Chapter 257

Why would the other Guandong warlords go to the trouble of marching south on a long-distance expedition to Huainan just to help Liu Bei reclaim his territory?

Furthermore.

The purpose of forming the Guandong Coalition was not to deal with Sun Ce, but to weaken Dong Zhuo.

Attacking Huainan in the south has absolutely nothing to do with their primary objective.

As long as they aren't brain-damaged, they would never do such a thankless job!

Therefore.

Except for Liu Bei.

No other warlord would possibly send troops to Huainan to deal with Sun Ce.

"Mr. Linzhi, thank you for your brilliant guidance!"

"On behalf of my lord, I kowtow in gratitude."

Kan Ze bowed respectfully to Gu Yi.

Gu Yi smiled and said:

"Mr. Derun, there is no need for such formalities."

"This matter is of great importance; please return to Yizhou immediately and inform your lord."

Hearing this, Kan Ze nodded heavily.

Although the strategy of "trading land for land" was unprecedented.

It was... highly feasible!

Using half of a dilapidated Yizhou to exchange for a Huainan that had basically not been touched by the flames of war was absolutely an extremely cost-effective deal.

Watching Kan Ze's departing back.

A cold sneer appeared at the corner of Gu Yi's mouth.

The strategy he proposed, while seemingly beneficial to Sun Ce, was in fact a plan to kill several birds with one stone!

With Sun Ce's current reputation, all the aristocratic families in the world would love to tear him apart!

Naturally, there was no possibility of any cooperation with the aristocratic families.

And in Yizhou, after three years of war between the father-son duo of Sun Jian and Sun Ce and Yuan Shu, the original Yizhou aristocratic group and the Nanyang aristocratic group had long since suffered heavy losses!

To put it bluntly, the father-son duo of Sun Jian and Sun Ce were just butcher knives released by Gu Yi.

These two knives used to slaughter the aristocratic groups were quite effective.

And now.

Sun Ce was on the front lines in Yizhou and was about to face a joint strike from the Guandong Coalition.

If he resisted head-on, it would be very difficult for Sun Ce to hold out.

It would be better to take this opportunity to let him abandon Yizhou and turn to launch a surprise attack on Huainan, which had only recently been occupied by Liu Bei.

And as it happened, after a long war.

The combat effectiveness of the Yizhou aristocratic group and the Nanyang aristocratic group was far inferior to what it once was.

In gaming terms, the mana bars of these two major aristocratic groups were already severely depleted.

Letting Sun Ce abandon Yizhou to launch a surprise attack on Huainan, which had only recently been occupied by Liu Bei.

It was equivalent to Gu Yi moving Sun Ce, this butcher knife, from Yizhou to Huainan!

Let the group of aristocratic families in Huainan feel the power of Sun Ce's butcher knife!

And Sun Ce would never be able to gain the support of the Huainan aristocratic families either.

To avoid being wiped out, he would have no choice but to continue relying on his big brother, the Dong Zhuo faction.

After all.

Sun Ce was already the "public enemy of the aristocratic families."

No matter where he ran, he could only fight to the death with the local aristocratic families.

There was no possibility of any peace talks.

If he wanted to reach a cooperation with the aristocratic families, the only way was for Sun Ce to die and for the master of the Sun Army to be replaced by someone else.

But... the "Sun Shiwan" from history who got along well with the aristocratic families was now a hostage in Changancheng.

As for Sun Ce's third brother, Sun Yi, he had the exact same explosive temper as Sun Ce.

The fourth brother, Sun Kuang, was only five years old now.

Therefore, there was no possibility of the Sun Army cooperating with the aristocratic families.

If they wanted to continue to survive in the world.

The only way was to remain firmly bound to the big brother, the Dong Zhuo faction.

Other than that, there was no other way.

After all, that land in Guandong was not the world of the common people at all, but the world of the aristocratic families!

Since there was no possibility of the Sun Army cooperating with the aristocratic families, they naturally could only rely tightly on the side of their big brother, the Dong Zhuo faction.

After returning to Yizhou.

Kan Ze conveyed Gu Yi's words to Sun Ce without changing a single thing.

After listening, Sun Ce immediately slammed the table and stood up!

"Gu Linzhi is truly the strongest strategist of this generation!"

"This plan can not only resolve the current crisis we are facing."

"It can also help our army obtain a large area of fertile land in Huainan!"

The fact that the Guandong warlords were about to form an alliance made Sun Ce feel overwhelmed.

And now, if Gu Yi's strategy was adopted.

Not only could they escape the quagmire of Yizhou, but they could also raise the combat effectiveness of the Sun Army to a new level based on its original foundation!

Thinking of this, Sun Ce quickly summoned several veteran generals in the army.

He informed them of the news that they were about to abandon Yizhou and turn to attack Huainan instead.

Regarding this, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Zhu Zhi, and others all held a unanimous attitude of approval.

For the Sun Ce army.

Attacking Huainan actually had another benefit.

That was, Sun Ce's uncle, Wu Jing, was currently occupying Danyang.

If Sun Ce occupied Huainan, he could form a mutual defense alliance with Wu Jing.

Although Wu Jing himself might not have very strong abilities, he had a Danyang elite force under his command that was capable of fighting and winning battles.

At that time, even if Liu Bei led his army back to counterattack Huainan, he would ultimately only be defeated and return.

Poor Liu Bei, before he had even officially led his troops north to participate in the alliance, the territory under his rule had already been targeted by Gu Yi and Sun Ce.

However, speaking of the early Liu Bei, his luck was truly bad.

Whether in history or now.

In the early stages, other than Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he had no other first-class talent under his command that could be brought out to the table.

Nowadays, even people like Mi Zhu and Sun Gan were still under Tao Qian's command for the time being because Liu Bei did not go to Xuzhou to help Tao Qian.

However, Liu Bei did not have this sense of crisis for the time being.

As time passed.

Liu Bei took Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, along with 25,000 Huainan troops, and headed north toward the vicinity of Suanzao to participate in the alliance.

As for his rear base, Shouchuncheng, it was left to Jian Yong to guard on his behalf.

At the same time.

The other seven warlords who had agreed to Yuan Shao's plan to participate in the alliance also began to set off from their respective territories.

Among them, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Yang were the closest to Suanzao.

While Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, and Kong Rong were a bit further away.

However.

Before these eight warlords could officially form the alliance.

The troop movement situation of the Dong Zhuo side had already been transmitted.