Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 150: Driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf
Neither Zong Yuan nor Liu Bei left Ji County.

This was both Liu Bei's request and Zong Yuan's own plan.

It is a fact that Gongsun Ji led his troops to plunder Anci, and it is also a fact that Zhang Chun led the Wuhuan people to attack Changping and plunder young men. Neither side is any good, so we don't care how they fight.

Zong Yuan gave Zhang Chun a military order authorizing him to lead the Wuhuan cavalry to suppress the rebellion, but the banner and staff of the Protector of the Wuhuan were in Qian Zhao's hands.

Currently, only Qian Zhao is a genuine Han army under the Protectorate of Wuhuan; Zhang Chun can only be considered a 'righteous army,' since he is not an official at the moment…

Although the Attendant was not a regular official, he led a regular army. The banner of the General of the Central Army of the Clan could only be given to the regular soldiers of the Protector of the Wuhuan.

Liu Bei was a garrison soldier of the county – garrison soldiers were certainly not suitable to leave their county to fight against rebels in other places. As the chief clerk, Liu Bei's duty should have been to stay in Guangyang to be in charge of food and military supplies.

This was a deliberate act by Zong Yuan and Liu Bei, done to satisfy everyone's wishes and to lower Zhang Chun and Qiu Liju's guard.

If Liu Bei were leading the army, Zhang Chun would definitely be on high alert, since Liu Bei's previous behavior made him seem like a desperate man.

Members of the clan are also not allowed to go out on their own, otherwise they may be kidnapped.

Only Qian Zhao, the regular army commander of the Protectorate of Wuhuan, was a commander acceptable not only to the powerful clans of Guangyang but also to the Qiuliju clan, so Zhang Chun was not so wary of him.

Normally, Qiu Liju doesn't need any official status to commit robbery.

But now that it has become a legal confiscation of property, he will cherish this legal status even more. It is not because he has any awe for the Han Dynasty, but because this status will prevent most people in Liaoxi from helping the Gongsun family, and fewer people will die during the confiscation.

Robbery is actually a capital-intensive and labor-intensive business, and personnel losses are a huge cost. The clan's suppression of the rebellion will enable Qiuliju to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

For Qiu Liju, Zhang Chun is now somewhat superfluous—Zhang Chun will steal business from western Liaoning.

If Qiuliju were to be directly appointed by Zongyuan, the Protector of the Wuhuan, it would actually be in his best interest.

However, Zhang Chun's family owns a mine.

Of course, Qiu Liju was reluctant to leave this man whose family was rich...

The Guangping Iron Mine belongs to the Yanshan vein. Although it is not a rich mine, it is an open-pit mine with very little sulfur and phosphorus impurities, which is perfect for the smelting methods of that era.

The Miyun area also has abundant forest resources, which can produce a large amount of charcoal and can be smelted on-site.

The Wuhuan people were extremely short of iron tools, which is why they became so close to Zhang Chun.

In fact, the initial feud between the Zhang family and the Gongsun family was also due to mining, specifically the struggle for the Rushui Copper Mine (Shouwangfen Copper Mine) – which was also an open-pit mine.

As long as copper is available, Wuzhu coins can be minted at home...

In fact, the Rushui copper mine is neither in Yuyang nor in western Liaoning. According to geographical affiliation, it should belong to Youbeiping County.

However, in terms of actual controlled areas, the Rushui copper mine was no longer within the territory of the Han Dynasty, but rather between the controlled areas of the Youbeiping Wuhuan tribe and the central Xianbei—the Xianbei and Wuhuan were separated by the Yanshan Mountains to the north and south, and the Rushui copper mine was located on the southern slope of the Yanshan Mountains.

Over the years, the Rushui copper mine has changed hands frequently. First, it was controlled by the Han government, then it was seized by the Xianbei Tanshihuai after a defeat in war, and later the Zhang family, with the help of the Wuhuan people, took it back, only to have it snatched away by the Gongsun family...

In recent years, the Rushui copper mine has been contested between the Zhang family and the Gongsun family.

Whether it was the Xianbei or the Wuhuan, their mining and smelting skills were still at a primitive level. When Tan Shihuai was powerful, he captured many Han people to work as mining slaves to mine and smelt copper.

After the Zhang and Gongsun families reclaimed the Rushui copper mine, they did not release the miners. Instead, they kidnapped more able-bodied men to replenish the miners and intensified the implementation of advanced systems such as 007 and bottom-ranking elimination.

The powerful clans of the Han Dynasty were far more professional at exploiting laborers than the nomadic tribes. Tan Shihuai initially treated miners like cattle and horses, but the powerful clans of the Han Dynasty treated them like consumables. Regardless of who temporarily controlled the copper mine, since it could be seized at any time, they would all rush to mine it, each more ruthless than the last.

At this time, the Rushui Copper Mine was within the sphere of influence of the Qiuliju tribe and was currently controlled by the Zhang family.

However, Liu Zheng, the governor of Youbeiping, helped the Gongsun family get involved—he sold the property rights of the Rushui copper mine to the Gongsun family.

The Zhang family effectively controlled the copper mine through the Wuhuan people, but the Gongsun family had nominal ownership, and the two sides were constantly locked in a tug-of-war.

—In fact, Zhang Chun also wanted to kill the Gongsun family as soon as possible, but Yuyang had been isolated for the past two years, so Zhang Chun really had to cooperate with the Gongsun family.

However, if we can completely seize control of the Gongsun family, plunder their people, and annex their property, then that would be equivalent to close cooperation.

Moreover, Liu Bei kindly sold Zhang Chun a sum of grain, a full six thousand bushels, which was just enough to make up for the grain shortage...

For Zhang Chun, it would be great to seize the time to capture more people so that he could replant a crop before summer arrives. Then he could send the Gongsun family members to mine and farm. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

So this matter went according to everyone's wishes.

Zhang Chun's men were all cavalry, and they were very fast. Within a day, they defeated Gongsun Ji, the "Yellow Turban bandit" who was entrenched in Anci County. Gongsun Ji was a distant cousin of Gongsun Zan and also an illegitimate son of the Gongsun family in Liaoxi. The legitimate sons inherited the family business, while the illegitimate sons risked their lives outside. This was always the case in the powerful families of the Han Dynasty.

Gongsun Ji fled south alone, and Zhang Chun immediately headed straight for western Liaoning, intending to launch a blitzkrieg before the Gongsun family could react.

The Gongsun family is probably unaware that they have been labeled as "Yellow Turban rebels." If they catch them off guard and have the pretext of suppressing rebellion, they can at least deter the officials in Youbeiping and Liaoxi from interfering, and may very well win in one battle.

Liu Bei and Qian Zhao cooperated well. Qian Zhao gave Zhang Chun the vanguard command flag so that he could successfully open the gates of Lingzhi County.

Liu Bei didn't do anything strange with the provisions and supplies. He gave Zhang Chun 1,500 bushels of grain and over 100 carts of fodder, enough for him and Qiu Liju's 5,000 men to use in Liaoxi.

……

half a month later.

Zhang Chun had successfully captured Lingzhi in Liaoxi and publicly read out the edict to punish the Yellow Turban rebels. The officials dared not interfere, and the Gongsun family gathered their clan soldiers and generals and retreated north to Shimen.

Shimen is a canyon formed by the Rushui River flowing through Lulong Pass. If you travel upstream along the Rushui River for dozens of miles, you will reach the Rushui Copper Mine.

Zhang Chun led his troops in pursuit, but Qiu Liju's tribe was too busy plundering the Gongsun family's property to keep up.

The Gongsun clan and Zhang Chun's tribes fought at Shimen, but neither could achieve a quick victory.

Just then, Zhang Chun received a message from within the clan.

First, Wuhuan cavalry robbed the grain they had bought from Liu Bei and kidnapped several thousand able-bodied men from Changping who were transporting the grain. They even intercepted them within the territory of Yuyang.

Subsequently, the Rushui Copper Mine was attacked, and thousands of miners revolted, wearing yellow turbans and rebelling.

Zhang Chun was extremely anxious, but the Gongsun family had not yet been dealt with. The fighting had already escalated to this point, and this potential threat could not be allowed to remain.

However, the Gongsun clan held the Shimen Gorge, a narrow area that made it difficult for Zhang Chun to resolve quickly.

Zhang Chun urgently summoned Qiu Liju for assistance, but Qiu Liju was busy ransacking homes in western Liaoning and probably didn't want to attack the stronghold, so he arrived very slowly...

When Qiuliju arrived at Shimen with a large number of young men and abducted many large bags and bundles, he heard that a riot had also broken out at the Guangping Iron Mine.

(End of this chapter)