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

Chapter 405 Guan Yu Destroys the Barbarians
Dong Zhuo pursued them all the way and cleared out the sealed-off Shanxian County.

Since it was uncertain whether Lü Bu had crossed the river or headed east, and it was not advisable to cross the river immediately, Fan Chou was ordered to garrison Shanxian County to reorganize, while the main army continued eastward out of Hangu Pass.

In Quwo, Dong Zhuo's men saw corpses everywhere, so they took a shortcut up the Shaanxi Plateau and found the place on the plateau to launch an ambush.

There were also hundreds of corpses there, the men from Quwo whom Wang Yun had forcibly taken away, and all of them had yellow turbans on their heads.

Wang Yun believed Dong Zhuo was dead and, according to the original plan, disguised these innocent villagers as White Wave Yellow Turbans.

But in the eyes of Dong Zhuo's subordinates, this scene was "Lü Bu joining forces with the White Wave Army to assassinate Dong Zhuo".

Upon arriving in Xin'an, Dong Zhuo encountered Yang Biao and officials from Luoyang, finally learning most of the situation and that Empress Dowager Dong had died.

Wang Yun tricked Empress Dowager Dong into leaving Luoyang, Huangfu Song escaped, and the officials encountered Niu Fu in Gong County, where they were then surrounded by the Southern Xiongnu.

Then Yang Feng attacked Yufuluo, Empress Dowager Dong committed suicide, the White Wave Army was in turmoil, the officials burned Luoyang, and Yang Feng fled.

This was the information that Yang Biao and the officials knew.

They didn't know that the idea to assassinate Dong Zhuo came from Wang Yun—none of them had seen Wang Yun; they only saw the "White Wave Yellow Turbans" killing villagers.

When Fan Chou was dealing with Lü Bu on the ancient road west of Shanxian County, he also saw the "Yellow Turbans" on the cliff.

What Dong Zhuo knew was that Niu Fu had taken Empress Dowager Dong and others into custody in Gong County. Subsequently, Dong Zhuo ordered Lü Bu and Niu Fu to eliminate the White Wave Army, but Lü Bu spread false news that Niu Fu had died in battle in an attempt to assassinate Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo now trusts Yang Biao because Yang Biao has not followed Wang Yun and Empress Dowager Dong.

Lü Bu joined forces with the Yellow Turbans to attack Dong Zhuo, and this decapitation operation seemed to be aimed at annexing Dong Zhuo's power.

Most people would think that if Lü Bu didn't have some confidence, why would he do this?
—Dong Zhuo, Yang Biao, and others knew that Niu Fu, Dong Min, and Dong Huang were not dead. If Dong Zhuo were killed, Lü Bu would not benefit and would only be hunted down by Dong Zhuo's subordinates.

Why would someone still try to kill Dong Zhuo under such circumstances?

That can only be because Lü Bu's side "had enough confidence to devour Dong Zhuo in one fell swoop"...

Comparing the two sides, a conclusion was drawn that was somewhat in line with reality, but also somewhat self-inflicted.

Dong Zhuo believed that Lü Bu, Wang Yun and Wang Rou, the White Waves and Yellow Turbans, and the Southern Xiongnu were probably all in cahoots...

Is the Bingzhou faction trying to swallow up Dong Zhuo?
It was only because Guo Tai died unexpectedly that Yang Feng became a variable; otherwise, the entire Jingji Sanhe region would probably have fallen into the hands of the Bingzhou faction by now.

Actually, no... everyone was just looking out for themselves.

However, based on what Dong Zhuo and Yang Biao knew, Lü Bu ambushed Dong Zhuo together with the "White Wave Yellow Turbans," and the Southern Xiongnu were most likely connected to Wang Yun. The White Wave Army had previously joined forces with the Southern Xiongnu to seize Bingzhou—it seems they were indeed all in cahoots.

This means that the people of Bingzhou are completely unreliable.

No one knew that Wang Yun had deceived Lü Bu to save his family's lives, leading to this misjudgment.

Wang Yun's lie did have an effect, making Dong Zhuo's side hesitant—if the entire Bingzhou joined forces, Dong Zhuo really wouldn't dare to march east out of Hangu Pass.

Dong Zhuo quickly summoned Liu Ai and Li Ru to discuss matters.

Li Ru suggested immediately arresting all Bingzhou soldiers in the army, killing those who should be killed and torturing those who should be tortured, and eliminating the internal threat first.

In situations of information asymmetry, even someone as intelligent as Li Ru would find it difficult to make accurate judgments.

Liu Ai and Yang Biao suggested that Dong Zhuo return to Chang'an first and build a new city gate in Tongting, Huayin.

Since the enemy is extremely strong, if we continue eastward out of Hangu Pass, the enemy may head straight for Huayin from Fenglingdu in Hedong, and the ancient Xiaohan Road may be cut off. Once Chang'an is lost, everything will be over.

You can't blame them for being conservative; after all, it involves their own interests.

Yang Biao's whole family lives in Huayin.

Liu Ai was a member of the imperial family, a native of Jingzhao, and once served as the Xiling Shi, originally responsible for maintaining the imperial tombs and royal gardens in Chang'an.

He was the one who criticized Huangfu Song for failing to protect the imperial tombs in Chang'an.

Liu Ai was promoted to Chief Secretary of the Minister of Works by Dong Zhuo because he provided Dong Zhuo with imperial tombs and other valuables, such as the bronze figures and bells that Liu Hong had spent a lot of money to cast. Dong Zhuo used these bronzes to mint coins.

Having arrived at the rather alarming conclusion of the "Bingzhou Party," Dong Zhuo dared not act rashly and instead arrested and interrogated the Bingzhou people in his army.

There were still over a thousand Bingzhou natives in the army, and under torture, some of them actually confessed to being undercover agents, and they gave all sorts of conflicting accounts...

Some claimed to be from the Way of Peace, some claimed to be from the Wang family of Taiyuan, some claimed to be subordinates of Cao Cao, and some claimed to be former subordinates of He Jin.

It's normal to have spies, but most of them are probably obtained through torture.

However, Dong Zhuo, already irritable, did not want to explain, so he simply ordered all Bingzhou people in the army who were even slightly suspicious to be executed, and also arrested all Bingzhou people among the officials of the Three Auxiliary Regions and imprisoned them.

As he grew older, Dong Zhuo became less willing to take risks. He adopted a defensive posture, stationing his troops at Hangu Pass, Guo Si at Huayin, and sending troops to scout out the situation in Henan and attempt to contact Niu Fu and Zhang Ji.

Lü Bu's army and Wang Yun were able to escape thanks to Dong Zhuo's conservatism.

In fact, if Dong Zhuo had been able to quickly send troops to Henan, he could have easily achieved great results—the various troops south of the Yellow River were essentially isolated and cut off from supplies, making them easy targets for forced surrender.

But this delay not only allowed Lü Bu to escape, but also gave Yang Feng and Yu Fuluo a chance to catch their breath, and even gave Li Le and Hu Cai time to recover.

Originally in Luoyang, Li Le and Hu Cai, in order to obtain grain and supplies, crossed the Songshan Mountains from Huanyuan Pass and headed towards Yingchuan.

Yang Feng planned to head east out of Hulao Pass, but encountered Niu Fu in the Chenggao area. In fact, both of them were there to plunder, but they ended up fighting each other.

Niu Fu had more troops, but he was defeated due to his slow reaction on the spot and retreated to Chenggao. Yang Feng then seized the grain that Niu Fu had managed to plunder.

On the north bank of the Yellow River, Cao Cao got a great deal in Huai County.

In order to return to the north of the Yellow River and to prevent the Southern Xiongnu from being wiped out, Yufuluo surrendered to Cao Cao, who had already invaded Huai County. Liu Bao was sent to Cao Cao as a hostage in exchange for a way for them to cross the river and return home.

Zhang Liao hoped that Cao Cao would not accept the surrender, but Cao Cao wanted Yufuluo's troops.

Seeing that he could not persuade him, Zhang Liao withdrew his troops to support Liu Bei in northern Ji Province.

……

……

Yufuluo surrendered to Cao Cao in exchange for a way home, but little did he know that his home was gone.

Guan Yu had already left Jingxing and arrived at Yuci County, Taiyuan.

Yuci County is a pass through which Jingxing leads into the Taihang Mountains. Guan Yu once passed through this pass when he escorted a blacksmith from Hedong.

At this time, Xiongnu people occupied both inside and outside the county.

But there weren't many people, only about a thousand, and they were all old and weak.

Perhaps not expecting a large army to emerge from Jingxing at this time, the defenses of Yuci County were not very strict. Only a low wall was set up at the Jingxing Pass, and even crossbows could not be seen.

In fact, a thousand men holding the line could blockade Jingxing for a long time, as the mountain roads were not suitable for a large army.

However, this is contingent on the defenders having firepower such as heavy crossbows.

This defense, relying solely on low walls and spears and short bows, couldn't last a single day under Guan Yu's command.

Guan Yu didn't use any fancy tricks; he wore two layers of heavy armor, led his personal guards in a charge, and forcefully broke through the enemy's defenses despite the arrows.

Even against the old and weak Xiongnu, elite troops only needed to push them aside.

After capturing the city, Guan Yu took several Xiongnu prisoners, interrogated them about the location of their royal court, and then ate the Xiongnu's cattle and sheep on the spot.

They then headed straight west without stopping, ignoring all other cities.

There are no other obstacles in the Taiyuan Basin, so the cities do not need to be captured.

Guan Yu aimed to directly attack the Xiongnu royal court and annihilate the Southern Xiongnu tribes.

For Guan Yu, all he needed to do was kill the Hu people; he didn't need to consider anything else.

Cao Cao had his reasons for trying to persuade Yu Fuluo to surrender, but Guan Yu only considered the sentence on the document: "Do you still remember Huo Biaoyao?"

Huo Qubing was from Hedong, as was Guan Yu.

After Emperor Wu, the Han Dynasty adopted a policy of checks and balances towards foreign tribes, sometimes forming alliances and sometimes fighting against them. Perhaps the Xiongnu themselves did not expect that Guan Yu would be so radical.

Guan Yu was not a scholar; he never valued benevolence or forgiveness—he was a military man from Hedong, and distinguishing between gratitude and resentment was his way of dealing with the world.

Since the Xiongnu dared to attack the heartland of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty would naturally also have to invade the Xiongnu's stronghold.

No attacking cities, no stopping.

To deal with the Xiongnu in the same way as Huo Qubing, they would eat from the enemy and kill anyone they saw until they wiped out all the Xiongnu tribes.

Since we're already in enemy-occupied territory, everyone is an enemy—either a Hun or a traitor; no one is innocent.

If there are Han people along the way who see Guan Yu's Han army flying the Han banner, they should take the initiative to join him and fight the Hu together.

If there is no response, then it is most likely a traitor.

There was no need to consider conquering cities and capturing strongholds; Guan Yu marched westward with unstoppable momentum, and no one could hinder him.

The current royal court of the Southern Xiongnu, which is the stronghold of the five old kings, is actually located west of Jinyang, in the Taiyuan Basin, between the Wen River and the Fen River.

The source of the Wen River is called Xishan. The grassland at the foot of Xishan is the settlement of the Luandi tribe, while the other tribes live on the grasslands in the upper reaches of the Fen River.

Guan Yu marched on, and whenever he encountered a Southern Xiongnu settlement, he would kill people, seize horses, and eat their cattle and sheep on the spot.

Guan Yu had lost count of how many barbarians he had killed. In short, he beheaded anyone who dared to wield a weapon, and drove away all the women and children—following these women and children would lead him to the next settlement.

Without prisoners, Guan Yu had no time to guard them.

It was not easy to find your way in the territory of the Xiongnu, but by constantly driving out the Xiongnu and searching for their tribes, Guan Yu successfully found the Western Mountain Royal Court.

Left Wise King Xubu Nayan was beheaded by Guan Yu with a single blow, and almost all the able-bodied men left behind by the Southern Xiongnu were wiped out.

The cattle, horses, sheep, and other animals left in the royal court were too numerous to count. Guan Yu took them all away, and those he couldn't take were all killed on the spot.

Guan Yu did not erect a monument or leave any other documents; he simply planted his flag on the western mountain.

The blood-red Wen River beneath the banner and the countless human heads scattered across the ground were enough to express everything.

This is not a victory; it is merely a matter of clearing the territory of the Han Dynasty, which was originally the heartland of the Han.

The true royal court of the Xiongnu people no longer exists, and the place where they should proclaim their presence to heaven and earth is no longer in the Western Mountains.

North of Jinyang, there were also various non-Han peoples, and beyond Yanmen Pass, there were Xianbei peoples.

After destroying the Xiongnu, there is still the area north of Yanshan and the northern border of Lulong.

Guan Yu believed that only when the banner of the Han Dynasty was planted in a place farther than the vast sea that Huo Qubing had been to would it be qualified to erect a monument again.

(End of this chapter)