuge Liang and Li Sheng. For Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang, he is also a teacher and a friend, but in such a dual identity, the content of friends is far greater than that of a teacher.

"If you don't look at it, you won't watch it!" Li Sheng pouted. He wrinkled his face as if he was angry with Zhang Ji.

At this time, Zhuge Liang raised a question: "Why does Mr. Zhongjing want to be a doctor?" You have studied Confucianism, don't you know that the status of doctors is low? ”

"Hmmm! That's it! Li Sheng also wanted to know about this question. Because he understands that the current society is completely different from the society he used to live in. At the moment, physicians, physiognomists, and sorcerers are all classified as magicians. Although it has not yet reached the point of being looked down upon as soon as it is heard, it is also an indisputable fact that these people are classified as lowly and first-class.

When asked this question, a trace of sentimentality appeared on Zhang Ji's face. He opened his mouth melancholy: "Because my parents, my brothers, and my fellow villagers all died of typhoid fever. ”

"Ahh For this, Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang were very surprised. They never imagined that their problems would provoke the saddest memory in Zhang Ji's heart.

"I'm sorry!" The two apologized to Zhang Ji for this. After that, they stopped asking. Because they know that Zhang Ji's short sentence has completely explained everything.

Typhoid fever killed a contagious fever emergency, and Zhang Ji's family was killed by the disease. Therefore, he studied medicine and waged a war of revenge against the disease.

When Zhuge Xuan was terminally ill, Gan Hai had been running outside, and Aunt Mei at home often couldn't see a trace, but she didn't worry about the two of them. Because everyone knows that they are gathering all kinds of intelligence.

"Communication in this era is really very blocked. Often, a major event that shocks the world has to be known for a long time. Chang'an and Luoyang are not too far from Jingzhou, but it will take a month or two for a piece of news to come. It's really ......" Li Sheng always complained about this, and muttered quietly on the couch in his room.

He knew that it was precisely because the current information was not so smooth that it was necessary for Uncle Gan Hai and Aunt Mei to go out to collect information. After all, without their actions, then there is a good chance that you will be disconnected from this society for a few years. It's like a modern person who doesn't know how to use a computer and is called a "local impersonator" -- in modern computers, the Internet is the fastest and most important means of obtaining information.

"Don't complain." After muttering halfway, Zhuge Liang pushed the door and came in. He held in his hand a large pile of paperwork carried by rough yellow paper.

"Is this month's intelligence?" Li Sheng asked, seeing Zhuge Liang nodding affirmatively, he suddenly rose to his senses, turned over from the couch, and walked to the desk in his room. Zhuge Liang put those things on top heavily.

"Have you seen any of these?" Li Sheng asked him.

"Nope!" Zhuge Liang shook his head affirmatively, and said a little shyly: "I know that Brother Sheng needs these very much, so I ran over with my arms as soon as I received it." He laughed as he spoke, gasping for breath a few times. Although he is very tall, he has not undergone any special training, and he will indeed be a little tired after carrying such a heavy object and running such a distance of nearly 100 feet.

"Oh! In that case, let's take a look at these new arrivals. Li Sheng said with a smile, and he asked Zhuge Liang: "Guess what the intelligence here is talking about this time?" ”

"I'm afraid it's Xu Yang again." Zhuge Liang grabbed the hair on his head, thought for a while and replied.

"Why there?" Li Sheng asked him.

"Because it's the most chaotic there, it's like a pot of boiling porridge." Zhuge Liang answered as a matter of course.

In fact, among the information collected by Gan Hai and Aunt Mei, the information about the changes in power in Xu Yang's area is the most. Although Li Sheng had known about this situation from previous history books, he was still quite interested in these things at the moment. It's because the angle of observation is different.

Xuzhou is really messy.

Tao Qian of Xuzhou, who was defeated by Cao Cao's revenge battle, died of depression in the first year of Xingping. Maybe in order to keep his family, maybe he shirked his responsibility, in short, he handed over a mess that had been ravaged by Cao Cao to Liu Bei. At this time, Xuzhou's strength was already very weak.

Liu Bei was very miserable in a state of being attacked. Because Tao Qian of Xuzhou had a grudge against Cao Cao, and the people of Xuzhou were slaughtered by Cao Cao not long ago, Liu Bei, who accepted Tao Qian's position, had to be in a hostile state with Cao Cao. Although war has not broken out between them for a while.

To the south of Xuzhou is Yuan Shu of Huainan. He peeped into Xuzhou, called himself Xuzhou Bo, and frequently exposed his intention to attack Xuzhou.

Yuan Shu is a person who has no talent, but is very proud and arrogant. He was driven out of Nanyang by Liu Biao, and then entered Yanzhou but failed, and then fell to Huainan to gain a firm foothold, and he often coveted Xuzhou, the richest place in the world at that time. He not only likes the prosperity of Xuzhou, but also the importance of Xuzhou's geographical location. He originally thought that Xuzhou would fall into his hands after Tao Qian's death, but he didn't want Liu Bei, who ran out of nowhere, to snatch "his" Xuzhou in the end. This made him really lose face.

"The world is so big, I haven't heard of Liu Bei. What is his ability to dare to occupy my Xuzhou. In Shouchun City, Yuan Shu muttered loudly after receiving the news that Liu Bei accepted Xuzhou Mu. He felt very unhappy about this, and immediately made the decision to attack Xuzhou.

However, Liu Bei still has some ability. He was not scared away by Yuan Shu's soldiers and horses, but very firmly asked his third brother to garrison Zhang Fei and not retreat. At the same time, troops were sent from other places to launch a harassing attack on the cities in Yuan Shu's territory, which made Yuan Shu exhausted.

"Damn, this Liu Bei's team is like a slippery water snake, always taking a bite when we are most interested. Although the losses are not so great every time, it is really unbearable to have too many times. "The bone that can't be gnawed is Xiapi City, and what is annoying is Liu Bei's army, which has maintained excellent mobility tactics in the east or west, giving Yuan Shu's generals a headache. One report after another requesting assistance was quickly sent to Yuan Shu.

"The battle against Xuzhou is in trouble, what do you think should be done?" Yuan Shu asked his advisers, and he urged them, "Tell me a solution?" I don't want people to know that all of you under me are a bunch of rice buckets! ”

Perhaps because "the greater the pressure, the faster the results will come out", Yuan Shu's strategists really came up with a brilliant plan for Yuan Shu: "Win over Lu Bu, the world's number one fierce general who was contained by Liu Bei due to the defeat of Yanzhou, and let him, who likes to be greedy and cheap, rebel in Liu Bei's rear." ”

"What do you use to win over Lu Bu? We don't have a red rabbit horse, and we don't have a beautiful woman like the legendary mink Zen. There was a rebuttal to this.

"We can use grain and grass." The strategist who proposed the plan said: "Xuzhou was attacked by Cao Cao and was devastated, and now even Liu Bei's own men and horses are in a tight supply of grain and grass. Although it was impossible for him to completely ignore Lu Bu's request for grain and grass, it was unlikely that he would give priority to satisfying Lu Bu in the situation that he was in great difficulty. Therefore, the supply of grain and grass in Lü Bu's army was also very difficult. If we agree to supply Lu Bu with 100,000 stone of grain, then Lu Bu may raise troops from Xiaopei to attack Xiapi. Xiapi, on the other hand, is likely to fall into the hands of Lü Bu, because he has an internal response in the city. ”

"Guilty? Who's that? Yuan Shu was also very interested in this, and he asked his adviser.

"That's Cao Bao in Xiapi, and his daughter just married Lu Bu as his second wife." The advisor replied calmly.

"Oh!" Everyone was a little stunned. Being in Huainan, which is so close to Xuzhou, they are all very aware of what is happening in Xuzhou.

Although Xiapi is the seat of Xuzhou Prefecture, it is not an ordinary county, it is a feudal country. Therefore, the supreme governor of Xiapi City is not the county guard but the minister of the country. The state minister of Xiapi is Cao Bao, who married his daughter to Lu Bu. When Cao Bao was Tao Qian in Xuzhou, he was already a general under his command. At this moment, the master of Xuzhou was replaced by Liu Bei, but because Liu Bei himself did not have many generals available, the original group of people in Xuzhou were generally retained. Cao Bao still stayed in the position of the minister of state under Pi that he held.

Because Yuan Shu was going to attack Xuzhou, the defensive task of Xiapi was very important. Such a task is entrusted to outsiders, but it is not at ease. So, Liu Bei handed it over to his third brother Zhang Fei, a fierce general who could even compete with Lu Bu in terms of momentum. Zhang Fei is also a very capable general, and he arranged the defense of Xiapi without leakage, which really made Yuan Shujun who came to attack suffer a lot of losses.

However, Zhang Fei, who is like this, gets along very badly with Cao Bao, who assists him in defense. Zhang Fei is the kind of person who is "pro-doctor and arrogant". In the original rescue battle in Xuzhou, he saw Cao Bao's ability, and thought that this person was not very good, so he looked down on Cao Bao a little. At this moment, Liu Bei asked Zhang Fei to be in charge of the defense of the city, and Zhang Fei thought that Cao Bao was also his subordinate, so he naturally treated Cao Bao with the same way he treated his subordinates.

This caused Cao Bao's dissatisfaction.

Zhang Fei looked down on Cao Bao, and Cao Bao naturally looked down on Zhang Fei. In Cao Bao's eyes, Zhang Fei was just Liu Bei's minions. And what kind of person is Liu Bei, he is just the prime minister of the plains, at best, he is equivalent to his own identity. It's just that he saved Tao Qian and got Xuzhou, which is really unconvincing.

"A guy who doesn't have any fame, what ability does he have to look down on people?" Cao Bao often muttered like this.

As a result, contradictions bred between the two, and gradually made the relationship between the two more and more stiff. And Cao Bao's marriage of his daughter to Lu Bu made Zhang Fei look down on him even more. "Who are you going to marry your daughter to? How to marry Lu Bu's three-surnamed domestic slave? Things gather by like, people gather by phoenixes, so it seems that you Cao Bao is not a good bird! Out of this thought, Zhang Fei often looked for Cao Bao's troubles, and for a while Cao Bao was in trouble.

In this way, Cao Bao and Zhang Fei have contradictions, and Cao Bao is Lu Bu's father-in-law. Lu Bu, who listened to the woman's words the most, was probably already holding a grudge against Zhang Fei. As long as we push it like this, then Liu Bei won't get any good fruit to eat. The advisor smiled, his eyes shining grimly.

"Hmm. So be it. Yuan Shu was excited to hear this, and immediately agreed to the strategist's suggestion. He soon sent an envoy to Xiaopei to meet Lu Bu. The city that Tao Qian handed over to Liu Bei was now a stronghold for Liu Bei to assist Lu Bu.

The next development of things was just as Yuan Shu and others had calculated. The unrighteous Lü Bu launched a rebellion against Liu Bei, who took him in danger. After obtaining Cao Bao's internal response, on a drunken night when Zhang Fei was drunk, he attacked Xiapi City at night. Zhang Fei escaped alone, and Liu Bei's retainers all fell into the hands of Lu Bu. After that, Lü Bu complied with his agreement with Yuan Shu and sent troops behind Liu Bei's army, forcing Liu Bei to withdraw his troops from Huainan.

After persecuting Liu Bei, Lü Bu asked Yuan Shu to supply military rations. After all, now that Lu Bu has his own original men and horses, and there are tens of thousands of troops in Liu Bei's Xuzhou army, which was newly annexed, his grain and grass are also quite insufficient. However, Yuan Shu was short-sighted. He refused Lu Bu's request. Just to maintain Lu Bu and not let him turn his face to himself, he supplied Lu Bu with about 40,000 stone of grain.

Lu Bu, who was himself an unrighteous person, hated this kind of treachery even more than ordinary people. After seeing Yuan Shu not obeying the treaty so much, although he didn't fall out with him on the spot, he stopped attacking Liu Bei.

Liu Bei, who can stretch and bend, asked Lu Bu to surrender at this time. Lü Bu agreed, released his wife's vassals, and let him take the remnants of his soldiers and horses to Xiaopei to station. At this point, Xuzhou completely fell into the hands of Lu Bu.

"Yuan Shu, in addition to having a famous background, what other skills does this guy have? Am I not willing to live under this guy? I, Lu Bu, will also be the leader of one side. Lu Bu, who got Xuzhou, held a grudge against Yuan Shu, and he loudly announced this to his subordinates. He replaced Liu Bei, proclaimed himself Xuzhou Mu, and appointed Liu Bei as the assassin of Yuzhou, so that he could be stationed in Xiaopei.

Yuan Shu didn't like Lu Bu very much to take Liu Bei in. He still firmly remembered the hardships that Liu Bei brought to him. Unable to fight Lu Bu for the time being, Yuan Shu decided to attack Liu Bei. He let his general Ji Ling lead an army of 30,000 to march towards Xiaopei. Its momentum was extremely huge, and it was soon detected by Liu Bei's men.

Liu Bei is now nested in such a small city as Xiaopei, and his soldiers are outnumbered. When he heard that Yuan Shu had sent 30,000 troops to attack, he immediately panicked. He knew that he couldn't beat Yuan Shu no matter what. So, he asked Lu Bu for help.

At this time, some of Lu Bu's subordinate generals persuaded Lu Bu: "Liu Bei is a hero, and it will be a big trouble after a long time." Now is the right time to eliminate him, ignore him! ”

Lu Bu was noncommittal. He summoned his military advisor, Chen Gong, to discuss his reaction to this matter.

Lu Bu believed: "Once Yuan Shu defeats Liu Bei, he will unite with Taishan's generals to surround our Xuzhou, so that our Xuzhou men and horses will fall into his hands." This is very dangerous, so we have to help Liu Bei at this time. ”

"That's right!" Chen Gong nodded, agreeing with Lu Bu's opinion on this matter.

After unifying his thoughts, Lü Bu marched into the army. Once he sent troops, it was like mediation, and Liu Bei and Ji Ling both withdrew.

Lu Bu didn't have a good impression of Liu Bei in the first place. His subordinates persuaded him to take this opportunity to get rid of Liu Bei, but Lü Bu wanted to temporarily use Liu Bei's power in order to contain the situation of Yuan Shu and the generals of Taishan. But he was still quite vigilant about Liu Bei. Later, when Liu Bei's soldiers and horses gathered a considerable number, Lu Bu did not hesitate to send troops to attack.

Liu Bei, who was attacked by Lu Bu's army, naturally couldn't hold Xiao Pei. Liu Bei had no choice but to take refuge in Cao Cao. In order to cultivate a force sufficient to confront Lü Bu, Cao Cao accepted Liu Bei's army and supplied him with food, making him the pastor of Yuzhou and letting him take office in Runan.

This is the situation in Xuzhou before and after Yuan Shu became emperor in the second year of Jian'an. In Xuzhou and the periphery of Xuzhou: Yanzhou occupied by Cao Cao, Liu Bei, who was subordinate to Cao Cao, occupied Yuzhou, Huainan remained Yuan Shu's territory, and Lü Bu owned Xuzhou.

“…… That's how it looks. Now that Yuan Shu is called the emperor, I don't know what changes will happen between Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, and Yuan Shu. I think there's going to be a big fight here this year. Zhuge Liang finished reading the information, and said lightly with his finger on the desktop.

"That's natural." Li Sheng nodded lightly. He seemed to think of something, and a sad look appeared on his face: "For their own interests, yesterday's enemies can become today's allies; For the sake of their own interests, those who have been kind to them can also be easily betrayed. The world in front of us no longer has rules. If you really want to talk about rules, I'm afraid that only fists will be the rules. These adults are only for their own interests, and they don't care about the lives of the people at all. God knows how many people will die in this battle. ”

Zhuge Liang was silent, and after a long time, he opened his mouth a little coldly: "This is actually a last resort, and it is also necessary." ”

"Why?" Li Sheng looked very excited, and there was a faint anger in his words.

"Because these are troubled times. While no one expects troubled times to come, it is really right in front of us. We have no choice but to face it. Zhuge Liang still said calmly and indifferently: "Most of the wars in troubled times are undoubted. But no matter how the undoubted war passes, the people who wage it have a reason to destroy their enemies and unify the troubled times. In order to achieve this, they can give up any moral standards. ”

"Then why are there so many wars?" Li Sheng asked him again.

"Because there are too many heroes at the moment, there are no people who can beat the crowd. That is, there is no such thing as a big hero! Zhuge Liang said: "Only the emergence of a great hero can end this troubled world." Only by stopping the military with force and ending the war with war can everything be brought back to order. Only when the troubled times are over will our fate become safe. ”

"Big hero?" Li Sheng smiled bitterly, and then asked, "Since you need a big hero." So Brother Liang, why don't you become a big hero? Your knowledge is very good, and your courage is very high. As long as you want to, it's not that hard to become a big hero. ”

"Be a big hero? I know I can't make it? Zhuge Liang chuckled and shook his head: "First, I'm not very interested in this; Second, I don't think I have the courage to be a hero. It's a hard thing to articulate, but I'm missing that. So, I just want to hone my talents. Some things don't have to be heroes to do. If I can assist a hero to unify the troubled times, I am also very happy. ”

"So who do you think is the great hero of this troubled world?" Li Sheng looked at him with a smile.

"I don't know about this yet. Because my knowledge is not deep enough, my knowledge is not so broad, and the current world is really too chaotic and unclear, so I want to think about this matter myself. If you are willing to be a hero, I will help you no matter what. But if that's not the case, then I'll have to use my own eyes to choose the person I'm happy with. It's just that no matter who I choose, I won't choose Cao Cao. It is simply a sorrow to let the people of the world fall into the hands of such people. Zhuge Liang said leisurely, he completely put his immature thoughts in front of Li Sheng. Li Sheng was surprised and a little moved.

"Don't worry, I'll try to be a hero in your mouth." Li Sheng didn't say much, just gently patted Zhuge Liang's shoulder and assured him.