Chapter 136 The Battle of Guangling Begins
Almost at the same time, Liu Ye also arrived in Gaoyou County.
Wen Cheng, the magistrate of Gaoyou County, has been in Gaoyou for nearly four years. If not for the chaos in the world, he should have been transferred to another position long ago.
Wencheng is also considered clean in Gaoyou. He accepts what should be accepted and does not accept what should not be accepted. He does not mess with the place. The scholars and people are quite satisfied with him.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, such a county magistrate was already a blessing to the local area.
Wen Cheng himself is actually not happy. He has saved a lot of money over the years, but the world is so chaotic that even if he wants to transport it back to his hometown in Bingzhou, it is always piled up around him, which is not an option.
Staying here in Gaoyou is always on tenterhooks. Earlier when Zuo Rong passed through the border, he went out of the city to deliver food.
Later I heard that Zuo Rong directly killed the prefect Zhao Yu, but he was frightened.
Remembering Zuo Rong's half-smiling expression when he went out to deliver food to the city that day, Wen Cheng felt a chill run down his spine.
It is true that I have a great fortune and escaped with my life.
Originally, Guangling County was relatively peaceful. Even if Zuo Rong crossed the border and killed the prefect Zhao Yu, there was only a brief period of chaos. When Yuan Sui came out to take control of the overall situation, peace was restored.
But as the weather started to get warmer this year, things gradually started to go wrong, and the atmosphere in Guangling County became more and more solemn.
One moment it was said that Liu Shijun was going south, and the next moment it was said that General Hou was going north.
Wen Cheng also thinks that there is a high probability that this guy has a nose and eyes.
The thought of Guangling County turning into a battlefield made Wen Cheng very worried.
When the time comes, let alone the possessions around me, it is still unclear whether I can save my old life.
Wen Cheng once again wants to abandon his official position and run away, but where can he go?
My hometown, Bingzhou, is not peaceful either, and there are wars everywhere along the way. I am afraid that everyone will be gone before I can reach the halfway point.
Just when Wen Cheng was feeling sorry for himself, Wu Yang, the county clerk, walked in.
Wu Yang is a local nobleman with a good reputation, so Wencheng appointed him as the chief administrator. It has been almost four years now.
The two of them cooperated very happily. Wu Yangli was thoughtful and considerate, and took care of almost all the sundries without making Wen Cheng feel like he was being left out. He was quite capable.
"My lord, something big has happened."
Wu Yang had obvious panic on his face and hurriedly walked to Wen Cheng's side.
Wen Cheng's heart skipped a beat and he asked instinctively: "The Xuzhou Army is coming?!"
Seeing Wu Yang shake his head, Wen Cheng was relieved, but before he could His tone was completely relieved, but Wu Yang's words made him jump again.
"The Xuzhou Army did not come."
Wu Yang swallowed: "But there is an envoy from the state capital and wants to see you."
"What?"
The fat on Wen Cheng's face trembled. What else would happen if he sent an envoy here at this time.
Aren’t you just asking for surrender?
Wen Cheng asked Wu Yang's opinion tremblingly: "Guangyi, what do you think of this matter?"
Wu Yang and Wu Guangyi shook his head: "There are only sixty county soldiers in the city, and only young and strong people. One or two thousand, even if they are mobilized, how can they withstand the attack of the state army?"
Wen Cheng hesitated and said: "Then what do you mean, Guangyi... surrendered?"
How could Wu Yang be willing to shoulder such a blame? He immediately shook his head and said: "Yang is a subordinate of the county, so he naturally regards the county as his leader."
He is from Gaoyou County. In case of surrender, the Xuzhou army will Killing, looting, then how could he stay here?
Anyway, Wen Cheng is a wandering official and will leave sooner or later. He won't take the blame for this.
Wu Yang stared at Wencheng closely and said with certainty: "The county magistrate made a decision early. Looking at it from the outside, the atmosphere in the county is very tense. If someone opens the city gate first, the county will You will be held accountable by Commander Liu."
On the one hand, these words force Wen Cheng to take responsibility, and on the other hand, they also hint at his attitude.
Wu Yang himself is still inclined to surrender.
After all, if there is a fight, the people killed and injured are all fellow villagers, and the ones destroyed are the Gaoyou territory.
Gaoyou is quite far from Guangling and is relatively independent. How can it be willing to be cannon fodder for the Guangling people?
Wencheng was forced into a corner by Wu Yang, and he could only retreat after he retired, so he could only temporarily delay the troops and said: "It is better to invite the envoys in first."
So Wu Yang went out and invited Liu Ye Come in.
As soon as Liu Ye entered the hall, he took the lead.
“Does the county magistrate want to resist the state capital and rebel against the imperial court?”
Wen Cheng shook his head quickly: "Why did your honorable envoy say this?"
Liu Ye sneered and asked: "If it is not a rebellion against the imperial court, let me ask you, what is the official position of Ambassador Liu now?"< br>
"Of course it is Xuzhou Mu."
Wencheng still admits this. After all, it was the former Zhou Mu Tao Gong who recommended him. In fact, most people in the local area still recognize Liu Bei's status as Zhou Mu.
“Since we know that Liu Shijun is the governor of the state, why can’t Guangling obey the orders of the state?”
Liu Ye almost walked to Wen Cheng and looked at him condescendingly: "Let me ask you, did Ru County pay taxes last year and send them to the state capital?"
"This..."
Wen Cheng felt a chill in his heart. That must not be the case. Last year, Cao Cao fought outside Tancheng. I was sending money and food to Cao Yanzhou instead.
But it was obvious that it would not work if he did not send it, so Wen Cheng rolled his eyes and passed the blame directly to Yuan Sui.
"Since Chang Shi didn't give an order, we naturally sent it to Guangling County first, and then sent it all to Tancheng. As for why Tancheng didn't receive it, I asked the envoy to ask Yuan Changshi."
Wen Cheng became more and more obedient as he spoke, and he began to express his loyalty: "I have always been loyal to the state government. When Tao Shijun was there, I even won the third place in the state examination. Liu Shijun inherited Tao Shijun. I will definitely support the public’s ambition.”
Hearing this, Liu Ye’s expression finally softened, he nodded, and praised: “It’s really a great achievement for the county minister to think so. ”
Liu Ye secretly praised Liu Bei for his sharpness and his ability to accurately detect the differences between the north and south of Guangling.
It is still unknown what will happen in the south, but the counties in the north of Guangling are indeed closer to the state capital.
After all, compared with Liu Bei, Yuan Sui has an even more unfair reputation. Who is willing to use his own head to help Yuan Sui resist tens of thousands of tiger ben?
At that time, the local government will lose and Guangling will gain.
Even if a county magistrate wants to resist, the local taxis and people may not let him have his way.
In the past, Liu Bei was a weak Fang Bo. Not to mention Guangling and Langya, which were like vassal counties, even in the Donghai Kingdom where Liu Bei was located, there were Cao Bao, Xu Dan, Cao Hong, Tian Ran, and Wang. Yu these forces that are not under Liu Bei's control?
Then everyone is naturally willing to listen to Guangling. After all, you can pay a lot less taxes, and Guangling is a thunderbolt. What a good thing.
But things are different now. Liu Shijun has already shown his strength.
None of the county magistrates in the northern part of Guangling thought that they could fight with more troops and horses than Zang Ba, the cavalry captain.
At this time, it is decided to pass on the message, how logical it is.
Wencheng wants to be neutral, but the important location of Gaoyou County allows you to be neutral?
This is too stupid to even see this clearly.
Liu Ye took advantage of the situation and made a request: "In that case, the county magistrate should quickly deliver documents to the state government and ask the state government to send troops to station."
"Send troops to station!?"
Wen Cheng and Wu Yang shouted at the same time.
"Of course we will send troops to station here."
Liu Ye looked like you were making a fuss, pointed at Wen Cheng and Wu Yang and said: "You two are so strange, the envoy is about to go south, and you can't seek peace. Sir, Gaoyou County is located in a strategic pass, connecting the north and the south. If you don't station here, where else can you go?"
Wu Yang was sweating profusely and asked anxiously: "Could Gaoyou become a battlefield?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Liu Ye scolded: "Gaoyou is still hundreds of miles away from Guangling. How can it be a battlefield?"
Wu Yang and Wen Cheng heard this , suddenly felt justified, and I just felt that Liu Ye’s reprimand was good.
Liu Ye finally threatened: "Your Majesty, the envoy sent me here to prevent your good deeds from being deceived. When the army arrives, how can there be a place to lay eggs? I only hope that the County Majesty and the Chief Registrar can think clearly as soon as possible. , Do you want to be a loyal official of the state government, or a lackey of other states?"
"Of course, a loyal official of the state government!" Wu Yang said before Wen Cheng could say anything.
Anyway, he was determined to stand on the side of the state capital. At least he understood that if the state capital sent troops, Guangling would have no spare power to save Gaoyou.
In this case, Gaoyou has no hesitation anyway. Moreover, according to the Eastern Han Dynasty system, the Zhou Mu already has the power to appoint and remove county magistrates. It is logical for Wencheng to obey the Zhou Mu.
Seeing that Wu Yang had already surrendered, Wen Cheng stopped struggling and wrote down a document in front of Liu Ye, stamped it with the county seal, and sent someone to rush it to the state capital immediately.
Liu Ye seems to be aggressive, but in fact, for people like Wen Cheng and Wu Yang who are at both ends of the spectrum and do not have firm beliefs, at the most critical moment, they will fall in line with what appears to be the strongest party.
Liu Ye took advantage of this mentality to cut through the mess quickly and solve the problem of Gaoyou County.
Situations similar to Liu Ye's happened in various counties in the north of Guangling. As expected, the counties in the north expressed their willingness to obey the state capital's orders under the pressure of various messengers to appease, induce or coerce them. Order.
The feedback from counties in the south is completely opposite. Most of the counties are coaxing from both sides, implying that as long as the Guangling problem is solved, they will naturally follow suit.
Liu Bei was stationed in Tancheng and constantly received news from Liu Ye, Jian Yong, and Sun Qian.
At this time, Tancheng, Xuzhou, had begun to mobilize the army.
In the battle of Guangling going south, Liu Bei will personally take command.
According to the previously discussed strategy, Liu Bei began to mobilize his troops and generals.
Guan Yu led his troops to detour to Xiapi State and go to Dongcheng, threatening the hinterland of Lujiang River and Shouchun, and containing some of Yuan Shu's troops.
This way, Guan Yu was appointed as the coach, Lu Su was transferred to join the army, and concurrently served as the Dongcheng County Magistrate. The former Dongcheng County Magistrate was temporarily transferred to Tancheng for another use.
At the same time, Cao Bao led the soldiers of Pi State to defend Xia Pi City, and also transferred two thousand troops from Xia Pi State under the command of Guan Yu to garrison the east city together.
The second route, with Zhao Yun as the vanguard and Tian Yu as the secondary vanguard, entered Gaoyou County and Ping'an County respectively.
Liu Bei personally led the Central Army and appointed Liu Ye as a member of the army (he has not yet returned). In addition to his own department, there are also Zhang Fei's department, Zang Ba's department, Liu Feng's department, and Qianzhao's department. Seventeen thousand people are ready to attack Guangling at any time.
With Mi Zhu acting as state affairs officer, Xu Qiu, Jian Yong, and Sun Qian as assistants, all five thousand Donghai County soldiers were stationed in Tancheng, responsible for transporting grain, fodder and ordnance, supporting the front line, and serving as a reserve force.
Cao Baodu has three thousand soldiers from Xiapi County, who are stationed in Xiapi and are responsible for transporting food, ammunition and weapons to the partial division.
Liu Bei ordered Liu Feng's troops to merge with Taishi Ci's and Zhou Tai's troops, with Xu Sheng as the commander-in-chief, Taishi Ci as the deputy commander-in-chief, and Liu Feng to join the army. As a vanguard, they would advance along the waterway and drive directly to Guangling. Under the city, meet Liu Ye.
This time the troops were mobilized, a total of six armies and four divisions were mobilized, with a total of 31,000 people.
In mid-May, Tian Yu settled in Pingan County and took over as the magistrate of Pingan County.
Three days later, Zhao Yun settled in Gaoyou County and took over as Gaoyou County Magistrate.
Another day later, Guan Yu stationed in Dongcheng, peeking at Yinling County, the eastern gateway of Shouchun, and at the same time threatening Hefei, Quanjiao County, and Fuling.
The Xuzhou Army's strategy was fully developed, especially Guan Yu's, which was more like a sharp blade, piercing directly into Yuan Shu's waist and restraining a large number of the opponent's troops.
Yuan Shu also responded by sending General Qiao Rui as commander-in-chief, Zhang Xun as deputy commander-in-chief, commanding 20,000 troops, and adding Li Yang.
He sent another general, Lei Bo, with four thousand troops from his headquarters to station in Yinling County to monitor Guan Yu.
On May 20th, Liu Bei swore an oath of surrender in Tancheng and directed his troops southward, advancing by waterway.
In just seven days, before June, the vanguard of the Xuzhou Army had reached Gaoyou County.
At this time, a fierce quarrel broke out in Guangling City.
Yan Xiang and Liu Ye came at the same time.
The former was ordered by Yuan Shu, while the latter was approved by Liu Bei.
Both sides are striving for Guangling.
Originally, Yan Xiang should have received the support of Guangling City without any suspense, but unexpectedly, Liu Ye succeeded in persuading Guangling powerful Li Zhang, so that the situation became unpredictable.
Li Zhangnai is the most powerful man in Guangling. He has a tribe of 2,000 people in his family. His younger brother Li Luo serves as the meritorious official of Guangling. He is very prestigious among the nobles in Guangling. He also worked with Liu Ye's father Liu Pu. Friends.
After Liu Ye entered Guangling City, he did not go to see Yuan Sui immediately. Instead, he went to Li Luo's house first.
Li Luo was surprised when he heard that Liu Ye had arrived. He did not know that Liu Ye had already arrived in Xuzhou, and thought that the son of an old friend was coming to visit.
Although he didn't know why Liu Ye came to Guangling at this time of war, he didn't want to see him. He also wanted to teach him a lesson and let him go home quickly, so he ordered his servants to bring him up.
As soon as Li Luogang saw Liu Ye, before he had time to teach him a lesson, Liu Ye walked directly to him and said eagerly: "Uncle Shi, a disaster is about to happen, why don't you know it?"
Li Luo was shocked and forgot the words of reprimand he was about to say, and quickly asked: "Why did my nephew say this? I am sitting here in Guangling City, how can any big disaster happen to me?"
Liu Ye rushed forward and said, "Is it possible that my uncle doesn't know what the general did in Nanyang in the past?"
Li Luo suddenly realized it, but then he was shocked in vain.
After being reminded by Liu Ye, he remembered all the bad things Yuan Shu had done in Nanyang a few years ago.
Yuan Shu raided Nanyang in various ways, plundered powerful people, looted wealthy households, and turned Nanyang County, the largest county in the world, known as a county to a state, into a hell on earth.
In just three years, the population of Nanyang County shrank from more than 2.4 million to 600,000. The population of Nanyang County was reduced to 600,000. The county was in ruins, the farmland was barren, and bones were everywhere.
It is said that the wolves in Nanyang have gathered in groups and their eyes are red from eating human flesh.
Li Luo also made fun of these news in the past and pointed out that Yuan Shu had no political talent. That was because Nanyang County was the one who suffered.
If this situation were to happen in Guangling, then Li Luoke would become panicked.
Li Luo stumbled and defended: "Since General Hou entered Shouchun, he has appeased the local area and encouraged the farmers, so he will not repeat what happened in Nanyang, right?"
Liu Ye sneered. Said: "My uncle, there is a warehouse full of gold and silk in Guangling City, and there are endless fields outside Guangling City. Is this family fortune going to be bet on the general's thoughts?"
Li Luo's expression changed. Liu Ye's words could be regarded as speaking to what he was most worried about.
As the most powerful person in Guangling, he is naturally also the richest household.
Yuan Shu was full of misdeeds. Even if he no longer harassed the local area, he often forced wealthy households to pay money in Shouchun.
Yuan Shu himself lived an extremely extravagant life, and had fifty to sixty thousand troops under his command, but his territory was no more than the two counties of Lujiang and Jiujiang. Among them, Lujiang also experienced two years of war.
How could Yuan Shu maintain his expenses without plundering wealthy households?
And now Yuan Shu is smarter, exploiting the rich more and letting the common people go. In this way, the poor people can continue to pay taxes in the coming year, while the wealthy households will die and swallow up their land.
Li Luo was silent for a moment, then raised his head and said, "My nephew is not in the post general's territory. Did he come to Guangling just to remind me of these things?"
Liu Ye nodded: "That's right. , To be honest, Uncle Shi, Ye has already agreed to Liu Shijun’s proposal, and now lives in the prefecture and county to engage in literature. In the name of my lord, he came here to do the right thing for Uncle Shi.”
Li Luo’s heart is indeed true, Liu Ye. He actually voted for Liu Bei.
He has a very good relationship with Liu Tao. Li Luoke knows very well how bold and reckless Liu Tao's son is, how smart he is at a young age, and how wise and courageous he is.
In the past, he also teased his friend that he would have to suffer in the future because his son was too smart and his father's authority would be difficult to maintain.
I didn’t expect that Liu Ye would even take care of himself.
It still makes sense.
"Hey, my uncle has always respected Liu Shijun, but he is too far away and has never met me."
Li Luo tried to say: "Since my nephew comes from Tancheng, how can he teach me ?”
Liu Ye was secretly happy. Li Luo must have been panicked and had second thoughts before he asked such a question.
He seized the opportunity and said with an emotional expression: "Ye has been proud of his talents since he was a child and has never obeyed others. However, he did not expect that under my lord, there are many talented people, talented people, smart and resourceful people, as many as tomorrow night. Stars, fierce and strong heroes, are better than the carps crossing the river. There are countless people like me, Liu Ye."
"My lord has two brothers, one is Guan Yu, Guan Yunchang, and the other is Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide. There are only half of the brave men under Yuan Shu's command."
"Chen Deng and Chen Yuanlong defeated Zang Ba and restored Langya in ten days, and now they have been appointed by my master as Dongguan. The prefect, the commander of the military affairs of the three counties of Langya, commanded the soldiers of the three counties and guarded the north."
"There are also Taishi Ci, Mi Zizhong who is amazing at shooting, Zhao Zilong with his white horse and silver spear, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin who are good at Cao Zhou. Yong, Xu Sheng and Pan Zhangxiao fought bravely, Tian Guorang was talented, Lu Zijing was able to serve as a king, Xiahou Bo and Chen Dao were loyal and dedicated."
"This is just the most powerful adviser and general around my lord. There are countless other scribes and generals, like crucian carp crossing the river."
Liu Ye asked: "Uncle Shi thinks that the general can be compared with Can anyone compare with me, the counselor and general of the Xuzhou Army?"
Li Luo was stunned and was speechless for a moment.
(End of this chapter)