Chapter 637 It's OK Again
Yuan Shao's high-spirited attitude was even more majestic than those fierce generals on the battlefield.
The fearlessness and firm will in their eyes were so impressive that both Ju Shou and Xun Chen made up their minds immediately.
The Hebei gentry wanted to increase their investment in Yuan Shao.
As for the people of Yingchuan, one characteristic is that they are extremely clingy, have deep friendships with each other, and like to introduce friends to them.
Usually, if there is a Yingchuan person in a force, there will soon be a group of Yingchuan people. What's more frightening is that this group of Yingchuan people, perhaps because of natural advantages, have many geniuses.
Chen Fan was one of the Three Dukes who came from Yingchuan, and the Xun family, descendants of Xunzi, after lying dormant in the early Han Dynasty, finally flourished in the later Han Dynasty. They held all the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. In addition to their power, they were well-known among the scholars in the world and one of the few aristocratic families that could compete with the Yuan family.
Just like the five surnames of Jinling Marquis, there is also the saying of eight families among the Confucian scholars, referring to the eight families with the highest family names. Of course, these have nothing to do with the Luo family.
Someone once wanted to compile a "Clan Records", but just as they ranked the Luo family first, the record was suppressed by the royal family.
However, the royal family had no intention of compiling a clan history with the Liu family as the first, so the matter was shelved.
Yuan Shao's desire to persuade the Taiping Army was not simply based on his own courage. He had thought it over carefully. Although there were certain risks, the benefits were too great.
He couldn't help but be tempted. If he could enter Luoyang, how much political benefit would he get?
Yuan Shao was not the only one who thought of this.
Although Emperor Ling was a dictator, princes such as Liu Bian, Liu Xie and Liu He were not affected at all.
Because of the good political tradition of thousands of years, King Li of Zhou's son was King Zhao of Zhou, one of the recognized wise kings of the Zhou State. King You of Zhou's son was King Yi of Zhou, the emperor who created the situation of King Yi's revival. Although King Jie of Zhou's son was ordinary, the Zhou State was very stable and there was no war. Qin Shihuang was originally going to pass the throne to Fusu, the benevolent emperor.
This proves that I am a dictator and a hero and I am no exception!
The entire Hebei province immediately began to operate. Although large-scale troops could not be mobilized, there were still elite troops. The wealth accumulated by the aristocratic families over the years could not be wiped out in one battle.
The Hebei nobles like Ju Su had broad visions and the ambition to rule the world, and were unwilling to be limited to one state.
Hebei was not yet completely invincible at this moment. Both the local gentry and outsiders like Xun Chen were united and began to formulate strategies around Luoyang.
…
It is said that during the process of Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei fleeing to Youzhou, Liu Bei discovered that Gongsun Zan's fighting spirit was gradually recovering. After being defeated by Zhang Jue, he no longer had the same high spirits as before. Later, after seeing that even Huangfu Song and Wushuang Hou were defeated, he felt much better.
But when the two entered Youzhou, Gongsun Zan suddenly said, "Xuan De, what if Zhang Jue leads the Taiping Army to attack Youzhou?
We are no match for him.”
There was not a trace of sharpness in his tone when he said this. From this sentence, Liu Bei knew that his brother's courage and spirit had been crushed by Zhang Jue.
Liu Bei, of course, did not take it seriously and laughed, "Brother, isn't this life?
Failure always runs through life. The strong person must face failure head-on, then get up from the hardest fall and tell everyone, I am not dead yet, I will become stronger, and will eventually achieve the final success.
If they had given up after encountering some setbacks, the one sitting on the throne now would be a descendant of King Xiang, not a descendant of Emperor Gao."
After saying this, he laughed out loud a few times. There was no trace of worry about defeat on his face or in his words. If someone who didn't know the situation was true, they would even think that he had just won a great victory.
Little did he know that Liu Bei had lost all the little capital he had obtained with great difficulty. Almost all the heroes he recruited from Zhuo County and the defeated soldiers of other princes were gone.
Guan, Zhang, and Zhao all looked at Liu Bei with admiration in their eyes. Gongsun Zan just sighed slightly when he heard this, "Xuan De, the gap between us and Zhang Jue is in all aspects. It is impossible for us to win."
At that time, Liu Bei felt very disappointed. In Liu Bei's eyes, Gongsun Zan was the invincible White Horse General. Gongsun Zan had never been afraid of either the Hu people who invaded Youzhou or the Northern Yan Kingdom that was hostile to the Han Dynasty. How come he had become like this now?
Among the princes along Yuan Shao's side, Gongsun Zan suffered the least loss, and even now he still has more than a thousand white horses.
With the power of the Gongsun family in Youzhou and Gongsun Zan's prestige in Youzhou, he will be able to quickly raise a new white horse force that far surpasses the previous one.
When the Taiping Army breaks through Luoyang City and the Han Dynasty suddenly collapses and loses its suppression, his strength will be even stronger than before.
He was originally from Youzhou. Although he could not be the governor of Youzhou, as a local prominent family, he was the deputy governor of Youzhou and held military power, so he was the uncrowned king of Youzhou.
In Liu Bei's view, this was clearly a promising prospect. Although Liu Bei also felt that the chances of winning were slim, one must fight bravely in life. If he were like Gongsun Zan, he would have surrendered directly and the situation would have been over soon. Why would he run away?
At that moment, Liu Bei suddenly felt that this was probably the end of Gongsun Zan's career. He started to feel sorry for himself whenever he encountered setbacks. How could he achieve anything great?
If Gongsun Zan was not his brother, Liu Bei would have abandoned him and left. However, the friendship between him and Gongsun Zan was too deep, and Gongsun Zan was very loyal to him. No matter what, Liu Bei could not do such a thing.
But Liu Bei had already made up his mind that he would not stay in Youzhou. He would leave the situation here to Gongsun Zan. Perhaps facing the blood and fire of the Hu and Yan people would help Gongsun Zan to regain his spirits.
Liu Bei looked around and finally set his sights on Qingzhou and Xuzhou. His ultimate goal was the place where his ancestors started their business, Huaisi!
What neither of them expected was that after they parted ways, the news of Emperor Ling's posthumous title and Zhang Jue's death came along with the caravan.
The first person to receive the news was Gongsun Zan. Against the backdrop of chaos in the Central Plains, commercial transactions between Youzhou and Jizhou were still relatively frequent. Youzhou got the news after passing through Jizhou.
Gongsun Zan, who had been quite resentful before, suddenly became radiant. He felt that he was doing well again. With Zhang Jue's death, who else but him could be the hero of the world?
Probably only people around him knew about Gongsun Zan's changes. Most people thought he had always been like this, so Liu Bei naturally wouldn't say anything.
Once Gongsun Zan cheered up, he was still very capable, especially in military affairs.
Although all the princes who came to support the king were defeated in this campaign, they still won extremely high prestige among the people of the country, which can be described as a great success.
Anyone who performed well in the campaign against the Taiping Army would gain great respect in front of the nobles and powerful people throughout the world.
It's like having work experience and honors on your resume.
"I participated in the crusade against Zhang Jue as a loyal vassal. Although I was defeated, I did not die!"
Once this name was known, everything changed instantly, and everyone knew that this was a real big shot.
The Youzhou gentry immediately decided to make Gongsun Zan the representative of the Youzhou gentry and flocked to Gongsun Zan for submission.
All the things that had previously required hard work were obtained at once, and the legitimate son of the Gongsun family was ranked behind Gongsun Zan.
This is the appearance of the loyal princes. Although both Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan failed, they reached the peak of their lives after the failure.
However, the only thing that made Gongsun Zan very unhappy was that there was a Youzhou Governor in Youzhou, and he was a relative of the Han royal family with considerable prestige.
Naturally he wanted to get rid of the Governor of Youzhou, and he even thought of a reason. Emperor Ling was a dictator, and a dictator's orders were chaos. How could the Governor of Youzhou appointed by him be effective?
However, the Youzhou gentry were unwilling to do so. Although Emperor Ling was a dictator, if his orders were regarded as orders of disorder, the world would be in chaos. After all, he had been the emperor for many years.
Many political legacies were left behind among the countries in the world. In Youzhou alone, there are many legacies of Emperor Ling. If a counterattack is launched, it is still unclear who will be hurt in the end.
Although Gongsun Zan basically used all his brains on military affairs, he was born into a noble family after all. He was very clear about how powerful the Youzhou nobles were. He knew that he did not have the ability to resist the entire Youzhou nobles.
So he held his breath and waited until the Baima Yicong was re-established and the army was completely in his own hands. Then he would do whatever he wanted.
Fight against the Hu people and the Yan people, and rebuild the most courageous white horse in the world.
This was all Gongsun Zan was thinking about. He never thought about going to Luoyang to fight for it. Not only him, but the entire Youzhou gentry lacked this kind of political awareness and awareness of the overall situation.
Liu Bei, who was heading to Qingzhou with Guan Yu and no more than two thousand soldiers, was also unaware of this. When he just arrived in Qingzhou, he received the news about the posthumous title of Emperor Ling.
When Liu Bei learned of Emperor Ling's death, he only said one sentence, "Heaven has eyes!"
When Liu Bei learned of Emperor Ling's posthumous title, he laughed and said to Guan Yu and others, "What Zhang Jiao did is really satisfying. The Han Dynasty was defeated by Emperor Ling. We, the Liu family, will not be able to face our ancestors after death because of Emperor Ling. Now we are giving him a bad posthumous title. Isn't this a great blessing for the world?"
Guan Yu smiled and twirled his beard, "Although we have only had a short time with Zhang Jue, he is a very arrogant person. It is not surprising that he dared to give Emperor Ling a bad posthumous title."
Zhang Fei clasped his fists and said, "Brother, I think so too."
Zhao Yun was riding a white horse and holding a silver spear. His handsome face was filled with joy as he smiled: "This is really a great relief!"
The four of them laughed heartily again, and then Liu Bei said with some concern: "Although it is a relief, the destiny of the Han Dynasty has been lost.
Among the descendants of Liu, who is the one who can receive the mandate again?
Wushuang Hou took Prince Bian away. Can he take on this important task?"
Several people thought of the three childish princes and shook their heads and sighed. How could teenagers rule the world?
Only a peerless man like Emperor Guangwu could be granted destiny again by heaven. Speaking of Emperor Guangwu, Liu Bei's mentality changed a little. Emperor Guangwu was a distant branch of the royal family, and he was also a distant branch of the royal family.
Emperor Guangwu was born in a poor family in the county, and he himself was also from a poor family in the county.
If I could revive the Han Dynasty...
The emperor takes turns to sit on the throne, and this year it is my turn. A descendant of the Liu family who does not want to be emperor is an unqualified descendant of the Liu family.
Besides, Liu Bei knew that he was at least among the top few hundred in the order of succession. In today's world, his weight as a relative of the Han royal family was more important than that of most of his relatives.
But when he thought of Zhang Jue, his mood became a little heavy. If he didn't defeat Zhang Jue, how could he talk about getting another mission?
But Liu Bei was brave but not reckless. Although he comforted Gongsun Zan, he knew very well that in order to defeat Zhang Jue, he needed a stronger coalition and more enemies. It was impossible for him to do it by himself alone.
After marching for another three or five days, the news of Zhang Jue's death reached their ears. This time, the one who reacted the most was not Liu Bei, but Guan Yu!
Guan Yu almost immediately picked up the person who spread the news and angrily asked, "What did you say? How could Zhang Jue die?"
Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun were equally unbelievable. Who could kill Zhang Jiao?
The man trembled and stammered as he told Guan Yu the specific information that Zhang Jiao might have ascended to heaven. Guan Yu then pushed him away and his expression improved a little, but still very limited. Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun also looked a little ugly.
These three people could not accept that Zhang Jue died like this, and they all secretly planned to compete with Zhang Jue in the future.
As a result, Zhang Jue is now dead. Although the three of them know that Zhang Jue's level is probably something they will never be able to reach in their lifetime, the dead are the only people in this world who are truly impossible to defeat. They will never have the chance to defeat Zhang Jue again.
Liu Bei was full of surprise. Although he had some admiration for Zhang Jue, Zhang Jue could be said to be the biggest stumbling block on his road to revitalizing the Han Dynasty, without a doubt.
As a result, this stumbling block has now been removed by itself. How can one not be delighted?
At this moment, Liu Bei felt that the road ahead was bright, and he could not help but smile and said, "Second brother, third brother, Zilong, once Zhang Jue dies, the shadow over us will be dissipated, and we can take over Qingzhou and Xuzhou.
The road ahead suddenly became wide, and the dust and fog above the mountains and rivers dissipated.
Are you willing to follow Bei and make Han take orders again? "
Liu Bei's inspiring words swept away the regrets in the three people's hearts. Yes, this was a good thing after all, and the future suddenly became bright.
"I wish to follow my elder brother (my lord) and accomplish great things!"
Liu Bei didn't even look at Luoyang and went straight to Qingzhou and Xuzhou.
————
Yuan Shao has a strong will, Gongsun Huai has a stubborn heart. Yuan Shao holds a sword in times of danger, Gongsun is hesitant when faced with things. Although Yuan Shao does not have the talent to lead ten thousand chariots, Gongsun Huai has more than enough wisdom as a general. Isn't it a joke to have these two people at the same time?
If Liu Bei is taken, he can be compared to Yuan Shao. ——"Miscellaneous Talks of the Later Han Dynasty"
(End of this chapter)
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