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

Chapter 417 Intelligence on the Surrendered General

The following day, Liu Bei and Zhang Liao joined forces in Xiangguo County.

Of the 600 troops Zhang Liao left in the county, only 95 survived.

In an attempt to launch a timely counterattack on Xiangguo, Zhang Liao's troops suffered over two hundred casualties.

After Zhang Liao entered the city and defeated Tian's private army, Tian Zhao surrendered to Zhang Liao, but Zhang Liao refused and killed him along with Tian's family members.

More than a thousand of Tian's remaining servants were bound and forced into hard labor.

Qu Yi handed over Tian Feng's head to Liu Bei and volunteered to eliminate the Tian clan of Julu.

He killed Tian Feng. The Tian family, a thousand-year-old clan, has a vast network of connections. If they are not eradicated completely, they will surely face retribution in the future.

Moreover, with Tian Feng dead, the task of shooting down Yan Liang's troops would fall to Qu Yi.

As Guo Jia said, Qu Yi had nowhere else to go but to seek refuge with Liu Bei.

Regardless of whether Qu Yi is trustworthy, at least for now, he is the best candidate to do the dirty work, and he will certainly do it cleaner than Liu Bei's men.

Moreover, Qu Yi does indeed know a lot of things.

The greatest value that surrendered generals like Qu Yi could bring was never their fighting ability, but rather a large amount of accurate intelligence.

He knew about the arrangements made by Feng Xun, Han Fu, Liu Hui, and others, knew the list of all the families that colluded with foreign tribes, and also knew about the so-called posthumous child of Liu Bian.

Tang Ji did give birth to a child, but the child was not Liu Bian's, because Tang Ji became pregnant long after Liu Bian's death.

After Dong Zhuo took Tang Ji away in Luoyang, he originally intended to send her back to Yingchuan.

Tang Ji came from the prestigious Tang family of Yingchuan. Her father was Tang Mao, the former governor of Kuaiji.

Tang Ji was indeed very beautiful, and Dong Zhuo did admire her. However, Tang Ji was the widow of Liu Bian, and although Dong Zhuo was a lecherous old man, he refrained from taking Tang Ji for himself.

Although most scholars in the Central Plains believed that Dong Zhuo was a rough and violent man from the border region of Liangzhou, Dong Zhuo was actually more polite than those powerful and aristocratic families in many ways.

Not long after Dong Zhuo sent Tang Ji home, Yuan Shao summoned the Guandong Coalition.

Yingchuan was under the control of the Guandong Coalition at the time, so Tang Mao wanted Tang Ji to remarry Yuan Shao's eldest son, Yuan Tan. Yuan Shao originally wanted to marry Feng Fang, but Yuan Shu intercepted the marriage, so he set his sights on Tang Ji.

At that time, Yuan Shao had a good reputation in Guandong. The whole of Guandong believed that Liu Bei and Dong Zhuo were causing chaos in Luoyang, and Yuan Shao had previously supported Liu Bian.

Tang Ji was sent home by Dong Zhuo's men. Tang Mao did not want to have anything to do with Dong Zhuo, lest he be harmed by the Guandong Coalition. It was a normal reaction for him to want to form a marriage alliance with Yuan Shao.

After all, when Yuan Shao first organized the Guandong Coalition, it seemed to be very strong and had a great momentum.

But Tang Ji refused to remarry, no matter what.

On the one hand, Liu Bian had just been buried, and on the other hand, Tang Ji knew that Liu Bian's death was most likely caused by Yuan Shao.

Dong Zhuo explained to her that the deadly poison was wrapped in beeswax, disguised as a pill, and could cause someone to die overnight if swallowed.

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, Huo Xian (Huo Guang's wife) plotted to poison Empress Xu. The female physician Chunyu Yan wrapped aconite powder in beeswax and gave it to Empress Xu as a pill, causing her to die of poisoning the next day.

Tang Ji refused to remarry her enemy, so she left home and lived alone in a country villa, avoiding contact with others.

But not long after, Tang Ji was found by Feng Xun's men.

Feng Xun was from Yingchuan, so it was not an accident that he was able to find Tang Ji. Yuan Shao wanted Yuan Tan to marry Tang Ji, which was originally based on her status as Liu Bian's widow.

Not long after, Yuan Shao's allied forces were defeated by Liu Bei, and Yuan Shao retreated to Ji Province. Feng Xun met him and went to Bohai to support Liu Zhong, the Prince of Ganling.

However, Yuan Shao and Feng Xun failed to gain a foothold in Bohai, as the rumors of Liu Bei's treacherous ministers eliminated Yuan Shao's opportunity. Therefore, Han Fu went to Hebei to "persuade" Feng Xun to "set things right" and kill Liu Zhong.

Feng Xun and Han Fu were transferred to Yongzhou for their merits in 'pacifying Hebei', while Yuan Shao disappeared.

Tang Ji was also taken to Chang'an by Feng Xun.

During that time, Qu Yi followed Han Fu and met Tang Ji. Tang Ji was pregnant at the time, but she still hadn't married anyone.

Last year, Li Jue met Tang Ji and tried to propose marriage, but Tang Ji refused. Moreover, Tang Ji no longer referred to herself as Liu Bian's wife, but only said that she was an unlucky person.

After that, Qu Yi followed Han Fu in Chang'an and joined Feng Xun's faction. Qu Yi knew that Yuan Shao was behind Feng Xun.

Two months ago, the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Wuhuan and other nomadic groups launched a full-scale invasion.

Gao Gan, in alliance with the Wuhuan, attacked and captured Youzhou.

Feng Xun instigated Liu Hui, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others to rise up in response to Gao Gan, and Han Fu also transferred Qu Yi to Hebei to plot with Tian Feng to take over Jizhou.

Gao Gan urged Liu Yu to take the throne, but Liu Yu refused.

After Liu Yu's death, Gao Gan claimed that Liu Bian had a posthumous son, saying that Liu Xie was not Liu Hong's biological son, and expressed his intention to support the legitimate emperor and act as Grand Marshal.

Qu Yi then realized... that Tang Ji's affair was premeditated.

Tang Ji's child was of course from the Yuan family. Tang Ji was deliberately sent to Chang'an so that she would appear with Dong Zhuo and make more gentry believe that she was Liu Bian's posthumous child.

Originally, this "posthumous child" would not have been brought forward so quickly, because persuading Liu Yu to take the throne was the primary objective.

Liu Yu was indeed benevolent towards the Wuhuan and Xianbei, and his reputation could quickly gain their allegiance. Moreover, Liu Yu's prestige could attract more gentry.

Tang Ji's child was originally intended to coerce Liu Yu into 'announcing to the world'.

If Liu Yu were willing to declare himself emperor, that would be best; he could even be willing to take charge of the affairs of the Imperial Secretariat as Grand Marshal.

All Liu Yu needs to do is declare that Liu Xie is not the son of the late emperor, attack Liu Bei, and support 'Liu Bian's posthumous son'.

If Liu Yu were to declare in his name the 'finding of the late emperor's bloodline,' 'restoring order and punishing Liu Bei,' or 'allowing the late emperor's bloodline to succeed him,' then it would be highly credible.

Liu Yu was Liu Hong's most trusted member of the imperial clan. He was famous and had an excellent reputation, so no one would think that Liu Yu was lying.

After all, Liu Yu had been Liu Bei's superior for a long time. In addition, there were his relatives such as Liu Deran and the Liu clan of Zhongshan. If they were to raise a banner together to attack Liu Bei and Liu Xie, it would inevitably make the whole world believe that Liu Bei was plotting to usurp power.

As long as Liu Bei and Liu Xie are not trusted by the people, everything that happened before could be overturned, such as the treacherous minister Yuan Shao.

But Liu Yu refused to comply and died at the hands of Tadun.

The death of Liu Yu prevented the plan from proceeding smoothly. The strategic plan failed, so the only option was to quickly seize Hebei.

Therefore, Gao Gan used Liu Yu's Grand Marshal's seal to appoint Tadun as Chanyu, recognized the various Wuhuan tribes as kings, promised to let the Wuhuan take over the prefectures and counties of the Han Dynasty, and formally formed an alliance with Tadun.

It was because they couldn't utilize Liu Yu that they quickly introduced Tang Ji's child as a new political figurehead.

Although Tang Ji's child was a fabricated posthumous child of Liu Bian, some people didn't know the truth, some were willing to believe it, and some were willing to admit it even if they knew it was fake.

Like Tian Feng, who was willing to acknowledge that Liu Bian had a posthumous child.

With Liu Yu dead, and it difficult to directly seize power from Liu Xie, a legitimate claim to the throne was needed.

In any case, the emperors of the Han Dynasty were always chosen through a talent show. As long as one could be a judge, it didn't matter whose bloodline the contestants were.

(End of this chapter)