A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 703 Return to Luoyang

After taking Guanzhong, there were still Ma Teng, Han Sui and others to the west of Guanzhong.

However, there is no rush to resolve the Liangzhou issue at this time. Only by pacifying the Central Plains and unifying the north as soon as possible can the foundation be quickly consolidated.

Leave Huang Zhong, Hua Xiong, Lu Su and Ju Su to guard Guanzhong temporarily. Once everything in Guanzhong is stable, Lu Su can be transferred back to Jizhou.

As a versatile talent, Lu Su usually goes wherever he is needed.

After leaving Guanzhong, Lu Cheng readjusted the distribution of his subordinates.

Since Huang Zhong and Hua Xiong had to guard Guanzhong and Zhao Yun was also going with the army, only Zhang Liao and Tian Feng were left in Bingzhou.

When passing by Shangdang County, Lu Cheng asked someone to call Lu Bu and said, "Fengxian, you were known as a flying general in Bingzhou in the past. Are you willing to return to Bingzhou now?"

Hearing this, Lu Bu looked a little embarrassed: "Mingsir, it's not that I don't want to return to Bingzhou, it's just that the former Governor Ding..."

At the beginning, Lü Bu's first adoptive father, Ding Yuan, was the governor of Bingzhou. However, Lü Bu stabbed his adoptive father with his Fang Tian Hua Ji and killed the governor of Bingzhou. His reputation in Bingzhou was not very good, so he was naturally reluctant to return to Bingzhou.

Lu Cheng smiled slightly: "I understand Fengxian's concerns. But Bingzhou is located in the northwest, and is adjacent to the Xiongnu and Xianbei. It does need more generals to guard it. Since Fengxian is unwilling to go, why not let your general Gao Shun go?"

Lu Bu was naturally reluctant to let Gao Shun go, but he had just rejected an order, so it was difficult for him to refuse again this time. After a brief hesitation, he nodded and agreed: "Everything is up to you, sir."

Soon, Gao Shun was brought over, and Lu Cheng casually arranged, "Gao Shun, are you willing to accompany General Zhao to Bingzhou to guard it?"

Gao Shun glanced at Lu Bu and saw Lu Bu nod. Then he bowed and said, "I am willing to follow your instructions."

Afterwards, Lu Cheng asked Zhao Yun to take Gao Shun to Taiyuan County to garrison.

With Zhang Liao and Li Dian in Yanmen County, Zhao Yun and Gao Shun in Taiyuan County, and with Tian Feng, the entire Bingzhou can be safe.

Bingzhou and Guanzhong can rescue each other and guard the northwest gate.

Youzhou in the north is Lu Cheng's rear base. With Xi Zhicai in charge, as well as Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, and a group of generals who graduated from the Military Academy, it is enough.

In Qingzhou, there was Guo Jia as the civil official, and Taishi Ci, Zhou Tai, and Jiang Qin as the military officials.

In Jizhou, Lu Cheng was personally in charge.

However, in today's north, Jizhou has already belonged to the internal area and does not require too many troops and generals to garrison. It only needs a certain number of garrison troops and some generals trained in the Military Academy to defend the city.

Just when Lu Cheng pacified Guanzhong and returned to Luoyang with Liu Xie, Cao Cao, who led his troops to attack Xuzhou, also encountered the combination of Taishi Ci and Guo Jia. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the Yanzhou soldiers under Cao Cao's command were unable to stop the elite troops of Liaodong. After suffering heavy casualties, they had to retreat to Dongjun.

However, when Cao Cao was about to return, he received news that Dongjun was ambushed by Zhang He's troops and the city was lost.

Fortunately, Xun Yu was in Dongjun, who relied on the temporarily recruited soldiers and servants from aristocratic families to barely hold back Zhang He's troops.

But even so, half of the cities in Dongjun were occupied by Zhang He.

When Cao Cao finally returned to Dongjun, he received news that Lu Cheng had pacified Guanzhong and returned to Luoyang with the emperor.

Upon hearing the news, Cao Cao could no longer sit still.

If Lu Cheng brings the emperor back to Luoyang, Dongjun will be surrounded by Lu Cheng's troops.

With Cao Cao's current strength and military force, facing Lu Cheng, a tyrant who is even more powerful than Dong Zhuo in the past, the only option he has is to surrender.

Therefore, Cao Cao could not wait to summon his advisers to discuss a good way out.

"Gentlemen, Lu Shouxin has now taken the emperor back to Luoyang. With the emperor in hand, he can use him to control the princes. If we continue to stay in Dongjun, we will never be able to make a breakthrough. What do you think we should do?"

Cheng Yu was the first to stand up and said, "My Lord, for now, we have no choice but to avoid their attack, abandon Dongjun, and head south to look for opportunities."

Cao Cao immediately asked: "Then where should we go?"

"My lord, now there is Yuan Shu in Runan, Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and Liu Zhang in Yizhou. With our current strength, it is difficult to defeat them all. The only way is to go to Jiangdong, cross the Yangtze River, occupy cities in the south, develop strength, and rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. Only then will there be hope."

Xun Yu stood up and said, "My lord, there are many big families in Wujun, such as the Lu family, the Gu family, the Zhang family, and the Zhu family. If we go there, we will be outsiders and it will not be easy to gain a foothold."

Another counselor, Jiang Ji, spoke up: "Everyone, I think we should discuss whether to stay or go first. Should we stay to meet the emperor, or go somewhere else..."

Listening to the counselors below starting to argue, Cao Cao felt a little overwhelmed for a moment.

All this was happening too fast. Cao Cao originally wanted to capture Xuzhou, gain a firm foothold, and then strive to seize Yuzhou and Yanzhou to compete with the north.

However, no one expected that Lu Cheng would seize Guanzhong so quickly, successfully seize the emperor and return to the Central Plains.

All this happened too quickly, making all of Cao Cao's previous plans go awry. The most pressing issue now is to decide whether to stay or leave.

If I stay, I will be controlled by others. If I leave, I don’t know where to go.

Cao Cao once again felt that his life was full of ups and downs and everything was going wrong, as if a pair of big hands were controlling his destiny.

At the same time, the remaining princes in the world had different attitudes towards Lu Cheng welcoming the emperor back.

Liu Yan of Yizhou just wanted to close the door and be his own emperor, and he didn't care who was in power.

Liu Biao of Jingzhou is already old, and currently only wants to protect his own piece of land. He is powerless to do anything else.

As for Yuan Shu, he was ambitious and wanted to be an emperor.

Ma Teng and Han Sui of Xiliang naturally wanted to take advantage of this chaotic time to establish a foundation.

The world is so vast that there are many ambitious princes.

But Lu Cheng dominated the north, the situation was already set, and the remaining princes could hardly do anything.

Lu Cheng did not care about the reactions of the princes of the world. On the way from Guanzhong to Luoyang, Lu Cheng had mobilized troops from Jizhou, Qingzhou and other places, occupied various counties in Sili, and gradually brought the entire Central Plains region under his control.

By advancing step by step and making steady progress in this way, when the emperor returned to Luoyang, most of the entire Sili had been under his control.

At this moment, Lu Cheng received news that Cao Cao had fled with his men...