"Your Majesty, Han Hao collaborated with the enemy, and now Cao Ying's men and horses have killed the palace! Please stay out of the way for a while, Your Majesty! At this time, a pawn hurried back to the noisy hall and reported to Emperor Zhong. It is said to be a large hall, but in fact, it is almost no different from the vegetable market.

"Avoid? Where to avoid? Yuan Shu suddenly laughed. Even if you fight your way out of the encirclement now, there are enemy troops on all sides. The eastern and western counties were taken by Liu Bei, and Yuan Shu had no way to retreat. At this time, the shouting of killing was getting closer and closer, Yuan Shu got up and looked, and then walked out of the main hall, and there were still a few of his officials following.

"Lord, Cao Ying's army is already attacking the palace, and Sun Ce has already passed, let's hurry up!" Just as Xuzhou's army had just entered the city, Gao Shun hurriedly ran to report to Liu Bei.

"Of course, by the way, what's going on over there in the treasury?" Liu Bei hurriedly asked.

"Cao Ying has already taken it, and the general Xiahou Yuan is carrying the grain." Gao Shun was also a little frustrated, but he still sighed: "Yuan Shu has really accumulated enough food, and he knew that we wouldn't lend it to Cao Ying." ”

"So far, forget it." Liu Bei can see it very openly, anyway, Xuzhou is not short of money and food. But Zhao Feng, a money fan, is a little painful, God, that's Yuan Lao'er's savings for many years!

"Hey, what's the fire over there? At this time, a sharp-eyed soldier pointed to the thick smoke rising in the distance, and everyone looked, and sure enough, thick smoke was billowing up from the west. "It's Yuan Shu's palace!" Gao Shun was a little surprised and said, he came from there just now.

"It seems that Yuan Shu is killing himself!" Liu Bei muttered, and then sighed. "Big brother is just too kind, you forgot how Yuan Shu treated us in the Allied Army!" Zhang Fei said a little indignantly.

"Forget it, third brother, forget it if he's dead." Guan Yu squinted at the smoking and burning palace, but didn't say anything more. As for Cao Ying, seeing Yuan Shu raising the fire**, he hurriedly ordered to stop the attack, but he didn't put out the fire, because this forbidden palace was originally going to be burned down. It's just that if the soldiers surrender to Yuan, pay attention to receiving it.

In fact, it was true, seeing that the palace was on fire, Yuan Shujun, who knew that there was no chance of victory, began to surrender gradually. By the afternoon, basically the entire Shouchun City had been controlled. Yuan Shu and dozens of his henchmen all died, and the rest of the important ministers of the puppet Zhong court were either killed or captured, and Cao Ying ordered them all to be beheaded in the downtown area. As for the 150,000 troops guarding Shouchun, in addition to those killed in battle and burned to death in the palace in the past month, the three coalition forces also captured nearly 90,000 prisoners in total.

"Today, I can exterminate the anti-thief Yuan Shu, all of you are meritorious ministers, I will drink this cup to the full!" In the Shouchun Mansion that night, Cao Ying held a banquet to reward everyone. "Prime Minister, please!" It was not easy for everyone to save Cao Ying's face, and they staggered for a while, and then praised each other, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious. Cao Ying, who was sitting on the main seat, trembled with laughter, and he was most happy that he completely copied Yuan Shu's treasury, and the money and food that Yuan Shu had looted for many years ended up being returned to him. Now Cao Ying's food is greatly sufficient, even if Yuan Shu fights with him again, it will be no problem.

After three rounds of drinking, he saw Sun Ce first asking: "Now that Yuan Shu is gone, I don't know who the prime minister wants to send to govern this place?" Yan Bi's eyes shimmered, staring straight at Cao Ying, waiting for him to reply. Zhao Feng also felt a pang in his heart when he heard this: This Sun Ce is really young and vigorous, and he can't hold his breath, and now he asks it face to face. But when everyone heard this, they also stopped drinking and watched how Cao Ying responded.

Cao Ying quietly put down his wine glass and said, "Why is Bo Fu so anxious? It's not too late to wait until you return to the court! ”

"It's not that I'm in a hurry, but in fact, Jiujiang County is under the rule of my Yangzhou. As the assassin of Yangzhou, he naturally wants to seek more benefits for his people. Sun Ce said with a straight face, and the reason was also very sufficient. Cao Ying was about to say more, but saw a person hurriedly coming in outside the door and handing over a letter, Cao Ying took it and looked at it, and his face suddenly became gloomy.

"Your Majesty has something to call for you, so you need to rush there as soon as possible." Cao Ying said lightly after reading it, but there was a hint of murder in his tone. After a pause, Cao Ying said again: "I will return to the army tomorrow morning, as for who will take over Lujiang, Shouchun and other places, Taiwei Liu and General Sun can discuss and report to the imperial court after being decided, and you should ask Your Majesty for permission." I lost my company first, Zixiao, you greet the princes on my behalf. After speaking, he left the table in a hurry, leaving Sun Ce, Liu Bei and others in stunned. Cao Ren saw that the atmosphere was a little embarrassing, and hurriedly persuaded him to drink again, and for a while, the banquet at least seemed to be back to normal.

"Ladies and gentlemen, why do you think Cao Ying left the table in a hurry?" After the banquet was over, everyone in Xuzhou returned to Liu Bei's big tent, and Liu Bei asked in a low voice.

"Lord, I think it should be that Cao Ying has been absent from Xuchang for a long time, and the people in the court who oppose him have done something to force Cao Ying to rush back as soon as possible!" Zhao Feng was half speculating, but in his heart he was secretly recalling the trajectory of historical development, at this time, it should be almost Emperor Han Xian to write an edict, right?

"Thinking about it, wait for me to send more detailed work to Xuchang to inquire." Liu Bei estimated that it was almost like this, and after a while, he changed his words and said: "Cao Ying asked us to discuss with Sun Ce the ownership of Yuan Shu's territory, what do you think?" ”

"Jiujiang County is the result of our bloody struggle, and it must not be allowed. Moreover, only by occupying Jianghuai can you train the water master. As for Lujiang, it can be allowed. Zhao Feng first put forward his own opinion, Liu Bei was stunned when he heard this, and then asked: "Bo Tao wants to train as a water master?" ”

"Exactly, my lord, this Sun Cexiong is very talented, his ambition is not small, and now it is close at hand, sooner or later he will meet us on the battlefield. Without a sailor, how can we fight them! Zhao Feng said half-speculatively and half-affirmatively, Liu Bei looked at Lu Su again when he heard this, and the latter also nodded.

"In that case, how should we negotiate with Sun Ce?" Liu Bei asked. Zhao Feng looked around, Jian Yong and Sun Gan, who have always been known for their eloquence in Xuzhou, are not there, only he and Lu Su can still speak, although Xu Shu is resourceful, but his eloquence is not good, I am afraid that how to negotiate will fall on him, and he volunteered at the moment: "Lord, let me and Zijing go to negotiate with Sun Ce." ”

"It's good!" Liu Bei looked at Zhao Feng and Lu Su, nodded and agreed. At this time, Guan Ping suddenly hurried over and said, "Uncle, then Sun Ce is sending people to persuade Yuan Shu's troops to surrender and persuade them to go to Jiangdong together!" And just now, Li County Commander also sent someone to send news, saying that Jiangdong has sent people to incite people to move to Jiangdong in their counties, and tens of thousands of people have left in the past few days! ”

"Sun Ce's movements are so fast!" Zhao Feng was also a little caught off guard, seeing that some generals still didn't quite understand, he explained at the moment: "Jiangdong is vast and sparsely populated, and Sun Ce's population is now only one million, and the soldiers are only more than 100,000, so there is an urgent need for population." The land of Huainan has a population of nearly one million, and Sun Ce is determined to win this time. Even if he can't take Huainan, he has to get as many people and soldiers as possible. Speaking of this, Zhao Feng also sighed secretly in his heart: In history, Shu Han was defeated because the population was too small and the troops were insufficient. At that time, Shu Han occupied the land of Yizhou, and the core area actually had a population of 940,000. Thinking of the more than 100 million people in Sichuan in later generations, it is simply incredible.

"I see!" Zhang Fei and the others suddenly realized, "Hmph, Sun Ce Xiao'er really can't wait, big brother, wait for me to teach him a good lesson!" "Zhang Fei is about to do it." The third brother Hugh is reckless, Bo Tao, Zijing, Yuan Zhi, I don't know if you have a good plan for this? Liu Bei stopped Zhang Fei with a drink, but turned his head to ask Zhao Feng and the others.

"Lord, this matter needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, if Sun Ce is allowed to recruit too many people to Jiangdong, then even if we take Huainan, it will be useless. I think the lord should send someone to recruit them as soon as possible, and tell Li County to order them that as long as the people of these five counties are willing to stay here or go to Xuzhou, half of the taxes will be exempted in the next three years! Xu Shu considered proposing two emergency measures.

"Half of the taxes?" Liu Bei was caught off guard by Xu Shu's "generosity". "Don't be alarmed, the people of these five counties have lived under Yuan Shu's rule for a long time and are deeply oppressed. If it is reduced by half, then I Xuzhou will not lack this money and food, but the people will be grateful to Dade. Xu Shu then explained.

"I see!" Liu Bei also understood when he heard this, but Zhao Feng added with a smile: "Moreover, we are so generous to reduce half of the tax, if Sun Ce wants to incite the people to move again, he will inevitably spend a greater price, so that we can let them get less benefits even if we are not good." ”

"Makes sense!" Liu Bei also laughed when he heard this, but at this time, Zhao Feng remembered another one, and immediately proposed: "Lord, if you want to collect and surrender the soldiers, you can order General Ji Ling to go and gather the soldiers, after all, General Ji has been in Huainan for a long time and has a lot of prestige, and it should be more effective for him to persuade those soldiers to surrender." ”

"That's right!" Liu Bei also nodded in agreement when he heard this, so Ji Ling immediately set off to lobby in the prisoner camp. Originally, the prisoners of war should have been managed by Cao Ying, but now that Cao Ying is busy returning to Xuchang, he naturally can't care about them anymore. As for who will be in charge of Sun Ce and Liu Bei, this still needs to be discussed, and at present, we can only build a public opinion offensive first.

Early the next morning, Cao Ying's whole army left the village, and Liu Bei and Sun Ce sent them dozens of miles away before returning. However, although Cao Ying left in a hurry, he took with him a lot. Even those soldiers have a few more burdens, and they have really gained a lot.

"I can really move!" When Cao Ying was sent away, Zhao Feng hurriedly came to Yuan Shu's original "treasury" to take a look, and there was not much left in it. After asking someone, I learned that yesterday Cao Ying ordered someone to carry it overnight, and at least eighty percent of the money and grain were taken away.

"Isn't this just a share of spoils?" Zhao Feng thought a little spoofed. Cao Ying was in a hurry to leave, so he took Yuan Shu's money and food; Now Liu Bei and Sun Ce are not in a hurry, and they will slowly talk about the ownership of this land and the people that cannot be taken away. Of course, if you really can't talk about it, then you can only fight.

So that afternoon, Zhao Feng and Lu Su came to Sun Cejun's army to discuss the distribution of spoils. Sun Ce didn't come forward in person, and after meeting with them and being polite, he entrusted the matter to Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao who came in a hurry.

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