I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 249: No Champagne at Halftime
Yuan Shu successfully repelled the 13,000 reinforcements led by the rebel vanguard general Cao Shao, and in turn defeated the rebel reinforcements. He further captured Yan County and eliminated the rebels in the area west of Yan County.

In the two battles, more than 2,000 enemy troops were killed and more than 12,000 were captured. A large number of rebel officers were killed or captured. The rebel leader Cao Shao fled for his life and his whereabouts are unknown.

Upon hearing the news, Duan Yu was really surprised. He didn't expect that Yuan Shu not only completed the task, but even exceeded the task and even captured Yan County!
This shows that the main force led by Cao Shao had indeed been defeated by him, and the first phase of the Han army's counterattack was a complete success!

Duan Xing himself had just defeated 5,000 rebels and captured a city, but Yuan Shu only had 5,000 men, but he defeated a rebel force that was three times his size. Could it be that...

Is Yuan Shu a military genius rarely seen in a century?
Duan Xing was overjoyed, and immediately spread the news of Yuan Shu's great victory among the army to boost morale. Then he ordered the army to clean up the battlefield, take a short rest, and have a full meal before setting off towards Yan County.

Soon, Duan Xing led his army to Yan County and joined forces with Yuan Shu.

Based on the intelligence submitted by Yuan Shu, Duan Xing learned that no organized rebel troops were found marching east of Yan County, Yuan Shu's scouts had already arrived in Baima County, and no large rebel forces were found around Baima County.

This means that the Han army has already seized the initiative at this stage. After the rebel vanguard was completely wiped out and there was no time to prepare for the next stage, the Han army was in a great advantage.

After making this judgment, Duan Xing was completely relieved.

With victory in his grasp, Duan Xing ordered the entire army to rest for a day and then set out immediately, heading for Baima County. After taking Baima County, they could advance fully towards the rebel base in Puyang.

The rebel leader Liu He is over there.

In Duan Yu's opinion, the highest level of military exploits can be achieved with simple and unpretentious tactics, so Duan Yu decided to take the four words "simple and unpretentious" to the extreme, push forward all the way, and win by relying on absolute strength.

In addition, because Yuan Shu had performed very well before and defeated the main force of the rebels with a smaller force, Duan Xing deepened his trust in him.

So Duan Xing decided to let Yuan Shu take on greater responsibilities, give him more soldiers and horses, and let him continue to lead the troops in the front to pave the way for the army.

Since Yuan Shu has military talent, he should be allowed to make good use of it and accumulate more military merits so that he can be promoted as soon as possible.

The higher Yuan Shu's position, the greater the benefits to Yuan Shu's faction, and naturally the greater the benefits to Duan Xing.

Because Duan Xing felt that he was also a member of Yuan Shu's faction.

On the other hand, the rebel base in Puyang County was filled with an atmosphere of constant panic.

Cao Shao luckily escaped with his life after his entire army was wiped out, but he had no soldiers and nowhere to go. He had no choice but to flee back to Puyang and honestly told Liu He everything that had happened before.

Now he didn't dare to hide it. Of course, there was no point in hiding it at this time, because the Han army was about to arrive.

But for Liu He, perhaps concealing the truth is better. At least it can allow him to continue his dream of becoming emperor for a few more days, instead of having his dream shattered in an instant and immediately entering an extreme state of survival.

In fact, in the few days before Cao Shao returned, Liu He had a pretty good time, was in a good mood, and had many prospects for the future.

Especially after Jizhou Governor Li Shao and Bohai Prime Minister Gao Cheng arrived with more than 30,000 Jizhou soldiers, the momentum of the rebels continued to grow.

In the Puyang area, local officials also changed their previous uncooperative attitude to a cooperative attitude.

Recruiting soldiers was also very smooth. By spending money to capture able-bodied men and other methods, excluding the 20,000 vanguard troops given to Cao Shao, the number of troops in Liu He's hands had reached more than 80,000, and the total strength had successfully exceeded 100,000.

At this moment, it was less than two months since they rebelled.

Such rapid development made Liu He ecstatic and very proud. Others were also full of confidence, feeling that they had already occupied Luoyang and seized national power.

So Wang Ji and Wen Mu even privately suggested to Liu He that he should just declare himself emperor early.

Anyway, there are so many people in the world who are dissatisfied with the Luoyang court, and so many people have joined us. Now if we proclaim ourselves emperor and give everyone promotions and titles, maybe we can increase our strength faster?

How great would it be to raise the emperor's banner, attack Liu Kui in Luoyang in the name of the Han orthodoxy, and directly seize the legitimacy?

Although Liu He said no, he actually wanted it very much in his heart, but he still had a little bit of rationality left. This little bit of rationality told him not to pop the champagne at halftime, but to wait until he reached Luoyang and saw the heads of Yuan father and son hanging in front of him, and then consider becoming emperor.

Before that, we still have to keep a low profile! Of course, although we can’t open champagne at halftime, we can drink some vodka.

Although Liu He did not agree to their suggestion of proclaiming himself emperor, he had already begun to prepare for himself a crown that only an emperor could use. When he was alone at night, he would put on these crowns and look at his graceful self in the bronze mirror, feeling contented.

He also began to look through ancient books, trying to find a reign title that would suit himself, and his overall state seemed to be very close to that of an emperor.

He also maintained a tacit attitude towards Wang Ji and others' private submission to him, neither encouraging nor rejecting them.

It is very much like Yuan Gonglu calling himself the Emperor of the Zhong family.

During those days, no matter from which perspective, Liu He felt that he had reached a new peak in his life, and as for the peak of his life, it should not be far away.

But what he didn't expect was that the peak of life came and went quickly. He failed to go one step further, and what waited for him was not the peak of life, but the madness of life.

The 20,000-strong army was wiped out in the blink of an eye. Cao Shao, who claimed to be brave, escaped with only a dozen personal guards and had no soldiers around him.

Even if there are 20,000 pigs, which have no ability to fight, if Cao Shao, the pigherd, takes them away, at least a few thousand pigs can be brought back, right?
The result is that the whole army was annihilated.

Liu He suddenly panicked.

While he ordered Cao Shao to be dragged away and beheaded in accordance with military law, he looked around at his talented men and asked them for advice very anxiously.

The group of talented people under his command watched Cao Shao being dragged out. The shrill screams kept repeating in their minds. They seemed to realize that they were too happy too early.

The Luoyang court was still powerful, and the Yuan father and son were also powerful. Although they had just seized power and their foundation was unstable, their strength was not weak.

It’s funny to say that Liu He and others didn’t even know who the commander-in-chief sent by the Luoyang court was. It was not until Cao Shao brought back the news that they learned that the commander-in-chief sent by the court to quell the rebellion was the famous and powerful Duan Xing!

That Liangzhou killing god Duan Xing!
So they panicked even more.

Liu He found it extremely outrageous.

"Duan Xing is clearly a member of the eunuch party. Doesn't anyone know about the relationship between him and Wang Fu? Why is he now joining the Yuan family? How can he still gain the trust of the Yuan family? And how can he still lead the army to fight? What is going on?"

He held his head and asked questions, but no one could answer Liu He's questions.

No one knows what happened in the Luoyang court that allowed a man like Duan Ying, who has a lot of dark history, to live smoothly until now and even become the commander of an army.

But they knew that Duan Xing was coming, and they probably had no hope. This man was known as the shadow of a tree. Everyone in the Han Dynasty knew how good Duan Xing was at fighting. It was not certain whether the 80,000 troops of the rebels were enough for him to kill him alone.

So at that moment, surrender became the option that popped up in almost everyone's mind.

But they eventually suppressed this option.

The war had to go on. They couldn't just surrender as soon as Duan Xing arrived. After all, they had 80,000 troops at their disposal. If they didn't even struggle, they might as well not rebel.

They were a group of people who could not escape death, and rebellion was a way to survive. No matter who their opponent was, they had no choice. The previous joy and excitement seemed like an illusion. After waking up from the dream, they had to continue to face the cruel reality.

At the moment, Liu He urgently hoped that a brave warrior would stand up and lead the army to fight against Duan Xing, but as expected, no one was willing to stand up. Everyone present might have various minor problems, but they were still clear-headed when it came to major events.

They would never dream that they could be compared with Duan Xing.

This made Liu He feel even more uncomfortable, and he was almost about to cry.

"I asked you to speak, so you must keep silent. Am I the only one who died after Duan Xing came? Apart from other things, we are all eunuchs' followers. If we had never rebelled, we could still pray for our lives, but now that we have rebelled, we cannot survive no matter what. We will definitely die if we surrender, and we may not survive even if we fight a battle!"

(End of this chapter)