Tiger Guards

Chapter 442 Changes in Demand

Thus, the strong winds obscured visibility and hindered traffic.

When a civil war broke out among Liu Xun's troops outside the outer city of Dangtu, the Chen army was not an impregnable fortress. After all, some soldiers were born in Chen County, while others only joined the army later to serve King Chen. Their families were not eligible to move to Chen County, and many soldiers had even become destitute in the chaos of war.

Those who have no ties to the community, and whose families are not in Chen County, are unlikely to participate in the current mutiny.

Therefore, Chen Guobing split into two groups, and the mutinous officials and soldiers, along with Li Feng, Yue Jiu and others, launched a fierce attack on Liu Xun's central army camp.

Liu Xun did not even need to use the more than 1,000 troops from Langya Township; he only needed more than 3,000 infantrymen from Lujiang to thwart the rebels' first attack by firing powerful crossbows at close range.

Before the rebels could even organize a second wave of attacks, a change in wind direction and the sudden onset of heavy rain forced them to withdraw from the battle.

Once the rebels dispersed slightly, many regained their composure and dared not participate in the ensuing chaos. Some fled in groups, while others formed larger teams to plunder military supplies, also in an attempt to escape.

The heavy rain soaked the armor and robes, rendered the crossbows unusable, and made the roads muddy.

The rebels' anger at killing Liu Xun quickly subsided, and most of them just wanted to return to their tents, barracks, or thatched huts to warm themselves by the fire and have some hot soup.

However, once order is disrupted and the consensus of being comrades-in-arms is broken, Chen Guobing becomes wary of each other, sometimes robbing supplies, and even stealing barracks that can provide shelter from the rain and warmth.

Outside of Liu Xun's camp, the various camps of Chen's troops continued to attack, kill, and plunder.

The fighting finally ended at Chen Guo's camp when it grew dark and the rain gradually stopped.

The wounded officers and soldiers, whether they had defected or not, were driven to various parts of the camp. They used various methods to avoid the rain and keep warm, wading through the muddy water mixed with blood, crawling or moving on their stomachs, or sitting and waiting to die due to hypothermia and blood loss.

Chen Guobing, who had seized the barracks, remained wary of each other. Perhaps because visibility was relatively clear after the rain, no further fighting broke out.

But soon the sky darkened again, the clouds obscured the stars and moon, and the view became completely dark.

The wind howled, causing some to experience auditory and visual hallucinations. Suddenly, one rushed out of the thatched hut shouting, "Cao Cao's army is coming! Cao Cao's army is coming!"

He was so terrified by the information he had imagined that he became flustered, his hands and feet trembling so much that he could not stand and soon fell into the mud, still shouting at the top of his lungs, "Cao Cao's army is coming!"

He spoke hoarsely, his voice filled with deep fear.

Compared to Zhao Ji and Lü Bu, Chen Guobing, having witnessed it firsthand over the years, feared the Cao army, mainly composed of people from Liangpei, who were wreaking havoc in Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and Ruying.
Zhao Ji and Lü Bu did not engage in massacres or killing surrendered soldiers. If you surrender quickly when fighting against them, you will most likely save your life.

As for Cao Cao's army, the faster they surrender, the more people Cao Cao's army will hunt down and kill.

In the darkness, his shouts awakened the fear of Cao's army in more and more people, and more people began to shout to warn their fellow villagers, relatives and friends.

Amidst growing calls for change, the disorganized soldiers finally turned into routed soldiers, fleeing desperately towards the road to the south.

If Cao Cao's army launched an attack under the cover of night and the sound of wind, they could only have come from the south bank of the Huai River or its upper reaches.

The largest road in Dangtu leads south to Hefei. The fleeing soldiers finally reached a consensus during their escape and headed towards Hefei.

In the pitch-black night, with the wind howling intermittently, how could Liu Xun, who had finally managed to repel the mutinous Chen Guobing, possibly risk trying to integrate and retain him?

He held fast to the central camp; only by successfully enduring this long, dark night could he consider the trivial matters to come.

As for the mutinous Chen soldiers, Liu Xun was reluctant to part with them, but he had no other choice.

The Chen State Army formed its own faction, which Yuan Shu could not completely assimilate. He transferred it to Yuan Shu's command because Liu Xun was from the Liu family. Some of the officials and soldiers within the Chen State Army did not have strong resistance, so they could be managed with some effort.

Now, Liu Xun no longer cares; he only wants to live to see tomorrow's sun rise.

He had no intention of sending troops to suppress small groups of rebels or to rescue the wounded. His priority was his own survival, not anything else.

Three days after the typhoon's impact subsided in Dangtu, the sun reappeared on the earth.

Due to the continuous rainfall, the temperature is relatively cool, but very humid.

As a result, the bodies of the Chen officials and soldiers who died during this period were relatively well preserved. However, Liu Xun did not want to waste manpower digging pits, nor could he urge other Chen soldiers to dig large pits... The army that had made a mistake was very wary of this matter.

Liu Xun had no choice but to send the remaining Chen soldiers to drag the various dead Chen soldiers to the Huai River and throw them into the river, letting the still surging Huai River deal with these resentful corpses.

Those Chen Guobing who remained in the camp, regardless of whether they had participated in the mutiny, were all reorganized by Liu Xun; as for the Chen Guobing who escaped, their names were checked and those who went missing were all included in the rebel army.

Once this information is reported to the State of Chen, officials of Chen will verify the identity of the person and their relatives and friends, and then carry out the execution.

As long as Liu Xun remained under the command of the Xudu court and the officials of Chen still recognized the Xudu emperor, the officials of Chen would punish the families of the soldiers who caused trouble in the army.

Opposite to Dangtu on the south bank is Yicheng on the north bank, where Liu Bei stationed his troops and survived the passing typhoon amidst tension.

As the wind and rain subsided, the roads became clear, and visibility returned, Guan Yu quickly discovered Yuan Shu's whereabouts and reported it to Liu Bei in the rear.

Liu Bei wanted to summon Liu Xun, who was on the south bank of the Huai River, to a banquet to discuss borrowing some of Chen State's troops, but he soon received a military dispatch from Liu Xun.

A mutiny ensued, resulting in the retreat of over 30,000 Chen soldiers, with over 20,000 killed. Liu Xun has only managed to gather over 5,000 men, and this army is currently in poor condition and cannot be mobilized.

Thus, Liu Xun, who had an army of 40,000, was reduced to a mere 10,000 men after a mutiny caused by a passing typhoon and the bodies of patients and civilians forced to drown by Yuan Shu's troops.

From a troublesome figure for Liu Bei to a third-rate warlord whom he could manipulate at will and with whom he could cooperate with with confidence.

Since both of them are currently recognized as 'tributary states' by the imperial court, Liu Bei felt he should have a good talk with Liu Xun.

The origins of the various regional vassal states were different. Liu Zhang, the governor of Yizhou, inherited the position illegally; Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou, was appointed by the imperial court; and Liu Bei, the governor of Xuzhou, was deferred by Tao Qian. Essentially, he was strong enough to cooperate with the people of Xuzhou... In terms of illegality, he was no less than Liu Zhang.

However, it was close to Xuchang, and had sent grain to Lü Bu and borrowed 5,000 Danyang soldiers as reinforcements.

Therefore, with the joint approval of Zhao Ji and Lü Bu, Liu Bei became the legitimate governor of Xu Province.

The fourth major regional governor was Liu Ai, the governor of Yangzhou. This appointment as a court attendant to a post outside the capital was significant for both himself and the act itself.

For example, if Liu Ai, the Attendant-in-Ordinary, was sent to be the Governor of Yangzhou, could Liu Bei, the Governor of Xuzhou, also be recruited into the court, either as a high-ranking official or as the chief minister of the three provinces or as an assistant minister?
After all, Cao Cao was dead, and Yuan Shu, who had been eyeing Xuzhou, had also greatly weakened his power... This made Liu Bei feel extremely dangerous.

The death of Cao Cao and the devastation of Yuan Shu directly triggered the conflict between the Grand General and the Grand Marshal. If it weren't for the sudden storm that swept across the Jianghuai region, the Grand General and the Grand Marshal would have definitely fought each other instead of holding their troops and observing. Under the obstruction of the storm, they gradually eliminated misunderstandings and restored mutual trust.

The Grand General and the Grand Marshal almost came to blows, so what about me, the Governor of Xu Province?
The people of Xuzhou probably preferred to serve a more influential and orthodox provincial official rather than Liu Bei, who led the people of Xuzhou in preparing for war.

The external environment for our previous cooperation has changed drastically. If we still hold onto the old attitude towards the people of Xuzhou, we might end up being betrayed by them.

Mi Zhu cannot represent the people of Xuzhou, or even the people of Donghai.

If it weren't for Tao Qian's special promotion and support, Mi Zhu, who came from a wealthy family, would never have been able to become the Prefect of Xuzhou.

There are too many people in Xuzhou. Now that there are no external threats, they must want to return to the peaceful life they had in the past, free from the strong constraints and control of the government.

Clearly, for the vast majority of scholars in Xuzhou, Zhao Da Sima had already avenged them, and they really didn't need Liu Bei, their watchdog... anymore.

(End of this chapter)