In the south of Xuzhou, at the junction of Xiapi County and Guangling County, Liu Bei's army and Sun Ce's army had fought several times, but no one took advantage.
It was Guan Yu who fought against Sun Ce. The two sides fought for a month, and their supplies were exhausted. Guan Yu retreated to Tancheng, while Sun Ce led his army back to Guangling City, and each went to collect supplies.
When Guan Yu returned to the city, he saw Liu Bei and Zhang Fei coming out to greet him. He sighed: "I didn't expect Sun Ce's son to be so difficult to deal with. Yu is ashamed to treat his elder brother."
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "My second brother is not at fault. It's just that I gave him too few soldiers."
The three of them were in heavy hearts. The current situation in Xuzhou was very bad. They originally thought that Yuan and Liu would form an alliance and Xuzhou could rest and recuperate for two years. However, they did not expect that while Yuan Shao was attacking Gongsun Zan, restless demons and ghosts appeared.
Sun Ce is just an inexplicable lunatic. Originally, he was supposed to be ordered by Yuan to attack Liu Yao from Danyang and Wujun in Yangzhou. I don’t know why he suddenly crossed the river north to attack Guangling County!
Originally, Sun Ce only occupied a few cities south of Guangling, so the threat was not great, but Liu Bei did not dare to counterattack with all his strength, because to the west of Xiapi, Cao Cao's army entered Pengcheng in Yuzhou from Rencheng in Yanzhou!
Pengcheng was only more than 200 miles away from Xiapi, so troops were approaching the city. Liu Bei and Zhang Fei had to lead most of their troops to garrison to the west of Xiapi to prevent Cao's army from attacking.
The current situation between the parties is extremely delicate. Changes in any party will determine the direction of the situation. But Liu Bei knows that he is dealing with two hungry wolves at the same time, which is too detrimental to him!
He regretted not listening to Chen Qun. With his current strength, it is indeed difficult to keep Xuzhou!
Guan Yu said solemnly: "Now we need to concentrate our strength and drive out one side first, otherwise either Cao Cao or Yuan Shu will continue to increase their troops and wear us down."
Of course Liu Bei knows, but he can't change the situation and send troops. The biggest hidden danger is that he still hasn't digested the Danyang soldier faction left by Tao Qian.
Tao Qian's former subordinates were either Danyang soldiers or the remnants of the Yellow Turbans, who were extremely unruly and unruly.
Not to mention the Yellow Turbans, the Danyang soldiers were mostly mountain bandits from Shanyue and were extremely difficult to restrain. The generals of the former Tao Qian forces led by Cao Bao and others were even more wild and often disturbed the people, which was contrary to Liu Bei's approach.
Although Liu Bei wanted to rectify the situation, he was afraid of irritating General Danyang, so he had no choice but to compromise.
Liu Bei felt extremely uncomfortable. Two years, no, one year, as long as he was given one year, he could remove Cao Bao and others and replace them with his own henchmen, but the enemy did not even give him this time.
He sighed: "Second brother, please rest for a few days. The food in Xiapi is not enough. I have sent people to Haixi to collect food. If I want to come to Sun Ce, I won't attack for a while."
Guan Yu nodded, feeling a little regretful in his heart. He also thought of the group of people who went to expel him from the city gate that day. There might be Sun Ce's family members among them. If he could have kept them at that time, he might have been able to avoid the disaster of Sun Ce invading Guangling. In fact,
It's a bit of a pity.
Mi Zhu returned to his mansion, called Mi Fang, and said, "Your Majesty is going to send someone to collect grain from Haixi. I have advised you to go there."
Mi Fang was now an official. Knowing that the current situation in Xuzhou was not good, she immediately said: "In this case, I will take people to leave today."
Mi Zhu hesitated for a moment and said, "Bring your sister with you."
Mi Fang was a little surprised: "Why?"
Mi Zhu looked solemn and said, "Xiapi City is in a bad situation right now, with Cao Cao's army on one side and Yuan Shu's army on the other."
"Although it is unlikely that Xiapi will be defeated, if there is an eventuality, I can still escape on horseback. My younger sister is a woman and has limited mobility. Who among the rebels can take care of her?"
"Although I may be overthinking it, it's better to be prepared for a rainy day than to sit back and wait for death."
After hearing this, Mi Fang hurriedly said: "Brother is right, I will go find my little sister and ask her to pack her things."
Seeing Mi Fang leaving in a hurry, Mi Zhu sighed and thought that maybe his worries were unfounded. Liu Guan and Zhang were all powerful generals in the world, so they couldn't even defend Xiapi, right?
In Guangling City, Sun Ce also returned to his mansion. He took the swaddling clothes from Mrs. Wu's hand and played with the baby inside for a while, but he couldn't help it and the baby started crying.
He quickly handed the swaddling clothes to Mrs. Wu and said angrily: "My little sister and I are not close."
Mrs. Wu said angrily: "What do you care about with a three-year-old child?"
She had a worried look on her face, "If this continues, it will be difficult to conquer Xiapi even with the cities of Guangling. Why don't we return to Jiangdong and make plans?"
Sun Ce shook his head and said: "No, I must capture Guangling."
"Only by occupying Guangling can we try to get back Wujun, the ancestral home of my father and mother."
"That thief Yuan Shu promised me to conquer Jiujiang for him, so he declared me the governor of Jiujiang, but he broke his promise!"
"Now that I want to capture Guangling, he can't just take it away from me, right?"
Mrs. Wu sighed in her heart, once there was a second time, Yuan Shu was capricious, he was really a villain, but he happened to be the lord of her late husband Sun Jian.
At that time, Sun Jian killed many nobles and did some things that were criticized, so now the only prince in the world who is willing to accept Sun Ce is Yuan Shu.
Mrs. Wu felt a little sad when she thought of this. Her husband died, leaving her orphaned and widowed. She had to raise several young sons, and she didn't know how many ups and downs she would have to go through.
Thinking back to twenty years ago, Sun Jian came to ask for marriage after hearing that he was both talented and beautiful.
However, the Wu family was a wealthy gentry family. Mrs. Wu's father was once the governor of Danyang, and Sun Jian's ancestor was a melon farmer. They were not a good match at all.
At this time, Mrs. Wu's parents died young and she was living with relatives. Naturally, the Wu family's relatives did not agree and thought Sun Jian was cunning and frivolous, so they scolded Sun Jian in person.
However, for some reason, several members of the Wu family disappeared inexplicably within a few days, and the Wu family was panicked.
Mrs. Wu stood up at this time and said: "Why do you want to cause trouble just to protect a little girl like me? If he treats me badly, it is my fate."
So Mrs. Wu married Sun Jian, and gave birth to Sun Ce that year, followed by Sun Quan, Sun Xu, Sun Kuang's third son, and now the infant Sun Shangxiang.
Sun Quan's third son is now staying in Jiujiang. Mrs. Wu takes Sun Shangxiang with her. She always feels that Sun Ce's sneak attack on Guangling is setting him up for a desperate situation. She has advised Sun Ce several times to return to Danyang, but Sun Ce is still stubborn.
Seeing Mrs. Wu's appearance, Sun Ce comforted her and said, "Don't worry, mom, I've already found someone to help."
"I have made good friends with Gongjin Qiaorui. Now I have sent someone to deliver a message, asking them to bring troops, horses, food and fodder to help me conquer Guangling!"
When Mrs. Wu heard this, she felt a little relieved. Qiao Rui was a general under Yuan Shu, and Zhou Yu was a talented strategist. With the help of these two people, even if Xiapi could not be captured, it would not be a problem to defend Guangling.
Yuan Shao's attack on Yi Jing affected the situation in Xuzhou in the east and the same situation in Hanoi in the west.
Yuan Shang in Yecheng is now worried and busy. He is not only responsible for the mobilization of troops, horses and food for the entire Jizhou, but also to prevent dangers in Xuzhou and Hanoi.
For Yuan Shang, the problem in Xuzhou is not very serious. Even if Liu Bei loses Xuzhou, the situation will affect Yecheng, which is still several counties away.
What worries him more now is the changes in Hanoi County!
Lu Bu was originally a subordinate of Yuan Shao, but later he turned against Yuan Shao and was assassinated by Yuan Shao's assassins. Lu Bu took the opportunity to escape and formed a relationship with the Yuan family.
Originally, everyone within the Yuan family believed that Lu Bu was a lost dog who had no territory of his own. No matter how powerful he was, what kind of trouble could he cause?
To everyone's surprise, Lu Bu actually instigated Zhang Miao, Chen Gong and others to rebel against Cao Cao under the nose of Yecheng!
This was like a fire at home. Although Cao Cao was in a panic, Yecheng also felt threatened. After all, although Chenliu County and Yecheng were separated by a Yellow River, the distance was only two to three hundred miles.
Yuan Shangzao believed that he was the next head of the Yuan family and regarded Ye City as his personal property, so he was extremely concerned about Lu Bujun's movements.
When Lu Bu and Cao Cao negotiated peace, Yuan Shang breathed a sigh of relief. Now Lu Bu should go to Jingzhou, the richest place, to fight, right?
What Yuan Shang didn't expect was that Lu Bujun went to the relatively poor Sili Hanoi!
Especially the recent news, except for some of Lu Bu's army who stayed behind in Chenliu, most of its main force has gone to Hanoi County to meet Zhang Yang.
This change made Yuan Shang very worried, not only because Lu Bu and Zhang Yang had a good personal relationship, but also because to the north of Hanoi County was the Tianxing Mountains where the Black Mountain Army was located!
If Lu Bu's army and Heishan united, they could enter Jizhou directly from the west without the obstruction of the Yellow River and threaten Yecheng. When Yuan Shang thought that he might face a hundred thousand troops, he felt a little unsure.
Thinking that Cao Cao's army in the south was also ready to move, Yuan Shang gritted his teeth. The pressure on his side was too great!
Damn second brother, if he hadn't convinced my father to attack Jizhou, I could have prepared for another year to make the situation more stable!
Now all Yuan Shang can hope is that the Battle of Yijing will be over soon and Yuan Shao will lead his army back to aid Ye City. Otherwise, if the enemy comes to attack Ye City, Yuan Shang is really not sure that he can stop it.
The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and he unconsciously opened the cabinet at hand, where there were a few more bottles.
He raised his hand and picked up one, pulled out the plug, put it under his nose and smelled it a few times. He immediately felt that his body relaxed a lot, and something seemed to be floating around in front of his eyes, and he forgot his worries for a while.
It took him a while to come back to his senses and thought that these alchemists did have some abilities.
Thinking of the Kun Dao from Taiping Dao whom he invited last time, he used a variety of techniques to treat his hidden illness. Although Yuan Shang still failed to regain his glory in the end, he felt that there were signs of something ready to start in his body.
Maybe with further treatment, I can become a normal man again!
He didn't dare to let Yuan Shao know about his hidden medical condition, because once it was exposed, his position as heir would be in jeopardy.
His mother, Mrs. Liu, did know a little bit about it, but because she was protecting her children, she would naturally hide it from Yuan Shao.
But this kind of thing cannot be kept secret for a lifetime, nor can it be openly consulted by a doctor, otherwise it will definitely be leaked.
Fortunately, the Liu family also had some connections. Under her leadership, Yuan Shang caught up with the remaining Taiping Taoist alchemists from the Yellow Turbans.
Yuan Shang thought to himself that the biological mother was still reliable.
When Liu, as the head wife, controlled Yuan Shao's inner house, at this time in Hanoi County, Lu Bu's head wife Yan was doing similar things.