When the imperial court's edict came to Xuzhou, Liu Zezheng was discussing with the strategists, and the main discussion was also about the use of troops against Yuan Shu.

Chen Deng took the lead and said: "Yuan Shu plotted against the rebellion, claiming to be the emperor, this is a great rebellion, the princes of the world rose up and condemned it, the lord moved to the rule of Pi, and was trying to Tunan. ”

Xu Shu said: "Yuan Shu is the emperor, and the lord is getting his name for crusading against him, but our army is reorganized, and the armies are still in the process of drilling. ”

At this moment, the envoy of the Son of Heaven arrived, and Liu Ze had no choice but to get up and go to receive the order first, and then come back after receiving the order and continue the meeting.

Liu Ze threw the edict on the table, and said with a smile: "It seems that Lao Cao wants to use us as spearheads again this time." ”

Mi Zhu said angrily: "This Cao Cao's heart is not right, as the third prince of the court, he does not go to crusade against thieves, but he falsely preaches the holy decree to let us give him his life, it is really hateful!" Obviously, Mi Zhu was still angry about Cao Cao's slaughter of Xuzhou back then.

Jia Xu said with a smile: "Cao Sikong has a good calculation, the two tigers fight, there will be an injury, the praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch is behind, it seems that his heart to plot Xuzhou is not dead." ”

Liu Ze was disapproving; "It is our established strategy to go south to Huainan, Yuan Shu is the emperor, and the people rebel and leave, but it gives us a good opportunity, Cao Cao's calculation is his business, but he thinks that I will fight with Yuan Shu and lose both, then he thinks wrong, with me Liu Ze in one day, his plot in Xuzhou will never succeed. As for the fact that our army has just been reorganized, this is not a problem either. Only by substituting training in battle can more problems be discovered, and an excellent army can only be tempered in the flames of war. ”

If you don't die, you won't die, since Yuan Shu has already dug a grave for himself, Liu Ze has no reason not to give him a ride. Yuan Shu, a clown-like character who jumps off the beam, is arrogant, thinking that he can fill the sea with a bowl. It's ridiculous. The land of Huainan and two counties. Even if he is a thorn, he doesn't think the place is big enough, Yuan Shu actually wants to be the emperor, what do you say he is not dizzy?

What makes Liu Ze most ridiculous is that you should be the emperor. There cannot be two kings in a country. There are no two kings in the country. But Yuan Shu actually called himself the Zhong family, Uncle Zhong Ji, and Zhong was the second. As soon as he ascended the throne, he claimed to be the second emperor, this Yuan Shu is really a second goods! Obviously, Yuan Shu is also weak-hearted, and he does not dare to publicly play the slogan of overthrowing the Han family, respecting Emperor Han Xian in Xudu as the eldest emperor, and he is willing to be the second emperor of the Zhong family, and he has a thief's heart but no thief's courage.

In last year's battle of Xuyi, Liu Ze had already figured out Yuan Shu's hole cards, so Liu Ze was still full of confidence in dealing with Yuan Shu.

Seeing that Liu Ze had already decided to go south to Huainan, the strategists naturally no longer dwelled on the question of whether to send troops, and then everyone discussed how to send troops.

After repeated discussions and studies, a detailed operational plan for sending troops to Huainan was finally established. The attack on Huainan will be carried out by Liu Ze's First Army and Zhang Liao's Fourth Army, Guan Yu's Second Army will be responsible for staying in Xuzhou, and the Third Army will be trained in Jiulishan and will not be engaged in the battle of Huainan.

The specific military plan was as follows: the First Army Corps and the Fourth Army Corps were divided into two routes, the first Army Corps started from Xiaqiu, advanced westward along the north bank of the Huai River, and attacked Yicheng, Ping'a, Xia Cai and other counties, and the Fourth Army Corps set out from Xuyi and advanced westward along the south bank of the Huai River to attack Zhongli, Yinling, Xiquyang and other counties.

The two corps in this battle had two cavalry divisions and five infantry divisions, with a total strength of more than 70,000 troops, including 6,000 light cavalry, which was the largest scale of Liu Ze's campaign. The order to go out has been issued to all corps, divisions, brigades, and battalions, and the First and Fourth Army Corps that received the order immediately plunged into pre-battle preparations.

The date of departure was set for ten days later.

Just when Liu Ze was ready to go on the expedition, he suddenly received an unexpected news: Liu Bei is here!

When he first heard the news, Liu Ze was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly got up to greet him.

I haven't seen him for five years, Liu Bei's appearance hasn't changed much, his face is like a crown of jade, his lips are greased, and his three short hairs under his chin are elegant, but he is a little thinner than before, covered with wind and dust, at first glance Liu Ze, Liu Bei didn't speak, his eyes turned red first, his voice was a little choked, and he said: "Second brother, I haven't seen you for a long time, are you okay?" ”

Liu Ze said in his heart, Liu Bei's crying problem really hasn't changed, and he said at the moment: "Brother Lao is worried, and the younger brother is fine, I don't know how my brother is doing?" ”

It's okay not to say this, but as soon as he said it, Liu Bei let out a long sigh, his expression was gloomy, and he shook his head again and again. Liu Ze knew that this was not the place to talk, so he welcomed Liu Bei into the mansion.

After three rounds of tea, Liu Bei said the purpose of this trip. After the Battle of Jieqiao, although Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shao each withdrew their troops, both sides have been secretly killing. In the fourth year of the first peace, the contradiction between Gongsun Chan and Liu Yu intensified, Liu Yu wanted to cut off Gongsun Zhan's military power, and led 100,000 troops to surround Gongsun Zhan, but Liu Yu was a literati and did not do well in the march to fight, not only did not take Gongsun Zhan, but was raided by Gongsun Chan with hundreds of elite soldiers, Liu Yu was defeated, and was captured by Gongsun Chan in Juyong City. Later, Gongsun Chan coerced Duan Xun, the envoy of the imperial court, to kill Liu Yu and seize the power of Liu Yu to supervise the six northern states. Yuan Shao took advantage of the chaos in Youzhou to attack Gongsun Chan on a large scale, and since then the sword has not stopped, although Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Chan in the two battles of Gu'an and Longcuo, but in the battle of Juma Shui, Gongsun Chan won a big victory, and the two sides gradually became evenly balanced.

In the second year of Xingping, Liu Yu's subordinates Xian Yufu and others rebelled under the banner of avenging Liu Yu, and publicly promoted Yan Rou as Karasuma Sima, and connected the cavalry of Xianbei Wuhuan to attack Yuyang, Yuan Shao also took the opportunity to send troops to attack Youzhou again, Gongsun Zan suffered from the enemy on his back, and was defeated repeatedly. Liu Bei heard that Liu Ze was already in charge of the five counties of Xuzhou, so he volunteered to come to Xuzhou to ask for help.

Liu Ze still generally knows the situation in Youzhou, and the Jinying Wei Youzhou Branch will regularly feed back the information to Xuzhou. Last winter, Yuan Shao added an offensive on the Qingzhou side and sent an additional 100,000 soldiers and horses to Yuan Tan. Liu Ze didn't brush his face, and sent Guan Yu to lead three divisions north to rescue Qingzhou. But Tian Kai was defeated too quickly, and before Guan Yu left the Langya territory, the news came that Linzi City was broken and Tian Kai fled north by boat. So the matter of reinforcements is gone. After the city of Beihai was broken, Kong Rong escaped from Beihai, passing by Xuzhou, Liu Ze expressed his intention to stay, how could Kong Rong's heart be in the court, and he had accepted the official position of the court's master craftsman, and he was very strong, Liu Ze knew that he would not die well, but he was helpless.

However, Liu Ze was undeniable to Liu Bei's request to rescue Gongsun Zhan, and he did not agree or refuse.

Liu Bei was anxious and said: "Brother Wei knows that Bo Jue did not rescue the plain back then, resulting in the defeat of the second brother at the hands of Yuan Shao and the loss of Pingyuan County, the second brother will inevitably be obsessed with the mustard, but since the matter has passed, I hope that the second brother can see the love of the brother and save Bo Jue from fire and water." ”

Liu Ze smiled indifferently, Pingyuan County is actually just a springboard for him, and the gains and losses don't have much practical significance, not to mention that he is not the kind of person who will repay him, and he has already thrown the little grudge with Gongsun Zan to the Jawa country, where he will remember this.

"Where did the elder brother come from, the little brother has long forgotten about the plains, so why worry about it. It's just that the elder brother can still remember that the younger brother once said that Gongsun Zhanzhi is talented, arrogant, and forgetful, and will be retributed, and it is not surprising that there is such a defeat today. ”

Liu Bei thought about Liu Ze's words of persuasion back then, his expression darkened a lot, and he sighed: "The second brother's words are reasonable, but Bo Jue treats me very well and can't bear to abandon him." ”

Liu Ze said: "Gongsun Zhan is just self-serving, he doesn't listen to people's words, I wrote a letter to advise that day, but it turned a deaf ear, today's defeat is just to blame, and can you blame others?" ”

Liu Beiqi said: "Why did the second brother send a letter to Bo Jue? Why have I never heard of it? ”

Liu Ze said: "When Gongsun Zhan captured Liu Yu that day, I wrote to him to persuade him not to kill Liu Yu without permission. Liu Yu has been in Youzhou for many years, has been widely gracious, and has won the hearts of the people. Gongsun Zhan didn't listen to my advice, insisted on going his own way, killed Liu Yu, and was defeated. Liu Yu once recommended Liu Ze as filial piety, according to the rules of the Han Dynasty, Liu Ze is Liu Yu's protégé, although Liu Ze may not be rare this filial piety, but he is still very appreciative of Liu Yu's character, loyal and simple, honest and noble. After Liu Yu was captured by Gongsun Zhan, Liu Ze wrote a letter to Gongsun Zhan, saying that there were benefits and harms, and interceded for Liu Yu, but Gongsun Zhan ignored it at all, insisted on going his own way, and finally killed Liu Yu.

Mentioning this, Liu Bei only smiled bitterly, and said: "I also advised Bo Jue not to kill Liu Yu at that time, but Bo Jue insisted on killing, maybe he has a hard time, Liu Yu has been in charge of Youzhou for many years, and his cronies are innumerable. ”

Liu Ze sneered: "Is it really possible to kill it?" Liu Yu is dead, Xian Yufu and Yan Rou are not rebelling as usual, if Liu Yu is still there, Yan Rou and others will definitely be jealous, and they will definitely not be as unscrupulous as they are now, why will it become today's situation? ”

Liu Bei was stunned and speechless. (To be continued......)