Chapter 45 Chapter 6 The Warlords of the Rising Storm Restart the War (4)

Only now did Gongsun Zan realize that he was being used by Yuan Shao.In addition, in assisting Yuan Shao to fight against Yuan Shu's expansion strategy, his younger brother Gongsun Yue was defeated by Sun Jian's army and died from a stray arrow in his body. In anger, he joined forces with the county captains in the north and his goodwill to go south to seek justice.Many counties and counties in northern Jizhou hated Yuan Shao for deceiving Han Fu, and then rebelled against Yuan Jun and joined Gongsun Zan's banner, which greatly increased the momentum of Gongsun Zan's army.Taking advantage of the situation, Gongsun Zan assembled his army and stationed near the Pan River, ready to fight Yuan Shao's army to the death at any time.

In order to strengthen political operations, Gongsun Zan made Yan Gang the governor of Jizhou, Tian Kai the governor of Qingzhou, and Shan Jing the governor of Yanzhou. In Gongsun Zan's allied army, there was a young general who would later become Cao Cao's most important opponent in his life. That was Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan's fellow apprentice when he was studying under Shangshu Lu Zhi. Liu Bei was a native of Zhuojun, Jizhou. It is said that he was a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, the son of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.Due to the early death of his father, Liu Bei and his widowed mother weaved straw mats for a living and lived a poor life.Liu Bei has a bold personality and a tolerant heart. Although he is not good at words, he likes to make friends with chivalrous people.In addition, he is courageous, brave, and good at using soldiers, so he is quite trusted by his friends.When he was young, Liu Bei was friends with Guan Yu in Hedong and Zhang Fei in Zhuojun.The three of them sit at the same table, sleep in the same bed, and love each other like brothers.In ordinary official social occasions, Guan and Zhang stand side by side with Liu Bei, serving them all day long.In case of danger, Guan and Zhang will go through fire and water and will not hesitate to do so.

Liu Bei is about 170 centimeters tall, and his appearance is very strange: his hands are unusually long, and when they hang down, the fingers are longer than the knees, like an ape, and the way he walks naturally looks a little funny.The ears are even bigger. It is said that he can see his own ears by squinting his eyes, so he has the nickname "big ears".Another characteristic of Liu Bei is that he doesn't show his emotions and anger, and never pays attention to other people's pointing.In addition, he has a good temper and is full of action, so he is quite respected by others.

When the Yellow Turban Party incident happened, Liu Bei joined the Volunteer Corps to suppress the Party members, made a lot of military achievements, and was appointed as the captain of Anxi County.Soon, there was a conflict with the inspector of the imperial court, Duyou.Liu Bei has always hated the greedy bureaucrats the most, so he beat up the postmaster, abandoned his official position and fled, becoming a wanted criminal.Fortunately, with the help of Gongsun Zan, he was rehabilitated, and he was recommended by Gongsun Zan to be named Prime Minister of Pingyuan.In order to thank Gongsun Zan for his kindness, this time he led all the troops to help in the battle.

Zhao Yun, a native of Changshan in Bingzhou, also led his troops from the same prefecture and county to join Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan was very surprised, so he asked Zhao Yun: "Almost all the people in Guizhou defected to Yuan Shao's army. Why did only the general know the righteousness and defect to me?" Unexpectedly, Zhao Yun's answer was very frank. He said: "There are different opinions on the world's affairs. In fact, it is difficult to judge who is right and who is wrong, but it is the common people who suffer the most. Therefore, what I hope is that the situation can be stabilized soon. It’s just that I’m trying my best, it’s not that I’m more in favor of the general and dislike Yuan Gong.”

Gongsun Zan was deeply dissatisfied with Zhao Yun's reply, so naturally he did not reuse it.But when Zhao Yun said that, Liu Bei heard it, and suddenly felt that Zhao Yun was extraordinary, so he asked Gongsun Zan to incorporate Zhao Yun's troops into his subordinates, and Gongsun Zan agreed.Zhao Yun then returned to Pingyuan County with Liu Bei, and presided over the cavalry training for Liu Bei. Due to the cold weather, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan's troops temporarily confronted each other, each preparing to fight again after the severe winter. Although the troops in the north were at a stalemate, the open and secret struggles between Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan extended to the Jingxiang area, and they fought with Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Sun Jian in Yangzhou. It was not until the "Battle of Chibi" fourteen years later that in order to fight against the unprecedentedly powerful enemy Cao Cao's Southern Expeditionary Army, the remnants of Jingzhou troops led by Liu Bei and Sun Quan's Jiangdong Army resolved their grievances and formed a military alliance.This is a later story.

When Yuan Shao wanted to support Liu Yu as emperor, Yuan Shu resolutely opposed it. The main reason was that he himself wanted to become emperor.Therefore, after owning Nanyang, he worked hard to collect taxes, thinking that he could conquer the world's capital.Yuan Shu deliberately developed his power, but Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, who was in the south, was threatened. Due to the military alliance between Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao was threatened by the north and the south, so he joined forces with Liu Biao to contain Yuan Shu's development in the southwest. In order to cope with this situation, Yuan Shu mobilized Sun Jian's troops who were fighting with Dong Zhuo to attack Liu Biao.Liu Biao sent Huang Zu, an old comrade-in-arms, to fight Sun Jian near Fancheng.Huang Zu's army was defeated, and Sun Jian's army marched straight into Jingzhou and surrounded Xiangyang City, which was guarded by Liu Biao.Liu Biaonai and Huang Zu planned to ambush a large number of archers in the bamboo village of Xianshan.Huang Zu attacked from Fancheng, and Liu Biao also went out to confront Sun Jian.

Sun Jian's army had no fear in the face of Liu and Huang's attack.He sent generals Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han Dang to lead the main force to resist Liu Biao and drive Liu Biao back to Xiangyang City. He himself led the light cavalry to attack Huang Zu's troops.Huang Zu was defeated and fled to Mount Xian. Sun Jian took advantage of the victory and pursued him. He arrived at Mount Xian at night. Since Sun Jian's descendants, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, etc. were still young, his brother Sun Ben took over the army temporarily and belonged to Yuan Shu. When the Yuan brothers were in serious internal strife, Cao Cao was leading his troops to live in Hanoi and rely on Yuan Shao.Although he tried his best to avoid being involved in the struggle between the two Yuans, he was also unable to break through the predicament and break free from the life under the fence.

At this time, because Bao Xin was very dissatisfied with Yuan Shao's annexation of Jizhou, he said to Cao Cao, who he valued very much: "Yuan Shao, as the leader of the alliance, doesn't think about crusades. What he does all day long is just how to seize power by himself and rob others." Territory. If things go on like this, there will be great chaos. I think one Dong Zhuo has not been eliminated, and another Dong Zhuo has come. I plan for the general, why not go back to the south of the big river, observe the situation at any time, and then take action." Bao Xin's sincere words were speaking in Cao Cao's heart.He said that he had long wanted to leave Hanoi, but he didn't have the chance for a while.But now that he has made up his mind, it's just a question of when to leave.

In the second year of Chuping, that is, in July of 191 AD, Cao Cao's opportunity finally came.