The ninth day of the fifth lunar month, Xudu, Prime Minister's Mansion.
Cao Cao was like a man carved from wood, sitting in the hall with his eyes closed and meditating. The civil servants and generals in the hall were quickly circulating a battle report with different expressions.
"The princes who once raised troops with me to attack Dong Zhuo have gradually withered away." Cao Cao still closed his eyes, looking sad, "Now Yuan Shao has followed in the footsteps of others, which is really heartbreaking. I feel so emotional. In the past two days, every time I think of the way he sat as the leader of the alliance, I feel that time flies by, like a fleeting moment, and that no matter how hard I struggle, things in life are just like a mirror in the mirror"
"Yuan Shao's death was also within my expectation. With him and his three unimproved sons, how could he be Liu Bei's opponent?" Xun Yu stroked his beard and looked down at the ground thoughtfully, " Now the Yuan family is no longer a threat to us, but the enemy in Hebei has been replaced by Liu Bei, which seems a bit troublesome."
"What advice do you have, gentlemen?" Cao Cao opened his eyes, straightened up, sat cross-legged, and looked at the people in the hall with bright eyes.
"Liu Bei has gained two new states, but the people are not yet attached to them, and Yuan's old troops may not be sincere in surrendering. If the Prime Minister were to raise troops to cross the Hebei Province at this time, with our current strength, it would not be too difficult to defeat Liu Bei. "Guo Jia smiled faintly, "What I am worried about is the tiger lurking behind us. It is also easy for Sun Ce to take this opportunity to jump out and bite our throats."
"It seems that we are in a dilemma." Cao Cao shook his head and laughed, "On one side are the tigers from Jiangdong, and on the other are the foxes from Hebei. I want you to decide for me what to choose."
"I'm afraid the Prime Minister already has the answer in his mind." Guo Jia narrowed his eyes and looked at Cao Cao with a half-smile.
"It's true that nothing can be hidden from Fengxiao." Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, and then laughed, "Which is the lesser of two evils, based on the current situation, I am still more inclined to attack Liu Bei. "
"How did the prime minister act expediently?" Xun Yu frowned and said with a hint of worry, "Based on my understanding of Sun Ce, he definitely has the courage and determination to attack Xudu. This person must be guarded against."
"The ferocity of the tiger is obvious, but the cunning of the fox is even more dangerous." Cao Cao said with a cold face and a low voice, "Don't forget, Wen Ruo, that the fox, like the tiger, also has sharp claws and fangs, and can also be easily bitten. Our throats.¡±
May 12th, Jiangling City, Jingzhou.
On one side of the school grounds, heavy crossbows were neatly stacked, shining blackly in the sunlight. Sun Ce picked up one piece at random and weighed it in his hands. He felt it was heavy, which showed that it was made of good wood. Sun Ce pulled the bow string again. The string made of beef tendon was strong and strong, but it took a lot of effort to pull it open. Sun Ce became interested, took out an iron arrow from the quiver he carried with him, opened his bow and unstrung the bow, and with a sharp whistling sound, the iron arrow plunged into the target a hundred steps away with a "bang".
"What a good bow!" Sun Ce praised, "The trajectory is straight, balanced and powerful, what a good bow!"
"Lord, the crossbows here are all of the same standard. The bow can shoot three hundred and fifty steps, which is nearly twice as far as ordinary crossbows." Huang Zhong smiled proudly, "Now the range of the Yinyun Archers is It¡¯s enough to cover the entire infantry formation. If the enemy dares to charge from the front, none of them will be able to escape the bow and arrow in my hand!¡±
"Okay!" Sun Ce couldn't help but praise again, "Leave the matter of reorganizing the Cloud Archers to General Huang and Ziyi!"
"I got the order!" Huang Zhong and Taishi Ci happily bowed to accept the order.
Sun Ce was about to say a few more words to encourage the two of them, but he saw Zhou Yu walking over quickly holding a box: "Brother, this is the news from Hebei. It just arrived."
"Hebei?" Sun Ce took the box, opened the lacquer seal on the box's mouth, took out the cloth in the box and started to look through it.
"Brother, has there been a change in Hebei?" Seeing Sun Ce's expression turn serious, Zhou Yu couldn't help but ask.
Sun Ce was silent for a moment and handed the cloth to Zhou Yu: "Yuan Shao died of a serious illness. His three sons fought among themselves to compete for the position of legitimate son, and they all died. Jizhou and Qingzhou have fallen into Liu Bei's hands. Now To the north of the Yellow River, people with the surname Liu are no longer surnamed Yuan."
"Liu Bei and Liu Xuande appear to be benevolent men but are very ruthless in their actions. They are worthy of being today's heroes." Zhou Yu quickly scanned the cloth in his hand and praised, "Yuan Shao raised tigers, which eventually led to the disaster of annihilation. It¡¯s so stupid.¡±
"That's right." Sun Ce was silent for a while, "Liu Bei is a hero"
"Brother, don't worry too much. After all, Liu Bei's foundation is still shallow, and he??Cao Cao is restraining us in Henan and will not be a threat to us within five years. "
Sun Ce nodded solemnly and said nothing.
"Brother" Zhou Yu stopped talking.
"What's wrong?" Sun Ce crossed his arms, "If you have anything to say, just say it. I have said that you and I don't have to be so reserved."
"Liu Bei has newly acquired the land of Ji Qing, and his foothold is unstable. With Cao Cao's decisiveness, it is impossible not to take action against him." Zhou Yu lowered his voice, "If we take advantage of Cao Cao's northern expedition to attack Xudu and seize Emperor Xian, wouldn't it be ¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡¤¡±
"It's really strange." Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu sideways and interrupted him.
Zhou Yu was blocked mid-sentence. Zhou Yu was stunned for a moment and asked: "What's so strange?"
"Wu Xiafeng said that Gong Jin was a refined gentleman. How could he be so refined and gentlemanly in this way of taking advantage of someone else's advantage?" Sun Ce said with a smile.
"What I'm talking about is serious business." Sun Ce put away his smile and put on a serious face, "I have a ten-year agreement with Cao Cao. Within ten years, if the other party does not take the initiative to invade, I will never be together." Offense. I have sworn a poisonous oath in front of the three armies. If I violate the oath, I will die by the sword, my soul will fall into hell, and I will never be reincarnated."
"This is the toothache curse, the toothache curse." Zhou Yu curled his lips, "Brother, this is a rare opportunity, you can't miss it, you will never come back if you lose it!"
"Gong Jin, if you can't even abide by the oath, how can you and I talk about governing the country and bringing peace to the world?" Sun Ce took a sneak peek and saw that no one else was around them, so he leaned close to Zhou Yu's ear and continued: "Gong Jin Jin, have you forgotten about the Golden Chamber Alliance?"
Zhou Yu was startled for a moment, understood Sun Ce's intention, and nodded helplessly.
"It's not Liu Bei who's really unsettled, but you and me."
In June of the third year of Jian'an, Sun Ce, who occupied the southeast, sent envoys to Xuchang to pay homage to the emperor and pay tribute to various specialties and rare playthings. In the eyes of the princes, this was a symbol that Sun Ce had no intention of provoking a war behind Cao Cao's rear. Cao Cao immediately reacted and asked the emperor to confer Sun Ce the title of General Pingnan as a model of loyal ministers.
In July of the same year, Cao Cao personally led his army out of Xuchang and stationed troops on the south bank of the Yellow River, forming a confrontation with Liu Bei stationed on the north bank. These natural enemies finally entered the battlefield face to face for the first time.