Tiger Guards

Chapter 319 Strategist Yang Jun
As Tian Yu and Liu Hui arrived in Xudu with their troops, some scholars from Ruying who had sought refuge in Jingzhou also headed north.

In an effort to enhance the prestige of the imperial court, Zheng Xuan, who had been recruited earlier, answered the call to duty during the sweltering summer and died en route by imperial carriage.

At the same time, Yuan Zhong from Runan was also issued a conscription order, but he was the last to receive the news because he was living in Jiaozhou.

He died of old age and frailty when he passed through Jingzhou and Nanyang on his way north to answer the call for conscription.

However, scholars from all over the country, filled with the hope that the world would soon be at peace, flocked to Xuchang.

Lü Bu's general's staff was further strengthened. In addition to Xun Yu, the chief secretary of the staff, Lü Bu appointed Yang Jun, a native of Hanoi, to lead the western office, entrusting Yang Jun, a famous scholar who was determined to oppose Cao Cao, with the power to select staff members and officials.

Yang Jun was a student of Bian Rang, a famous scholar from Chenliu. Although Hanoi and Chenliu are different prefectures, they are culturally closer.

With Yang Jun overseeing things, they will naturally be on high alert to prevent the infiltration of Ru Ying scholars, and even the people of Nanyang will be targeted.

Compared to the two powerful traditional regional groups of Ruying and Nanyang, Yang Jun preferred to support the scholars of Jingnan.

Therefore, with Yang Jun's strong recommendation, Lü Bu recruited Huan Jie of Changsha as the Western Cao Yuan, and at the same time recruited Liu Ba of Lingling as the Chief Clerk of the General's Office.

Liu Ba's father, Liu Xiang, was the governor of Jiangxia County and the general who quelled bandits during the early stages of the campaign against Dong Zhuo, and was a staunch supporter of Sun Jian.

After Sun Jian killed Governor Wang Rui and Nanyang Prefect Zhang Zi, the Jingzhou troops who had been conquering the region showed signs of instability.

Yuan Shu wanted to use the prestige of the Yuan family of Runan to stabilize his internal affairs. However, the Jingzhou troops were not integrated and were in a mess. Yuan Shu also wanted to take advantage of the situation and tried to seize the Jingzhou troops.

With a large army gathering at Wankou, the pressure on military supplies is immense.

At this time, Dong Zhuo appointed Liu Biao as the governor of Jingzhou. After taking office, Liu Biao lured and killed more than fifty families of bandits, undermining Sun Jian's foundation in Jingnan and Jiangxia, and directly damaging the cohesion of the Jingzhou army. He then appointed Yuan Shu as the governor of Nanyang.

When Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang, the enormous pressure of supplying military provisions fell on the shoulders of the powerful families in Nanyang.

The end result was that many of the Jingzhou troops, whose relationship with the executed traitors was complex, were routed, and Yuan Shu also fell out with the people of Nanyang.

During this process, Liu Ba's father, Liu Xiang, was killed while suppressing the mutinous soldiers in Nanyang.

Those who plotted to kill Liu Xiang were naturally prominent families in Nanyang.

At that time, Liu Ba was studying in Xiangyang. Liu Biao disliked Liu Ba very much, so he sent Liu Xiang's former subordinate to lure Liu Ba to escape, intending to kill Liu Ba there.

Liu Ba remained unmoved and later returned to his home prefecture. After the mourning period ended, at the age of eighteen, he was recommended by Lingling Prefecture to serve as the Registrar of Households, the Accountant, and the Registrar.

As for whether Liu Ba, who is now 21 years old, would be willing to accept the job, Yang Jun was unsure.

However, if Liu Ba wanted to come, he could naturally break through Liu Biao's blockade. With the connections of Liu Ba's family, he could move freely within Huang Zu's territory in Jiangxia if he kept a low profile.

Meanwhile, under Yang Jun's planning, Lü Bu recruited Chen Yu as the Eastern Cao Yuan of his headquarters and ordered Chen Yu to lead his Guangling troops to guard the emperor.

Show Chen Yu a cooperative attitude; if Chen Yu dares to come, it will be tantamount to making an enemy of Yuan Shu.

Even now, Lü Bu still longs for the 200,000 shi of grain that Yuan Shu promised him.

After Sun Ce's core forces withdrew from Jiangdong, Jiangdong was left vulnerable as the imperial court summoned Wang Lang, the governor of Kuaiji, to the capital. Some of Sun Ce's former subordinates also took the initiative to welcome Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, and Liu Yao's forces made a comeback.

Sun Ce's former subordinates had no choice; if they didn't submit to Liu Yao, they would be purged by Yuan Shu.

That winter, Yuan Shu turned south in an attempt to completely annihilate Liu Yao and capture the families of Sun Ce's generals and officers, thereby undermining Sun Ce's main force.

Therefore, Yuan Shu has no interest in fighting Lü Bu, nor does he want to fight.

Therefore, the conflict between the two Chens in Guangling County, and the initiative to recruit Chen Yu, could allow the uncle and nephew Chen Yu and Chen Deng to end their struggle in a dignified manner.

With Guangling nearing unification, Chen Deng was able to resist Yuan Shu's encroachment.

Under Yang Jun's planning, Lü Bu simultaneously launched attacks against Liu Biao and Yuan Shu.

If an attack plan is devised specifically against Liu Biao, then Liu Biao will have no choice but to fight to the bitter end.

By gesturing with a bow back and forth between Liu Biao and Yuan Shu, Zhang Gong can effectively deter them and prevent Liu Biao from going down a dead-end path.

Compared to Chen Gong's single strategic plan of attacking Cao Cao, Xun Yu's strategy of defending the center, and Lou Gui's strategy of attacking Liu Biao, Yang Jun's strategy was more comprehensive, as he also brought Yuan Shu into the picture.

Once all the groundwork is laid, we can act at the opportune moment.

As for the possibility of Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shu forming an alliance to attack, the probability of that happening is extremely low.

Yang Jun's actions gave Lü Bu a sense of sudden enlightenment.

Because Yang Jun didn't care whether the next step was to hold the position or attack someone; Yang Jun's goal was simple: to choose the easiest target to attack.

In fact, this was also Xun Yu's strategy. Xun Yu's strategy was to sit in the court and observe from the sidelines, using political means to disintegrate or hollow out Liu Biao or Yuan Shu.

Make your move when the other party is facing internal and external difficulties.

When representing the imperial court to conquer a region, there is no need to be concerned about the gains or losses of a single city or place; one can directly attack the enemy's main camp.

Eliminating the enemy's main force and leaders in one battle will cause their power to collapse, allowing for their absorption in one fell swoop. This is the greatest advantage of the imperial system, as there are no obstacles to its takeover.

The difference between Xun Yu and Yang Jun is also obvious. Xun Yu did not follow Lü Bu's wishes to beautify the strategy, nor did he bother to explain in detail the subsequent changes of the defensive strategy.

Holding firm is merely a tactic; the purpose of holding on is to wait for the opponent to reveal their fatal weakness.

Xun Yu believed that Lü Bu should be able to understand these things, so he disdained to communicate in detail, ultimately because he did not want to explain everything in a humble manner.

In Lu Bu's eyes, Xun Yu's strategy was defensive, lacking variety, and had a passive and boring feel, like waiting for the opponent to collapse or die of old age.

Yang Jun, on the other hand, clearly told Lü Bu that the next step was to attack, with Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu as the targets.

The current inaction of the Le army is merely a reorganization of the troops and optimization of combat capabilities; the purpose is to launch a swift and decisive attack later.

After comparing Xun Yu and Yang Jun, Lü Bu naturally trusted Yang Jun more.

Even Chen Gong is no match for Yang Jun. Chen Gong only thinks about revenge, which is something that Lu Bu finds hard to understand.

Lu Bu also held grudges, but he couldn't understand Chen Gong's bias and stubbornness.

That winter, Zhao Ji was engrossed in the planning and construction of Jinyang City; while Lü Bu was also making sweeping changes to his army. He had no shortage of imperial guards from the capital and key military officers from the border regions, and reorganizing and training troops was what he was best at.

In order to continue to extort grain from Liu Biao, the troops he had eliminated were reorganized into garrison troops and stationed in Nanyang to serve as transport capacity for grain. During the transportation process, these people were also able to get enough to eat.

A total of 50,000 men were sent there, and Zhang Yang was given additional troops. The rest were settled in areas of Runan, Yingchuan, and Xingyang that were suitable for irrigation and cultivation, and were also organized into garrison troops.

At the same time, Wei Yue, Wei Xu, and others were dispatched to lead captured Cao troops to loot tombs near military outposts in Runan, Yingchuan, and Xingyang.

The garrisoning of troops required earthwork, which could provide cover and assist in tomb raiding; the wealth obtained from tomb raiding could then be used to send envoys to Jingnan to purchase grain.

He quickly made contact with Huang Zu, the governor of Jiangxia County. Huang Zu was very helpful and wanted to become a middleman for buying and transporting grain.

Huang Zu wanted to make money, so what could Liu Biao do?
In this way, Liu Biao used official channels to collect grain, and Huang Zu used money to buy grain, becoming a happy middleman.

The Jingnan region was also mobilized by the imperial court, with counties cooperating with Liu Biao to allocate and contribute grain; powerful clans and local magnates used Huang Zu's influence to sell grain to the north.

Anyway, they don't need to grow food, and food shortages won't make them starve.

Besides, in Jingnan, many people lack a direct understanding of hunger over the years!

For the people of Jingnan, the two most terrible disasters are plague and war.

Hunger and cold were never the disasters they needed to worry about.

As for Liu Biao, he was happy to see Huang Zu earn this hard-earned money.

Even Huang Zu knew that if Lü Bu and his fierce army from the Central Plains were allowed to go hungry, they would not rush towards Jingzhou in droves.

Feeding Lü Bu is the only task for Jingzhou at present.

Moreover, Lü Bu is now willing to pay money to buy it, which has lessened the resentment in various parts of Jingzhou.

Right now, it's just exchanging grain for some money; when Lü Bu is truly hungry and leads over 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of starving soldiers and civilians from the Central Plains to attack from Nanyang, he can then obtain over 100,000 households of disaster victims from the Three Auxiliary Regions.

With such immense power, even if they ultimately defeat Lü Bu, they will still shatter Jingzhou.

Therefore, it's really not worth turning against Lü Bu. Just try your best to feed him; that's the best solution for everyone in Jingzhou.

Unless another formidable figure like Sun Jian emerges in Jingzhou, capable of uniting the majority of the people, there is a general lack of confidence in contending with the north.

Even if Liu Biao could kill Sun Jian, it would be difficult for him to kill Lü Bu.

Lu Bu himself was not the scary part; what was scary was the hundreds of thousands of starving peasants that Lu Bu had organized.

There have been no major developments in the Central Plains this winter.

With only the Hebei and Yan-Zhao regions remaining, Gongsun Zan, contrary to his usual practice, showed no intention of engaging Yuan Shao in another decisive battle. Instead, he divided his forces to besiege Nanpi, attempting to seize Bohai.

He led over 50,000 infantry and cavalry, who had reunited with the Han and Hu forces of Youzhou, to a stalemate with Yuan Shao in Xindu, Anping State.

For Gongsun Zan, once he had gathered enough troops, there was no need to attack or plunder many of the counties in Ji Province.

The ten counties of Hejian already had too many swampy and rotten lands, and after so many years of fighting between the two sides, they were already completely destroyed.

Yuan Shao didn't have many troops stationed in Hejian. In winter, the swamps froze over, allowing his army to move freely. Gongsun Zan crossed Hejian and reached Xindu, blocking Yuan Shao's army in Julu to the west.

Gongsun Zan's detachment advanced eastward to besiege Bohai.

With General Ju Yi dead and Yuan Shao suffering a setback at the hands of Zhao Ji, how could he dare to launch a preemptive attack on Gongsun Zan?

Thus, the battle for Hebei entered the stage of recruiting personnel.

(End of this chapter)