Tiger Guards

Chapter 203: Embarrassing Situation
Shanyang County in the eastern part of Yanzhou, Dongmincheng.

Drought and food shortages also weighed on Lu Bu. The most embarrassing thing was that there were less than 700 horses in the army.

Last spring, Cao Cao sent troops to attack the governor of Jiyin County in Dingtao. Dingtao spans both sides of the Ji River and is divided into two cities, north and south. The governor, Wu Zi, retreated to the south city, and the situation was critical.

Lu Bu led his troops to rescue, but failed to defeat Cao Cao's offensive. Both sides retreated and saved Wu Zi.

At the beginning of summer, Cao Cao led his troops to attack Xue Lan and Li Feng who were stationed in Juye Lake in Shanyang County. Upon hearing the news, Lu Bu went to rescue them, but was repelled by Cao Cao again, and Xue Lan was killed in the battle.

So Lü Bu gathered all the troops together and, together with Chen Gong, led over 10,000 men to march north to rescue.

When Lu Bu suddenly attacked, Cao Cao divided his troops to harvest wheat, leaving the camp empty, and used a trick to confuse the enemy into retreating.

After returning to the camp, Lu Bu also realized the situation and led his entire army to attack the next day, while Cao Cao's troops returned and set up an ambush.

Cao Cao defeated Lu Bu by setting an ambush and chased Lu Bu's defeated soldiers to the enemy camp.

From then on, Lu Bu's power declined greatly, and after Cao Cao won a great victory in the field battle, he turned around and easily captured Dingtao and killed Wu Zi.

Since that battle, Lu Bu's strength has not recovered to this day, and he is unable to extort any decent supplies from the surrounding areas.

In winter, the imperial court sent envoys to invite Lü Bu to lead his troops to defend the king, but Lü Bu was powerless and had no food.

The imperial court then sent someone to deliver the imperial edict and seal of General Pingdong and Marquis Pingtao to Lü Bu. However, when the messenger arrived in Shanyang and was about to meet Lü Bu, the edict and seal were lost, making it impossible for Lü Bu to control Qingxu County through the title of General Pingdong.

At the beginning of this year, Cao Cao led his troops to defeat the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan and Runan, solving the food shortage problem in winter and spring; then he mobilized the Qingzhou troops to attack Liang State and killed the governor Guo Gong.

Lu Bu can't even get enough to eat here, and Guo Gong is not much better off. The Qingzhou soldiers at least have a fixed income from military settlements.

Lu Bu could only watch as the governor Guo Gong, who had more troops and a more legitimate position than him, was killed.

Now Cao Cao doesn't provoke him, not because he is afraid of him, but because he doesn't want to provoke Lu Bu. If Lu Bu withdraws from half of Shanyang and joins forces with Liu Bei or Yuan Shu, and has reliable allies who are interdependent, it will inevitably involve Cao Cao's precious mobile forces.

By now, Lu Bu was feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Cao Cao had basically massacred all the governors of Yanzhou counties. Last spring, he even surrounded Yongqiu and besieged the city for several months, killing hundreds of people from the clans of his good friends, the brothers Zhang Chao and Zhang Miao.

Zhang Miao was also killed by his guards on his way to seek help from Yuan Shu.

This year, Cao Cao went even deeper into Yuzhou and took over the two most powerful counties of Ru and Ying.

But there were still people who dared to resist Cao Cao, such as Zang Hong, the prefect of Dongjun, who was originally Zhang Chao's former subordinate.

When Zhang Chao was besieged in Yongqiu, he asked for help from all parties. After hearing the news, Zang Hong asked Yuan Shao to borrow troops, but Yuan Shao did not respond. When the news came that Yongqiu City was captured and Zhang Chao committed suicide, Zang Hong, the drafter of the oath of the coalition forces to fight against Dong Zhuo and the speaker who swore an oath to heaven and earth on behalf of the princes, immediately announced his separation from Yuan Shao.

So Yuan Shao sent troops to besiege Dongwuyang City where Zang Hong was located. The officials and people in the city insisted on living and dying with Zang Hong.

It has almost become a dead city, with drought and locust plagues everywhere.

Dongwuyang City has been under siege since August last year. Even if the city is breached, there will probably be few survivors.

Zang Hong's envoy escaped from the city wall by rope, even though the besieging army was intentionally letting the water out, and Zang Hong's envoy came to ask Lu Bu for help.

But Lu Bu was also waiting for this year's wheat harvest. Only after the summer wheat was harvested could Lu Bu gather his troops and have a precious opportunity to take action.

Rescue Zang Hong...what good can this do?
If Zang Hong is still the governor of Qingzhou, then if we rescue Zang Hong, we can govern Qingzhou together with Zang Hong and have a place to stay. At the very least, we can replenish military supplies, soldiers and equipment.

But now in Dongwuyang City, everyone is starving like a skeleton, and is caught between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

The reason they were able to hold out until now was most likely because the attacking Hebei Army generals respected Zang Hong and did not want to be stained with his blood.

They could be polite to Zang Hong because the city wall was there and the soldiers could not attack it was an objective factor. It was impossible for Yuan Shao to replace all the military officers.

If Lu Bu led his troops to rescue Zang Hong, he would be treated differently.

Not to mention Yuan Shao, even Cao Cao would send troops to cooperate with Yuan Shao in a pincer attack and interception.

Lu Bu didn't want to save him, but Chen Gong did.

Chen Gong himself was from Dongwuyang and admired Zang Hong's character.

However, the lack of food in the army was an objective factor, and there were no reliable friendly forces to provide support, so even Chen Gong could only spend the night worrying.

Until, Zhang Yang's second wave of envoys successfully arrived at Dongmin City alive.

The first wave of envoys disappeared inexplicably, and the second wave of envoys mixed in with the imperial envoy team.

In theory, this group of envoys was going to meet Liu Bei of Xuzhou, but when they were passing through Shanyang and sailing down the Si River, they suddenly abandoned their ship and came to Dongmincheng on the south bank.

Zhang Yang's envoy immediately came to see Lü Bu. When Chen Gong arrived, he saw Lü Bu holding a dagger and pulling out a silk scroll from a leopard-print fur hat.

At this moment, Lu Bu's face flushed red as he recalled the beautiful memories between him and Zhang Yang.

He opened the silk book and read it carefully. His face changed: "That's too much!"

Chen Gong stood up curiously, rolled up his sleeves and approached. Lü Bu also handed him the silk scroll and said, "Gongtai, judging by the actions of the imperial court, I think they already know about Cao Cao's murder of Guo Gong."

Chen Gong studied Zhang Yang's silk letter. He did not believe the statement in the letter about sending 2,000 horses. If he wanted to send 2,000 horses, he would need at least 2,000 knights, and more horses would be needed for consumption.

It was convenient for them to come to the Central Plains, and Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were unable to react in time and found it difficult to stop them.

It would be extremely difficult to retreat back to Hedong.

What really interested Chen Gong was to unite the Liu clan and attack the Yuan-Cao alliance.

The deep core of the Yuan-Cao alliance is the struggle between the two Yuans. The brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu seem to be fighting among themselves, but they have actually set off two storms of confrontation, leveraging each other's strength to sweep away the surrounding forces.

It indirectly led to the formation of the alliance between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, the alliance between Yuan Shu, Gongsun Zan and Sun Jian, and Tao Qian's dominance in the imperial court.

As far as the Guandong region is concerned, during his lifetime, Tao Qian was actually a big boss who was not tolerated by the two Yuan systems.

And now Lu Bu is also not tolerated by the two Yuans. Like Tao Qian and Liu Bei, he obeys the court.

Although Zhang Yang's envoy arrived slowly, the bad reputation of the Zhao family's ancestors and descendants had already spread to Shanyang and Xuzhou.

The Langya royal family even dug up an old case. This royal family was on good terms with Cao Cao and had begun to publicize the old case of Zhao Ji's biological father killing members of the royal family and fleeing to Hedong.

Although it was an old case from thirty years ago, one could still see how vicious the Zhao family of Langya was.

Chen Gong held the silk book and fell into deep thought.

In order to save Zang Hong, he has secretly contacted Yuan Shu. As long as Yuan Shu can send military supplies, he will be able to persuade Lu Bu to rescue Dongwuyang.

Most of the people in Dongwuyang City are Chen Gong’s fellow villagers and old friends. How could they just stand by and watch him die?
Chen Gong still believed in Yuan Shu's ability. If Yuan Shu really wanted to transport food to Lu Bu, the food did not need to be shipped from Huainan... Some people under Cao Cao's rule could inexplicably lose food and military equipment, and these things would appear in Shanyang.

As an idol of a generation and the top teenager twenty years ago, although Yuan Shu is currently in a rather bad state, the Luoyang teenagers who followed Yuan Shu in racing in the past have all become the backbone of their families.

It is acceptable to be more secretive and lose some food.

Yuan Shu was so amazing that he could always get troops and food from inexplicable places, but he could never get troops and food from the areas under his rule.

But if you read Zhang Yang's letters, you will find that he highly praised Zhao Ji's bravery, as if he were a precious pearl lost in the mountains.

Looking at Zhang Yang's handwriting, Chen Gong felt that Zhao Ji was another evil young man who was even more arrogant than Yuan Shu back then.

Chen Gong put the letter down and said, "Sir, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have joked with you about General Zhang. I think we should immediately send envoys to Yuan Shu and Liu Bei to discuss important matters."

Lü Bu sat upright, puzzled. "Yuan Shu has long been eyeing Xuzhou. How can I convince him? If I can't convince Yuan Shu, how can Liu Bei dare to raise an army to defeat those two thieves?"

Chen Gong returned to his seat and calmly replied, "If it's to save Zang Ziyuan, Yuan Shu will be able to restrain himself... Even if he refuses, according to the court's plan, all the Liu clans will unite, and Yuan Shu will be surrounded. What can he do? Although Liu Bei is a member of the imperial clan, he comes from a humble background. Now that he has received the court's call, he will certainly obey and raise an army. Although Xuzhou is in ruins, if Liu Bei is willing to support our army, in my opinion, 100,000 dan of military rations can be brought up the Si River within half a month."

The better Zang Hong's reputation was, the bigger the slap in Yuan Shao's face was after he was rescued.

In order to make things difficult for Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu would most likely agree.

Seeing Lü Bu deep in thought, Chen Gong knew what was wrong with him and struck while the iron was hot, saying, "If this Minister Zhao is really as General Zhang says, and is only slightly less valiant than you, then he would be a perfect son-in-law for you. Throughout the land, who among the younger generation can compare to him?"

Lu Bu felt relieved after hearing this. Even the bravest man would have a headache and worry about his daughter's marriage.

People like him are rare, so he can more or less accept finding someone similar to himself.

Zhao Ji was able to gather the young men of Hedong to sweep away the four generals of Baibo, and even killed the four generals with his own hands. This bravery and strength is worthy of his daughter.

As for the two thousand horses and the like, they are not that important.

Lü Bu nodded immediately and said, "Gongtai, quickly arrange for suitable personnel to be sent as envoys to various parties. When the summer heat subsides, in late July, we will march north against the Si River to rescue Zang Ziyuan!"

Zang Hong was the main drafter of the manifesto for the coalition forces against Dong Zhuo, and he was also the one who took the lead in swearing an oath to heaven and earth.

Compared with Yuan Shao, Zang Hong was more respected by the princes at that time and was more like a leader of the alliance.

If Zang Hong were rescued and allowed to draft a manifesto to punish the two thieves Yuan and Cao, that would be a beautiful scene.

Zang Hong is from Guangling, and with the accumulated hatred, the people of Xuzhou will naturally follow him and risk their lives!

(End of this chapter)