Ji Ling was indeed a loyal person to Yuan Shu.

He never surrendered until his death.

Of course, it may also be because Ji Ling's family was under Yuan Shu's nose. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu dared to surrender because although their family was in Jiangdong, they were not under Yuan Shu's nose, and there was room for change. Ji Ling did not.

If he dares to surrender, his family and relatives will be immediately destroyed by Yuan Shuyi.

Don’t say that surrender is to be captured by Cao Mengde. Like Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, they actually surrender, but they have not surrendered in their name, and they dare not. With Yuan Shu’s current tyranny, they may be angry at their families in a blink of an eye.

Yuan Shu now occupied Danyang, while Zhou Yu and his family were in Wujun, with a certain distance. Ji Ling did not.

Cheng Yu was responsible for "stealing out" Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's family, and it was completed when Cao Mengde's side annihilation of Ji Ling. Although Yuan Shu reacted quickly, he never thought of detaining Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's family immediately.

For Yuan Shu, the situation was full of chaos and a bit slow.

After the war, Cao Mengde ordered Yu Jin to lead 10,000 troops to settle Jiujiang, Liyang, and across the east of the river. Li Dian led 5,000 troops to settle Lujiang and Wan County. Both of them obeyed Xiahou Dun and ordered Xiahou Dun to be the governor of Zhennan and ruled the overall situation along the Yangtze River.

In this way, on the north bank of the Yangtze River, Cao Mengde built a military defense line with a 25,000 army based on Guangling, Liyang and Wan.

Only then did he feel at ease to return to Yanzhou.

As for the surrendered generals such as Lu Bu and Sun Ce, they naturally had to bring them back together. They had not really returned to their hearts yet, so they would not be of great use. Although it would be more useful if Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were placed on the southern line, it would be more useful. However, the danger was also great.

For one prince, war is just a means. The real test is after the war.

Swallowing two states in one mouthful is a huge pressure for Cao Mengde. The area and population under the rule have skyrocketed. The most important thing is how to manage people's livelihood and appease people's hearts.

Fortunately, Xun Yu, the king and his master, was the talented one. Fortunately, Zhao Yu proposed the method of cultivating talents, and finally supported it.

When Zhao Yu compiled the Meng Book and suggested that Cao Mengde establish an education system, he also took out the big killer of paper. It has been more than two years since then and has achieved remarkable results. After Cao Mengde purged Yanzhou, the aristocratic families died and fled. Under such circumstances, the political situation in Yanzhou can be stabilized. Zhao Yu proposed the method to establish an education system is fundamental.

Now the territory has expanded suddenly. Fortunately, after more than two years, Cao Mengde has cultivated many talents himself. Although he is not as talented as Xun Yu and Xun You, it is more than enough to manage a county or be a minor official.

And this is what Cao Mengde needs.

After the war, Cao Mengde was in charge of the army, and Xun Yu laid out a road to govern people's livelihood behind. He placed the talents trained in Yanzhou in various places, either as county magistrates or county magistrates. In a very short time, without the support of aristocratic families, these two states were quickly included in the rule.

Of course, Cao Mengde did not give up completely. After all, Xun Yu and others were from aristocratic families. Although Cao Mengde's ruling philosophy and actions scared many aristocratic families, some academic families in Yingchuan had already boarded Cao Mengde's ship, although they had complaints, they could only support him more.

Not to mention that Cao Mengde is becoming increasingly powerful now, just talking about Zhao Yu is enough to prevent insiders from doing things randomly and then change their minds.

For Cao Mengde, everything is developing in a good direction.

After the war, Cao Mengde did not go to the other courtyard to meet Zhao Yu immediately, but made another arrangement for the military.

Focus on defense against Hebei.

The soldiers under his command now have 100,000 soldiers. It was originally less than 80,000, but after the war, many prisoners of war were captured, picking, deducting the weak, and selecting the strong, and selecting 30,000. The others were all released to farm in their hometowns, and the selected 30,000 people were brought back.

In addition to the 25,000 troops deployed on the southern line, he now has more than 80,000.

Therefore, he was completely afraid of Yuan Shao, Hebei.

What I was worried about before was delaying the war. Once the troops were involved in the southern battlefield, Yuan Shao, Hebei suddenly headed south and it would be difficult to resist. Now everything is stable. The battle on the southern battlefield has been concluded and he has been in a safe manner. Even if Yuan Shao goes south, he is not afraid.

After returning to Yanzhou, Cao Mengde also based on three points. The first point was Taishan County, arranged at the junction of Qingzhou, Xuzhou and Yanzhou. He boldly activated Zhang Liao as his general and commanded 10,000 troops. The second point was Dongjun, which Cao Mengde led himself. The third point was Luoyang. Cao Mengde planned to take advantage of this great victory and his military power to swallow the three-in-law Henan County in one mouthful. With Xiahou Yuan as his general, he led 20,000 troops to guard Luoyang, cleared the ruins of Luoyang, and reorganized the imperial capital.

From this perspective, Cao Mengde probably wanted to move the political center from Puyang to Luoyang.

There are 80,000 troops in the northern line, and 50,000 of them are stationed in the east county along the river. They are across the river from Hebei, and they are not showing any weakness.

Perhaps Cao Mengde returned to the army quickly in this battle, which caught Yuan Shao off guard. He gradually came down after some slight movements. However, the war between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in Youzhou in the north was not so fierce.

No matter how stupid Yuan Shao is, you can see how many times the threat Cao Mengde is greater than Gongsun Zan!

Although Cao Mengde has swallowed a large area of ​​territory in one bite, he has not had time to digest it yet. Therefore, he is unwilling to start the war directly. Seeing that Yuan Shao had no movement, he began to focus on his development and not mentioning it.

This busyness has reached autumn.

After the great harvest in Yanzhou, Cao Mengde took his free time and came to Taihe Villa.

The villa was still like spring. Cao Mengde passed through the formation, took a deep breath, and smiled at his left and right, "I will die here even if I die."

Xi Zhicai also came with Cao Mengde.

Xi Zhicai was slightly hunched, and occasionally coughed a few times, with an abnormal red color on his face.

Cao Mengde quickly supported him: "Don't worry, Mr. Zhao must have a solution."

At the end of the Han Dynasty, it was an era of brilliant generals and brilliant strategists. However, many powerful figures died one after another, especially the most powerful ones. For example, Zhou Yu also died of illness at a young age. There were also Xi Zhicai in front of him, and Guo Jia, who took over the role of Xi Zhicai in history.

These are all very remarkable characters.

The so-called god is jealous of talents, probably this is what it means.

In the history of Xia, it seems that this is the case. The best figures always live shortly. For example, when Emperor Wu was the champion Hou, the Hou who was the founder of the wolf, the Huo Qubing, the Zhongjun who appeared frequently in historical books or later poems, was the same. The same is true for Zhou Yu, Xi Zhicai, and Guo Jia. At a young age, he died one by one before he could bloom his talents, which is undoubtedly a pity.
Chapter completed!