After receiving Xun Yan's report, Yuan Tan sighed to the sky.

He knew the emperor's intentions and knew that he had no choice but to accept reality. Fortunately, the emperor sent Lu Bu and others to help, and stationed troops in Hanoi, restraining Lu Su and Lu Fan's troops, which was not considered as standing by. With Xun Yan's help, it should be no problem to defeat Cao Ang and occupy Yanzhou. It would be worth it to trade one Hanoi for the entire Yanzhou.

After discussing, Yuan Tan, Ju Su, Guo Tu and others quickly responded to Xun Yan, agreed to the emperor's plan, and asked Xun Yan to cross the river immediately, enter Yanzhou, and first defeat Cao Ang who was attacking Dingtao.

After receiving the order, Xun Yan immediately reported to the emperor. The emperor was very satisfied. After handing over the relevant affairs, he held a banquet for Xun Yan to go on a grand journey. During the meal, he formally introduced Lu Bu to Xun Yan and asked him to cooperate with Xun Yan in the battle. Before that, the emperor had repeatedly explained the significance of this battle to Lu Bu, including its significance to the court and its significance to Lu Bu himself. Lu Bu was full of fighting spirit, patted his chest and promised to help Xun Yan with all his strength.

Liu Bei also introduced Zhao Yun and Qian Zhao to Xun Yan, especially Zhao Yun. This time Zhao Yun fought with Qian Zhao, and Zhao Yun was the main general, and the relevant matters were decided by him. Xun Yan didn't know Liu Bei's true thoughts, so he just thought that Liu Bei was worried that Yuan Tan would let them die, so he let Zhao Yun, who had no friendship with Yuan Tan, take the lead, so he would not make things difficult for Qian Zhao. Although he was an allies, guarding against each other could not be avoided. Xun Yan had been mentally prepared for this and was competing for power. Now he still focused on war and did not care too much.

During the meal, Xun Yan revealed his combat plan in front of the emperor and Liu Bei. They would cross the river in Yanjin, and then rushed to Dingtao. Li Jin occupied Dingtao and rebelled. Cao Ang was attacking Dingtao, trying to stabilize the situation in Yanzhou, and for this reason, he would not hesitate to watch Yuan Tan conquer Dong'a.

When Liu Bei learned that Yuan Tan had conquered Dong'a, he asked Cheng Yu curiously. When he was the governor of Yanzhou, he was deeply impressed by Cheng Yu. Xun Yan said that he had not received detailed battle reports and was not very clear about Cheng Yu's whereabouts. Liu Bei smiled and did not ask again. Cheng Yu was originally highly valued by Yuan Tan, but now he serves Cao Ang and defends Dong'a for nearly a month. The possibility of surrender should be unlikely. He knew that Cao Ang was not Yuan Tan's opponent, and was fighting with the former master who promoted him. Is it Cao Ang's personality charm or Yuan Tan's unpopularity?

The next day, Xun Yan led the camp to the east. The emperor and Liu Bei were not idle either. They collected ships everywhere and acted as if they were forcing the Yellow River to cross the Yellow River, attracting Xu Sheng's attention and preventing him from dividing his troops to the east.

Two days later, Xun Yan crossed the Yellow River in Yanjin and rushed straight to Dingtao.

Dong Zhao received Yuan Tan's order to strengthen the surveillance of Chen Liu and Junyi and prevented Lu Yi from leading his troops eastward.

Cao Ang raised the military newspaper he had just received, shook it gently, and wanted to say something but stopped. Thousands of words surged to his mouth, but turned into a sigh in the wind.

"Brother Gongtai, Brother Xiaoxian, the situation is over."

Chen Gong, Mao Jie lowered his head and remained silent. They knew that this day would come sooner or later, but when this day really came, they were still very sad. Yanzhou wanted to survive in the cracks, but now the cracks did not exist. Yuan Tan attacked with all his might, Sun Ce did not move, and the Yanzhou family was in chaos again, and Cao Ang could no longer support him. Xun Yan's arrival was just the last blow, and even if he didn't come, Cao Ang would not support him for too long.

Li Jin has been operating in Dingtao for so long, but he is not able to break it in a hurry.

Chen Gong turned to look at Mao Jie. "Xiaoxian, I want to accompany the envoy to Yizhou."

Mao Jie was a little surprised, but then he felt relieved. Chen Gong had a close relationship with the father and son of the Cao family, and he was always conceited with loyalty, so it was impossible for him to leave Cao Ang at this time. Although he had not received any exact news, he had heard that Cao Cao had a letter coming to invite Chen Gong and Cao Ang to enter Shu together. But he was unwilling to do so and did not want to leave Yanzhou.

"What are you going to leave?" Mao Jie said: "I'll make arrangements."

Chen Gong exchanged glances with Cao Ang and nodded. Mao Jie was unwilling to accompany him, and they could not force him.

"Brother Xiaoxian, what are your plans?" Cao Ang said,

Mao Jie shook his head with a wry smile. "I haven't thought about it yet, I may retire to study."

"Why don't you do this? Thank you for your hard work, go to Jianye, and say goodbye to the King of Wu on my behalf. My mother refused to follow me to Yizhou and insisted on returning home. In the future, under the rule of the King of Wu, she would ask him to take care of her. Over the years, I have benefited a lot from my relationship with the King of Wu and it is a pity..."

Cao Ang sighed, choked up and couldn't say anything. Chen Gong got up and walked behind him, patting his shoulder. He knew that Cao Ang couldn't help but feel confused, but this was the status quo and no one could solve it.

Mao Jie didn't say anything else and agreed. He knew Cao Ang's good intentions, which was equivalent to recommending him to Sun Ce and giving him a chance.

Cao Ang immediately wrote a handwritten letter and handed it to Mao Jie, asking him to rush to Suiyang, defect to Ding Chong, and then rushed to Jianye. Mao Jie did not delay, and simply cleaned up and set off. Xun Yan had already crossed the Yellow River, and the cavalry was fast, so he might appear outside Dingtao City at any time. If he was late, he might not be able to leave.

After seeing off Mao Jie, Cao Ang immediately ordered the camp to withdraw his troops and retreat to Changyi. He sent people to send letters to Yuan Tan and the emperor to negotiate the relevant matters of surrender. He said that he could surrender to the court and never surrender to Yuan Tan. There were conditions for surrender to the court. He would lead his subordinates to Yizhou and surrender to his father Cao Cao. If the court could agree to this condition, he would surrender and hand over to Yanzhou. Otherwise, he would defend Changyi to Sun Ce and surrender to Yanzhou.

After receiving Cao Ang's letter, Yuan Tan, Ju Su and others discussed it and decided to accept Cao Ang's conditions. Time is precious, so they cannot delay too long and waste time and troops in vain. Occupying Yanzhou as soon as possible and seizing time to plow spring plow will undoubtedly benefit the subsequent war.

Soon, the emperor's reply also arrived. He also accepted Cao Ang's conditions and agreed to go to Yizhou by Cao Ang and his subordinates, and was willing to provide Cao Ang with the supplies needed along the way to ensure that Cao Ang could arrive in Yizhou safely and smoothly.

In late March, the agreement was reached, Cao Ang gave up Changyi and led more than 2,000 people including Chen Gong, Cao Ren and others to Yanzhou and rushed to Hanoi. Lu Bu had already received the emperor's edict and personally went to Dingtao City to surrender. He led his troops to protect him along the way, and escorted Cao Ang across the Yellow River and escaped from the territory controlled by Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan immediately entered Changyi and issued an edict to the counties and counties in Yanzhou. Yuan Tan's army was approaching the territory. The Yanzhou family had different opinions and many people raised the flag to support Yuan Tan. Now Cao Ang voluntarily gave up, and the remaining people had no intention of resisting and surrendered one after another. Only Cheng Yu, who was captured by the city, refused to surrender. Yuan Tan could not kill him or her, and could not let him go, so he had to lock him in prison, serve him with good wine and meat, hoping that he would be influenced one day.

Taking over half of Yanzhou, Yuan Tan did not rush to attack. He ordered a rest, seize the time to plow the spring plow, and then adjust the personnel of Yanzhou and re-dividing the interests. Of course, those aristocratic families that had resisted with Cao Ang would not have any good results. Even if they were not killed, they would be inevitable without a part of the industry. Yuan Tan rewarded the idle industries and land to soldiers who made meritorious service to boost morale and prepare for the next battle.

Since the Yellow Turbans, Yanzhou's household registration has dropped sharply, and there has been a lot of abandoned land, which has saved Yuan Tan a lot of trouble. The Jizhou families who participated in the war have obtained a lot of land, and everyone is happy for a while.

However, Yuan Tan soon discovered a problem: Yanzhou has too few populations, and there is land, but no one cultivates it. Even if he wants to farm, he can only implement military garrisons, that is, military garrisons. In this way, he will not be able to organize a war for at least two months. Even so, the land he can cultivate is very limited. After all, it is impossible for him to let all soldiers go to farm. In order to prevent Yuzhou from counterattacking, he must maintain at least half of his troops to guard the Sui River and prevent Man Chong's attack.

Soon, Yuan Tan encountered another problem: the reason why Cao Ang was able to get the support of the Yanzhou family was because he had a lot of trade with Yuzhou. These trades not only allowed the Yanzhou family to buy good and cheap goods, but also allowed Cao Ang and the Yanzhou family to gain benefits. After the war began, because the Yanzhou family refused to rely on Sun Ce, the Yuzhou direction stopped all trade, and these benefits were gone. The Yanzhou family not only could not get the Yuzhou products, but also was forced to accept that Jizhou had one grade of poor quality but had a price of several percent higher, and the living standards dropped rapidly.

Many people began to regret it. If they had known this, it would have been better to follow Cao Ang to surrender to Sun Ce.

How to appease these Yanzhou families has become a headache for Yuan Tan. The expenses of the 200,000 army have been unbearable, and he cannot afford to pay more benefits to appease the Yanzhou families, especially when the Jizhou families have not been met, it is even more unrealistic to use the interests of Jizhou to appease the Yanzhou families.

In addition, the supply of the 200,000 army is also a big problem. Yanzhou has too few household registrations and most of them are controlled by aristocratic families. The food it can provide is very limited and is far from meeting the supply of the 200,000 army, so it can only be transferred from Jizhou. Tian Feng sent news one after another, hoping that Yuan Tan would make a decision as soon as possible. If the battle is fought, then the battle will be decided quickly. If there is no battle, then the main force will be withdrawn back to Jizhou. The number is too large, the transportation consumption is amazing, and Jizhou will not last long. As the weather warms, the Yellow River flows again, and the Jiangdong Navy may enter the Yellow River at any time. The transportation between Jizhou and Yanzhou will be even more difficult.

After thinking about it, there seems to be only one solution: attacking Yuzhou. The aristocratic family in Yuzhou has been completely cleaned up by Sun Ce, but it has a large number of household registrations. The wealth of money and grain is not as rich as Jizhou, and Yanzhou can compare. After taking Yuzhou, he has enough money and grain to reward soldiers and appease the aristocratic family.

But attacking Yuzhou is not easy. Man Chong, under the order of Sun Ce, summoned more than 200,000 people to defend the city, strengthen the walls and clear the fields, and a large amount of money and grain were in the city. If he wanted to obtain the money and grain, he had to attack the city. The battle of Gaotang once again came to Yuan Tan's mind. If the counties in Yuzhou were like Gaotang, then the promotion of the entry of Yuzhou into Yuzhou might be a way to quench thirst.

Yuan Tan, Ju Su and Guo Tu repeatedly discussed and decided to launch an attack after spring plowing.

Before this, he will take down Junyi first.
Chapter completed!