Chapter Eighteen A Place of Refuge

  Before the great chaos in the world, Xu You had secretly plotted with King Fen, the governor of Ji Province, and others. They planned to take advantage of Emperor Ling's inspection tour of Hebei to stage a military coup and overthrow him, replacing him with the Marquis of Hejian as the new emperor. However, their plan was exposed and failed, resulting in the death of King Fen and others, while Xu You escaped.

  At that time, the authority of the Han emperor was still in place, and the emperor remained a sacred and inviolable symbol among the people of the world.

  In such a great environment, Xu You dared to plan a military coup to overthrow the emperor, and his courage can be imagined.

  Now Yan Liang's several bouts of excitement are precisely what have stirred up Xu You's past glorious events, awakening the hot blood that had been sealed away for a long time.

  That sentence "willing to gamble and lose" means that he wants to put aside everything in the past, and finally made up his mind to get on Yan Liang's "pirate ship".

  Having obtained this great talent, Yan Liang was overjoyed in his heart and loudly exclaimed: "Come on, bring wine! Today I want to drink with Mr. Xu until we are drunk."

  Yan Liang was in high spirits that day and had a hearty drink with Xu You, drinking until they were completely drunk before stopping.

  The next day when I opened my eyes, it was already broad daylight.

  Yan Liang had just finished washing his face and was still dazed when Xu You came to request an audience.

  At this time, Xu You's expression was calm and composed, neither sad nor happy, greatly different from the changing emotions of yesterday, and he seemed to have regained the air of a strategist who plans in secret.

  "General, I pondered overnight and felt that Yuzhou is not a place to stay for long. We must leave this place as soon as possible and find another safe haven." Xu You said with his hands clasped together.

  A genius strategist is indeed a genius strategist, entering the state so quickly.

  Yan Liang felt very pleased and said: "What you said is exactly what I have been thinking about for the past few days, do you have any ideas?"

  "A general who wants to achieve great things must first have a foundation for achieving great things. I have a place in mind that is suitable, but I don't know if the general is willing to go." Xu You said, stroking his beard.

  Yan Liang smiled and said, "I've also been thinking of a place in my heart. I wonder if it's the same as yours, sir. Let's do this: we'll each write down the place on our palms, and then open them at the same time to see if the heroes' views are similar."

  Xu You's curiosity was piqued, and he agreed with Yan Liang's proposal. They took up brushes and ink, and each wrote down their thoughts on the palm of their hand.

  The two stretched out their palms, looked at each other for a moment, and slowly relaxed their five fingers.

  Jingzhou.

  Yan Liang's expression was calm and collected, as if he had expected this all along.

  Xu You's face showed a look of astonishment, staring at the bold and rough "Jingzhou" characters in Yan Liang's palm. Xu You vaguely felt that Yan Liang seemed to have planned everything out long ago.

  "General, isn't it that you came to Ru Nan on your own initiative to ask for a command from Yuan Shao, just to take the opportunity to leave Yuan Shao and get a chance to take Jing Zhou?" Xu You asked in surprise.

  Yan Liang smiled but did not speak, tacitly confirming Xu You's conjecture.

  Xu You's face showed deep shock again, which was a sigh of admiration for Yan Liang's profound and far-sightedness. After the sigh, he added a few more points to his confidence.

  Assisting such a wise and brave leader, how can one worry about not achieving great things?

  Both of them share the same view that Liu Biao is a mediocre person who only maintains what he has, and although the scholars in Jingzhou appear to submit on the surface, they are actually all harboring ulterior motives.

  The plan has been decided, and a few days later, Xu You's fine work in Xuchang sent back intelligence that Cao Cao had secretly mobilized the troops on the front line of Guandu and planned to personally attack Runan.

  Yan Liang was unwilling to deplete his precious troops against Cao Cao, and immediately made a decision. He led 6,000 infantry and cavalry, Xu You, Zhou Cang, Liu Bian, Wu, and the captive Man Chong to leave Runan and head to Jingzhou by a shortcut.

  The troops marched day and night, and after five days, the vanguard arrived at XinYe, which belongs to JingZhou.

  Jingzhou has jurisdiction over seven counties including Nanyang, Nangong and Jiangxia. Xinye belongs to the northernmost county of Jingzhou, Nanyang County.

  Nanyang Commandery administered thirty-six counties and was originally the most populous commandery in Jingzhou, with its seat at Wan City even serving as the location of the provincial governor's office for a time.

  After Liu Biao took over Jingzhou, considering that Wan City was too close to the Central Plains, he was afraid of being affected by the war and moved the provincial capital to Xiangyang.

  In earlier years, Wan city was occupied by Zhang Yi, and Liu Biao used it to counter Cao Cao's threat.

  Before the Battle of Guandu, Zhang Yi defected to Cao Cao and Liu Biao lost most of the northern part of Nanyang in the vicinity of Bowan City. As a result, Liu Biao had no choice but to move the administrative seat of Nanyang Commandery to Xinye.

  To capture Jingzhou, we must first capture Xinye, and open up this gate of the northern part of Jingzhou.

  Yan Liang was deep in thought when a scout came galloping up.

  "Reporting to General, thirty miles ahead, Jingzhou troops and horses were discovered, with approximately over ten thousand men and horses."

  "Liu Biao's reaction is still quite quick." Yan Liang's sword eyebrows slightly moved, and he asked: "Do you know who the enemy general is?"

  According to the scout's investigation, the enemy general is Wen Ping, a Zhonglang General under Liu Biao.

  Good job!

  At the mention of this familiar name, Yan Liang's heart skipped a beat.

  Wen Pin in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was the one who repelled Wei Yan, his martial arts were quite impressive.

  In official history, Wen Ping was stationed in Jiangxia for Wei State, repeatedly repelling Wu State's attacks, and his achievements were remarkable.

  Liu Biao valued scholars over warriors and had few capable generals under his command, Wen Pi being one of them.

  It's a pity that Wen Pin spent the first half of his life under Liu Biao, never making any outstanding achievements. It wasn't until he surrendered to Cao Cao that he was reused and able to fully display his talents.

  "Wen Ping was not reused by Liu Biao, and in his heart, he must have had many complaints... This point can be used by me..."

  Yan Liang was already thinking of ways to subdue Wen Ping in his heart.

  Xu You said, "This Wen Ping has no great reputation. We can use a small strategy to defeat him, it shouldn't be difficult. However, we have fewer soldiers and generals, if we provoke Liu Biao to send a large army to resist, I'm afraid..."

  Xun Yu looked down on Wen Ping, and Yan Liang couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart.

  Yan Liang's possession of foresight had an advantage in predicting the direction of history and the personalities and abilities of famous people.

  Xu You was intelligent and had superior strategies, but most of the time, he could only judge a person's ability through superficial information such as reputation and military achievements.

  However, Yu later half of the words Yan Liang is very supportive, Liu Biao although not what a hero, but still have the ability, and under his command there are more than 100,000 armored soldiers, he thought that relying on six thousand infantry and cavalry to swallow Jingzhou in one breath was obviously not feasible.

  If Liu Biao were really so incompetent, he would have been eliminated by Cao Cao long ago, and how could he have lasted until today.

  Considering these, Yan Liang nodded slightly: "What the gentleman says is extremely right, Liu Biao's power is great, and he wants to swallow his foundation, but it can't be done in a hurry. First, we must establish a stable foothold in Jingzhou, and then slowly plot against him."

  Xu You let out a quiet breath of relief.

  What he feared most was that Yan Liang would be impatient and try to take Jingzhou by force, but now seeing Yan Liang's composure and calmness, he couldn't help but admire him.

  "For the time being, we have not openly defected from Yuan Shao, and Liu Biao at least claims to support Yuan Shao on the surface. I think we can make use of this point." Xu You stroked his beard, smiling somewhat mysteriously.

  "What's your plan, sir?" Yan Liang's eyes lit up, showing great interest.

  Yan Liang had already planned a general strategy in his heart, and he vaguely guessed that Xu You was thinking similarly to himself. However, at this time, Xu You was his strategist, so he needed to give him space to exercise his abilities, making him feel useful under Yan Liang's command.

  Xu You slowly and calmly, with a hint of pride, revealed his plan.

  Xu You thought that they could use Yuan Shao's banner, and under the pretext of allying with Liu Biao, imitate Zhang Yang's example, propose to Liu Biao to station troops in Jingzhou, have Yan Liang exert his strength, Liu Biao provide grain, and jointly deal with Cao Cao.

  Liu Biao did not dare to offend Yuan Shao and was also unwilling to directly conflict with Cao Cao, so under the weight of these two considerations, he had no choice but to accept Yan Liang's request for an alliance.

  In this way, Yan Liang can settle in Jingzhou with dignity, take the opportunity to expand his power, buy people's hearts, and then plot to capture Jingzhou.

  After listening to Xu You's clever plan, Yan Liang smiled in his heart.

  Xu You's plan was exactly what he had in mind.

  Yan Liang "plagiarized" Liu Bei's strategy to escape and come to Ru Nan, naturally wanting to "plagiarize" more thoroughly. Historically, Liu Bei relied on attaching himself to others to develop his power and connections, laying the foundation for eventually conquering Jingzhou.

  However, Yan Liang is not simply a copycat, but rather an improved version.

  He wanted to be like Zhang Yu, striving for an alliance with Liu Biao on equal terms, rather than a subordinate relationship like Liu Bei's.

  Secondly, he will not wait for many years like Liu Bei, waiting for Liu Biao to die before making a move. Once his power is strong enough, he will turn against Liu Biao without hesitation.

  "General's plan, very much in line with my intentions." Yan Liang expressed his agreement.

  Xu You became even more pleased and said: "Since it's like this, then there's no need to fight this battle. Let's temporarily set up camp and send someone to Xiangyang to negotiate with Liu Biao."

  "No, this battle cannot be avoided." Yan Liang's tone revealed a growing killing intent.

  Xu You was taken aback, his expression suddenly somewhat perplexed. "General, since you also agree to form an alliance with Liu Biao, why do you still want to resort to arms?"

  Yan Liang sneered: "Wanting to form an alliance with Liu Biao this slippery head, relying solely on Yuan Shao's name is not enough, it also depends on this."

  His gaze suddenly froze like a knife's edge, and Yan Liang gripped the long knife in his hand even tighter.