Domination of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 25 The Captive Storm
When Gongsun Xu and others were nearly ten miles away from Changsha, they had already seen Cao Cao's army. From a distance, the flags were flying, and the army marched in a very orderly manner. Cao Cao's first feeling.

In fact, Cao Cao didn't bring many people, but Cao Cao's main task was to escort food and grass, so there were nearly 500 civilian husbands, plus tens of thousands of Yellow Turban captives, it seemed to be a hundred thousand troops from a distance.Thanks to Cao Cao's extraordinary talent, he was able to organize the army so well.When the two armies were [-] meters apart, both sides stopped. Gongsun Xu and others rode forward, and more than ten cavalry rushed out of the opposing camp. Gongsun Xu carefully looked at Cao Cao on the horse. He was not tall and had dark skin. Bad presentation.

If anyone judges people by their appearance in the chaotic era of the Three Kingdoms, they will definitely suffer a big loss. For example, Cao Cao in front of him will definitely attract Gongsun Xu's attention.After the two sides approached, Gongsun continued to go forward and salute: "At the order of the two generals Huangfusong and Zhu Jun, come to meet General Cao." Cao Cao hurriedly got off his horse and saluted: "Cao led the army to come late, and almost delayed the military aircraft. Little General Gongsun welcomes you."

Gongsun Xuxia immediately went forward to support Cao Cao and said: "General Cao led the army from a long way to help us defeat the Yellow Turban army and captured countless prisoners. This is a great service. The two generals have already shown their merits to the court. General Cao will wait for the good news .”

Cao Cao was very happy when he heard this, "I came from a long distance, and I didn't catch up with the big battle. I thought it was a little bit of a bargain, but I didn't want the two generals Huangfusong and Zhu Jun to be so favored, and the famous Gongsun in front of me Xu also seems to take good care of himself, it seems that this time is not in vain, he should be able to gain a lot of military exploits, this time he will not disappoint his grandfather, let alone make the two prodigal sons of the Yuan family look down on him."

After the two armies converged, they set off for Changshe. Along the way, Cao Cao kept communicating with Gongsun Xu, talking about the general situation of the world and the military, and secretly kept inquiring about Gongsun Xu himself and the generals around him. Cao Cao had extraordinary eyesight. He could see After Guan Yu, Dian Wei, Sun Jian and others are all tiger generals.

Moreover, Cao Cao has a special affection for Guan Yu and Dian Wei, one is aloof and the other is fierce, plus Zhao Yun who has already seen it, Cao Cao has a very high evaluation of Gongsun Xu, who has such a reputation at a young age, and this time the Changshe The battle will push Gongsun Xu to the top of the new generation of generals in the Han Dynasty, and Cao Cao already has the idea of ​​making good friends with Gongsun Xu.

After returning to the big camp, Gongsun Xu and Cao Cao went to arrange the camp, and after finishing the affairs, they were called by Huang Fusong and Zhu Jun to discuss matters in the big tent of the Chinese army.In the big tent, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun sat in the middle of the commander-in-chief. Sun Jian, Huangfu Li, Huangfu Jianshou and other important generals were also present.

Seeing Gongsun Xu coming, Huang Fusong said: "Gongsun Xu contributed a lot to this great victory. Zhu Jun and I have already presented to the court, and made Gongsun Xu the general of Xiaoqi. Gongsun Xu's men are all cavalry, all of whom are our elites , As for Gongsun Xu's subordinates, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others are all generals who are dispatched by Gongsun Xu.

Since Sun Jian fought with General Zhu Jun, he has been brave and invincible. He has killed countless enemies.The rest of the people are all rewarded. This time Cao Cao led the army to escort the food and grass, which is also a great achievement. He sent an order to reward the three armies for three days, so that the soldiers can relax. There is still a big battle to be fought. I hope you will work together to calm down yellow scarf. "

The people did not leave after taking orders, because the two coaches have not announced their departure, and it seems that they still have something to say.

Zhu Jun was silent for a long time and finally broke the silence in the big tent and said: "Although we have won a big victory this time, our army's loss is not too great, but at present there is a big problem that there are too many prisoners, even exceeding the number of our soldiers. The number of people cannot be monitored now. Although Cao Cao sent a large amount of food and grass, we will continue to attack the Yellow Turbans in the south. The Yellow Turbans in Nanyang, Wancheng, Runan and other places are rampant. General Lu Zhi is confronting Zhang Jiao in the north. Now we can only It's just to suppress Zhang Jiao, so we have to calm down the Yellow Turbans in these places as soon as possible.

General Huangfu and I agreed to divide the troops in three days, but these yellow turban captives are really difficult to deal with at present. If we let them go, I am afraid that these people will gather together to make trouble after we leave, and we really don't have much manpower and material resources to deal with them now, so General Huangfu and I have decided that all prisoners of war will be killed, women and children will be expelled..."

Before they finished speaking, they heard three people shouting: "No, General." After the words fell, Gongsun Xu, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian all knelt down to plead with Huangfusong and Zhu Jun.

Gongsun Xu even said immediately: "The people are the foundation of the country. These yellow scarves were originally the people of our Han family. They rebelled only because they had no food at home and were deceived by Zhang Jiao. As long as they are given enough food and land, they are still my Han people." Ah General."

Cao Cao and Sun Jian also meant the same thing, but they didn't say it out of desperation.Huangfusong and Zhu Jun were also in a difficult situation, but the concept of being loyal to the court had already taken root in their hearts. In addition, the superiors did not pay much attention to the people at the bottom, so they were not very opposed to killing the prisoners, because this was also the intention of the court. However, the two men had been marching for many years, and they also knew that killing the captives would hurt Tianhe, so they didn't order directly.

Gongsun continued to see that Huangfusong and Zhu Jun couldn't bear it, so he continued: "General, there are now more than 30 Yellow Turban prisoners. Although most of them are old and weak, women and children, there are more than [-] young and strong. If we are murdered, we will definitely rebel again. At that time, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with it. We may be dragged to the Changsha. If this matter cannot be resolved smoothly, it may delay the important affairs of the court. General, please think twice."

Gongsun Xu said that Huangfusong and Zhu Jun were put on the big hat of the imperial court first. Now Huangfusong and Zhu Jun had to think carefully. Cao Cao and Sun Jian were also fighting while the iron was hot. Then he knelt down and begged for mercy.

Most of the school captains in this big tent are from ordinary people, so they also sympathize with the Yellow Turban.Seeing all the lieutenants kneeling down to beg for mercy, Zhu Jun had no choice but to look back at Huangfusong. Huangfusong shook his head at him. Zhu Jun understood and said, "You guys go down first. I will discuss it with Huangfusong and make a decision tomorrow."

Cao Cao and Sun Jian wanted to persuade them again, but Gongsun Xu kowtowed first and retreated, and everyone had to retreat too.

Sun Jian outside Daying grabbed Gongsun Xu and said, "General, why don't you persuade the two Zhonglang generals anymore? Hundreds of thousands of lives are lost, it's no joke."

Gongsun Xu looked at Sun Jian, then looked back at Cao Cao who looked anxious and said, "The two Zhonglang generals have already made a decision. I will naturally obey. Don't anger them, otherwise nothing can be done."

After he finished speaking, he left. Cao Cao understood this sentence, stepped forward and patted Sun Jian on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, we will find out tomorrow." Then he also walked to his camp.

After returning to his camp, Gongsun Xu immediately wrote several letters to Youzhou and Liaodong. He knew that the captured yellow scarves would not stay in the Central Plains. It needs a population, and there are more than [-] people in the young and strong. This will definitely help Gongsun Xu's future development.

Youzhou is safe and sound now, and you should be able to mobilize 30 troops. Xu Huang should stay in Youzhou during this period of time. As long as Xu Shu in Liaodong can send people to respond in time, the more than [-] yellow scarf Gongsunxu will be settled.

After the letter was written, Gongsunxu sent [-] soldiers to send the letter to Youzhou and Liaodong respectively, and repeatedly emphasized that changing horses does not change people, and delivered the letter as quickly as possible.Twenty cavalrymen with three cavalry each set off while it was dark, and Gongsun Xu sighed as he watched the messenger go away: "Unexpectedly, I became a trafficker."

Just two quarters of an hour after Choushi at night, the prisoner Yingzhong suddenly became restless, and Gongsun Xu shouted immediately after being awakened in his sleep: "What happened, did someone rob the camp?"

Dian Wei rushed in and said: "It is said in the prison camp that they will be murdered. Now many people are not calm and may rebel. Generals Gao Shun and Guan Yu have already gone to quell the disturbance." Gongsun Xu said after putting on his armor and weapons : "The pro-barracks followed me to quell the riots."

When he came to the prison camp, Gongsun Xu saw Guan Yu standing at the gate of the camp holding Qinglong Yanyue Dao, and Gao Shun commanded the camp to trap a group of people who took the lead in causing trouble.None of the Yellow Turban prisoners dared to move, even the group who took the lead in causing trouble did not dare to move now.

After Gongsun Xu arrived, Guan Yu moved out of the way, but kept his eyes on two of the Yellow Turban captives. It seemed that these two were the leaders of the trouble.Gongsun Xu looked at this group of people with panic expressions on their faces, he had no heart and couldn't bear it, but as a general, he had to let go of this for the time being. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly."

Many of the Yellow Turban prisoners were frightened by the situation, and the timid ones were already shaking their legs. At this moment, Dian Wei stepped forward and shouted: "My lord, who dares not answer your question."

After finishing speaking, he smashed the big iron halberds in both hands vigorously. At the same time, Guan Yu also slammed the big knife on the ground and snorted coldly, with murderous look in his eyes.

The performance of these two great gods has completely suppressed the momentum of the Yellow Turban captives, but a bold man stepped forward and knelt down and said: "Little man Zhou Cang, my brothers and I dare not rebel, but yesterday when the general persuaded us to surrender He promised to give us a way to survive, but today someone said that the officers and soldiers were going to kill us, so we wanted to ask the general for an explanation."

At this time, Guan Yu went up to Gongsun Xu and said: "I captured this man yesterday. I think he is very brave. He almost died by my sword to protect his injured brother, so I persuaded him to surrender. I think he will not lie. our."

Gongsun Xu couldn't help being curious when he heard that this black-faced strong man was called Zhou Cang. Of course he knew who Zhou Cang was, but he didn't expect that Zhou Cang and Guan Yu were so destined this week. The Yellow Turban is mainly based on Zhou Cang and a person next to him. As long as they can shock these two people, there should be no problem.Gongsun Xu looked at it carefully for a while, and then asked, "What's your name?"

Zhou Cang heard that this young man who could make Guan Yu speak respectfully asked him, so he hurriedly replied: "Little man Zhou Cang, character Yuanfu, this is my sworn brother Pei Yuanshao."

Gongsun Xu nodded and said: "I respect you as heroes, don't worry, I keep my word, and I will definitely guarantee your lives, but you can't stay in the Central Plains, you want to go to Youzhou with me, I see There are quite a few young men, if you join the army, you will definitely do a lot, under my tent, as long as you fight the enemy bravely, it is not impossible to seal your wife and son, what do you think?"

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were overjoyed after hearing this. They thought that even if they were not killed after being captured, they would become prisoners or be sent to work as coolies. Anyway, they would end up with no good life. Today's troubles are very likely. They were killed, but they didn't expect that the young general was willing to ask them to join the army.

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao have absolutely no doubts about their own abilities. It is absolutely possible to be a soldier if you can’t be a general. In addition, there are nearly five thousand brothers under your command. So, I gave Zhou Cang a push.

After Zhou Cang came to his senses, he quickly kowtowed and said, "Thank you, General, for your kindness. Zhou Cang is willing to recognize the General as his lord, and work hard for his lord. He will go through fire and water, absolutely."

Gongsun Xu nodded, and then looked at Pei Yuanshao. Pei Yuanshao quickly knelt down and recognized Gongsun Xu as his lord.

Gongsun Xu looked at the nearly 10 captives in the camp and said: "It seems that there are no less than [-] young and strong prisoners among them. You two will choose [-] brave men from them and put them under the command of Guan Yu for the time being. You are now Guan Yu's general is gone, and my name is Gongsun Xu, and if someone asks me later, I will give my name."

After finishing speaking, Gongsun Xu turned around and left. Before Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao came back to their senses, Guan Yu yelled angrily: "What are you still doing in a daze? Choose 1 people for me now. They must be elite. We will train tomorrow. If you can't train, go back and be a prisoner for me. I don't have any bad soldiers under my command. If you embarrass me, you can just get out and report to me in two hours."

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao hurriedly got busy after being scolded by Guan Yu. The 10 people in the prisoner camp stopped making trouble and cooperated with Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao's work.There is hope, there is a way out, and there is a future, these are the only thoughts of this group of Yellow Turbans.

Early the next morning, Gongsun Xu, Cao Cao, Sun Jian and others begged to see Huangfusong and Zhu Jun. After all, this kind of thing cannot be delayed for too long. Last night was the best example. If it is too late, things will change. There are too many people in the Yellow Turbans. Trouble, so give a definite message as soon as possible to appease these captives.

In the end, Huangfusong and Zhu Jun couldn't make a private decision, saying that they had to go to the court. After Gongsun Xu came back, he immediately wrote to Cai Yong, Zhang Rang and others, explaining the situation, and prepared a big gift for Zhang Rang, and then He also wrote a memorial to the emperor, but in the end Gongsun Xu was still worried, and wrote another letter to Liu Bian, because he knew that Liu Bian was kind by nature, and as long as Liu Bian was willing to intervene, the queen and He Jin would also have to participate.

Cao Cao also wrote a letter to mobilize the power of the family, hoping to save the lives of these tens of thousands of people. After everything was done, Gongsun Xu could only sigh: "If this is not enough, then it is really destiny."

(End of this chapter)