More than a year ago, the Zhen family might have had other ideas, and Yuan Shao's idea might actually come true, but now, the situation is different.
After the Zhen family learned about this matter, they felt very angry.
Yuan's Iron Fist?
I'm afraid you don't know how strong the iron fist of the Luoyang court is, right?
The Zhen family immediately sent someone to report to Luoyang, hoping to get Liu Bei's protection, and at the same time publicly replied to Yuan Shao - Where did the traitor come from? How dare you bark?
After Liu Bei learned about this incident, he felt funny, but he did not plan to use his own power to help the Zhen family stand up. Instead, he decided to use the power of Bingzhou and Youzhou to intimidate Yuan Shao's rear, and then use Qingzhou's power The power comes from the east to intimidate Yuan Shao, let’s see what Yuan Shao thinks.
The Luoyang central organization in hand is still a central organization that has not yet fallen apart and has a certain appeal to the people of the world. If you are not a referee and leave the boxing when you are not fully prepared, you are a fool.
At this stage, Liu Bei will be the referee.
Many officials in the world have not publicly recognized Liu Xie's throne, but they have not publicly opposed it.
There is no point in waiting, you should take the initiative. You have to rely on others to give you face, and you have to earn it yourself.
So Liu Bei relied on the power in his hands and issued three orders through the channels of the Luoyang court.
First, convey the imperial order to Bingzhou Mu and former general Dong Zhuo, requesting Dong Zhuo to send troops to garrison at Huguan in Shangdang County to directly threaten Yuan Shao in Wei County from the west.
Second, he conveyed the imperial order and appointed Gongsun Zan, the former captain of the Liaodong vassal state, to be promoted to the governor of Youzhou. He was also named General Fenwu and stationed troops in Zhuojun to intimidate Jizhou from the north.
Third, convey the imperial order to Qingzhou Shepherd Liu Yu, and confer Liu Yu the title of General Fenwei, ordering him to station troops in Pingyuan County to intimidate Yuan Shao in the east and make Yuan Shao unable to live in peace.
By threatening Yuan Shao from three directions, he wanted to see if Yuan Shao had any other ideas for action.
As for whether these three arrangements can play corresponding roles, Liu Bei is confident.
Not to mention Gongsun Zan, he suddenly became the governor of Youzhou, which would make him happy to death. In addition, Lu Zhi and Liu Bei had old friendship with him. At present, he is absolutely reliable.
Dong Zhuo also received a lot of rewards, and he betrayed the Yuan family's old official group and defected to Liu Bei. Once the Yuan family became violent, the danger Dong Zhuo faced would greatly increase.
As for Liu Yu, he has always regarded himself as the elder of the clan and a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty. Although he has not yet publicly acknowledged the legitimacy of the Luoyang court and Liu Xie, Liu Bei felt that Liu Yu did not dare to question it.
He is too orthodox.
After all, this action is only a deterrent, not an attack. He will not suffer actual losses, and will also accumulate favorability with the court and Liu Bei. Why not do it?
As for the future, when the situation in the world becomes clearer and he actually takes action, Liu Bei will not be stingy with the strength of these three people. He can fight with more and less, so why not use more to fight less?
If you can command the world by sitting on the central government, why not use it to demonstrate your power and accumulate prestige?
He worked hard to gain such a huge advantage. If he didn't use it with all his strength, how could he be worthy of his hard work?
Even if nothing else matters, the soldiers of his ten armies still need time to train and break in.
In early July, Dong Zhuo received an order from the Luoyang court.
At that time, Dong Zhuo was still immersed in the joy of becoming Bingzhou Mu and a former general. When he learned that Liu Bei needed his cooperation to deter Yuan Shao, he immediately agreed.
He is now unhappy with the people of the Yuan family, and in the final analysis, if that little brat Yuan Shao becomes powerful, Dong Zhuo will be in great danger. The power of the Yuan family will definitely not be able to tolerate him, and he must do his best to eliminate all people with this surname. Yuan's.
In this matter, his motivation is no less than Liu Bei's.
Although he currently has some small ideas to eliminate the Bingzhou bandits and take full control of Bingzhou, the threat from the Yuan family is greater, so it is better to make peace with the Bingzhou bandits for the time being.
So Dong Zhuo sent his son-in-law Niu Fu as the general of Wu'an Zhonglang, and led 10,000 soldiers south to Shangdang County and stationed in Huguan. They made a big splash in Huguan and performed martial arts on a large scale. They also sent cavalry to fight against the autumn wind near the border of Wei County. This shows your presence.
Dong Zhuo wished he could kill Yuan Shao with his own hands.
On the other side, in mid-July, Liu Yu, who was in Qingzhou, received the appointment and order from the Luoyang court. After thinking about it, he decided to accept the appointment and order and start taking action immediately.
At that time, someone around him advised him to be careful and that it would be better to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. However, Liu Yu felt that as a clan official, he could not disobey this order issued in the name of the emperor.
Secondly, he was not very dissatisfied with the current situation of the Luoyang court.
Regarding Liu Xie's throne, he was initially doubtful and doubted the authenticity of the rumors spread by Yuan. He thought about it and could not make up his mind. Later, under Zheng Xuan's persuasion, he changed his view.
Although Zheng Xuan retired to the countryside, at this critical moment, he still came out, found Liu Yu, expressed his stance to him, expressed his belief in Liu Bei, and used his own reputation to vouch for Liu Bei, confirming that Liu Bei would not do anything rebellious.
Liu Xie's throne must be orthodox.
Liu Yu suspected Luoyang, but would not doubt Zheng Xuan, who was famous all over the world, so he decided to cooperate with the Luoyang court on this matter, essentially recognizing the legitimacy of the Luoyang court.
And at that time, he also knew about the purge of eunuch industries that Yuan Shao had done in Jizhou.
He was deeply dissatisfied with this. He agreed with Liu Bei's concept of doing things under the rules, and was full of anger at Yuan Shao's unruly behavior of wantonly breaking the rules and not recognizing Emperor Luoyang.
Yuan Shao has made it clear that he wants to create rebellion in the Han Dynasty. How can he, a member of the Han Dynasty, turn a blind eye?
So he ordered the generals Tai Shici, Guan Hai, Guan Cheng and others he had summoned to lead 10,000 Qingzhou soldiers to station in Pingyuan County and stage a large-scale military performance to intimidate Yuan Shao.
As long as Liu Bei gives the order, he really plans to send troops into Jizhou to encircle and suppress Yuan Shao's rebel forces.
In this way, the two armies are ready.
Finally, there is the third way.
In late July, Gongsun Zan, who was living in Liaodong's vassal state, finally received an appointment from the Luoyang court. When he learned that he had been promoted by General Liu Bei as the governor of Youzhou and General Fenwu, he was stunned for a long time, and then burst into tears. Eyes full.
Liu Bei has not forgotten him. Liu Bei still remembers him. After many years of hard work, he finally bears fruit!
Gongsun Zan held the appointment edict and burst into tears thinking of the suffering he had suffered for it. After crying for a while, he excitedly led his subordinates to Youzhou to take office.
In early August, Gongsun Zan arrived at Yuyang, the seat of Youzhou, where he took up the post of governor of Youzhou and general Fenwu. He then announced that he would comply with the orders of the Luoyang court and recruit troops in Yuyang, Zhuojun, and Shangjun in preparation for going south to intimidate Jizhou. Yuan Shao.
After waiting for many years, Gongsun Zan suddenly gained momentum and became unstoppable and extremely sharp.
He quickly recruited and formed an army. According to his own ideas, he appointed his subordinates to create an army of mixed infantry and cavalry, and then personally led and performed military exercises.
In order to support Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei also ordered the counties to fully support Gongsun Zan in forming an army.
As a result, Gongsun Zan's army continued to increase.
From the end of June to early August, for more than a month, a tripartite encirclement of Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Qingzhou was formed surrounding Yuan Shao's rebel forces in Jizhou. This encirclement was specifically aimed at Yuan Shao.
At the same time, in the hinterland of Yuzhou, an encirclement circle was formed against Yuan Shu around the four counties of Runan County, Yingchuan County, Nanyang County, Chen State, and Pei State, the Yuan family's base camp.
With deep hatred and wariness towards Yuan Shu, the four prefectures formed an army and launched an all-out confrontation.
On behalf of the Luoyang court, Liu Bei allowed the four counties to recruit 5,000 legal troops each. The four counties joined forces to defend and blockade Runan County, strictly guarding against it, and not allowing Yuan Shu's army to leave Runan County again to harm any part of the four counties.
In addition, in response to the request of Li Min, the governor of Yingchuan County, Liu Bei sent his subordinate Zhonglang General Pang De to lead a battalion of soldiers into Yingchuan County to provide Li Min with a certain degree of security, and told Li Min that he would definitely send more soldiers in the future. troops came to protect him.
As long as Yuan Shu dares to move.
Before Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu had time to launch a serious attack on Liu Bei, they made stupid mistakes one after another while they were still in the preparation stage.
And Liu Bei took advantage of the stupid mistakes they made, joined forces, launched a diplomatic offensive, built the first blockade around them, found them the first batch of opponents, and made them feel like a light on their backs. .
At this stage, after Liu Bei held many military meetings, he gradually determined the strategic concept of first south and then north.
Starting a war on two fronts is not in line with his stability-seeking character, and it will also put a lot of pressure on him because he is currently unable to reserve war resources, so it is more appropriate to take two steps.
Depending on the strength of the opponent, first deal with Yuan Shu who is easy to deal with, eradicate the foundation of the Yuan family, and then deal with Yuan Shao who is rootless but more powerful.
In order to cooperate with this strategy, Liu Bei needs to find some opponents for Yuan Shao who can compete with him while attacking Yuan Shu. He does not want to make them fight, but at least makes Yuan Shao uncomfortable.
