Chapter 283: Standing on the sidelines, military and political division The Battle of Guandu was one of the three major battles in the late Han Dynasty and was also the first major battle that determined the direction of the world. However, compared with the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Yiling, this battle lasted a much longer time. From the beginning of the confrontation between the two families to the start of the decisive battle and then to the outcome of the battle, the battle lasted a full year and a half. The war started in June of the fourth year of Jian'an, which was four months later. But in fact, this battle should not have started at this time, because neither Cao Cao nor Yuan Shao were ready. In the original course of events, when the war broke out, Cao Cao had just defeated Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao and Sun Ce in the south were ready to make a move. At the same time, Liu Bei was in disunity in the court, and was in the midst of internal and external troubles. The same was true for Yuan Shao. Although Yuan Shao unified the four states in Hebei, Gongsun Zan persisted in Youzhou for a whole year. After a year of traveling, Yuan Shao himself did not have the strength to start a war. But at that time, Yuan Shao had defeated Gongsun Zan and his confidence was overflowing, and Cao Cao had always been Yuan Shao's younger brother before that.

Therefore, in Yuan Shao's view, destroying Cao Cao was much easier than destroying Gongsun Zan. So, under the persuasion of his advisers such as Guo Tu, Yuan Shao led 100,000 elite troops south, directly kicking off the Battle of Guandu. It can be said that the start of this war was absolutely unreasonable. Therefore, after hearing Qin Zhen's words, Liu Bei was naturally surprised and said: "Military Advisor, are you saying that Cao and Yuan are about to go to war? But the two families have no intention of going to war!" "Although Yuan Shao is powerful now, the north has not been pacified yet!" "Although Cao Cao has some strength left, he is still advancing westward. If the two families are to go to war, they will have to wait until at least next year!" "Why will the two families go to war within half a year?" Facing Liu Bei's surprise, Qin Zhen shook his head and said: "You shouldn't infer this from me, sir. Judging from the current situation in the world, it seems that the two families have no intention of going to war!" "But if we look at their inner intentions, the Cao and Yuan families have already begun preparing for a decisive battle!" "Because Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were originally allies, but the two families had long been resentful of each other." "In the first year of Xingping, Yuan Shao first conquered Jizhou, and Cao Mengde first conquered Yanzhou." "At that time, Zhen was still serving under Cao Mengde and stationed in Dongjun. At that time, Lu Bu attacked and was defeated by me." "Later, Yuan Shao used this as an excuse to ask Meng De's family to come north as hostages, but Meng De refused, and the rift between the two families began." "In the second year of Xingping, I knew of Yuan Shao's threat, so I asked to accept refugees and fill Luoyang." "Yuan Shao therefore secretly sent Zhang Yang and Wang Yi to stop him, and at the same time sent more troops to Bingzhou, intending to use this to threaten Luoyang." "Since Gongsun Zan retreated to Yijing last year, Yuan Shao has secretly stored food and grass even though Ju Su is stationed in Weijun." "From this, we can see that although Yuan Shao was in the northern border, he had long intended to go south." "Similarly, Cao Mengde has been avoiding direct conflict with our army since the beginning of last year."

"Instead, the army continued to deploy its forces to Guanzhong, Nanyang and other places." "This action seems to be a reluctance to fight our army, but in fact it is preparing to deal with Yuan Shao's move south!" "Gongsun Zan has been under siege for a year now, and his subordinates have long since scattered." "By the beginning of this spring, Gongsun Zan will surely die in Youzhou." "Yuan Shao is a man who has a stronghold in four states and has made friends with the various Hu people. He has nothing to worry about and will definitely look for an opportunity to go south!" "No matter how long it takes to prepare, it will not be later than this autumn." "This matter is not difficult to judge. Guo Jia, Xun Yu and others under Cao Mengde can make a conclusion." "So if Cao Mengde wants to deal with Yuan Shao, he must take the initiative!" "So I dare to conclude that Cao Mengde will launch an active attack on Yuan Shao before the autumn harvest." "If Cao Cao makes a move, Yuan Shao will certainly make a move, so the two families will go to war within half a year!" In fact, the reason why Qin Zhen dared to judge that the two families would go to war according to the original course was not only because of his familiarity with history, but also because of his judgment of the current situation in the world. Admittedly, now that they have emerged as a new force, the situation is not favorable for Cao Cao. But compared to the original process, Cao Cao's current situation is much better. After all, with the capture of Xuzhou by them, the pressure on Cao Cao's eastern front shifted to them. Because of what he did for Cao, Cao's western front was not as empty as it originally was. So the current situation has become that Cao Cao can launch an attack from the western front first and seize the favorable terrain in Hedong for strategic defense. If necessary, Cao can even give up Taishan County and Dongping Kingdom on the eastern front and concentrate his forces for a decisive battle with Yuan Shao! Once he won, Cao Cao could slowly annex Hebei from Bingzhou, today's Shanxi. Even if he lost, Cao Cao could give up the Central Plains, turn to Guanzhong, and then seize Shu! Such a situation obviously allows Lao Cao to take the initiative to try his luck. Therefore, in Qin Zhen's view, the Battle of Guandu would only be brought forward and would not be delayed because of his butterfly effect. Liu Bei frowned when he heard his words. "If we follow the military advisor's advice, the Cao and Yuan families might really go to war!" "But now our army has seized Xuzhou, and Sun Ce has not yet been completely destroyed. If the two families go to war, what posture should our army take?" Originally according to his idea, his territory now spanned three states. If the two families started the war later, he might be able to develop for two years first. But if these two companies start a war within half a year, it would be like forcing something to happen. But this is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that if these two companies go to war, how should they respond! To put it simply, it is a question of who to help, Yuan Shao or Cao Cao? When it comes to such a big war, Cao Yuan will definitely not let him stay out of it. Whoever he helps will decide the outcome! If he helped Yuan Shao, the two families would attack him from both the north and the south, and Cao Cao would definitely not be able to hold on.

If he helped Cao, he only needed to send troops to Qingzhou, and Yuan Shao would find it difficult to defeat the two coalition forces. The problem is that the conflicts of interest are extremely complicated, and this problem is obviously not something that Lao Liu is responsible for. However, although Liu Bei frowned, Qin Zhen laughed: "In my opinion, during the battle between Cao and Yuan, our army should just watch from the sidelines!" "If we really want to take some action, then our army has only one attitude, respecting the emperor's order." "The reason why you have so many talented people to assist you is because our army respects the emperor." "So our army should be consistent. We should move in the same way as the emperor tells us to move!" As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Bei shook his head and smiled, then leaned back and said: "This is a flattering statement. You say you respect the emperor, but aren't you still helping Cao Mengde?" "Cao Mengde is holding the emperor hostage in Xuchang. Although the orders come from the emperor, they are Cao Mengde's intentions." "Instead of speaking of honoring the emperor, military advisor, it is better to speak of helping Cao Mengde!" But just as he finished speaking, he saw Qin Zhen's smile still on his face as he said: "You have misunderstood, my lord. I said respect for the emperor, not to help Cao Cao!" "No matter what the emperor orders us to do, our army will only obey his orders." "My Lord, you just think that Cao Cao is holding the emperor hostage, so you want to help Cao Cao." "But if the emperor secretly orders our army to attack Cao Mengde, what should our army do?" When Liu Bei heard this, he suddenly stood up and said in surprise: "What do you mean, military advisor? Could it be that the emperor today will order us to attack Cao Mengde?" He had never thought about the possibility that the emperor would issue a secret decree to attack Cao Cao. But if this possibility really occurs, then even if they initially help Cao Cao, they will have to stab Cao in the back after receiving the edict. In this case, even if he stabbed Cao Cao in the back, no one in the world would have any objection. After all, compared to private alliances, respecting the emperor is the absolute political correctness. Thinking of this, he seemed to understand why Qin Zhen emphasized respecting the emperor's edict! He reacted, but Qin Zhen looked at the lights and said: "Whether the emperor will issue a secret decree is still unknown!" "But when Zi Yang entered the court last year, he saw that the emperor seemed dissatisfied with Cao Cao!" "So if there is really a chance to welcome the emperor, our army will do its best to welcome him south!" In the current timeline, he doesn't know whether the Yidaizhao event will happen. But as long as the secret decree appears and they have prepared in advance, that will be their best chance to welcome the emperor! As long as Liu Xie was brought to the south, they could stay in the southeast no matter how Cao and Yuan fought. By attacking Liu Biao and Liu Zhang in the name of the emperor, we will soon be able to unify the south of the Yangtze River.

As long as the operation goes well, and then we launch the Northern Expedition, the unification of the world will be just around the corner. Liu Bei naturally knew about this, and after thinking for a moment, he nodded and said: "Military Advisor, your words are indeed mature and prudent. Our army should follow the emperor's decree!" As he said this, he suddenly felt troubled again: "Before this, the military advisor said that Brother Bogui was about to be defeated!" "Bogui and I are classmates. If you are still homeless and it is difficult for me to help you, then forget it." "Now that my territory spans three states, how can I help Bogui?" It can be said that Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were brothers in distress, as they were both disciples of the great Confucian scholar Lu Zhi. In the past, Liu Bei was subordinate to Gongsun Zan and served as the Prime Minister of Pingyuan. But later, after Liu Bei went south, he broke away from Gongsun Zan's command. In the original story, when Gongsun Zan died, Lao Liu was surviving in Xuchang, and he could only feel sad when he heard the news of his death. In this timeline, Old Liu was getting better and better. Whenever Qin Zhen mentioned him, he thought of his old brother. Since Gongsun Zan is about to be defeated, it is reasonable for Old Liu to do something! Qin Zhen naturally knew that Lao Liu valued feelings and had already thought of a solution, so he immediately said: "Gongsun Bogui was stubborn and self-righteous, which led to the disaster of today's defeat. Although our army is here, it is out of reach." "If you are willing to help, you can send an envoy to the north to persuade Gongsun Zan to go south." "It will take three months for the ice and snow in Liaodong to melt, which is still more than a month away." "There are many seagoing ships in Xuzhou. If our army goes north by sea, we can help them go south!" "If they are willing to go south, that's good. If they are not willing to go south, our army will not be able to help them!" When Liu Bei heard this, he also knew that the current situation was difficult, so he could only nod in response; "We just have to do our best and leave the rest to fate. Even if Bogui doesn't want to go south, I will still protect his family." At that moment, while Qin Zhen was here, he asked someone to bring paper and pen, and personally wrote a letter and gave it to Qin Zhen for arrangement. After finishing all this, Liu Bei was no longer as troubled as before, and he simply discussed the governance and defense issues of Xuzhou and Jiangdong with He Qinzhen. The two talked until the second half of the night, and finally decided on a specific layout plan before going to bed. Generally speaking, the Xuzhou side was led by Zang Ba and Chen Deng, who divided Xuzhou into two parts. The three counties of Langya, Luguo and Donghai were divided into military districts and managed by Zang Ba, who was appointed as the General of the Yamen. In addition, the two counties of Langya and Donghai were divided into three counties of Dongguan, Licheng and Donghai, and Sun Guan and others under Zang Ba were appointed as prefects of each county. Chen Deng was put in charge of Xia Pi and Guangling counties, and was appointed prime minister of Xia Pi, concurrently supervising the military affairs of the two counties. On the basis of these two families, Mi Zhu was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, Mi Fang was appointed as the prime minister of Peng State, and Xu Shu was promoted to the rank of General of the Central Army and concurrently the prime minister of Pei State, supervising the military affairs of the two counties of Peng and Pei State. In Yuzhou, Guan Yu continued to serve as a general and was promoted to the prefect of Runan, supervising the military affairs of Runan and Chen State. As for Yangzhou, Jiangbei continued to be directly governed by Liu Bei, and at the same time Hua Xin was transferred north to serve as the Beijia of Yangzhou. Jiangnan divided the two counties of Yuzhang and Kuaiji, and appointed Lu Su as the governor of Yuzhang, governing Nanchang and also in charge of the navy.

Eight counties including Nancheng, Luling, Ganxian, etc. were divided into Luling County, with Taishi Ci as the prefect of Luling, and in charge of the military affairs of Nanping and Luling counties. The vast southern part of Kuaiji was divided into Nanping County, with its seat in Dongzhi, and Zhuge Jin temporarily appointed as the prefect. In addition, the future prefects of Danyang, Wujun, and Kuaiji have not yet been determined, and the status quo will remain for the time being. Of course, this arrangement is only a temporary solution, and people like Lu Su and Taishi Ci cannot take office. But as this plan was finalized, the governance system under Liu Bei was initially improved. Compared with the original situation where the prefect held both military and political power, it gradually changed to a situation of separation of military and political power. After such discussion, the meeting was concluded, and that night, the two of them slept with their feet together. (End of this chapter)