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

Chapter 357 The Rebellion of Yan and Yu
Yingchuan, Xuxian.

Cao Cao is currently stationed here.

During the Mount Tai sacrificial ceremony, Chen Gong and others' plans were thwarted by Xun You. Xun Yu also persuaded the various families in Yingchuan not to participate in the matter, thus preventing a major disturbance.

Cao Cao was tricked by Chen Gong, and most of the counties in Yanzhou turned against him and joined Yuan Yi in Jiyin.

Cao Cao borrowed Zhang Liao as aid and went from Dongjun to Yingchuan.

They first captured Chenjiawu Fortress in Dongwuyang, taking Chen Gong's parents, wife, and children prisoner, and incorporating two thousand able-bodied tenant farmers and servants into their ranks.

In this battle, a captain named Yue Jin in Cao Cao's army was brave and took the lead in the charge. Cao Cao promoted him to military commander and put him in charge of the newly recruited servants and able-bodied men.

Subsequently, Cao Cao contacted Li Qian's younger brother, Li Jin, at Lihu and recruited more than a thousand retainers from the Li family.

Along the way, several thousand more soldiers were added, bringing the total to over six thousand. Moreover, Cao Cao did not use any civilian laborers to transport grain, and instead, in a way that defied basic military logic, the entire army marched rapidly to Chenliu.

Without any baggage or scouts, carrying only five days' worth of rations, and guided by the scouts Zhang Liao had previously set up in Yan County, they headed straight for Changyuan in Chenliu.

The Dongjun Yan County and Chenliu Changyuan were separated only by the Pu River.

Zhang Miao never expected Cao Cao to come from the north, and even less did he expect that Cao Cao's troops would cross the river without any supplies, leaving Changyuan almost completely unprepared.

Instead of attacking the city, Cao Cao quickly seized the Pu River Bridge and brought Zhang Liao across the river.

Zhang Liao led cavalry and elite armored soldiers from Yan County to reinforce the city. He led his army to break through three enemy lines in succession, killing six subordinate generals. The counties in northern Chenliu surrendered without resistance.

Cao Cao, taking advantage of Zhang Liao's military might, marched straight to Chenliu County, the seat of the prefecture, and persuaded Zhang Miao to surrender, thus incorporating his troops into his army.

With Zhang Liao's assistance, Cao Cao didn't stop for a moment on the way, and he didn't even run out of five days' worth of rations when he captured Chenliu.

After capturing Chenliu, before the enemy could react, Cao Cao launched another long-range attack and defeated Yongqiu the next day, and then defeated Weishi on the third day...

They swept through the enemy lines with unstoppable momentum, their campaign even faster than a regular march.

In both battles, Yue Jin was the first to breach the city walls. In order to intimidate the enemy and obtain military supplies, Cao Cao executed all the powerful clans who resisted in Yongqiu and Weishi counties after the city fell, and ordered his soldiers to plunder their wealth and women, only requiring them to hand over half of it.

According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, a family plotting rebellion should indeed be executed along with their entire household and their property confiscated.

However, Zhang Liao considered himself a cavalry commandant of the imperial court, and he knew that Liu Bei would not allow his troops to plunder on their own, so he bid farewell to Cao Cao.

Of course, Zhang Liao could understand. Cao Cao's army had marched rapidly for several days, capturing several cities in a short period. Most of his troops were hastily assembled, enduring hardship, exhaustion, and instability. If the troops were not given any benefits, mutiny could easily break out.

Cao Cao gave Zhang Liao a large amount of money, grain, and cloth obtained from Chenliu County as a reward for borrowing troops and resources—borrowing Zhang Liao was to buy time and take Chenliu as quickly as possible.

Zhang Liao took money and provisions and retreated to Puyang in Dongjun. While guarding against Yuan Yi in Jiyin, he also managed the river embankments and dredged the roads. At that time, Guo Yuan had already organized a large number of laborers in Jibei to manage the water along the river.

The first step in establishing military farms is to manage water resources. Qingzhou already has a wealth of experience in this area, so Guoyuan only needs to follow Jia Xu's previous methods. With Zhang Liao maintaining order, things are going relatively smoothly.

In fact, the north bank of the Yellow River was also working on flood control. Zhuge Xuan was transferred to Jizhou to do this job. Guan Yu, Xu Huang, Bai Yao, Zhang Rao and others were not idle. During the off-season for farming, the military garrisons were basically full of people.

Liu Bei spent all his money so quickly, and the tax revenue he collected was also quickly spent. He even paid wages for repairing dikes and roads.

Cao Cao then reorganized the able-bodied men and remnants of Chenliu, expanding his army to 15,000 men, and continued his advance into Yingchuan.

Yingchuan is home to many wealthy families, and they have never reached a consensus. Like the Xun family, most of them plan to diversify their investments.

Xun Yu invested in Cao Cao, Xun Yan invested in Yuan Shu of Nanyang, Xun Chen invested in Yuan Yi of Jiyin, Xun Shuang served as an official in Luoyang, and Xun You entered the Qingzhou court...

It's common for a single family to invest in five different factions; this is a common practice in chaotic times, and many families do the same.

Top venture capitalists typically invest in all of the startups competing in a new vertical industry. Regardless of which company ultimately monopolizes the market, the venture capital firm can reap a hundredfold profit after its IPO.

Xun Yu welcomed Cao Cao into Xu County and helped Cao Cao contact various families in Yingchuan.

Chen Ji, a renowned scholar from Xu County who once served as Grand Herald, and his son Chen Qun, along with Zhong Yao, a renowned scholar from Changshe, and Du Xi, Fan Qin, and Xi Zhicai, renowned scholars from Dingling, all invested in Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's army also quickly grew to more than 30,000 men.

Moreover, this time Cao Cao did not allow the investors from Yingchuan to control the army and supplies.

There was no other way to deal with official duties and civilian affairs; Cao Cao simply didn't have enough manpower and had to entrust them to the various powerful families.

However, after entering Yingchuan, Cao Cao immediately transferred his own people stationed in Pingyu, Ruyang, Xiangxian and other places to take over the army, and also took over the retainers and private soldiers provided by various families.

Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and other brothers of Cao Cao's clan served as the chief officers of the army, with Xun Yu and Cheng Yu jointly in charge of logistics.

Xun Yu chose to join Cao Cao when he was in the most difficult time, and Cao Cao trusted him.

Subsequently, Xun Yu recommended Xi Zhicai as military advisor and Du Xi as chief clerk. With the addition of his old subordinates such as Cheng Yu, Cao Cao stabilized the situation in Yingchuan.

After establishing a foothold in Yingchuan, Cao Cao sent messengers to contact Bao Xin of Shanyang and Ding Chong, who was stationed in Liang, to plan an attack on Chen and Jiyin. However, Cao Cao received devastating news.

Just as Cao Cao was advancing eastward and successfully establishing himself in Yingchuan, Bao Xin died.

The cause of death is unknown, but Chen Gong appeared in Shanyang and took over Bao Xin's bandit army with money, food and supplies. The leader of Liangshan Marsh changed his surname to Chen.

A fellow named Gao Lan also appeared in Liang Kingdom... Some say this is Gao Huan, who came south from Hebei.

Instead of joining Chen Gong, Yu Jin led several hundred of his men south to join Ding Chong.

However, while Yu Jin was heading south, Ding Chong had already been defeated by Gao Lan, Yuan Yi, Yuan Xu and others, and Liang King Liu Mi had fallen into Yuan Xu's hands.

Yu Jin arrived just in time, rescuing Ding Chong and retreating to Qiao County to redeploy defenses.

At this time, Liu Chong of Chen, Yuan Yi of Jiyin, Chen Gong of Shanyang, and Yuan Xu of Liang each occupied a prefecture, and all of them used Liu Chong's banner.

At this point, the banner was no longer important. Cao Cao knew that Chen Gong and the others were only using Liu Chong because they knew that the Taishan incident had failed and they could no longer use him.

Cao Cao's decision to use Zhang Liao as reinforcements and take the Dongjun route to quickly attack Yingchuan was indeed the right one.

If they were to take the route through Shanyang and Liangguo back to Qiao County, they would likely be torn apart by 20,000 Liangshan soldiers as soon as they reached Shanyang.

Cao Cao's capture of Chenliu and Yingchuan was something Chen Gong and his group had not anticipated, and it had already disrupted their plans.

In order to prevent the enemy from having too much time to organize a response, Cao Cao gathered all his forces in the spring and launched a counterattack, advancing into the state of Chen and engaging in a major battle with Liu Chong's troops at Changping.

Thirty thousand soldiers and fifty thousand laborers were mobilized, for a total of eighty thousand.

The State of Chen actually mobilized nearly 20,000 soldiers, which clearly shows that Liu Chong has been recruiting soldiers in large numbers and has received support from Jiyin and Liang.

Chen Xiang and Luo Jun led several thousand men to set up an ambush, while Liu Chong led crossbowmen to block the attack head-on. Cao Cao's army was repelled, and Liu Chong's side also suffered heavy losses.

The private armies of the powerful clans in Yingchuan and Chenliu suffered even greater losses.

In fact, Cao Cao did not intend to use the enemy to weaken his allies. Cao Cao's main force was at the forefront, while the private soldiers of various families, due to their varying combat capabilities, were assigned by Cao Cao to protect the supplies and provisions on the flanks.

However, Luo Jun's ambush outside Changping defeated the flank forces, and Cao Cao's food and supplies were all burned, forcing Cao Cao's main force to retreat.

In this battle, Cao Cao's main force lost less than two thousand men, but most of the private soldiers of the powerful families in Yingchuan and Chenliu were wiped out, with total losses exceeding ten thousand.

The greater loss was the military supplies and provisions that had been painstakingly collected.

With no food supplies left, Cao Cao's army was completely out of food when he withdrew, and they even had to kill horses for food.

Cheng Yu led his troops to collect the bodies of the flank troops, and then somehow obtained a lot of dried meat to supply Cao Cao's army with three days' worth of rations, which enabled Cao Cao to retreat safely back to Xu County.

Cao Cao did not ask about the source of the dried meat, and Cheng Yu did not mention it again.

At this time, the military farms in Yuzhou had just been established and had not yet yielded any results. In order to support his troops, Cao Cao had no choice but to order the various powerful clans to provide grain and supplies again.

This provoked dissatisfaction from various families. Bian Rang, a famous scholar from Chenliu, even publicly insulted Cao Cao, saying that Cao Cao had ill intentions and had deliberately sent people from various families to their deaths, and had even done all sorts of inhumane things.

He was foul-mouthed and used extremely offensive language, mostly consisting of text that couldn't be published normally in the novel.

Cao Cao was already dissatisfied with the fact that Luo Jun had defeated the private armies of various families with a small ambush force. Wasn't the loss of food supplies due to the fact that the powerful families themselves had failed to defend it properly?
Furthermore, Bian Rang's public insults severely disrupted the morale of the army, so Cao Cao executed Bian Rang on the spot and claimed that the defeat in this battle was due to Bian Rang's family colluding with the enemy, which led to the ambush of the army.

To avoid retaliation from Bian Rang's family, after returning to the capital, they sent troops to Chenliu to kill Bian Rang's entire family.

Cao Cao was ruthless, and the various factions stopped causing trouble.

After attributing the defeat to Bian Rang's treachery, the morale of the troops was stabilized.

Moreover, with the power of various powerful clans greatly diminished, Cao Cao now firmly holds all military forces in his own hands.

After that, Cao Cao planned to strengthen his military forces; otherwise, once Liu Chong, Chen Gong, Yuan Yi, and others recovered, the outcome of the battle would be uncertain.

However, food and military supplies became a major problem, with both food and weapons being in short supply.

The military farms established by Xiahou Dun, Ding Yi, and others in Pingyu and Qiao counties are currently not producing any crops, and the autumn harvest this year is likely to be poor. This is partly due to the large-scale troop movements leading to a shortage of manpower for the farms, and partly due to a lack of livestock, resulting in limited cultivated land.

The reason why Liu Chong and others have not launched a counterattack is because they are short of soldiers and food, and it is already summer after Cao Cao withdrew his troops.

At the end of May, when food was scarce, there was no grain anywhere.

Xun Yu's influence was also ineffective, because the powerful families of Yingchuan were truly out of food.

It was under these circumstances that Xun Yu received Guo Jia's letter.

(End of this chapter)