The Strongest Lu Bu's Sweeping Thousands of Armies

Chapter 342 The alliance of interests will not last long
Lu Bu crossed the Yellow River and returned to his camp.

Yuan Shao returned to the army accompanied by Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others.

On the way, Gao Lan came up to meet him: "Is your lord okay?"

"What can I do?" Yuan Shao said, "Go back to the barracks first and call everyone over."

When Yuan Shao met Lu Bu, Gao Lan had been watching from a distance. If something happened, he would rush forward immediately.

Ever since Yuan Shao met Lu Bu, Gao Lan's nerves have been tense.

Fortunately, the conversation between the two went smoothly, except that Lu Bu planned to leave once, nothing unusual happened.

Back at the barracks, some guards conveyed Yuan Shao's orders to the generals and staff who accompanied the army.

Calling everyone together, Yuan Shao glanced at their faces and said, "I met Lu Bu just now, and we had a good conversation."

There was no change in the middle of his conversation with Lu Bu, and most of the people guessed that the result should be good.

"Lu Fengxian wants to form an alliance with us in Hebei to conquer Cao Cao together. What do you think?" Yuan Shao said to the crowd: "As long as I am willing to issue a call for Cao Cao, he is willing to sell us coal at [-]% of the market price. Except Xuzhou and Yangzhou , and the remaining coal will be sent to Hebei.”

Ever since there was coal in the world, everyone has a little understanding of this kind of thing.

Some even bought from merchants.

The direct combustion of coal will generate thick smoke, and it also has a very choking smell.

But if they are smelted into tar, it will last longer than charcoal and have more firepower.

"My lord, what do you mean, Lu Bu will transport most of the coal to Hebei in the future?" Xu You asked Yuan Shao.

"Exactly." Yuan Shao said: "This is the condition I asked him for. If he refuses to agree, I will never attack Cao Mengde."

"Lv Bu has grown too fast in the past two years. I think we should suppress him first, and then join forces with him to attack Cao Cao." Ju Shou said, "Cao Cao marched into Pengcheng twice, but was blocked by Lv Bu at Dangshan. If he is allowed to grow so strong Go on, I'm afraid we will suffer from it in the end."

"I just promised to give him Yuzhou, and all the places in Cao Mengde's hands belong to our Hebei." Yuan Shao smiled and waved his hand indifferently: "How many people can Yuzhou have? Let him recruit soldiers and horses, how many can he recruit? We in Hebei Originally, the soldiers were strong and the horses were strong, not just Xuzhou can resist the enemy. When I have Cao Cao's hands, who else in the world can stop the Yuan family?"

Yuan Shao was full of confidence in his choice, and originally wanted to persuade Feng Ji to attack Lu Bu first, but he didn't say anything after hearing it.

After being cheated by Zhou Yu, Feng Ji hated Xuzhou for a long time.

But as Yuan Shao's staff, of course he knows how to read words and actions.

The lord has no intention of continuing the fight, as an aide, what can he do even if he is unwilling?

"Pass down the order." Yuan Shao conveyed the military order to everyone: "Tomorrow morning the army will return to Yecheng, and another messenger will be sent to order Xiansi, Xianyi, and Xianfu to withdraw."

Everyone received the military order, but everyone's mood was different.

Some people think that we should continue to attack Lv Bu, and the withdrawal at this time actually gave Lv Bu a chance to grow stronger.

There are also some people who think that Cao Cao should have been attacked a long time ago. After all, compared with Lu Bu, Cao Cao is much stronger. The Yuan family with enough strength to conquer the world should go from strong to weak.

Yuan Shao ordered the withdrawal of the troops, and Lu Bu returned to the south bank and called together the generals guarding Yanjin.

After everyone was seated, Lu Bu said, "Bo Fu and I went to the north bank to meet Yuan Shao, and things went even smoother than I imagined."

Everyone present looked at him intently, wanting to know to what extent things went smoothly.

"I asked Yuan Shao to send troops to attack Cao Cao, but he didn't object, but asked me for conditions." Lu Bu explained Yuan Shao's previous plan not to even give him Yuzhou.

"Yuan Shao really thought of all the benefits." Gao Shun frowned and said: "The two armies joined forces to attack Cao Cao, and he took all the benefits, but he didn't even want to give Chuhou a drink of soup."

"He really doesn't want to give me a sip of soup, but how can I let him succeed?" Lu Bu said with a smile: "I also told him, if Yuzhou doesn't give it to us, how can we jointly fight for Cao?"

"What did Yuan Shao say?" Zhou Yu asked.

"He promised to give me Yuzhou, but he asked me to sell all the coal to him at [-]% of the market price." Lu Bu replied, "This matter is still debatable. I will promise to ensure that Xuzhou, Yangzhou and other places have enough coal Next, sell the rest to him at [-]% of the price."

Lu Bu said that he wanted to sell coal to Yuan Shao, and Zhou Yu immediately put forward a different opinion: "The Marquis of Chu also knows that since coal is available, the steel produced between Liyang and Shicheng is far more resilient than before. Yangzhou is the only place where steel is abundant. But Handan in Hebei has more steel. I don’t think it’s a long-term solution to give coal to Yuan Shao.”

There is a soul after 2000 in the body, of course Lu Bu knows the place where Zhou Yu said Yangzhou is rich in steel.

After 2000, it was Ma'anshan City in southern Anhui.

Before coming to this era, Lu Bu had also been there.

Although it is a heavy industrial city, Ma'anshan's urban governance is well organized.

The streets are spotless, and the cars in the open parking lot are still clean even if they haven't been washed for several days.

Compared with other places, Huainan, which has a long cultural history but is planned as a media city, is much more cheating.

A freshly washed car in an open parking lot will be covered in grime the next day.

Of course, these are things for later, not what Lu Bu is going to consider at this time.

Zhou Yu's proposal is indeed reasonable.

Compared with Hebei, Yangzhou's steel output is indeed much less.

As long as there is enough coal, Yuan Shao can replace all the soldiers' ordnance in the shortest time.

Yuan Jun, who possesses cutting-edge soldiers and sharp blades, is bound to be more powerful than ever.

But Lu Bu has another way of saying this.

He said to Zhou Yu: "Yangzhou Iron and Steel is indeed not as rich as Hebei Iron and Steel, but the steel there is enough for us to use for thousands of years. The conquest of the world is only a few decades, how much steel can we use? If I don't agree to Yuan Benchu's request , he and Cao Cao continued to crusade against Xuzhou. We have no way to deal with the Cao Cao family, let alone the more powerful Yuan family in Hebei. To deal with the Yuan family, so far we can only coax them, treating them as if they don’t understand anything but are crying Coax like a child eating candy."

Regarding Lu Bu's statement, Zhou Yu had no reason to continue to refute it.

He frowned slightly, wondering if he could find a way to not give Hebei coal as much as possible.

Lu Bu said to everyone: "I invite you here. I want to tell you that the war in Yanjin is basically over. You can also prepare early. Once Yuan Jun withdraws, we will return to Pengcheng."

Everyone got up to respond, and Lu Bu called Zhou Yu and Gao Shun: "Gong Jin and General Gao stay here first, and the others can leave."

The people summoned by him dispersed one after another.

Only Lu Bu, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and Gao Shun were left in the room.

Lu Bu asked Zhou Yu, "Does Gongjin still think I shouldn't sell coal to Yuan Shao?"

"The Marquis of Chu has already decided the matter, and it's useless for me to say it." Zhou Yu replied: "I just hope that the Marquis of Chu can understand that Yuan Shao has coal, and we are the ones who will suffer in the long run."

"Yuan Shao has coal, so he can forge tough steel." Lu Bu said, "I also know that giving him coal will cause trouble in the future, but I have to do it now. I must want it in Yuzhou. In Yuzhou and Yangzhou still has abundant coal reserves. There is no mining now because I think Xuzhou coal mines are not yet mature. We don’t have complete technology, so we should not spread the place so much. After all, there is still enough coal for now.”

Although he didn't quite agree with Lu Bu's statement, Zhou Yu nodded.

Lu Bu went on to say: "When I built the coal mine, the most fundamental purpose was actually to exchange coal for money. To conquer the world, we need not only coal and steel, but also many other things. Money, no matter how important it is to us However, just relying on Xuzhou and Yangzhou, how much profit can we get from the coal produced?"

Zhou Yu didn't say anything, and of course Sun Ce wouldn't interrupt either.

Accompanying Lu Bu to the North Shore, Sun Ce watched the whole process.

Others didn't know what Lu Bu said and did there, but he knew it clearly.

The three people in front of them didn't offer any different opinions.

Lu Bu said: "Leave you here, I want to tell you something."

Zhou Yu and others' eyes fell on Lu Bu's face, waiting for him to speak.

"If Cao Cao wants to kill me, I have to kill him first." Lu Bu said, "You also know that I don't like to stir up trouble, but Cao Cao keeps trying to drive me to a dead end, so I can't tolerate it anymore." He. After Yuan Shao withdrew his troops, we had to consider when and how to use our troops against Cao Cao."

"Marquis Chu, there is something I don't know whether to say or not." Zhou Yu said, "Although we defeated Cao Cao twice in Dangshan, there is still a huge gap between our army and Cao's army. I don't think it is wise to attack Cao Cao." .”

"Always defend. Not only will the soldiers lose their confidence, but even I will wonder if I will be beaten by Cao Cao in this life." Lu Bu said: "I have defended enough. I just want to ask you, would you like to fight?" Come with me to get rid of the predicament of only knowing how to defend, and fight Cao Cao?"

The three of them glanced at each other, and Zhou Yu said, "What does Marquis Chu want us to do?"

"I don't want you to do anything, as long as you have this kind of thought." Lu Bu said to them: "General Gao has followed me for many years, and he knows me well. As for Bo Fu and Gong Jin, although we haven't known each other for many days, But it can be said that it was like old friends at first sight, and we hate seeing each other later. I don’t ask for anything else, I just hope that you can work together with me to achieve great things in the world!"

Lv Bu deliberately left the three of them behind to say these words, and they all felt unspeakable feelings in their hearts, and they bowed together and said: "The Marquis of Chu has something to send, we will definitely move forward!"

Walking in front of the three of them, Lu Bu patted their arms lightly: "I'll be busy in the future!"

That night, the Xuzhou Army on the south bank of the Yellow River and the Hebei Army on the north bank of the Yellow River were all quiet.

Bonfires were lit in the barracks on both sides. Except for the patrol soldiers who occasionally passed by, no one else walked back and forth.

Standing on the bank of the Yellow River, Lu Bu looked at the Hebei military camp on the opposite bank.

Sun Ce stood behind him.

"Marquis Chu, I always felt that Yuan Shao would not send troops to attack Cao Cao." Sun Ce said to Lu Bu, "Although he issued a call to action against Cao Cao, I still don't trust him."

"Don't say you can't trust him, even I can't trust him." Lu Bu said: "In fact, we don't need to trust him at all. As long as he doesn't come to us from behind after the war starts, it will be great."

"When will the Marquis of Chu plan to attack Cao Cao?" Sun Ce asked.

"Cao Cao has weapons that can kill our air force, and our army no longer has air superiority. We have to wait until we are fully prepared to send troops." Lu Bu said: "Before that, we have to coax Yuan Shao well, and we still have to think about it. Only with new weapons can we attack Cao Cao."

He asked Sun Ce: "We returned to Pengcheng a few days ago, did you ask the Liannu supervisor how it was built?"

"I asked." Sun Ce replied: "The structure of the Liannu is complicated, and only [-] have been produced so far."

"It's not that the structure is complicated, it's that the craftsmen are lazy." Lu Bu said: "When you return to Pengcheng, you will personally supervise the production of the crossbow. If anyone dares to be lazy, they will not be allowed to engage in handicraft work from now on."

"That is to say, which carpenter dares to be lazy, and he will never be allowed to be a carpenter from now on?" Sun Ce asked.

"Exactly." Lu Bu replied: "If you can't do well in the things related to the fate of Xuzhou, how can you believe that they can do other jobs well? People who don't care about craftsmanship will have to let them give up their craftsmanship for the rest of their lives. Do it for those who care."

"I understand." Sun Ce agreed.

"It seems that Yuan Shao really decided to form an alliance with me, and he can sleep soundly tonight." Lu Bu greeted Sun Ce: "It's getting late, let's go back to sleep too."

That night, Lu Bu and the others did indeed sleep soundly.

Early in the morning, when he got up, Sun Ce's voice came from outside the door: "Has Marquis Chu woke up?"

"Just got up." Washing his face while being served by a guard, Lu Bu replied, "Bo Fu came in to talk.

Sun Ce entered the house and said to Lu Bu, "Marquis Chu, Yuan Shao has withdrawn."

"Withdrawn?" Lu Bu was taken aback, and asked Sun Ce, "When did you withdraw?"

"It should have left before dawn." Sun Ce replied, "When I got up, there was no one on the north bank of the Yellow River."

Greeting Sun Ce to leave the room, Lu Bu hurried to the bank of the Yellow River.

Zhou Yu and the others had already arrived there, and when they saw Lu Bu coming, they all bowed to salute.

Lu Bu nodded and looked across the Yellow River.

Sure enough, all the Yuan troops on the other side had withdrawn. Looking from the south bank of the Yellow River, there were not even a single soldier in the place where countless Yuan troops were stationed.

"I didn't expect Yuan Shao to withdraw so quickly." Standing with Lu Bu on the shore, Zhou Yu said, "I thought he was going to stay here for a while."

"If he stays one more day, he will be pinned down by our army for one more day." Lu Bu said, "If I were Yuan Shao, I would withdraw as soon as possible. The appeal to Cao Cao has been issued. If he doesn't go back sooner, if Cao Cao launches an attack first, Hebei But there's going to be big trouble."

"The Marquis of Chu wants to form an alliance with Yuan Shao, but I still don't think it's very reliable." Zhou Yu said: "Now it seems that Yuan Shao is really sincere."

"He can benefit from us, and once Cao Cao is defeated, he will benefit far more than us." Lu Bu replied, "How could he not know what to choose?"

"Hasn't the Marquis of Chu thought about it, even though Yuan Shao agreed to form an alliance, he also issued a letter calling for Cao Cao, and even scolded Cao Cao severely in the letter. But he is a hero in Hebei after all. If he wants to enter the Central Plains, his most urgent It is to take down Cao Cao and the Marquis of Chu." Zhou Yu said: "The so-called covenant is actually not secure, and Yuan Shao can go back on his word at any time."

"Of course I know he can go back on his word." Lu Bu replied: "But he should also understand that Xuzhou and Changzhou are narrow and long. If he chooses to attack Xuzhou first, he will definitely leave an opportunity for Cao Cao. At present, Cao Cao's The strength is still higher than ours, Yuan Shao should not know how to make a choice."

"What is Chuhou's plan?" Zhou Yu asked, "Should we gather the army and march towards Xudu?" Zhou Yu asked.

"Go back to Pengcheng first." Lu Bu said: "The gap between us and Cao Cao is still not small. The crisis in Xuzhou is resolved, and we will fight Cao Cao again. It will not do us any good. Back to Pengcheng, the soldiers should rest for at least three or five month, so we can send troops to Cao Cao."

Smiling at Zhou Yu, Lu Bu continued, "Besides, Yuan Shao promised me that if you give him three months, he will send troops with us. Wouldn't it be stupid to have Yuan Shao's help but not to do so?"

"Actually, I still don't quite trust Yuan Shao. I always feel that he will wait and see. He will not act until one of us and Cao Cao is about to win a decisive victory."

"Which side does Gongjin think he will help?" Lu Bu asked with a smile.

"Whoever is about to lose, he will help the side." Zhou Yu said: "Helping the winning side may benefit from it, but it is difficult to deal with afterwards. It is better to help the losing side. Wait until the war turns around , He wiped out both of them in one fell swoop, and the result couldn't be more beneficial to Hebei."

"Gongjin's ideas coincide with mine, so we can't be impatient, we must be fully prepared, and it will not be too late to attack Cao Cao." Lu Bu said: "Cao Cao is anxious to destroy us, but I am not in a hurry. We want to destroy him. Rushing to war without sufficient preparation will not do us any good."

Zhou Yu didn't ask any more questions.

Lu Bu gave him another order: "Leave some troops to guard Yanjin, and we will return to Pengcheng."

"I'll do it now." Zhou Yu immediately agreed.

Not long after Yuan Shao withdrew his troops, Yuan Jun in Cangting and Mount Tai also received news that they should withdraw to Yecheng.

Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's joint crusade against Xuzhou was easily resolved because Cao's army was defeated by Lu Bu in two consecutive battles in Dangshan.

Looking at the north bank of the Yellow River, Lu Bu did not expect Yuan Shao to really join him in the crusade against Cao Cao.

He is very clear that an alliance based on interests cannot last for a long time.

(End of this chapter)