However, it was said that Cao Cao met Dong Cheng at the palace gate, although he did not find a flaw for a while, but he always suspected that there would be a conspiracy for the Son of Heaven to reward Dong Cheng with a jade robe, so he sent someone to secretly follow him, secretly visit, and always be on guard.

Dong Cheng's whereabouts and contacts are all under Cao Cao's control.

On this day, when he heard that Dong Cheng was visiting Liu Bei at night, he sent Xu Chu and Zhang Liao to invite Liu Bei to the house.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei went out, Liu Bei was hoeing grass and watering vegetables in the vegetable garden, and when he heard Xu Chu and Zhang Liaozhi, he hurriedly hoeed and greeted him.

Xu Chu and Zhang Liao met Liu Bei and said that Cao Cao had invited him to the house.

Liu Bei asked what was the matter?

Xu Chu said: "Prime Minister please, I don't know." ”

Liu Bei was timid in his heart: "I'll go when I change my clothes." ”

Zhang Liao said: "The imperial uncle and the prime minister are not outsiders, so they don't need to change their clothes, so as not to wait for a long time in the prime minister's house." ”

Liu Bei was even more uneasy, handed over the hoe to his subordinates, and instructed: "Wait for Yunchang and Yide to come back, inform me that I will go to the mansion at the invitation of Meng De, and I will return soon, don't be in a hurry." After that, he went to the Prime Minister's Mansion with the two.

When Cao Cao saw Liu Bei, he asked with a smile: "Please tell me, what a big thing you are doing at home?" ”

Liu Bei thought that he was plotting with Dong Cheng, and his face was as frightened as dirt.

Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei was dressed in a costume, and took Liu Bei's hand until the back garden: "Xuande learns to grow vegetables at home all day long, which is not easy. ”

Liu Bei saw that he was relieved: "The DPRK and China have their own prime ministers to work hard, but I can't do anything, I'm bored at home, just to spend time." ”

Cao Cao said: "When I saw Mei Ziqingqing, I suddenly remembered that when I was fighting against Zhang Xiu last year, there was a shortage of water on the road, and the soldiers were thirsty and unbearably thirsty, and they didn't want to move forward. I had no choice but to come up with a plan, and pointed to the front with my whip and said to the soldiers, 'There is a plum grove ahead, which bears a lot of fruit, and the sweet and sour plum fruit can quench your thirst. When the soldier heard this, his mouth watered, and he felt no thirst, and he rushed forward. Who knows, the plum tree has not yet borne fruit. Some people say it's fraud, what does Xuande think? ”

Liu Bei said: "Although the prime minister's Meilin is false, it is true to inspire morale, and the wisdom of using soldiers is beyond the reach of others." ”

Cao Cao said: "It's just a 'one-shot' plan. ”

What Liu Bei said is true, and later generations have a poem praising "looking at plum to quench thirst" and saying: "The general immediately set up a good plan, looking at the green mountains and pointing to the plum tree." The days and months have been coming for a long time, and the name has not been immortalized for thousands of years. There are also poems that say: "Thousands of miles of Wujiang spring water is deep, Xu Jun drinks Ma Wangjiangxun." There is no trace of flowers and trees in the empty mountain, and they have been pointed out by Cao in vain. ”

Cao Cao listened to Liu Bei's comment on "Wangmei Quenching Thirst": "Whether it is wisdom or fraud, as long as it can stimulate morale, the goal has been achieved." Seeing the plum fruit green today, and the wine is ripe, please make the king to the small pavilion to enjoy the plum wine. ”

The two of them sat opposite each other in the small pavilion, with a plate of green plums and a bottle of boiled wine in front of them, and drank happily.

The wine is half-drunk, and suddenly the clouds are full, Cao Cao talks about the heroes of the world from the change of the dragon, which is the section of "Green Plum Cooking Wine on Heroes".

Cao Cao said: "The dragon can be big and small, and it can stretch and hide; The big one is the clouds and the fog, and the small one is hidden and hidden; The rising is soaring between the universe, and the hidden is lurking in the waves. Fang is deep in this spring, the dragon changes when the time comes, and the Jews have the ambition to cross the seas. Dragons are things, comparable to the heroes of the world. Xuande has been in all directions for a long time, and he must know the heroes of the world, please talk about it, who can be called the heroes of the world? ”

"With the naked eye, how can you recognize the heroes of the world?" Liu Bei didn't know what medicine was in Cao Cao's gourd, so he dealt with it carefully.

"Hugh should be humble." Cao Cao said nonchalantly.

Liu Bei said: "I have received grace under the court, and I have never known the heroes of the world." ”

"I don't know him, but I also know his name, please try to say it."

Liu Bei saw that Cao Cao was asking questions tightly, and he didn't know Cao Cao's intentions, so he successively said Huaihe Yuan Shu, Hebei Yuan Shao, Jingzhou Liu Biao, Jiangdong Sun Ce, Yizhou Liu Zhang and others, who should be regarded as heroes in the world.

Cao Cao pointed out the disadvantages of each of these people, saying that they were not heroes in the world.

Liu Bei asked who could be called the hero of the world, Cao Cao first pointed at Liu Bei and then pointed at himself: "Today's hero, only the envoy and I will be." ”

When Liu Bei heard this, he was so shocked that the dagger in his hand fell to the ground, and it happened that there was a thunderstorm, Liu Bei took the opportunity to lean over and pick up the chopstick, and there was a scene of "hearing the words and losing the chopstick, and using the thunder to cover up".

Luo Gong praised Liu Bei's wit through a poem by later generations: "Reluctantly approached from the tiger's den temporarily, saying that the hero was shocked and killed." skillfully use the thunder to cover up, and improvise to believe like a god".

The thunder stopped raining, and when Liu Bei was in shock, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei held swords in their hands, unable to stop them left and right, and broke in.

It turned out that the two of them went out to shoot arrows, and when they came back, they heard that Liu Bei was brought into the prime minister's mansion by Cao Cao, but they were afraid of losing something, so they hurried over, and saw that Liu Bei was drinking with Cao Cao, so they stood aside.

Cao Cao saw that it was Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, so he ordered to take wine and suppress the two of them.

The two thanked each other, and Liu Bei took the opportunity to leave.

Cao Cao sent Liu Bei away, thinking that although Liu Bei could be called a hero, there was no place to stand, and it could be said that heroes were useless, so he didn't take it to heart, but went to the palace to find Yang Qi and asked why the Son of Heaven rewarded his uncle with a brocade robe and jade belt.

Yang Qi said: "Emperor Nianguo's uncle from Chang'an to Xudu, all the way through hardships, escort meritorious, but no extraordinarily large reward, special robe consolation, nothing else." ”

Cao Cao asked again and again, and Yang Qi insisted: "If the prime minister doesn't believe it, he is willing to learn from death." "Let's kill myself by hitting the pillar.

Emperor Xian was saddened and posthumously crowned his son Yang Liang as the Marquis of Yangcheng Pavilion.

Cao Cao couldn't ask the result, thinking that as long as a few dissidents in the court and China did not communicate with the foreign princes, they would not be able to make big waves, so he sent people to continue to monitor Dong Cheng and those who came into contact with him, and on the other hand, he sent people to Yuan Shu and Ma Teng to investigate, and sent Man Chong to Jizhou to listen to Yuan Shao's movements.

It is said that Yuan Shao did not listen to the advice of the Son of Heaven to order the princes to make Cao Cao take the lead, and regretted it, so he asked the Son of Heaven to move the capital to Yecheng, but was refused.

In order to alleviate the contradictions, Cao Cao sent Kong Rong to Yecheng with the Son of Heaven Fujie, worshiped Yuan Shao as a general, and gave him bows and arrows, runes, axes and a hundred tigers, so that he could also take charge of Hebei, Qing, You, and the four states, and Yuan Shao's power became stronger and stronger.

Seeing that the army had been stranded in northern Hebei for a long time, the strategist Tian Feng said to Yuan Shao: "Since the plan to move the capital cannot be realized, we should seize the capital as soon as possible and welcome the Son of Heaven." At that time, we can also use the edict in the name of everything and order the four seas, which is the best policy. Otherwise, one day it will fall into the hands of others, and it will be too late to regret it. ”

Yuan Shao didn't listen, but he devoted himself to crusading against Gongsun Zhan.

Gongsun Zhan defeated Liu Yu and was named the Marquis of Yi by the imperial court, but was defeated repeatedly by Yuan Shao and Liu Yu's old generals, and retreated to Yi (northwest of present-day Xiongxian County, Hebei), and Tuntian was slightly self-supporting.

A year later, he defeated Yuan Shao's general Ju Yi.

Yidi is adjacent to Yishui in the south, Gongsun Zhan ordered to dig a trench surrounded by ten ways, and the piled hills are called Yijing.

Gongsun Zhan dug ten trenches around Yijing, and built many earthen platforms in the city, which were generally five or six zhang high, and buildings were built on the high platforms.

He himself lived on a platform ten feet high in the middle, with iron as a door, and men over the age of seven were not allowed to enter, and only served concubines around him, and all correspondence and documents had to be hung with ropes, and he lived an almost isolated life.

In the third year of Jian'an (198), Yuan Shao personally led a large army to attack Youzhou and was invincible.

The generals of Gongsun Chan who were guarding various places were besieged by Yuan's army and asked Gongsun Chan for help.

Gongsun Chan refused to rescue, and said: "If this person is saved, it will make other generals rely on rescue in the future and refuse to fight hard." ”

The generals from all over the country were hopeless for help, some surrendered, some were scattered, and Yuan Shao's army was like a bamboo, and drove straight into the city of Yijing.

Yijing Castle is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, plus there are as many as 3 million valleys in the city, and the defense is tight.

Yuan Shao couldn't attack it for a long time, so he wrote to Gongsun Zhan, wanting to settle the past grudge with him and unite with each other.

Gongsun Zhan ignored it, but strengthened his defense, and said to Changshi Guan Jing: "Now that the four sides are fighting each other, obviously no one can sit under my city for many years, what can Yuan Shao do to me!" ”

Yuan Shao then increased his troops on a large scale, put up ladders, dug tunnels, and constantly strengthened the offensive, and Yi Jing was in danger.

Gongsun Zhan sent his son Gongsun Xu to ask for help from the Montenegrin army, and prepared to lead the elite cavalry out of the city and rush to Xishan, leading the Montenegrin army to counterattack Jizhou and cut off Yuan Shao's retreat.

Guan Jing dissuaded: "Now the general's subordinates and soldiers all have a heart of separation, so they can still hold on, just because Gu Nian's whole family is here, and he relies on the general to preside over the overall situation here." Continuing to hold on and delay time may make it difficult for Yuan Shao to retreat. If the general abandons them and leads his troops out of the city, there is no one in the rear, and Yijing will fall, just around the corner. ”

Only then did Gongsun Zan give up his plan to leave the city and redeploy the matter of defending the city.

Yuan Shao's army gradually advanced, and Gongsun Zhan's troops became increasingly embarrassed.

Besides, Gongsun continued to go to Xishan to see Zhang Yan, explaining that Yuan Shao attacked Yijing and came to ask for help on his father's orders.

Zhang Yan, the leader of the Montenegrin Army, knew the truth of the cold lips and teeth, and readily agreed, allocated 5,000 soldiers and horses for Gongsun to take the lead back, and then led 100,000 rescue troops to march towards Yijing in three ways.

When Gongsun Zhan heard that Zhang Yan was coming to help, he sent someone to send a secret letter to Gongsun Xu, telling him to ambush him in a low-lying place outside the city, and agreed to use ignition as a signal to attack Yuan Shao inside and outside.

Who knew that as soon as the person sent out of Yijing, he was captured by Yuan Shao's sentinels, and the secret letter was intercepted by Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao will make a plan and light a fire according to the agreed signal.

Gongsun Zhan thought that the help had arrived, and led the troops to attack, but was severely attacked by Yuan Shao's ambush soldiers.

Gongsun Xu brought 5,000 soldiers and horses to rescue, but was besieged and annihilated by Yuan Shao's army, and Gongsun Xu was beheaded by the rebel army.

Gongsun Chan knew the plan, and retreated into the city.

Yuan Shao stepped up digging tunnels, digging all the way to the bottom of the platform, first using pillars against the foundation of the building, and then burning the pillars, and the platform collapsed.

Gongsun Chan had no way out, so he hanged his sister and wife, and then set himself on fire.

At this time, Yuan Shao's soldiers rushed upstairs and beheaded him, and Gongsun Zhan's generals Tian Kai and Guan Jing were also killed in this battle.

Zhang Yan led the army to help, but before the soldiers arrived, he heard that Yi Jing had been broken, and Gongsun Zan died by self-immolation, so he withdrew his troops and returned.

Yuan Shao invaded Yijing and ordered people to send Gongsun Zhan and other leaders to Xu Du Zhanggong.

At this point, Yuan Shao occupied Youzhou and annexed Gongsun Zhan's army.