Send Liu Bei away.
"You can be sure that if Yuan Shao doesn't get the imperial seal, he really won't send his army south?"
Cao Cao also asked a question that was almost as worrying as Liu Bei's.
At this time, Yuan Shao had a great family, a great business, and many soldiers. If he went south to rescue Yuan Shu, or vented his anger on Cao Cao and sent troops, he might not be able to stop him no matter what the emperor ordered.
Besides, Yuan Shao did not recognize Liu Xie as the emperor.
If Liu Yu hadn't cooperated at the beginning, the Han Dynasty would have had two emperors, and the eighteen princes would not have taken Liu Xie seriously.
"Don't worry, my lord, Yuan Shao will definitely not do it."
Chen Zhou's affirmation came from his prediction of history, and he said calmly: "Although Gongsun Zan has been severely suppressed, he is not dead yet. As long as Yuan Shao does not kill him completely, Gongsun Zan will definitely rise again after taking a breath. Possibly. When Liu Yu was in Youzhou, he accumulated three million shi of grain. All of this grain is now in the hands of Gongsun Zan. As long as he can recover, he can use the huge amount of grain to recruit troops. If Yuan Shao dares to go south, we can contact Gongsun Zan from north to south. Attack from both sides."
Cao Cao listened and nodded in agreement.
"If Yuan Shao doesn't want to have any worries and doesn't want Gongsun Zan to become a threat again, he must deal with Gongsun Zan first before heading south." Guo Jia agreed.
"That's right!"
Chen Zhou said: "Even Shen Pei and others should be able to think of this. They probably won't let Yuan Shao go south to use troops without getting any benefits."
Although Shen Pei and others are very clever, they are not completely useless.
Some general trends are still understandable.
If all the jade seals passed down to the country were gone, it would be meaningless to save Yuan Shu.
"However, according to my lord's development trend, a battle with Yuan Shao is absolutely unavoidable in the future, probably after Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan."
Guo Jia said: "Du Zhi said that there are ways to deal with Yuan Shao. I believe in Du Zhi."
"I also believe in Watanabe."
Cao Cao laughed.
With Chen Zhou here, there would be no surprises.
Cao Cao put these concerns aside for the time being.
——
The army was stationed in Hefei for about two days.
Cao Cao received the news that Jia Xu and others had set off to fight against Shouchun.
Sun Ce, who was crossing the river, was approaching Jiangting. Cao Cao was not idle. He began to send troops to kill Jiangting, preparing to join Sun Ce. At the same time, he handed over the task of attacking Shouchun to Jia Xu.
Cao Cao would not give up Huainan to Sun Ce or share it with Sun Ce.
He gave Jia Xu another task. After capturing Shouchun, he immediately sent troops to annex other cities in Huainan, control the entire territory as much as possible, and squeeze Sun Ce out.
Soon after Sun Ce crossed the river, he had not yet established his position.
In addition, his strength was slightly inferior to that of Cao Cao, and he could not seize Huainan and other places. In the end, he had no choice but to retreat to Jiangdong and garrison Yangzhou.
However, when sending troops to Jiangting, Cao Cao got the news brought back by Xu Chu. As expected, Yuan Shu had someone send the imperial seal to Yuan Shao, asking for Yuan Shao's support.
However, the person delivering the Imperial Seal was intercepted and killed by Xu Chu and the others, and the Imperial Seal fell into Cao Cao's hands.
Yuan Tan, who was in charge of responding, couldn't wait for Yuan Shu's people, so he retreated.
There was no movement on Yuan Shao's side.
"This is the imperial seal!"
When Cao Cao took the jade seal from Xu Chu, he could see a damaged corner, but there were traces of gold repairing it.
It was when Wang Mang usurped the Han Dynasty and asked the then Queen Mother for the jade seal. The Queen Mother angrily smashed it on the ground and a corner was missing. Wang Mang had someone replace the gold seal.
Liu Bei looked at the Imperial Seal with fiery eyes. In fact, he also wanted to get it, but under Cao Cao's surveillance, he was unable to do so. He asked, "What does Cao Sikong plan to do with it?"
Cao Cao was righteous and said without thinking: "Of course it is to return it to the emperor. Does Xuande have any ideas?"
Liu Bei immediately explained: "Of course not, I also think it is most appropriate to return it to the emperor."
"Let's continue to Jiangting!"
Cao Cao ordered his people to put away the imperial seal, and the army continued on its way.
After half a day, we finally arrived outside Jiangting City.
At this time, the city was surrounded by Sun Ce's troops, and Yuan Shu was completely trapped inside.
Half of the Yuan family's heritage was not nearly as good as Yuan Shu's, but after all, the family had a great business and a lot of heritage. There were more than 30,000 soldiers in Jiangting City who were willing to follow Yuan Shu and garrison here.
Chen Zhou wanted to get to know Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. After setting up camp, he originally wanted to follow Cao Cao to meet Sun's people.
However, Sun Ce is very polite.
According to status, Cao Cao was Sikong of the Han Dynasty, and was personally awarded the reward by the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. Sun Ce just inherited everything from Sun Jian, and his status was far inferior to Cao Cao. Out of etiquette considerations, he took the initiative to bring people to visit.
"Sun Ce, I have met Cao Sikong." Sun Ce was very polite and courteous.
Chen Zhou followed and looked at the people around Sun Ce.
As for the people under Sun Ce, it is not possible to tell who they are for the time being, but Zhou Yu can still be roughly recognized at a glance.
Behind Sun Ce, there was a handsome and elegant young man wearing Confucian clothes.
With the feather fan scarf, Zhou Yu is right at first glance.
During this period, the feather fan scarf was not necessarily Zhuge Liang's standard accessory, as many scribes wore it this way.
"Bo Fu is welcome."
Cao Cao saw that Sun Ce knew etiquette, and he warmly welcomed Sun Ce to the military camp. He continued: "Back then, during the crusade against Dong Zhuo, Bo Fu followed Wentai. He was just a teenager. Now he stands upright and can achieve such an achievement. Wentai must have Very pleased.”
He even chatted about family matters and reminisced about the past.
After hearing this, Sun Ce thought of Sun Jian, and then of the abominable Huang Zu. He sighed and said, "Thank you Cao Sikong for remembering my father."
"Stop talking about this."
Cao Cao changed the topic and said: "If Bo Fu hadn't been inside Yuan Shu and sent troops to support the imperial court, it would not have been so easy for us to trap Yuan Shu in Jiangting."
Sun Ce said politely: "I am ashamed to say that I had no choice but to join the rebel Yuan Shu. However, Yuan Shu dared to overstep his bounds. Even without the emperor's edict, I had to rebel against him and protect the Han Dynasty."
"well said!"
Cao Cao said loudly.
Next, Cao Cao hosted a banquet to entertain Sun Ce.
Sun Ce also introduced the people around him. Chen Zhou saw that the young man with a feather fan and a turban was indeed Zhou Yu.
This is how Zhou Gongjin appeared.
——
Inside Jiangting City.
Yuan Shu is very depressed now. He never thought that he would dominate one side, take advantage of it, occupy most of the Han's resources, and end up like this.
At this time, the weather in Jiangting was hot.
Around Yuan Shu, several maids fanned themselves but couldn't cool down. The more irritated he became, the more anxious he felt. His whole body was in bad condition, and he was covered in sweat.
At this time, Yan Xiang came back and said that Cao Cao was also here.
Cao Cao and Sun Ce joined forces and surrounded the city of Jiangting.
They were completely trapped.
"what to do?"
"Tell me quickly, what can I do?"
"It's so hot and I'm so thirsty!"
"Bring me water quickly."
Yuan Shu pulled the clothes on his body to cool himself down, and then shouted loudly, feeling his mouth was very dry.
People around you, go find honey water quickly.
Yan Xiang and the others stood below, not knowing what advice they could give, so they could only stand.
