People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 279 The Emperor Returns to the East
There was a gloomy atmosphere in Yuan army's tent. The defeat in this battle made everyone feel heavy-hearted.

The victory or defeat of a war not only means temporary gains and losses, but more importantly, the change of fortune. After this battle, Yuan Shao's momentum could never be restored to its former glory. This can be seen from Yu Furuo standing in the middle of the big tent.

"Governor, now that the battle is over, my Xiongnu cavalry no longer needs to accompany us in the battle. I only ask to return to Bingzhou soon. I hope the governor will approve it."

Although Yu Furuo still maintained sufficient courtesy towards Yuan Shao when he spoke, Yuan Shao no longer felt the respect and fear he once felt.

Nomadic tribes worship power the most. Yuan Shao was able to make Yu Fuluo submit to him because of his sufficient reputation and strong strength.

Yuan Shao demonstrated his strength and defeated Yu Furuo personally in order to gain Yu Furuo's respect and drive him to fight for him.

But a truly strong man should not fail. With this defeat, Yuan Shao's image as a strong man has been completely shattered. Even though Yu Furo still has some concerns and dares not offend him, Yuan Shao can feel that this guy has lost the awe he once had for him.

As he looked at Yu Furuo, he couldn't help but clench his fists under the table, and even began to feel murderous intent in his heart.

He understood very well that Yufuluo's departure meant that the other party would no longer submit to him, and he would also lose the powerful cavalry force of the Huns, which would be like adding insult to injury for him who was already seriously injured.

The more their strength is damaged, the more difficult it will be to withstand further weakening. Yuan Shao cannot lose the Hun cavalry!

At this moment, he had a strong urge to kill Yu Furuo. If the other party was unwilling to submit to him, the final result would be to send him to death!

However, what he saw was Yu Furuo's calm eyes. The two sides just stared at each other in silence, saying nothing, but they did not give in in the confrontation of wills.

Obviously Yu Furuo also understood what Yuan Shao was planning, but even though he knew Yuan Shao had murderous intentions, he was not afraid at all.

His fearless look actually calmed Yuan Shao down instantly, and his impulsive killing intent was suppressed.

Especially Tian Feng on the side, he shook his head at Yuan Shao imperceptibly, which made Yuan Shao lose the idea even more.

After taking a deep breath, Yuan Shao forced a very forced smile and said, "Without the Xiongnu cavalry, our army would have had a much harder time in this battle. I will remember this contribution in my heart. I will give you some money and food as a reward later. You can take it with you."

Upon hearing this, Yu Fuluo breathed a sigh of relief, then clasped his fists towards Yuan Shao and thanked him: "Yuan Gong's righteousness is remembered in my heart. If you need anything in the future, Yu Fuluo will definitely respond!"

Yuan Shao nodded and said nothing more. He was not excited at all by Yu Furuo's polite words.

If he could recover his strength and power in the future, it would be possible for him to control this guy, but if his strength was not enough to intimidate the other party, Yu Furo would definitely ignore him.

Although I am very unwilling, I have no choice but to let him go now.

If we kill people here, the Hun cavalry will surely go into chaos. Yuan's army is already demoralized and cannot withstand any more trouble.

Not to mention, although the Yellow Turbans have withdrawn now, if there is trouble here, the enemy may not turn back. Even Yuan Shu has not gone far, and he is also an enemy that he needs to be wary of.

The current situation is only slightly stable, but not out of danger. Any unexpected complications will only increase the risk.

He could only watch Yu Furuo turn and leave.

At this moment he almost gritted his teeth. The consequences of defeat came so quickly. His reputation suffered a huge blow and some people immediately betrayed him. This was obviously not good news.

The atmosphere in the big tent was also subtle. Yuan Shao looked among the people, unable to determine if anyone among them had ulterior motives.

Now his prestige is gone, his men are morale is wavering, and the strength of his army has been halved. How miserable is this situation? It is not easy for him to regain his confidence and make a comeback.

But no matter how difficult the road ahead is, he can only grit his teeth and persevere.

The Hun army left very quickly and Yuan's army did not attempt to stop them. In fact, they did not dare and had no ability to stop them, so they could only let the Huns leave.

Yu Fuluo was going back to Bingzhou after walking all the way.

Yu Fuluo walked to the front of the tribe. Not long after, a young man in his twenties rode up to him. He looked a little confused and said to him, "Father, it's easy to leave Yuan Shao, but we have nowhere else to go in the future. Do we have to stay in Bingzhou forever?"

Yu Furuo glanced at the young man who was speaking and smiled. His fierce eyes showed a bit of gentleness.

In fact, the young man was Yu Furuo’s eldest son Liu Bao.

As a Xiongnu prince, Liu Bao certainly had his original Xiongnu name. However, since the Han Dynasty declined, he began to use the Chinese name Liu Bao more often. Yu Furuo also cooperated very well, and from then on, Liu Bao was used as the official name of his eldest son.

Even if grassland tribes like the Xiongnu temporarily submitted to the Han people, they never lacked desire for the Central Plains.

He was obviously a descendant of the Xiongnu royal family, but he chose to change his surname to the Han imperial family when the Han Dynasty was in decline. The long-term ambition hidden behind this was obvious. At this time, Yu Fuluo had a bit of a test in his heart, so he laughed: "The world is vast, we can go anywhere, why do we have to hide in Bingzhou for the rest of our lives?"

Liu Bao looked puzzled and said, "The Central Plains is in chaos and we can't rely on it. In Youzhou, the Yellow Turbans are entrenched. In Guanzhong, the Qiang and Hu tribes of Xiliang are rampant. In the north, we are blocked by my uncle. Aren't we surrounded on all sides?"

Hearing this, Yu Furuo laughed with satisfaction, feeling relieved for his son's clear cognition.

Only when the laughter stopped did he take out a parchment letter from his arms and throw it into Liu Bao's hand.

Liu Bao was curious and was about to take a look when Yu Furuo's words were heard.

"Your dear uncle, my dear brother, is now in great trouble and has no choice but to put aside their grudges and beg us to go back and provide support. We don't have to stay in Bingzhou any longer."

"We can go back!"

Liu Bao was overjoyed and hurriedly read the parchment letter in his hand. However, he was stunned after reading it: "Has the Tribute Alliance already reached my uncle?"

Although they were not particularly familiar with the words "tributary alliance", they had heard of them.

This so-called alliance has been around for quite some time, and as soon as it came out, it stirred up trouble on the grassland and caused unrest outside the Great Wall.

Yu Fuluo and Liu Bao have been in Bingzhou for a long time, often collecting news from outside the Great Wall and talking about finding an opportunity to go back and seize the throne of Chanyu. They can get some relevant information. At least they know that this thing is a relatively loose organization with Xuan Xia as the core.

But they did not expect to suddenly receive news that the tributary alliance had already reached the Huns' doorstep.

"If my uncle could be forced to ask us to go back, I'm afraid the pressure from the allied forces on him must be too great."

Liu Bao's expression became solemn. Although he and his son had a bit of an awkward quarrel with Huochequan, the Huns were their common tribe after all, and he certainly didn't want any accidents to happen to the tribe.

Yu Fuluo snorted coldly: "I will slowly settle the account with your uncle later. At present, we have to put our tribe first because of the threat from the foreign enemies. Send the order to speed up the march. We must hurry back as soon as possible!"

Liu Bao's face brightened up. He couldn't help being excited as he could finally return to the grassland he was familiar with.

Following Yu Furuo's order, the Xiongnu army had arrived in Bingzhou in just over ten days. If nothing unexpected happened, they would march north from Bingzhou to the outside of the Great Wall.

They originally thought that they could completely avoid the chaos in the Central Plains with this trip. However, not long after entering Bingzhou, a piece of news once again disrupted their plans.

There is civil unrest in Chang'an!
The news came too suddenly, but it was very explosive. No one expected that the Chang'an court, which had been silent for several years, would undergo drastic changes again.

Li Jue and Guo Si, Dong Zhuo's former subordinates, were in charge of the government for several years, but gradually a rift developed between them. Now the conflict finally broke out, and the whole Chang'an was suddenly thrown into chaos by their infighting, and things were getting worse.

At the most critical moment, Zhang Ji returned to Chang'an and began to mediate the hatred between the two. He also proposed to take the emperor back to the east, and only in this way could the situation be stabilized.

However, after the emperor really set out on his journey back east, Li Jue and Guo Si regretted their decision one after another, and fought a series of battles along the way, making life miserable for the people in the surrounding areas. Although the emperor finally managed to negotiate peace with Li Jue and Guo Si after many twists and turns, the entire Chang'an had been turned into a mess by this turmoil.

The emperor returns to the east!

Yu Furuo and Liu Bao were shocked by the news at first, but they soon shifted their attention. Instead of paying more attention to the emperor, they paid more attention to the city of Chang'an.

"Father, the emperor has returned to the east, and Chang'an is empty. Isn't it time for us to clean it up?"

Liu Bao was like a beast that smelled blood and his animal nature was immediately aroused. How could the Huns, who always liked to plunder the Central Plains, be willing to miss such a good opportunity?

Even after the internal strife between Li Jue and Guo Si, and the subsequent abandonment of Chang'an by the emperor who returned to the east, Chang'an was still a major city in the Central Plains.

If it were in the past, it would be wishful thinking for the Huns to enter such a majestic city in the Central Plains.

It used to be the center of the Han Empire, a place that was looked up to by the whole world, but now it has been opened wide to be exploited by others.

Yu Furuo looked hesitant, but he only hesitated for a few breaths before he quickly gave up his original plan.

"Humph, since I am still resentful, I will ask your uncle to wait for a while. I think delaying for a little longer will not allow the allied forces to succeed. Let's go to Chang'an to plunder first, and then go out to the border!"

A greedy and fierce light flashed in Yu Furuo's eyes, and then he waved his whip, changing the direction of the entire army's march.

At this moment, he and Liu Bao both turned into wild beasts following the smell of blood. To them, Chang'an, the old capital of the Central Plains that had lost all protection, was the most delicious fat sheep in the world, just waiting for them to taste it.

(End of this chapter)