I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 746 Guan Yu’s Alertness

Gongsun Zan was lying on the bed, coughing and breathing heavily.

Then he turned his head and spit out a mouthful of blood towards the side of the bed.

Seeing Gongsun Zan coughing up blood, Guan Yu, who came to see him, sighed.

"Brother Bogui, why do you have to do this?"

Gongsun Zan was lying on the bed and shook his head after hearing this.

"Yun Chang, I'm afraid my life is not long."

Gongsun Zan looked at Guan Yunchang next to him with a sad face.

"This time I went south to conquer Huainan. I wanted to make great achievements for you and my junior brother... I never thought that, alas, I didn't win the battle... and ended up like this!"

When Guan Yu heard Gongsun Zan's sad words, he couldn't help but feel a little sympathy in his heart.

Guan Yu's heart suddenly tightened.

After all, he and Gongsun Zan were both generals in Youzhou. Guan Yu has always been the number one general in Youzhou, while Gongsun Zan has always been ranked second. Although the two sides have a competitive relationship, they can be regarded as admiring each other.

"Brother Bogui, to be honest...if it were seven or eight years ago, you would indeed be a rare and good opponent in Guan's heart, the best opponent!"

Seeing Gongsun Zan in front of him on the bed, who was torturing himself out of shape due to guilt, self-blame, and humiliation, Guan Yu couldn't help but feel a little alarmed.

Others might not be able to understand what Gongsun Zan said, but for Guan Yu... he understood it very well.

To be honest, Gongsun Zan is really not a good opponent in his heart.

After all, Gongsun Zan is also a rare warrior in the world, and Guan Yu himself is not very good at deceiving others. If Gongsun Zan sees that he goes out of his way to comfort him, I also think this is an insult to a warrior.

If you are just a nobody, if you lose the battle, you will lose the battle.

However, as the military god of one side, as the general of one side, and as the backbone of the soldiers of the entire Han Dynasty, they cannot be defeated easily. Once they are defeated, the consequences will be disastrous.

"Yun Chang, I'm going to die, I'm afraid it won't be long."

Gongsun Zan is very competitive, but Guan Yu is even more powerful!
Guan Yu now thinks about it, if he were in Gongsun Zan's situation, how well could he do?
When they reach their position, they cannot be easily defeated!

Now Gongsun Zan seems to be the epitome of Guan Yu.

They have too much responsibility, and they have too many previous victories.

"You also know my origin... I am a bastard of the Gongsun clan in western Liaoning. Ever since I was a child, I have been striving for strength, wanting to get ahead, and wanting others to see that I, a bastard, can achieve great things."

Gongsun Zan was arrogant, and so was Guan Yu.

Perhaps when he was in Youzhou, Guan Yu could still regard Gongsun Zan as a rival to compare with him, but now, Gongsun Zan cannot come into his eyes at all.

Although I have followed my brother's instructions and tried hard to avoid my weaknesses over the years...but I have never understood the profound meaning of my brother's words.

At that time, in Youzhou, there was a man like Gongsun Zan chasing after him. As a captain of Wumeng at that time, Guan Yu always had a sense of urgency, so he worked hard to build meritorious deeds and tried hard to prevent Gongsun Zan from catching up with him.

"A certain Gongsun Zan, who spent half of his life in the army and fought for a lifetime, is not afraid of death! But he is afraid that others will look down on me."

Looking at Gongsun Zan's current state, Guan Yu seems to be able to understand Liu Jian's real painstaking efforts towards him.

Then he saw Guan Yu stroking his long beard and slowly said to Gongsun Zan:

"Brother Bogui, victory or defeat is a common thing for military officers. We have many people in the north, a vast land, abundant resources, and abundant talents. It's just a mere defeat, which is not enough to determine the situation. Why should we wrong ourselves like this? We still need to take good care of ourselves and relax our minds before heading south the next day. , a decisive battle with the southern thieves! We will definitely avenge our past humiliation.”

"Well, when we are in our position, it will be difficult to overcome this kind of failure and this kind of hurdle. I don't know about others, at least I can't..."

Should I say something to comfort him?
After a slight hesitation, he decided to tell the truth to Gongsun Zan.

Just when Guan Yu was distracted, Gongsun Zan suddenly said something to him, bringing his attention back to reality.

But then, his expression turned gloomy again.

From another perspective, Gongsun Zan can be regarded as an early promoter of Guan Yu's success.

Back then, my brother once criticized and taught me about my arrogance, telling me that I must not look down on others, look down on the world's heroes, or think too highly of myself.

"Yun Chang!"

When he said this, he saw a rare look of expectation in Gongsun Zan's eyes.

His arrogance is higher than that of Gongsun Zan. If he were to change places, would he be able to overcome this hurdle in Gongsun Zan's heart?
I'm afraid not necessarily!
Now he is like Gongsun Zan, he can allow himself to win a hundred times, but cannot allow himself to fail once.

"Today, I want to ask you something, and I hope you can answer me sincerely."

Don't blame Gongsun Zan for feeling aggrieved. If it were Guan Yu, he would have been aggrieved to death.

Although the relationship between Guan Yu and Gongsun Zan has always been relatively normal and they rarely meet each other, they were all warriors on the border of Youzhou in the past. Seeing Gongsun Zan meet such a miserable end now, Guan Yu felt quite uncomfortable.

Victory or defeat is a common thing for soldiers. It may be easy to say this kind of thing, but if it really happens to people of their level, how can it be so easy to bear?
Thinking of this, beads of sweat dripped from Guan Yu's forehead.

"Brother Bogui, why do you call me?"

Finally, I saw a look of expectation on his face.

But now this person is already lying on the bed and is about to die.

"In your heart, Guan Yunchang, have you ever regarded me, Gongsun Zan, as your opponent?"

Gongsun Zan took a deep breath.

Gongsun Zan looked at Guan Yu's face and seemed to be touched by his words.

When Gongsun Zan heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then he couldn't help laughing.

"Seven or eight years ago, seven or eight years ago! Yes, yes, you are right. If it were seven or eight years ago, I might still be able to compete with you, but now..."

When he said this, Gongsun Zan let out a long sigh.

"Yun Chang, it's rare to treat someone with sincerity, thank you very much!"

Guan Yu remained silent.

Then Gongsun Zan stretched out his hand and said to Guan Yu: "Yun Chang, if you still regard me as a comrade... please be sure to succeed in this Pinghuai battle and avenge me."

This time, Guan Yu did not hesitate. He nodded heavily and said, "Don't worry, Bogui. Guan will definitely pacify Jianghuai and avenge you for this deep hatred."

When Gongsun Zan heard this, he smiled... and then he slowly closed his eyes. That night, Gongsun Zan died of illness in the camp, and a generation of famous generals were lost in Huainan.

Gongsun Zan was a famous general in Hebei, and now he was lost because of this. It indeed had an impact that cannot be ignored on Guan Yu's affairs.

But in the end, he did not die in the opponent's hands or be captured alive. This is also a great blessing among misfortunes.

……

……

Gongsun Zan is also known as a general in Hebei. At the same time, he has stationed troops in Yanzhou in the past two years. Although his achievements are not as outstanding as those in Youzhou, he still has a great influence in the Central Plains.

What's more, he is Liu Jian's fellow disciple, so the impact of this matter is not small.

The news of Gongsun Zan's death in battle was quickly sent to Chang'an by Guan Yu.

After Liu Jian learned the news of Gongsun Zan's death, he remained silent for a long time.

"I don't know what Master Lu will think when he finds out about this."

Liu Jian murmured to himself.

Beside Liu Jian, Guo Jia stood up, raised his hands to Liu Jian and said:
"General Gongsun is a loyal minister of our Han Dynasty. This time he died for his country in the front line. The Prime Minister should treat him as a national mourning. In addition, General Gongsun needs to be given a posthumous title and canonized as a marquis so that his heirs can inherit his title. , to show the glory of Gongsun."

Liu Jian nodded slowly.

He knew that when Gongsun Zan was appointed governor of the Shangdang, he and Guo Jia had cooperated for a while.

But he didn't expect that the relationship between the two parties would actually reach this level. Guo Jia would personally come out to make arrangements for Gongsun Zan's death, which was somewhat beyond Liu Jian's expectations.

Based on Liu Jian's understanding of his senior brother, he didn't think that his senior brother could be so popular.

Immediately afterwards, I heard Guo Jia continue to say: "The Prime Minister will report this matter to Your Majesty, please personally preside over the funeral of General Gongsun, and spread the matter to all the prefectures and counties in the world, and then have the three armies wear mourning, make white flags and white armor, so as to If we use the power of mourning troops to attack Huainan, great things can be accomplished."

When Liu Jian heard this, he understood.

No wonder, no wonder.

This is Guo Jia's true intention.

"Fengxiao's words are very good. Fengxiao, I intend to appoint you as the governor of Yangzhou. I will take you to the front of Guan Yun's army to jointly formulate a plan to attack Huainan. If we capture Huainan, our army will no longer have any constraints. We will surely be able to pacify Jiangnan and Jingnan in one fell swoop." Chu!”

When Guo Jia heard this, he didn't hesitate.

"Since the Prime Minister can trust me, then Guo should do his best!"

……

……

After Gongsun Zan's death, the emperor personally issued an edict to confer him the title of Marquis of Yi, and ordered his son Gongsun to inherit his title, and posthumously named Gongsun Zan as Marquis of Gang.

While arranging a funeral for Gongsun Zan, the imperial court also expanded public opinion and publicized Gongsun Zan's past achievements in the north to arouse the anger of the army and the people. At the same time, the imperial court ordered the Xuzhou Army and Guan Yu's troops to build white flags and white armor to conquer Huainan and serve Gongsun Zan. revenge.

In August of the fourth year of Jian'an, Guan Yu and Liu Bei attacked in two groups at the same time. Under the banner of revenge for Gongsun Zan, they divided their troops into six groups and began to launch a large-scale attack on Jiujiang County.

Zhou Yu was in Yin Ling, calmly and calmly dispatching troops and generals, using all the population that Cao's military regime could control, and constantly increasing the number of auxiliary soldiers and civilians that could be used.

Not only that, he also urgently expanded the army, issued weapons and armor to the strong men, incorporated them into the army and sent them to Yinling for intensive training.

Cao Cao of Shouchun also gathered his troops on time, preparing to fight the opponent to the death.

They thought that it would be useless to sharpen their weapons before the battle, so they had to use more troops as backup, because Cao Cao and Zhou Yu knew that the north was vast and rich in resources, and the population was much larger than their own, so they had to expand their troops no matter what.

Cao Cao and Zhou Yu prepared painstakingly, but in the face of the powerful intimidation of the Han army, Cao Cao's army still showed symptoms of fear.

After all, this time, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and even Guo Jia, who had collected all the Huns in Bingzhou, all gathered here to attack Huainan and avenge Gongsun Zan. Naturally, the Cao army in Jianghuai was terrified.

As time went by, deserters even appeared in major military camps.

In response to this phenomenon, in addition to killing deserters in various military camps, Zhou Yu came up with a solution.

Zhou Yu took the lead and wrote the suicide note himself, and ordered people to spread the contents of the suicide note throughout the three armies, and then sent people to send it out.

The generals of Cao's army followed suit one after another, showing their suicide notes to the soldiers, and then ordered them to be sent out to express their determination to fight the Northern Army to the end.

Cao Cao arranged for people to spread rumors in the army, saying that Gongsun Zan was Liu Jian's fellow disciple. If he was defeated this time, Liu Jian would definitely massacre all the people in Jianghuai to avenge Gongsun Zan.

Massacre of a city is the most terrifying shock to ordinary people, but at the same time it can also inspire their greatest desire to resist!

Ordinary officers and soldiers of Cao Cao's army did not know much about politics, and the rumors spread by Cao Cao's people in the army did have a great effect.

As a result, the number of deserters decreased, Cao Jun's fighting spirit became high, and he was no longer so afraid of the Northern Army, so he would not flee before the battle.

Only when the morale of the army is stabilized can there be hope of victory.

During this period, Cao Cao sent someone to ask Yuan Shao and Chen Ming to send troops to help. Otherwise, if his side loses Huainan, Yuan Shao's Xiangfan will probably not be able to be saved next.
Although Yuan Shao and his men in Jingzhou were afraid of the Han army's attack, after thinking about it, they felt that what Cao Cao said made sense.

The two sides have a close relationship. Since they have formed an alliance, they should help each other.

It is undoubtedly the best to maintain the current situation.

So under this situation, in mid-August, Yuan Shao ordered the governor Huang Zu to wait for an opportunity to lead his army to march towards Lujiang to support Cao Cao and share the pressure on his side.

However, before Huang Zu could send troops, four generals from Nanyang, Zhao Yun, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Xu Huang, made a sudden move. They gathered their troops and horses, set out from Wancheng, went all the way south, and headed straight for Fancheng!

Zhao Yun's troops numbered no less than 30,000, and their momentum was so great that Jingzhou was shaken for a while.

When Yuan Shao heard that Zhao Yun and others were leading an army of 30,000 people towards Xiangfan, he panicked.

Many families in Nanjun also hurriedly asked Yuan Shao not to send troops to reinforce Cao Cao. After all, Zhao Yun went south. Once Xiangfan was captured, it would mean that the Northern Army had completely forced the water into the Han River defense line, and then they would be completely passive.

Huang Zu's troops had not traveled six hundred miles to the east when they were immediately summoned by Yuan Shao and began to lead their troops back to Xiangyang. They arranged defenses along the Han River to prepare to resist Zhao Yun's attack.

As for Liangzhou, Zhang Fei, Lu Bu and others were also summoned by Liu Jian. They led their elite troops to march towards Guanzhong from Liangzhou, which had just been pacified, with the intention of taking the opportunity to put pressure on Shuzhong.

As for the local military in Liangzhou, Zhang Fei handed it over to Zhang He. Without Zhang He, he could not make any waves in Liangzhou.

Zhang Fei, Lu Bu, and Xu Rong took the newly surrendered Ma Chao, Pang De, and others to Guanzhong to meet Liu Jian and prepare to participate in the battle south.

(End of this chapter)