Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 63 Yuan Shu's Fury, Cao Cao's Surprise

Lu Bu finally agreed to Liu Bei’s "reasonable" request!
It’s simple, the situation is stronger than people!

Firstly, he had first promised Liu Bei to help him capture Xiang County. Now the other party said that Xiang County had been taken and asked him to take other cities. If he did not agree, it would not be justified.

Secondly, he was originally going to go south this time to take advantage of Yuan Shu's lack of military strength to plunder Jiujiang.

Now ten days have passed. If he doesn't go now, he will have no chance!

Third, he had to agree. If he didn’t agree, he couldn’t even go home!
Now that Liu Bei has occupied the city, he is outnumbered in terms of military strength and logistics. The enemy is strong and he is weak. What can he do?
So, in May 197 AD, an extremely strange incident occurred in the Central Plains.

First, Liu Bei wrote a letter to Lu Bu, asking Lu Bu to attack Xiang County. Later, Yuan Shu attacked Lu Bu. Lu Bu agreed and asked Liu Bei for help.

With the joint efforts of the two armies, Yuan Shu's army was finally defeated.

Originally, it was a consensus among people all over the world that Lu Bu was untrustworthy, so it was reasonable for Lu Bu to be treacherous.

But this time, everyone was surprised.

After the war, Lu Bu not only shared the spoils equally with Liu Bei, but also ran to Pei State after Liu Bei captured Xiang County, and headed south with Liu Bei supplying him with food and grass.

They successively captured Zhuyi and Jinxian, and reached Guyang, then turned their guns to Xiapi, continuing their advance by water, and directly reached Jiujiang.

Along the way, Lu Bu only captured cities but did not plunder. After taking the city, he just collected the food and grass in the city and did not take any other action.

It was not until they entered Jiujiang that they began to loot on a large scale.

Faced with this situation, people all over the world exclaimed that Lu Bu had changed his character!

Since when did Lu Fengxian start to talk about benevolence and righteousness and fulfill his promises?
Naturally, they had no idea how much dirty stuff had happened between the two families, and how many open and secret fights had taken place.

All I know is that what Lu Bu did this time was very authentic!
Not only did they send money and food, they also helped friendly forces capture cities, and didn't even rob the civilians along the way!
This action directly restored Lu Bu's previous bad reputation.

In addition, there was the adverse impact brought about by Yuan Shu's declaration of emperorship this time.

Lu Bu's move truly shows his courage to be the first in the world, and he is truly a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty!

Many scholars praised him for this, and actually turned Lu Bu's negative reputation into a positive one!

Of course, those are all things for later.

Before his reputation changed, Lu Bu first received the wrath of Yuan Shu.

At this time in Shouchun, inside a luxurious palace.

Yuan Shu, wearing a khaki imperial robe, overturned the jade table to the ground and shouted angrily:
"How dare you, Lu Bu! You are not a good son!"

Because Yuan Shu believed that earth inherited the virtue of fire, he made a dragon robe with yellow as the main color for himself, referring to the black and red dragon robe of the Han Emperor.

At this moment, he stood up in anger, and the ink spilled, splashing all over the yellow robe.

His anger frightened all the ministers so much that they turned pale and dared not say a word.

When Yuan Shu saw that no one was speaking, he shouted angrily:
"Speak up! Don't you give advice every day?"

"Why don't you say anything today?"

Since he proclaimed himself emperor, his moods have become more and more erratic. Seeing this, his ministers often advise him against it, which disgusted Yuan Shu. This was an excuse for him to express his dissatisfaction.

After hearing this, all the ministers knew they had no choice but to speak.

Immediately, one person stepped out and shouted:
"Your Majesty, the reason why Lu Bu is like this now is because our troops are dispersed!"

"If our army could have a large army here, Lu Bu would never dare to do this!"

"Why not call back the troops from Runan, Lujiang and other places to reinforce us? Lu Bu will definitely retreat when he sees this!"

This man's surname was Yang and his given name was Hong. He was the chief secretary under Yuan Shu.

Even though Yuan Shu had proclaimed himself emperor, in reality his subordinates were just a makeshift team, not even having the full complement of officials.

People like Yang Hong, Yan Xiang and others, although they were rewarded, they remained in their original positions.

As soon as he said this, Yan Xiangxing came out and said:
"No, Your Majesty, this is absolutely not allowed."

"Although Lu Bu is a disaster now, Cao Cao, Sun Ce and others are still watching covetously!"

"Neither Sun Xiang from Runan nor Liu Xun from Lujiang can be touched."

"If we move, and three parties attack, our army will lose everything!"

Yan Xiang was a loyal man. Although he had previously tried to persuade Yuan Shu not to become emperor but failed, he still assisted Yuan Shu with all his heart.

But when Yuan Shu heard his words, he gritted his teeth again and said:

"Sun Ce has been pretending to obey you but secretly disobeying you for a long time. If Lu Bu were not in the north now, we would definitely attack him!"

Compared to Lu Bu, Sun Ce is even more unbearable in his eyes!

Obviously, both father and son were his subordinates, but now they have escaped his control.

If it weren't for the alliance between Lu Bu and Cao Cao, his first thing would be to attack Sun Ce.

It’s a pity that the current situation does not allow him to do so, and he can only make harsh words.

Seeing that no one responded after he finished speaking, Yuan Shu asked again:

"That's fine, Sun Ce. Has Sun Xiang of Runan made any unusual moves?"

Sun Xiang, whose name sounds like a sister, is actually Sun Ce's cousin. His father Sun Ru is Sun Jian's second cousin.

This man followed Sun Jian since he was a child, and was later valued by Yuan Shu and appointed as the prefect of Runan.

After Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, he was promoted to General of the Southern Expedition.

Originally, Yuan Shu relied heavily on Sun Xiang, but now that Sun Ce was like this, he no longer trusted Sun Xiang!

As soon as he asked this question, a scholar came out and said:
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. Although Sun Xiang is related to Sun Ce, he is not a traitor!"

"Now my family is all in Shouchun, and I will not dare to rebel!"

This man's name is Yuan Huan, and he is none other than Yuan Yaoqing, whom Old Liu deeply regrets. He is an upright person and also has strategy.

He was also the one who urged Yuan Shu to win over Qin Zhen.

Seeing Yuan Huan stepping out, Yuan Shu frowned and said:

"If you say so, I will believe it!"

He knew that Yuan Huan was upright and honest, so he asked:

"Let's talk about Lu Bu's matter. How do you think we should deal with Lu Bu's matter?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Huan directly advised:
"Lü Bu is heading south now, just to plunder, and has no intention of taking the city."

"You can order Ji Ling and others to return from Xia Pi. Your Majesty will lead the army in person. When Lu Bu sees our powerful army, he will definitely retreat!"

When Yuan Shu heard this, he stroked his beard and smiled:
"What Mr. Yao said is quite in line with my opinion. If Lu Bu comes, I will personally lead the army!"

"Pass the order down, mobilize more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry, I will personally lead the troops north, and Yao Qing will accompany the army!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Huan knew he couldn't refuse, so he had to agree.

Seeing this, Yan Xiang hurriedly bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, there is one thing that has not been discussed yet!"

"Although Lu Bu has invaded our borders, Liu Bei has taken advantage of the situation to seize Xiang County. In my opinion, Lu Bu is not a threat!"

"On the contrary, Liu Bei has seized the counties of Pei State, and his strength has greatly increased. He should not be underestimated!"

"We should take advantage of Liu Bei's unstable foundation to break him!"

But when Yuan Shu heard this, he became angry and said, "Liu Xuande is just a weaver and shoe seller, why should we be afraid of him?"

"Today, we have taken Xiang County, but only with the help of Lu Bu!"

"What can he do with just a small county?"

"Compared to him, Lu Bu is hateful. How can I tolerate him?"

Seeing this, Yan Xiang wanted to persuade Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu said:

"I have made up my mind. No need to argue anymore. I must defeat Lu Bu first!"

After he made this statement, Yan Xiang frowned, not knowing what to do!
In his opinion, Liu Bei's harm was far worse than Lu Bu's.

After all, Lu Bu only came to rob, and at most he only stole some food and supplies, but Liu Bei got the actual territory.

If they don't attack Liu Bei now and wait until Liu Bei has trained his troops, they will not be able to defeat him even if they want to mobilize troops at that time!
But for some reason, although Liu Bei was the one who benefited, he did not attract any attention at all.

On the contrary, it was Lu Bu who seemed to be pushed out specifically to attract fire, and he didn't know why!

After thinking for a while, he advised again:
"Since Your Majesty values ​​Lü Bu, you might as well order Sun Xiang to send more troops to the border of Runan!"

"In this way, even if Liu Bei's army has any problems, our army can respond in time!"

It was not that he wanted to target Liu Bei, but Yuan Shu's situation was already extremely bad. Originally, Runan had Pei State as its flank, and only one-third of its land bordered Cao Cao and Liu Chong.

But now with the fall of Xiang County, Runan County alone will have to face pressure from Cao Cao, Liu Chong, and Liu Bei!
In this situation, if we don’t take precautions, Runan may be swallowed up by the three families at any time!

You should know that before the chaotic times, Runan County had hundreds of thousands of households and two million people.

Even after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, there were still as many as one million.

Once Runan was lost, Yuan Shu would be close to destruction!

Listening to Yan Xiang's words, Yuan Shu also knew that the matter was of great importance, so he said in a deep voice:
"In this case, you can summon Sun Xiang to sit in Pingyu, and let Le Jiu, Liang Gang, and Li Feng march to Ruyang, Xinyang, and Chengfu respectively to monitor the enemy's movements and make sure there are no mistakes!"

In Runan, Yuan Shu had more than 100,000 troops at his disposal, which was more than enough even if they were divided into different places.

Seeing that Yuan Shu took him seriously, Yan Xiang gave up.

Without anyone's dissuasion, Yuan Shu personally led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry all the way north to Shouchun to resist Lu Bu's troops.

At the same time, in Xuchang, inside Sikong Mansion.

While the three families in the east were fighting each other, Lao Cao was having a pretty good time during this period.

After all, there was not as much food shortage as in history, and Yanzhou did not suffer much damage.

Apart from some unpleasantness with Yuan Shao in the north, the situation was generally good.

Even Cao Cao himself was eager to annihilate Zhang Xiu in one fell swoop.

After all, Zhang Xiu was the culprit who killed Dian Wei.

But on this day, Xun Yu brought him a trouble!
Cao Cao was sitting in the study, looking at Xun Yu, frowning and saying:
"Wen Ruo, are you saying that the grain prices in Yanzhou are skyrocketing this month?"

"How much has it increased? What is the price now?"

Xun Yu heard this and said in a deep voice:
"It's not Yanzhou as the Minister of the Interior mentioned. In fact, it's mainly Shanyang County, Rencheng State, Liang State and other places where prices have increased. In just over a month, the price has increased by 20 coins!"

"Now, one stone of millet in our army costs more than three hundred coins!"

"It's increased so much? It shouldn't be like this!"

When Cao Cao heard this, he frowned and said:
"The spring wheat is almost ripe, and people have surplus grain, so why is the price rising?"

Xun Yu shook his head and said:

"It's still unknown! But someone must be buying up large quantities of food and fodder!"

“I don’t know why, but it’s enough to attract attention.”

"So I think Sikong might as well order Fengxiao to investigate and find out the reason."

After hearing this, Cao Cao knew where the problem lay.

Ultimately, it’s an intelligence issue!
To be honest, Guo Jia has gradually sorted out the intelligence department in the past few months.

But compared with Qin Zhen, Guo Jia is still not proficient in intelligence.

Otherwise, this kind of thing should be reported by Guo Jia, not Xun Yu.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao stroked his beard and nodded:

"That's fine. When Fengxiao comes, I will arrange for him to investigate."

"Besides that, what else?"

Xun Yu heard this and hesitated for a while before asking:

"I heard that the Minister of Works seems to want to attack Zhang Xiu again recently?"

“I wonder if this is true?”

Hearing this, Cao Cao's expression became serious:

"That's what I mean!"

"Zhang Xiu surrendered and then rebelled again, killing my general. I hate him deeply!"

Xun Yu saw this and said in a deep voice:

"Lord Cao, you must know that state affairs are of the utmost importance. Now Yuan Shu has usurped the throne and is committing treason. We must attack him first!"

"Zhang Xiu is hateful, but it is a personal grudge. The most important thing now is to put Yuan Shu first!"

When Cao Cao heard this, his face showed some disapproval, but he said nothing.

To him, Zhang Xiu was like a thorn in his flesh, and he would not feel relieved until he removed it.

But what Xun Yu said made sense, and he didn't want to argue with Xun Yu.

Just as he was thinking about how to reply, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching, and the next second, he heard Guo Jia loudly say:
"My lord, I, Guo Jia, request to see you!"

Hearing that Guo Jia was coming, Cao Cao smiled and said:

"Fengxiao, come in, I'm looking for you!"

Guo Jia listened, walked in, and bowed:
"I wonder what the lord wants to see me for?"

"If Naiwen has anything to say, I'll leave it to you to investigate!"

Cao Cao looked at Guo Jia's breathless appearance and said with a smile:

"But I see you have something urgent to do, so you can tell me first!"

When Guo Jia heard this, he immediately said:

"My lord, Lord Cheng has urgent news, saying that Liu Bei has captured Xiang County and occupied Pei State!"

"What? Liu Bei occupied Pei State?"

When Cao Cao heard this, he was stunned for a moment.

He hasn't heard the name Liu Bei for a long time!

(End of this chapter)