Chapter 218: An unexpected situation, Liu Biao dispatched troops When Qin Zhen met Liu Biao again after two days, he could see that Liu Biao was not in good spirits. Obviously compared with his socializing everywhere, Liu Biao did not have a very good time these two days. But he didn't want to care too much, so he just sat back in his seat following Liu Biao's instructions. The only people who met with him this time were Liu Biao and the Kuai brothers. People like Cai Mao, Pang Ji, Liu Xian and others were nowhere to be seen. Looking at this scene, Qin Zhen saw that Cai Mao and others were not there, and knew that something was unusual, so he couldn't help asking: "When I met Liu Mu that day, Liu Mu said he needed to think about it for two days." "Unexpectedly, I received a message from Liu Mu last night." "Unfortunately, I was still outside the city in Longzhong at that time and could not come." "I see that neither the deputy driver nor the military advisor is here today. I wonder why Liu Mu called me here?"

Listening to Qin Zhen's question, Liu Biao said tiredly: "Sir, you are in a good mood. I wonder if we discussed this for a long time yesterday!" "I called you here today to explain our army's intentions to you." "Sir, you said earlier that our army would borrow 500,000 shi of grain and 3,000 ships from your army." "Logically speaking, Xuande and I are from the same clan. Now that he wants to fight the enemy, I should help him." "But yesterday, news suddenly came from the south, saying that Zhang Xian had started a rebellion!" "I have ordered Emperor Degui to gather troops and food supplies to the south, but I cannot send money, food, or ships to them!" When Qin Zhen heard this, he suddenly felt strange. He was still thinking that with the Cai family's intervention, they should be able to convince Liu Biao. I didn't expect that Zhang Xian would suddenly appear out of nowhere! Speaking of Zhang Xian, he did not appear in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In fact, Zhang Xian was also one of the princes in the late Han Dynasty. This man was originally from Nanyang. He had served as the prefect of Lingling, Guiyang and other places. Later, when Sun Jian went north to fight against Dong Zhuo, the position of prefect of Changsha was vacant, so Zhang Xian was transferred to Changsha to serve as prefect. As he had served as prefect in Jingnan for many years, he was quite popular in the four southern counties. It's a pity that this man had a stubborn character and was not very respectful. Liu Biao looked down on him, which led to resentment between the two families. In history, there are different records about the time when Zhang Xian started his rebellion. According to the "Records of the Three Kingdoms", Zhang Xian raised his army during the Battle of Guandu between Cao and Yuan, and died of illness in the same year. However, according to the "Book of the Later Han", Zhang Xian raised his army in the third year of Jian'an and was eventually conquered by Liu Biao. In fact, in Qin Zhen's view, both records may be true. Because after Cao Cao welcomed the emperor, Cao and Yuan became enemies, and Liu Biao had always been an ally of Yuan Shao. The grudge between Zhang Xian and Liu Biao did not arise overnight, and they had been in a long-term confrontation.

It is very likely that Zhang Xianxian led the three counties of Jingnan to confront Liu Biao in the third year of Jian'an, and the two families attacked each other. It was not until the Battle of Guandu that Cao Cao, worried that Liu Biao would go north, sent envoys to persuade Wuling County to surrender and let Zhang Xian lead the troops of the four counties to continue to resist, which led to the different records in the two history books. In other words, it was not unexpected that Zhang Xian started his rebellion at this time. But the problem was that the news of Zhang Xian's uprising arrived when they were negotiating with Liu Biao. There are only two possibilities for this phenomenon. One is that Zhang Xian was supposed to raise an army at this time, but it just happened that he encountered their diplomatic mission. Secondly, someone was scheming among them. Knowing that they were going to borrow Liu Biao's power, he specially contacted Zhang Xian to delay Liu Biao's troops! Of these two possibilities, Qin Zhen prefers the latter. There must be a plan behind this matter! Because there can't be so many coincidences in the world, this situation can only be caused by someone with ulterior motives. There is only one person who has this ability and motivation, and that is Lao Cao! Now, on the basis of agreeing to mobilize Liu Biao's troops, Cao Cao contacted Zhang Xian to tie down Liu Biao's troops. This gave Liu Biao a good excuse to reject their request. Not only was he certain that it was Cao Cao who did it, he was also certain that it was Guo Jia's plan. Only Guo Jia would be so meticulous as to even take their itinerary into account. While thinking, Qin Zhen raised the corner of his mouth and smiled at Liu Biao: "I never thought there would be such a coincidence in the world. So, if Envoy Liu wants to quell the rebellion, he will definitely not be able to help our army this time?" When Liu Biao saw him like this, his face darkened and he said: "Sir, what do you mean by that? Do you think that I am unwilling to send troops and therefore lied about the military situation?" In fact, the news of Zhang Xian's rebellion also made him extremely anxious, and it was not an excuse at all. Qin Zhen looks like this now. Could it be that he thinks that Liu Biao deliberately falsely reported the matter in order to refuse to send troops? Although he was indeed unwilling to send troops, he could not stand Qin Zhen's contemptuous look. But as soon as he said this, Qin Zhen shook his head and smiled: "No, you have misunderstood. I have no doubt about your intentions at all!" "I'm just curious. Although there are many coincidences in the world, this one might be too much of a coincidence!" "I heard that Zhang Xian had indeed been at odds with the envoy for a long time, but he did not rebel earlier or later. Why did he rebel today?" "You must know that you now have a strong army with hundreds of thousands of troops in Jingzhou." "Cao Cao has not mobilized his troops in the north, and there are no external enemies in the east and west." "The autumn harvest is approaching, and it is not the time to send troops. Isn't Zhang Xian doing this knowing that it is impossible? Don't you think this is quite strange?" Liu Biao listened to his analysis and reacted immediately. Before, he was just angry about Zhang Xian's uprising and wanted to send troops south as soon as possible. But now that Qin Zhen said it, he found something wrong. Although Zhang Xian did not get along with him, there had been no grudge between the two families in recent times. Why did Zhang Xian suddenly raise an army?

Similarly, the timing of Zhang Xian’s uprising was not right! Generally, the time for sending troops is either late autumn or early winter, or early spring. Only by sending troops at these two times can we avoid delaying the people's farming and ensuring that there is no shortage of food and supplies. It is only the Mid-Autumn Festival now and the food is almost ripe. Why is Zhang Xian raising an army at this time? Liu Biao was thinking and pacing as he thought. Upon seeing this, Kuai Yue stood up and asked Qin Zhen: "Then according to your opinion, why did Zhang Xian start his rebellion at this time?" "How dare I show my ugliness in front of Mr. Kuai?" Seeing him asking questions, Qin Zhen waved his hand and said with a smile: "But there must be something unusual when something happens suddenly. The more coincidental something is, the more causes and effects there are." "In my opinion, this is most likely a plot by Cao Cao!" "Zhang Xian's decision to send out troops must have been planned by Cao Cao. This move has two benefits." "First, Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu have a great grudge, and Cao Cao wants to get rid of him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Zhang Xiu is in Nanyang and is protected by the envoy, so he doesn't have a good opportunity!" "The autumn harvest is approaching, and it is time to send troops. Cao Cao wants to get rid of Zhang Xiu, so he must first transfer your troops." "In this way, if we let Zhang Xian, who has a grudge against you, rebel first, we can lure you to march south." "When the time comes, the land of Jingbei will be empty, and Cao Cao can seize Nanyang and make his territory connected with Guanzhong!" "Second, you may not know that our army and Cao's army fought in the territory of Chen State." "There was no winner in this battle. Fortunately, Zheng Sinong persuaded the two families to stop fighting." "But Cao Cao and our army have a grudge against each other, and there will be a battle sooner or later!" "So when he saw the emperor issuing an edict to urge you to help in the attack on Sun Ce, he must be unhappy." "This will persuade Zhang Xian to rebel, and also allow the envoy to have no more energy to help our army advance eastward." "By doing this, we can weaken the power of the envoy and our army. Cao Cao will naturally be happy to do it!" "So I infer that this matter has something to do with Cao Cao!" As he spoke, Liu Biao paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, his expression becoming increasingly worse as he listened. When Qin Zhen finished speaking, he paused and shouted angrily in a low voice: "How dare Cao the thief deceive me! To scheme like this is unworthy of a man!" With a roar of anger, he drew his sword and slashed it on the table. His old face was full of ferocity, his veins were bulging with rage, and he looked terrifying. When Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue saw this, they frowned and said nothing. Although all of this was Qin Zhen's speculation, it must be said that what Qin Zhen said was extremely reasonable. Zhang Xian suddenly rebelled at this time, and the biggest beneficiary was only Cao Cao's family! Neither they nor Liu Bei's army gained any benefit from it. However, after hearing this, Kuai Liang keenly noticed the meaning of Qin Zhen's words. Not only did Cao Cao not form an alliance with Liu Bei, he also made a great enemy of Liu Bei. Thinking of this, he quickly asked Qin Zhen: "So, the emperor's decree this time was not Cao Cao's intention, but the emperor's intention?" "That's right. To be honest with you, this is what I asked Zheng Sinong for!"

When Qin Zhen heard him ask this, he knew that Liu Biao probably suspected that they were in alliance with Cao Cao, so he said bluntly: "In fact, this is also what our army intends. In today's world, people like the two Yuans and Lu Bu are all rebels." "Although Cao Cao supported the emperor, he used the emperor to control the princes, and he was actually a traitor to the Han Dynasty!" "So in my lord's opinion, the biggest enemy of our army today, besides Sun Ce, is Cao Cao." "I think that you and my master are of the same clan, and we are both relatives of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, you are not on good terms with both families, so we can use you as a help!" "Therefore, this time we would like to ask Zheng Sinong to come to the court, submit a memorial to the emperor, and invite your army to attack Sun Ce." "I didn't expect that the envoy would misunderstand me like this. This is also my fault for not making it clear!" As soon as he finished speaking, the Kuai brothers looked at each other and bowed to Liu Biao, saying: "Sir, what Mr. Qin said makes sense. This may be Cao Cao's plan to destroy our two families!" "Although Zhang Xian is in the south, our army should not be careless. We should guard against Cao's army and not let Cao Cao occupy Nanyang!" Seeing the two men's expressions, Liu Biao stroked his beard and said thoughtfully: "I will think about this matter myself. If Cao Cao wants to go south to Jingzhou, it will be difficult to do so!" As he spoke, he looked at Qin Zhen again, his attitude softened a lot: "This time, I am grateful for your reminder, sir. Otherwise, I would have fallen into Cao Mengde's trap!" "But now our army has to guard against both Zhang Xian and Cao Cao, and we have no more money or food to support your army!" Qin Zhen had no intention of really asking for Jingzhou's money and grain, so he smiled and said: "I understand your difficulty. You should not ask for money and food again. But you should know that Cao Cao and Sun Ce are both fierce tigers!" "Our army is located in Huainan, and our foundation is weak. We are strong enough to defeat Sun Ce, but weak enough to defeat Cao Cao." "The current situation of our army is like that of Jingzhou. Cao Cao is eyeing us covetously in the north, Sun Ce is holding us back in the south, and Lu Bu is making things difficult for us in the east." "That's why our army is going to take advantage of this winter to march south to Jiangdong and eliminate the enemy first." "If not, when Cao Cao is free next year, he might join forces with Lu Bu and Sun Ce to march forward!" "If our army is destroyed, it will be difficult for you to survive in Jingzhou!" "I know that you are unable to spare any food, fodder or weapons right now, but your army does not need the help of the navy whether it is against Cao Cao or Zhang Xian." "You may as well mobilize the navy to help our army, and wait for our army to open up the passage and head south to Jiangdong." "In the future, whether it's Cao Cao or Zhang Xian, our army will be able to lend a helping hand to you!" "In this way, our two families can join hands to fight against the powerful enemy. Isn't this beneficial to you, my lord?" At this point, he took two steps back, bowed to Liu Biao with his hands tied in a circle, and said: "I hope you will agree to mobilize the navy to help our army march south to Jiangdong!" Seeing this, Kuai Yue thought for a while and also stepped forward and said: "Sir, what you said is correct. If Cao Cao acts this way, our army must guard against him joining forces with Sun Ce!" "This matter is of great importance, you must not ignore it!"

Seeing these three people like this, Liu Biao couldn't help but waver for a moment. To be honest, if Cao Cao hadn't intervened, he would have had to think about it carefully for a while. But now Qin Zhen showed him a very realistic problem: now is not the time for him to strike a balance. Since Cao Cao can convince Zhang Xian, he can also convince Sun Ce! In this situation, if Liu Bei did not destroy Sun Ce, Sun Ce would develop westward as Liu Bei had said. Now Zhang Xian and Cao Cao have attacked from both the north and the south. If Sun Ce were to join in, Jingzhou might not be able to withstand it. Compared with the result of Liu Bei's rise, Cao Cao's possible actions were obviously more unfavorable to him! After thinking about it for a while, he calmed down and said in a deep voice: "In that case, quickly pass on our military order and order Huang Zu to immediately prepare his troops and march eastward!" "Help Xuande defeat the Jiangdong navy as soon as possible and return to defend Jiangxia!" Following his order, the Kuai brothers immediately followed suit and went out. Qin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Biao ordered the troops to Jingzhou, and the purpose of his mission this time was largely achieved. All that remains is to see the truth on the battlefield! (End of this chapter)