Tiger Guards

Chapter 334 Temporary Setback

Qingzhou, the state of Qi.

In order to curb the influence of Qi culture and the Qi region, the entire Qi state was reduced to only six counties.

Guangxian County of the State of Qi was adjacent to Juxian County of Beihai.

However, just as Zhao Qi had predicted, when Sun Ce led his army into Jinan, Zang Ba withdrew his troops from Beihai and officially returned to Langya.

When Sun Ce arrived in Qi, representatives of prominent families in Qingzhou, through Feng Ji from Beihai, made peace with Yuan Shao.

Therefore, Yuan Shao's messenger arrived at Sun Ce's army on horseback to convey Yuan Shao's latest attitude.

The memorial recommends Sun Ce as the governor of Taishan Commandery and General Who Destroys the Enemy.

Winter in Qi fades earlier, but true spring has not yet arrived. It can only be said that the current climate in Qi is suitable for Sun Ce's army.

Sun Ce's army now numbers only 13,000, with another 5,000 mutinous soldiers demoted to camp laborers who can be considered reserves, though their pay is very low.

Whether to follow Yuan Shao's arrangement and lead his army to Mount Tai to assume his post, or to divide his forces to seize territory and take over Qingzhou in one fell swoop, was a difficult question for Sun Ce.

He had just defected from Yuan Shu's command and finally gained the acceptance of the imperial court, becoming the Chancellor of Pengcheng.

He was then ordered to come to Qingzhou by Yuan Shao. If he were to defect from Yuan Shao's command now, there would be no place for Sun Ce to go in the world.

Unless we succeed in one fell swoop and take Qingzhou.

By then, internal stability will naturally be achieved, and there will be room for negotiation and maneuvering externally.

Sun Ce then summoned his advisors to discuss matters, but Zhang Zhao claimed to be ill and did not come.

Zhang Zhao's stance was to obey the imperial court. He didn't mind that Sun Ce had previously been the governor of Xu Province or the chancellor of Pengcheng. As long as he could be included in the imperial court's ranks, Zhang Zhao could accept it.

Since responding to Yuan Shao's order to march north, Zhang Zhao had been sullen.

Although he didn't publicly embarrass Sun Ce, he still maintained a displeased expression.

Zhang Zhao did not come, but Zhang Hong came to face Sun Ce alone.

The two rode out on horseback, and a light green layer had already formed on the fields outside the camp.

But the weather is unpredictable. Under the sun, Zhang Hong, wearing a sheepskin cloak, listened to Sun Ce's troubles.

Zhang Hong also looked solemn. Now that they had been manipulated by Yuan Shao, the morale of the entire army was low.

From Sun Ce down, everyone was sullen and unhappy, so Zhang Hong naturally couldn't laugh either.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Hong said, "In my opinion, Yuan Shao's plan is to use you, General, to check Cao Mengde. Previously, Mount Tai was governed by Ying Shao and belonged to Hebei. Later, Cao Mengde's father, brother and clan were harmed in Langya. Ying Shao was unable to come to the rescue in time and feared that Cao Mengde would harm him, so he abandoned his army and fled to Hebei."

"I think so too. I don't regret losing Qingzhou, but I regret that I failed to conquer Donglai and gain Liu Yao's clan."

Sun Ce urged his horse forward slowly: "After Yuan Shao takes Donglai, he will surely communicate with Liu Yao. Even if our families can go north, they will fall into Hebei. From then on, they will be controlled by Yuan Shao and it will be difficult for them to realize their ambitions."

With Sun Ce's family members in Liu Yao's hands, and separated from him by Yuan Shu and Liu Bei, Liu Yao had no use for these family members and could not use them to threaten or weaken Sun Ce's army.

However, if it fell into Yuan Shao's hands, separated by only a river, Yuan Shao could easily mobilize and disintegrate Sun Ce's army.

If given a choice, they would rather their northward-bound fleets be swept to the bottom of the sea by the raging storm.

Upon seeing Sun Ce express his intentions, Zhang Hong said, "If General's ambition remains undiminished, I already have some insights into the current situation."

"Please speak, sir."

"When Ying Shao was in Mount Tai, the Yellow Turban rebels repeatedly invaded, but he was able to repel them all. They were not knowledgeable about military affairs or skilled in battle; they relied solely on the strength of the troops in Mount Tai."

Zhang Hong spoke calmly: "When the world was not in chaos, apart from the border troops of the three prefectures, the only remaining strong armies were the Danyang troops, the Taishan crossbowmen, and the Banshun Ba troops. Although the Huai and Si and Lujiang troops were considered top-tier, they were not as strong as these three. Now, Taishan has lost nearly half its population, but still has more than 200,000. If you, General, gain control of them, you can also gather 10,000 elite troops. Combined with the veterans in the army, you will have more than 20,000 elite troops, which would make you a hero in your own right."

Sun Ce looked at Zhang Hong with suspicion, and Zhang Hong said again, "As for the matter of the family members, we can send troops to take them back."

Once the fleet carrying the families and hostages arrived in Donglai, they had only two options: either continue by sea around the Jiaodong Peninsula and head straight for the Bohai Sea, or switch to land travel.

As for the land route, Sun Ce was confident he could reclaim it.

However, Yuan Shao would also be wary of such things, so his family members would most likely travel by sea.

Sun Ce asked in confusion, "If that's the case, we'll need the help of a navy."

"Yes."

Zhang Hong said, “Previously, Qingzhou collapsed, and local warlords carved up their own territories within the prefectures and kingdoms. Now, thanks to your might, General, many of these warlords rely on Hebei. However, the four Yellow Turban leaders—Xu He of Jinan, Sima Ju of Le'an, Guan Hai of Beihai, and Guan Cheng of Donglai—will certainly not serve the Yuan family, and they will be wiped out sooner or later. Why don’t you send envoys to persuade them, explain the advantages and disadvantages, and recruit them as allies?” Other warlords, clan leaders, and even refugee leaders could be recruited by Yuan Shao, but these four Yellow Turban leaders would not be accepted by him.

Sun Ce fell into thought. At this point, he no longer cared about the infamy of recruiting Yellow Turbans.

Cao Cao is a precedent, so who has criticized Cao Cao?
The criticism leveled at Cao Cao for using the surrendered Yellow Turban rebels as his henchmen was rather mild.

As Zhang Hong said, Qingzhou was in chaos before, with local warlords and clan leaders fighting amongst themselves and unable to unite as one.

Once they are united as one, the future leaders of Qingzhou will surely gather local chieftains to wipe out these Yellow Turban leaders.

Without eliminating these Yellow Turban rebel leaders, the prefectures and kingdoms cannot effectively govern their powerful chieftains.

Otherwise, if your messenger is killed by the Yellow Turban rebels today, and your subordinate is killed by the Yellow Turban rebels tomorrow, who knows who exactly did it?
Only by eliminating these four notorious Yellow Turban leaders can we quell the bandits within the prefecture, ensure the smooth flow of orders from the state and prefecture, and enable the counties below to act in accordance with orders.

For Yuan Shao, annihilating these Yellow Turban rebel leaders would provide a legitimate reason to send troops, thus enabling him to achieve initial unification.

Then, through the tempering and tempering of war, the rough edges were cleaned up, the bandits were eliminated, and the disobedient clans, bandits, and powerful leaders were dealt with. Naturally, this became an obedient Qingzhou.

Once the bandits and thieves are gone, the common people who have been attached to bandit gangs and powerful families to escape the harm of thieves will also have the idea of ​​breaking away, further expanding the registered population of Qingzhou.

Yuan Shao is not Yuan Shu; Yuan Shao would definitely take steps to restore order in Qingzhou.

Sun Ce nodded slowly: "I understand. I will send messengers everywhere to invite them to go to Mount Tai together."

These four Yellow Turban leaders also had nowhere to go.

It is true that Cao Cao persuaded the Yellow Turban rebels in Qing and Xu provinces to surrender, but the process of persuading them to surrender was divided into three stages.

The first attempt was to persuade the enemy to retreat, which failed; the second phase involved defeating the enemy's vanguard and setting up an ambush during negotiations for a ceasefire and surrender, where all the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army in Qingxu were killed.

The third stage was to force the leaderless Yellow Turban army to surrender. Even so, Cao Cao still suppressed the Qingzhou troops to prevent any opinion leaders from emerging or growing among them.

Given the precedent of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingxu, these four Yellow Turban leaders would neither surrender to Cao Cao nor cooperate with him.

In one fell swoop, Cao Cao completely ruined his reputation among the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

There is no possibility of recruiting them in the future, as these Yellow Turban leaders have a complete lineage of Taoist priests and preachers, and can rebuild their organizational structure among the Qingzhou soldiers.

Therefore, Cao Cao is currently the one who is locked in a life-or-death struggle with the remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Of these four Yellow Turban leaders, Guan Cheng was the most unique, commanding over three thousand households in Changguang, Donglai, which is located at the junction of Donglai, Beihai, and Langya.

Although he lived in the mountains, Guan Cheng had close ties with pirates and had organized them to raid Langya and the East China Sea on several occasions.

If mobilized to the maximum extent, Guan Cheng would possess a pirate force of ten thousand men.

Sun Ce was very familiar with this kind of pirate; there were also such pirates in the Wu and Yue regions.

Their leaders numbered only a few hundred or a thousand, but by uniting with each other and mobilizing coastal fishermen, they could organize a considerable pirate force.

If we can bring Guan Cheng over, and send some more men, we're sure we can snatch the families back from the coastlines of Langya and Donglai.

This is a grand plan, and it won't be easy to persuade the four Yellow Turban leaders to surrender.

People are short-sighted. Even now, while they doubt that Yuan Shao will wipe them out, they still harbor a sense of wishful thinking.

It's not too late to persuade them when Yuan Shao actually takes action.

During this period, they took over Mount Tai and accumulated strength.

Then, they would meet up with the four Yellow Turban leaders, rescue their families, and then discuss their future allegiance and stance.

The only good news is that the drought and locust plagues in the counties of Taishan in previous years have not been severe and will not affect this year's spring planting, so Sun Ce's army can be maintained.

As for the long-term future, we'll have to wait and see how the situation in the Central Plains changes.

When he has an army of around 30,000 men, the imperial court will definitely try to win him back.

An army of around 30,000 men is enough for Sun Ce to take another gamble.

It's not that he's addicted to gambling, but that's just how things are right now.

Yuan Shao is unwilling to give him Qingzhou, but Lü Bu would probably be happy to give it to him; we can just take it from him later.

Sending troops to Qingzhou on imperial orders should encounter less resistance.

(End of this chapter)