Xiaoqi

Perhaps, compared to the people in the city who had been devastated by the war, the evacuation of Lu Bu and Sun Ce's troops from Shouchun City was definitely a great thing to celebrate.But for Li Li, who lives in the State Shepherd's Mansion, it may not be a good thing for these two people to leave Shouchun.

Not only that, in order to appease Lu Bu and Sun Ce, Li Li paid a lot for this.

In order to appease Lü Bu's anger, Li Li made a huge concession in distributing the seized money, food and supplies after the war. He rewarded Lv Bu with one hundred thousand stones of grain and grass, [-] gold and [-] bolts of silk and satin at one time.At dawn on the second day after receiving the reward, Lu Bu led the Xuzhou army out of the stronghold without even saying hello, and returned to Xuzhou via the east gate.

Along with Lu Bu, Jiangdong Sun Ce also received a big reward.In view of the heavy losses of soldiers and horses under Sun Ce's account, Li Li distributed [-] shi of grain and grass, [-] gold, and [-] pieces of silk to Sun Ce, and handed over [-] bandits captured by the Qing Dynasty to Sun Ce.

Unexpectedly, Lu Bu left without saying goodbye, and Sun Ce then came to ask Ling to lead his army back to help Lujiang.At that time Li Li did not allow him to lead the army to leave.However, Sun Ce led his army out of the city in the early morning of the next day and went straight to the Lujiang River.

In this way, along with Lu Bu and Sun Ce, the two troops withdrew from Shouchun one after another.The allied forces of the princes who conquered Yuan Shu disbanded and fell apart, and each led their troops back to the station.

So far, the alliance of discussing Yuan exists in name only, and only Li Li and Cao Cao are left in the alliance.At the same time, the two-year stalemate in Hebei is still unresolved, and Yuan Shao in Jizhou is still under siege by Cao Cao in Yanzhou, Zhou Yu in Hanoi, and Zhangliao in Youzhou.Dangerous.

According to Li Li's plan for the southern expedition formulated in advance, there are two strategic intentions for leading the army to the south this time.First, wipe out Yuan Shu in Huainan.Captured Yuzhou and Yangzhou.Second, while destroying Yuan Shu, take advantage of the situation to cut off Jiangdong Sun Ce and Xuzhou Lu Bu; no matter how bad it is, choose one of the two and get rid of one of Sun Ce and Lu Bu.

Unfortunately.Plans can't keep up with changes.

In the battle against Yuan Shu in Huainan.Li Li successfully weakened the strength of Lu Bu and Sun Ce, resulting in heavy casualties, and more than half of their troops and horses were lost.The fly in the ointment is that Li used too much force and caused too much loss to Lu Bu and Sun Ce's troops too early, so that they became suspicious of Li Li, and they were always on guard against Li Li and his Xiliang army, lest Li Li Lee caught the two of them by surprise.

It is precisely because Lu Bu and Sun Ce are always on guard against Li Li.Being cautious everywhere made Li Li have no excuses and no chance to take the lead.

During the half month that the three groups of people were stationed together in Shouchun City.The three forces are wary of each other, suspicious of each other, seem to be in harmony with each other, and pretend to be submissive.

After Li Li allocated and distributed all the battle seizures hoarded in Shouchun City since the Southern Expedition, Lv Bu and Sun Ce led their troops away without hesitation, as if they had slipped away.It goes without saying that both Sun Ce and Lu Bu were very afraid of Li Li and the Xiliang army under his command, so after they got their share of captured supplies, they did not dare to stay for a moment, and immediately led the army out of the city, lest Li Li Unload the grind and kill the donkey, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Since then, Li Li's plan to temporarily stabilize the two of them, and then divide and attack each of them, has completely failed.As a result, the entire southern expedition plan was only half completed, and the remaining half was stillborn and wasted.

Not only that, but the strategic intention to exterminate Yuan Shu did not achieve the expected goal.Because until the time when Lu Bu and Sun Ce led their troops to leave, Yuan Shu's whereabouts were still unknown.

Shouchun City, State Shepherd's Mansion.

On the jade steps outside the gate of the main hall, Li Li, dressed in a brocade robe, stood with his hands behind his back, looking up to the southeast, with a calm expression and deep eyes, as if thinking.

Not far behind him, Guo Jia, Lu Su, and Xun You stood together beside the column, talking in low voices, looking at Li Li's back from time to time.

"Feng Xiao, what my lord did this time really confuses us and is quite puzzling." While speaking, Xun You looked up at Li Li who was standing in contemplation, and said with a puzzled expression: "To tell the truth, like this It's really not like what the lord did, and it doesn't conform to the lord's usual style of doing things!"

Guo Jia was immediately happy when he heard the words, and said with a dumbfounded smile: "I don't know what brother Gongda means by the lord's consistent style of handling things? This is the first time I heard that the lord has an inherent style of handling things. Before, I always thought that the lord's behavior Eclectic, like a horse running in the sky without a trace, I didn't expect Brother Gongda to have summed up the master's handling habits. Hehehe!"

Xun You smiled shyly, and blinked to signal Guo Jia and Lu Su to keep the secret for themselves, and they must not let the lord know.Guo Jia and Lu Su readily understood, smiled and nodded, expressing that they would be absolutely tight-lipped and would not reveal a word.

Seeing this, Xun You looked at Li Li's back again, and said in a low voice: "As Feng Xiao said, my lord has always acted informally, unconventional, and unique, making people elusive and untraceable. However, the lord has an inherent style in terms of money, food, weapons, and military supplies. You may wish to imagine, before this, has the lord ever spent money like water and rewarded the princes? Or, have you ever seen the lord do it? Losing business?

A few days ago, when I went to Lv Bu's camp to negotiate with him, Lv Bu said, "My lord has always eaten more than he has, and likes to eat alone. How often have you seen him be generous to the princes of the world?" ’ Then I thought, what Lu Bu said was indeed reasonable. Throughout the history since the lord took Xiliang, the princes from all walks of life have always donated money and food to the lord, but the lord has rarely donated large amounts of money and food to other princes. Before, there is no precedent. "I have to say that Xun You is really caring, meticulous and observant. In just a few months of getting along day and night, I can understand Li Li's nature of life that never suffers.

Guo Jia and Lu Su looked at each other, then smiled at each other, then Lu Su nodded and said with a smile: "Brother Jing Gongda said so, it is true in retrospect. But, did Gongda think that Xiliang seven years ago was another place?" What is it like, what is the situation, is there enough money and food? At the age of weak crown, the lord took over the two prefectures of Xiliang, commanded more than [-] Xiliang troops, and faced the customs clearance and blockade of the border of Xiliang by various princes. His situation was very difficult. The shortage of food and grass is beyond anyone's imagination.

It is said that in order to raise food and military pay, the lord locked himself in the study for a whole month without going out.At the same time, the lord's family members and clan members all lived in tight clothing and frugal spending, and all the saved money and food were used as military pay.And this is just a drop in the bucket, and it is difficult to solve the urgent need.For this reason, the chariot general Li Jue went to the palace to expel eunuchs and concubines and maids, and took out a large number of royal artifacts to the caravan, and secretly went to various states and counties to exchange for food.Even so, it was still unable to alleviate the food and grass crisis, let alone relieve the many hungry people under the rule of Xiliang.

In view of this, the lord made up his mind to distribute all the millions of grains and grass hoarded by Mei Wuzhong to the people, and reduced the taxes and taxes of Xiazhou County under Xiliang for two years.Then more than [-] Xiliang troops were broken up into parts, and all were sent to the border to guard the border, so that they could raise their own food and pay, rely on their own efforts, and seek their own development.In addition, the Lord personally set up workshops, encouraged major merchants to do business with the states and counties of the Central Plains through various channels, opened up business routes in the Western Regions, and sent caravans to do business with the countries in the Western Regions.This is the self-cultivation strategy formulated by the lord. For this reason, the Xiliang army has been silent for two years, while the two states of Xiliang have been given an extremely precious three-year period of peaceful development. "

At this point, Lu Su's voice stopped suddenly, and he looked at Guo Jia with a smile on his face.

Guo Jia understood immediately, and then continued, saying: "At that time, the policy of self-cultivation and vitality was forced to be done, and it was the only way for the two prefectures of Xiliang to get out of the predicament. The reason why this decree can be implemented smoothly is indeed It is due to the lord's great courage and tough implementation. At the beginning, many people were worried about this, and they were not optimistic about this important decision, and even suspected that the Xiliang Army was very likely to be destroyed by the lord. However, the facts have proved that the original decision of the lord was extremely A wise and farsighted move. Without the great courage to break the boat, without two years of hard work, without two years of hardening the frontiers, Xiliang would not be as strong as it is today, and there would be no Xiliang iron cavalry that is now criss-crossing the world. .”

Speaking of this, Guo Jia's tone paused, and the topic changed abruptly: "Gongda just said that the lord has never done business at a loss. In fact, this is just a nice way of saying. In fact, many princes are talking about the lord's cunning and stinginess behind his back. There are even more unsavory rhetoric. However, there are a few princes in the world who are not stingy. If they don't want to try to get money and food, how can they recruit soldiers and horses, how can they strengthen their strength, and how can they conquer other princes?

But now, the number of Xiazhou counties under the lord's rule is increasing day by day, with sufficient money and food, sufficient supplies, and a large amount of materials seized in the battle.Therefore, the lord is fully qualified and capable of spending money like water and rewarding the princes who joined the alliance, but everything the lord does has deep meaning.Lu Bu was greedy and interested in profit, so the lord rewarded him with a lot of gold, silver, jade and silk to reassure him; Sun Ce was ambitious, so the lord sent him down troops and asked him to replenish his troops to strengthen his courage.In this way, Lu Bu was satisfied and stable, and our army had no worries, so we sent troops to Lujiang to encircle and suppress Sun Ce. "

Xun You suddenly realized when he heard the words, and immediately asked: "Why is it Sun Ce and not Lu Bu? Didn't the lord always target Lu Bu before?"

At this time, Li Li, who had been standing in contemplation, suddenly turned his head and said, "Jiangdong Sun Ce is ambitious. He knew the whereabouts of Yuan Shu and his son, but he concealed it and did not report it. He tried to take back the Jade Seal of Chuanguo. If this son is so bold and reckless, if he does not punish him, there will be no peace in Jiangbei." day?"

Chapter 040

Lujiang County, Wan County.

The sound of "da da" horseshoes floated into the city, and then I saw groups of soldiers appearing on the official road three miles outside the city gate, with heavy soldiers and banners flying straight to the city gate.

Accompanied by the "quack" sound of the suspension bridge falling, the city gate of Wan County opened wide, and a scribe in a brocade robe led more than a hundred defenders out of the city to meet them.

"Welcome my lord to enter the city!"

Not waiting for the burly general who led the army to get off his horse, the scribes in brocade robes led a group of soldiers to meet him quickly, bowed down and bowed.

The burly leading general dismounted from his horse, stretched out his hand to help the scribe, and said with a pleasant face, "Why do you need to be so polite, Yuan Tan, please get up quickly."

It is true that this mighty and extraordinary leading general is Sun Ce and Sun Bofu who dominate Jiangdong, and the scribe who led a group of officials out of the city to meet him is Gu Yong and Gu Yuantan, a famous scholar in Wu County who is highly valued by Sun Ce.

After exchanging pleasantries, Sun Ce looked up at the city in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Wancheng is no stranger to him.At the beginning, he led his deceased father's old army and was expelled by Xuzhou Tao Qian. When he had nowhere to go, he defected to Yuan Shu's account, and was ordered to lead the army to attack Lujiang.

At that time, Lu Kang, who was the prefect of Lujiang at that time, was furious because he refused to pay the [-] shi of grain requested by Yuan Shu, and was besieged by Yuan Shu's army.Unexpectedly, Lu Kang was very good. Although he was a literati, he was both civil and military. In his early years, he was conferred the title of Loyal General by Emperor Ling for his meritorious service in eradicating bandits entrenched in Lujiang, ranking him higher than Jiuqing.So Yuan Shu sent his generals to attack Wan County repeatedly, but they were unable to attack Wan County for more than a year, until Sun Ce led his troops to defect to Yuan Shu's command.Then he was sent to Wan County to continue the siege.

Sun Ce was known for being brave and good at fighting, and he would take the lead in every battle, so the soldiers and horses he led were often very effective in fighting.After he took over the siege of Wan County.He personally led the army to attack the city repeatedly, which greatly increased the pressure on Lu Kang who was defending the city. After holding on for several months, he was captured by Sun Ce.Then Lu Kang was captured, and soon died of illness in prison. Affected by him, most of the children of the Lu family died in the war. Only the youngest son Lu Ji and his grandson Lu Xun were sent back to their hometown Wujun by Lu Kang in advance for refuge.Fortunately, he escaped unharmed.

After Sun Ce led the army to capture Lujiang, Yuan Shu sent Yuan Yin to be the prefect of Lujiang.When Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, Yuan Yin rose accordingly.He was in Jiuqing, and then Liu Xun took over as the prefect of Lujiang.

Now, Yuan Shu has fled, and Liu Xun led the remnants of the army, along with Lei Bo and Chen Lan, the leaders of the hidden bandits, all serving under Li Li's command.Sun Ce took advantage of the gap when he led his army to pursue Yuan Shu.Send Gu Yong and Zhou Tai to lead a team to attack Wan County.So as to realize the strategic intention of occupying the entire Lujiang County.

In addition, the reason why he sent Gu Yong to lead the army was not just for a mere county town, but for another purpose.

In the southwest of Wanxian County is the Qianshan Mountain, and there is a very dangerous cottage on the mountain.It used to be the camp where Lei Bo, Chen Lan and others occupied the mountain as king, but now it has changed hands, and that is the purpose of Sun Ce leading the army this time.

After the army entered the city, Sun Ce immediately summoned all the generals under his command to discuss matters in the hall without taking a rest.

When the chief minister was seated, Sun Ce did not say a word of politeness.He asked Gu Yong directly, and said, "Yuan Tan led his army to besiege the old thief Yuan Shu for more than half a month. It's just a grassroots camp, why can't we attack it repeatedly?"

Gu Yong was clearly prepared, and immediately said without hesitation: "My lord, please calm down, let me tell you the truth. 20 days ago, Yuan Shu fled to Qianshan in panic and wanted to take refuge in the camp of Chen Lan and Lei Bo. Who would have thought that these two The man refused to take him in, so Yuan Shu became furious, and immediately ordered Ji Ling to lead an army to capture the stronghold, drive away Chen Lan, Lei Bo and other thieves, and occupied the Qianshan camp.

My lord knows that the buried mountain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is a tendency that one man should guard the gate and ten thousand men cannot open it.Although Yuan Shu is now a bereaved dog, there are still more than ten generals such as Ji Ling accompanying him, and there are still more than two thousand remnant soldiers. In addition, there are nearly a thousand thieves left by Chen Lan and Lei Bo. The total number is not less than three thousand.Relying on these remnant soldiers and defeated generals, they also occupy a dangerous position, condescending, and waiting for work at ease.What's more, the stronghold stored a large amount of food, grass and supplies that Chen Lan and Lei Bo had plundered. There were plenty of arrows, and the walls were high and thick, so the defense was extremely favorable.Therefore, it is really difficult to conquer within ten days. "Before Gu Yong finished speaking, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin and other generals nodded in agreement, confirming that what Gu Yong said was true and every sentence was true.

After Sun Ce heard the words, his expression was silent, and he knew that what Gu Yong said was the truth.

In fact, the reason why he led the army to leave Shouchun in a hurry without Li Li's consent this time was precisely because he had received the news in advance that Chen Lan and Lei Bo, who were taken from the cottage by Yuan Shu, were leading more than a hundred remnants of soldiers. Rush to Shouchun, accompanied by more than a thousand Xiliang war cavalry escorting along the way.After hearing the news, Sun Ce turned pale with shock. Once Chen Lan and Lei Bo went to the city and saw Li Li, Yuan Shu's whereabouts would be exposed.From this, Li Li would immediately know that Sun Ce deliberately concealed the military information and did not report it, with ulterior motives, and then took the opportunity to send troops to Lujiang, and even directly attacked him and the Jiangdong army under his command.

Therefore, Sun Ce did not dare to delay for a moment, and immediately led his army to withdraw from Shouchun.After the army entered the territory of Lujiang River, the soldiers were divided into two groups; one route escorted the luggage to Xiazhai along the river, while the other route led by him personally went straight to Wan County.

It wasn't until Sun Ce led his army to leave Shouchun that he knew why Li Li occupied Yuzhou and the counties around Jiujiang so quickly.It turned out that as early as when the Allied forces attacked Shouchun City, Li Li secretly ordered Lu Su to lead a cavalry to sneak into Lujiang, persuade Lujiang prefect Liu Xun to lead his troops to surrender, and secretly contacted Dongcheng, Juchao and other counties, and voluntarily surrendered to Li Li. .

At the same time, Lu Su personally went to Qianshan to persuade Chen Lan and Lei Bo to surrender; and Lei Bo had known Lu Su in his early years and had a very close personal relationship, so the two hit it off.Unexpectedly, Lu Su left the mountain ahead of time, Chen Lan and Lei Bo then led the crowd down the mountain, but unexpectedly met Yuan Shu's defeated army who had fled here.Immediately, the two sides did not speculate, and fought violently. Lei Bo and others lost to Ji Ling, and fled in panic. Yuan Shu took all their money, food and belongings.

Coincidentally.Chen Lan and Lei Bo led the remnant troops to escape and encountered Jiangdong Army under Sun Ce's tent. They were defeated by Jiangdong Army again, and only a hundred people escaped.However, it was this encounter that allowed Chen Lan and Lei Bo to learn the whereabouts of the Jiangdong Army by accident, knowing that this Jiangdong Army came after Yuan Shu's defeated army.

The matter was so simple, but Sun Ce was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. Before Li Li agreed, he hurriedly led the army to leave Shouchun, and then led Qingqi Xingye to Wan County.

In the lobby, after Gu Yong finished speaking, he bowed and stood for a long time, but he didn't see Sun Ce's statement for a long time, which made him fearful and uneasy.Then he raised his head to look up the stairs, but saw that Sun Ce was in a trance, his brows were furrowed, his eyes were full of melancholy, and he looked distracted and absent-minded.