For Li Mi, surrendering to Liu Yao was a helpless choice.
Although Li Mi wanted to seek refuge with Qin Hao, considering that Qin Hao and Daming were now closely related, he was afraid that Qin Hao would sell him to Daming in order to make good friends with Daming.
In addition, taking refuge with Qin Hao meant completely giving up his ambitions, but Li Mi was not willing to be just a compliant minister.
As Li Mi's Yellow Turban surrender, Li Zicheng and Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely not take him in, and Cao Cao and Tao Qian were unable to protect themselves, so the four families in Yanzhou and Xuzhou could be excluded directly.
After being eliminated in this way, among the forces around Li Mi, the only one he could rely on was Liu Yao.
Liu Yao was having a headache because of Sun Jian at this time, and if Li Mi took refuge at this time, even if Liu Yao would be afraid of Li Mi, in order to fight against Sun Jian, he would definitely treat Li Mi favorably!
After Li Mi led the remnant army and left Yuzhou, Yuan Shu occupied the entire Yuzhou except Yingchuan County. Although he did not completely unify the state, he was the most complete vassal in the state except Hong Xiuquan and Qin Hao.
.
Yuan Shu also wanted to send troops to recapture Yingchuan from Cao Cao, but Yan Xiang offered a plan and was not in a hurry to recapture Yanzhou for the time being.
After listening to Yan Xiang's advice, Yuan Shu also realized that Cao Cao was still needed to counter Li Zicheng. Once troops were sent to capture Yingchuan at this time, Cao Cao would be surrounded by enemies from both sides, and he would probably not be Li Zicheng's opponent. He would also face Li Zicheng directly.
Li Zicheng's threat.
In order for the two sides to continue to consume each other like this, Yuan Shu decided to take away the Jianghuai land from Liu Yao first, wait for him to unify Yangzhou, then return to recapture Yingchuan, and then unify the Central Plains.
The reason why Yuan Shu chose Liu Yao as his opponent was naturally that among the forces surrounding Yuan Shu, Liu Yao was undoubtedly the weakest.
Now Yuan Shu is surrounded by four forces: Qin Hao in the east, Cao Cao in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang in the west, and Liu Yao in the south. Among these four forces, Qin Hao is undoubtedly the strongest.
Qin Hao's power spans the two states of Jingsi. Although most of the main force has been mobilized to Bingzhou and Hetao, there are still sufficient troops left in Jingbei and Sizhou, which Yuan Shu cannot absorb at all with the strength in his hands.
Cao Cao in the north is Yuan Shu's barrier and can help Yuan Shu resist Li Zicheng.
Zhu Yuanzhang in the West has a strong record, and Xuzhou is easy to attack and difficult to defend. Taking Xuzhou at this time will only weaken Yuan Shu's troops, and overall it will do more harm than good.
Therefore, after all calculations, the only forces that Yuan Shu could annex were Liu Yao's family.
Just when Yuan Shu was about to send troops to attack Liu Yao, the arrival of a person made Yuan Shu change his attention, and this person was Wang Mang.
After Wang Mang integrated the stragglers of the Zhang and Chen families in Jizhou, he handed over this force that did not belong to him to Chen Qingzhi. Then he took Juwuba south to Yuzhou to meet Yuan Shu. He wanted to persuade Yuan Shu to change his mind and send troops.
Take Sizhou away from Qin Hao.
The battle between Qin, Jin and Yuanmeng at Hetao blocked the fate of the country. In the eyes of all the princes in the world, Qin and Jin were probably at a disadvantage.
Although the Qin and Jin Dynasties claim to have an army of 500,000, it is an indisputable fact that 200,000 of them are soldiers and civilians. Therefore, in fact, they only have an army of 300,000. It is naturally extremely difficult to defeat the 400,000 Yuan Mongolian cavalry.
In the eyes of the princes, Qin and Jin were at a disadvantage, but in Wang Mang's eyes, Qin and Jin, no, Qin Hao would definitely win this battle.
In Wang Mang's view, no matter how good Temujin was in fighting, from the moment Qin Hao arrived in Hetao, this battle could no longer be viewed in terms of common sense.
While Wang Mang was still in Hanoi, he was cast into the shadow by a meteorite from Qin Hao. If Qin Hao, a bastard, summoned a few meteorites before the battle, it would be useless for Temujin to send many troops.
Wang Mang guessed that Qin Hao would never summon meteorites so frequently, otherwise there would be no need for soldiers and horses when encountering the enemy. He would just use meteorites to hit him. However, even if Qin Hao was removed as an unsolvable factor, Wang Mang was still not optimistic about Temujin.
The lineup of generals of the Qin and Jin armies is also incomprehensible. Bai Qi, Li Jing, Wang Meng, Jiang Song, Ran Min, Gao Chong, Yuwen Chengdu, Jia Fu... With so many top commanders and fierce generals, Temujin's military strength
The advantage is not that big. It would be awesome to be able to defeat the combined forces of Qin and Jin.
It has to be said that Wang Mang is probably the most sober person today. Even Qin Hao doesn't think he can be stable, but he dares to say that Qin Hao can definitely beat Temujin. There are not many people in the world who have this vision.
Wang Mang guessed that after Qin Hao's victory, the princes of Hebei would be difficult to stop under the general trend. Once Qin Hao was allowed to unify Hebei, he would have the capital to unify the world, so of course he had to do something to slow down Qin Hao's pace.
Already.
Although there are many forces bordering Qin Hao, such as Cao Cao, Li Shimin, Yuan Shu, Huang Zu, Liu Xiu... but few can pose a threat to Qin Hao.
What's more, this was the critical period of foreign invasion, and few people dared to take the risk of sending troops to deal with Qin Hao, and Wang Mang could only think of one after much thought, and that was Yuan Shu.
First of all, Yuan Shu had just expelled Li Mi and had the largest number of troops under his command. He was the only one who could spare enough troops to deal with Qin Hao.
Secondly, Yuan Shu's sphere of influence is close to Qin Hao, and if Qin Hao continues to grow, he will be the most threatened.
Thirdly, Yuan Shu definitely wants to swallow up Qin Hao's Jingbei and Sizhou, and the temptation of this profit will definitely make Yuan Shu's heart.
Finally, Yuan Shu and Qin Hao had a long-standing grudge. Whether it was public or private, Yuan Shu had reasons to send troops.
Summarizing the above four points, Wang Mang decided to drag Yuan Shu into trouble, and then he embarked on the road to Yuzhou to lobby Yuan Shu.
After learning that Wang Mang asked for an audience, Yuan Shu was overjoyed.
Wang Mang single-handedly stirred up troubles in Sizhou, which also made him famous throughout the world as a wise man. Although most of them were infamy, princes like Yuan Shu would definitely not care.
"Mr. Wang Mang, I have heard about Mr. Shu's reputation for a long time, and today I saw him and his reputation is indeed well-deserved."
As soon as he saw Wang Mang, Yuan Shu stepped forward to greet him, looking extremely enthusiastic and courteous to a corporal.
Wang Mang looked at Yuan Shu back and forth, and it was really difficult to combine the man in front of him who was extremely shrewd at first glance with the short-sighted Yuan Shu in the novel.
"You really can't believe everything in the romance." Wang Mang thought to himself.
However, the smarter Yuan Shu is, the better, because only in this way will he realize how big a threat Qin Hao is, and only then will Wang Mang be able to persuade him to attack Sizhou.
"I wonder why Mr. Wang Mang is here at this time?" Yuan Shu said with a smile.
"Without him..."
Wang Mang showed an extremely humble expression, but said something extremely arrogant.
"Just to save the prince's life."
[Ding dong, Wang Mang’s skill ‘Smart Tongue’ is activated, Yuan Shu’s intelligence is -5, and Yuan Shu’s current intelligence is reduced to 71. 】