When Ji Han and his men traveled to the Three Kingdoms crew

Chapter 402 The Five Tigers of Youzhou? (Four Thousand)

Youzhou
Ji County
Suburb
"Is this true?!"

Seeing the soldier nod solemnly, Liu Deran's pupils slightly dilated, and his face was full of surprise, changing from his usual indifferent attitude. What did he hear? Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide wanted to attack Bingzhou under the banner of obeying the imperial edict to fight against the enemy? !

You have to know that Zhang Yide was a ranger who followed his cousin before, but now he is the commander of an army!
But on second thought, it seems that it is not unacceptable. Just as Liu Yuanqi said, staying in Youzhou was his own choice and he cannot blame others.

Therefore, although he is envious, he will never be jealous.

After all, having a brother like Liu Bei is enough to make him proud.

You are worthy of being my brother!

The young men who used to follow their elder brothers have now become famous.
Both me and my parents were protected by my brother.
It's really amazing.
He sighed from the bottom of his heart, and a look of sadness and gratitude involuntarily appeared on his face.

"Snapped"

Liu Deran slapped his head suddenly, thinking to himself, I am now working in the prefecture, and I should focus on official business! Moreover, this matter is of great importance. The envoy must have called me back to deal with this matter. Quickly inform the envoy! Persuade the envoy to respond to Yide! Although the envoy calls me "good brother", I understand that the envoy is only considering the brother's feelings. After all, feelings are feelings, and sooner or later they will run out. I should be more diligent! Only in this way can I live up to my brother and the envoy.

All kinds of thoughts often only last for a moment. Liu Deran ordered the other county officials to comfort the refugees. He did not dare to stop and quickly mounted his horse. He looked towards Ji County not far away. Without any hesitation, he whipped the horse hard. With the sound of the whip, the warhorse galloped out with all its strength. The dust raised was enough to blind the eyes of the other county officials.

"Let you go quickly! I have something important to do!"

The gatekeepers guarding the city gates had not yet had the chance to see who was riding the horse when familiar words rushed into their ears. They frowned and clenched their spears. Even if the envoy came today, he would not be able to act so recklessly!
Just as he raised his gun and was about to scold the man to get off his horse, another gatekeeper grabbed his collar, and with just that pull, the man on horseback passed by them.

He looked at the guard behind him in astonishment, his eyes full of confusion. The guard whispered, "Do you know who that person is?"

"Who?"

"That's Liu Deran!"

"Liu Deran? Who is Liu Deran?"

"You brat! What do you do every day?!"

"There are so many people passing through the city gate on weekdays that I can't remember all their names!"

".Forget it, forget it. I will talk to you properly. Liu Deran is from the Liu family of Zhuo County."

"The Liu family of Zhuo County? Could it be the clan of General Wei? Then who is Liu Deran..." The gatekeeper widened his eyes, a bold answer brewing in his mind, about to come out!

Another guard sneered, "Yes, just as you thought. He is the son of the deputy Liu Yuanqi and the brother of the general. Even the envoy calls Liu Deran his brother! You should know that the envoy's methods are very powerful. If you offend Liu Deran, you will offend the envoy. If you offend the envoy, do you still want to have a good end? Didn't you see those people before?"

The last few words were spoken in a low voice.

"Hiss..." The guard gasped, but then a puzzled look appeared on his face, "If that's the case, why have I never heard of this man? Judging from his clothes, he's just a minor official in the county."

"What do you know? Of course, he doesn't want to make it public. I think he is so anxious. I'm afraid he has something important to report. It's not reasonable for us to stop him."

"I see."

Liu Deran rode his horse at full speed and arrived at the provincial capital, exhausted.

As soon as he got off his horse, he noticed something strange about the crowd. They were coming and going in a hurry, as if something important had happened.

However, before Liu Deran could think about it, a familiar voice drew his attention over.

"Isn't this my dear brother? I was just about to go look for you, but I never expected that you would return to the city early. All right, someone come and help my dear brother to hold his horse!"

The man in front of him was eight feet tall and looked strong and powerful, but he also had an extraordinary appearance and was handsome and heroic.

A name emerged in Liu Deran's mind.

It was Gongsun Yue, the younger brother of General Bai Ma Gongsun Zan!
"General Gongsun." Liu Deran clasped his fists towards Gongsun Yue, "I wonder what happened in the mansion? I have something important to do too!"

"Important matter? Please, my dear brother, I will talk to you while we walk!" Gongsun Yue pulled Liu Deran's sleeve and was about to walk into the mansion.

Along the way, Liu Deran listened to Gongsun Yue's story, and the worry that had lingered on his brows for a long time gradually faded away.

Gongsun Yue noticed the change in Liu Deran and asked with concern, "What's wrong, brother?"

"Huh." Liu Deran exhaled a breath of foul air and said with a strange look on his face: "I hurried back just now to persuade the envoy to respond to Yide, but who knew that the envoy had already made up his mind to discuss how to send troops."

"My dear brother, it's all right. You are so absorbed in your duties. I won't say much. The envoy and my brother are in the hall ahead. Shall we go in first?"

My dear brother?

Liu Deran looked at Gongsun Yue in surprise, feeling uncomfortable all over as if he had lice. He thought to himself: Why is General Gongsun so familiar when he comes here?

But he still uttered a "Good!"

Gongsun Yue and Liu Deran entered the hall one after the other. Everyone in the hall looked at them at the same time, but neither Liu Biao nor Gongsun Zan said anything to them. Instead, they argued more and more fiercely. The spit flew everywhere, and others couldn't even get a word in.

"What on earth happened?" Liu Deran lowered his voice and asked Gongsun Yue.

Gongsun Yue smiled bitterly and said, "My dear brother, just now my brother and the envoy started arguing about whether to send troops or not. We finally reached an agreement, but now we are discussing specific tactics and the dispute has started again."

"This..." Liu Deran scratched his head. Not knowing what was going on, he decided to listen attentively.

"Sir, I have always fought like this. The cavalry are distributed on both sides. If the enemy soldiers are too few, I can rely on the cavalry's charge to disrupt the enemy's formation first. What's wrong with that?!" Gongsun Zan looked at Liu Biao. Through previous communication, he found that Liu Biao was not ignorant of military affairs. After all, he had been fighting in the frontier regions, and this tactic had been used until today without any mistakes. What was there to be afraid of when attacking Yuan Shao?

Liu Biao nodded and said, "General, you are right, but Yuan Shao is not a Wuhuan."

Everyone, including Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Yue, didn't take it seriously. What if Yuan Shao wasn't a Wuhuan? Who could defeat their Baima Yicong? Until Liu Biao said three words, "Heavy armor, large halberds, and powerful crossbows."

This successfully piqued everyone's interest, and even Liu Yuanqi, who knew nothing about war, showed curiosity on his face.

Under everyone's gaze, Liu Biao spoke slowly, "Heavy armor is the armor of Yuan's infantry, and the halberd is naturally the weapon of Yuan's infantry. In addition, there are thousands of powerful crossbows. If we attack with fast horses, we will probably suffer a great defeat."

Liu Biao's wording was accurate and his materials were detailed. Even though Gongsun Zan felt that Yuan Shao could not come up with so much armor, when he heard Liu Biao's estimate of Yuan's approximate financial resources, he had to believe that this was really possible.

"General Gongsun, please look at the sand table."

“Sand table.”

Gongsun Zan and everyone else looked at the sand table that Liu Biao was pointing to. The making method of the sand table was not difficult. The land was replaced by sand and the mountains were made of stones.

As for the sand table, it is nothing new. This method was first invented by the famous general Ma Yuan, but Ma Yuan used rice.
"The attacker is General Gongsun, and the defender is Yuan Shao."

"If Yuan Shao sends out 800 infantrymen as the vanguard, armed with large shields, and tens of thousands of infantrymen as the rear guard, and the general has 10,000 cavalrymen and 30,000 infantrymen on both wings, and also sends out brave generals like Yan Liang and Wen Chou, what do you think should be done, General Gongsun?"

"What should we do?" Gongsun Zan didn't even think about it and blurted out, "Of course, we should send out 10,000 white horse volunteers to disrupt Yuan Shao's formation at lightning speed. This will boost our army's morale, and secondly..."

When it came to the word "two", Gongsun Zan's voice seemed to be stuck in his throat, and he didn't utter a word for a long time. His pupils dilated slightly, and his mind suddenly remembered the armored soldiers and powerful crossbows mentioned by Liu Biao. He looked at Liu Biao in disbelief, his face pale, and his voice trembled a little, and he expressed his guess, "My lord, where are the powerful crossbows, heavy armor and halberds you just mentioned? How come only the shield soldiers emphasized the big shield? Could it be... Could it be that they are showing weakness to the enemy? Could it be that thousands of archers are hiding behind the big shields? If we advance rashly, thousands of powerful crossbows will be fired at the same time..."

Gongsun Zan did not continue to speak. Even a layman knew that the outcome would be extremely unfavorable to Gongsun Zan. With thousands of powerful crossbows and fierce generals like Yan Liang and Wen Chou, even the general commanding the White Horse Volunteers would lose his life. By then, the army would be in chaos and lose its composure. Then Yuan Shao would come out in full force, and a great defeat would be inevitable.
"So according to your idea, what should we do?" Gongsun Zan asked with gritting teeth.

Liu Biao shook his head. "In terms of marching and fighting, I am far inferior to you, General. I am only telling you the information I know. I hope you will be more careful. Someone once said that light cavalry is not as good as armored heavy cavalry after all. Its strength is not charging into battle, but relying on speed to harass the enemy's flank is its advantage."

"I see." Gongsun Zan's expression eased a lot. He clasped his fists towards Liu Biao and said, "Sir, thank you for what I have said. We will not bother you any more as our troops are about to set out."

"Good." Liu Biao stroked his long beard and nodded slightly, which was considered as his agreement.

Gongsun Yue was completely confused. He didn't understand why Gongsun Zan asked Liu Biao to express his gratitude. When he was about to ask the question in his mind, he looked up and saw Gongsun Zan's complicated expression, so he immediately shut his mouth.

"Yue, go."

"promise."

Gongsun Yue followed Gongsun Zan's footsteps and walked out of the provincial capital. He swiftly mounted his horse and galloped towards the camp outside the city.

The two of them remained silent all the way.

When there were no pedestrians on the road and Gongsun Yue was almost unable to suppress his doubts and curiosity, Gongsun Zan suddenly spoke.

"Yue, are you curious about why I asked the envoy to express my gratitude?"

"Yeah." Gongsun Yue nodded repeatedly.

Gongsun Zan looked toward the west and sighed, "Alas, do you know who the person you are talking about is?"

"The person in the words." Gongsun Yue murmured to himself and couldn't help but think about it.

Before he could think about it, Gongsun Zan lowered his eyes and gave the answer with a bit of self-mockery.

"Who else could it be besides Xuande? I have studied Xuande's tactics. When Xuande was in Liangzhou, he was very good at using light cavalry. However, I was blinded by the complaints at that time and just sneered at him. At that time, Xuande became the governor of Jingzhou, and I was just a general under the control. As the governor of Jingzhou, Xuande actually sent a letter asking me to treat Liu Yu well. At that time, I just thought it was ridiculous. I thought that Xuande had been promoted and could no longer tolerate me, his brother."

After a pause, he continued to sigh, "Now that I think about it, I was wrong. From what I have seen these days, Liu Yu's soldiers are far inferior to ours. Even if they have the advantage in numbers, I am afraid they will collapse at the first blow. Even so, Xuande still defended me in front of Liu Shijun, giving me both a reminder and dignity."

"If I were placed in Liangzhou, the grass on my grave would probably be several feet high, right?"

Gongsun Yue hurriedly said: "Brother, your reputation is well known to all the Wuhuan people, what can a mere Qiang Hu do to you? You..."

"Yue, there's no need to say more nice things." Gongsun Zan interrupted Gongsun Yue and sighed, "You and I both know that I am not as good as Xuande after all."

Gongsun Yue looked at Gongsun Zan worriedly. His elder brother had always been strong-willed. He admitted that he was not as good as his younger brother. Even if he was not his biological brother, what a severe blow to his self-esteem!
However, to his surprise, Gongsun Zan was not depressed at all, and there was no sign of loss on his face. It was as if the heavy burden on his shoulders and the shackles that bound his hands were all broken at this moment. He seemed to be much more relaxed, and he was completely different from the previous Gongsun Zan.

Gongsun Yue stared at Gongsun Zan's change in a daze. He was really dazed.

Gongsun Zan called out for a long time before Gongsun Yue finally responded.

"Brother, what's the matter?"

".How are you doing with what I just asked you to do?"

"Are you talking about inviting Liu Deran back home?"

Seeing Gongsun Zan nod, Gongsun Yue replied a little embarrassedly: "It's still a step too late. When I went there, Liu Deran had already returned."

Seeing Gongsun Zan's face gradually darken, Gongsun Yue hurriedly tried to make amends, "Brother, brother, I called Liu Deran my brother, and Liu Deran didn't refuse, which means he agreed, right? It can be considered as bringing us closer, right?"

"Well, now that you mention it, that's true." Gongsun Zan thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with what Gongsun Yue said.

Gongsun Yue breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. "Brother, you said that Liu Deran recognized me as his brother. So, Liu Deran has four brothers. Zhang Yide's Liangzhou Popular Romance mentioned the Five Tiger Generals of Liangzhou. Can't I, brother, Liu Shijun, General Wei, and Liu Deran also form the Five Tiger Generals of Youzhou?"

Gongsun Zan: “.”

But you know what, it does seem to make sense.

"Pa!" Gongsun Zan stretched out his hand and hit Gongsun Yue on the back of his head. "Let's put this matter aside for now. We have something important to do right now. I have discussed with the envoy before. We will raise the flags high, beat the drums like thunder, create enough momentum, and attack Jizhou! This will make it difficult for Yuan Shao to take care of other things!"

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)