At the same time, in order not to provoke Cao Cao too much, Li Feng also ordered Zhang Liao and Chen Gong of Huainan not to advance westward and to ignore Runan, which was occupied by the Yellow Turban. The entire Xu Prefecture was fully prepared for the trip to River East.
Just as Li Feng was making arrangements for the south to Jiangdong, the situation in Guanzhong was slowly being stabilized by Cao Cao. Li Jue and Guo Si were killed by his subordinates, and Dong Zhuo's forces were finally taken over by Cao Cao, greatly increasing his strength. Cao Cao appointed Zhong Yao as the prefect of Chang 'an and Xiahou Yuan to guard Tongguan to prevent the vassals outside the pass.
In May of the same year, in order to eliminate future troubles, Cao Cao personally led the army to Wancheng with Guo Jia as the military counselor, Yue Jin and Li Dian as the vanguard. In the end, there were not as many twists and turns as the development of history. Zhang Xiu directly surrendered to Cao Cao under the advice of the ghost genius Jia Xu. Cao Cao left Cao Ren to guard Wancheng and withdrew his troops back to Xuchang. He was waiting for the north to change and send troops north.
In the north, Liu Bei took advantage of the internal strife between the Yuan brothers to send troops to other parts of Youzhou, pacifying the entire Youzhou and greatly increasing his strength. Cao Cao saw the opportunity and immediately gave Liu Bei the title of Left General, Youzhou Mu, and Marquis of Liucheng to continue provoking Liu Bei and Yuan Zhou.
Although Cao Cao tried his best to provoke both sides, Yuan Shu wanted to take revenge on Huainan and advocated attacking Li Feng. Under the persuasion of his adviser, Yuan Shao advocated attacking Liu Bei in the north. The two Yuan were in a stalemate, arguing endlessly every day, causing them to miss the opportunity. No one attacked, causing Cao Cao's thoughts to be in vain.
Seeing Yuan Er's reaction, their subordinates began to consider their future. At the same time, Liu Bei was trying to buy people's hearts, recruiting talents, and training soldiers. Tian Chou, Cui Yan, Gao Rou, and other people of insight in the north all joined Liu Bei. The people in the north began to lean towards Liu Bei, and Yuan Shao's important advisors Xu You and Xin Ping and Xin Pi also defected to Liu Bei at this time, which dealt a fatal blow to Yuan's army.
Xu You also introduced Liu Bei to Lu Bu, who had fled from Xuzhou. It turned out that since Lu Bu had fled to Hebei, he had not been appointed by Yuan Shao because of his bad reputation. He had only stayed in Xu You's house temporarily. This time, Xu You defected to Liu Bei and took him with him. However, Liu Bei did not believe him. Zhang Fei kept provoking him, but Lu Bu did not say a word. He just stood there coldly. In the end, under Tian Yu's suggestion, Lu Bu became a general without military power. Lu Bu did not object, but he only said one sentence with a strong killing intent,"As long as I can destroy Li Feng in the future and kill him with my own hands, I, Lu Bu, will obey all orders.”His words sent chills down everyone's spines. Everyone realized that Lu Bu had changed. He was no longer so arrogant and condescending. The battle in Xu Prefecture had taught this invincible warrior a lesson. His wife and children had been separated, and he had suffered heavy losses. The pain of losing Diao Chan and the shame of losing to Li Feng had caused this once arrogant demon to only have hatred in his eyes.
Following that, Liu Bei followed Xu You's plan to make peace with Wuwan in the north, Gongsun Kang in Liaodong in the east, Zhang Yan in Black Mountain in the west, and Cao Cao in the south. By then, his power had increased greatly.
In the spring of the third year of Jian 'an, Liu Bei stayed in Tianchou and Jian Yong guarded Peiping. He personally led an army of 70,000 people. He appointed Xu You and Xin as military advisors, Xin Pi as staff officers, Gao Rou as engaged, Cui Yan as marching Sima, Guan Yu and Lu Bu as generals, Zhang Fei as vanguard, and dozens of generals such as Wang Men and Shan Jing to send troops to Jieqiao. At the same time, Black Mountain's Zhang Yan sent out 50,000 troops to Gao Yang with Tian Yu as the military advisor. Gongsun Kang, a native of Liaodong, mobilized 60,000 horses from Liaodong to attack Boling.
When the Yuan brothers heard that Liu Bei had split into three armies, they panicked and temporarily put aside their internal strife to deal with Liu Bei. Yuan Shao ordered his son-in-law Gao Gan to go out of Bingzhou to deal with Zhang Yan. He personally led an army out of Yizhou to meet Liu Bei. Yuan Shu led an army out of Boling to fight Gongsun Kang.
The situation in the north suddenly became tense. Just as Yuan Shao led his army north, Cao Cao also led his army to Guandu. When Yuan Shao heard the news, his expression changed greatly and he panicked. He immediately ordered his third son Yuan Shang to use Shen Pei as the military adviser to go out of Ye City and station in Baima to block Cao Cao. He ordered him not to fight and only to defend. He quickened his pace to fight Liu Bei, but Liu Bei seemed to know that he wanted to end the battle quickly, so he did not fight. He defended his position to stall for time, making Yuan Shao's situation seem very critical.
At this time, Ma Teng, who was far away in Xiliang, was discussing with his sworn brother Han Sui in his tent. It turned out that after Xu Tian had besieged the city, Ma Teng had discussed with his uncle Dong Cheng and the others to punish the thieves. He had been looking for an opportunity to help the king. Suddenly, the outside reported that Yuan Shao's messenger had arrived. The messenger went in and stayed for about an hour before leaving.
Three days later, Ma Teng and his sworn brother Han Sui led 100,000 soldiers of the Western Liang Army to Chang 'an. When Cao Cao received Xiahou Yuan's urgent report, he was furious and cursed,""Ma Teng, you bastard, ruined my plans and prevented me from going north. How hateful.”
At this time, Guo Jia was already infected and was recuperating in Xuchang. He did not follow the army to battle.
"Please calm down, my lord," said Xun Yu. The terrain of Guanzhong is important and cannot be lost. Now we should temporarily put aside the matter of the north and lead the army to the west to pacify Xiliang. In the north, Yuan Shao was very powerful, and Liu Xuande was also a fierce and ambitious man. The battle between the two could not be settled in a short time. When the lord pacified Xiliang and then led the army north, he could sit and reap the benefits of the fisherman.”
Cheng Yu also said," If Wen Ruo's words make sense, my lord, you can take Xiliang from here. When Xiliang is certain to take the north again, we can settle it with a single battle."”
Hearing this, Cao Cao calmed down and thought about it. He felt that what the two said was reasonable, so he led his troops to the west to deal with Ma Teng and prepare to pacify Xiliang.
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