Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 97 92. Situation of the Four Counties
A few days ago.

Zhang Fei and Zhang Bao, father and son, drove side by side into Wuling City.

"Third General, long time no see. I didn't expect you to still look as charming as ever."

Gong Zhi and the local gentry welcomed Zhang Fei at the city gate, and they bowed to Zhang Fei when they saw him coming.

"Ha, I was wondering who could cause such a big commotion in Wuling City. It turns out it's you again. It was you who offered Wuling back then. I didn't expect that more than ten years later, you'd come again."

After Zhang Fei dismounted from his horse, he patted Gong Zhi's shoulder enthusiastically. He seemed very familiar with Gong Zhi, which made the young man Zhang Bao a little confused.

Led by Gong Zhi, the group headed towards the Wuling prefectural government's mansion. On the way, Zhang Fei's personal guards and veteran soldiers explained the whole story to Zhang Bao.

In the 209th year of Jian'an, that is, in AD, after the Battle of Chibi, Jingzhou fell into chaos. First, Zhou Yu and Cao Ren fought in Nanjun, and then Liu Bei and Zhou Yu fought a battle of wits and courage.

During this period, the prefects of various places were basically in a state of independent autonomy, and the four counties in southern Jing were no exception.

After Liu Bei took camp in Jiangling, he decided to seize the four counties in southern Jing and incorporate them into his territory based on Zhuge Liang's advice.

Among them, there was an old general in Changsha County named Huang Zhong, now the General Huang Hansheng, who was so brave that he could not be stopped by thousands of men and could shoot an arrow through the target from a hundred paces away.

Therefore, Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Bei let Changsha go first and go straight to the other three counties, namely Wuling, Lingling and Guiyang.

Among them, the governor of Wuling was named Jin Xuan, who was a stubborn person. When he heard that Liu Bei was leading his army to attack, he immediately summoned all the officials to discuss the matter. At that time, Liu Bei's reputation for virtue, the bravery of Guan, Zhang, Zhao, and Zhuge Liang were already known to Jingzhou, so it was not surprising that his subordinates believed that they could not defeat Liu Bei and should surrender.

Jin Xuan was furious when he heard this, thinking that this general was cowardly before the battle and had simply dampened the morale of his own soldiers, so he immediately ordered his warriors to take him out and behead him.

Fortunately, Wuling had a good relationship with others, and other officials pleaded for him, so Jin Xuan had to give up and just scolded him for surrendering and advising him.

Jin Xuan decided to personally take action to dampen the morale of Liu Bei's army. Unfortunately, it was Zhang Fei who attacked Wuling at that time.

Jin Xuan's army fought with Zhang Fei's army and was defeated and retreated towards Wuling City. Zhang Fei would not give up this opportunity and chased Jin Xuan's army to the foot of Wuling City.

"Open the door quickly! I'm back!"

When Jin Xuan fled to the foot of Wuling City, he found the city gate closed. Jin Xuan had no choice but to go forward and knock on the door himself.

"Jin Xuan, look at the arrow!"

There was silence on the city wall when suddenly a man came out with a bow and arrow in his hand. He drew the bow and shot an arrow at Jin Xuan's face.

Jin Xuan was caught off guard by the arrow and was hit in the forehead, dying on the spot. When Zhang Fei arrived, the man who had just shot Jin Xuan had gathered the remaining soldiers of Wuling and surrendered to Zhang Fei together with the troops outside the city.

This person was Gong Zhi, the Wuling official who had just persuaded Jin Xuan to surrender.

Gong Zhi surrendered the city because he was dissatisfied with Jin Xuan's brutality and admired Liu Bei's reputation for benevolence. Later, Liu Bei returned the favor by appointing Gong Zhi as the governor of Wuling to guard Wuling for Liu Bei.

Later, the Wu army invaded Jingzhou. Gong Zhi was naturally unwilling to surrender, and led his troops to fight to the death with the Wu army. Unfortunately, he was outnumbered, so Gong Zhi had no choice but to abandon the city and flee. The Wu army successfully occupied Wuling.

Later, Wuling official Fan Zhou joined forces with Wuling barbarians to rebel and killed the Wuling governor sent by Wu. Wu Jun had no choice but to send Pan Jun to lead his army to suppress the rebellion. Pan Jun defeated Fan Zhou and pacified Wuling. Wu sent a new governor here. The governor left by Wu Jun was the unlucky Zheng Xu mentioned above. Although he was a military general, he still had some ability in domestic affairs. In addition, Wuling barbarians frequently rebelled, and the civil officials seemed unable to control the situation, so he was made a military general to serve as the governor.

Zheng Xu also knew that Gong Zhi had only escaped and had not been caught, so he posted a notice and ordered soldiers to search everywhere, hoping to kill him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, news came later that Gong Zhi had escaped back to Sichuan, and the matter had to be left unresolved.

Now, Gong Zhi has returned to Wuling City again, which naturally makes Zhang Fei feel quite emotional.

Everyone came to the prefect's mansion. Although Gong Zhi had just recaptured this place, the servants in the mansion were naturally Gong Zhi's elders. Following Gong Zhi's order, they began to prepare a banquet and took out fine wine to entertain Zhang Fei and his party.

"Third General, I wonder what the situation is in Jingzhou now?"

After three rounds of drinks, Gong Zhi also asked about Zhang Fei's current situation. After all, he had been wandering around the villages and counties around Wuling before, and was not very well-informed.

"Feng Xiuyuan will lead the Jingzhou side to recover northern Jingzhou. I, Zhang, will be responsible for recovering the four counties in southern Jingzhou and heading south to attack Jiaozhou."

Zhang Fei drank Gong Zhi's collection, but he was used to drinking high-concentration distilled liquor, and now these light liquors seemed to have no taste.

"Third General, if we attack the four counties in southern Jing, I'm afraid we will encounter considerable resistance."

Gong Zhi thought about it for a while, then knocked on the table with a somewhat pessimistic look, seeming to find the situation quite tricky.

"Oh? Why do you say that? Did you know some news?"

When Zhang Fei heard Gong Zhi's words, he knew that this old man, as the local boss of Jingnan, must have known some inside information, so he behaved like this.

"That's true, Third General. I heard that Sun Quan has recruited many people related to the former governors of the four southern counties of Jing to govern the four counties.

Firstly, they are locals, familiar with the local nobles, and easy to govern; secondly, they all have grievances with Your Majesty, so Sun Quan believes that they will never surrender, but will fight to the death. "

"Hey, Sun Quan, where did you find so many people? Governor Gong, do you know who these people are?"

Zhang Fei became interested as soon as he heard this. Logically speaking, the four counties in southern Jing had been under the rule of his elder brother for more than ten years. If not as stable as a rock, he should be quite prestigious. Where did Sun Quan find so many old enemies?

"First is Lingling County. The governor sent by Sun Quan is probably known to you, General San. He is Liu Xian, the son of Liu Du, the former governor of Lingling.

Liu Xian was resentful that the emperor did not let him inherit his father's business after his father's death, so he rebelled and defected to the Eastern Wu. Now he has returned to Lingling. It is said that he has also recruited the local brothers Xi Zhen and Xi Hong as his wings.

Then there is Changsha County. The current prefect of Changsha is Han Xuan's nephew, Han Teng. Because Han Xuan was killed by Wei Yan, the Han family simply fled eastward into the territory of Eastern Wu, and they are mortal enemies with the Han Dynasty.

Finally, there is Guiyang County, whose governor is an old acquaintance of yours, General San, the former governor of Guiyang, Zhao Fan.

When Gong Zhi said this, he also showed a few expressions that were unclear whether it was a wry smile or a smile.

"Zhao Fan? How could it be him? Didn't he disappear?"

Gong Zhi's words surprised Zhang Fei.

(End of this chapter)