At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 147

In today's world, at least in the eyes of scholars, when the world is in chaos, it is not other princes who are fighting for hegemony, but Yuan Shao faction and Yuan Shu faction.

They believed that only Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were qualified to fight for world hegemony, and all the other princes were acting under the banner of the other two.

In fact, this is almost the case. The feudal lords are calling for Dong with the banner of the Yuan family, and they have never let it go. It would be a pity that such a good banner should not be used.

For this banner, whether the princes and officials of the world have the ambition to stand on their own, at least for now, they are all the younger brothers of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu have turned their faces and broke up.

For Yuan's orthodoxy and world hegemony, the two have already broken up. This is not a secret, but an open one.

Ever since Yuan Shu framed Yuan Shao as not a descendant of the Yuan family, the two lost even the superficial harmony.

Because he is a concubine, Yuan Shu has always looked down on Yuan Shao, and now he even calls Yuan Shao the servant of his own son, publicly insulting him, can Yuan Shao bear it?

Yuan Shao is indeed a concubine, but because he was adopted by Yuan Cheng, he actually has a certain status. If he is really just a concubine, he probably cannot compete with Yuan Shu.

Because of the great prestige and political power of the Four Generations and Three Dukes, in the early and troubled times of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the situation of the struggle for hegemony in the world was actually the faction of Yuan Shao against the faction of Yuan Shu.

Earlier, Yuan Shu was stronger than Yuan Shao.

Sun Jian, Gongsun Zan, and Tao Qian are all members of the Yuan Shu Alliance.

Yuan Shu occupied a large area of ​​Huainan by himself, joined forces with Tao Qian, and released the old general of the Sun family to take Jiangdong, the absolute number one prince.

In the early days, Yuan Shao could only rely on himself, and then released a Cao operation as an arm to add chaos to Yuan Shu in Henan, let Cao Cao develop himself, fight against Gongsun Zan in Hebei, and communicate with Liu Biao across the Central Plains, which gradually reversed the situation.

The two brothers couldn't fight directly because of their family ties, so they engaged in a proxy war, fighting with their respective wings to change the situation in the world.

In the end, Yuan Shu made a serious political mistake. Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's younger brother, defeated Yuan Shu who rashly proclaimed himself emperor and lost the hearts of the people, and Yuan Shao's faction won.

At that time, everyone thought that Yuan Shao would become the overlord of the world.

On the eve of the Battle of Guandu, it was difficult for Cao Cao to even raise the necessary military supplies, and many counties and counties rebelled or wavered.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Shao forcibly played the downwind game to a bloodbath, and Cao Cao turned against the wind and won.

It's pretty scary.

So even at this time, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are still the well-deserved duo of the world, the duo fighting for hegemony. Everyone in the world thinks that the world is actually under Yuan's control. No matter who their agent wins, Yuan will benefit Shi.

In general, Yuan Shu's strength is still stronger than Yuan Shao's, because Yuan Shu's ally Guo Peng is too good at fighting.

Everyone in the world felt that Guo Peng was Yuan Shu's ally, and it was not out of their own will that they enshrined Yuan Shu as the leader of the alliance, and that he and Yuan Shu worked together for Yuan Shao.

Without Yuan Shu's banner, Guo Peng alone would not be able to gain an advantage in politics.

Just like Gongsun Zan is now at war with Yuan Shao, if Yuan Shao did not do things properly and caused Han Fu's death, Gongsun Zan would not be able to compete with Yuan Shao in public opinion.

Before Guo Peng could abandon Yuan Shu's name, he was still a close friend of Yuan Shu. He formed an alliance with Yuan Shu and regarded Yuan Shu as the leader of the alliance. He would definitely be hostile to Yuan Shao.

So after taking Yanzhou, Guo Peng sent Yuan Shu a lot of money, food and treasures, and wrote a letter, saying that he controlled the two states of Qingyan and Yanzhou, and prevented Yuan Shao from going south for Yuan Shu, and absolutely prevented Yuan Shao from going south to threaten Yuan Shu again. status.

chapter 266

Yuan Shu was very happy after receiving the money, food, treasures and letters from Guo Peng, and sent someone to return gifts.

He gave Guo Peng more things than what Guo Peng had given him as a gift in return, and wrote a letter praising Guo Peng as a minister and general of the country.

Then he expanded his territory around with confidence, was ambitious, and really wanted to start a big business.

When Guo Peng received Yuan Shu's gift in return, he was quite surprised.

This guy does not organize refugees to farm, and there is no peasant uprising under his command.

What's even more strange is that after Yuan Shu occupied Runan, the Yellow Turban Army in Runan actually joined forces to cooperate with Yuan Shu, and also used this to connect the Yellow Turban Army in Yuzhou to respond to Yuan Shu and not to be hostile to him.

In this way, he was able to wear gorgeous clothes, eat meat and drink, and give Guo Peng such a generous return.

Later, when he got information from the spies he sent to the area ruled by Yuan Shu, Guo Peng knew why Yuan Shu was so rich and powerful.

The records in the history books are correct. He did make a living by plundering places. As for military rations, he mainly collected food from the states and counties, which was tantamount to military coercion. He himself was not interested in construction and production.

The common people are too poor, they don't have luxurious clothes, delicious meat and wine for Yuan Shu to exploit, and Yuan Shu doesn't look down on the rotten things of the common people, as long as they can provide food.

As for those luxuries, Yuan Shu didn't produce them himself, so how could he get them?

He hit the local tyrants.

Yes, that's right, Yuan Shu beat local tyrants.

He wouldn't touch the gentry, and he wouldn't dare to touch the powerful, powerful and famous soldiers, unless he didn't have eyes to oppose Yuan Shu.

So the small and medium-sized tyrants fell into bad luck.

Form a Wubao, run the manor economy, equip various technical personnel such as guests, apprentices, servants, craftsmen, etc., and have the powerful conditions to produce the luxury goods that Yuan Shu likes and make them from raw materials to finished products.

Only they have these things that Yuan Shu likes.

Therefore, Yuan Shu relied on his name as the fourth generation and the third lord to fabricate charges openly and plundered these tyrants, destroying manors, plundering property and food, and plundering people to meet the needs of himself and the army.

They really have a lot of things, and Yuan Shu can spend a lot of time by grabbing a wave, and when they are gone, grab them again and continue to squander.

Guo Peng probably understood why the gentry generally didn't like Yuan Shu, but the Yellow Turban Army had a good relationship with Yuan Shu.

Guo Peng actually admired Yuan Shu's ingenuity.

Yuan Shu did have some talent.

In the region he chose to be in now, no one can contend with his power. Except for Xuzhou Tao Qian who is a big power, Yangzhou and Yuzhou don't have a large-scale influence, so Yuan Shu was able to expand in Yangzhou and Yuzhou on a large scale.

He took in Sun Jian's team of generals and his family, and obtained a large number of generals who were good at fighting, and fought for him everywhere.

Relying on Sun Jian's team and his own army, he continued to expand his power to Yuzhou and Yangzhou, and even coveted Xuzhou, and there were faint signs of revenge against Liu Biao.

The alliance between Yuan Shu and Guo Peng Tao Qian has occupied almost the entire Central Plains, and the general trend has gradually taken shape, and he is well-deserved as the world's number one prince.

And Yuan Shao is still dealing with Gongsun Zan through domestic and foreign affairs with great difficulty.

Everyone can tell who is strong and who is weak.

If so, the ambitious Guo Peng can also see that Yuan Shu's power is rootless duckweed, if you stretch out your hand, it will be uprooted.

He is good at making progress, and is good at using his fame to seek benefits, but he is not good at consolidating his foundation and letting his power firmly take root.

Unlike Guo Peng, he planted his forces at the lowest level, went deep into every village to control and collect taxes, formed a complete set of effective systems, established an order, stabilized the rule, and publicized his reputation.

It is difficult to form, but once formed, it is deeply rooted and difficult to pull out.

Yuan Shu is rootless duckweed, which seems to be lush, and it will come out as soon as it is pulled out.

What's more, to deal with Yuan Shu, Guo Peng has nirvana.

The Chuan Guo Yuxi is still hidden in Guo Peng's secret room, lying in good condition.

When the time is right, use a suitable method to send the Chuanguo Yuxi to Yuan Shu, and wait for Yuan Shu to make a wave of operations to achieve a "great cause".

Some of Chen Gong's strategic plans can be used, but when it comes to the most core issues, it revealed a very serious practical problem to Guo Peng.

Even though the prestige of the Han Dynasty has fallen like fallen leaves, the 400-year rule of the Han Dynasty is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and it is not easy to shake it.

A centipede is dead but not stiff, and the Han Dynasty still has a little bit of vitality.

A person's recovery time is very short, but a country's recovery time is very long, sometimes longer than a person's lifespan.

Therefore, although the emperor of the Han family has no actual power, the name of an emperor of the Han family is just a name, and it cannot be ignored by any scholar or even the princes.

Fame is very important, really important.

A considerable part of the reason why Cao Cao was able to attack Yuan Shu and compete with Yuan Shao was because he had the emperor.

Feng Tianzi gave Cao Cao a lot of convenience, and many people took refuge in Cao Cao because the emperor was in Xuchang.

In terms of talent and popularity, Cao Cao has greatly increased his strength in a short period of time, and he also has the most important righteous name, so he has the confidence to fight against Yuan Shao.

But what about side effects?

Cao Cao's reputation has never been very good, probably a side effect.

If Cao Cao was just a Yanzhou shepherd under Yuan Shao, his reputation would definitely not be as polarized as it is today.

But he chose to coerce the emperor to make the princes, and became a well-known traitor.

For Guo, what are the benefits of coercing the emperor to make the princes?

What is the advantage of not coercing the emperor to make the princes?

In fact, Guo has always felt that coercing the emperor to make the princes is a false proposition.

When Cao Cao first got the emperor, he swelled up. He became a general himself and asked the emperor to appoint Yuan Shao as a captain. Yuan Shao was very annoyed and scolded Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was terrified, and immediately went to the Grand General, changed to Sikong, and gave Yuan Shao the title of Grand General.

Whether you can order the princes depends not on the emperor, but on your own strength.

The princes who are not strong enough dare not coerce the emperor at all. For example, Zhang Yang, the prefect of Hanoi, knows that he is not strong enough, so he dare not coerce the emperor. Cao Cao himself has the strength to calm down these little princes.

As for Yuan Shao, a giant prince like Yuan Shao, apart from his political advantages, it did not actually change the situation that Yuan Shao was strong and Cao Cao was weak.

Therefore, you don't need to coerce the emperor to deal with small princes, but you don't need to coerce the emperor to coerce the emperor when you deal with big princes. You should fight or fight.

It is true that the name of righteousness is really meaningful. The emperor is in his hands and Cao Cao has gained a lot. Gained the confidence to fight against the reputation of the fourth generation and the third prince.

But while waving the banner of the Han Dynasty, and at the same time realizing one's own selfishness, is there really such a thing as the best of both worlds?

Someone Guo expressed doubts.

A certain Guo's background is much better than Cao Cao's, and the only stain is simply washed away because of Lu Zhi and Cai Yong.

So Chen Gong thinks this way because of his background, his situation, and what he has learned, so this is the best way he can think of.

However, from Guo Peng's point of view, everything does not seem to be like this.

More importantly, Guo Peng does not have the plot of a big man like Cao Cao.

Cao Cao had feelings for the emperor in name, and was limited by his actual situation and ideals. He couldn't retreat, and he didn't dare to advance, and he didn't want to really enter. He suffered for a lifetime.

Mr. Guo is a straightforward traitor, so there is nothing to worry about. His goal is very clear and he will not waver.

For Chen Gong's strategic plan after Yuan Shao was eliminated, Guo was quite disapproving.

Han Dynasty...

Handi...

Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, or the disadvantages outweigh the advantages?

Chapter 267

The popularity of the world represented by the emperor alone is really terrifying. Whether it is he, Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu who can grasp it, it is a great thing.

Therefore, what should be done, Guo Peng has a steelyard in his heart.

Regarding Chen Gong's suggestion, Guo Peng showed an overjoyed look, saying that he very much agrees with Chen Gong's idea and wants to achieve this goal together with Chen Gong.

Chen Gong was also quite happy, feeling that he had met the Ming Lord and could realize his political ideals.

Guo Peng's foothold in Yanzhou became very stable. Except for Chen Liujun who had not yet intervened, Yanzhou had already recognized the master.

Bao Xin obeyed Guo Peng's orders very much, and agreed with Guo Peng's policy of stabilizing the local area with the strategy of farming.

His Yanzhou governor was actually appointed by Guo Peng, and the two had a master-slave relationship, so as the Yanzhou governor, he vigorously promoted the garrison policy and helped Guo Peng control Yanzhou.

Even so, the four counties under the control of Guo Peng directly sent his own people to implement the farmland policy on a large scale, and the other four counties were just doing superficial engineering to deal with the governor's decree.

Nevertheless, Guo Peng's power and status in Yanzhou are beyond doubt.

So at the end of March in the third year of Chuping, when the situation in Youzhou and Chang'an will undergo huge and far-reaching changes, Guo Peng is already the veritable master of the two states.

As your status increases, your strength will also increase.

After mastering a large amount of resources, Guo Peng successfully expanded his army, abolished old and weak soldiers within Yanzhou, and sent them back to their hometowns to work in agriculture, either to cultivate themselves, or to participate in farming.

Afterwards, the elite and strong men were selected to join the army, including the original Yanzhou soldiers and the original Yellow Turban Army. The elite and strong men were selected from them, and after they were broken up, they were incorporated into the original Qingzhou Army.

After this work was completed, Guo Peng expanded the army to a scale of about 10, and set up a new military training camp in Lu County, including recruits to step up training.