Chapter 203: Enemy at the Gate
When Jia Xu stepped into Li Jue's office, a hint of mockery flashed in his lowered eyes.
The saying that even if he puts on the dragon robe he still doesn't look like an emperor was most vividly reflected in Li Jue.
Dong Zhuo lost his courage due to his advancing age and the defeat in Luoyang, but Li Jue had only such a high vision.
He occupied Dong Zhuo's study, leaning on the couch and reading the documents in his hands.
Seeing Jia Xu coming in, he asked nonchalantly: "Why do you have to talk to the Prime Minister again? He is no longer capable of supporting your decision. We have already done what we should do to rebel. With his temper, he will not give us a chance to turn back. It is better to think about the offensive plan after we succeed in taking Liangzhou."
Li Jue was not worried at all that Jia Xu would defect back to Dong Zhuo at this time.
Jia Xu's brain was indeed sharp, but the military power of Chang'an City had gradually been controlled by him. Even Wang Yun, who represented the power of the court, stood on his side. Jia Xu's few words alone could not change the situation.
After he succeeded in taking control of Liangzhou, he would send Duan Wei out to prevent the other party from causing trouble for him.
At that time, he could naturally replace Dong Zhuo's position instead of just being a temporary replacement with no name or status.
When he thought that he should be called Li Xiangguo in the future instead of Li Xiaowei Li Zhonglang Li General, Li Jue felt relieved. He even ignored his wife's words yesterday accusing him of not leaving the opportunity to make merit for their son.
What's more, Dong Zhuo was a man of very petty temperament.
In the past, he regarded Huangfu Song as a mortal enemy who must be eliminated because Huangfu Song fought with him in Liang Province and had many disagreements with him on combat strategies. Today, he still holds a grudge against Jia Xu for his betrayal.
How could Jia Xu turn around and help Dong Zhuo out of his predicament?
Unless he doesn't consider the future at all!
Dong Zhuo had the same idea.
However, he was thinking that Jia Xu had already eliminated Sun Jian for him, and they were in a conspiracy relationship. Rather than joining Qiao Yan, it would naturally be better to follow him to the end.
Both sets of logic are very smooth, only one precondition is wrong -
He never thought about a future working for these two people.
So there is no need to talk about "later" at all.
Jia Xu walked around the furnishings in the study that had been altered by Li Jue and replied, "I went to confirm the general's treatment of the prime minister and the emperor."
He said in a cold voice: "General Li, forgive me for being blunt, but now is not the time for you to relax. It's really unbelievable that you could do such a thing as feeding him beef bones! Do you know what will happen if this news gets to some people's ears? Prime Minister Dong's generals are not all dead yet!"
This barrage of criticism made Li Jue lean back, feeling guilty. He no longer cared to continue mocking Dong Zhuo, and only replied: "I understand. I will do as you say."
"Forget it..." Jia Xu waved his hand with a look of disappointment, "I am here to remind the general of two things."
When Li Jue heard that Jia Xu wanted to make a suggestion, he immediately straightened his face and said, "Sir, please speak."
Jia Xu: "First, if we can take Liang Province, there are still many subsequent impacts to consider. For example, after Dong Huang took over the defense of Chang'an, Fan Chou was assigned to the direction of Huayin. Now he is transferred to Liang Province to fight, and the defense east of Chang'an is too weak."
"We need more troops to enter Liang Province, so the garrison in Guanzhong will definitely be insufficient. Regardless of whether Qiao Yan wins the battle of Liang Province or we win, there is no guarantee that the princes from the east will attack from Luoyang."
Li Jue was startled. "How could they..."
"Why can't they come!" Jia Xu interrupted Li Jue's question with confidence.
"Don't forget, there are people in this world who want to eradicate us and support the Emperor of Chang'an, and there are also people who don't want him to stay and make the Emperor of Yecheng the only one. Whether it's under the banner of saving the emperor or in the name of eliminating thieves, there must be an explanation."
"In addition, General, you had a conflict with Lord Lu over the autumn harvest sacrifices in the ancestral temple and threw him into prison. For this, they have another reason to ask Chang'an for punishment."
"Then Cao Cao, the governor of Yanzhou, was in charge in name only, but in reality he was expanding the country. There was no one in Yanzhou who could compete with him, so he had the opportunity to send troops."
Upon hearing this, Li Jue quickly asked, "Then what should we do?"
Jia Xu replied: "Add more troops to Huayin to prevent enemy attacks, and the generals can be selected from General Li's own family. In addition, make friends with Yuan Shu."
Make friends with...Yuan Shu?
Li Jue's face showed some confusion.
The first half of the suggestion sounded pleasant to him, especially the decision to select generals from among his own family.
Li Ying and Hu Feng went to Liangzhou. Apart from the people left to guard Gaoling, there were at least one or two people left who could be mobilized. There was nothing wrong with this decision.
But he didn't quite understand the second half of the suggestion.
He asked: "Yuan Shu was the first to advocate the establishment of the emperor in Yecheng, but he is now in a precarious situation. Why would we bother to have anything to do with him?"
There is no need to say more about the attitude of Yuan Shu, a son of a noble family, towards their Xiliang army.
He was forced to flee Luoyang because Dong Zhuo had tricked the Yuan family.
Dong Zhuo even almost slaughtered all the other direct descendants of the Yuan family in Luoyang when the princes came to attack.
This is a grudge!
What's more, Liu Bei had succeeded in attacking Pei State before, and his general Zhang Fei killed Qiao Rui on the battlefield. At this time, he was still advancing steadily. Seeing that Yuan Shu was also in a precarious situation, wouldn't forming an alliance with him mean adding a teammate who would hold him back?
This doesn't sound promising at all.
But Jia Xu only gave him a look of disapproval after hearing this, "That's not entirely true. Things change at different times. General, as a person who will hold great power in the future, you must have this understanding."
"How much do you think Yuan Shu still respects the Emperor of Yecheng?"
This question... In Li Jue's opinion, if there were originally three or four points, now there may be nothing left!
While he was thinking about this, his thoughts couldn't help but drift to what Jia Xu said, "the person who will hold great power in the future."
This sounds much more pleasant than the previous accusations.
First, he was reprimanded for his disrespect to Dong Zhuo and the emperor, and then he said these words. The contrast makes people feel more comfortable.
Jia Xu seemed not to notice Li Jue's distraction, and continued, "Yuan Shu tried to unite with Qiao Yan and Gongsun Zan, but was conquered by Yuan Shao. Liu Bei's title of "General Who Suppresses Bandits" is the result of the court in Yecheng regarding Yuan Shu as a bandit. In this case, he might as well respect the emperor of Chang'an instead."
"I dare say that if the general returns to Luoyang after conquering Pingliang and annexing the two states, the first person to come to congratulate him will definitely be Yuan Shu! So as long as we give him a signal, he will dare to take over."
Li Jue muttered, "If Liu Bei beats him into a lost dog, he will be useless to us..."
"General..." Jia Xu sighed, "You really underestimate Yuan Shu."
"He may not be able to hold other parts of Yuzhou, but he can definitely hold Runan. Moreover, Liu Bei is kind and delayed his advance after entering Pei State because of the people's livelihood difficulties there. He and Yuan Shu are facing off with the Wo River as the boundary. This is definitely not something that can be decided within this year."
Jia Xu's gentle analysis of the situation made Li Jue feel more and more that it was convincing the more he listened.
Jia Xu then continued, "In fact, all we need is Yuan Shu as a barrier to block the eastern princes. It does not mean that we need to provide any actual support in the dispute between Yuan Shu and Liu Bei."
Li Jue still didn't quite understand, but that didn't stop him from thinking that Jia Xu was right.
He quickly replied: "Sir, you are right. What about the other thing?"
Jia Xu said: "General Duan can be sent to the battlefield in Liangzhou at any time, then what about General Zhang?"
Li Jue actually included Zhang Ji in his initial assessment of people who could be won over. However, conflicts in their early years, coupled with Dong Zhuo's trust in Zhang Ji, made Li Jue feel that winning over Zhang Ji might not be feasible, so he has been hesitant until now.
Now is the time to consider him.
He asked, "What do you think, sir?"
"Let Yan Yanming assist him."
Jia Xu emphasized the word "assist", but the meaning was not difficult for Li Jue to hear.
No matter whether Zhang Ji makes any unusual moves or not, we must capture him!
Li Jue hesitated for a moment and asked, "Why not let Yan Xing go to Liangzhou?"
The reason why he was able to convince Yan Xing to work for him and use his military skills in gaining control of Chang'an was that he told Yan Xing that Dong Zhuo wanted to give up the attack on Liang Province, but he would not give up.
If he wanted to avenge Han Sui, he could only rely on Li Jue's power.
But if he were asked to guard Jingzhou all the way, it would seem to contradict this statement.
Jia Xu replied, "Then we need to be careful about how we talk to him. Tell him that Zhang Ji's presence may affect the situation in Liangzhou. Only by taking down Zhang Ji and taking away his military power can we ensure that Liangzhou can be pacified without any mistakes. After he succeeds, first complete the deployment of defenses in the south, and immediately send him to the Liangzhou battlefield. Isn't that enough? It won't reduce his chances of fighting."
Li Jue looked delighted.
That’s beautifully said!
If as Jia Xu said, before the news of the first step in Liangzhou's success was sent back, he could still take multiple actions to consolidate his position.
He stood up and bowed to Jia Xu, feeling that it was the best decision he had made in the beginning to win over Jia Xu. "Sir, you are worthy of the reputation of being a good and peaceful person. I will do as you say."
He thought to himself that Jia Xu, a talented person who could govern the country, was much more reliable than Wang Yun, a talented person who could assist the king.
If he hadn't checked for omissions and filled them up, he would have missed a lot of opportunities!
He immediately sought Liu Xie and issued three edicts.
One of them was to win over Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu wanted the title of Governor of Yuzhou, but the court in Yecheng would not give it to him, so they would give it to him.
But the condition was that Yuan Shu must send his troops to keep an eye on the situation in Dongjun, and if Cao Cao made any move to send troops, they should stop him.
In the letter that Li Jue sent with him, he mentioned in the identity of Dong Zhuo that he had sent 20,000 men from Chencang to attack Liang Province, and that Qiao Yan would be in trouble in the near future. By then, he would re-establish relations with Liang Province and would definitely support Yuan Shu with a few of Liang Province's good horses.
The second was to order Yan Xing to garrison Shangluo and join forces with Zhang Ji.
Privately, Li Jue conveyed Jia Xu's words of delegation to Yan Xing.
This young man, who was "quite loyal to Han Sui", immediately took the order and left.
What made Li Jue feel comfortable was that Yan Xing replied to him: "General, if you dare to attack Liang Province and put it into action, you are much more capable than Dong Zhuo. Xing will definitely eliminate a hidden danger for you."
These six words, "more capable than Dong Zhuo", really hit the nail on the head for Li Jue.
He immediately waved his hand and gave Yan Xing 500 more people on top of the 2,000 people he had originally allowed him to take away.
The third imperial edict was requested by Li Jue on behalf of Jia Xu.
He thought that since Jia Xu cared so much about him, he couldn't just be a fake assistant to the governor of Bingzhou in name only.
How outrageous this sounds.
He asked Liu Xie to recruit Jia Xu to the court as a minister, and removed Jia Xu from the official system of the governor of Bingzhou.
In this way, it can be seen that he values Jia Xu more than Dong Zhuo.
Jia Xu probably didn't expect that Li Jue could come up with a trick of showing favor and promoting him at this time.
After he walked out of Li Jue's study, he began to think about the subsequent effects that might be caused by the fire he had added.
With your ability and Bingzhou's strength, the 20,000 soldiers and horses from Liangzhou can be easily handled.
Once the prince led his troops eastward, Li Jue would face threats from two directions at the same time and would have no choice but to flee with the little emperor.
To the north is Bingzhou, which is not accessible, let alone to the west.
As for the east...
You can't go to the east either.
When he was in Chang'an, Yuan Shu could give him some face because of his goodwill, but if he fled, Yuan Shu would not consider him an ally.
Rather than conspiring with Li Jue and holding the emperor Liu Xie in his hands, Yuan Shu, under the relentless pressure of Yuan Shao and Liu Bei, might have wanted to kill Li Jue first and then send the little emperor back to Qiao Yan in an attempt to curry favor with her.
This means that the only way left for him is to go south.
Then, when the time comes, Yan Xing, who is guarding the south, will give him a good "send" off.
This was the basic direction that Jia Xu and Qiao Yan set before going to Chang'an.
In this plan -
Once Qiao Yan attacks Sanfu from Liangzhou, takes Guanzhong, and connects with Liang and Bing, he will have the strength to attract the attention of the whole world.
At that time, no matter who Liu Xie fell into the hands of, according to common sense, he would be a hot potato!
Any governor of a province would feel that it would be better to return Liu Xie to the state, rather than being like Dong Zhuo, who, because of holding Liu Xie, invited Qiao Yan's attack and lost both land and people.
But respecting Liu Xie as the emperor from afar is completely different from actually having this emperor close by.
Therefore, the best outcome is that he is captured by the thieves but disappears.
The follow-up is where Qiao Yan has room to perform.
Within the framework of this general direction, Jia Xu has already delivered an excellent answer.
Of course, in the meantime, Yan Xing must be stationed in the south smoothly, and Li Jue must have a certain advantage when facing Dong Zhuo's reinforcements.
So before Yan Xing took the order and headed south, Jia Xu gave him a few more instructions.
"Dong Zhuo sent someone to report the incident, and the first choice must be Duan Wei, but I suspect that it will be Duan Wei and Zhang Ji who will attack from two directions. Calculating the time, Zhang Ji should be on his way."
"You have more than 2,000 soldiers. Zhang Ji will bring at most 3,000 soldiers to Chang'an. This number is enough."
Jia Xu pointed to the Sili map in front of him and said, "You already know the principle of attacking when the enemy is halfway across the river, even without me telling you."
"I want you to defeat Zhang Ji when he crosses the Bashui River, and let his remaining troops flee to Duan Wei. Then you will send someone to report the news to Chang'an and continue south to garrison Shangluo. I have already told you what to do when the time comes."
Yan Xing nodded.
Jia Xu patted his shoulder and said, "Go ahead. I'll wait for your good news."
At the same time that Yan Xing was heading south to ambush Zhang Ji, the imperial edict appointing Yuan Shu as the governor of Yuzhou was also sent to the east.
The messenger used the method of one person riding two horses to deliver the letter alternately. After arriving in Luoyang, the messenger quickly went south through Huanyuan Pass to Yingchuan in Yuzhou, and then delivered it to Yuan Shu in Runan.
Li Jue was persuaded by Jia Xu and gave the reward without hesitation. Yuan Shu took the title readily and without even consulting his advisers.
Upon hearing Yuan Shu's hasty decision, Yan Xiang, Yuan Huan, Yang Hong and others looked at each other helplessly.
They were not surprised that Yuan Shu assigned them a task.
In his previous letter to Qiao Yan, he described the Yecheng court as "Han Dynasty in name but fake bandits in reality." Now that he has received the imperial edict from the emperor of Chang'an, he dares to do so even more.
He immediately decided to ask his advisers and civil servants to write a more cultured manifesto for him, denouncing Liu Bian for being unorthodox.
"General..."
Yan Xiang had just started to speak when he was interrupted by Yuan Shu.
"You don't need to say more," Yuan Shu raised his hand to signal, "Let me ask you, has the little emperor in the north already given Liu Bei a title and ordered him to invade Yuzhou?"
Just as Jia Xu and Li Jue said, Liu Bei's combat talent might not be as good as Qiao Yan, Huangfu Song and others, but since he marched into Pei State, he recovered one city and one place at a time, and built steadily until he and Yuan Shu were separated by a river in Yuzhou, which really annoyed Yuan Shu.
Even though Liu Bei didn't cause him a second blow, this steady style of play was more ironic than a quick attack.
However, because of Qiao Rui's death, he did not dare to cross the river to attack easily, for fear of being caught by Liu Bei's powerful generals again.
He planned to recruit soldiers in Yingchuan, Runan and other places after the autumn harvest, and then consider expelling Liu Bei from the country.
The title of Governor of Yuzhou sent by Liu Xie was truly a timely help.
If Yan Xiang and others were not still in front of him, he even wanted to say that once he had the title of governor, he could legitimately recruit outstanding talents from Ruying to serve under him, and he would always be able to catch a few with real abilities among them!
But even if he didn't say this, Yan Xiang could guess something from his expression.
He sighed: "That's true, but he is the descendant of the late emperor after all. How can we trample on his dignity at will?"
Yan Xiang knew very well that the person he was stepping on was not a fake emperor, but the authority of the Han Dynasty!
However, Yuan Shu did not care much about this and just said, "We respect the orthodox opinion."
He didn't want to say more, so he simply changed the subject to another matter, "Let's not talk about this for now, I'll give you a few more days to think about your words. In your opinion, who will win or lose in this battle of Liang Province?"
Yuan Shu originally thought that Qiao Yan would be the first to advance into Liang Province, but in the letter he received, Li Jue told him a really unexpected news in the voice of Dong Zhuo, that it was Guanzhong that launched the counterattack first.
This is really... well done!
Qiao Yan ignored his previous attempts to win him over, which made Yuan Shu secretly resent her in his heart. He wished someone would come and teach this bastard who always won a battle a lesson.
When he compared him with Chang'an, who was knowledgeable and even praised him as the eldest son of the Yuan family and the hope of the aristocratic family, the balance in his heart was directly tilted.
But when he thought that Qiao Yan could still send support to Youzhou under such circumstances to assist Liu Yu in fighting against Gongsun Zan, he became a little uncertain.
Seeing that Yan Xiang seemed to still be bothered by the task he had previously assigned to him, Yuan Shu turned his attention to Yuan Huan. "Yao Qing, what do you think?"
Yuan Shu was quite respectful to Yuan Huan, after all, Yuan Huan was from the Yuan family of Chen County. 1
The Runan Yuan family is a branch of the Chenjun Yuan family. However, because the family motto of the Chenjun Yuan family is to advocate purity and self-discipline in serving the public, with the accumulation of three officials in four generations, the Runan Yuan family's reputation in officialdom is much higher than that of the Chenjun Yuan family.
Even though Yuan Huan's father, Yuan Pang, once served as Si Tu during the Guanghe period, he did not get any high-ranking official position. Also, because he had studied between Jianghuai earlier, he could only join Yuan Shu's army.
As children of aristocratic families, and especially those who do not amass personal wealth, he is a moral role model here.
He was able to gain a lot of support for Yuan Shu out of nowhere.
Yuan Huan met his gaze and calmly replied, "Those who are arrogant often suffer from ruin. I don't think Dong Zhuo has a good chance."
The words in the letter that boasted about their achievements in Liangzhou were full of arrogance, which made Yuan Huan feel that something was wrong.
His intuition was indeed correct.
When this letter was delivered to Runan, Qiao Yan's troops had gathered in Chencang.
On the second day, 30,000 troops marched eastward and headed straight for Meiwu!
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