In August 199 AD, Li Tong's warship in Langling County faced the scorching heat and began to march toward the upper river bank in the west, heading to the ferry west of the Huaihe River to meet Liu Qi's troops.

Transported by Li Tong's ships, about 8,000 Jingzhou troops moved down the river and through the path of the Huaihe River, from Nanyang directly to the junction of Yuzhou and the Huaihe River.

As for Wancheng, Liu Qi left Li Dian behind and asked him to continue to prepare soldiers and generals in Nanyang under his own banner and to make an aggressive move into the Central Plains. At the same time, Liu Qi sent letters to Shangyong and other Yan governors of the three eastern counties and Yizhou.

Yan, urged them to rush their troops to Nanyang County as quickly as possible.

Of course, Yuzhou has a vast territory. Even if we move troops from Nanyang to stop the Northern Army from going south, we still need to be able to accurately obtain the opponent's position. Otherwise, if we are late in time, not only will we not be able to achieve the effect of blocking him halfway, but we will also be found by the opponent.

Find a flaw and annihilate it in one fell swoop.

Therefore, in this case, the role of the Guardian Agency becomes very important.

A large number of guards were dispatched from Nanyang County and began to swarm across the Central Plains on a large scale. All the detected situations were screened and presented upwards, and finally passed to Liu Qi, allowing him to make reasonable plans based on the intelligence.

When it comes to spying capabilities, Liu Qi has put the most effort into the layout among all the guards over the years. Moreover, after many years of time and experience, the Guards Department has established a set of processes and procedures that are entirely their own.

system.

The Guard Agency is divided into six levels in total. The officers at each level will be served by experienced guards. These officers have a certain ability to screen intelligence. Useful intelligence and useless intelligence will be screened by them.

, and then sent upward after screening.

In this way, a large part of the invalid information can be filtered out for Liu Qi. As the emperor, Liu Qi has too many things on his shoulders, and it is impossible to spend most of his time screening these things.

Of course, such a mechanism is indeed simple and effective, but it will also have its drawbacks over time.

That is because the people below have too much power. Once effective information is concealed and not reported due to selfish desires or other reasons, this will cause losses to the country.

Therefore, in order to put an end to this kind of behavior, all the information will be numbered and signed at the beginning when it is submitted to the top. Even if it is deleted, it will be filed in the Guards Department, and every other

A 600-stone inspector general will conduct investigation and supervision every year. If any problems are found, they can be reported to the Dali Temple Office.

Of course, there is no perfect system in the world, and loopholes are bound to appear in such supervision. Policy adjustments can only be made continuously as experience is accumulated.

…

At the same time, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao personally led their armies and assembled in Taiyuan, Bingzhou, to observe the movements of Zhang Yan and the Southern Army.

Since ancient times, most of the land with a radius of several hundred miles with Taiyuan as the center has been the Loess Plateau, with an average altitude between one thousand and two thousand meters. The Yellow River flows from north to south at the second bend of the state.

The mountain range separates Shaanxi Province. After reaching the southernmost tip of Shanxi, the Yellow River begins to turn, from west to east, and separates Bingzhou and the Central Plains. Further south, Wangwu Mountain forms a geographical barrier in the southeast of Bingzhou, providing a complete defense geographically.

bring.

This place has always been jointly run by Yuan Shao and Zhang Yan, but now Zhang Yan fell into the trap and was defeated by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Many empty areas that were originally used as buffers with Zhang Yan were taken over nearby.

The population density of Bingzhou is not high, and it is basically divided into pieces. They are relatively independent of each other. If it is not a long-term operation, it will be difficult for external forces to effectively control it. In history, the Jin State dominated one area and relied on the terrain.

Help.

Now, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have dominated Taiyuan, slowly eroding Zhang Yan's power, and invited the army of the Southern Xiongnu Royal Court to go south, passing through the Fen River, crisscrossing the grasslands along the way, compressing the enemy's strategic space, and preventing Luoyang's army from

Able to move in smoothly.

Luoyang's army marched from the north to the south. The first thing they had to do was to enter Hedong. Although Hedong County is a plain, there is a lot of rain in this season and the roads are muddy. It is not easy to pass here. After arriving at Fenhe River, they were harassed by the Huns from time to time.

, unable to move forward for a while, so we stayed in place and fought steadily.

Faced with the situation of the Jingzhou Army, Yuan Shao decided to repeat the old tune and wanted to use the method he used to deal with Zhang Yan to lure the Southern Army to advance quickly, and then use the mobility of the Northern Army to cut up the enemy troops and defeat them one by one.

However, Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Xu You and others were not optimistic about Yuan Shao's strategy. After all, there were people like Xun You, Kuai Yue and Xu Shu in the opponent's army who were in charge of the overall situation. I'm afraid they were not so easy to seduce.

But Yuan Shao believed that the opponent's general was Zhang Yun, and this person should be easier to seduce than Xun You and the others.

In fact, Yuan Shao was wrong.

Zhang Yun is still very reliable in this aspect, he is really relatively stable and never takes credit for his work.

There was no need for Xun You, Xu Shu and others to persuade him. Faced with Yuan Shao's temptation, Zhang Yun just said one word.

Wait and see what happens!

Xun You was quite surprised by Zhang Yun's performance.

On this day, he went to Xu Shu and asked him about the matter.

"Yuan Zhi, you were in charge of the Guards Department with Grand Sima back then, and you know him quite well. Can you clear up my confusion today?"

Xu Shu smiled and said, "I don't dare to speak arrogantly in front of Situ. Please make it clear to Situ."

"Hey, you and I are both wise men. Xun appreciates your character. There is no need for this to happen between us."

"Situ, please speak."

Xun You said with some curiosity: "In Mr. Xun's mind, Da Sima... well, how should I put it, is not a person who achieves great things, and has a serious desire for profit."

Xu Shu was amused by Xun You: "Situ, there is no need to be taboo. Everyone knows what Da Sima is like. Even His Majesty knows that Da Sima is a jester. If he is smart and strong and can conquer those who are accustomed to fighting, how about your Majesty's

How could his character allow him to take on such an important position?"

Xun You nodded slowly: "Because of this, I have some doubts in my heart. I think Grand Sima is not very good at using troops, and there are many generals who are above him, but this time he was able to spot Yuan Shao."

He is not anxious to achieve meritorious service or to establish his authority. This fact really made Xun Mou think highly of him. I really didn’t expect him to be such a person."

When Xu Shu heard this, he couldn't help laughing.

"Situ, to be honest, you really think too highly of Da Sima. Some things are just coincidences. You don't need to make too many guesses. In fact, according to Da Sima's temperament, it's not that he doesn't want to make meritorious deeds, but that he knows that he should be there.
Chapter completed!