Chapter 282: Selection of Troops
Hailing?
The court officials present thought about it and found that this place seemed to be a suitable place for garrison.
The sudden changes in Xuzhou were overwhelming, but the consequences were easy to understand.
If the former Guangling prefect Zhang Yi could get enough support, he could at least occupy a piece of territory in Xuzhou.
Yuan Shao was distressed because he had lost control of Xuzhou, which had once been under the rule of the imperial court in Yecheng. That was why he decisively approved Liu Bei's promotion to the governor of Xuzhou. But what about Chang'an?
Chang'an originally had no control over Xuzhou, and now the sudden appearance of Zhang Yi was a pleasant surprise for them.
It is necessary to send a signal to support Zhang Yi.
This person does not have to be at the forefront of the confrontation, but he must have such a stance.
In addition, the battle situation in Xuzhou suddenly received help from Yangzhou, which seemed to be a somewhat dangerous situation.
Sun Ce suddenly changed direction that year and entered Yangzhou from Jingzhou, and all his subsequent conquests were full of heroic spirit.
But in the situation he faced, the north was hostile to him, the west had a life-and-death feud with him, the south had long been out of the control of the court, and the east was the vast ocean. This was an environment that was extremely conducive to expansion and development.
If Sun Ce had not been restrained, who knows whether he would have developed three states and then supported another emperor like Qiao Yan and Yuan Shao.
By then, the world will be divided into three parts instead of two parts as it is now, and it will be even more difficult to accomplish the task of unification than before!
So this moderation is imperative.
We should indeed send troops there.
Seeing that the court officials did not give a negative response, Liu Yu immediately issued an edict:
Zhang Yi was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou, and the court in Chang'an established a garrison in Hailing to perform supervisory duties there.
The envoy never expected that the position they wanted would come so easily, as if this court meeting was just a formality.
Before coming here, he was even instructed by Zhou Yu to recite a lot of words he was going to say here. He was also afraid that he would get dizziness and headache caused by the rush of the journey and say something wrong in the court.
Now... am I really not dreaming now?
Even though he was taken away first because the subsequent garrison arrangements were considered internal discussions, it did not affect the joyful expression on his face when he walked out holding the imperial edict.
He was Zhang Yi's subordinate, not Zhou Yu's, and was not so sensitive about the garrison in Hailing.
However, in the subsequent court in Chang'an, someone followed the suggestion of Qiao Yan, the garrison commander, and asked further questions.
The decision to station troops is fine, but who should be sent to garrison in Xuzhou?
Although this decision seems easy to make, when it comes to implementation, this person, as an envoy to Chang'an, will find himself in a relatively isolated and helpless situation. Due to the long distance of communication, he probably needs to have sufficient adaptability.
"I think it is not necessary to select the garrison troops with superb skills," said Xun Yu, as Qiao Yan did not speak directly and the court debated back and forth. "Yangzhou is far from the East China Sea and is willing to pay taxes to the court. It has even reached an agreement with the Grand Marshal to send a portion of the annual output after the autumn harvest. This is a world of difference from Yuan Shao, who built his capital in Yecheng."
"This time, Zhou Gongjin suddenly intervened in Xuzhou's affairs. Perhaps he did something presumptuous under the instruction of Sun Yangzhou, but it can also be explained as a stopgap measure to protect Yangzhou. Rashly putting a nail that is too strong in Hailing will have the opposite effect."
"What's more..." Xun Yu looked at Qiao Yan and saw that she had a look of approval on her face, so he continued, "At present, several capable people of the Grand Marshal have been arranged in Hanzhong, Taihang Mountain, Baidaochuan, Juyongguan and Liangzhou. These people are not suitable for easy transfer, otherwise it will inevitably cause trouble."
"As for who is suitable for this place, given the Grand Marshal's understanding of his subordinates, he should already have the answer."
Qiao Yan did have the answer.
Xun Yu's words made it clear that they had to intimidate Jiangdong but not too much, otherwise they would cut off the support for Zhang Yi from Yangzhou, so they would rather stay on the Yangtze River line than take the risk of pushing the front line to the Huai River.
Therefore, it is impossible to send independent generals like Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao to Hailing.
Even though Zhang Liao had a record of defeating Jiangdong in Hefei in history, he must now continue to fight in Youzhou.
She replied, "I would like to recommend someone, Zhang Yang, the current commander of Yanmen County."
As early as when Liu Yu established Chang'an as the capital, most of Qiao Yan's former subordinates were promoted. In addition to a few with the most obvious job changes, there were also a few who only underwent minor adjustments.
For example, Zhang Yang was promoted from a clerk in Yanmen County to a captain in Yanmen County, which was equivalent to raising his salary without any significant change in his duties and powers.
The current arrangements are huge.
Although he was somewhat puzzled as to why Qiao Yan chose a man from a county in northern Bingzhou to go to Hailing, seeing that she made this recommendation with great confidence, and Liu Yu himself not having a more suitable candidate, he still replied, "Approved."
"The Grand Marshal's momentum seems to be getting more and more formidable." Wang Yun watched Qiao Yan's back as he left and said to his old friend Yang Zan beside him.
Yang Zan was keenly aware that Wang Yun's words "astonishing momentum" did not seem to be a compliment, but also contained a bit of worry.
He whispered back, "It's better to be cautious when saying things like this."
"This is not a question of whether I am cautious or not," Wang Yun replied in a voice that only the two of them could hear. "You said that the envoys sent from Xuzhou could directly send a message to ask for an audience with Your Majesty via an urgent report from the prefecture. Why did they have to ask for an audience with the Grand Marshal directly, and then have the Grand Marshal report the matter to Your Majesty? Besides, she had already chosen the location for the garrison before the court meeting, so there was no room for anyone to interfere."
"It's fine today. The military situation in Xuzhou is indeed urgent, and a decision must be made as soon as possible to avoid being taken advantage of by the people in Yecheng. But if this happens frequently, I'm afraid that sooner or later, the world will only know about Grand Marshal Qiao Yeshu, but not your Majesty."
Yang Zan reminded carefully: "You'd better be careful with your words. You also heard what Xun Wenruo said today. He was making suggestions for the selection of soldiers stationed in Yangzhou, and he only talked about how to mobilize the subordinates of the Grand Marshal. Now, there is only one person who has the opportunity to recover the world for the Han Dynasty, Qiao Yeshu. Do you want to replace her subordinates and go to Hailing?"
Wang Yun shook his head. "You don't have to worry that I will make any public opposition because of this matter. I just said it casually. The first year of Jian'an hasn't even passed yet. Am I someone who would intentionally cause trouble inside?"
He is not that stupid.
It was just that when he turned around and looked towards the Zichen Palace again, he felt a little sad.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about Captain Zhang who will be stationed in Hailing. What do you think the Grand Marshal thought when he chose him?"
Not to mention that Wang Yun found the arrangement of this candidate puzzling, even the person involved was stunned when he received the news.
After he arrived in Chang'an at full speed, the first thing he said to Qiao Yan was -
"My Lord, I am a landlubber!"
Why was he arranged to be sent to the important town of Linjiang?
Zhang Yang was definitely more surprised than happy about this arrangement of "entrusting him with an important task".
According to Qiao Yan's evaluation of him, he is a man of courage but not of talent.
With such a boss under pressure, he also felt that this evaluation was not biased and was indeed a description of him.
But being stationed in Xuzhou, supervising the war situation in Xuzhou while also being vigilant about the situation in Yangzhou did not seem like a job that should be assigned to him.
Are you not worried at all that he might mess up?
Zhang Yang looked at Qiao Yan in confusion, hoping to get an answer from her.
Qiao Yan replied, "When did I ever say that I wanted you to go there alone?"
Zhang Yang's eyes lit up, "Do you want to lend me Guo Changshi, Xun Canjun, or Xi Biejia as my military advisor?"
"Then forget it." Qiao Yan interrupted Zhang Yang's sweet dream. "I will send this, or these people, to you in a while. You should go to Hailing first."
Zhang Yang said with a bitter face: "My Lord, are you really not afraid that I will mess things up for you by failing the Leping Academy's assessment?"
Moreover, as a person from Bingzhou, when he got close to Zhang Yi, he always felt like he was reminding the other party. Did he remember how he was driven out of Bingzhou that year?
Even if you act a little more friendly, it may seem like you are stirring up hatred.
"As long as you don't send troops rashly, follow the arrangements in Chang'an, and try to reduce your interactions with Yangzhou, you won't mess things up."
Hearing Qiao Yan's confident words, Zhang Yang stopped worrying about it.
Anyway, the prince has never betrayed him so far, and he even left a stone tablet outside the Great Wall to record his achievements in attacking the barbarians. He doesn't need to use his poor brain to think about her intentions in doing this.
He will follow Chang'an's instructions.
If he reduces his social interactions, he will too.
Then there's nothing to worry about.
He straightened his back and said, "If that's the case, you can rest assured. I will lead my men to Xuzhou right now."
"No, take another route," Qiao Yan raised his hand to stop him from turning around and leaving, "Go to Hanzhong first."
"......?" Zhang Yang was confused again. It seemed that what Qiao Yan said was not a slip of the tongue, but an arrangement for him.
But what does it mean to go to Hanzhong instead of Xuzhou?
With this confusion, he crossed the Qinling Mountains under the guidance of a guide and arrived in Hanzhong.
Here, Hanzhong prefect Xu Shu brought him to the local shipyard.
As early as March of this year, the shipbuilding personnel exchanged from Yangzhou to Chang'an had been arranged in Hanzhong.
In order to maintain his touch, after the shipyard was completed, Xu Shu arranged for them to build large ships that could navigate the Han River.
In his opinion, it was a very subtle move to build ships in this place which not only kept an eye on Bashu but also connected to Jingzhou.
If Liu Biao made any inappropriate move, they could seize Jingzhou through an unexpected route.
Who can make the Han River reach directly to Xiangyang, which is the capital of Jingzhou where Liu Biao was located.
But the current changes in Xuzhou have obviously forced Qiao Yan to change his plans.
After the decision to station troops in Hailing, Xuzhou was made, she asked Zhang Yang to send a secret report, stating that she wanted Zhang Yang to take away some of the staff of the local shipyard, as well as several of the most magnificent Han River warships built here, and go directly down the Han River, into the Yangtze River, and then sail along the Yangtze River to Hailing, as if she wanted to build a real shipbuilding site in Hailing.
Afterwards, any materials or manpower to be sent to Hailing would be allocated from Hanzhong.
The road across the Qinling Mountains would not be so slow if only messengers were sent back and forth without marching. Plank roads have also been built one after another as part of the "atonement" of the Tianshi Dao followers, and sooner or later the Luogu Road would become a smooth road.
The speed of traveling down the river is indeed more convenient than land transportation.
Chang'an, Hanzhong and Hailing can indeed be connected to each other.
But there is no need to tell Zhang Yang these words.
When he asked who the extra person the Lord was going to assign to him was, Xu Shu replied, "Don't worry about it for now. The Lord will make an arrangement anyway. Maybe it will be an unexpected person. I think he's not bad."
Zhang Yang looked in the direction of Xu Shu's finger and saw a guy dressed strangely.
It would be fine if he was dressed strangely, but Zhang Yang felt from the first moment he saw him that he was a very troublesome person.
Gan Ning had just received Liu Yan's order to deliver a new batch of bamboo to Hanzhong when he suddenly realized that someone was looking at him. With his sharp intuition, he turned his head and met the gazes of Zhang Yang and Xu Shu.
The two men didn't seem to want to talk to him.
Xu Shu had already arranged the ships and personnel for Zhang Yang's eastward journey, and signaled him to set off directly.
Traveling by water is indeed faster than traveling by land, especially when going downstream.
It only took four days to reach Hailing from the shipyard in Hanzhong.
Even if we take into account the hasty journey across the Qinling Mountains, it is still faster than walking on land.
After all, it was impossible to travel to Xuzhou at that non-stop speed this time, as that would be like risking one's life to deliver the letter.
Zhang Yang had a good and leisurely sleep on the boat. He was woken up in a daze in the middle of his sleep. The boat stopped at a port along the river and received a gift of consolation from Liu Biao, the governor of Jingzhou. He then continued to recuperate on the boat.
He was completely unaware of how much shock their sudden appearance in Jingzhou had caused to Liu Biao.
By the time he had completely recovered from the fatigue of rushing from Bingzhou to Chang'an and then from Chang'an to Hanzhong, he had already entered the territory of Xuzhou.
Long before Qiao Yan sent the imperial edict to Yanmen to recruit Zhang Yang, Zhang Yi's subordinates had already returned to Xuzhou with the crucial edict of appointment. So when Zhang Yang arrived, Zhang Yi had already officially mobilized a large number of his former subordinates in Guangling in the name of Xuzhou Mu.
At the same time, Zhou Yu transferred personnel from Jiujiang to Guangling in the name of assisting Zhang Yi in quelling the rebellion in Xuzhou.
Zhang Yang's arrival filled in the final piece of the puzzle.
Although they were surprised that Zhang Yang came so quickly, Zhang Yi and Zhou Yu still welcomed him.
However, before they could launch their plan to expose Zuo Rong's scam, they received news from northern Xuzhou.
Liu Bei took the appointment of Xuzhou Governor from Yuan Shao and led his army to Xuzhou under the leadership of Chen Deng.
What is this called?
Two governors, one in the south and one in the north!
Zhang Yi and Zhou Yu were both dumbfounded as they had never expected that the scholars in Xuzhou would make such a choice.
Regardless of how Zuo Rong felt about being caught between the two forces, their situation, which had been going too smoothly, seemed to have been cut in half all of a sudden.
This was like pouring cold water on their heads.
At this time, Qiao Yan calmly asked her counselor system: "Liu Bei becoming the governor of Xuzhou is an important event in history. I have also provided a lot of assistance behind the scenes. Should this be considered an achievement?"
system:【……】
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