Dragon of the Three Kingdoms

The composition of the people outside Wancheng is complex. They are not the Nanyang refugees who were born because of Yuan Shu at the beginning. There are also people who took refuge in Yuzhou, Sizhou, and even Yanzhou. After all, compared with the Central Plains and the North, Yuan Shu left , Jingzhou is definitely one of the most stable places in the world.

Li Yi never refuses those who seek refuge. It can be said that those who came to Jingzhou to seek refuge, especially ordinary people, basically stayed in Nanyang, and the people also thanked Li Yi for taking him in, and respected and loved him very much. , Li Yi later recruited soldiers and so on, and it was these people who supported Li Yi the most.

However, Li Yi also knows that others will indeed appreciate you for your kindness, but they may not necessarily sacrifice their lives for you, just like many wars in the history of China. First, there must be a high-level reason, that is, the division is famous, so that the soldiers and horses under its command will not become unrighteous divisions.

Although there was a lot of filth between Liu Biao and Li Yi in the past, and it has become a needle point recently, but in all fairness, there is nothing wrong with Liu Biao as a state herdsman. Li Yi can attack Liu Biao because he has suffered unfair treatment, but it is true Can't find an excuse to pull the people of Nanyang together.

For this reason, Li Yi has been having a headache, thinking that this is the only way to do it, but he doesn't want Liu Biao to send the pigtail over at a critical moment.

Using Liu Biao's refusal to provide food to Nanyang as an excuse, Li Yi reduced the relief rations of the people. The people couldn't get enough to eat, and naturally felt resentful in their hearts. Compared with Liu Biao who was far away in Xiangyang, Li Yi told everyone in tears at the first time, It is not his wish to reduce the food, it is really because Liu Biao, the state herdsman, does not want to feed the people of Nanyang. As a little prefect, he has no choice but to eat chaff and dill together with everyone. I hope everyone can take care of it. , Unite as one, tide over difficulties together.

Under Li Yi's fanning the flames, within a few days, the people in Nanyang, especially the people inside and outside Wancheng, had their resentment towards Liu Biao pushed to the climax. Tens of thousands of people would follow him to destroy Liu Biao's hometown.

However, although the heroes are fierce, Li Yi still comforts everyone with a good-hearted attitude, telling everyone to be patient, exercise restraint, be considerate of the state shepherd, and maintain the overall situation of Jingzhou

Therefore, Liu Biao lost a lot this time because of a small loss. Li Yi and Liu Biao have not directly fought against each other about borrowing food, but in the competition of public opinion, Li Yi is already in an absolute advantage.

However, this does not mean that Li Yi has the upper hand in the face of Liu Biao, at least one point, and it is a very crucial point, Li Yi is much behind.

Because he no longer cares about Liu Biao's attitude, Li Yi has almost opened up his recruitment, because the people have a good impression of Li Yi, and the recruitment effect is also very good. According to Xu Huang's report, there are now more than [-] new and old soldiers in Nanyang , This is Xu Huang's restraint, not the elderly and infirm, otherwise there will be more people.

However, in contrast to the abundance of soldiers, Nanyang lacked military equipment.

Because Nanyang was mopped up by Yuan Shu earlier, the equipment in the Nanyang military reserve was basically emptied. At the beginning, Li Yi offered Liu Biao the appointment of officials in various counties in Nanyang. One of the conditions was that he asked Liu Biao for a lot of armor. Coupled with Li Yi's purchase and self-built later, there are less than 5000 soldiers and horses under Li Yi's command who can be "fully armed", and the remaining nearly [-] people can only use wooden poles as weapons for training. It's really a bit shabby to say that spears are used.

When Mi Zhu knew about the situation, he gritted his teeth and said that he would find a way to bring a batch of equipment to Li Yi from Xuzhou. Li Yi appreciated this, but he didn't force him. He also took the initiative to persuade Mi Zhu to do what he could. , These equipment are no more than food, it is too eye-catching, and it is easy to make mistakes.

Of course, Li Yi also has ways to deal with the lack of equipment, but it's not the time yet, so he can only make do with it.

Soon, the time entered the end of March, and the situation between Nanyang and Xiangyang became more and more tense, and under this tense atmosphere, Nanyang also welcomed a mysterious guest Yuan Shu envoy, Yuan Huan, Yuan Yaoqing!

Li Yi was not surprised that Yuan Shu would send an envoy over, especially since it was almost April, and Yuan Shu would definitely contact the Quartet to make an appointment before doing anything, so it was normal to send someone to see Li Yi.

Just considering the issue of influence, Li Yi didn't put on a big scene to receive Yuan Huan. Yuan Huan seemed to understand Li Yi's thoughts, and the process of entering the prefect's mansion was very low-key. No one knew Yuan Huan was coming.

But in private, Li Yi still gave enough face. At noon that day, Li Yi, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, and Zhang Liao held a small banquet in the prefect's mansion to welcome Yuan Huan. Originally, Xu Huang was also going to come, but Xu Huang has been training outside the city recently, so Li Yi stopped calling him.

Li Yi first introduced a few people, exchanged greetings, and after drinking for three rounds, Yuan Huan took out a letter from his arms with a smile and sent it to Li Yi. Hou misses him very much, and when we talk with us on weekdays, he will often mention Xianghou, and it is always a feeling of missing, alas, Yuan is really envious of such honor and favor."

Li Yi took the letter, opened it and sighed: "The same is true for Li. Although I have only met Yuan Shijun twice, I have already remembered Yuan Shijun's demeanor. I am not afraid of your jokes. I am not good at being an official, and when I talk and do things, I actually follow Yuan Shijun as an example. Even though I am not good at governing the people and cannot make Nanyang rich, the people's life is stable, and this is all due to Yuan Shijun's merit."

What Yuan Huan said before was obviously suspected of being flattering, because Yuan Shu might miss Li Yi, but Li Yi is not a beautiful woman, and Yuan Shu will never miss him every day. He is just carrying people in a sedan chair. It is reasonable for Yuan Huan to say something nice .

But Li Yi's flattery was too much, and he even said that Yuan Shu's governance of Nanyang was all thanks to Yuan Shu. Even though Yuan Huan had been mentally prepared, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Looking at the accompanying guests next to him, Jia Xu, Guo Jia, one big and one small foxes were smiling, looking very friendly, as if completely ignoring the harm caused by Li Yi's shameless flattery. As for Zhang Liao, the fierce general Brother is holding a bowl and pouring wine, covering his whole face, I don't know what his expression is.

Yuan Huan had some contact with Jia Xu and Guo Jia before, although he didn't test it specifically, but just looking at his composure, he was no worse than those under Yuan Shu's command. Li Yi's attitude towards Zhang Liao was obviously not mediocre.

That's all, without counting Cai Yong, Huang Chengyan, Zhuge Xuan and others who didn't show up.

Secretly admired Li Yi's ability to gather talents, Yuan Huan said modestly on behalf of Yuan Shu: "Xianghou is too self-effacing, you know, when it comes to Xianghou's talent, Yuan Shijun bluntly said that among the young people in the world today, Xianghou Hou Wei is the best!"

"Hey, I'm ashamed and ashamed."

Li Yi was polite casually, and instead of continuing to chat with Yuan Huan, he opened the letter and read it carefully.

The letter was written by Yuan Shu himself. Li Yi glanced at it before and after. It was a long letter with about a thousand words in it. Regardless of the specific content, just looking at this point, it can be seen that Yuan Shu is full of sincerity.

Li Yi bowed his hands towards Yangzhou with a serious face, expressing his respect for Yuan Shu, and then began to read the specific content of Yuan Shu's letter.

The beginning was rather old-fashioned, greeting Li Yi in various ways, telling him how much he missed, and then expressing that after he got Jingzhou, he hoped that Li Yi would not retire and continue to stay to assist him, and Yuan Shu once again promised as the Jiuqing, saying After finishing these, Yuan Shu turned to the key point and began to talk about the things that Li Yi was most concerned about.

Yuan Shu's letter mentioned that he decided to proclaim himself King of Chu on April [-]th and pass it on to the world. Before that, Yuan Shuhui appointed Zhang Xun as a general and led an army to lurk outside Jiangxia County. At the same time, he entered Jiangxia by surprise, with the goal of ruling Xiling.

In addition, there will also be a partial division, mainly Ji Ling, who will join the Yuzhou Yellow Turban and enter Jingzhou from Yuzhou to serve as Zhang Xun's support.

As for Liu Biao himself, after Shouchun became the king of Chu, he will also rush to Jingzhou to preside over the war.

The mention of the war in the letter was just for chatting, but it caused a lot of shock to Li Yi.

Yuan Shu is more rational than Li Yi thought, or Yuan Shu's subordinates are more rational. Although he got the jade seal, and it was the jade seal granted by heaven, Yuan Shu did not proclaim himself emperor, but called himself the king of Chu.

This made Li Yi feel that his memory was a little confused. He couldn't tell whether Yuan Shu was the emperor or the king in the original history. He just remembered that when playing games, Yuan Shu's banner was "Zhong", and he didn't know if that counted as the national title. .

What Li Yi wants to see most is that Yuan Shu proclaims himself emperor. After all, there is no second day. In this way, even if the Han court knocks out its teeth and swallows it in its stomach, it will die with Yuan Shu. The ambition to stir up people in the world.

But now that Yuan Shu is calling himself King of Chu, although it is still arrogance, and it is obvious that he is different from the Han Dynasty, the effect is worse than Li Yi's expectation.

Li Yi sighed silently in his heart, he had tried his best, so he should be king if he became king, after all, he couldn't suggest Yuan Shu to be emperor anymore, right?

In addition, regarding Zhang Xun's surprise attack on Jiang Xia, Li Yi had to admit that Yuan Shu's arrangement was quite good. Originally, Li Yi guessed that Yuan Shu would probably personally lead the army to attack Jiang Xia in order to establish his prestige, but now he gave this opportunity to him. Zhang Xun, for which the trade-offs are to be commended.

However, Li Yi didn't care much about it. Zhang Xun's beating of Jiang Xia had nothing to do with him. On the contrary, it was Ji Ling's side, which made Li Yi a little wary.

Ji Ling joined Yuzhou Yellow Turban to enter Jingzhou from Yuzhou. Where would they pass through, and it would be fine to go directly to Jiangxia. If they had to pass through Nanyang, it would be a very bad situation for Li Yi no matter how they dealt with it.

When Li Yi read the letter, Yuan Huan was chatting with Guo Jia, and he glanced at Li Yi as if inadvertently. Seeing that Li Yi was deep in thought, he immediately asked, "Why is the Lord Xiang frowning? Do you think there is anything inappropriate in what Yuan Shijun said?"

Only then did Li Yi realize that he was distracted, but he didn't panic, he just shook his head and said, "No, it's just why Yuan Shijun didn't mention it in his heart, how can I deal with it in Nanyang?"

This question is not Li Yi's nonsense. Yuan Shu only said in the letter that he hoped Li Yi could help him, but he didn't specifically say how Li Yi would help him, so it is normal for Li Yi to ask this question.

Yuan Huan said with a smile: "The original intention of the envoy was to let Marquis Xiang and General Ji Ling join forces, and then go to Xiangyang to feign an attack on Xiangyang, so as to make it easier for General Zhang Xun to take Jiangxia in one fell swoop. However, after learning about the changes in Jingzhou, But it doesn’t have to be like that.”

"I see."

Li Yi nodded in a low voice. Now Liu Biao's hostility towards Nanyang is becoming more and more obvious. Yuan Shu knows it, and it is reasonable to make corresponding changes in countermeasures.

After thinking about it, Li Yi smiled and said, "So, General Zhang Xun is going to take advantage of the situation in Jiangxia?"

Yuan Huan said: "That's exactly the case. Speaking of which, it's also the work of the Marquis Xiang."

Li Yi shook his head again and again, and declined: "This is considered a credit, but it really makes Li feel ashamed. Now that Liu Biao is more and more persecuting, I am looking eastward day and night, and I only hope that Elemental Jun can send troops to Xiangyang as soon as possible. I am suffering now."

Yuan Huan chuckled, and suddenly asked: "How many soldiers and horses are there in Nanyang now?"

Li Yi sighed, and said in a low voice: "There are 1 soldiers and horses, but there is too much shortage of weapons and armor. If there is a field battle, about [-] to [-] can go into battle. The rest of the troops can only be arranged to defend the city."

Yuan Huan heard the words, and did not express the slightest doubt about the strength of Nanyang troops mentioned by Li Yi, but asked very intimately: "Since the Marquis Xiang is in such a difficult situation, why didn't he tell the envoy? Is this a difficult situation for Marquis Xiang?"

Li Yi glanced at Yuan Huan with a slightly strange gaze. Li Yi also thought about asking Yuan Shu for some ordnance at first, but, not to mention asking for Yuan Shu's things, it would be easy to be regarded as Yuan Shu's party in the future. Well, Yuan Shu might not be willing to give it, and even if he did, it is very likely that Li Yi will lead the Nanyang soldiers and horses to be the vanguard, which is completely inconsistent with Li Yi's plan.

Therefore, Li Yi would rather find a way by himself than reach out to Yuan Shu. Unexpectedly, Yuan Huan took the initiative to say this.

Something seemed wrong in his heart, but Li Yi said as calmly as possible on the surface: "I heard that Mr. Yuan envoys are recruiting troops in Yangzhou. Is there still room for armaments?"

Yuan Shu laughed and said, "As for armaments, Yangzhou is also in a tight spot, but if Marquis Xiang speaks up, the envoy will definitely not make things difficult for Marquis Xiang."