Chapter 290: Heaven's Opportunity, White Horse Gift As Liu Bei took action, the situation in the south became increasingly tense, but in contrast, the north was not idle either. Youzhou, Zhuojun, Yixian, strictly speaking, this place is the gateway to Youzhou. In the impression of later generations, the place of the decisive battle between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao should be in Gongsun Zan’s hometown. But in fact, the place called Yijing is right on the border of Jizhou. The reason for this is that four years ago, Gongsun Zan was under the command of Liu Yu. Later, due to the feud between the two families, Gongsun Zan took advantage of the situation to kill Liu Yu and occupied the entire Youzhou. But Liu Yu was not a simple person, because he had been governing Youzhou for many years and adopted a conciliatory policy towards foreigners, and he enjoyed a high prestige among foreigners and Youzhou scholars. However, Gongsun Zan was not a heroic ruler. After entering Youzhou, he began to favor treacherous and corrupt officials and employ mediocre people. As long as one could please him, he would become friends with him wholeheartedly, and he even became brothers with fortune teller Liu Weitai, cloth merchant Li Yizi, businessman Le Hedang and others.

Under such a comparison, Youzhou and the other Hu people naturally disliked him very much. Therefore, in the second year of Xingping, Yuan Shao sent his general Ju Yi to unite the various Hu tribes and Liu Yu's former subordinates to lead an army of 100,000 to attack him. Gongsun Zan was badly defeated in this battle, and fled to Yi County, where he fought with Ju Yi for more than a year. In the first year of Jian'an, there was a severe drought in Hebei, locust plagues were rampant, and grain was expensive, so Ju Yi withdrew his troops. Gongsun Zan relied on his own talents and did not care about the common people. He stored three million hu of grain and built a large number of tall buildings in Yijing. This move further caused the people under his command to rebel. Daijun, Guangyang, Shanggu, and Youbeiping killed their leaders and surrendered to Yuan Shao. At this point, Gongsun Zan trapped himself in this small town on the border of Jizhou and Youzhou. Seeing that Gongsun Zan was seeking his own death, Yuan Shao intended to spare his life and seek peace with him. Unexpectedly, Gongsun Zan had no intention of surrendering and just insisted on defending Yi County. Seeing how rigid the situation was, Yuan Shao stopped hesitating and once again led his troops north to attack Gongsun Zan. This time, they went north to directly besiege Gongsun Zan's generals, intending to lure Gongsun Zan to send troops. Unexpectedly, Gongsun Zan was determined to defend the city to the death. When he saw his generals asking for help, he said bluntly: "If you save one person, those who come after you will only hope to be saved and will not fight to the death." Afterwards, he allowed Yuan Shao to attack his subordinates without providing any rescue, which caused the generals to become alienated and defect to Yuan Shao one after another. This led Yuan Shao to march directly to the city of Yijing and surround Gongsun Zan there. At this time, outside the city of Yijing, a large number of soldiers were trying to persuade the enemy to surrender, and there was a tent set up ten miles behind them. Heavy snow piled up on the side of the road, and in the middle stood a large tent, which was larger than the surrounding tents. Inside the tent, Yuan Shao's civil and military officials gathered together, including the counselors Xu You, Guo Tu, Feng Ji, Xun Chen, and the generals Zhang He, Gao Lan, Han Meng, Jiang Qi and others. Yuan Shao, a handsome man with a tall stature, was sitting in the main seat, stroking his beard with a complicated look on his face. "So, since obtaining Qin Zhen, Liu Xuande has obtained three states?" As he said this, his tone was naturally full of teasing and surprise.

It seemed that even if Liu Bei obtained three states, he would still be just a little brother in front of him. In front of him, Shen Pei seriously corrected Yuan Shao's mistake: "It does not occupy all three states, but it can be said that the territory spans three states." "Because although Qin Zhen helped Liu Bei defeat Lu Bu, Sun Ce was still undefeated in Wujun." "Moreover, the entire land of Yuzhou is not occupied by Liu Bei, and the strength of our army is completely different!" However, Yuan Shao was obviously not annoyed by his attitude. Instead, he smiled and said to everyone: "I have long said that Zixuan is a rare talent in the world, but you did not believe me!" "How do we see it now? This man has only assisted Liu for two years and has already become so powerful. If he can join our army, the world will be in turmoil." After he finished speaking, everyone had different expressions and reactions. Only Xu You smiled and said: "I know that Lord Yuan likes this man, but now that he has joined Liu Bei, he will surely become an enemy of our army in the future!" "Even if you speak again, it is hard to get help. It is like the moon in the realm, how can you see it?" Yuan Shao was displeased when he heard his words. After a moment's silence, he asked Shen Pei: "How did Cao Cao respond to Liu Bei's rise?" Because his place is far away from the Central Plains, he rarely hears about things in the Central Plains. Therefore, Cao Cao’s military deployment is not very clear for the time being. When Shen Pei heard him asking the question, he hurriedly told him about Cao Cao's recent movements. When Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao had taken Liang Province and Henei, he showed an angry look on his face and said: "Aman, are you trying to attack me first?" As soon as he finished speaking, Xu You stroked his beard and smiled: "There is no need to ask Cao Aman's intention. He must want to seize the initiative first!" "This man first conquered Liangzhou, then pacified the Western Regions, and then took Henei, in order to stabilize Liangzhou!" "All these things must indicate that they are planning to send troops north. We must be on guard!" Seeing Xu You do this twice, Yuan Shao looked at his advisers and said: "Do you agree with Ziyuan?" Seeing this, everyone looked at each other and bowed their hands and said: "We second the proposal. Cao Cao's move must be an attempt to gain the upper hand." Seeing the ministers' affirmation, Yuan Shao stood up, walked a few steps in the tent with his hands behind his back, and suddenly turned around and said: "I want to withdraw my troops southwards and attack Cao Cao first. What do you think?" But when he said this, all the ministers stood up and advised: "My lord, you can't do that. Gongsun Zan is on the verge of death, how can we withdraw our troops?" "Gongsun Zan is at the end of his rope and will be defeated soon. We should not withdraw our forces." "The situation in the Central Plains may not be as important as this place, so we should not act rashly."

Seeing that everyone was against it, Yuan Shao frowned and said: "But you all said that Cao Cao wanted to seize the initiative and had already planned it." "If I didn't know about this, it would be fine. But now that I know about this, how can I let Cao Cao succeed?" "Even if you advise me to continue the siege, I wonder how I can defeat Gongsun Zan?" As he asked questions one after another, everyone lowered their heads, except Xun Chen, who stroked his beard and said: "In fact, there is no need to worry about the affairs in the south, because the third prince is still in Jizhou, and he has the support of Lord Tian and Lord Ju." "Even if Cao Cao marches north, you two will have ways to stop him." "The key now is to lure Gongsun Zan out of the city so that we can defeat him in one fell swoop!" When Yuan Shao heard Xun Chen speak, he hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "I heard that your brother Xun Wenruo is now serving as a minister in the imperial court. I wonder if you have any correspondence with me?" "Apart from family affairs, does the letter contain any information about Cao Cao's plans?" In fact, Xun Yu once lived under Yuan Shao for a period of time, but unfortunately he later became dissatisfied with Yuan Shao and joined Cao Cao. Yuan Shao treated Xun Yu as a distinguished guest in the past, and was very unhappy to see Xun Yu leave. But as Xun Yu's talents gradually emerged, he also had the idea of ​​poaching Xun Yu through Xun Chen. However, when he tried this, Xun Chen just shook his head and said: "Since I went out to fight, I have not communicated with Wen Ruo for more than a year, and I don't know the situation in the south." Seeing that he was unwilling to mention the matter, Yuan Shao stopped trying to persuade him. Seeing that everyone was at a loss as to what to do, he couldn't help feeling depressed. If he had known this would happen, he would have brought Ju Shou and Tian Feng with him, and it wouldn't have come to this! While I was thinking, I suddenly saw a knight walk into the tent and shouted: "My lord, our army has intercepted a secret letter from the enemy!" Upon seeing this, Yuan Shao hurried forward and ordered the knight to present the secret letter. After taking a closer look, he laughed and said: "Now Gongsun Zan wants to ask for help. This is the chance God has given me to defeat him!" When everyone saw it, they were all very surprised and asked what was written in the letter. Yuan Shao showed the letter to them, and saw only one content in the letter: Gongsun Zan was asking for help! It turned out that since being besieged by Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zan knew that he was about to be doomed no matter how brave he was. So he ordered Gongsun Xu to go out and ask Zhang Yan for help, but Gongsun Xu's reinforcements were slow to arrive. This book is a letter from Gongsun Zan to Gongsun Xu urging him to send reinforcements. When everyone heard that Gongsun Xu was going out to ask for help, they were all overjoyed and hurriedly said to Yuan Shao: "If our army gets hold of this letter, we can just use the same trick against them!" Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao stroked his beard with a smug look on his face and said: "You don't need to tell me, I also have a plan to defeat the enemy!" He immediately asked Chen Lin to change the time and place agreed upon in the letter.

He then secretly deployed troops and planned to defeat Gongsun Zan in one battle. At the same time, in the fortress of Yijing, Gongsun Zan was meeting with Liu Bei's envoy. Gongsun Zan sat in the main hall, holding Liu Bei's handwritten letter, stroking his beard and smiling: "I haven't seen you for a few years. My brother has become successful. He used to be a minor official under my command in Japan." "And now you dare to send this letter, asking me to go south and surrender to you!" "Could it be that you know I'm trapped here and want to show off in front of me?" The person in front of him was Liu Bei's intelligence chief Zhou Tiao. Seeing him like this, he hurriedly shook his head and said: "The general misunderstood my lord's intention. My lord has no intention of showing off." "I heard in the south that the general was trapped, and I was worried about his safety." "So he ordered us to take the sea boat north to here, hoping to meet the general going south." "If my lord was not so anxious, why would he have come here by sea? I hope the general will understand!" To be honest, Gongsun Zan had been defeated all the way to this point, and his heart was already quite fragile. If Zhou Tiao had a flattering look on his face, he would definitely be very unhappy. But now Zhou Tiao's appearance made him feel Liu Bei's sincerity. For a moment, he couldn't help but recall the scenes when he was studying in the past, and couldn't help but sigh: "Since my defeat in the past, all my subordinates have rebelled, and no one has come to say hello." "Benjue Xuande is gaining momentum in the south, I am afraid he will forget about my brother!" "Now that I hear your words, I know that my brother has never forgotten me, which is also a comfort to me in my life." "But all my officers are here, and I cannot abandon them." "Go back and tell Xuande that I thank him for his kindness, and you can forgive me for the rest!" Seeing that he didn't allow it, Zhou Tiao frowned and said: "Since the general is not leaving, you can also entrust your family to him." "This way, the general will no longer have to worry about anything and can fight with all his might!" "When the situation turns around in the future, we will send our family back home. How about that?" Seeing him trying to persuade him again and again, Gongsun Zan hesitated for a moment. His family is indeed his only worry now. Because Yuan Shao is now digging a tunnel and advancing from below. The reason why he asked for help was that he wanted to fight to the death. If he failed, his little one would be trapped here and die! There was no one to take care of his family before, so he had to bring his family here.

Now that Liu Bei was so earnest, how could he refuse? After thinking for a while, he nodded and said: "Well, since Xuande has such good intentions, I will accept them." "Besides Xu'er, I also have two sons and one daughter, you can all give them to Xuande!" "But I don't know how you plan to escort my little one out of the city?" When Zhou Tiao heard this, he shook his head helplessly and said: "The enemy is besieging the city in great numbers, but we are powerless to escort them!" "Only if the general personally sends an army to help, maybe it can be accomplished!" Seeing his helpless look, Gongsun Zan smiled complacently and said: "Xuan De appointed you to come here, but he was not thoughtful enough!" "How can I trust you with my heart in this situation?" "Never mind. In the past, I had over 5,000 White Horse Volunteers under my command, but today, only 500 are left!" "I will escort you with two hundred men, and you will surely be able to protect my little family down south!" "I am waiting for our reinforcements to arrive. I will go out of the city to fight. You can go out through the east gate." "After we go south, they will all be given to Xuande. Let Zilong lead them well and don't let our elite White Horse troops disappear!" Zhou Tiao had also heard of the name of the White Horse Volunteers. When he heard these words, he was overjoyed and hurried to express his gratitude. Afterwards, Gongsun Zan personally went down from the tall building and selected more than 200 people to join him. He also entrusted his wife Hou and two sons and one daughter to Liu Bei. After doing this, in the middle of the night, he suddenly saw a fire outside the city, so he asked Zhou Tiao and others to go out from the east gate. He rode on his horse and led his troops to attack outside the city. (End of this chapter)