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

Chapter 307 Anti-Liu Bei Encirclement
"My lord, the current situation seems to be caused by Chang Xi, but Chang Xi is probably just a wall used to obstruct you."

Jia Xu was also somewhat worried this time: "It seems more like the powerful families of Ji, Yan, and Xu provinces have all funded the rebel leader, and are about to recklessly coerce the people to surround Qing and Xu provinces..."

“If the other parties are like Chang Xi, then they probably don’t intend to launch a full-scale attack on Qingzhou; they want to isolate the emperor in Qingzhou.”

Xu Shu nodded and said, "This plan is extremely vicious..."

Liu Bei nodded; he himself felt the same way.

This is even more troublesome than Liu Bei's initial plan of a rebellion by prominent families across the land...

Liu Bei was not afraid of the powerful clans rebelling directly. Xu Shu's strategy was to "cut off the fuel supply" and "kill three warriors with two peaches." If the powerful clans in each state could not get the help of the local tyrants, Liu Bei was confident that he could support the local tyrants and small landowners to destroy the powerful clans in the country.

But Xu Shu's plan has not yet been implemented.

Judging from the situation in Taishan, the mastermind behind the scenes doesn't care whether Chang Xi lives or dies, nor how many people will die. They will continue to use various means to incite ambitious bandits to rise up and coerce the people.

The same applies to most other directions.

They would constantly incite bandits to besiege Qingzhou time and time again, not caring about victory, but only about trapping Liu Bei and Liu Xie in Qingzhou.

No matter how many people die, even if all the surrounding prefectures and counties of Qingzhou are turned into wasteland, even if thousands of miles are deserted, as long as a wall can be formed to block Qingzhou.

As long as the emperor's decrees can be blocked, even uninhabited areas can be walls.

All they needed to do was prevent the emperor's decrees from leaving Qingzhou, or rather, prevent Liu Bei's decrees from leaving Qingzhou.

If Liu Xie and Liu Bei are trapped in Qingzhou and unable to exert influence over other provinces, it will be no different from having no emperor at all—once the emperor's influence can no longer reach other provinces, it will not be long before the feudal lords rise up together.

The Luoyang court will likely take the opportunity to fuel the flames... The officials may not rebel, but they will certainly be happy to see Qingzhou in trouble.

At present, it seems that only a few counties are causing trouble, but if Liu Bei cannot break the encirclement quickly, once the entire Qingzhou is besieged and sealed off, his title of emperor will become useless.

If they fail to see through this plan and instead divide their forces to quell the rebellion in various places as usual, thus trapping their troops in the sea of ​​people led by Chang Xi and other bandits and missing the best opportunity to break the deadlock, then they will be unable to defeat the person who truly built the encirclement.

If there is any delay, Liu Bei may face a situation where he has to fight against ten provinces from one province.

This strategy, which aims purely at encirclement, is actually far superior to gathering a large army to seize the emperor by force.

"Mount Tai has a complex terrain. If we continue to send troops to Mount Tai, it will be difficult to wipe out the bandits in a short time. We will only waste our troops and time in the mountains."

Looking at the map, Liu Bei said, "Issue an order for Xu Huang to hold Mou County. Unless the rebels launch a large-scale attack on Qingzhou, there is no need to launch an attack... Send Zhang Rao to Pengcheng as the Pengcheng Commandant to do his best to prevent Chang Xi from coercing the people of Pengcheng."

If Xu Huang and his men adopt a defensive posture, there will naturally be no need to send reinforcements.

But simply guarding it won't solve the problem.

We must fight our way out.

However, they could not divide their forces to reinforce the enemy, and Liu Bei did not intend to attack the Taishan area first.

The enemy has already gained the upper hand in the direction of Mount Tai, so there is no need to follow in their footsteps.

Liu Bei first pointed in the direction of Xuzhou and asked Xu Shu, "Yuanzhi, you will come with me to pacify Xuzhou first... First destroy Que Xuan, so as to prevent Chang Xi from joining forces with him and forming a powerful alliance. It will also be good to implement your strategy of recruiting talents in Xuzhou."

He then pointed towards the plains and asked Jia Xu, "Wenhe, would you like to go to the plains to coordinate? Don't worry about the immediate outcome, as long as you can break the enemy's strategy... Once Zijing arrives in Youzhou, you can join forces with Zijing and Zhang Yan to besiege Jizhou."

Jia Xu nodded: "We can have Zhang He, Bai Yao, Taishi Ci, and Guan Hai join forces to take Leling and Nanpi in the north first, using offense as a defense, and try to cut off the rebels' retreat. If things don't work out, we can retreat back to Pingyuan and relocate the people of Hebei to the south of the Yellow River. As long as we don't let the enemy take too many people with them, we can break their siege strategy."

One route focuses on attacking, another on defending, and yet another combines both – this gives Jia Xu a high degree of freedom in his tasks.

That very day, Liu Bei began mobilizing his troops, leaving only Zhang Fei and Tian Yu to guard Qingzhou, while the rest prepared to march south to Xuzhou.

Almost all of the elite troops in this unit were mobilized.

After issuing the transfer order, Liu Bei encountered Cai Yan, who was preoccupied with her own thoughts, at the entrance of the East Pavilion.

"General... are you going to send troops?"

Cai Yan hesitated somewhat when facing Liu Bei, her eyes darting away: "Can Yan accompany the army?"

"It's inconvenient to bring women along when we're on a military expedition... Zhaoji, please speak frankly if you have something to say?" Liu Bei knew Cai Yan might be a little embarrassed, but he didn't care too much.

"Well... never mind, General, take care..."

Cai Yan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately said nothing: "Yan awaits the general's triumphant return."

Liu Bei was completely baffled, but military affairs were of utmost importance at the moment, so he didn't think much of it.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw Cai Yan bow and bid him farewell, handing him a ribbon with both hands.

This ribbon is like a scarf, quite long, and can be used as a belt or for hanging... There are words written inside.

It contains Cai Yan's birth date and clan name: Cai Yan, daughter of the Yu Cai clan, whose nickname was Zhao, was born on the day of Bingwu in the month of Wuwu in the year of Renzi. She was born at the age of nine and was given the zither and jade pendant in the Zhou dynasty.

This was actually a belt worn by a woman from a prominent family during the Han Dynasty. It recorded her birth date and name. The Cai family was particularly meticulous, even recording what she grabbed during her first birthday celebration – this was something that had to be given back to the husband's family after the matchmaker's proposal, and giving it meant consent.

However, by the time Liu Bei received the letter and saw the words, Cai Yan had already disappeared.

Now Liu Bei was even more confused. What was going on?
So what if I found out you were secretly watching bedroom arts... I didn't even say anything...

The aftereffects of these Taoist classics are quite significant.
Back home, Zuo Yuan and Bian Ji were whispering something when they saw Liu Bei holding a ribbon, and their eyes lit up together.

Zuo Yuan stepped forward, took the ribbon, and looked at it. He smiled at Bian Ji and said, "I knew it! Something was definitely up!"

"Wait a minute... what's wrong? What is it?"

Liu Bei vaguely understood... Zuo Yuan and Bian Ji were up to something!

"My dear husband, if you like someone, just bring her home. Don't hide it..."

Zuo Yuan spoke quite seriously: "Right now, we should make more marriage alliances to gain more support. Master Bojie is renowned throughout the land and can draw upon the wisdom of a hundred schools of thought. He is a true scholar and should be allied with... Once Zhaoji enters our family, my husband will have fewer enemies. We should send someone to propose marriage as soon as possible."

"No... I didn't... but now... sigh!"

Liu Bei was both amused and exasperated, realizing that he had been arranged for this whole affair!

And it was all arranged by his wife...

But since things have come to this, the ribbon can't be returned... Zhao Ji herself agreed. It's not easy for a woman like Cai Zhao Ji to agree to be a concubine. If it's returned, this thing will really have to be used to hang herself.

If it weren't for the issue of illustrations for bedroom arts, Cai Yan would never have agreed...

"Let bygones be bygones regarding Zhao Ji, but you can no longer take concubines behind my back. My health can't take it... It's not good for you two to become in-laws with prominent families."

Liu Bei sighed: "I'm setting out with my troops in two days. Is there anything else at home?"

“Yes… Yesterday, I saw salmon and pufferfish in a fish tank in the kitchen of the East Pavilion. I asked the servants, but no one had bought this. I found out that a cook had secretly put it in the fish tank. Fortunately, it has not been cooked yet.”

Zuo Yuan nodded and said, "I have captured this cook, but she is a palace maid that my husband brought back from Luoyang... I asked Diao Chan, but she also did not know about this. It seems that this cook is not the only one causing trouble among these palace maids; there may be internal troubles as well."

Pufferfish is the same as river pufferfish. It's commonly eaten in Yangzhou, but it's rarely seen in Qingzhou. Moreover, this thing should absolutely not be in the East Pavilion kitchen.

After all, Liu Bei's children and Liu Xie and others lived in the East Pavilion.

"Salmon dolphin..."

Liu Bei frowned: "It seems that as long as I leave Qingzhou, someone will inevitably cause trouble in Linzi... But if I don't go to Xuzhou, my troops may not be able to join forces with Tao Gongzu and Zang Xuangao."

"Husband, do not worry. You will deal with the enemies outside the house, and Yuan will deal with the enemies inside the house."

Zuo Yuan said very seriously, "After my husband leaves, I will use the excuse of preparing for the wedding to recruit a large number of people, and the enemy will definitely appear. But we need to send the child to Xianhe's house first."

"it is good."

Liu Bei seemed to see Zuo Yuan holding a sword and guarding Zhuo County again.

(End of this chapter)