Upon receiving this report, Yuan Tan and Ju Su looked at each other and were speechless for a long time.

Sun Ce's influence was really everywhere, and everyone lived under his shadow. When you think about it carefully, it was not just the sword in Guan Yu's hands and Taishi Ci, but also Guan Yu's methods of training. They learned from him to review the situation and study Guan Yu's tactics. Think deeper, Liu Bei returned to Youzhou after listening to Sun Ce's suggestions, and Yuan Tan was released by Sun Ce after being captured. This war was indirectly caused by him.

They were all chess pieces in Sun Ce's hands and they couldn't help themselves.

Ju Su bent his fingers and tapped the desk lightly. "Eunuch, there may be trouble on the other side of the plain..."

Yuan Tan also thought of this. Sun Ce was not present, but he had such a great influence just by relying on the chess pieces he had set up before. How much pressure would there be for Yuan Xi who faced him directly? Can Zang Hong and Qianzhao's reinforcements solve the problem?

"What's the clever plan?"

Ju Su smiled bitterly. According to his previous analysis, Pingyuan should not have any major problems, but he just inferred according to common sense. Now it seems that fighting with Sun Ce cannot be inferred based on common sense. It is impossible to say that if there is an error in the details, Sun Ce will seize the opportunity, and if there is no problem, there will be a big problem. As an enemy of Sun Ce, it is better to be cautious.

"Please send some reinforcements to Tian Yuanhao, be sure to defend the plains. Zhang Yan is just a thief, and even if he succeeds for a while, it will not affect the overall situation." Ju Su pondered for a moment and said again: "Send someone to contact Guo Gongze and Xu Ziyuan. After solving the Liaodong issue, please ask them to come back as soon as possible."

Yuan Tan glanced at Ju Su and nodded. "What should I do with Zhuo County?"

"If it's really not good, give up." Ju Su rubbed his fingers and said slowly: "Liu Bei, Guan Yu was well aware of Sun Ce's method of training troops. His soldiers were trained, but he had no good plans. This is a good opportunity for our army to sharpen the blade. Looking at Sun Ce's intention, he should hope that Liu Bei would be entangled with me, so that Liu Bei would not go east, and would never hope that he would advance to Jizhou. We might as well push the boat, retreat as we advance, lure Liu Bei into the territory of Jizhou, and see Sun Ce's reaction."

Yuan Tan was a little uneasy. "Is this... suitable?"

"It's okay." Ju Su was confident. "Even if it had nothing to do with Sun Ce, it would be beneficial to lure Liu Bei into Jizhou to fight. The further he was from Zhuo County, the greater the room for Yi to move, the greater the possibility of us turning defeat into victory."

Yuan Tan repeatedly weighed the pros and cons, and felt that what Ju Su said was reasonable. The autumn harvest had ended, and the loss of luring the enemy deeper was limited. Instead, it could lengthen Liu Bei's supply line and lure him out of Zhuo County and enter Hejian. Although Hejian belongs to Jizhou, it was controlled by Yuan Shao earlier. People's hearts were attached to him and it was unlikely to be used by Liu Bei. If Liu Bei still used strong as he is now, it would only launch a strong counterattack. From the terrain, this area had many water systems, such as Giant Horse Water, Easy Water, Swallow Water, and a large swamp that could weaken the advantages of the cavalry.

Yuan Tan and Ju Su had agreed to make an appointment, and summoned the generals to unify their opinions. After two days of rest, Gao Lan was sent as the vanguard to force Guan Yu's camp and challenged him actively. Yuan Tan led the main force to follow up immediately, acted as a decisive battle, but secretly sent people to collect ships, set up a floating bridge, and ready to retreat at any time.

Guan Yu was not seriously injured and learned that Yuan Tan had been forced to come over, supporting his injured body, and went out to fight. He could not fight, but could only sit in the command of the central army. Instead, he could observe the entire battle situation calmly and strengthen his command ability. The two sides fought for several days. When Guan Yu saw that the generals under Yuan Tan took turns to fight, he became more and more brave as he fought. He also guessed Yuan Tan's intention, fearing that there would be any losses, so he sent someone to report to Liu Bei and asked Liu Bei to prepare for the response.

When he learned that Guan Yu had killed Yuan Tan's general Yan Liang, he was seriously injured. Liu Bei was happy and worried. He was happy that he was killing the general in the battle and took the lead. This was no less than that of Taishi Ci's serious injury to Zhang He. He was worried that Guan Yu's old habits could not be changed, and he actually led tens of thousands of soldiers to fight in person, which was really disappointing. This time he was lucky, but he was seriously injured. If he was not lucky, wouldn't he be killed like Yan Liang?

Liu Bei did not dare to neglect and immediately led his troops to respond.

When he learned that Liu Bei had arrived, Yuan Tan ordered his retreat. Liu Bei chased him closely, and the two sides fought several times, each with victory or defeat. Although Liu Bei was a brave general, he wanted to severely injure Yuan Tan, but Yuan Tan was strictly guarding him and did not give him a chance. He fought and retreated, and he retreated all the time and defended him in Yi County.

Liu Bei was very hesitant about whether to besiege Yi County. After passing the giant horse water, even if he entered the Jizhou area, Yi County was a fortress at the junction of Youji. If he could capture Yi County, it would be equivalent to stepping into Jizhou. It would be convenient to attack Jizhou in the future. However, Yi County is easy to defend and difficult to attack. His troops are insufficient, and the possibility of success is very small. If it is not done well, the bones cannot be gnawed, and the teeth will be broken.

Guan Jing strongly opposed it. Liu Bei's purpose was to seize Zhuo County, and the focus was to capture Zhuo County. Now that Zhuo County has not been abandoned, it is not a wise move to be greedy for Yi County. Not only Guan Jing opposes, but Zhao Yun also opposes, Guan Yu also does not agree, and Taishi Ci also expressed his opposition in a tactful manner.

Liu Bei also knew that this was inappropriate, but he just couldn't bear to give up this opportunity. His reason was also very simple: Yuan Tan was the lord of Jizhou, Ju Su was Yuan Tan's think tank, Xun Yan, Gao Lan and others were all Yuan Tan's last elite. If they could defeat them, it would be easy to attack Jizhou in the future. As for Zhuo County, Zhang He was seriously injured and still had Zhang Fei monitored him. What could happen? He could not conquer Zhuo County now and could only siege the city at most, and he had to worry about Yuan Tan coming to support at any time. Which one is important, Zhang He or Yuan Tan? It would be better to make up your mind and severely attack Yuan Tan, and Zhuo County would naturally succeed.

The two sides were in a stalemate, and it took several more days in a flash.

At this moment, Yuan Tan received news from Yuan Xi: Sun Ce withdrew. He burned the prepared siege equipment and evacuated the plain.

Yuan Tan was overjoyed, calmed down, and patiently entangled with Liu Bei.

Sun Ce's plain offensive was not going well from the beginning.

Pingyuan is the capital of Pingyuan, located on the north bank of the Yellow River. In the summer and autumn, this is the only way to enter Jizhou from Qingzhou. Yuan Xi was defeated by Shen You and Taishici, and retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River. He stayed here. With the help of Feng Ji, he worked hard to turn Pingyuan City into a real fortress.

When Sun Ce's ship appeared at the mouth of Bohai, Yuan Xi entered a state of war readiness. The whole area was martial law, and all the crops that had not yet fully matured in the fields were harvested, and even some straw was not left for Sun Ce. It was relatively easy for other counties to capture a little, but most of them were far from the river bank. If Sun Ce sent infantry ashore like this, he would inevitably be attacked by the cavalry in Jizhou, and the risk coefficient was too high.

Therefore, the Military Planning Office rejected the proposal to capture counties from the beginning and focused on the plains.

Yuan Xi stayed behind closed doors, and there was only one way left: attack.

Besides Gan Ning's navy, Sun Ce was surrounded by his personal guard camp infantry and cavalry. Because the capacity of the tower ship was limited, there were less than 10,000 people in total. It was a dream to attack the plain city like a turtle shell, especially when he learned that Zang Honghe Qian Zhaozheng led 20,000 infantrymen and 2,000 cavalrymen came to reinforce.

The arrow was on the string and had to be fired. Sun Ce knew that the opportunity was not great, so he had to bite the bullet and implement the combat plan. While sending people to log wood and prepare to build siege equipment, he also sent people to summon Jinan prefect Xu Kun to practice the tactics of water and land cooperation with Xu Kun to talk about **.

After preparing for more than ten days, the siege equipment was half prepared, and Xu Kun also arrived, but the battle failed to start as scheduled. He received the news that Gongsun Du had all formed a large army, claiming to be 100,000, and was attacking the Dashi. It was not someone else who gave him advice, but Xu You, a famous scholar in Nanyang.

I heard that Xu You was in Liaodong, Sun Ce did not dare to be careless. Although Xu You was greedy for money, his character was not very good, and he still had his abilities. With him giving advice to Gongsun Du, Ling Cao and Mi Fang might not be able to withstand it. Shen You had limited troops to reinforce across the sea, and he was not sure of winning.

After repeated discussions with Guo Jia and others, Sun Ce decided to give up the plain and put Liaodong first. The gains and losses of the plain have nothing to do with the overall situation, but just to support Liu Bei to take Zhuo County. The Da family was his first step in conquering Liaodong, which was of great importance.

So, Sun Ce burned down the siege equipment he built, set sail, and rushed to the Tashi.

On the way, Sun Ce received news from Taishi Ci, learned about the latest battle situation, and learned that Guan Yu was rushing to the battlefield, and Liu Bei wanted to take Yi County again, Sun Ce shook his head. It was really easy to change the country, but his nature was difficult to change. Guan Yu was brave and fierce, and he commanded ten thousand people and regarded himself as a general, but he would actually rush to the battlefield himself. Liu Bei was even short-sighted. Before Zhuo County was cut off, he wanted to take Yi County, and wanted to catch Yuan Tan in one go, and didn't see if he could eat it.

No matter what, Liu Bei was trapped in Zhuo County and could not interfere in Liaodong in a short period of time. His goal was achieved and he took this opportunity to conquer Liaodong.

The boat sailed on the wind and traveled day and night. It took only three days to arrive at Dashi.

Shen You had already arrived at the Dashi, but the situation in the Dashi was still not optimistic. First, the troops were too few, but the geography was not familiar with them. They only defended a few key points, but could not prevent Gongsun Du from sending people to intersect the attack. The outer defense line was already broken, and Gongsun Du had already reached the city and surrounded the Dashi. Although Shen You arrived, his troops were limited and he could not break through Gongsun Du's siege, and he sighed at the city.

Fortunately, Sun Ce was prepared from the beginning. Ling Cao and Mi Fang strengthened the city defense in the city and prepared sufficient food and weapons. Gongsun Du was unable to break through the city for a while and was building siege equipment to attack the Dashi.

After listening to Shen You’s report, Sun Ce asked: “How many people are Gongsun Du?”

Shen You said: "It is definitely impossible to have 100,000, but 50,000 is more than enough."

"So, most of the elite Liaodong soldiers are here?"

"Absolutely. Gongsun Du has always been conceited and is very unhappy about our army set foot in Liaodong. He also said..." Shen You smacked his lips, and wanted to speak but stopped.

Sun Ce glanced at him. "What did he say?"

"He said... Junhou is a phoenix ashes as fire, but this is the north, the north... belongs to water."

Sun Ce couldn't help laughing and sneered. He didn't believe in this set of five elements' incompatible statements.

Friend Shen smiled bitterly and said nothing.

Guo Jia shook the feather fan and interrupted. "Gongsun Du is not so polite, he didn't say anything more ugly? For example, if you destroy the fire of Junhou, you will then wield the feathers of the phoenix ashes, and turn him into roast chicken or something."

Shen You was very embarrassed, but his expression already showed that Gongsun Du said that.

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Chapter completed!