Chapter 221 I want to unify the world before I die! How did a small county magistrate become the overlord of the south? Yuan Shao: How did he do it?
Yecheng, the provincial capital.

In the magnificent main hall, Hebei's counselors and generals gathered.

On the upper steps, a tall and handsome man in red clothes, who exuded nobility in his every move, was sitting upright.

"The four states of Hebei are finally in my hands. It's time to deal with Cao Aman..."

Yuan Shao spoke slowly, his calm and indifferent tone revealing a domineering aura that came from his voice without even being angry.

Inside the hall, everyone immediately quieted down, and all looked up at Yuan Shao.

Most of those eyes were filled with awe, and even worship, as if the one sitting high on the throne was not a great general of the Han Dynasty, but an emperor who already controlled the whole world.

"The thief Cao hijacked the world in Xuchang, acted arbitrarily and tyrannically, and disrupted the government. His intention to usurp the Han Dynasty and rebel is known to everyone in the world!"

"As a minister of the Han Dynasty, I have received the emperor's grace for generations. It is my unshirkable responsibility to fight against the traitors and support the government!"

"Now that the traitor Gongsun has been defeated, the four states have been pacified, and Hebei has been settled, I intend to mobilize all the troops in Hebei, lead the righteous men of the four states to cross the Yellow River to the south, kill the Han traitor Cao Cao, and welcome the emperor back to the old capital!"

"Are you willing to follow me and accomplish the unparalleled feat of supporting the Han Dynasty?"

Yuan Shao's voice was low and deep, like the sound of a huge bell, echoing throughout the mansion.

The counselors and generals below the stairs were instantly excited and filled with excitement.

"I wish to follow my lord, destroy Cao the thief, and welcome the emperor back to the old capital!"

Guo Tu was the first to jump out and responded generously.

Immediately afterwards, counselors and generals such as Xu You, Xin Ping, Xun Chen, and Chunyu Qiong stepped forward and responded enthusiastically.

Naturally, most of those who took the lead in expressing their opinions were strategists from Yingchuan, Runan.

They had waited too long for this day.

This group of people followed Yuan Shao to Jizhou, and they wanted to follow Yuan Shao day and night to fight across the Yellow River, return to their hometown, and recapture Runan Yingchuan.

Because they knew that as a group of people from other states, they were currently in a powerful position and were suppressing the power of the Hebei scholars.

But their hometown is in Ruying, which is Cao Cao's territory.

Without the support of their family, these Ruying scholars would be like rootless water. Sooner or later they would be suppressed by the Hebei scholars and their power would fade away.

Now that Yuan Shao has unified Hebei, he is determined to march south to seize the states in Henan. Guo Tu and other Ruying advisers are naturally eager to take advantage of this and are the most active.

On the contrary, Ju Shou and other Hebei-born advisers had a much colder attitude, and only a few responded generously.

"My lord, you have been at war with Gongsun Zan for years. Although Hebei has been pacified, the people are poor and exhausted. The warehouses are running low, and everyone wants stability."

"Feng thought that instead of hastily leading the army south to attack Cao Cao, it would be better to focus on restoring agriculture and recuperating the soldiers."

"Give us a few years to recuperate, and when we have enough soldiers and food, you can lead your army to station in Liyang and gradually develop the area south of the Yellow River."

"At that time, our army will press down on the Yellow River, luring Cao Cao to defend with his main force across the river, while we will use our elite cavalry to plunder the enemy's territory, making the enemy restless."

"In less than three years, the provinces of Henan will collapse, and you can sit back and rule the world!"

Tian Feng stood up and spoke a lot of profound truths, clearly expressing his opposition to an immediate attack on Cao Cao.

Yuan Shao stroked his thin beard and frowned slightly.

"Tian Yuanhao is right. I also think that sending troops at this time is too hasty."

"My lord, you can do as Yuan Hao said and focus on restoring agriculture, recuperating soldiers, and forging weapons and armor first."

"With the richness of the four provinces of Hebei, we will be able to raise 300,000 elite soldiers within three years."

"When the Lord's army of 300,000 enters Liyang and lets the horses drink from the Yellow River, perhaps not a single soldier will need to cross the river, and Cao Cao will be in awe of the Lord's might and surrender his land."

"My lord, didn't you conquer the world without fighting?"

Ju Su also stood up and joined Tian Feng in opposing Yuan Shao's march south.

Both of them were leaders of Hebei scholars. They took the lead in opposing the march south, and naturally represented the position of the majority of the Hebei faction.

Yuan Shao's brows grew deeper and deeper, but he still said nothing.

Guo Tu and other Ruying counselors were immediately furious and spoke out one after another to refute Tian Feng, Ju Su and other Hebei counselors.

The two groups of advisers started arguing in the hall and the argument became so intense that it became unbearable.

"Listen to me!"

Xu You, who had been silent all this time, suddenly yelled, interrupting the argument.

Everyone was shocked and shut their mouths involuntarily, looking at Xu You.

Xu You stood up, stepped forward, bowed to Yuan Shao, and said sternly:
"Since my lord took control of Jizhou, he fought against Gongsun Zan for nearly eight years before he was finally defeated and took over Hebei."

"Cao Cao is now even stronger than Gongsun Zan. Even if we send troops south immediately, it is still unknown how many years it will take to defeat Cao Cao."

"If, as Tian Yuanhao and Ju Gongyu said, the lord does not take advantage of the power of defeating Gongsun Zan to lead his troops south to destroy Cao, but instead devotes himself to restoring agriculture, it will take who knows when to destroy Cao."

"Life is short. How many eight years can we waste?"

In his remarks, Xu You did not discuss the specific strategy for destroying Cao, but instead focused on the time it would take to destroy Cao.

He obviously understood Yuan Shao's psychology more thoroughly than Guo Tu and others.

Yuan Shao’s biggest weakness is his age.

If you calculate carefully, Yuan Shao is nearly 50 years old now. To put it bluntly, one foot has already been put into the coffin, and no one knows when he will pass away.

For Yuan Shao, he is now racing against death, and all he wants for the rest of his life is to unify the world before the deadline.

As a second best option, he had to at least destroy Cao, unify the north, and lay the foundation for his successors to unify the world.

Then all strategies must serve this premise, otherwise they will be useless to Yuan Shao.

Xu You knew exactly what Yuan Shao was thinking, so he gave Yuan Shao a subtle reminder:
My lord, you are already half dead, don't listen to the nonsense of Tian Feng and Ju Su, hurry up and send your troops south, don't leave any regrets for yourself.

As expected. Xu You's words seemed to have touched Yuan Shao's sensitive nerves, causing him to suddenly tremble.

"boom!"

Yuan Shao slapped the table with his palm and said in a deep voice:
"Xu Ziyuan's words make sense. I just wiped out Gongsun Zan today, and the people of Youzhou have suffered from his scourge for eight years. How can I let the people of Henan suffer from Cao's oppression for another eight years!"

"I have made up my mind. I will lead my army south soon to comfort the people, punish the criminals, destroy Cao the thief, and welcome the emperor back to the old capital!"

He is so domineering and fierce that there is no room for doubt.

Xu You, Guo Tu and other Ruying scholars were secretly delighted and praised Yuan Shao for his wisdom.

Tian Feng, Ju Su and other Hebei advisers, seeing that Yuan Shao was so determined, did not dare to touch his weak spot again and dared not to persuade him anymore.

After Yuan Shao suppressed the opposition, his expression eased, and he asked his advisers to offer suggestions and work out a specific strategy to destroy Cao.

Xu You and other Ruying counselors were naturally very enthusiastic and vied with each other to offer suggestions.

The strategies proposed by everyone were similar, which was that Yuan Shao personally led an army of 200,000 troops from Yecheng to Liyang in the south, and crossed the Yellow River via Bai Ma or Yanjin.

The army then marched south, heading straight for Xu Du, forcing Cao Cao to engage in a strategic decisive battle with it, and then annihilate the main force of Cao's army in one fell swoop.

Afterwards, we will capture Xu Du, honor the emperor, and all the states in the Central Plains will be conquered by just one order!

Yuan Shao stroked his half-white beard and nodded slightly, indicating that the strategies of his advisers were roughly the same as what he had in mind.

"My lord, I order you to split your troops into two groups and march south!"

"We will lead the main force along the way, led by the lord himself, and head straight for Xudu."

"Another detachment should march south from Qingzhou, attack Xuzhou, and then drink from the Huai River!"

Seeing that he could not persuade Yuan Shao, Ju Su had to change his position and offer advice for Yuan Shao's southern expedition.

However, this strategy is different from that of Xu You and others.

He had to capture Xuzhou at the same time as attacking Xu Du!
"Gong Yu, dividing the troops to attack Xuzhou is a waste of effort."

"As long as we concentrate all our efforts, annihilate Cao Aman's main force, and take Xudu, not to mention Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Sizhou, won't they all be taken with a single order?"

"If that's the case, why do we have to divide our forces?"

Xu You sneered and refuted Ju Shou's strategy on the spot with a sarcastic tone.

Yuan Shao also picked up the tea, squinted his eyes and took a sip, seeming to disagree with Ju Su's suggestion.

Ju Su said solemnly:

"Xu Ziyuan, you are short-sighted. My strategy of dividing the troops is not to deal with Cao Cao, but to deal with Liu Bei!"

Liu Bei?

When this name came out, Xu You was stunned.

The rest of the counselors also looked bewildered.

Yuan Shao's tea bowl was suspended in the air, his squinted eyes slightly opened, and he cast the same confused look at Ju Su.

Obviously they didn't understand. Everyone was discussing how to defeat Cao Cao, so why did you, Ju Su, suddenly bring up Liu Bei?
"Liu Bei is a mat weaver and shoe seller. He is still separated from us by Cao Cao. If we want to deal with him, we have to destroy Cao Cao first."

"Ju Gongyu, I don't understand what you mean?"

Xu You shook his head, completely confused.

Ju Su said nothing, but ordered his guards to bring the map and spread it out in the hall.

"My lord, please read this. According to my spies, Liu Bei has already destroyed Sun Ce and taken Jiangdong into his possession."

"Now his main forces are gathering in Jiangdong, and he clearly intends to cross the river to the north, destroy Lu Bu, and take over Huainan."

"If they take Huainan first, they will take advantage of the confrontation between our army and Cao Cao to continue northward to take over the counties east of Xudu, Xuzhou and Yanzhou."

"Wouldn't it be like our army was fighting a bloody battle with Cao Cao, while Liu Bei was the one who benefited the most?"

"And if Liu Bei takes Xuzhou and Yanzhou, and heads west to Xudu, he can intervene in the decisive battle between the lord and Cao Cao. If he heads north, he can take advantage of the situation to capture Qingzhou, or even cross the river to Jizhou and threaten our rear!"

"How can my lord just sit back and watch such a huge threat?"

After explaining the reason, Ju Su bowed and said:

"That's why I want to ask you to divide your troops into two groups and take Xuzhou first. At least we can suppress Liu Bei south of the Huai River and prevent him from going north to reap the benefits!"

After hearing Ju Su's analysis, Yuan Shao finally became alert, stood up, walked down the stairs, and stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back.

"Liu Bei, Liu Bei..."

As Yuan Shao read the name, confusion gradually emerged in his eyes.

Looking back, when he led the princes of the world to hold an alliance to fight against Dong Zhuo, that mat weaver and shoe seller was just a small county magistrate who was not even worthy of a seat in the central military tent.

During the past eight years, he had been concentrating on defeating Gongsun Zan. He didn't want to look back and see that the small county magistrate at the beginning had transformed himself into a person who had even defeated Liu Biao and Sun Ce, killed his own brother Yuan Shu, and became a hegemon dominating half of the south of the Yangtze River!
"A man who only made mats and sold shoes could rise to such a high level in just a few years. This Liu Bei really makes me look at him with new eyes..."

Yuan Shao stroked his thin beard and nodded slightly. Although there was approval in his words, his expression and demeanor still showed a sense of superiority.

Ju Su then bowed and said sternly:

"Although Liu Bei was born in a humble family, he was quite talented and wise. Although he was inferior to my lord, he was comparable to Cao Cao."

"But the key to Liu Bei's rapid rise, from fleeing to Xuzhou to dominating half of Jiangnan, was the assistance of Xiao Fang."

"This man is extremely resourceful and wise, and is known as the reincarnation of Zhang Liang, the sage of strategy!"

"It is thanks to this man's meticulous planning that Liu Bei has achieved what he has today!"

Xiao Fang!

Hearing this name, Yuan Shao's half-open eyes finally opened completely.

(End of this chapter)