When Liu Bei returned from patrolling the front line, someone told him that Chen Mu was already waiting in the hall.
The sunshine in the afternoon was at least a little softer, and it was not as scorching as the afternoon heat.
Liu Bei passed through the courtyard, quickly crossed the vestibule, and came to the hall in front of Pingyuan Prime Minister's Mansion. He saw Chen Mu sitting on the right hand side of the main seat drinking tea.
There was no fried tea in the Han Dynasty. When people drank tea, they just added a mess of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar to the fresh tea leaves, which gave a very strange taste.
After Chen Mu came, he taught people how to fry tea, so now everyone can drink tea.
On the main table, there is a large bowl of herbal tea thoughtfully placed.
Liu Bei, who was soaked in sweat because he was exposed to the sun while patrolling, didn't care much. He walked to the table and drank the herbal tea he had brewed for himself.
"call!"
Liu Bei breathed a long sigh of relief, then turned to Chen Mu and said, "Fourth brother, what happened?"
Chen Mu muttered: "Brother, Yuan Benchu has already taken action. Now it's our turn. The time to take the initiative to attack Jizhou has arrived."
Liu Bei sat down on his seat, shook his head and said, "I thought about this issue some time ago, but Gong Yu, Yuan Hao, and Wen Ruo all felt that this was not a good opportunity to take the initiative to attack."
Since Yuan Shao attacked Gongsun Zan, Qingzhou has been in a state of severe combat readiness. Troops have been continuously mobilized from the rear. The defense lines in various places have rapidly shrunk and began to tighten defenses.
But apart from going to the Bohai Sea to rescue Gongsun Zan and sending Xu Rong to harass Qinghe State, they did not take the initiative to attack the hinterland of Jizhou.
This is because no one wants to directly start a full-scale war with Yuan Shao, but only strategically supports Gongsun Zan.
So why do they still dare not take the initiative to attack despite being so well prepared for war?
Still the same problem.
Jizhou is a behemoth, and no one is confident that it can be swallowed.
You must know that after the Battle of Guandu in history, Cao Cao had already conquered Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Sili, and Xuzhou. The population under his rule was no less than that of Jizhou, and his overall strength was only second to Yuan Shao.
Even Cao Cao could only survive Yuan Shao's death and slowly annex Hebei over several years, let alone Qingzhou, which now only has one state?
Chen Mu naturally knew this. At the same time, he also understood that if he was more prudent, he could bet that in another five years, Yuan Shao would be seriously ill and die like in history. By then, it would be very difficult to capture Jizhou.
It will drop countless times.
But how can there be so many five years in life to wait for?
What's more, history has changed beyond recognition. Sun Jian did not die, and Liu Yu did not die. What if Yuan Shao had an accident and did not contract any serious disease, and would he have lived for more than ten or twenty years?
Should Chen Mu be made to wait for another few decades?
Therefore, after setting up countless backup plans, he had to prepare a decision to fight Yuan Shao to the death.
Cao Cao has been semi-deposed, and Yuan Shao is his biggest enemy.
As long as Yuan Shao is eliminated, the great cause of unifying the world will progress much faster.
"I think this is the best time."
Chen Mu said.
"Why?"
Liu Bei was puzzled. Ju Shou, Tian Feng, Xun Yu and others all thought that the time was not right. Why did Chen Mu say that the time was right?
Chen Mu said seriously: "There are only three ways to deal with Jizhou. One is to kill Yuan Shao, the other is to find a way to assassinate Yuan Shao, and the last one is to fight Yuan Shao to the death."
Liu Bei thought for a while and said: "Although Yuan Benchu is nearly fifty years old, he seems to be in good health. It may be difficult to kill him. As for the assassin, Yuan Shao is surrounded by close confidants and travels very cautiously, so it may be difficult to succeed."
Chen Mu nodded and sighed: "Yes, I want to assassinate him more than anyone else. Unfortunately, he is too cautious, but the elder brother is not cautious. In the past few years, Yuan Shao has sent out to assassinate you, not more than ten
times, maybe five or six times. Although I was repelled by my brother every time, I was never so lucky every time."
Liu Bei was slightly embarrassed, but he waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, I will be accompanied by a black armor heavy cavalry when I travel, so it will be no big deal."
Chen Mu did not persuade him again.
The Xuanjia Heavy Cavalry had two thousand men, one thousand were responsible for Liu Bei's safety, and one thousand were responsible for Chen Mu's safety. The first commander was Dian Wei, who later became Zhao Yun, and now Xu Zhu.
Now Xu Chu has been training in the army for more than half a year, and his strength has improved a lot. It is estimated that in two years, when he is 27 or 28 years old, he will reach the peak of his combat power. Zhang Fei may not be able to defeat him by then.
Therefore, Liu Bei's safety can definitely be guaranteed.
"Since it is difficult to kill Yuan Shao and assassinate Yuan Shao, we have the last resort, to fight Yuan Shao to the death. We have always felt that the time for a decisive battle is not good over the years, but now the time has come."
Chen Mu continued his analysis.
Liu Bei asked curiously: "Why do you see it?"
Chen Mu said: "Let's first look at the general situation of the world. The world is in chaos now, and only Qingzhou and Jizhou are stable. In other places, the princes are at war, and the people are in dire straits, so we must find a way to deal with Yuan Shao as soon as possible, so as not to prevent the next one
Yuan Shao was born."
Liu Bei pondered for a moment and nodded slightly: "Yes, I have vaguely felt that something is wrong with Cao Mengde over the years. He always seems to want to leave Yanzhou and include Huainan, Huaibei and other places into the Central Plains. Could it be him?"
When Xu Tian was hunting, one of the biggest reasons Liu Bei dissuaded Guan Yu from killing Cao Cao was that he couldn't tell whether Cao Cao was a Han official or a Han traitor. Even now, after all these years, he still thinks that Cao Cao is loyal to the Han, but
Unable to stand it, Chen Mu often made slanderous remarks. In addition, Cao Cao did have some unusual moves, which aroused suspicion.
Chen Mu immediately said: "I have told my elder brother a long time ago that the Han Dynasty has declined, orthodoxy has declined, dragons and snakes have risen in the world, and this county is the emperor and the county is the king. Even if Cao Mengde was a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, he could not
Seeing the decline of the country, it is inevitable not to protect his ambitions, so I let Sun Wentai stay in Yuzhou to contain him."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Oh?"
Liu Bei was surprised and said: "Sun Wentai is in Yuzhou, does it mean that the fourth brother means it?"
Chen Mu slightly nodded his chin: "Yes, just like when Han Wu extended his favor, if one of the princes in the world is as good as Yuan Shao, if all the prefectures and counties are like Yuan Shao, then what's the point? So I asked Sun Wentai to
Yuzhou forced Lu Bu to go to Xuzhou in order to prevent the second Yuan Shao from appearing in Henan."
Liu Bei looked at him blankly and said nothing.
Looking his fourth brother up and down, he actually felt a little strange in his eyes. After sharing the joys and sorrows together for more than ten years, he realized for the first time that his fourth brother was actually more terrifying than he imagined. It turned out that all the land in Henan was within his control.
Wow, this is really... amazing.
Although he did not tell him these things, Liu Bei was not angry, because everything was for the sake of the Han Dynasty. As long as we help the Han Dynasty together, we are Liu Bei's good brothers, so naturally there is nothing to say.
But he was still a little unhappy and said: "Fourth brother, why didn't you tell me about such an important matter? I have been kept in the dark for so many years."
"Eldest brother, have you forgotten? Sun Wentai was the eldest brother who asked the late emperor to appoint him as the governor of Yuzhou after he was at the same table with the five monarchs of Luoyang. Later, the eldest brother returned from Chang'an to attack Wang Fen. Unfortunately, the late emperor died. When the emperor succeeded to the throne, I took advantage of the opportunity and asked him to do so.
The emperor named him the shepherd of Yuzhou."
Chen Mu hurriedly apologized and said with a smile: "And Lu Bu, it was my eldest brother who sent troops to force him to flee Yanzhou, so I took advantage of the situation and asked the emperor to make him the shepherd of Xuzhou. These things were all done by my eldest brother. I just thought of it afterwards and helped him.
My eldest brother took care of the aftermath. At that time, I thought that these were arranged by my eldest brother, so I followed the trend. Isn't this his foresight?"
Did I do all these things?
Liu Bei looked confused: "Have I ever done this?"
Chen Mu nodded affirmatively: "Yes, these are all done by my eldest brother. Think about it, eldest brother, Sun Wentai's governor of Yuzhou was appointed by my eldest brother, right?"
"yes."
"Then Lu Bu was forced to flee Yanzhou because of his eldest brother's advantage."
"probably."
"Then it's over? Because of this, they were able to gain a foothold in the land of Henan, so that there was no big prince in the land of Henan. Isn't this the credit of the eldest brother?"
"That's it, hahahaha."
Liu Bei patted his thighs on both sides and laughed heartily, so happy that he couldn't find the answer.
So I am so powerful?
"Now the world is in chaos. Precisely because there is no second prince with strength comparable to Yuan Shao, this is our important opportunity. Because even if we fight with Yuan Shao, both sides will lose, as long as we can defeat Yuan Shao, a camel will be stronger than a horse.
Other princes will not be able to invade us. When the time comes to annex Jizhou, my eldest brother will become the strongest in the world, and the other smaller princes will soon be able to clean up one by one and unify the world."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "If we don't seize the opportunity at this time and fight Yuan Shao to the death. If we wait another three to five years, if there is a fight over Guanzhong and Huainan and Huaibei are annexed by Liu Biao or Cao Cao and Sun Jian, these people will
Consolidating your power and accumulating strength that can threaten us is probably not a good thing."
"That's true."
After hearing the words of his fourth brother, Liu Bei stopped smiling and thought carefully: "From the overall situation of the world, it is indeed very beneficial to us that there is no second particularly powerful prince. From the local analysis of Jizhou and Qingzhou, the four
Do you think now is a good time?"
"Yes and no."
“So what if it is, so what if it’s not?”
"Jizhou is indeed powerful. If Yuan Shao remains alive, our chances will become increasingly slim. That's why we say this is the best time."
Chen Mu explained: "Brother should know that Jizhou was founded because Wang Fen served as the governor of Jizhou for many years. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he governed for many years and the people were rich and the state was strong. However, Wang Fen only strengthened its economic strength and granary reserves. When Yuan Shao took over,
, the army’s strength became stronger.”
"yes."
Liu Bei sighed: "It's a pity that because we wanted to save the late emperor, we were unable to attack Wang Fen's rebels at the same time, so we missed the opportunity. At that time, Jizhou really only had money and food, and the combat effectiveness of the army was significantly different from ours."
"There is no need to mention the past, the key is now."
Chen Mu said calmly: "Although Yuan Shao had a strong army after taking over Jizhou, he also laid the foundation for disaster because he was a party member, but he excluded party members and monopolized power. Therefore, the old-school Jizhou party members hated him deeply. These party members
They still have influence in Jizhou, and if we attack Jizhou now, we can win them over. If we wait a few more years, when these old party members are almost dead, our chances of winning will naturally drop by 10%."
Liu Bei said in surprise: "You have won over those Jizhou Party members? These people are notoriously stubborn. Will they agree?"
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Brother, don't forget, there are many party members in the imperial court now, such as the imperial servant Zhao Qi, who is older than those party members in Jizhou. There are countless disciples and former officials of party members throughout the court.
There are also countless people who sympathize with the Party members and secretly make friends with the Party members. As long as the court agrees to pardon the Party members, do you think they will agree?"
As I said before, when party members seek political power, they don’t care who the emperor is. As long as they can agree to their political ideas, they will dare to rebel even if they are allowed to rebel. Didn’t Wang Fen plan to imprison Han Ling while Emperor Han Ling returned to Hebei to visit relatives?
Emperor, are you forcing him to take the Zen position?
Therefore, to the party members, the emperor is not important. What is important is whether the world they want to see can appear.
The emperor Liu Yu was close to the party members, and the puppet emperor of Jizhou had been deposed by Yuan Shao. The party members had no emperor to serve, and no one to look forward to in Jizhou. Then Xun and Chen
Naturally, there is no need for Yi and those people to be Yuan Shao's ministers obediently. Wouldn't it be nice to return to the Luoyang court?
For this reason, party members can definitely be easily won over.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After hearing Chen Mu's words, Liu Bei understood the reason and sighed: "The fourth brother is still far-sighted and thoughtful."
Chen Mu added: "In addition to the party members, the Heishan Army also defected to the imperial court. Once we start a war with Jizhou, the Heishan Army can sneak attack from the rear. If the time is too long and it is difficult to ensure the change, I am afraid that the Heishan Army will be attracted by Yuan Shao, and the gain will not be worth the loss."
"Um......"
Liu Bei asked again: "Is there any more?"
Chen Mu continued: "At this time, the emperor sent his cronies to Youzhou to protect Wuhuan Zhonglang General and take charge of Wuhuan in various places. Brother Bogui has a strong character. It was okay for a short time. But over time, he may resent the emperor's cronies for dividing him.
With the power of Youzhou Mu, internal strife between the two sides will be bad when the time comes. Therefore, taking advantage of Brother Bogui’s deep hatred for Yuan Shao, joining forces with Brother Bogui and the emperor’s cronies will greatly increase the chance of winning.”
"Well......"
Liu Bei nodded again subconsciously.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "At this time, there are party members in Jizhou who are acting internally, and Qingzhou, Youzhou and Luoyang are attacking at the same time outside. In addition, Zhang Yan's Black Mountain Army is stabbing from behind. It can be said that we are surrounded by enemies on all sides. So I
I just said that now is indeed the best time. If we delay it for too long, the party members will be very old, and there may also be changes in Brother Zhang Yan and Bogui. Therefore, I said that the longer we delay, the worse it will be for us.
"
"I see."
Liu Bei was convinced by Chen Mu's words. Even he himself felt that now might indeed be the best time to deal with Yuan Shao. He couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that Gong and Yuan Haowenruo are still not as far-sighted as the fourth brother."
, looking at it this way, this is indeed the best opportunity.”
Chen Mu immediately stood up, raised his hands seriously and said: "Brother, let's start the war. If we miss this time, it will be difficult to fight again in the future. Now summon the public and them to make tactical arrangements immediately. At least within two years, we will
Capture Jizhou!"
"good!"
Liu Bei also stood up excitedly, shouting as if he had suppressed it for a long time, and said loudly: "I have been waiting for this day for a long time. This time, either I will die or Yuan Shao will die. Where is Xu Chu!"
Xu Chu walked in outside the door and said angrily: "Ming Gong!"
"Go and summon all the military advisors and generals inside and outside the city to discuss matters. The generals who are stationed in the counties and camps on the front line do not need to send people. We can only summon those around the plains."
"only!"
Xu Chu responded and went out.
The various generals and Ju Shu, Tian Feng, Xun Yu, Xun You, etc. are not here every day, but are often away on military matters. Now they are finally going to hold a meeting to officially start discussing the issue of starting a decisive war against Jizhou.