Liu Cun, Gongsun Pei and other strategists met Gongsun Fan, combined with the analysis of the intelligence that Zhang Dun had continuously sent back from the Chang'an court for half a year, and finally figured out the true intentions of Gongsun Chan, as well as the irreconcilable contradictions between Gongsun Chan and Liu Yu, and deeply saddened the prejudice and stupidity of the ministers in the court.

In order to get rid of Dong Zhuo's control, the important ministers of the court have been planning to use the troops of Youzhou Mu Liu Yu to implement the secret plan of "returning the capital to Luoyang", and in early spring and early February, they quietly sent Huangmen Shilang and Liu Yu's son Liu He to secretly escape from Chang'an, steal out of Wuguan, bypass the Luoyang and Sili areas controlled by the Xiliang army, and go to Youzhou to find Liu Yu through Nanyang, and ask Liu Yu to lead the army to Chang'an to welcome the emperor back to Luoyang.

This plan, which had been plotted for more than a year, was extremely secretive, and the important ministers of the court, who had no power and no power and were worried about their lives at any time, not only concealed it from Dong Zhuo, but also from the princes of the world.

However, the young squire Liu He had a cowardly personality and had no opinions, and when he passed through Nanyang, where Yuan Shu was stationed, he actually informed Yuan Shu of this matter.

Yuan Shu, who had long hoped that the little emperor would not come back, immediately detained Liu He, asked Liu He to write a letter to his father Liu Yu, and solemnly promised: Once Liu Yu led his troops to come, 50,000 soldiers in Nanyang would be his backup, and they would go to Chang'an together to welcome the emperor back to Luoyang.

Liu He believed that it was true, and immediately wrote a letter to his father Liu Yu according to Yuan Shu's instructions, and after Liu Yu received his son's handwritten letter and holy oracle, he felt that it was difficult to accomplish such a big thing with his own strength, so he discussed with Gongsun Zhan and asked Gongsun Zhan to send troops to rescue him.

Gongsun Zhan had long seen through the wolf ambitions of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao's brothers, but he was quite scruples about the strength of the Yuan clan's gate lords, so he used "no matter how many troops there are, they can't pass through the defense line of the Xiliang Army". Liu Yu was advised not to send troops.

Liu Yu's policy of suppressing or appeasing Wuhuan and other alien races has long been in conflict with the hard-line Gongsun Zhan. saw that Gongsun Chan not only refused to send troops to rescue him, but prevented himself from sending troops. He could only take on the heavy responsibility alone, and secretly sent 5,000 cavalry to Nanyang in two batches, hoping to go to Chang'an together with Yuan Shu, and welcome the emperor back to Luoyang.

When Gongsun Zan learned that Liu Yu had sent troops south, he was worried that Yuan Shu would resent him if he found out, so he hurriedly sent his cousin Gongsun Yue with 2,000 cavalry to Nanyang to settle with Yuan Shu, and secretly asked Yuan Shu to continue to detain Liu He and seize the 5,000 cavalry sent by Liu Yu.

Yuan Shu, who lacked cavalry, naturally smiled happily, he was not afraid of what Liu Yu, the square but very pedantic Youzhou Mu Liu Yu, could do to him.

Liu Yu soon learned the truth from the leading captain who had escaped. In a fit of rage, he publicly denounced Gongsun Chan and announced that he would be relieved of his military power.

Gongsun Zhan was already impatient with Liu Yu sitting in the position of Youzhou pastor, and immediately ridiculed him when he heard the words, and then led his troops to evacuate Yuyang and Jixian County, and let Liu Yu deal with Wuhuan and other alien races who were about to move.

Since then, the contradiction between Gongsun Chan and Liu Yu has suddenly become public, to the point of mutual hostility.

In fact, Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu didn't know that Yuan Shu was also jealous of his cousin Yuan Shao, after getting Liu Yu's 5,000 iron cavalry and Gongsun Yue's 2,000 cavalry. Immediately turned the gun and helped Sun Jian, who was plotted by his brother Yuan Shao, to attack Zhou Ang, the assassin of Yuzhou appointed by Yuan Shao, but Gongsun Yue was unfortunately killed by a stray arrow in the battle. Naturally, all the soldiers and horses brought with him came under the command of Yuan Shu.

When the news reached Youzhou, Gongsun Zhan and his generals were extremely angry, believing that this was a poisonous plan by Yuan Shao, who had secretly agreed with them to flank Jizhou and divide Jizhou equally. So, Gongsun Chan was instigated by his subordinate Wenwu. On the grounds that "my brother's death was caused by Yuan Shao". Quickly dispatched troops to occupy the strategic point at the junction of Youji, and gathered troops to prepare for a large-scale southward attack on Jizhou.

Although Yuan Shao has coveted Jizhou for a long time, as analyzed by Liu Cun and his strategists, after Yuan Shao was defeated by Dong Zhuo twice, his strength was no longer enough to launch a war to capture Jizhou, and it was difficult to shake Han Fu, who had 100,000 troops in a short period of time.

Because of this, Yuan Shao was terrified of Gongsun Zhan, who had gathered nearly 100,000 troops and was preparing to go south, and urgently sent someone to explain to Gongsun Zhan, and also handed over the seal of the Bohai County Taishou engraved by himself to Gongsun Fan, Gongsun Fan, his cousin, and appointed Gongsun Fan as the Bohai Taishou, hoping to calm Gongsun Zhan's anger and prevent Gongsun Chan from leading a large army south to occupy Jizhou, which he had coveted for a long time.

After Gongsun Fan got the Bohai Taishou, he immediately obtained the support of his cousin Gongsun Zhan's troops, and quickly drove into Nanpi, the Bohai County Governor's Office, and took over Bohai County in a grand manner.

Yuan Shao's eldest son, Yuan Tan, was furious, but his father Yuan Shao had surrendered Bohai County to Gongsun Zhan, and he could only leave with 10,000 soldiers and his subordinate Wu Ash, and return to Liyang (now Jun County, Henan) in southern Hebei to report to Yuan Shao.

Gongsun Zhan's confidence increased greatly after obtaining Bohai County, and under the advice of his subordinate Wenwu, he secretly sent Gongsun Fan to Linzi with a large amount of money to explain the reason to Liu Cun, the pastor of Qingzhou, and to seek a miraculous victory through the crisis and become a soldier again.

The arrival of Gongsun Fan made Liu Cun and his henchmen see Gongsun Zhan's ambitions clearly, and they also knew that Gongsun Zhan's current strength could indeed disrupt the situation, but he didn't expect the ministers of Chang'an to be so stubborn and stupid, and Liu Cun was also very disappointed in Huang Wan and Yang Biao and others.

After repeated discussions, Liu Cun and a group of confidants and strategists decided on the strategy of "sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger and acting at the opportunity", hoping that Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shao, Han Fu and others could fight and lose both.

After making a plan, Liu Cun summoned his subordinate Wu and Qingzhou celebrities to a public banquet for Gongsun Fan, and happily agreed to Gongsun Fan's request in private, and asked Gongsun Fan to tell his brother:

Qingzhou will not participate in any disputes in the surrounding area, recognizes the status of Gongsun Fan Bohai County Taishou, and is willing to sell much-needed weapons and ordnance, advanced warships, grain and cloth and other materials to Bohai County!

Less than half a month after leaving Linzi and returning to Youzhou, Gongsun Fan immediately escorted gold, silver, copper and iron worth 40 million yuan, 5,000 war horses, 200 carts of kneaded leather and 50,000 furs, and rushed to the Pingyuan County Market on the border of Qinghai and Hebei to exchange a large number of weapons and equipment, five paddle steamer warships, seven 500 stone-class inland river transport ships, carriages and cloth and other items from Qingzhou, and brought a personal letter written by Gongsun Zhan to Liu Cun: solemnly promising to use Qingzhou coins within the two prefectures of Youji and Hebei.

Liu Cun was overjoyed to receive Gongsun Zhan's reply, and immediately summoned Gongsun Pei, Guoyuan, and Han Yang to inform them of the good news: "Compared with selling a large number of Qingzhou goods, I value more Qingzhou coins being allowed to circulate in Youji, which is definitely a greater victory than conquering one or two counties by force!" ”

Gongsun Pei and others were very excited, Han Yang said with a smile: "Lord, once my Qingzhou coin came out, it was immediately accepted by the people, and the ten-baht copper coin we were most worried about was not only not resisted by the people, but was loved by the people because of its pure texture and beautiful casting." My subordinates believe that in half a year at most, my Qingzhou coins will be all over the two states. ”

"Many merchants in Yanzhou have accepted my Qingzhou coins, and the issuance of gold coins and ten-baht copper coins has made up for the shortcomings of the original coins, and the previously popular gold coins and Qingzhou five-baht copper coins together constitute a complete coin system, and the subordinates believe that within a year, Liaodong, Sanhan, Jiangdong and Jiaozhou will also use my Qingzhou coins." Guoyuan was also very pleased.

Guo Yuan's role and significance of the monetary system, has gone through a long process of understanding, from the initial strangeness to the current familiarity, he tirelessly searched all kinds of information throughout the ages, humbly consulted Han Yang and Langya Qian Xing's many masters, and spent a year and a half to finally grasp the principle of currency issuance and the role of market regulation.

Now Guoyuan has begun to carry out in-depth research on the means of currency control, and is determined to co-author, together with Han Yang, the first book on money in ancient times, the title of which is "Monetary Theory". (To be continued......)