Chapter 347 Xuzhou asks for help
Probably no one would be able to calmly respond with "I'm fine" after hearing the words "How are you" in such an environment.
If the appearance of the Mi family fleet in the East China Sea had made Liu Bei realize how large an area the dragnet set up by Qiao Yan in the Battle of Xuzhou covered, and it was clear that she had left him no way out, then her appearance at this moment made Liu Bei feel that he was caught by fate and had no way to escape.
It came so quickly and so accurately!
He looked at Qiao Yan for a long time, until the other party's face gradually became clear as the fleet approached, and the other party's archers all pointed their arrows at him. She walked steadily across the built wooden bridge to his front and asked the greeting again. Only then did Liu Bei slowly calm down and replied, "It's okay."
It's been several years indeed.
It is very rare for the leaders of various forces in the world to meet face to face. It is almost impossible for them to drink milk tea and talk about heroes so harmoniously and then part peacefully like Qiao Yan and Cao Cao did. By this calculation, it has been almost six years since the last meeting between Liu Bei and Qiao Yan.
Back then, he was a member of the team that participated in the battle against Dong Zhuo together with Lu Zhi. At Hulao Pass, Guan Yu completed the task of killing Hua Xiong. Afterwards, he marched to Luoyang with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, and had several brief meetings with Qiao Yan.
Today we meet again, but it is a duel on the battlefield, or in such a trapped situation with no way out, it is hard to feel the joy of meeting old friends.
Even though, according to the fact that Lu Zhi was once instructed by Emperor Ling of Han to teach Qiao Yan, the two of them could be considered as fellow students, at this moment he only felt awe for this terrible opponent.
The decisive action in the battle of Xuzhou, the three-line combat, and the instant reversal of the situation all revealed the shadow of the opponent's layout and planning behind the scenes, and her appearance directly blocked Liu Bei's last way to survive.
Apart from planning everything, there is no other word to describe her.
But how could Liu Bei know that Qiao Yan had not originally planned to come in person. It was only because when she told Mrs. Wu that she would let Zhou Yu face death in Xuzhou, the other party asked her, "Originally, your Excellency planned to go in person, but now you stay in Yangzhou because of your son's death. Will there be any mistakes?" This made Qiao Yan change her decision.
The death of Sun Ce and the transfer of power in Yangzhou developed exactly as she had hoped, and it seemed that she had indeed been a little careless.
Who is Liu Bei?
When he was studying at an early age and his family was poor, he was able to receive financial support from his fellow villagers and horse merchants in Zhongshan.
Although his background was far from comparable to that of other heroes, he managed to carve out a name for himself.
Faced with repeated brinks of despair, he was able to remain calm and turn danger into safety until he established Shu Han.
If there was any mistake in the pursuit of Liu Bei, allowing her to let Liu Bei escape and become Yuan Shao's helper, and if there was another Battle of Red Cliffs, allowing Liu Bei to find a place to stay when the situation was decided by fate, then why did she let Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting stir up trouble in Xuzhou several years ago, leading to such a hunt today?
The luck that was activated by the system certainly allowed her to escape danger when she crossed the Qinling Mountains, and prevent her from encountering any danger when she sneaked through the Yinping Road. But who knows whether it would fail at this moment and allow Liu Bei to escape.
So she had to go north in person and conduct another interception to ensure that everything was foolproof!
She chose to intercept it at sea.
The news that Lu Su and Pang Tong were heading north to Langya had been brought to her by Jia Xu earlier. This arrangement was equivalent to cutting off some of Liu Bei's hopes of entering Qingzhou by land.
The defection of Yuzhou Pei State at the beginning of this year might be accepted by Liu Bei, but when faced with a truly desperate escape, people would subconsciously avoid this route.
In addition, there is the case of Lu Su's surrender to the enemy. If the victory is on Qiao Yan's side, there is no guarantee that there will not be a second one. This will further weaken the credibility of the Donghai and Xia Pi gentry in Liu Bei's eyes.
That leaves only one last way.
After meeting Guan Yu, he took the water route to Qingzhou!
Therefore, after Qiao Yan decided to go in person to hunt down the enemy, she left the political affairs of Yangzhou to Zhang Zhao, and ordered Huang Gai, Cheng Pu and others to perform their respective duties. Dian Wei stayed in Shouchun to temporarily take over the supervisory post. Afterwards, she ordered the newly appointed Yuzhang prefect Wu Jing and Sun Ce's cousin Sun Ben to lead the navy of Jingzhou and Yangzhou to the north with her.
Taking Wu Jing and Sun Ben away was done under the pretext of increasing the strength of the navy, but in reality it was to prevent the Wu family, to which Mrs. Wu belonged, from joining forces with the Sun family and reoccupying Yangzhou.
The remaining Sun Ce's troops had different origins, so the chance of them uniting to support Sun Quan was unlikely since Sun Ce had already issued an imperial decree to entrust his son to the care of others and Yangzhou was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court in Chang'an.
Regardless of whether this measure will ever be useful, it is always better to be prepared.
The withdrawal of these two groups did not affect the rest of the people from continuing to warn the Shanyue forces and ensuring that the four surnames of Wujun stayed in prison before she returned.
At least, there was no problem before Xuzhou was pacified.
After the battle of Xuzhou, the troops and generals had enough time to make arrangements, so Yangzhou was no longer a problem.
Facts have proved that Qiao Yan's move to intercept from the north was not wrong. Her team, which had been sailing along the coast, had just reached the boundary of the Huai River when they met Liu Bei and Guan Yu. They were not intercepted by Ma Chao and Yan Yan and successfully escaped.
Upon hearing that Chen Gui was captured in Huaipu, Qiao Yan immediately continued sailing, gambling that the possibility of Liu Bei taking the water route was increasing. This led to this sea hunting trip and the victory of capturing the governor of Xuzhou who was appointed by the Yecheng court.
Qiao Yan was too lazy to care about how Ma Chao felt after failing to continue the pursuit on land. The most he did was to give him a replacement horse for the unfortunate Ferghana horse that was killed in the battle, considering that Ma Chao and Yan Yan had successfully teamed up to retain most of Guan Yu's men, making it easier for Qiao Yan to encircle and suppress the enemy at sea.
What matters now is how to deal with Liu Bei.
Shortly after escorting Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others south by boat to Yandu and disembarking, she sent someone to Sheyang to report the news. Jia Xu did not delay and came to see her in person to let her know the specific battle situation in Huaiyin.
Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting's persuasion obviously made Zhou Yu temporarily recognize his position and successfully take on the responsibility of the bait. The final result was that Liu Bei and Zhang Fei's troops were almost wiped out, either killed in battle or captured. Zhang Fei, as Liu Bei's right-hand man, died in battle, and Guan Yu's son Guan Ping was captured.
"Zhang Fei is dead..." Qiao Yan thought to himself while tapping the table.
Zhang Fei’s death is both a good thing and a bad thing for the current situation.
It is said to be a good thing, because for Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting, it is the revenge for their father's death.
The Qiao family of Yanzhou, who had wanted to gain some benefits from the sisters back then, would never help them achieve their wish of revenge. Now they have achieved this result with their own abilities.
When Qiao Yan heard that Qiao Ting had carefully noticed the changes in the military formation and ordered Chen Wu to intercept in time, he couldn't help but cheer for her.
But it’s not wrong to say that this is not a good thing.
As a relative of the Han royal family who sits in the position of governor of a state, his significance to the Han Dynasty is different.
It is actually difficult to tell the closeness of the blood relationship between Liu Yan, Liu Yu, and Liu Biao and the lineage of Emperor Ling of Han.
If Qiao Yan killed Liu Bei at this time, even though she had gained the record of conquering one state after another at the beginning of the fourth year of Jian'an, she would inevitably be criticized a lot, and this was obviously not the scene she wanted to see when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were still around.
But if she didn't kill him, Zhang Fei's death was destined to become an irreconcilable hatred between her and Liu Bei.
In other words, Liu Bei's stance towards the Han Dynasty had already doomed him to be impossible for Qiao Yan to use, and now there was just one more reason.
"It's not easy to use, it can't be used, it can't be killed, and it can't be released. Are you worried about this, my lord?" Jia Xu asked.
Although he did not quite understand why, although both of them had the surname Liu and were governors of provinces, Qiao Yan attached much more importance to Liu Bei than to Liu Biao - after all, Liu Biao of Jingzhou was a hero who rode into Jingzhou alone in his early years, and Liu Bei's performance in the past few years was far from being as indomitable as that - but since this was what Qiao Yan wanted, as a subordinate he should of course share the worry.
Qiao Yan replied: "I have a suitable place for him, but I don't know how to say it so that it can play a more meaningful role."
After thinking it over in his mind, Jia Xu replied: "Then please make a show of wanting to kill him first, and someone will take care of the rest for you."
Qiao Yan raised his eyebrows: "You do it?"
Jia Xu replied: "I don't have the ability, nor the energy. As for who it is, you should have an idea in your mind."
"I understand," she said, "Then regardless of Liu Xuande's situation, just keep him in custody. We will first clean up the battle in Xuzhou!"
The destruction of the central army was almost devastating to the northern forces of Xuzhou.
The soldiers of Guan Yu's team who remained in Peng County were defeated and captured without any suspense as Ma Chao and Yan Yan advanced northward.
In this way, there are only two forces left that need to be pacified.
Currently there are Wang Lang, Zhao Yu and others in Xuzhou Prefecture, and Chen Deng, Chen Dao and others in Xia Pi.
The former could hardly be considered an enemy of Qiao Yan. After all, there were not many guards left in Tan County, the huge prefecture of Xuzhou, as Liu Bei sent troops in three directions to deal with the northward advance of the southern forces.
Now the news of Liu Bei's capture was also sent over by Qiao Yan. In this way, it seems that there is no other answer as to whether they would induce Yuan Shao's men to come south to provide assistance or be defeated faster by Qiao Yan.
Rather than resisting stubbornly and even bringing disaster to one of the only two remaining counties in Xuzhou, it would be better to surrender to the enemy. Considering that Wang Lang is not only a counselor but also a master of Confucian classics, and Zhao Yu is a famous scholar after all, Qiao Yan will not take their lives.
When the letter of surrender from Xuzhou was delivered to Qiao Yan, another letter also arrived, which was about the battle situation in Xia Pi.
Chen Deng's abilities are worthy of his position in Xuzhou.
Earlier, he and Chen Dao had actually supported Xia Qiu faster than Zhang Ren and Zhang Yang had expected. At the first moment of the battle between the two sides, he still ordered Xia Qiu to show weakness by lying down, until he saw that the opponent was slacking off, then he launched an offensive.
If the strength of Zhang Ren, the Yizhou general, had not been fully demonstrated in this battle, Zhang Yang and his men might have suffered a great loss.
In the subsequent confrontation, he used the sleight of hand to send more troops to confuse Zhang Yang's scouts, and used the public support he had accumulated from building water conservancy projects in Xuzhou to mobilize the people of Xia Pi to meet the enemy. He also used a variety of tactics to defend the city. In short, before the arrival of Pang Tong and Sun Guan, Chen Deng always had the upper hand.
Before Pang Tong arrived at Xia Qiu, he ordered Zhang Yang to pretend to withdraw his troops, creating the illusion that there was a change in the middle road and support was needed. He also told Zhang Yang that he did not need to disguise himself and only needed to "pretend" to perform normally.
Zhang Yang didn't quite understand what Pang Tong meant. In short, he slowly retreated to the east while paying attention to Chen Deng's performance, and then went north as Pang Tong said.
According to Chen Deng's judgment, Zhang Yang's move was obviously an attempt to take advantage of the opportunity to attack the next county, Tong County, with a clumsy method after repeated unsuccessful attacks on Xia Qiu.
If it can be accomplished, it would be a good plan as we can bypass Xia Qiu directly.
It's just that... the person who carried out this plan was a little stupid.
Chen Deng immediately sent out troops, intending to intercept Zhang Yang's troops at Louting. However, he didn't know that Pang Tong and Sun Guan were lying in ambush in the north, blocking him there.
This happened almost simultaneously with the fight in the middle.
There was no suspense about what happened next.
Whether in terms of defensive equipment or grain storage in the government warehouse, Louting was far inferior to Xia Pi, which was previously guarded by Chen Deng. He was no longer facing an attacking team composed of two generals, so the city gate was still conquered after three days.
So when Qiao Yan accepted the surrender of Wang Lang, Zhao Yu and others and arrived in Tan County in person, Chen Deng and Chen Dao were also escorted here by Pang Tong and others.
But what Qiao Yan found particularly funny when he heard his subordinates talk about it was that Pang Tong didn't even think that he first persuaded the Pei State of Yuzhou to defect to Cao Cao, and then persuaded Lu Su to surrender, and then defeated Chen Deng in Xia Pi. These were achievements worthy of him to brag about, and he was worthy of the name of Fengchu given to him by the prince. Instead, the Taishan thief Zang Ba who surrendered felt quite proud of it.
In his early years, he served under Tao Qian, and was incompatible with the Xuzhou scholars who followed him. Even when he went to Donghai County to report on his work, he was often treated as a bandit.
Although Chen Deng was not one of them, he was highly respected by the scholars in Xuzhou, which meant he was the opposite of Zang Ba.
After Zang Ba made this calculation, not to mention that his support made the battle in the central route go smoothly and even captured Guan Ping, his subordinates also added a lot of military merits to him.
Chen Deng's father, Chen Gui, was captured by his subordinates in Huaipu. Chen Deng's capture also had some credit from his subordinates. To round it off -
It was he himself who defeated Chen Deng.
If he had not taken refuge with Qiao Yan, he would never have had the opportunity to turn the tables.
From this perspective, his surrender was extremely worthwhile!
"So what kind of appointment do you plan to make to him?" Pang Tong asked.
With Zang Ba's character, he can be safely used as a subordinate, since he has no ambition to become a commander on a larger scale.
But it is not easy to use him well.
The first thing that is certain is that he cannot be left in Langya County.
After Xuzhou was taken, Langya County became a territory that came into direct contact with Yuan Shao. Zang Ba's strength was not enough to achieve the goal of guarding the border for Qiao Yan.
He definitely can't stay in this place.
Once he faces a greater threat, there is no guarantee that he will not choose to turn against the enemy.
Qiao Yan replied, "Let him go to Yangzhou and tell him that I admire his followers, but they have not experienced enough fighting before. They only joined his army because of their hometown sentiments. And following Tao Qian to pacify the Yellow Turbans in Xuzhou is not enough to be considered a formal battle. So I intend to let them go to Yangzhou to fight the Shanyue to hone their strength. At the same time, I will regularly send students from Leping Academy who have reached the age limit to fight under his command."
"Let me see if he can produce satisfactory results in the fight with Shanyue, and if he can provide a platform for the development of these potential stocks I sent."
It is a very laborious task to find the Shanyue out of the mountains. It would be a waste of manpower to leave it to the regular army under her command, especially when considering the garrison tasks in various places. The consumption in this protracted war is not what Qiao Yan is happy to see.
But coincidentally, the emergence of Zang Ba undoubtedly filled the gap in this relatively low-end combat power, and under the general saying that Shanyue was a problem that was difficult to cure in Yangzhou, this appointment seemed to be a compliment to him.
The comprehensive attack that the Four Families of Wu County are about to suffer will mean that Yangzhou will definitely not be a place where aristocratic families prosper. It is also a space door suitable for Zang Ba to survive.
After joining the military training trials of the students of Leping Academy, Zang Ba's followers could be gradually disbanded by small-scale troop deployments, at least without causing unrest caused by the accumulation of too many soldiers.
There is simply no place more suitable for him than Yangzhou.
Lu Su, who was also here, couldn't help but clap his hands and say, "This method is very wonderful."
Since Lu Su's defection, this was the first time he saw the Great Sima who had opened his eyes in the words of Pang Tong, and Qiao Yan's first arrangement made him eyes light up.
"Speaking of Yangzhou, one can't help but think of Zhou Gongjin. What do you think of him?" Jia Xu asked immediately.
Zhou Yu was not present at the meeting, but before this private meeting among the advisers, Qiao Yan had already had a private talk with Zhou Yu.
Lu Su didn't know that there was a door between Zhou Yu and Qiao Yan because of the death of Sun Ce. He just thought that Jia Xu was asking Qiao Yan how to arrange Zhou Yu, the role that would be used as bait and make great contributions.
In theory, this should not be a difficult task, but as Sun Ce's right-hand man when he was alive, if Zhou Yu continued to stay in Yangzhou and shoulder heavy responsibilities, he would inevitably become a hindrance to the next governor of Yangzhou.
So we have to find a suitable place for him.
"I have already told Gongjin about this matter," Qiao Yan replied, "After the matter in Xuzhou is settled, I intend to ask the emperor to appoint him as the governor of Xuzhou."
Governor of Xuzhou?
When these words were spoken, even with the previous examples of Qiao Yan and Sun Ce, Lu Su was still shocked.
But he soon heard Qiao Yan say: "During the Huaiyin battle, Zhou Gongjin held out against Zhang Yide and Liu Xuande in the wilderness until the four sides arrived. He had his own way of maneuvering the army. In the past, when Sun Bofu was fighting in Yangzhou, Zhou Gongjin planned and supported him. He was proficient in internal and external affairs. Xuzhou is a place with four wars and a flat terrain. If someone is needed to command and dispatch here, Zhou Gongjin is the first choice."
"I will also make separate arrangements for the generals under his command. Besides, don't we have you, Lu Zijing?"
"Me?" Lu Su pointed at himself in astonishment.
Qiao Yan replied calmly, "You, Lu Zijing, can see clearly Zang Xuangao's attitude, but can't you see clearly your own strength? Now that Xuzhou has been conquered, you should be promoted. I think the position of chief clerk is a bit too much for you, so why not try the position of Xuzhou Beijia."
"Although Zhou Yu has been intervening in the affairs of southern Xuzhou for several years, if we want to understand Xuzhou, we still need the help of people from Xuzhou. Or... do you, Lu Zijing, think you don't have this ability?"
Lu Su stood up and bowed solemnly to Qiao Yan. "Your Excellency, there is no need to use provocation. Since you have such confidence in me, I will naturally take on this position!"
"Okay!" Qiao Yan responded, "Then I'll wait and see."
What she would not tell Lu Su was that giving Zhou Yu this special position of Governor of Xuzhou was both a test for Zhou Yu and a bait thrown to other states.
However, a bait that is too obviously poisonous is unlikely to make people take the bait when Qiao Yan often acts unexpectedly.
This psychological suggestion is precisely a kind of protection for Xuzhou.
In this way, there is only one major problem left in Xuzhou.
Lu Su asked tentatively, "May I ask...how do you plan to deal with Envoy Liu?"
It has been more than three years since the Xuzhou Rebellion in June of the first year of Jian'an.
Although Liu Bei's various actions in Xuzhou cannot be compared with what Qiao Yan did in Guanzhong and other states, they are already rare actions of a wise man.
If the reasons that made Lu Su hesitate about whether to surrender to the enemy were reduced to only one, it could only be Liu Bei.
Now that he has been captured and stripped of his power, what consequences will he face?
Qiao Yan sighed, "From the perspective of talent and character, I admire him very much. I have read through the registered information of the sects in northern Xuzhou in recent years. It is not difficult to see that he is a practical person. The most rare thing is that his poverty in his early years has made him see the people below. He cooperates with Chen Yuanlong and can be said to be very good at making decisions, but -"
As soon as the word "but" came out, Lu Su keenly realized that Qiao Yan would never be lenient with Liu Bei.
"He and Zhang Yide were like brothers, but Zhang Yide has died in this battle. If I send Liu Xuande to the central government and give him a chance to be promoted to a senior official based on his qualifications, can the soldiers participating in this battle really have no worries just because he is kind-hearted?"
"Last year, I advanced into Youzhou and deployed troops on the border between Youzhou and Jilin, but Yuan Benchu still clung to the pseudo-court, confident that he had the prefectures under his control. If I don't kill a senior official who plotted rebellion, how can I intimidate this man and his subordinates?"
"If Liu Xuande is a mediocre person, it's fine to let him go back to the mountains. But if he is not, it will be difficult to persuade him to surrender. Why should I keep him alive as a future trouble?"
After asking these three questions, Qiao Yan raised his hand to stop Lu Su from speaking. "You don't have to tell me that your mind can change. Perhaps Liu Xuande can change it too. If he really wanted to serve the court in Chang'an, he should have surrendered long ago for the sake of his mentor, Lord Lu. He wouldn't have to wait until now!"
"Send a message to the prefectures and counties. Three days later, the rebels and the group of rebels will be killed in front of the prefecture government of Tan County to serve as a warning to others!"
"Didn't you stop him at all?" Wang Lang listened to Lu Su retelling the three reasons given by Qiao Yan. For some reason, he always felt that these words made sense at first, but when he listened to them again, there seemed to be something wrong.
But regardless of whether this reason is tenable, there is a more important reason why Qiao Yan must not kill Liu Bei at this time.
Liu Bei has the support of the people of Xuzhou!
To be precise, the people's hearts in northern Xuzhou!
Just as Qiao Yan said when he talked to Lu Su about the two compliments for Liu Bei, although Liu Bei was the governor of a state, he was not like ordinary superiors who had their eyes on the top of their heads.
More than three years is enough time for a person to build up a foundation here, especially for a down-to-earth person like Liu Bei.
The repeated confrontations on the Huaihe River front did not affect Liu Bei and Chen Deng's proper handling of Xuzhou's people's livelihood affairs, making him the governor of Xuzhou recognized by the people in northern Xuzhou after Tao Qian.
Whether he was a traitor or not was not important to these people at all.
If people were suddenly told that Liu Bei was going to be executed, it would undoubtedly arouse public indignation!
This was of no benefit to her as she had just captured Xuzhou.
"That's what I said...but the Lord said she had her own ideas."
Have your own ideas?
Wang Lang slapped his thigh and thought, if you have any ideas, don’t do it at such a critical moment.
Even if the report on the change of ownership of Xuzhou has not yet reached the court in Yecheng, there is no guarantee that someone will not find an opportunity to attack.
Either they could kill the person directly during the fight, or they could arrest and send the person away. Either way, it would be better than her killing him as a punishment.
Wang Lang's worries were right. Almost on the second day after the decision to kill Liu Bei was issued to the counties of Donghai County, thousands of people had gathered around Tan County.
All the mixed words from the crowd finally came together into one sentence:
Liu Shijun cannot die, he is a competent governor!
It is for this reason that, even though they knew that finding the new master of Xuzhou might bring them into great trouble, they still chose to gather here.
When she heard the news, Qiao Yan didn't even frown, and continued to discuss the garrison arrangements in various parts of Xuzhou with Jia Xu. Seeing this, Lu Su, Pang Tong and others on the side secretly praised her character.
However, this cold treatment method not only failed to make the voices of those pleading for Liu Bei disappear, but instead attracted people from even farther away from Tan County to rush here. They blocked the area along the city wall of the county town, leaving only one road for pedestrians and vehicles to pass.
The Xuzhou people chose a way that was most intuitive to them to express their attitude: if the voices of a few people are not enough to be heard, then they should make their voices louder!
Is this not enough to save Envoy Liu's life?
From the perspective of the confrontation between the two courts, Liu Shijun was indeed on the wrong side, but he never did anything wrong to Xuzhou.
So why can't we rescue him?
Amid the excitement of these petitioners, they did not notice that a speeding carriage arrived here at this moment and headed towards the state capital.
As soon as the car stopped, an old man in plain clothes jumped out of the car and ran straight to Qiao Yan, who was leaving the provincial capital because of the public unrest.
The old man seemed to be running in a hurry and dropped one of his shoes. But he did not stop at this time, but continued to move towards his goal.
I don’t know if it’s because he traveled in a hurry, but the dusty look on his face mixed with the anxious expression made him look extremely embarrassed and pitiful.
He grabbed Qiao Yan's hand, and before he could even catch his breath, he had already covered his face with his other sleeve, and howled, "Ye Shu, please show mercy! What is Yuan Tan's connection with the Yangzhou Incident? Just punish him, but don't kill him!"
There are not many people in this world who can call Qiao Yan "Ye Shu", and who else could the person in front of him be but Cai Yong.
But at this moment, Qiao Yan did not help up the "howling" elder or make any comforting gesture, but slowly pulled his hand out and then took a step back.
On that face that always seemed calm and mature beyond her years, a rare look of pain and anger appeared.
She looked at Cai Yong quietly for a long time before she asked in an extremely heavy tone, "Mr. Cai, do you also want to force me at this time?"
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