Guan Yu quickly took the pottery, and a difficult situation that stood in front of Liu Bei was relieved, and most of Jizhou was within easy reach.

Liu Bei was very excited and immediately held a banquet to celebrate Guan Yu's merit. At the celebration banquet, Liu Bei announced a new combat plan, divided into two groups, one by Yi Hou and the leader general Guan Yu as the main general, Zhang Fei and Tian Yu as the deputy, Xiahou Lan served as the military plan, with a total of 30,000 infantry and cavalry. He rushed straight to Handan along the road, and he led his own leadership along the way, using Zhong Shao and others as the deputy. He met Ji Ren's military plan, with more than 20,000 infantry and cavalry, and managed Anping and Qinghe, and met Guan Yu in Yecheng in a different way.

Although not everyone was satisfied, at least there was no clear objection, especially Zhong Shao and others. Yuan Xi was killed, Yuan Tan retreated to Handan, Yuan Shang defended Yecheng, and Guan Yu was dealt with by the main force of the Wei army. They followed Liu Bei to manage the counties, and did not have to fight hard, which was equivalent to getting a bargain.

Only Cui Jun was unhappy. He always believed in his family background and took charge of his generals and looked down on Guan Yu at all. He had a conflict a few days ago, but now he saw Guan Yu become the leader all the way, comparing with Liu Bei, and was in a very bad mood. However, when he thought of Feng Ji compared him to Shusun Tong, he was unwilling to give up and volunteered to take the lead and plunder the Bohai Sea.

After discussing with Feng Ji, Liu Bei agreed to Cui Jun's request and appointed him as the left general, divided into Zhongshan, Zhuo County and one army, and three thousand Hu cavalry in Shanggu to capture Bohai.

Guan Yu disagreed with this and expressed his doubts on the spot. Zang Hong, the prefect of Bohai, had a remarkable record in recent years, and Cui Jun is probably not his opponent. Moreover, Bohai is near the sea, and even if he defeats Zang Hong, he will face the attack of the Wu Navy in the future. Can Cui Jun be Gan Ning's opponent? It is better to keep Zang Hong and let him go to Gan Ning and take the hinterland of Jizhou first. When the situation in Jizhou is clear, if Zang Hong doesn't know how to go, it will be too late to take Bohai again.

Cui Jun was furious and left with his sleeves. The civil and military officials who were friends with him were very unhappy with Guan Yu and left the seat one after another.

Guan Yu sneered.

Liu Bei was helpless and could only force his face to smile and get drunk.

After the banquet, Guan Yu left Tian Yu behind and discussed the battle to capture Handan.

Tian Yu was very worried. Guan Yu captured the Tao, which solved Liu Bei's urgent need, but pushed himself to a dangerous place. Handan was not Tao, and Yuan Tan was not Yuan Xi, not to mention that Yuan Tan had Ju Suo's support, so it was almost impossible to quickly capture Handan.

If you fail to defeat the attack for a long time, and even suffer heavy casualties, Guan Yu will definitely become the target of public criticism.

Tian Yu was Liu Bei's old friend and worked with Guan Yu for a long time. Although it was not heart-to-heart talk, it was still possible. In the face of Tian Yu's reminder, Guan Yu also opened his heart. He told Tian Yu that he knew that Handan was not easy to attack, but he had no choice. King Sun Ce of Wu sharpened his sword, Taishi Ci, Xu Kun, and Shen You were eyeing him and might launch an attack at any time. If Jizhou is not annexed and Youji is integrated into one, the national destiny of Zhongshan is in danger. It is precisely because Handan is not easy to capture that he took the initiative to accept this task, otherwise who can take on this important task? A scholar like Cui Jun or the King of Zhongshan himself?

"The king regards me as a brother and sister. It is necessary to deal with the survival of Zhongshan."

Seeing Guan Yu being generous, Tian Yu was worried, but he couldn't say anything else. He thought about it and asked Guan Yu another question: "Junhou, if the Wei is successfully destroyed and all Jizhou will be taken. Junhou and the Wu army will be across the river, and it may even face the King of Wu in person, what can you do?"

Guan Yu stroked his beard and smiled slightly. "Although there are many generals under the command of the King of Wu, only a few of them can be my opponent. If the King of Wu comes in person, I will defend the river and resist the enemy outside the country. If Zhu Huan and Shen You come, why are you afraid of it? What I am worried about is not the south, but the north." Guan Yu pointed at the location of Yuyang on the map. "If Taishi Cixi comes in western China, Liu Deran may not be the opponent. Even if the king goes on the battle personally, it will be difficult to ensure that I will go north by going north. Jizhou will either be handed over to you or to Ji De. The country will give it hard! In the past, I once said that the king and the domineering wind know the strong grass. Today, we should encourage each other. It is not possible to rely on Cui Jun and others."

Tian Yu bowed to accept the order. He immediately made a suggestion: lure Yuan Tan out of the city.

Handan was once the capital of Zhao State. Since ancient times, it has been a place where military strategists must compete for. The city defense is strong, easy to defend but difficult to attack. Yuan Tan retreated to Handan, which clearly means defending Handan. If he sieges and then attacks, it can be at least several months or more for years. It is better to lure Yuan Tan out of the city to fight in the field. Yuan Xi was trapped in Tao, and Yuan Tan refused to save him when he was dead. He could use this reason to persuade him to surrender everywhere and collect food and grass at the same time. It is conceivable that a Jizhou family would be disappointed with Yuan Tan, or be frightened by the military force and surrender voluntarily, while some of them would either defend themselves or continue to be loyal to Yuan Tan. For the latter type of people, they would send large troops to siege Yuan Tan, forcing Yuan Tan to rescue the siege, and then take the opportunity to annihilate his main force in the field.

If Yuan Tan refused to save him when he was dead, then he, the King of Wei, would not be able to do it for a long time, and the people of Jizhou would soon abandon him.

Guan Yu felt that this idea was good and accepted it happily, so he handed over the task to Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei was so fierce and bloodthirsty that he was the most natural to do this. He just wanted to remind him to be careful not to lure the enemy, but Yuan Tan caught the flaw.

The next day, Guan Yu bid farewell to Liu Bei and led a large army south.

After receiving the order, Zhang Fei took action immediately and dispatched generals to the surrounding counties to publicize Guan Yu's killing of Gao Lan and Yuan Xi's achievements, and ordered the counties to recognize the situation and provide money and food within a limited time. The people would be fine, otherwise they would be killed.

For many generals, it is normal to collect food and grass and robbery by orders. It is normal to have a mess. Once someone disobeys and conflicts arise, it is not uncommon to kill a river of blood, especially for those Hu cavalry. Guan Yu's instructiveness first, their actions are naturally more presumptuous. Before Guan Yu led his troops to Handan, Zhao, and Julu, there were several family-killing incidents, and people were panicked.

Jizhou was shocked. Some aristocratic families were frightened and took the initiative to surrender to Guan Yu, giving money and food, some aristocratic families brought their troops to help, and some aristocratic families were unwilling to surrender to Liu Bei, and sent people to ask Yuan Tan for help, asking Yuan Tan to send troops to expel Guan Yu and protect Jizhou.

Tian Feng and Ju Su were both from Julu, and many aristocratic families asked them to give advice, asked Yuan Tan to send troops, and relieve the people from the upside down.

At the same time, news came from Anping and Qinghe that Liu Bei led his troops into the two counties and sent envoys to contact each other. Many aristocratic families surrendered to Liu Bei. Even if someone loyal to Yuan Tan and refused to submit, they were not Liu Bei's opponents. Only Bohai was still stable under Zang Hong's control. Zang Hong personally led his troops to fight and confronted Cui Jun in the Dongguang area.

Overall, Jizhou is in turmoil and changing hands is about to happen.

Yuan Tan was in a dilemma and anxious. He now realized the significance of Ju Su suggesting him to enter the Tao, but it was too late to regret it. Yuan Xi was killed, Tao was lost, and the north of Handan became Guan Yu fish meat, which made him extremely passive in the situation and people's hearts. Going to fight became the only choice, otherwise when Liu Bei took all Anping and Qinghe and met with Guan Yu in Handan, he would still be dead.

Ju Shu disagreed with Yuan Tan's suggestion.

He told Yuan Tan that Liu Bei and Guan Yu seemed to be coming in a fierce manner, but in fact they were just a sign of it. The Jizhou family surrendered, not admiring Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, but just a temporary measure to reduce losses due to the situation. Once Liu Bei retreated, they would naturally give up Liu Bei and choose Wei again. Even if Liu Bei did not leave, they would be dragged down by the huge consumption of the war, and sooner or later they would not be able to hold on and be in harmony with Liu Bei.

How long can Liu Bei stay in Jizhou? It can be as fast as one or two months, and only three or four months. Once Taishi Ci receives the news and rushes his troops westward, Liu Bei has to retreat to Youzhou to defend, otherwise he will have nothing and Zhongshan State will be destroyed before Wei State.

In three or four months, can Liu Bei and Guan Yu take Handan and Yecheng? Surely not. So what the king has to consider is not how to fight against Liu Bei and Guan Yu, but how to fight against the phoenix bird of King Wu. You and Ji fought each other and killed each other, and their originally limited strength has been greatly damaged. Even if they reconciled now, it is not enough to resist the attack of Wu. How to lead the war to Youzhou and get a breather for Wei is the key.

Ju Su did not say it clearly, but the meaning was clear. At this point, it was no longer realistic for Yuan Tan. The original 30% of the opportunity had been lost. It would be better to consider how to save his life and the reign of Wei. Don’t think about Jizhou. Anyway, the Jizhou family is unwilling to give up their existing interests and surrender with Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan did not object to this, and even had a strong desire. However, he had one concern. Behind Yuan Shang was the Yanzhou family standing, would he be willing to give up? If the brothers fight, the strength of Wei State will be further divided, and he will not even be qualified to negotiate with Sun Ce.

Ju Su suggested that Zhang He be kept in Handan, Yuan Tan return to Yecheng to control the situation, and send an envoy to contact Jiang Gan.

Yuan Tan accepted Ju Su's suggestion and left Zhang He to guard Handan and rushed back to Yecheng by himself.

Less than 60 miles from Handan to Yecheng, Yuan Tan only brought the three thousand Langwei commanded by Ju Hu. The march was very fast. He set out at dawn and arrived at Yecheng at noon. Before the main force led by Guan Yu arrived, Zhang Fei was short of troops, so he only left some surveillance personnel outside Handan City. He also deliberately lured Yuan Tan out of the city, but did not deliberately block it. He watched Yuan Tan break out. When Zhang Fei received the news and gathered the main force to intercept, Yuan Tan had already entered Yecheng.

Yuan Shang did not expect that Yuan Tan would come back suddenly. When he realized that he had taken over the defense of Yecheng and sent someone to summon Yuan Shang into the palace. On the grounds that the situation was critical, he ordered people to guard the harem and put all female relatives, including Mrs. Liu, under house arrest behind the palace and not be allowed to communicate with outsiders.

Yuan Shangkong was ambitious and helpless. Facing Yuan Tan, he exposed the willfulness of the young man, furiously accused Yuan Tan of going back on his word and not believing. He swore to give up the throne and said that he wanted brothers to be united, but now he killed someone with a knife, killing Yuan Xi for his death.

Yuan Tan was furious and ordered someone to imprison Yuan Shang. He immediately sent someone to search Yuan Shang's residence and soon found a letter written by Liu Bei to Yuan Shang. There was evidence in hand, and Yuan Shang could not defend himself. Yuan Tan immediately detained him, and then discussed with Tian Feng, sent someone to contact Jiang Gan and negotiate the surrender.

With this situation, Tian Feng had no choice but to sigh to the sky.
Chapter completed!