In early April, Liu Ye returned to Xiapi with bad news.

Fighting Yuan Shu is not a matter of two princes. It is said that Cao Cao should be the most active, but Cao Cao can only shout and cannot participate. Because, Xuzhou occupied Liang and Pei, and Liang was only about three or five days away from Xudu and Chenliu, and it was difficult for Cao Cao to go south without capturing Liang on the premise of not capturing Liang. However, it was impossible for Xuzhou to give up the Liang State, and when attacking Yuan Shu, he would even set up heavy troops in the Liang State to prevent Cao Cao's sneak attack.

On the other hand, now Zhang Xiu has taken refuge in Liu Biao and occupies Nanyang County, which is also very close to Xudu, but it can be reached in a few days. The possibility that Cao Cao can go south with confidence is very small. Therefore, in the matter of fighting Yuan Shu, in Xuzhou's established strategy, he did not think of involving Cao Cao.

The rest of the princes bordering Yuan Shu were only Liu Biao and Sun Ce. Liu Biao has long formed an alliance with Xuzhou, and he is a relative of the Han family, so he should have a high enthusiasm for fighting Yuan Shu. Therefore, in mid-February, Liu Bei sent Liu Ye to Jingzhou to discuss with Liu Biao about jointly dealing with Yuan Shu. Liu Ye and Liu Biao both belong to the Han family, and they should have more common languages, and they serve as military advisors in Liu Bei's camp, and their identities are enough, so Liu Bei sent him to communicate with Liu Biao.

Liu Ye arrived in Xiangyang at the end of February and was properly resettled by Liu Biao.

The next day, Liu Biao summoned Liu Ye, Liu Ye wanted to negotiate immediately, but unexpectedly, Liu Biao said that he only talked about Fengyue, not about state affairs!

Liu Ye was helpless, so he had to patiently accompany Liu Biao and his group, and talked about the ups and downs for a whole morning, without saying a word about the topic.

The next day, it was still the same, and the third day, it was still the same. On the fourth day, Liu Ye thought that no matter what Liu Biao said, he had to finish speaking! But Liu Biao is even more desperate, since the fourth day, he hasn't seen him at all, saying that he is busy with government affairs and can't get away. Afraid of treating Liu Ye slowly, Liu Biao sent Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang, or Cai Mao and others, to invite him to dinner in turn, every day is nonsense, and there is no useful sentence.

Finally, more than ten days have passed, Liu Ye is about to go crazy, and he said cruel words to Kuai Yue and the three of them, saying that if they don't talk about the topic, they will do it! Helplessly, Liu Biao saw him again.

However, as soon as Liu Ye talked about the fight against Yuan Shu, Liu Biaoma appealed, saying that Jingzhou's military equipment was lax, and the soldiers' combat effectiveness was low, and they only had the ability to defend the city, and they had no strength to fight. He also said that Cao Cao was a traitor, coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes, not a thing! He has already discussed with Zhang Xiu, ready to send 20,000 troops, Zhang Xiu's whole army attacked, Jingzhou supplied food and ordnance, and the two roads of men and horses killed Xu Du together, saving the Son of Heaven from fire and water, and returning the Han Dynasty to a bright future. Since he went to fight Cao Cao, he would be even more powerless to attack Yuan Shu in the east, so I can only apologize! It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't do anything about it. After you go back, you must have a good talk to Brother Xuande, I am loyal to the Han, I will always be a good brother of Brother Xuande, so and so, so and so!

In the hall of the General's Mansion, Liu Bei, Tian Fan, Chen Qun, Lu Su, Liu Ye, Chen Deng, Chen Gong, Xu Shu, Sun Qian, Shi Tao and others sat down, and everyone listened to Liu Ye tell about the situation of meeting Liu Biao this time.

After Liu Ye finished speaking, he frowned and shook his head, and said, "I really didn't expect that Jingsheng Gong would not agree!" ”

The crowd was also speechless for a while.

After a long time, Liu Bei said with a headache: "Last time Boguang went to form an alliance with him, he obviously said that it was okay, why did he stop doing it when the matter came to an end?" ”

Lu Su pondered for a while, and said slowly: "Lord, the matter of Jingsheng Gong is also reasonable!" ”

Liu Bei said: "Oh? What does this mean? ”

Lu Su said: "Lord, think about it, the four-way princes attacked Xuzhou a year ago, and we were considered victorious, although only Boguang's North Road and Yunchang's Longkang Road had greater results, and the other two roads did not have great results, but we successfully resisted the attack of the four-way princes." There was a fluke in it, but we won after all! In this way, the world shook, and all the princes understood our great combat power. The princes who were close to us were even more cautious, for fear that we would attack them. …,

"And Jing Shenggong, of course, is also afraid of our strong strength. Jingzhou, where he is located, is only separated from us by a Yuan Shu, if Yuan Shu is destroyed by our team, then ...... He borders on me, Xuzhou! ”

Chen Gong nodded and said, "Zijing is right!" Liu Jingzhou there, now there is Zhang Xiu in Nanyang in the north, which is enough to resist Cao Mengde's attack, and there is Yuan Shu, the public enemy of all the princes in the east, to help him block us, Jiangdong is still unstable internally, and it is necessary to temporarily accumulate strength, and Liu Zhang and Zhang Lu in the west do not have enough strength to invade Jingzhou, and the south is ...... Hehe, in this way, the forces around him can't threaten him! This is the result he wants most, so he naturally doesn't want to help us fight Yuan Shu. ”

Everyone couldn't help nodding, and Tian Fan said: "Yes, any neighbor may become an enemy, so a strong neighbor is a potential threat to yourself!" ”

Everyone was stunned, and they couldn't help but applaud in an instant! Chen Qun stroked his palms and sighed: "Boguang is smart, hehe, the reason for this is clear in one sentence!" ”

Tian Fan smiled at him and didn't speak.

Xu Shu said: "In this way, then we can only fight Yuan Shu by ourselves?" ”

Liu Ye bowed his head slightly and said, "That's the only way!" But...... If we fight Yuan Shu by ourselves, it will be somewhat difficult! Well, now there are 40,000 recruits and 40,000 veterans in the Xiapi camp, of which 18,000 are cavalry, and they have little room to play in this war, so there are only more than 10,000 veterans who can participate in the war. Before the start of the war, we first swapped the recruits with the rest of the four people, so that we have more than 60,000 veterans of the hundred battles, plus 30,000 people in the general headquarters of Guan in Longkang, more than 80,000, I think it is enough! ”

Chen Deng shook his head slowly and said, "I don't think so!" First of all, we must leave some people in the camp of Xiapi, and in order to prevent Cao Mengde from sending troops, we will also increase our troops to Liang State. In this way, the actual number of troops who can participate in this war is only more than 60,000 people. Whereas...... I guess that Yuan Highway will not go out of the city, after all, they have a heavy drought there, and they are afraid that this year's summer harvest will be wasted. If he doesn't leave the city, then we're going to be fighting a siege war...... In Yuan Highway's hands, there are more than 100,000 soldiers, and our pressure is ......."

After that, he shook his head and said with some sore teeth: "This battle is very difficult to fight!" ”

Xu Shu said: "It's not all! Cao Mengde, hehe, does not play cards according to common sense! If we can't keep it, he will send troops to make trouble for us. Well, the army of Liang was only 20,000, and after the change of troops, Xuangao could only have 20,000 recruits and 10,000 veterans. These men had more than enough to defend the city, but not enough to siege it. Cao Mengde's troops in his hands were about 80,000, except for the people who had to be defended, he could transfer more than 20,000 people on the premise of ensuring that Chen Liu and Xu County would not be broken by General Zang.

"Wait for our Long Kang's men and horses to move, if he quickly intersperses with Peiguo, General Zang can't move easily, he Cao Mengde will give us a lot of trouble, hehe, it's enough for us to bear!" Therefore, our war must be resolved quickly, before Cao Mengde and Yuan Benchu react, or before they cause us much harm, it must be over! ”

Everyone couldn't help nodding their heads, and they all started to worry about this war.

Tian Fan frowned and said slowly: "It's not more!" Assuming that we can quickly occupy Yuan Shu's territory, how can we defend it? Leaving aside the northern area of Yuzhang County south of the river for the time being, let's talk about the two counties of Lujiang and Jiujiang north of the river. The two counties are adjacent to the river and are only separated by a river from Jiangdong. Thousands of miles of river water, unhindered and unhindered, if the Jiangdong Navy takes advantage of our unstable foothold and sneaks up on us, how should we deal with it? ”

Liu Bei rubbed his brows with a headache and said, "Yes, this battle is really difficult to fight!" Even if we destroy Yuan Shu and don't lose too many men, how can we defend Lujiang and Jiujiang in the future? Yun Chang's Long Kang army can be divided into parts and used to defend one county, but what about the other county? Hey, if our navy is strong enough to put enough pressure on Jiangdong, why is there any need to worry so much? ”…,

For a while, everyone had no idea, so they could only frown and think hard.

Liu Bei looked at a few people with expectant faces, hoping that they could come up with an idea, but he only saw one or two frowning, thinking bitterly, and slowly, the hope in his heart became more and more slim.

After a long time, Tian Fan spit out two words in his mouth, "if ......".

The crowd couldn't help but look at him, hoping that he would come up with another good idea.

Tian Fan glanced around at everyone and said, "I mean, if, if we form an alliance with Jiangdong, won't the problem of Jiujiang and Lujiang be solved?" ”

Liu Bei was stunned!

Shi Tao, Chen Qun, and Sun Qian said in unison: "How is it possible? ”

Lu Su, Liu Ye, Chen Gong, Chen Deng, and Xu Shu said: "How to form an alliance?" ”

Tian Fan looked at Liu Bei, and then at the rest of the people, not knowing how to answer! Shi Tao and the three of them obviously have a low level of understanding of politics, and they probably feel that Xuzhou and Jiangdong are enemies, which cannot be changed.

Liu Bei saw that he was stunned, and hurriedly asked, "Boguang, tell me quickly, how to form an alliance?" Chen Qun and the three of them also thought through that politically, anything is possible. The three of them looked at Tian Fan intently and nodded.

Tian Fan bowed his head slightly, and said: "Lord, everyone, the environment in my Xuzhou is not good, and the environment in their Jiangdong is not good!" That's what I think, I know it with affection, and I move it with reason! In addition to giving Jiangdong some benefits economically, militarily, I will encourage them to clear out the powerful clan forces in Jiangdong. And, in order to show my sincerity, I will promise them to transfer all the troops in Guangling County except Guangling, and even Guangling alone can only leave 10,000 people. Of course, their Dantu's army will also be withdrawn. In this way, from Guangling to the south, all the way to Danyang County, Moling, and the northern part of Qu'a in Wujun County, it is a military vacuum, and neither side can garrison troops, so naturally they cannot attack each other in a short time. ”

The reason why Tian Fan came up with such an idea is because in history, the southern area of Guangling was a buffer zone between Wu and Wei, and this area was not allowed to garrison troops on both sides.

Of course, Guangling County in history, because it has been plagued by Zhenrong, has become a scorched earth, and it is meaningless to defend it or not. And Tian Fan's suggestion is very troublesome. Now in the south of Guangling, but the economy is very developed, and there is a shipbuilding center in Xuzhou, once lost, the shipbuilding industry in Xuzhou will be finished, and there will be no way to talk about the navy!

Naturally, no one will agree!

Chen Qun shook his head again and again, and said, "It's not proper, it's not proper, Boguang, this plan is not proper!" What if Eastern Wu betrayed his word and captured Guangling? Then we will lose a lot! Big inappropriate! ”

The rest of the people also shook their heads, and none of them agreed.

Liu Bei didn't speak, he pondered for a while, still couldn't figure out the key, and asked, "Boguang, you talk about it carefully!" ”

Tian Fan nodded and said, "Lord, everyone, let's analyze the internal situation in Jiangdong. Inside Jiangdong, there were many clans and powerful people, who occupied large areas of land and built fortresses against the government. In addition, many places in Jiangdong live in the Baiyue ethnic group, who have always refused to accept the king and opposed the government. Therefore, Jiangdong also urgently needs time to digest various internal fetters, and it is estimated that they are also powerless to attack Xuzhou.

"And we, too, want to develop in Xuzhou, and the first step is to destroy Yuan Shu. And to destroy Yuan Shu's forces, we are not enough, at the same time, plus our naval army is not good, not Jiangdong's opponent, if you want to fight Jiangdong, it is also very difficult. In that case, why can't we make an alliance for the time being? For us, time is of the essence. As long as we occupy Yuan Shu's territory and have a population of nearly two million in the two counties, we can immediately expand our army. As long as it takes two years, when the training of the new army is completed, we will have enough troops to deploy and even attack. …,

"Similarly, the Jiangdong side also needs time to rectify the interior, and when they finish rectifying the internal inconsistency, they will have enough strength to attack Jingzhou! The lord, Sun Bofu, is known as the little overlord of Jiangdong, this person has a strong temperament, attaches great importance to commitment, and also attaches great importance to hatred. On the one hand, his father, General Sun Wentai, was killed by Huang Zu, and he was desperate for revenge. On the other hand, as long as he promises something, it is very difficult to change! That's why I'm proposing such an approach. ”

Glancing at everyone, seeing that the color on their faces was slightly loosened, Tian Fan continued: "Of course, in order to prevent the other party from treacherous, after we successfully attack Yuan Shu, we will station a fast special team near Gaoyou County, and once something happens in Guangling, we can quickly reinforce it in one to two days!" ”

After finishing speaking, Tian Fan didn't say anything more.

After a while, Lu Su took a breath and said, "Boguang's suggestion, I think it's okay!" What do you see? ”

The rest of the people nodded slowly, and Chen Qun said, "Yes, but what about where our navy will train in the future?" ”

Tian Fan said: "Brother Changwen is very careful, hehe." Lords, I think so! Since neither side can garrison troops on land, then the naval army naturally cannot be stationed either. Once the alliance between the two sides is successful, only fighting ships and light boats can be stationed in the river, and the main ships of the navy are not allowed to be stationed. We quickly wiped out Yuan Shu, and after that, our army used Chaohu Lake as our naval base! Well, there is a water gully in Chaohu Lake now, but it shouldn't be beaten! And Jiangdong there, the naval army was stationed in Zhenze. Zhenze is far from Dantu and Chaohu is away from Guangling, and the distance is not big, once one party does something, the other party also has time to respond. ”

Everyone pondered for a while and nodded their heads one after another. Liu Ye said: "The head of Chaohu Lake is named Zheng Bao, and I am familiar with him. Once we occupy the two counties, I will persuade him to take refuge in the lord and add another man to the lord! ”

In this way, there was no problem with the few suggestions Tian Fan said, and everyone passed it.

This idea was Tian Fan's idea, and naturally, the duty of envoy to Jiangdong fell on him.

In order to ensure that the other party would not hurt Tian Fan, Liu Bei first wrote a letter and sent it to Sun Ce in Jiangdong to probe his tone first.