Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 201: Second meeting with Xuande, the governor
"Xuande!"

"Your Majesty!"

Seeing Liu Bei whom he had not seen for a long time, Zhang Yu stood up from the couch, stepped forward and held Liu Bei's arm, and said with a smile: "Xuan De has become more handsome since we parted in Luoyang. How are you now?"

Not knowing whether Zhang Yu's enthusiasm was genuine, Liu Bei acted cautiously and said with a smile: "Your Excellency is in control of Bingzhou and your power is so great that I am ashamed of myself!"

"sit!"

While greeting Liu Bei, Zhang Yu took the opportunity to notice the two burly men behind Liu Bei, one with a beard that went down to his chest, and the other with dark skin. Both were tall and had unusually strong builds.

"Xuan De's left and right?"

Seeing Zhang Yu paying attention to his brothers, Liu Bei immediately introduced them: "My lord, these two are not my followers, but my brothers. The older one with a beard is Guan Yu, courtesy name Yunchang, from Jie County, Hedong, and is my second brother. The other one is Zhang Fei, courtesy name Yide, from the same county as me, and is my third brother."

"Greetings, my Lord!"

"What a strong man!"

Seeing Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were famous in later generations, Zhang Yu could not help but nod his head and said, "If Xuande can accept you as his brother, you must be an ordinary man. Please take a seat at the table now, and there is no need to be polite."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Xu Chu and said, "Zhongkang, bring up some wine and meat!"

"Yes!" Xu Chu responded with a bow.

Seeing Xu Chu's broad waist and strong physique, Liu Bei asked, "Your Excellency has many brave generals under your command. May I know the name of this brave warrior?"

"Xu Chu is from Qiao County, Pei Prefecture. He was recruited as an official when we went to fight the Yellow Turbans. I see that he has outstanding martial arts skills and a calm temperament, so I will appoint him as a captain!" Zhang Yu said indifferently.

"Your Excellency is not only good at commanding troops, but also good at appointing people!" Liu Bei said flatteringly.

Zhang Yu sat back on the couch and asked, "When the general was in power, Xuande went out of the capital to recruit soldiers. He has not been heard from for many years. How come he is serving under Gongsun Zan now?"

Liu Bei sighed slightly and said, "It's a long story. I defeated the bandits while recruiting soldiers and was appointed as the Lower Secret Prime Minister. Later, Cao Cao raised an uprising army and sent a letter to recruit me, saying that we would fight against the traitor Dong Zhuo together. I gave up my position and joined him. When the alliance was held at Suanzao, the tribesmen feasted and drank every day and had no intention of sending troops to fight the bandits. I was greatly disappointed, so..."

Liu Bei did not hide anything and told Zhang Yu everything that happened after he left Luoyang.

Zhang Yu could not help but sigh and said, "The whole country is in chaos, Guandong has annexed counties and kingdoms, the Yellow Turban rebels have risen again, and Xuande has been on the run. Now that he is serving under Sun Fenwu, it is good to be able to take care of his hometown!"

Zhang Yu originally thought that Liu Bei had only been displaced in Xuzhou, but he never thought that Liu Bei had been displaced since Luoyang. However, looking at what he did, it was clear that he wanted to do something, but for various reasons, he never succeeded.

Liu Bei bowed and said, "To be honest, I have come to see you on the orders of Sun Fenwu to make friends with you. I hope you can join hands with Youzhou to destroy Yuan Shao, divide the land of Shandong and the border counties, and assist Liu Gong in solving major issues and quell the rebellion in Hebei."

As a subordinate of Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan, in order to gain the support of the soldiers and civilians in Youzhou, used the slogan of "assisting Liu Yu and reviving the Han Dynasty" to fight against the enemy, which was similar to what Zhang Yu did.

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said, "Xuan De, I heard that what Sun Fenwu did in Youzhou was contrary to Lord Liu's intentions. If I help Sun Fenwu now, it would be like letting Lord Liu be with a vicious tiger. Moreover, Yuan Shao is the hero in the fight against Dong Zhuo. If Sun Fenwu joins Yuan Shao in the war, won't Dong Zhuo be proud?"

Hearing that Zhang Yu had no intention of helping Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei frowned slightly and said, "Sir, do you want to help Yuan Shao?"

Zhang Yu shook his head and said, "I have no intention of helping Gongsun Bogui, nor do I have any intention of helping Yuan Benchu. I have even less intention of occupying the cities of Jizhou. All I wish for now is for Lords Sun and Yuan to stop fighting and join hands to defeat Dong Zhuo."

"Since you said you want to attack Dong, why didn't you lead the troops to attack Dong when the heroes in Guandong rose up?" Guan Yu, who had been drinking silently, suddenly said.

"How dare you!" Xu Chu shouted, holding his sword in his hand.

"Yun Chang!"

Liu Bei glared at Guan Yu who spoke rashly, and said in dissatisfaction: "Apologize to the Lord!"

"nothing!"

Zhang Yu waved his hand, signaling Liu Bei not to bear grudges.

"Yun Chang asked me why I didn't ask Dong for help?"

Zhang Yu smiled and asked, "Let me ask Yunchang, did the Grand Marshal attack Dong? Did the Governor of Yizhou Liu Yan attack Dong? Did the heroes of Guandong destroy Dong?"

Hearing this, Guan Yu was speechless and bowed his hands to apologize, saying: "I spoke nonsense, please forgive me, Your Excellency!"

"Ignorance is not a crime!"

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and said, "The heroes in Guandong claim to fight against Dong Zhuo, but in fact they are mostly seeking their own benefits. Besides, I have my own strategy to fight against Dong Zhuo, so I have no intention of joining forces with Yuan Shao and others to fight against Dong Zhuo."

"Oh?"

Liu Bei was in high spirits and asked, "May I ask your plan to defeat Dong Zhuo and revive the Han Dynasty?"

Zhang Yu smiled and shook his head, saying: "The time has not come yet, so I cannot reveal the secret to Xuande. When the time is right, I will join hands with the Grand Marshal to fight the enemy, and Xuande will know by then!"

Seeing that Zhang Yu had no intention of revealing anything, Liu Bei did not ask too much. In order to complete Gongsun Zan's mission, Liu Bei thought for a long time and asked, "I wonder what your plan is now?"

Zhang Yu thought about it and said, "To be honest with you, Xuande, Heishan Zhang Yan was appointed as the governor of Changshan by the court. I have handed Changshan County to him. I have no intention of occupying the territory of Jizhou. I will lead my troops back soon."

Seeing that Zhang Yu really had no intention of interfering in Jizhou's affairs, Liu Bei was full of doubts. He didn't understand why Zhang Yu had gone to great lengths to send troops to Jizhou, but instead of occupying the counties of Jizhou, he simply relocated some people to Bingzhou. After all, considering the rich population of Jizhou, occupying the counties of Jizhou would be more cost-effective than relocating people.

Could it be that, as Zhang Yu said, what he really wishes for is peace in Hebei?
Liu Bei was puzzled by Zhang Yu's plan, and he was even more confused about Zhang Yu's character. While Zhang Yu and Liu Bei were talking, Guo Tu stepped into the hall and wanted to report something, but he looked at Liu Bei and stopped talking.

Zhang Yu remained calm and asked, "Xuan De is an old friend of mine. I wonder if you have any important news to report?"

With Zhang Yu's reminder, Guo Tu said, "My Lord, this is about Henei County!"

"I wonder who should be sent first to investigate the situation in the counties of Henei on your behalf?"

Zhang Yu tapped the table with his fingers for a while and said, "Let Du Bohou go to Henei first. After I finish handling the affairs of Jizhou, I will lead the troops to Henei to take office."

"promise!"

Liu Bei, who was sitting in the hall, came back to his senses and looked intently at Zhang Yu who was giving orders. He suddenly felt envious.

Sitting in Bingzhou and controlling Henei, Zhang Yu's territory was so vast that it might have stretched for thousands of miles from east to west.

Previously, Zhang Yu defeated Baibo in Shangdang and recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians. Now he entered Jizhou and relocated civilians. Soon he occupied Henei, and the number of people under his command exceeded one million.

Now he has no intention of helping Yuan and Sun. Perhaps he is just sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, or maybe he really wants to destroy the traitors.

But if Zhang Yu succeeds in defeating Dong Zhuo, given the current situation, wouldn't Zhang Yu become the new 'Dong Zhuo'?
Liu Bei sighed secretly. Compared with Zhang Yu's strength, he himself was displaced and could only find stability under Gongsun Zan. It was really sad.

Zhang Yu was a powerful soldier who was invincible. However, apart from his courage, he only had some small strategies. When he encountered the Yellow Turbans, he could not defend Gaotang by himself. Now he wanted to fight the bandits, but he could not help. He could only rely on his two younger brothers.

This time, he was ordered to go on a diplomatic mission to Zhang Yu, but he was afraid that he would return empty-handed and be severely criticized by Gongsun Zan.

"Xuande!"

After Guo Tu left, Zhang Yu said, "I want to fight the enemy, but I am short of manpower. If Xuande is interested, I would like to recommend Xuande as the governor of Yingchuan and station troops in the capital to fight against the enemy. What do you think?"

Liu Bei was stunned. He had come here to make friends with Zhang Yu on behalf of Gongsun Zan, but unexpectedly, Zhang Yu recommended him as the governor of Yingchuan. He was immediately excited.

However, despite his excitement, Liu Bei quickly calmed down and thought about the pros and cons of "stationing troops in the capital."

Since Dong Zhuo relocated millions of people to Luoyang, the capital has completely become a wilderness. There is no rooster crowing within a hundred miles, and no one is living in the villages. If he wants to recruit people, he can only get people from Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

The lack of civilians to support the army is a big problem, and stationing troops in the capital would mean facing Dong Zhuo directly, and it would be easy for them to be attacked by Dong Zhuo's troops.

This task is difficult. With the hundreds of soldiers under his command, he is simply unable to serve as the prefect of Yingchuan!

Liu Bei hesitated for a moment, then bowed and said, "Sir, I only have a few hundred soldiers under my command, so I am temporarily unable to serve as the governor of Yingchuan. Moreover, I just joined Sun Fenwu and was treated very well by him. It is difficult for me to leave him suddenly."

After a pause, Liu Bei said in a deep voice: "When I have a few men and horses, and the time has come to defeat the enemy, I will lead my men and horses to help."

Seeing that Liu Bei had no intention of becoming the governor of Yingchuan, Zhang Yu sighed inwardly. He had originally intended to use Liu Bei as his pawn to disrupt the situation in the Central Plains, but unfortunately Liu Bei was not fooled.

Although he was disappointed, Zhang Yu remained calm and said, "When we go out to fight the enemy and support the country, I hope Xuande will not forget what I said today."

"I will never forget!"

Liu Bei said solemnly: "At that time, you should not forget me, my lord, instead of me forgetting my promise now."

"good!"

Zhang Yu nodded and smiled, saying, "Although I have no intention of interfering in Jizhou's affairs, as you said, Sun Fenwu and I both serve as Grand Marshals. If he is in trouble in the future, he can come to Bingzhou to find me."

"Xuan De and I haven't seen each other for a long time. Let's have a drink tonight!"

"Thank you, Lord!"

After receiving Zhang Yu's warm hospitality, Liu Bei reported back to Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan was unhappy to learn that Zhang Yu would not help either of them, but he felt relieved to see that Zhang Yu would not help Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao learned from Xun Chen that Gongsun Zan had sent someone to contact Zhang Yu, and he was very scared. He sent Xun Chen to contact Zhang Yu overnight to convey his wish to make friends with Zhang Yu. However, Zhang Yu also said that he had no intention of interfering in Jizhou, and asked Xun Chen to report back to Yuan Shao.

Upon learning that Zhang Yu maintained a neutral stance, Yuan Shao was very pleased and no longer mentioned the matter of Changshan County.

Soon, Gongsun Zan received help from Youzhou troops and after finding out the current situation of Yuan Shao's troops, he led his troops to Guangzong and set up camp, intending to defeat Yuan Shao and seize Jizhou.

Guangzong is a county seat under Julu County.

When Yuan Shao learned that Gongsun Zan led his troops to Guangzong, he became very angry and wanted to send troops to fight a decisive battle with Gongsun Zan.

However, something unexpected happened. The Black Mountain Army, which was entrenched in the south of Taihang Mountain, saw that Zhang Yan occupied Changshan County, Gongsun Zan was eyeing it covetously, and Yuan Shao had just conquered Wei County. Yu Du, Bai Rao, Sui Gu and other bandit leaders had the idea of plundering and led their people down the mountain to attack Wei and Dong counties.

Seeing that he was attacked from all sides, Yuan Shao was terrified and wanted to cede Bohai County to Gongsun Zan in order to seek temporary peace.

Gongsun Zan originally wanted to not let Yuan Shao go, but he did not expect that the Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou would enter the country from Bohai County to plunder, and there was also a risk of cutting off Gongsun Zan's retreat.

Therefore, Gongsun Zan decided to withdraw his troops while he was ahead and returned to fight against the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

(End of this chapter)