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

Chapter 317 Pacifying Mount Tai
The following day, Changxi began his breakout northward.

Lü Qian and Zang Ba protected Chang Xi as they broke through the dozens of armies besieging the city and fled north to Taishan County.

Of course, the encirclement was opened by Liu Bei and Cao Cao themselves. Lü Qian and Zang Ba led the troops to clear the way and actually "bravely" repelled Zhao Yun and Xiahou Dun...

Only Guan Yu was not 'defeated', because Guan Yu was facing Wu Dun, a bandit from Mount Tai. Guan Yu led Liu Bei's central army, together with Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, Cao Bao, Wang Lang, Xu Sheng and other troops, to wipe out Wu Dun's forces.

Wu Dun was captured alive by Guan Yu, but the most kills were to Cao Cao's troops, because Cheng Yu was always advising Chang Xi to arrange troops to cover the rear, using the "add oil to the fire" tactic to give Cao Cao credit.

The other dozens of groups were pursuing Changxi's main force, since Changxi's head was very valuable.

However, few of them directly confronted the enemy; most were trying to pursue or intercept them from the flanks—Liu Bei couldn't command them anyway, and these guys all wanted to get the greatest benefit with the least possible investment.

On the escape route, Lü Qian always sent troops to block Cao Cao, while Zang Ba always sent people to block Liu Bei... In reality, they were just sending their men back to the main force. To make the play work, they had to send people to cover the rear.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei were the main forces, and Lü Qian and Zang Ba were even regarded by Chang Xi as good brothers and loyal.

When Changxi's main force covered the rear, they were truly sent to their deaths by dozens of pursuing troops.

Liu Bei himself only had a few thousand men, but the tens of thousands of troops formed by dozens of heroes were truly terrifying. Chang Xi did not dare to turn back to fight and fled all the way.

Fortunately, with so many spies around, Cheng Yu was always able to 'predict the movements of Liu Bei's main force in advance,' otherwise Chang Xi would most likely not have been able to escape...

a few days later.

After fleeing to the southern city of Taishan County, Chang Xi's main force was almost wiped out, while the pursuing troops of Liu Bei and Cao Cao were increasing in number.

Chang Xi attempted to turn towards Langya to reunite with Yin Li.

But at this time, Sun Guan led his army from Kaiyang and said that Langya had been captured by Zhang Kai and that Yin Li had surrendered to Zhang Kai—this was of course a lie.

Sun Guan failed to find Zhang Kai's whereabouts, this was to test whether Chang Xi knew Zhang Kai's background.

However, Changxi did not know Zhang Kai.

In reality, after Yin Li stationed his troops in Kaiyang, his men were "rewarded" by Sun Guan with several good meals, and then experienced a severe bout of massive diarrhea...

Sun Guan used up the entire warehouse full of croton seeds that the Mi family had stored away in one go.

This thing was sent by Mi Fang, who is currently guarding Kaiyang.

Yin Li was imprisoned in Kaiyang Prison. Yin Li's troops are currently all weak and powerless while incarcerated, and Kaiyang Prison is currently overcrowded.

Li Zheng, a close guard sent by Liu Bei, also led some cavalry to Linyi and found Cao Song, who was being escorted to Linzi—this was the person Cao Cao could trust the most.

Chang Xi only knew that Zhang Kai was a subordinate of Tao Qian. Upon learning that Kaiyang had been lost, he had no choice but to continue fleeing north of Mount Tai, relying on the terrain to evade pursuit.

But by this time, Chang Xi was essentially a commander without troops, so Sun Guan's army became the main force.

Zang Ba and Sun Guan had by then become the de facto leaders of the Taishan bandits.

Liu Bei and Cao Cao led dozens of ragtag armies and pursued them all the way into the main ridge of Mount Tai.

Chang Xi fled north, but he couldn't shake off the pursuers no matter what he did—he was surrounded by spies, it would be a miracle if he could escape...

Even though Chang Xi hid in the main vein of Mount Tai, he still could not escape the pursuit.

Moreover, as soon as they entered the mountains, dozens of groups of men brought by Liu Bei appeared at various mountain passes.

Liu Bei didn't kill Chang Xi directly because he wanted manpower—the target was still alive and had made great contributions, so everyone would go into the mountains with the target, with the undercover agent leading the way, and follow Chang Xi's route to completely wipe out the Taishan bandits' lair.

To the dozens of heroes, this was just a matter of chasing down a defeated army. There was no need to fight any tough battles. After all, Liu Bei and Cao Cao had already done the hardest work. If they could pick up the head of a major bandit, they would make a fortune.

Only with so many people can Mount Tai be flattened in one fell swoop.

If we don't do this, we won't have enough troops to set up a large-scale encirclement and annihilation operation. Mount Tai has mountain paths everywhere, making it easy for bandits to hide and escape. Only by having tens of thousands of people divide up and block each intersection can we completely force the bandits of Mount Tai to have nowhere to go.

Moreover, only with such a united front of condemnation could the Taishan bandits be deterred from direct confrontation.

Xu Rong, who had been stationed in Mu County for nearly two months, also sent troops to guard the northward road and river, completely blocking Chang Xi's escape route. Seeing that there was no way out and pursuers everywhere, with no way to hide, Chang Xi had no choice but to recall the troops stationed at various passes in Taishan and gather several thousand men again.

Changxi then attempted to have the various Taishan bandits coerce the mountain people, planning a desperate fight at the main peak pass.

The total number of bandits in the entire Taishan mountain range actually exceeds 100,000, but most of them are both bandits and civilians, and they enter Taishan as bandits in order to survive.

Most of them are actually mountain dwellers.

Those who were determined to follow Chang Xi in rebellion had already been mostly worn down by dozens of pursuing troops on their way north.

Furthermore, Zang Ba and Sun Guan are currently the main force, so Chang Xi's words no longer carry weight.

Just as Liu Bei's banner appeared at the mountain pass of the main road of Mount Tai, Chang Xi's head was chopped off by Lü Qian with an axe.

Chang Xi didn't even have time to fight a proper battle... Lü Qian also had a bit of a desire to steal credit, not wanting Zang Ba to make the first move.

Many of Changxi's remaining followers still wanted to rebel, but Lü Qian and Zang Ba did not give them the opportunity.

Lü Qian and Cheng Yu burned down Chang Xi's mountain stronghold.

Zang Ba and Sun Guan ordered all the bandits of Mount Tai to lay down their weapons and surrender without taking any weapons down the mountain. They promised to protect them as mountain dwellers—or at least ensure they wouldn't die.

There are dozens of groups of people waiting down the mountain to take the heads of the Taishan bandits in exchange for merit. This is both a threat and a way out. The die-hard rebels have all been wiped out. All that is left is to negotiate how to be recruited into the government.

Moreover, Prince Liu He of Pengcheng did not die—although Cheng Yu seemed to want to kill Liu He, Zang Ba saved him.

By this time, Liu He naturally knew that Cheng Yu and Lü Qian had tricked him, or rather, Cao Cao had tricked him, so he took the initiative to seek protection from Zang Ba.

Liu He wasn't stupid; he could tell who would take his life and who would protect him.

……

The losses of each unit in this battle were very small, and the victory was so easy that Cao Cao was somewhat dazed.

When did suppressing rebellions become so easy?

After a moment of confusion, Cao Cao suddenly realized what Liu Bei had said: "Because I only gave everyone a goal that was easy to achieve."

Only one...

Easy to implement...

It turned out to be the case.

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei, who was setting up an altar at the foot of Mount Tai, preparing to reward him for his merits, and he understood.

The matter of recruiting the mountain people of Mount Tai was handled jointly by Zang Ba and Sun Guan.

Those who had served under Chang Xi would all be transferred to Langya to do hard labor, and within five years they would atone for their sins by doing heavy work such as building bridges, paving roads, mining, and quarrying.

After learning that Taishan had been wiped out, Yin Li ordered all his troops to surrender so that they would not all die in Kaiyang prison. At least they would have food to eat if they did hard labor.

Those who had been bandits in Taishan but did not join the rebellion of Chang Xi were relocated to Pengcheng as military tenant farmers. The conditions were the same as those for military tenant farmers in Qingzhou, but they were required to repair roads and manage waterways during the off-season each year.

This wasn't exactly a punishment, because the military settlements in Qingzhou were also continuously working on flood control.

Pengcheng Kingdom wanted to build a causeway along the Sishui River, which would be a main road with the riverbank as its main thoroughfare.

At the same time, flood channels were set up at the middle and high water levels of the river embankment to divert excess river water to the wasteland on both sides of the Si River. This served both as flood control and irrigation, allowing Pengcheng State to reclaim wasteland and cultivate land on a large scale.

While setting up the altar for awarding generals based on merit, Liu Bei also began preparing for the third bidding order.

At this time, dozens of groups of people were still there, making it more and more like a gathering of heroes. Tao Qian, Wang Lang and others had already gotten used to having the target designated by Liu Bei, the leader of the martial arts alliance...

(End of this chapter)