Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 157 Secession of Shangdang
In winter, the north wind howls.

On the official road, several riders rode ahead on horseback, followed by the carriage in which Liu Bo rode, surrounded by nearly ten infantrymen guarding it.

"Ha~"

Liu Bo exhaled white air and said, "The weather is really cold. How long will it take to get to Liting?"

"My lord, we are almost at the Li Ting military camp, about fifteen or sixteen miles away." The cavalryman said, holding the reins and looking back.

"Although Zhang Yu is famous, you are the head of a county. Why should you wait for Zhang Yu's orders and travel all the way to Li Ting for a banquet?" asked the chief clerk Li Kai, wrapping his cloak tightly.

Liu Bowei sighed and said, "It's not that I obey Zhang Yu's orders, but Zhang Yu is the General Du Liao and was ordered to fight against the bandits, and I, as the governor of Shangdang, need to cooperate with him."

Li Kai pondered for a moment and asked, "Now that Qiao Mao has written this letter, I wonder what you think of it, Lord?"

Liu Bo sat in the carriage, frowned and said: "Although Dong Zhuo deposed and enthroned the emperor arbitrarily and violated the superiors, it is not necessary to lead an army to attack him. If I lead the army to attack him now, there may be unrest in the Central Plains and war will break out in the capital."

"My Lord, do you want to sit back and watch the dispute between Yuan and Dong?" Li Kai asked.

"I will~"

Before he could finish his words, there was a dense sound of arrows breaking through the air. Before the cavalryman leading the way in front could react, an arrow hit him in the chest.

"Enemy attack!"

The guard cavalryman was alerted and shouted, "There are bandits on the road, quickly protect the governor."

"Whoosh!"

The arrows shot by the bandits who ambushed Liu Bo's carriage were very accurate, and each arrow was almost aimed at people's bodies.

The cavalryman leading the way wanted to escape by taking advantage of the horse's speed, but after running a few steps, he encountered a bandit running out of the woods with a spear in his hand. His face was wrapped in a scarf, making it difficult to see his appearance clearly.

"what!"

As the horses crossed, the bandit's spear hit the escaped rider's arm. In order to keep him alive, the bandit deliberately let the escaped rider escape.

After someone escaped, the bandits became ruthless and surrounded and killed Liu Bo and his attendants in the convoy together with the bandits on both sides, leaving almost no one alive.

Soon, the driver was shot dead, and the infantry on both sides were all killed, leaving only Liu Bo and Li Kai hiding in the carriage and trembling. They really didn't expect that on the way to the banquet, they would actually meet the Black Mountain bandits, and they were such elite Black Mountain bandits.

"I am Liu Bo, the governor of Shangdang!"

Liu Bo plucked up his courage, stood up from the carriage, and shouted: "Who are you? How dare you ambush and kill the court officials? If you retreat now, I will forgive you for what happened!"

The bandit leader sneered and waved his hand. His followers followed his order and rushed forward to stab him to death.

"what!"

Liu Bo fell down holding his chest, and Li Kai, who was trembling as he watched the show, could not escape death and was also killed by the ruthless and taciturn Black Mountain bandits.

"Pack it up!"

Looking at the convoy that had no survivors, the bandit pulled down his scarf and ordered his followers, "Don't leave any of them alive. Make sure to take away their valuables."

"promise!"

The battlefield of more than a dozen people was quickly and skillfully cleaned up, and Liu Bo and his group were stripped naked, looking like they had been robbed by bandits.

"You can seek refuge at Chanhebi and are not allowed to stay in Shangdang for the time being. As for rewards, the officials will give them in full," said the bandit leader.

"promise!"

The Black Mountain bandits acted quickly, leaving the bandit leader alone, and more than ten riders packed up, changed into new clothes and headed for the border. When the bandit leader saw smoke and dust rolling in the direction of Li Ting, he quickly hid in the mountains and forests to conceal his figure.

"嘘嘚~"

Not long after, Zhang Yu came in person with a hundred cavalrymen. When he saw Shangdang governor Liu Bo and his entourage being robbed and killed by the bandits, he could not help but feel furious.

"How dare the Black Mountain bandits be so rampant!"

Zhang Yu held the reins and said angrily, "How dare you rob and kill the governor in broad daylight, less than 20 miles from the military camp, on the official road."

"Come here, gather the troops and check the surroundings to see if there are any traces of bandits!"

Xu Chu accepted the order, took dozens of riders, and followed the instructions of the surviving cavalrymen to search deep into the forest for the Black Mountain bandits.

After Xu Chu left, Lu Fan looked at the bodies of Liu Bo and more than ten of his men and said, "Sir, Liu Shangdang has unfortunately died. Now the county is leaderless. Why don't you lead your troops into Huguan and temporarily take over the post of Shangdang governor?"

"What do you think?" Zhang Yu looked at the people who were accompanying him and asked.

"My lord, the governor of Shangdang has passed away. If you do not come forward to take charge of the matter, I am afraid that no one will bury him." Xu Shu said.

Hearing this, Zhang Yuwei sighed and said, "Now that things have come to this, I need to temporarily take over the government affairs of Shangdang until the court appoints someone else to take the position."

"Come here, collect the body of Governor Liu and bury him soon," Zhang Yu ordered.

"Yes!" Since Liu Bo was unfortunately killed by the Black Mountain bandits, Zhang Yu reluctantly entered the capital Huguan for the sake of the overall situation.

On that day, in order to avoid any further trouble, Zhang Yu left Zhang Liao to guard the main camp, and personally led Gao Shun, Zhang Yang, Ke Bi and more than a thousand infantry and cavalry to take over the county town on the pretext of preventing bandits from plundering Huguan, and successfully obtained the seal of the prefect.

As the news spread, the surrounding counties soon learned that Liu Bo had been killed by the Black Mountain bandits, and General Zhang Yu of Du Liao temporarily governed Shangdang.

The county heads did not resist Zhang Yu's takeover and sent people to the government office that day to acknowledge that Zhang Yu was temporarily in charge of Shangdang and to mourn Liu Bo's unfortunate death at the hands of bandits.

In order to control Shangdang, Zhang Yu immediately replaced the main officials: Yu Yi as the county chief, Lu Fan as the chief clerk, Man Chong as the Gongcao...

In addition to civil duties, in order to win the hearts of his subordinates, Zhang Yu simply recommended Zhang Yang as the captain of destroying bandits, Zhang Liao as the captain of bravery, Ke Bi as the captain of eagle, Gao Shun as the captain of supervising the army, Xu Chu as the captain...

Except for Zhang Yang and Zhang Liao, who were full-fledged lieutenants, the rest served as acting lieutenants (deputy lieutenants) and commanded the troops under their command. This was also a benefit that Zhang Yu gave to his generals after he was promoted to General Du Liao.

For a time, Wen was in charge of a county position, Wu was in charge of a military position, and everyone was happy.

In November, after Zhang Yu's persuasion, Liu Bo's wife and children realized the danger of carrying the coffin back home, so they listened to Zhang Yu's words and buried Liu Bo in Shangdang. They were willing to stay in Shangdang and wait for peace in the Central Plains before returning home with their children.

At the same time, Zhang Yu presided over Liu Bo's funeral and sent a memorial to Luoyang requesting to be appointed as the prefect of Shangdang.

At Huguan Prefecture, Zhang Yu was sitting on the couch, meeting Liu Bo's wife who came to express her gratitude.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, sir. I hope you will treat me well." Liu said with a sad look on her face.

Zhang Yu sighed and said, "I have a very good relationship with Liu Jun. We wanted to fight the Black Mountain bandits together, but Liu Jun died unexpectedly. Now Liu Jun has unfortunately passed away. How can I bear to see Liu Jun's wife and children wandering in a foreign land!"

"I'm afraid I'll have to bear your care in the future!" Liu said.

Zhang Yu assured, "The government will allocate money and food to everyone every month, so you can live in peace."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Liu Bo's sixteen-year-old eldest son and said, "My boy, you should work hard to hone your knowledge of classics and martial arts, and don't let your father down."

Liu Bo's son was very sensible. He bowed and said, "I will remember your teachings."

After comforting them with a few words, Zhang Yu asked Liu and her son to leave.

Looking at the back of Liu Bo's wife, Zhang Yu felt guilty. In order to control Shangdang, he had to sacrifice Liu Bo. The compensation for Liu Bo could only be left to his descendants in the future.

After Liu left, Lu Fan bowed and asked, "My Lord, according to news from Jizhou, Han Fu has decided to lead his troops to help Yuan Shao. Judging from the current situation in Guandong, Yuan Shao, the governor of Bohai, Han Fu, the governor of Jizhou, Wang Kuang, the governor of Henei, and Qiao Mao, the governor of Dongjun, are interested in fighting the enemy."

"Looking at the magnitude of their momentum, there will be war next year in Chenliu, Henei and the counties surrounding the capital. If Shangdang is peaceful, many refugees will flee to our county. We should make plans now!"

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "What Ziheng said makes a lot of sense. If the capital is in turmoil and Shangdang is peaceful, a large number of people will move to our county to avoid the war."

"Shangdang has three passes. We need to send officials to garrison there to appease the refugees who come to seek refuge and guide them to their respective counties. This is not only the responsibility of our county officials, but also the county officials to settle the refugees and distribute the wasteland."

Due to the dominance of aristocrats and powerful people in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hebei, Henan, and Bashu may have experienced serious land annexation, but due to strategic issues in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a large amount of land in Bingzhou was abandoned.

Therefore, in terms of people's livelihood, Bingzhou's biggest problem is not that there is not enough land to be distributed, but that public security is too poor, resulting in a sparse population in the state.

For example, during the Western Han Dynasty, the registered population of Shangdang County was about 340,000; during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the registered population of Shangdang County was about 130,000, a difference of 200,000.

If we use a more stringent calculation based on the number of households, the number of households in the Western Han Dynasty was approximately 74,000, while that in the Eastern Han Dynasty was only 22,000, a difference of more than 50,000 households.

If Zhang Yu wants to develop Shangdang, he cannot miss the influx of refugees caused by the war next year, as Lu Fan said.

Zhang Yu looked at Lu Fan and said, "Shao Ran is currently on a diplomatic mission to Youzhou, and Bo Ning is leading his people south to welcome his family. Ziheng is now my right-hand man, and needs to coordinate the situation in each county to prepare for the refugees next year."

"Yes!" Lu Fan replied with a bow.

Before he finished speaking, the attendant quickly stepped into the hall, bowed and said, "My lord, urgent military intelligence!"

"What's the matter?"

"The Baibo bandits colluded with Fuluo to plunder the counties in Hedong. The court sent General Niu Fu to fight against the Baibo bandits, but Niu Fu was defeated and fled. Now the Baibo bandits are gaining momentum, with a force of more than 100,000. Judging from their momentum, they seem to be moving eastward." said the attendant.

"White Wave Thief?"

Zhang Yu's expression suddenly became serious. He did not expect that the Baibo bandits had grown from 10,000 or 20,000 people to more than 100,000 people today, and they also defeated Niu Fu.

Lu Fan looked unhappy and said, "The Black Mountain bandits started from the Taihang Mountains, and the White Wave bandits plundered the counties in Hedong. Our Shangdang is located between the two. The situation is not good. If the White Wave bandits intend to move eastward and join forces with the Black Mountain bandits, they will have to pass through Shangdang."

Zhang Yu suddenly felt overwhelmed. He had originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos in the Central Plains next year to develop secretly and then plot against Taiyuan. But now the Xiabaibo bandits were on the west side, and there were signs that they were joining forces with the Black Mountain bandits, which was a strong enemy for Shangdang.

To Zhang Yu, the two thieves, Baibo and Heishan, are much more powerful than the Black and White Impermanence who are seeking his life. If he is defeated, his career will end soon after it was started!
"Send scouts to investigate the two bandits, Baibo and Heishan!"

Zhang Yu remained calm and said, "As for the matter of refugees next year, we will not change our strategy for the time being."

What are you afraid of?

At most he would have to fight a few fierce battles. If he couldn't even deal with the bandits, how could he rule Bingzhou and compete with other heroes for supremacy in the world?

(End of this chapter)