Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 365: Sending an envoy to ask for someone, Xuande weeps in response

In the first year of Jianxing, the north, which had been in chaos for years, finally became peaceful due to the struggle between Zhang and Yuan. The wars in the chaotic times of the late Han Dynasty gradually shifted from the north to the south, especially in Xuzhou and Bashu.

For example, in the Bashu area, Sun Jian and his son Sun Ce divided their troops into two groups. Sun Ce led a small group of troops directly to Jianwei County, first trying to persuade Yan Yan to surrender, and then fighting a fierce battle with Zhang Ren.

The battle lasted for dozens of days, and the two armies initially won and lost. Zhang Ren saw that Sun Ce was young and hot-tempered, so he pretended to be defeated and retreated. Sun Ce did not know his strength and led his troops to pursue him. Zhang Ren ambushed Sun Ce, and Sun Ce almost died at the hands of Zhang Ren. Finally, he escaped under the cover of Han Dang and Xu Kun.

At the same time, Pang Xi led his troops to retreat to Fu County, and Sun Jian's army surrounded the city. Seeing that his son Sun Ce was defeated, Sun Jian sent Han Dang to the south to provide support.

Sun Ce, who received reinforcements, led his army to fight Zhang Ren again, and finally defeated the army and captured Zhang Ren. Sun Ce put aside his past grudges and repeatedly persuaded Zhang Ren to surrender.

Zhang Ren could not stand Sun Ce's enthusiasm and sincerity, so he surrendered. Sun Ce stayed in Xiajianwei and stationed his troops in Nan'an to recuperate.

In order to seize territory from Yuan Shu, Sun Jian changed Qian into a vassal state and named it Zhuti County. He appointed his brother-in-law Wu Jing as the governor of Zhuti County and helped him to win over the other counties in the south.

In winter, Liu Zhang sent Wu Yi and Li Yi to lead troops to support Fu County. The army was defeated by Sun Jian, and Wu Yi and Li Yi surrendered to Sun Jian. Pang Xi held out for three months, but seeing that reinforcements were slow to arrive, he surrendered to Sun Jian at the persuasion of Wu Yi. Fu County was taken, and all the counties in Guanghan surrendered.

Liu Zhang only had Shu County in his hands, so in order to save the situation, he invited Zhang Lu to send troops. However, Zhang Lu sent 5,000 troops to station at Baishui Pass, but because he was afraid of Sun Jian's troops, he dared not go south again.

Although Zhang Lu had no intention of rescuing the enemy, he did want to expand his territory. Since most of his troops were in Ba County, he sent his younger brother Zhang Wei to lead troops to occupy Ba County in order to expand his power.

Just as Liu's rule in Yizhou collapsed, Tao Shang's rule in Xuzhou was in jeopardy.

Gao Gan led the Taishan generals into Xuzhou and laid siege to Xiapi. Cao Cao led his troops to Donghai, recruited soldiers and expanded his strength. Lu Bu, at the request of Tao Shang, led his troops to rescue.

Lü Bu led his troops to Xia Pi. Because the enemy was numerous and his troops were few, he led his close associates Cheng Lian, Wei Yue and others to charge into the front line. They beheaded enemies every day and returned with heads every day. This continued for more than ten days. Finally, Gao Gan led his troops to withdraw the siege.

Tao Shang joined forces with Lu Bu and adopted Chen Deng's plan to alienate Zang Ba and Gao Gan. However, because Cao Cao and Gao Gan had joined forces, the plan was unfortunately discovered by Xun Yu.

The two used the same trick against each other. Zang Ba pretended to surrender to Tao Shang and agreed to attack Gao Gan together. Chen Gong felt that Cao Cao was very deceitful and was afraid that Zang Ba's surrender was a trick, so he advised Lu Bu not to go with Tao Shang. Therefore, Lu Bu became suspicious and only Cao Bao led his troops to attack Gao Gan at night.

At that time, Zang Ba turned against Cao Bao and fought back, and Cao Bao was defeated. Cao Cao led his army to kill Cao Bao, and only a few hundred remaining soldiers escaped back to Xia Pi City. At this point, Tao Qian's direct troops were almost completely wiped out.

After killing Cao Bao and severely injuring Tao Shang, Cao Cao had no intention of fighting for territory with Gao Gan, so he asked to lead his troops to Huainan to fight Yuan Shu. However, Gao Gan was afraid that Cao Cao would seize power, so he was happy to see Cao Cao go south to Guangling.

After Cao Cao led his troops south to Guangling, he drove away the county governor Chen Gui, occupied various counties in Guangling, and recruited refugees to farm.

At that time, Yuan Shu beat the emperor and conferred him a duke, beheaded Dong Cheng and the ministers Wu Fan and Wang Fu, and aroused public resentment. Liu Yao of Jiujiang and Lu Kang of Lujiang formed an alliance and wanted to jointly fight against Yuan Shu.

Seeing this, Cao Cao, under the pretext of reviving the Han Dynasty and attacking Yuan Shu, not only contacted the various clans that were friendly with the Cao family, but also wanted to form an alliance with Liu Yao.

Seeing that Cao Cao, who had a stronger army, was willing to form an alliance, the two were overjoyed and formed an alliance with Cao Cao. With Cao Cao as the leader of the alliance, they issued a manifesto to denounce Yuan Shu.

In Xiapi, although Tao Qian's troops were badly defeated, Lu Bu still had troops. Gao Gan saw that he could not take Xiapi for the time being, so he occupied Donghai in the east due to the shortage of troops and food, and made Tan County the state capital, and appointed many generals from Taishan as prefects.

After Gao Gan withdrew his troops, Tao Shang was worried that Gao Gan would come back the next year, so he invited Lü Bu to station troops in Pei County. Lü Bu was concerned about the counties in Yanzhou, so he appointed Wei Xu as the Prime Minister of Pei and stationed troops in Pei County.

At this point, Tao Shang only had Xia Pi and Peng Cheng. However, because Peng Cheng had been massacred by Cao Cao, the counties were in decline. Therefore, Tao Shang nominally had two counties, but in reality only had the ruined Xia Pi.

Time flies to the second year of Jianxing. Under Liu Xie's canonization, Yuan Shu has become the King of Chu. The envoy he sent to hunt down Liu Bei has now reached Jiaoling.

Guangxin, the provincial capital.

"I am under the order of the King of Chu and have been ordered to go south to hunt down the traitor Liu Bei. I hope you can send Liu Bei to Wancheng to be executed." The envoy Du Jia said to Zhu Fu arrogantly while sitting at the side seat.

Zhu Fu was dissatisfied with Du Jia's arrogant attitude and said calmly: "Liu Xuande is a noble of the Han Dynasty. Now that he has made contributions to the diplomatic relations, what crime has Liu Xuande committed?"

Liu Bei was a social expert. When he arrived at Jiaoling, Zhu Fu's attitude was not enthusiastic. However, after getting along with Liu Bei, Zhu Fu gradually developed a friendship with him and regarded Liu Bei as a guest. Therefore, when Yuan Shu sent an envoy to ask for Liu Bei, Zhu Fu still wanted to protect Liu Bei.

Seeing Zhu Fu's refusal to cooperate, Du Jia gradually became dissatisfied and bowed to the north, saying: "Liu Bei deliberately plotted to murder the King of Chu. Today, the emperor issued an edict, calling Liu Bei a traitor to the country and strictly ordering all counties to arrest Liu Bei."

"National traitor?"

Zhu Fu sneered and said sarcastically: "The King of Chu beat Your Majesty, is he a traitor to the country?" Du Jia said with a stern expression: "This is a rumor. The King of Chu respects the Han Dynasty and has made contributions to the eastward support of Luoyang. Now he has made contributions to the southward protection of Wancheng. If we don't confer him the title of king, how can we honor the King of Chu's achievements?"

Du Jia said with a heavier tone, "My king rules over the Yangtze River, covering a thousand miles from east to west, and spanning four states. He has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of millions of people. If you do not obey the imperial edict, do not blame the King of Chu for leading his troops south to wipe out the infested areas."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Fu, who had been mocking Yuan Shu before, suddenly became quiet. He was frightened by Yuan Shu's strength and didn't know whether he should protect Liu Bei.

"The envoys must have had a lot of hard work traveling south!"

Zhu Fu was silent for a while, then said, "Liu Bei is not in Guangxin now, the envoy can stay here for a few days."

"Thank you so much, envoy!"

Seeing that Zhu Fu chose to surrender, Du Jia smiled triumphantly, bowed and retreated.

After Du Jia left, Zhu Fu looked at his confidant Yu Bao and asked, "Yuan Shu asked for Liu Bei from Jiaozhou. Should we hand him over now?"

Yu Bao said without hesitation: "The Han barbarians in Jiaozhou are arrogant, and you are worried about the generals. If you offend Yuan Shu for Liu Bei, you will incur Yuan Shu's hatred. So in my opinion, you can hand over Liu Bei and his entourage and send someone to Wancheng to punish them."

"I'm afraid it's inappropriate!"

Liu Yan shook his head and said, "Liu Bei is a relative of the Han Dynasty. He is now a disciple of the Nantou Envoy. He is raising an army to attack Yuan Shu. The Envoy and his son have been deeply indebted to the Han Dynasty and have enjoyed Han salaries for many years. Without the imperial court's appointment, how could the Envoy ever become a governor? Therefore, how can we help Yuan and not Liu now?"

Zhu Fu was silent again. The Zhu family of Kuaiji was originally a small family. His father Zhu Jun studied hard and became an official. If the Han Dynasty had not promoted him to an official position, the Zhu family would not be as prosperous as it is today. Therefore, the Zhu family can be said to have been deeply benevolent to the Han Dynasty. However, although the Han Dynasty's kindness was unforgettable, Zhu Fu was more worried that Yuan Shu would raise an army to attack him because he took in Liu Bei.

While Zhu Fu was thinking, he suddenly saw Liu Bei walking into the hall crying.

As soon as he saw Zhu Fu, Liu Bei suddenly knelt on the ground and burst into tears.

Seeing Liu Bei crying, Zhu Fu felt sorry for him and stood up to greet him, asking, "Why is Xuande crying?"

Liu Bei wiped his tears and said, "Yuan Shu sent an envoy to force you, but I don't want to embarrass you, so I am willing to follow Yuan's envoy back to Wan."

"However, if something unfortunate happens to me, I hope you can remember the kindness of the Han Dynasty and don't disappoint the emperor. Moreover, Yuan Shu humiliated the Han Dynasty, killed the queen and slaughtered the ministers, which was infuriating to both humans and gods. If there is a chance, I hope you can lead an expedition to the north to defeat him and save the Han Dynasty from decline."

Zhu Fu felt ashamed and helped Liu Bei up, saying, "Xuan De is my retainer and a meritorious official of the Han Dynasty. How could I betray you and hand you over to Yuan Shu?"

Zhu Fu invited Liu Bei to sit down and said, "I have no intention of sending Xuande to Yuan Shu. I am just worried about how to fight against Yuan Shu. The messenger said that if I don't follow Yuan Shu's wishes, he will lead 100,000 troops from four states to the south to attack Jiaoling."

Hearing this, Liu Bei was overjoyed. He cried and said goodbye to Zhu Fu, hoping to make a move. If he could resolve Zhu Fu's doubts, he would be protected by Zhu Fu and could persuade him to march north.

Liu Bei hesitated for a moment, then said in a serious tone, "What Yuan Shu said was nothing but a lie to you. Jiaoling is a place full of malaria, thousands of miles away from Wancheng. If Yuan Shu led his army to the south, it would cost tens of billions of rations and soldiers. And you led your troops to block the Lingqu Canal, how could Yuan Shu's army reach Jiaoling?"

"Besides, Yuan Shu had Yuan Shao and Zhang Yu as enemies in the north, and Liu Yao and Lu Kang rebelling in the east. If he sent 100,000 troops south, would Zhang Yu, Yuan Shao, and Liu Yao remain indifferent? Moreover, Sun Jian led his troops to the west to attack Yizhou, and Yuan Shu left Jingzhou without permission. Wasn't he afraid that Sun Jian would rebel?"

Liu Bei bowed to Zhu Fu and said in a deep voice: "From the above, it can be seen that Yuan Shu's words of raising a large army to attack you are actually lies, hoping to make you betray the Han Dynasty."

"In Xuande's opinion, Yuan Shu will not march south to Jiaoling?" Zhu Fu asked suspiciously.

"No!"

Liu Bei looked solemn, pretending to be thinking for Zhu Fu, and said, "Because of external enemies and internal troubles, Yuan Shu has no intention of leading the army to the south, but he may send a general to lead the army to the south. And considering Yuan Shu's suspicion of Sun Jian and the cost of sending troops thousands of miles away, the maximum number of troops he will send to the south is 20,000."

"If 20,000 troops march south, and you send 5,000 elite soldiers to hold the line, and hold the enemy without fighting, and consume their food supplies, within a few months, the enemy will probably flee. If you then send troops to pursue and kill them, you will surely win a great victory. If you do not give up, I am willing to serve as your vanguard with my meager strength."

"it is good!"

Zhu Fu clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Xuan De really has a great plan, I will follow your opinion!"

(End of this chapter)