Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 246 Yuan Weng Recruits a Son-in-Law

The news of Yuan's army's defeat in the first battle at Ganling spread throughout Bohai County, Hejian County, Wei County, and Anping County in Jizhou in the following days, like a stone that caused a thousand ripples.

This caused several counties in neighboring Jizhou and Yanzhou to look at it with surprise, and people from all over the country were talking about it.

Although many officials did not dare to gossip in the streets, they would discuss and gossip with their own clan elders behind closed doors.

Fortunately, Jiang Qi managed to control the news of Qu Yi's death in time and did not spread it completely. At the same time, he selected someone with a similar body shape to pretend to be bedridden, and announced to the army that the commander was just injured and recovering from his wounds.

Yuan Shao, who received the bad news in Xindu, could not help but overturn the table again, threw the documents to the ground, gnashed his teeth, panted and cursed: "Feng Yuantu has ruined my important plan. If he had strictly ordered Qu Yi to stay in the fortress, how could he have been defeated by Liu Xuande's troops? He also surrendered the Youzhou soldiers. How can I relieve my hatred if I don't kill Feng Ji!"

Neither Xu You nor Xun Chen dared to plead for Feng Ji. Even Tian Feng, who was usually the most stubborn, did not dare to stand up and speak at this time.

The rest of the trusted aides were even further away, so it was possible that the love letter would not reach Xindu for a while.

As soon as Yuan Shao finished scolding him, he immediately sent a message to Handan and Yu County, ordering Jiang Qi to kill Feng Yuantu on the spot and then kill his wife.

He then carefully read another document and learned that Liu Xuande had already withdrawn his troops back to Pingyuan. He immediately sent someone to inform the Wuhuan cavalry to temporarily stop in Pingyuan County.

After Gao Lan, Zhang He, and Dong Zhao had finished training their troops and had prepared weapons, armor, arrows, and food supplies, he led a total of 37,000 infantry and cavalry to attack Pingyuan.

He let his nephew Gao Gan take over Qu Yi's position as the main general. After reorganizing the soldiers in Ganling, he led 20,000 soldiers to join forces with the troops in the north to attack Liu Xuande.

At the same time, Ju Su, who had traveled all the way to Dian County, was transferred back to Nanpi, Bohai Sea as a military supervisor.

He appointed Xu You as the military inspector and ordered sixty carts loaded with money and cloth from the treasury to be sent to Ganling to reassure the troops, and instructed Xu You to handle the relationship between the Youzhou soldiers and the Jizhou soldiers well.

In everything, rewards and punishments must be clearly defined. There must never be another scene of the two sides attacking each other in Qu Yi’s camp, otherwise there will be severe punishment.

After all this was done, Yuan Shao still felt uneasy and asked Tian Feng beside him, "Yuan Hao is good at correcting shortcomings and remedying malpractices. In your opinion, are there any deficiencies in the current strategy?"

Tian Feng was silent after hearing this, then he bowed and said: "Mr. Yuan, I am not able to plan everything, I just hope you can make people speak without guilt, then I will accept their loyalty, and contribute their talents and good advice."

After hearing this, Yuan Shao remained silent for a long time, then nodded and said, "Okay, I will do as Yuan Hao said. From now on, I will never punish you for giving me advice."

Even though he didn't want to offend his superiors by going against Tian Fenggang, Tian Feng's judgment on the matter of Feng Ji and Qu Yi was extremely accurate.

If Tian Feng had not been left in Handan, perhaps there would not have been this inexplicable disaster of defeat and destruction.

Liu Xuande casually lured the enemy, and the two men were eager to make achievements. How could they not be defeated if they were careless and negligent?
It's a pity that Qu Yi died in the chaos...

When Yuan Shao heard the news, he almost gritted his teeth in secret.

After enduring Qu Yi for so long, he wanted him to defeat Liu Xuande again like he defeated Gongsun Bogui.

As a result, the entire army was defeated as soon as the two men fought with Liu Bei, and the main general Qu Yi was killed by a stray arrow from seven or eight hundred steps away, and he couldn't even escape.

After coming to his senses, Yuan Shao looked at Xu You and said, "When we get to Du County, we must not attack carelessly. This place is closest to the plain, and Liu Xuande likes to use the tactic of luring the enemy. Wait until mid-August to attack Qingzhou together with Bohai County."

"At that time, Shao will personally lead the army across the Huan River, station near Qingzhou, and attack Liu Xuande from three sides. Shen Pei, Wen Chou and the Xianbei cavalry will continue to attack the East County of Yanzhou and defeat Guan Yu's troops."

Now they had to readjust their strategy. Whether it was to win over the hearts of the people or to stabilize their hearts, they had to first drive Liu Bei out of Pingyuan, then pacify Qingzhou, and several counties in Yanzhou would surely collapse on their own.

Once Qing and Yan were conquered, Xuzhou would be a place surrounded by wars. Where could Liu Xuande escape to? He had Yuan Gonglu in Huainan and Cao Mengde in Jiangdong.

Although Liu Zhang of Yizhou and Liu Biao of Jingzhou were relatives of the Han Dynasty, they might not accept Liu Xuande. After Xu You's previous advice, Yuan Shao undoubtedly replanned his strategy to defeat the Liu family.

Xu You said, "Benchu, there is no need to hurt yourself too much. The reason why Liu Bei used a trick to attack Qu Yi when the soldiers, food, and weapons had not yet been deployed was because the defenders of Du County were a threat to him, and he could not feel at ease until they were eliminated."

"Now that we know the enemy's vital points, we only need to abandon the insignificant points, lead the strong troops to strangle their throats, and then press their backs and necks. We cannot fight them for a long time. We should lead 100,000 people to defeat Pingyuan County in one battle and eliminate more than ten counties in Pingyuan County."

What Xu You meant was to quickly mobilize the soldiers from the counties and states of Youzhou and Jizhou, pull out all the troops of the gentry and powerful clans, and then forcibly requisition their food by wartime military orders.

No matter whether they are a mob or not, even if you use them to consume rocks and logs to attack the city, as long as these common people are useful, you should use them.

As for worrying about not having enough food in the future, there is no need to worry at all. As more people die, the demand for food will naturally decrease.

Xu Youxing offered suggestions as if nothing had happened, but Tian Feng couldn't help but frown. He wanted to dissuade him several times, but stopped in the end.

If we don't use our numerical advantage to attack Pingyuan County regardless of casualties, we will probably lose the Battle of Hebei to Liu Xuande.

Now that the first battle has been lost, many generals are afraid. The initiative in the war has already been lost. There is no need to send heavy troops to the border to boost the courage of the soldiers, as they will only be slowly devoured by Liu Bei later.

But doing so would undoubtedly bring suffering to the nobles and the common people.

Tian Feng sighed quietly in his heart.

……

Just as the strategic decision-making in Jizhou changed due to Qu Yi's death, Liu Bei, who led his army back to Pingyuan, also received news from the scouts.

More than 7,000 Wuhuan cavalrymen, as well as many herdsmen driving cattle and sheep, have approached Pingyuan County. They are now across the river from Xiu County in Bohai to observe the movements of Qingzhou.

Liu Bei then smiled and said to Xun Yu, "As expected of the Hu cavalry, they came quickly. I heard that the Wuhuan Chanyu Tadun was canonized by Yuan Benchu, and Tadun also married a daughter of the Yuan family, thus establishing a marriage relationship with the Runan Yuan family."

"Perhaps Yuan Shao has become Tadun's father. No wonder the Wuhuan came so quickly. How could Yuan Shao not try desperately to recruit a son-in-law?"

Liu Bei couldn't help laughing and joked.

The Xianbei people were still in Youzhou, and the Wuhuan people had already reached Qingzhou. If he had not defeated Qu Yi unexpectedly, many people would have died at the hands of the Hu people.

The nomadic cavalry came and went with light equipment and a small number of followers. The garrisons in various places could defend the cities, but they could not defend the people in the countryside. Although the guards at the post stations, pavilions, and relay stations could capture thieves, they had no way to defend themselves in the face of the large number of Hu people armed with bows and arrows.

Even if the Huben Cavalry saw the lit beacon fire and went to support, by the time they arrived, the Wuhuan people had already fled.

The best plan for now is to take advantage of their frightened moment and lead the army to camp in the northern part of the plain, and then send Qu Yi's head to Nanpi, Bohai Sea to intimidate Zhang He, Gao Lan and others.

If there is an opportunity, we will attack the Wuhuan first. If not, we will order the garrisons of various counties to cooperate in moving the old and young common people from Pingyuan, Banxian, Gexian, Zhu'a, Leling, Ande, Yanci and other places across the river and settle them in Jinan County.

When Xun Yu heard what the envoy said, he felt his scalp tingling when he thought about the workload of carrying the people across the river.

Not to mention millions, there are at least hundreds of thousands of people.

State officials, county officials, and county officials also had to count and register the fields of many common people, appease the wealthy families, and handle and mediate matters in Jinan.

Xun Yu could not help but bow and said, "Sir, I have something to say. Can you allow me to elaborate?"

(End of this chapter)