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

Chapter 406 Brutal and Bloodthirsty?

The fighting between Hanoi and the Upper Dang is about to subside.

Xu Huang marched west out of Fushui and captured Huguan. The remaining Bai Bo troops of Shangdang County surrendered to Xu Huang.

Zhang Yan captured the western and southern counties of Heishan, but this area had been thoroughly ravaged by the Xiongnu, with only one in a hundred people surviving. From Linlu to Shanyang, the five or six counties near Heishan were almost all uninhabited.

Cao Cao controlled the southern part of Hanoi and released Yufuluo, but left Huchuquan and 6,000 Xiongnu soldiers south of the Yellow River.

Xiahou Yuan temporarily took over as the governor of Henan and stationed his troops in Huai County.

After Guan Yu destroyed the stronghold of the Southern Xiongnu, he turned towards Jinyang, but was blocked outside the city.

Jinyang kept its city gates tightly shut, refusing to allow Guan Yu to enter.

If we only consider the area of ​​the city, Jinyang is the largest fortified city in Hebei, without exception.

Because it is strategically located at the Xizhou Mountain Pass in the north of Taiyuan, and to the south lies a vast basin with no natural defenses, Jinyang has always been a key fortress for defending against northern nomadic tribes.

Over the centuries, Jinyang City was gradually expanded into an irregular polygon, eventually becoming a three-walled city in the shape of the Chinese character "皿" (mǐn). The east-west city wall was over 20 li (5 kilometers) long and 6 zhang (14 meters) high, far exceeding the scale of a typical prefecture capital.

This kind of city is very difficult to attack by force, and at this time, there are a lot of people stationed in Jinyang City.

But the people inside the city were neither Yellow Turbans nor Xiongnu, but rather various gentry families from Bingzhou.

Having served as a local official for so long, Guan Yu knew the situation in Bingzhou was mostly the result of a compromise between the gentry, the White Waves and Yellow Turbans, and the Southern Xiongnu.

The White Wave Army coerced the people, the Xiongnu plundered villages to expand their living area, and the gentry defended the city fortresses and used this opportunity to expand their industries.

When Guan Yu picked up Xiu Niang, he also learned about the situation in Jiuyuan and Wuyuan. The Jinyang gentry not only traded with the Southern Xiongnu, but also sold military supplies to the Xianbei people in the north—even though the Han Dynasty and the Xianbei were always at war.

In fact, it's the same everywhere. Without the Han people providing supplies, it would be really difficult for the Hu people to develop.

The problem is that many Han Chinese scholars and officials like to emphasize benevolence, and their emphasis on benevolence is quite distinctive.

Guan Yu encountered a large number of so-called "benevolent gentlemen" in Jinyang.

The gates of Jinyang were tightly closed, preventing Guan Yu from entering the city. Guan Yu then sent Zhao Lei, the supervisor of the central army, to call for the city's entry.

Zhao Lei was originally Zhao Yun's subordinate, serving as a military supervisor and inspector in charge of military law.

In fact, each of Liu Bei's units had a supervisor, who was roughly similar to an instructor and also a liaison.

Of course, when Zhao Lei was assigned to Guan Yu's unit, he became Guan Yu's subordinate. Liu Bei's own troops did not belong to anyone, and it was common for them to be transferred between each other.

"Who is on the city wall? Why do you not open the city gates to welcome us upon seeing the Han army banner?"

Zhao Lei, holding a flag, stood below the city and shouted questions.

"We have heard that your army has slaughtered countless people between Wen and Fen, turning both rivers red with blood. Throughout history, only the Qin Dynasty has been so cruel... We dare not allow your army to enter the city and disrupt the benevolent and lenient way of the Han Dynasty."

An official wearing a tall hat and wide belt on the city wall said this.

Slaughtering countless people?

Clearly, news of Guan Yu's annihilation of the Southern Xiongnu tribes had already reached Jinyang—the news could have spread so quickly, of course, that some Xiongnu had escaped into Jinyang.

"The Xiongnu rebelled in Bingzhou, killing countless Han people. How can you call the campaign against the Xiongnu a massacre? This is the talk of a traitor! They should be executed!!"

Zhao Lei was completely dumbfounded. Killing Xiongnu was called slaughtering people?

"Hmph... Although the barbarians are stubborn, they still possess human ethics. Why should we extinguish their ancestral rites? We spoke out for justice, yet you insist on killing them... You are truly a cruel and tyrannical person!"

The person speaking from the city wall had a rather righteous and awe-inspiring tone.

The man looked clean and tidy, dressed in fine clothes, and his hands were spotless. Judging by his appearance alone, he was clearly much more amiable than the dirty Zhao Lei.

Guan Yu's troops had been killing Xiongnu for some time, their eyes still gleaming with murderous intent, their bodies covered in blood, making them look like ghosts—truly frightening. Hearing the words from the city walls, Zhao Lei was enraged: "Are you traitors to the Han people, or are you filial sons of the barbarians? Wearing Han clothing, yet your hearts are with the barbarians…traitors and national scum! Dare to come out of the city and speak to me face to face?!"

Guan Yu saw Zhao Lei arguing with someone from afar, and led his troops forward to personally ask, "Who is on the city wall? Why are you closing the gates to block the royal army?"

"You butchers are not worthy to ask my name!"

The people on the city wall remained unchanged: "We've heard that General Guan killed thousands of surrendered soldiers, massacred countless herdsmen, destroyed hundreds of miles of pastures, and that innocent old and weak perished under his blade. Such cruelty and bloodthirstiness—is this the work of a royal army, or a demon descended upon the world?!"

"Innocent old and weak? You mean the Huns?"

Guan Yu was so angry he laughed: "The scholars of Taiyuan actually sympathize more with the Xiongnu than with the Han people? You cowards! Since you want to incite others and gain fame, then reveal your names!"

"If barbarians enter China, then China shall be its own! Killing people to pacify the people is acceptable. But to slaughter those who have surrendered and let children starve to death—how can this be considered a benevolent and righteous army?!"

Those on the city walls still did not mention their names: "Slaughterers, leave immediately! The people of Jinyang will not welcome a brutal army!"

"Yes!"

"Get out of Taiyuan, you scoundrels!"

"General Wei was inherently arrogant and cruel, persecuting countless scholars, not even sparing the Confucius family of Lu..."

"His wife was also known as the Blood Woman, who killed tens of thousands in Qingzhou... His entire army were butchers!"

"I heard that Xiapi in Xuzhou was also massacred, and the Si River stopped flowing..."

"Tens of thousands of corpses and millions of cattle and sheep lay exposed in the fields of Hexi, not even livestock were spared..."

Many scholars stood on the city wall, all echoing the sentiment, much like the keyboard warriors of later generations.

It's as if Liu Bei and Guan Yu were truly great villains.

They spoke of the Spring and Autumn Annals, which Guan Yu was familiar with, and described the unclaimed corpses on the Hexi grasslands; they counted the cattle and sheep that Guan Yu had slaughtered, and accused him of not understanding the ancient adage "winning hearts and minds is the best policy"...

Guan Yu's guards all heard it, and the entire army was enraged, their killing intent rising once more.

"We fought for the Han Dynasty, but we never expected that the people of Bingzhou were all barbarians. It seems that everyone in Jinyang is a traitor..."

Zhao Lei couldn't hold back any longer and turned to Guan Yu, asking, "General, shall we attack the city?!"

Guan Yu wasn't exactly known for his good temper, and he did indeed want to enter the city and kill the traitor, but he held back: "Let's retreat to Yuci first..."

The troops are currently without equipment, only a large number of cattle and sheep, and the soldiers are exhausted from continuous fighting.

Attacking a fortified city like Jinyang with fewer than five thousand exhausted soldiers is not an option.

Moreover, Guan Yu and Zhao Lei were both below the city walls, but the people on the walls did not attack them—if anyone shot an arrow at Guan Yu, the entire city of Jinyang could be considered a traitor.

Clearly, they believed that Guan Yu could not conquer Jinyang, but if they were accused of treason, Liu Bei would definitely hold them accountable, so they dared not attack Guan Yu directly.

However, these scholars in Jinyang were well aware that Liu Bei and Guan Yu would not kill innocent people indiscriminately, which is why they dared to speak without revealing their names.

If Liu Bei and Guan Yu were truly mass murderers who would launch a massacre at the slightest disagreement, they wouldn't dare utter a word...

Guan Yu knew the mentality of these people. Ever since he killed the official and fled, Guan Yu had known that back then, the people in the pavilion were all accusing Guan Yu of murder in order to escape punishment.

Guan Yu did not hate those who reported him, because they would have been implicated if they had not reported him.

But Guan Yu deeply resented those who sided with the Hu people... They were full of righteousness and morality, but in reality, they were just saying that after the Huns were destroyed, they lost a source of income.

These people have used scripture to disguise their thoughts as noble...

But they forgot the original meaning of the scriptures.

(End of this chapter)