Jizhou, Yecheng.
Yuan Shao has been having a very uncomfortable time recently because he mobilized troops to attack Gongsun Zan in Yijing, but suffered a major setback. The war has been unable to advance and is still blocked by Gongsun Zan.
The current battle situation is even more strange for Yuan Shao.
Before, he had beaten Gongsun Zan until he lost his fighting spirit. Gongsun Zan huddled in Yijing City, losing his fighting spirit and completely incapacitated. Because of Gongsun Zan's laziness, Youzhou's civil and military officials were disloyal, and many people were unwilling to serve Gongsun Zan anymore.
But recently, these people who had been separated from Gongsun Zan suddenly changed again, as if they had a backbone, and they went all out to resist.
As a result, Yuan Shao ran into obstacles everywhere.
Whether it was a trick to recruit surrender or a frontal attack, they all ended in failure.
Yuan Shao was very dissatisfied with this result.
Lu Xuan in the south continued to consolidate the foundation, and Cao Cao also stabilized Guanzhong. I heard that Cao Cao's Guanzhong had another bumper harvest this year and was already thousands of miles fertile. The changes in Lu Xuan and Cao Cao gave Yuan Shao a sense of urgency.
Although he controls Qingzhou, Bingzhou and Jizhou, in fact, only Jizhou is the richest and is his base.
This is far from enough.
In order to destroy Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao arranged for Yan Liang and Wen Chou to go north, and sent Zhang He to personally direct the war. Even so, there is still no progress in the situation in the north, the situation is still deadlocked, and Gongsun Zan's Yijing City cannot be conquered.
The defense of Yi Jingcheng is really too good.
Outside Yijing City, layers of trenches were dug to build small cities one after another. The cavalry could not rush through and the infantry had no effect.
Yuan Shao read the latest battle report and still ended in failure. He threw away the letter in his hand, cursed it as useless, and arranged for people to call Xu You, Shen Pei, Guo Tu, Ju Sue, Tian Feng and Feng Ji to discuss the matter.
Yuan Shao's face was as dark as water, and he said: "Gongsun Zan has never been able to win, but the problem in the north must be solved. What can you do?"
All the people looked solemn.
The key to why Gongsun Zan was dead but not frozen was that Gongsun Zan was like a trapped beast, unable to be beaten at all.
This is very difficult to handle.
Yuan Shao continued: "Everyone usually has a higher eye than his own, and they all boast of their great talents, but now they meet Gongsun Zan, and they all wilt. Gongsun Zan is our innermost concern. If we don't deal with Gongsun Zan, we can't fight with Lu Xuan." , Cao Cao went to war with all his strength. He couldn't even defeat Gongsun Zan, how could he still attack Lu Xuan and Cao Cao?"
Xu You said seriously: "King Jin, since there is no way to attack by force, there is no way to persuade him to surrender. We can only trap Gongsun Zan to death and engage in a war of attrition."
Shen Pei said: "I also second the proposal."
Guo Tu said: "Can we lure Gongsun Zan out? As long as Gongsun Zan is willing to come out and fight, we will have a chance."
Xu You shook his head and said: "Gongsun Zan is hiding in the city. Even the soldiers in the army are not allowed to enter the city. Only women are allowed to follow him. It is too difficult for such a person to come out and fight."
He looked at Yuan Shao again and said sternly: "I think the only way now is to trap Gongsun Zan to death and continue to instigate people who rebel against Gongsun Zan. As long as Gongsun Zan betrays his relatives and is unable to cry alone, he will be completely defeated."
Yuan Shao listened and sighed: "As for Ziyuan's suggestion, it has certain feasibility."
Historically, Yuan Shao had nothing to do with Gongsun Zan. Seeing Cao Cao's strength in Yanzhou getting stronger day by day, Yuan Shao once hoped to reconcile with Gongsun Zan and instead contain Cao Cao, but Gongsun Zan refused.
In the end, it was because Gongsun Zan was preparing to join forces with Zhang Yan to counterattack Yuan Shao, but Yuan Shao intercepted the letter, plotted against Gongsun Zan again, and destroyed Gongsun Zan's troops, so Gongsun Zan burned himself to death.
Because of Lu Xuan, Guan Jing integrated the people under Gongsun Zan's command. All Gongsun Zan's former subordinates all surrendered to Lu Xuan and worked for Lu Xuan, so they naturally resisted with all their strength.
As a result, Yuan Shao was even more unable to move.
Yuan Shao looked at the people in the study and felt a little depressed for no reason.
In the past, he had monopolized Jizhou, with sufficient food and grass, strong soldiers and horses, and unique advantages. His strength far exceeded Cao Cao, and he despised the peaceful land south of the Yangtze River.
He is the most powerful prince in the world.
But now, Lu Xuan dominates the south and is extremely tyrannical. Cao Cao, his former younger brother, controlled the emperor in Luoyang, and Cao Cao became increasingly powerful with the help of the emperor's influence.
On the contrary, Yuan Shao stopped moving forward.
Yuan Shao suddenly thought of Lu Xuan and asked: "Ziyuan, there has been no news from Lu Xuan in the past few months, what is he busy with?"
Xu You shook his head and said, "I don't know either."
Yuan Shao looked at Shen Pei and asked, "Zhengnan, do you know?"
Shen Pei replied: "Your Majesty, the south is quiet this year, nothing happened."
He took advantage of the opportunity and said with a look of contempt: "Your Majesty, although the land of the south is rich, people are lazy. Lu Xuan captured the south, and the people under his command like to expand and do not want to make progress."
"Lu Xuancheng is also in Jiangnan, and he is defeated in Jiangnan."
"There is no way he can expand further."
Feng Ji looked down on the people from the south and mocked: "Although Lu Xuan is very strong, it is difficult for us to attack Lu Xuan, but it is also difficult for Lu Xuan to go north. Not to mention other things, let's just talk about the war horses and the climate in the north. There is a hurdle that Lu Xuan cannot overcome."
Guo Tu agreed: "Feng Ji's words make sense. There is a huge difference between the north and the south. It is very easy for Lu Xuan to hold the south. However, it will not be easy for him to further expand northward."
When Yuan Shao heard these words, his expression softened slightly.
This is also true.
boom! boom!
A knock on the door came from outside, and one of Yuan Shao's personal followers came in, walked to Yuan Shao's side, reported in a low voice, and then handed over a letter.
Yuan Shao was stunned for a moment.
The whole person froze in place, with an expression of disbelief on his face. After a while, Yuan Shao came back to his senses. His cheeks twitched, he looked at his attendants with strange eyes, and asked in disbelief: "Is the news true?"
The attendant nodded solemnly.
Yuan Shao took the letter, waved his hand to indicate that he would leave, and then read the letter carefully.
After reading all the content, Yuan Shao's face dropped, his expression was solemn, and he was a little lost. Yuan Shao, who was sitting at this moment, suddenly became a little hunched over. At this moment, his whole person seemed to be much older, and his expression became more helpless, and there was also a hint of panic that could not be concealed.
After Xu You saw it, he felt strange and asked, "Prince Jin, what happened?"
Feng Ji said: "Is there something wrong with Youzhou?"
Ju Shou took the initiative and said: "Could it be related to Lu Xuan? We have been talking about Lu Xuan, but there has never been any news. Now there is news suddenly, maybe it is related to him. Or maybe it is related to Cao Cao. Could it be that Cao Cao directly started a war with us?"
Each counselor kept talking.
Everyone has their own guesses.
None of them could understand why Yuan Shao suddenly showed such a despairing look. It was simply unbelievable. Yuan Shao has experienced countless things over the years, but never like this. He suddenly became rickety, looking old, helpless and panicked.
This is unprecedented.
Yuan Shao sighed dejectedly and said, "It is indeed related to Lu Xuan."
Jushou said quickly: "Even if it's about Lu Xuan, it doesn't matter. Lu Xuan is in the south and we are in the north. Neither side will interfere. What's more, Yanzhou lies between the two sides, and with Cao Cao as our buffer, no major incident can happen." .What happened to make you behave like this?"
Xu You, Guo Tu, Shen Pei and others all looked over again.
All extremely curious.
