I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 250 This is the Funeral

This is indeed the truth, but knowing this truth and whether or not to act accordingly are two different things.

If everyone could do it once they knew it, there would be no need for Yuan Shu to set up a Yi Xin Society to promote his unity of knowledge and action.

So everyone in the room looked at each other, and no one had the confidence that they could fight against Duan Ying, and no one wanted to be the first to step forward.

In desperation, Sun Zun, the military strategist standing next to Wang Ji, racked his brains and came up with a solution.

"We are all eunuchs' followers, and we have rebelled. We have no chance of survival. If we surrender now, we will surely die. If we fight hard, we may still have a chance of survival. This is the same for us. In this case, we might as well leave it to fate and let God decide. Draw lots!
The winner will lead the troops to attack and defend Baima County, buying time for the army to prepare. Once the army is ready, it will immediately rush to Baima to fight a decisive battle with Duan Jiong. The defenders of Baima only need to hold the city and delay time, without the need for a field battle. "

Sun Zun finished speaking and waited for everyone's decision.

A group of people thought about it and really couldn't think of a better way. They all knew that this battle had to be fought. The drawing of lots was fair. Everyone relied on luck and character. Who won and who didn't was all decided by God. There was nothing to complain about.

Relatively speaking, this is indeed a method that everyone can accept.

So Liu He, as the leader of the alliance, personally prepared everything needed for the drawing of lots. In the end, everyone drew lots together in public and left it to fate.

Finally, under the guidance of God, they found the unlucky guy chosen by God - Li Shao, the governor of Jizhou.

When Li Shao drew that lot, his face turned green. It was as if all the strength was drained from him in an instant. He collapsed to the ground and couldn't get up.

The rest of the people breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that God had favored them again and would at least allow them to live a few more days.

It is better to live a miserable life than to die a good death. When death is approaching, everyone wants to live a few more days rather than die with dignity.

Things had come to this point and Li Shao had no choice but to accept defeat. There was no way he could deny it. Everyone's eyes were on him. He felt his scalp tingling, his breathing quickened, and his mind was confused. For a moment, he didn't even know who he was.

But he finally accepted the offer.

Li Shao still has the gambling character of being willing to accept defeat.

Therefore, under the nostalgic gaze of everyone, Li Shao was appointed by Liu He as the General of Chariots and Cavalry as a consolation.

He will lead the army to attack as the General of Chariots and Cavalry of the Han Dynasty. Even if he dies, he will be regarded as a general with an important title and will no longer be an unknown person.

On the eighth day of the twelfth month of the first year of the Zhengshi reign, Li Shao led his army to attack Baima County with the mood of attending a funeral.

Before going to the battle, he made arrangements for his family regarding his final arrangements, saying that if he came back, everything would be fine. But if he did not come back and the rebellion would fail, he would let them hide their identities and flee to the south of the Yangtze River.

Separated by a big river, the Luoyang court's hands are not very convenient, and the iron fist may not be able to hit them, so they are more likely to survive in the south of the Yangtze River. If that doesn't work, then they can run to Lingnan, run to the ends of the earth, and they don't believe that they can't escape with their lives.

After explaining all these things, Li Shao felt like Jing Ke back then. His important assistants had not arrived yet, but he was already in a situation where he could not back down. He was forced to embark on the journey of assassinating Qin Shi Huang.

How tragic...

But on the march, Li Shao thought about it carefully and his mood became calmer.

Because he thought that he had already offended the current emperor Liu Kui, and the others could be considered eunuchs' followers, but he was the emperor's enemy. If the rebellion failed, he would surely die. It actually made no difference whether he died earlier or later.

Now that it’s like this, why not give it a try?
As the saying goes, the wind is whistling and the Yi River is cold, and the hero will never return once he leaves. This time, Li Shao is really prepared to never come back.

Liu He gave him 20,000 soldiers and horses, including 500 cavalry and 1,000 archers that Li Shao brought from Jizhou. This was considered to be a good thing for him. At least he didn't let him go to die with the 20,000 newly conscripted men.

With such military strength, Li Shao felt that as long as he didn't act recklessly, no matter how good Duan Xing was at fighting and killing, could he really use his head to break through the city wall?
As long as they could hold on until Liu He led the main force to come to support them, even if they died, they would die together. With so many people dying with him, he would have nothing to regret.

If anyone wants to blame someone, blame him for being so confused that he had to help the eunuchs kill Liu Kui. He also kept chasing after them and almost caught them in Luoyang. It was completely irreversible...

Even if Li Shaojue is unlucky, he is only this unlucky. Who could be more unlucky than him?
But the problem is that sometimes, some things are really unpredictable, and before things are really implemented, don't open the champagne at halftime.

Li Shao thought he was already miserable, but he didn't expect that worse things were still to come. The only one who could be more miserable than him was himself. Because of his low efficiency, the army assembled too slowly, and the speed of action was too slow, so when he started to march to Baima County, Yuan Shu had already led his army from Yan County and marched towards Baima County.

Moreover, Yuan Shu's scouts had already come into contact with Li Shao's vanguard and discovered that another large-scale rebel army had begun to take action, and their target was most likely the same as Yuan Shu's.

The scouts returned quickly and informed Yuan Shu of the news. Upon learning of the news, Yuan Shu immediately concluded that this was another large-scale military action by the rebels. They wanted to set up defenses in Baima County and hold the city to the death in order to offset the Han army's advantage in field battles.

If the Han army wants to resolve Liu He's rebellion as soon as possible, they should avoid offensive and defensive battles with the rebels as much as possible, and should fight field battles with the rebels as much as possible to give full play to their own advantages.

So Yuan Shu immediately made up his mind and prepared to speed up the advance of the entire army, trying to arrive before the rebels arrived in Baima County, blocking the rebels outside the county, defeating the rebels through field battles, winning the victory, and directly threatening Puyang.

However, Fan Li raised objections.

He believed that according to intelligence, the number of troops dispatched by the rebels this time would not be less than the last time. If their number was large, then it would be a question whether Yuan Shu's 5,000 troops could completely defeat them in a field battle.

Fan Li believed that defeating a larger force with a smaller one was not a normal military practice, and that Yuan Shu, as the vanguard of the army, should have acted more cautiously. If he was defeated, the blow to the morale of the army would be enormous.

Yuan Shu thought about it and felt that what Fan Li said made sense. When traveling in the martial arts world, the most important thing is stability. However, he felt it would not be worth it if he missed the opportunity, so he made a compromise.

He will lead his army to attack Baima County, capture the county seat first, and then hold on to the county seat, waiting for Duan Xing's main force to arrive, and then eliminate this rebel army together.

Isn’t this the best of both worlds?

Fan Li expressed his support for this plan, and the opinions of others were soon unified, so Yuan Shu immediately ordered the entire army to set out and attack Baima County, trying to take Baima County as a foothold as quickly as possible.

Yuan Shu's decision was correct.

When he led his troops to Baima County, the slow-moving rebels had not yet arrived. When the Baima County magistrate saw the imperial army coming, he did not think much about it. After a brief weighing, he ordered the city gates to be opened to welcome the imperial army.

He also expressed his willingness to provide food assistance to the court and to immediately provide hot meals and dishes so that the Han army could rest and recuperate.

I only ask that the Han army not harm the lives of the people in this city.

He also stated that he had no intention of betraying the imperial court, and that he had only been pretending to be friendly with the rebels before. He had not sent any troops to help the rebels. The most he had done was to provide some transportation capacity and help transport grain according to their requests, which he had no choice.

"Captain Yuan is well versed in Confucianism and is well-known throughout the country. I ask Captain Yuan to be benevolent and righteous and forgive the people of Baima County."

The Baima County magistrate was quite knowledgeable and had a sharp tongue. Yuan Shu was very satisfied with his performance.

"What you said makes sense, but even if you didn't say it, I wouldn't punish the county residents. The county residents are innocent, and I never intended to do that."

Yuan Shu told the Baima County magistrate not to worry that the court would not punish the county residents.

But he is somewhat troublesome.

So next, he needs to honestly help the imperial army defend Baima County, and then wait and see the court's decision, whether to forgive him or continue to punish him.

Upon hearing this, the magistrate of Baima County immediately nodded and announced that he would mobilize all the people in the county to help the imperial army transport city defense supplies, strengthen city defenses, dig pits, etc. He basically did everything he could, and his work was very efficient and quick.

With the help of the Baima County Magistrate, the Han army quickly completed the basic work of city defense and initially built a city defense system for Baima County.

At this moment, Li Shao was still on his way on horseback.

Li Shao was not stupid. He had some military experience in fighting bandits and robbers, so he arranged a number of scouts to gather intelligence everywhere. These scouts found out in advance that Baima County had been occupied by the imperial army and brought the news back.

After learning the news, Li Shao suddenly felt that he should not lead the army into battle with the mood of holding a funeral. This was not a battle, this was a funeral!

Baima County is a big coffin, and he is leading his army into the coffin!
(End of this chapter)