Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 37: Siege of Changsha
In the fourth month of the seventh year of Guanghe reign, Xingyang.

When Zhang Yu rushed to Hulao Pass from Mengjin, he could not find any trace of Wang Yun. After asking people around him, he found out that Wang Yun had already left the pass on a bicycle and went to Xingyang first.

Fearing that Wang Yun might encounter the remnants of the enemy troops and bandits, Zhang Yu rode non-stop to Xingyang.

When Zhang Yu arrived in Xingyang, he found that Wang Yun was not in the city. After some understanding, Zhang Yu followed the official road and learned from the officials that Wang Yun was distributing grain to help the refugees.

On the empty road, thousands of refugees were carrying bags, with women and children inside and strong people outside, some pushing carts or driving ox carts.

A thatched hut was set up by the roadside, and all the disaster victims passing by could share the porridge with their bowls.

"Bah!"

When Zhang Yu arrived with a hundred mixed Han and Hu cavalry, the refugees were immediately panicked. The strong men stayed outside with wooden spears, while the women and children huddled together, fearing that the Hu cavalry would rob them.

Wang Yun, who was in the straw hut, heard the noise of the cavalrymen but was not afraid at all. He went out alone with his sword in hand.

"Shut up!"

Zhang Yu raised his hand to signal his followers to stop, and he rode forward alone, shouting, "Do you know where the governor of Yuzhou is?"

"What's the matter?"

But then I saw a middle-aged scholar coming surrounded by a crowd. He had deep eyes, a thin figure, a beard down to his chest, and an air of majesty emanated from him.

Seeing the man's tone, Zhang Yu dismounted, saluted and said, "I am a Wumeng official from Yuzhou. I heard that Wang Yuzhou is here, so I came to protect him."

Wang Yun looked Zhang Yu up and down, and then looked at the dusty horsemen in the distance, and smiled and said, "I am Wang Zishi, the governor of Yuzhou, and you are my brother's son-in-law, Zhang Yu, Zhang Ji'an?"

"Zhang Ji'an pays homage to the envoy!"

Zhang Yu bowed and said, "The road from Qi County to Henan is long. If I am delayed on the road, I hope you will forgive me!"

"nothing!"

Wang Yun nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile: "Ji'an has arrived at the right time. I was just about to go to Zhu Zhonglang's army."

Wang Yun pointed to the hundred riders behind Zhang Yu and said, "Ji'an has traveled day and night, and must be exhausted. Let the riders dismount and rest for a while."

"Dismount and rest, and do not disturb the people!"

"promise!"

Zhang Yu gave instructions to Li Song, signaling everyone to dismount and rest.

After receiving the order to dismount, the exhausted cavalrymen cheered and, under the leadership of Hao Zhao and Shi Yi, dispersed to the surrounding wilderness to rest.

Zhang Yu followed Wang Yun closely, waiting for Wang Yun's instructions.

"Envoy Wang!"

In the straw hut, many refugees lined up in front of a large wooden barrel. When they saw Wang Yun come in, they all bowed to express their gratitude.

The ragged man held two bowls and pleaded, "My daughter is young, can you give me an extra bowl?"

"One bowl per person, no changes!"

The cook spoke in a stiff tone, holding a large spoon.

"My daughter is outside, please give me an extra bowl!" the man begged.

The cook looked indifferent and said, "Next!"

"Step aside!"

Another ruffian pushed the man away, came forward with a wooden bowl, and flattered him, "Sir, please give me more rice."

The cook's expression remained unchanged. He casually scooped a spoonful of porridge and poured it into the bowl.

Seeing that there were so few grains of rice, the ruffian wanted to say something, but fearing Wang Yun's power, he had no choice but to leave quietly.

After walking a few steps, the ruffian drank a mouthful of porridge and felt that the taste was not right, so he spat out what was in his mouth and found that it was actually bran. He left cursing.

Seeing this, Wang Yun's expression became slightly cold, and Zhang Yu seemed to be thinking about something.

After a while, Li Song came over and whispered something in Zhang Yu's ear.

Zhang Yu nodded and asked, "Sir, my knights have been traveling for a long time and are thirsty. Can you lend me some porridge to quench my thirst?"

Wang Yun smiled and said, "I'm afraid the cavalrymen are not used to eating bran."

"Bran?"

Li Song hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is it because of food shortage that you are giving bran to the people?"

"Yes and no!"

Wang Yun stroked his beard and smiled faintly, saying: "I exchanged one stone of good rice from a wealthy family for three stone of bran. Originally, it could help three people, but now it can help nine people. Why not do it?"

"Moreover, the refugees are starving, so why would they complain when they can now eat bran porridge? On the contrary, those who have extra food in their pockets and are greedy for small profits will be dissatisfied when they see bran as porridge!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Song instantly understood Wang Yun's intention and praised him, "Your Excellency has a good way of providing relief to the people. I admire you deeply." Looking at the people who had to leave their homes because of the war, Wang Yun sighed, "The people were displaced by the war, and the court could not protect them. As a state official, I have done my best. How dare I accept your words of admiration!"

"Bran is hard to eat, and the cavalrymen are tired from running, so they must eat rice porridge."

Wang Yun ordered: "Come here, cook rice porridge for a hundred people!"

"promise!"

"Thank you for your care!" Zhang Yu said with a bow.

"Need not!"

Wang Yun said in a gentle tone, "There are no bandits near the capital. If we go south to Yingchuan, the bandits will be everywhere in the city and countryside, and we will need military cavalry to clear the way."

Zhang Yu hesitated for a moment and asked, "May I ask, Lord Wang, what is the current situation of the battle in Yingchuan?"

Wang Yun shook his head and sighed, saying, "The situation is not optimistic. Half a month ago, the left and right generals of the Central Army divided their troops into two groups and marched to encircle and suppress the bandit leader Bo Cai in Yangdi. Unexpectedly, Bo Cai knew military strategy and found an opportunity to advance, defeating the right general of the Central Army (Zhu Jun) and encircling the left general of the Central Army (Huangfu Song) in Changsha."

"Bo Cai gathered more than 100,000 people and besieged Changsha day and night. The General of the Central Army stationed his troops in Changge City because of the defeat and the reorganization of the army, hoping to lift the siege of Changsha after all the troops were ready."

Bo Cai was one of the few people in the Yellow Turban Army who knew about military affairs. He could see that Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song could not be allowed to join forces, so he first led his troops to defeat Zhu Jun, and then looked for an opportunity to encircle Huangfu Song.

"Then I wonder what your plan is?" Zhang Yu asked.

Wang Yun stroked his beard and chanted, saying, "I have sent many people to recruit the sons of the nobles of Yuzhou, and ordered them to lead troops to reinforce the Right Lieutenant General. So now I need to go to the Changge military camp to help Lieutenant General Zhu mobilize the troops of various units in Yuzhou."

As he was speaking, Wang Yun suddenly remembered something and asked his attendants, "Where have Cavalry Commander Cao Cao's troops reached?"

"My Lord, according to the distance, the troops under Commandant Cao will arrive in Changge soon and may meet General Zhu in the near future." The attendant said, "In addition, the assistant military commander Sun Jian has recruited a thousand elite soldiers from Huai and Si and is rushing to Changge day and night."

Compared with the battlefield in Hebei, the war zones of Runan, Yingchuan and Nanyang counties near Luoyang were very critical, so they attracted a large number of troops from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and heroes from all over the world were rushing to this area.

Zhang Yu opened the map and looked for the location of Changge.

"Changge is about a hundred miles away, and we need to pass through Mi County!" Zhang Yu asked, "When will we set out?"

Wang Yun looked at the porridge stall and said with a smile, "The porridge stall can be handed over to the officials of Chenliu County to take care of. I have nothing, so I can set off now. However, I see that Ji'an's men are tired, so why not leave tomorrow?"

Zhang Yu stood up and looked at his men. Seeing that they all looked exhausted, he said thoughtfully, "Please give me an hour, and then we can set out. When we reach Changge Camp, it won't be too late for the riders to rest."

"good!"

Taking advantage of the break, Wang Yun and Zhang Yu turned their conversation away from official business and talked about Wang Hong's recent situation. Zhang Yu took the opportunity to hand Wang Yun the letter of greetings from Wang Hong.

After some contact, Wang Yun had a good impression of his nephew's husband Zhang Yu. Needless to say, he was good-looking. In terms of work, Zhang Yu was steady, methodical, and always thought twice before acting.

As for Zhang Yu's impression of Wang Yun, if we remove his emotional preferences, he can clearly feel that Wang Yun has outstanding personal abilities, cares about the country, and loves the people like his own children. He can be considered a rare good official.

In the afternoon, Zhang Yu led a hundred cavalrymen to escort Wang Yun southward. In order to guard the surroundings and prevent encountering moth thieves, Zhang Yu sent out scouts to explore ahead.

The distance of more than 100 li could be covered in one day and one night for cavalry. However, considering that Wang Yun was traveling by car, Zhang Yu led his troops to travel slowly and it took two days to reach Changge.

Changge military camp, inside the big tent.

Zhu Jun paced in the big tent with his hands behind his back, feeling quite annoyed.

"General, Bo Cai has surrounded Changsha, and many of our scouts have been hunted down. We have not been able to contact General Huangfu yet." General Zhang Chao reported.

Zhu Jun frowned and asked, "Which batch is this?"

Zhang Chao asked, "General, we have sent out four groups of scouts, but the bandits are heavily guarded and the scouts have never been able to get in. Can we send out more scouts to sneak into Changsha in batches?"

In order to completely defeat Huangfu Song, Bo Cai cut off the communication between Changsha and the outside world. According to Zhu Jun, Bo Cai had been attacking for several consecutive days. Huangfu Song had only more than 10,000 troops, and was besieged in Changsha by Bo Cai's more than 100,000 troops.

Zhu Jun was really worried that Huangfu Song would not be able to withstand the Yellow Turbans' strong attack, and would either surrender to Bo Cai or abandon Changsha and flee. No matter which result, if Huangfu Song was defeated, he alone would find it difficult to resist Bo Cai's army.

Now, for the sake of Huangfu Song and his own troops, Zhu Jun must contact Huangfu Song in order to reassure the soldiers in the city.

Zhu Jun stopped and thought, "The scouts have suffered heavy losses and are now exhausted. They can no longer be used. We need to select brave men from the army and order them to sneak into Changsha City and contact the defenders."

"promise!"

"Report!"

The attendant quickly entered the tent and reported, "General, Yuzhou Governor Wang Yun has led a hundred cavalrymen to the outside of the camp. What are your orders now?"

"Wang Yuzhou has arrived?"

Zhu Jun was delighted to hear this and said with a smile: "Come and prepare a banquet. We should entertain Wang Yuzhou tonight."

"promise!"

After saying this, Zhu Jun quickly walked out of the tent and went outside the camp to greet Wang Yun.

Before Zhu Jun was appointed as the Right General of the Imperial Guard, he served as a counselor in the court. Wang Yun was appointed as the Imperial Censor and served in the same court as Zhu Jun, and the two had a good relationship.

This time, Zhu Jun was appointed as the Right General of the Central Army, and Wang Yun was one of the people who recommended him!
(End of this chapter)