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

Chapter 425 Struggle and Coercion

Upon learning that tens of thousands of troops had surrounded Chang'an, Huangfu Song immediately withdrew his troops from Chencang.

However, Huangfu Song did not rush to Chang'an; he went directly to Mei County.

The proclamation calling for revenge against Dong Zhuo also included Huangfu Song as one of the enemies.

Although Huangfu Song was not the mastermind behind the plot to kill Dong Zhuo, he did participate in the actions of Feng Xun and Liu Ai, so it is no exaggeration to say that he conspired with them.

Huangfu Song knew that Dong Zhuo's remaining forces would not let him go, so he planned to take advantage of Li Jue's expedition to Chang'an to occupy Mei County first and hold Dong Zhuo's family members hostage.

For example, Dong Bai.

But how could Li Ru possibly give him that kind of opportunity...?

Dong Bai is not here; he is now the nominal lord of Dong Zhuo's remaining forces.

Upon arriving in Mei County, Huangfu Song received a severe beating.

Li Jue's main force did indeed go to Chang'an, and Huangfu Song's request to enter the city was also responded to - Mei County indeed opened its city gates, and even soldiers and civilians lined the streets to welcome General Huangfu.

But on the very night Huangfu Song entered the city, a 'fire' broke out in Mei County.

The fire did not seem to be aimed at Huangfusong, because it started in the warehouse and quickly spread to residential areas throughout the city.

In fact, Huangfu Song was already very careful. His troops were divided into two parts, one inside the city and the other outside.

The first to enter the city were his old subordinates, more than a thousand elite soldiers. He only entered the city after confirming that there was no problem with Mei County after his elite troops entered. Moreover, there was a large army led by Huangfu Li outside the city.

Huangfu Song's old team was indeed elite, quick to react, and very strong in combat.

The problem is that Li Ru didn't fight them.

When Huangfu Song was woken up by his soldiers in the middle of the night, he found that there was no attack and the whole city seemed to be fighting a fire.

Seeing that the fire was about to spread to the guesthouse, Huangfu Song also left the guesthouse and ordered the soldiers to open the city gates and go to fight the fire.

But just outside the building, Huangfu Song was ambushed by a group of people who were putting out a fire.

Those were members of the Dong family.

Li Ru was different from Jia Xu. Li Ru didn't care about casualties or how many innocent people would die, as long as he could achieve his goal.

The fire did not kill Huangfu Song's men, but Huangfu Song himself, in order to avoid the fire, only took a few guards with him and was stabbed to death at the entrance of the building.

After taking Huangfu Song's head, Li Ru withdrew from Mei County and ordered his men to continue setting fires and creating chaos within the county.

When Huangfu Li entered the city, the entire Mei County was already ablaze...

Upon learning of Huangfu Song's death, Huangfu Li immediately ordered the massacre of everyone in Mei County.

However, at this time, Huangfu Song's men were no longer so obedient.

Apart from Huangfu Song's former troops, the other soldiers were neither Huangfu Song's men nor Huangfu Li's subordinates.

They originally came from the entourage of officials, or from the remnants of Feng Xun's forces, or from the Qiang and Di tribes under A Gui's command... It's still early, and there hasn't been enough time to integrate them.

Huangfu Song was indeed capable of leading them, but he died.

Few people listened to Huangfu Li's orders; most of the troops took advantage of the chaos in the city to loot everywhere, and then ran away once they had looted enough.

Huangfu Li originally tried to reorganize his personal guards, but Huangfu Song's old subordinates stopped him and quickly took him away from the county town.

This was the right choice. There was no way to stop the ragtag troops from disobeying orders, and if Huangfu Li tried to forcefully restrain them, he would only get killed.

The fire in Mei County was ultimately left unextinguished. The county was looted, and Mei Village was also plundered. Those who remained in Mei County either fled or died there.

But the eight thousand troops that Huangfu Song had painstakingly gathered also scattered overnight.

……

After Huangfu Song withdrew his troops, Chunyu Qiong, who was originally facing Song Jian's army on the east side of Chencang, could no longer hold out.

He had a small force to begin with, and it was only because he had won a battle and his morale was high, and he also had the cooperation of Huangfu Song, that he was able to hold out.

But as soon as Huangfu Song withdrew, tens of thousands of Di people immediately poured out of Chencang and chased after Chunyu Qiong's troops.

Most of the Qiang and Di people are quite straightforward. Chunyu Qiong crippled A Gui's men, which made him a target of a lot of hatred.

Unable to hold out any longer, they had to flee. So Chunyu Qiong and Feng Ji discussed it and retreated north towards Longxian (Qianxian).

Right now, the only option is to head north, since Chang'an is in greater danger, as Dong Zhuo's remnants are besieging it...

With Huangfu Song and Chunyu Qiong having withdrawn, Song Jian's troops will certainly continue eastward—the north is Ma Teng's territory, and unless Song Jian has gone mad, he cannot possibly run to Ma Teng's territory at this time.

Currently, the area between the Jing River and the Qian River in northern Fufeng is under the control of Ma Teng, who himself has troops stationed in Long County.

Feng Ji plans to go with Yuan Tan to get Ma Teng's help.

When Song Jian's troops marched to Fufeng, Han Sui and Ma Teng did not follow suit, but they also did not become enemies with Song Jian; they were currently in a wait-and-see state.

In fact, Han Sui and Ma Teng were nominally allies of Dong Zhuo. At that time, Huangfu Song was chasing Wang Guo, and Han Sui took Wang Guo's head. In order to appease Han Sui and Ma Teng, Dong Zhuo appointed them as General of Anqiang and General of Andi, respectively.

But Song Jian was also an ally of Han Sui.

Although Song Jian was influenced by Buddhism and established a Buddhist kingdom, Song Jian's existence was beneficial to Han Sui, who didn't care what religion the Qiang and Di people of Longxi believed in.

Longxian County, where Ma Teng lived, was a strategic location north of Chencang and a necessary passage on the ancient Longshan Road.

The Longshan Ancient Road, also known as the Longdao, is a mountain road in the valley.

The normal route to Longxi was the Wei River Imperial Road, which ran along the entire length of the Wei River. Song Jian's troops came out from the Imperial Road.

Every city along the Wei River could block access to Longxi from the imperial road, such as Chencang and Jixian in Tianshui—both of which are now in the hands of Song Jian.

Ma Teng and Song Jian blocked the road, keeping Jincheng County, controlled by Han Sui, out of the Han Dynasty's reach, allowing Han Sui to act as a local tyrant behind closed doors.

This is how Liangzhou warlords like Han Sui were; they did indeed have some Hu (non-Han) habits, and the conflict between Hu and Han was not within Han Sui's considerations.

However, Ma Teng is slightly different.

Feng Ji might actually be able to persuade Ma Teng... or you could say 'join Ma Teng'.

Ma Teng's ancestral home was Maoling in Fufeng, which is the location of the mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che—at least he claimed to be a descendant of General Ma Yuan, the General Who Subdued the Waves.

But Ma Teng never actually stayed at the Ma family residence in Maoling.

Ma Teng's father, Ma Ping, was implicated and convicted after serving as an official. He then wandered to Longxi and lived with the Qiang people. Ma Teng's mother was a Qiang woman whom Ma Ping married in Longxi.

After growing up, Ma Teng used his strength to become a gangster, gained some fame, and had a group of followers.

Originally intending to return to the Maoling clan, Ma Teng was not recognized by the Maoling Ma family because his mother was a Qiang woman.

At that time, the most prestigious person in the Maoling Ma family was Ma Rong, the teacher of Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan.

Ma Rong disowned the Qiang woman's son, and consequently disowned Ma Ping, who had married the Qiang woman.

Ma Teng actually harbored considerable resentment towards Ma Rong...

But he wanted to gain recognition from within his own clan even more.

This isn't about tracing one's ancestry; it's mainly about status and identity.

To survive in society, one needs some status. I couldn't get close to Ma Rong, the master of classical Chinese studies, before, but now I must at least get close to my ancestor, General Ma Yuan, who subdued the waves.

The reason why Yuan Tan and Feng Ji knew so much about these matters was because Ma Rong's daughter, Ma Lun, who was also Yuan Wei's wife, had argued with Yuan Wei about Yuan Shao's marriage, and one of the examples was that Ma Rong did not allow Ma Ping and his son to return to the Ma family in Fufeng...

Yuan Shao's ex-wife was not of high status either; she was the daughter of a disgraced official. Yuan Tan was Yuan Shao's son from his ex-wife, and his status in the Yuan family was also not good.

Moreover, if Yuan Tan could persuade Ma Teng to be recognized by the Ma family of Fufeng and return to his ancestral home, he could even establish a kinship with Ma Teng.

Yuan Wei and Huangfu Song became connected through the Ma family.

Ma Rong's sons-in-law could be described as a "dream team" at the time.

This included Yuan Wei, Huangfu Gui, Zhang Huan... who almost wiped out the entire Sanming of Liangzhou.

Ma Teng, by definition, was the nephew of Ma Lun, Yuan Wei's wife.

Song Jian's troops are currently marching eastward. If Ma Teng can stop Song Jian's troops from harassing the Ma family in Maoling, then this matter will be much easier to handle.

Ma Teng should indeed have done that.

Not only can he return as a hero who saves his family, but he can also take the opportunity to spy on Chang'an.

Moreover, Ma Teng had the ability and reputation to recruit Song Jian's troops, and the Qiang and Di people were willing to serve Ma Teng.

Ma Teng could even directly enter Longxi and replace Song Jian.

If he is willing to accept Feng Ji's 'servance'.

……

……

While the various factions in Guanzhong were constantly vying for power, Liu Bei was facing the dilemma of Zhuojun.

Liu Bei was unaware of the news from Chang'an at the moment.

The situation in Zhuojun is currently very troublesome.

Gu'an, Rongcheng, and Xiheting were all occupied by enemy forces, and the enemy was everywhere.

The main base of the Wuhuan people in Shanggu is now located in Xiheting, which was established by Liu Bei.

All three detachments of Zhuojun's troops have been wiped out.

Lu Zhi's eldest son, Lu Jie, was killed in battle against the Wuhuan. The Lu family's fortified village was breached, and the Lu family suffered heavy casualties. The entire clan had already moved to Fanyang City.

Ma Tai held Rongcheng for a month before being killed by a stray arrow. His nephew, Ma Yan, took over the remaining troops, but ultimately could not hold the city and had to surrender to Gao Gan.

Fangcheng Zhang Nan also surrendered a few days ago.

There were more than 20,000 Wuhuan soldiers outside Fanyang City, as well as many more Han Chinese. Countless camps and tents surrounded Fanyang City. If we only look at the numbers, they probably exceeded 50,000.

The banner of the Han Chinese camp was 'Han Grand Marshal'.

This was, of course, a high-ranking official, who appointed himself Grand Marshal after Liu Yu's death.

The wolf banners of the Wuhuan people are also present. These are tribal wolf banners, which means that Nanlou, the Wuhuan chieftain of Shanggu, is also here.

In fact, Liu Bei was genuinely unafraid to fight against the Wuhuan people.

The Wuhuan army had a large number of men and horses, and their strengths lay in mobile warfare and mounted archery. However, their weakness was in formation warfare, and their battlefield discipline was nowhere near that of Liu Bei's troops.

With the quality of Liu Bei and Zhang Liao's troops and equipment, they could easily achieve extremely high exchange ratios in local battles.

As long as we can quickly demonstrate the fighting prowess of the Han army, where one can defeat ten, even the largest number of foreign tribes will flee.

The Wuhuan people still harbored a deep-seated fear of the Han Dynasty.

Moreover, the Shanggu Wuhuan were also afraid of Liu Bei. When Liu Bei was in Xihe, the Shanggu Wuhuan were honest herdsmen who always traded horses with Liu Bei for living supplies.

But the problem is that the enemy is not only the Wuhuan people now.

……

So far, only Zhuoxian and Fanyang cities in the entire Zhuojun region are still holding out, and they have been holding out for two months.

Zhang He was stationed in Zhuo County, and Xianyu Yin was stationed in Fanyang. Their communication had been cut off by the Wuhuan cavalry, and the countryside outside the city had all been occupied by enemy forces.

It is truly remarkable that Zhang He and Xianyu Yin were able to persevere for so long.

Especially Xianyu Yin, the siege of Fanyang City by more than 50,000 people was something that no ordinary person could withstand.

According to Xu Miao, during this period, the troops of Gao Gan, Liu Yi and others had been coercing the people and various large families of Youzhou, and most of the work of conquering cities and seizing territories was done by the Wuhuan and Xianbei people.

This is a very large transaction.

Gongsun Du, or rather Yuan Shao, provided the various Wuhuan tribes with the title of Chanyu, as well as provisions and weapons, and helped the Wuhuan people subdue the Xianbei, while allowing the foreign tribes to plunder Youzhou.

The Wuhuan and Xianbei were responsible for attacking cities and seizing territories, trapping the armies of various tribes in Youzhou.

Gao Gan, Liu Yi, and others separately coerced Han people, using hostages to threaten various powerful families in Youzhou, forcing the people of Youzhou to submit, and using the grain and supplies of each family to make the Wuhuan people cooperate.

The families in Youzhou who 'joined Gongsun Du' were spared from being plundered by foreign tribes and could save the lives of their families, but they had to send troops and supplies to follow Gao Gan and others to continue to be coerced.

It continues to spread like a virus.

Although most people in Youzhou must have hated this intensely, they had no choice but to protect their families' lives.

The Wuhuan army was large, and the Wuhuan people did not care about anything else. If anyone in Youzhou disobeyed them, the Wuhuan people would kill and exterminate their clan, plunder their wealth, and abduct women.

The Wuhuan people used force to threaten them, and Gao Gan and others 'provided protection' by kidnapping each family and bringing them onto Yuan Shao's war chariot.

The families that are coerced will become the vanguard of the enemy, continuing to coerce other families. The leaders of the families will be assigned many irreversible tasks, including helping the Wuhuan people kill those Han people who do not submit.

Just like the Xu Miao family, whose members were also detained, Xu Mao asked Xu Miao to take the opportunity of being sent as an envoy to risk helping Liu Bei. In reality, this was also to free his son from being held hostage, which meant that Xu Miao should no longer care about his family.

Even after Xu Miao joined Liu Bei, the Xu family of Guangyang remained under enemy control.

Liu Hui, along with Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Tian Feng, and others, held off Liu Bei in Ji Province for a considerable period of time. During this time, Gao Gan, Liu Yi, and others also continued to coerce various factions in You Province.

The situation in Youzhou is now very complicated, with most areas being caught in the crossfire.

Youzhou was no longer a place where soldiers and civilians were clearly separated, but it was not a place where everyone was an enemy; most people were forced into it.

In particular, most of the families in Zhuojun and Guangyang did not voluntarily defect to the enemy, and many of them had fought alongside Liu Bei.

It was precisely because of this that Zhuo County and Fanyang County were able to hold out for so long—the families in Zhuo County probably did some work but not put in their full effort to help the Wuhuan people attack the city.

However, it would be difficult to quickly rescue Zhang He and Xianyu Yin.

There are more than 50,000 enemy troops outside Fanyang City to the north, and countless Wuhuan people in the Juma River area.

Although the enemy forces were mostly a motley crew of misfits and none of them actively attacked Liu Bei, their numbers were still considerable.

Now we not only need to eliminate the enemy, but also try our best to turn those who are caught up in the situation against their will into our own.

Just like Xu Miao.

If we launch an attack without distinguishing right from wrong, it will drive those families controlled by the enemy to despair and cause them to completely side with the enemy.

If the entire Youzhou region were to turn against Liu Bei, no matter how strong Liu Bei's army was, it would be impossible for him to reclaim Youzhou.

However, news from Youzhou had become sluggish, and Liu Bei was unable to determine who he could win over and who he had to eliminate.

This was the most difficult situation Liu Bei had ever encountered.

War is never as simple as just setting up carriages and horses to fight on both sides.

(End of this chapter)