Ji Han Liu Zhang

August, the fourth year of Jian'an.

The sky was clear, the breeze was blowing, and under the shade of the weeping willows, a farewell scene appeared on the Ba Bridge in Chang'an. The people who saw them off were Gan Ning, Zhang Ren, Jia Xu and other civil and military officials.

During this trip, Gan Ning, Zhang Ren and Jia Xu will go to Hedong and send troops to Taiyuan to fight for the important place of Taiyuan County for Liu Zhang.

"When you go there, you should maintain harmony between the upper and lower classes and make achievements. I will prepare a celebration banquet in Chang'an for your return." Liu Zhang gave his usual blessing.

Gan Ning, as the commander, stepped forward and said, "I will definitely make achievements in this trip to Taiyuan and live up to your expectations."

After that, Gan Ning, Zhang Ren and others drank a cup with Liu Zhang, then mounted their horses and headed east.

Liu Zhang stayed where he was until the figures of Gan Ning and Zhang Ren turned into small black dots on the horizon. Only then did he ride back to Chang'an, surrounded by his personal guards.

Gan Ning, Zhang Ren and Jia Xu headed eastward, crossed the river from Pubanjin and set foot on the land of Hedong.

Upon receiving the news, Shen Mi, the governor of Puban, set up the camp early. The eight thousand troops of Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, plus three thousand Qiang and Hu troops drawn from Longyou, all moved into the camp leisurely.

At night, the camp where the Qiang and Hu were located.

A group of Qiang and Hu leaders, about ten of them, had not slept in the late night when the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. They gathered in the central army tent. Each of them looked unhappy and many of them sighed.

As the Qiang and Hu people living in Longyou, they had a very miserable life in the past few years because of the weak government and the decline of the Han Dynasty. But now, Grand Marshal Liu Zhang has risen to prominence and is showing signs of reviving the Han Dynasty, which has made them feel suffocated.

Just like the current expedition, in the past the government was afraid of provoking them to revolt, and even dared not collect taxes. But now that Grand Marshal Liu Zhang has taken control of Longyou, he first killed the Qiang and Hu tribes who helped Han Sui and Song Jian, causing a river of blood to flow. Then the Dazhong Qiang and Hu tribe with more than tens of thousands of people disappeared from Longyou.

Afterwards, the Grand Marshal collected taxes from this group of Qiang and Hu people, and the tax collectors were very urgent. Where there is oppression, there is resistance. At the beginning of this year, many Qiang and Hu tribes in Longyou rebelled.

However, the Shu army today is not comparable to the Han army in the past. In the past, due to the eunuchs' disorderly politics and the influence of their superiors, most of the Han army's officers and soldiers were mediocre and cowardly, that is, the so-called talented generals were as timid as chickens. The officers and soldiers only cared about sucking the blood of the soldiers and taking advantage of the empty quota. They did not even have the resilience to fight for three rounds against the Qiang and Hu people.

But now the Shu army is well-equipped and powerful. There are also many elite soldiers in the Shu army, such as the Bandunman from Ba County and the Qingqiang from Nanzhong, who are happy to hear about war and are not afraid of death.

In addition, the Shu army's generals, Gan Ning, Zhang Ren, Zhang Xiu and other generals were all unstoppable and invincible. As a result, the Qiang and Hu tribes that had rebelled this year have now been eliminated from Longyou.

As for the Qiang and Hu leaders in the central army tent at the moment, as the leaders of the small Qiang and Hu tribes, they have only a few thousand people in the tribe and no more than a thousand soldiers who can fight, so they did not get involved in the rebellion of the Qiang and Hu this year at the first time.

The Qiang and Hu leaders in the tent were well aware of the current affairs, had witnessed the combat effectiveness of the Shu army, and had a clear understanding of the combat effectiveness gap between their own tribe and the Shu army, so they obediently paid taxes to the government and acted as docile as dogs, just to escape from the Shu army's large-scale purge of the Qiang and Hu in Longyou.

However, what the leaders of the small tribes, Qiang and Hu had never expected was that even though they were so obedient, the Grand Marshal was still relentless and issued orders for them to send men and horses to join the expedition to Taiyuan County in Bingzhou.

After paying the taxes, they were now required to go to war. Some of the Qiang and Hu leaders were dissatisfied, but the one who came to recruit them was General Fu Bo, Ma Chao, the mighty general among the Qiang people.

Under the pressure of the mighty general Ma Chao, a group of Qiang and Hu leaders sent out troops or paid money, and gathered 3,000 people mobilized by the government. They followed the Shu army and marched eastward to Puban.

"Ah." A heavy sigh was heard from inside the tent. This voice was filled with endless sadness and unwillingness: "It's fine to collect taxes, but we are also required to join the expedition to Taiyuan and run from Longyou to Bingzhou. Life is really unbearable."

When someone spoke, someone would look at the person who spoke. Under the dim light, the leader of the Black Wolf Tribe could see clearly that the one who had made the unwilling sound just now was the leader of the White Tiger Tribe, a big and sturdy man.

The leader of the Black Wolf Tribe remained silent and did not respond. Like the leader of the White Tiger Tribe, he also felt aggrieved and rebellious towards the current government coercion.

But the leader of the Black Wolf tribe knew that complaining and feeling resentful would never help, and would not be of any help to the current situation or the tribe. It would be better to stay still and save energy.

But the leader of the Black Wolf tribe did not respond. The leader of the Tengu tribe did respond. He was also full of complaints and was dissatisfied with the expedition to Taiyuan: "We have to pay for it, and we have to pay for it. It would be better to just peel our skins, eat our flesh and blood, and then stew our bones into a pot of soup... Now the slow knife is not cutting the meat very smoothly."

The leaders of the White Tiger and Tengu tribes were talking to each other, and many of the Qiang and Hu leaders in the tent expressed resentment.

"Alright, alright." The leader of the Mulu tribe, a man with a goatee and slightly older, who was considered a leader among the Qiang and Hu leaders, said, "Everyone should say less and save your energy. Now that the matter has come to this, just focus on fighting for the government and don't have too many delusions. It's just in vain to think too much."

The leaders of the Qiang and Hu tribes calmed down a bit after hearing this, but some were still not convinced. The leader of the White Tiger tribe said, "This time we sent people to fight for the government, but what did we get? Only a few grains and fodders from the government, plus some money and silk for the men who died in the battle. How can we live comfortably in Longyou?"

"Besides, we are all from a small tribe with no more than a few thousand people. Some have more than a thousand men who can fight, and some have four or five hundred. Now we have gathered three thousand people, which is most of the men in the tribe... If we encounter one or two tough battles in Taiyuan and lose our men, I don't know if we will have the face to return to Longyou and meet the elders who stayed behind." "What can we do?" The leader of the Tengu tribe looked dejected and sighed, "The Shu army is strong, and we are small. Moreover, there are more than 8,000 Shu troops going out this time, and Meng Da's 3,000 troops are staring at us. If we make one or two unusual moves, not to mention that we will die here, even our elders who stayed in Longyou will be wiped out by Tianshui Taishou Peng Ying."

"What Tiangou said is reasonable." Mulu tribe leader stroked his beard and advised earnestly: "Don't worry too much. Think positively. Compared with the tribes that were destroyed by the Shu army the year before last, last year, and this year, we are lucky. At least our tribe is still there, and we are still alive and well... Unlike Shaodang and Xianling, men who were taller than the wheel in the tribe were killed, women and children were made slaves, and the name of the tribe was eliminated, and there was no sound anymore."

"What do you mean by living well? It's just living in shame." The White Tiger leader retorted with a square face. He said angrily: "In my opinion, if we go to Taiyuan to join the expedition, we will die. If we resist, we will also die. It's better to rebel!"

As soon as the White Tiger leader said this, many leaders in the tent changed color. The big tent, which was originally filled with verbal battles and constant noise, suddenly became quiet, as if a tiny needle falling on the ground could be clearly heard.

After a while, the leader of the Mulu tribe sighed deeply and warned the leader of the Baihu tribe, "Don't be angry, Baihu leader... If we rebel today as you wish, I think we will all be squeezed into a hole and meet in the underworld. It is likely that we will dig the hole ourselves and bury ourselves."

"Mulu Commander, you are such a coward." Baihu Commander criticized: "Let's attack at night, maybe we will have a chance or two."

"One or two chances." Muluqu General sneered. He rarely showed a mocking expression, losing the calm and steady mentality of an elder. "Meng Da is a little weaker among the Shu generals. We can't deal with him, not to mention Gan Ning and Zhang Ren..."

When talking about Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, Mu Lu's hands trembled slightly, and at the same time, many commanders in the tent couldn't help but shrink their heads. It was because the pressure brought to them by Gan Ning and Zhang Ren was too strong.

Since the beginning of this year, Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, one man on one horse, have worked together to wipe out all the Qiang and Hu tribes in Longyou who refused to obey the Grand Marshal. Many tribes were destroyed because of one or two small problems.

During the purge of Longyou by Gan Ning and Zhang Ren, all the Qiang and Hu leaders present were witnesses. They saw what an unparalleled general was and what a fierce warrior who could defeat a thousand men was.

"Gan Ning, no, the mighty general, only needs 300 men under his command to slaughter our 3,000 people. As for Zhang Ren, he is almost the same, with only 300 cavalrymen. We are ready to clean our necks and wait for Zhang Ren to chop us off." The commander of the Mulu tribe looked helpless and said in a helpless tone.

After that, the leader of the Mulu tribe said no more, and the leader of the Baihu tribe did not refute or say anything more. He knew clearly in his heart that what the leader of the Mulu tribe said was right and could not be refuted. Even if he could defeat the leader of the Mulu tribe verbally, the facts were facts and could not be refuted.

Like a defeated rooster, the White Tiger leader shrank dejectedly, and stood silently in the central army tent with a group of Qiang and Hu leaders as if they were keeping vigil.

Day two.

The leader of the Mulu tribe appeared alone in the tent of Meng Da, the Shu general who was monitoring them. In front of Meng Da, the leader of the Mulu tribe did not stroke his goat beard and speak softly as usual. Instead, he slightly bent his body and said to Meng Da respectfully: "General, among the leaders, the leader of the White Tiger tribe seems to be a little dissatisfied, but the leader of the White Tiger tribe is a man who knows the times and will not do anything to rebel. I suggest that we observe for a while before making any decisions."

After carefully questioning him, Meng Da waved his hand and said, "Go away." Then the leader of the Mulu tribe retreated.

Not long after, another leader of the White Tiger Tribe arrived at Meng Da's tent. He was no longer as indignant as he was last night towards the Shu army. Now, he had a shy face and a flattering smile, saying, "General, I tried to test them last night and found that they have no intention of rebelling."

"It's good that nothing happened. Of course, it would be even better if something happened." Meng Da said lightly, which made the White Tiger Chief stunned for a moment. Then the White Tiger Chief's face became more flattering, and he kept flattering Meng Da.

After a night's rest, the Shu army that was heading for Taiyuan set out on the expedition again. The 3,000 Qiang and Hu troops walked at the front of the team, building roads through mountains and bridges over rivers, doing hard work.

……

Because Yuan Shao's son was critically ill or Hebei had fought a long battle and needed to recuperate, Yuan's army did not move south in the fourth year of Jian'an. Cao Cao seized the opportunity, firstly, to stabilize Xuzhou again and expel Liu Bei, who killed Che Zhou and seized Xuzhou; secondly, taking advantage of the power of a great victory, he sent troops to Langya, Donghai and other counties.

The purpose of Cao Cao's trip was to subdue the Taishan generals, including Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Yin Li and others. To be honest, the Taishan generals were not good people. They had allied with Lu Bu before. When Cao Cao attacked Xia Pi, Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others led troops to rescue Lu Bu and were not on good terms with Cao Cao.

However, Cao Cao, in his determination to forgive old grudges, was still willing to give Zang Ba and Sun Guan a chance. When Zang Ba and Sun Guan heard that Cao Cao was personally leading his troops, they simply gave up the idea of ​​resistance and went to Cao Cao's camp together, intending to submit to Cao Cao, or to be more decent, to submit to the Han court represented by Cao Cao.

When Cao Cao saw Zang Ba, Sun Guan and others coming to surrender, he was overjoyed. He treated Zang Ba and others well, and ceded Qing and Xu states to Zang Ba. He also divided Langya, Donghai and Beihai to set up Chengyang, Licheng and Changliu counties, and appointed Zang Ba as the prime minister of Langya, Wu Dun as the prefect of Licheng, Yin Li as the prefect of Dongguan, Sun Guan as the prime minister of Beihai, and Sun Guan's brother Sun Kang as the prefect of Chengyang. Under the guise of the emperor, he transformed the bandits who had been rampant in the local areas into subjects of the Han Dynasty.

Before leaving Donghai County, Cao Cao held Zang Ba's hand and instructed him: "All affairs in the East are entrusted to you." Cao Cao revealed his original intention of treating Zang Ba and Sun Guan well. He had high hopes for this group of Taishan bandits, hoping that they could help him deal with Yuan Tan in Qingzhou so that he could concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao.

"Don't worry, Sikong. As long as Zang Ba is here, not a single soldier of Yuan's army will become a threat to you." Zang Ba made a bold statement. As a local tyrant in Mount Tai, he had the confidence and ability to resist Yuan Tan.

"In that case, I feel relieved." Cao Cao waved goodbye and left, embarking on the journey back to Xu Du.

On the way back to Xu Du, Cao Cao learned a secret from a letter handed over by his confidant in Xu Du. He was shocked and left the army. Only under the protection of Xu Chu, Dian Wei and more than a dozen personal guards, he hurried to Xu Du, hoping to arrive in Xu Du as soon as possible.

"Dong Cheng!" Cao Cao's eyes were gleaming, and his murderous intent was restrained. (End of this chapter)