Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 278 Things are changing

As the sun sets, crows circle in circles, and the sunset glows obliquely on Zhang's banner.

Sitting on the chair, Zhang Yu turned his back to the setting sun, leaned his sword on the ground, and looked at the messy battlefield. He sighed: "The Youyan boys are not inferior to the Three Jin boys. The armies surrounded and attacked together, but they were able to fight for a long time without being defeated. They can be said to be a strong army!"

The defeat of the cavalry led by Gongsun Zan resulted in the 6,000 infantry losing the cover of the cavalry. Under the siege of Zhang Yu's troops, they struggled to hold out for a long time. Finally, after an hour of bloody fighting, the infantry was surrounded and annihilated by Zhang Yu's troops.

Before the battle, Zhang Yu himself planned to surrender this army, but unfortunately the commander Geng Xiang refused to surrender even at death.

"Zirun!"

"The general is here!"

All the generals lined up with their swords drawn. When Yan Rou saw Zhang Yu calling him, he stepped out and bowed.

"I am now establishing the Datong Army, with a strength of 5,000 soldiers, and you will be the commander."

Pointing to the groups of surrendered soldiers on the battlefield, Zhang Yu said: "You are now allowed to select the surrendered soldiers, keep the best soldiers in the army, and move the old and weak to Dai County."

"The last general takes command!"

Yan Rou was overjoyed, knelt on one knee, clasped his hands and said: "I will serve you till my death!"

Zhang Yu supported himself with one hand and said, "You have made great contributions in this expedition to Youzhou. How can I ignore them now?"

Youzhou is too far from Bingzhou. After defeating Gongsun Zan, Zhang Yu will not go to Youzhou again in the short term. Now there are many surrendered soldiers, and most of them are elite soldiers under Gongsun Zan. Let Yan Rou, a Han and Hu mixed man, lead them and set up Datong Army, which can be regarded as Zhang Yu's armed force to deter Yannan in the future.

"Report!"

Soon after Yan Rou returned to the ranks, a waiting cavalryman rode up to the foot of the hill, then quickly stepped up and reported: "My lord, General Xu reported that his knight Shen Gu killed General Tian Kai."

"color!"

Zhang Yu smiled and asked Guo Tu, "I remember Shen Gu. I wonder if he was the soldier we saw the night before the withdrawal?"

"That night, you and I went to inspect General Xu's camp. If there was no one with the same surname, it should be this person!" Guo Tu said.

"Rewards will be based on military merit. If there are merits, then rewards will be given!" Zhang Yu said casually.

"As ordered!"

Lu Fan bowed his hands to accept the order, and in his heart he silently made a note of the person he was going to examine, wanting to observe his abilities and see if it was necessary to promote him to the Military Academy for further study.

Although Zhang Yu recruited many famous officials and generals, he would not ignore unknown people. After all, there are many talents in the world, and it depends on whether there is a good person to promote them. For example, his brother-in-law Li Song and veteran general Shi Yi have gradually become outstanding after years of war experience and can share many affairs with him. Or Yu Yi, who was almost unknown in history, but now he has become the person in charge of salt and iron.

"Our army has won a great victory over Gongsun Zan, so we want to cross the Yishui River. What do you think?" Zhang Yu asked his subordinates.

"My Lord, do you want to conquer Yijing?" Xun You asked in return.

"Although Gongsun Zan has few ideas, he is good at fighting and brave. In addition, Yijing has stored 3 million dan of grain. Without a long-term siege by heavy troops, it will be difficult to capture Yijing." Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "I have no intention of letting Gongsun Zan rise again, so I want to move the people of Yan and Zhao to Dai County, which will not only enrich the population of the border, but also weaken Gongsun Zan's power. What do you think, Gongda?"

Xun You said: "Your Excellency lives far away in the Three Jins. If you don't move them now, you will lose the people. So you can move the people to Dai. However, the people miss their homeland. There are many Hu people in Dai. The people may be afraid. Your Excellency needs to consider a strategy!"

Zhang Yu nodded slightly and said, "Daishuo was originally the land of the Han Dynasty. The migration of the Hu people caused unrest in the counties. Now strengthening Daishuo is to stabilize the counties."

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Yan Rou and asked, "Zirun is well versed in Hu affairs. I appointed you as the governor of Dai County to help me settle Daishuo. Now that you are appointed as the chief official and protector of Wuhuan, can you prevent the Han people from being invaded by the Hu people?"

Yan Rou hesitated for a long time, then cupped his hands and said, "The population of Dai is large, and the soldiers and horses are in control. The Hu people have been arrogant for a long time. If you want to stabilize Dai County, in addition to moving the Hu people north, you can only use strict laws to govern the Hu people and use money to win over the powerful. Maybe you can make peace between the Han and the Hu people."

"The Wuhuan in Youzhou are powerful, unlike the Xiongnu in Bingzhou. We should not act rashly for the time being!" Zhang Yu said, "I will return to Dai County and call a meeting of the Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes to show off my military power and preach my kindness to calm the hearts of the Hu people."

After a pause, Zhang Yu returned to the main topic and asked, "If the people knew that we were moving north to Daishuo, they would probably panic and scatter. How can we convince them now?"

"My lord, I have a plan!" said Zu Wei, the governor of Shanggu County, with a bow.

"Tell me the details!"

Zu Wei said: "If the people are panicked and scattered, it will be difficult to relocate them. Therefore, you may as well use the drought as an excuse to order the repair of the canals, and the people will be reassured. When the people's hearts are stable, it is time to relocate them north."

Hearing this, Zhang Yu looked at Zu Wei and had to say that Zu Wei was quite capable. However, this method was purely fooling the people, pretending to be at peace but actually moving. It seemed that Zu Wei was very ambitious in his official career!
However, rather than leaving the people to be tormented by Gongsun Zan, it would be better to move north to Daishuo and strengthen the power of the Han people on the border so that he could reorganize the Wuhuan in the future.

As for why the Hu people on the border were not sinicized?
Zhang Yu could only say that it was not easy to sinicize the Hu people. If the Hu people wanted to sinicize, they had to stay in the Han society. In the border areas, there were more Hu people than Han people. Was it possible that the Han people were sinicized?

Why did Emperor Wu of Han forcibly relocate more than 200,000 Dongyue people to Jianghuai after conquering Dongyue? The essence was to make the Yue people lose their cultural heritage so that the Han people could fill the gap. It was precisely because of Emperor Wu of Han's relocation that the Central Plains dynasty was able to control the Minyue region. "Yuan Xiong's plan is very good!"

Zhang Yu said: "We will do as you wish, and you will be responsible for the relocation of the people!"

"promise!"

"Since all the ministers have no objection, we will reorganize the troops tomorrow and march to Yishui to intimidate Yijing!" Zhang Yu ordered.

"As ordered!"

On May 18, Zhang Yu pretended to retreat, luring Gongsun Zan to pursue him, and defeated 10,000 infantry and cavalry, killing 3,000 armored soldiers, taking more than 4,000 prisoners, and killing the general Tian Kai.

On the 20th, Zhang Yu led his troops to Yishui, and Gongsun Zan was defeated and fled back to Yijing.

In Yijing, Gongsun Zan sat on the couch, looking worried and sighing.

Before the expedition, Gongsun Zan thought Zhang Yu was just so-so, about the same as him, or just a bit lucky. But after the Battle of Qingquan River, Gongsun Zan's self-confidence was destroyed by Zhang Yu. It can be said that the more confident Gongsun Zan was at the beginning, the more worried he is now.

In Gongsun Zan's eyes, Zhang Yu was almost as powerful as Yuan Shao, and even more terrifying than Yuan Shao. He could still grasp Yuan Shao's military characteristics, but he couldn't grasp Zhang Yu's military characteristics.

Relying on the high mobility of the troops and horses to bypass Beigukou was brilliant, but in Gongsun Zan's eyes, there was still a chance to send troops to defend Gubeikou. In the Battle of Qingquan River, Gongsun Zan never thought that Zhang Yu would deliberately withdraw his troops and spread rumors to him to lure him into pursuit.

However, he was full of confidence and wanted to use his proud pursuit tactics, the strategy of attacking the enemy halfway across the river, but in the end he was played around by Zhang Yu. The two thousand White Horse Volunteers suffered heavy losses, and the six thousand infantry were almost wiped out. This defeat was too tragic!

If Gongsun Ming had not lied about the military intelligence and lured him into attacking, how could he have suffered such heavy losses?
Thinking of this, Gongsun Zan's expression turned from sadness to anger, and he said: "Gongsun Ming is a spy for the enemy army. He has been secretly communicating with Zhang Yu, and has deceived us into sending troops to pursue him. Zhang Yu took the opportunity to set an ambush, causing our army to be defeated and Gongsun Ming to be brought down and executed!"

"Mingsir, this is unfair!"

When Gongsun Ming saw that Gongsun Zan wanted him to take the blame, he quickly begged.

However, Gongsun Zan was still angry, so how could he let Gongsun Ming go?

Gongsun Zan looked grim, and watched the warriors take Gongsun Ming away. Gongsun Ming saw that there was no hope of survival, and he cursed: "Gongsun Zan, you are incompetent. Zhang Yu ran out of food and retreated, but you could not defeat the enemy, and you blamed me for the defeat~"

Before he could finish his words, the warrior dragged Gongsun Ming outside and slashed his neck with a knife to prevent him from complaining and letting Gongsun Zan hold them accountable.

Seeing that Gongsun Zan's anger was gradually subsiding, Guan Jing said: "Zhang Yu's troops have reached Yishui, and they are planning to cross the river to capture us. Now, in my humble opinion, you need to make plans early!"

Gongsun Zan said with a cold face: "There are three million dan of grain in the city, but Zhang Yu has little grain and many soldiers, so it will be difficult to hold out for long. So we should defend the city and wait for Zhang Yu to withdraw!"

Gongsun Zan suffered heavy casualties and was no longer able to fight Zhang Yu, so he planned to hold Yijing and wait for Zhang Yu to withdraw his troops due to running out of food.

"May I ask you, sir, if Zhang Yu withdraws his troops, can you plan to take Youzhou?" Guan Jing asked solemnly, "If you cannot plan to take Youzhou, can you save Bohai?"

Gongsun Zan was displeased and asked, "What do you mean by asking this?"

Guan Jing shook his head and said, "I have no other intentions, but I am afraid that you will retreat to Yijing and will not be able to fight for Hebei in the future!"

Gongsun Zan looked bitter and said, "We have lost 7,000 to 8,000 elite soldiers. Judging from the troops we have now, we are more than capable of defending our territory, but if we want to fight for Hebei, we will have the will but not the strength!"

Guan Jing said, "Yuan Shao is in Jizhou, and he has always been worried about Zhang Yu. Previously, Yuan Shao wanted to exchange Bohai counties for sending troops. Now your power is weak, if Yuan Shao seizes it by force, I am afraid Bohai will not be able to be preserved. So you might as well exchange Bohai for Yuan Shao's troops and horses, such as letting Qu Yi lead his troops to the north."

"Zhang Yu saw Qu Yi leading his troops to relieve the siege, and heard that Yuan Shao had sent troops to Bingzhou, so he should withdraw to Bingzhou. After Zhang Yu has withdrawn, you can reorganize the troops, let Qu Yi lead the infantry, and you lead the cavalry, you may be able to defeat Liu He and retake Youzhou."

Gongsun Zan sighed and said, "I'm afraid Yuan Shao has no intention of helping me!"

Guan Jing said, "I heard that Lü Bu attacked Yanzhou. If Lü Bu took Yanzhou, and Liu He took Youzhou, and took Bingzhou in the west, Jizhou would be surrounded on three sides, so how could Yuan Shao be trapped in Hebei? Therefore, Jing's opinion is that if you want to take Youzhou, you can alleviate Yuan Shao's threat to the north."

Gongsun Zan thought for a long time and asked, "Is the envoy sent by Yuan Shao still there?"

"Still alive!"

"Invite him to the government hall later to discuss with him the issue of exchanging Bohai for Qu Yi's troops!" Gongsun Zan said in a compromising manner.

"Ming Gong is wise!"

Gongsun Zan sighed helplessly and said, "When I was showing off my military power in Hebei, Yuan Shao gave up Bohai to seek peace, and Zhang Yu did not dare to cross the line. But after several years of changes, I have to seek peace with Yuan Shao, and I am afraid of Zhang Yu!"

Gongsun Zan was depressed. In the past, he was a powerful figure in Hebei and was feared by the world. Zhang Yu and Yuan Shao were both afraid of his name. But now he has fallen to this state, which is really hard for him to accept!
(End of this chapter)