Han Ji

Sun Quan put down the tent and took the scout report, reading it carefully. Zhang Zhao asked if they should send someone to demand it. Sun Quan said yes. Sun Quan stood up, walked to the map, and pointed to the location of Poyang. His strategy towards the Shanyue people differed from his brother's.

The elder brother's strategy was to go into the mountains and wipe them out, making an example of them. Sun Quan's strategy was to use the Yue people as a source of soldiers and manpower, relocating them from the mountains, registering them in the household register, adding the able-bodied to the army, and distributing land to the elderly, women, and children. He increasingly realized that as long as these people were given a way out, they would no longer want to stay in the mountains and practice slash-and-burn agriculture.

Cheng Pu was dispatched to Poyang this time. He led three thousand men and did not engage in a direct assault into the mountains. Instead, he blocked the main valleys leading in and out of the Poyang mountain area and sent men into the mountains to announce that General Sun was benevolent and that those who surrendered themselves would be granted land and tax exemption, and that past transgressions would not be pursued.

You Tu and his men hid in the mountains for several days, but their attempt to break out at night was thwarted by Cheng Pu's ambush. Eventually, internal divisions arose, and some men bound You Tu and used the gates to escape down the mountain. Cheng Pu accepted the surrendered men outside Poyang City, recruiting one or two thousand able-bodied men, while several thousand others were relocated down the mountain.

Not long after, the Yue tribes of Danyang caused trouble again. This time, Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to deal with them. Lü Meng led two thousand men, and instead of using swords, he used salt and cloth.

He had several carts of sea salt and cloth pushed into the mountain, sat down at the mountain pass with the leaders of the Yue tribes and drank with them, saying that the general was willing to take them into his army, to be paid monthly rations, and to provide their families with land.

The leaders of several small tribes immediately turned over the salt bags, smelled them, and nodded. Later, several larger tribes also came down the mountain.

Sun Quan's policy towards the Yue people in the mountains was very effective. Groups of Yue people migrated out of the mountains, were registered in the household register, and were resettled with land. The able-bodied were recruited into the army, replenishing the population and manpower of Jiangdong.

He set up a new military camp outside Wu County, selecting more than 10,000 soldiers from the surrendered Yue tribes to form several battalions, which were supervised and trained by Lü Meng and Jiang Qin respectively. Zhang Zhao designated military settlements in Danyang, Wu County, and Kuaiji to specifically resettle the elderly, weak, women, and children of the Yue tribes who had moved out of the mountains. Each person was allocated a certain amount of land and exempted from taxes for one to two years.

By the end of the year, the population of the six counties of Jiangdong, plus the newly incorporated Yue people from the mountains, had increased by tens of thousands. The granaries were overflowing, and the cloth was piled up like mountains.

The navy's warships stretched from Chaisang to Wujun, and craftsmen worked day and night in the shipyards to build new ships. The rear of Jiangdong gradually stabilized.

In the twelfth year of Xingping, 204 AD, in early March, the Yellow River had just thawed.

Liu Bei convened a military council in Ye City to plan the northern expedition against Youzhou. A detailed map of Youzhou was laid out in the main hall, marking Ji County, Yuyang, Shanggu, Dai County, and the various passes along the Liaoxi Corridor leading to the border.

Jia Xu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhang He, and Qian Zhao were all present. Jian Yong, as usual, was standing to the side holding the account book.

Jia Xu spoke first. He said that after Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang joined forces in Youzhou, they had less than eight thousand men in total, scattered across several cities including Ji County, Yuyang, and Shanggu. Not many of them were truly capable of defending the cities. Yuan Xi's main force in Ji County numbered about three thousand.

The rest are scattered throughout Zhuojun and Yuyang, with each city having anywhere from a few hundred to a thousand men. Adding to this, the Wuhuan are divided, and Yuan Xi cannot secure enough reinforcements. If we advance quickly, these cities will be unable to help each other, and the several prefectures of Youzhou will soon fall apart.

Guan Yu said, "This humble general is willing to be the vanguard." Liu Bei agreed, "Yun Chang will lead the vanguard of 20,000 men, proceed through Fanyang, and take Ji County directly. Yi De will lead the left flank of 5,000 men to cut off the retreat route east of Ji County, preventing Yuan Xi from fleeing to Liaoxi."

Zilong led 5,000 cavalry on the right flank, flanking from the direction of Shanggu, while keeping a close watch on the Wuhuan. The rear guard and supplies were arranged by the central army.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fei immediately glared and asked, "Brother, aren't you going to lead the charge again this time?" Liu Bei replied, "The road you're blocking is just as important as the city Yun Chang is attacking." Hearing the word "important," Zhang Fei slammed his fist on the table and said, "I'll block that breach!"

The army set off from Ye City in early March, advancing north along the official road. When they passed through Fanyang, the garrison there surrendered without a fight. The magistrate of Fanyang, carrying his official seal, waited outside the city. Before Liu Bei's army even reached the city walls, he had already been kneeling by the roadside for almost half an hour.

With Fanyang surrendering, the southern part of Zhuojun was largely unobstructed. Then, the gates of Zhuoxian were opened, and the guards standing at the gates placed their crossbows at their feet, their hands hanging at their sides. After Zhuoxian surrendered, the gates of Jixian were wide open.

In early April, Guan Yu's vanguard arrived at the walls of Ji County. The city walls of Ji County were three zhang high, and the moat was drawn from the Ji River and circled the city. Yuan Xi deployed all three thousand or so garrison troops on the city walls, with two rows of archers standing behind the crenellations.

Guan Yu did not rush to attack the city. Instead, he ordered the construction of fortifications and the digging of moats outside the city, completely surrounding Ji County. During the siege, Zhao Yun intercepted a reinforcement army coming from the direction of Yuyang on the right flank.

Zhang Fei's left flank cut off the official road leading to western Liaoning near Luxian. Jixian became an isolated city.

Jixian City was besieged. Yuan Xi stood on the city wall, looking at the endless rows of camps outside the city, his face growing increasingly grim each day. The city's food reserves were only enough for a month, and reinforcements were not coming.

Qian Zhao, from the Wuhuan tribe, spread false information beforehand, claiming that Liu Bei's cavalry had reached the Liaoxi border. Tadun Chanyu, who had originally intended to send several thousand cavalry, hesitated upon hearing this, and after receiving opposition from several small tribal leaders, ultimately decided not to send troops.

Qian Zhao's spies spread the word in the city that Liu Bei's army would not kill those who surrendered, and that the government troops who surrendered in Ji Province had been given travel expenses or incorporated into new camps.

In May, the grain supply in Ji County ran out. Yuan Xi summoned Yuan Shang to the inner chamber of the governor's mansion. The two sat down, a bowl of wine on the table. Yuan Xi said, "We can't hold out any longer."

Yuan Shang asked why the Wuhuan reinforcements hadn't arrived yet. Yuan Xi replied that they wouldn't come. Yuan Shang was silent for a moment before saying, "Our father has never asked anyone for help in his entire life, but in the end, he can't even summon reinforcements."

In early June, the garrison commander of Ji County opened the gates and surrendered. Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang had already left the city through the north gate before the city fell, fleeing towards Liaoxi with their personal guards.

Guan Yu led his army into the city. The people of Ji County stood on the street watching this army that had come from Ye City, and no one spoke. Guan Yu took the official seal left by Yuan Xi and sent it back to Ye City by fast horse.

After Ji County fell, the cities in eastern Youzhou surrendered without resistance. The prefects and magistrates of Yuyang, Shanggu, Zhuojun, and Guangyang successively sent envoys to present their seals and submit. Liu Bei ordered Jian Yong to lead an inventory of local households, land, and grain production, retaining most of the former officials from the Yuan family.

In his proclamations to the people of Youzhou, he wrote the same words: reduce taxes, exempt miscellaneous taxes, and establish state monopolies on salt and iron. After Youzhou submitted, Liu Bei's power reached the foot of the Great Wall.

When Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang escaped from Ji County, they led several hundred remaining soldiers and fled northeast along the Liaoxi Corridor. The further they went, the more desolate it became. The Liaoxi Corridor was flanked by mountains, with a narrow official road in the middle, overgrown with withered grass.

The sea breeze blew in from the Bohai Bay, carrying the smell of salt. No city along the way was willing to open its gates to them; Yuyang kept its gates closed, and several fortified villages in western Liaoning also raised their drawbridges.

After arriving in western Liaoning, Yuan Xi found the leader of a small Wuhuan tribe. The leader said that Tadun Chanyu was north of Bailang Mountain, and to reach the Wuhuan, one had to cross Bailang Mountain.

Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang crossed the White Wolf Mountain and found Tadun's large tent. Tadun was the Wuhuan Chanyu, in his forties, with a square face, small eyes, and old scars all over the back of his hands.

He received the Yuan brothers in the main tent, and Yuan Xi handed over the old silk scroll from Yuan Shao's alliance agreement. Tadun glanced at Yuan Shao's old seal on the silk scroll, had some mare's milk wine brought up, and without saying anything more, designated a small campsite for the two brothers.

The man who had been summoned was stationed at the northern foot of White Wolf Mountain, just half a day's journey from the camp area designated by the Chanyu for the Yuan brothers. He recorded the exact date Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang entered the Wuhuan camp and the number of their entourage, and sent a carrier pigeon back to Ye City.

When Liu Bei received the military report, Jia Xu said that the Yuan brothers had fled to Wuhuan, and Youzhou was nominally under your control.

Liu Bei did not immediately send troops to pursue. Youzhou still needed to be pacified, the army had been fighting continuously for several months and needed to rest, and the logistical lines also needed to be re-established.

He instructed Qian Zhao to continue monitoring Tadun and to increase the number of outposts along the Liaoxi Corridor and northern Youzhou to guard against the southward advance of cavalry from beyond the Great Wall during the autumn. Qian Zhao accepted the order and dispatched several veterans from the special operations battalion to Liaoxi to spy on the movements of the various Wuhuan tribes.

Meanwhile, additional beacon tower guards were added to several key routes south of Bailang Mountain. After the entire territory of Youzhou was basically pacified, Jian Yong began to lead civil officials to measure fields and register refugees, and opened granaries in Ji County and Yuyang at the same time to provide relief.