Qinglong Three Kingdoms

Chapter 548 A Different Situation from the Original History

Now according to Zhu Wei's investigation of Yuan Shu's military strength, Yuan Shu's Liu Xun's troops in Lujiang County have between [-] and [-] troops, and the troops left in Shouchun, his old base, are at least nearly [-]. In addition, Yinling, Zhongli, and Quyang were stationed in the direction of Guangling County, with nearly [-] troops stationed.

It can be said that it is precisely because Yuan Shu has to support so many troops that the family heritage accumulated by the fourth and third Yuan family cannot withstand consumption.

But it was precisely because of such a large army that Yuan Shu dared to proclaim himself emperor. With his strength, Cao Cao was afraid, and Lu Bu flirted with Yuan Shu several times.

But now Yuan Shu is indeed at the most dangerous time. No matter how many troops Yuan Shu has, he still has to face the siege of the four coalition forces of Zhu Wei, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu. Oops.

In the original history, Cao Cao's expedition to Yuan Shu was actually joined by Liu Bei, Lu Bu, and Sun Ce.

Then Yuan Shu knew that Cao Cao was leading troops to attack, so he withdrew his troops directly from the state of Chen, and returned to Shouchun to enjoy himself. He only sent his generals Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun with [-] to [-] troops to stay in Huaibei to resist Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu. army.

Perhaps Yuan Shu thought that Cao Cao beat him because he attacked Chen State and threatened Xu Du. Now that he directly withdrew from Chen State and stopped threatening Xu Du, Cao Cao should also pretend to withdraw his troops.

But Yuan Shu was wrong, this time Cao Cao took it seriously.

Therefore, the coalition forces of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu first defeated the army of Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun in Huaibei, and then joined Sun Ce's army who also responded to send troops, and prepared to attack Shouchun City, Yuan Shu's stronghold.

But Yuan Shu was afraid again. He ordered his four generals Li Feng, Le Jiu, Liang Gang, and Chen Ji to lead an army of [-] to guard Shouchun.

During this period, Yuan Shu also sent people to encourage Jiangdong Zulang and other Shanyue to rebel in Jiangdong, which forced Sun Ce to focus on quelling the rebellion in Jiangdong, which effectively eliminated an army to attack him.

But Cao Cao was really determined to take care of Yuan Shu, so the allied forces of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu still besieged Shouchun fiercely.

But Shouchun had [-] defenders, so the siege of the city lasted for more than a month. Afterwards, Cao Cao’s food was almost insufficient. However, at this stage, the surrounding area of ​​Shouchun suffered from famine for several years, and there was no way to help Cao Cao. Looking for food on the spot, so there is also an allusion recorded in history that Cao Cao beheaded a food official to stabilize the morale of the army.

Fortunately, after that, Cao Cao borrowed [-] hu from Sun Ce for grain and rice, which eased the food crisis. Therefore, with the morale brought by the grain, Cao Jun finally broke through Shouchun City, and Li Feng, Le Jiu, Liang Gang, and Chen Ji who defended the city were all captured alive. And executed in public.

Yuan Shu, who had lost his base camp, finally fell into a state of despair. All his soldiers betrayed their relatives, and some even fled to the mountains and became bandits.

However, in the original history, Yuan Shu did not perish immediately after this battle. He secretly contacted Lv Bu who had returned to Xuzhou, and then Lv Bu rebelled against the imperial court and formed an alliance with Yuan Shu, sending Gao Shun and Zhang Liao to attack Peicheng. Defeat Liu Bei.

Cao Cao sent Xiahoudun to rescue Liu Bei, but was also defeated by Gao Shun. It seems that Xiahoudun's eyes became one-eyed at this time. Then Gao Shun and others broke through Peicheng and captured Liu Bei's wife and children.

And Cao Cao personally led his troops to attack Lv Bu, and finally besieged Lv Bu in Xiapi City. Following the rebellion of Lv Bu's subordinates Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu, they bound Chen Gong and surrendered, and Lv Bu was hanged in Baimenlou.

It can be said that in the original history, Cao Cao's expedition to Yuan Shu also opened the beginning of the subsequent battle of Cao Cao's unification of the Central Plains.

It's just that the situation is different now. Sun Ce, who was besieging Yuan Shu, would be forced to retreat by Yuan Shu's provocation of Jiangdong Mountain. The main reason is that he just occupied Jiangdong and separated from Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu found an opportunity.

But now Zhu Wei's control over Jiangdong and Jingzhou is very stable, naturally it is impossible for Yuan Shu to find an opportunity to tamper with, so it is impossible for Zhu Wei to withdraw his troops easily.

Well, originally Yuan Shu might still be able to escape to Runan, and return to Shouchun after Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu's allied forces retreated after defeating Shouchun, but now that Zhu Wei's strong troops are dispatched, he will definitely not give it to him. Yuan Shu had this chance.

In this way, it is natural for Cao Cao to conquer Lu Bu and unify the Central Plains.

In fact, in the past half a year, Zhu Wei also reached a certain alliance with Lu Bu, so it is impossible for Zhu Wei to sit back and watch Lu Bu be wiped out by Cao Cao.

After Yiji negotiated terms with the Sun family in Guangling County, he went to where Lu Bu was located in Pengcheng, Xuzhou.

Of course, Yiji got teachings from Zhu Wei, so he visited Chen Deng and Chen Gui immediately after arriving in Pengcheng, expressed Zhu Wei's greetings to them, and then expressed Zhu Wei's hope and Lu Bu Be friendly and ask what they mean.

Although Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son were originally dissatisfied with Lu Bu, they already had some inclinations to vote for Cao Cao, but now Zhu Wei is rising strongly in the south, especially Zhu Wei has occupied the root of the Chen family in Guangling County.

Therefore, at this moment, they also felt that it was not a bad thing to secretly befriend Zhu Wei. As for the idea that Lu Bu's friendship with Zhu Wei would make Lu Bu's position in Xuzhou more stable, it was different at this moment.

Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son still considered the possible development of the situation in the future. Anyway, now that Guangling County is in Zhu Wei's hands, even if they help Cao Cao solve Lu Bu, it is impossible for them to get the land of Guangling County from Cao Cao.

For the sake of their family, they naturally hope to make friends with Zhu Wei who actually controls Guangling County.

In this way, after getting support from Chen Gui, Chen Deng and his son, Yi Ji formally visited Lu Bu as Zhu Wei's envoy, and then proposed to Lu Bu Zhu Wei's friendship, expressing that Zhu Wei was willing to carry out food peace with Lu Bu. Alliance intentions such as the trade of war horses and so on.

And Lu Bu has been trapped in the situation of insufficient food and grass. Although Xuzhou is considered a prosperous place, after Cao Cao launched the conquest of Xuzhou, Xuzhou also fell into a situation of war for many years.

Although Liu Bei inherited Xuzhou from Tao Qian, he still couldn't restore Xuzhou's people's livelihood in a short period of time. After that, Yuan Shu also took a fancy to Xuzhou and sent a large army to attack Xuzhou, which inevitably plunged Xuzhou into war again.

Then Lu Bu captured Xuzhou from Liu Bei, and then Lu Bu and Yuan Shu went to war again because of their marriage. It can be said that Xuzhou has almost never stopped fighting in these years, so how can there be a chance to restore people's livelihood, so as to provide food for the ruler of Xuzhou What about taxes?

In this way, Lu Bu really has no way to save much food to meet his needs for raising soldiers. In the original history, Lu Bu first captured Xuzhou, which was attracted by Yuan Shu's empty check of 20 hu of grain, so he was attracted by Liu Bei who took him in. hands on.

For food and grass, he betrayed his benefactor who took him in. Although only Lu Bu could do it, it also showed that Lu Bu really needed food supplies at that time, but it was a pity that Yuan Shu cheated and didn't give them.

When Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty returned from Chang'an and passed through Hedong, he also issued an edict to Lü Bu to welcome him. However, because the army did not have enough food reserves, Lü Bu was unable to send troops to serve the king, so he could only send an envoy to write a letter of apology.

Otherwise, Lu Bu would have to join in such a good opportunity to assist the emperor, so Lu Bu should have been really short of food at that time.

Even though Lu Bu had previously defeated Yuan Shu's Seventh Army and plundered a large amount of food and supplies in Huaibei, which alleviated some of Lu Bu's difficulties, the food problem was still a big problem for Lu Bu.

Now that Zhu Wei put forward the condition of exchanging grain and grass for horses, expressing the intention of making friends with Lu Bu, Lu Bu was naturally moved...

(End of this chapter)