I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 308: Su Junhou leads the northern expedition, Wang Guoxiang is trapped in Hejian City

Punish the rebels and suppress the rebellion!
Emperor Liu Hong formally read out the anti-rebel manifesto at the military parade and announced it to the world:
I only accept the mandate of Heaven and rule over all the nations. I should protect the country and the people, punish the bandits and suppress the rebellion, and bring peace to the world.

The traitor Zhang Ju defied the will of Heaven, committed rebellion, occupied Zhongshan and proclaimed himself a false emperor, commanded a group of villains, destroyed lives, harmed the people throughout the country, and brought disaster to the country.

When I heard about this rogue beast, I was deeply saddened and resolved to personally lead an expedition to the north to clean up the world and restore peace to our Han dynasty.

I have specially appointed former General Lu Zhi as the commander-in-chief of the central army, to take charge of the entire army and coordinate the operations to ensure that this expedition is foolproof.

I specially appoint Su Yao, the General of the Tiger Guards, as the vanguard of the front army, commanding elite cavalry to attack the enemy's lair, kill the general and seize the flag, and open the way for my army to demonstrate my power.

Yuan Shu, the General of the Five Officials, was specially appointed as the commander of the rear army to raise food and fodder and ensure military supplies, and no mistakes were allowed.

Extraordinary
My fellow officers and soldiers, you should work together and fight bravely to show the great spirit of our Han Dynasty. I hope that you will live up to my expectations and accomplish great things together. On the day of your triumphant return, I will reward you according to your merits and share peace with you.

Anyone who can capture the leader will be granted the title of Marquis of 2,000 households and a reward of 20 million coins.

As for those who surrender, including subordinate officers, military officers, and other officials, do not ask any questions; show them kindness and trust, praise and reward them, and make the announcement throughout the country so that everyone will know.

Admire this!

In front of the three armies, the emperor issued a shocking manifesto to fight the enemy.

This manifesto to punish the enemy was like a thunderclap, shocking all the soldiers and princes present.

None of them dared to express any opposition to the idea of ​​these generals in the capital commanding the armies of local princes and taking over their military power.

With the glorious achievement of defeating the siege of 200,000 bandits, the authority of the Central Army was at its peak.

Not only was Lu Zhi granted more fiefs and promoted to the rank of vanguard general, allowing him to once again take charge of the entire Northern Expedition army, but the young general Su Yao was also granted the title of Marquis of Guanjun and served as the vanguard general, giving him another opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

Yuan Shu, the eldest son of the Yuan family, who had been a noble for four generations, was appointed as the governor of logistics and food supplies, and was also entrusted with an important task.

This acceptance of fate can be said to be a great balance among the meritorious officials, celebrities and aristocratic families, who each took up important positions.

Therefore, when the decree was issued, the entire army was excited and cheered loudly.

Su Yao, Lu Zhi, Yuan Shu and others all accepted the imperial edict and expressed their gratitude, pledging to be loyal to the emperor until death and not to let him down.

So, after this grand military parade, the Han army set off directly and marched towards the northern city of Lunu in a mighty manner.

Su Yao led one thousand cavalrymen from Bingzhou and Huben headquarters plus two thousand cavalrymen from other princes, totaling three thousand cavalrymen to take the lead.

The emperor, Lu Zhi and others sat in the central army and slowly advanced with the main force.

Finally, Yuan Shu followed the army as the chief logistics officer, responsible for raising food and fodder, managing military supplies, and ensuring that the army had adequate supplies during the expedition.

Although he did not directly participate in front-line fighting, the responsibilities he bore were equally heavy.

Food and fodder are the lifeline of the army. Once there is a problem with supply, it will not only affect the morale of the army, but may also lead to the failure of the entire expedition.

Although Yuan Shu didn't know why he was suddenly entrusted with such an important task, after gaining power, his goal in looking at Su Yao became extremely cold almost in an instant.

Seeing his eyes, He Jin suddenly felt a chill and quickly patted Yuan Shu on the shoulder:

"The highway is of great importance in this Northern Expedition. As the governor of logistics, you must not lose sight of the big picture and get into trouble."

However, Yuan Shu completely disagreed with He Jin's statement.

If Liu Biao were to follow his words, how long would he have to endure this in silence?
Watching the kid named Su being so arrogant and complacent while he could do nothing about it was more painful than killing him.

Now he finally has power, and he also holds the lifeline of the Su family.

How could Yuan Shu give up such an opportunity easily?

However, he was not prepared to say so much to He Jin.

It is really difficult for this butcher general to accomplish anything great. Faced with such a personal threat, he was still hesitant and indecisive.

In the end, I still had to take action.

Then, Yuan Shu respectfully clasped his fists and smiled:

"Don't worry, General. I will do my best to raise food and fodder for the army and ensure the smooth progress of the Northern Expedition."

Then, contrary to what he said, after sending He Jin away, Yuan Shu immediately summoned his trusted advisers to discuss countermeasures.

He was not a fool. If he directly cut off the food supply to the meritorious vanguard, it would definitely arouse the emperor's suspicion and dissatisfaction, and might even provoke a mutiny in the army.

After some discussion, they decided to adopt the strategy of gradually reducing the food supply to Su Yao's vanguard troops, weakening Su Yao's combat effectiveness bit by bit, and ultimately achieving the goal of building a tower out of sand.

Without the support of food and wages, can you, Su Yao, still exert your fighting power?
However, Yuan Shu did not know at this time that all this had already been expected by Su Yao.

Yes.

Whether it was the emperor's grand military parade or his personal expedition, Su Yao was behind it.

After failing to receive the reward and fight that day, although Su Yao did not know the emperor's inner concerns, he still decisively changed his strategy.

Naturally, Su Yao had set a goal long ago to encourage the emperor to lead the army in person and continue the battle.

So, the next step is how to implement this plan.

Will the emperor agree?

But all this is not difficult for Su Yao.

As the General of the Tiger Guards and the Palace Attendant, Su Yao had the privilege of entering and leaving the palace freely.

Of course he wouldn't use such ability just to win the princess' favor.

When the whole city was celebrating during those days, Su Yao went to the palace every day to debate with Liu Hong, explain the pros and cons to him, and exert influence to urge the emperor to launch a personal expedition.

Then, perhaps as his health gradually improved, the emperor's ambition gradually recovered.

Or maybe he was feeling the atmosphere of celebrating the victory in the city, and recalling the excitement of being shouted "Long live the victory" by everyone.

In short, after careful consideration, Liu Hong finally agreed to Su Yao's proposal and made such a decision.

Take this opportunity to hold a grand military parade, launch a northern expedition to attack Zhang Ju, and seize all military power in the world!

After all, he set up the Xiyuan Army just to divide the military power of the general.

Now, when an opportunity to personally control the military power of the whole country and command the troops on the battlefield is presented before him, which emperor with ideas would miss it? At the same time, if he personally led the army, even if he did not need to fight on the battlefield, but was only nominally the commander in chief in the camp, then when rewarding the generals after the war, he would not have to worry about his generals being too powerful and uncontrollable.

So, under Su Yao's encouragement, the emperor and his ministers finally made a plan and decided to lead the army in person after the military parade.

At this point, this military parade has taken a completely opposite direction from history.

Therefore, Su Yao knew about Yuan Shu's plan to supervise grain supply long before Yuan Shu did.

And considering the Skeleton King's historical style, how could Su Yao not make any preparations?
Yuan Shu, who was kept in the dark about all this, was still staring at Su Yao and the others as they left in the dust, sneering.

Meanwhile, Su Yao had already selected a new target on the map:
Lecheng, the capital of Hejian State, was the seat of Wang Rou, the old boss.

Oh, no, now it should be said that this is the place where Hejian Xiang Wang Rou was imprisoned.

"what?!"

"The Prime Minister of the Kingdom has been imprisoned?"

"Lord Su, what's going on?"

Night fell.

On the first night of Su Yao's journey north, the soldiers just started to gather together for dinner.

At this moment, Wang Lingchenglian and others were shocked when they heard Su Yao's words.

The old general who had always gotten along well with them was promoted to Prime Minister of Hejian this time, and he was also one of the first princes to respond to the call to support the king.

How, how could I be imprisoned in the government office?
In response to this question, Su Yao called out the business contact person Zhen Jiang left for him to accompany him - Zhen Ping.

It is worth mentioning that Zhen Jiang, the hot eldest daughter of the Zhen family, is the head of Su Yao’s existing commercial intelligence network. Ten days ago, shortly after Su Yao’s great victory, when Pingyuan City was still immersed in the joy of celebration, she was ordered to go to the north to explore the way first, understand the situation, and provide intelligence support for Su Yao’s subsequent strategy.

Zhen Ping, a shrewd and capable middle-aged man, is the person in charge of the Zhen family's business affairs in the northern area. He is the person Zhen Jiang specially left for Su Yao before leaving.

So, after receiving Su Yao's call, Zhen Ping immediately came to the tent. When he heard everyone's questions, a look of worry appeared on his face.

He bowed respectfully and said:
"Lord Su, generals, Prime Minister Wang Guo has indeed been imprisoned by the rebels."

Zhen Ping said in a deep voice:
“Ever since Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju rebelled, Hejian State, as their neighboring country, has been plunged into turmoil and has become a focus of infiltration by anti-bandit forces.

Lord Wang Rou had been in office for too short a time, and although he had actively governed, he had achieved little success due to the strength of the rebels.

This time, the bandits attacked Your Majesty and their passage through Hejian has caused chaos in the area."

Zhen Ping shook his head and continued:

"If that were all, the Prime Minister would not have fallen into the hands of the thieves. However, perhaps because he heard that Your Majesty was trapped and was anxious to see you, the Prime Minister actually led 3,000 soldiers from the county to go out of the city to defend the king."

Hearing this, Wang Ling couldn't help but lower his head and cover his forehead.

The rest of the story is very simple.

Everyone has a good idea of ​​the military ability of this former Huns Lieutenant General and Su Yao's old boss.

This guy, it’s a bit difficult for him to lead 3,000 soldiers to conduct guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, and he actually wants to sneak up on the bandits and help in the battle from behind?
All I can say is that his courage is commendable and his loyalty is admirable.

But the result
As soon as he left the city, his whereabouts were exposed.

At that time, the siege had just been launched, and the bandits, who adopted the tactic of besieging a point and attacking its reinforcements, ambushed him smoothly.

Although the Hejian soldiers around Wang Rou were brave, the rebels were numerous, highly motivated and well prepared. After a fierce battle, Wang Rou's guards fell one after another, and he himself was unfortunately defeated and captured.

The rebels were naturally overjoyed to see that they had captured the Prime Minister of Hejian State. They immediately took him back to Lecheng City and used this to force the people of Hejian State to surrender.

"So, they succeeded now?" Lu Bu was surprised.

How could Wang Rou be so charming?

For his life, would the people of Lecheng open the city and surrender?
Hejian is not an ordinary county, but a fiefdom of a kingdom. Above the prime minister is the nominal King of Hejian.

Liu Bei also frowned when he heard this:

"Lecheng is the seat of the Hejian State and is adjacent to the border counties. Several prime ministers have continuously strengthened the city defenses, so the walls are high and the city is strong.

If the city had not been opened voluntarily, the rebels would never have been able to capture it in such a short time."

Zhen Ping bowed and said:
"General Liu is right. I heard that there was a traitor in the city causing chaos. They took advantage of the chaos to open the city gates and let the enemy troops in."

"Not only was Wang Guoxiang captured, but the entire family of Hejian King Liu Xi was also captured."

"."

Compared to the shocked crowd, Su Yao is now accustomed to these emergencies.

Well, this is another event that has never happened in history. It seems that because Wang Rou served as prime minister and the outbreak of the King's Loyalty Incident, such an accident happened.

However, what he should do has not changed.

Recapture of Hejian's administrative center was successful, and Wang Rou and that Liu-something vassal king were rescued.

In addition to the friendship between old friends, it was also because Lecheng was on the only way for him to go to the rebel capital of Lunu.

There are two routes to attack Zhongshan Lunu from Pingyuan.

One is to go north, through Bohai County, through Hejian State, and then turn west to Lunu.

The second is to go all the way west and then north, passing through Qinghe State and Anping State and heading towards Lunu from the south.

These two roads each have their advantages and disadvantages. The first road is more dangerous, but sweeping from east to west can cut off the support it receives from Youzhou and outside the Great Wall.

The second way is safer.

The two countries of Qinghe and Anping were not on the route where the enemy troops attacked, and there were only a small number of stragglers who fled after the disastrous defeat in Pingyuan.

As the princes of various towns gathered more than 70,000 soldiers and horses, the emperor's personal army of 300,000 people naturally advanced in two directions to encircle Lunu.

The first route, the northern vanguard, which is also the most dangerous and difficult route, is led by Su Yao, the vanguard general appointed by the emperor.

The second route, the left army of the west route, which was a slightly safer route, was led by another captain of the central army, who was Cao Cao Mengde, the captain of the Xiyuan Army.

(End of this chapter)