Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 625 Longyou Alliance
In the ninth year of Chu Li, not only did Xichuan Shuhou Mansion surrender, but Yizhou seemingly completely changed its ownership, Qingxu Prefecture also changed its Dawang Banner one after another.

Taking advantage of "Liu Bei's death", Wei State went directly south to Qingzhou, and Chu State also relied on saving Liu Bei who was not dead, and took over Xuzhou...

At the same time, the troops originally stationed on the eastern coast of Qingzhou, under the leadership of Lu Meng, assisted the Qi army in Guanping to resist the invasion of Wei.

But at the beginning, due to the lack of information, Guan Ping naturally could not trust Lu Meng, and did not cooperate with each other from the beginning. Instead, there were many misunderstandings, allowing Wei to take the lead and really invade Qingzhou. Guan Ping had no choice but to Dong Lai, who was backed by Chu State, barely blocked Wei State's offensive.

And it was not only the military support from the two ports of Qingzhou that made the contribution.

The soldiers and horses of the "Marquis of An Wei" stationed in Nanpi also attacked Leling under the leadership of Lu Bu - not asking for victory, but asking Wei to be unable to comfortably mobilize troops to Qingzhou!
During the dragging and tiring, when Chu State had settled in Xuzhou, Wei State had not been able to regain half of Qingzhou.

Although the main force of the Chu army was basically in Guandu, and the number of people on other battlefields was smaller, it was easy to delay Wei's recovery of Qingzhou.

Not to mention, Lu Bu was so fierce that he caused Jizhou internal and external troubles...

On the other hand, Sun Ce led his army into Longyou in the spring, hoping that Ma Chao would continue to fulfill the agreement with Zhuge Liang, but the target of surrender was changed to Chu State, and... the conditions were even more harsh!
Originally, if the conditions remained unchanged, Ma Chao wouldn't mind too much. After all, Zhuge Liang had already said what needed to be said, and Ma Chao had already agreed once.

However, the problem is that the Chu State does not want to agree to the conditions promised by Zhuge Liang - to be the king of the Chu State and to sit in Longyou, Hetao?Just think about it!

The conditions given by the Chu State to Ma Chao were the same as those of other princes who surrendered. They were granted a title of marquis and hereditary status, but only the income from the "agricultural tax" of the granted food town went to the title.

Of course, this means that Ma Chao surrenders as a prince, and additionally Ma Chao serves as a general. After surrendering to Chu, he will still be in charge of the Longyou army, and can be directly awarded the rank of sub-general...

But even so, Ma Chao would not be willing.

I even feel that Sun Ce is here to find fault!
Fortunately, Sun Ce did not leave Zhou Yu alone. With Zhou Yu's pros and cons analysis, Ma Chao would not directly confront Sun Ce.

The logic Zhou Yu wanted to figure out was actually very simple - now is no longer the time for princes to compete for hegemony. Within a year, the world will be completely divided into the only two remaining parties, Chu and Wei.

As for Xichuan, if the hypocrites cannot intervene, it is estimated that they will not be able to hold on for two or three months. As for the hypocrites... they will definitely be divided between the two quickly.

Xiliang Longyou?

Even if Ma Chao really had divine help and quickly recovered the Hetao area, it would still be completely incomparable to Wei and Chu.

Moreover, neither Hetao nor Longyou have the capital to stand alone with Wei and Chu in terms of geographical advantages or people!

First, the proportion of Han people in the two places is very small. Compared with the population in other areas, the Xiongnu and Zhu Qiang are not large. From the productivity, we can know that with the same geographical resources, agricultural civilization can feed far more people than nomadic civilization. , fishing and hunting civilization should be more.

It’s just that in the Cold Weapon Age, nomadic civilization had great advantages in warfare and could easily occupy large areas of plains, making agricultural civilization with the same population “vulnerable”.

However, even if Ma Chao unified Xiliang and Hetao and continued to be the "divine and mighty general" of the Huns and Qiang, what would happen next?Go north to compete with Xianbei for the desert grassland?

This is indeed an idea, but everyone knows that no matter Wei or Chu, as long as they unify China, the next thing to do is to take back Xiliang and Hetao...

And Ma Chao's choice is nothing more than to help the Chu State suppress the Hetao Xiongnu and the Qiang who were instigated by the Wei State, or to join forces with the Wei State... and be liquidated by the Chu State!

In Zhou Yu's words, even if Ma Chao chooses the latter, it will not be a headache for Chu State...

Where can Longyou attack?

Either Guanzhong, Hanzhong, or Hetao—so what if Ma Chao joins Wei?Attack Hanzhong?

When Zhang Lu was in Hanzhong before, Ma Chao couldn't be defeated, and now it's even more difficult!
Entering Guanzhong?Sun Ce was confident of blocking him in Chencang, not to mention that Guanzhong was no longer the main battlefield of the Chu-Wei conflict. Chu State in Guanzhong only held the idea of ​​"preventing the eight hundred miles of Qinchuan from becoming a backup area for Wei" and occupied it by himself. It doesn't matter if it doesn't go down, as long as the war continues, these [-] miles of Qinchuan will not be of any help to Wei.

Sima Yi's strategy of removing fuel from the cauldron also made Chu's strategic rhythm tense.

They would rather expand the war than "quickly push" Wei!
After all, without the buffer of the Han Dynasty, Chu and Wei could only fight head-on. Moreover, the chaos among the Wei nobles also made Bai Tu not want to delay it any longer!

Ma Chao's entry into Guanzhong only made this "pot of porridge" more like the taste of Wei, but no one could drink it.

For Ma Chao, the only meaningful thing is to enter Tuhetao...

However, the Huns and Qiangs in Hetao are allies of Wei!

In Zhou Yu's words, Ma Chao could only choose the Chu State now, which meant accepting Chu officials to station in Liangzhou. Later, when Ma Chao went to conquer Hetao, not only would Sun Ce's troops be there to support him, but there would also be a steady stream of supplies from Hanzhong.

Ma Chao accepted Zhou Yu's argument, and... rejected him!
If we only consider the pros and cons, Ma Chao can only "temporarily surrender to Chu". Unless Chu is upset in the future, loses to Wei in the north-south dispute, and completely turns to the defensive, Ma Chao will have the possibility to stand on his own feet again.

However, Ma Chao doesn't just judge by pros and cons...

As a warrior, Ma Chao has a strong desire for power, otherwise Ma Teng would not be idle for retirement now, but as a prince, Ma Chao is also very emotional!
This is a bit like Sun Ce back then...

Even if the pros and cons are clear, Ma Chao still looks like "my fate is up to me".

However, he did accept Zhou Yu's analysis, and the goal was on the Hetao—his goal could only be the Hetao. Could it be possible to fight the Western Regions?The Hexi Corridor in the middle is too long, and there are no supplies on the way. The poorer Central Dynasty can't afford the Protectorate of the Western Regions, let alone Ma Chao?

On the other hand, as long as the Chu State is with them, whether it is the Western Region or Hexi, they can all be taken into their arms by the Chu State in a few years or more than ten years.

Without Sun Ce's help, Ma Chao made a different agreement, not to surrender to Chu, but to accept the "supervision" of the Chu State. During this period, he would go to fight north. At the same time... the Chu State also had to pay military salaries and military supplies!

Sun Ce originally didn't want to agree, but under Ma Chao's provocation, he made another agreement...

The Chu army left, but Sun Ce could stay. Ma Chao and Sun Ce fought against each other once a month. If Ma Chao won, Chu would have to pay for one month's military supplies. If there was a tie, both sides would not owe each other. If Ma Chao lost... Zhou Yu would immediately agree. conditions of!
Zhou Yu, who truly grasped the decision-making power given by Bai Tu, finally agreed to Ma Chao's conditions. After all, the premise of these was that Ma Chao was indeed fighting the Hetao or Hexi.

Sun Ce was very moved, but he didn't know... Zhou Yu's calculation was that before the winner was determined in Guandu, even if Sun Ce kept losing, it wouldn't be considered a loss!
Moreover, Ma Chao's character and the current situation in Longyou make Zhou Yu not worried that Ma Chao will directly break the contract and take Sun Ce as a hostage...

(End of this chapter)