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

Chapter 369 Knife
"you……"

Chen Gong stretched out his hand, but couldn't speak. Anyone who has been stabbed in the lower back will find it difficult to speak for a while.

"The Fan family is in Dongpingling... Chen Gongtai, you shouldn't have set that fire. That was my Fan family's oak forest... The silkworms had just spun their cocoons!"

Fan Qiang pulled out his knife, which was covered in blood, and held it across Chen Gong's neck.

The soldiers around Chen Gong immediately rushed towards Fan Qiang, who shouted, "Don't move!"

Fan Qiang had already cut a gash on Chen Gong's neck.

"There's an ambush in Linzi! You'll all die if you go! Drop your weapons and surrender... Get out of the way! I, Fan, want to serve the Han Dynasty!"

Fan Qiang dragged Chen Gong away, and several of Fan's family soldiers brought over a horse to protect Fan Qiang, nervously watching the soldiers around them.

Only the Fan family could get horses in this area; Chen Gong didn't even have a horse to ride.

Fan Qiang was well-prepared before taking action.

Chen Gong was dragged a few steps by Fan Qiang, trembling for a while before finally recovering: "I actually fell for your trick? Haha... I actually..."

As he spoke, Chen Gong suddenly jerked his neck around.

Fan Qiang was stunned for a moment, but then he saw that blood had already spurted out from Chen Gong's neck, splattering three feet away.

Fan Qiang's knife was quite sharp; it must have been sharpened for a long time.

Chen Gong died without even saying a last word.

Everyone around was stunned.

At this time, Zhang He's troops had already engaged in battle with Chen Gong's forces.

Behind them, Tian Yu's troops had caught up, and Tian Yu's flag could already be seen.

"Chen Gong is dead!"

Fan Qiang reacted quickly, immediately slashing off Chen Gong's head with his sword, carrying the severed head as he mounted his horse and charged backwards, shouting as he did so.

In fact, Zhang He's troops were closer, but Fan Qiang wanted to charge into Tian Yu's army.

He was still lucid; Tian Yu recognized him, but Zhang He did not.

Fan Qiang's soldiers also turned and ran, but were soon surrounded and killed by Chen Gong's retainers.

However, after a few of the guards paused, Fan Qiang had already charged forward on horseback for more than ten steps when a volley of arrows was fired, hitting Fan Qiang in the back.

Despite having arrows stuck in his back, Fan Qiang persevered and didn't fall off his horse, continuing his charge even as he bent low.

Chen Gong's retainers gave chase, but men cannot catch up with galloping horses, and Tian Yu's crossbowmen were already several hundred paces away.

Fan Qiang managed to reach Tian Yu, panting as he fell off his horse and threw his head in front of Tian Yu.

"Treat his wounds..."

Tian Yu called to the medical officer in the army and said to Fan Qiang, "With this merit, your Fan family will surely prosper."

Fan Qiang was too weak to speak, but his expression relaxed.

When Chen Gong died, his troops immediately fell into chaos. Some fled in panic, while others fought desperately to the death.

But this time no one went easy on them.

The situation between Tian Yu and Zhang He was actually the same as when they cooperated with Zhao Yun before.

They were also positioned one in front and one behind, using crossbowmen in coordination, and their ambush caused chaos among the enemy troops, a chaos that no one could reverse this time.

……

On the other side, Zhao Yun intercepted Sima Ju's troops on the west side of the Zi River. The Xuanjia cavalry looked like black demons, leaving black and red blood grooves on the riverbank.

Cavalry is indeed not suitable for charging into large-scale elite infantry formations, but it is a different story when facing ragtag armies from civilian organizations.

The enemy troops, who had just crossed the river and had not yet established a firm foothold, were driven back into the riverbed. The abundant summer river water quickly washed away the blood on the banks and the people who had fallen into the water, but it seemed that it could not wash them all away.

By dawn, half the river had turned red; so many corpses had been washed away that it was difficult to even tally the battle achievements.

In the upper reaches of the river, Zu Mao's ambush on Xu He was also extremely successful.

By the time Jian Yong and Xu Shu arrived with reinforcements, the battle was essentially over.

Sima Ju and Xu He were both unlucky.

If they had encountered other people, they might have been able to escape, but one of them encountered Zhao Yun and the other encountered Zu Mao.

Sima Ju's encounter was not accidental; Zhao Yun always made his move only after thoroughly assessing the enemy's commander.

Like Gao Lan, Sima Ju also couldn't withstand a single blow from Zhao Yun, who didn't even slow down. North of the city, Zu Mao captured Xu He with little effort.

Xu He was indeed unaware of the situation; after being ambushed by Zu Mao, he attempted to escape by jumping into the river.

Zu Mao was from Jiangxia and grew up on the banks of the Yangtze River. He was the best swimmer in Liu Bei's army...

Xu He was forced to sit in the water and forced to swallow a large amount of water before being captured alive by Zu Mao.

……

Linzi, Tugu, Yuling, Dong'anping, Pingshou, Yingling, Donglai...

This "Third Yellow Turban Rebellion," a "rebellion against Liu Bei's tyranny," lasted only a few days before it was quelled.

Jia Xu's strategy was actually quite simple: to make the act seem real.

Zuo Yuan set fire to the East Gate Tower to send a signal and boost the enemy's confidence.

Jian Yong, under the banner of Sima Ju, "attacked" Linzi, making a ruckus and setting fires to lure Chen Gong.

Xu Shu, under the guise of Chen Gong, attacked the south of Linzi City, burning down old houses and luring Sima Ju.

They are all fish, and they are all bait. Once one takes the bait, the other will inevitably take it too, because the fake becomes real.

If none of the enemies take the bait, that's fine too. Once Guan Yu arrives to reinforce, no one will be able to escape.

The battlefield was pre-planned; the enemy had no way out and could only fight desperately, with their only target being Linzi.

The time, location, and route were all chosen by Jia Xu and Zuo Yuan, making the ambush easy to arrange.

Chen Gong was killed by Fan Qiang, and his troops were thrown into chaos and scattered, with most of them killed.

Yuan Yi chose to surrender after Chen Gong's death.

Sima Ju was beheaded on the spot, and most of his troops died in the Zi River. The remaining members of the various powerful clans who had followed Sima Ju in raising an army fled eastward across the river.

Xu He was captured, and his troops surrendered on the spot.

The powerful clans that rebelled in Pingshou and Yingling were easily defeated by Guan Yu, and the pirates in Donglai were also wiped out by Guan Hai on the Penglai Islands. Most of the rebels fled.

Various units are hunting down deserters.

It seemed like things were going well, but trouble soon followed.

Zuo Yuan had previously stated that anyone who plots rebellion should be executed, even if they surrender later.

Those who escape will be hunted down to the bitter end, and anyone who harbors thieves will be considered an accomplice.

This is exactly what should be done. If a purge is to be carried out, it should be thorough. Otherwise, these people will surrender when things turn against them and cause trouble whenever they get the chance, like ghosts that will never leave.

However, Zuo Yuan still hesitated when faced with tens of thousands of surrendered soldiers.

What made her even more hesitant were the enemy soldiers who had fled from the battlefield.

In particular, most of the local people from Qingzhou, including Sima Ju and Xu He, fled the battlefield and hid in various homes in Qingzhou.

Hiding fugitives is a normal practice for the Han Chinese, and it is even considered a matter of principle.

Even if someone is plotting a rebellion and hides in a friend's house, the friend who reports it will be considered unjust.

If it is hidden in the home of a younger generation, and the younger generation tells the elders, then that is considered unfilial.

If a retainer or servant reports against their master, that is disloyalty.

For a patriarch to betray his ministers is also a breach of integrity.

If someone impersonates another person to take the blame for a friend, or if a member of a collateral branch takes the blame for a member of the main branch, this is considered an act of dying for righteousness—in those days, such behavior was seen as upholding both morality and the law…

As for whether it's the real person or not, there's no photo, so it's impossible to tell.

Most of the powerful families in Qingzhou were long-established noble families from Qi and Lu, with intricate relationships involving marriage, students, and friends. If the fugitives were to hide in various homes, a pursuit would inevitably result in the wrongful deaths of many.

—Because most powerful clans would hide their members, and many would resist the search. Even those clans that did not resist would inevitably push out innocent tenants and retainers to take the blame and die.

If we truly wanted to eliminate all the fleeing traitors, many innocent people would inevitably die, while the real rebels might not be caught.

Zuo Yuan didn't care about killing, but he didn't want to harm the innocent, so he asked Jia Xu, "Sir, if we want to eliminate the root of the problem, how should we do it so that the innocent are not implicated?"

"Both Yuan Yi and Sima Ju had surrendered soldiers among their troops, and they made these surrendered soldiers 'pledge their loyalty'... The pursuit and killings were all carried out by these surrendered soldiers; they knew who was innocent..."

Without hesitation, Jia Xu replied, “Madam, the lord does not easily kill indiscriminately, not only because he is kind-hearted, but also because there was no suitable weapon to kill him before. When the lord ordered Tao Gongzu to cleanse Qingzhou, he was not merciful at all… Now that you have Yuan Yi and Xu He as your weapons, you may use them to your fullest extent.”

(End of this chapter)