Wei Ni

Unlike the previous expedition to Liaoze to survey the terrain, this time the 40,000-strong army drove pack horses carrying baggage and fodder and marched very slowly. Therefore, Xiahou Hui, who was somewhat short of money, asked Guanqiu Jian to supervise the army at a slow pace, while he led the cavalry of Le Liang, Zhang Hu and Qian Hong in advance.

It is euphemistically called: clearing the way for the army.

Guanqiu Jian didn't say much about it, he just reminded them to be careful along the way and let it go.

Because he knew that Xiahou Hui was not impatient, but found an excuse to rush to Wuliu County on the east side of Yiwulü Mountain in advance to meet with Mohuba, the leader of the Bai tribe Xianbei, to confirm whether the route from the upper reaches of the Liaoshui River to Xiangping was still open.

After Gongsun Yuan proclaimed himself king, he sent someone to deliver a Xianbei Chanyu seal to Mohuba.

He did not know that the Bai tribe of Xianbei had already volunteered to become a vassal of the Wei State, and he did not know that only three days later, Mohuba would bring the Chanyu seal to Ji County, Youzhou to pay a visit to Guanqiu Jian.

Guanqiu Jian was very satisfied with his sincerity in coming in person to explain the situation.

Regardless of the tedious matters of preparing for the war, he took the time to personally take him to the military camp outside Guzhu City and introduce him to Xiahou Hui.

Xiahou Hui did not have a good impression of the Xianbei tribes.

In other words, people who know about the past wars between the Xianbei and the Han Empire will not have a good impression of the Xianbei tribe.

But don’t reach out and hit the smiling person.

Mohuba not only admired Han culture very much, but also took the initiative to ask Wei to become a vassal and was willing to send 2,000 cavalry to help Wei attack Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. Xiahou Hui had to treat him with courtesy and smile no matter what.

After learning from Mohuba that Gongsun Yuan's purpose in forming an alliance with the Bai tribe of Xianbei was to lead the tribal people to lie dormant in Changli County, a vassal state of Liaodong, when the Wei army left the Banhai Road, waiting for an opportunity to disrupt the Wei army's food supply, Xiahou Hui hesitated for a moment and asked Mohuba to agree.

Mo Huba was so frightened that his face turned pale immediately.

He immediately swore and claimed that his tribe was loyal to the State of Wei and would never collude with Gongsun Yuan.

ok~
The border people, who had just come into contact with the king's rule, were unable to keep up with the Han people's intrigues and deceptions.

After hearing Xiahou Hui's words, the first thing he thought of was not that Xiahou Hui was going to take advantage of the situation, but that Xiahou Hui was suspecting that Gongsun Yuan bribed him because he had had contact with Liaodong before.

Even Guanqiu Jian, who was always serious, twitched his mouth several times when he saw this scene, and it took a lot of effort to suppress his smile.

He also hurriedly explained to Mo Huba in detail what Xiahou Hui meant.

Only then did Mo Huba recover from his panic.

He immediately made a passionate promise, telling Xiahou Hui that he could give him any instructions and that he would never let him down even if he had to go through fire and water!
Of course, Xiahou Hui would not make things difficult for him.

It was just to let him bargain with Gongsun Yuan to make the war more convenient.

First, he firmly refuted Gongsun Yuan's unrealistic promise of resettlement in Liaodong and other vassal states, and instead asked Liaodong for food and fodder. By pretending to be a greedy Hu, Gongsun Yuan would think that the Bai tribe Xianbei really intended to help harass the Wei army, and at the same time increase the loss of food and fodder in Liaodong.

The other is to slightly change the location of the invasion of Wei army's food supply route.

It was not dormant in Changli County, a vassal state of Liaodong, but was moved above Wuliu County on the west side of Yiwulü Mountain.

The reason is also very good.

The Wei army, which had just come out of Banhai Road, could not help but send troops to spy on the Changli County area to see if there were any ambushes; but it would be difficult for the Wei army to take care of the huge Yiwulü Mountains.

Moreover, the Wei army had almost arrived at Liaosui by then, and would not waste its forces elsewhere.

This move was made by Xiahou Hui to ensure that the Wei army's route to bypass the upper reaches of the Liao River would be open and would not be detected by the Liaodong army.

Because the Bai tribe Xianbei were roaming around in this area, Gongsun Yuan would not send troops to garrison and guard the upper reaches of the Liao River - even if he really stationed troops, the number would not be too large, and he could just let the Bai tribe Xianbei suddenly attack and control them.

Mo Huba gladly accepted the order and went back.

He was happy to carry out Xiahou Hui's instructions.

It is a joy that comes from the heart.

Because these things were not dangerous at all, and the money, food and supplies demanded from Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong all belonged to the Bai tribe of Xianbei privately. Both Xiahou Hui and Guanqiu Jian had made it clear that the Wei army would not get involved in any of it.

The only pity is that Xiahou Hui set a number and did not allow him to ask for too much, which caused Gongsun Yuan to become angry and directly give up on him as a foreign aid.

The Wei army marched towards Liaosui, but could not hide from the scouts of the Liaodong army.

When Xiahou Hui and others who had gone ahead had just entered the territory of Tuhe County (Jinzhou City), a vassal state of Liaodong, they were discovered by scouts from Liaodong and reported to Gongsun Yuan in Xiangping.

Gongsun Yuan, who had been prepared, ordered the envoy fleet staying at the port to immediately head to Jiangdong and ask Sun Quan to send troops to help.

This was the agreement he made with Jiang Dong. Although the long sea route might delay the opportunity to fight, there was nothing that could be done about it.

The State of Wei did announce to the world that it would raise an army to attack Liaodong, and also sent the Zhenhu Division stationed in Yecheng, Jizhou to Guzhucheng, Liaoxi County, but this did not mean that Xiahou Hui would immediately march into Liaodong!
We can't send envoys to ask Jiangdong for help right away!

What if the Wei army first reorganizes in Liaoxi for half a year, or even sets out the following year?

It would take several months to travel from Jiangdong to Liaodong by sea. It was impossible for the reinforcements from Jiangdong to rush to Liaodong to wait before getting accurate information, right? Even if Sun Quan didn't mind letting the navy stay in Liaodong for a year or two, Gongsun Yuan couldn't afford it!

The second move was to let his trusted generals, such as Bei Yan and Yang Zuo, lead more than 50,000 infantry and cavalry to march to Liaosui to repair defensive fortifications in order to repel the enemy west of the Liao River.

Yes, he did not lead the troops there personally.

It's not that he doesn't have the courage to go to the battlefield himself, but he really cannot leave Xiangping City.

Since he proclaimed himself king, many rumors began to spread in the streets of Xiangping City and the rural settlements, all of which were directed at him.

They were accusing him of being a sinner of the Gongsun family and bringing devastating disaster to the four counties of Liaodong.

For example, if he had not seized the throne from his uncle Gongsun Gong and had not sent envoys to Jiangdong to pay tribute, he would not have aroused the wrath of the Luoyang court, which eventually led to an attack by a large army.

After all, everyone knows that the Wei State has never had any desire to conquer the four isolated Liaodong counties, and has always focused its attention on the two states of Shu and Wu.

For example, if he had considered his family more, he should have passed the throne to his son Gongsun Xiu, and then obediently obeyed the imperial edict and went to Luoyang, which might have eliminated the anger of the Wei court and avoided the outbreak of war.

As the ruler of Liaodong, he could not obey the imperial edict in such a shameful way and allow the Wei government to do whatever they wanted.
This is pure fart!

His elder brother Gongsun Huang was sent to Luoyang as a hostage since he was young!
For the sake of the inheritance of the entire family, Gongsun Huang can go to Luoyang, so why can't he go?
Moreover, according to the contemporary etiquette of establishing the eldest son as the heir, the foundation of Liaodong should be inherited by the eldest son, Gongsun Huang. How can he be considered the lord of Liaodong?
It would have been fine if he had just seized his uncle's position and acted rebelliously, but when he aroused the wrath of the State of Wei, he did not dare to step forward and take responsibility. Instead, he proclaimed himself king, dragging the four counties of Liaodong into an abyss of no return!
Is such a lord of Liaodong worthy of the support of the scholars and common people of the four counties?
The answer is of course no.

There are many more accusations like this.

Without much thought, one could guess that these rumors were spread by Wei's spies, but they made Gongsun Yuan somewhat anxious and exhausted.

Because he couldn't stop the rumors from spreading.

It was even more impossible to explain to the scholars and common people that regardless of whether he had committed any rebellious acts or not, the Wei State would one day send troops to attack Liaodong. The Wei State, which regarded itself as the successor to the Han Dynasty and inherited the Mandate of Heaven, would inevitably be committed to great unification and strive for the mission of restoring the territory of the former Han Empire. It would not be possible for it to tolerate the Gongsun family's separatist rule in Liaodong.

But his realization of this does not mean that the scholars and common people will also realize it.

In other words, even if the scholars and common people realized it, they would choose to ignore it.

Because no one wants to see their homeland engulfed in war.

As the Wei army approached and war spread, facing the threat of death and the panic of their homes being destroyed, the common people of Liaodong just needed a reason to vent their resentment and someone to take the blame.

As for the truth, it no longer matters.

The only way to quell the resentment and eliminate the accusations was to intercept the war on the west side of the Liao River, defeat the invading Wei army, and make the common people feel that he could protect the peace of their homes.

Therefore, Gongsun Yuan chose to stay in Xiangping City.

In addition to stabilizing the morale of the people in the city, he also "looked after" the families of the soldiers who were going to Liaosui to repel the enemy, so that they could focus on the battle and fight bravely and fearlessly.

Of course, he also privately instructed Generals Bei Yan and Yang Zuo on the battle plan.

It is certain that they controlled the Liao River and repaired the defensive fortifications to defend it.

But if there is an opportunity, it would be best to fight a small-scale field battle with the Wei army with a small number of troops to test the combat effectiveness of the Wei army.

If the test fails, then there is nothing to say.

From then on, they hid themselves in their hiding place and were on guard day and night. Relying on their defensive fortifications, they prevented the Wei army from finding an opportunity for a decisive battle or to cross the Liao River. As long as they waited until the end of autumn and the beginning of winter, the Wei army, which did not want to be frozen to death in the wild, would naturally withdraw their troops.

But if we win, there will be great potential!

First of all, it can defeat the enemy and greatly boost the morale of the soldiers and generals in Liaodong and the confidence of the common people.

In any case, in the 400 years since the Qin and Han dynasties, no small border country or separatist force has been able to compete with the Central Plains dynasty.

Secondly, the Liaodong Army can change its strategy of retreating and defending.

For example, they sent the navy to cut off their food and fodder supplies along the coast, and used cavalry to cut off their return route. When the morale of the Wei army was low and the reinforcements from Jiangdong arrived, they would fight hard and kill only 50% of the Wei army, with corpses lying for hundreds of miles! They tried their best to frighten the Wei State and seriously injure its vitality, so that it would not dare to send troops to attack again for decades!

In this way, Gongsun Yuan is no longer a criminal, but a heroic leader in the eyes of Liaodong scholars and commoners. (End of this chapter)