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

Chapter 311 Bidding
There were battles in both Xiapi and Guangling counties of Xuzhou, but in reality, Xuzhou as a whole was not in chaos.

Que Xuan raised troops in Xiapi and plundered and attacked nearby villages and towns.

Zhang Chao led his troops north from Guangling County to attack the Mi family's businesses.

However, other prominent families in Xuzhou were not affected by the war.

Guangling County is located in the southernmost part of Guangling Prefecture, near the Yangtze River. When Zhang Chao led his troops northward, he even avoided Huaipu and Huaiyin in the Huai River basin, and went north almost along the coastline.

This is a very strange phenomenon, but it seems quite normal in this era.

Both Que Xuan and Zhang Chao wanted to seize money and grain, but neither of them actively provoked powerful and influential families.

Of course, the wealthy families wouldn't provoke them.

Only Tao Qian and Zang Ba accepted the imperial edict to quell the rebellion.

After Liu Bei led his army to Liangcheng County in northern Xiapi and joined forces with Tao Qian, the 'bidding order' had already been sent by fast horse throughout Xuzhou.

……

Huaipu.

“Yuanlong, I’m afraid our clan shouldn’t have obeyed the order in this matter… Liu Xuande used the bandits as a pretext to urge various families in the state to quell the rebellion. This matter may cause strife within the state. It would be better not to go.”

After receiving the tender order, Chen Gui did not intend to send troops: "The young emperor is young, and Liu Bei's strategy of recruiting officials is quite contemptuous of noble families. Now that he is under attack from all sides, the situation is not clear... Liu Bei may not really be able to keep his word."

“Father, whether we go or not, General Right and Prefect Tao will be able to quell the rebellion in Que Xuan. General Right once recommended me for office and has shown great goodwill towards my clan. We should help them in any way we can.”

Chen Deng shook his head and said, "Besides, I think many powerful clans will go... If only our clan doesn't go to help, wouldn't we be cutting ourselves off from the Emperor?"

"My son... if you go, you may face retaliation."

Chen Gui said with a wry smile, "You should know who's behind Que Xuan..."

“In previous years, Runan and Yingchuan brought disaster upon themselves by inciting the Yellow Turbans. The current strategy is just another Yellow Turban disaster, only this time it is being spread among many prominent families.”

Chen Deng nodded and said, "Whether it is the Yuan family, the Kong family, the various families of Yingchuan, or even my Chen family, none of them can defy the Emperor. Now that the Right General has conveyed the Emperor's edict, how can we disobey?"

Chen Gui was silent for a while, then sighed: "Yuanlong, you take the garrison troops to Xiapi. I'll take Ying'er to Yingchuan to study..."

Chen Gui said that the person he brought to study was his second son, Chen Ying, who was not yet of legal age at the time.

Chen Deng frowned: "Father, this is not a good strategy..."

"A father's responsibility is to protect his family..."

Chen Gui said solemnly, "If there is a dilemma, it is not impossible for the two sons to separate into different branches of the family."

Chen Deng sighed, picked up a piece of raw fish from the table, put it in his mouth, and got up to go outside Huaipu City.

……

Qu County.

Zhang Chao barely managed to withstand Guan Yu's attack.

Meanwhile, on Lian Island, east of Qu County, Mi Zhu had already led his tribesmen to repel the naval forces that were besieging the island.

Lian Island (Lianyungang) was separated from Qu County by a strait of more than ten miles at that time. The naval forces attacking the Mi family had large flags with the character "Xu" on their sails. This was the army of Xu Qiu, the Chancellor of the East Sea, and also the largest navy in the entire Xuzhou.

Xu Qiu was a member of the powerful Xu family in Xuzhou. He was the son of Xu Shu, the general who crossed the Liao River. He was a longtime friend of Zhang Chao and had once followed Zhu Jun in Nanyang to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

The Xu family had ancestral lands in counties such as Xiapi, Guangling, Donghai, and Langya, and their family members were spread throughout Xuzhou.

No wonder Mi Zhu couldn't even get the news out—Xu Qiu launched a surprise attack on the island under the pretext of resupplying. Overnight, most of the Mi family's ships were destroyed, and those that weren't destroyed were looted.

Subsequently, Zhang Chao seized Qu County, blocking the coastline, and Mi Zhu was completely trapped on the island, almost perishing.

Fortunately, Guan Yu arrived in time and attacked Zhang Chao from the west, preventing Mi Zhu from being surrounded and attacked.

On the way, Zhang Hong did explain the plan for the ambush and led Guan Yu around the scouts set up by Zhang Chao. Zhang Chao originally planned to quickly defeat Mi Zhu, take the money, grain and manpower from the Mi family to set up an ambush, lure Liu Bei's troops into Qu County for supplies, and then cooperate with Xu Qiu's navy to ambush Liu Bei when he was unprepared.

But now, it has turned into Zhang Hong leading Guan Yu straight into the west gate of Qu County and quickly stabbing Zhang Chao in the back, which can be considered a counter-surprise attack.

Zhang Chao abandoned his troops outside the city and retreated into Qu County. Xu Qiu also withdrew his troops at night and adopted a defensive posture. The situation has now shifted to a two-pronged attack on Qu County by Guan Yu and Mi Zhu.

However, Guan Yu lacked manpower, and Mi Zhu was short of ships on the island, so they couldn't do anything about Zhang Chao for the time being.

At this time, Liu Bei's tender notice reached Qu County.

After reading the document, Guan Yu hesitated for a moment, but still sent Zhang Hong to escort it into Qu County.

Now that the goal of rescuing Mi Zhu has been achieved, Guan Yu is no longer concerned about capturing Qu County.

At present, Zhang Chao and his men have neither a shortage of food nor manpower in Qu County, and Xu Qiu's navy is also on the eastern sea—even if Guan Yu breaks through the city, Zhang Chao can still escape.

Upon seeing the tender notice, both Zhang Chao and Xu Qiu were conflicted.

Zhang Chao originally thought that since he had joined the Guandong Coalition, Liu Bei would definitely not let it go, so he was determined to resist to the end. But now this bidding order doesn't care what he did before!

Then why bother with rebellion?

Of course, Zhang Chao still had some doubts: "Meng Yu, this matter is probably a scheme by Liu Bei to lure the army away. I don't think we should believe it..."

Xu Qiu, however, felt that they should give it a try: "Brother Zhang, even if it's just to regain your innocence, you should give it a try... This order doesn't treat you as a traitor, so why should we make things difficult for you? Anyway, Mi Zizhong is fine now, so why don't we try negotiating with Liu Bei and find out if it's true or not?"

"What if it's an ambush?"

Zhang Chao suffered a loss at Ao Cang and was very distrustful of Liu Bei.

"If it were for an ambush, this decree wouldn't have been issued as an imperial edict..."

Zhang Hong, acting as the messenger sent by Guan Yu to deliver the order, proved effective: "This is a general decree, which will be disseminated throughout Xuzhou. The Right General would not stoop to using the Emperor's name to set up an ambush."

The next morning, Xu Qiu led his troops ashore first and went out through the west gate of Qu County to meet Guan Yu.

Zhang Hong returned to Guan Yu's camp and persuaded Guan Yu not to stop him.

Although Guan Yu disliked Zhang Hong, and even more so Zhang Chao and Xu Qiu, he did not launch another attack.

Seeing this, Zhang Chao was relieved, hung up the truce sign, and led his troops out of the city to Xiapi with Xu Qiu.

These two were somewhat sensible; they didn't take away the Mi family's wealth from Qu County, only enough food and fodder for the journey. However, they didn't travel with Guan Yu and Mi Zhu to avoid further friction.

……

half a month later.

Que Xuan was dumbfounded by everyone in Xiapi City...

He truly hadn't expected it. What had he done to deserve such a vengeance that so many powerful figures from Qing and Xu provinces would join forces to besiege him!
Liu Bei, Tao Qian, Zang Ba, Zhang Kai, Zhang Chao, Xu Qiu, Chen Deng, Wang Lang...

A whole bunch of big shots whose names you can name!

This looks much larger than the twelve-route Kwantung Army!

Que Xuan decided to break through to the west... This place can't be defended!
Pengcheng is located west of Xiapi along the Sishui River, and Xiaopei is also to the west. Currently, the Taishan bandits are launching a major attack on Pengcheng.

But breaking through was not so easy at this point, as a whole bunch of fierce men, including Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Sun Guan, Xu Sheng, and Cao Bao, rushed forward.

but……

They finally intercepted and defeated Que Xuan, obtained Que Xuan's head, and won the first bidding for this great Han Dynasty project—surprisingly, it was a guy who hadn't even participated in the bidding...

Ji Ling... or rather, Yuan Shu.

Liu Bei certainly didn't issue a tender notice to Huainan, but Ji Ling still came and snatched the business.

After wandering around Huainan for a while, Ji Ling joined Yuan Shu. Because Wang Lang had previously used Que Xuan's concubine to sow discord, Ji Ling and Que Xuan became enemies.

—There is indeed a motive...

But Liu Bei always felt that things weren't that simple.

(End of this chapter)