The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 312: Defeat
"Kong Ming, return your four-wheeled vehicle."

Sima Yi threw the chariot to Zhuge Liang, and then said, "The emperor told you to burn this chariot."

A gift was given, but it was burned...

Although Zhuge Liang did not know what the emperor meant, he still obeyed and set fire to the four-wheeled carriage.

"Zhongda, what exactly does your majesty mean?"

"Who knows, maybe it's to let you exercise more and not be restricted to sitting on a four-wheeler in the future."

Sima Yi looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise: "Kong Ming, are you not feeling well?"

"..."

Zhuge Liang was speechless, he just stretched out his arms and then bent them.

Sima Yi went forward and touched it, and found it was full of tendon meat.

"Strange thing."

However, the two did not intend to delve into it further.

Zhuge Liang then asked Sima Yi in a low voice: "When will your majesty be ready to use the army?"

"It won't take long. Your Majesty is more anxious than we are. And with the promotion of curved plows and fertilizers, the speed at which the imperial court accumulates money and grain will not be slow."

Sima Yi expected that Zhuge Liang had already guessed the future movements of the court, so he was not too surprised.

"Your Majesty is after a quick victory. Once the war begins, you must completely pacify the entire north."

"Yuan Shao and Cao Cao can be dealt with by the army in Guanzhong. But Sun Ce in Jiangdong is no ordinary man either. When Kong Ming returns to Jingzhou, I hope he will be careful and not look down on Sun Ce."

Zhuge Liang nodded: "Now that General Wen Pin is guarding Jiangling, and General Gan Ning is leading the navy to defend Jingnan, we will definitely not allow Sun Ce the opportunity to attack Jingzhou."

"That's good."

Hearing that Zhuge Liang knew what was going on, Sima Yi said no more.

Immediately, Sima Yi bowed to Zhuge Liang and said, "Kong Ming, take care!"

"After the world is completely pacified and the Han Dynasty is completely restored, I will have a long talk with you."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang also bowed to Sima Yi and said, "After the world is settled, this is what we should do!"

The two said goodbye reluctantly, both looking forward to a peaceful future.

……

And in Yijing, a war that has attracted worldwide attention is about to end.

Gongsun Zan had been besieged by Yuan Shao for nearly a year. He wanted to lead his troops to break out, but was advised by the chief official Guan Jing: "Now your soldiers are all rebellious and have no strength to fight. The reason they can hold on is that they care about their hometown, the old and the young, and regard you as the backbone. If you can hold on for a long time, Yuan Shao will naturally withdraw, and the armies from all directions will be able to reunite. If you abandon Yijing now, the army will lose its rear base, and Yijing will be destroyed in no time. How can you achieve your career if you lose your foundation and wander in the wilderness?"

Gongsun Zan then gave up and asked his son Gongsun Xu to contact the leader of the Black Mountain Army, Zhang Yan, and ask Zhang Yan to come to the rescue.

Before the reinforcements arrived, Gongsun Zan dreamed that Ji County collapsed and believed that he would be defeated. He wrote a letter to Gongsun Xu:

"The Yuan family's attack is like that of gods and ghosts. You can hear their drums and horns underground and see them rushing up the stairs from above. Time is urgent and emotions are helpless. You must desperately call on Zhang Yan and rush to ask for help. The natural love between father and son can be felt without words. Please quickly lead 5,000 cavalry to the low-lying and wet areas in the north, light a fire as a signal, and I will rush out of the city, raise my power, and fight to the death there. Otherwise, after I die, although the world is big, you will have no place to stand!"

Unexpectedly, the letter was intercepted by Yuan Shao, who simply used the same trick to set fire outside the city. Gongsun Zan saw it and immediately led his troops out, but was badly defeated by Yuan Shao and had no choice but to retreat back to Yijing.

After a great defeat, Gongsun Zan's army completely lost its fighting spirit, while Yuan Shao's army was full of fighting spirit.

Yuan Shao then dug a tunnel to the bottom of the city wall, destroyed its watchtower, and gradually reached the central mound.

Seeing Yuan Shao gradually approaching, Gongsun Zan knew that he had completely lost any chance of winning.

Gongsun Zan went to the palace alone, strangled his sisters, wives, concubines, and children, and then set fire to the tower.

When Yuan Shao arrived, Gongsun Zan had already died.

Yuan Shao's soldiers went on stage and cut off Gongsun Zan's head and presented it to Yuan Shao, who also sent it to Yecheng and regarded it as his own achievement.

After Gongsun Zan died, Guan Jing sighed and said, "If I hadn't stopped the general's actions before, he might have succeeded. I heard that a gentleman would share the suffering with others when they are in danger. How can he survive alone?"

So Guan Jing rode his horse into the ranks of Yuan's army and was killed on the spot.

Tian Kai, a general under Gongsun Zan, also died on the spot in the battle with Yuan Shao.

At this point, Gongsun Zan's forces were completely destroyed, and Yuan Shao finally occupied Hebei completely.

Only Gongsun Zan's son Gongsun Xu survived. When he heard that his father Gongsun Zan was dead, he was greatly disturbed.

Gongsun Xu wanted to go to the grassland to join the Tuge tribe of the Southern Xiongnu, but was dissuaded by those around him: "The Southern Xiongnu obey Yuan Shao. How can you survive if you go there?"

"In that case, it would be better to return to the interior of the country from Yanmen via Zhang Yan's territory and go to Bingzhou to ask the imperial court for asylum."

Gongsun Xu agreed to this and fled southward.

When Hao Zhao and Guo Huai, who were stationed in Taiyuan, heard that Gongsun Xu, the son of Gongsun Zan, was coming for his life, they did not dare to neglect him and quickly offered him hot soup, food and clothing and sheltered him.

Gongsun Xu couldn't help crying while eating the hot food: "I have been in such a mess all the way, and today I finally know where my home is!"

His emotions were so deep that Hao Zhao and Guo Huai also shed tears.

Afterwards, Zhong Yao rushed to Taiyuan and brought the emperor's decree with him.

The emperor ordered Gongsun Xu to inherit Gongsun Zan's title of Marquis of Ji, and posthumously conferred on Gongsun Zan the titles of General Zhenbei and Governor of Youzhou.

Gongsun Xu expressed his gratitude.

But afterwards, Gongsun Xu begged the court to send troops to attack Yuan Shao on behalf of his father Gongsun Zan.

Zhong Yao was also one of the few people who knew the court's strategy, so he rejected Gongsun Xu without hesitation.

"Now is not the time." If we send troops rashly and fail to win quickly, we will end up in a stalemate with Yuan Shao.

By then, all the Han people in the north will fall into a nightmare!
Gongsun Xu still refused to give up and even thought that the court had lost its enterprising spirit.

"Now that Yuan Shao has taken Youzhou and has begun to contact the Xianbei and Wuhuan, is the court waiting for Yuan Shao to collude with them and form an alliance?"

Zhong Yao's expression changed.

"Yuan Shao colluded with Wuhuan and Xianbei?"

"I heard some news when I fled from the north."

Gongsun Xu first explained the situation of Wuhuan to Zhong Yao.

"In the past, there was a Wuhuan leader in Liaoxi named Qiuliju, who commanded 5,000 households and called himself the king. A Wuhuan leader in a vassal state of Liaodong named Su Puyan commanded more than 1,000 households and called himself the King of Qiao. A Wuhuan leader in Youbeiping named Wuyan commanded more than 800 households and called himself the King of Hanlu. These are the three Wuhuan tribes."

"After Qiu Liju died, his son Louban was still young, so his nephew Tadun succeeded him."

"I heard that Yuan Shao has already given the title of Chanyu and seals to Tadun, Su Puyan, and Wuyan respectively. Isn't this enough to prove that Yuan Shao is trying to gain the power of Wuhuan?"

In front of us were the Southern Xiongnu.

Later there were the Wuhuan.

After that, it might be Xianbei...

After hearing this, Zhong Yao did not dare to be careless and decided to send Gongsun Xu to Chang'an to let the emperor make the decision personally.

After Gongsun Xu arrived in Chang'an and saw the emperor, he immediately burst into tears again.

After comforting him, the emperor asked about the situation in the north.

This time, Gongsun Xu explained in more detail:

The Wuhuan and Xianbei are both descendants of the former Donghu.

In the early Han Dynasty, the Donghu were defeated by the Xiongnu, and they had no choice but to migrate eastward to the vicinity of the Wuhuan Mountains and the Xianbei Mountains. They took the names of the mountains as their ethnic group names and stayed there to recuperate.

Afterwards, as the Huns were defeated by the Han Dynasty, these two tribes ushered in a golden period of development.

Although the Later Han Dynasty was able to suppress the other side when it was founded, and set up the Xianbei Grand Protector and the Protector of Wuhuan to monitor the two tribes, as the court gradually weakened, the two nomadic tribes eventually broke away from the control of the Han Dynasty.

Especially the Xianbei.

Forty years ago, a fierce man named Tan Shihuai appeared and directly unified the Xianbei tribes, forming a behemoth that "resisted the Dingling in the north, repelled the Fuyu in the east, attacked the Wusun in the west, and occupied all the former Xiongnu territory. It was more than 14,000 miles from east to west and more than 7,000 miles from north to south, and included mountains, rivers, swamps, and salt ponds."

Fortunately, after Tan Shihuai's death, the Xianbei began to split.

The Western Xianbei rebelled.

The southern part of the desert was divided into three groups from Yunzhong to the east:

One is the group of Budugen, the grandson of Tan Shihuai, which has tens of thousands of followers and occupies the Yunzhong and Yanmen areas.

The second is the Kebineng Group, which is distributed in Daijun, Shanggu and other places.

The third group is several small groups under the control of the "Eastern Lord" of the original alliance, scattered in western Liaoning, Youbeiping and outside Yuyang.

Yuan Shao has already begun to win over the three tribal leaders of Wuhuan and give them the title of Chanyu. The next step is likely to be to contact Xianbei and bring them in for help!

"Xianbei..."

When Liu Xie heard this name, he was obviously dazed.

The Five Barbarians invaded China.

In fact, we also need to prioritize.

The "Five Barbarians" are the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Qiang, and Di.

Although the Xiongnu, Jie, Qiang, Di and other tribes were ferocious, they came and went in a hurry and basically did not leave many traces.

Only the Xianbei truly managed to rule the Central Plains and established several countries, including the Former Yan, Later Yan, Western Yan, Southern Yan, Southern Liang, Western Qin, and Northern Wei.

Especially the Northern Wei Dynasty, whose split off state, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, gave birth to the Sui and Tang empires.

Even afterwards, the Xianbei tribes remained restless.

The Tang Dynasty's rival, Tuyuhun, was founded by a branch of the Murong Xianbei.

The Song Dynasty's rival, Western Xia, was established by a branch of the Tuoba Xianbei.

……

Its vitality is so tenacious that it is simply outrageous!

It is never too late to be vigilant against such an enemy.

"It seems that I can't just focus on the war in the Central Plains..."

After some thought, Liu Xie decided to recall Fa Zheng and Meng Da back to Chang'an.

Since Yuan Shao has set his sights on the northern grassland tribes again, Liu Xie cannot sit idly by and watch him continue to stir up trouble in the north.

At the very least, Liu Xie could not sit idly by and watch Yuan Shao provide technology and civilization to these nomadic tribes in order to win them over and make them stronger.

"Fa Zheng and Meng Da have been in Liang Province for a long time. They must have come into contact with the Western Xianbei over the years."

"In any case, we should gather these people together and create some trouble for the Xianbei in the east."

(End of this chapter)