Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 46 No Taboos
After Cheng Pu met Wang Yun, Wang Yun admired his intelligence and appointed him as Wu Meng's assistant and kept him by his side.

Cheng Pu, grateful for Wang Yun's promotion, regarded himself as Wang Yun's "running dog".

During the period when the armies of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were resting, Kong Rong, who was recruited by Wang Yun, arrived in a hurry. Because of Kong Rong's high reputation, Cao Cao went out to meet Kong Rong.

Wang Yun decisively appointed Kong Rong as the governor to assist him in governing Yuzhou.

While welcoming Kong Rong, Zhang Yu met Cao Cao. His performance in the big tent that day attracted Cao Cao's attention, and Cao Cao took the initiative to greet Zhang Yu.

Although Zhang Yu was quite interested in "Married Woman Cao", since it was their first meeting, the two of them only exchanged names and talked briefly about the situation.

After arriving at the camp, Kong Rong learned that Huangfu Song intended to kill the prisoners, so he started to criticize Huangfu Song harshly, saying that his ideological values were problematic.

Huangfu Song really didn't want to argue with Kong Rong, and it was time to send troops, so he led his army west alone to attack Bo Cai who had fled to Yangdi.

Zhu Jun set out shortly afterwards and marched quickly eastward to attack Peng Tuo who had fled to Xihua.

In May, Huangfu Song defeated Bo Cai and Zhu Jun severely injured Peng Tuo. Bo and Peng fled to the mountains and forests and their whereabouts are unknown.

At this point, the main force of the Yellow Turbans in the three counties of Ru, Ying and Chen, led by Bo Cai and Peng Tuo, was suppressed.

In the same month, the imperial court conferred the title of Marquis of Duxiang on Huangfu Song and the title of Marquis of Xixiang on Zhu Jun based on the two generals' military achievements.

Cao Cao was directly promoted to the position of Prime Minister of Jinan due to his family background and was ordered to pacify the Yellow Turbans in Jinan. Sun Jian was promoted from Assistant Army Sima to Other Army Sima under the recommendation of Zhu Jun.

In response to the captured Yellow Turbans, the imperial court ordered that the appeasement plan proposed by Wang Yun be followed, which was to "kill the main culprits and pardon the remaining evildoers."

Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and Wang Yun worked together to suppress the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou. As Wang Yun's subordinate, Zhang Yu was very busy every day.

At the same time, the situation in the world changed again.

For example, in Nanyang, Zhang Mancheng had killed the governor Chu Gong and occupied Wancheng. In a hurry, the court appointed Qin Jie, the commander of Jiangxia, as the governor of Nanyang, led the Jiangxia troops and joined forces with Xu Qiu, the governor of Jingzhou, to attack Zhang Mancheng.

Zhang Mancheng died in the battle with the Han army, and Zhao Hong succeeded Zhang Mancheng and barely confronted the troops of Jingzhou. However, because the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou were suppressed by the Han army, a large number of Yellow Turbans poured into Nanyang from Yuzhou. Zhao Hong gathered more than 100,000 people, defeated the Han army, and reoccupied Wancheng.

In the Dongjun area, Bu Ji attacked the counties with great momentum and cut off the Yellow River transport. He echoed the three brothers Zhang Jue in Hebei.

Although Lu Zhi, who was in charge of the expedition against Hebei, had initially won a victory over the Yellow Turbans, the situation was still grim. Under the false accusations of the eunuchs, Lu Zhi was imprisoned and questioned. Dong Zhuo was appointed to take charge of the expedition against the Yellow Turbans in Hebei.

Seeing the situation develop in this way, Emperor Ling of Han immediately ordered Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to stop suppressing the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou and lead their troops to other battlefields.

In June, the court ordered Zhu Jun to lead troops south to supervise the troops in Jingzhou, to attack Zhao Hong and completely resolve the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang; Huangfu Song led troops north to attack the Yellow Turbans in Dongjun and open up the Yellow River water transport to change the unfavorable situation of the Han army in Hebei.

Sun Jian had recovered and said goodbye to Zhang Yu as he was about to go south with Zhu Jun. Zhang Yu would also go south with Wang Yun to work in Yingyin, the temporary state capital.

Cao Cao had already taken Xiahou Dun to Jinan to take up his post, and did not say hello to anyone before leaving.

On the way, Wang Yun and Kong Rong rode in the same carriage, chatting and laughing with each other, while Zhang Yu, as a military officer, led people to guard the carriage with Cheng Pu.

Holding the reins, Zhang Yu glanced at Kong Rong in the carriage, feeling a little dissatisfied.

Kong Rong was a Confucian scholar from Guandong and a typical young man who became famous at a young age. He was also a proud and arrogant person.

When they learned that he was from the frontier, they showed no disdain in their words. They even called the Hu people among the cavalry "captives", which was really not pleasant to hear.

"When will it take you to get to Yingyin?"

Kong Rong held the wooden railing with his hands, and the way he spoke was just like when he was asking questions to a servant.

Out of respect for Wang Yun, Zhang Yu bowed and replied, "Sir, it's still more than ten miles to Yingyin. According to the scouts, Lord Yin has led his men to meet us outside the city."

Kong Rong commented with a smile, saying: "Yin Yuanji was able to understand the situation. He knew that the Yellow Turbans were rising and planned to attack the county seat. He led his officials to Yingyin to defend it. If he had been a step late, he would have died at the hands of the Yellow Turbans."

Compared to Kong Rong's casual tone, Wang Yun's tone seemed much more serious.

"Although Governor Yin was responsible for the loss of territory, his crime of losing territory was immeasurable due to the rampage of the Yellow Turbans. Now he is able to lead the soldiers and civilians to defend Yingyin and maintain peace in the area. This is really not easy!" Wang Yun said

When the Yellow Turbans caused chaos in Yuzhou, the county seat of Yangdi was the first to be attacked. The prefect Yin Xiu led his people to flee to Yingyin to temporarily avoid the attack. He also recruited Xun Yu as the chief clerk, and together with his subordinates, they defended Yingyin.

When Zhang Yu learned about the list of Yin Xiu's subordinates due to work needs, he was quite surprised.

In addition to Xun Yu, the chief clerk, there were Zhang Zhong, the official in charge of the Five Officials, Zhong Yao, the official in charge of Gong Cao, Guo Tu, the official in charge of accounting, Zhang Li, the official in charge of recording, and Du You, the official in charge of thieves. There were nearly ten people on the list of the above subordinates, and three of them left their names in history.

Perhaps this change of direction confirms the saying that the talents of a county are enough to conquer the world!
While they were talking and laughing, Kong Rong became curious and asked, "Zi Ming did not serve in the prefectures and counties, but Zi Shi reserved a position for him. I wonder what strategy he used to recruit him to serve as an official."

Wang Yun stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "Even though Wen Ju did not serve in the prefectures and counties, I still recruited him. Why can't I recruit Xun Shuang to serve as an official now?"

Kong Rong curled his lips and said, "If you hadn't used Duke Ciming as an excuse, I wouldn't have been bewitched by you and come all the way from Lu."

Obviously, Wang Yun was able to recruit the famous scholar Kong Rong not because of his status and reputation, but because he used Xun Shuang's name to attract Kong Rong to serve. Wang Yun had no intention of hiding it, and said with a smile: "Although the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou have been pacified, there are still remnants of the rebellion. When I recruited Ci Mingjun, I cited his hometown feelings. I said that he was a noble man from Yingchuan, and how could he remain indifferent when his hometown was in chaos. In order to ensure a quick peace, I hope he can take the initiative to serve."

"Jun Ciming had no intention of becoming an official, but I persuaded him with my hometown sentiments and repeated letters. He then took the overall situation into consideration and had no choice but to become an official."

Wang Yun was able to recruit Xun Shuang to serve as an official by using a clever trick.

As Zhang Yu said that day, the best way to deal with scholars like Xun Shuang who seem to be not interested in official titles is to use reputation or morality to force them to take up official positions.

As a native of Yingchuan, Xunshang could usually refuse the invitations from the three dukes and prefectures on the grounds that he did not like the official title. But now that his hometown was in trouble and there was a job to help his hometown that needed Xunshang to take, he could not refuse on the grounds that he did not like the official title.

After all, if you want to take the crown, you must bear the burden. Xun Shuang was burdened by his reputation. If he refused to serve as an official and was unwilling to solve the disaster for his hometown, then his reputation would backfire on him.

But Xunshang was not so easily manipulated by Wang Yun. In his letter, he only promised to help Wang Yun pacify the people, but would not be responsible for specific civil affairs. Moreover, once the civil unrest was resolved, he would resign and return home.

Wang Yun didn't care. He only needed Xun Shuang's short-term help, and Kong Rong was his other mascot.

"Master Prince has great skills!"

Kong Rong shook his head and smiled, saying, "You are the first person to invite Lord Ciming to serve as an official."

Kong Rong pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "How do you explain your trick to deceive me?"

Wang Yun apologized repeatedly in order to keep Kong Rong. Kong Rong walked down the stairs and talked about other things with Wang Yun.

Seeing this, Cheng Pu came up to Zhang Yu and whispered, "Although Kong Wenju is a great scholar, how can he be so disrespectful and talk nonsense with Envoy Wang!"

Zhang Yu said calmly, "Kong Wenju thinks highly of himself, how could he easily be submissive? What he did now is nothing more than to show you and me that he is not an official, and his status is different from yours and mine."

"Your Excellency has your own plans in mind, so please be patient with me!"

"good!"

Zhang Yu had dealt with many people in his previous life, and he had some understanding of the nature of different people. Kong Rong's behavior was nothing more than that he thought that he and Wang Yun were of the same status, and he would not act according to the superior and subordinate relationship.

It is not difficult to understand why Kong Rong looked down on them. First, it was Kong Rong's own pride as they were born in border counties; second, as he said, Kong Rong wanted to highlight his equal status with Wang Yun.

"arrive!"

The riders who led the way reported back to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Yu drove his horse closer to the carriage and reported to Wang Yun, saying, "Your Excellency has arrived in Yingyin. Now the Lord of Yin has led his officials and military officers to meet you outside the city."

"it is good!"

Not long after, when the convoy had traveled one mile forward, Yin Xiu was seen leading officials from Yingchuan County to greet them.

"Greetings, Wang Yuzhou!"

Greeted by Yin Xiu and Xun Yu, Wang Yun got off the carriage and returned the greetings to the people who came out to greet him.

Wang Yun exchanged pleasantries with everyone and saw that Xun Shuang was nowhere to be seen. He asked, "Why can't I see Lord Ciming?"

"My lord, Lord Ciming is not in good health and cannot come out to meet you for the time being," Xun Yu replied.

"Why don't you go to the mansion hall to rest first? Xiu has already prepared a banquet in the hall!" Yin Xiu said.

Wang Yun smiled and said, "Jun Ciming is the elder, so we need to welcome him first, and then we can go to the banquet!"

"Please lead the way..."

While Wang Yun was talking to Yin Xiu, Zhang Yu also met the officials of Yingchuan County and introduced themselves to each other.

In the crowd, Zhang Yu secretly observed Xun Yu and Zhong Yao, feeling really envious!

But even though he was envious, Zhang Yu was very clear that he could only make friends with two people at most.

"Meet Commander Zhang!"

Zhang Yu looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Guo Tu who took the initiative to greet him. He bowed and said in return, "Hello, Mr. Guo!"

On the way to greet Xun Shuang, Zhang Yu and Guo Tu were chatting and laughing.

When reading history, one might have disliked Guo Tu, but now Zhang Yu had no taboos and would talk to almost any talented person he met, not to mention Guo Tu who took the initiative to talk to him.

Even though Guo Tu was unreliable, he was able to leave his name in history and become Yuan Shao's confidant, which must have meant that he had some outstanding qualities.

(End of this chapter)