Kong Rong is the twentieth grandson of the Confucian sage Confucius, since he was a child, there have been "Kong Rong let pear", "a fight for righteousness" (1) and other high-level and bright things spread, can be called Qingzhou in recent years, in addition to the great Confucian Zheng Xuan number one celebrity.

Due to his illustrious family background and resounding reputation, Kong Rong was recruited by high-ranking officials in the DPRK and China such as the former Situ Yang Ci and the general He Jin very early. Even Dong Zhuo's house, after entering Beijing to take charge of the government, was quite jealous of Kong Rong.

In order to prevent Kong Rong from always saying something unpleasant to him in the imperial court, Dong Zhuo simply appointed Kong Rong, a troublesome guy, to Beihai State, where the Yellow Turban Army was strong, as the prime minister.

For Dong Zhuo, if the Yellow Turban Army can take out this mouthy guy, it will be the best. Even if the Yellow Turban Army can't eliminate Kong Rong for a while, at least it can make Kong Rong suffer a lot.

Soon after Kong Rong took office in Beihai State, Qingzhou Assassin Shi Jiaohe fell ill and died. The officials of Qingzhou County, who have no backbone, admire Kong Rong's reputation and say that only Kong Rong is the first to look forward. Kong Rong also wanted to make a difference when the world was in turmoil, so that the prestige of the ancestors would not fall on him. As a result, Kong Rong actively raised troops in Beihai and wanted to personally crusade against the Yellow Turban Army.

It's a pity that although Kong Rong's mouth and pen are sharp, even Dong Zhuo is a little unbearable, but he doesn't know anything about military affairs. Guan Hai, the marshal of the Yellow Turban in Qingzhou, did not go out in person, but only sent a few little marshals to break Kong Rong's troops, so that Kong Rong had to retreat to the city and did not dare to go out.

Although Kong Rong suffered defeat under the Yellow Turban Army, he was a well-known man in the world after all, and he had a lot of troops and food in his hands. Therefore, for Yuan Tan and Tian Kai, who wanted to seize Qingzhou, they were trying to enlist Kong Rong's assistance.

It stands to reason that Yuan Shao is known as the "model of the world", and his fame far exceeds that of Gongsun Zhan, a martial artist. When the corporal of the world chooses a refuge object. Yuan Shao is obviously far more suitable than Gongsun Zhan. However, Kong Rong is also a clear-eyed person, and he is very dissatisfied with Yuan Shao's various behaviors in these years, but he appreciates Yuan Shu's diligence in royal affairs and daring to take the initiative to attack Dong Zhuo and the Liangzhou rebels.

Love the house and under the Wu, Kong Rong's attitude. is a bit inclined to form an alliance with Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zhan. It's just that Tian Kai is just a martial artist, and he can't get into Kong Rong's eyes. And Kong Rong had no intention of turning his face with the world-famous Yuan Shao, so he temporarily maintained a neutral posture between Yuan Tan and Tian Kai.

However, neutrality is not something that can be maintained forever. In June of the first year of stability [193], when the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army launched a large-scale attack on the city of Beihai again under the leadership of the marshal Guan Hai in order to loot enough grain and grass, Kong Rong could not resist. You can only ask for help from outside.

Kong Rong can ask for help from three people: Yuan Tan, Tian Kai, and Tao Qian. All three of them are stationed not far from Beihai and can support Kong Rong in the short term.

However, Kong Rong thought about it for a long time, and finally sent a rescue request to a person that no one expected.

Yuan Tan was born in a famous and noble family, and his demeanor was no less than that of his father when he was young, and he was only talented. It is what Kong Rong admires the most. However, Yuan Shao was attacked by the remnants of the Yellow Turban in Bingzhou not long ago, and not only lost half of Jizhou. also lost Yan Liang and Wen Chou, two generals and important advisers. At such a difficult time, Yuan Tandu was forced to take 5,000 elite soldiers under his command to escort a batch of grain and grass from Yanzhou and return to Jizhou to support his father Yuan Shao. Kong Rong wanted to ask him for help, but it was obviously unlikely that there would be a result.

As for Xuzhou Mu Taoqian. Just now, he was attacked by Yanzhou Assassin Shi Cao Cao fiercely for a while. The figure of the Qingzhou soldiers has not disappeared in Xuzhou. After experiencing such heavy losses, Tao Qian, who was already not strong, would still send an elite army to pacify the Qingzhou Beihai Yellow Turban Army?

It's Tian Kai's house. Although the troops are not sufficient, but because Gongsun Zhan's army was recalled by Youzhou Mu Liu Yu, it is currently idle and there is no military pressure.

It's just that Tian Kai is a martial artist, and Kong Rong is very indifferent to this person's martial arts habits. Moreover, Tian Kai claims to be the assassin of Qingzhou, and if Kong Rong asks him for help, he must admit that this martial artist is his boss. This is a big thing that violates his principles of life for Kong Rong, who has always adhered to the banner of the Han Dynasty.

Regarding his own principles, Kong Rong has always believed that they should be put above the life and death of individuals.

As we all know, Kong Rong is by no means greedy for life and afraid of death.

Just after the three candidates were rejected one by one under Kong Rong's consideration, the distressed Kong Rong asked the master Bo Wang Xiu beside him. Wang Xiu is worthy of being a well-known and intelligent person in Beihai, and after listening to Kong Rong's analysis, he only thought about it slightly, and proposed a most suitable candidate for Kong Rong to ask for help.

The object of Wang Xiu's request for help was also Gongsun Zhan's subordinates. However, there is no contradiction between this candidate being a relative of the Han family and Kong Rong's insistence on erecting the banner of the Han Dynasty. He is Liu Bei, a native of Zhuojun who was appointed as the minister of the plains not long ago.

You must know that Liu Bei is not famous at this time, and he is just an ordinary general under Gongsun Zhan. Why was such an unknown person recommended to Kong Rong by Wang Xiu?

Since Gongsun Chan returned from a crushing defeat in the Raoyang Battle in February this year, Youzhou Mu Liu Yu took away Gongsun Zhan's title of general and demoted him to a lieutenant on the charge of "recklessly mobilizing troops and losing his division". At the same time, Liu Yu also cut off the supply of grain and grass to Gongsun Zhan's army on the grounds that the state and county treasury was empty, and demanded that Gongsun Zhan disband the troops and let the army return to their places for food.

As a result, Gongsun Zhan, a generation of famous generals who had once crisscrossed Hebei and oppressed Yuan Shao breathlessly, had to obediently disband the army of more than 20,000 people, and sent the soldiers back to various counties and countries in Youzhou, leaving only more than 1,000 people from Baima Yi around him to alleviate his current economic crisis.

It was in this context that Liu Bei had to take more than 2,000 soldiers to Qingzhou to eat. As a close confidant of Gongsun Zhan, Gongsun Zhan was not thin on Liu Bei, and specially installed a position for Liu Bei to reward Liu Bei for his previous military exploits.

Of course, Kong Rong had heard this news a long time ago. It's just that Kong Rong has always had big eyes, even if he was a model for the previous generation of scholars, Li Ying, who was only ten years old at the time, he dared to say that it was an old man who came to visit. Liu Bei, a mere martial artist, couldn't put it in Kong Rong's eyes.

However, under the reminder of the lord Bo Wang Xiu, Kong Rong suddenly discovered that this little-known little person Liu Bei was not the best target for help at the moment?

In terms of combat effectiveness, Liu Bei's subordinates were able to often serve as pioneers under Gongsun Zhan's subordinates, and their bravery can be seen. And fighting against the Yellow Turban Army is Liu Bei's forte. It is said that the reason why Liu Bei was able to come out was that in the first year of Zhongping, he made great achievements in the process of crusading against the Yellow Turban Army.

In terms of identity, although Liu Bei is nameless, after all, his surname is Liu, and he is a relative of the Han family. As long as Kong Rong ignored Liu Bei's background as a general of Gongsun Zan and asked for help from the Han clan, no one could say that he would choose a side. This does not do much damage to Kong Rong's future stance of riding on the wall.

In terms of threats, it is precisely because Liu Bei is unknown and his power is not obvious, if Liu Bei succeeds in driving away the Yellow Turban Army, Kong Rong does not have to worry about this person who can occupy the magpie's nest. But if the object of the request for help is replaced by Yuan Tan or Tian Kai, Kong Rong does not dare to guarantee that there will be no part of his own voice in the subsequent Beihai.

As for the question of whether Liu Bei will come to Beihai?

Kong Rong is very confident. If Liu Bei wants to rise in the future, he needs to accumulate prestige among scholars. With Kong Rong's prestige and status among today's scholars, as long as he says a word, Liu Bei can be noticed by scholars. With this kind of temptation to be famous, Kong Rong is not worried that Liu Bei will not come.

So, will Liu Bei go to the rescue of Kong Rong?

The answer is yes.

Pingyuan Country is located at the junction of Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Yanzhou, and has been repeatedly passed by the Yellow Turban Army over the years, as well as the tug-of-war between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao, which has been dilapidated.

Although Liu Bei wore the hat of a plain minister, he was actually able to control the place, that is, around the city of West Pingchang in the northeast of the plain, accounting for about one-third of the country's territory. The remaining two-thirds were under Yuan Tan's control.

In such a small area, the population is sparse, money and food are tight, and even feeding the two thousand parts under Liu Bei is quite reluctant. Moreover, the existence of Yuan Tan gave Liu Bei a lot of pressure.

Don't look at Yuan Tan now having to return to Jizhou under the pressure of arrogance, but once the situation in Jizhou is stabilized, Yuan Tan will be able to launch a large army and easily drive Liu Bei away.

And Liu Bei, because of his backer Gongsun Zhan, is now being suppressed by his boss Youzhou Mu Liu Yu, which can be said to be too busy to take care of himself, and there is no possibility of receiving external support at all.

Therefore, when the envoy sent by Kong Rong to ask for help arrived in West Pingchang City, Liu Bei was already thinking about whether to simply evacuate the dead land of the plain and go to which prince who needed to employ people at present. As soon as he heard the news that Kong Rong asked for help from him, Liu Bei was overjoyed, and actually said:

"Kong Beihai knows that there is Liu Beiye in the world?"

From this unintentional sentence, we can see what Liu Bei's mentality was at that time. Next, Liu Bei happily gave up this small territory in the Plains Country, and the whole army set out to rescue Kong Rong.

Kong Rong has no shortage of soldiers or food in his hands, only capable generals. As soon as Liu Bei arrived, he boosted the morale of the county soldiers in Beihai. Next, under the command and leadership of Liu Bei, the Beihai soldiers fought several battles with the Guanhai army.

With Zhang Fei, the "10,000 enemies", Guan Hai is certainly not an opponent. After a month of hard fighting, the Guanhai Department suffered heavy casualties and ran out of military rations, and tens of thousands of people suddenly dispersed in a panic one night, thus relieving the danger of Beihai. (To be continued......)

PS: PS: (1) When the party was in charge, Zhang Jian defected to Kong Rong's brother Kong Bao, but Kong Rong was not at home, but Kong Rong took the initiative to help Zhang Jian escape. Later, the incident was discovered, and the two brothers were arrested and tortured in prison. Kong Rong said: "I am the one who shelters and hides Zhang Jian, and the guilt belongs to me." Kong Bao said: "Zhang Jian came to me, it is not my brother's sin, the sin is mine, I am willing." The officials asked their mother, who said, "I am the one who is responsible for the old man's work." "All of them are vying to die, and the county hesitates to make a decision, so they ask the court for instructions. The edict finally condemned Kong Bao, who became famous.