Chapter 632: Acceptance
On November 8, Liu Bei was in Linfen.
Also coming with him were many Lang Guan from the Zhuang sect in Kansai. They were all ordered by the young emperor Liu Xie to go north to join Hu Zhen's legion to participate in the subsequent war.
Due to well-known reasons, since the Weiyang Palace Rebellion broke out in the Kansai court, the power of the ministers and eunuchs who had previously been the two poles of central power in Kansai had all collapsed. However, Dong Zhuo, who was an external vassal, seized the opportunity to go to Luo, and even relied on Dong Zhuo. The Queen Mother became a relative and was in charge of the affairs of state, which could be described as overwhelming power for a while.
However, the scope of the chaos in Weiyang Palace actually stayed at the top. As the core weapon of the Central Military Commission at that time, the strength of the Xiyuan Internal and External Army was not compromised. When Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he only had tens of thousands of troops and could not suppress the Xiyuan Army.
Therefore, at that time, Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie, who was eager to revive the Han Dynasty, formed a tacit understanding. They knew that they could not repeat the mistakes of Guandong, so they formed a dual structure of the Wu family with Dong Zhuo as the Grand Master and the public family headed by Liu Xie.
The relationship between the Wu family and the public family was superficially based on the relationship between the Empress Dowager Dong. But in fact, that layer of false skin of a foreign relative cannot bring any sense of security to both parties.
So not long after Dong Zhuo entered the capital, after he confided in Liu Xie his ambition to bring the Han Dynasty to greatness again, Liu Xie swore an oath to his ancestors in front of the ancestral temple:
"If Mr. Dong does not let down our Han family, our Han family will never abandon the Dong family from generation to generation."
Liu Xie even personally wrote this oath on a blood edict and enshrined it in the Ancestral Temple so that future generations would not forget it.
It was by relying on this blood oath that Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie maintained a superficial balance. Liu Xie used Dong Zhuo's strength to purge a group of court officials and promote the Han clan. Dong Zhuo also relied on the legitimacy granted by the little emperor to continuously annex the Xiyuan Forbidden Army.
During this process, both parties have always been in perfect agreement. Not only did Dong Zhuo secure his position as Grand Master, but in the process, the young emperor also absorbed a group of direct armed forces from the Xiyuan Forbidden Army and rebuilt the Northern Army.
In order to completely control this newly-established Northern Army, Liu Xie placed all his descendants in this army. But the descendants of Liu have already lived in fine clothes and fine food for many lifetimes, how can they still have half a year of heroic spirit in them? So at that time, Liu Xie could only train these people from scratch, hoping to get one or two generals.
It was against this background that Liu Bei led the remaining troops and ran over from the Weihan Passage.
Liu Xie can be said to know Liu Bei quite well. After hearing that Emperor Liu's uncle, the most capable warrior in the clan, rushed west to cross the border, Liu Xie directly issued several edicts, ordering the pavilions and posthouses along the road to provide all the needs of the emperor's uncle and others.
When Liu Bei took Zhang Fei and others to Dongpingguan in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an, Liu Xie even went ten miles out of the city to welcome Liu Bei's arrival.
It can be said that Liu Xie gave unlimited respect to Liu Bei.
This also allowed Liu Bei, who was anxious about the future, to quickly settle down and began to serve as the lieutenant general of the Northern Army.
It is precisely because of the training of these warriors brought by Liu Bei that the military quality of Liu's children has been rapidly improved.
This change naturally made Dong Zhuo very wary.
Afterwards, Li Ru suggested that since the young emperor wanted to train Liu's disciples, it would be better to send them to Hu Zhen's army. After all, strong generals would only be born on the battlefield.
When Dong Zhuo suggested that the young emperor send Zhu Liu to the front line, Liu Xie certainly understood the true meaning, but Dong Zhuo was right about one thing, that is, no matter how well you train, you still need war experience.
So Liu Xie agreed and asked Liu Bei to take fifty Northern Army officers to the front line. In order not to weaken the reputation of the emperor's uncle, Liu Xie even gave Liu Bei the title of "visitor".
In other words, Liu Bei came to the front line to reward the troops on behalf of the emperor.
In fact, at that time, even Liu Xie did not think that Liu Bei and his group could make any achievements. His expectation for them was that they could allow Zhu Liu to gain intuitive experience in large-scale wars.
But facts will prove how far Liu Bei and the others can achieve.
Liu Bei and others set out from Chang'an at the end of October and had passed Longmen at the beginning of November.
When they crossed the Yellow River and went ashore, they began to move forward along the Fen River.
In Linfen, Liu Bei met Wang Chang, the captain of Linfen.
Liu Bei was relatively unfamiliar with Wang Chang at first. After all, he had only entered Kansai for a short time. This Wang Chang was not a warrior who had fought on the battlefield in Weihan, so he only treated Wang Chang as an ordinary person.
In addition, the disciples of Liu who accompanied him said that Wang Chang was just a lackey of Hu Zhen and was not worth mentioning. So Liu Bei was quite contemptuous at first.
But soon, when he got along with Wang Chang, he immediately realized that this person was a rare talent. Zhu Liu's contempt for this person is obviously unfair.
First of all, the first impression Wang Chang gave Liu Bei was that he was energetic. This is what Liu Bei has seen in many outstanding talents in the past, such as Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Zhong Yao and others, who all had strong energy to handle government affairs.
The same was true for Wang Chang. When Liu Bei met him for the first time, this man was still dealing with the documents of grain and fodder. According to his friends, Wang Chang started working last night and even changed the lights three times, but he was still working.
Originally Liu Bei thought that Wang Chang would be slow in thinking, but when he formally met with this person, Wang Chang could answer everything Liu Bei said fluently.
After so many years of experience, Liu Bei has grown into the current Uncle Liu Huang. In addition to gaining the so-called reputation, Liu Bei also summed up his own set of views on understanding people.
Many people will despise the so-called energetic and think that the talent of governance lies in outlining the main points and governing from the ground up. But Liu Bei believes that real talents can only do practical things if they have sufficient energy, otherwise they will always be a clean slate.
In this regard, Liu Bei has suffered a lot.
In addition, a very rare thing is that Wang Chang is not a lackey of the Dong family as Zhu Liu said. On the contrary, he has enough respect for the emperor.
It was on the basis that you admired him and he respected you that Liu Bei and Wang Chang talked a lot.
One of the conversations brought up what Wang Chang was most worried about.
What Wang Chang was worried about was the main force of the Guanxi Army that was approaching the Taiyuan Basin. He said that the bandits from Baibo Valley often came out to rob grain roads recently. Although he counterattacked several times with tricks, they did not cause much damage to the Baibo bandits. of harm.
As far as he knew, the Taishan Army's army had already reached Taiyuan, and from there to Jiexiu where Hu Zhen was, it was almost a flat river. In such a battlefield environment, it would be too risky to engage in a decisive battle with the Taishan Army with its huge cavalry.
Liu Bei didn't know what Wang Chang was worried about, but he understood the power of Taishan Army better than Wang Chang.
In his short life, the most world-class commander Liu Bei had ever seen was his mentor Lu Zhi, but even so, his mentor was still defeated on the battlefield of Zhongrenting.
And let me ask? So who is more dominant, Hu Zhen or his mentor? Who is more united, the Guanxi Army or the Northern Conquest Army?
So the answer is very clear, Hu Zhen is no match for the Taishan Army.
At this time, Liu Bei had some awareness of the dangers of his own profession.
After that, Liu Bei and his party rested for another day in Linfen, planning to set off the next day with the convoy sent to the Yongan Grain Station base ahead.
But just when Liu Bei was about to take the Liu Lang officials to inspect the dangerous locations outside the city, a man came from Wang Chang and said that Wang Chang wanted to invite him. So, Liu Bei met Wang Chang again, and only then did he learn the bad news.
"You said Yong'an Liangmo was burned down?"
At this time, Wang Chang was a little panicked, but still maintained basic composure.
Hearing Liu Bei's question, he nodded slowly, fearing that Liu Bei would not be able to understand the situation here, and explained:
"Although it is only more than 200 miles from here to Jiexiu, there are many mountains in between, making it difficult to transport military supplies. Only along the Queshu Road where the Fen River is located can the military supplies be transferred. In order to support Jiexiu, our army specially A grain platform is set up in Yong'an behind the Rat Road, which is transported in sections."
After listening to this introduction, Liu Bei asked a key question directly:
"Captain Wang, please tell me how long the food supply for the frontline army will be able to last after Yong'an's food supply is destroyed."
Wang Chang sighed and said with difficulty:
"Ten days."
Liu Bei stood up suddenly and asked immediately:
"Wang Lieutenant, how many people do you have now? How much food and fodder can you support? After the frontline army is defeated, what plan do you have?"
Wang Chang saw Liu Bei's posture and was confused:
"My dear sir, I am afraid that the situation will not deteriorate to this extent. We can still support the army for ten days with food and fodder. With the ability of Commander Hu, he will be able to withdraw safely with his army."
Liu Bei didn't want Wang Chang to be so naive, so he asked:
"Let me ask you, if ten people can eat the food for nine people, do you think that only one person will not be able to eat it in the end? If Hu Zhen can keep the empty food thing to the end, things will turn around. And Once the news of running out of food spreads throughout the army, the army will collapse. ”
Finally, Liu Bei also said this to Wang Chang:
"People live for hope. If hope is gone, even if reason tells them they can live for a few more days, people will still choose the worst outcome."
"This faith is more precious than gold."
Wang Chang understood, so he bent down and bowed to Liu Bei, and then said:
"The final general is willing to listen to the orders of those who are here. I hope that those who are here will not think about the opinions of the family, turn the tide from falling, and save the lives of tens of thousands of my troops."
Liu Bei hurriedly helped Wang Chang up and said seriously:
"Who does Captain Wang think of me, Liu Bei? As a descendant of the Han Dynasty, I, Liu Bei, have long devoted my life to the great cause of reviving the Han Dynasty. Don't say that these tens of thousands of troops are the essence of my Kansai, they are just these numbers The lives of thousands of people are a big deal. I, Liu Bei, will do my best to tide over the difficulties with Wang Chang.”
After that, Liu Bei asked Wang Chang specifically whether he had made a similar plan. When he learned that Wang Chang had planned to build a defense line along the Fen River with jade as the core, Liu Bei's appreciation of Wang Chang reached a higher level.
He had seen Yubi before when he was walking along the Fen River. It was really a dangerous place.
At that time, he also lamented that who would build a barrier in this place that could withstand a hundred thousand troops. Unexpectedly, it was Wang Chang in front of him.
Now that he heard that Wang Chang had a strategy, Liu Bei made a prompt decision and asked Wang Chang to move all the grain and fodder in Linfen to the south of the Fen River, and then stationed himself at Yubi. Then he and Wang Chang asked for five hundred soldiers and decided to advance to the Queshu Valley area to meet the army.
Wang Chang's behavior just now has actually handed over command to Liu Bei. Wang Chang is a mid-level military official with no connections above him. He only has Hu Zhen as his backer, and his life or death is still uncertain.
If he had decided to abandon Linfen and move to the south of the Fen River with Dingkou and grain, Wang Chang might have failed, and he might even have been executed as a scapegoat for defeat.
But now that Liu Bei is making the decision, the result is different. In this case, Liu Bei, who has the emperor's endorsement, is undoubtedly the best candidate. Although it is not certain whether he has any merit or not, at least the fault is not his own.
Therefore, with Liu Bei's support and fighting platform, Wang Chang immediately began to prepare.
Maybe this is the helplessness of little people. Being able to carry things is more important than being able to do things.
……
On the same day, Liu Bei took his Langguan regiment and 500 Linfen soldiers to eat and set off north.
Before leaving, he and Wang Chang asked for a military official who could speak the You, Bing and Liang dialects. Liu Bei himself could speak Kyoto Zhengyin and Youzhou dialect, but he did not understand the Bing and Liang dialects, so If I only wanted such a talent, I would be afraid that it would be difficult to communicate with officials from Liangzhou.
They moved along the east bank of Fen River.
On the way, Liu Bei also hoped that his guess was wrong. He felt that Hu Zhen, as a famous general in Kansai, should be thoughtful and able to turn danger into safety.
After all, Liu Bei knew very well that the current situation in Kansai was very good.
Liu Bei came from Guandong. In his opinion, the imperial court in Guandong was already in decline, while Guanxi was full of vitality because of the cooperation of Dong Zhuo and Liu Xie.
According to Liu Bei's estimate, given the current situation, it doesn't take much to recapture Kyoto in about half a year. By then, with Longyi as the rear and Gyeonggi as the advance base in the east, the recapture of the Kanto states will be just around the corner.
But who knew that at the critical moment when Kansai was booming, the Taishan Army suddenly went south to Bingzhou, and soon swept into Taiyuan.
Originally, if Kansai did not send troops, it would lose at most one state. Although the external geopolitical situation would worsen, its strength would not be compromised.
But now if these 50,000 elite Kansai soldiers are left in Jiexiu, it will be a waste of strength and bones. At that time, the situation in the world will really depend on the Taishan Army.
At that time, how could he avenge his mentor?
Thinking of this, he hurriedly urged his subordinates to speed up. Those Liu Lang officials also knew that the current situation was critical, so they gritted their teeth and persisted.
More than 500 people headed north and stayed at a post station that night.
This place is only twenty miles away from Yong'an. In other words, they traveled twenty miles in one afternoon.
When they stayed here, the Liu Lang officials were fine, they were all riding horses, but the Linfen soldiers were quite complaining and cursed in a low voice this foreigner who spoke with a Youzhou accent.
Liu Bei has long been accustomed to these. We are still twenty miles away from Yong'an, and we haven't encountered a defeated army so far. This is good news.
But just when Liu Bei and the others were staying at the inn, they heard a huge noise. Liu Bei made a thud and hurriedly left the inn to look outside.
I saw a ridgeline in the darkness to the north, and suddenly a fire dragon appeared, and countless people and horses were running from there.
(End of chapter)