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

Chapter 69: Race against time with Lao Cao, Qin Zhen plots
Pei State, Xiang County, in the meeting hall.

Having just seen off the imperial envoy, Liu Bei's face could not look happy at all.

Because the imperial edict only contained two things. One was that because of his meritorious service in suppressing the bandits, he would be given an additional fief of 500 households.

One was to let him raise an army immediately and fight against the enemy together with Lu Bu and others.

If the Liu Bei of the past had received this imperial edict, he would probably have been overjoyed.

After all, the emperor issued an edict asking him to fight the enemy, which proved one thing: the emperor already knew about Liu Bei.

This was a supreme honor for him as a distant relative of the royal family.

But now, Liu Bei doesn't need this kind of glory!
He just wanted a complete piece of land to stand on.

Therefore, as soon as Liu Bei received the imperial edict, he called Qin Zhen and Xu Shu to hold a small meeting.

When the two arrived, he held the imperial edict with a worried look on his face and said to them:
"Now our army wants to take Huainan, but the court has ordered our army to march with Lu Bu and others. What should we do?"

It was almost summer, and Xu Shu and Qin Zhen both changed into light clothes.

Qin Zhen was seen wearing a white silk robe, with a feather fan and a scarf chosen for him by Cai Yan, making his look even more elegant.

When he heard this, he shook his head and laughed;

"Why worry, sir? This is good news!"

Seeing Qin Zhen like this, Liu Bei said bitterly:

"Military advisor, please do not lie to me. Although I am unwise, I know that the situation is difficult!"

"I heard that the military advisor was trying to take advantage of the situation, but only Lu Bu's family could do it. Our army can still make plans!"

"Now that the three families have arrived, how can our army defeat them?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Shu pondered on the sidelines:

"Cao Cao's move must have a deeper meaning!"

"I'm afraid they have seen our army's plan and will not let us stay out of it!"

He could naturally sense what Liu Bei was worried about.

Because the strategy Qin Zhen set for Liu Bei was to constantly borrow the power of others to strengthen himself, and ultimately seek to seize Huainan as his foundation.

And now Cao Cao has ordered the four of them to attack Yuan Shu together, so now they must snatch the territory of Huainan from the other three.

It can be seen that Lao Cao has already seen through their plan.

However, Qin Zhen’s behavior was a bit strange. It seemed like this situation was not unexpected?
While thinking, he couldn't help but ask:

"Could it be that the military advisor had anticipated this?"

Liu Bei naturally looked towards Qin Zhen as well.

Facing the two people's gazes, Qin Zhen smiled and said:

"This is exactly what the enemy wants."

That’s right, what is happening now is also within Qin Zhen’s expectations.

But he did not predict Guo Jia's strategy, but the original process of this matter was very similar.

In the original process, Cao Cao also issued an edict to Lu Bu and others at this time.

But there is no Liu Bei in the content.

He just asked Sun Ce, Chen Yu and Lu Bu to attack Yuan Shu together.

Unfortunately, this plan did not succeed, because in the original process, Sun Ce and Lu Bu were ready to set off as soon as they heard the imperial edict, but Chen Yu was a traitor.

This guy originally served under Yuan Shu, but had once rebelled against Yuan Shu.

At this time, he was appointed as the prefect of Wujun, and was resentful that Wujun was occupied by Sun Ce.

So after receiving the imperial edict, Chen Yu plotted to attack Sun Ce while Sun Ce was heading north.

He secretly sent Captain Wan Yan and others to cross the river secretly and pass the seal to more than 30 New Zealand bandits.

He let Zu Lang, Jiao Yi and Yan Baihu of Wujun Wucheng and others act as internal support, and when Sun Ce went out to fight, they would send troops to attack and capture the counties.

As a result, before they could get started, Sun Ce discovered the matter and turned his attack back to Wujun.

After defeating Yan Baihu, he sent Lu Fan and Xu Yi to attack Haixi, where they defeated Chen Yu and killed his general Chen Mu.

As a result, the three families' attack on Yuan Dynasty ended up in internal strife before it even started.

In the end, it was Cao Cao who defeated Yuan Shu independently.

So it was not that Qin Zhen anticipated Guo Jia's strategy, but that Guo Jia chose a strategy that was similar to the historical path.

As mentioned earlier, when Guo Jia heard Qin Zhen's plan to plot against Qin Zhen, Qin Zhen was actually thinking about what Cao Cao would do when he heard that they had captured Peiguo!

In his expectation, Lao Cao might actually have three reactions!

First, find out his identity and lead troops directly to Pei State!

But this reaction is the least likely!
Because the Cao Cao now is not the Prime Minister Cao later!

Now Cao has just welcomed the emperor, and he is surrounded by powerful enemies and has not yet completely controlled the government.

Now that Cao Cao wants to mobilize troops against Liu Bei, he needs to consider the political impact.

The second reaction was to send out a message and use Yuan Shu and Lu Bu to attack their territory!

This way you can kill someone with someone else's knife without getting any blood on your hands!

As for the third reaction, it’s this one!

I am aware of their danger, but I dare not take direct action!

The only way is to get rid of Yuan Shu as soon as possible and at the same time restrict their development.

Therefore, Cao Cao would choose a quick and decisive approach.

Qin Zhen has three strategies for dealing with the three situations!

In the first case, as long as Cao dared to send troops, he would help Liu Bei defend Xiang County to the death, and send a letter to Yuan Shao, saying that he would take Liu Bei to the north and let Yuan Shao launch a surprise attack on Cao Cao's rear!

At the same time, he spread the news that Cao Cao and Yuan Shu had joined forces to rebel.

You know, Yuan Shao has basically occupied the north now, and counselors like Tian Feng are ready to move to the south. Upon hearing this news, Yuan Shao will not miss the opportunity even if he is indecisive.

In addition, Dong Cheng and others in the court will not give up.

Once these two moves are made, if Cao Cao wants to secure his control of Yanzhou, he will have to retreat!

For the second situation, he asked Liu Bei to send Xiahou Bo to garrison Guyang and observe Yuan Shu's actions.

As long as Yuan Shu dared to move, he would adopt the strategy of fortifying the city and clearing the fields, and devour Yuan Shu's troops! No matter how many come, he will swallow them all!
Because now they have money and food, and Huainan is about to suffer a severe drought.

As long as he makes a good plan, Yuan Shu won't be able to take away any of his troops.

As for the third situation, which is the current situation, Qin Zhen doesn't even need to make any plans in advance.

Because the current situation is the one he is most familiar with!
Cao Cao wanted to defeat Yuan Shu as quickly as possible and limit their development, so he chose to mobilize all his forces to launch an offensive.

What they had to do was to take advantage of the situation and use Chen Yu's rebellion to use Lu Bu and Sun Ce and take Huainan!
This is also the reason why Qin Zhen said it is good news now.

Because what he has been waiting for is this situation.

So Qin Zhen waved his feather fan and said with a smile:
"It's summer now. There has been little rain in Huainan since May. This shows that a severe drought is inevitable south of the Huai River this year!"

"The enemy is now doing this, they just want to use a quick attack to deal with Yuan Shu, and then take the opportunity to restrict the development of our army."

"But they don't know that for our army, the sooner we capture Huainan, the better!"

"Only in this way can our army preserve Huainan's vitality as quickly as possible!"

"And now, Cao Cao has taken the initiative to send troops to tie down the main force of Yuan Shu's army. Huainan is empty. This is a great opportunity!"

"It would have been difficult for our army to take Huainan independently, but now we have the support of three more families. Isn't this good news?"

Liu Bei and Xu Shu had no idea of ​​Qin Zhen's plan. Seeing Qin Zhen like this, they all smiled bitterly.

In this situation, only Qin Zhen could laugh.

However, Xu Shu knew Qin Zhen's habits and knew that he must have a plan, so he simply asked:
"The current situation is that the four of us will march into Huainan, and our army will take this place alone!"

"Then tell me, if the four families take it together, how can our army seize Huainan from them?"

Qin Zhen smiled when he heard this:
"It would be easy to seize Huainan from them."

"But in my opinion, what our army should be planning now is not how to seize Huainan from the three families!"

"Instead, we should plan how to get these three families to join our army in advancing together!"

"If our army wants to take Huainan, we must first use the power of the three families. If they don't come, our army will be in trouble!"

As soon as he said this, Liu Bei was stunned:

"What are you talking about, military advisor? Now that the imperial edict is here, the three families will send out their troops upon receiving it. Why do we need to make plans?"

Xu Shu reacted immediately and frowned:

"Military Advisor, do you mean that Lu Bu and his men may not advance?"

"Just as Yuanzheng said!"

Qin Zhen nodded, stood up and said to Liu Bei:
"Now it seems that there is an imperial edict, but they all have their own ulterior motives and may not be able to be used!"

"Take Lu Bu for example. I heard from Xu Sheng that the reason they went south was because the Taishan bandit Zang Ba attacked and killed Xiao Jian in Ju County."

"Xiao Jian originally guarded Ju County and had no contact with Lu Bu."

"I was later persuaded by Lu Bu to become his subordinate, and from then on I became the barrier of Lu Bu's army!"

"Now that Zang Ba has attacked and killed Xiao Jian, Lu Bu will definitely demand an explanation. If the stalemate with Zang Ba lasts for a long time, he may not send out troops!"

"Compared to him, Sun Ce is willing to send troops."

"But Chen Yu has coveted Wujun for a long time. Now that Sun Ce has sent out his troops, how could he let go of such an opportunity?"

"This person has a fickle nature, and he will probably take this opportunity to plot against Sun Ce."

"If Sun Ce finds out, the two families will definitely fight!"

"In this case, Sun Ce and Chen Yu may not necessarily send troops."

"So, what we should worry about is not that they don't send troops, but that they don't send troops!"

"You must know that our army's greatest enemy right now is not Yuan Shu, but Cao Cao."

"The reason Cao Cao wants to make this plan is because Yuan Shu is standing in front of our army. If Cao Cao wants to establish the imperial court, he must get rid of Yuan Shu first!"

"Now there must be a battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shu. With Cao Cao's ability, Yuan Shu is no match for him."

"If Yuan Shu is defeated and our army fails to take Huainan, Cao Cao will definitely find a reason to attack our army next!"

"By then, he will have the imperial court behind him, and without Yuan Shu to hold him back, our army will only have a county and a country. How can we fight him?"

"So what our army should do is not to worry about this, but to race against time with Cao Cao!"

Having said this, Qin Zhen stopped talking.

Although he is familiar with the current situation, it does not mean that their current situation is not dangerous!
Because the real boss Cao Cao has already discovered some clues.

Once Yuan Shu was defeated by Cao Cao, Cao Cao would gain political advantage and could easily find an excuse to turn around and deal with them!

Compared to Lu Bu, Cao is not someone to be trifled with.

What they are doing now will bring higher returns than before, but the risks are naturally much greater.

So Lao Liu needs to know these things in advance!
As they listened to his words, Liu Bei and Xu Shu both looked solemn.

I thought the only problem was how to seize Huainan, but I didn't expect that in addition to seizing Huainan, there was also the problem of Cao Cao!
If Qin Zhen hadn't brought it up, Cao Cao's intention would not have been obvious!

Thinking of this, Liu Bei suddenly looked worried and said:

"If Cao Cao really wants to do this now, and the three families may not send troops, what should our army do?"

Xu Shu also frowned and said in a deep voice:

"In this situation, it is really difficult for our army to control the situation!"

But when the two of them said this, they saw Qin Zhen said with a serious face:

"Therefore, this time our army will plan against five families, including Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Sun Ce, and Chen Yu!"

As soon as he said this, Liu Bei and Xu Shu were shocked!
Conspiring against five families at the same time? What a shocking statement Qin Zhen made!
(End of this chapter)