Han officials

Chapter 259 Sympathy for Each Other [4K]

Wei Zhe received the news halfway through his journey to "Xingchun".

However, he calmly continued to perform the rituals of tending the field and whipping the ox before leaving indifferently.

However, as soon as he sat down in the carriage, Wei Zhe frowned and said:
"What exactly happened? Was that rebel army instigated by the shogunate?"

Upon hearing this, Xi Zhicai shook his head helplessly.

"We just received the news; we had no prior contact with the Xiaquyang clan."

However, he then turned to look at Mu Cheng, the attendant of the Marquis's residence, with a cold gaze.

Upon seeing this, Mu Cheng quickly bowed and said, "This matter was not planned by the Bureau of Personnel; we only received the news afterward."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe's expression actually improved considerably.

Although this seems like a good thing, it would be a different matter if someone were pushing it behind his back.

Seeing that his complexion had improved, Mu Chengfang continued his report: "We have just received news that the Wang family of Xiaquyang raised an army at Xiyang Pavilion to return to the righteous cause, gathering more than 10,000 people to attack Xiaquyang City. Many people in the surrounding three villages have responded. When Zhongshan Chancellor Geng Wu heard the news, he took the opportunity to send troops to join forces with the righteous army of Xiaquyang to capture Xiaquyang City. However... many of the Yuan army officers and soldiers in the city were slaughtered by the righteous army."

Wei Zhe, upon hearing this, was not angry; instead, he nodded slightly.
"Great deeds do not concern themselves with minor details, and great ceremonies do not concern themselves with small concessions."

"Geng Wenwei did a great job. At this point, there is really no need to get bogged down in the details."

You should know that when he first joined the army, he fought against the Yellow Turbans at the city of Xiaquyang, and he knew this city was troublesome.

Xiaquyang was already a city with high walls and thick walls, surrounded by water on three sides and a plain on the other. After the Zhang River flows through this area, it forms a "几"-shaped channel outside Xiaquyang, creating a natural moat that makes it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Once the city realizes what's happening, holding out for a long time shouldn't be a problem.

It can be said that Quyang is one of the few strategic locations in Julu Commandery. If this city falls to the north of Anping State, it will almost be surrounded by the Wei army on three sides, and strategically it will immediately be put on the defensive.

Faced with such a great opportunity, it would be a waste for Geng Wu not to take action.

At least Wei Zhe is quite happy now; with Xia Quyang in hand, the whole battle situation has come back to life.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhe pondered for a moment before finally speaking: "Send an order to Zhongshan, instructing Geng Wu not to rush south, but to cooperate with Ziyi to take over the northern part of Anping Kingdom first."

Upon hearing this, Xi Zhicai couldn't help but nod slightly, but still offered a reminder:
“Xindu is the heart and soul of Julu and the key to Jizhou. Yuan Shao will probably not admit defeat easily.”

"If the area north of Xindu falls, Yuan's army will likely come out in full force. Your Excellency should prepare for a decisive battle."

After all, at the end of Wang Mang's reign, the sorcerer Wang Lang claimed to be Liu Ziyu, the son of Emperor Cheng of Han, and established the Zhao Han dynasty in Handan. When he was fighting with Emperor Guangwu of Han for control of Hebei, he fought several times over the capital city of Xindu.

If Yuan Shao had any ambition, he probably wouldn't have allowed Wei Zhe to gradually erode Anping.

This is also what Xi Zhicai wanted to remind Wei Zhe: although his idea was good, Yuan Shao might not cooperate.

After hearing what Xi Zhicai said, Wei Zhe thought about it and felt that it made a lot of sense.

Upon returning to the shogunate, he immediately summoned his civil and military officials to begin making arrangements.

The long-planned war between Yuan and Wei was thus launched ahead of schedule.

Of course, this inevitably involves many troubles.

However, the Wei army was caught off guard and in a panic.

Because intelligence was largely transparent between the two sides, the people in Ye City judged that the Wei army should not have started the war at this time. However, Wei Zhe did make the move anyway, which immediately caused widespread discontent in the governor's mansion of Ji Province.

No matter how much they complained, there was nothing Wei Zhe could do. He couldn't just ignore the opportunity that was presented to him.

Although Xiaoquyang is just a small part, it has affected the situation on the entire front.

If anyone is to blame, it's that adulterous couple who were too brazen.

However, these two can probably only enjoy their romance in the underworld now, because Wang Hu personally cleaved Hu San in two. A woodcutter who stopped chopping wood has started chopping people.

Furthermore, because he was fearless in the siege and successfully climbed the city first, Geng Wu was delighted and recruited him into his ranks, making him a military commander, thus beginning a completely different life.

……

Yanzhou, Puyang.

When the Yuan and Wei families suddenly broke out into a major battle at Xiaquyang, Liu Bei and Cao Cao were also locked in a fierce and evenly matched fight.

To be precise, the war between the Liu and Cao families has not stopped since last year.

Although Cao Cao lost most of the counties in Yanzhou, leaving only Juancheng, Fanxian, and Dong'e in his hands, the safety of these three counties was not a problem for the time being, because these three counties were basically located in the corner between Jizhou and Qingzhou.

Although Zhou Ang and Yuan Shao were unable to send troops to provide support at this moment, their very existence served as a deterrent.

Therefore, after Cao Cao returned to his camp, he left Xun Yu and Cheng Yu to guard the rear, while he himself led a large army to besiege Puyang and fought incessantly with Liu Bei's forces.

Although he was betrayed by the gentry of Yanzhou this time, Cao Cao saw very clearly that his biggest enemy at present was Liu Bei, because the gentry of Yanzhou had betrayed him and would not be very loyal to Liu Bei either.

In this situation, the faster he defeats Liu Bei, the greater his chances of turning the tide.

Otherwise, once Liu Bei establishes a firm foothold and can mobilize more and more resources, it will be absolutely impossible for him to turn defeat into victory with only three counties.

It must be said that Cao Cao's judgment of the battle situation was quite sharp.

Thus, starting last summer, the armies of Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought continuously, remaining locked in a stalemate for over a hundred days under the walls of Puyang.

There was nothing he could do; the trainees' reactions were just too fast, leaving Liu Bei no time to prepare.

From Xuzhou to Yanzhou, his core troops numbered only a few thousand; the rest were rebellious county soldiers.

In this situation, he had neither the time to train troops nor the resources to recruit new soldiers.

As a result, Liu Bei, despite having a large and powerful force, was unable to defeat Cao Cao's Qingzhou troops.

If it weren't for the exceptional martial prowess of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Chen Gong's resourcefulness and decisiveness, and the support of Wei Zhe in organizing a cavalry force, Cao Cao might have indeed achieved a swift victory.

After a while, the locust plague in Yanzhou became increasingly severe, and the two sides were forced to cease hostilities and withdraw their troops.

However, Liu Bei had his own troubles, and Cao Cao had his own helplessness.

That evening, Cao Cao, who had just returned from his inspection of the camp, had not yet sat down when he saw Xun Yu walking towards him with a worried expression.

"My lord, famine is rampant in Yanzhou. A bushel of grain costs more than 500,000 coins. People are resorting to cannibalism. We really cannot continue fighting... Let's call it a day."

As the saying goes, "Even a clever housewife can't cook without rice."

Even though Xun Yu was extremely skilled at governing local areas, fate just wouldn't cooperate.

Their three counties were already small in size, and then they were hit by drought and locust plagues, which led to a shortage of food supplies in the rear and caused the army to worry about running out of food.

Of course, the famine in Yanzhou was widespread, and Liu Bei was also affected.

However, Liu Bei occupied a much larger territory than Cao Cao, so he did not face the same logistical pressure.

For example, at this moment, Cao Cao's army is already facing the threat of running out of food.

After learning about the grain reserves in the rear from Xun Yu, Cao Cao's heart sank. After a long silence, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table and gritted his teeth, saying:

"Very well, I will send my wife to Ye City and borrow another 500,000 shi of grain from Brother Benchu."

Unlike Zhou Ang, the governor of Qingzhou, Cao Cao's family remained in his hands and were not held hostage in Ye City.

Cao Cao's actions at this moment were undoubtedly a way of expressing his complete loyalty to Yuan Shao.

At least in the current world, this move certainly signifies complete submission.

Upon hearing Cao Cao's words, Xiahou Dun's face immediately darkened, but he was helpless.

After struggling for a moment, he could only clench his fists in frustration and let out a long sigh.

However, just as Cao Cao was preparing to offer up his wife, children, and family, Cheng Yu, who rushed over upon hearing the news, immediately expressed his opposition.

"Why must you do this, my lord?" Cheng Yu said solemnly, "Now that the battle between Ye City and Ji County is imminent, even if there are reserves of grain and fodder, I'm afraid they won't allocate much to Yanzhou. So even if we offer hostages, it won't help, and it will only give others a handle to use against us."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao couldn't help but sigh softly, "Things have come to this, what can be done?"

He was well aware of these risks; in fact, if Yuan Shao were to lose, his wife and children might even die in the chaos of battle.

But at that moment, he was truly at his wit's end and had no other choice.

"Leave the matter of military provisions to me!" Unexpectedly, Cheng Yu, seeing this, said solemnly, "Rest assured, my lord, I will certainly not let the army run out of food!"

Seeing Cheng Yu's resolute expression, Cao Cao remained silent for a moment before finally nodding.

After all, once the dog leash of the Yuan family of Runan is put on, it won't be so easy to take it off.

Take Sun Jian for example. He was supposed to be the governor of Yu Province, but he was nothing more than Yuan Shu's lackey from beginning to end.

At the same time, seeing Cheng Yu's perseverance, Xun Yu, who was standing to the side, was also moved.

After some deliberation, he immediately decided to contact the gentry of Yingchuan again and try to get some benefits from them.

At this point, saving face was no longer an option.

Begging is fine, as long as there's something to eat.

Subsequent events proved that Cheng Yu was indeed not lying.

In just three days, he had prepared a thousand cartloads of military rations and sent them to the army.

Besides various miscellaneous grains, there was also a considerable amount of dried meat.

Meanwhile, news came that Dong'a County, one of the three counties and Cheng Yu's hometown, had been robbed by bandits.

It is said that many elderly, weak, women and children were abducted and their whereabouts are unknown.

Last year, it was thanks to Cheng Yu's efforts that Dong'e County did not betray Cao Cao and defect to Liu Bei.

Looking back now, they should have just surrendered to Liu Bei last year.

Upon learning this news, Cao Cao fell silent... but that was all.

As for the Qingzhou soldiers in the army, they didn't care at all. For them, as long as they could fill their stomachs, who cared what kind of meat it was?
-
"In Bing and Liang prefectures, there was a great famine, and people resorted to cannibalism."

"In February, there was famine in Sili and Jizhou, and people resorted to cannibalism."

“Since April, when there was no rain, a bushel of grain was worth 500,000 coins, and people in Chang’an resorted to cannibalism.”
-
In fact, such records are frequently found when you turn to the Book of Han.

Even setting aside the Former Han Dynasty, in the seventh year of the Guanghe era, it was common for people to eat each other and for husbands and wives to kill each other.

Otherwise, Zhang Jiao's single roar would not have stirred up eight provinces.

These Qingzhou soldiers under Cao Cao's command might be able to tell what kind of meat it is just by tasting it.

Fortunately, not all of Cao Cao's troops were these anthropomorphic creatures.

After Cheng Yu solved the immediate crisis, Xun Yu's planning finally paid off.

Besides reaping some stale and rotten grain, he even managed to instigate a rebellion in Chengshi County.

To be precise, he persuaded the Cheng and Li families.

As a top-tier powerful figure in Yanzhou, Li Dian not only delivered 50,000 shi of grain to Cao Cao, but also captured the county temple.

In this way, although Dong'e was abolished, the addition of Chengshi County actually formed a stable triangle.

Thus, Cao Cao, who was almost at his wit's end, barely regained his strength.

While the Yuan army and the Wei army were still locked in a stalemate at Xiaquyang, Cao Cao decisively led his troops to raid Dingtao, attacked Wu Zi, the prefect of Jiyin, at Nancheng, and beheaded Xue Lan, the assistant governor of Yanzhou.

It is said that Xue Lan was a famous scholar from Yanzhou, a fellow townsman of the famous scholar Zhang Jian, and also one of the Eight Worthies.

If it were a peaceful time, Cao Cao would have been utterly condemned for killing the Eight Steeds of the Partisans.

However, this time, Xue Lan died quietly, without any of the commotion that Bian Rang caused after his death.

Cao Cao's ruthlessness made the gentry of Yanzhou realize that he was truly capable of killing.

Cao Cao was demonstrating through his actions that he would rather fight his way through Yanzhou than kneel down and become a dog to the Yanzhou gentry.

When this news spread throughout Yanzhou, many of the previously very active Yanzhou gentry gradually fell silent.

That's how the aristocratic families are; when they're arrogant, they can be lawless.

However, when he is certain that the other party can kill him and dares to kill him, he becomes exceptionally weak.

Whether it was a stroke of good fortune for Cao Cao or not, his situation finally improved after this battle.

Subsequently, Cao Cao's army defeated the rebels in Juye County, and Dian Wei even killed Li Feng, the governor of Shanyang, in battle.

When Liu Bei saw that Cao Cao was ignoring him and instead frequently attacking and seizing territory in the heart of Yanzhou, he could no longer sit still. Soon, he led more than 10,000 men away from Puyang to pursue Cao Cao.

After all, if he couldn't protect the counties and prefectures of Yanzhou, the gentry of Yanzhou would probably abandon him immediately.

Thus, without anyone noticing, the initiative in Yanzhou had already changed hands.

Cao Cao seemed to still be at a disadvantage, but Liu Bei only felt that the war was becoming increasingly difficult.

Coincidentally, Chunyu Qiong shared the same feeling as Liu Bei.

After the fall of Xiaquyang, Yuan Shao was naturally unwilling to remain in such a passive position. So he sent Jiang Qi and Chunyu Qiong with 20,000 troops to attack Xiaquyang... at least to prevent the Wei army of Zhongshan from advancing any further.

Chunyu Qiong knew this was a tough job, but he said nothing and led his troops away.

However, to his surprise, before the Wei army in Xiaquyang could do anything, the neighboring Zhending County in Changshan Prefecture started causing trouble again, which gave Chunyu Qiong a huge headache.

How could he possibly hold down three lids with just two hands?
(End of this chapter)