Chapter 321 Each...
It is impossible for Gao Lan to lie about military intelligence to Yuan Shao, and he would never misjudge the news from the north.
As early as when Yuan Shu sent the letter to Gongsun Zan stating "Shao is not Yuan's son", Gao Lan had already been stationed in the north under Yuan Shao's appointment, so he was able to intercept the letter.
Now, the defense line of Jizhou adjacent to Youzhou is almost entirely arranged by Gao Lan. It is also because of this that he can learn about the series of changes in Youzhou at the fastest speed.
There are not many generals that Yuan Shao can trust, and Gao Lan is one of them.
But the news he brought back this time was too shocking.
"The entire Youzhou?!" Among the advisers summoned by Yuan Shao to discuss matters, many of them had a sudden change of expression.
If the people most directly affected by the transfer of power in Yizhou were the Nanman in the south of Yizhou and Liu Biao of Jingzhou, who was a neighbor of Yizhou, then the person most directly affected by the change of ownership of Youzhou in the Central Plains was only Yuan Shao!
The change of territory is secondary. After all, Gongsun Zan is used to being unruly. He originally just wanted to get the legitimate title of Youzhou Governor from Yuan Shao. Can Youzhou really be considered the territory of the Yecheng court?
Maybe it doesn’t count.
The biggest problem is still on the defense line!
Originally, Gongsun Zan was to the north. As long as he existed, not to mention that the Wuhuan and Xianbei in Youzhou were all under the control of Gongsun Zan and would never be able to cross the border to reach Jizhou, the confrontation between Gongsun Zan and Zhang Liao at Juyongguan also prevented Qiao Yan's men from crossing the Taihang Mountains at Jundu Mountain.
Guarding the natural geographical barrier of the Eight Passes of Taihang is much easier than preventing the enemy from moving south from Youzhou.
But it’s different now.
Although the Juma River's large basin is surrounded by mountains on both sides and the river flows through the canyon in the middle, just looking at the Baiyangdian Lake in the area it flows through, you can tell that there are still many places that can be easily entered and passed.
To increase the troops or not to increase the troops is a question that does not need to be considered at all.
Defense must be increased.
But here comes the problem.
Ju Su's position as a military official under Yuan Shao for many years made him think of the defense issues of Jizhou and Qingzhou at the first moment.
He barely recovered from the shock of the news and said, "The border between Youzhou and Jizhou includes Zhuo County, Guangyang County, and Yuyang County. Zhuo County, in particular, has a long defense line. It is impossible for General Gao to form a complete inspection and defense of the entire territory. If you agree, I will go to Hejian County and meet General Gao immediately."
If there is any point on this defense line that is most likely to become a breakthrough point for Youzhou to attack Jizhou, it would be the part from Zhuo County towards Hejian County.
If what Gao Lan said is true, Qiao Yan has arranged at least two generals on this offensive demarcation line, and perhaps there is someone behind to give advice. Yuan Shao must not leave Gao Lan alone in the north.
Someone like Gongsun Zan might be able to choose to drag him into Jizhou and completely block him here by suppressing his food supply routes, but this trick would have very limited effect on Qiao Yan.
Ju Su had already told Yuan Shao about this when analyzing the situation in Yizhou a few days ago.
There are many things that can be seen from the appointment of officials in Yizhou.
For example, the position of Governor of Yizhou.
From a standpoint, Wu Yi should be a die-hard supporter of Liu Yan.
Even though he was from Yanzhou, it was almost impossible to say that he had any kind of relationship or friendship with Qiao Yan.
But he still supported Qiao Yan in gaining a foothold in Chengdu, and at the same time became the governor of Yizhou after the Chang'an court recovered the area. It is conceivable what kind of deal was reached between the two.
In other words, since Qiao Yan would never have sufficient backup support, she chose to directly persuade Wu Yi to board her ship and switch sides to serve under her.
If anyone who hears this news asks themselves, how many people can do this kind of ability to persuade the enemy after going deep into the enemy's territory alone?
She achieved such a result in Yizhou, is there any possibility in Jizhou?
The harassment during the disaster years has greatly reduced the control capabilities of the provincial governments in Jizhou. Even though they still claim to be loyal to the emperor in Yecheng and work for Yuan Shao, the governor of Qingzhou, it is hard to say how much they can persist when Qiao Yan breaks into the prefectures and counties.
Yuan Shao was obviously also aware of this. Seeing Ju Shou's initiative to request to go and supervise the battle, he added, "Do you need Jun Yi to go with you?"
"That's not necessary. My Lord, have you forgotten that Qiao Yeshu has arranged Zhao Zilong in Sili? If we want to send troops from Luoyang to Henei County and go straight to Wei County via Henei, it will be much more efficient than invading from Youzhou and going south through states and counties."
When Ju Shou said this, although there was nothing unusual on his face, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The situation Yuan Shao faced has always been too passive!
If he could have gotten out of the disaster earlier and directly counterattacked Gongsun Zan, or if he could have suppressed the troops in Yecheng and gained more initiative in his dealings with Cao Cao, the governor of Yanzhou, so that he could expel Qiao Yan's men from Luoyang regardless of the losses, he would not have suddenly been in this situation of being attacked from three sides.
Although the technique of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west is old, it is indeed durable. Qiao Yan is indeed a good practitioner in this field. When she has three more ways to attack Jizhou, this technique will be more likely to be used.
This kind of strong force that comes towards you like a mountain collapsing or an ocean collapsing makes people feel bitter.
Wait, that's not right!
Ju Shou was still thinking about which route Qiao Yan might choose as the main attack route, when he suddenly thought of a serious question.
Is there a possibility that they are not facing three routes, but four routes?
He suddenly left his seat and walked up to the messenger, asking, "General Gao, have you asked someone to find out why Gongsun Shengji, the governor of Liaodong, chose to surrender to Chang'an?"
Those of us who were neighbors across the sea from Gongsun Du knew very well what kind of person Gongsun Du was.
It is almost impossible for him to be persuaded by words to become someone's subject!
It’s a good thing that he didn’t choose to split off from Liaodong directly.
If not, why would he let Goguryeo's ministers serve him and marry his children to the ruler of the small country of Buyeo, all in order to establish diplomatic relations between this independent country and a foreign country?
Only under the threat of absolutely powerful military force will he be likely to defect and surrender.
But it is not easy to deter with this kind of force!
To be honest, because of the Bohai Bay, Ju Shou had also considered this possibility. Perhaps they could take Liaodong first and then seize Gongsun Zan's territory.
Unfortunately, due to Qiao Yan's frequent diversions and the weakness of the northern naval force, in the Bohai Kingdom in Jizhou and the Donglai County in Qingzhou, only the people had always gone to Liaodong to avoid disaster. No naval force from these two counties set out to land at the Da's Port in Liaodong to threaten Gongsun Du with force.
In order to prevent unnecessary waste of manpower and material resources, and considering that this was not the primary contradiction at the moment, Yuan Shao finally gave up this plan.
It was precisely because of this idea of trying that Ju Shou intuitively felt that there was an extremely shocking truth behind this brief message of Gongsun Du's surrender.
The messenger hesitated and replied: "Liaodong is a bit far away, so the message is bound to be delayed..."
Ju Su interrupted him, "No matter how delayed the news is, we must find out first."
Seeing Yuan Shao's puzzled expression, Ju Su hurriedly explained: "Mingsir, I am not exaggerating. If Gongsun Du's surrender was because Qiao Yan sent troops to intimidate him, where do you think this came from?"
Jizhou and Qingzhou along the Bohai Bay are their territories, and further down is the northern part of Xuzhou - this place does not belong to Qiao Yan either, but is under the jurisdiction of Liu Bei, and it is obviously impossible for Qiao Yan to use it to send troops.
Then only the southern part of Xuzhou and Yangzhou are left!
Yuan Shao's face darkened. He had already realized the information revealed in Ju Su's words.
Even if we consider the situation of sailing from the south of Xuzhou, transporting a team that can pose a sufficient deterrent to Gongsun Du from that end will definitely cost a lot, and the naval aviation technology required will be very high.
They had no idea when this team started to prepare, when they set out for Liaodong, and how they ensured that they would not be affected by wind and waves during the voyage and would successfully arrive in Liaodong.
And if there really is such a team, since they have the ability to cross the sea from the south to the northern border, can they go directly from Liaodong to the East China Sea or Bohai Sea?
Once this is proven, they will most likely be surrounded by enemies!
Thinking of this possibility, Yuan Shao did not dare to delay and hurriedly sent a messenger to investigate.
Fortunately, the talented people that Yuan Shao believed himself to be were actually quite good.
Among the people serving under Gao Lan at this moment, there was a man named Qian Zhao.
During the operation in which Gao Lan sent scouts to explore Youzhou, this man was bold and careful, and, speaking the Zhuojun accent he had learned in his early years, he sneaked into the recruitment center set up by Lu Bu here, heard a lot of information, and pretended to have accidentally broken his leg during training. He received the compensation and left the barracks.
After Gao Lan received this person, he immediately had him taken to Yecheng by carriage and presented to Yuan Shao.
When Qian Zhao appeared here, his legs were still limping.
During the interval between watching the performance, Yuan Shao heard the details about Qian Zhao from Shen Pei who was standing nearby.
If we want to talk about some more iconic characteristics, he and Liu Bei had a sworn brotherhood. 1
However, after Liu Bei obtained a military clerk position in Qinghe County after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Qian Zhao was still in Luoyang, studying with his teacher Le Yin, who was also the Chief Clerk of the He Miao Army. The two did not go the same way.
Later, Le Yin was killed during Dong Zhuo's rebellion. Qian Zhao risked his life to send Le Yin's body back to Jizhou. After the court was established in Yecheng, Qian Zhao joined Yuan Shao's army.
It was a bit of fate that when Liu Bei was commissioned by Yuan Shao to march south, Qian Zhao was already in Gao Lan's team. Otherwise, Liu Bei, the governor of Xuzhou, would have had one more subordinate.
"It turns out that he is a loyal and righteous man." Yuan Shao looked happy.
While waiting for the person who was investigating the news to arrive in Jizhou to answer his questions, Yuan Shao was under tremendous pressure.
But all he could do was to have Gao Gan and Gao Shun be in charge of the Taihang Mountain defense line, Ju Shou and Gao Lan be in charge of the Youzhou defense line in the north, and Zhang He be in charge of the defense in the direction of Henei County in the south. He also notified Jiang Qi and Yuan Tan, who were originally stationed in Bohai Kingdom and Donglai County, to strengthen their defenses.
Yuan Shao couldn't help but feel relieved when he was able to find a useful talent among his subordinates under the pressure of Qiao Yan's outstanding military achievements.
It was not a problem at all that the other party had a friendship with Liu Bei. As long as he did not have a friendship with Qiao Yan, it would be a great joy in Yuan Shao's view.
Unfortunately, Qian Zhao didn't seem to bring him any good news.
According to Qian Zhao, this news was no secret in Lu Bu's military camp.
For Qiao Yan, there was really no need to hide this.
Her purpose of shocking the enemy by surprise attack had been achieved. With Gongsun Zan being killed so quickly, even if Gongsun Du wanted to regret what he had done before, there was actually no possibility of him regretting it.
So, with Qiao Yan's approval of the inside information of the surprise attack on Liaodong, Lu Bu began to show off his daughter unscrupulously in the troops he commanded.
"The Battle of Liaodong was the graduation assessment for the students of Leping Academy, including Lu Bu's daughter," Qian Zhao said, "Just as Mr. Ju guessed, they did come from the south of Xuzhou, from Hailing, where the Xuzhou garrison was established."
"After they arrived in Liaodong from Hailing, they defeated Gongsun Du three times and convinced him to surrender. Then they attacked the Wuhuan leader Tadun with his followers, and Tadun was beheaded. You also know what happened next."
"As for Gan Ning, the naval commander stationed at Baiyangdian, since he had some contact with Lu Bu's army, he also knew his origins. His ancestral home is Jingzhou, but after his family moved, he was considered a Yizhou native. He was originally a pirate and was recruited by Liu Yizhou during his lifetime. Later, he went to Xuzhou with the teachers and students of Leping Academy, and then arrived in Liaodong during this long journey across the ocean."
"Because he is good at fighting on water, he was assigned here. After all, although he is a pirate on the water, his martial arts and ability to command troops cannot be underestimated."
Qian Zhao said this and glanced at Yuan Shao's face.
Perhaps it was not his illusion. He felt that Yuan Shao's ugly expression at the moment was not just because Qian Zhao's words proved that there was indeed such a fleet with good sea navigation capabilities that might put him in a situation of being surrounded on all sides, but because...
The ones who caused him such pressure were actually a group of underage children and characters like Shui Kou!
What made Yuan Shao's emotions even more boiling was that Qiao Yan dared to entrust the affairs of Liaodong to them. It was obvious that in her opinion, the situation in Youzhou was something that could be accomplished even if the children were to handle it, but why did they encounter so many constraints here?
Xu You was aware of Yuan Shao's mood at the moment, and thought that such unhappiness was not suitable to be expressed in front of Qian Zhao, who was risking his life to report the news, so he interrupted and said, "The generals of Yizhou, the fleet of Xuzhou, and the war in Liaodong, it seems that Qiao Yeshu had already made plans for Liaodong two years ago. I think you need to investigate whether there are any such hidden people in Jizhou and Qingzhou."
Upon hearing Xu You's words, Yuan Shao quickly put away the dissatisfaction on his face and turned serious.
Yes! In order for Hailing to send out a fleet, arrangements had to have been made for this place when the port was established two years ago.
This carefully considered plan is even more chilling than the results she achieved.
After two years of dormancy, people have almost forgotten how she went from an orphan to where she is today.
If it weren't for her ability to plan ahead, she would not have been able to sit in the position of the actual controller of these several states.
She had spent so much time and effort planning for Youzhou, so what arrangements had she made in advance for her biggest rival, Yuan Shao?
He tried hard to recall the things Yuan Xi brought back from Chang'an two years ago after meeting Tian Feng. He thought about how he had to follow Qiao Yan's example many times when he couldn't get ahead of her. He thought about the Leping Monthly Newsletter that he had become somewhat dependent on, especially the drought relief method published in it this year...
After he dismissed all these counselors on the pretext of considering the war situation and deliberating on the strategy, he murmured to himself: "Will I be another Gongsun Du?"
You have to know that the sky-high price of lending grain to repay debts was also revealed to him two years after she issued the IOU!
With this thought in mind, he even felt that Yuan Xi's facial features looked a little strange when he saw him when he returned home, as if he had been swapped by someone.
The shortcomings of Yuan Shao's already suspicious character were almost pushed to the peak after the Youzhou incident.
But perhaps anxiety could still force some quick wits. After thinking for a night, he asked the counselors he had summoned again, "Do you think that with Qiao Yeshu's military achievements, Liu Bo'an really trusts her so much and is still as unguarded against her as when he appointed her as Grand Marshal two and a half years ago?"
At least Yuan Shao felt that, by analogy, his situation was not as exaggerated as Liu Yu's. He could not help but be wary of a person like Ju Su who was both civil and martial, rarely made mistakes in judgment, and could stand on his own.
How could Liu Yu think that there was nothing wrong with this Grand Marshal when he was sitting on the throne?
Xin Pi replied, "When you asked me to go back and think about it yesterday, I thought the same thing. Especially in the past few years, Liu Bo'an's descendants have rarely made a name for themselves. They are nothing like the princes Bian and Xie during the reign of Emperor Xiaoling. The officials in Chang'an have rarely heard of them either. They only know the generals and counselors under the command of the Grand Marshal. They are indeed unusual."
Yuan Shao asked: "As you said, I should send some more people to Chang'an to see if we can find an opportunity to sow discord?"
Regardless of whether this move would succeed, when Yuan Shao said this, he subconsciously thought of Tian Feng who had not returned for nearly three years. If this happened again, he would have no place to cry.
Fortunately, he heard Xin Pi's reply right after that: "We are not going to Chang'an. Chang'an is surrounded by the states controlled by Qiao Yan. If there is any unusual movement, it will inevitably be known to others. It is better to send someone to Youzhou. There are many participants in this effort to seize Youzhou. Qiao Yeshu will definitely ask for titles for them. If we can build momentum for them in Youzhou and make them rampant, we will see what unusual movements there are in Chang'an."
Yuan Shao showed a hint of excitement on his face.
Youzhou is nearby, so even if something unexpected happens, it won't be as out of reach as Chang'an.
Xin Pi added: "If we can find out the discord between the generals involved in the attack and defense of Youzhou, we may be able to help you eliminate the threat along the way."
He cupped his hands and said, "If you are assured, I will do this."
Let him go to Youzhou to find out the details of those Leping students and those generals!
Yuan Shao immediately agreed to Xin Pi's request, and also approved another suggestion made by Xu You -
They informed Cao Cao and Liu Bei of the intelligence they had obtained in Youzhou.
This was not to boost Qiao Yan's prestige, but to make the two of them be wary of any possible attack methods in the future.
The loss of his ally Gongsun Zan had already put Yuan Shao in an extremely bad situation. If Qiao Yan's men could quietly take over Yanzhou and the northern part of Xuzhou, he would really have to surrender!
This brilliant plan of crossing the sea to Liaodong must be explained clearly to Cao and Liu.
So the news was quickly delivered to Cao Cao, who had just returned from Yuzhou to Yanzhou.
Seeing Cao Cao handing the letter to Chen Gong with a serious expression, and then passing it to the other people in front of him, everyone including Cao Ang showed nervousness following his expression.
Don’t say that the change of ownership of Youzhou has nothing to do with those of them in Yanzhou.
After the Battle of Yingchuan, Qiao Yan successively occupied Yizhou and Youzhou, which meant that she could take the opportunity to capture Runan and take back Yuzhou, which originally belonged to the Chang'an court.
Whether to do this or not all depends on whether she wants to.
Or maybe, because she and Cao Cao had an agreement to demarcate Yingchuan and Runan as the boundary, her next move was not to capture Yuzhou, but Yanzhou!
With her troops stationed in Luoyang, perhaps there really is such an opportunity.
"Why do you all look so sad? Is this the first day you know that Qiao Yeshu is a genius?" Cao Cao knew that such negative emotions must not spread in his territory. He suddenly slapped his thigh and laughed, "Okay, I'm regretting something else!"
"If Pi'er was a few years older, would he have to take part in the graduation examination of Leping Academy?"
Cao Hong: “…”
Wait, if he remembered correctly, his second nephew was only eight years old, right?
It would be fine if you didn't take him back, but why do you still have such high hopes for him...
By then it won't be the beautiful story of father and daughter working together to kill the enemy like Lu Bu and Lu Lingju, but a father and son duel on the battlefield!
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