Chapter 320 Only Attack
In Wancheng, Nanyang, Sun Qian rode a carriage from north to south along the Jackdaw Road.

Xiahou Dun had already lost control of the areas outside the Eight Passes. This time, Sun Qian returned from Hebei and went directly through Henei, Xingyang, Luyang, and Jackdaw Road.

But Sun Qian looked serious. As a strategist who traveled to various places, Sun Qian was more aware of the strength and foundation of Guanzhong and Hebei.

Originally, Black Bear had no foundation, so when fighting against the Huns, he did not draw any troops to help, but only mobilized soldiers to defend his homeland; later, when Taiyuan and Hedong rebelled, he only drew a small number of troops to help.

It is the same now, the expedition to Hetao is only a mobilization on a limited scale.

The rest of the population is engaged in production, and this is the foundation.

Hebei has a strong foundation. Although there are spring locusts and dry weather this year, the drought is less severe than last year.

The defeat of Cao's army in Liyang greatly increased Yuan Shang's prestige. He was able to use strong measures to balance the supply and demand of grain, and stabilize the tight grain market in Hebei.

For Yuan Shang, the current external environment is really good.

It is the time to launch an all-out attack on the six counties of Youzhou, and no one can interfere in the front and rear areas.

The only one who could rescue Xianyu Fu was Gongsun Du of Liaodong.

Liu Bei naturally wanted to rescue Xianyu Fu; like Liu Fu of Huainan, Liu Bei also sent mediation documents to Hebei.

Even Sun Quan didn't buy into the mediation letter, let alone the famous Yuan Shang.

After washing up briefly, Sun Qian came out to meet Liu Bei and others.

Except for Zhao Yun at the Wankou front line, other relatively important civil and military officials were present as observers.

Liu Bei sat in the main seat, with his left hand resting on a square wooden barrel. He tapped it with his index and middle fingers, making a crisp sound.

Rationally speaking, Liu Bei would rather develop his career in peace for a year.

But the events in the Central Plains were too drastic, and we couldn't blame Black Bear for going to Xu Du and triggering internal conflicts within Cao Cao.

In fact, just wandering around the city of Xudu would not have caused such a big change. The key point was that Cao Hong died in battle outside the city.

Was Cao Hong's death the result of bad luck, or was it because Tai Shi Wen Gong was too brave and powerful... or was there someone who deliberately set up a trap and sold Cao Hong's head?
Cao Hong’s death was the root cause of all the disasters.

If things develop for another year, Liu Bei will have the confidence to launch a war of conquest on his own; the officers and soldiers recruited in Nanyang can also be trained and tempered, which will be beneficial for taking over the Central Plains in the future.

When it comes to actual farming, Liu Bei is very strong.

From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the present, Liu Bei has always lacked a stable base where he can develop deeply; but every time he arrived in a new place, he was able to quickly remove the local shackles, which not only increased local productivity but also enhanced military-related foundations.

The reason is that Liu Bei has been liberating productivity and making use of production resources as efficiently as possible within the limits of tolerance of all parties.

For example, the redistribution of idle and abandoned land, the education of the army and refugees, and the development of handicrafts made the quality, morale, and cohesion of Liu Bei's headquarters different from others.

But after so many years of fighting, Liu Bei was never able to deeply cultivate a region.

Every time there was a defeat and a large-scale migration, a large number of talents trained in the short term would be lost and damaged. This year, Liu Bei really wanted to restrain himself, be patient and accumulate for another year.

However, both internal and external factors will not give him the opportunity to accumulate strength, and the current public opinion environment does not allow it.

This is the characteristic of Liu Bei's forces. The characteristic of Cao Cao's forces has always been very obvious, that is, Cao Cao's personal guard headquarters has been gone several times, and there has never been a real direct force, which makes the army construction and development congenitally insufficient.

Therefore, being a newly dependent refugee for Liu Bei, being a personal soldier for Cao Cao, or being a commander-in-chief for Sun Quan were all very dangerous things.

In the hall, Sun Qian said: "The Grand Marshal is now using his troops outside the Great Wall and is unable to interfere in the affairs east of Taihang Mountain. And the lord will deploy his troops in the Central Plains, so the mediation strategy is not valued by the Yuan family."

When it comes to hometown, Zhang Fei spoke first: "So, now Xianyu Fu and others can only ask Gongsun Du for help? Qian Zhao works for the Yuan family, and he is also friends with Tian Yu and others. What does Qian Zhao say?"

Sun Qian coughed twice before calmly explaining, "General Yide, Qian Zijing was originally a military officer of the Hebei shogunate, and was highly regarded by the Yuan family. Later, he was appointed as the governor of Bingzhou, but he could not keep the people at home, nor repel the barbarians abroad. He was at a loss as to what to do, so he was often criticized."

Zhang Fei frowned, "People in Hebei are good at burying heroes. It was a mess at that time. Qian Zhao was a hero for escaping unscathed." Liu Bei waved his hand to signal Zhang Fei to stop, and asked, "Based on Gong You's opinion, is the chance of Gongsun Du sending troops high or low?"

"I have heard that Gongsun Du dominated Liaodong and all the Goguryeo tribes submitted to him. Now he has over 100,000 soldiers under his command and is a powerful figure."

Sun Qian said calmly from beginning to end: "Gongsun Du built sea vessels and had the intention of crossing the Bohai Sea to occupy Jiaodong and Donglai. How could such a person not have the awareness of the coldness of lips and teeth? If the Yuan family is pressing too hard, in my opinion, Xianyu Fu, Tian Yu and others will take six counties to attach themselves to Gongsun Du."

After hearing this, Liu Bei raised his hand and touched his beard. His beard was light, so it felt quite hard.

Liu Bei rubbed his stubble with his thumb and said thoughtfully, "According to what Gongyou said, in the future Gongsun Du will occupy Youzhou and lead more than 200,000 soldiers?"

"Yes. Xianyu Fu and his men have a deep hatred for the Yuan family. Now they have no strong support from outside and can only rely on Gongsun Du to survive."

Sun Qian made his own judgment, and everyone felt heavy in their hearts.

They only officially gained the right to govern Nanyang County last year, and it was still a beggar version of Nanyang County after it was torn apart.

After painstaking efforts, the army size was restored to around 12,000 or 13,000.

During the past ten days, the surrender trend led by Lu Zhao, the defender of Luyang, has led to the change of flags in more than 20 counties around Yingchuan and Xingyang, and the number of people in the periphery has increased by nearly 20,000.

These 20,000 people were just local manpower for defending the city. Liu Bei could only define these people as defensive manpower and could not define the other side as an army.

Before completely annihilating or crippling Cao Ren's highly mobile army, which had the bad habit of storming and massacring cities, the troops in the counties of Xingyang and Yingchuan that had changed their flags could not be transferred out at all.

The power here is growing slowly, but Gongsun Du, if he swallows up Xianyu Fu in one bite, will be able to expand to six counties immediately and greatly increase his power.

In the border county area, Gongsun Du, who obtained these six counties, could naturally persuade more small tribes of miscellaneous Hu in the periphery to surrender and become dependent on him, and the size of his vassal army alone could be increased a lot.

But there is nothing to envy. When Black Bear is free, one of Yuan Shang and Gongsun Du will be in trouble.

Therefore, it is very likely that these two people will repeat the old story of Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao; both sides will put pressure on each other and devour Xianyu Fu just like they did with Han Fu.

Then they would either fight each other or form an alliance. One would continue to attack the surrounding Hu tribes to expand its power, while the other would rest and wait for an opportunity to attack the Central Plains.

After hearing this, Xu Shu said to Liu Bei, "If you want to save the country, you have to defeat Cao Cao and take all the land in Henan. Relying on the Yellow River, you can still deal with Yuan. But if you do this, the four warring areas in the Central Plains will be in turmoil from now on. If you can't resolve the deadlock, it will be difficult for you to achieve anything in the future, just like Han, Wei and Song."

Liu Bei's expression froze when he heard this, and Guan Yu said, "Why should we be afraid of the troops from Hebei?"

"Yeah, there's no use in being afraid."

Liu Bei took a deep breath and looked at Xu Shu: "The plan to send troops remains unchanged."

Then he went to see Sun Qian and said, "Gongyou, take a rest for a few days. Later, we will need Gongyou to go to Guanzhong to explain the affairs of Yan and Zhao to the Grand Marshal. We need to be vigilant about the alliance between Yan and Zhao."

There was no choice at the moment, Liu Biao and his son were always on guard against them; if they dared to seize Jingzhou, Liu Biao and his son would seek an alliance with Guanzhong.

Whether it is Black Bear or Yuan Tan of Jiaozhou, they will put Liu Bei's side at a moral disadvantage.

At present, they can only focus on advancing towards the Central Plains. As for Hebei, Guanzhong, or Jianghuai, they cannot influence or intervene in them.

The Central Plains has become a huge arena, and the winner will own everything before both sides.

If our side has no way to retreat, Cao Cao will fight to the death.

If given a choice, no one would want to fight to the death with Cao's army who are now massacring cities at will.

Liu Bei had never been afraid of Cao Cao or his army. What made him difficult was the extremely passive strategic situation after the war.

Even if they completely wiped out Cao's army and took over Cao's territory, without the emperor, they would not be able to obey the emperor's orders to fight against the enemy in the future, and any action would lead to intervention from surrounding forces.

(End of this chapter)