Great Han Empire

Chapter 577: Troubled Times Heroic Chapter Dangerous
In May, Luoyang.

Li Wei sat on the rickety carriage, closed his eyes and meditated.

The split of the Yuan Clan divided the huge Yuan Clan power into two, and at the same time, it also divided the scholar class of the Han Dynasty into two.

On the surface, Yuan Shao's approach was almost crazy, but judging from the situation in the world after the Yuan Clan broke up, Yuan Shao was the final winner. He made full use of this opportunity and easily regained all the lost advantages.Although Dong Zhuo and Li Hong tried their best, they achieved little in the end. They only weakened part of the power of the Dong Dong Alliance, and the checks and balances were unsuccessful.Whether it was Li Hong's strategy of external checks and balances or Huangfusong's strategy of internal checks and balances, they all failed because of Yuan Shao's break with Yuan Shu.

Facing the raging Yellow Turban riots, Dong Zhuo who was trapped in Chang'an, the perilous northern Xinjiang, and the crumbling Luoyang, most of the forces of the Yuan Clan and the scholars from various states and counties very wisely chose Yuan Shao and chose to save themselves.

Obviously, Yuan Shu's strength has been greatly weakened. His words and deeds violated his own promises, and his actions were even more unable to quell the rebellion and save the country. The powerful force abandoned him.Although Li Hong defeated Yuan Shu by force and forced Yuan Shu to agree to the strategy of checks and balances, he also helped Yuan Shao gain most of the power of the Yuan Clan.Yuan Shao used his killing to announce to the world that he would rather break with the scholars in Guanzhong and the huge family, but also insist on his righteousness and defend the dignity of the scholars.Scholars will never accept the insult of force and bow their heads to bloody warriors.Yuan Shao won the hearts of scholars all over the world with his loyalty to righteousness and integrity.He won.

Dong Zhuo was trapped in Chang'an, and northern Xinjiang was full of dangers. Even if the scholars agreed to check and balance, it was only to leave a period of time for the two scarred tigers to lick their wounds. After the scholars put down the Yellow Turban riot, the two tigers It's about to go down the mountain and eat people.Yuan Shu was frightened by the two vicious tigers. He thought he had the talent of heaven and could control tigers with tigers in the future, so he and tigers called brothers and sisters, but Yuan Shao didn't think so. Cannibals, if they want to avoid being eaten, there are only two ways, either kill the tiger, or strengthen themselves so as not to be eaten by the tiger, there is no other way.

Now that there are ants and thieves and wolves are dancing, the two tigers in Xijiang and Beijiang can't protect themselves. They can't hide in time. How can they go down the mountain to drive the wolves?If you want to survive, if you want not to be eaten by wolves and tigers, everyone can only join hands, share life and death, and swear to kill the enemy.Pioneer the wolves, and then resist the tigers. When you are strong and have strength, you will raise your sword and slaughter all the tigers and wolves to defend your home and country.

=

Li Wei read Yuan Shao's condemnation of Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu again.

Yuan Shao was Yuan Shao, and what he said was well-founded, clear, and resounding, and Li Wei couldn't help admiring that kind of indomitable momentum.

Under the current situation, if Dong Dajun wants to save himself, he has no choice but to put himself to death and survive.Retiring is actually a dead end, and only by fighting bravely can we find a way out.Ren Dong Zhuo, General Hussars, and Yuan Shu said how extravagantly they said that sending troops to suppress the rebellion was actually a lie.None of these three people is capable of countering the rebellion. Even if a counter-rebellion army is formed, facing hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans, it will be a drop in the bucket, and there will be no return.Regardless of whether Yuan Shao and his followers are appeased or not, they will fight bloody battles with the powerful Yellow Turban Army on both sides of the Yellow River.In the future, when both of them are hurt, these three people can be dispatched, not only can destroy Yuan Shao, but also the Yellow Turban Army, fame, prestige, record, society, everything.

The soldiers were shocked by the force of Dong Zhuo and the Hussar General, and frightened by the tsunami-like riot of ant thieves. They subconsciously wanted to retreat and escape, but Yuan Shao cut down decisively and raised the bloody knife. The sword roared loudly.The scholars suddenly woke up, with pride in their hearts, and they roared up without any fear.Yuan Shao's knife clearly told them that only by killing can they protect themselves and survive.

"Yuan Benchu ​​is a man." Li Wei said softly, "If this man is not eliminated, he will be a disaster in the future. Unfortunately..."

What's wrong with Li Wei?It was a pity that he couldn't kill Yuan Shao with such a good opportunity today.

Now Qiao Mao was killed, Zhang Miao was scolded by Yuan Shao, and then he reorganized the army to put down the rebellion, and the threats from Hulao Pass and Xingyang were all removed.Yuan Shu has become a check and balance party, an ally, and all threats to the south of Luoyang have been removed.At this time, Luoyang could gather nearly [-] troops to attack Hanoi, which was the best opportunity to kill Yuan Shao, but Li Wei had to give up this opportunity due to the situation.

=

Xu Rong received the emperor's edict condemning Yuan Shao, and Dong Zhuo ordered to attack Hanoi.In order to ensure a smooth attack, Dong Zhuo specially ordered Li Ru, Lu Bu, Hu Zhen, Li Jue (jue), Guo Si, Li Meng, Wu Qiuyi and other generals to be restrained by General Longxiang Xu Rong.Then Li Hong, the hussar general, ordered Xu Rong and Yang Feng to attack Hanoi.

The army needed enough food and supplies to attack Hanoi, but Chang'an and Hedong were unable to raise funds, so they could only ask Yuan Shu for help.Xu Rong discussed this with Li Wei, and Li Wei asked Xu Rong a word: "My lord, can this battle be fought?"

Xu Rong was stunned for a moment, and remained silent for a long time.

The Son of Heaven wants to fight, Dong Zhuo wants to fight, Hushi General wants to fight, Yang Feng and Sun Qin are even more impatient, they have already made all preparations, how could he not fight?

"Zhong Yuan, you need to know the consequences of not fighting?" Xu Rong rubbed his big hands in embarrassment, and sighed in a low voice, "Master Zhu has talked to me several times in secret, hoping that I can help him attack Chang'an and King Qin eliminates thieves. This matter The general seems to know already, he mentioned Zhu Jun’s matter three times in his letter, and he specially sent Yan Liang to accompany you to Luoyang this time, what is his purpose, it’s self-evident..."

Li Wei's face was ugly, "The general suspects you?"

Xu Rong smiled bitterly, "Zishan is a good man, he has already reminded me. He said that the general has a secret order, if Zhu Jun insists on breaking the check and balance, he will arrest Zhu Jun and take him to Hedong."

"Why didn't the general tell me?"

"The general may trust you more." Xu Rong said, "I can't disobey the general's order. The general trusts me, and I can't let him down. Although I know I can't fight, I have to fight. If I insist If we don’t fight, the general will definitely suspect that Master Zhu Jun and I have other secret schemes. If Master Zhu Jun is arrested, I will not be able to absolve myself of the blame, so I have no choice but to go back to Jinyang to accept the crime.”

"At this time, we can't attack Hanoi, let alone kill Yuan Shao." Li Wei said eagerly, "Your Excellency, prepare first, and I will write to the General in a hurry."

=

Two days later, Babaili Kuaiqi sent Li Wei's letter to Longshan.

Li Wei believes that the crisis in Gyeonggi has eased with Yuan Shu's appeasement, and the most urgent thing at present is to suppress the rebellion, not to attack Yuan Shao.Attacking Hanoi at this time will not only lose the hearts of the people and arouse the hatred of the scholars, but will also shake the morale of Dong Dajun's suppression of the rebellion.Once the counter-insurgency is affected, the ant thief riots will be out of control, and the country will be in danger by then.

At present, Dong Zhuo is definitely powerless and unwilling to send troops to quell the rebellion, Yuan Shu's strength is limited, and Northern Xinjiang is not only a question of inability to quell the rebellion, but also a question of whether he can send troops to quell the rebellion.The [-] troops in northern Xinjiang south of the Great Wall are almost all the former Yellow Turban Army, and many village chiefs, military marquises, and military commanders were all leaders of the Yellow Turban Army at that time.These people have no hesitation in beating the officers and soldiers and the barbarians. Do they also have no hesitation in beating the Yellow Turban Army?Even if we will form a counter-insurgency army with Yuan Shu next month, the number of this army will not exceed [-], that is, to help out, it can be regarded as an explanation to the world.In other words, the pacification of the ant bandit riots in Hebei, Yanyu, Qingzhou and Xuwu prefectures depended entirely on the troops of the prefectures and counties, and these soldiers and horses were almost all the troops in the Dong League, and they were all dispatched by Yuan Shao.If the general killed Yuan Shao at this time, what would be the consequences?
Jizhou has just begun to settle the fields, and the victims who are stranded in Bingzhou are still moving back one after another. If there is chaos in Jizhou, all previous efforts will be wasted, and the efforts of the previous months will be in vain. However, this is only a superficial threat to northern Xinjiang, and there are more serious threats. potential threat.

In the fourth year of Zhongping (187 A.D.), when Bingzhou began to farm, in order to solve the problem of feeding millions of refugees, the prefectures in the farm gave up the reserved fallow land and sowed all the fields. (In ancient times, two or three years of fallow land had to be set aside to ensure fertile soil, stable crop yields, and continuous cultivation.) Originally, it was expected to use the newly opened fields as fallow land, but due to the influx of people from Bingzhou The number of refugees increased rapidly, and the fallow land never remained.Now that Bingzhou has been farming for more than three years, the fertility of the land has reached its limit, and the output is getting smaller every year. Next year, no matter what, it cannot be planted, and the land must be left fallow.

Next year, the fields in Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Hedong will fall fallow, and the fields in Hetao and Pingcheng will not yield results. Where will the food in northern Xinjiang come from?Only the four Tuntian counties in Jizhou can be counted on.The four counties in Jizhou Tuntian have a lot of fields, a large population, and fertile land. In addition, the officials in Tuntian have already had experience, so everything in Tuntian is arranged in an orderly manner.Next year, a considerable part of the grain in northern Xinjiang will come from these four counties.

With a large population in northern Xinjiang, this amount of food is obviously not enough, and we have to buy it everywhere.Yanqing and Xu are the main areas where the ant thieves rioted. There is no food this year. If the riots are put down, next year they will only be able to take care of themselves. We can only go to the three prefectures of Hebei, Henan, and Jing to buy. Therefore, the continued stability of Jizhou is very important for northern Xinjiang. It is the top priority.As for the food in Jingzhou and Yuzhou, everyone is going to grab it, but the two states are far away from us and we have no intentions, so we can only rely on helping Yuan Shu to maintain stability.

We told the general about this potential threat as early as March. At that time, the general was very anxious and desperately seized Julu County and Zhao State first. Have you forgotten now?If Yuan Shao is defeated or killed, Jizhou will definitely be in chaos, and if Jizhou is in chaos, the northern Xinjiang will suffer the most.

Li Wei is also worried about whether Yuan Shu's strength can maintain the current balance.It will take at least three years for Northern Xinjiang to be freed from the deep crisis, and the balance will also need to be maintained for at least three years. Does Yuan Shu have this ability?Due to the absence of Yuan Shao, the checks and balances cannot achieve a real balance and restriction among the powers of all parties, and they may collapse at any time. Therefore, Li Wei suggested that Beijiang should try to find a way to compromise with Yuan Shao, and use the form of an alliance between the two parties to pull Yuan Shao in a disguised form. into this check and balance.Beijiang can participate in the three-party check and balance with Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu, and at the same time form a blood alliance with Yuan Shao, both sides will benefit, why not do it?
In addition, after the ant thief rebellion was put down, everyone recovered their strength, should they continue to fight?If there is no fight and everyone welcomes the emperor back to Luoyang, then the existence of Yuan Shao will be the most important part of the imperial court's check and balance.Yuan Shu's strength is limited, coupled with his extraordinary relationship with Dong Zhuo, in the future there will inevitably be a battle between the general and Dong Zhuo, and the consequences will be very worrying.

Li Wei said that if the general wanted to have fun and killed Yuan Shao, he would not only have near-term worries but also far-sighted considerations. Not to mention the three years of precious time for Northern Xinjiang to recover, it may also lose the best chance to save the country.General, please think twice.

=

Longshan's controversy was extremely fierce.

From the perspective of the Son of Heaven and Princess Changping, killing the rebel Yuan Shao can quickly disintegrate the alliance against Dong while the Yuan Clan is split and the alliance against Dong is in panic. In this way, the dispute in the court is over. The emperor can return to Luoyang, and everyone can concentrate on dealing with the ant thief.With the force of Dong Zhuo and General Hushi, the food in Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and the capital of Jingzhou, and the cooperation of various states and counties, it is not easy to put down the ant thief.

Zhang Fan and Xing Yong bluntly pointed out that Li Wei is a short-sighted person at all. After killing Yuan Shao, the court can quickly put down the ant thief riot.Now that the country is stable, are the difficulties in northern Xinjiang still considered difficult?Can't all the efforts of the whole country save a northern Xinjiang?
Yang Qi, Wang Han, and Cui Jun originally supported Yuan Shao, but after Yuan Shao beheaded four important court officials, the three fell silent, and they used silence to replace the anger in their hearts.Zhao Qi, Liu He and other officials stopped talking, and they didn't know how to choose.Killing Yuan Shao is equivalent to helping Dong Zhuo, and everyone is unwilling.Don't kill it, how will the emperor and Princess Changping explain it?Don't these ministers listen to the emperor?Even if you don't obey the imperial decree, there must be a valid reason, right?
From the perspective of Beijiang itself, Wang Rou, Linghu Shao, Xu Ling and others thought that killing Yuan Shao was good.Wang Rou suggested that while attacking Hanoi, seize the entire territory of Jizhou, so that all problems will be solved.Zhu Mu retorted, one is that we are incapable of fighting on two fronts, and the other is that we willfully captured Jizhou and drove Han Fu away. What is the difference between this and Yuan Shao's killing of ministers?Once the Jizhou army was angered, they vowed to fight back to the death, and the two sides fought to the death, and trouble came.Hundreds of thousands or even millions of ants and thieves swarmed up. Not only could we not defend Jizhou, but even northern Xinjiang would be lost.The reason why we now risk Julu County and Zhao State being attacked by ants and thieves and refuse to reinforce Jizhou is because there is no food to support General Qu Yi's [-] army.If there was money and food, the Northern Xinjiang army would have fought there long ago.Now northern Xinjiang is pitiful, and even the Tuntian District has to be protected by others, let alone fighting.

Li Hong wanted to attack Hanoi and kill Yuan Shao, but he couldn't make up his mind.He had to think carefully about Li Wei's words. This step was wrong, but every step was wrong.

He was waiting for a news, a news that would make him make up his mind.

Li Wei wrote again, speaking in more detail and sincerity.

=

Master Xiangkai rode a little donkey to Longshan.

Li Hong personally went to the gate to greet him, "Last time I heard from Mr. Wang Jian that you were not coming back, I thought..."

Xiangkai was travel-laden and exhausted, his silvery-white beard hadn't been cleaned for a long time, it was messy and dirty, his gray robe was so black that he couldn't distinguish the color.He forced a smile, pointed to the south and said, "I went to Qingzhou, where refugees were overwhelmed, hungry people were everywhere, dead bodies were piled up, and the plague had already broken out. I came back to greet the disciples of Dazhitang to go south with me , I'll leave right away."

Li Hong's heart sank, "Master, what can I do for you?"

"Medical materials, I want medicinal materials." Xiang Kai said eagerly, "Can the general give it to me?"

"Okay, Master can take as much as you can." Li Hong said without hesitation.

"Thank you, General." Xiang Kai bowed and said, "I came to Longshan to ask the General a word."

"Master, please speak."

"I heard that the general will go to Yanqing and Xu to put down the rebellion. Is it true?"

Li Hong was speechless.

Xiang Kai looked solemn, fixed his eyes on Li Hong, and asked word by word: "Is it true?"

Li Hong gritted his teeth and shook his head decisively.

Xiang Kai's expression relaxed for a moment, and he let out a long breath, "Okay, okay, general, okay. In the Yanmen Pass battle, 20 Yellow Turban soldiers fought bloody battles, and 12 Yellow Turban soldiers buried their bones in Qingshan. Do you remember that? OK, just remember."

With tears in his eyes, Xiang Kai bowed excitedly and bowed again, then turned around and stepped on the back of the donkey, and left without looking back.

Looking at Xiang Kai's straight back, Li Hong thought of the 12 heroes who died in the Yanmen Gate, his heart trembled, and tears welled up in his eyes.

=

The letter that Li Hong was looking forward to day and night arrived.This is Zhang Yan's letter.

The leaders of the Yellow Turban Army in Montenegro, such as Bai Rao, Yu Du, Sui Gu, and Ku Chief, rejected the general Hushi's offer of consolation.

The Black Mountain Yellow Turban Army saw the failure of Zhang Yan and Yang Feng from today's northern Xinjiang.As the commander-in-chief of the Yellow Turban Army back then, most of Zhang Yan's subordinates were elite soldiers and strong generals, but how many of these people are left now?It is true that they died heroically, and they died to defend their home and country. It is indeed heroic, but without their bloody battles, without their blood and lives, can the crumbling man survive until now?If the big man collapses, if the sky dies, the Yellow Turban Army's dream of peace may have already begun.

At the beginning, the court made a lot of concessions in order to appease Zhang Yan and Yang Feng quickly, but what about now?Are the two counties controlled by the Yellow Turban Army still there?Do Zhang Yan and Yang Feng still control the main force and field soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army?No more, they were all eaten away and deprived bit by bit by the vicious and cunning leopards.Today's Zhang Yan and Yang Feng have been reduced to the leopard's subordinates, today's Yellow Turban army has been reduced to the sharp teeth and claws of the leopard, today's northern Xinjiang and millions of people are at stake, Zhang Yan, Yang Feng and hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans The soldiers were deceived.

Bai Rao said, if Feiyan can take this opportunity to raise the Yellow Turban banner again, we will still regard you as the Yellow Turban Marshal and follow your orders to overthrow the great Han and rebuild the country, so as to realize the unfulfilled wish of the great virtuous teacher.

Now Sima Ju, one of the eight great disciples of the great virtuous teacher, is working with Xu He, Guan Cheng, Wu Ba, He Yi and others to capture Yan Qing. Across the world.Feiyan, come back, come back with the nine-headed bird.

Zhang Yan knew that Beijiang had clearly proposed countermeasures for the four parties to check and balance and join forces to suppress the rebellion, so he included a blood letter in the letter, which only had one sentence: "The Yellow Turban Army vows not to suppress the rebellion."

Holding the soft white silk, Li Hong looked at the seven shocking blood characters on it, feeling extremely painful.This is the oath he and Zhang Yan made together in Longshan back then. The old blood wine is still burning in my chest, and the blood in the wine is still in my mouth. Am I going to destroy my promise so soon and turn my back on the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army?

=

"My lord, the Dagu pass is here."

Li Wei woke up from his contemplation. He lifted the curtain of the car to look at the majestic pass in front of him, and let out a soft exclamation.

"Xie Wu, take Mr. Xu's warrant and invite the guests."

Xie Wu agreed, and galloped towards the pass with a dozen or so horses.

Not long after, Li Ye, Yuan Shu's long history, came quickly surrounded by Xie Wu and others.

Yuan Shao's knife angered Zhu Jun, he cut off contact with Yuan Shao without hesitation, and no longer sent any news to Yuan Shao.

Zhu Jun could bear Yuan Shao punishing and killing court ministers, but he couldn't bear Yuan Shao's trampling on the imperial power and insulting the emperor, and he couldn't bear Yuan Shao's move to dethrone the current emperor and establish another emperor.A person who doesn't even want to admit to the emperor, who doesn't want to bow down, isn't he a rebellious man?Could this kind of person still save the big man?Although Dong Zhuo is tyrannical and domineering, he deposed the young emperor under the instigation and connivance of the scholars. A rough and savage warrior like him dare not depose the emperor at will. Why do you, Yuan Shao, depose the emperor at will?Who in the world doesn't know what's going on with your "Decree of Incorporation"?Do you think you can be arrogant and bend the law and do whatever you want by holding that fig leaf?

Zhu Jun turned to support Yuan Shu, firmly and unconditionally.Yuan Shu's long history, Li Ye, came to Luoyang to discuss matters this time, which was facilitated by Zhu Jun.

Li Ye got into the carriage, and after a few pleasantries, he immediately asked, "When will Master Xu cross the Yellow River?"

=

In the evening, Zhu Jun invited Li Ye to his study.

"Boxing, did Wentai suffer a great loss?"

"It's not serious, more than 2000 people have been lost." Li Ye replied respectfully, "Lu Bu's people burned, killed, and looted better than anyone else, but they will die when they fight, and run faster than anyone else. If it wasn't for Xu If Rong stealthily copied behind us, we wouldn't have lost so badly."

"How about the recruiting?"

"Master Kong is very helpful, and the recruiting is very smooth. Mr. Sun's army already has 5000 people." Li Ye said with a smile, "Nowadays, there are many refugees who have fled to Jingzhou, Yuzhou, and it is easy to recruit soldiers. There are two meals a day, no For the military salary, the applicants’ eyes lit up when they heard it, and they were overwhelmed. The most important thing now is people.”

Zhu Jun nodded in satisfaction, "Okay, very good, so I can rest assured. After Xu Rong led the army across the river to attack Yuan Shao, and Gao Lan led the army south to Xuzhou to suppress the rebellion, we will start immediately."

"My lord, are you sure about attacking Chang'an?"

"Duan Yao is stationed at Tongguan, and ministers such as Wang Yun, Xuan Fan, Zheng Tai, and Hengjie are in Chang'an as internal support. There is nothing wrong with it." Zhu Jun said confidently, "Now Dong Zhuo and Dong Yue are leading the army to attack Han in Fufeng County and Hanyang County Sui, Ma Teng's rebels, Lu Bu, Hu Zhen, Li Jue (jue) and others are about to follow Xu Rong to Hanoi, so as long as we take Hangu Pass and defeat Niu Fu, we can kill all the way without hindrance. Entered Chang'an City."

Li Ye said happily: "Just wait for King Qin to succeed, and the country can prosper. My lord deserves great credit."

Zhu Jun shook his hand and sighed: "It's not that easy. We can take Chang'an, although we can drive Dong Zhuo to Western Xinjiang, but Li Hong in Northern Xinjiang, Yuan Shao in Hanoi, Yellow Turban in Heishan, Ant Thief in Yanqing and Xu, one They are more powerful than one, and it will take a while to completely defeat them. Compared to them, Dong Zhuo is the best to deal with."

"The leopards in northern Xinjiang are the most powerful." Li Ye said, "He controls the iron cavalry of the barbarians. He is powerful. Even if he is driven to the desert, he can kill him back. This man is too difficult to deal with."

Zhu Jun smiled, "Leopard is not very powerful, he is too young. As long as he attacks the ant thief, the Black Mountain Yellow Turban Army will attack him, and his army is almost all Yellow Turban Army except for the iron cavalry outside the Great Wall. Northern Xinjiang is almost over. "

Li Ye looked at Zhu Jun in disbelief.Is it that easy to defeat a leopard?

"Please come here, I want you to have a good talk with Li Ru and Li Wei, and promise them everything. Dong Zhuo, Li Hong, and Yuan Shao are just like Yuan Shao, they can't dance for long, so if you feel wronged, just feel a little bit wronged. In the future, you will be proud " Zhu Jun patted him on the shoulder and said, "We have only one purpose, and that is to send Luoyang's army out as quickly as possible, and then we will raise our troops to serve the king."

=

The negotiation between the three parties was unusually smooth, which made Li Wei frown and worried.

At the end of May, an urgent letter from General Hushi was sent to Luoyang.

Li Wei and Xiao Lan returned to Jinyang immediately to take charge of the affairs of Jinyang.

General Longxiang Xu Rong immediately went to Hedong to take charge of the affairs of Linfen, the mansion of General Hushi.

=

Yang Wu general Yang Feng and Qiangnu Zhonglang general Sun Qin returned to Longshan camp immediately, and arranged important tasks separately.

=

General Hu Lie, Yan Liang, supervised all Chinese and foreign military forces, and Wu Yi Zhonglang, Gao Lan, was his deputy, commanding the [-] troops stationed in Luoyang.

General Hussars secretly ordered Yan Liang and Gao Lan to immediately give up attacking Hanoi and go south to counter the rebellion.Don't stretch this matter, you must delay it again and again until the delay is gone.

===

(End of this chapter)