Qinglong Three Kingdoms

Chapter 670 Liu Bei's Ambition

Qingzhou was actually under the control of Gongsun Zan before, and Tian Kai, the original governor of Qingzhou, was appointed by Gongsun Zan.

When Liu Bei took refuge in Gongsun Zan at first, he also set up troops under Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou, to help Gongsun Zan fight against Yuan Shao. Later, when he received Tao Qian's request for help from Xuzhou, Liu Bei took the opportunity to borrow troops from Gongsun Zan and entered Xuzhou, and then took over. The territory of Xuzhou.

At the beginning of Zang Ba's occupation of Taishan County, because of the chaotic situation in Qingzhou, he was not threatened by Qingzhou, so he mainly fought against Cao Cao in Gunzhou. For this reason, he attached himself to Tao Qian in Xuzhou.

But after that, as Yuan Shao sent his eldest son Yuan Tan into Qingzhou, Yuan Shao's forces gradually seized Qingzhou from Gongsun Zan's forces.

However, at first Yuan Shao was all about pacifying Gongsun Zan, and had no intention of expanding his power southward. Therefore, after Yuan Tan took control of Qingzhou, Zang Ba's Taishan County was still stable.

But now that Yuan Shao has basically solved Gongsun Zan and surrounded him in Yijing, Yuan Shao's strategic goal will naturally focus on the Central Plains in the south, and Taishan County, which is so close to Qingzhou, has also been affected by Yuan Shao's forces. threaten.

Cao Cao in Dagon Prefecture originally had a certain threat to Zang Ba in Taishan County, but now Qingzhou controlled by Yuan Tan also has the meaning of infiltrating into Taishan County.

To be honest, Zang Ba attached to Lu Bu of Xuzhou again before, just thinking of using Lu Bu's power to resist the pressure of Cao Cao in Gunzhou and Yuan Tan in Qingzhou, but now Liu Bei actually let him attach to Yuan Shao, which made Zang Ba feel a little bit worried.

Zang Ba naturally has his own little plans. He still wants to be his own local emperor in Taishan County.

Zang Ba is very clear that his attachment to Tao Qian, Liu Bei, and Lu Bu will not affect his position in Taishan County, because they have no strength to attack his Taishan County, so by attaching to them, Taishan County can be subordinated to Xuzhou Because of the regional nature, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's coveting of Taishan County was officially dismissed.

Therefore, Zang Ba can continue to control the land of Taishan County and be his local emperor.

But if he invested in Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, it would be difficult for him to control Taishan County in his own hands, because the other party has enough strength to swallow Taishan County in one go.

Zang Ba just didn't want to be swallowed up, so he didn't intend to surrender to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Otherwise, with the position of Taishan County, he could have voted to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao long ago.

But now Liu Bei persuaded him to vote for Yuan Shao together, which naturally made Zang Ba a little unhappy.

Of course, Zang Ba didn't really want to vote for Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Another reason was his background. He was just an ordinary local tyrant.

However, both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao came from a wealthy scholar family. Although Cao Cao has a somewhat eunuch-like name, he is still an official after all.

Not to mention Yuan Shao, the status of the nobles of the fourth generation and the third son of the Yuan family is naturally not something that everyone can see, so relying on Zang Ba's status as a bandit is like being recruited by the heroes of Liangshan in later generations. They will only be used as cannon fodder, but it is difficult to get reuse. There is no chance of success.

Of course, after Zang Ba took refuge in Cao Cao in the original history, the follow-up development was not bad. It seems that he was also named General Zhendong, and he was also named Marquis after his death. But this is also the particularity of Cao Cao, at least Zang Ba At the beginning, I didn't know that Cao Cao could employ people regardless of their background.

So Zang Ba didn't think that his identity would be valued and used by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. He was afraid that his Taishan County would be swallowed up without any flesh and blood, and he would be driven away like a drowned dog. Become cannon fodder.

But the current situation seems to be a little different according to Liu Bei's description. On the one hand, he has offended Zhu Wei. If Zhu Wei comes to attack Taishan County in the future, he may not be able to resist it.

On the other hand, Liu Bei seems to mean to vote with him in the form of a foreign vassal to Yuan Shao, so that he may be able to retain his Taishan County territory.

After all, Liu Bei's status is different. After all, Liu Bei is a clan member of the Han Dynasty. Maybe Yuan Shao will not ignore Liu Bei easily. As long as Liu Bei can successfully occupy Langya as a foreign domain, it seems that he can also separate Taishan County as a foreign domain.

For Zang Ba, as long as he can keep his hometown in Taishan County, no matter who he surrenders to, Zang Ba hesitated for a while before he said, "Mr. Xuande, can you really keep Taishan and Langya under our control?" I'm afraid that Yuan Shao will send someone to take over at that time, then we don't know where to go!"

"Xuan Gao don't worry, this time is different from the past. Now Zhu Wei will be in charge of Xuzhou, and we will actually control Taishan and Langya counties. However, if the general Yuan Shao has no excuses, he will naturally be unable to interfere with Xuzhou's affairs, but if We are attached to Yuan Shao. Once Zhu Wei comes to attack, Yuan Shao can use the excuse of supporting us to send troops to Xuzhou! At the same time, for the sake of the name, Yuan Shao will not easily take the land we occupy, he still needs to save some face! At that time As long as Yuan Shao has not sent troops south in a large scale, then we are Yuan Shao's front post in Xuzhou, even if Yuan Shao sends troops south to the Central Plains, when the situation in the world changes, we can naturally make another plan!"

When Liu Bei saw that Zang Ba was tempted, he also guaranteed it. In fact, Liu Bei just wanted to sit on the fence for the time being. The key was that Liu Bei had another thought in his mind, which was his purpose of surrendering to Yuan Shao.

In Liu Bei's view, if Yuan Shao really wants to send troops south to the Central Plains, then the emperor who is controlled by Cao Cao in Xudu will be a big problem. But if Yuan Shao can support another Han Dynasty son to become emperor, wouldn't he be free from Cao Cao's control? The emperor held it hostage.

When Dong Zhuo hijacked Emperor Xian of the Han, Yuan Shao intended to support Liu Yu of Youzhou as the emperor, so as to fight against the imperial court controlled by Dong Zhuo, but Liu Yu himself disagreed, and Gongsun Zan objected at that time, which made Yuan Shao finally give up.

Of course, Yuan Shao may also want to support a puppet emperor, but at least he is also an emperor.

Now that Liu Bei claims to be a clan member of the Han Dynasty, after King Jing of Zhongshan, if he goes to Yuan Shao's territory, Yuan Shao will need an official name when he raises his troops south, and he might be able to support Liu Bei as emperor.

Although Liu Bei may be controlled by Yuan Shao as a puppet, it is also an opportunity for Liu Bei.

After all, Liu Bei is not a pure civil servant like Liu Yu. His two brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, have the courage to be inappropriate. At the same time, Liu Bei is confident that he also has a certain ability to control people's hearts. Maybe he can take the opportunity to control real power. Swallow Yuan Shao's power, and then kick Yuan Shao away, then he is the real emperor of the Han Dynasty.

This ideal may be very slim, but for Liu Bei, it is also an opportunity to take a risk.

This is also a fundamental reason why Liu Bei abandoned Cao Cao, hated Zhu Wei, and chose to vote for Yuan Shao. After all, Cao Cao already had a Han Xiandi on his side, while Zhu Wei was too young, and his subordinates all developed from scratch. It's hard to get your hands on it.

Only Yuan Shao was supported by the local gentry and wealthy families by relying on the name of the fourth generation and third prince of the Yuan family. If Liu Bei's status as a Han family clan relative, wouldn't it be more popular than Yuan Shao's status as a courtier.

So Liu Bei felt that if he was on Yuan Shao's side, he still had a chance to be in charge...

(End of this chapter)