In order to prevent Cao Cao from sending troops to intercept after learning the news, everyone did not dare to delay too much, and stayed overnight all the way.

As long as you get out of the Bishui Pass and then pass through Xingyang, the Yanzhou Plain with a flat river in the east is the Yanzhou Plain, and Cao Cao will have no way to start even if he wants to encircle and intercept him.

Bishui Guan will be surnamed Bian Mingxi, and the state people's name, make a meteor hammer; It was originally the Yellow Turban Yu Party, and then Cao Cao was assigned to guard the pass.

When Bian Xi heard that Lu Bu's convoy was coming, he was shocked, thought for a long time, and suddenly found a good plan: in the Zhenguo Temple in front of Guanqian, more than 200 people were ambushed with knives and axes, intending to lure Lu Bu to the temple, about to throw the cup as the number, and the knives came out together, cutting Lu Bu and Zhao Yun into powder, and then robbed the second daughter of the Zhen family, and offered Cao Cao in exchange for the capital to advance.

After the arrangement was completed, Bian Xi led dozens of horses out of the customs and came to greet him.

Far away, Bian Xi turned over and dismounted, trotted over, and said to Lu Bu with a happy face: "The name of the general is powerful in the world, who doesn't respect it!" It is an honor for Bian to turn back to Xuzhou through this pass! ”

Lu Bu knew that this was a sixth man, and he must have been worried that he would not be able to hold the pass (Bishui Pass mainly protects the enemy from the east, and has almost no blocking effect on the enemy from the west), so he was forced to adopt a roundabout strategy.

He had the intention to kill Bian Xi with a sword, and considering that "reaching out and not hitting the smiling person", he patiently returned the salute and told about the beheading of Kong Xiu and Han Fu on the way.

Then he looked at Bian Xi and said, "You and I are our own masters, either friends or enemies, if you don't want to let you go, you can quickly lead the troops and horses and fight me to the death." ”

Bian Xi waved his hand again and again: "Misunderstanding, the general misunderstood!" The general has meritorious service in the imperial court, how dare he stop it? That Kong Xiu and Han Fu didn't know how thick the sky was, and the general killed it. Seeing a commonplace, the determination of the generation is to clarify the reason. ”

"Is that true?" Lu Bu looked at Bian Xi with a sincere face, his eyes full of disbelief.

Bian Xi patted his chest and said, "There is no lie! A certain has set up a banquet in the Guanqian Zhenguo Temple to wash the dust for the general, please! ”

Lu Bu glanced at Bian Xi with a smile, noncommittal, and saw that it was getting late, so under the guidance of the latter, he rode his horse across the Bishui Pass and rushed to Zhenguo Temple.

From afar, I saw the monks of Zhenguo Temple ringing the bell and lining up to greet them.

Lu Bu whispered a few words to Zhao Yun, then turned over and dismounted, and went to the meditation room of the temple under the greeting of the monks of Zhenguo Temple, and talked to the host.

The guest and the host were talking happily, and they saw Zhao Yun walking out quickly from the back hall with a sword, and while walking, the tip of the sword was still dripping blood.

Lu Bu looked sideways at Bian Xi, and said with a smile: "Bian Jun invited this general to a banquet, is it a good intention, or a bad intention?" ”

Bian Xi's face changed slightly, and he sat stiffly on the futon, unable to cope.

Zhao Yun, who rushed to the front, replied for him, "My lord, there is an ambush in the back hall, and the ambushers have all been killed by me." ”

After that, he stabbed Bian Xi, who was trying to jump up and escape, with a backhand sword, and reprimanded: "Pifu, you dare to murder my master!" Death! ”

Bian Xi clutched his chest and fell to the ground, unable to believe how his plan had been discovered so quickly.

The group rested overnight in Zhenguo Temple, and the next morning, they left the monks and continued to march east.

The next level, Xingyang.

The Xingyang guard general is called Wang Zhi, and the Luoyang guard general Han Fu is a son and daughter, and when he heard that Lu Bu killed Han Fu, he discussed assassinating Lu Bu to avenge his in-laws.

Wang Zhi sent people to guard the pass, and when Lu Bu's convoy arrived, he personally went out of the pass to greet him.

As soon as he approached, Wang Zhi said with a smile on his face: "The general is here, Wang is honored... Ah~ General...... Why did you kill me?? ”

Before he could finish his sentence, Wang Zhi clutched his chest and fell to the ground.

Originally, his plan was like this: greet him with a smile first, and invite Lu Bu to rest in the city pavilion; Then in the middle of the night, people were sent to surround the house and set fire to it. In this way, no matter how high Lu Bu's force is, he will not be able to escape death.

But he never expected that as soon as he walked in front of Lu Bu and greeted him with a smile, he was killed by Lu Bu with a sword.

Killed?

Didn't you say, "Reach out and don't hit the smiling person"?

This Lu Bu... Why don't you play cards according to the routine?!

Belch... Gassy!

Wang Zhi kicked his legs, and soon lost his breath, and he didn't blink an eye.

Lu Bu snorted coldly, waved his big hand, and walked away with the group.

All the way through Xingyang, through the southwest counties of Yanzhou, to the south.

On this day, when I arrived at the border of Runan, I was sleepy and tired, and I was looking for a village to rest for a while, when I suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from the east, and I came to it in a blink of an eye.

On closer inspection, it turned out to be one hundred and ten cavalrymen, waving a banner with the word "Cai", and killed them violently.

Lu Bu snorted at Zhao Yun.

Zhao Yun immediately rode forward, and he didn't say anything, and he would stab him under the horse in the future.

The rest of the people were shocked, scattered and left, and were chased by Zhao Yun and killed indiscriminately, and more than 50 war horses were captured and distributed to the brave and good riders of the three hundred townships.

and asked the captives, Fang Zhilai was the Taishou Cai Yang of Runan, and on the orders of Cao Cao, he fought fiercely with the Yellow Turban thieves entrenched in Runan, and heard that a convoy passed through Runan, so he led a hundred and ten horsemen to check.

The result was killed.

According to the captive's confession, this place is only 600 miles away from Xuzhou, all the way is a smooth road, and you can also take a boat down the Huai River and arrive at Xiapi in one day.

This information made Zhao Yunmu happy.

In this way, no one should dare to stop the road ahead. ”

Lu Bu nodded approvingly, and ordered the sergeant to rest in place.

Then look for the ship and turn back to Xuzhou.

So far, after experiencing twists and turns such as "Thousands of Miles to Find Talents", "Thousands of Miles to Seek Relatives", "Thousands of Miles to Save Beauty", "Five Passes and Six Generals" and so on, Lu Bu finally returned to Xiapi.

At this time, it was the tenth day of December in the third year of Jian'an.

It has been 43 days since Lu Bu crossed over.

It has been 40 days since Cao Jun retreated from Xuzhou.

For Lu Bu, the biggest gain of this trip is naturally to recruit Zhao Yun, followed by bringing Er Zhen back smoothly, and saving Cai Yan by the way, which can be said to be a wave of fertilizer and full harvest.

For Yuan Shao, he has been depressed for more than a month.

Because of the allocation of 100,000 horses to pursue Lü Bu, the siege of Yijing was reduced by one-third, Gongsun Chan took this opportunity to get in touch with Zhang Yan of Montenegro, who sent 50,000 Montenegrin troops to Yijing to rescue, and successfully opened a gap in the southwest of Yijing's encirclement, forming a corner with Gongsun Zhan, attacking and defending interconnected.

In addition, the generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou were captured alive by Lu Bu, and at the same time, Yuan Jun also inexplicably fought a big battle with the Southern Xiongnu, losing troops and losing generals.

In the end, Neiding's daughter-in-law was also snatched away by Lu Bu.

These three things made Yuan Shao furious, and he slapped the table and threatened: After settling Gongsun Zhan, the first person to use it for surgery is Lu Bu.

For Cao Cao, this month has also been unpleasant.

After retiring from Xuzhou, he returned to Yanzhou, recuperated in a low-key manner, and prepared for the upcoming war. Suddenly, the guards of Hangu Pass, Luoyang, Bishui Pass, Xingyang, and Runan were all killed by Lu Bu inexplicably.

It's a bit of a deception.

The last time he was scared back by Lu Bu from Xuzhou, he has always been regarded as a shame by Cao Cao, and whoever dares to mention him will be in a hurry.

In addition, Lu Bu attacked Yanzhou four years ago, and the recent five guards were killed.

New hatred and old hatred come together.

almost made Cao Cao ignore and launch another battle of Xuzhou.

In the end, trapped by the lack of food and grass, Cao Cao could only hold these accounts in his heart with hatred for the time being, silently waiting for the day when the accounts were settled.

Lu Bu naturally couldn't sit still.

He knew the dangerous situation that Xuzhou would face next.

On the day he returned to Xuzhou, he began to implement the strategy of getting out.

Fortunately, the process of Chen Gong's envoy to Yuan Shu was quite smooth.

As soon as Yuan Shu heard that Lu Bu planned to give Xuzhou to him in exchange for Lujiang County, he agreed without hesitation.

Xuzhou is the territory that Yuan Shu has always dreamed of, and with Xuzhou, it can be connected with Huainan, and the territory and power have increased greatly, while also improving the overall defense capability.

Originally, Yuan Shu was already a little scared after being beaten several times by Cao Cao, and felt that sitting in Huainan was a dead end, and he was already planning to go north to Yuan Shao.

Now, as soon as the five counties of Xuzhou arrived, Yuan Shu suddenly felt that he seemed to be able to do it again, and he could break his wrist with Cao Cao again.

The process of exchanging continents for counties went very smoothly.

By December 20, the third year of Jian'an (198), Lu Bu was already sitting in the city of Wancheng, the seat of governance in Lujiang County.

At this time, the situation in the world is like this.

In Hebei, Yuan Shao is still besieging Gongsun Zhan, although Yuan Shao occupies an absolute advantage, Gongsun Chan has the power to fight back.

Central Plains. Cao Cao's actual control area was still only one Yanzhou, half of Yuzhou, and half of Sili. The forces are not weak, nor can they be called strong.

Zhang Xiu was still looking around Wancheng, thinking about which prince to defect to.

Yuan Shu, who got Xuzhou, suddenly swelled, and then sent the general Ji Ling to march into Xiaopei, trying to give Cao Cao back the color.

The situation in Yongliang, Hanzhong, Yizhou, and Jingzhou is still the same, and there is no change from history.

The only thing that is a little different is Yangzhou, which is Jiangdong.

Sun Ce was assassinated.

Assassinated a year and a half ahead of schedule!

After that nightmare, Sun Ce advanced the military operation against Lujiang by five months, and planned to marry a daughter of the Qiao family with Zhou Yu after breaking through the Lujiang River, and go to the peak of his life...

As a result, on the eve of the army, Yu Dantu Mountain was shot in the cheek by three assassins who claimed to be Xu Gongmenke, and died that night.

Although Sun Ce designated the sixteen-year-old Sun Quan as his heir before his death, Jiangdong was still panicked and undercurrents were surging.

Because at this time, it was only a few months since Sun Ce pacified Jiangdong, and the powerful people who were forced to obey Sun Ce by force suddenly had another idea when they saw Sun Ce dead.

The most important thing is that Sun Quan is too young at this time, and his prestige and age are far from being able to control the situation.

Although Zhang Zhao and Zhou Yu both supported him.

However, Zhou Yu has only defected to Sun Ce for a few months.

Many people think that Zhou Yu defected to Sun Ce when he first crossed the river (195).

Not really.

In the second year of Xingping (195), Zhou Yu only helped Sun Ce return to Danyang, and when he went to Jiangdong to join Sun Ce, it was already three years later (198).

Why did Zhou Yu defect to Sun Ce after a gap of more than three years?

This has to mention Yuan Shu.

Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were both Yuan Shu's subordinates at the beginning.

In the second year of Xingping (195), when Sun Ce attacked Liu Xuan, the situation in the north also changed. Yuan Shu took the initiative to attack Cao Cao and defeated the latter, if it weren't for his subordinate Qin Shao coming forward and pretending to be Cao Cao to attract Yuan Shujun, Cao Cao would probably have died on the spot.

At that time, not long after Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei had just taken over Xuzhou, and there were Zang Ba in the north and Zhenrong in the south, all of whom did not listen to Liu Bei's orders. After Lü Bu and Cao Cao failed in their fight for Yanzhou. The retreat to Xuzhou intensified the undercurrent in Xuzhou.

Since then, Yuan Shu has been keeping an eye on the fat of Xuzhou after competing with Cao Cao for Yuzhou.

In the first year of Jian'an (196), Yuan Shu raised troops to attack Xuzhou, and Liu Bei left Zhang Fei to defend Xiapi and meet Yuan Shu himself. Lu Bu took advantage of the situation to seize Xiapi, Liu Bei returned to the army to rescue failed, returned to fight Yuan Shu again and was defeated, and when he was cornered, he was accepted by Lu Bu and arranged to Xiaopei.

Yuan Shu soon attacked Liu Bei again and sent an army of 30,000 led by Ji Ling, only to be forced to retreat by Lu Bu by shooting halberds at the gate.

Yuan Shu failed to capture Xiapi, but he also occupied Guangling County in Xuzhou for a time. After several major fights, the various forces in Xuzhou were already very weak, and both Liu Bei and Lu Bu were far weaker than Yuan Shu.

At the same time, Sun Ce conquered the city in Jiangdong, nominally expanding a lot of territory for Yuan Shu. During this period, Yuan Shu was the most powerful prince in the world, even larger than Yuan Shao's territory, except for a small loss to Cao Cao, across the three prefectures of Xu, Yu and Yang.

Although Sun Ce continued to grow in power in Jiangdong, Sun Ce was still nominally under Yuan Shu's main father, so Zhou Yu and Sun Ce were still in the same camp. In addition, Zhou Yu's hometown is in Lujiang, his relatives are all within Yuan Shu's territory, and his uncle is also an official under Yuan Shu, so Zhou Yu served under Yuan Shu with peace of mind and did not defect to Sun Ce.

At the beginning of the second year of Jian'an (197), Yuan Shu called himself "Zhong Jia" and set up a hundred officials.

Sun Ce once wrote a letter to persuade Yuan Shu not to be the emperor, but Yuan Shu refused.

Soon Cao Cao sent an envoy to Jiangdong and granted Sun Ce the position of acting general of the Ming and Han dynasties, which marked the official break between Sun Ce and Yuan Shu, and he became independent.

After Yuan Shu became emperor, he was attacked by a group.

In May, Yuan Shu fought with Lü Bu and was defeated.

In September, Yuan Shu assassinated Liu Chong, the king of Chen, to occupy the state of Chen, and fought with Cao Cao and was defeated again.

The northern front was defeated one after another, and the southern front was also at a disadvantage.

Danyang Taishou was originally Yuan Shu's younger brother Yuan Yin, so until the emperor, Danyang County was still in Yuan Shu's hands. After Sun Ce broke with Yuan Shu, he immediately drove Yuan Yin away, occupied Danyang County, and completely drove Yuan Shu's forces out of the east of the Yangtze River.

In the second year of Jian'an (197), when Yuan Shu suffered a heavy setback and Sun Ce developed rapidly, Zhou Yu was still serving as the county magistrate in Juchao and did not take any action.

It is worth mentioning that Zhou Yu met Lu Su during his stay in the nest, and the two also formed a deep friendship.

It was not until the middle of the third year of Jian'an (198) that Zhou Yu saw that Yuan Shu was exhausted and his defeat was not far away, so he crossed east to Sun Ce.

In the world's impression, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are like brothers, and they should have followed Sun Ce to start a business from the beginning, why was Zhou Yu late until a year after Sun Ce and Yuan Shu broke up?

There are three key factors in this.

First of all, Zhou Yu's uncle Zhou Shang and Sun Ce's father Sun Jian were both Yuan Shu's generals, and although Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, who were younger generations, were young heroes, they were also influenced by the concept of loyalty. When Yuan Shu was not at fault, it was natural for the two to work for him.

When Yuan Shu's actions made the two gradually realize that it was necessary to break away, to really break away, it took a long process.

Secondly, Sun Ce developed smoothly in Jiangdong and got rid of Yuan Shu's control earlier. But Zhou Yu is different, he was born in a local clan in Lujiang, and there are a large number of relatives and disciples, so his behavior is more considered for the interests of the clan, unlike Sun Ce, who comes and goes freely. He could only wait until Yuan Shu declined and his control over the Zhou clan weakened before he could jump ship and leave. In addition, if the Zhou clan, as a Jianghuai clan, enters Jiangdong, it will inevitably have a conflict of interest with the local clan in Jiangdong, and the process of moving will cause great losses to the interests of the Zhou clan. The best plan for the clan was actually to stay locally as much as possible, and based on this, Zhou Yu had to carefully consider defecting to Sun Ce.

Finally, friendship in troubled times is important, but we must also consider our own safety. If you are not careful, you are likely to be caught, and you can't just leave if you want to. What's more, personal friendship is very small in the face of the huge, intricate and troubled whirlpool.

In this way, Zhou Yu's influence in Jiangdong is very small, which is not enough to influence the situation.

This gave Lu Bu room to operate.

This is also the original intention of Lu Bu to "exchange continents for counties" with Yuan Shu.