Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 169: Before fighting against the outside world, one must first make peace with the inside
Those who came to Ganling to join Liu Bei were certainly remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but they were not the only ones.

Huangfu Song retreated three battles at Boluojin and burned his own camp, abandoning the civilians and inflicting a great defeat on the Yellow Turbans. Countless civilians were killed or wounded, but some of them managed to escape the battlefield and survive.

Meanwhile, many of the Yellow Turbans under Zhang Liang's command survived the fierce attack on the Boluojin camp.

These people have now gathered together because they deeply hate Huangfu Song.

There were two people leading the group: Bai Rao, the right colonel of the Yellow Turbans under Zhang Liang, and Yu Du, the leader of the laborers.

Bai Rao was originally called Bai Yao. The reason he is called "Rao" is actually a matter of accent.

Yu Du is similar; his original name was Yu Du (篤).

In fact, Yu Du came from a wealthy family in Chaoge, Henan. Although he was not from a noble family, he had been to school and was literate. He was a civilian conscripted by Lu Zhi when he led his army north in February and had been staying in Jizhou for more than half a year.

Bai Rao was also literate. In the Yellow Turban Army, only those who had read books could become leaders of the rank of 'Scholar' or higher, since they had to be able to understand military orders.

The school was actually a battalion. Zhang Liang's Yellow Turban army was organized like a regular army, just with a different name.

The elite Yellow Turban warriors were called "Lishi" (strongmen). Zhang Liang divided the elite troops into five schools, each with eight hundred men.

The one with the white collar is the right colonel, who had met Liu Bei before when the women and children were being relocated.

Many of the surviving laborers recognized Liu Bei—and quite a few of them had participated in transporting grain from Guo Dian.

It was no surprise that they came together to join Liu Bei.

Liu Bei sheltered and settled more than 40,000 Yellow Turban women and children. With these women and children here, the remaining Yellow Turban forces would naturally come.

Especially the surviving leaders of the Yellow Turbans, or Zhang Liang's confidants—they not only knew that the women and children were in Ganling, but also that Liu Bei had moved Zhang Jiao's tomb to Ganling.

The Yellow Turbans who died on the west bank of the Qinghe River were not all unable to cross the river; rather, it was because the women and children on the east bank of the Qinghe River were their relatives.

If they were pursued across the river by Huangfu Song's army, none of the women and children on the east bank of the Qinghe River would survive, and Zhang Jiao's tomb would likely be lost as well.

Now that the imperial army has retreated, the private armies of various powerful clans are currently stationed in Gaoyi to rest and recuperate. With no government troops in Julu and Ganling for the time being, they dare to come to Ganling to seek survival.

Bai Rao brought quite a few Yellow Turbans, more than two thousand in total, and they all looked to be Yellow Turban soldiers, though they were all thin and weak, clearly having not eaten for the past few days.

Yu Du's men were all able-bodied men, numbering about a thousand.

The total number is nearly four thousand.

The laborers brought by Yu Du were easy to arrange. Ganling was already short of able-bodied men, and now that everything was in ruins, it was a good opportunity to have them rebuild the dilapidated county town.

Bai Rao was a nominal leader of the Yellow Turbans, and Liu Bei would have to find a way to take in Yellow Turban soldiers if he wanted to.

Since several thousand people had gathered together to come to Ganling, there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be any traitors among them. If someone reported them, Liu Bei would be in trouble.

After all, Huangfu Song had already been appointed as the governor of Ji Province, making him the superior of the chancellors and commandants of various prefectures and kingdoms.

The governor of a province is not the same as the governor of a province. The governor of a province is a powerful official who combines military and political power. Currently, only Ji Province, which has just experienced the Yellow Turban Rebellion, has a governor.

“We women, children and relatives have been protected by Commander Liu, and his kindness is as high as the sky and as deep as the sea. But now the court is searching the whole country, and I am an unpardonable person. I dare not bring trouble upon my benefactor here. I only ask Commander Liu to accept us, the poor and helpless, as his servants.”

Bai Rao did not actually intend to stay in Ganling; he brought his men here only hoping that Liu Bei would take in his remaining troops.

"If you're not staying here, where do you plan to go?"

Looking at the yellow turbans behind Bai Rao, Liu Bei asked thoughtfully.

Those who survive the fiercest battlefields are all highly skilled individuals. Their combat prowess may vary, but they must possess exceptional abilities.

"I have a past connection with Zhang Niujiao of Black Mountain, and Brother Yu Du also plans to go and join Black Mountain, but most of these brothers want to stay here to reunite with their wives and children..."

Bai Rao cupped his hands and replied in a low voice, "I know that the tomb of the Great Teacher of Virtue is located here. Is it convenient for me to go and pay my respects?"

"You may go to pay your respects, but not to the Great Teacher, but to pray to Heaven and Earth for peace... That place is now called Taiping Medical Clinic, not a burial site, please remember that!"

Liu Bei nodded and led Bai around to Zhang Jiao's tomb.

The grave was located in the middle of the area where the women and children were being settled, and at this point it no longer looked like a grave at all.

The stone tablet with the words "Peace and Prosperity" still stands, but behind the tablet is a small courtyard, and the grave mound is not visible.

The original grave mound has been covered by the statue of the Yellow Emperor enshrined in the courtyard.

There were no memorial tablets in the courtyard, only a few young doctors and a few female doctors busy at work—the doctors were graduates of Xihe Medical College, and the female doctors were recruited locally; these Yellow Turban women already knew medicine.

This place has now become a clinic.

Bai Rao and his followers respectfully kowtowed to the Yellow Emperor outside the clinic, chanting "Peace and Prosperity," but no one mentioned the Great Teacher.

Everyone's smart enough to know that this is the best approach.

After paying homage to the Yellow Emperor, Bai Rao respectfully bowed to Liu Bei and said, "Take care, sir. I'll take my leave now."

Liu Bei stepped aside and shook his head at Bai Rao: "I think you should not go to Black Mountain. You should go to the various counties of Ji Province to continue searching for the remnants of the army, and then lead them to attack Ganling."

"Attack Ganling?"

Bai Rao was a little confused: "This..."

“I am, after all, an official… If I directly take in too many remnants of the Yellow Turbans, I will probably be punished. But if I defeat the Yellow Turbans and incorporate the prisoners, then no matter how I incorporate them, everyone will have to shut up.”

Liu Bei smiled at Bai Rao: "Take your men, gather the remaining troops, and lead the army to attack Dongwu City... If you have any familiar fellow disciples or friends, you can also have them join the army. The more people, the better."

"I will lead the army to rescue Dongwu City, and by the way, I will ask the powerful families of Ganling to contribute some money and grain so that more people can be fed."

"Once this is done, you'll be 'captured' by me, and then 'die' in my hands... Anyway, you're Bai Yao, you weren't just a nobody."

Bai Rao was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened and he nodded vigorously: "I, Bai, am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse!"

Soon after, Bai Rao led his several hundred men out.

Yu Du also planned to bid farewell to Liu Bei—Yu Du was not a Yellow Turban, and he did not want to stay in Ganling.

He was different from the surviving laborers. Most of the laborers were from the Julu area, but Julu had almost become a wasteland, leaving them homeless and with no choice but to come to Ganling.

But Yu Du does have a home.

He was the first laborer to be conscripted and became the recognized leader of the laborers based on his 'seniority'. He and Bai Rao brought people here together only to fulfill their last responsibility and give the surviving laborers a place to live.

As for Yu Du himself... he plans to rebel.

He even bluntly told Liu Bei that he was going to rebel!

Moreover, it wasn't to establish a Yellow Heaven, but purely to destroy the Azure Heaven... or rather, it was to destroy Huangfu.

Although he was a conscripted laborer by Lu Zhi, Lu Zhi never mistreated them, and Dong Zhuo never sent the laborers to the battlefield after taking over.

But Huangfu Song...

Yu Du witnessed firsthand how the laborers around him were repeatedly used as pawns by Huangfu Song.

Almost all the laborers conscripted from places like Hanoi and Weijun died at Boluojin. Only the laborers from Julu survived because they were familiar with the terrain and were mostly from the same hometown as the Yellow Turbans.

Yu Du and the surviving laborers hated Huangfu Song even more than Bai Rao and other remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Those who were used as pawns, if they survived, naturally felt this way.

Liu Bei couldn't persuade him, nor did he intend to; everyone has their own choices.

But this burly man had no other choice.

How long can a rebellion temporarily ended by killing last?
Poison is not the only one in the world who has attempted or is currently rebelling.

……

After news of Huangfu Song's defeat of Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao reached Nanyang, Zhu Jun immediately launched a fierce attack on Wancheng and captured it in mid-November.

Sun Xia retreated to Xi'e Jing Mountain, where Zhu Jun pursued him with cavalry for dozens of miles, beheading more than 10,000 enemies. Sun Xia was also killed by Zhu Jun's army.

When the Yellow Turban rebels in Nanyang learned that the three generals and ministers had all died, they were scattered and disorganized, and could no longer form an army.

Subsequently, Zhu Jun launched a large-scale search for the remaining Yellow Turban forces in Wancheng, and most of the people of Wancheng fled to various places along with the Yellow Turbans.

At the end of November, Wancheng finally returned to the hands of the imperial court, but... it was no longer the Wancheng of the past.

Before the war, Nanyang had a population of one million, making it the richest and most densely populated prefecture in the land. The official mint of the Han Dynasty was always located in Nanyang, making it the economic center of the Han Dynasty.

However, after a year of repeated tug-of-war, countless people from Nanyang moved to Jingzhou to avoid the ravages of war, and the number of people still living in Nanyang is probably less than half of what it used to be.

Wanxian County, once a bustling mega-county comparable to the capital, is now a desolate wasteland, much like a meat grinder.

Corpses were scattered all over the city and its surroundings, and the bloodstains had not been cleaned up for half a month.

In any case, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was quelled by the imperial court.

It was at this time that Yuan Wei returned to Runan and buried his wife, Ma Lun.

After receiving Zhu Jun's report of the pacification of Nanyang, Liu Hong neither became angry nor held a grudge.

He calmly went to the Eastern Mausoleum to pay respects to Emperor Huan, and then announced that the era name would be changed to Zhongping due to the pacification of the country.

In December of the seventh year of Guanghe, the reign title was changed to Zhongping, and it didn't even last until January of the following year.

Perhaps Liu Hong understood that Zhongping was just a dream, and that the world would be in great turmoil after Zhongping—the year would be changed at the end of the year, and all records would record this year as the first year of Zhongping, rather than the seventh year of Guanghe.

In January of the second year of the Zhongping era (185 AD), the imperial court dispatched an envoy with imperial credentials to Nanyang to appoint Zhu Jun as the Right General of Chariots and Cavalry.

Zhu Jun led his troops back to the capital and was immediately appointed as Grand Master of the Palace, with his fief increased by 5,000 households, enfeoffed as Marquis of Qiantang, and promoted to the rank of Special Advisor, sharing power with Huangfu Song.

Meanwhile, all the important positions in the imperial court, including the five captains of the five battalions of the Northern Army and the three captains of the Three Rivers Cavalry, were controlled by the "meritorious officials" who had quelled the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Liu Hong did not reject the list of meritorious officials submitted by the ministers and accepted it all like a stamping machine.

Commandant of the Tunqi Cavalry, Bao Hong; Commandant of the Yueqi Cavalry, Zhang Wen (concurrently serving as Minister of Works); Commandant of the Infantry, Guanqiu Yi; Commandant of the Changshui Cavalry, Yuan Shu (concurrently serving as Tiger-General); Commandant of the Archers, Ma Ridi…

None of the newly appointed captains of the Fifth Battalion of the Northern Army had participated in the war to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

But they were able to become captains, and even the soldiers of the Fifth Battalion of the Northern Army were their own private troops.

However, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, the two 'renowned' Left and Right Chariot and Cavalry Generals, encountered various problems not long after they received high-ranking official positions and titles.

……

Spring of the second year of Zhongping.

The current capital of Ji Province is Gaoyi, which is adjacent to Julu County.

Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Gaoyi was a large county with 10,000 households.

At this time, apart from a few powerful families, the county was basically deserted, not even comparable to the current Ganling County, which had taken in several thousand able-bodied men and women and children and was now a normal county.

Huangfu Song was the governor of Ji Province, so naturally he had to go to Gaoyi to take up his post.

After being appointed as the governor of Ji Province, Huangfu Song petitioned to exempt Ji Province from one year's land rent in order to restore production, and Liu Hong agreed.

Immediately, the people of Jizhou composed a very cultured hymn in praise of him: "The world is in chaos, the market is in ruins, mothers cannot protect their children, husbands are separated from their wives, but thanks to Huangfu, we can live in peace again..."

But the so-called people of Jizhou...

There are no normal people left in Jizhou.

Or rather... Ji Province is now only inhabited by nobles, commoners, and their servants; the common people are gone.

Currently, the counties of Ji Province are inhabited either by powerful families or by servants of powerful families; there are no free people.

The only place in the entire Ji Province where you can find self-sufficient farmers is probably Ganling.

The people who were once the commoners are now all considered thieves.

The private armies of various families in Jizhou who had previously been stationed in Gaoyi have left, and with the imperial army gone, all the bandit forces that had been holding back for a year have come out.

Zhang Niujiao of Heishan proclaimed himself a general and joined forces with Chu Yan, a bandit from Changshan. With Zhang Niujiao as their leader, they divided their troops into two routes to attack Gaoyi and Yingtao (the seat of Julu County).

The remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion rose again at Boluojin, gathering more than ten thousand men to invade Ganling and besiege Dongwu City.

The bandits of Bohai, led by a bandit named Zhang Baiqi, raised an army and marched on Nanpi.

The bandits of Taihang Mountain, led by Zuo Zi, invaded Zhongshan and advanced towards Lu Nu.

Yu Du raised an army at Luchang Mountain in Qi County, Henan Province, and began his march towards Wei Commandery.

At almost the same time, Ji Province was even more chaotic than when Zhang Jiao was alive, with bandits in almost every place!
Taihang Mountains, Heishan Mountains, Julu Boluojin, the islands of the Bohai Bay... these places are easy to hide in, and the common people who could not survive did indeed hide in these places and become thieves.

Most importantly, because Huangfu Song had killed too many people before, none of the bandits in Ji Province dared to accept the amnesty or return to their respective counties.

No one would trust the imperial court anymore, and no one dared to trust Huangfu Song, the governor of the prefecture.

At this time, Huangfu Song only had a little over a thousand soldiers, and even protecting himself was a problem, let alone suppressing bandits... He couldn't even deal with Chu Yan, who was attacking Gaoyi.

This renowned general could only cower in Gaoyi City and hold out, not even daring to leave the city gates.

Chu Yan was from Changshan Zhen Ding and was a fellow townsman of Bai Rao. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Chu Yan led a group of young men to become mountain bandits and later became a disciple of Zhang Niujiao.

Zhang Niujiao was not actually recruited by Liu Bei; he recruited many remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion by claiming to be a member of the same clan as Zhang Jiao.

Zhang Niujiao was indeed a distant relative of Zhang Jiao, but they weren't really related, and he had never participated in the Way of Peace.

However, as a member of Zhang Jiao's clan and the leader of the Black Mountain tribe, he naturally attracted many remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion to join him.

Having gained a large following of Yellow Turban remnants, Zhang Niujiao naturally had to deal with Huangfu Song.

Huangfu Song hurriedly sent people everywhere to recruit soldiers and horses, but with bandits everywhere, no powerful family in Ji Province would send their men to Huangfu Song—no matter what kind of governor of Ji Province you are, the powerful families of Ji Province have seen how Huangfu Song uses his troops.

They were accomplices before, sharing the same interests, but now the powerful clans of Ji Province are looking out for their own families...

Liu Bei also received orders from Huangfu Song to support Gaoyi, but Liu Bei was "too busy to take care of himself" at the time, after all, there were also tens of thousands of bandits in Ganling, and these bandits had already surrounded Dongwu City.

The powerful clans of Ganling were mostly concentrated in Dongwu City. As the Commandant of Ganling, Liu Bei naturally had to prioritize internal stability before dealing with external threats...

(End of this chapter)