If you want to talk about this candidate, he has already analyzed it. Among the princes, Zhang Chao's power and territory were the farthest away from him, and Si Li only had a little border with Jingzhou. Even if you anger this person, it's not a big deal.

Hearing that it was Zhang Zhiyuan, Liu Bei was immediately surprised and said: "It is rumored that this person has a good way of governing the army, and his subordinates are like clouds, how can he deal with it easily?" ”

"My lord, it is precisely because he is not easy to deal with that we want to take him as an opponent, because only in this way can we unite the original Jingzhou army. With such a strong enemy, even if the people of Jingzhou have external intentions, they can only rely on us after considering the consequences. Zhuge Liang was still very confident, and after saying this, he also took out a few bamboo slips from his cuffs and said: "This is a few documents I have written, which are to be sent to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo, the lord can take a look, if it is feasible, someone will send it." ”

Liu Bei took the bamboo slip sent by Zhuge Liang with a suspicious look and looked at it carefully.

In March 2000, Liu Bei sent an envoy with letters to the land of Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Dong Zhuo.

Prime Minister's Mansion of Xudu.

After occupying Yuzhou and Xuzhou one after another, the Son of Heaven was forced to make Cao Cao the prime minister and allowed him to open the mansion.

In the main hall of the house, Xi Zhicai, Xun Yu and others were passing on the documents sent by Liu Bei.

Cao Cao sat on the main seat, seemingly careless, but in fact, he saw all the expressions of the two strategists. This time, Liu Bei sent someone to send a letter, saying that he was going to jointly attack Zhang Chao. The letter also said that the other party occupies the subordinate, which is clearly the heart of wanting to replace the Han family, as a person of the Han family, the uncle of the emperor today, he will never allow anyone to be disrespectful to the Han family, for this reason, he wants to unite all the families to crusade against Zhang Chao, at least snatch the subordinate.

Liu Bei did not say that he would completely defeat Zhang Chao and occupy the two states, but only said that he wanted to take back Si Li. All this seems to be just a warning to Zhang Chao, but in fact, it is really telling Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo that you can divide the division equally. After all, there are only five of them bordering it. And Liu Bei's strength is the weakest, and he will not grab the fruits of victory, and as soon as Zhang Chao lets it go, there are only three companies left.

I have to say that Zhuge Liang's move is very clever. He used a fat meat that everyone could see as bait, so that everyone knew that he was going to be used, but he would still make a move. After all, who doesn't want to get such a large piece of land, and who can watch others get it and be indifferent?

"This should not be an idea that Liu Bei came up with, it was from Zhuge Liang's handwriting." After reading the content on the bamboo slips, Xi Zhi spoke up.

"No matter whose idea it is, this is indeed a good time to hit Zhang Chao hard and snatch back Si Li. I don't think we missed it, and no one else wants to miss it. Xun Yu continued to say with Xi Zhicai's words.

In the current Cao Cao Group, Xun Yu is a very reused one. He was in charge of general internal affairs, and his position was the same as that of Lu Su in Zhang Chao's group.

Under such reuse, Xun Yu is indeed not completely pro-Cao, on the contrary, he has always wanted to restore the Han family in his heart. In his bones, he still claims to be a Hanchen.

It's just that Xun Yu behaves differently from others. In the hearts of others, Xiang Han dares to think but not to say, dare to think and not do, but he is indeed completely different, even if he says it, he does it, but Cao Cao can't help him.

In addition to the fact that Xun Yu is a member of the Yingchuan clan and has strong support from the scholar family behind him, it is that he is indeed very talented. Even so talented that Cao Cao had to reuse it. Of course, this person is also a person who does things, in addition to his heart to the Han family, he also does some other things that Cao Cao ordered to do very well.

It is precisely because of this that Xun Yu has become an alternative in Cao Cao's group. It's not that he fully supports the prime minister, but he is indeed a person who has been reused and even trusted.

This time, the two were invited, and Cao Cao just wanted to hear their opinions. This is also tantamount to soliciting the opinions of the two factions that support him.

After the two of them asserted, Cao Cao couldn't help but sneer and said: "Yes, this Zhuge Liang is really powerful, and Yangmou has also been used by him so well." From this point of view, I think the matter of Jingzhou will be postponed. ”

"Yes, my lord, this time is not conducive to going to Jingzhou." Xun Yu hurriedly said: "After all, Liu Bei is the uncle recognized by the emperor, and now he has united Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo to take the subordinate, if we do it at this time, the situation will not be in our favor." ”

"Yes, it is indeed unfavorable to do it now, even if it is so, it is better to deal with Zhang Chao together, this person has developed far faster than we imagined, and we can take this opportunity to kill his strength, if it can be solved in a war, it is even better." Xi Zhicai also suggested on the side.

The two top military advisors both said this, and Cao Cao knew that the attack on Zhang Chao could not be changed. When he said, "Okay, that's it, then it's time to send troops." It's just that we can't do Liu Bei's wish, I think it's enough to send Xiahou Yuan to lead 50,000 troops to attack this battle, what do we think? ”

Cao Cao didn't want to be an enemy of Zhang Chao right now. He still wanted to take Jingzhou first, and after completely occupying the Central Plains, he returned to the north to go north, at that time, with strong strength and the backing of the support of several states, it was not difficult to solve Zhang Chao.

In this way, Cao Cao had a perfunctory statement about sending troops, but as soon as his words fell, he was immediately opposed by Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu. "My lord, no. Although we are forced to attack, this is indeed an opportunity to strike at Zhang Chao, if we make good use of it, we may be able to solve it to him at one time, this is the biggest enemy of the lord. ”

The two military advisors actually agreed to deal with Zhang Chao with all their might, which made Cao Cao a little unexpected. "Do your best? Do you want to increase the number of troops? ”

"Yes, not only to increase the troops, but the lord had better personally recruit, so that he can create a huge momentum, and achieve the goal of inflicting heavy damage on Zhang Chao until he is eliminated." Xi Zhicai and Xun Yu both said very firmly.

Seeing that the two military advisors had the same attitude, Cao Cao hesitated and said, "Okay, I'll just think about it." ”

April 200 A.D.

A month after Liu Bei sent the letter, Cao, Yuan, Dong, and Liu began to raise troops together.

Among them, Dong Zhuo sent his general Duan Xuan to lead an army of 80,000 troops to Tongguan, so that the Lu Bu army guarding here could not move.

Yuan Shao sent Yan Liang as the general, Zhao Rui and Lu Weihuang as the deputy generals, and led 100,000 troops to Huguan in Zhongshan County to threaten the annexation of the state. At the same time, Wen Chou also led 80,000 troops to join forces with the senior cadres guarding the river to threaten Youzhou.

Liu Bei sent Guan Yu to lead 50,000 troops to Tianxi Mountain, threatening the safety of Hongjia County.

In the end, Cao Cao personally led 150,000 troops, with Xiahoudun as the main general, Xiahouyuan and Cao Hong as deputy generals, and Xu Dubing entered Xinzheng.

Under the alliance of the four princes, a total of more than 400,000 troops were raised to press directly to the division.

The Quartet began to mobilize troops and horses, and spread the text in the world, listing Zhang Chao's no, saying that as a general, he did not think about governing the country, and did capture the division and wanted to be the king in Luoyang, which is really worthy of everyone.

The article was written by Chen Lin, a minister under Yuan Shao, and it was spread all over the world, and the voice of criticism was all over the place, so that some Zhangjia wineries that opened everywhere were greatly affected. In the light case, they will leave the country within a time limit, and in the worst case, they will be directly smashed in the shop, or even confiscated all their property.

The world is turbulent, only in Yangzhou, that is, in the history of Soochow, is quieter.

At the beginning of the discussion of Zhang, some Wenchen suggested to the lord Sun Jian whether to punish the Zhangjia Distillery in the territory or directly confiscate his property.

Regarding the suggestions of the people below, Sun Jian did not agree.

Speaking of which, Zhang Chao has a life-saving grace for him. When he fought with Dong Zhuo at the beginning, if it wasn't for Zhang Chao's hand, I am afraid that he would have died in battle. It will not be the current matter of entering Yangzhou. Now some of his generals are attacking Jiaozhou, seeing that the general trend is coming, at that time he will become the lord of the two states, and he will also become one of the strongest princes, which is equivalent to having the qualification to win the world.

Sun Jian is chivalrous and knows how to make good use of others, which makes the talents around him gather more and more, and his strength has risen in a straight line.

But it is precisely because he has all this now that he has always opposed the matter of asking for Zhang. He will not forget that if Zhang Chao hadn't saved himself at the beginning, and made a statement to the emperor, so that he was named Yangzhou Mu, then there would be no such achievements now.

Whether it is gratitude or sticking to principles, Sun Jian did not agree to take any measures against the Zhangjia Liquor Workshop in the territory, on the contrary, he also allowed some people from the Zhangjia Liquor Workshop among other princes in the vicinity to settle in Yangzhou, but he took a certain fee for himself.

Sun Jian's statement to the people below is that when others beat others, they just make a lot of money in a muffled voice, which also blocks the mouths of Youyou. After all, this heavy tax extraction has indeed given great help to Yangzhou economically.

...... ......

Jinyang City.

One by one the information was sent to the general's mansion, Zhang Chao looked at the reports in front of him, and saw that so many assets were sealed, and even the murder of businessmen, his eyes became very solemn, and his face was also very bad.

Lu Su, who was standing aside, was also a little at a loss.

After the change on the front line, Guo Jia went to Hanoi and commanded the Dragon and Tiger Army led by Zhao Yun to face any possible crisis. And in the city, he is the only one who accompanies the lord, and now that something has happened, there is no one to consult.