Yuan Shao?

Wang Fenxun and Chen Yi, several party leaders, thought for a while.

Deep down, Xun He had no objection.

Because he had a good relationship with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao not only had contacts with them in the early days, but also had a deep friendship with them.

Later, Xun He and Yuan Shao planned the Qing Dynasty's side, and they had a revolutionary friendship.

Chen Yi is the kind of person who has no independent opinions. If everyone thinks there is no problem, then there is no problem.

So it was Wang Fen who really made the decision.

After all, what Jizhou needs now is someone who can take charge of the overall situation. Chen Yi is not willing because he lacks independent opinions and follows the crowd. Xun He is not willing because he feels that he does not have that kind of talent and strategy.

Just like the relationship between Xun Yu and Cao Cao, if Cao Cao dies, Xun Yu will not be able to replace Cao Cao's position no matter how high his prestige is.

Different people have different positions. Some people are born to be monarchs, and some people are only suitable to be ministers. Personal prestige, ability, and decision-making can all be reflected in their character.

So when Han Fu recommended Yuan Shao to succeed Jizhou Mu, Xun He and Chen Yi didn't think there was anything wrong.

Because in their view, Yuan Shao is also a member of the party. Moreover, Yuan Shao is suitable to take on this responsibility in terms of prestige, ability and courage. Unlike them, when encountering major events, they sometimes look forward and backward.

Difficulty making decisions.

certainly.

Xun, Chen Yi and others would never have thought that Yuan Shao actually had an indecisive side, but it has not been revealed yet. What the world can see for the time being is just his wisdom and prowess, which will be exposed many years later.

But when everyone was considering whether Han Fu's recommendation was reasonable, only Wang Fen frowned and said silently: "Although Yuan Benchu ​​is famous in the world, I don't know what he thinks of today's world."

Today?

Xun He woke up immediately.

Of course, this emperor does not refer to Liu Yu of Luoyang, but to the young emperor Liu Bei of Jizhou.

Because of the incident of Wang Fen establishing Emperor, the whole world was in an uproar.

In fact, many aristocratic families and nobles did not recognize this emperor, including Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan and others from Qingzhou. They all opposed Wang Fen with the intention of serving the Luoyang court and scolding the Jizhou court.

There is no doubt about Yuan Shao's ability and family prestige, but this is the only thing that worries Wang Fen.

That is, if Yuan Shao succeeds Wang Fen as the shepherd of Jizhou, will the people and the government be destroyed and he will no longer serve the emperor of Jizhou?

If Yuan Shao, under pressure from all around, chooses to depose the emperor of Jizhou and instead pledge allegiance to the Luoyang court after assuming power, then Wang Fen's hard work will be in vain.

For a master who dared to depose an emperor, Wang Fen must have the courage.

He risked the disobedience of the world and re-established an emperor, just to create a brand new world, so that the glory of the party members could once again reappear as it was decades ago, and a situation would emerge where the people were in power and the party members were prosperous.

.

If Yuan Shao had other intentions and had other ideas, wouldn't it mean that Wang Fen's original wish would be in vain?

Xun He hesitated for a moment and said: "Benchu ​​has been our friend for many years. When we were in trouble, Benchu ​​was willing to take us in and make friends with us. We are also aware of his ambitions, and we should not have any different intentions."

"Mr. Wen Zu, if you want to know whether Yuan Benchu ​​will serve the emperor, it's better to give it a try and find out."

Among the crowd, Xu You also stood up and spoke.

Xu You was actually a party member. Historically, he and Wang Fen, Zhou Jing, Xiang Kai and Chen Yi planned to abolish Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. They had a close friendship, so at the beginning of this year, Wang Fen transferred Xu You to Yecheng to serve as the imperial censor.

.

After hearing his words, Wang Fen asked: "How to test?"

Xu You said with a smile: "You can call Yuan Benchu ​​to Yedu to serve as an idle official position, and to accompany the emperor all day long. If he refuses to obey the imperial edict, it means that he has different intentions. If he accepts it happily and is willing to serve the emperor, then

It shows that he is sincere to Your Majesty and can be entrusted with great responsibilities."

In the Han Dynasty, there were many casual officials, collectively referred to as the emperor's advisers, close ministers, etc., without substantial power or jurisdiction.

For example, Yilang, doctor, Langzhong, Shilang, Zhonglang, Shilang, etc. Although there are doctor and doctor among them, you may think that this is a royal hospital. In fact, these are the orthodox official positions of the Han Dynasty, collectively referred to as Langguan.

Among them, the one with the highest rank is Shizhong, whose rank is higher than that of Liangqianshi. Yuan Shao is now the governor of Bohai, a Liangshi official. If he is transferred back to Yecheng to serve as Shizhong, he will seem to have become a capital official, but his power will be more than a little smaller.

At the slightest moment, from a feudal official to an idle official, ordinary people simply cannot stand it.

After Wang Fen heard this, he nodded thoughtfully and said: "Well, what Ziyuan said does make sense. Although Benchu ​​and I have been old friends for many years, we are acquaintances of ordinary people. But people's hearts are like water, and they can only hope.

Don’t blame me for judging a gentleman’s heart with a villain’s heart.”

After saying that, he ordered to go down and follow Xu You's suggestions. He sent people to the palace in Yecheng to write an edict in the name of the emperor, stamp it with a seal, and summon Yuan Shao to the palace to serve as a minister.

Moreover, after this order was issued, Wang Fen did not allow those present to leave. He stayed in the Taiwei Mansion for the past two days, fearing that they would inform Yuan Shao.

But in fact, after Wang Fen gave the order, Xu You, Xun Chen, Xin Ping and others looked at each other without any trace, and a smile appeared on the corners of their mouths tacitly.

These strategies were proposed and implemented by them, so there is no need to report them?

Yuan Shao just needs to follow the plan.

The people who asked the questions were all his, so why did Wang Fen think that this question could test Yuan Shao?

It's just that the edict has not yet been issued to the Bohai Sea, but at this time, a war has begun in the Bohai Sea.

Qingzhou, Plain Country.

Liu Bei officially declared war on the grounds that Wang Fen had failed to establish a false emperor, was treasonous, and sent Lu Bu to capture Yanzhou without any reason.

In early August, when the sun was scorching, Liu Bei personally came to the front line and led an army to attack Bohai and Qinghe counties. He captured Xiuxian and Yimu. His troops entered Dongwu City and fought all the way to Guangzong.

It is worth mentioning that to the east of Guangzong is Jieqiao.

The entire Jizhou is a plain with almost no danger to defend. The Qingzhou army suddenly attacked and caught the defenders of Qinghe Kingdom to the east by surprise. Before they could react, Liu Bei's army broke through several cities and invaded the hinterland of Qinghe Kingdom.

Under this situation, Wang Fen had to urgently dispatch troops to intercept. The main forces of the two sides faced off in Dongwu City, Qingyuan, Ganling and other counties. The total number of troops on both sides was more than 100,000.

At the same time, Gongsun Zan of Youzhou also marched into the Hejian Kingdom, leading 30,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry, totaling 50,000 troops, to storm the three counties of Bohai, Hejian, and Anping.

Yuan Shao only had one county, and he could only fight 30,000 people. He could not resist, so he had to give up his territory and retreat to the Julu area.

As for Luoyang, a large army also gathered, making a gesture of attacking Yecheng.

For a time, just as Chen Mu had imagined, Luoyang Youzhou and Qingzhou surrounded Jizhou from three sides. The army was galloping wantonly in the hinterland of Jizhou, advancing all the way to Wei County, as if it could destroy Wang Fen at any time.

In Dongwu City, night was approaching, and Liu Bei was crouching on his desk writing a letter. Chen Mu and Jushou Tian Feng came to the hall, and candlelight flickered. It was approaching the beginning of autumn in September, the autumn wind was coming slowly, and the flames of oil lamps were dancing wildly.

"Brother."

"Um."

Seeing them coming, Liu Bei wrapped the letter and said to the guard on the side: "Send it to Gongsun Bogui."

After the guards left, Chen Mu asked: "Brother, did you invite brother Bogui to join forces to attack?"

Liu Bei shook his head: "No, I told him in the letter not to plunder the people wantonly and not to cause unnecessary killings."

"That's it."

Chen Mu thought for a while and realized that Gongsun Zan had indeed done this before.

Because Liu Bei had a good reputation in Jizhou, he had issued strict orders during this march, not to do any harm to the people, and anyone who disobeyed the order would be killed.

Therefore, after the troops entered Jizhou, the public opinion machine in Qingzhou was fully activated. The spies of the Military Intelligence Department lurking in various places used printed pamphlets to publicize Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness and Wang Fen's treason, and gained an advantage on the high ground of public opinion.

As a result, the local people were not so resistant to Liu Bei's invasion. Even in Dongwu City, after the defenders fled, the city officials personally opened the city gate for Liu Bei and let them in.

Therefore, the opportunity to win over people's hearts like this is actually quite good. For example, they can create a newspaper in the future and write about this matter. It would not be a bad thing to publicize it more.

"Fourth brother, sir, Yuan Hao, please sit down first. Why don't you come here now?"

Liu Bei looked at them with some confusion.

The military operations have been discussed during the day. They are planning to attack Ganling from Dongwu south, break through the shell hills, and then go straight to the Qingyuan Pottery Hall in Wei County, and cooperate with Gongsun Zan of Anping State in the north and Guan Yu of Hanoi County to attack Ye from three sides.

city.

The terrain of Jizhou is like this. It is not easy to fight out. If someone invades, there is almost no place in the vast North China Plain that can be defended except the city.

Therefore, most of Wang Fen's troops were concentrated in Yi County, Ling County, Ganling and other places, and neglected Xiu County and Yi Mu in the north.

Therefore, the next battle is to prepare for a tough battle.

Being besieged from three sides and being too deep was a bad thing in the Cold War period. They were attacked everywhere and could not look at each other. Wang Fen could only shrink his troops and gather the main force around Wei County in an effort to fight decisively.

Just like Gongsun Zan's attack on Yuan Shao in history, he drove straight in and almost reached Wei County before finally being defeated by Yuan Shao in the Jieqiao area of ​​Guangzong County.

So although the march into Qingzhou and Youzhou was very smooth at this time, it was not so easy to fight later. Wang Fen was stronger than Yuan Shu, and including Yuan Shao's 30,000 troops, the total force reached more than 200,000.

However, Qingzhou sent 60,000 troops, Youzhou sent 50,000 troops, and Luoyang sent 30,000 troops. The total military strength was only about 140,000 to 50,000, and there was some gap in military strength.

A large-scale legion-level battle like this, with a total of three to four hundred thousand troops from both sides, can affect the whole body. It is not a small fight with tens of thousands of people. Therefore, even Chen Mu is very cautious.

, went to Jushou Tianfeng to discuss the next strategy against the enemy.

The three of them sat down and Chen Mu said: "Brother, after discussing the military affairs before, I thought about it for a while and felt that this battle should be resolved as soon as possible and should not be delayed, because there is still some gap between us and Jizhou in terms of strength."

"oh?"

Liu Bei thought for a moment and said, "Why did my fourth brother say that?"

Chen Mu said: "Jizhou has strong soldiers and horses, and Lu Bu's cavalry is outside. Once we return to the defense and stick to Wei County, it will be difficult for our army to conquer. Therefore, we must fight quickly. First, we can take advantage of Wang Fen's critical illness and Jizhou is in chaos to advance troops as soon as possible. Second, we must attack quickly."
To be continued...