I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 923 Yizhou Fear
It turns out that Sun Ce didn’t come here to conquer Rinan County?
Shi Xie's words surprised everyone present.

Shi Xie stroked his long beard, with a gleam in his eyes: "I'm afraid the general's move is for ulterior motives."

He unfolded the map on the table and pointed at the border between Jiaozhi County and Linyi State. "Sun Ce came here to attack Linyi on the surface, but in fact, he probably wanted to intimidate us Jiaozhou governors and test our loyalty."

Shi Yi's face suddenly changed when he heard this: "Brother, do you mean that the general suspects that we have ulterior motives?!"

Shi Xie said in a deep voice: "It's hard to say whether I have doubts or not, but anyway, Jiaozhou is remote and the imperial court cannot reach it. Now that the general has pacified the Central Plains, the next step is naturally to rectify the border."

"Although Sun Bofu only has a thousand men, he represents the will of the imperial court. If we refuse to cooperate..."

He didn't continue, but everyone already understood the interests involved.

"Then how should we respond?" Shi Yi's voice unconsciously lowered.

Shi Xie stood up, walked to the window and looked towards the north: "Pass my order, immediately prepare food and weapons, and prepare to support Sun Ce's army."

"As for the Governor's Office, send a fast horse to tell the envoy that we are also in a difficult situation here and cannot spare much money and food. However, as this is an important frontline, I will personally send troops to cooperate with the imperial army!"

"Old foxes, these old foxes!"

Zhu Fu was so angry after hearing everyone's opinions:
"Everyone is playing tricks! Shi Huang openly disobeyed orders, and Shi Xie was only willing to offer some leftovers. Do they really think that I, the governor, am just a decoration?"

The chief clerk carefully picked up the document and said with a smile, "Please calm down, sir. The counties in Jiaozhou have always been independent. Now that they are suddenly asked to contribute money and manpower, they will inevitably feel resistance. However, Shi Xie is willing to lead the troops himself, which is an explanation. As for Governor Shi..."

"Shi Huang must teach him a lesson!"

Zhu Fu turned around suddenly and said viciously:
"Send someone to Cangwu County and tell him that he disobeyed orders. The imperial army is coming. If he delays any further, he will be charged with treason!" He paused and added, "By the way, tell Kong Zhi that he was the most dedicated in preparing food and fodder this time. After the matter is completed, I will speak well of him in front of the general."

Zhu Fu's words were quite harsh, but all he could do now was to write down everyone's name in a small notebook and wait for the day when the reckoning would come.

Just like that, as soon as Su Yao wrote the document, before Sun Ce even showed up, the entire Jiaozhou was shaken violently.

Although the prefects were quite dissatisfied with the governor who was taking advantage of the situation, no one dared to send troops to resist.

Even the Cangwu prefect Shi Huang, who had previously had a tough attitude, did not dare to sing a different tune when he saw the prefects of other states and counties cooperating with him. He quietly escorted the long-overdue tribute onto the truck without the knowledge of the Jiaozhou governor Zhu Fu.

Although Cangwu is located in the deep mountains, it has the advantage of water transportation. The Fengshui River (Hejiang River) in the county runs across the north and south, directly leading to Lingling in Jingzhou, and then to Luoyang.

However, this trip was not just to pay tribute. Shi Huang also brought a report on Zhu Fu, accusing him of using the name of the court to amass wealth, levying heavy taxes and abusing power in Jiaozhou.

In Shi Huang's secret report, he described Zhu Fu's behavior of going to the countryside to "collect taxes" in an extremely bad way, and even exaggerated by saying that Zhu Fu used the excuse of preparing food and fodder to enrich himself and stored half of the supplies in his own private warehouse.

That’s right, filing a complaint with the emperor is the limit of what Shi Huang can do.

No matter what they did, Jiaozhou, at least at the leadership level, did not waver at all and directly recognized the rule of Su Yao's court.

This is also a matter of course.

Jiaozhou is located in a wild area with a sparse population, limited financial resources and many barbarians around it. It is not a place to rule the world.

When the central government was in decline, they could only close their doors and establish their own territories. Now that Su Yao was powerful and sweeping across the country, and the central government's authority was at its peak, these people immediately put away their previous fanciful thoughts and began to take remedial measures.

Compared with Jiaozhou's surrender, Yizhou's reaction was much more subtle.

"How can it be?!"

"Yuan Gonglu is dead? Liu Jingsheng is dead?"

"Where did this rumor come from? This is impossible! This is simply impossible!"

Mianzhu, the governor's office.

Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, learned about the battle situation in Huainan more than a month later. His first reaction was to not believe it at all.

After all, not long ago, he received news that Yuan Shu had defeated Yuan Shao and the situation was very good.

You know, just at the beginning of the year, Liu Yan took advantage of the opportunity when Su Yao was fighting in Hebei and sent the Supervisor Sima Zhang Lu and the Separate Sima Zhang Xiu to lead troops out of Jiameng Pass to attack Hanzhong, expel and kill Hanzhong Prefect Su Gu who did not obey his orders, and seize the gateway to Sichuan.

Later, Zhang Lu, under the instruction of Liu Yan, cut off the Xiegu Road, repeatedly killed imperial envoys, and cut off tribute, saying that "the rice thieves have cut off the road and cannot be restored."

Immediately afterwards, Ren Qi, the prefect of Qianwei at the time, was dissatisfied with Liu Yan, and he, together with his attendant Chen Chao and others, raised an army to attack Yan. While Liu Yan's army was paying attention to Hanzhong, they directly attacked Chengdu and burned the city of Chengdu, which was once a very powerful force.

However, their rebellion ultimately failed.

Just when Su Yao sent troops to interfere in the battle between Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao in May, Liu Yan dispatched Qing Qiang soldiers to fight and killed two people in one fell swoop.

After doing all this, the anti-Yan forces in Yizhou had been basically eliminated. Liu Yan was in a good mood and felt that he could rest easy.

Next, no matter how life and death the fight is in the Central Plains, he, sitting in Yizhou, can attack or defend, is in an invincible position, and can watch the show calmly.

However, when this news came, Liu Yan began to doubt his life.

Didn’t we agree to fight against the Soviet Union together?

How come I'm the only one left in the blink of an eye? !
They controlled half of the country, how come all of Jingyang belonged to Su in an instant?
This is too outrageous!
"Check! Send someone to check!"

"We must find out what happened!"

Liu Yan couldn't believe the sudden rumors. He was so frightened that he immediately sent two groups of people to verify the situation.

One team set out from Jiangzhou (Chongqing) and took the water route to Jingzhou, going directly to Liu Biao's hometown.

Another team took the land route, passed through Jiameng Pass, went through Hanzhong, entered Luoyang from Chang'an, and went directly to Beijing for investigation.

In the Luoyang court, there were also Liu Yan's three sons: the eldest son Liu Fan, the General of the Left, the second son Liu Dan, the Imperial Censor, and the youngest son Liu Zhang, who was living in Luoyang.

That's right, although Liu Yan took the initiative to propose to depose Shi and establish Mu, becoming the first frontier minister to serve as a governor, the imperial court at the time was not without precautions against him. Except for his third son Liu Mao who followed his father Liu Yan to Yizhou, Liu Yan's other three sons and grandchildren were left in Luoyang.

This time, Liu Yan sent people to the capital to investigate Su Yao's background and the trend of the world, and to find an opportunity to secretly bring his children and grandchildren back to Yizhou.
(End of this chapter)