Liu Xin had long expected that Beigong Boyu would be angry with Beigong Yan because of today's incident, and it was inevitable to beat and scold her, but he didn't expect Beigong Boyu to do it so thoroughly, so he simply didn't recognize this daughter, and couldn't help but be annoyed: "You dare not even listen to my greetings, do you really want to rebel?" ”

Minchan persuaded on the side: "Master, it's better to leave her behind." Lanier is injured, and I am afraid that it will take some time to recuperate, and there is a shortage of people around the slave family who can use it. ”

Seeing the hesitation on Liu Xin's face, Minchan said again: "Master, in fact, Beigong Yan's nature is not bad, she was deceived by Ke Muji......

Liu Xin hesitated for a moment and said, "Lanier's injury is also difficult for her to deal with, let's wait for Lanier to wake up and ask her opinion." ”

Being able to safely rescue the hostages is the most difficult thing, and in Liu Xin's eyes, Laniel's contribution today is no less than winning a war. Liu Xin's attitude towards Lanier has also quietly changed, no longer treating her as an ordinary slave, but with a little more respect, so on this matter, Liu Xin wants to ask Laniel's opinion. And Lanier had just fallen asleep, she was so seriously injured that she might not be able to wake up for a while, Liu Xin simply postponed the original afternoon departure by a day.

Early the next morning, Lanier finally woke up, and listened to Minchan say that she wanted to keep Beigong Yan, and her eyes were obviously a little unhappy. But in Laniel's mind, Minchan is her master, how can she be qualified to oppose what the master says? Although not happy, Lanielle nodded vigorously.

Beigong Qian was also brought over, she was originally a zero-free nobleman, and she also dabbled in the etiquette of the Han people, and she said a deep blessing as soon as she entered the door. Yesterday, Liu Xin gave her a whole day to consider whether to go or stay. When she said this, Liu Xin herself was a little embarrassed, as if she wanted to eat it dry and wipe it clean. However, Beigong Qian did not hesitate at all, she made a decision yesterday, and she will follow Liu Xin in this life. Liu Xin didn't pretend anymore, so she and Beigong Yan, the two aunts and nephews, temporarily became Diaochan's personal maids.

With the lessons of the Kemuji incident, Liu Xin did not wait for Lanier to recover from her injury, and personally began to select candidates for the "personal female bodyguard" yesterday. Liu Xin limited the selection of bodyguards to women of different races, such as the barbarians, Qiang and Xiongnu. Although there are many people who practice martial arts among the daughters of the Han family, they are only rare, and most Han women are still too weak. Because of Zhu Rong, the loyalty of the barbarian woman is not a problem, and she should be the best candidate as a bodyguard. Of course, in the Liangzhou territory, except for the Qiang woman, Liu Xin really has no other choice.

However, the beauties sent by the leaders of the Qiang tribes were in the backyard of the Taishou Mansion, and Liu Xin easily selected some women who met the conditions, and eliminated the women belonging to the two tribes of Burndang and Xianling, and formed a team of twelve female bodyguards, named Women's Guard.

Liu Xin stayed in Wuwei for another two days, personally organized some basic training for the women's guards, taught them some hand-to-hand combat skills, and then divided them into four groups, each group of three people, and took turns to protect the safety of Minchan and Yan Rui's mother and daughter. After the careful treatment of the accompanying medical officer, Lanier's injuries have been much better, although she is not yet able to practice martial arts with those women, Liu Xin still appointed her as the commander of these women, becoming the first female general in the Han Dynasty to have a formal official position.

Just as Liu Xin was about to set off, an urgent military message from Xiangyang brought the news that Liu Xin had always wanted, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had gone to war. However, to Liu Xin's surprise, it was not Yuan Shao who took the initiative to provoke the war, but Cao Cao! Cao Cao secretly made a surprise attack and captured Liyang, an important town in Hebei, in one fell swoop.

According to Liu Xin's original estimate, Yuan Shao should be the first to provoke the incident. In history, it was Yuan Shao who took the initiative to send troops to attack Cao Cao, and at that time, Yuan Shao had so many military generals under him, and only Tian Feng and Fu Zhu really stood up to dissuade them. Now, these two have become Liu Xin's right-hand men, and it stands to reason that the rest of these people should all support Yuan Shao's use of troops.

Not really. Although Yuan Shao has many capable people, there are many factions, and they fight openly and secretly with each other, and the internal friction is very serious. Tian Feng and Fu Zhi opposed Yuan Shao's use of troops purely out of public intentions, but others often had their own selfish thoughts. However, Yuan Shao himself is an indecisive character, and it is always difficult to make decisions about such major matters. Since Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou last year, the debate on whether to take the opportunity to crusade against Cao Cao has begun, and no result has been reached until now.

There is actually a credit to the shopkeeper Song. Originally, in Yuan Shao's camp, the main peace faction led by Xu You and Xun Chen was at a disadvantage. As a result, after the attempted kidnapping of Chen Qun by the Song shopkeeper, Xu You was afraid that the secret communication between himself and Cao Cao would be revealed, and he became the main battle faction. And Feng Ji, Xian Pei, Xin Ping and others, who had been fighting the main battle at first, in line with the principle of "I will support what the enemy opposes, and I will oppose what the enemy supports", immediately turned around and became the main peace faction, which made Yuan Shao, who was already difficult to make a decision, even more at a loss.

Cao Cao originally didn't want to turn against Yuan Shao now, he needed to accumulate strength, and his subordinates Xun Yu, Xun You, Chen Qun, Liu Ye and other advisers also had this opinion. However, Liu Xin eliminated Liu Bei, Liu Miao, and Yuan Shu in one fell swoop, and the powerful combat power displayed brought too much shock to Cao Cao. Cao Cao can be sure that in the past year, Liu Xin's strength has increased a lot.

Time flies, and a year has passed since the term of the non-aggression agreement made with Liu Xin, and Cao Cao knows very well in his heart that in another year, Liu Xin should do it to himself. Instead of sitting back and waiting, it's better to strike first. But Cao Cao also understood that with his current strength, it was impossible to meet Liu Xin, unless he could unite with Yuan Shao, but this seemed to be an impossible task. In this case, only by choosing the lesser of two evils and annexing Yuan Shao first can he have a chance to compete with Liu Xin.

Cao Cao's motive for taking the initiative to send troops was attached to the emergency military situation, which was analyzed after discussing with Guo Jia, Cheng Yu and other strategists.

Seeing this, Liu Xin knew it in his heart, handed the document to Jia Xu casually, and asked, "Wenhe, in your opinion, who will win this battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao?" ”

This time he went to the Western Regions, Liu Xin did not bring other strategists with him, just because there was Jia Xu here, a poisoner who had repeatedly made strange plans in history. Liu Xin believes that as long as he doesn't encounter a very difficult problem, Jia Xu can come up with a solution.

Jia Xu did not answer immediately, but carefully read the documents in his hand, pondered for a long time, and then said: "The key to the victory or defeat of this war is food!" ”

The classic battle in history that led to a fundamental turning point in the balance of power between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao - the Battle of Guandu, it was because Cao Cao burned down the black nest where Yuan Shao folded grain, so that Cao Cao finally won more with less and unified the north in one fell swoop. Could it be that this guy Jia Xu also has the ability to predict the outcome of the war? Liu Xinhu glanced at Jia Xu suspiciously.

But he heard Jia Xu continue: "Although Cao Cao temporarily gained the opportunity to fight, he lacked sufficient food supplies and could not last. If the expectations of his subordinates are good, the reason why Cao Cao chose this time to start the war must be to take the opportunity of the upcoming summer harvest to order the soldiers to cut wheat and eat, and alleviate the dilemma of lack of food. On the other hand, Yuan Shao has a large number of generals and plenty of food and grass, as long as he reacts, he can turn defeat into victory. ”

Liu Xin was surprised: "Mr. Fei thinks that Yuan Shao will win in the end?" ”

Jia Xu stroked three strands of long beard and said with a smile: "It is difficult for the subordinates to predict who will win or lose between the two of them. However, one thing is certain for his subordinates, no matter which one wins, he will take Luoyang with the power of Xinsheng! Therefore, the subordinates thought that if Cao Cao and Yuan Shao could maintain an invincible and undefeated situation, it would be the most beneficial for the lord! If the war is to be stalemate, the lord must give Cao Cao some support appropriately. ”

Liu Xin frowned, and asked again: "How can Liu support him?" ”

Jia Xu arched his hand and said: "Food! The lord could provide Cao Cao with some food, so that he would not be fed or starved. ”

The states occupied by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao have always been the most populous areas of the Han Dynasty, and their military resources are not a problem. Yuan Shao had an army of 700,000, while Cao Cao could only maintain an army of about 300,000 people, and the main reason was Cao Cao's lack of food. Because the more soldiers, the more food will be consumed, and if there is enough food, Cao Cao can also quickly assemble a large army. With a large army, Cao Cao could naturally have a long-lasting confrontation with Yuan Shao.

Liu Xin shook his head and said: "Cao Cao has a lot of capable people, if Liu sends him food for no reason, how can he not be suspicious, you are only afraid that you will not be able to hide it from him." ”

Jia Xu suddenly smiled evilly: "The lord is wrong, how can the grain be given to him?" We sold it to him quietly. ”

When he said the word "quietly", Jia Xu deliberately accentuated his tone. Liu Xin suddenly understood, and the two nodded knowingly, laughing together.

The so-called quiet sale of grain, in a modern term, is smuggling grain. People die for money, birds die for food, as long as there are profitable things, someone will do it, and when the profit is large to a certain extent, even if it is at the risk of killing the head, someone will do it. Therefore, smuggling has been going on since ancient times and is not new.

In order to ensure that the common people can have enough to eat, Liu Xin has implemented a grain price intervention mechanism in all urban areas within his influence, so that grain prices have basically been maintained at the level of about 20 yuan. In the area ruled by Yuan Shao, the price of grain has risen to a hundred yuan, and in the area ruled by Cao Cao, it is even higher than this price. A five-fold profit is enough to justify some outlaws to take risks.