He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

With Yuan Shu dead, Cao Cao also began to attempt to conquer Runan.

This guy had actually invested a lot of resources in the south long ago; Xi Zhicai's spies practically turned Yuan Shu's Shouchun into a sieve.

For Cao Cao, Yuzhou was a territory he had to conquer. Now, almost all of his civil officials were from the Yingchuan faction, so Yuzhou was essentially his base and talent pool.

Cao Cao is currently facing a situation where his strength and energy are being depleted due to welcoming back Emperor Xian of Han and the ongoing land reclamation efforts. He has no other choice but to use non-military means to influence Yu Province. Otherwise, given his personality, he would have already launched an attack.

"I never expected that the skeletons in the tomb would be wiped out by Liu Bei's fright. It's a pity that we are too far away to help, and Sun Ce and Liu Biao have benefited instead." Cao Cao sighed with regret as he looked at the latest news.

Xi Zhicai reassured him, "My lord, there's no need to worry. Liu Biao and Sun Ce are fighting, and in the end, they may not be the ones to benefit. It's good that Liu Biao is being held back; next year will be the best time to attack Nanyang."

Cao Cao smiled upon hearing this. Huainan had attracted everyone's attention, which meant Cao Cao could now hide himself from the world's eyes once again.

Among the many heroes, Lü Bu's army was the least noticeable, partly because Lü Bu, who was the main force in terms of military strength, was still recovering from his injuries and unable to fight.

Secondly, Lu Bu's clever subordinates plundered too much, creating an uninhabited area south of Pei State. Given Lu Bu's army's poor logistical support capabilities, they were completely unable to pass through this no-man's-land.

Now Lü Bu can only be a spectator, watching the turmoil unfold in Huainan.

Liu Biao of Jingzhou also got moving. In fact, Liu Biao had always wanted to make a move, but there were many reasons why he hadn't been able to come up with anything interesting.

When Liu Biao first entered Jingzhou alone, he did so by using political maneuvering to divide and suppress the powerful families of Jingzhou. Therefore, whatever he wanted to do, he had to consult with the powerful families of Jingzhou first.

In addition, Liu Biao himself seemed to have gone mad from reading the classics, fantasizing every day that he was King Wen of Zhou, and that as long as he practiced virtuous governance, all the heroes in the world would bow down to him.

It can only be said that Liu Biao lacked a tough time and was completely unaware that once the various warlords got through the initial stage, their strength would grow rapidly like a snowball.

Liu Biao was truly excited when he received Liu Xun's letter. After being cooped up in Jingzhou for several years, he was finally able to stretch his legs and move freely.

He immediately summoned his trusted confidants Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, expressing his eagerness to conquer cities and seize territory.

Surprisingly, the two did not oppose it as before, but instead began to help Liu Biao fill in the gaps and think about how to maximize his benefits.

This isn't hard to understand. As a group with shared interests, Cai and Kuai both wanted to expand their influence, especially since the Cai and Kuai families were now considered Liu Biao's maternal relatives. This time, they weren't leading an attack; as long as they held Lujiang and prevented Sun Ce from breaking out, they would win.

Liu Biao originally intended to send his nephew Liu Pan to provide support, but unexpectedly learned that Huang Zu had volunteered to go to Jiujiang to meet Sun Ce, so he went along with it.

Huang Zu was also anxious upon learning of Sun Ce's movements. He knew better than anyone that if Sun Ce became stronger, he would be the first to be dealt with. Sun Jian had died at his hands, and Sun Ce would absolutely not let him go.

Not only that, he was also afraid that Liu Biao would use the pretext of providing support to stay in Jiangxia and refuse to leave, so he simply went and stationed himself in Lujiang to guard against Sun Ce, and secondly, Liu Biao would have no grounds for complaint.

Liu Biao felt that his luck had finally turned around. His subordinates, who had always been a stumbling block, had finally come to their senses. It was such a rare opportunity.

This was the first large-scale military operation since the establishment of Liu Biao's army. If this battle was fought well, Liu Biao would be able to gradually consolidate Jingzhou into a powerful force.

When Sun Ce led his troops into Chao County, he had already sent a very dangerous signal, which was tantamount to making it clear that Sun Ce had designs on Huainan.

Huang Zu's subsequent march to Juchao was like adding a ladle of water to a boiling oil pot in Huainan, causing the entire situation to explode.

Both sides began to concentrate their forces on Jiujiang County, hoping to intimidate the other and make them back down. However, since both sides really wanted to fight, the intimidation ultimately had little effect.

In an instant, both sides acted as if nothing had happened and began a sit-in.

Both sides knew that now was not the best time to fight, but Sun Ce was getting restless. His father's killer was right across the street, and now he had troops, land, and money. He had to consider whether this was his only chance in this life. Sun Ce had no intention of leaving his future to fate; he believed that human effort could make things happen.

Sun Ce's good friend Zhou Yu also intended to persuade him, but seeing Sun Ce's sorrowful expression as he looked at his father Sun Jian's helmet, Zhou Yu knew it would be useless to try. Since Sun Ce had already made up his mind, Zhou Yu didn't say anything discouraging, but instead carefully prepared for the great battle to come.

Sun Ce and Liu Xun were both waiting. One was waiting for his exhausted troops to finish the New Year and rest before going into battle; the other was desperately reinforcing the city's defenses and stockpiling supplies, hoping to wear down the enemy's morale with the fortified city before delivering a fatal blow.

The storm stirred up by Liu Bei eventually swept up all the warlords along the Yangtze River.

Upon learning the news, Liu Bei, who was the instigator, ordered Chen Deng and others to refrain from going into battle without consulting Lu Wan.

Liu Bei's judgment has always been good. Huainan is no longer a place to be trifled with. Liu Bei must now focus his energy on development.

The first batch of mulberry bark paper has been produced. Because it was rushed out, its quality cannot be compared with that of later generations, but it is a significant improvement over the Cai Hou paper currently on the market.

The most time-consuming step in papermaking is soaking the raw materials to thoroughly remove lipids and polysaccharides. Cellulose is very stable due to its structure, and even when decomposed using cellulase, it takes a lot of time. Therefore, as long as most impurities are removed, the paper can be preserved for a long time.

Essentially, paper is just a bunch of fibers glued together.

Liu Bei picked up his brush and slowly wrote the character "仁" (ren, meaning benevolence) on the first sheet of paper. Looking at the even and unblemished characters, he couldn't help but feel great.

This means that the mulberry paper in hand can replace the silk cloth used for daily writing. However, it is still quite difficult to replace bamboo slips. Bamboo slips can be preserved for a much longer time than paper. When paper was first developed, no one wanted to use it. It was only after many years of improvement that it gradually replaced bamboo slips.

Liu Bei waved his hand, and the batch of papers was immediately loaded onto carts and began to be transported to Qingzhou.

The caravan was mainly funded by several powerful families. These families had previously used their private troops to support Liu Bei, so Liu Bei should reciprocate.

The caravan sold some paper in Kaiyang along the way, but the bulk transactions were still conducted in Qingzhou.