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What Liu Biao never expected was that Li Li was extremely cunning, and just suffered a big loss in Jizhou, he changed hands and destroyed Xuzhou Lu Bu.

Xuzhou Lu Bu was destroyed, Liu Biao naturally had to be very energetic, always on guard against Li Li waving his army south to attack Jingzhou, for which he missed another opportunity to seize the opportunity to attack Yizhou in the Xiliang army. When the situation in the Central Plains calmed down and Liu Biao was ready to mobilize troops and horses to attack Yizhou, Li Li took the lead and quickly captured Chengdu, and asked Liu Biao to be busy.

Fortunately, opportunities always favor those who are prepared. After learning that the Western Liang Army was fighting in Yizhou, Liu Biao decisively decided to abandon Yizhou, avoid confrontation with the Western Liang Army head-on, and instead set his sights on Jiangdong.

In the end, the hard work paid off. Jiangdong Sun Ce's methods were too intense, and he made countless enemies, and was finally killed by the small people, thus leaving Liu Biao with an opportunity. When the situation in Jiangdong was chaotic, Liu Biao sent a large number of fine workers and assassins to fish in troubled waters, completely disrupted the situation in Jiangdong, profited from the chaos, secretly contacted Jiangdong important ministers, and mobilized a large army to put on a posture of attacking Jiangdong with all his might, and finally forced the Jiangdong Sun clan to bow their heads, form an alliance with Liu Biao, and become a vassal of Jingzhou.

Last year, the stubborn forces in Jiangdong were unwilling to be defeated and tried to avenge the late brothers Sun Ce and Sun Yi, so they brazenly launched a frenzied revenge, wantonly assassinated Jingzhou's subordinates, and attacked the state capital several times. In repeated assassinations, Liu Biao was injured in the left arm, and because he was hit by a poisoned arrow, the arrow wound could not be cured for a long time. Every time it rains on a cloudy day, Liu Biao's left arm is sore and weak, and his whole left arm hurts when he moves. Can't lift it up at all.

For this reason, Liu Biao was completely enraged, so he sent the dead soldiers of the family who had been raised for many years to infiltrate Jiangdong. Sun Ce's remaining two younger brothers, Sun Kuang and Sun Lang, were killed together, and Cheng Pu, Huang Gai and Han Dang, who assisted the three generations of the Sun family in Jiangdong, were also assassinated repeatedly. Wounded one after another, the iron-clad Huang Gai almost died at the hands of the Assassins. This unprecedented large-scale assassination operation lasted for nine months, with Jingzhou and Jiangdong suffering casualties on each other, and both sides suffered 1,000 enemy casualties and 800 self-inflicted losses, but neither side took advantage. Until two months ago, the male of the Sun family in Jiangdong was almost about to break his roots, and in desperation, the young master of Jiangdong sent an envoy to negotiate peace and bowed to Liu Biao again. Finally, there was no longer resistance, and the two sides reached a settlement.

A month earlier, Liu Biao sent Cai Zhongcai, a lieutenant general of the naval division, and the second general to lead 20,000 naval troops into Jiangdong, and supervised the shipyard in Wu County as the permanent port of Jingzhou's naval army. In exchange, the waterway along the river, which had been closed for many years, was opened to the public, allowing business travelers from the two places to come and go, and the Jiangdong veteran Han Dang led 15,000 Jiangdong troops to be stationed in Jiangxia to ensure the safety of Jiangdong business travelers crossing the river. on this. Liu Biao and the young master of Jiangdong had no objections.

Prior to this, although Liu Qi knew these things, he knew them but didn't know why, and he didn't know the details at all. He has always wondered that the Jingzhou army can completely capture Jiangdong. But why did he use the method of forced surrender to coerce Jiangdong into submission, instead of directly sending troops to attack. It was only at this moment that he found the answer from the words of the Kuai brothers and Cai Mao. The reason why his father Liu Biao took great pains to force Jiangdong to attach was because the Jingzhou army needed to preserve its strength. You can't use all your forces in the fight against the Jiangdong Army. Otherwise, once Xiliang Li Li suddenly sent troops to sneak attack. The Jingzhou army will face the dilemma of being attacked by the enemy on its back, and it will definitely leave an opportunity for the Xiliang army to take advantage of at that time.

The brave and combative Xiliang Army is well-known all over the world, if the Xiliang Army seizes the opportunity or finds a flaw, the consequences are unimaginable. If the Western Liang Army captures Fancheng, then Liu Biao's plan to seize Jiangdong is bound to suffer a heavy blow, at least he will be busy in vain, or at worst, he will be beaten with chickens and eggs, and even the old nest Jingzhou may be wiped out by the Western Liang Army. Therefore, Liu Biao did not want to and did not dare to do his best to send troops to Jiangdong, so he could only use extraordinary means to outwit Jiangdong and achieve the goal of collecting it for his own use, but he could not annex Jiangdong in one fell swoop, let alone force it too much, so as not to backfire and be injured by the tiger if he failed to fight the tiger.

Fortunately, as soon as Sun Ce died in Jiangdong, the once powerful Jiangdong Army was no longer as strong as it used to be, the young masters were weak, and the Jiangdong civil and military forces were also scattered, each with a ghost, and there were many differences that could not form a joint force. This makes it easy for Liu Biao to control the situation, and he can control Jiangdong remotely while sitting in Jiangbei, and drive the Jiangdong army as he pleases for his own use.

In view of this, although what the Kuai brothers and Cai Mao and others said is suspected of exaggeration, it is generally in line with the status quo and is not groundless.

"As you said, the Han clan who is qualified and has the strength to inherit the emperor is the only one who is Liu Biao." After walking around for a long time, Liu Biao finally spoke.

"However, have you ever thought that once my Jingzhou becomes an independent country and considers itself orthodox in the Han Dynasty, where will Xiliang Li Li be placed? Presumably you will not forget that although Li Liqi is an ambitious person, but he has not arrogated the title of emperor for a day, then he is the general who oversees the military and political affairs of the world under the edict of the Son of Heaven, and no one can change this. It must be known that whether Yuan Shu conspired against the emperor or Yuan Shao conspired to usurp the throne, they did not dare to provoke Li Li, and no one paid attention to the edict they issued, and the edict of the traitor was all exaggerated and worthless. Speaking of this, Liu Biao walked to the wide and soft state pastoral throne and sat down slowly, picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip of tea, and said no more. Half of the words came to his mouth, thinking that he did it on purpose, and the remaining half was left to everyone in the hall to think.

This is a problem that has plagued Liu Biao for a long time, and it is also the main reason why he has been hesitant, and it is also the deepest concern that makes him afraid of the throne.

Before solving this incurable disease, Liu Biao would rather maintain the status quo than rashly ascend the throne and become emperor. Because he was worried that he would reign over the world one moment, and face a million-strong army under Li Li's command the next, what was the use of inheriting the orthodox throne than this, it was better to maintain the status quo. At least as far as the current shape is concerned, Li Li has no excuse to send troops to attack Jingzhou, who made Li Li still hold the title of the general of the world's soldiers and horses, how can he attack the Han clan for no reason?

Just like the just-concluded Battle of Yizhou, Li Li secretly sent troops to Yizhou under the banner of helping Liu Zhang to quell the civil strife, so as to cover up the truth and appease people's hearts. Until the dust of the battle of Yizhou settled, the news that came to the states of the Central Plains was: Liu Zhang believed that his virtue was thin and talented, and he could not govern the country because he could not be an Anbangwen, and he had no achievements in Yizhou for several years, and he had no kindness to the people, and he had no performance to repay the emperor's favor, so he was willing to abdicate and give way to Xian, and Li Li led Yizhou and served as the pastor of Yizhou. It is said that when Li Li's army entered the city, Liu Zhang personally led Yizhou civil and military troops out of the city to greet him, while Li Li treated Liu Zhang with the courtesy of a prince.

Why did Lee do this? The answer is four words: it says it right.

No matter how the civil and military generals of the other princes' forces understand, they must know that Li Li intends to attack Yizhou, and the so-called Liu Zhang's request to surrender is just to fool ordinary people. But even if the princes knew what to do, the people of Li still said that Liu Zhang took the initiative to abdicate, not the general Li Li forcibly snatched it. In this way, not only did not damage Li Li's reputation, but added a bit of prestige, further highlighting Li Li's name of benevolence and righteousness, and then pushing Li Li's prestige to a height that other princes could not match, as if it was a high mountain to look up to the existence of zài, which made Liu Biao and Cao Cao envious, jealous and hateful, and sighed.

After a short silence, the Kuai brothers were speechless, so they turned their eyes to Cai Mao and motioned for him to persuade Liu Biao on behalf of everyone. Seeing the burning eyes on the left and right, Cai Mao's face showed a rare look of embarrassment, but he had to stiffen his neck and answer: "What the lord is worried about is nothing more than that, after the lord succeeded to the throne, the general used this as an excuse to send troops to attack my Jingzhou." The last general thought that the lord did not need to worry, and when the lord inherited the throne, he still enshrined Li Li as a general, and the official positions and titles of all the civil and military officers under his command remained unchanged, and then rewarded some wealth to appease. In this way, presumably the general should have no objections and will not use his sword in vain.

In other words, even if the general is still dissatisfied and still insists on sending troops to attack our Jingzhou, won't he have any worries? How could Cao Cao of Hebei sit idly by and miss the opportunity? You must know that once my Jingzhou is destroyed by the Xiliang army, it will be in vain for him to manipulate the ability to reach the sky, and it is impossible to fight against the million-strong army under Li Li Li alone, and sooner or later he will follow in our footsteps. In this section, how can Cao Cao, who is as smart as Cao Cao, not know the stakes?

Nowadays, Xiliang Li Li's family is dominant, and my Jingzhou and Hebei Cao Cao's two families are equally powerful, and they are unable to fight against Xiliang Li Li alone. It can be said that one is prosperous and one is lost, no one can do without anyone, and if one of the two is missing, it will be destroyed by Li Li! Therefore, the lord does not need to worry, it is imperative to inherit the imperial rule. I have to say that Cai Mao's insights are extremely incisive, and he analyzed the relationship between Hebei and Jingzhou very thoroughly, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he hit the nail on the head.

It can be seen that Cai Mao's ability to be the general of Jingzhou is by no means a fluke, and it is impossible to be a straw bag with more than enough success. In history, if Cao Cao hadn't mistakenly killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, would there still be a half-century-long Three Kingdoms scuffle?

"Well, now that the arrow is ready to be sent, I can't care about it so much." Cai Mao's words successfully persuaded Liu Biao, and he finally relented.

After a pause, Liu Biao advised: "The inheritance of the throne in Benzhou is to reorganize the Han family, maintain the bloodline of my imperial family, and defend the Han Dynasty, not for my own selfishness. It is necessary not to be in a hurry, not to be extravagant, to spend too much money and food, and to remember that Mu Xiu will be destroyed by the forest wind, and I Liu will not be the first usurper to ascend the throne and claim the emperor. ”

Why is that? The first prince to ascend the throne as emperor undoubtedly took the lead, why didn't the lord want to do it? Kuai Liang asked.

Liu Biao said very calmly, "Benzhou and the first emperor are in the same vein, the Han family is orthodox, why should we seize the opportunity?" Only after the princes with different surnames usurped the emperor, the enthronement of Benzhou is orthodox, otherwise, how is it different from the rebellious ministers and thieves? After speaking, Liu Biao got up slowly, as if he was a little tired, and added before leaving: "This matter will be handed over to Yu'er and the other six people, so Qi'er doesn't have to participate." ”

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