February 6, the first year of Yonghan, Pingyuan City, Pingyuan State, Qingzhou.
Chen Mu stepped into the city gate on time when the clapper sounded in the corner. Dozens of guards entered the city with him. They lined up with the crowd. There was no crowding or chasing away the people.
After entering the city, there were many people on the street, a large proportion of whom were Han soldiers wearing orange-red Han military uniforms and armor. They lined up in a long line to inspect every move on the street, and their uniform steps seemed to
To remind passers-by - this is war time.
The plain is located to the north of the Yellow River. It is the choke point from the hinterland of Jizhou to Qingzhou. Its strategic location is very important. In order to cope with possible attacks by the Jizhou Army at any time, the Qingzhou Army had to shift the focus of the entire northern defense here - it is currently stationed here.
There are more than 40,000 soldiers of Liu Bei's army, and the residents of the plain itself are only more than 20,000.
"Four Generals."
Soldiers coming and going in groups saw the scribe riding the bright purple BMW and saluted him.
Along the way, Chen Mu motioned to the soldiers to patrol the streets carefully, while he continued walking forward.
After passing two intersections, I happened to see a group of cavalry running towards the corner not far away. The soldiers on the left and right got out of the way, as if they were on a mission to leave the city.
Regardless of whether it is ancient society or modern society, public servants who perform tasks have the right to go first. In Qingzhou, this law is very strict, and even Liu Bei has to give way.
Therefore, Chen Mu reined up his horse and moved away. At the same time, he signaled to the soldiers protecting him behind him to move to the corner of the street, get out of the way, and let them go first.
Unexpectedly, the group of cavalry stopped in front of him. The leading cavalry general turned over and dismounted, bent down and cupped his hands and said: "I see the fourth general, little man."
"Wen Su?"
Chen Mu had a good memory and recognized this man at a glance as the gatekeeper who blocked his way at the city gate last year.
"It's a villain!"
Wen Su kept keeping his hands in salute.
Chen Mu looked him up and down and noticed that his clothes had changed a lot. He smiled and said, "It seems that you have been promoted. Congratulations."
"Thanks to the great blessing of the Fourth General, I am now a cavalry officer under Duke Ming's account."
Wen Su answered seriously.
The term "riding officer under the tent" means the same thing as the officer under the tent.
When Le Jin and Li Dian defected to Cao Cao in their early years, they were subordinates, equivalent to captains of the guards.
In the past, Wen Su was a gatekeeper who guarded the city gate, and he was also a second-line army with a low status. Now he is not only a first-line combat unit, but also the captain of the cavalry team beside Liu Bei. His future is indeed much better than that of being a gatekeeper before.
Chen Mu nodded and said appreciatively: "Very good, kill more enemies and make meritorious deeds on the battlefield, and the State Shepherd will not treat you badly."
"Thank you, General Four."
"Do you have any urgent mission to go out of the city this time?"
"Yes."
"In that case, you should go first and don't delay here."
"Forehead......"
Wen Su hesitated slightly and said: "This mission is for Ming Gong to send me back to find the fourth general."
Chen Mu asked in surprise: "Is there an emergency military situation?"
He left the city early this morning to see Xu Rong to the edge of the Yellow River. Although the plain is on the north bank of the Yellow River, it is actually still more than ten miles away. It still takes more than an hour to go back and forth.
It is impossible for Liu Bei not to know this, but for him to suddenly want to go back to him so urgently, there is only one possibility, and that is an emergency.
Wen Su said: "It seems that there is information from Youzhou."
"I see."
Chen Mu nodded with a stern look on his face and immediately rode off towards the prefect's mansion.
The entire north is now in an extremely tense atmosphere.
A steady stream of grain, military weapons and equipment, and various equipment are being transported to the front lines of Pingyuan Country, and soldiers are coming and going, coming in and out.
A large number of docks, checkpoints, and water forts in the wild have been reactivated after being abandoned for nearly a year.
Qingzhou has entered a state of total war.
However, the war between Liu Bei and Yuan Shao was still in the early preparation stage, but the war between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao had already entered the decisive battle period in the middle and later stages.
According to the intelligence from the Military Intelligence Department last month, after Gongsun Zan returned to Youzhou, he immediately coordinated all the troops and horses, and defeated Kuitou and Tadun steadily, and there was a tendency to quell the war.
However, Yuan Shao soon sent tens of thousands of troops to the north to support him. Although he himself returned to Wei County and began to prepare for the war with Qingzhou, even if Yuan Shao did not come in person, the support of tens of thousands of troops still put a lot of pressure on Gongsun Zan, not to mention
He also sent envoys to persuade Gongsun Du.
Therefore, it is obvious that the war in Youzhou has reached a very serious stage.
Chen Mu galloped his horse and quickly returned to the mansion.
Now the main force of Qingzhou, except Zhang Feidianwei's more than 10,000 troops, have all returned.
Generals from all walks of life have also gathered, and all senior officers are here.
Before entering the door, I saw people hustle and bustle, sitting in the hall. The only people who could be here were at least generals like Zhang Liao.
Although he is a general with a mixed title, he still belongs to the generals, second only to Liu Guan, Zhang Dian and others in Qingzhou.
Viewed from outside the door, Liu Bei is sitting high on the throne, with the seat under his right hand vacant, followed by Jushou, Xun Yu, Xun You, Yan Zhong and others taking their seats in order, and under his left hand are Tai Shi Ci, Zang Ba, Qian Zhao, Zhang Liao,
Gao Shun, Huang Zhong et al.
In fact, Taishi Ci, Zang Ba, and Zhang Liao all had the same official positions, and they all belonged to generals with mixed titles. Logically speaking, they should be ranked equally. However, this ranking is based on seniority and military merit. Military merit is almost the same, so seniority is naturally ranked first. Who let Taishi Cihe
Is Zang Ba's qualifications older than Qianzhao, Zhang Liao, Gaoshun, Huang Zhong and others?
Xun Yu was talking in the hall. Everyone listened carefully. Chen Mu walked in and everyone came to their senses. Liu Bei quickly said: "Fourth brother, you came at the right time. Something happened."
"What's up?"
Chen Mu looked at Xun Yu Jushou without leaving any trace, and walked towards the seat below Liu Bei's left hand.
"Sit down and talk slowly first."
After Liu Bei waited for him to sit down, he wondered: "I haven't seen my fourth brother all morning. The waiter said that you went to the river. What did you do to the river?"
He still didn't know what Chen Mu was going to do.
Chen Mu didn't hide anything, and simply said: "I asked Xu Zheng to go to the land of three Koreas."
"Seo Jung is going to the land of three Koreas???"
Liu Bei was confused and said: "What do you want such a great talent to do in such a bitter and cold place?"
"pattern!"
Chen Mu shook his head: "The situation is too small, brother. The land of Sanhan is connected to Liaodong to the west and Fuyu to the north. It can be said to be a strategic location. If we can occupy this place, we can control Xianbei, dominate Wuhuan, and support Bo
Brother Kei."
Liu Bei: "......"
If Liu Bei hadn't been from Youzhou, he would have almost believed it.
The land of Sanhan is said to be connected to Liaodong and Fuyu, but it is still thousands of miles away from Fuyu, Liaodong. It is also thousands of miles away from Xianbei and Wuhuan. Not to mention going to Gongsun Zan, even if it means going to Xianbei in the east, it will cause trouble.
, it would take several months to walk, it would be faster than taking a boat.
However, Chen Mu made too many decisions without permission, and Liu Bei didn't bother to take care of it. Anyway, he also understood that the fourth brother was far-sighted, and although he took the decision on many things without permission, he had his intentions, and it must be the same this time.
"By the way, brother, what kind of emergency military situation is it that suddenly wants me to come back?"
Chen Mu changed the topic.
He has many layouts and extensive involvement in the Three Han Land. Not only is he exploring the American continent, but he is also paving the way for the future annexation of Liaodong and the destruction of Liaodong warlords such as Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du.
After all, the land of Sanhan is indeed far away from Zhuojun, but it is very close to Lelang and Liaodong counties. It is only about 300 kilometers from Pyongyang to Shenyang. If the Gongsun Du family can be destroyed, even if Gongsun Zan disobeys Liu Bei, he will give birth to
There are ways to check and balance rebellion.
But naturally we can't talk to Liu Bei about these things. They are all plans for a few years later. The most important thing now is to face the current difficulties.
"Bogui was defeated."
As expected, Liu Bei was distracted by Chen Mu and sighed: "He was careless. After Bogui returned to Youzhou last month, he immediately organized his troops and fought a decisive battle with the Xianbei and Wuhuan people. In the battle in Liangxiang, he defeated
He entered the Fuluohan tribe in Xianbei in the central part and killed more than 2,000 enemies. In the battle of Laishui, he defeated Kuitou and killed 3,000 enemies. So he took advantage of the victory and pursued it, but underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, and was defeated by a man named Bu Dugen."
Good news.
Chen Mu said something in his heart, but said: "The central Xianbei is not strong, it is similar to the eastern Xianbei and Wuhuan Nanlou tribe. Brother Bogui not only has the eastern Xianbei to help him, but also Nanlou, Pufulu and others
Lord Wuhuan should not be so vulnerable when he sends troops."
"nature."
Liu Bei nodded and said: "The Nanlou tribe has more than 9,000 tribes, with a population of about 100,000, which is not inferior to the Xianbei people. But the Tadun tribe is not weak either, and there are Wuyan, Supuyan and others.
Bogui could only suppress them. After this first defeat, he just reorganized and fought again. However, Yuan Shao happened to send generals Gao Lan and Cui Juye to attack Zhuojun. At the time of the new defeat, there was a strong enemy behind, and Bogui was afraid.
It’s at stake.”
"Um."
Chen Mu fell into deep thought.
His strategy for dealing with Gongsun Zan was to neither feed him too much nor starve him too thin.
Compared with the loyal big brother, Gongsun Zan's problem is that his personality is too strong, and he is a typical person who wants to save face and suffer.
Moreover, he also has a problem, that is, he is very ambitious. He believes that the current situation of the Han Dynasty is in danger, and it is the time for him to rise and become king.
It happened that Chen Mu also wanted to push Liu Bei to the throne, and the two sides naturally fell into an irreconcilable conflict.
Because Gongsun Zan was older in his relationship with Liu Bei, he always thought that he was the eldest brother. They were considered equals when they got along. In fact, Gongsun Zan often took the dominant position due to his personality.
There were no problems in history because the first one, Gongsun Zan, was powerful, and he was indeed older than Liu Bei. At the same time, he took care of him many times and was very kind to Liu Bei.
Secondly, Liu Bei has a very easy-going personality towards the people around him, including Jian Yong who is very rude, but he doesn't care. He gets along very harmoniously with the people around him, so there is no conflict between the two parties.
But it's different now.
As Liu Bei became more powerful, his status became more respected. Gongsun Zan was still the founder of the family with Liu Bei's help, so his status as the eldest brother was very embarrassing. He still needed his younger brother to help take care of him. How could he lose face?
In addition, Gongsun Zan was ambitious and wanted to take over the Han Dynasty and replace it. Liu Bei happened to be a member of the clan, so it was our duty to revitalize the Han Dynasty.
Based on these two reasons, a big hidden danger naturally appeared in the relationship and friendship between the two of them.
But Liu Bei also had a close relationship with Gongsun Zan, which was also a big problem.
The most difficult thing to solve in the world is when brothers turn against each other and kill each other.
Although the two of them are not biological brothers, they are both loyal. If conflicts break out in the future and a war breaks out, no one knows whether Liu Bei will be soft-hearted at the critical moment.
The only good news is that they now have a common enemy.
As the saying goes, brothers are jealous of each other within a wall, and they resist their insults from outside.
Just like the three brothers Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang, when Cao Cao was around, the three of them would fight against Cao Cao together. After Cao Cao listened to Xun You's plan and withdrew his troops, they began to attack each other again. It is the same reason.
Therefore, Chen Mu must solve this problem in advance before the conflict breaks out, and at the same time, he must prevent Gongsun Zan from having the strength to compete with Liu Bei to seize Jizhou.
But this does not mean that he must die for Gongsun Zan.
If he let Gongsun Zan die, that would be called stupidity. This is an act of internal strife in advance before the enemy is eliminated, which is absolutely not advisable.
Therefore, Gongsun Zan must be kept alive. He must neither be able to send troops to Jizhou nor be destroyed. He must retain some of his troops to help contain some of Yuan Shao's troops. This is the right path.
It's just that it's difficult to get this middle value. The ancients advocated the golden mean, but everyone knows that it's easy to be extremely black and extremely white, but it's as difficult as climbing to the sky to be black and white and impartial.
Chen Mu pondered for a long time before slowly speaking: "Brother Bogui is defeated for the first time, and he is surrounded by powerful enemies. We must find a way to help him."
"Well, I think so too."
Liu Bei said: "It seems that the only choice is to transport troops northward from Qingzhou via sea ships to assist Gongsun Bogui."
He took a big ship last time and almost understood Qingzhou's troop transport capabilities.
Being a lord doesn't necessarily mean knowing everything, but now that you know it, you should be able to use it reasonably.
However, Chen Mu shook his head and said: "No."
"Why?"
Liu Bei frowned.
Chen Mu explained: "We are about to start a battle with Yuan Shao. It is very stupid to divide our troops now. On the contrary, we should shrink our troops, contact our second brother at the same time, and actively prepare for the battle with Jizhou!"
"Over there at Nabogui..."
"I have a way to help Brother Bogui without spending a single soldier."
"oh?"
Liu Bei asked curiously: "What is the solution?"
Chen Mu looked to the west, smiled slightly, cupped his hands and said, "Please give me the imperial edict!"
"Please give me an edict?"
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what it meant.
Could it be that Liu Yu's edict could make Yuan Shao retreat?
Yuan Shao had previously persuaded the court, saying he was surrendering, but it was actually a disguise.
Now it is even more impossible to obey the orders of the imperial court.
But everyone was confused.
Only Chen Mu looked to the west, smiling and saying nothing.