Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 20 Master Lu's Reply
The wild sedge swayed in the wind, and the war horses lowered their heads to chew the leaves and stalks.

Liu Bei climbed up a slope and looked at the fields and forests in the distance.

The Plain County behind him appeared and disappeared on the horizon.

A year later, they set out on another expedition. Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were appointed as deputy generals, while Guan Yu and Qian Zhao stayed behind in Pingyuan.

With the two counties as his backing, Liu Bei led 5,000 infantry soldiers, more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers, and 600 cavalry, and was about to cross the Jinan County and then march straight to Linji, the capital of Le'an County.

The army marched down the river in a mighty manner.

Many common people and nobles on the river bank came spontaneously to reward the army and see them off.

At this moment, it is somewhat in line with the Longzhong Plan. We will welcome the general with food and drink.

Perhaps because he heard that Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan had an old relationship, last month Yuan Shao sent an official to congratulate Liu Bei on his victory over the Yellow Turbans in Jinan, saying that he had petitioned the emperor to confer the title of General Zhenwei on Liu Bei.

The clerk came and went in a hurry, and also despised Liu Bei. He did not carefully observe the slight changes in Pingyuan County. He did not know that this action would make him regret it later and he wanted to slap himself.

At that time, Liu Bei personally sent him to the post station and suddenly asked him whether his daughter was born.
Xin Pi looked confused and replied subconsciously: "Not yet, maybe the baby will be born next month."

After riding for several miles, he finally realized how Liu Xuande could be sure that I gave birth to a daughter.

Because Yuan Shao was urging him, he was afraid of wasting time if he turned back to ask more, so he thought it would not be too late to ask next time they met if there was a chance.

Whenever Liu Bei thought of Xin Pi's stunned look before he left, he couldn't help laughing.

Looking at the riverbanks on both sides, the unfinished canals and ponds, and the new villages in the distance, as long as there is no drought next year, it will be another year of bumper harvest.

"I hope this expedition can completely quell the unrest in Qingzhou, and the people can have a good year."

Liu Bei muttered to himself.

He planned to completely defeat the Yellow Turbans within the year. After all, there was not much time left for him and the people of Qingzhou.

Once Yuan Shao stabilizes Jizhou, he will certainly covet other provinces and counties. The Huns in Bingzhou have already surrendered to Yuan Shao, and only Youzhou and Qingzhou are left in the vast Hebei province.

What is more interesting is that Yuan Shao’s territory is sandwiched between him and Gongsun Zan, but he, Liu Bei, is also sandwiched between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

I surrounded him, and he surrounded me back, but no matter how I looked at it, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were the weaker ones.

After all, Gongsun Zan had Liu Yu, the governor of Youzhou, above him, who could at least nominally restrain his influence, and he was also quite close to Yuan Shao.

And Liu Bei has not yet controlled even half of Qingzhou.

It is thought that they will soon come face to face with the Yuan family, which controls Ji and Bing states and has students and officials all over the country.

Liu Bei couldn't help but feel a little worried, but the news he received in recent months was not all bad. There was also something that made him happy.

Lu Zhi, who was living in seclusion in Youzhou, finally replied to his letter and praised Liu Bei for standing up in times of crisis and leading the people to defeat the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

He was deeply skeptical of Liu Bei's assumption in the letter that Qingzhou was very likely to suffer from drought, which would provoke millions of Yellow Turbans to sweep across the world again.

But Lu Zhi, a minister of the country, became uneasy when he heard his disciple Liu Bei's solemn words.

Considering that Liu Xuande was already the county governor and temporarily in charge of two counties, he could be said to be the one with the highest official rank among his disciples, so he would not speak nonsense.

After much deliberation, Lu Zhi decided to go to Qingzhou to take a look.

When Liu Bei received another reply letter a few days ago, he learned that his teacher Lu Zhi might have already set off on the road, and he was instantly overjoyed.

……

Outside Linji County of Le'an Commandery, the rapid sound of drums rang out again. The awakened Yellow Turban Army on the city wall hurriedly picked up their weapons, some holding swords and shields, some holding bows and arrows, and some carrying kerosene.

The bolder ones looked down, but saw that it was pitch black outside the city, without even a shadow of the enemy.

Realizing that it was just another feint, he cursed the Han army but at the same time he felt relieved, thinking that at least he had lived one more night.

Many people wanted to lie down and sleep for a while, but found that they could not fall asleep. They could not help cursing the Han army for their immoral harassment.

Ten miles away from Linji County, the Han army camp was lit up by a bonfire with plenty of firewood.

About three hundred steps in diameter from the gate, the main military tent in the center was brightly lit.

There were no other furnishings in the tent except a Hu chair, a Hu bed and a table.

Liu Bei was thinking about how to deal with the nearby Yellow Turban Army. At this moment, the Han army had surrounded Linji County and dug six deep trenches.

Except for a small number of the Yellow Turban Army who were able to rush out, most of them would be dispersed by him if they dared to break through and cross the trench.

Including Qiancheng, Liaocheng, and Gaoyuan that he had captured earlier, three county towns have fallen into his hands.

The enemy also learned to be smart. Previously, they dared to fight in the field relying on their large numbers, but after two failures, they began to defend the county town.

Since you want to protect Liu Bei, let him protect him first. Then send troops to wipe out the Yellow Turbans around and wait until there is no need to worry.

Directly surround the county city and build equipment.

But there is still a very tricky problem. If all the Yellow Turbans learn to do this and hold their ground one by one, they will have to attack one city at a time. It will take too long to completely take over Le'an, Qi County and the occupied parts of Beihai.

Even without considering the casualties, it would be difficult to succeed without consuming several years.

It is better to find a way to mobilize the enemy into a field battle and then defeat them.

Liu Bei was thinking about whether he should use the method of besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements so that the Yellow Turban Army from Le'an County, Beihai County, and Qi County could rush over.

This saves us the trouble of pacifying them one by one.

At this moment, the sound of armor leaves rustling came from outside the tent.

The sound arrived before the person arrived. Without the need for the soldiers in front of the tent to report, the big hand had already opened the curtain and shouted with a smile: "Brother, I led people to push the drum cart and beat the city gate. I'm afraid they won't be able to sleep tonight."

Zhang Fei came back and drank some water to quench his thirst. The enemy refused to fight, so he could only kill time by harassing them.

Seeing him sweating profusely, Liu Bei was speechless. I asked you to lead the harassment, not to beat the drum yourself.

Zhang Fei had the courage to charge into battle when encountering a war and did not know what fear was, which was indeed an advantage. However, he would get angry easily whenever he encountered something unpleasant, which made Liu Bei worry.

If Yide could be half as stable as Zilong, Liu Bei would dare to let him lead the army alone.

Zhang Fei wiped his mouth and said, "The Yellow Turbans are hiding in the city and my brother doesn't want to attack the city. Are we going to stay here forever?"

Liu Bei became interested and asked with a smile: "If Yide has any good advice for me, just tell me."

As brothers who have been together for many years, Liu Bei dares to say that he knows Zhang Fei better than Zhang Fei himself. He must be thinking of leaving Zhang Fei's sight and doing something else.

As expected, Zhang Fei grinned and said, "Brother, why don't you let me lead my troops to other counties to avoid a stalemate here?"

Liu Bei smiled and then refused.

Early the next morning, all the captains in the army gathered together, and Liu Bei told them his method of besieging the city and luring the enemy, which aroused everyone's approval.

(End of this chapter)