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

Chapter 328 Betrayal and Return to Loyalty

Meanwhile, in Nanpi County, Bohai Bay.

"Liu Bei! Fight your men!!"

Yuan Shao was tearing up the picture album, his hair disheveled, and roaring wildly at the sky.

He tore the picture book to shreds, but it still wasn't enough. He drew his sword and started hacking wildly, sending scraps of paper flying everywhere.

Feng Ji watched from the side, not daring to step forward, and hid in the corner without saying a word.

Only one young man, about fifteen or sixteen years old, weakly called out, "My lord, please calm your anger..."

This is Yuan Tan, Yuan Shao's eldest son.

"Calm down? Hmph... Hahaha... Calm down?!"

Yuan Shao turned around, his eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on his forehead: "I want to eat his flesh, drink his blood, and chew his bones!!"

Yuan Tan was so frightened that he took two steps back: "But now... sir, didn't you say that we should endure when necessary?"

"How can we tolerate this?"

Yuan Shao raised his sword, staring at the blade, his hand trembling violently: "I will be cursed by the people of the world for a thousand years... How can I recruit soldiers? How can I govern? How can I demonstrate virtue? I..."

At this point, Yuan Shao choked up and held the sword to his neck.

"My lord! My lord, you mustn't..."

Yuan Tan rushed forward, grabbed Yuan Shao, and broke the sword from his hand: "The common people may be ignorant, but scholars can distinguish right from wrong. There will always be a way..."

"They can't possibly tell the difference!!"

Yuan Shao cursed, "If they could tell right from wrong, they wouldn't have been scared off outside Luoyang by Liu Bei with only two or three thousand men!!"

"Woo..."

The second son, Yuan Xi, and the youngest son, Yuan Shang, were both frightened and cried.

The two children cried incessantly.

Yuan Shao looked at Yuan Shang, who had just learned to walk, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and picked Yuan Shang up.

"Benchu, if there is no other way, why not leave this place... and go to Liaodong?"

Seeing that Yuan Shao had calmed down somewhat, an old man spoke up to offer advice.

This is Liu Fang, Yuan Shao's father-in-law, the uncle of Liu Zheng, the former governor of Youbeiping, and an elder of the Liu clan of Bohai.

His family was already tied to Yuan Shao, so he had to consider Yuan Shao's interests no matter what.

"Liaodong... but we've finally managed to gather our forces here, and now we're heading to that bitterly cold land..."

Yuan Shao was a little hesitant.

"Now that your reputation is completely ruined, everyone will want to leave you as soon as possible. Who can you trust anymore? Liu Bei's plan is extremely vicious. Even if you were to coerce people's parents and children, no one would be willing to suffer eternal infamy with you..."

Liu Fang, being old, saw things clearly: "On the contrary, it would be better to leave quickly, change one's name and identity, and start anew in Liaodong. Perhaps then one can make a comeback."

“What you say is true, sir…”

Yuan Shao put Yuan Shang down on the ground, took a few deep breaths, and barely calmed himself down: "But Bohai is now in a difficult situation to retreat from. If I flee to Liaodong, what will you gentlemen do?"

Yes, the Prince of Ganling has already declared himself emperor and can't stop now. So many heroes like Feng Xun, Gao Lan, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou have already joined him...

There were also a bunch of other prominent families, such as the Liu family of Bohai and the Gao family of Chenliu (Yuan Shao's older sister was the mother of Gao Gan), all of whom were related by marriage.

Should we retreat to Liaodong at this point?
How to withdraw?

How many people are willing to withdraw?

Yuan Shao took the sword back from Yuan Tan, his fierce gaze sweeping over the group before finally settling on Feng Ji.

“My lord… no matter how Liu Bei slanders and defames us, at least our generals and soldiers have received your kindness. Perhaps we should retreat in order to advance.” Feng Ji sighed and stepped forward, saying, “Han Fu is cowardly yet greedy… My lord can give Han Fu a great achievement, using Liu Bei’s prestige to let him go to Liu Bei to claim credit, and then let him take control of Ji Province… Once my lord has established a firm foothold in Liaodong, we can come back and take it.”

"what for?"

Yuan Shao was a little confused.

"The Prince of Ganling..."

Feng Ji said something in a low voice, then lowered his head again and hid in the corner.

Feng Ji kept his head down, looking at the hand halberd at his waist, just as he had looked down at the heavily injured Xu You before.

This halberd is the one Qian Zhao threw, which severely injured Xu You, but Xu You died on Yuan Shao's retreat route.

……

A few days later, Liu Bei received a military report from Hebei.

There was no fighting in Hebei. Guan Yu and Zhang He sent people to deliver regular military reports every day. Because of the Yellow River and the Ji River, it took three days for military reports to travel from Qinghe to Linzi.

But in this day and age, this is already the best way to avoid delays in receiving information.

If military reports were to suddenly stop one day, Liu Bei could directly decide whether to send troops to reinforce based on previous intelligence.

However, the military report that Liu Bei received this time was not a routine military dispatch, but an urgent dispatch from 800 li away.

A few days ago, Guan Yu advanced his scouts to Nanpi and discovered that the rebel forces in Nanpi were experiencing internal strife.

However, Guan Yu did not have time to send out troops because the infighting among the enemy lasted only a short time, and was quelled in just two hours. Moreover, Nanpi changed its flags, and the imperial regalia used by the King of Ganling when he usurped the throne was all gone.

Not long after, Imperial Censor Han Fu appeared in Qinghe (formerly Ganling) and brought with him the head of Liu Zhong, the King of Ganling. Accompanying Han Fu were a man from Liangzhou named Qu Yi, as well as two famous scholars from Jizhou, Geng Wu and Min Chun.

Han Fu claimed to have persuaded Feng Xun, the former Chancellor of Ganling, and together they rectified the chaos and quelled the rebellion of Liu Zhong, the Prince of Ganling, who had usurped the throne.

Feng Xun was commended for his "meritorious service in abandoning darkness and embracing light," and Han Fu intended to appoint him as the governor of Bohai—because the state of Ganling no longer existed.

At the same time, Han Fu claimed that Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Gao Lan and others were all loyal ministers and righteous men who quelled the rebellion and restored order. He also handed over the head of Liu Zhong, the King of Ganling, along with the ceremonial regalia of the false emperor to Guan Yu, asking Guan Yu to bear witness, and prepared to take it to Linzi to meet the emperor.

This left Guan Yu somewhat at a loss—in fact, Guan Yu could also guess that this was mostly the enemy shedding their skin and being reborn, abandoning the King of Ganling, and laundering the Bohai forces they had organized, but there was really no way to deal with this matter.

Because Han Fu was indeed innocent and meritorious, and Feng Xun, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others had indeed not attacked Liu Bei's troops. After Liu Bei quelled the Taishan bandits, they even took the initiative to retreat, giving up all the counties in Pingyuan and the Leling area.

The previous occupation of the counties in the northern part of the plain could indeed be described as an attempt to quell a rebellion.

Han Fu was the Vice Censor-in-Chief, the de facto highest-ranking official in the Censorate and also the highest judge, responsible for supervising all officials and having the power to inspect the entire country.

Although nominally subordinate to the Imperial Household Department, the official in charge of the Imperial Seal, similar to the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, held a position equivalent to the Nine Ministers, and was subordinate to the Vice Minister of the Censorate.

The three officials—the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, the Vice Minister of the Censorate, and the Commandant of the Capital Region—were known as the "Three Solo Officials," and were powerful ministers in the imperial court.

When Liu Bei was in Luoyang, Han Fu was already inspecting Liangzhou. The Imperial Censor was not usually required to go out on inspections, but at that time, the Prefect of Jingzhao, Gai Xun, impeached the Governor of Liangzhou, Di Bi, for dereliction of duty, which triggered a rebellion. As the Imperial Censor, Han Fu did have to perform his duties.

Now that the position of governor of Ji Province is vacant, Han Fu rushed from Liang Province to Ji Province to persuade Feng Xun to "set things right" and even brought the head of Liu Zhong, the rebel king who "usurped the throne". He has indeed fulfilled his duties and made great contributions, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Unable to handle the matter, Guan Yu urgently sent a military report to Liu Bei and ordered Han Fu to take Liu Zhong's head to Linzi to meet the emperor.

Han Fu went to see Guan Yu first, of course, in order to cross the Yellow River smoothly.

However, Han Fu should not have crossed the Yellow River yet, and Liu Bei was also hesitant to make a decision after receiving the military report—Liu Bei did not believe that Han Fu had such ability.

Was it orchestrated by Yuan Shao?

But Yuan Shao never actually appeared at all.

Han Fu's contributions are obvious and cannot be ignored.

If not handled properly, it could very well force Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Gao Lan, and others into a complete rebellion.

This situation was indeed beyond Liu Bei's expectations... The Hebei rebels actually turned from rebels back into 'loyal subjects,' and there was really nothing to say about it.

(End of this chapter)