(Thanks to the Great Alliance!) Thank you Zhao Wuxian 2014, ufgw, Tianmu Sanxian)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In mid-September of the second year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao took Hanoi County and extended his influence to the eyes of Ma Han. Subsequently, he sent Xun Chen to join the Zhizhong to contribute silk to the Son of Heaven, and claimed to "eliminate the ugliness and quell the chaos, and return the Han Lang Lang to the good." ”

Obviously, pacifying the north, there is no opponent, and Yuan Shao, who has nowhere to go, is holding back a lot of strength, and he is sharpening his knife to Henan.

Yuan Shao wielded a knife in Henan, and there were only two opponents: Ma Han and Cao Cao.

Can Yuan Shao fight horses? The answer is no, because he has nowhere to put his mouth.

There are only two places bordering Yuan Shao's forces: Youbeiping and Luoyang. Although there is also a Donglai, it can only be regarded as a semi-border across the North Sea.

Let's talk about Youbeiping first, this place, Yuan Shao can take it at any time, but after taking it, it means completely tearing up the covenant and breaking his face with Ma Han. So what are the benefits of taking Youbeiping? Nothing good, at least not for the time being. In this palm-sized place, there is no money, no food, and no people...... The only use is that it can be regarded as an important place, which can be used as a springboard to attack western Liaoning, and then occupy eastern Liaodong.

The question is, what does Yuan Shao want Liaodong to do? In the entire Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty, from Gongsun Zhan to Yuan + Shao to Cao Cao, no one took Liaodong in their eyes, otherwise how could they let the three generations of Gongsun and grandson entrenched in the king for half a century?

Unless Yuan Shao's head is kicked by a donkey, he will not fight in the Central Plains, and go to Liaodong, a wild place where "birds don't".

Let's talk about Luoyang, not to mention this, if Yuan Shao really dares to attack Luoyang, he will attract the world to attack him more than his younger brother who is the emperor. Unless his skull was sat on by an elephant, he would never dare to do such a thing that defied the world's condemnation.

Finally, let's talk about Donglai. Donglai, or rather the North Sea. In fact, it is the place that Yuan Shao and his eldest son Yuan Tan want to win the most. After the destruction of Gongsun Zhan, some people in the Yuan shogunate proposed to take advantage of the situation to attack Beihai and force the Liaodong army to abandon Donglai.

In this regard, Guo Tu persuaded and said: "If Beihai is attacked, then Donglai, Liaodong, and Luoyang should all respond, and it is more responsible for the imperial court, and the gains outweigh the losses." If you attack Henan, control the north and south of the river, and isolate the exchange between Luoyang and Donglai (Beihai), then Beihai will be good, and Donglai will be good. The melon will ripen and fall into the owner's pocket. ”

Yuan Shaolian called it a great good.

You don't have to fight Liaodong, you don't dare to fight Luoyang, you can't fight Donglai - Ma Han, the opponent, will be automatically excluded.

Next, Yuan Shao has only one person left to bully - Cao Cao.

Can Yuan Shao beat Cao Cao? The answer is, yes.

Yanzhou, the real hinterland of the Central Plains, conquered the world in the south. Yanzhou must be taken. Cao Cao, the former Ma Zai, the younger brother for many years, had no support from him Yuan at the beginning. Just one Lu Bu was enough to knock him to the ground and step on one foot. And this time, Cao Cao's expedition to Xuzhou was even more defeated by Ma Han and Xuzhou forces, and suffered heavy casualties. Nearly annihilated. Well, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a good bully.

Occupy a piece of anointed land. Its owner is a "soft persimmon", unless Yuan Shao's brain case has been stepped on by dinosaurs, how can he not beat Lao Cao? The best thing is that in the past, due to the alliance for many years, it was not good to turn his face directly, but now Cao Cao didn't know whether he was alive or dead, and he dared to stretch out his hand to Hanoi, and he sent an excuse to fight.

In October, Yuan Shao began to gather troops, military forces, grain, and materials from the four states, and continued to gather in Wei County. What Changge refers to is self-explanatory.

……

Cao Cao was in a hurry, he was really anxious, more anxious than the Xiapi fiasco and Hanoi's miscalculation. Yuan Shao is no better than Ma Han, Ma Han is a wolf, specializing in cold bites, as long as he beware of or avoid vital points, he still has a chance to escape; And Yuan Shao is a colorful tiger, as soon as this big insect presses over, it is inevitable and will die. It can be said that this is an unprecedented crisis faced by him Cao Cao and his Yanzhou group.

This is already miserable enough, but it's not over, what's even worse is that Cao Cao's back and belly are all enemies - Ma Han.

A fierce tiger was enough for him, and there was a vicious wolf next to him, and he was so dead that he couldn't die anymore.

In such a critical situation, even those who are as determined as Cao Cao are also disheartened.

Cao Cao came to Xun Yu's couch again to ask about the plan, and Xun Yu asked rhetorically: "If the general waves his army south, how will Ming Gong respond?" ”

Cao Cao sighed, and Liang Jiufang shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "The ground is narrow, the enemy is ten times larger than me, and there are strong enemies on the side...... There is nothing to do, only to raise the state to surrender ......" Speaking of this, Cao Cao bowed his head deeply, feeling guilty. Think about the beginning, he was vertical and horizontal, Henan, three expeditions to Xuzhou, how majestic? Under the tent, the martial arts gathered, and the crowd was excited, and the capital finally killed a piece of the world in this troubled era and achieved a feat. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, the once living comrades, either covered with corpses or struggled, were almost beaten back to their original form in the first year of Xingping. Why is it so difficult to start a business in troubled times? Why is there so much suffering that Heaven has inflicted on me?

Cao Cao, who has the feelings of a poet in his bones, thought of the end, he was already too snorting and sentimental.

Xun Yu pulled his sleeves and said helplessly: "Can Ming Gong not use my Shu brocade sleeves to wipe tears?" ”

Cao Cao raised his head, sniffed, looked at Xun Yu for a while, and suddenly smiled: "If Wen Ruo is confident, he must teach me, say it quickly." ”

Cao Cao is worthy of being Xun Yu's confidant, Xun Yu has indeed made up his mind, in order to prevent his expensive sleeves from suffering, Xun Yu will no longer sell Guanzi, and pointed to the west happily and simply: "Without him, dance with wolves." ”

Cao Cao blinked his eyes twice, first stunned, then realized, and finally slapped his big foot: "No mistake!" The tiger can swallow the sheep and the wolf, and the combination will benefit both sides, and the fight will hurt both. This person is eloquent, and there is no shortage of wise and strategic people around him, how can he not know. Hehehe, he must be waiting for us to present the covenant. ”

Cao Cao and Xun Yu guessed correctly, after Ma Han sent the dragon and wolf to defeat Cao Cao, he kept his troops still, neither went east out of the tiger prison, nor urged Gao Shun, Li Dian, and Lu Qian to step up the attack, but ordered the army to stay still. What's even more strange is that he also dispatched six men and horses to enter Henan from Yingchuan, and summoned Zhang Liao, Cheng Lian, and Ren Jun to gather all three groups of men and horses to Runan. made Liu Biao in Jingzhou nervous for a while. He also dispatched troops and sent envoys to inquire, but unfortunately even the chief general Zhang Liao didn't know what the situation was, so the envoys from Jingzhou naturally found nothing and returned in a huff.

This series of strange moves by Ma Han. For one person, to be exact, for the messenger sent by that person.

At the end of October, Ma Han's patient waiting for the results came to fruition, and the people he was waiting for came. It's an old acquaintance, Xun Yan.

Xun Yan's trip was a secret envoy, and there were only four people in attendance: Ma Han, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, and Xun You.

Although they are uncles and nephews, they belong to two camps at this time, each with its own master. Xun Yu was very respectful to Xun Yan. But as soon as he entered the negotiations, he immediately sat upright, with sharp eyes and even an aggressive attitude.

The reason given by Xun Yan is that his lips are dead and his teeth are cold; The request put forward was to jointly resist Yuan.

Ma Han's "spokesman" Guo Jia categorically refused, and did not even give a reason. Because they understand each other's reasons, it is a waste of saliva to say that the sky is broken. However, Guo Jia also admitted that Cao Cao perished. It's not good for you. Therefore, the plan he proposed is a secret help, and the plan is as follows:

1. Xuzhou will stop the siege of Kangfu and Gaoping, and withdraw to Xiaopei; 2. Return no less than 3,000 Cao army prisoners and some supplies; 3. Provide intelligence and food to Cao's army; Fourth, when necessary. The dragon wolf army will be directly dispatched to help. As for when it is "necessary", the right of interpretation belongs to Ma Han. However, Xun Yan knew that it should be the time to pick peaches......

And the conditions given by Ma Han. It is "exchanging Yu for Yan" - using Yuzhou for Yanzhou.

As long as Cao Cao withstood Yuan Shao's offensive until winter, Ma Han returned Yuzhou to Cao Cao. Yanzhou was handed over to him to compete with Yuan Shao.

"Yuan Shao is most likely to launch an offensive next spring, as long as your army can hold out until next winter, when Yuan's army is suspended, Cao Gong will be Yuzhou Mu." Ma Han didn't need a spokesperson anymore, and threw the biggest bait directly.

This is completely a copy of the original exchange with Yuan Shao's grain.

And in order to show his sincerity, Ma Han also gave two benefits: one is to return the proton Cao Ang. This person was the tool used to coerce Cao Cao and make him dare not act rashly, but now the situation has been reversed, and Cao Cao is afraid of the horse and acting rashly. Therefore, this son is useless, and it is not bad to return it to Cao Cao to show his sincerity. Then there is the fact that Ma Han has ceded part of the passage in Yuzhou, which can allow Cao Cao to transfer population and materials to Yuzhou and pave the way for retreat.

Is there any difference between getting Yanzhou and getting Yuzhou? Yes, very different. You must know that after Ma Han captured Yuzhou, he had completely cut off all the passages of Cao Cao to Jing, Yang, and Shu. At present, Cao Cao is sandwiched between the two behemoths of Ma Han and Yuan Shao, and there is no way out. If Ma Han wants to kill Cao Cao, he doesn't have to take action in person, he only needs to send heavy troops to block a few passages leading to Jing and Yang, and Cao Cao can only look at the sky and sigh.

Of course, Cao Cao could also choose to surrender to Yuan Shao. However, this time and that time. At the beginning, he was blown up by Lu Bu, and there was almost no place to stand, so he would defect to Yuan Shao, and he would be an ally, and Yuan Shao would also show some sincerity. And the current surrender, which is forced to land under pressure as an antagonist, is not the same thing at all, and this treatment is very different.

And at that time, everyone had a common enemy: Gongsun Chan and Lu Bu. And when the common enemy is no longer there, neither surrender nor surrender can be the same.

Will Cao Cao descend, of course not! He was just momentarily depressed in front of Xun Yu. At the beginning, he was beaten by Lu Bu to only three counties, and he didn't admit defeat, but now he still has more than half of Yanzhou, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and he may not have the strength to fight, how can he give up lightly? In the battle of Guandu in history, the ratio of Cao Cao's troops to Yuan Shao's strength is actually similar to the current ratio of Yuan Cao's troops. What Cao Cao really lost was his strategists and generals, and this shortcoming was fatal.

Of course, Cao Cao also knew that if he fought this battle, whether he won or lost, he would only be cheaper, but there was no way, he had to make a choice between Yuan Shao's pseudo-state pastor and the real Yuzhou herd.

Is it the splayed Yuan, or is it independent?

Ma Han gave Cao Cao the right to choose, and he believed that this person who could sing "Lao Ji Fu Fang, Ambition for a Thousand Miles, Martyr Twilight Age, Strong Heart", will definitely make a choice that is in line with his nature.

In mid-November, Ma Han met Xun Yan who came from Chen Liu again, and saw Cao Cao's reply, which only had six straightforward and simple characters: "If he wants to fight, I will fight!" (To be continued......)