In the middle of the ninth year of the Chu calendar, not only the Xichuan Shu Marquis Mansion surrendered, Yizhou completely changed its ownership on the surface, and the two states of Qingxu also changed the banner of the king one after another.

Taking advantage of "Liu Bei's death", Wei went directly south to Qingzhou, and Chu also relied on saving Liu Bei, who was not dead, and surrendered Xuzhou......

At the same time, the troops originally stationed on the eastern coast of Qingzhou, under the leadership of Lü Meng, assisted the Qi army to stay in Guanping to resist the invasion of Wei.

But at the beginning, because of the poor news, Guan Ping naturally couldn't trust Lu Meng, and did not cooperate from the beginning, but caused a lot of misunderstandings, so that Wei took the lead and really attacked Qingzhou, Guan Ping only relied on Donglai, which was controlled by Chu State, to barely block Wei's offensive.

And it is not only the military support of the two ports of Qingzhou that has made the contribution.

The soldiers and horses of the "Marquis of An Wei" stationed in Nanpi also attacked Leling under the leadership of Lu Bu - not seeking to really defeat it, but to transfer troops to Qingzhou so that Wei could not comfortably!

Even between the drags, Wei had not been able to recover half of Qingzhou when Chu had already settled in Xuzhou.

Although the main force of the Chu army was basically in Guandu, and the number of people in other battlefields was smaller, it was easy to drag down the footsteps of Wei to recover Qingzhou.

Not to mention, Lu Bu was so fierce that he was in a mess, stirring up internal and external troubles in Jizhou......

On the other hand, when Sun Ce was in the spring, he led his army into Longyou, expecting Ma Chao to continue to fulfill the agreement agreed with Zhuge Liang, but the target was changed to the state of Chu and ...... The conditions are even more demanding!

Originally, if the conditions remained the same, Ma Chao wouldn't mind too much, after all, Zhuge Liang had already said it, and Ma Chao had already promised it once.

However, the problem is that the State of Chu does not want to agree to the conditions promised by Zhuge Liang at all - to be the king of the State of Chu and sit in the Hetao Longyou? Just think about it!

The conditions given by the State of Chu to Ma Chao were just the same as other princes who surrendered, to be feudal and hereditary, but only the income from the "agricultural tax" of the feudal food was owned by the feudal lord.

Of course, this means that Ma Chao surrendered as a prince, and Ma Chao as a general, and after surrendering to Chu, he was still in charge of the Longyou army, and could be directly awarded the rank of general......

But even so, Ma Chao will not be willing.

even felt that Sun Ce was here to find fault!

Fortunately, Sun Ce didn't leave Zhou Yu behind, and with Zhou Yu's analysis of the pros and cons, Ma Chao would not directly meet Sun Ce.

The logic that Zhou Yu wants to figure out is actually very simple - now is not the time for the princes to compete for hegemony, and the world will be completely divided into the only two remaining parties, Chu and Wei, within a year.

As for what Xichuan, it is estimated that it will not be able to hold out for two or three months when the pseudo-Han cannot intervene, as for the pseudo-Han...... It will certainly be quickly divided between the two.

Xiliang Longright?

Even if Ma Chao really had divine help and quickly recovered the Hetao area, it would not be comparable to Wei and Chu at all.

And no matter whether it is Hetao or Longyou, from the perspective of geographical advantages, or from the perspective of people, there is no capital to separate from Wei and Chu!

First, the proportion of Han people in the two places is very small, and compared with the population of other regions, the Xiongnu and Zhuqiang are not many - from the productive forces, we can know that the same geographical resources, the agricultural civilization feeds far more people than the nomadic civilization, fishing and hunting civilization.

It's just that in the era of cold weapons, the war advantage of the nomadic civilization was too great, and it could easily occupy a large area of plains, and the agricultural civilization of the same population was "vulnerable".

However, even if Ma Chao unified Xiliang and Hetao, and continued to be the "Shenweitian General" of the Xiongnu and Zhuqiang, what could he do after that? Go to the north to compete with Xianbei for the desert steppe?

This is indeed an idea, but everyone knows that no matter Wei or Chu, as long as they unify China, what they have to do after that is to take back Xiliang and Hetao......

And Ma Chao's choice is nothing more than to help Chu suppress the Hetao Xiongnu and Zhuqiang who were instigated by Wei, or to join forces with Wei...... It was liquidated by the Chu State!

In Zhou Yu's words, even if Ma Chao chooses the latter, Chu Guo will not have a headache......

Where can Longyou fight?

Either Guanzhong, or Hanzhong, or Hetao - what can Ma Chao do if he defects to Wei? Storming Hanzhong?

When Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong before, Ma Chao didn't beat him, and now it's even more useless!

Entering the customs? Sun Ce is confident that he will be stuck in Chencang, not to mention that Guanzhong is no longer the main battlefield of the dispute between Chu and Wei, and the state of Chu in Guanzhong only holds the idea of "not making the eight hundred miles of Qinchuan become the backup of the Wei state", it doesn't matter if he can't occupy it, as long as the war has been going on, these eight hundred miles of Qinchuan will not be of any help to the Wei state.

Sima Yi's strategy of drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle also made the strategic rhythm of Chu State tense.

I'd rather expand the war than "boost" the Wei State!

After all, without the buffer of the Han family, Chu Wei could only fight head-on, and the chaos of the Wei clan also made the Chu Lu people not want to delay it any longer!

Ma Chao's entry into Guanzhong only made this "pot of porridge" more inclined to the taste of Wei, but no one could drink it.

For Ma Chao, the only meaningful thing is to enter the Hetao......

However, now the Xiongnu and Zhuqiang in Hetao are allies of Wei!

In Zhou Yu's words, Ma Chao can only choose Chu now, that is, accept the officials of Chu to be stationed in Liangzhou, and then when Ma Chao conquers the Hetao, not only Sun Ce's troops will also respond, but also a steady stream of supplies from Hanzhong.

Ma Chao accepted Zhou Yu's statement and ...... Rejected him!

If only according to the pros and cons, Ma Chao can indeed only "temporarily vote for Chu", unless the Chu State is upset in the future, loses to the Wei State in the north-south dispute, and turns to the defensive in an all-round way, Ma Chao will have the possibility of regaining his independence.

However, Ma Chao is not judged only by the pros and cons......

As a martial artist, Ma Chao's desire for power is very heavy, otherwise Ma Teng would not be overlooked now, but as a prince, Ma Chao is also very emotional!

This is a bit like Sun Ce at the beginning......

Even if the pros and cons are clear, Ma Chao is still "my life is up to me".

However, he did accept Zhou Yu's analysis, and his goal was on the Hetao - his goal could only be the Hetao, could he still fight the Western Regions? The Hexi Corridor in the middle is too long, and there are no supplies on the way, and the poorer central dynasties can't afford to support the Western Regions Protectorate, let alone Ma Chao?

However, as long as the Chu State is together, whether it is the Western Regions or Hexi, they can all be taken into their arms by the Chu State in a few years or more than ten years.

didn't need Sun Ce's help, Ma Chao changed an agreement, not to surrender to Chu, but to accept the "supervision" of Chu, during which he would go to the north to fight, and at the same time ...... The state of Chu also has to pay military salaries and military supplies!

Sun Ce didn't want to agree, but under Ma Chao's provocation, he changed to another agreement......

The Chu army left, but Sun Ce could stay, Ma Chao and Sun Ce fought once a month, Ma Chao won, then Chu will have to pay a month's military supplies, and if the tie is not owed, if Ma Chao loses...... immediately agreed to Zhou Yu's conditions!

Zhou Yu, who really grasped the decision-making power given by Bai Tu, finally agreed to Ma Chao's conditions, after all, the premise of these is that Ma Chao is indeed playing Hetao or Hexi.

Sun Ce was very moved, but he didn't know ...... Zhou Yu's account is that before Guandu divides the victory and defeat, even if Sun Ce keeps losing, it is not a loss!

And Ma Chao's personality, as well as the current situation in Longyou, made Zhou Yu not worry about Ma Chao directly breaking the contract and taking Sun Ce as a hostage......