A few days later, Chen Dao came back from Changshan and said that he had not found Zhao Yun.
It is said that Zhao Yun's brother died of illness a few years ago. Zhao Yun came back for the funeral, and then left home without knowing where to go.
Zhou Ping felt a little disappointed when he couldn't find Zhao Yun, but Liu Bei was already surrounded by famous generals, so it didn't matter if he was missing Zhao Yun.
Besides, there is a possibility that Zhao Yun will be found in a few years.
Yuan Shao agreed with Tian Feng's suggestion, but disagreed with detaining Zhou Ping in Yecheng.
Zhou Ping returned to Xiapi with the hundred catties of gold rewarded by Xu Chu, Chen Dao and the emperor.
As Yuan Shao said, as soon as Zhou Ping arrived at Xia Pi, the imperial envoys followed him and made Zhou Ping the Marquis of Duting. They took the opportunity to take a look at the situation in Xuzhou.
In Yangzhou, Yuan Shu also received an envoy from the imperial court. Strictly speaking, he was a person sent by Yuan Shao. This person was Xin Pi, the younger brother of Xin Ping, a native of Yingchuan.
"The general's intention is to worship the general as the shepherd of Yangzhou, but the general must return the imperial seal that Sun Wentai had previously obtained to the emperor," Xin Pi said.
Yuan Shu sneered and said: "Who said that I have the jade seal to pass down the country? How can I pass on the jade seal to the country? Sun Wentai's statement that he got the jade seal is just a rumor, do you actually believe it?"
"Does the general really have no jade seal?" Xin Pi asked.
"Of course not." Yuan Shu replied.
"If the jade seal is not returned to the emperor, it may be difficult to order the general to be the shepherd of Yangzhou."
"Hmph, Yuan Shao used Liu Bei's power to hold the emperor hostage and steal the position of general. Now he wants to make me surrender with the position of Yangzhou shepherd. I have strong troops here, so there is no need for him to come and worship me.
"
Now Guan Yu and Taishi Ci Lusu's 25,000 troops are stationed in Hefei, Li Jia's 5,000 troops are stationed in Shouchun, and Sun Ce leads 30,000 troops in Liyang to stalemate with Hefei.
Yuan Shu has another 30,000 troops in Lujiang, and Sun Ce has more than 10,000 troops in Jiangdong. In terms of the number of troops, he is still stronger than Liu Bei, so how can he easily surrender to Yuan Shao, who has always been looked down upon by him.
However, although Yuan Shu had many soldiers and horses, many of them were newly recruited soldiers without any battle training.
Yuan Shu said this, and Xin Pi could not say anything else. After staying in Wancheng for three days, Yuan Shu still had no intention of handing over the imperial seal, so he had to return to Yecheng to report to Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao was furious when he heard this and wanted to raise his troops to attack Yuan Shu, but was persuaded by the counselors to stop him.
"Youzhou Gongsun refused to be appointed as the governor of Shanggu. His army is still strong. How can we send troops to expedition to Yangzhou now?" Tian Feng advised.
"Liu Xuande has a great reputation and a strong army. It is better for him to send troops to fight Yuan Gongdao, just like the general profited from his fight with Cao Mengde, sitting back and reaping the benefits of the fishermen."
"Yes, Cao Mengde has reduced his troops and horses, and his power has become weak. Now only the two states of Xu and Yang have strong troops in the world. We can make them fight and consume each other. And we can destroy Gongsun first. After the north is safe, there will be no one in the south.
Enemy."
"No, if Liu Bei attacks Yuan Shu and takes Yangzhou, his power will be even stronger and difficult to control." Tian Feng quickly retorted.
"If this is not the case, how can we attack Yuan Shu? Should he be allowed to continue to be so rampant?"
"..."
Yuan Shao was upset when he heard this and hurriedly said: "Don't say any more. The road is too light for Gu. How can I let it go so easily? Now that Gu is determined, Liu Xuande of Xuzhou and Liu Jingsheng of Jingzhou can be ordered to send troops at the same time to attack Yuan Shu."
Although Tian Feng held objections, Yuan Shu now despised Yuan Shao so much that Yuan Shao would not give up no matter what. Jizhou wanted to protect the emperor and guard against Gongsun Zan in the north, so it would definitely not be able to send troops to attack Yuan Shu from far away, so it could only rely on Liu Bei
and Liu Biao came to make Yuan Shu surrender.
The first month of the third year of Jian'an.
Liu Bei received an order from the Emperor to send troops to attack Yuan Shu and Sun Ce.
It has been seven months since the emperor moved to Ye and Liu Bei led his army back from Xudu.
After Zang Ba returned to Langya, he recruited 5,000 Taishan and Langya soldiers, 3,000 of whom were sent to Xiapi to recruit Liu Bei, leaving only 2,000 for himself. Together with the original 8,000 soldiers, Zang Ba had a total of 5,000 soldiers.
Ten thousand people garrisoned Langya.
Although Cao Cao now has fewer troops, he can still easily recruit soldiers, and he also has to be prepared for Yuan Tanhui's sudden attack in Qingzhou. This time he sent troops to attack Yuan Shu, but Liu Bei did not ask Zang Ba to lead troops to help, leaving him to stay at Langya.
Liu Bei's previous army camp selected 10,000 soldiers as soldiers. These people had already received some training when they were stationed in the fields, and now they were trained by Xu Sheng and Gao Shun. They were very different from the newly recruited soldiers and were brought to the battlefield.
It's time for a battle.
At Zhou Ping's suggestion, Liu Bei also agreed to form a trap camp of 800 people, led by Gao Shun.
The men who fell into the camp were selected by Gao Shun himself from among the whole army, and they were all brave men.
Liu Bei also agreed to give the best equipment in the army to the trapped camp, including the best weapons and armor.
Originally, it was planned to select a thousand people, but due to the limited number of armors, they could only be given 800 pairs of armors, so they could not gather a thousand people, but they were known as a thousand people.
After several months of training by Gao Shun in the trapped camp, his combat prowess is beyond the comparison of ordinary soldiers.
Zhou Ping asked them to engage in real-army confrontation exercises. A 3,000-man army formation was easily defeated by them.
However, this was the time when Xiahou Bo was in charge, and Xu Sheng was the general in charge, but he blocked the attack of the trapped camp.
Gao Shun was impressed by Xu Sheng's good defense. At the same time, because the formation of the trapped camp was too short and the training was not enough, if he could train for another half a year, he would definitely be able to break through the military formation led by Xu Sheng.
However, time no longer allows them to train any longer.
The emperor's edict must not be disobeyed, and even without the emperor's edict, Zhou Ping repeatedly urged Liu Bei to send troops to attack Yuan Shu, but Liu Bei has been unwilling to send troops, wanting to let his soldiers rest for a few more days and at the same time accumulate more food.
Now that there is an edict from the emperor, Liu Bei can't delay it any longer.
Xiahou Bo was sent to the East China Sea to command a thousand troops to defend the city, while Xia Pi was commanded by Xu Sheng and Chen Dao together.
It was Zhou Ping's suggestion to let Chen Dao stay and defend the city.
This time when troops are sent out, Yuan Shu and Sun Ce must be destroyed before they can return, so Xiapi must be defended.
There are already 10,000 soldiers and horses garrisoned in Langya and another 5,000 soldiers garrisoned in Pengcheng. Although Xiao Jian only has 1,000 county soldiers in Peiguo and cannot usually help much, at least Peiguo will not threaten Xuzhou and serves as a buffer.
It can also give Xuzhou more time to prepare.
Therefore, Liu Bei left only 5,000 troops to garrison Xiapi. He led Zhou Ping, Zhang Fei, Gan Ning, Gao Shun and others, and led 20,000 troops to leave Xiapi and march toward Hefei.
Zhang Fei is the Prime Minister of the East China Sea, but he does not actually serve as a county director. Instead, he is handed over to the county prime minister Jian Yong to govern.
How could we not have Zhang Fei in the battle?
Zhou Ping said goodbye to Gan Qian, looked at his daughter reluctantly, and left home with Zhang Wu to follow Liu Bei.
Originally, he was planning to go to Pei County to find Hua Tuo. The five-year appointment was about to come, and now he had a hundred pounds of gold rewarded by the emperor, so he could go to Hua Tuo in exchange for medical books.
But now that he has to go out with the army and exchange medical books with Hua Tuo, he can only wait a little longer.
