The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 65 Yuan Shu: Is Liu Da'er worthy of being on the same level with me?
"Damn it!"

In the Shouchun government office, Yuan Shu was so angry at Liu Bei's arrogance that his eyes turned red and he screamed hysterically.

"Liu Bei is just a common man who weaves mats and sells shoes. He pretends to be a relative of the emperor and gets a huge state for nothing. Does he think he can be on the same level as us princes?"

Yuan Shu was so angry when he saw the injured envoy below.

He sent people to ask Liu Bei to borrow food, with the original intention of testing Liu Bei's bottom line.

Because he heard that Xuzhou had a good harvest last year and Yuan Shu had long wanted to take Xuzhou, he secretly sent people to test Liu Bei.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei was so arrogant and rude that not only did he refuse to lend him food, he also ordered his men to beat his envoys away with sticks.

Where would Yuan Shu, a man of three generations of high rank, put his reputation?

"Mr. Yuan, calm down. This Liu Bei is a treacherous man pretending to be loyal, a false man pretending to be true, and has long had the ambition to be an emperor. If he dares to attack the envoy today, he will dare to attack Shouchun tomorrow."

Chief Clerk Yang Hong offered advice with a flattering look on his face, "Why not attack them early to avoid more trouble later?"

Humph, who doesn’t have the ambition to be an emperor?

Yuan Shu sneered, "Since I was born, I have never heard of Liu Bei."

"Now that they have taken Xuzhou, they are planning to plot against my Jiujiang. How can this be possible?"

The chief clerk Yan Xiang came out and said:
"You are wrong, my lord. The biggest enemy of our army is Liu Yao, not Liu Bei."

"Liu Bei appointed Chen Yuanlong as the governor of Guangling in order to control our Huainan flank. Our army cannot fight on two fronts, otherwise we will be attacked from both sides."

"It is better to send an envoy to negotiate peace and make peace with Liu Bei. After destroying Liu Yao and securing Yangzhou, we can go north to take Xuzhou."

"In this way, you can control Xuzhou and Yangzhou. You can retreat to protect the country and the people and dominate the region. You can also advance to compete for the Central Plains and achieve hegemony."

"This is the best strategy."

After being defeated by the joint forces of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu retreated to Huainan.

He expanded rapidly in Huainan, relying on the foundation of the old Yuan family. At that time, Zhou Xin and Wang Lang were no match for him.

But Yuan Shu had a fatal flaw, which was his narrow-mindedness and nepotism.

His character flaws made it difficult for him to win over the gentry in Jiangdong.

It happened that at this time the imperial court appointed Liu Yao, a relative of the Han royal family, as the governor of Yangzhou.

Yuan Shu wanted to use Liu Yao to control Yangzhou. After all, the governor of Yangzhou appointed by the imperial court was stronger than him, the self-proclaimed governor of Yangzhou.

Unexpectedly, Liu Yao was more successful than him in the circle of scholars, and Yuan Shu was unable to do anything to him for a while.

So he found an agent, who was Sun Ce.

This year,
Sun Ce volunteered to fight, crossed the Yangtze River from Huainan to the east, and with the cooperation of his uncle Wu Jing and cousin Sun Ben, he defeated Liu Yao to Yuzhang County west of Yangzhou.

Successfully controlled Danyang County and Wu County in Jiangdong.

Sun Ce’s support was a pleasant surprise for Yuan Shu.

When he led his troops, he had only a thousand infantrymen, while Liu Yao had tens of thousands of provincial soldiers in Qu'a alone.

Yuan Shu originally had no hope for him.

It was just because he knew that Sun Ce was dissatisfied with him and wanted him to stay away from him.
But I didn’t expect that the son would surpass his father. This son is even more capable than his father.

"Now Bofu has continued to move south, preparing to attack Kuaiji next year."

"As long as Wang Lang is defeated, Kuaiji and Yuzhang will be within our grasp."

"The war in Yangzhou is no longer a concern. We should now turn our attention to Xuzhou."

Yuan Shu decisively rejected Yan Xiang's suggestion to focus all his efforts on dealing with Yangzhou.

The smooth development in Huainan made Yuan Shu gradually become arrogant.

He felt that perhaps this was really his destiny.

He could have easily taken Xuzhou at the same time as annexing Yangzhou.

After all, Sun Ce's troops didn't need him to provide any money or food, so he wouldn't bleed himself.

Then why didn't he free up his hands to attack Xuzhou?

"...Hey, if I had a son like Sun Lang, I would have no regrets even if I died."

"Hahaha!"

Yuan Shu now feels happy when he mentions Sun Ce.

Most of his subordinates are draining blood, only Sun Ce is replenishing blood.

In less than a year, he helped him defeat Liu Yao.

Yuan Shu certainly had the capital to be arrogant. With the help of Sun Ce, he controlled the country's population of 8 million in just two years. His power reached Chen State in Yuzhou in the north, Xiapi and Guangling in the east, Dongye in Kuaiji in the south, and Jiangxia in Jingzhou in the west.

The territory spanned three states, Yang, Yu and Xu, and included a total of eleven counties.

He surpassed Yuan Shao in one fell swoop to become the most powerful warlord in the world.

Moreover, not only was his territory large, the situation was also very good, with almost no unrest.

Compared with Cao Cao and Liu Bei at that time, one was more miserable than the other.

Cao Cao killed three wise men with one shot and suffered heavy casualties.

When Lao Liu lost Xuzhou, the soldiers ate each other to protect themselves.

However, even such a great start was ruined by Yuan Shu himself.

First, he usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, which greatly lost the support of the people.

Then, the Sun family had grown strong and after taking advantage of Yuan Shu's connections, financial resources, and material resources, they began to turn against him and divided the country with Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu's huge power collapsed overnight.

All I can say is that it comes quickly and goes quickly.

Yuan Shu was still immersed in the joy of victory at this time, and of course he would not have thought that Sun Ce would betray him in the future.

He thought Yangzhou was safe, so he said:

"Go call Ji Ling, no! Call all the generals."

"Let them come over to discuss the attack on Xuzhou."

"After I capture Xia Pi, I will eat Big Ear alive and suck out his spinal cord to avenge my hatred!"

He followed the order and left.

"slow!"

Yuan Shu called out to his followers again to stop him.

"Mr. Yuan, do you have any other instructions?" the servant asked cautiously.

"Bring some honey water to quench Naigong's thirst."

……

Xiapi.

Liu Bei and Li Yi were reviewing the troops in the military camp.

Since Zhao Yun and Tian Yu were sent to other places by Liu Bei, the newcomer Qian Zhao was put in charge of commanding and training the cavalry.

Xu Sheng was responsible for training the Danyang troops.

"Yesterday I received a letter from Chen Yuanlong in Guangling."

"It is said that Yuan Shu has been making unusual moves in Huainan recently, and seems to be planning to attack Xuzhou. I am told to be on guard."

Liu Bei was holding a silk book in his hand and handed it to Li Yi as he walked.

Li Yi took a quick look and said:
"Yuan Shu has coveted Xuzhou for a long time. Yuan Long is writing this letter to inform the lord, probably to ask for troops to support Guangling."

"We can't abandon it now. We can send people to reinforce it."

Historically, Yuan Shu came to attack Xuzhou the next year.

Old Liu, who was not yet firmly established at the time, was defeated and lost Guangling and parts of Xia Pi counties in succession.

Of course, Liu Bei is no longer the same person as before.

When the enemy comes, we will fight them; when the water comes, we will block it with earth. There is absolutely no reason for us to be afraid of Yuan Shu.

"Okay, it just so happens that Guo Rang trained a troop of 2,000 men yesterday. I will send them to Guangling to support Yuan Long."

Liu Bei was very receptive to advice and immediately agreed to Chen Deng's request for additional troops.

"Anything else?"

Li Yi was sharp-minded and observed carefully, and he figured out that there was something Liu Bei had not fully revealed.

"...Oh, I really can't hide anything from you, sir."

"It's not a big deal."

As he spoke, Liu Bei took out another silk book and handed it to Li Yi.

……

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(End of this chapter)