Three Kingdoms: I choose Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao, why are you crying, Diao Chan?

Chapter 426: Three-legged Tripod! (Thanks to Brother Zhao Yun for the small gift from When to Accept It~)

Lu Bu helped Meng Huo up with a smile.

In order to show his sincerity to the other party, he gave all the advanced tools he brought with him on this expedition, such as the curved plow, dragon-bone waterwheel, wooden oxen and flowing horses, to Meng Huo.

In order to express his gratitude, Meng Huo also selected various local specialties from the Nanzhong region as a return gift.

He even selected five hundred beautiful women from southern China and presented them to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu originally wanted to refuse.

But seeing that his soldiers looked at the beautiful woman from South China with passionate eyes, he could only accept it for them.

With Meng Huo's surrender to him, the Nanzhong region was finally pacified.

In the future, as long as we strengthen friendly exchanges with the four counties of Nanzhong, we don’t have to worry about Meng Huo’s rebellion for the time being.

As for Yong Kai, Lu Bu strangled him to death in front of Meng Huo.

It not only made Meng Huo completely relieved, but also served as a warning to the other party.

The reason why it was not so easy for Zhuge Liang to conquer Nanzhong back then was because Meng Huo's power in the Nanzhong region was already deeply rooted.

Now that Yong Kai is dead, Meng Huo has just become the Barbarian King for a short time, and yet he has been taken care of so well by Lu Bu, it is natural for him to develop a good impression of Lu Bu.

With the pacification of Nanzhong, the entire Yizhou fell into Lu Bu's pocket.

Including the three states of Jing, Yang and Jiao, a total of four states were completely controlled by him, truly owning half of the country!

But Lu Bu did not become proud and complacent because of this.

Because since ancient times, it has been extremely difficult to successfully conquer the Chinese territory from south to north.

Moreover, the term Lu Bu heard the most was "Northern Expedition", but he had never heard of the term "Southern Expedition".

It is precisely because the "Northern Expedition" was difficult to achieve that it is often praised...

Just as Lu Bu's army was on its way back to Lujiang, Lu Bu suddenly received news that Liu Bei's army was attacking Jizhou!

Lu Bu, riding on Red Hare, was reading the letter sent by his assistant Yi Ji while riding his horse.

The letter said that when they were almost entering the vassal state of Qianwei, Liu Bei's army suddenly launched an attack on Yuan Shao's army.

Even Liu Xie came to the aid of Liu Bei's army this time.

In addition, Gongsun Zan came south from the north, and surrounded Yuan Shao's army on three sides. He had no idea how to defend.

When Yi Ji sent this letter, Jizhou had already lost Qinghe County and Wei County in the south.

Liu Bei's army and Liu Xie's army were intentionally blocking the connection between Yuan Shao and his Lu Bu army.

In this way, even if Yuan Shao wanted to go south to join Lu Bu, it would be difficult to do so.

Moreover, nearly half a month has passed since Yi Ji sent this letter.

In the next half month, the situation of Yuan Shao’s army will probably get worse!

Lu Bu was also quite helpless at this moment.

Although he had a small victory over Zhuge Liang last time, he did not expect that this time the enemy would take advantage of his attack on Nanzhong and suddenly join forces with the other two forces to launch a fierce attack on Yuan Shao's army.

Without Lu Bu to personally hold him back, Zhuge Liang would not have to worry about losing to his subordinates.

If he had known earlier, he should not have led the southern expedition himself, but instead handed the matter over to Wei Yan and Zhang Liao to handle...

Fortunately, before he left, he left Xun You and Sun Ce to guard Pei State.

And told them that if Liu Bei's army sent troops to Jizhou, they would launch a surprise attack on Liang State.

I don't know what the situation is at the moment...

Lu Bu immediately led a team of cavalry to set off ahead, allowing the remaining infantry to return slowly.

The closer he got to Lujiang, the more frequently Lu Bu received letters.

When Yi Ji's second letter arrived, Lu Bu learned that Hejian County in the north of Jizhou had also been captured by Gongsun Zan.

Liu Bei's army also took advantage of the situation to capture the isolated Bohai County.

Of course, the good news is that Sun Ce and Xun You also successfully captured Liang State.

But from what Yi Ji said, it seems more like Zhuge Liang abandoned Liang State in order to concentrate his forces to the north, rather than to say that they conquered it. After all, Liang State was a tiny place like Chen State on the map.

The two states of Chen and Liang combined were not even as big as the state of Pei.

Therefore, Sun Ce's attack obviously did not bring any pressure to Liu Bei's army.

On the contrary, Lu Bu's army needed to divide its troops to garrison Liang State, so it would be difficult for them to continue attacking.

But no matter what, being able to take over Liang State means moving closer to the north.

The most important thing is that he has conquered all of Yuzhou except for the northernmost state of Lu which is surrounded by Yanzhou.

It even included the State of Chen which was destroyed by the earthquake... plus Guangling County and Xia Pi County in Xuzhou.

Now, he can be said to be in control of five states!

But when Yi Ji's third letter arrived, Lu Bu received bad news.

That is, Zhuge Liang actually persuaded Yuan Shao's army to surrender and promised to spare their lives as long as they were willing to work under Liu Bei's army.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Shao, who was left with nowhere to go, actually agreed to Zhuge Liang's suggestion and led the remaining soldiers to surrender to Liu Bei's army...

When seeing this letter, Lu Bu's face suddenly turned the color of liver!

Who would have thought that Yuan Shao, a man of three generations, would surrender to his enemies in the end, just to survive...

The most important thing is that once Liu Bei’s army absorbs Yuan Shao’s generals, strategists, tens of thousands of soldiers and the remaining counties.

Then Liu Bei's power will become unprecedentedly powerful!

Plus, with the support of Zhuge Liang, the second generation of Wu Hou, and Liu Xie's support...

Lu Bu suddenly understood the pressure Cao Wei had faced when facing the alliance between Wu and Shu.

But soon, Lu Bu calmed down.

Because he suddenly thought that now was a good time to attack Liu Bei's army!

Although Yuan Shao's army agreed to surrender, the soldiers would certainly not be loyal to Liu Bei so quickly.

If we can secretly persuade Yuan Shao's men by then, perhaps there will be a chance to do something with internal and external cooperation!
Thinking of this, Lu Bu rushed back to Lujiang without stopping.

Now, he needs to race against time.

Because the longer the time drags on, the easier it will be for Yuan Shao's army to be won over by Liu Bei's army.

Liu Bei's methods of winning people's hearts were unique in the world at that time.

Combined with Zhuge Liang's acting skills, he can definitely make Yuan Shao and his gang very happy.

Moreover, Yuan Shao also had Cao Cao's gang under him.

It is equivalent to annexing one force and obtaining a large number of talents from both forces!

Given Zhuge Liang's disgust for Cao Wei, he might not let Liu Bei kill Yuan Shao, but he would most likely instigate Liu Bei to kill Cao Cao.

I just don't know if the treacherous hero Cao Cao can predict and escape in advance...

When Lu Bu returned to the capital Wancheng, it was already February of 196.

At this time he learned another piece of news:
Liu Bei's army announced an alliance with Gongsun Zan and Liu Xie's army to fight against Lu Bu together.

At this point, the three-way balance of power has basically taken shape!

Although Gongsun Zan's power still existed, his relationship with Liu Bei was very close.

It is even better than the relationship between Liu Bei's army and Liu Xie's army.

Moreover, when the Three Kingdoms were formed in history, there was actually a Gongsun family in Liaodong that was still alive.

It's a similar situation now...

Afterwards, Gongsun Zan and Liu Xie returned all the conquered Jizhou territories to Liu Bei's army.

In order to express his gratitude, Liu Bei gave them some talents who were willing to join the two forces.

For Lu Bu, the only good news now is that he heard that Cao Cao had escaped early with a group of close ministers!
(End of this chapter)