The Three Kingdoms Fight for the Deer

Chapter 167 Yuan Shao's Intent
"It's not that I underestimate Gongsun Zan. He will definitely lose in a fight with Yuan Shao," Li Yuan said. In history, Gongsun Zan was eventually defeated by Yuan Shao, and recently Gongsun Zan has begun to be unable to stop Yuan Shao's offensive pace, so Li Yuan believes that Yuan Shao will defeat Gongsun Zan. .

"Then if Gongsun Zan is really on the verge of defeat, will my lord send troops to rescue him for the sake of friendship?" Xi Zhicai asked again.

"I can save him without losing too many troops." Although Li Yuan was a person who valued love and righteousness, Gongsun Zan was not in his camp after all, and he didn't need to lose troops for Gongsun Zan.

"That's great." Xi Zhicai was still worried that Li Yuan would risk everything to save Gongsun Zan because of his friendship. It seems that Li Yuan is still very rational, "Since our army will not send troops, then I can suggest that Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du form an alliance, even if Gongsun Zan does not The enemy Yuan Shao can also be made to retreat to Liaodong and attach himself to Gongsundu."

Li Yuan felt that Xi Zhicai's plan was a little inappropriate, and said, "Zhicai's plan may not be feasible. First of all, the relationship between Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du is only ordinary. Although the two are named Gongsun, they are not related by blood. How could an ambitious person like Gongsun Zan be attached to him, let alone offend Yuan Shao, I don't think Gongsundu would do such a thankless thing."

"My lord, don't forget that our army has sent merchant ships to open up the route to Liaodong. I estimate that it will be successful within the next year. In this way, we will be able to do business with Liaodong. I have long heard that Liaodong is a land of horses, but the climate is cold and food is scarce. , if I exchange food for their horses and give him some benefits, he should be willing to accept Gongsun Zan."

Xi Zhicai expressed his strategy: "Even if he offends Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao will not attack Liaodong easily, because Liaodong is geographically remote and the climate is very cold. It is useless for Yuan Shao to conquer Liaodong, and it will cost troops, so I guess he will not attack Liaodong." Send troops, and if Gongsun Zan is unwilling to stay in Liaodong, my lord can take him to Xuzhou."

After hearing this, Li Yuan couldn't help his eyes light up, feeling that Xi Zhicai's words were feasible, and praised: "Hahahaha, Zhicai is really my ovary, so I will act according to what you say."

After solving Gongsun Zan's problem, Li Yuan asked again: "I don't know why the other envoys came?"

"Sun Ce's attack on Jiangdong and other places went smoothly, and now he has taken Jianye and Danyang, but because the food consumption is quite high, Cheng Pu came here to ask me to borrow food, I wonder if the Lord is willing?"

"Sun Ce will attack Liu Biao with my army in a few years, so you can lend it to him." Li Yuan is not generous, but for the sake of future strategy, and Xuzhou and Yuzhou have hoarded a lot of food and grass in recent years, so borrow some Giving it to Sun Ce did not mean any loss to them, and it also strengthened the alliance with Sun Ce.

"Tian Feng came here to hope that the lord would not form an alliance with Cao Cao and Liu Bei when Yuan Shao went south. He knew that the lord joined hands with Cao Cao to attack Lu Bu not long ago, so he was worried that the lord would form an alliance with Cao Cao when he went south in the future, so he sent Tian Feng He came here to persuade him, and even made a promise that if the lord does not join hands with Cao Cao and Liu Bei, he is willing to give away [-] high-quality horses." Xi Zhicai explained Tian Feng's intention.

"Send [-] horses?! Yuan Shao is really generous. He sent [-] horses just to keep me from joining forces with Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Is he really afraid of me, Li Yuan, hahahaha."

Hearing that Yuan Shao presented five thousand horses, Li Yuan was a little moved. After all, neither Xuzhou nor Yuzhou produced horses. Zhao Yun's flying cavalry now only has about two thousand people, and there is a serious shortage of horses. If the horses donated by Yuan Shao are definitely one Very important addition.

"Yuan Shao knows that our army is strong, and our lord's ability to lead troops in battle is unmatched in the world, so he is so afraid, but five thousand horses is a big deal for us, but it is nothing for Yuan Shao. After all, he has already occupied Bingzhou, and it is very easy to form a cavalry force of tens of thousands of troops. If my lord wants to accept Yuan Shao's horses, once I accept, I will not be able to join forces with Cao Cao against Yuan Shao in the future." Xi Zhicai reminded.

Yuan Shao was indeed powerful, and he proposed a condition that Li Yuan could hardly refuse. This is probably the strategy that Tian Feng, Ju Shou and other counselors came up with.

"Yes, how can I refuse such a favorable condition!" Li Yuan decided to ask for Yuan Shao's gift. Five thousand horses are much more valuable than the gift Tian Feng gave last night. These five thousand horses are important.

Xi Zhicai was stunned for a moment, he thought Li Yuan would refuse, because Li Yuan could definitely see Yuan Shao's intentions in this way, he said quickly: "My lord, if Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan, then he will definitely go south and bear the brunt of it at that time." It is Cao Cao and Liu Bei, with Hebei's military strength, even if Cao Cao and Liu Bei join forces, it will be difficult to resist, if he swallows Cao Cao and Liu Bei's territory, his power will rise again, and our army will be difficult to resist his offensive."

"I understand what Zhicai said, but in my opinion, although Yuan Shao's army is strong after unifying Hebei, he must not be Cao Cao's opponent. In the end, he will only be defeated by Cao Cao. Our real enemy is not Yuan Shao, but the defeated Cao Cao after Yuan Shao, as for Liu Bei, I am afraid he will be defeated by Cao Cao before Yuan Shao goes south."

Li Yuan knew that his biggest enemy was not Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao, so his taking this batch of horses would not affect the overall situation. Even without his help, Cao Cao would definitely be able to deal with Yuan Shao.

"My lord, why are you so optimistic about Cao Cao's ability to defeat Yuan Shao?" Xi Zhicai asked puzzled.

"Hahahaha, the secret of the sky must not be leaked." Li Yuan pointed to the sky and said pretendingly.

Seeing Li Yuan's confidence, Xi Zhicai stopped dissuading him, he believed in Li Yuan's choice.

"Does Zhicai know why Liu Biao sent Wang Can here?" Li Yuan was even more curious about why Liu Biao sent Wang Can to give gifts, because he was not familiar with Liu Biao at all.

"It's for Gan Ning."

"Gan Ning? Why did you come here for Gan Ning?" Li Yuan couldn't help asking, Gan Ning had already taken refuge in him and had no connection with Liu Biao, why did Liu Biao send an envoy for Gan Ning.

"Wang Can said that Gan Ning used to serve under Huang Zu's command, and the soldiers under his command made troubles everywhere and injured countless soldiers, so he wanted to ask the Lord to hand over Gan Ning to Wang Can and let him return to Jingzhou to deal with it." Xi Zhicai explained. Wang Can's intention.

"It's ridiculous. Liu Biao can really turn the truth upside down. It's obvious that he deliberately excluded Gan Ning, but he even said that Gan Ning injured his soldiers. I think it's because of his face. Gan Ning was reused by me as soon as he left Jingzhou, so he That's why I made such a decision, how could I, Li Yuan, hand over Gan Ning to him so easily."

Li Yuan sarcastically said that Gan Ning was already a general under his command, someone he valued very much, let alone Liu Biao asked Wang Can to ask for someone, even if he sent a large army to ask for someone, he would not hand over Gan Ning.

(End of this chapter)