Ji Han Liu Zhang

"Good news, good news!"

Early in the morning in Chang'an, when the first ray of warm morning light fell on the eaves of the government office, Liu Zhang, who was just about to sit down, heard a joyful shout, accompanied by the call of a magpie from the eaves above his head, which also reached his ears.

"Hedong is settled." Liu Zhang, as calm as ever, took his seat.

And it turned out just as Liu Zhang had guessed. Cheng Yu strode in with a piece of silk cloth in his hand and reported to him, "Mingsir, Ma Chao, the Fu Bo Lieutenant General, defeated Gao Gan and Qu Bei outside Anyi City, chased the enemy northward, and conquered cities all the way to Dongyuan City. At the same time, Fa Zheng, the Lieutenant General of Military Affairs, visited the counties in Hedong and won their loyalty. Now, most of the counties in Hedong have already hung up your flag."

"What about Anyi?" Liu Zhang asked. He was concerned about the city of Anyi held by Wang Yi, the governor of Hedong. Anyi was the county seat of Hedong. If Wang Yi was determined to hold on to it, then Hedong could not be completely taken over by him.

Cheng Yu's face was filled with joy, and he replied, "Hedong Governor Wang Yi, under the advice of the two prominent families of Wei and Fan in the county, gave up the idea of ​​independence and sent a letter of submission."

There are still more people in the world who know how to adapt to the changing times, and very few stubborn people. Liu Zhang nodded, and only then did a smile appear on his face.

After Liu Zhang thought about it for a while, he made a decision: "Since Wang Yi has surrendered, I can't just dismiss him from his post as governor of Hedong. I will let Wang Yi continue to serve as governor of Hedong for a while. What do you think, Xunzi?"

At the end of making the decision, Liu Zhang asked Xun You a question as usual.

"What your Excellency is doing is prudent. Now that this distant man has surrendered, you should not immediately strip Wang Yi of his power. Otherwise, it will appear that you are mean and ungrateful. It is appropriate to keep him in office for a while." Xun You echoed. He had no objection to Liu Zhang's handling of the matter.

Liu Zhang said, "Since Xunzi has no objection, let's do it." He turned and told Cheng Yu, who was in charge of correspondence, so the document to Wang Yi would be sent by Cheng Yu.

"Yes." Cheng Yu responded.

"After some time, Wang Yi was promoted to Guanzhong and appointed as the deputy governor of Yongzhou, and the post of prefect of Hedong was replaced by Fa Zheng." Liu Zhang looked to the future and began to make plans for Hedong.

Hedong, which is adjacent to Guanzhong, has an important ferry called Pubanjin. According to what Liu Zhang had in mind, he would feel at ease only if he sent a trusted and strategic person to join him.

Otherwise, if an outsider or a mediocre person is appointed as the governor of Hedong, it is hard to say when Hedong will be taken over by others. If Hedong is taken over by others, there will be wars in Guanzhong from time to time. When winter comes, Liu Zhang will have to break the ice on the Yellow River to stop the enemy.

"I wonder which general you plan to arrange to assist Fa Zheng in defending Hedong." Xun Youshang asked. The future governor of Hedong had been decided, but the garrison commander of Hedong was still vacant.

"Lou Fa, Pang De." Liu Zhang mentioned two names.

At night, a small-scale celebratory banquet was held in the government office, but the banquet was a bit bland. There was no singing and dancing to entertain the people, and no fine wine or delicious food. It was just everyday vegetable meals and a few cups of clear country rice wine.

Although it was a banquet, and the party should have been filled with laughter and conversation, Liu Zhang and Xun You sat close to each other at the banquet. During their conversation, they talked about the current situation in the world and the affairs of the four directions. They simply changed the topic to discuss government affairs and military affairs.

"Henei prefect Zhang Yang is dead. He was killed by his subordinate Yang Chou. Yang Chou intended to join Cao Cao, but the plan was still in progress." Liu Zhang briefly conveyed the situation in Henei to Xun You.

Xun You drank a cup of rice wine, glanced at the crystal clear wine remaining at the bottom of the cup, shook his head and sighed: "I have always heard that Zhang Yang Gang is not upright, has no authority, and has no restraint on his subordinates. I just didn't expect it to come to this."

It was rare in the world for a local lord to be killed by his subordinates. Xun You was somewhat amazed by this incident.

"Yang Chou wants to surrender to Cao Cao, so Henei will be taken by Cao Cao." Xun You pondered and speculated on the future situation: "If both Henei and Henan are in Cao Cao's hands, this is not a good thing."

The area of ​​Three Rivers, Hedong, Henei and Henan, are three counties located in the center of the world. They are well connected and are the place where military forces are stationed. They are also important places in the world. Controlling the Three Rivers will give you a great advantage in the struggle for hegemony.

"However, Cao Cao is currently busy with his business in Xuzhou. Now Xuzhou has not been taken and Lu Bu has not been eliminated. Cao Cao may not have the spare energy to swallow Henei right now." Xun You added. He was very skeptical about whether Cao Cao's side could take over Henei.

"Besides, Henei is not far from Yecheng, between Jizhou and Hedong, and close to Shangdang County. Even if Cao Cao wants to take over Henei, he probably wouldn't dare to do it... After all, doing so would touch Yuan Shao's reverse scale, and by then, Yuan and Cao would fight and their armies would clash, which would not be resolved in a short time."

"That's what I think." Liu Zhang nodded. Henei County was a nice piece of candy, but it was a pity that even if it was handed to Cao Cao's mouth, he might not swallow it. Moreover, he knew that deep under the sugar coating on the surface of the candy was a poison that would eat into the bones and intestines.

"It's just hard to say. The Cao army general stationed in Henan is Cao Cao's cousin Cao Ren. He is very brave and has the right to rule Henan. If Yang Chou invites him, he might cross Mengjin, sweep across Henei, and capture several important counties in the south of Henei County."

Xun You put down the wine glass in his hand and sighed, "It's a pity that our army has just taken over Hedong and has not yet established a firm foothold. Gao Gan and Guo Yuan are eyeing Shangdang covetously. We don't have the opportunity to plot against Henei. Otherwise, if we send troops while Henei has just lost its lord Zhang Yang and the people are in a panic, Henei will not be able to be settled."

In short, regarding Henei, Liu Zhang had ideas but no opportunities. In Liu Zhang's view, Cao Cao's side had opportunities but might not have the courage.

Therefore, with the death of Henei's prefect Zhang Yang, the ownership of Henei became confusing. For a while, Liu Zhang was unable to predict who Henei would be in the future.

……

Hanoi.

Since he killed his master Zhang Yang, the officials in the county were intimidated by his military power, and Yang Chou had a good life. During this period of time, he was the one who had the final say in the county and had the same authority as Zhang Yang in the past. However, this was only a surface phenomenon. If you look beyond the shallow and calm surface of the water and see the turbulent waves under the deep pond of Henei County, you will know that the current situation is not too good for Yang Chou.

First of all, there were Zhang Yang's former officials, such as Chief Clerk Xue Hong, Inspector Miao Shang and others. Although these people seemed to let Yang Chou do whatever he wanted on the surface, they seemed to agree with Yang Chou's decision to kill Zhang Yang and take over as the prefect of Hedong.

But in fact, Chief Clerk Xue Hong, Inspector Miao Shang and others were secretly planning to kill Yang Chou in order to avenge their old master Zhang Yang. At the same time, they did not want Yang Chou, a man with neither virtue nor good conduct, to be above them and order them around.

The second was Sui Gu, who was a county general together with Zhang Yang. Sui Gu was different from Xue Hong, Miao Shang and others. He did not have much opinion on Yang Chou's murder of Zhang Yang. After all, he had long wanted to abandon Zhang Yang and defect to Yuan Shao, the leader of the princes in the world, but he had not taken any action for the time being.

However, it was precisely because of his plan to surrender to Yuan Shao that Sui Gu and Yang Chou had a conflict. Yang Chou had sought him out for a talk before, and from this conversation, Sui Gu learned of Yang Chou's intention to surrender to Cao Cao, and Yang Chou took action and submitted letters of surrender to Zhong Yao and Cao Ren in Henan.

"What a fool, he doesn't know the current situation." As for Yang Chou's idea of ​​surrendering to Cao Cao, Sui Gu really thought that Yang Chou was too foolish.

And you know, the most powerful person in the world today is Yuan Shao, the leader of the alliance who is rampant in Hebei. In Sui Gu's eyes, Cao Cao is just an ordinary man and a subordinate of Yuan Shao. After all, if Yuan Shao had not helped when Lu Bu attacked Yanzhou in the past, Cao Cao would have been defeated and killed.

Although Sui Gu was dissatisfied with Yang Chou's surrender to Cao Cao, he kept it in his heart. This was because Yang Chou had killed Zhang Yang and annexed the county troops directly under Zhang Yang. Sui Gu thought he was no match for Yang Chou. If he raised his troops to fight against him, he might be killed by Yang Chou.

Therefore, Sui Gu made preparations for both situations. On the one hand, he sent his trusted men to Shangdang County to express his intention to surrender to General Guo Yuan. On the other hand, he secretly conspired with the county's Chief Clerk Xue Hong, Inspector Miao Shang and others to join forces to get rid of Yang Chou.

Just like that, after a few days, a change occurred in Henei County, which seemed calm on the surface but was actually turbulent underneath.

First, Yang Chou received replies from Zhong Yao and Cao Ren. Zhong Yao stated that he had submitted a petition to the court to appoint him as the governor of Henei. At the same time, Cao Ren stated that he would reorganize his troops and cross the river soon to join forces with Yang Chou in order to strengthen Yang Chou's momentum.

During the meeting held every three days, Yang Chou proudly showed the letters sent by Zhong Yao and Cao Ren to Sui Gu, Xue Hong, Miao Shang and others in turn for their reading, making it clear that this lord-killer had a support and could not be easily shaken.

After reading it, Sui Gu, Xue Hong, Miao Shang and others came forward one after another to congratulate Yang Chou on taking over the post of governor of Henei, and at the same time congratulated Yang Chou on being recognized by Zhong Yao and Cao Ren, two of Cao Cao's confidants.

Although everyone appeared to be friendly on the surface, when Sui Gu, Xue Hong, Miao Shang and others stepped out of the military tent, their expressions were either indifferent or outright unhappy.

At this time, Cao Ren's troops might arrive soon, and there was no news from Gao Gan and Guo Yuan. Sui Gu could no longer sit still, and at night he pulled Xue Hong and Miao Shang together to discuss and decide on a plan.

On the second day, Yang Chou, who claimed to be the governor of Henei, received an invitation. Sui Gu said that he had obtained a horse, which was snow-white without a single strand of hair. Under the moonlight at night, it looked like a divine horse in the sky. It was named "Zhaoye Jade Lion".

However, Sui Gu believed that he was not worthy of the Jade Lion of Zhaoye and intended to present it to Yang Chou. As a military general, Yang Chou was a horse lover. When he heard that Sui Gu had such a good horse and was going to present it to him, he could not help but feel happy and led several personal guards to rush to Sui Gu's camp.

"General Sui, where is the horse?" At the gate of Sui Gu's camp, Yang Chou saw Sui Gu with a smile on his face and a bit of flattery. Relying on his current status and greedy for the BMW, he sat on his horse and asked Sui Gu about the movement of the BMW without even paying any respect first.

Seeing Yang Chou being so arrogant, Sui Gu's flattering expression paused for a moment. He lowered his head with an extremely displeased look, and a murderous look appeared between his brows, but it only lasted for a moment or two. When he raised his head again, Sui Gu's face was full of flattering smiles again.

"Lord Yang, the Jade Lion of Zhaoye is in the camp. Please follow me inside to take a look." Sui Gu said in a slightly flattering tone. He changed the way he addressed Yang Chou and called him Lord Yang.

"Okay." Yang Chou responded, then he dismounted from his horse and, under the guidance of Sui Gu, walked towards the stable behind Sui Gu's camp.

As they walked, Yang Chou asked, "General Sui, where did you get this Night-Shine Jade Lion?" He started to inquire about the whereabouts of the BMW.

Sui Gu replied, "I bought it from a horse dealer in Yunzhong County."

"Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun are close to Rongdi and Xianbei, so there are many good horses there." Yang Chou nodded, agreeing with Sui Gu's statement. At the same time, he laughed and said, "General Sui, you are also a military commander. Why don't you keep such good horses but give them to me? I am a little shameless."

After saying this, Yang Chou smiled. Although he said this, there was no embarrassment in his tone.

"Hey." Sui Gu replied, "A good saddle goes with a good horse, and a good horse goes with a hero. In the county today, only Lord Yang can be called a hero. I'm handing this Zhaoye Jade Lion to you, Lord Yang, so that everything will be put to good use."

"It's just that." Sui Gu paused, feeling a little embarrassed. "When the imperial decree to appoint you as a governor arrives tomorrow, I hope you won't forget me and give me a lieutenant, so that my family can be honored."

"Captain?" Yang Chou muttered the word "Captain" word by word, and at the same time, he glanced at Sui Gu from the corner of his eye. Seeing Sui Gu's concerned expression, he laughed loudly and said, "With your talent, you should be the General of the Central Army. Speaking of which, I have already decided on this in my mind."

"Oh, Lord, you have given me a big surprise." In Yang Chou's eyes, Sui Gu had a happy face and showed a happy expression.

The two chatted happily as they walked. When they reached a tent, Sui Gu stretched out his hand to signal Yang Chou: "The Jade Lion of Zhaoye is different from other horses. I have kept it in the tent. Please come in and take a look."

Yang Chou had no objection. He opened the curtain and stepped into the tent. However, there was no horse in the tent, but dozens of soldiers in helmets and armor. After he stepped into the tent, the soldiers immediately blocked the tent door.

Yang Chou glanced around and looked back, and saw that Sui Gu did not enter the tent with him. Then he saw the soldiers in the tent looking at him unfriendlyly, and they moved towards him. Yang Chou said in surprise: "I came to see the horses, what do you want to do?" (End of this chapter)