The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 677 Chen Du
In the third year of Chuping (192), on December [-], Chendu.

Although Chendu is located in the middle of Yuzhou, it still cannot escape the changes of seasons.

The snow was tormenting the wind, and it snowed heavily in Chendu for several days. It seemed that Bai Xue was going to bury the entire Chendu under it.

Chendu Dongcheng District used to be a residential area in Chen County, where rich households around Chen County used to live. However, since Liu Xie entered Chen County, Chen County has become Chen Du, and the original owners here have moved out one after another. go out.

The buildings here were also demolished and rebuilt as residences for official families, and as a place for foreign officials who came to Beijing from other places to wait for the imperial edict.

Dongcheng District, in a house.

A man in dark clothes stood in the corridor with his hands tied, looking at the falling snowflakes, wondering what he was thinking.

The man's face was like a crown of jade, his bearing was imposing, and his appearance was extraordinary.

Although he has a handsome face, he doesn't look graceful, but it makes people feel quite warm and calm, and people can't help but feel good about him, like a spring breeze.

All roads auspicious snow heralds a good year.

But now the heavy snow falls for more than ten days without interruption.

The snow on the ground has fallen layer after layer, and the snow covered on the ground is already thick and somewhat worrying.

Liu Bei is not a child of a family who doesn't work hard and doesn't know the five grains.

He is indeed a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, the son of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty. His grandfather Liu Xiong was promoted as Xiaolian, and he was an official to Fanling of Dongjun County.

However, due to the early death of his father Liu Hong, his family was in decline when he was young. In order to make ends meet, his mother could only make a living by weaving mats and selling shoes. Although Liu Bei was young, he did not stand by and help. His mother worked together.

Staring at the heavy snow falling from the sky in front of him, Liu Bei couldn't help showing a look of worry in his eyes.

Winter seems to be getting longer and colder...

Now the winter in Yuzhou is almost the same as the winter in Youzhou, but now Youzhou is a few points colder than before.

If the winter had been longer and the snow had fallen a little bit more, I am afraid that tomorrow's harvest would be much less.

Years of wars and heavy corvees, I am afraid that the burden on the shoulders of the common people will increase again.

Liu Bei sighed, he was very aware of these things, but there was nothing he could do.

He is just a general who leads troops to fight, not a high-ranking official who is qualified to govern the country.

"Big brother."

Liu Bei tilted his head slightly and looked to the side, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Yanzhou Shepherd Cao Cao is here to visit, do you want to see me?"

It was none other than his second younger brother Guan Yu who came from the right side of the corridor and asked him.

"Cao Cao?"

Liu Bei raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the name.

He and Cao Cao also have some intersections. During the Battle of Dongjun, he and Cao Cao led the Yanzhou soldiers to fight against Yuan Shao, which can be regarded as some battle friendship.

It's just that the two of them have no friendship other than that. Because of the matter of begging for Dong, Cao Cao also helped to seize Yanzhou and stabilize Yanzhou. In addition, his father Cao Song is now an official worshiper of Jiuqing, and he has been promoted by the governor of Yanzhou. Yanzhou Mu.

The state shepherd of a state is naturally very important and has a high status.

Now he, Liu Bei, is just a miscellaneous general. Although he also made great achievements in the battle of Dongjun this time, the Han court worked hard on the expedition and spent money and food. It seemed to stabilize the situation, but in fact it was a crushing defeat.

The battle of Dongjun ended hastily, but the battle of Luoyang was actually won by Yuan Shao.

The Luoyang area was captured by Yuan Shao, and all the northern borders of Xuzhou fell. Yuan Shaojun's tentacles even penetrated into Jibei Kingdom, Taishan County and other places in Yanzhou, threatening their hinterland.

Fortunately, the Revolving Gate Pass is still in their hands, so Yuan Shaojun will not be attacked from both sides of Jibei Kingdom and Revolving Gate Pass, cutting off the connection between Yanzhou and Yuzhou.

"Quickly invite Mr. Cao to come in."

Although Liu Bei had a lot of thoughts in his mind, he did not neglect Cao Cao.

As soon as Liu Bei finished speaking, he vetoed his previous words.

"No, I will meet him myself."

Liu Bei tidied up his clothes, then walked quickly towards the gate.

Liu Bei hurried all the way, and soon reached the gate. Zhang Fei saw Liu Bei coming in person, and quickly asked the servant to open the gate.

"When we meet Cao Shijun later, the etiquette must be thoughtful, and you must not be rude."

Liu Bei walked up and told Zhang Fei.

"Brother, don't worry, I won't be rude to him just because Cao Cao dared to put up the banner in the front line."

Hearing Liu Bei's advice, Zhang Fei naturally didn't take it to heart, and quickly assured him.

"When you go out, don't call him by his name directly, but call him the envoy."

Liu Bei shook his head helplessly. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei joined him in the Taoyuan Army during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. It has been eight years since today. He is very familiar with their personalities.

Guan Yu is quite arrogant, but he has enough etiquette. Zhang Fei is quite upright and doesn't care about small details. He looks down on many officials on weekdays. Liu Bei is a little worried that Zhang Fei will offend Cao Cao.

Liu Bei led Guan Yu and Zhang Fei out of the gate.

To Liu Bei's surprise, there was no carriage parked outside the door, and there were no guards.

On the snowy ground, a middle-aged man wearing a big cloak, slender eyes and long beard stood with his hands behind his back. The man was not tall, he looked about seven feet tall, his complexion was fair, and he carried an indescribable majesty.

Beside him is a burly general, wearing a burqa and belt, holding the rein in his hand, with a treasured sword at his waist, more than eight feet long.

Although Liu Bei didn't know him, but just took a look at him, he knew that he must be a general in all battles.

Liu Bei had seen Cao Cao's war horse before, and the horse led by the general was exactly Cao Cao's war horse. The horse was snow-white, with four yellow hooves, tall and mighty, with a dignified figure.

Although the other war horse is also a good horse, its body hair is all jet black, except for a white stripe on its forehead, but even so, it still pales in comparison to Cao Cao's war horse.

However, on the left and right sides of the saddle of the war horse, there are a pair of hand halberds for foot combat, and several small halberds.

When Guan Yu and Zhang Fei saw Cao Cao, their expressions didn't change much, but when they saw the general next to Cao Cao, both of them stared intently, focusing more on that person .

"Liu Bei, see the envoy."

Liu Bei saluted respectfully, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei also saluted together.

Cao Cao chuckled, stepped forward and took Liu Bei's hand, and said with a smile.

"A little bit of courtesy, why bother, let's go into the room and talk about it."

When Cao Cao opened his mouth, Liu Bei naturally didn't pretend anymore, and the two walked into the door together.

Everyone passed the long corridor, entered the house, and sat down in priority.

Although Cao Cao said that there is no need to care about false etiquette, Liu Bei was not rude because of this, and he still practiced enough etiquette.

"I don't know why the envoy came here this time. Could it be that the situation in Yanzhou has changed?"

Liu Bei was puzzled, thought it over, and asked.

"Xuande can just call me Biaozi directly. You and I fought against the enemy together in Dongjun. If you hadn't led the Youzhou cavalry to come to the rescue in time that day, I'm afraid I would have been under Jiuyou."

Cao Cao waved his hand and said.

"Xuande was loyal to the country, led his subordinates to fight all the way, traveled thousands of miles, defeated powerful enemies in a row, just entered Yanzhou, and even rejected Yuan Shao's seven letters of surrender in Pingyuan country. He was still unmoved by the rich and the high-ranking officials. , how to act like a child now."

"Brother Meng De is serious. When he was begging for Dong, Yuan Shao had already shown his clues. Afterwards, he caused chaos for the country and the people. It is a pity that the battle of Jieqiao had a chance of winning, but at that time, Pingyuan Kingdom was attacked by Qingzhou soldiers. It’s hard to have both.”

Liu Bei didn't struggle with the title, but Cao Cao's words reminded Liu Bei of the past, and Liu Bei sighed.

In the Battle of Jieqiao, if he hadn't been held back by the Qingzhou soldiers and led five thousand fine cavalry to support Gongsun Zan, he wouldn't have suffered heavy casualties because of the cavalry troops of the former army. Crash thousands of miles.

Cao Cao asked: "Yangzhou bandit rebellion has been put down in November, does Xuande know the news?"

"Naturally know."

Liu Bei nodded, not knowing why Cao Cao suddenly brought up the news from last month.

Just in November, good news came from Yangzhou, and the Yangzhou bandit rebellion that had lasted for a year finally subsided.

Prior to the Yangzhou rebellion, Xun Yu recommended another minister, Sun Jing, to quell the rebellion.

Sun Jing then led [-] soldiers to Wu County to suppress the rebellion.

After Sun Jing entered Wu Commandery, she contacted powerful families from various counties, formed a coalition army, recruited soldiers, and trained them carefully.

After the soldiers were strong and the horses were strong, Sun Jing immediately led his troops south to suppress the rebellion.

Although Yan Baihu had many soldiers under his command, they did not know what to do in the end. It was okay to bully the weak Yangzhou County soldiers who had not participated in the war for a long time.

But it wasn't Yan Baihu who actually caused the rebellion. The reason why Yan Baihu was able to have such a huge momentum and repeatedly defeated the Yangzhou counter-insurgency army was because many powerful Yangzhou tyrants actually supported him secretly.

The world is in chaos, and soldiers are everywhere. Some powerful families in Yangzhou also want to take the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and get a share of it.

In the first defeat, although Sun Jing took advantage of the victory to pursue, but Yangzhou was densely forested and densely covered with rivers, Yan Baihu managed to escape with the bandits under his command.

And after this failure, Yan Baihu also gained experience. He no longer only valued numbers, but instead began to train soldiers and equip armor, which also strengthened the strength of the rebels in Yangzhou to a certain extent.

Although Sun Jing's soldiers are all elite, and he has trained a batch of new recruits, and got help from some powerful families in Wu County, Lujiang County and other counties, his military strength is still far inferior to that of Yan Baihu.

Yan Baihu was familiar with the terrain and kept harassing Sun Jing.

Although Sun Jing can defeat Yan Baihu every time, but has never been able to severely damage Yan Baihu's main force, so the counter-insurgency incident has experienced ups and downs.

Yan Baihu then teamed up with the bandit Kou Jiaoji and Zulang, the leader of Shanyue known as Danyang Zongshuai.

The three families joined forces in one place, and opposed Sun Jing to the south of Wujun.

Sun Jing led the army and was unable to defeat the enemy in a series of battles. Yan Baihu joined forces with Zulang and Jiao Ji, and their strength reached [-].

When Sun Jing originally wanted to retreat and return to the middle of Wu County, Yan Baihu sent an envoy at this time, wanting peace talks, expressing his willingness to accept the recruitment, and asking Sun Jing not to pursue the previous mistakes.

Therefore, Sun Ce believed that Yan Baihu was just a strong outsider and a capable person at this time, so he asked to lead troops to attack Yan Baihu again.

Sun Ce asked to fight again, but the enemy army was powerful and strong, while Sun Jing had only [-] soldiers and did not dare to move lightly, so he did not allow it.

At that time, Zhou Yu also led many soldiers to fight with Sun Jing.

After Sun Jing rejected Sun Ce's proposal, Zhou Yu stood up and reported the situation of Yan Baihu's army, and then pointed out the fact that Yan Baihu's army was strong on the outside but strong on the inside.

Zhou Yu's detailed analysis finally moved Sun Jing.

Sun Jing took Sun Ce as the vanguard, and dispatched all the elite under his command to Sun Ce's leadership.

In the third year of Chuping (192), November [-]th.

Sun Jing sent troops to attack Yan Baihu again.

Yan Baihu, Zu Lang, and Jiao Ji occupy the center, left, and right respectively, and they are each other's horns, guarding the camp.

Under the cover of the army commanded by Sun Jing, Sun Ce led [-] elite soldiers from Wu County to attack the central army.

Sun Ce led the army to fight Yan Baihu for nine consecutive battles, winning all nine battles, and beheaded seven generals under Yan Baihu's command.

Yan Baihu's army was panicked, and in the ninth battle, wherever Sun Ce's banner went, all Yan Baihu's soldiers would run away.

Sun Jing sent cavalry to cut into Yan Baihu's formation, and Yan Baihu's army was defeated.

Yan Baihu's army was defeated, Zu Lang and Jiao Ji were also powerless to resist, and those who were killed by Sun Jing were defeated.

Jiao had already died in the battle, Yan Baihu and Zu Lang led the remnant soldiers and fled into the forest and hid in the territory of the Shanyue people.

Yan Baihu's army was defeated, and the main force was defeated. Sun Jing pursued and fought fiercely, and gradually wiped out the remaining forces in the south of Wu County and the north of Kuaiji County.

Sun Ce was still in the vanguard, Yan Baihu and Zu Lang were unwilling to fail, and tried to resist. They relied on the mountains and forests, contacted other Shanyue forces, and wanted to reorganize the counterattack.

When Sun Ce led the troops to advance to the north of Kuaiji County, someone reported to him that Yan Baihu and Zu Lang were in a mountain force in the north, and they were persuading their forces to launch a rebellion together.

At that time, Sun Ce only led sixteen cavalry guards to hunt beside the Shanyue forces, and the army was a little far away from him.

Knowing the information, Sun Ce did not go to dispatch the army, but sent a soldier to report the news, and then led the fifteen cavalry under his command to the Shanyue camp.

Most of the Shanyue in the north of Kuaiji County surrendered to the Han Empire. Before Shanyue rebelled several times, they were extinguished by the Han Empire with thunder. The people of Shanyue were terrified when they heard the Han soldiers. There will be chaos.

In the several battles between Yan Baihu and the Han army, Sun Ce's reputation spread far and wide. Sun Ce had a reputation for bravery when he was young, and his reputation is even worse now.

Holding a spear in his hand, Sun Ce stepped into Shanyue's camp with only fifteen cavalrymen. No one dared to stop him, and Shanyue, who was guarding the gate, obediently opened the camp gate for Sun Ce.

Sun Ce reined in his horse and walked into the Shanyue camp, asking where Yan Baihu and Zu Lang were. The people in Shanyue were afraid of Sun Ce's name, so they told Sun Ce where Yan Baihu and Zu Lang were.

Sun Ce led a group of personal guards and rushed all the way to the center of the Shanyue camp.

This is the place where Shanyue people discuss matters, and Yan Baihu and Zu Lang are trying to persuade several leaders of Shanyue here to conspire.

Yan Baihu and Zu Lang's personal guards couldn't help but panic when they saw Sun Ce wearing the uniform of a general of the Han army. They only thought that the local Shanyue forces had already voted for the Han army, and this meeting was a trap.

Dozens of guards of Yan Baihu and Zu Lang outside the house panicked. Some wanted to escape, some wanted to report to Yan Baihu and Zu Lang in the tent, and some drew their knives to resist. group.

Seeing Yan Baihu and Zu Lang's guards outside the house, Sun Ce immediately understood that Yan Baihu and Zu Lang must be inside the house.

The chaos outside the house did not affect Sun Ce's mind. Sun Ce bent his bow and set his arrows. The arrows were like shooting stars, and several bandits fell in response.

Sun Ce galloped all the way to the outside of the house on his war horse, then dropped his bow and got off the horse, holding the ring sword in his hand, and went straight to the house.

Outside the building, Yan Baihu and Zu Lang had dozens of personal guards, because of Sun Ce's power, none of them dared to stop him.

When Sun Ce walked into the house, everyone in the house was shocked.

Yan Baihu and Zu Lang were even more shocked.

Yan Baihu reacted first and wanted to escape, but Sun Ce had already walked into the house, so there would be no chance for him to escape.

Sun Ce picked up the halberd at his waist, flew up a halberd, and hit Yan Baihu in the face.

Zu Lang was not as miserable as Yan Baihu, he did not run away.

Seeing that Sun Ce was alone, Zu Lang roared angrily, summoned up his remaining courage, and charged towards Sun Ce, brandishing the long knife at his waist.

The trapped beast is still fighting, the ancestor wolf is now a trapped beast, a trapped beast that has fallen into despair, and the counterattack on the verge of death is undoubtedly the most terrifying.

But after all, there is a huge gap between the two in terms of force. Sun Ce has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and Zu Lang has only become a monk halfway, so how can he be as good as Sun Ce?

With just one blow, Sun Ce separated the long knife in Zulang's hand and cut the Zulang's throat.

Although the two moved a lot, in fact, the deaths of Yan Baihu and Zu Lang happened within a few short breaths, the confrontation was over when the rabbit rose and fell.

When Yan Baihu and Zu Lang died, Sun Jing immediately led his troops to suppress them. The rest of the troops surrendered or fled, and then disappeared, not daring to be the prestige of the Han army.

Sun Ce beheaded Yan Baihu and Zu Lang in the Shanyue camp, and there were thousands of people in the mountains, but no one dared to stop him.

Since then, people from all the prefectures in Yangzhou mentioned Sun Ce and compared him to the overlord of Western Chu who was the most powerful in the world.

The thieves in Yangzhou were in chaos, so they were calmed down.

At this time, Sun Ce was only eighteen years old!
When Liu Bei heard what happened in Yangzhou, he even thought it was just a legend.

Later, after the edict of reward was issued from Chen Du, Liu Bei knew that it was not a legend, but a fact that actually happened in Yangzhou.

"The champion of Zhenwu, Hou Ye!"

It is said that when Liu Xie received the news from Yangzhou, he stood up from his seat and said happily.

"Champion Hou..."

Liu Bei's eyes moved slightly.

There have never been more than four people who have won the title of Champion Hou.

At the age of eighteen, Huo Qubing became Captain Yao, leading [-] cavalry into the desert, won the whole army twice, and was named the champion.

At the age of nineteen, he was promoted to general of hussars, defeated the Xiongnu in Hexi, annihilated and recruited nearly [-] Xiongnu in Hexi, captured the Huns to sacrifice to the Tianjing people, and captured Qilian Mountain.

In the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BC), Huo Qubing and Wei Qing led their troops deep into Mobei again.

In the Battle of Mobei, Huo Qubing and Wei Qing jointly wiped out more than [-] main forces of the Xiongnu Zuoxian King. Huo Qubing pursued the Xiongnu army all the way to Langjuxu Mountain and Guyan Mountain.

Since then, "the Huns have fled far away, and there is no royal court in Monan".

However, the natural general star, like a shooting star, disappeared in a flash.

He died of illness in the sixth year of Yuanshou (117 BC) at the age of 23.

The second is Huo Shan, the son of Huo Qubing. After Huo Qubing died, he inherited the title of "Marquis of Champion", but Huo Shan passed away at a young age without leaving any heirs.

Jia Fu, who was the third to win the title of Marquis of Champion, was named Marquis of Champion by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu.

Although Jia Fu made great military exploits and ranked third among the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, his military exploits cannot be compared with the champion of the Western Han Dynasty, Hou Huo Qubing.

The fourth place is Dou Xian.

In the first year of Yongyuan (89), Dou Xian was a general of chariots and cavalry, and more than [-] soldiers from the Huns, Wuhuan, Qiang and Hu in the southern part of the country went to war.

Dou Xian sent more than [-] fine riders to defeat the Northern Xiongnu at Jiluo Mountain, penetrated three thousand miles into the vast sea desert, defeated the Xiongnu at Jiluo Mountain, and reached Dahequ Beidaihai, killing more than [-] people and taking countless prisoners.

Later, he climbed Yanran Mountain and engraved stones to record his achievements, which was called Yanran Leshi in history, which is not much inferior to Huo Qubing's achievements in sealing wolves and living in Xuxu.

Later, Dou Xian sent troops to attack Jinwei Mountain five thousand miles away, defeating the main force of the Northern Xiongnu Shanyu, beheading more than [-] people under the famous king, and capturing the Northern Shanyu Empress Dowager, who fled in a panic and disappeared.

The name of the champion Hou is like thunder.

It is undoubtedly a great honor to be crowned champion.

Comparing Sun Ce to the champion prince and the overlord of Western Chu undoubtedly brought Sun Ce's reputation to a higher level.

Perhaps it is not certain that the title of the fifth champion of this big man will really fall on Sun Ce.

"I came here this time because of the Yanzhou matter, and I came to ask Xuande for help."

Cao Cao looked solemn, facing Liu Bei, bowed his hands, and spoke solemnly.

Seeing this, Liu Bei also put down the water glass in his hand, and also faced Cao Cao.

"In the past, Yuan Shao and Xu An conspired to force our army to retreat in a three-way situation. The Taishan Yellow Turban Army withdrew from Taishan and Jibei, and was taken over by Qingzhou soldiers. Xuande should know."

"A few days ago, on the tenth day of this month, news came from Xuzhou..."

Cao Cao looked serious and paused for a moment.

Liu Bei's eyes narrowed slightly, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's eyes also focused on Cao Cao at the same time.

"Xuande probably didn't know that after the Yangzhou Rebellion was settled, General Liu Chong transferred Sun Ce to Xuzhou."

"After Sun Ce arrived in Xuzhou, he rectified his troops and horses. Zhu Zhi led his troops to attack Yushan from west to east, while Sun Ce led his troops from east to west first, and then went north to directly attack Langya Kingdom, and directly took Kaiyang, the governing place of Langya Kingdom. ..."

Cao Cao paused and continued.

"Sun Ce defeated the main force of Zang Ba's army in the west of Kaiyang."

"Zang Ba was wounded, and was stabbed in the left shoulder by Sun Ce and fell off the horse. In the battle of Kaiyang, Sun Ce won the first level of [-]."

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's eyes were slightly fixed, but they didn't make any big moves.

"Zhu Zhi led an army of [-] people to attack Yushan again, beheaded Zang Ba's general Sun Guan, defeated Qingzhou and Zang Ba's two coalition forces, and beheaded three thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. The three cities of Ganyu and Ganyu have been recovered, and the northern gate of Donghai County has been captured by our army."

Cao Cao continued to talk about the situation in Xuzhou.

"Right now, Zang Ba has led his troops to withdraw from Liyang. Qingzhou soldiers and Zang Ba's army have abandoned the northern part of Langya Kingdom, and retreated towards Zhengrong Valley of Langya Kingdom."

"Xuzhou Qingzhou and Zang Ba's allied forces were defeated."

Cao Cao raised his hand, clenched it into a fist, and said loudly.

"This is a great opportunity!"

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei with an extremely solemn expression, and said in a deep voice.

"This is the best opportunity to regain Taishan County and Jibei Kingdom!"

"Qingzhou's soldiers are weak. In the past, the Taishan Yellow Turban Army was besieged in the south of Luocheng, but they were able to break through the soldiers encircling and suppressing Qingzhou."

"There are [-] soldiers in Taishan County and Qingzhou in Jibei State. Now Yuan's army is centered in Luoyang. To the north of the Yellow River, only the garrison soldiers are left. After years of training in Yanzhou, there are [-] soldiers who can be mobilized. Enough to break the enemy!"

"The next time I come here, I just want to ask Xuande to do his best to help me take back the Jibei and Taishan counties."

Cao Cao bowed slightly, facing Liu Bei and asked.

"Brother Meng De speaks seriously."

Liu Bei looked solemn and said solemnly
"To share the worries of the country, how can I not do my best and use my wisdom?"

"It's just that the soldiers under my command are all cavalry. Brother Meng De wants to attack Jibei Kingdom and Taishan County to defend the city. I'm afraid there will be limited help."

"Do not."

Cao Cao looked at Liu Bei and shook his head.

"Cavalry attacking a city is tantamount to reckless destruction."

Cao Cao clapped his hands, and the burly general who had been sitting next to him immediately stood up, took out a Kanyu map, stepped forward, unfolded the Kanyu map, and threw it on Liu Bei's desk .

Cao Cao stood up and walked forward.

He pointed to a rather long and narrow area in the northern part of Taishan County and Jibei Kingdom, which was the south of Zhu'a City in the Plain Country, which was the gateway to the Plain Country from Taishan County and Jibei Kingdom.

"If the two counties of Taishan and Jibei want to go north to Qingzhou, they must pass through here. The terrain here is long and narrow, but the terrain in the south is open..."

Cao Cao's voice was slightly cold.

"I want Xuande to lead his troops to cut off this place immediately when our army leaves Jibei Kingdom."

"In this way, the Qingzhou soldiers in Taishan and Jibei are like fish swimming in a cauldron, panting for a while!"

(End of this chapter)