Chapter 247 Protecting the Enemy Leader Seeing that Zhang Liao and other generals were still unwilling to give up, Chen Gong continued, "Liu Bei is not capable of taking Yizhou in a short period of time. He won't be able to settle down Jingzhou in less than two years." "As long as Yizhou doesn't change and we don't take the initiative to capture it, Liu Bei won't send troops in the short term." "On the contrary, if we march out of Yizhou, Liu Yan will surely invite Liu Bei to come to our aid. If the war goes badly, I'm afraid we will be making things difficult for Liu Bei." Dong Zhao said quietly at this time: "Gongtai, I'm afraid you shouldn't be too confident about this matter." "Don't forget, Liu Yan of Yizhou is now over fifty years old, and his eldest son is trapped in Luoyang. What if..." Everyone understood what Dong Zhao meant. Liu Biao's death was such a coincidence that all the blame was directed at Cao Cao. Cao Cao was also "lucky" in history. Before the Battle of Guandu, Sun Ce wanted to steal the home, and everyone was worried that Cao Cao would be attacked from all sides, but Sun Ce died. When he led his army south, Liu Biao died just one month after the expedition. Perhaps these may be coincidences, but these coincidences really make people feel that Cao Cao has the aura of destiny. Dong Zhao said this, on the one hand to show his strength as a "comrade" of Cheng Yu, and on the other hand to give Chen Gong a shot of prevention.
Don't be too sure. If something really happens to Liu Yan and Liu Bei takes over smoothly, Chen Gong will be in trouble. "If Liu Yan's eldest son returns to Yizhou, the situation should be better," said Jia Xu. Dong Zhao glanced at Jia Xu indifferently. He could guess that Jia Xu was planning something in secret, which was also what he wanted to do. However, even if this is successful, there will be great resistance to the things that need to be done afterwards. Although they have done a good job in propaganda for the areas under their rule and there will be no waves of public opinion, it is inevitable that there will be uproar among the scholars. In particular, other princes will certainly take this as an opportunity to frame the Lord Public Security and unite. But this matter cannot be done too late. After all, Tian Ze wants to do too many things. If this layer of window paper is broken early, the hidden dangers can be solved early. "It would be best if we could stir up internal strife among these people." Guo Jia said with a slightly teasing tone. "Huainan is a great place! It's a pity that Yuan Gonglu is having a hard time now." Surrounded by Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Ce, Yuan Shu's situation is now really worrying. Three years have passed since the princes launched the campaign against Dong Zhuo, and the situation of the heroes in the world has basically surfaced, and a large number of those who had been running along have disappeared. Apart from Tian Ze, the only three parties that really have the potential to seize the world or establish their own regime are Yuan, Cao and Liu. Sun Ce and Gongsun Zan can only be considered half-capable at the moment, and the rest are not worth worrying about at all. Similarly, there was less and less room for development. Yuan Shu, who occupied the rich land of Huainan but had extremely poor combat power, naturally became a fat piece of meat in the eyes of the surrounding princes. "Cao Cao's plan was very good, but unfortunately he missed a move. Otherwise, he would have been in the best position now. But now, not to mention Nanjun, he has not even taken Nanyang. The directions in which he can expand his power are too limited." "On the contrary, although Liu Bei seems to be the weakest among the three at present, he is the one with the greatest potential. Yizhou, Jiaozhou and southern Yangzhou can all be used as places for expansion." Tian Feng said. "After we take over Sili next year, the only one who can compete with us for Yizhou will be Liu Bei. But he is not fully prepared." "As long as Liu Bei cannot be welcomed into Yizhou like Yuan Shao was when he got Xuzhou, he will not dare to attack Yizhou." "Neither we nor Liu Bei actually want to fight this battle." "For us, the battle line is too long. The best option is to take Liangzhou or even the grassland before attacking Yizhou."
"As for Liu Bei, his family is too poor to fight. Once the war breaks out, both sides will suffer losses and it will most likely lead to a long-term war of attrition. Even if he delays us, it will be more disadvantageous than beneficial to him." "After all, so-called allies may not be reliable, let alone three allies." "However, once we send troops to Yizhou, he will have to fight this battle with all his might, even if it means destroying Jingzhou. Because this is his best chance and his only chance," Xun You said in a deep voice. Tian Ze cannot afford to fight a war now, and the other princes are even less so. Most of the other princes were extremely poor, and fighting them was no different from fighting the Hu people, with almost no gains. After occupying their territories, they had to find ways to develop the local area and relocate the people, which cost more money and grain than fighting the war. An embarrassing problem faced by other princes in wars was that Tian Ze was too conservative in using his troops and had too many defensive troops under his rule. Even if they defeated the troops that took the initiative to attack Tianze, the remaining troops would not be enough to attack the heavily defended hinterland under Tianze's rule, and they would not be able to seize anything. Their situation is very helpless now. Every time they fight a war, they lose without gaining anything. Under their rule, domestic development was almost non-existent, and the economy would regress every time a war broke out. If Tian Ze had not kept the population in exchange for resources and restrained the scale of the battle, I'm afraid that the Central Plains would have been destroyed long ago. They are stuck in a vicious circle of becoming weaker and weaker, and what they most desire is to be able to develop steadily for a period of time. Otherwise, they would fall into the situation of Cao Cao before the Battle of Guandu. On the surface, his sphere of influence was almost the same as Yuan Shao's, and both were rich. But in reality, due to years of war and severe local destruction, his strength was not even one-third of Yuan Shao's. But there is another paradox: they cannot develop as well as Tianze. It is not right to fight or not to fight, and it is even more inappropriate to fight allies. They can only wait and follow Tian Ze's actions for changes, hoping that Tian Ze will reveal a flaw. Xun You and others had long foreseen that once they were ready to take control of Sili, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao would inevitably take action, and Liu Bei would not sit idle either. Because only when Tian Ze takes the initiative and the troops are dispersed, they will have a chance. And they can no longer sit back and watch Tian Ze grow stronger. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao probably hoped that Tian Ze could attack Yizhou. After all, Liu Bei was an honest man. Once the war started, he would continue to invest troops for the sake of the overall situation so that they could profit from it. The battle line is so long that it almost spans the entire world. It is a multi-front battle and is attacked from all sides. No matter how many troops Tian Ze has, he will inevitably reveal his flaws. "None of these allies are easy to deal with." Jia Xu said meaningfully. "In the matter of Xuzhou, Cao Cao was schemed against by Yuan Shao. Then, in the matter of Yuzhou, Yuan Shao was schemed against by Cao Cao again." "And judging from Cao Cao's performance in taking Yuzhou, Cao Cao must have been well prepared for the battle in Hebei and retained his strength." Jia Xu has studied Yuan Shao and Cao Cao thoroughly, and these two brothers are not easy to deal with. There is no need to mention Yuan Shao. Apart from not retreating during the joint operations, he was always planning how to annex Cao Cao. Cao Cao was also a cunning man, and he probably had guessed that Yuan Shao was plotting against him. The soldiers sent to the Hebei battle were not all elite, and it could even be said that most of them were not elite. The elite troops were used to attack Yuzhou later. Although Liu Bei was a bit honest, he was not stupid, otherwise he would not have deployed defenses in Nanyang in advance. The three of them are on guard against each other, so it's okay for them to fight separately. It's basically impossible for them to unite unless the situation becomes critical to a certain extent. After listening to the analysis of Jia Xu and others, Tian Ze had already made up his mind. "Okay! Next year's military strategy will be based on what Gongtai said."
After hearing Tian Ze's words, although the generals had already been prepared in their hearts, they all sighed. What a good opportunity, what a pity! "Wenhe, you must solve the problem of Liu Yan's son as soon as possible. Don't let any trouble happen. Let Liu Yan and his son guard Yizhou well, and don't hand it over to Liu Bei." "Send a few famous doctors to Liu Yan secretly, and see if we can plant some spies among his guards, and do our best to ensure his safety." "Yes!" Jia Xu looked a little strange after receiving the order. Arranging secret agents to protect the enemy leader, this operation... It seems that I have to use some real skills, and I must not let Liu Yan find out, otherwise this guy might welcome Liu Bei to Shu in a fit of rage. (End of this chapter)