The news of Yuan Shu's self-determination reached Huaicheng, and Liu Xie summoned his ministers to discuss countermeasures.
The ministers in the hall were all excited and indignant, but there were different opinions on how to deal with it. Liu Xie was so confused by the noise that he said, "I want to issue an edict to reprimand him. Which minister will deliver it for me?"
When the ministers heard this, they suddenly became quiet. They looked at each other and no one said a word.
Liu Xie said slowly: "Whatever you think, please share it one by one."
Ding Chong stepped out and said, "There is no two emperors in the sky. Yuan Gonglu's action is extremely presumptuous. However, this person has already risked the world's disapproval, so he naturally has no scruples. Even if the emperor issues an edict, I am afraid he will still insist on doing it."
"But his behavior must be punished, otherwise where is the prestige and virtue of the Han Dynasty?"
"Your Majesty must issue an edict, but not to Yuan Gonglu, but to the princes of the world."
"Order all the princes of the world to fight against it together!"
Wang Zifu stepped out and said, "Before that, shouldn't we issue an imperial edict to warn him? If he is intimidated by the emperor's majesty and abandons his title, then there will be no need to launch a war."
Ding Chong snorted coldly, "If he turns a deaf ear to it, then if he ignores the emperor's order, wouldn't Your Majesty lose his dignity?"
Everyone nodded. If Liu Xie issued the edict and Yuan Shu ignored it, this edict would undoubtedly become a joke, and this was almost a foregone conclusion.
Since Yuan Shu was so fully prepared to establish himself as an emperor, why would he care about an edict that had no actual deterrent power?
Someone immediately said, "Minister Ding is absolutely right. We should act with swiftness and determination, mobilize the governors of all states, send troops to attack him, capture him and make him confess his crime before the emperor, so that your majesty can show his authority!"
Everyone cursed inwardly, what if they caught him?
Yuan has hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command. Do you think it is that easy?
And if they lost the battle, wouldn't it be even more embarrassing for the Han court?
However, everyone also knows that calling on the princes to send troops is the only solution at the moment.
This battle must be fought.
If Yuan Shu failed, the Han court could still maintain its position in the hearts of the people. If Yuan Shu could not be eliminated, the situation would be that there would be two emperors in the sky and the Han court would lose all its dignity.
But to be honest, the current Han court has no deterrent power. The ones fighting for the world now are Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. The Han court's more than 10,000 soldiers and horses are nothing in front of the two Yuans.
Then everyone spoke up and agreed to issue an edict, ordering the princes to attack Yuan Shu together.
Seeing that everyone agreed, Liu Xie said, "Who do you think should we send to attack us?"
Zhong Ji immediately stepped forward and said, "The only person in the world who can fight against Yuan Gonglu is Yuan Benchu, and the two families have been attacking each other. We should issue an imperial edict to order them to attack Yuan Gonglu."
Ding Chong sneered and said, "Everyone knows why the two Yuans are fighting. Both of them have evil intentions. Why would they attack each other just because the emperor issued an edict?"
Dong Cheng said, "Minister Ding is wrong. When two tigers fight, one of them will be injured. Isn't this a good thing for the Han court?"
"And Yuan Gonglu was also given the title of Son of Heaven. Why do you think he must have ulterior motives?"
At this time, Zhong Yao came out and said, "Yuan Benchu has not been seen to be on the side of the Han court. If Yuan Gonglu's independence was originally a tacit agreement between the two, then what should we do?"
Dong Cheng sneered, "According to what Minister Zhong said, then Yuan Benchu is also an enemy of the Han court?"
Zhong Yao was speechless and could only say: "I dare not make any rash conclusions about this."
Everyone had figured out something was going on. It seemed that the two sides were clashing over a very sensitive issue. One side was being aggressive while the other was trying desperately to cover it up.
As expected, Kong Rong could not hold back and stepped out to make a speech: "Issuing an edict to all the princes of the world to jointly fight against the traitor Yuan Shu, what does it have to do with whether Yuan Benchu participates or not?"
"Cao Mengde is located in Yanzhou, and is only separated from Yuan Shu's base camp Jiujiang Shouchun by one county in Yuzhou!"
"Whether he goes south from Chenliu to attack Chen State and then enters Jiujiang from Runan, or goes south from Shanyang to Pei State and directly enters Jiujiang, it is extremely convenient. Is there anyone in the world who is more suitable than him?"
"Or does anyone think that Cao Mengde, who was loyal to the emperor, was actually attached to Yuan Benchu and secretly colluding with Yuan Shu?"
"So, Cao Mengde's loyalty to Yuan Benchu is far greater than that to the Han court?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Cao Cao's spies such as Zhong Yao and Ding Chong cursed in their hearts, but Kong Rong blocked their words and they were unable to refute for a while!
The intention of Zhong Yao and others was to get rid of Cao Cao first and let other princes go first, so as to prevent Cao Cao from becoming Yuan Shu's primary target of attack when the troops were dispatched.
As a result, Kong Rong pointed out Cao Cao directly and bluntly, and used words to put pressure on him, making Zhong Yao and Ding Chong grit their teeth.
Although Kong Rong had no other strengths, he was one of the best celebrities of his time when it came to criticizing others.
Whenever Kong Rong was summoned for an interview at a court meeting, he would cite evidence to make his decision, and the ministers and officials were unable to refute him. Therefore, as long as Kong Rong opened his mouth, others were unwilling to debate with him for fear of humiliating themselves.
At this time, Kong Rong pointed his finger at Cao Cao again. Ding Chong knew that he had no choice but to stand up, so he had to bite the bullet and said, "Cao Mengde is loyal to the emperor, and heaven and earth can bear witness to this."
"However, Yanzhou had just put down the civil strife and was seriously injured..."
"Civil strife?" Zhang Miao jumped out and shouted, "Yanzhou has suffered greatly from Cao Cao's abuses. As the governor of Chenliu, I raised an army to stop his unjust actions. Is this a rebellion?"
"I am a rebel, is Wen Hou also a rebel?"
After hearing this, Lu Bu, who was present, snorted coldly and glared at him, which made Ding Chong feel uneasy.
Zhang Miao took advantage of the situation and said, "Cao Mengde was the governor of Yanzhou at that time, and he was the one who established himself, right?"
"Who is the traitor?"
Ding Chong had a headache. Although there were many people supporting Cao, most of them were hiding in the dark. Only he and Zhong Yao stood out and waved the flags and cheered.
Although the number of ministers who opposed Cao was small, each of them was sworn enemies with Cao Cao. For example, Zhang Miao, who was in the hall, would criticize Cao Cao every time he went to court because his entire family was killed.
Zhang Miao was also a famous scholar of the time with great eloquence. He seized the loophole in Ding Chong's words and launched a attack, and also directed the conflict to Lu Bu who was present.
Ding Chong can talk nonsense with others, but he dare not criticize Lu Bu publicly, because the other party will really kill people!
He was in a dilemma, and Zhong Yao came out to smooth things over, saying, "Everyone knows that Marquis Wen is loyal and his bravery is unparalleled in the world."
"In this case, why doesn't Lord Wen lead a group of elite troops from Henei to Henan Yin, attack Yingchuan in Yuzhou, and directly attack Jiujiang Shouchun from Runan?"
"This route isn't as long as Cao Mengde's, right?"
Chen Gong said, "As a general, Marquis Wen has the responsibility to protect the capital and mobilize the people. If everything needs to be done by Marquis Wen himself, then what is the difference between him and other generals?"
"It's fine for Minister Zhong to discuss government affairs, but isn't it exceeding his authority to talk about military affairs?"
"Who will send out the troops? The final decision will still be made by the emperor."
After hearing this, Zhong Yao realized that he was indeed too impatient and let the other party see through his purpose!
He was too impatient and exposed his intention. If Lu Bu led his troops to attack Yuan Shu, it would take at least half a year. At this time, Huaicheng's defenses would be unguarded, and Cao Cao's people could do a lot of things.
But Lu Bu's side were not pushovers either. including Chen Gong, they immediately saw through Cao Cao's thoughts.
Ding Chong sighed. Zhong Yao was a civilian after all. Compared with those veteran soldiers who had fought in wars, there was indeed a gap. Now he could only try his best to make up for it. He came out and said, "To fight against Yuan Gonglu, all the people in the world have the responsibility."
"Cao Mengde must fight, but it would be unfair if the others just stood by and watched."
"Besides, there is now a shortest route."
"Liu Xuande occupies Xuzhou Xiapi, which is directly adjacent to Jiujiang. If he attacks Shouchun, it will only take a few hundred miles to reach there."
"And Marquis Anguoting is the governor of Xuzhou. He occupies Guangling, which is only one or two hundred miles more."
"With these two people, why bother to go far away?"
Everyone thought to themselves that this sounds very high-sounding, but do you really not know or are you pretending not to know that Shouchun is Yuan Shu's base camp and is surrounded by heavy troops?
Especially the Jiujiang border bordering Xuzhou. Because Yuan Shu was plotting to take over Xuzhou, he deployed a large number of troops. Liu Bei had clashed with him several times and was barely able to hold him off. Now, isn't it too much to ask him to capture Yuan Shu's base camp?
Chen Gong said in a deep voice: "Minister Ding should understand that the north of Shouchun is where Yuan Shu has stored a large number of troops. Liu Xuande of Xiapi in Xuzhou has been very reluctant to stop him from coveting it several times."
"Xuzhou can only be used for containment and defense. Other directions are the main attack routes."
"In this way, Yuan Gonglu's technique will deal with multiple routes at the same time, and he will inevitably lose sight of one while focusing on another. This is also the safest way at the moment."
When Zhong Yao and Ding Chong heard this, they wiped their sweat and thought to themselves that they were lucky.
There was a loophole in what Chen Gong said. He fell into Cao Cao's strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao. Now the water in the court has been muddied.
In this case, drag everyone into the water, and then Duke Meng De can wait for the opportunity to act!
The court once again fell into lengthy debates. A few days later, the Han court issued an edict to the world, saying that Yuan Shu had usurped the title of emperor and was committing treason and rebellion. The emperor now issued an edict, ordering the world to attack him.
Order the general and Marquis of Wen Lu Bu, the governor of Yanzhou and the commander of the Sili Army Cao Cao, the general who conquers the east and the governor of Xuzhou Yuan Xi, the governor of Yuzhou Liu Bei, the commander of the cavalry and the marquis of Wucheng, and the governor of Kuaiji Sun Ce to lead the expedition to fight Yuan Shu and put down the rebellion!
When this decree was issued, the whole world was shocked. Everyone knew that the world, which had finally come to peace, might be about to be reignited by war.
As for the five people in this imperial edict who ordered the troops to send out troops, if the first four were well behaved, then the fifth person, Sun Ce, was beyond everyone's expectations!
Half a month later, when Sun Ce got the news from the Han court, he was dancing with Zhou Yu. He threw the sword aside and sneered, "This little emperor is very scheming!"
"This is tantamount to forcing me to break up with Yuan Shu immediately. It seems that he is not completely confident in me, so he cuts off my retreat!"
Zhou Yu also put away his sword and said, "It's just the emperor's mind."
"Besides, didn't Bofu marry the royal family girl sent by the emperor a few years ago?"
Sun Ce sneered, "That being said, the conditions he offered are not very good."
"This rank of Cavalry Commander is too low. It really looks down on me!"
Zhou Yu also agreed. Sun Ce now occupied most of Yangzhou. Logically, his power should be much stronger than Liu Bei. However, he was only a mere Cavalry Commander and Governor of Kuaiji. The title of Marquis of Wucheng was inherited from Sun Jian.
Sun Ce became more and more angry as he spoke. "I understand the Han court's plan at a glance. They are putting me on the fire!"
"Yuan Shu will definitely be suspicious of me. I originally wanted to break up with him, but I'm not fully prepared. The Han court is simply setting me up by not notifying me in advance!"
"And Mr. Qiao is also stupid. He actually went back to Shouchun to meet Yuan Gonglu. I really don't know what he was thinking!"