After reading the letter, Cao Cao's expression suddenly changed and he said to Xiahou Dun beside him: "Liu Xin is going to take action!"
Xiahou Dun nodded and said: "The two-year period has passed. I expected that he would be unable to hold himself back any longer. Unfortunately, our army suffered a loss in the battle with Yuan Shao, but he took advantage of him."
In fact, Liu Xin's deployment of troops and generals was carried out very secretly, and Liu Xin ordered all borders to be sealed, with only entry and no exit allowed. Even if Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's secret operations lurking in various places got the news, there was no way to pass it on.
But every secret must have its gaps. While Liu Xin sealed the border, he also ordered the Mi family to stop smuggling food to Cao Cao. It was precisely because the food source in the south was suddenly cut off that Xun Yu became alert, and he sensitively deduced that Liu Xin
There needs to be a big move.
Cao Cao muttered: "We are surrounded by enemies from both sides and we cannot continue this battle. We immediately sent an envoy to Yuan Shao to discuss peace between the two families."
Chen Qun was still the envoy to Yuan Shao this time. As soon as his people arrived in Yecheng, they saw people shouting horses in the fields outside Yecheng. There were foreigners with deep eye sockets and high noses everywhere. The fields were about to mature.
The wheat has been trampled to pieces.
Chen Qun didn't expect Wu Heng's army to arrive so quickly. He was frightened and hurriedly marched into the city. The two countries were fighting without killing the envoys, and the soldiers guarding the door did not stop them.
Hearing that Cao Cao had sent an envoy, Yuan Shao sneered and said: "You all advised me not to recruit foreign troops lightly, what now? Xianbei's troops have not arrived yet, and Wu Heng's troops alone scared Cao Cao into submission, Master Maoshan! Come on!"
People, bring Cao Cao’s envoy here!”
In fact, Yuan Shao was more resourceful than decisive. Regarding the matter of inviting foreign reinforcements, his counselors also had many differences and debated for a long time before making a decision. Now that the foreign reinforcements have had an effect, Yuan Shao immediately took all the credit.
On oneself.
In the hall, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and other civil and military officials all looked at Chen Qun aggressively, but Chen Qun was not timid. He handed the letter in his hand to the guard next to Yuan Shao, and then said: "General, what is my prime minister's intention?"
Yes, the two families have made peace with each other and joined forces to deal with Liu Xin. I wonder what the general’s intention is?”
General is the official position that Cao Cao bestowed on Yuan Shao in the name of Liu Xie. Later, Yuan Shao supported Liu Biao as emperor and continued the title of General. Anyway, both the prime minister and the general are high-ranking officials above the three princes, and
Yuan Shao did a more thorough job than Cao Cao. He did not need to worry about the old ministers of the previous dynasty. He appointed Taiwei, Situ, and Sikong at his will. They were all his trusted subordinates.
However, due to the timely blockade, neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao knew the news that Liu Xin had proclaimed the emperor. Because Liu Xin knew very well that no matter how indecisive Yuan Shao was, as soon as the news of his proclaiming the emperor was announced, Yuan Shao would understand who was the emperor.
Is his most powerful enemy.
Yuan Shao was indeed arrogant. He didn't even read Cao Cao's letter, and said contemptuously: "Go back and tell Cao Cao, don't worry about Liu Xin now occupying Sili, as long as he is willing to hand over Liu Xie and serve as the emperor as the orthodox, Liu Xin
Nothing to worry about!”
Chen Qun knew Liu Xin much better than Yuan Shao. He was about to explain Liu Xin's power to Yuan Shao when he suddenly saw a messenger outside the door running in in a panic and said loudly: "General Qi,
Something bad is happening!”
The messenger was so blind that he didn't notice the presence of outsiders. Yuan Shao was very unhappy, but he couldn't get angry in front of Chen Qun, so he could only pretend to be calm and said: "Why are you panicking? Get up and talk."
The messenger stood up and said breathlessly: "Back to the general, the Xianbei army set fire to Yanmen City."
"What!" Yuan Shao couldn't sit still this time. He stood up and said, "Xianbei is the reinforcement I invited. How could they burn down Yanmen City? Did the Yanmen prefect prevent them from entering?
Humph, you dare to spoil my big job..."
The messenger kowtowed repeatedly and said: "General, please calm down. My lord did not stop them from entering the city. On the contrary, those Xianbei people entered the city and burned, killed, looted, and raped women. They did all kinds of evil. My lord went to dissuade them, but they were killed.
Killed!"
Yuan Shao was shocked and asked repeatedly: "What did you say? The Xianbei people dared to kill Yuan's men! How many people are they?"
The messenger didn't dare to raise his head, and knelt on the ground and said: "I don't know how many people there are, I guess there must be fifty or sixty thousand people who entered Yanmen City. However, I have lived in Yanmen for a long time, so I heard that
You must understand the Xianbei dialect. On the way to Taiyuan, the villain vaguely heard that they dispatched a total of 200,000 troops this time."
"Two hundred thousand troops!" Yuan Shao had the urge to revolt and shouted angrily, "Didn't I ask them to send out one hundred thousand troops? Why did they come with two hundred thousand troops? Do they want to rebel? Fengji, it's you who suggested it
You came out to ask Xianbei to send troops, what do you think we should do?"
This Yuan Shao was unworthy of being a son of an aristocratic family, and he had too little character. Just now he felt that this move had frightened Cao Cao, so he took all the credit on himself. Now that the Xianbei people were burning, killing and looting, he passed the responsibility to his subordinates.
In fact, Yuan Shao was not like this before. He was still very good at making superficial remarks. But he, who had always had smooth sailing, fought fiercely with Cao Cao for a year with superior troops, and it was hard to tell the difference, which caused many changes in his mentality.
, the hidden deep nature is gradually revealed.
Feng Ji trembled, then raised his hands and said, "Back to the general, my subordinates believe that the top priority is to prevent the Xianbei army from continuing to move south."
Yuan Shao said angrily: "Are we asking Yuan to mobilize his troops to fight them?"
What he meant was that the strongest opponent now was Cao Cao, but he completely forgot that Cao Cao's envoy was still standing in the hall.
Seeing the delicate situation in the hall, Chen Qun said at the right time: "The general is overly worried. My prime minister is the evil saint who really wants to negotiate peace with the general. According to reports, Liu Xin is fighting hard, and while you and I are exhausted,
At that time, we will eat up both our families in one fell swoop. If our families don’t join hands again, I’m afraid disaster is not far away!”
Yuan Shao pondered and said, "What did Xianbei say?"
Shen Pei, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "The barbarians are greedy for money. As long as they give gold, silver and jewels, Xianbei will retreat. Taiyuan City is tall and strong, and the Xianbei people have no siege equipment. The general can order the senior officials to stick to Taiyuan and not let go."
The Xianbei people have entered the city. Then my lord will send envoys to deliver gold and silk. Why worry about Xianbei not retreating?"
Gao Gan is Yuan Shao's nephew. He is currently the governor of Bingzhou and is based in Taiyuan. The city of Taiyuan is well-equipped with soldiers and food. As long as Gao Gan does not take the initiative to open the city gate, the Xianbei people will definitely not be able to enter. In fact, this Yanmen messenger fled with his colleagues.
After Yanmen City, the first stop was to ask for help from the senior officials. However, the senior officials were timid and cautious. They refused to send reinforcements or let the messenger enter the city. Instead, they directly asked the messenger to come and report to Yuan Shao to judge and match the senior officials.
With his understanding, he can be sure that the Xianbei people cannot enter Taiyuan City.
When Chen Qun heard this, he suddenly put his hands on his hands and laughed and said, "Mr. Shen, that's wrong! It's easy to ask the gods but hard to send them away. Instead of spending money, it's better to divert the trouble to the west!"
If you want to make the 200,000 Xianbei army retreat, you can't spend it with just a little money. Yuan Shao was feeling distressed. After hearing Chen Qun's words, he couldn't help but perked up. He regained his humility, studiousness, and polite corporal appearance. He raised his hands and said:
"Why do you teach me, sir?"
Chen Qun said with a smile: "The Xianbei people are after money. Who is the richest in the world today? Of course it is Liu Xin. Our two families join forces to fight against Liu Xin, why not let the Xianbei people take the lead."
After a pause, Chen Qun continued to use his sharp tongue and said: "What Liu Xin relies on is nothing more than the power of the cavalry, but no matter how powerful his cavalry is, how can it be defeated by Liu Xin who has been on horseback since he was a child?"
Are you a grown-up Xianbei? As long as the Xianbei can defeat Liu Xin's cavalry, you and I will have an army of 800,000, so why worry about a big thing?"
In the battle outside Xiangyang City, it was Zhao Yun who arrived in time with 5,000 cavalry and killed Cao's army, leaving their helmets and armor behind and corpses strewn across the field. People who participated in that battle are still frightened when they think about it. Although Chen Qun did not experience it in person
After that battle, I often heard other people mention the power of the Han cavalry.
Regarding Chen Qun's proposal, Yuan Shao was silent for a long time and suddenly said: "That's all right. It's just that if you and I join forces, who will be the orthodox one?"
Chen Qun didn't expect that at such a critical juncture, Yuan Shao was still concerned about who was the orthodox, and couldn't help but laugh or cry. However, Cao Cao did not fully authorize Chen Qun before leaving, so Chen Qun really couldn't make the decision on this matter.
However, Chen Qun is very aware of the current situation and must persuade Yuan Shao to agree to join forces with Cao Cao, otherwise once Liu Xin really takes action, it will be too late.
After a brief hesitation, Chen Qun suddenly came up with a plan and said with a smile: "Come back to the general, why don't we learn from the story of Emperor Gaozu, whoever enters Xiangyang first will be the king!"
In fact, both Yuan Shao and Chen Qun knew very well that both Liu Xie and Liu Biao were just puppets and decorations. Of course, the real purpose of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao was to replace Liu Han. If they really defeated Liu Xin, this would
It is still unclear who owns the world, but one thing Chen Qun is sure of is that the two families will definitely have a fight by then. Therefore, the plan Chen Qun is talking about now is actually just a blank check.
Yuan Shao was obviously moved by Chen Qun's suggestion. He pondered for a while and said very seriously: "No, the one who advances to Luoyang should be the king!"
Xiangyang is in the south, far away from Yuan Shao's territory, and Luoyang is about the same distance from the two families. It is also the old capital of the Han Dynasty. Taking Luoyang as the evaluation criterion is the fairest for both sides. And Yuan Shao is not the same.
Silly, he knew that Liu Xin was rebuilding Luoyang and Chang'an, so he could use Luoyang as his capital, but neither he nor Cao Cao knew that Liu Xin had officially moved the capital to Chang'an.
As long as Yuan Shao agreed to join forces between the two families, Chen Qun would have completed his mission. He would naturally agree to Yuan Shao's request.
Who knows, Yuan Shao said again: "Also, you must withdraw from Liyang City!"
Cao Cao captured Liyang again, originally intending to use it as a bargaining chip, but Chen Qun immediately said that there was no problem at all.
Yuan Shao then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay, I'll send someone to contact Xianbei Shanyu Kuitou right away!"