Chapter 317 Trampling...
"After crossing the Liao River from Xiangping, we are close to the border of Liaodong's vassal states. The Wuhuan Tadun, whom we must first capture if we want to take down Gongsun Zan, is right there." Zhuge Liang looked at the Liaodong power distribution map provided by Gongsun Du in front of him, a trace of contemplation flashed across his face. "I have an idea, I wonder if you dare to try it."
Gongsun Du had personally witnessed how powerful these young men were, and as for the rest, they were well aware of Zhuge Liang's level.
Seeing that everyone was signaling him to continue, Zhuge Liang said, "Your Excellency ordered us to join forces with General Wenyuan to attack Gongsun Zan in order to prevent him from fleeing to Liaodong or even going north to the border. He will sooner or later become a scourge here. The same is true for Wuhuan Tadun. Although Wuhuan has three kings under the Chanyu, Tadun relies on gaining a reputation from the court in Yecheng to be above the rest. Once he loses power, he will surely be attacked by everyone. We still have to prevent him from lingering and escaping, or joining forces with Gongsun Zan to fight to the death."
"Why don't we first encircle and suppress Tadun, hang his head high as a warning, and then attack Liaodong."
The siege that Zhuge Liang mentioned was obviously a two-pronged attack like the "siege of Gongsun Zan", rather than an ordinary siege.
He said, "According to what the governor Gongsun said, some of the Wuhuan people living in Liaodong came here to avoid disaster from Liaodong's vassal states. At that time, Tadun lived in Changli, and he has not moved since then. From my perspective, Changli is not a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. However, if there is a change in the city, they can immediately follow the Yu River into Liaoxi and flee to Liucheng where Gongsun Zan has stationed troops, or evacuate to the Bohai Bay and turn to the coastal road. The pursuing soldiers are not as familiar with the terrain as he is, so there is no possibility of catching them."
"How about we split our forces into two groups from Xiangping? One group will go northwest to Wuliu Mountain, cross the mountain and attack Changli from the north to prevent him from fleeing to Liucheng. The other group will go southwest from Xiangping, enter the sea at the mouth of Liaohe River and reach Jinxi, and intercept Tadun on the coastal road of Bohai Bay."
"We want to capture Gongsun Zan, so we need ships to patrol the coast to prevent him from crossing the Bohai Sea to Ji and Qing provinces and defecting to Yuan Shao to serve as his wing. Now it is just right to put them to use when we are advancing to capture Tadun."
Wuliu Mountain is also known as Yiwulü Mountain. Although it is the guardian mountain of Youzhou in the north, the highest point is only more than 800 meters above sea level. It is much easier than Qiao Yan's operation of running fast on Yinping Road. In addition, with Gongsun Du, a guide who is familiar with the terrain of Liaodong and Liaoxi, it is even less difficult to travel.
After some discussion, everyone felt that Zhuge Liang's strategy of dividing the troops was feasible.
Except for Lu Yi and Guo Huai who were left to guard Liaodong County, Gongsun Du, Lu Lingju, Zhuge Liang and Taishi Ci took the Wuliu Mountain route, while Sima Yi and Gan Ning took the coastal route.
"Boy, now is the time to listen to your orders. I see you have learned a lot from Jia Wen and that guy on the way from Yizhou to Hailing and in Xuzhou. Don't let Tadun escape from under our noses." Gan Ning patted Sima Yi's shoulder, with a look of encouragement before a battle.
But just as he finished speaking, he heard Lü Lingju on the other end say, "Gan Xingba, if you say that, don't you mean you hope that our attack on Changli will fail? Don't do this before you start a war."
"It's fine if Tadun doesn't run away. Just give Gongsun Zan's military achievement to me." Gan Ning replied confidently.
Sima Yi couldn't stand the childish competition between the two and couldn't help but interject, "If you don't take action, I think Gongsun Zan's head will fall into General Zhang's hands."
After these words were spoken, the two of them became united in their hatred of the enemy.
They had come across the ocean with great difficulty, and even the transportation of military supplies had to take the risk of using naval aviation. It would be too depressing if the western front got ahead of them.
No matter who got Gongsun Zan's head, as long as they succeeded, it would not be considered a failure of their graduation internship in Liaodong.
Gan Ning and Lu Lingju looked at each other. Besides the unmistakable desire to win in each other's eyes, they also saw a hint of a win-win cooperation that had finally been achieved.
Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, who were in charge of the two commanding forces, held their foreheads helplessly.
But we have to say that when a general has such drive, the leading role he can play in the team is truly amazing.
Their march across Mount Wuliu went exceptionally smoothly.
On the other side of Wuliu Mountain is the vassal state of Liaodong occupied by the Wuhuan people.
The Wuhuan have always been a warlike race. Although they were once attracted by Liu Yu's naturalization policy in Youzhou, they still have a rebellious nature that is difficult to tame. The extremely cold climate of the Northeast and the fact that the land and water fertility were far inferior to those of the Xianbei made them covet the territory of the Han Dynasty.
After Tadun assisted Gongsun Zan in defeating Liu Yu, he was granted the title of Marquis of Liaodong by the imperial court in Yecheng and received the annual tribute from the vassal states of Liaodong.
But that was not enough to satisfy him.
You know, originally in the plan between him and Gongsun Zan, the reward that Gongsun Zan should have asked the Yecheng court for on his behalf was the King of Liaodong, not the Marquis of Liaodong. But it was not known whether Gongsun Zan secretly included some private goods in the letter sent to Yecheng, or whether the Yecheng court had discrimination against the Wuhuan, which led to a downgrade in the reward.
A few months later, the emperor of Yecheng conferred titles of nobility on Wuhuan kings such as Nanlou and Subuyan, which made Tadun even more furious.
Unfortunately, the loss of manpower he suffered in Yuyang County forced him to resolve the internal conflicts in Wuhuan first before considering settling accounts with Gongsun Zan or Yuan Shao. By the time all this was resolved, it was already the end of summer in the third year of Jian'an.
Tadun resolved his internal troubles, swallowed up Nanlou's tribe, suppressed the voices that questioned his loyalty to the Han Dynasty, and then began to plan a fortune in the fall.
In order to prove that he had no intention of alienating the Wuhuan and causing internal strife, Gongsun Zan did not take away part of the tax revenue of the vassal state of Liaodong because of his position as the governor of Youzhou. However, in this limited land, the Wuhuan people who were not good at farming could not bring much financial subsidies to Tadun.
His gaze naturally fell on one place——
Yuan Shao's Jizhou.
His neighbor on the left, Gongsun Zan, is his partner, while his neighbor on the right, Gongsun Du, has fought against him before and is considered a tough guy. So the only option left is Jizhou in the south.
It is said that there was a severe drought this year and that Jizhou county suffered heavy losses, but in Tadun's view, a lean camel is bigger than a horse, and no matter how heavy the losses were, Jizhou was still much richer than him.
Besides, the losses are heavy.
This means that after they complete the looting, it will be quite difficult for Jizhou to come up with enough money and food to attack them.
The more Tadun thought about it, the more he felt that it was feasible, so before the autumn harvest, he mobilized all the Wuhuan tribes in the vassal state of Liaodong to Changli.
Lü Lingju and his companions had just crossed the Wuliu Mountain when they ran into a Wuhuan army. They heard this news after they had defeated them head-on.
"I have a somewhat bold idea..." Lu Lingju couldn't help but speak.
But before the others could even open their mouths, they heard her continue, "But forget it. If the Lord knew about this, he would definitely not choose this method."
When she first received the news, she really wanted Tadun to really carry out the plan of gathering the Wuhuan tribes to attack and plunder Jizhou, and then ambush Tadun halfway after the other party succeeded.
As a result, Tadun's existence would definitely cause Yuan Shao a huge headache, and his harassment of Jizhou would undoubtedly make the situation there worse.
The military rations looted by Tadun could be used as a supplement for their side, and could also help them defeat the enemy when they were lax in defense after returning with a full load.
But this would inevitably delay the mission of encircling and suppressing Gongsun Zan.
Thinking about everything that had happened since they started studying at Leping Academy, as well as the measures that the Lord had taken in the Three States, and the news that she intended to pass on through the Leping Monthly Report, Lu Lingju had a strange intuition -
Your Excellency has already regarded the people of Jizhou as his own subjects.
She probably wouldn't want to see the people of Jizhou in Bohai County being robbed by Tadun.
"Look at it another way. These Wuhuan people gathered together, which saved us the trouble of searching everywhere. We can just catch them all in one fell swoop!"
Lu Lingju was ready to fight, but Gongsun Du looked at him as if he was a weirdo.
But when she turned around and saw that Taishi Ci and Zhuge Liang both approved of her performance, she felt that the strange person was obviously not her, but Gongsun Du, a guy who had been in Liaodong for many years and was ignorant of the customs of the Central Plains.
"Please trouble General Gongsun to lead the way for us and choose a suitable place to attack the enemy camp." Zhuge Liang said to Gongsun Du, interrupting his evaluation and consideration of this group of Leping students. "I mean, the camp that is most likely to cause unrest in the entire camp after being attacked by us."
Gongsun Du thought for a moment and replied, "Since Tadun wants to gather all the tribes to show his leadership over the Wuhuan after annexing the Nanlou tribe, and to further eliminate the dangerous actions he may have taken after the death of the previous Chanyu Qiuliju, he will definitely invite Su Puyan, who is in a disadvantaged position at the moment. In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, and because the act of looting Jizhou is of great significance to the Wuhuan people's wintering, Su Puyan will definitely come."
"Choosing his camp is the easiest way to cause chaos in a short period of time."
Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "That's him. Perhaps we can wait for a suitable wind direction."
Perhaps their idea of stopping the Wuhuan from moving south to plunder the Han people was blessed by God. When they were about to launch an attack on the camp of Su Puyan, one of the three kings of Wuhuan, the wind direction was exactly what they needed.
Seeing that Zhuge Liang gave the signal to act, Lu Lingju and Taishi Ci immediately took action.
These Wuhuan people had just gathered together at Tadun's call, and several camps had not yet completed the final construction.
This chaotic gathering did not strengthen their defenses against the surroundings. Instead, they became even more lax than before because they thought that more Wuhuan tribes would arrive and no one would cause trouble for them at this time.
It was in such a dark night that a team composed of archers and Liaodong cavalry rushed into the camp from Su Puyan's position.
The cavalry's charge, accompanied by the throwing of torches in their hands, caused the fire to spread rapidly.
The archers' advance brought the greatest damage in an environment where it was difficult to tell the enemy from ourselves.
In this sudden turmoil, Su Puyan was nearly killed by an arrow shot from the night sky just as he was rescued from the tent by his subordinates.
While holding up the shields erected around him, he looked towards the dark shadows in the firelight.
In this scene of shouting and killing, even though he was one of the three kings of Wuhuan and had experienced many battles in his early years, it was difficult for him to easily identify the invading enemy.
All he could see clearly was the silhouette of the horse in the firelight.
That is clearly the characteristic of Youzhou horses!
In recent years, such good horses have been almost divided into three parts, monopolized by Gongsun Zan, Tadun and Gongsun Du respectively.
Gongsun Du was still far away to the east of Wuliu Mountain. He had always dealt with Buyeo and Goguryeo and rarely appeared in the territory of Wuhuan. He was directly thrown out of Su Puyan's consideration.
Then the only ones still within his guess were Gongsun Zan and Tadun.
But no matter which possibility it is, it all comes down to Tadun!
"Asshole! We are all from the Wuhuan tribe, so it's fine if we don't help each other, but he tricked us here under the pretext of plundering Jizhou, just to catch us all in one fell swoop so that he can more easily become the Chanyu of Wuhuan."
When Su Puyan heard the screams of his subordinates in the charge, he became more resentful.
The previous annexation of Nanlou and the death of Qiuliju made Su Puyan clearly realize what kind of person Tadun, who claimed to be the Chanyu of Wuhuan, was.
But since Su Puyan chose to come here, it meant that he still had some recognition for Tadun.
This should be the time for both sides to repair their relationship, so how come it has become a good opportunity to kill each other?
He is really crazy!
Su Puyan managed to climb onto his mount from the chaotic crowd, and at that moment he made a decision in his heart -
Since Tadun did not care about the friendship between them as a people and was determined to eliminate all the Wuhuan leaders who posed a threat to him, he was certainly not someone who would sit there and wait for death!
"Immediately contact the chief of the Wuhuan tribe who has a good relationship with us!"
Su Puyan looked at the enemy who was still fighting with him but had already won the upper hand. In the firelight, a shadowy figure showed a long halberd chopping off the head of his subordinate. He became more determined in his heart, "Let's quickly gather our soldiers and counterattack Tadun. Maybe there is still a glimmer of hope."
"Don't they expect that the villain Tadun will only kill me, Su Puyan?"
If we are going to kill them all, of course we will kill them all at once.
What's more, the fire had already spread towards the next camp under the influence of the wind, and there was no sign of stopping.
The scene of red clouds filling the sky as the tents burned not only spread to the next camp, but someone also informed Tadun of the news.
He stood up without any delay, fearing that the cunning fellow Gongsun Zan was going to tear up the cooperation agreement with him and decide to monopolize Youzhou alone. Therefore, he chose such a time to take action and quickly gathered his soldiers and went out to rescue Su Puyan.
But he never expected that the moment he went out, he would be met with an attack from several friendly tribes led by Su Puyan, who was left with only his remnants of troops.
"Is he crazy!" Tadun was unable to dodge and was hit by an arrow on the shoulder.
In order to prevent his subordinates from noticing his injury, he pulled out the arrow without hesitation and gave his subordinates the order to attack.
Although he didn't know why Su Puyan would turn to attack him at this time, the warlike nature of the Wuhuan people meant that they would not choose to admit defeat under such circumstances. They would only take advantage of the fact that their own strength was stronger than any opposing party and launch an offensive that would have a deterrent effect!
But he could easily suppress one of the parties. Could he have the same effect on these people who gathered together to survive?
I’m afraid not!
In such a multi-party melee, the cover of night and the similarities in appearance and dress made it extremely easy to confuse friend with foe in a single encounter.
However, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. If he did not make a concerted effort to break through the team of Su Puyan and others, he would be like a wild beast attacked by a group of people. As long as there was a trace of blood on its body, it would be torn into pieces and eaten without leaving anything. This would be the only outcome for him.
However, when Tadun successfully maintained his status as a hunter, he saw a team of people attacking him in front of the fire that expanded the burning range.
They were not his Wuhuan compatriots, nor were they the subordinates of Gongsun Zan with whom he had a cooperative relationship, but a team that was both unfamiliar and familiar to him.
He was familiar with them because they were dressed like the Liaodong cavalry. He had dealt with them many times before and during his tenure as a vassal state of Liaodong.
It was said to be unfamiliar because the morale of the enemy was even stronger than any time seen in the previous few years, and the leading general was not the Liaodong prefect Gongsun Du, but a girl who was only about ten years old.
Her age did not make Tadun underestimate her at all, after all, he was already at a disadvantage in this unexpected situation at every step.
He didn't believe that the other party just happened to appear here. He just felt that she was fully prepared. Even the previous attack launched by Su Puyan on him might have been instigated by the other party.
But until Tadun's body was swept off the horse he was riding, he was still kept in the dark. These people who suddenly appeared were not Gongsun Du's subordinates, but people sent by Qiao Yan to conquer Youzhou.
He also didn't know that after the pursuit and killing after his death, Lü Lingju wiped the blood from his face, chopped off Tadun's head, and issued an order: "Anyone who rides a horse and marches west to Liaoxi County will hang a Wuhuan head in front of the horse. Anyone who intends to stop him will be killed without mercy!"
Changli's success against the Wuhuan can only be said to have happened to coincide with their gathering. The real leader of Youzhou was still Gongsun Zan, so they had to meet up with Zhang Liao's troops as quickly as possible.
But she suddenly slowed down her riding speed halfway through the journey, pulling herself out of the previous state of excitement of beheading the enemy general, and said, "Did I forget something again?"
Zhuge Liang replied, "I have sent people to inform General Gan and Zhongda. We will not let them wait in vain in the lower reaches of the Yu River. We will go directly to the front coast to inspect. We have also sent people to Liucheng. Gongsun Zan's subordinates in Liucheng will never have the chance to catch up with us."
Lu Lingju coughed lightly and replied calmly, "Kong Ming is still very thoughtful."
She just lacks a little experience, she's not like her father who only cares about the present and the future!
When she looked at the Tadun head hanging in front of her horse, she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.
Her performance was the essence of the time when the Lord avenged the people of Guyang Pass...
On the other side, Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, together with generals such as Yu Furuo and Qu Yan who were present there, marched out from Juyong Pass without giving Gongsun Zan any room to react when all the food, fodder and equipment were ready. They captured Changping and Jixian counties in Guangyang County and completely destroyed Gongsun Zan's outposts for defending Juyong Pass.
Guangyang County has the smallest area among all the counties in Youzhou. It was originally a transit zone between Shanggu County, Zhuo County and Yuyang County. Once Ji County was taken, Guangyang County would almost have changed hands.
When Gongsun Zan, who was stationed in Yuyang, received the news, Zhang Liao, Lu Bu and others had already sent troops from Ji County again and captured Anle County.
Gongsun Zan was horrified.
"Why so fast?" He left the table abruptly, with undisguised astonishment on his face.
That’s all because of the restrictions Qiao Yan placed on Lu Bu.
Qiao Yan knows how to make Lu Bu show his highest fighting spirit!
Or let him get a reward that is particularly important to him——
This will have limited effect after he already possesses Red Hare.
Or to give him a satisfactory appearance——
He is now the General of Pingbei, and it would be a little difficult for him to be promoted further, unless he gets the credit for killing Gongsun Zan.
Or do the opposite as we are doing now.
If Lu Bu could not kill Gongsun Zan in Yuyang County, he would have to go to Zhuo County to guard the Juma River and Baiyangdian, and he was not allowed to cross the border even a step. He might be laughed at by Yuan Shao's followers on the other side of the river and be called a coward.
Is this situation tolerable?
Obviously not!
If it weren't for the fact that sieges in Youzhou also had to follow the rule of one city at a time, Lu Bu would have wanted to appear directly at the foot of Yuyang City and let Gongsun Zan come down to fight him in single combat.
But it’s not bad nowadays.
There was a river between Anle County where they were at the moment and Yuyang County where Gongsun Zan was located.
If it was two years ago, this water system could barely be considered a geographical barrier, but this year...
The impact of the locust plague on Youzhou is indeed relatively limited, but the same is true for the drought.
The reduction in river runoff is visible to the naked eye, which means that the road from Anle to Yuyang is almost smooth.
The same is true for rivers and moats. As long as the enemy prepares enough siege equipment, the number of troops they send out this time will be enough to break through the seemingly solid Yuyang city gate.
By the time Gongsun Zan received the news, the troops attacking Yuyang County were no longer just those coming from Juyong Pass.
Because the emperor in Chang'an was Liu Yu, the former governor of Youzhou, there were many people in Shanggu, Guangyang and Yuyang counties who had received favors from Liu Yu. When they heard that the royal army was coming east, many of them chose to defect.
Gongsun Zan was still indignant when he heard another piece of news that was even more unfavorable to him.
The enemy troops stationed in Anle County were divided into two groups. One group was still in Anle preparing equipment and recruiting men for the attack on Yuyang County, while the other group continued to advance eastward and captured Hunu County before Gongsun Zan had time to stop them.
"Are all the people guarding the city useless?" Gongsun Zan became furious upon hearing the news.
The location of Hunu County blocked his way back to western Liaoning.
Once this place is lost, if he fails in the defense of Yuyang and wants to return to Liaoxi to gather troops and make a comeback, the retreating team cannot be too large. He can only travel light and hope not to be discovered by the enemy, or he may have to make the rear troops in the evacuation team the sacrifice of his evacuation.
No, he couldn't just think about the worst-case scenario. He should consider getting rid of Zhang Liao, Lu Bu and others directly in Yuyang County!
Yuyang has not been completely surrounded yet, so he still has room to fight.
"Send reinforcements to the Great Wall checkpoints outside the northern city wall to prevent the Xianbei from attacking from the north."
Gongsun Zan himself had once tried to win over the Xianbei branch. Thinking of the friendship between the Xianbei Chanyu Budugen and Qiao Yan, he couldn't help but worry about this possibility. Little did he know that Qiao Yan had no intention of using this force, so as not to boost the prestige of the forces outside the Great Wall.
After making this arrangement, Gongsun Zan said, "Send someone to Liucheng and Liaodong to summon the reinforcements from Wuhuan and the rest of my troops."
Although he was nervous, Gongsun Zan still gritted his teeth and acted as if he was sure of victory. "Don't worry. In this battle of Yuyang, it's still unknown who will hunt whom!"
The news that these riders who were seeking help headed eastward and some of them turned back after sending them into the Binhai Road was quickly reported to Zhang Liao by his subordinates.
“As expected.”
The person who brought the news was not actually stopped. This was the order he gave before sending the scouts to investigate.
Anyway, this will not affect the outcome of the war.
If everything went smoothly, Tadun should have already started fighting with their people.
Zhang Liao believed that Qiao Yan would not commission those young people to tasks beyond their capabilities.
Moreover, since they have successfully completed the task of gaining a foothold in Liaodong, we should have more confidence in them.
All he needs to care about is what's in front of him.
After they got the message, Fox Slave City changed hands without much effort, which made people feel more clearly the unstoppable momentum of their offensive.
This was the first step to undermine Gongsun Zan's confidence.
So what's next?
Zhang Liao immediately issued the second order:
"Raise the flags of the three Wuhuan kings on top of Hunu City."
He wanted to make Gongsun Zan believe that it didn't matter whether his messenger was blocked or not.
He is now a prisoner on an isolated island!
And mistakes made in chaos are always made in this way!
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