It is understandable that Yuan Shu became emperor.
The Yuan family had already planned to participate in the battle for the throne. The end point of this war was actually the throne.
However, Yuan Shu forgot a very basic problem, that is, there were so many contestants around him, and his strength did not surpass the others. In such a situation, skipping the title of king and going directly to the throne, the result would be nothing more than seeking death.
The struggle for hegemony between princes is just like the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which emphasizes distant friendship and close attack. Each prince is originally an independent interest group. When the interests are sufficient, they will naturally become allies.
For example, Gongsun Sheng and Liu Bian now have no conflict of interest, but they have common enemies such as Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Li Ji, so they can come together without any gaps.
Another example is Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Although they are bordering each other, one has to deal with Liu Bei and Lu Bu, and the other has to deal with Gongsun Sheng. Neither of them wants to have their backyards on fire when they go out to attack the enemy, so they naturally come together, although it is not a big deal.
They are allies, but at least they maintain absolute neutrality and will not attack the other party unless absolutely necessary.
And Yuan Shu's proclaiming himself emperor was like coating himself with cream, adding fresh fruits, and then disguising himself as a big cake and placing it in front of the princes of the world, saying to them: Come and eat me!
Okay, if you don't consider Yuan Shu's age and gender. If the other party puts up such a posture, you are really a fool if you don't move. The worst thing is, just eat the cream and fruit on top, and then throw Yuan Shu aside.
.
For a time, Sun Ce, who had captured several counties in Yangzhou, Liu Bei, who was temporarily pretending to be weak, Lu Bu, who wanted to make a big profit, and Cao Cao, who wanted to expand his power, all began to mobilize their troops and prepare to eat the cake.
"Haha, you stupid guys, let me use your blood as a celebration of my accession to the throne!" Yuan Shu burst out laughing after hearing the report from his subordinates.
"My emperor is victorious!" the ministers shouted in unison.
After the court meeting was disbanded, the ministers immediately returned to their posts according to Yuan Shu's instructions and prepared for war. After all, there are too many things involved in a battle, so it is impossible not to prepare quickly.
Everyone was busy, but Ji Ling and General Yang felt a little sad.
About three hours later, General Yang held a banquet at home and invited Yuan Shu's confidant military advisor Yang Hong and his confidant and favorite general Ji Ling.
After the wine and food have been eaten and the singing and dancing have dispersed, the main topic can begin.
"This time the four princes are attacking, what do you think?" General Yang was the first to speak.
"What else can we do? The worst thing is that the last base area in Huainan will be carved up; the best thing is that all the four princes will retreat with their vitality severely damaged; but no matter what, I, Lao Ji, have no share in it."
Ji Ling said sadly.
Last year, he was ordered to attack Xuzhou, but was repulsed by Lu Bu. Probably because the process was too fast, Yuan Shu was obviously very dissatisfied with him. This time against Fang Hou, he was responsible for guarding Shouchun, but he could not go to the battlefield.
"Everyone, there are no unbroken eggs when the nest is overthrown. We are all old men of the Yuan clan, and we can be considered to be in high positions now. If the Yuan clan falls, then even if we change the family, it will not be easy for us to rise to prominence again.
In other words, don't you mind starting over?" Yang Hong just said a few words casually. Although he didn't mean to persuade at all, the meaning behind his words was this.
"I know that changing families midway is incomparable to those who caught the express train early in the morning. However, if you catch the express train late, at least you are still on board. If it were too late, the family might really be doomed." Ji
The spirit complained.
"Prime Minister Yang, you are a popular person around His Majesty. What is the reason why Your Majesty became emperor so quickly? It should be noted that although Your Majesty is a cool and luxurious person, and also has a good face, he is definitely not a fool." Yang
The general asked.
"I don't know much about it, but I know that after His Majesty received a Taoist priest in June last year, he became even more arrogant. He seemed to be full of confidence in everything he did, and it was inevitable to win the world.
"Yang Hong said helplessly.
"Is there any problem with the Taoist priest?" General Yang asked with a frown.
"It should be no problem. All actions are no different from ordinary Taoist priests." Yang Hong shook his head.
The three of them talked back and forth at a banquet, but in the end they couldn't come up with any constructive issues. In the end, they could only end the banquet hastily and return home.
At the same time, the Tianshi Temple was in the suburbs.
"Are you almost ready?" Tang Zhou, who had been missing for a long time, asked a Taoist priest next to him.
"Back to Little Heavenly Master, everything has been arranged!" The Taoist priest said respectfully.
"If we succeed this time, then we will go to Nanyang and join Uncle Xie!" Tang Zhou said lightly.
"Little Heavenly Master, the people below are a little confused. If we can win the imperial seal, where can we not be reused? Why should we seek refuge with the dean of an academy?" The Taoist priest asked doubtfully.
"The jade seal passed down to the country is just a worldly treasure and is worthless to a cultivator. Giving it to my uncle is just one of the proofs of our determination to seek refuge.
Uncle Master is not only the dean of the academy, he is also a monk. If he can recognize our sincerity and include us in the door, then you and I will be destined to live forever." Tang Zhou said with a sneer.
"But we are all in our thirties. Even if we enter the world of cultivation, I'm afraid we won't have much success." The Taoist priest said helplessly. Obviously, this was the reason for their inner tangle.
"This is not a problem. As long as you act according to the plan, I will definitely give you enough money afterwards, and you will be a rich man wherever you go.
Besides, the money you robbed from the Cao family the year before last was probably quite large?" Tang Zhoumu said expressionlessly.
"It's just a little gain..." the Taoist priest replied with a smile.
If Tao Qian were still alive, or if Cao Song was resurrected, he would definitely shout when he saw this Taoist priest: Zhang Kai, you thief, you are hiding here!
"Okay, no more nonsense! Yuan Shu fell into my mind trick and will be released next year at the most. If this matter cannot be dealt with before then, then I can only go directly to Huaxia Academy and beg for help.
My uncle took him in." Tang Zhou shook his head and said helplessly.
"Don't worry, Little Heavenly Master, our brothers will definitely work hard to accomplish this!" Zhang Kai said with a smile.
Everyone has their own interests. What Tang Zhou valued was the imperial seal. What they valued was the large amount of gold and silver treasures Yuan Shu had collected in Huainan and Runan.
In fact, cultivation and other things are really far away from Zhang Kai and the others. But those gold and silver jewelry make them feel that they are not too far away from them.
It was precisely because they both had common interests that they came together.
That's all.
Well, no matter what, the battle between the princes and Yuan Shu has finally begun.
There is no so-called leader in this war, everyone is fighting on their own terms.
Yuan Shu originally wanted to get in touch with one party, so he sent an envoy Han Yin to Lu Bu, saying that he wanted to marry him. To put it simply, he asked the prince Yuan Yao to marry Lu Bu's daughter as his concubine. He also told Lu Bu that if he died, then
His daughter is the imperial concubine, and he, the father-in-law, is the father-in-law of the country.
At first Lu Bu was moved, but then Chen Gong persuaded him to chase back his daughter who had been sent to Yuan Shu. Not only that, he also sent Han Yin to Cao Cao as a condition for forming an alliance, and formed an alliance with Cao Cao.
as an ally.
Naturally, Cao Cao happily accepted the offer and chopped off Han Yin's head and gave it to Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was furious and sent troops to attack Lu Bu before he was fully prepared.
Ji Ling's dissuasion was ineffective, and he was removed from the expedition list by Yuan Shu. Instead, he sent two generals Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui to command tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry to march north to attack Lu Bu.
At this moment, Lu Bu's situation is completely different from that in history when there were only two or three thousand cavalry left. Now he has strong troops and horses, and there are also five thousand newly recruited troops from Xuzhou. He attacked hard with a fierce attack, and Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui were beaten.
They had to throw away their armor, tens of thousands of cavalry were beaten, and only a few thousand of them fled in panic.
Lu Bu captured a large number of horses and armaments and returned home while he was in a good mood. Zhang Xun was demoted to a third rank and served in a subordinate position, while Qiao Rui was directly beheaded.
At the same time, Cao Cao used the emperor's edict to order Sun Ce and Chen Yu, the governor of Wu County, to attack Yuan Shu. Chen Yu refused to send troops, but Sun Ce saw the opportunity and swallowed up Wu County on the pretext of Chen Yu's rebellion.
Chen Yu finally took refuge with Yuan Shu with 3,000 remaining soldiers, while Wu Commandery's military supplies and supplies, plus 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners, fell into Sun Ce's hands.
Three months later, after Yuan Shu had rested and recuperated, he once again sent 30,000 troops to attack Chen State, trapping and killing Chen King Liu Chong. He also stationed troops here to threaten Xuchang.
In fact, there is no threat to speak of. This move is nothing more than an attempt to expand the territory and plunder some supplies.
However, Cao Cao felt that this move posed a threat to him, and at the same time he also wanted to take the cake, so he led his generals Xiahou Dun, Xia Houyuan, and Cao Ren to personally conquer Yuan Shu.
When Yuan Shu heard that Cao Cao personally commanded an army of 50,000, he thought that he had almost grabbed all the supplies, so he ordered Zhang Xun, Lejiu, Liang Gang and others to come to the rear, and returned to Shouchun with the supplies he had obtained.
However, he ignored one issue, that is, Cao Cao's favorite thing was to cut off people's food routes.
As a result, Xia Houyuan, who held his breath, personally led his troops to circle behind Yuan Jun. With lightning speed, he moved most of the looted goods back to Cao's camp. Yuan Shu himself was repaired.
Throwing away his armor, he fled in disgrace.
A few months later, Cao Cao successfully defeated Zhang Xun's troops.
From then on, Yuan Shu was defeated first by Lu Bu and then by Cao Cao. All his soldiers were killed and injured, and he was unable to recover.
What made him most angry was that the little heavenly master Tang Zhou, with three thousand yellow turban remnant troops, took advantage of him to go out to attack Chen State, raided Shouchun behind him, and looted his palace.
Not only did they steal a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, they also took away his imperial seal.
Under extreme resentment, Tang Zhou's deception was finally lifted, and Yuan Shu realized that he had been tricked!