Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 313: The Longshang Alliance, Chaos in Yanzhou
Jincheng County, the county seat.

There was a great noise, dozens of people gathered in the meeting hall. If you look closely, you can easily find that everyone in the hall is the leader of the Liangzhou rebels who have been bandits for many years. Han Sui, Song Jian, Ma Teng, Cheng Yi and other former Liangzhou generals each led their troops to attend the meeting.

Seeing the noise in the hall, Han Sui, the host, clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention and said, "Longyou is in crisis now. I am very grateful that you have put aside your past grudges and come to Jincheng to discuss matters."

As he spoke, Han Sui glanced at everyone in the hall and said, "A few days ago, Yuan Shao in Hebei wrote to me, saying that Zhang Yu intended to attack Longyou and asked me to be on guard. I was skeptical and sent scouts to Guanzhong. I saw that the troops in Guanzhong were frequently mobilized and the price of food in the market was rising. It was just as Yuan Shao said."

"Zhang Yu is the governor of Yongzhou, and Longyou is under his jurisdiction. The counties on Longshang are occupied by you and me. In order to seize the Central Plains, Zhang Yu will definitely march west to Longyou. Moreover, Zhang Yu's letter says that all the generals in Liangzhou can surrender, except the King of Song!"

Han Sui called out Song Jian's name, and everyone looked over subconsciously, only to see that Song Jian's face was uncertain and panic-stricken.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Song Jian snorted coldly and said, "Zhang Yu's words are meant to sow discord. Even if you kill me as Zhang Yu intends, don't think Zhang Yu will let you go? Unless you give up your military power and put your lives in Zhang Yu's hands."

"What the King of Song said makes sense, so I agree with him!"

Han Sui followed Song Jian's words and said loudly: "Zhang Yu has ambitions for the world, how can he tolerate you guys taking advantage of the situation. We have the Longshan Mountains in Longyou. If Zhang Yu attacks Longyou, I will join forces with you guys and we may be able to repel the enemy."

"Wen Yue is wise and resourceful. In your opinion, how should we resist the enemy?" Ma Teng asked.

Han Sui said, "Last year, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, and the three prefectures were short of food and grass. Now Zhang Yu has not yet deployed troops because the grain harvest has just begun. Therefore, if you can all work together and obey orders, and hold the strategic points of Longshan, in just a few dozen days, Guanzhong will run out of food and Zhang Yu will have to withdraw his troops!"

"Zhang Yu governs not only Guanzhong and the Three Prefectures, but also Bingzhou and the two rivers. Moreover, Liu He of Youzhou is his close ally. It may be difficult to repel Zhang Yu if he only holds out for a few dozen days." Ma Teng questioned.

Han Sui smiled and said to the crowd, "Yuan Shao wrote to me, saying that he wanted to use me as a support to contain Zhang Yu from Longyou. So when Zhang Yu confronted our army, I could write to Yuan Shao and ask him to send troops to attack Henei and directly attack Hedong to intimidate Zhang Yu's government."

"There is trouble in Hedong. How dare Zhang Yu stay in Longyou for long? If we pursue Zhang Yu at that time, we can win a great victory and plunder the three prefectures in the east. Here is my countermeasure. I wonder if you have any doubts?"

"I have no doubts. If Zhang Yu sends troops to Longyou, I will definitely mobilize the troops in Longxi to provide support!" Song Jian said.

Since receiving Zhang Yu's letter to kill him, Song Jian was afraid that Han Sui and Ma Teng would join forces to attack. Now Han Sui wanted to form an alliance to fight Zhang Yu, and Song Jian hoped that everyone would agree to it, so that they would not sell him out.

"I am willing to raise an army to help King Han!" Cheng Yi agreed after only a moment's consideration.

Seeing that Ma Teng did not express his opinion, Han Sui asked, "Why is Shoucheng hesitating?"

Ma Teng stroked his beard and thought, and said: "Hanyang prefect Zhang Zeshou's orders are from the court, and now he may secretly help Zhang Yu. Although the Weishui River in Chencang is narrow, it can pass troops, so Longshan may not be able to stop Zhang Yu's troops from entering Long."

"It's easy!"

Han Sui said: "We can first gather troops to besiege Ji County. If Ji County can be captured by our army, the Weishui Road will be blocked. If Zhang Yu raises troops to rescue Ji County, our army will defend it by relying on the terrain, and we can take advantage of the situation to attack him."

Ma Teng thought for a long time and said, "Wen Yue has a plan to defeat the bandits. I am willing to lead the troops and wait for your instructions."

Ma Teng then asked, "Zhang Yu is in charge of Bingzhou and Yongzhou. He must have many soldiers under his command. I wonder if our army will have enough troops to block the attack?"

After more than a hundred years of war between the Han and Qiang, Longyou had become impoverished and sparsely populated. Ma Teng had only a few thousand soldiers under his command. Han Sui was better off than Ma Teng, and there were nearly 10,000 Hu people in Jincheng County.

Han Sui hesitated for a moment and said, "There are many Qiang, Di and Hu tribes in Longyou. Now we can talk about money and advantages and disadvantages. The Qiang people in Changli and Xingguo are on good terms with me. I can persuade the two tribes to raise troops to help. If you have friendly relations with Qiang, Di and Hu tribes, you must do your best to recruit them. With the dangers of Longshan and the large number of troops and horses, we will be able to defeat Zhang Yuer!"

"it is good!"

Song Jian said boldly: "I am familiar with many Qiang people in Longxi. Now I have heard that Zhang Yu wants to kill all the Qiang people in Longxi and lure them with money and food, which is enough to make the remaining Qiang send troops to support us."

"good!"

Seeing that no one had any doubts, Han Sui was relieved and said, "Since you all agree to the alliance and raise troops, General Lao Shoucheng will lead the troops to attack Ji County. And Sui and King Song will reorganize the troops to support you, block Zhang Yu's reinforcements for you, and help you break Ji County." "Okay!"

Not to mention that under Han Sui's coordination, the rebel leaders of Liang Province agreed to unite and planned to send troops to resist Zhang Yu.

When the war in Longyou was about to break out, the already chaotic situation in Yanzhou became even more chaotic because Yuan Shao sent troops to Yanzhou.

In April, Cao Cao, who had received support from Yuan Shao with 5,000 infantry and cavalry, became stronger. He set his sights on the Sumai in Juye, so he attacked the armies of Xue Lan and Li Feng in Juye, killing Xue Lan and repelling Li Feng. Lü Bu and Chen Gong joined forces, with more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry, and rushed to Juye to defeat Cao Cao.

When Lü Bu arrived at Juye, most of Cao Cao's soldiers were out harvesting wheat, leaving only a thousand soldiers and the elderly, weak, women and children in the camp. Cao Cao was not afraid of danger, and used the empty city strategy to trick Lü Bu, ordering his soldiers to leave the camp and pretend to be relaxed, and women and children to go up to the camp to show the crowd. Lü Bu suspected that Cao Cao had set up an ambush, so he and Chen Gong led the troops to retreat slightly.

The next day, Lu Bu learned that Cao Cao had deceived him the day before, and he was so angry that he sent out his troops to challenge Cao Cao. Cao Cao divided his troops into two groups, one hiding under the dam of the Ji River, and the other going out to fight Lu Bu's troops. When the two armies were fighting, Cao Cao ordered his ambush troops to attack with both infantry and cavalry, hoping to defeat Lu Bu.

Historically, Lü Bu had no external support and was defeated by Cao Cao's ambush, so he had to flee to Xuzhou. However, in this dimension, Lü Bu received the supply of military horses from Zhang Yu, and his cavalry strength increased greatly. When Cao Cao's ambush defeated Chen Gong's troops, Lü Bu led his cavalry to break through the battle formation and defeated Cao Cao's troops.

Therefore, a comic scene occurred, with both armies having defeated troops and victorious troops. In the chaos, the armies of Cao and Lu once again engaged in a large-scale battle. Lu Bu nearly defeated Cao Cao's central army several times with his cavalry, but was repelled by the infantry led by Dian Wei. The battle lasted from noon to dusk, and the armies of Cao and Lu had to withdraw their troops and return to their camps because of the dark sky.

When the armies of Cao and Lu confronted each other, Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Puyang and Baima, causing Chen Gong to lose his stronghold first, and then sent Chunyu Qiong to support Cao Cao. Chunyu Qiong's help was not requested by Cao Cao, but was sent by Yuan Shao on his own initiative, with the intention of deeply controlling Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao did not want Yuan Shao to intervene, he did not dare to offend Yuan Shao, so he could only hold his nose and let Chunyu Qiong help him.

However, Lü Bu saw that Cao Cao had a steady stream of troops coming to support him and that his stronghold in Puyang had been captured, so he was unable to fight Cao Cao again and led his troops to retreat overnight. After retreating to Taoqiu, Lü Bu adopted Chen Gong's suggestion and sent envoys to Zhang Miao, Yuan Shu, and Zhang Yu to mobilize troops to counter Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Because of the close distance, Chenliu Zhang Miao was the first to receive Lü Bu's letter for help. Compared with the original history where he fled out of fear, Zhang Miao in this life was backed by Yuan Shu and was not afraid of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Considering the situation of the lips and teeth being cold, he first sent 2,000 troops to help Lü Bu, and let his brother Zhang Chao stay in Chenliu. He personally went south to Wancheng to meet the newly appointed Prime Minister Yuan Shu.

Wancheng, Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Zhang Miao was crying to Yuan Shu, wiping his tears and saying, "Prime Minister, Yanzhou borders Jizhou to the north and Yuzhou to the south, which is the Prime Minister's shield. But now Yuan Shao sent his generals to plunder Chenliu in the south and ordered Cao Cao to invade Jiyin in the west. His intention is not only to seize Yanzhou, but also to seize Yuzhou. Both Lu Bu and I are high-ranking officials appointed by the court. When Yuan Shao sent troops to attack me, he was actually attacking the court."

Yuan Shu looked unhappy and said angrily: "I gave Yuan Shao his old position, thinking that he would be content. But now he is really disappointing. He dared to invade Yanzhou in the south."

From a political perspective, the war in Yanzhou was essentially a proxy war. Cao Cao represented Yuan Shao, Lu Bu had Zhang Yu's background, and Zhang Miao directly joined Yuan Shu. In this proxy war, the three major princes had always indirectly intervened in the form of funding and endorsement, rather than directly participating.

Yuan Shu had previously sent troops to attack Yanzhou, and it can be said that he was eager to dominate the Central Plains. But now that he had just welcomed the emperor, he was still digesting and absorbing the influence brought by the emperor, so he had no intention of fighting for Yanzhou in the north.

Therefore, Yuan Shu intended to support Zhang Miao and Lu Bu, intending to use them as a barrier for Yuzhou, or as a springboard, so that he could control Yizhou and Yangzhou and then go north to Heji. Now that Yuan Shao had directly stepped down and showed signs of intending to seize Yanzhou, it had destroyed Yuan Shu's plan.

"Yuan Shao is showing signs of swallowing up Yanzhou. If you don't send troops, Lu Bu and I will have no place to stand in Yanzhou!" Zhang Miao restrained his expression and said, "If Lu Bu and I lose, Yuan Shao will drive Cao Cao south to attack Yuzhou and let my husband Gao Gan take control of Xuzhou. Then you will lose the counties and states in the Central Plains and be controlled by Yuan Shao."

"I already know about the affairs of Yanzhou!"

Yuan Shu paced in the hall with his hands behind his back, frowning and saying, "It is only because I have just welcomed the emperor in Wancheng that I dare not rashly lead my troops north."

Zhang Miao said: "If it is inconvenient for the Prime Minister to send troops, you may as well send a general to the north to temporarily ease the critical situation in Yanzhou. I will defend Chenliu, Lu Bu will defend Jiyin, and with the Prime Minister's troops to support us, we may be able to stop Yuan Shao's invasion from the south. If we cannot stop Yuan Shao, it will not be too late for the Prime Minister to send troops again!"

Zhang Miao then paid great respects and said, "I am willing to send my family to Wancheng to show my respect for the Prime Minister."

"it is good!"

Hearing this, Yuan Shu's expression relaxed and he said, "I will send Ji Ling as the general to lead 10,000 soldiers to the north. Tell Lu Bu not to be afraid of Cao Cao. There is plenty of food and supplies in Yuzhou under my rule. I will give him as much as he wants."

Yuan Shu ruled Nanyang, and although he brought disaster to many people in Nanyang, Yuzhou was in a good situation because it was governed by the governors of various counties, especially Runan County, which was Yuan Shu's hometown and had the best public security. Thanks to the prosperity of Yuzhou, Yuan Shu dared to speak like this, so that Lü Bu could fight Cao Cao without any worries.

"Thank you very much, Prime Minister!" Zhang Miao said gratefully.

(End of this chapter)