Because of Liu Bei's interest, Xuzhou Haoqiang has a good sense of Liu Bei, and he is willing to form some good fate with this powerful general. If Liu Bei can find a place to settle near Xuzhou, Xuzhou Haoqiang is still willing to maintain a relatively close and reliable relationship with Liu Bei.

Another meaning of this is to suppress Lu Bu. If Lu Bu behaves unfavorably after he enters Xuzhou, he may try to ask Liu Bei to return to Xuzhou to confront Lu Bu.

It just so happened that at that time, Chen Wen, the assassin of Yangzhou, died of illness, and the relationship with Yuan Shu deteriorated in Xuzhou Haoqiang, but he didn't want Yuan Shu to take the opportunity to take Yangzhou into his pocket. Therefore, Xuzhou Haoqiang planned to preempt Yuan Shu and recommend a new Yangzhou assassin to Yangzhou, so as not to further expand Yuan Shu's strength.

So, who should be invited to serve as the assassin of Yangzhou?

It's not what kind of person is qualified to serve as the assassin of Yangzhou.

Liu Bei is barely a candidate. But with his reputation, he will definitely not be accepted by the officials of Yangzhou. However, in addition to Liu Bei, the Xuzhou heroes were pleased to find that another clan relative surnamed Liu was fully qualified to serve as the assassin of Yangzhou.

This Liu surnamed clansman, the name is Xuan, the word is Zhengli, the Donglai Muping people, and Tai Shici is a fellow countryman. Liu Miao is the grandson of Liu Fei, the "King of Qi Mourning Hui" of the Han Dynasty, and the descendant of Liu Wei, the "Marquis of Mu Ping". His elder brother Liu Dai, who was the assassin of Yanzhou, was very famous. His sister Liu is Yuan Shao's stepmother and Yuan Tan's stepmother. He and his brother Liu Dai were praised by the late celebrity Tao Qiuhong as "the second dragon is in Changtu, and the two dragons are in Changtu, and the heroes are in thousands of miles". With this status, it is not a big problem to suppress the officials of a dry county in Yangzhou.

Of course, in the end, the reason why the Xuzhou heroes decided to nominate Liu Miao as the assassin of Yangzhou was that Liu Miao happened to take refuge in Huaipu in Donghai County, Xuzhou at this time. As long as Liu Miao moves fast enough. It is completely possible to take the lead in Yangzhou before Yuan Shu reacts.

Of course, if Liu Miao runs to take office alone, it is still more dangerous. Yangzhou's powerful sect thieves are powerful, and if it is unfavorable to Liu Xuan, Liu Xuan must rely on it.

It's not. Is there just Liu Bei, a strong general?

It is unfavorable to plot Xuzhou, so Liu Bei can escort Liu Miao to Yangzhou with his own troops and horses. In order to win over Liu Bei, Liu Miao of course had to arrange a good position for Liu Bei. With the official position of the governor of a state division, Liu Bei should also be satisfied.

In this way, when Yuan Shu happily learned that Xuzhou Thorn Shi Taoqian and Yangzhou Thorn Shi Chen Wen died of illness one after another, and planned to meddle in Erzhou, he suddenly found out. Lu Bu, an impudent barbarian from the borderlands, actually got the title of Xuzhou Mu first.

Yuan Shu, who came back to his senses, wanted to deal with Lu Bu, a rude guy, but was depressed to find that the force was too high, and it was not so easy to deal with. There was no Sun Jian to make a move, whether it was Zhang Xun or Ji Ling. None of them had the confidence to dare to challenge Lu Bu. The rest of the bridges, thunder and the like, not to mention.

In desperation. Yuan Shu swallowed this breath for the time being, intending to occupy Yangzhou again. However, when he was about to take action, the news that Liu Miao was embraced by Yangzhou officials and became the new assassin of Yangzhou came again.

The plans failed one after another, and Yuan Shu's anger can be imagined. But. The bad news isn't over yet.

As soon as Lü Bu took over as the assassin of Xuzhou, he publicly contacted Sun Jian, the assassin of Yuzhou, and put forward a request for Yuzhou and Xuzhou to form a friendly alliance. And Sun Jian of Yuzhou didn't even know about Yuan Shu, and agreed to Lu Bu's request for a good alliance with himself. This kind of behavior is for Yuan Shu. But blatant betrayal. In this way, Sun Jian can be regarded as officially parting ways with Yuan Shu and standing on his own.

In the second year of stability [194], Yuan Shu, who was originally the strongest force in the Han Dynasty in terms of momentum and strength, suddenly lost his strength. With Sun Jian's independence [harmony], half of Yuzhou's territory was no longer related to Yuan Shu in an instant. And Yuan Shu lost Sun Jian and Lu Bu one after another, and his force value was greatly reduced, and he couldn't get a big future that could be in charge of himself.

In this way, not to mention attacking Yangzhou to the east, or Jingzhou to the south, it is not easy to even keep the territory that Yuan Shu currently occupies.

Fortunately, at this time, Yuan Shu's opponents also had their own troubles to deal with, and no one was interested in taking the opportunity to attack Yuan Shu. On the contrary, due to the death of Yuan Shao, there was no longer any objection to the dispute between the heads of the Yuan family in Runan. The Yuan forces, which were originally divided by the dispute between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, began to slowly gather under Yuan Shu.

The direct benefit of this incident to Yuan Shu was that Jiujiang County, where Yangzhou County was located, took the initiative to move closer to Yuan Shu. The new Yangzhou assassin Liu Miao couldn't hold back the position in Shouchun, so he had to take the initiative to cross the Yangtze River and run to Danyang to station. As a result, the rich territory of Jiujiang County automatically fell into Yuan Shu's pocket.

In this way, although Yuan Shu lost half of Yuzhou because of Sun Jian's independence [harmony], he unexpectedly got Jiujiang County, the richest county in Yangzhou, as compensation. Even if in terms of overall strength, Yuan Shu is no longer the strongest in the Han Dynasty, but he can still be ranked second, and he is a well-deserved overlord of the south.

As for the first, even if many scholars are unwilling to admit it, the arrogance that occupies most of the three states of Hebei, Hebei, and Youzhou is still recognized as the strongest warlord in the Han Dynasty.

So, what are Yuan Shu's opponents doing, they don't even have time to take the opportunity to weaken Yuan Shu?

Let's talk about Yuan Shu's old opponent Liu Biao first.

Liu Biao, who can ride alone to pacify Jingzhou, will not really be the "sitting and talking" in some people's mouths. He has his ambitions.

Since the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty fell into the hands of the rebellious Han Sui and Ma Teng in the Qiang Rebellion, Liu Biao vigorously condemned the actions of Han Sui and other thieves to hold the Son of Heaven hostage, and at the same time ordered people to secretly make various utensils, honor guards, and uniforms used by the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty, wanting to establish himself as the king.

For Yuan Shu, who occupies the important town of Nanyang in the north, Liu Biao always wants to take advantage of Yuan Shu's weakness to give this guy a blow, so as to wipe out Yuan Shu, the biggest threat to Jingzhou. In this way, Liu Biao's idea of establishing himself as king will not be disturbed.

When Sun Jian stood up from Yuan Shu's command alone, Liu Biao also planned to take the opportunity to send troops to weaken Yuan Shu's strength. It's a pity that a huge plague suddenly broke out in Nanjun at this time. Due to Liu Biao's proper handling and timely mobilization of Nanyang Haoqiang, including the famous doctor Zhang Ji, the harm of this plague was effectively controlled, and the population did not die too much. But. With this delay, there is no time to send troops to Yuan Shu.

Not only did the plague give Liu Biao a headache, but his subordinate Zhang Xian was also an extremely unstable factor in Liu Biao's hands. Zhang Xian is a native of Nanyang and has been a senior official in the four counties of Jingnan all year round. When Liu Biao took over the history of Jingzhou, Zhang Xian was the Taishou of Changsha. The first one expressed his subordination to Liu Biao.

However, Liu Biao thought that Zhang Xian was rude and was not from a scholar's background, so he didn't like him very much. Zhang Xian, who was despised by Liu Biao, had a great temper, and he was already semi-openly breaking up with Liu Biao. Moreover, with Zhang Xian's long-term service in the four counties of Jingnan, the other three counties of Jingnan except Changsha are also the first to look forward to Zhang Xian. As a result, Liu Biao had to face the situation that Jingzhou was divided into two major blocks, Jingnan and Jingbei. Before solving Zhang Xian. Liu Biao has no mind and no strength to take care of other places.

When the plague was raging in Jingzhou, the situation in Yizhou also changed drastically.

In the hands of Emperor Ling, the one who was appointed as the Yizhou Mu was Liu Yan of the clan. Liu Yan was also the first in the imperial court to propose to change the history of the state assassin to the state pastor, so as to monopolize the power of the state in order to conquer the important ministers of the court and stabilize the people. Would make such a recommendation. Liu Yan's mind can be seen.

Since entering Shu, Liu Yan has been committed to cracking down on the strong in the territory. so as to establish their own prestige. After Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, Liu Yan thought that as a member of the Han family, he was qualified to stand on his own, so he sent his godson Zhang Lu to capture the important land in Hanzhong, cut off the connection between the imperial court and the hinterland of Yizhou, and intercepted and killed the envoys of the Han family. In order to facilitate Liu Yan's own unhindered secession of Yizhou.

For Liu Yan's obvious behavior, the court is well aware, but there is nothing to be done. Dong Zhuo, who is in control, is still facing a full-scale rebellion in the Kanto region, where will he have the heart to deal with Liu Yan, who has made it clear that he wants to stand on his own?

Since it is impossible to seriously lead troops to attack Yizhou, where the terrain is dangerous. What the imperial court under Dong Zhuo could do was to control Liu Yan's three surviving sons in the imperial capital, so as to threaten Liu Yan not to move.

In fact, Liu Yan has a total of four sons, among which the third son Liu Mao, whom he values the most, has always followed Liu Yan's side, and there seems to be no heir crisis. But this Liu Mao was a little short-lived, and he died not long after entering Shu.

By the way, Liu Mao's wife, Wu, is recorded in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" and later became the empress of the ancestor Liu Bei.

With the threat of an heir, Liu Yan, who has always been ambitious, although he wants to be the king directly, or even the emperor, does not dare to take actual action. If he dares to call himself the king and the emperor, Dong Zhuo is so excited that he kills Liu Yan's three sons, then who will inherit the good foundation of Yizhou?

Later, Dong Zhuo died, Li Dao, Guo Yan and others counterattacked the imperial capital, but they were killed by the rebels of the Xiliang Qiang Rebellion into Chang'an, holding the Son of Heaven hostage, and Liu Yan's three sons were also forced to be involved in this war.

Unfortunately, Liu Yan's eldest son Liu Fan and second son Liu Dan participated in the anti-Dong coup d'état planned by Wang Yun and died in the chaos of the army. Only the youngest son, Liu Zhang, because of his timidity, took refuge in the house of Yilang Pang Xi early, and was able to be sent back to Yizhou with Liu Yan's two grandsons.

The news of the loss of his son in old age made Liu Yan suffer a huge blow. And the weak Liu Zhang is not an ideal candidate to inherit the cause of Yizhou. After several worries, the old Liu Yan finally fell ill and died in the summer of the second year of Anding.

Due to Liu Yan's careful arrangement, although Liu Zhang's ability and prestige were very limited, he still successfully inherited the official position of his father Yizhou Mu, and controlled the "Dongzhou Soldiers" formed by Liu Yan's recruitment of foreign refugees, and became a powerful prince who dominated one side in the land of the Han Dynasty.

Of course, chaos is still indispensable. Because of Liu Yan's previous strategy of vigorously suppressing the local Haoqiang in Yizhou, Yizhou Haoqiang would not welcome Liu Zhang's succession. On the contrary, Liu Yan's subordinates took a fancy to Liu Zhang's weakness and cowardice, and were very interested in replacing Liu Zhang in the power of Yizhou, and they fully supported Liu Zhang and suppressed the resistance of the powerful people in Yizhou.

For example, the local generals Shen Mi, Lou Fa, Gan Ning and others in Yizhou rose up against Liu Zhang, but Zhao Wei, the "general of Zhengshu Zhonglang" appointed by Liu Zhang, fled to Jingzhou after being defeated. After hearing the news, Zhang Mad specially asked Wei Xiao and Guo Jia, who were in charge of espionage, to send people to find out the whereabouts of the Jizhou generals who fled to Jingzhou.

With Liu Zhang's official debut, in the next ten years, all the opponents of the world will finally be unified.

Gongsun Du of Liaodong, Han Sui and Ma Teng of Liangzhou and Sili Banzhou, Cao Cao of Yanzhou, Yuan Tan of Qingzhou, Yin Zhujun of Henan, Sun Jian of half of Yuzhou, Liu Chong of King Chen, Yuan Shu of some counties of Henan, Jing and Yangzhou, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, Liu Zhang of Yizhou, Liu Biao of Jingzhou, and Liu Miao and Liu Bei of Yangzhou. These princes of the late Han Dynasty are the main characters who will attack and annex each other in the land of the Han Dynasty in the next ten years! (To be continued......)