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

Chapter 99 Mr. Li is my close friend, Xu You! (Please subscribe!)
"Xianhe, you must learn to be content with everything."

Li Yi explained to Jian Yong in a serious tone.

“If you always think about feeding yourself and ignore others, it will be difficult to make friends in the end.”

"Sir, do you think Xu You is a friend worth associating with?" Jian Yong asked seriously.

“…Haha, we are a political group.”

"When dealing with political issues, we only consider interests, not emotions."

"Xu You is a favorite of Yuan Shao and a famous scholar in Nanyang. He holds an extraordinary position in the Hebei group."

"It will be good for us to make friends with him."

So Li Yi asked Jian Yong to find Mi Zhu and ask him to prepare a cart of gold, silver and silk.

He found Xu You alone.

Xu You knew that Li Yi was Liu Bei's military advisor, so he was very polite to him and saluted respectfully.

"I wonder what advice Mr. Li has for me?" Xu You asked straight to the point.

"I don't deserve your advice, but I have heard of Mr. Xu's great name for a long time, so I came here to make friends with him."

After saying this, Li Yi took out a gold ingot and put it in Xu You's hand.

Xu You was quick to put it into his sleeve and said:

"Mr. Li, what is this doing? How can this be possible!"

"No! No! Absolutely not!"

"Hey! Mr. Xu has worked hard all the way, these are just vulgar things, not worth mentioning."

Seeing that Xu You had put the gold ingot into his pocket, Li Yi patted him on the shoulder and tried to persuade him kindly.

Mr. Xu You was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter:

"No wonder Mr. Li was able to become the military advisor of Xuzhou at such a young age. He is truly a cool person."

"I, Xu You, have made you my friend."

Li Yi smiled and said:

"I have asked someone to prepare a carload of gifts. You came all the way from Hebei to Xuzhou, but you have to go back before you can stay for long. I am deeply worried."

"So I would like to ask you to take this car of gifts back to Hebei."

As he spoke, Li Yi leaned close to Xu You and whispered:

"Please also say a few good words for Xuzhou in front of Lord Yuan."

Xu You hurriedly said:
"That's nature, that's nature!"

"Mr. Yuan has long said that Mr. Xuande is magnanimous, elegant, and trustworthy. Now Xuzhou is happy to honor him, which is truly what we expected."

"What's more, he has a rare talent like you by his side. I think Mr. Yuan will be happy to see the Yuan and Liu families get along well."

good……

Li Yi took Xu You's hand and personally escorted him out of the city.

After walking thirty miles out of the city, Xu You finally said,

"I didn't expect Ziyu to be so kind. I really feel ashamed and unworthy of it."

"Why is Ziyuan so modest?"

"Ziyuan is a great talent of the time. Yi is in Xuzhou and cannot always be by Ziyuan's side to give him advice. I deeply regret it."

Coincidentally, the gifts prepared by Mi Zhu were also ready.

It was pulled by two oxen.

This ox cart alone is worth a fortune.

"I'll send you a thousand miles away, but I'll have to say goodbye in the end."

"Brother Ziyuan, please take care of yourself when you return to Hebei."

"Zi Yu should also take care of yourself."

Xu You thanked him and turned to leave.

Li Yi suddenly pulled him back and whispered in his ear:
"If Ziyuan is in trouble in the future, please come to me."

"No matter how many difficulties there are, I will help you to deal with them."

After hearing this, Xu You was deeply moved.

My eyes were red.

A scholar dies for a confidant.

Although Xu You is greedy, he is still loyal to his friends.

When Li Yi met her for the first time, he tried to please her without saying anything.

He even personally escorted him thirty miles out of the city. This courtesy moved Xu You almost to tears.

"Zi Yu is magnanimous, generous, and knows how to treat people, which is different from Lord Xuande."

"You is truly lucky to have a friend like Ziyu."

Xu You held Li Yi's hand and said goodbye to him in tears.

He looked back three times along the way and found that Li Yi was still there, watching him leave.

My heart was filled with emotions and I was moved beyond words.

Having seen the brutal fights among scholars in Hebei, he did not expect to find a piece of pure land in Xuzhou.

I, Xu You, have no regrets in this life because I have a close friend like Li Yi!
After watching Xu You go away, Li Yi returned to Xia Pi.

In this way, Yuan Shao had his eldest son Yuan Tan, who had close ties with Xuzhou.

There was also a favored minister named Xu You who had good relations with Xuzhou.

Li Yi firmly believes that these two cards will play a huge role in the future.

Xuzhou did not get any rest in the next few days.

Liu Bei continued to mobilize troops with great fanfare.

Prepare to go south to meet Yuan Shu's challenge.

……

The words are divided into two parts,

However, the reason why Yuan Shu was able to concentrate on dealing with Liu Bei and seize the territory of Xuzhou was because of this.

He turned his back to Sun Jian's eldest son, Sun Bofu.

At this time, Sun Ce was already famous in Jiangdong.

Before he went to war, he had only a thousand infantrymen and dozens of cavalry.

The Yangzhou governor Liu Yao whom he had to face had tens of thousands of provincial soldiers stationed in Qu'a alone.

The other county governors, such as Wang Lang, Xu Gong, Zhu Hao and others, all had their own troops and controlled the main areas of Jiangdong.

No one was optimistic about Sun Ce, including Yuan Shu.

The pressure that Sun Ce had to face was not just the disparity in military strength.

We must also face pressure from public opinion.

In ancient times, it was important to have a legitimate reason for one’s actions.

The governor of Yangzhou Liu Yao, the prefect of Yuzhang Hua Xin, and the prefect of Kuaiji Wang Lang were all local officials appointed by the imperial court.

Sun Ce's attack on Jiangdong at this time was "causing rebellion".

Liu Yao and others attacked Sun Ce in order to "defend the territory" for the imperial court, which was justified.

Although Sun Ce was brave, he was not reckless.

Faced with the powerful Liu Yao, Sun Ce's first step was to seek support.

In addition to recruiting refugees locally, he also received funding from his good friend Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu was the son of Zhou Shang, the governor of Danyang, a typical second-generation official.

He had a deep friendship with Sun Ce and took the initiative to lead troops and bring food to join the war.

They were both young talents with heroic appearances. They joined forces and, with the support of veterans such as Huang Gai and Cheng Pu, crossed the river from Liyang and captured Niuzhu in one fell swoop.

The grain and weapons seized there helped temporarily overcome the material crisis.

So, Sun Ce began to march towards Moling.

The commander of Moling was an old acquaintance of Xuzhou.

One is Xue Li, the former prime minister of Pengcheng, Xuzhou, and the other is Zuo Rong, the former prime minister of Xiapi, Xuzhou.

Zuo Rong had previously been a favorite of Tao Qian, and he was also a Buddhist.

It was precisely because Zuo Rong believed in Buddhism that he indirectly brought great disaster to Xuzhou.

First of all,

In order to prevent the Yellow Turban Army from causing chaos, Tao Qian suppressed Taiping Taoism and promoted Buddhism.

This is also the reason why Xuzhou will renovate the Golden Buddha Temple.

As a Buddhist, Zuo Rong naturally became Tao Qian's right-hand man.

He amassed huge wealth under the name of "Buddha Bathing Party".

The Buddha statue is made of copper, the body of the statue is painted with gold, and the statue's clothes are sewn with brocade.

There is a nine-tier copper plate hanging, and a multi-story building with pavilions and corridors built below.

Billions of dollars were spent.

But on the other hand,
Xuzhou is really rich, and it can withstand all the turmoil caused by Zuo Rong.

The great wealth of Xuzhou made Cao Cao feel vaguely afraid.

How can I allow others to snore on my bed?

Cao Cao could not allow such a huge monster to stand beside him in Yanzhou.

So wherever the army passed, everyone was slaughtered.

We must completely eliminate Xuzhou’s war potential.

However, when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, Zuo Rong, one of the main culprits, chose to flee to Guangling County.

Not only did he kill Guangling's governor, Zhao Yu, but he also allowed his soldiers to plunder.

So Xuzhou was really in a bad state after all this.

Now Xue Li and Zuo Rong both regard Liu Yao as their leader.

In order to deal with Sun Ce, Liu Yao carefully built a line of defense.

1. Fan Neng and Yu Mi stationed troops at Hengjiang Ferry to strictly prevent anyone from entering the ferry.

Second, if the ferry is really lost, use the navy to block it.

As long as we use the navy to control the river, even if the enemy sneaks across the river, they will not be able to get support from the rear.

You can only fight alone!

The third is to let Zuo Rong and Xue Li station troops in Moling to protect Qu'a.

This defense system is closely linked.

This caused Wu Jing and Sun Ben to fight for years but they were never able to conquer the city.

Now Sun Ce comes to challenge.

He chose a mobile strategy, bypassing Moling directly, turning south and attacking Wujun.

This move fell into Liu Yao's trap of "fighting alone".

But Sun Ce knew it was a trap, but still dared to use his troops in this way.

He simply ignored the powerful enemy in the rear and boldly advanced deep into the enemy's territory. His method of deploying troops showed the style of a hegemon.

Liu Yao's carefully deployed defense system was quickly broken by Sun Ce, and he did not have time to adjust it in time.

Finally, he reorganized his troops and fought a fierce battle with Sun Ce at Qu'a.

In the end, Liu Yao suffered a crushing defeat and was forced to flee from Dantu.

Sun Ce successfully occupied Qu'a.

Although Sun Ce temporarily defeated Liu Yao, it did not mean that he had won.

The challenge has just begun.

Because Sun Ce was "combatting" in Jiangdong, he could not gain the support of local scholars and nobles.

Sun Ce had no choice but to fight a political war.

The first step is to enforce strict discipline and win the hearts of the people.

He ordered the army to go wherever it went and not to plunder the civilians, including their chickens, dogs, and vegetables.

When the people saw that Sun Ce's army was different from that of other princes, they all vied with each other to reward Sun Ce's troops with cattle and wine.

Sun Ce temporarily gained a foothold in Qu'a.

"Now my army has occupied Qu'a, but Qu'a is short of food, and Yuan Shu has already stopped supplying food to the army."

"I wonder how our army should advance next?"

Since Yuan Shu ordered Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui to lead a large army to station at the front line, the daily consumption of food and fodder was enormous.

I also heard that Sun Ce already had his own base in Qu'a, and he should be able to be self-sufficient.

So they stopped supplying him with food and fodder.

Zhou Yu spoke first:

"Let's not discuss where to advance now. I think we can first gather the troops from the hometowns of Zuo Rong and Liu Yao."

"To strengthen our military strength."

Sun Ce nodded, "Gongjin is right, you can pass on my military orders."

"As long as Liu Yao and Zuo Rong's former subordinates are willing to give up their hostility, we will not ask any questions!"

"If anyone is willing to join the army, one person can serve and the whole family can be exempted from corvée!"

“Those who do not wish to join the army will not be forced.”

"Just go..."

Sun Ce followed Zhou Yu's advice and adopted a lenient policy to disintegrate the hostile forces.

"It's just that the issue of food and fodder still needs to be resolved."

Although they captured Qu'a and Dantu.

But these two places are small counties and do not have much grain stored.

It couldn't even support Sun Ce's army.

The most important thing is that even if Yuan Shu did not stop supplying him with food, it would be difficult to supply him with food.

Because Sun Ce's army bypassed Moling and launched a surprise attack on Qu'a, it was a large-scale advance into the enemy's territory.

However, military rations had to be transported slowly from Liyang in Jiujiang by water.

Once Liu Yao sent out his navy to harass, Sun Ce's supply line would be cut off in one fell swoop.

Taking this into consideration, Yuan Shu simply cut off his food supply.

Otherwise, if he was kidnapped by Liu Yao, he would have been a waste of resources for the enemy.

It just so happened that Yuan Shu's front line was also in urgent need of food.

Sun Ce, just be self-sufficient and figure out a solution yourself!
This is what Yuan Shu expressed in his reply to Sun Ce.

"I intend to march into Wujun next year."

Sun Ce proposed his own strategy.

Why next year?

Because he has few soldiers now, he needs to gather his troops first.

"But once the number of soldiers increases, I'm afraid that Qu'a County will not be able to support so many soldiers."

"So I summoned you all here today to discuss the matter of raising grain."

(End of this chapter)