Chapter 459 I am the overall situation
Baie Valley, pavilion halfway up the mountain.

Dian Wei wore a full-face helmet and beat the drum with his strong arms, while Lu Bu wore a visor and sat in front of the zither stand, plucking the strings of the zither rapidly with his hands. It was a gradual and repeated progression that no one around had ever heard, and it always maintained a passionate melody.

I thought the gradual process would eventually lead to an extreme outburst, but it suddenly stopped with the sound of a drum, like a sudden death in the prime of life.

There was no other melody for a moment, no sign of revival.

Zhang Liao, who had recovered his composure, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, what is this song?"

"Butterflies dance across the sky."

Black Bear uttered four words and waved his hand. Lu Bu and Dian Wei put down their instruments, put on white silk gloves, and then one stood behind Black Bear while the other walked out of the pavilion and stood there holding a halberd, like stone sculptures.

At this time, Wang Xiu stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty, I would like to play a song for you."

Sun Qian and others looked over, and Kong Rong also stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty, this is what Wang Shuzhi said in his heart."

"can."

Black Bear served him a sip of tea, Wang Xiu bowed again, then rolled up his sleeves and tied his cuffs tightly, sat in front of the piano stand, plucked the strings to test the sound, and then began to play.

The sound of the piano is bleak and sad, in stark contrast to the warm mountain breeze and bright late spring weather.

Kong Rong and Xu Gan who were standing outside the pavilion could not help shedding tears. Sun Qian, as the messenger, had a stern face and was secretly gritting his teeth.

After the song ended, Wang Xiucai wiped his tears with his sleeve.

Sun Qian then cupped his hands and said: "Grand Marshal, Cao is as brutal as Jie and Zhou. The people in all directions are terrified and feel as if they are in a state of fire and water. Now people and gods are angry about the north and south of the river. We should conquer them to bring peace to the people."

Black Bear pointed at the table and said, "Now in Guanzhong, the officials and civilians only have two meals a day, and each meal contains only five he of millet. I wonder how many meals the civilians in Youzhou and Jizhou have a day, and how much millet they have for each meal?"

Sun Qian replied: "Jizhou still has savings, which can supply 50,000 troops for half a year, enough to last until the summer grain collection."

"So General Yuan has food, but I am short of food in Guanzhong. I wonder if Youzhou will have enough food and fodder for the expedition to Qingzhou?"

"Reporting to the Grand Marshal, General Yuan will pay for the food and military supplies."

Sun Qian's eyes sparkled, "This is a war of justice. The people of Hebei and Hebei should unite as one. Otherwise, if Cao Cao swallows up Qingzhou, Jizhou will be the first to suffer. With the wisdom of Jizhou's people, how could they be so unwise as to harm our righteous army?"

"The Yellow River is a dangerous place. Crossing the river is the most difficult task."

Black Bear said calmly, "As far as I know, Cao Cao defeated the pirates and got more than 10,000 soldiers. He also surrounded Liu Yi in Donglai, and the Liaodong navy was trapped in the bay port. When the troops from Youzhou and Hebei gathered, Cao Cao defeated Liu Yi and took his boats. How can the Hebei troops fight with such a huge navy blocking the Yellow River?"

Sun Qian replied calmly: "Lord Xuande has also sent an envoy to Liaodong to rescue Liu Yi. Liaodong will naturally send more navy and soldiers to help."

After hearing this, Black Bear just smiled calmly: "Mr. Gongyou has closed his eyes and ears because of hatred. Now he is wholeheartedly thinking about the coalition forces from all sides to punish Cao Cao. Unfortunately, I also received news from Jiangdong."

Then he handed over a wooden tablet on the table, and Dian Wei stood up behind him and passed it to Sun Qian.

Sun Qian took it with both hands and lowered his head to read, his face changed drastically: "How could this be?"

"Why not?"

Black Bear looked southward, watching the soldiers felling trees and planting saplings in the distance, and said leisurely: "After all, Cao Cao is a minister appointed by the emperor of the southeast. Liu Fu is also worried that Cao Cao will take advantage of the situation to annex Xuzhou. The people of Xuzhou and Zang Ba are also afraid of Cao Cao. At this moment, the people of Xuzhou are eagerly looking forward to the king's army in their eyes, and the king's army is also heading north."

His tone remained calm: "When the Jiangdong army arrives in Langya, they will watch the battle. The harder you fight, the more likely Cao Cao will send his son to the southeast as a hostage. With the hostage, Xu Huai's troops will advance by land and sea, and Hebei's troops will be unable to defeat them. They will be at a disadvantage by then." He turned around and looked at Sun Qian: "Cao Cao has gained the advantage of terrain, so it is not appropriate to start a war now."

Sun Qian looked dejected, so he asked, "Could it be that the Grand Marshal was indifferent to Cao Cao's atrocities?"

"Haha, Qingzhou has indeed suffered a great man-made disaster."

Black Bear took a sip of tea and asked Sun Qian, "Mr. Gongyou, do you know anything about Jingzhou?"

Sun Qian was a little confused about this. They evacuated very cleanly and were not clear about the specific situation in Jingzhou.

At this time, Fa Zheng straightened his back, turned his waist and turned sideways to face Sun Qian and explained, "Before Your Majesty withdrew from Shuzhong to Guanzhong, the governor of Nanyang, Zhou Gongjin, was ambushed in Suicheng, and the governor of Hounan, Fu Xun, was assassinated in Xiangyang. The governor of Jingzhou, Lu Yi, who was appointed in the southeast, has led 30,000 troops to station in Hankou and Jukou areas, and is about to join forces with Huang Zu to attack."

Fa Zheng bowed to the Black Bear at the top and said, "They learned that Your Majesty had returned to Guanzhong, and Lu Yi had withdrawn his troops to the south to station in Baqiu to control Dongting Lake. They are watching the changes in Jingzhou. If we send troops to Qingzhou now, Jingzhou will inevitably change. Jingzhou has more than three million men and women, and they will inevitably be caught in war and disaster. For the sake of Jingzhou's safety and peace, Your Majesty should not act rashly."

Sun Qian immediately asked: "Can we send a general with only 5,000 troops to make Yanzhou and Yuzhou rebel and help to fight against the bandits?"

Fa Zheng said: "The Grand Marshal now governs five states, and we need good generals to guard each place. Yizhou is a new annexation, and the treasury is not full, so we can't send anyone and there is no food available."

Fa Zheng sighed as he spoke: "There is no shortage of military supplies and equipment in the treasury, and many soldiers are eager to fight, but we lack good generals who can take on important tasks. As for food and fodder, if we conquer the Xianbei, Xiongnu, and Qiang tribes, we can easily get 10,000 cavalry. But if such 10,000 cavalrymen attack Qingzhou, won't it implicate Yanzhou and Yuzhou?"

Then Fa Zheng said, "If we can persuade General Yuan to let these 10,000 elite cavalrymen go to Hebei to join the war and supply them with food and fodder, then maybe it will work."

Did Yuan Shang dare to allow his own army of more than 10,000 troops to enter the territory?

It was not possible to march along the north bank of the Yellow River either, as the area southeast of Yecheng was simply a plain with no strategic locations to defend.

With more than 10,000 Hu militiamen entering this area, the people of Hebei can no longer expect to produce in peace.

Sun Qian was speechless, and Fa Zheng immediately said, "Xiahou Dun is now guarding Luoyang, and his forces are much weaker than before. Given his friendship with Cao Cao, he will not easily let our army pass. Therefore, the proposal of joining forces to attack Cao depends on the sincerity of General Yuan."

In order to supply food and fodder to Liu Bei's army, and also to feed more than 10,000 servants and knights, how much can one person eat?

The cost of feeding more than 10,000 horses is not small, not to mention that now is the season for nomadic travel and fattening up. If we want to send troops, we have to wait until around August to recruit this group of vassal troops.

At present, the various Hu tribes are divided into small groups and roaming around everywhere, the recruitment efficiency is very low, and the Hu knights who are recruited are not interested in fighting.

Sun Qian no longer paid attention to the troublesome Fa Zheng, and looked at Black Bear again, saying sadly: "Grand Marshal, this is a righteous battle for Dongzhou!"

Fa Zheng continued, "We should not act rashly now. We cannot go to war just because it is a matter of Jingzhou. Victory will not benefit us, and defeat will destroy our prestige. The wicked and evil people will rise up, and the tragedy in Jingzhou will be far worse than that in Qingzhou."

At this time, Yang Xiu also stood up and said, "That's right. Cao Cao is now a desperate enemy, so he is extremely vicious. For Your Majesty, the Southeastern Rebellion Chief Liu Fu is the real enemy. The current stalemate in Jingzhou is related to the overall situation of the world, and we cannot lose the overall situation because of a corner of Qingzhou."

Fa Zheng nodded, looked around at everyone, and said, "If Liu Xuande insists on joining forces with General Yuan to punish Cao Cao, then all we can do is to increase the troops in Jingzhou to contain the southeastern rebels and make it difficult for them to interfere in the Qingzhou war."

It’s not that we don’t want to help, but the conditions are really not there on the frontal battlefield.

But we can start from the side and draw in the hostile intervention forces outside the front battlefield.

Whether we can win depends on the performance of Liu Bei and Yuan Shang.

After listening to this, Sun Qian was speechless for a long time.

(End of this chapter)