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

Chapter 434 Morale of the Han Army
May of the fifth year of the Chuping era.

Tian Chou led the way north from Lulong Pass, pursued and scattered the remaining Wuhuan tribes at Fancheng, and followed the fleeing Wuhuan tribes eastward.

After defeating three Wuhuan tribes, Zhang Liao and Guo Jia led their cavalry into Bailang Mountain.

Zhang Liao's approach was similar to Guan Yu's method of annihilating the Southern Xiongnu royal court; he also pursued the Wuhuan tribe relentlessly, taking no prisoners and chasing the enemy without end.

This is both Guan Yu's advice to Zhang Liao and a precedent set by Huo Piaoyao.

Zhao Yun stormed into Xuantu, sweeping all before him with unstoppable force. Almost all the Xianbei people in northern Xuantu retreated westward.

Xu Huang arrived a little late and, worried that he would have no use for his strength, he traveled lightly through Xuantu County with only three thousand men to attack Wandu, the stronghold of the Goguryeo people.

In fact, Goguryeo did not send troops during this turmoil in Youzhou; it was just that many of the slave soldiers recruited by Yuan Shao were Goguryeo people.

The elite Han army is all here; everyone wants a piece of the barbarian heads, everyone wants to be seen as a hero of the Han Dynasty. After all, they're all barbarians; who told Goguryeo not to surrender immediately...

King Yuchi Tai of Fuyu was quite wise. He surrendered on the spot after Yuan Shao's death and immediately became the vanguard of Guan Yu's attack on Xiangping. Guan Yu had already advanced to Shoushan in the southwest of Xiangping.

As the temporary commander-in-chief, Guan Yu planned to secure the northern frontier in one battle.

This was also Liu Bei's attitude.

The Wuhuan, the Eastern Xianbei Alliance, the Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Gongsun Du of Liaodong were all pacified in one fell swoop.

After all, we have come...

May is the best time to go beyond the Great Wall, when the vegetation is lush, the climate is warm, water is plentiful, and supplies are readily available.

The reason why supplies are convenient is because this season is suitable for herding cattle and sheep to follow the water and grass.

All the Han armies followed Guan Yu's method of conquering the Xiongnu: taking no prisoners and feeding the enemy.

Right now, all the elites are here.

The successive victories in Youzhou boosted the confidence of all the troops, and the soldiers were in high spirits. Moreover, all the scholars in Youzhou needed to kill the Hu to atone for their sins.

Correspondingly, after Tadun's death, all the Donghu tribes were terrified, their soldiers lost their will to fight, and their people lost their fighting spirit.

There's no better time than now.

The time is ripe to secure victory in the north and expand our territory.

Liu Bei did not issue any other orders, nor did he mention Yuan Shao's dying words, because he did not want to affect this morale.

We must seize this opportunity to completely pacify the entire north, thus eliminating future troubles north of Youzhou.

There was no need for alliances or counter-alliances; if given the opportunity to wipe out the Hu people in one fell swoop, Liu Bei would certainly act immediately.

Liu Bei could do business with the Hu people because it would benefit the Han Dynasty.

But Liu Bei would not join forces with the Hu people, because that would be an insult to the Han Dynasty.

In foreign lands, the Han envoy has the final say; there is no such thing as an equal alliance.

If the Han envoys are not allowed to have the final say, then those who disobey should be killed and replaced with a leader who can have the final say – this is the tradition of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bei felt that this tradition should not be lost.

Therefore, after leaving the border, Liu Bei never spoke of benevolence or forgiveness again, nor did he employ the strategy of alliances and counter-alliances.

The Hu people... either obey or die.

Every soldier in the Han army harbors a dream of following in the footsteps of the Marquis of Champion.

A man should fight on the frontier, and fame should be earned on horseback. Those who boast of their literary and martial achievements are not heroes; those who expand the territory and open up new frontiers are true heroes... This is the original thought in the hearts of the vast majority of Han men.

Perhaps some people in this great Han Dynasty have become corrupt, with too much dust accumulated over hundreds of years. Faith and righteousness are being devoured by deceit and treachery, and the struggle for power and entanglement of interests have caused the great Han Dynasty to lose its former glory.

But no matter how many malignant tumors remain, as long as the Han Dynasty has not yet fallen, there will always be heroes full of vigor and ambition.

Even if problems might arise in the rear, Liu Bei still insisted on planting the banner of the Han Dynasty where it was meant to be before returning to his army.

The Han Banner does not only represent the Liu Han Dynasty.

It also represents the sealing of the wolf's lair, the bravery of the Han people, the prestige of the Han envoys, racial status, and the rules of this world!
As long as the Han flag stands, the Han Dynasty will be the dynasty that sets the rules of the world and the master of the world.

—This world has no borders. Where the Han flag is, that is Han territory; where the Han people are, that is Han border!
—This world has no countries. Only those kingdoms established by the Han Dynasty are kingdoms. Those kingdoms not established by the Han Dynasty are rebels!
This is the true meaning of the Han Dynasty, and it is also the reason why Liu Bei never allowed the Han banner to fall.

My great Han Dynasty was originally a god who set the rules. If we were to fall into the dust and fight with barbarian tribes for survival, how could we face our first emperor, how could we face our ancestor Gaozu, how could we face Emperor Wu...

How can we face our ancestors who have been setting rules and leading the times for thousands of years?

No matter how fierce or urgent the internal strife, it must give way a little.

No matter how prestigious the emperor's throne may be, it cannot compare to the legacy of his ancestors.

What is filial piety?
Filial piety means firmly grasping the rules of the world in the hands of the Han people.

No matter how the South changes, we must first completely pacify the Northern Frontier, so that the might of the Han Dynasty can be restored and the brothers can be filled with unprecedented morale.

Then, let these heroes who expanded the territory return with glory to crush those snakes, insects, rats and ants who only know how to fight for power and profit.

……

……

Yuan Xi was incredibly unlucky; he had an unreliable mother.

He had already gone to Dongta under the alias Liu Xi, intending to sail from Dalian Port, and no one had noticed them.

Yuan Shao had indeed repelled Guan Hai's navy, so crossing the sea to Donglai at that time would have been feasible.

Moreover, renowned scholars from Qingzhou such as Guan Ning and Bing Yuan also planned to go to Donglai. These scholars had a keen sense of smell and, upon hearing that Liu Bei's army was winning victory after victory in Youzhou, immediately planned to leave Liaodong.

Guan Ning and his men were well-known and would not be intercepted by the Qingzhou troops, since they had not colluded with the enemy.

Guan Ning and Bing Yuan both lived in seclusion in the mountains of Liaodong and did not serve under Gongsun Du. Gongsun Du had tried to recruit them, but they did not accept.

Moreover, Guan Ning and Guan Hai are at least from the same clan. Although they are from different branches and their families are not on good terms, at least the Donglai pirates will not intercept Guan Ning.

If they had followed Guan Ning's ship to Donglai, Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang would most likely have been able to escape.

Yuan Xi's uncle, Liu Qing, had already struck up a conversation with Guan Ning, asking Guan Ning to give his family of four a ride—he said, "Liu Qing of Zhangwu, whose sons are Liu Xi and Liu Yi, etc."

Liu Qing was a cousin of the Liu family. Yuan Shao had Yuan Xi and others adopt him and give him the surname Liu.

Guan Ning has already agreed.

However, Liu felt that Guan Ning's ship was unsafe because Guan Ning planned to go directly to Qingzhou Donglai Maritime College...

Moreover, Liu felt unsafe without anyone around and was not used to being without anyone to serve her, so she had her cousin Liu Qing bring over a hundred servants from the Liu clan.

Yuan Xi repeatedly refused, saying that Yuan Shao forbade him to bring any personal attendants.

However, Lady Liu complained that Yuan Shao favored his ex-wife Lady Li's son, Yuan Tan, saying that it was foolish of Yuan Shao not to provide guards for Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang when it was so dangerous to escape by sea... Yuan Shao did send Yuan Tan to Chang'an and indeed assigned him a lot of people, such as Feng Ji, Guo Tu, and Chunyu Qiong, but this was because Yuan Tan was the most suitable person to go to Chang'an to control Feng Xun.

As for Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang, Yuan Shao ordered them to leave without any attendants because he knew that the less attention they drew, the greater their chances of survival.

But Liu insisted on bringing a large group of people with her.

As a result, when Guan Ning saw so many people, he immediately ignored them...

Guan Ning isn't stupid. Seeing so many members of the Liu family, he could naturally tell there was a problem. How could Guan Ning possibly provoke such trouble?

Besides, who would take a boat carrying hundreds of people?
Guan Ning's boat was simply too small to accommodate everyone...

As a result, what could have been an easy escape fell through.

Liu then led a large group of people to Tazhu (Lushun Port), attempting to have a group of Liaodong pirates escort them to their hometown in Bohai, as she was more familiar with Bohai.

However, Yuan Shao had just defeated Guan Hai with Gongsun Du's help a month ago, so all the Liaodong pirates should be under Gongsun Du's command at this time.

The wild pirates encountered at this time were certainly not allies of Gongsun Du or Yuan Shao...

The man Liu encountered was Shi Ren.

Shi Ren is quite capable; he is good at everything, including courage, martial arts, intelligence, business acumen, and communication skills. Although he is not outstanding in any one area, he is indeed good at a little bit of everything, otherwise he would not have been given important responsibilities in the first place.

At first, Shi Ren didn't realize that this was a great achievement that had come to him.

Shi Ren originally thought these people were easy prey...

Liu Bei sent Shi Ren to Liaodong to make a living, saying that only by expanding the territory could he atone for his sins, so Shi Ren naturally had to start as a pirate.

Guan Hai's younger brother, Guan Shen, was a great help, providing Shi Ren with the ships and manpower to start his business, as well as trade routes—slave trade routes. Guan Hai is now the principal of the Maritime Academy and no longer does such dirty work, so Shi Ren can take over.

When Shi Ren encountered Liu's group, he originally only wanted to extort money from them, since he needed funds to recruit soldiers and horses. This was the usual practice of most pirates, who would ask for exorbitant prices when sending people to smuggle them across the border, and might even rob them halfway. However, they would usually keep their promise and send people to their destination.

Shi Ren was already being quite generous by only taking advantage of people.

So on the first night after setting sail, when they could no longer see land, Shih-jen began collecting 'food and beverage fees'.

A meal of millet rice costs one thousand coins, and a bamboo tube of water also costs one thousand coins.

If you think it's too expensive, you can go hungry; it's not mandatory. Anyway, the ship owner decides how many days the voyage will take... Actually, this has always been the same approach throughout history.

Five boats, more than one hundred people, each person has two meals a day and three bamboo tubes of water. Shi Ren plans to charge them 500,000 coins every day.

If there's no cash, you can keep the hostages. Shi Ren could tell that the two teenagers looked delicate and fair-skinned, so they must be rich young masters.

As a result, Liu became furious. Seeing that there were not many people on Shi Ren's ship, he planned to have Liu Qing lead his servants to forcibly seize the ship.

But this is at sea... Pirates are on their own ship, how could a group of stowaways so easily seize control of the ship?
Back then, even Taishi Ci didn't dare to fight Guan Hai's men at sea.

If you think it's too expensive, you can negotiate the price or discuss other ways of trading. Pirates are actually businessmen; they can ask for an exorbitant price but then negotiate it down to a reasonable amount.

However, if they failed to seize the ship, these people would be considered spoils of war by the pirates.

Shi Ren subdued the Liu family, Liu Qing was killed, half of the Liu family's servants died, and Shi Ren also lost about ten men as a result.

In retaliation, Shi Ren's men whipped the group and beat them severely, threatening to sell them to the mines.

This is no joke. Since they are already enemies, we can't get money from them. We have to sell them as slaves to recoup our losses.

Shi Ren was originally in the business of selling slaves.

Liu protected Yuan Shang, saying that the Yuan family had held high office for four generations, and the Liu family was a prestigious family from Bohai. She added that such petty thieves as you were going to commit such an act and would surely meet a terrible end…

When Shi Ren heard this, he was surprised!

Only after interrogating Yuan Xi did Shi Ren learn about the situation in Youzhou.

Shi Ren then immediately took Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang to Xiangping.

Shi Ren knew Gongsun Du, which was no coincidence. Gongsun Du was originally the largest slave trading group in Liaodong, while Shi Ren was a small to medium-sized cross-border wholesaler. This trade route was originally this kind of business.

At that time, Liu Yi had not yet withdrawn, but news of Yuan Shao's death had already reached Xiangping, and news of the continuous advance of various Han armies had also reached Xiangping.

Liu Bei's troops were slaughtering their way through the barbarians, and Guan Yu's army was also approaching Xiangping. Gongsun Du was starting to panic.

He knew Liu Bei wouldn't let him go.

Yuan Shao was considered a traitor, and Gongsun Du would at least be considered a collaborator with the rebels; by any measure, they were destined to be purged.

Liu Yi's troops have not returned yet, and even if they do, they will be heavily damaged remnants.

Gongsun Du currently has few troops, as almost all the alien troops have already left.

The Buyeo people were allied with Gongsun Du through marriage, and the Tungusic people were allied with the Buyeo people. However, the Buyeo king, Yuchitai, had already surrendered and became the vanguard in the attack on Xiangping.

Goguryeo and Buyeo were enemies, and Gongsun Du stirred up trouble on both sides while also selling weapons to both, which meant that Goguryeo could only maintain cooperation with Liaodong most of the time, resulting in a commercial dependency relationship that was not one of submission.

However, Xu Huang led his troops lightly to their home base, Wandu, and the Goguryeo people went back to defend their homes.

The eastern Xianbei tribal alliance had already fled after the Han army crossed the border, retreating entirely to the west towards the Tanhan Mountain.

All the alien forces have now retreated – they have all heard that Tadun was killed in battle and that Yuan Shao was killed.

In the eyes of these foreign tribes, Yuan Shao and Tadun were far superior to them.

Since Yuan Shao and Tadun had already been defeated and killed, these foreign tribes naturally dared not appear in front of the Han army.

Xiangping currently has only gathered 7,000 troops, including 2,000 slave soldiers. These are the only people Gongsun Du can fully control, and they cannot receive any support.

The Han army had won a series of victories and had just defeated Yuan Shao. Their morale was high, and it was the perfect time to eliminate the rebels.

In this situation, we can certainly defend, but we lack confidence and morale.

Perhaps we should flee by sea?

The Changhai Islands also have a pirate force of three thousand men and hundreds of ships...

However, if they wanted to go to sea, they had to abandon most of their retainers and could only take seven or eight hundred men, because there were so many ships, and they also had to carry supplies and goods on board.

Once they set sail... their lives and fortunes would be in the hands of those pirates, and Gongsun Du was unsure what they would do.

Those were pirates hastily assembled by Yuan Shao to deal with Guan Hai's navy; they were not Gongsun Du's own men.

At this time, Shi Ren used Yuan Shao's wife, Liu, as a stepping stone to get in front of Gongsun Du.

In fact, Shi Ren had very few men under his command, less than a hundred, which was only considered a small group among pirates.

Shi Ren claimed to be a retainer of Liu Bei and immediately threatened Gongsun Du: "Brother Shengji, you have nowhere to go... All the pirates have surrendered to our lord, and the sea routes have been completely blocked. If you do not surrender, you will not be able to go anywhere."

(End of this chapter)