Chapter 415: Changes in Donglai...
It is indeed the troops sent from Xuzhou!
If Yuan Shang was just shocked and confused by the news, then Yuan Tan's face must be as solemn as water at this moment.
Kong Ronggang, the governor of Beihai, had just made a trip to Yecheng to show his loyalty to the emperor. As the emperor of Yecheng relied on this role model, he temporarily kept him in Yecheng. But then the Xuzhou soldiers attacked from the Beihai Kingdom.
It was even when his father had given him that instruction but he had not really had the time to put it into practice!
Before he set off for Yecheng, the first order Yuan Shao gave him was to let Jiang Qi monitor Xin Ping. If Xin Ping, because of Xin Pi's defection to the enemy, chose to open up the Qingzhou garrison and allow the enemy to attack when Yuan Tan temporarily left Qingzhou, so that he and his brother could gain a foothold in the court of Dayong, there would be no need for any hesitation but to kill him immediately.
And if Xin Ping can hold his ground during this period and maintain Qingzhou's garrison against Xuzhou, they can then proceed to their next move.
Yuan Tan, who was summoned back to Yecheng, heard from his father's mouth the affirmation of his actions in defending Qingzhou for several years, and bluntly stated that the move of adopting him to Yuan Ji would never affect his inheritance of his own power. Who of the three brothers can come to the top depends on their own methods.
Right now, the Yecheng court is in turmoil. If he can use Qingzhou, which he controls, to launch a counterattack against Qiao Yan, then the merits he will gain will be enough to make him stand out in front of everyone!
Yuan Shao suggested that when he returned to Qingzhou, he should join forces with Xin Ping, and lure the Xuzhou troops into Qingzhou on the pretext that Xin Ping intended to surrender to the enemy, encircle and ambush him, thus weakening Xuzhou's power.
You know, there are quite a few generals who intend to make achievements in the Xuzhou direction.
Ma Chao, who was born in Liang Province, traveled to various places to conquer, but he always lacked a sufficiently eye-catching achievement.
If Sun Guan, who was born a bandit in Mount Tai, does not want to be transferred to a poor and remote place like Yangzhou like his former boss Zang Ba, he also needs a military achievement to gain a foothold.
Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Jiang Qin and others who were transferred from Yangzhou to Xuzhou, and Yan Yan, Zhang Ren and others who were sent from Yizhou, did not mind adding to their resumes by virtue of the record of capturing Qingzhou after Xuzhou was conquered.
The complex composition of the troops and generals may allow them to find opportunities to take advantage of.
But now, the opponent has come, and the one coming is Jiang Qinsun Guan, which can be used as a weak point to be broken first.
But what’s the point if they haven’t set up the trap yet!
In the face of the enemy's sudden attack, their defense was torn apart, so that when Yuan Tan received the news in Dongpingling, it was too late to drive the Donglai and Qi defenders to encircle them.
"The Gaomi defenders defected because Zheng Xuan's disciple Sun Qian went to war with Sun Guan and others. My father had never allowed me to get involved in this place, but it became a place for these thieves to station their troops. Yi'an, which is close to Gaomi, has also fallen into their hands. Once they go north to Jiaodong, Dangli and other places, our connection with Donglai County will be completely cut off, and Beihai Kingdom may not be able to be saved. Mr. Zhongzhi, how should we respond now?"
Faced with this unexpected change, Yuan Tan no longer dared to consider any method of luring the enemy deep into his territory. The only thing he could think of was how he could maintain his control over Qingzhou.
Seeing Yuan Tan suddenly look dejected compared to his high spirits in the past few days, Xin Ping couldn't help but sigh silently.
The general who was in Yecheng was really between calm and madness at this moment.
What was calm was that he also knew to control the scale of conscription to prevent the answer to the old farmer's question from exerting a more far-reaching impact in Jizhou.
But he also knew that unless Qingzhou changed its owner, he, Xin Ping, would never surrender to the enemy.
Yes, he knew that with his current abilities, he could no longer mobilize the two states of Ji and Qing under his command as a whole. Taking advantage of the competitive relationship among the three sons was the only way he could fight to the death.
But there is madness too. Some methods may be feasible when the strength of the enemy and us is equal, but under such a huge disparity, they will only become a laughing stock of others!
However, it is meaningless to discuss Yuan Shao's decision at this time.
Anyway, this is just a plan that has not been implemented.
"My Lord, you cannot move now. We have already put a lot of effort into intercepting the troops in Qingzhou. If troops from Yanzhou and Xuzhou come from Pingyuan and Jinan and cut off our connection with Jizhou, that would be a disaster."
Yuan Tan was startled by Xin Ping's harsh tone, and he swallowed subconsciously, "Yes, that's right."
Even if the worst case scenario happens and they lose Donglai and Beihai, they can still retreat to Jizhou. But if the western part of Qingzhou is lost, they will no longer be able to turn the tide, and even their lives will remain on the land of Qingzhou.
Yes, you can’t move now!
"Let Jiang Qi go..."
"No, I'll go." Xin Ping interrupted Yuan Tan. "I'll go to Beihai State and decide where to cut off Jiang Qin and Sun Guan's retreat. It doesn't matter if they go deep into the heart of Qingzhou. As long as they can't go back, we can slowly surround and kill them!"
"In addition, send a message to Yecheng as quickly as possible and order Kong Beihai to return immediately. Use his reputation in Beihai to call on the people to launch a counterattack."
"There is one more thing I would like you to do quickly."
Yuan Tan knew very well at this time that instead of worrying that Xin Ping might take advantage of the situation and defect to his side, it would be better for him to trust the arrangements he had made at this time. He quickly replied, "Please tell me, Mr. Zhongzhi, and I will do it immediately."
"Ming Gong gave the sword to the eldest son, which was supposed to mean that you could act on his behalf as the governor of Qingzhou at any time in Qingzhou, but the situation is critical now, so we have to make other arrangements for him."
"Please ask the eldest son to immediately send someone with a sword to Qinghe County in Jizhou to borrow troops to assist in the battle in Qingzhou."
Yuan Tan hesitated for a moment, "This..."
Will this act of executing first and reporting later and the change in the situation in Qingzhou leading the way cause his image in his father's heart to decline again and again, and also change the situation in which his father brought him back to compete on the same level with the other two brothers?
But if we can't save Qingzhou, forget about executing first and reporting later!
He immediately changed his words and said, "I'll send someone over right away."
Bohai County in the north also has to face threats from Youzhou, so Qinghe County is indeed the most suitable place to borrow troops at this moment.
However, when they quickly distributed these arrangements, their opponents had no intention of engaging in a city-by-city attack with them.
Jia Xu, the old fox, knew very well that Qiao Yan had no intention of over-consumering manpower before the autumn harvest, so when she wrote the letter to provoke him to take action against Qingzhou, she was only thinking about today's incident.
Sun Guan and Jiang Qin who went north were not considered outstanding among the generals who stayed in Xuzhou. Precisely because of this, they cooperated with Sun Qian, a disciple of Zheng Xuan who once joined the intelligence organization organized by Qiao Yan, to send troops together, making it extremely difficult to be noticed on the defense line.
But this team plays an extremely important role.
After Sun Guan and Jiang Qin captured Gaomi, they opened the brocade bag given to them by Jia Xu and saw that it said that after conquering Yian, they would pretend to continue northward in this way and draw a line in the middle of Qingzhou. In fact, they would not attack the city afterwards, but go straight to the Donglai camp.
There is no need to worry about their capture of Gaomi and Yian. The moment their battle report is sent back to Xuzhou, someone will go north to support the garrison here.
"Donglai Camp?" Jiang Qin read out the destination suspiciously.
"The Donglai camp located in Changguang!" Sun Guan's eyes lit up.
Because he was much more familiar with the northern part of Xuzhou and Qingzhou than Jiang Qin, he immediately explained to Jiang Qin:
"During the Guangxi reign, the Yellow Turbans rose up again in Qingzhou, Jizhou. Led by Yu Du, Bai Rao, Sui Gu and others, they attacked Wei County, Jizhou. They were defeated by Duke Ju and part of them were annexed by him. The rest fled south to Yanzhou and became the troops of General Cao of Yanzhou."
"The army led by Guan Hai attacked Beihai. After several fierce battles with Yuan Shao's troops, some of them fled to Xuzhou. Under Tao Gongzu's instruction, they were intercepted by me and Xuan Gao. Some of them went north across Bohai and arrived in Youzhou with the rest of Jizhou's remnants. Some of them were killed by Gongsun Zan, while others became his followers."
"Guan Hai's situation was the most special. He led those who were willing to follow him out of Qingzhou and took Zheng Kangcheng hostage to Leping, Bingzhou."
"Then Yuan Shao placed the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in the Beihai area in Changguang on the pretext that they had been rebels. Changguang was surrounded by rivers and lakes, which was equivalent to a military settlement."
Jiang Qin suddenly realized: "So Mr. Wenhe means that it is possible for us to recruit this group of people?"
Sun Guan replied, "We can give it a try! Mr. Wenhe did not ask Your Majesty to dispatch Guan Hai from Bingzhou. I'm afraid he is worried that the two sides will be embarrassed when they meet. It would be better for us to send troops from Xuzhou and ask those who used to be Yellow Turban bandits in Qingzhou to come and surrender."
"Although we have only served your majesty for a short time, we have been able to explain the various situations in these eleven states to him clearly."
Sun Guan's name as the "Taishan Bandit" and the former Yellow Turbans under his command were indeed a suitable identity to be used for persuading surrender at this time, much more suitable than Ma Chao who had previously started to harass the Qingzhou border.
He indeed wanted to use this opportunity to gain merit, so since he understood Jia Xu's thoughts at this moment, he couldn't help but show his eagerness to do so.
However, what Sun Guan did not know was that Jia Xu did not apply to Qiao Yan to transfer Guan Hai. It was just because in Qiao Yan's original plan, in order to prevent Jia Xu from taking Donglai with difficulty, she was considering sailing from Youzhou with a fleet. But Jia Xu was thinking about the available people under his command, and felt that they might as well make another attempt.
Use Sun Guan!
This was a general who was most likely overlooked by Qiao Yan, but was noticed by Jia Xu because he was planning in Xuzhou.
There is no need to worry about loyalty issues.
Ever since Zang Ba surrendered to Qiao Yan under the persuasion of Lu Su and Pang Tong, and joined forces with the reinforcements from the south of Xuzhou to attack Liu Bei's subordinates, Sun Guan was extremely grateful that Zang Ba made this choice.
Sun Guan was rewarded for helping Pang Tong successfully block Chen Deng, and with this military achievement he was given the official position of Langya Commandery in Xuzhou. He no longer had to worry about the disparity in power between the courts of Chang'an and Yecheng. He no longer had to worry about whether he would suddenly die in a battle one day. As Qiao Yan became the emperor from the Grand Sima, he became a true loyal minister.
This one year or so was enough time for Sun to see what the Qing dynasty was like under Qiao Yan's rule, or what the current Dayong dynasty was like.
At this moment, Sun Guan had other ideas in his mind as to whether he could persuade the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in the Donglai defenders to surrender.
For people like them, who would want to become a thief if they could have a chance to survive?
Judging others by oneself, in the face of the current situation of strength and weakness that is so clear, is there really no one in Jizhou or Qingzhou who wants to find a way out for themselves?
Everyone could see that Qiao Yan did not hastily launch an attack after the confrontation over the manifesto, not because she was incapable of fighting, but because she wanted to wait for a better time to attack.
Or maybe she is waiting for more people to make their own decisions first.
Those who would never surrender to her were mostly those who had conflicts of position and interests like Yuan Shao, but the people were not like that.
Do they want to become victims of powerful bows and crossbows?
Of course not!
They all want to live, and if they can live better and more like human beings under her rule, that would be the best thing.
They could not move before and could not follow Guan Hai to take such a risky long journey to Bingzhou because most of the Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou who revolted had families with them. If they were to undergo such an unsecured migration, there would inevitably be large-scale casualties, and they might even be intercepted while passing through Yanzhou.
But now, their hope of survival and their reinforcements are in Xuzhou, not far to the south, and there are people with similar situations as them coming to take care of them. This is truly a godsend.
All they need to do is go south to Xuzhou Langya or assist Sun Guan and Jiang Qin in defending Donglai County for several months, and of course they can surrender!
However, just as Sun Guan was thinking this, he heard Jiang Qin say, "That's true, but Donglai is not the only place with the remnants of the Yellow Turbans. There are also Yuan Shao's garrison troops. We shouldn't try to persuade them to surrender right now. It's better to first defeat the Donglai government troops with our overwhelming force and then try to persuade them."
After all, they did not have Lu Su's ability and eloquence to see through people's hearts, and they did not know whether there was a newly elected leader in the team placed here who could lead the rest of the people to abandon darkness and join the light after being persuaded to surrender by them.
They must first establish the reputation of the Dayong army!
Although Sun Guan was only the second-in-command among the Taishan bandits, and Jiang Qin had not experienced too much fighting under Sun Ce before, the previous battle in Gaomi had already made them see the invisible morale collapse of the Qingzhou defenders, and it seemed that there would not be too many exceptions in Donglai.
"If that's the case, I have a suggestion." Sun Qian spoke as he listened to the two's analysis of Jia Xu's order.
"The news that we have taken Gaomi and Yi'an must have spread to all parts of Qingzhou. Whether or not the Donglai defenders receive orders from Yuan Xiansi, they must send troops to help, to prevent us from cutting off their route and slowly swallowing them up. And the troops sent out will definitely not be the old Yellow Turbans."
Sun Qian pointed westward and said, "We will go from Yi'an to Gushui and wait for the reinforcements!"
The Donglai defenders probably thought that their top priority was to march northward, or to intercept Yuan Tan's reinforcements. However, they never imagined that the first thing they were targeting was not the land, but the people!
Then this classic scene of attacking while crossing the river can still be tried in Qingzhou!
The Donglai defenders who had worked with Yuan Tan for a long time had indeed never imagined that the Xuzhou soldiers they encountered did not play according to common sense. Led by Sun Qian, a native of Beihai, they deliberately avoided the farmland on the way to Gushui. As a result, although this ambush was clearly initiated by outsiders, no one notified the Donglai defenders in advance.
When Sun Guan and Jiang Qin led their soldiers to charge out, the two teams of ambushers, located on the east and west sides of the river respectively, brazenly cut the team that was supposed to be the reinforcements into two halves.
The bandit spirit of the two generals created an indescribable momentum when the advantage was undoubtedly on their side.
The defenders of Donglai had no idea how Yuan Tan would respond to Xuzhou's military action, and they felt a little uneasy when leading their troops westward. In this hasty and embarrassing battle, they felt an endless sense of despair.
But before he could shout out the words "We surrender, but please stop first" which were already on the tip of his tongue, he was cut down from his horse by Jiang Qin's long sword.
The victory in the Gushui battle made it much easier for Sun Guan and others to rush directly to the Donglai camp to persuade them to surrender than to play the emotional card right from the start.
The most mistreated people among the Donglai defenders looked towards this team that seemed like a divine army descended from the sky. They saw a few familiar faces among them, who were now full of high spirits. Although they still held their weapons in their hands, they were stunned one after another.
When they heard that the Emperor of Dayong was ready to end the East-West confrontation that had lasted for many years within this year, their faces were confused at first, but soon turned into surprise after hearing Sun Guan's voice.
Surrender...?
There were also people among them who could read a few words and had obtained one or two copies of the Leping Monthly Report through Jia Xu's infiltration of Qingzhou.
There were also merchants in Qingzhou who came from Guanzhong or Xuzhou. When doing business with them, they would talk about the situation outside.
Their feet could not walk out of the land that trapped them, but the imaginations in their minds had already flown outside countless times.
And at this moment, this invitation suddenly appeared in front of them in such a grand manner. They no longer needed to risk their lives and travel through mountains and rivers to have the opportunity to complete this action of changing their positions?
As Sun Guan was talking about how they would first conquer Gaomi and then cross the Gushui River, a voice suddenly came out from somewhere, "General Sun, you don't have to say anything. Tell me what we should do if we surrender!"
Sun Guan, Sun Qian and Jiang Qin looked at each other and said, "Let's ignore the several counties along the coast of Donglai for now. We can just send people to intercept and watch. Gather all the people who are willing to surrender to Dayong here as quickly as possible and select those who are good at fighting. We will march west to Jiaodong and force Yuan's army back to the west of Weishui!"
If they had really attacked the city step by step as the enemy had guessed, they would not have been as efficient as they are now.
The situation is very different now.
Not to mention that those who were wiped out in the Battle of Gushui were originally the most obedient troops to Yuan's command in Donglai. As the soldiers fled in this battle, their influence spread. It would be much easier for these soldiers, mostly from Beihai Donglai, to open the city gate than for the Xuzhou defenders.
Although they are still in Changguang, it will take a few days to arrange these newly surrendered soldiers and population. They also need to wait for Jia Xu to send reinforcements to make the turnover of manpower in Qingzhou more convenient. However, the development of the war in the east of Qingzhou seems to have shown an advantageous trend.
"Wei River..." Sun Qian muttered this dividing line that had been discussed before coming to Changguang, and a subtle look flashed in his eyes.
"What's wrong with Weishui?" Jiang Qin asked.
On the map of Qingzhou that they had drawn earlier, Weishui was the most suitable place for them to temporarily station troops with Yuan Tan, because the Weishui River was located west of Gaomi, originating from Jiwu Mountain in Xuzhou, flowing northward, across Qingzhou, until it flowed into the Bohai Bay. In terms of geographical conditions, it was a barrier that could completely block Yuan Tan's eastward advance.
"In the past, when Chu and Han were fighting, a battle took place at Weishui. It was here that Han Xin defeated the Qi-Chu coalition forces, killed the Chu general Long Ju, and captured Qi King Tian Guang. This was also a particularly important battle in the Chu-Han Campaign."
"At that time, Han Xin was west of the Weishui River where Yuan Xiansi was now, and the King of Qi and Long Qie were east of the Weishui River where we were. In the end, Han Xin defeated the enemy army by using bags of earth to block the water, and successfully detoured to the rear of Western Chu. Because of the importance of this battle, the Weishui River was later called the River of Revival of Han."
Jiang Qin: "...Now is the time when we have just taken the lead in gaining land and people. It is not appropriate to say such unlucky words, right?"
Sun Qian laughed and said, "What are you thinking! The water that made Han Dynasty prosperous can also become the land that destroyed Han Dynasty at this moment. I have already said that the soil bag can hold back the water. Can Yuan Xiansi and Xin Zhongzhi be defeated by this method?"
"Besides, even if I am no match for Xin Zhongzhi, will Mr. Wenhe and His Majesty watch us being isolated and helpless after we capture these three cities one after another?"
Jiang Qin scratched his head, realizing that he was somewhat worrying too much. He then saw Sun Qian take out two cages with three grey pigeons in each cage from the carriage which had slowly arrived after half a day's journey. He took them out very carefully.
Especially the three in the second cage, Jiang Qin felt that the way Sun Qian looked at them was no different from the way he looked at hundreds of taels of gold.
"The former was sent to Chang'an for Your Majesty, and the latter was sent to Youzhou. The latter batch was not easy to raise, and was also sent to Xuzhou by sea. The risk incurred during transportation was not small."
"But now, in order to prevent the land we have seized from returning to Han territory and disappoint those who believe that we can quickly conquer Qing and Ji states, we will use it if we can!"
When Sun Qian installed mailboxes on them one by one and ordered them to fly away, the sound of the six gray shadows flapping their wings was drowned out by the human voices below, and the victory report was sent out to the outside world in an extremely simple way.
But at the moment when the gray shadow disappeared, Jiang Qin suddenly felt a fighting spirit in his heart that was far stronger than the previous battle of Gushui!
What is the water that prospers the Han Dynasty and the water that brings fortune to the Han Dynasty?
Now the Mandate of Heaven is with Dayong and the people's hearts are with Your Majesty. They must not make any mistakes in the confrontation in Qingzhou, which would give Xin Ping and Yuan Tan an opportunity to counterattack!
At the same time, in Youzhou, after receiving the troop dispatch order from Qiao Yan, Lu Lingju handed over the authority to dispatch the Liaodong garrison to Lu Yi and Yan Rou, then led his men to Zhuo County, where he had already met up with Lu Bu.
Lu Bu was quite envious that his daughter could personally participate in His Majesty's coronation ceremony, but his face-saving character would not allow him to say such words in front of his daughter. Instead, he spoke in an unusually calm and proud tone about the psychological shadow he had caused to Yuan Shao and others with his six or seven attacks to the south over the past three months.
Lu Lingju: “…”
It’s hard to say whether Yuan Shao had any psychological trauma, but Lu Bu seemed to be having a lot of fun.
As she dismounted and walked toward the camp with Lu Bu, she replied, "If you really have scared the Yuan army to death as you said, you should have already relied on your reputation to attack Yecheng by now, and there is no reason to set up camp here."
Lu Bu raised his eyebrows. "There are always some tall people on the other side. Yuan Shao is lucky enough to have met an old man who is loyal to him and a general who is determined to defend the city. These two people are really capable."
Lu Lingju paused.
She felt that this was probably not her illusion. When Lu Bu talked about the "general who stubbornly defended the city", there was actually a hint of admiration in his usually arrogant tone.
However, this kind of admiration is somewhat different from his respect for His Majesty and his respect for Zhang Liao since he was defeated by his army in his early years.
It's more like the kind of heroes who have fought and admired other heroes.
The guy on the other side must be quite capable to be able to make a straightforward guy like Lu Bu admit it and to stop him for so long.
Lu Lingju rolled his eyes and suddenly said, "Now that you say that, I really have to see it for myself."
Upon hearing what Lu Lingju said, Lu Bu quickly reminded him: "Don't forget the order of His Majesty."
Lu Lingju was indeed dispatched here early, but before Qiao Yan gave clear orders to send troops, it was not time for them to officially march south.
Even though she had the merit of saving the emperor, Lu Bu would never forget the principle that military orders are as heavy as mountains, even if he acted unruly. This is not something that can be offset by relying on unique military merits.
Acting rashly would do no good to a general like her who has already reached a high position at such a young age!
She still has a long way to go.
Lu Lingju smiled, "Of course I know. His Majesty told you to retreat if you encounter casualties, but he didn't say that we can't kidnap people if casualties occur, right?"
Seeing Sima Yi walking through the camp, Lü Lingju suddenly shouted, "Zhongda! Is there any way for us to kidnap another General Gao this time?"
Last time it was Gao Lan, this time it was Gao Shun, both are General Gao.
However, this time they will definitely not return it to Yuan Shao!
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