Chapter 599: People's Hearts Are Floating and There Are Gaps
The Taiping Army returned victorious, and this resounding victory made the generals and the entire Taiping Army very excited.
Luo Xiao knew that the King's Defending Army would not sit idly by and would definitely take action, so he sent people to investigate the movements of the King's Defending Army.
Ying Hou Luo Zichuan led his army to the northeast of Xingyang, preparing to cooperate with Wushuang Hou Luo Kong.
Jing County.
South of Xingyang, Yuan Shao took the stage to swear an oath as the leader of Guandongnan Road and gathered the eight major princes. There were dozens of others like Liu Bei who were quite powerful but not qualified to be listed as princes. If counted by strength, there were twenty princes along this route.
"Yuan Shao, I am the son of a noble family, a humble man. I am grateful to you for not looking down on me and entrusting me with the great responsibility of being the leader of the alliance."
On the high platform, Yuan Shao was full of energy and said in a loud voice: "Now I am calling on heroes and warriors from all directions for the sake of justice, and I will tell the righteous men of the world:
Since Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty assumed the throne again, the decline of the Han Dynasty has never been greater than it is now.
Your Majesty's life has never been more threatened than it is now.
The chaos and bloodshed in the country have never been greater than at this moment.
Yin and Yang are reversed, order no longer exists, and all the lives in the Nine Provinces are devastated. There will never be a worse situation than this moment.
Some of these gentlemen came from the grassroots of the border counties, some came from Confucian scholars, and some came from humble families, but they were all loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty.
Today we swear an oath of blood, without mentioning our personal background, but only our loyalty and merits.
Go to Taiping to revive the Han Dynasty."
Upon hearing this, Gongsun Zan instantly became dissatisfied. When he was in Luoyang, his relationship with Yuan Shao was just average. At this moment, Yuan Shao's words that he was just a ruffian from a border county instantly made him angry.
But when he heard the shouts of the people at the oath-taking place, he knew that now was not the time to clash with Yuan Shao, so he could only whisper angrily to Liu Bei: "Who is Yuan Benchu talking about, a man from a border county?"
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei quickly comforted him, "Brother is from a prestigious family with a salary of 2,000 stones. The common people in this county are definitely not referring to brother. I'm afraid it's someone like me, Liu Xuande."
Gongsun Zan's expression eased slightly, but he still said angrily: "Xuan De, you are a relative of the Han Dynasty, how can you be a commoner in the border counties? Yuan Benchu, relying on his family background of Confucian scholars, has always looked down on us, the prominent families in the border counties.
Look at the Luo family, a prestigious family with a history of thousands of years, hundreds of origins, and all kinds of Confucian classics. This world's number one family has never had the slightest discrimination against our border county families. When I went to Zhaocheng to study, he learned that I was from the Gongsun clan of Youzhou, and the young master of the Luo family praised my Gongsun family greatly.
Besides, he was just a bastard, so what was there to be proud of?
Seeing this time, I, Gongsun Zan, must make the greatest contribution and give Yuan Shao a slap in the face. "
Upon hearing this, Liu Bei could only appease him again, smiling bitterly in his heart. Yuan Shao Yuan Benchu and his brother Gongsun Zan both had talents, but they also had their own shortcomings.
Yuan Shao is a little too arrogant and values one's family background. It's not his fault, as it's the same with everyone nowadays.
The only family that doesn't care about background is the Luo family, but the reason why the Luo family doesn't care is that, in their eyes, there is no difference.
Moreover, even the aristocratic and wealthy families would marry their children to noble sons from poor families. The last time the Luo family's legitimate daughter married off could be traced back to Marquis Jing Huan of the Western Han Dynasty.
It is easy to find a noble, but hard to find a girl from Luoyang; this is a common saying that was circulated a hundred years after the Han Dynasty.
Yuan Shao placed too much emphasis on background. He was just a hero. Even if he did not employ people from humble backgrounds, it would not have much impact on his great cause.
Gongsun Zan's shortcomings were more serious. He was not very broad-minded and could hold such a grudge over just some ambiguous words.
In Liu Bei's view, the most important things are people who can get things done, and the most important thing is to make many friends. If you make as many friends as possible and make the best use of those who come to you, how can you not accomplish great things?
Fortunately, Gongsun Zan knew the overall situation was important and did not conflict with Yuan Shao at this time, otherwise Liu Bei really would not know what to do.
The most urgent thing now is to put down the Taiping Rebellion as soon as possible and bring peace to the world as soon as possible.
Then he entered Luoyang and kindly persuaded the emperor to reform the world as soon as possible, to get rid of the eunuchs who were harming the country and the people, and to choose loyal and upright ministers to govern the country.
Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei were talking in low voices here. The oath-taking ceremony was coming to an end. An old ox was led in front of everyone. A sharp dagger gently wiped the ox's throat. With a shrill cry, streams of blood fell into the bowl.
Yuan Shao was the first to come forward and smear the cow's blood on his lips, and the other princes came forward in order. Gongsun Zan also stopped communicating with Liu Bei and smeared the cow's blood on his lips. Liu Bei looked at them with envy, wondering when he would be able to swear an oath of blood with these heroes of the world.
"Gods above, we, the princes, are united and march forward, swear an oath of blood, and work together to achieve peace. This is our oath."
All the princes shouted in unison, and then Yuan Shao said with great enthusiasm: "March to Xingyang, with Meng De as the vanguard.
Bogui has the best cavalry in the world, so he assisted Mengde. Only Bogui could deal with the cavalry of the Taiping bandit army."
Hearing what Yuan Shao said, Gongsun Zan couldn't help but feel a little complacent. This ability to train cavalry was the thing he was most proud of in his life. Now that even Yuan Shao praised him, how could he not be proud?
"Please look, Master Zichu, the cavalry of the Taiping rebel army is nothing but embroidered pillows. My White Horse Volunteers of Youzhou will trample them into bloody mud.
Moreover, Meng Degong's soldiers may not be elite enough to take on the responsibility of being the vanguard, so we should leave it to Zan.
The first battle must be won, otherwise how can the prestige of the leader be demonstrated?"
When Gongsun Zan said this, Liu Bei wanted to step forward and cover his mouth. Brother, you have a loud voice, but when did your mouth become so loud too?
How can you say that?
He directly offended both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
Sure enough, a trace of anger flashed across Cao Cao's face. The burly brothers Cao and Xiahou behind him immediately wanted to step forward to ask for an explanation for their brother.
Liu Bei also brought his two sworn brothers to support Gongsun Zan. Although Gongsun Zan was a big mouth, he was one of their own after all and he had to be helped.
Guan Yu stood behind Liu Bei, secretly astonished. He considered himself a rather arrogant person and looked down upon most people. But now that he had met Gongsun Zan, he realized that there are always people better than you and there are always better things to do. This is what arrogance is.
The situation in the scene where the alliance had just been formed suddenly became tense, and Yuan Shao hurriedly stopped it. He was very clear that internal strife was absolutely not allowed at this time.
But when he saw Gongsun Zan's rather arrogant smile, a trace of deep dissatisfaction flashed across Yuan Shao's brows.
He admitted that the White Horse Volunteers were indeed very strong. When Gongsun Zan led his army to the alliance meeting that day, he shocked all the princes. Almost none of them had ever seen such elite cavalry. But Yuan Shao did not expect Gongsun Zan to be so arrogant.
He, Yuan Shao, was the leader of the alliance. How could you, Gongsun Zan, try to steal the limelight? Do you take me seriously? If it weren't for the Taiping Rebellion, a country bumpkin from a border county like you would never be able to enter Luoyang and become a minister, and would never be able to form an alliance with me, Yuan Benchu.
Now you are humiliating me like this!
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were good friends and even had very similar personalities.
There is no doubt that both of them are absolute heroes, and they are extremely rare even in this era when heroes emerge in large numbers.
But both of them can frantically look for opportunities and fully display their talents when the situation is unfavorable.
But the disadvantage is that the tailwind is too strong, and this tailwind is not an objective tailwind, but a tailwind that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao themselves think is a tailwind.
Now Yuan Shao felt that defeating the Taiping Army was an easy task, so his goal was not only to win, but also to win beautifully and gain prestige.
Thinking of this, Yuan Shao secretly said in his heart: "Gongsun Zan, I will let you be rampant for a while. When you are defeated, I will show you how to deal with you. I will see how you still have the face to be rampant in front of me. I will not skin you alive, and I will give you my reputation as the most handsome man in the world."
After Gongsun Zan spoke out what was in his heart, he felt very happy. He smiled and led the army away with Liu Bei and others. Cao Cao, as Yuan Shao's younger brother and good friend, comforted Yuan Shao with a few words, promised that he would definitely win face for Yuan Shao, and also led the army away.
The other princes looked at each other and led their armies to prepare to attack Xingyang. Although Gongsun Zan did not give them face, the leader still seemed to have the overall situation in mind, which made everyone feel at ease.
As for Gongsun Zan, let him be. The warriors in the border counties are like this. They don't know etiquette and don't know how to be educated.
If Gongsun Zan knew that these people thought this way about him, he would probably start a fight with them on the spot.
…
“On the surface, these loyal princes seem to be powerful and have a large number of troops, far superior to our Taiping Dao, but in fact, they all have their own ulterior motives, and there are not many princes who are willing to fight to the death.
When friendly forces are in trouble, stand firm as a mountain.
We must never overcome difficulties.
This is what they would do. How can a country with such extreme political corruption have soldiers who are not afraid of death? "
In Xingyang, after receiving the news that Yuan Shao and the allied forces were going to attack, Luo Xiao spoke to the other generals with a disdainful tone. The other generals agreed with him deeply. They now understood what it meant to have the support of the people.
After Luo Xiao's governance of the rear, the four words "good luck to the world" were moved from Luo Xiao's fantasy to the front of the Taiping Army. This obvious improvement in life, and the future will be even better, brought about a change in morale that was too obvious.
When the Taiping Army was fighting now, they didn't need a general to boost morale in the front. Once the war drums sounded, the soldiers would naturally charge forward shouting.
Both their fighting will and their perseverance have been greatly improved. These two are the factors that most affect the combat effectiveness of an army. The Taiping Army is now much stronger than before.
————
At a banquet in Luoyang, the generals talked about the art of war. The emperor said, "I have read Huaiyin and Sun Tzu, and I have learned a lot from them. But the bravery and courage of Emperor Taiping made me doubt the art of war. When I was promoted, I realized that what Jiao did was not to use evil spirits, but to control the art of war with the Tao. He used the way of kings and hegemons to create a peaceful world. Therefore, the followers of Taoism are brave and courageous. With so many brave people, they can win any battle." - "Book of Wei: Chronicle of Emperor Wu"
(End of this chapter)
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