Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 110 Liu Bei is difficult to deal with
The first year of Xingping, October 12th.

It was a sunny day with a light breeze, which drove away some of the chill.

Liu Bei accepted the imperial edict in Chang'an with courtesy and arranged for his Grand Tutor Ma Ritian and Grand Coachman Zhao Qi to stay in Qingzhou temporarily.

Then he announced it to all the counties in Yanzhou, and at the same time reduced the people's taxes for that year on the grounds of disaster.

The people of Yanzhou were stunned and turned to look towards Shanyang County where the governor's office was located.

Liu Dai sent someone to invite General Yuan Shao to come and administer justice, while he himself ordered all places to hold their ground and not to privately welcome the Qingzhou army.

If Yuan Benchu ​​had not promised to send troops to help and issued a letter inviting Xuzhou to attack Liu Bei, he would have been almost unable to hold on.

It could be felt that except for the Shanyang County governors, the other governors were wavering, and the local nobles were also ambiguous in their attitudes and unwilling to send their troops to help, so Liu Dai closed the door in his mansion and angrily scolded them.

But he didn't know that as early as April this year, not only the nobles and wealthy families had sent people to pay homage to Liu Bei.

Especially in Chenliu County, the largest number of them were found, such as the Gao family in Yu County and the Ruan family in Weishi County.

Even the Cai family of Yu County and the Bian family of Junyi, these aristocratic families with a family history of two thousand stones, could not help but send their people to contact Liu Xuande on their own initiative.

Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu, was one of the eight chefs, but because he was on bad terms with Yuan Shao, he wanted Yuan Benchu ​​to get involved in Yanzhou more than anyone else. When he learned that Liu Bei had captured Yan Liang, a famous general from Hebei, he could not help but applaud in his study.

He and his brother Zhang Chao planned to help Qingzhou with all their might. After all, Yuan Shao was powerful. If Liu Bei was defeated, Yuan's army would surely attack Dongjun, and Chenliu was right next to Dongjun. How would he survive then?

It was just a verbal offense, but Yuan Benchu ​​ignored their previous friendship and asked Cao Mengde to kill him several times.

With so many powerful families and nobles in Chenliu County joining Liu Xuande, Zhang Miao tacitly approved of it.

Apart from some small rural nobles, there were only the Yang family of Taishan County, the Gaotang family of Pingyang, and the Li family of Juye in Shanyang County. They believed that Lord Xuande would definitely be able to capture Yanzhou, so they paid a visit to him in advance and placed their bets.

When Liu Bei was the governor of Qing and Yan provinces, Xun Yu also rushed back to Pingyuan from Le'an.

After bowing and congratulating him, Xun Yu advised, "Sir, now that the court has the righteous cause, you can lead the army to expel Liu Dai from Yanzhou. It is better to take Chenliu County first. The prominent families in Yingchuan have been waiting for you. If Chenliu is connected with Yingchuan, talented people will come like a tide."

Liu Bei smiled and said, "If you don't rush, Chenliu County is different from other places, and we may be able to avoid war and conquer it."

In recent years, in addition to recommending Guo Fengxiao and Xun Gongda, Xun Yu also recommended talented people from the Xun family to Liu Bei one after another, such as his third brother Xun Yan, Xun Qi, the son of his peer Xun Qu, and his cousin Xun Yin, who came to Qingzhou as clerks.

In fact, Xun Yu could have recommended more relatives, but he gave up the plan after being persuaded by the clan leader.

The clan leader once pointed out in a letter: If there are too many or too few Xun members under Lord Xuande, both will cause trouble, so it is better to be impartial and hold the middle ground.

As for the Yingchuan Yangdi Xin clan, Yingchuan Xuchang Chen clan, and Yingchuan Changsha Zhong clan, which had marriage relations with them, Xun Yu was told not to try to get anyone involved.

Since Envoy Liu is powerful, they will come naturally. Each family has its own channel for obtaining information. Some of them value the three officials of the five generations and let them escort Yuan Benchu.

Don't get too involved, as this will make people mistakenly think that the Xun family is too involved.

He is already the most prominent among the prominent families, and it is not a good thing for him to attract attention instead of hiding his shortcomings.

Hearing that Liu Bei used the mixed methods of hegemony and kingly way to intimidate the powerful in Qingzhou, they suddenly realized that Liu Xuande was afraid of another Xiaoxuan...

The way the Liu family did things in the pre-Han period was completely different from that of the Liu family in the post-Han period. Emperors of the Han Dynasty such as Emperor Xiaowen, Emperor Xiaojing, Emperor Xiaowu, and Emperor Xiaoxuan liked to use a combination of firmness and flexibility to control their ministers.

Compared with the emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, ministers and officials were afraid of encountering such a lord, who had a long life and was extremely difficult to serve.

Liu Bei appeased Xun Yu and took Yanzhou Jiyin County first. This was a strategy he had agreed with Xun You and Guo Jia long ago, and it was impossible to give up halfway. He originally planned to lead the army to Dongjun, but the imperial edict from Chang'an delayed him for some time. After things were arranged properly, he transferred auxiliary soldiers to defend the counties in Pingyuan and checked that there were enough rolling logs and stones.

Liu Bei sent Zhao Yun to lead the Tiger Cavalry to Dongjun together.

……

Yuan Shao in Yecheng, Jizhou, knew very well that if he did not take action, Liu Dai would never be a match for Liu Xuande.

Previously, Wei County had spent some money on disaster relief, and Changshan, Zhongshan, Hejian, Anping, Julu, and Zhao County were all recuperating. Only Ganling, Bohai, and Wei County conscripted civilians to do corvée labor to strengthen the city.

The battle with Qingzhou half a year ago was not to say that the cause was serious, but there were also considerable losses. All the soldiers under Yan Liang were killed, and the Huns ran back to Hanoi in anger.

In order to fill the gap in soldiers, Yuan Shao ordered Zhang He and Gao Lan to train the soldiers again so that they could attack Pingyuan and Dongjun again.

When Xin Ping suggested taking advantage of the drought to capture Qingzhou, Yuan Shao was quite interested.

Xu You, who was sitting next to him, heard this and laughed, saying, "Liu Bei has a strong army and horses, and he did not withdraw his troops because of a setback. He also seized a lot of grain from Jizhou. Now Qingzhou is suffering from a disaster, and Liu Xuande is rushing to rescue it.

If we attack Qingzhou now, the nobles and common people will all regard our army as bandits and want to kill them as soon as possible. The morale of everyone and everyone will be even stronger as they are united.

Since ancient times, trapped beasts will still fight. I dare to ask who is sure to deal with a hungry tiger that has been cut off from its life. The lesson of Yan Liang is still before our eyes. It is better to use the city wall to move closer step by step. Liu Bei is good at surprise attacks, but the city is difficult to capture, so how can he achieve success? "

Xu You bowed and said to Yuan Shao, "Liu Xuande's tactics are different from Gongsun Zan's. We cannot repeat the same tactics. We only need to station troops in a few cities. After half a year or a few months, it will be the best time to attack Qingzhou."

Yuan Shao nodded helplessly. The reason why he was defeated repeatedly in previous battles was because the city was easy to break, which allowed Liu Bei to show off his power.

Apart from the few cities on the border of Pingyuan and Dongjun, Ye County also needs to be well-fortified.

Unfortunately, Liu Dai could not hold on before half a year had passed, so Yuan Shao called a group of trusted aides to discuss matters.

"Liugong Mountain is in danger, but Jizhou is separated by Dongjun. Do you have any good suggestions?" Yuan Shao asked.

Seeing that Ju Su, Xun Chen, Xin Ping, Tian Feng, and Shen Pei had not spoken for a long time, Yuan Shao said in a deep voice: "Why don't you say a word? Are you afraid of following Guo Gongze's footsteps?"

At that time, everyone was pushing the wall to fall, and many people stood up to accuse Guo Tu, some of whom were seeking revenge. In the end, Yuan Shao remembered that Guo Tu had helped him to take control of Jizhou, and tried to keep him.

However, his post as a provincial official was completely demoted and he was transferred to Zhongshan County to assist the county prime minister in guarding against Gongsun Zan, thus fading out of Yuan Shao's staff.

After finally climbing to the position of Yuan Shao's confidant, if anything went wrong with the advice he offered, he would be found out and held accountable, which made everyone cautious in what they said and did.

"Ugh!"

Ju Su saw that Lord Yuan was looking at him but not looking away, so he could only sigh secretly, stood up and clasped his hands and said, "Lord Yuan, why don't we ask the Xiongnu Chanyu of Henei County to attack Dong County, Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead troops from Bohai to attack the counties in Pingyuan, and Qu Yi to attack Fanyang and Yin'an from Wei County and Yuancheng, and Wen Chou to lead 5,000 cavalry to garrison Yecheng to observe the enemy's changes."

Yuan Shao frowned slightly after hearing this. Now his thousands of cavalry had all been transferred to the vicinity of Ye County. If they were only used to watch the battle, a lot of food and grass would be wasted.

The city of Ye had to keep a strong army at its side, but if the cavalry were to be separated, they would be afraid that Liu Xuande would take advantage of them.

"There are so many Han relatives, why is Liu Bei so difficult to deal with?" Yuan Shao thought to himself.

　Thanks to book friend Qingkong for the rewards during this period!

　　PS: Sorry, I wasted a lot of time looking up the marriage relationships between the Xun family and other prominent families, and I was stuck in a writer's block, so I write very slowly.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)