Chapter 181: The Tough Ghost on the Road, the End of the Road Qin Zhen gave Liu Bei a heads-up on the possibility of Liu Chong being assassinated. After all, there is historical inertia. Even if a lot of history has changed, certain factors will still cause some special events to occur. Sometimes it's not just external influences that can change the outcome. It’s just that this time the events are completely different from the original trajectory of history. The reason for this, of course, has to start with Yuan Shu’s defeat. However, due to Qin Zhen's plan, Yuan Shu was besieged by five parties, which was unprecedented in history. The vast territory was completely devoured by the attacks of the five families, leaving less than 20,000 soldiers and horses to retreat to several counties in the northeast of Runan. With the State of Song as its base, he managed to survive between the two great princes, Liu Bei and Cao Cao. Faced with such a huge blow, Yuan Shu was unable to recover.

Seeing this, the ministers under his command naturally let it go, only Zhang Xun, Yan Xiang and others were still trying to persuade them. As soon as he arrived in Song, Yan Xiang gave Yuan Shu a warning: "Our army was defeated here, not because of the war, but because Your Majesty falsely claimed to be the Son of Heaven and led the princes of all directions to fight together!" "Until now, we have been defeated and retreated here. Cao Cao has taken over the southwest, and Liu Bei has taken over the northeast. It is difficult for us to expand our presence." "Why not take advantage of this moment when Cao Cao has no intention of advancing and submit a petition to the court, confessing all my crimes and asking for a pardon from the court?" "In this way, we can unite with Liu Chong, attack Xiang County, open up the road to Xuzhou, and then go south, transfer Liu Xun to attack north, unite with Sun Ce and Lu Bu to fight Liu Bei again, and perhaps we can retake the land of Huainan!" It can be said that Yan Xiang was really worried about Yuan Shu. Even though Yuan Shu was defeated, he was still planning a way for him to make a comeback. In his opinion, the key reason for Yuan Shu's defeat was not that Liu Bei planned too much, but that he was betrayed by his friends and relatives. In fact, as long as Yuan Shu did not proclaim himself emperor, people like Lu Bu and Sun Ce would not dare to confront Yuan Shu at all. If the two families do not send troops, no matter how strong Liu Bei's plan is, he will have no chance to occupy Huainan. Now, although Liu Bei occupied Huainan, he did not gain a firm foothold. At this time, as long as Yuan Shu was willing to surrender, he would still have a chance to rise again relying on the prestige of the Yuan family. But he was loyal, but Yuan Shu had already lost his energy and spirit, and replied directly: "We have been defeated many times, so we must not attack lightly. Now our troops are trapped and food is scarce. Even if we take Xiang County, it will be difficult to attack Liu Bei." "As for the matter of the memorial, Cao Cao is treacherous, how could he not investigate? The emperor will not let it go easily, this is absolutely impossible!" If he had more troops, he would naturally take the initiative. But after a series of defeats, his army of more than 100,000 was reduced to less than 20,000, and he no longer had the desire to fight for supremacy. Because he rejected Yan Xiang's request, he only allowed Zhang Xun, Li Ye and others to strictly guard the counties, and ordered Chen Ji and others to allow their soldiers to plunder, extort money and beautiful women, and indulge in wine and sex all day long. When everyone saw Yuan Shu like this, they all shook their heads and sighed and stopped trying to persuade him.

The winter passed like this. Although the disaster in the northeastern counties of Runan was not serious, they could not withstand the disaster caused by Yuan Shu. Before the spring, the areas under his rule were already in trouble with refugees and the people were uneasy. For a time, the nickname of Yuan Shu when he was the Changshui commander, the name of Yuan Changshui, the fierce ghost on the road, began to spread everywhere. Upon hearing this name, Yuan Shu was furious, but after all, there was not enough food and grass, so there was nothing he could do. In order to raise military rations, they had no choice but to swallow their pride and ask for military rations from local big families. After several months, more than 50,000 hu of military rations were collected, and the situation was finally stabilized. Seeing that refugees were causing trouble everywhere, he took the opportunity to recruit young and strong people and mobilized more than 20,000 peasant soldiers. Seeing this, Yuan Shu gradually became ambitious again and prepared to show his strength after the spring. However, things are never so smooth. Not long after Yuan Shu collected military rations, he discovered that Shu Shao of Pei County, a subordinate under his command, had distributed grain to the victims without authorization. Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu became furious and captured him and asked: "I appointed you as the governor of Pei because of your reputation. Now I am collecting food for military use everywhere. Why are you distributing it to the people?" "Aren't you afraid that I will execute you for your crimes?" Facing Yuan Shu's question, Shu Shao did not refute, but said in a deep voice: “So I knew I was going to die, so I dared to do this!” "You appointed me as the governor of Pei because of my reputation as a virtuous man, but now I see the people suffering so much, I cannot bear to see it!" "I am willing to sacrifice my own life to relieve the suffering of the people!" Having said this, he knelt down on the ground and said earnestly: "Distributing grain to save the people is all my fault. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!" When the ministers saw this, they all came forward to plead for mercy. In fact, the reason why the people were so miserable was naturally because of Yuan Shu. But these people cannot blame Yuan Shu, so they can only take the responsibility on themselves. Seeing everyone like this, Yuan Shu frowned and pondered for a long time before he sighed slightly. He stood up and helped Shu Shao up and said: "Why does Zhong Ying only wish to enjoy this name for himself, but not to share it with Shu?" "If you are loyal to your duties, how can you harm him?" Although Yuan Shu was addicted to pleasure, he actually had a way of winning people's hearts. Seeing this, Shu Shao was naturally grateful and shed tears. And the ministers under his command also secretly praised Yuan Shu for his generosity. After doing this, Yuan Shu ordered the release of Shu Shao and allocated a thousand shi of grain and fodder to help the victims. However, this move made his reputation sound much better. However, the army's food and grass supply was once again in a tight situation. Not only did the new soldiers he recruited begin to escape, but even his original troops began to slowly disintegrate. Seeing this, Yuan Shu naturally became anxious and quickly called everyone over to ask for advice. And now, even Yan Xiang felt a sense of despair.

If Yuan Shu had been more decisive before, even if he failed to defeat Liu Bei, he could have gone south to Lujiang or fled to Xuzhou to seek a comeback. But with a series of actions by Yuan Shu, the situation could not be worse. Even if the army is disbanded, as long as the prestige is still there and there is money and food, you can raise an army. But once people’s hearts are scattered, there’s no way to bring them back! Therefore, although Yan Xiang had the talent to govern the country, he could not come up with any good plan, so he could only suggest to Yuan Shu: "Now that our army is trapped in this situation, we have no other plans. The title of Son of Heaven is of no use. We should try to survive by this means." "Although your majesty is in decline, your brother Yuan Gong still dominates four states. It would be better to send a letter to Yuan Gong, offering the title of emperor to you and asking for his help." If Yan Xiang had said such words in the past, Yuan Shu would have been furious, because he had always looked down on this half-brother. He even wrote a letter to Gongsun Zan, bluntly stating that Yuan Shao was just a slave in his family and was not a member of the Yuan family at all. But now with so many blows coming at the same time, Yuan Shu had to face reality and sighed: "Yuan Benchu ​​and I have never been on good terms. If I ask him now, I'm afraid he won't accept it!" Seeing that he had given in, Yan Xiang quickly tried to persuade him: "If we talk about relatives in the world, there is no one better than parents and brothers. Yuan Gong is your elder brother. If Your Majesty is willing to ask for him, how can we not accept him?" Upon hearing this, Yuan Shu thought for a long time and then nodded in agreement. He then personally wrote a handwritten letter to Yuan Shao, first greeting his brother after a long time, and then stating that the destiny was with Yuan, not Liu. Now that the Yuan family controls half of the country and has a registered population of one million, they should be crowned emperor and revitalize the court. I am no longer able to do it right now, so I am prepared to give the title of emperor to my brother. I hope you will accept it. This letter was written in a very humble manner and was sent all the way to Hebei. At this time, Yuan Shao was besieging Gongsun Zan in Yijing. After receiving this letter, he thought that they were brothers after all, so he would not just stand by and watch him die. So he ordered his eldest son Yuan Tan to send troops to support Yuan Shu in his march north. At this time, Lu Bu led his troops northward and was fighting a fierce battle with Zang Ba because of Qin Song's previous words. When Yuan Tan saw this, he thought, how can I go to support them when the journey is thousands of miles away? After thinking for a long time, he wrote a letter back to Yuan Shu, saying that his nephew was ordered by his father to pick up his uncle and that Lu Bu was blocking the way and preventing him from going south. If my uncle is interested, he can go north from Xuzhou. Once he arrives in Xuzhou, I will lead the troops to meet you. When this letter reached Yuan Shu, he felt both happy and worried. He was naturally happy that Yuan Shao was willing to accept him to go to Hebei, but he was worried that it was a thousand miles from Runan to Qingzhou, so how could he get there? If he had no soldiers, he would naturally go alone. But now he has such a big plate under his command, neither Cao Cao nor Liu Bei will let him go. In response, Yuan Shu summoned everyone for questioning again. Seeing this, Yan Xiang was at a loss for a moment. Yang Hong, who had been imprisoned and neglected by Yuan Shu before, gave Yuan Shu an idea: "The problem facing our army today is not that our roads are blocked, but that we have no food!"

"Cao Cao is currently in Xuchang and has no intention of causing trouble for our army. The only person we should be concerned about is Liu Bei." "But Liu Bei has no food. It just so happens that Liu Chong of Chen State has accumulated a lot of food and supplies for many years. Maybe we can ask for some food and supplies!" Yuan Shu and Liu Chong had an old friendship. For quite a long time, Liu Chong was an ally of Yuan Shu. Otherwise, Yuan Shu would not have been able to station his troops in Fengqiu and threaten Dongjun. However, as Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, these relationships gradually severed. After hearing what Yang Hong said, Yuan Shu naturally sent an envoy to the State of Chen to meet Liu Chong. On the other hand, it is also said that Liu Ye had been favored by Liu Chong for a long time since he entered the State of Chen. After living there for several months, I naturally had a good impression of the Liu family's father and son. But the more this happened, the more worried he became. Because Qin Zhen had written him a letter before, saying that keeping Liu Chong was in their best interest. But most of Liu Chong’s troubles came from Yuan Shu. Liu Chong was so unprepared that he would be taken advantage of by Yuan Shu sooner or later, so they had to prepare for the worst and be ready to deal with the situation of Liu Chong being attacked at any time. As Liu Bei's adviser, Liu Ye naturally hopes to take the opportunity to strengthen Liu Bei's strength. However, as a human being, acting in this way is not in line with personal morality. As a result, he gradually came into contact with the generals under Liu Chong, and at the same time made friends with Liu Chong's son Liu Xian, so that he could offer advice to defeat Yuan Shu once he took action. At this time, Yuan Shu's envoy arrived in Chen County to ask Liu Chong for food. When Liu Chong heard that it was Yuan Shu who came to ask for food, he hesitated, but when Chen Guoxiang Luo Jun heard it, he came out and said bluntly: "Your Highness is from the royal family of the Han Dynasty. You are now granted a kingdom in Chen County and should serve as a shield for the emperor!" "Yuan Shu is a traitor to the country. If we don't attack him, then forget it. Why should we provide him with military supplies? We should expel his envoys and avoid causing misunderstandings in the court!" Luo Jun himself is also a talented person in governing the country, and can be regarded as Liu Chong's right-hand man. When he heard Luo Jun's words, he ordered the envoy's mouth and nose to be cut off and he was expelled from the State of Chen. Faced with this, Liu Ye was naturally shocked and hurriedly said to Liu Chong: "Your Majesty, just reject Yuan Shu's envoy. Why do you have to humiliate him so much?" Liu Chong listened to this and said indifferently: "Yuan Shu has retreated here, and his troops are no more than 20,000. I am not afraid of him!" Liu Ye was secretly shocked when he saw Liu Chong being so careless. He thought that Yuan Shu would surely be furious and might even send assassins as Qin Zhen said. Seeing that Liu Chong was so unprepared, he hinted to Liu Xian to persuade the guards in the palace to strictly guard against outsiders. Liu Xian was the son of Liu Chong, but unlike his father he was quite weak. Having known Liu Ye for such a long time and admiring his talent, he simply persuaded Luo Jun personally to send more guards to the palace.

Liu Ye acted in this way, and when the envoy who was expelled by Liu Chong returned to Yuan Shu's army, Yuan Shu saw him like this, and he became furious and said: "Liu Chong, the little brat, bullied me. He must be killed!" When his subordinates saw this, they were also very angry. Only Yan Xiang was still trying to persuade him, but even so he could not become enemies with Liu Chong. His words made Yuan Shu very angry, and he scolded him out. Seeing this, Yang Hong knew that Yan Xiang could not persuade him, and he should worry about Yuan Shu. So he quietly went to Yuan Shu's house at night and gave him advice: "Your Majesty, Liu Chong is just a warrior, but now he is so arrogant. Any common man can kill him!" "I heard that the imperial court is now summoning the great scholar Zheng Xuan to serve in the court. The county officials are welcoming him as he passes through. Now that he is on his way to Shanyang, he must pass through the State of Chen!" "As the King of Chen, Liu Chong should welcome him." "Why not send an assassin there and plant him there, and mobilize our troops to help from inside and outside, and we will surely be able to kill Liu Chong!" "Once Liu Chong dies, the State of Chen will fall into chaos. Your Majesty can take over the State of Chen and take over its troops. You don't need to go north and can take advantage of the situation to rise again!" When Yuan Shu heard this plan, he nodded repeatedly and immediately sent his general Zhang Kai to the north to carry out the operation. (End of this chapter)