Qingzhou, Linzi.

"Why is this, Mr. Xuande?" Yuan Tan asked with a puzzled expression as he looked at Liu Bei who was kneeling on the ground.

"Young Master!" Liu Bei sighed: "Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, which was actually a treasonous and unethical act. As a clan member of the Han Dynasty, Bei was supposed to help the Han Dynasty, but he was humble and understated. He saw the traitor regicide but was unable to repay the late emperor.

Now that Yuan Shu is proclaimed emperor, all the heroes in the world are fighting against him. Although Bei is in a low position, he is still a descendant of the Han Dynasty, and he should do his best for our great Han Dynasty."

"This..." Yuan Tan frowned slightly when he heard this. He naturally understood what Liu Bei meant, borrowing troops. After all, although Liu Bei has a high status in his own country now, Yuan Shao also intends to recruit Liu Bei into the court, but in fact, neither Yuan Tan nor Yuan Tan

, both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shao were a little afraid of Liu Bei. After all, he was a man who had served as a prince. Previously, under pressure from Cao Cao, he allowed the three Liu Bei brothers to take military power to resist Cao Cao. However, after Cao Cao withdrew, Yuan Tan took the military power.

Taken back.

"Mr. Xuande, Yuan Shu is treasonous and unethical by proclaiming himself emperor. My father has also issued a document to denounce him. However, when we go to Huainan, we have to pass through Cao Cao to rule the land. I'm afraid..." Yuan Tan frowned and said, Cao Cao might be deceiving someone.

"Young master, there is no need to worry." Beside Liu Bei, Chen Gong said with a smile: "Cao Cao has also called on all the princes in the world to attack Yuan Shu, but now the only ones who actually mobilized troops to respond are Sun Ce and his family from Jiangdong. We are going in the name of the Prime Minister.

For the sake of righteousness, if Cao Cao doesn’t want to break trust in the world again, he won’t dare to interfere with it.”

Yuan Tan nodded, the princes' attack on Yuan Shu was a righteous act. Logically speaking, Cao Cao naturally did not dare to stop it, but if he really launched an army, Cao Cao might not be willing. This was also Yuan Shao. Although Chen Mo responded to the call, he did not send any troops.

Chen Mo even took the initiative to retreat dozens of miles to reassure Cao Cao.

If Yuan Tan mobilizes troops without authorization...

Yuan Tan was hesitant for a moment, and Chen Gong took the opportunity to step forward and said in a low voice: "Sir, although Yuan Shu is treasonous when he proclaims himself emperor, he is still a member of the Yuan family. If I go forward, I may be able to save Yuan Shu's life, but

If Cao Cao is left alone and Sun Ce attacks and destroys him, it will ultimately be inappropriate for the Yuan family."

Although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu fought fiercely in the early years, they were both members of the old Yuan family after all. If they were killed by Cao Cao, it would not be a glorious thing for the old Yuan family.

Yuan Tan agreed upon hearing this. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "I wonder how many troops Xuande wants to borrow?"

"Three thousand!" Chen Gong said firmly: "If there are too many people and horses, Cao Mengde may not be willing to let me wait. Three thousand people and horses are not a threat to Cao Mengde."

Yuan Tan nodded when he heard this. He could still accept three thousand troops. Liu Bei had made great contributions in the war with Cao Cao this time. Yuan Shao also admired Liu Bei quite a lot. Now Liu Bei wanted to borrow three thousand troops, and it was also for him.

For Jiayan's sake, Yuan Tan agreed after thinking about it.

Now that the world's structure has been set, there is no place for Liu Bei to rise again. Sun Ce's three thousand troops swept across Jiangdong, but to this day, those who are still left are all temporary heroes who want to conquer a territory with three thousand troops.

, I’m afraid even Sun Wu’s resurrection would not be able to do it.

"Well, it's convenient for Xuande Gong to have three thousand troops and Cen Bi as the supervisor. What does Xuande Gong think?" Yuan Tan said with a smile.

Cen Bi was Yuan Tan's general and confidant. He was sent to Liu Bei's side to prevent Liu Bei from returning after the battle.

Liu Bei was overjoyed when he heard this and bowed: "Thank you very much, sir."

At that moment, Liu Bei took the troops and set off with the team he had recruited over the past few years. After meeting Cenbi, he did not go directly to Huainan, but took a detour to Langya, preparing to go to Huainan via Xuzhou. Xuzhou could not be captured.

, but after all, Liu Bei still has some influence in Xuzhou, and there is still a group of his family members there that he has not brought with him, and now he just happened to take them with him.

…

Huainan, Shouchun, Imperial Palace.

Let’s call it an imperial palace. After all, Yuan Shu has become emperor now. His residence can naturally be called an imperial palace. Moreover, Yuan Shu is so luxurious. Even if he was defeated by Cao Cao one after another and lost Runan and Nanyang,

These big counties in Yuzhou have never been harsh on their quality of life. Since taking over Shouchun, the mansion they live in has undergone several large-scale expansions and renovations. When it comes to luxury, Suiyang Palace, Luoyang Palace

Anyway, it may not be comparable.

"Your Majesty, Sun Ce and Cao Cao are coming from the north and south, and the princes of the world are also denounced. Your Majesty should think of a strategy to retreat from the enemy early." Yan Xiang bowed to Yuan Shu with a bitter look on his face.

Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor. As counselors, Yan Xiang and Yang Hong both urged Yuan Shu not to be impatient and to support a Han clan relative as emperor like other princes in order to gain political autonomy. : :

In fact, with Yuan Shu's current power, he is not qualified to support the emperor, and it is somewhat reluctant to support the king.

But Yuan Shu obviously didn't want to have multiple people on his head out of thin air, even if they were puppets. Over the years, he was first angry with Cao Cao, and later he was betrayed by his former general Sun Ce. He was so angry that he was a coward. Now the emperor is finally dead.

, he felt that the time had come for him to rise.

After all, there is actually no difference between supporting the emperor or becoming the emperor yourself, at least in Yuan Shu's view.

The truth is actually correct. Supporting the emperor is just a fig leaf. In fact, the emperors supported by the major princes in the world today are probably not as good as Liu Xie at that time. However, this fig leaf cannot be lifted casually.

It's open, and even if you want to open it, you can't do it so roughly. There are rules for these.

"My dear friends, what are your countermeasures?" Yuan Shu frowned, feeling quite unhappy. Everyone is doing the same thing, why can't I do it if you can do it? That's all for Cao Cao. If Sun Ce doesn't help him at this time, it will be worse.

Yuan Shu couldn't accept the idea of ​​uniting the princes to attack him. After all, Sun Ce was just a young general under his former sect. It was too arrogant.

Yan Xiang and Yang Hong looked at each other, and they could see the helplessness in each other's eyes. Yan Xiang stepped out of the queue, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, for the current plan, our army is difficult to defeat the two princes. I think that your Majesty can temporarily

Resign the throne to calm the public's anger, and then negotiate peace with Cao Cao and fight against Sun Ce with all his strength."

As for why you don't negotiate with Sun Ce to fight Cao Cao... you have to be able to defeat him. In Yuan Shu's heyday, he lost consecutive battles against Cao Cao. Now that most of the territory has been captured by Cao Cao, how can Yuan Shu defeat him?

Moreover, based on their understanding of Yuan Shu, between Cao Cao and Sun Ce, I am afraid that Yuan Shu would rather seek peace with his former enemy Cao Cao than with his former general Sun Ce, right?

"Absurd!" Yuan Shu frowned and said, "The throne is given by heaven, how can you resign so easily?"

"But if we don't give up, it will be difficult for our army to resist the combined attack of Cao and Sun!" Yan Xiang advised: "My lord! It is definitely not a good opportunity to proclaim emperor at this time. With the current situation, even the title of emperor is just you. If my lord is willing,

We may still have a chance to resign from the throne temporarily, but if the master persists, I am afraid that the end of this great achievement will be around the corner!"

At this time, Yan Xiang simply gave up calling him your majesty. He wanted to wake up Yuan Shu and continue to bear the title of emperor. Now among the princes, big and small, he is probably the first to perish.

Yuan Shu frowned when he heard this and looked at Yang Hong: "Other than that, there is no other way to retreat from the enemy!?"

"Please forgive me for my limited knowledge and difficulty in coming up with a solution that has the best of both worlds!" Yang Hong sighed and nodded. He has followed Yuan Shu for the longest time. When the heroes attacked Dong, he was Yuan Shu's military advisor and witnessed with his own eyes Chen Mo, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao.

Even with Sun Ce's rise step by step, only Yuan Shu, who originally had a good situation, became a foil in the rise of these people, and became weaker step by step. Now he insists on proclaiming himself emperor, which has brought disaster to himself.

Even now, Yang Hong is still thinking about continuing to proclaim himself emperor. In fact, even if Yuan Shu resigns the throne, Yang Hong is not sure whether Cao Cao is willing to withdraw his troops.

"Report~"

Just when Yuan Shu was hesitating, he saw a palace captain coming outside the palace to ask for an audience.

"Come in!" Yuan Shu frowned and shouted.

The palace captain walked in quickly and saluted Yuan Shu: "Your Majesty, a battle report has been sent from outside the palace. Cao Cao's army has arrived in Ruyin. General Ji Ling went to fight but was defeated by the enemy general Yue Jin. Now he has retreated to Xia Cai!"

"It came so fast!?" Yuan Shu was shocked when he heard this. He quickly looked at Yang Hong and gritted his teeth and said: "Immediately send someone to tell Cao Cao that I am willing to resign from the throne and let him withdraw his troops immediately!"

Although he really wanted to fight, he had no choice. Yuan Shu knew very well that the total number of soldiers in his two counties was only 50,000, and he still had to defend various places. It was impossible to defeat Cao Cao, so he had to give in first.

"Here!" Yang Hong sighed inwardly, bowed to Yuan Shu, and left.

But before he could leave the main hall, another palace captain came in and saluted Yuan Shu: "Your Majesty, there is news from Lujiang that Zhang Xun surrendered to Sun Ce. Now Lujiang has been completely acquired by Sun Ce!"

"How could it be like this!? Zhang Xunan dares to betray me!?" Yuan Shu was furious when he heard this, stood up and cursed, Zhang Xun was his general who had been with him since Nanyang, and now he was entrusted with the important task of stationing a garrison.

The county surrendered so simply, and also surrendered to Sun Ce, which was even more difficult for Yuan Shu to accept.

"Lord, at this time, we should focus on the overall situation first, stabilize Cao Cao, and then wait for an opportunity to recapture Lujiang!" Yan Xiang said to Yuan Shu quickly.

"Okay, tell Ah Man that as long as he is willing to withdraw his troops, I will not only resign the throne, but also surrender to Liu Wei!" Yuan Shu took a deep breath, almost losing his breath just now.

Proclaiming vassalage to Liu Wei is almost equivalent to professing vassalage to Cao Cao. Although he still has absolute autonomy in Jiujiang, after this battle, Yuan Shu can no longer be counted as a separate prince.

"Here!" Yang Hong nodded after hearing this. Even so, there is only one Yuan Shu left in the county. Whether Cao Cao will accept it is still a question. Moreover, if Lujiang is lost, Yuan Shu will be at the end of his rope. Even if Cao Cao agrees in the end, I am afraid Yuan Shu will have to leave.
Chapter completed!