Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 9: One Word Chaos

The first year of Chuping, mid-September.

The conflicts in the world did not stop because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou.

Dong Zhuo was very busy as he was planning to move the capital to Chang'an, but he did not forget to restore relations with Guandong. He sent Grand Herald Han Rong, Prefect of the Guards Hu Wuban, Chief of the Works Wu Xiu, and Minister of the Imperial Household Yin Xiu to various places in Guandong.

He wanted to negotiate with the coalition of princes and persuade Yuan Shao and others to return to the court.

As soon as Hu Wuban and Wu Xiu arrived in Henei County, Yuan Shao ordered Henei Governor Wang Kuang to arrest them and execute them together.

Wang Kuang did not choose to show mercy to Hu Wuban because he was his brother-in-law, and Yin Xiu was also killed by Yuan Shu when he went to Luyang. Only Han Rong was spared because of his high reputation among the scholars.

With his hopes completely dashed, Dong Zhuo had no choice but to accept that the nobles across the world would be his enemies to the end.

When he went to court, he was in high spirits and decided to work hard to govern the country. The first step was to abolish the Wuzhu coin and instead mint a smaller coin that was made with less expensive materials.

He ordered all the soldiers that Qin Shi Huang had collected to be gathered in Xianyang, and the twelve golden men that had been cast were all melted down and used to make coins.

Suddenly, grain prices in Guanzhong soared.

He then appointed Gongsun Du as the governor of Liaodong.

On September 26, after Liu Bei had sent troops for nearly two months, he successively pacified the Yellow Turban Army in the four counties of Zhuoxian, Suganxian, Dongchaoyang and Zouping, successfully alleviating the critical situation in Jinan State.

Prepare to capture the fallen Liang Zou, block the Yellow Turbans coming from other places, and then lead the army to make a detour to completely eliminate all the remaining Yellow Turban troops near Dongpingling.

As early as after Liu Bei defeated a certain leader of 4,000 people in Zhu County, he screened and sent the people who had followed the bandits in batches to various counties in Pingyuan for disposal.

Soldiers capable of fighting were selected and organized into a vanguard unit, led by Guan Yu, in addition to carefully selected and recruited retainers of wealthy families, servants, and scattered county soldiers.

Liu Bei's strength had nearly doubled compared to when he set out on the expedition. Including auxiliary soldiers, he had more than 10,000 people under his command.

There were 5,387 soldiers who were willing to fight and kill, and they also emptied the arsenals in various counties to equip their own soldiers.

If some wealthy families' manors had not been attacked by the Yellow Turbans and the people hiding inside had not been killed, the wealthy families would have felt that it was more important to save their own lives first and not to create conflicts with Liu Xuande for the time being.

With such a tacit understanding, no one has dared to file a complaint so far.

Some wealthy families were quite generous. Rather than letting the Yellow Turban bandits take away things they could not take away, they would rather give them to Liu Bei.

They were always pessimistic about the situation in Qingzhou, so they fled to the mountains with their wives, children, servants and property to seek refuge.

There were also sporadic news that the Yellow Turban bandits from Le'an and Qi County had all rushed into Beihai.

Except for Donglai and Pingyuan, the counties and prefectures located on the edge of Qingzhou have not been affected, but the rest have all been involved.

The scale of the civil unrest is growing.

Several neighboring states not only watched coldly, but also sent soldiers to block the roads to prevent the Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou from breaking out. Their behavior was obvious that they wanted Qingzhou to fend for itself.

The coalition forces of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and other princes, who had forgotten who it was, used up all they had to support the Guandong coalition forces in their fight against Dong Zhuo.

Everyone just watched from the sidelines.

Liu Bei in Jinan had no way of knowing the attitudes of the princes outside Qingzhou.

He stood at the edge of the valley, watching the soldiers bury the innocent civilians who had died tragically in the war, and he lost count of how many times he had done so.

Now the Yellow Turban Army has no trace of the righteous army. They have no program or rules. They just rob wherever they go. It is purely revengeful looting.

Their behavior is just like that of someone who has been caught in the rain, and who would tear down other people's umbrellas, and kill civilians and leave their bodies exposed in the wilderness.

Zhao Yun's scouts were responsible for scouting the enemy situation and exploring the terrain. Liu Bei also gave them another task, which was to follow the water system to find out if there were any survivors.

The knights found that the larger rural villages were often burned down, with the remaining buildings turned into scorched earth.

Not a single body was found. The corpses of children and the elderly were piled up, but the young and strong men and women were missing. No one knew where they had been taken.

After the burial, the troops returned to the camp and returned along the same route.

Liu Bei went to visit the wounded soldiers in the wounded camp again. The medical students were bandaging their wounds and changing the dressings. Many soldiers had torn clothes and armor and their weapons were full of holes.

But they were in good spirits, largely because medicine and food were not cut or inadequate, which comforted them.

In the past, when fighting for the imperial court, if you were injured, not only would your family lose their labor force, but the imperial court would not even give you a hundred coins as compensation, let alone a reward. You also had to pay taxes. Many brothers in your family would join the army, and your elderly parents would transport food and fodder to the rear. After a few battles, if you were unlucky, your family would be wiped out.

Even if they won the war, the money and grain issued by the court would be deducted at every level, and what was distributed to the soldiers would be better than nothing.

If you want to stand out in the army, besides killing the enemies and beheading them, the fastest way is undoubtedly to be the first to climb the ladder, break the formation, kill the general and seize the flag.

The income is high, but the risk is also high. If one out of a hundred people tries it, it's already a blessing if one survives.

There is only one word for most people in the army - muddle through.

If you can beat them, fight them. If you can’t, just run away during the chaos.

It would be a pleasure to meet an officer in the army who clearly distinguishes between rewards and punishments and keeps his promises to the soldiers.

As for the fact that their military salaries are higher than those of ordinary troops, it solves their worries about injuries.

The commander who dares to lead the troops, share life and death with them, and charge forward without fear of arrows and stones can only be seen in dreams.

It was not until they met Liu Xuande, who dared to go into battle in person and whose armor was stained with blood, that the soldiers and officers were finally convinced and extremely respectful.

After Liu Bei entered the military camp, wherever he passed, soldiers and officers all bowed their heads and saluted.

His prestige was well known, and the captains and county clerks who were in charge of the military were no exception, and they were eager to follow him.

"General Liu!"

"General!"

"Fu Jun!"

Liu Bei nodded first, then signaled everyone to get busy.

He called the head cook and told him, "Everyone has been tired these past few days. Take out the meat and stew it for a snack. Make some more dry food. It will be useful later."

"Yes." The head cook replied.

After a whole day of hard work, we returned to the barracks and it was already getting dark.

Liu Bei ordered his personal soldiers to take off his armor and simply wash his body with hot water.

Zhao Yun rode back to report and saw that Liu Bei's arm was injured and his personal soldiers were sorting out his armor, so it was inconvenient for him to wipe his back.

He took the initiative to step forward and took the cloth to wipe Liu Bei's face.

Liu Bei turned around and saw that it was Zhao Yun. He asked him to sit down and said with a smile, "Zilong is back. How is the defense of Liangzou County?"

Zhao Yun smiled bitterly and shook his head: "The defenses are very strict, and the casualties of the siege may be too great."

"The enemy has suffered several setbacks in the field battles with us and has captured Liangzou County. It is normal for them to want to defend the city."

Liu Bei was not surprised. It would be strange if he didn't learn his lesson after being beaten so many times.

"There is news coming from the north. There are flags with dyed characters on them. The Yellow Turban Army is coming from Le'an State and has joined forces with the Yellow Turbans in Liangzou County."

"During the march, this team not only carried chevaux de frise, but also transported a lot of armor, swords and spears on ox carts," Zhao Yun added.

"The scouts fought and suffered a great loss."

Liu Bei thought that the Yellow Turban leader with the surname Ran had never been heard of in history, and perhaps he was another buried figure.

History books are long, yet short.

Apart from kings, princes, generals and ministers, I can't remember too many people.

It seems that he is quite capable as he can make the scouts suffer losses.

"Be careful when patrolling tonight. The previous bandit troops were mostly a mob. This new enemy may not be incapable of fighting at night, so we must be on guard."

Liu Bei resumed his journey.

(End of this chapter)