In late October of the fourth year of Chuping in the Han Dynasty (193), Yuan Xi's army in Jizhou attacked Qi State in Qingzhou. In this battle, Yuan Xi's army captured Linzi of the State of Qi. Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou appointed by Gongsun Zan, ambushed and was shot dead by Xu Huang, the general of Yuan Xi's army.
More than 40,000 Qingzhou soldiers from Yuan Xi's army poured into Linzi. After a night of melee, Tian Kai's army who had no time to escape in the city were either captured and surrendered or eliminated. By daybreak, Yuan Xijun completely controlled Linzi City.
Linzi is the most prosperous city in Qingzhou and the capital of the Qi State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the Han Dynasty, although Linzi was not as good as Chang'an, Luoyang, Chengdu and other big cities, it was prosperous and prosperous in the late Han Dynasty when the town was declining because of its fish and salt industry, developed commerce and being a textile center.
On the afternoon of the second day after Linzi was captured, Jiang Wei, Jiang Jin and the few remaining gentry and squires came to the south gate of Linzi to greet the second son of the Yuan family, Yuan Xi.
Yuan Xi was riding on a war horse, followed by Xu Chu, Guo Jia, Zhu Gongdao and others. Other generals were assigned to deal with post-war rectification matters.
At Yuan Xi's signal, the Tiger Guard and the garrison cavalry all rode into the city. All the knights have bright armor and are equipped with weapons. It gave those nobles a great deterrent effect.
"We sincerely welcome Major General Yuan to lead us in Linzi." Jiang Wei was the first to come out of the queue and bowed his hands in salute. In fact, there is loyalty in this era, but most of the big families obey the power.
Yuan Xi, Guo Jia and others got off their horses and met with a group of gentry and squires.
Yuan Xi came to Jiang Wei, returned the gift with his hands, and said, "You are all heroes of Qingzhou. In the future, I need your help to govern Qingzhou and benefit the people here."
Then, under the leadership of these gentry and squires, Yuan Xi and others walked to the governor's office in the center of Linzi.
Just after the war, Linzi's streets were deserted, and Yuan Xi also saw blood stains that he had no time to clean up. Occasionally, the door of a private house would be open, and the residents would look at them indifferently while being frightened by the power of Jizhou's military.
"Mr. Jiang, please quickly lead people to appease the people in the city and let them resume business and daily life as soon as possible." Yuan Xi knew the worries and concerns of those people.
After Emperor Taizong Li Shimin defeated Wang Shichong and captured Luoyang, he also dealt with the aftermath in the same way.
"Young General is a great kindness and righteousness. I would like to thank the people of Linzi. They are just afraid of Tian Kai's cruel and brave soldiers, and the Major General's troops are all teachers of benevolence and righteousness. They just don't know it." Jiang Wei said with a smile.
Yuan Xi said "hmm" and continued to ride his horse forward. Although he knew that his words were flattery, Yuan Xi still felt very satisfied.
Guo Jia looked at the frightened and indifferent people and Jiang Wei with a charming smile. He had doubts in his heart, but he just shook his head.
Suddenly, three people came to the front of the team. Several Tiger Guards were alert and immediately rushed forward to stop the intruder with their spears.
"Is this Yuan Xianyi of the Yuan family in front of me?" came a vigorous and loud voice.
Yuan Xi looked over and saw three people blocking the road. The one at the front was an old Confucian scholar in his sixties, wearing a burlap scholar's uniform and a gray beard. The old Confucian scholar was followed closely by two young men with extraordinary looks.
Yuan Xi didn't expect anyone to block his way. The faces of all the squires changed. Jiang Wei rolled his eyes and said flatteringly, "Oh, young general, here is Zheng Kangcheng, Master Zheng."
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia looked at each other and saw each other's surprise and confusion. Zheng Kangcheng was famous in the Han Dynasty. Not only the scholars, officials, but also the villagers all admired this great Confucian.
Yuan Xi's heart beat even faster. Zheng Xuan and Cai Yong were both great scholars in the world. After Cai Yong's death, Zheng Xuan's status among scholars remained the same. In Yuan Xi's view, Zheng Xuan's position in his heart is more important than Cai Yong.
For example, Cai Yong taught Gu Yong, a talented person, but Zheng Xuan taught more than one outstanding person. Cui Yan, Guo Yuan, Sun Qian and others were all famous figures in the Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty.
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia quickly dismounted and asked the tiger guards to move out of the way.
"But Zheng Kangcheng, Master Zheng?" Yuan Xi saluted. Just like Emperor Taizong Li Shimin treated the great Confucians Zhang Xuansu and Kong Yingda with the courtesy of sons and nephews.
Zheng Xuan, who looked like a distinguished man, bowed his hands slightly and said lightly, "I heard that the second young master was entering the city, so I came here to greet him."
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia were both very surprised. Zheng Xuan was a truly noble scholar who could ignore the emperor's summons. How could he be in Linzi City and how could he condescend to greet Yuan Xi? There must be something wrong here.
"Students have admired Master Zheng for a long time and wish they could come to Linzi to learn from him. It's rare that Mr. Zheng comes to Linzi now, so students should ask for advice." Yuan Xizhen said respectfully, and he couldn't guess what Zheng Xuan meant for the moment.
Zheng Xuan looked lukewarm and said calmly: "Why did the young master come to Qingzhou? To punish the people?"
Yuan Xi was immediately stuck. What should I say, occupying prefectures and counties, or rescuing Qingzhou? This is a political issue.
Yuan Xi changed his mind and said cautiously: "Gongsun Zan attacked Jizhou and other places and did many unjust things. For his own benefit, he privately set up Qingyan, Jizhou and other prefectures for pastoral purposes. His disobedience was clearly revealed. Xi Feng's father's car In accordance with the orders of the cavalry general, he attacked the unruly ministers and honored the royal family, so he led the army to rescue the people of Qingzhou from water and fire, and fulfilled his duties as a minister."
Zheng Xuan snorted softly, with a bad tone, and sneered: "Saving the people from fire and water? What about robbing the people? Is this the duty of a minister? Is this the king?"
Yuan Xi was at a loss for words. The robbery of food was nothing in the eyes of military strategists, but it was an atrocity in the eyes of Zheng Xuan, a Confucian scholar. But if you think about it carefully, the food plundered does not belong entirely to the people, right? If you don't take Tian Kai yourself, you won't still be collected.
"Um...well, what are you talking about, sir?" Yuan Xi had to be vague with him. I remember that Gao Huan did the same thing in history. A minister named Du under Gao Huan questioned Gao Huan's military discipline, so he admonished Gao Huan to restrain the soldiers.
Gao Huan replied: I brought a dozen soldiers to scare you, but you have become so cowardly. If I really listen to you, who can I count on if those old veterans below rebel? Counting on you?
Original text: Although the arrow cannot be shot, although the sword cannot be lifted, it cannot be struck, and although the spear cannot be pressed, you will still lose your courage and lose your courage. All the honorable men committed a crime and suffered hundreds of deaths in their lifetime. Although they may be greedy and despicable, the rewards are great. How can they be the same as ordinary people?
That's why Yuan Xi acted like this. In fact, he was very polite. Yuan Xi thought that he still couldn't do Gao Huan's behavior, at least on the surface. Yuan Xi thought that he was still a bit shameless. After all, he belonged to the Yuan family of the fourth generation and the third prince.
Zheng Xuan was extremely angry and said sternly: "Young Master captured Linzi and drove away Tian Kai. The people of Qingzhou are all the people under Young Master's rule. However, Young Master sent troops to plunder the people's property in Linzi City. How is it different from Dong Zhuo's jackal!" "
ah! Yuan Xi and Guo Jia were both shocked. They looked at each other in confusion. Where could this plunder come from?
"Did soldiers really plunder?" Yuan Xi asked uncertainly. But I vaguely guessed something in my heart. The Qingzhou soldiers were former Yellow Turban bandits. Although they had been trained, their banditry could not be changed in a short period of time.
Sure enough, Zheng Xuan said angrily: "Last night and this morning, the young master's soldiers looted many shops and houses in the West City!"
There were some things that Yuan Xi couldn't talk about, so Guo Jia hurriedly came out to smooth things over and explained, "Sir, I don't know, but my young master has been busy dealing with military and political affairs after the war. I have just entered the city now, and I don't know that there are soldiers robbing the people."
"Mr. Yuan may not know, but is the Jizhou army running the army like this? I'm afraid it's a disservice to the Yuan family's reputation." Zheng Xuan was still unwilling to give up.
Yuan Xi thought to himself, the old man really told you right. Yuan Shao's army has never emphasized that soldiers are allowed to loot and disturb the people. Except for training and strict obedience to orders during war, other robberies that occurred were not considered violations of military law.
This actually has the background of the times. At this time, except for the strong and strong sergeants who could get some goods, most of the other soldiers were recruited by force. Those soldiers usually did not receive money and food distribution, and they could only obtain property by plundering the enemy people during the war. , or get rewards for military merit. Otherwise, even if you die in battle, you won't get any compensation.
In order to boost morale, some generals indulged their soldiers in looting, and even promised to slaughter cities and burn them to relieve the depressed emotions of their soldiers during the battle. This was the case with the Xiliang Army during this period. This was also the case when Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou.
Although Yuan Shao's army was not as violent as Xiliang's army, robbing property was not uncommon. Yuan Xi led the army and asked the generals to properly restrain military discipline. This kind of thing rarely happened. However, the Yellow Turban Army soon surrendered, and their nature is hard to change.
Guo Jia's thoughts changed sharply and said, "Sir, you may know that my lord has recently surrendered the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou, eradicating this cancer that was harming the prefecture and county. However, the yellow turban soldiers who returned have a hard time changing their bad habits of looting. I cannot blame my young master for this."
Zheng Xuan knew that Yuan Xi had indeed done a good deed for the stability of Qingzhou, but he knew right from wrong and could not tolerate any ugliness.
Following Zheng Xuan, a scribe who was less than thirty years old and had a square face and a short beard stood up to rescue Zheng Xuan and said, "My teacher has no other intentions. He only hopes that the young master can restrain the sergeants and give an explanation to the people of Linzi." .”
Yuan Xi saw his extraordinary temperament, raised his hands and asked: "Who is sir?"
"I am Gu Yong of Wu County, Gu Yuantan." Gu Yong originally studied under Cai Yong in Luoyang. Later, after Dong Zhuo's rebellion, he came to Qingzhou to continue his studies, so he was taught Confucian classics by Zheng Xuan and became a registered disciple.
Yuan Xi knew that this person was a famous prime minister of the Sun Wu Kingdom in history. Later, Sun Quan made mistakes in his later years, and the officials were wary. Only Gu Yong's tactful advice saved many people, and he was recognized as a minister of the country through the ages.
Gu Yong later gradually gained the trust of Yuan Xi and became the military chief. He made suggestions for Yuan Xi and planned food, grass and weapons, and was deeply trusted by Yuan Xi. However, Tao strategy is not his specialty, his specialty is political strategy and economic law.
"It turns out to be Mr. Yuan Tan. Please follow me to the governor's house and wait. Xi will immediately investigate and deal with the person in charge."
Seeing that his goal was achieved, Zheng Xuan said yes and led his disciples to the Governor's Mansion with Yuan Xi.
Linzi, the governor's office in Qingzhou.
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia greeted Zheng Xuan and his disciples cautiously. These people were just looking for a temporary opportunity and could not be treated lightly.
After being introduced by Gu Yong, another person who followed Zheng Xuan was a fair-skinned young man in his early twenties, who was Zheng Xuan's disciple Guoyuan. Guoyuan told the reason why Zheng Xuan was in Linzi.
It turned out that the story of the annihilation of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou spread rapidly in the Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou areas. Zheng Xuan, who had taken refuge in Xuzhou, rushed back to Qingzhou Beihai with his disciple Guoyuan, where he met Gu Yong who was studying, and they went together.
Guoyuan originally wanted to take refuge in Liaodong with his friends Guan Ning, Bing Yuan and others, but he sent a letter to his teacher Zheng Xuan about this. When Zheng Xuan returned to Qingzhou, he naturally wanted to see Guo Yuan, his disciple. Guo Yuan got the news and rushed from Le'an to Linzi to greet him.
By chance, they encountered Yuan Xi's army attacking the city. He also saw the Qingzhou soldiers looting people in the market, so Zheng Xuan led two disciples to find Yuan Xi, the commander of the army, hoping that he could rein in the soldiers.
The robbery was quickly investigated, and Zhang He personally brought the Qingzhou soldiers and cavalry commanders Qin Yuan and Huang Dong, as well as a dozen Qingzhou soldiers who committed the crime, to the Governor's Mansion.
Qin Yuan and Huang Dong had gray faces. They used to do this kind of thing every day, but suddenly they became officers and soldiers, which made them uncomfortable for a while. A dozen Qingzhou soldiers were also tied up and pushed to the front hall.
Zhang He half knelt down and said in shame, "It's Zhang He's incompetence in managing the army that has damaged the Young Master's reputation. I will let the Young Master do what he wants."
Tan Yuan and Huang Dong were frightened and knelt down to apologize.
Yuan Xi didn't know what to do for a moment, so he looked at Guo Jia as if asking.
If the treatment is not harsh, it will definitely give Zheng Xuan a bad impression. However, celebrities such as Gu Yong and Guo Yuan who are closely related to him are all Yuan Xi wants, so it will be difficult to conquer them.
On the contrary, if he has a good relationship with Zheng Xuan, his status among the scholars will be improved, and it will be much easier to conquer Guoyuan and others.
On the other hand, the purpose of strictly dealing with the Qingzhou soldiers, reining in the soldiers, and imposing strict military discipline was achieved. However, the Qingzhou soldiers had just surrendered, and Yuan Xi's reputation among the Qingzhou soldiers was greatly affected. and might provoke mutiny.
Jiangdong, Qu'a.
"Uncle, is this County Lord Han sincerely surrendering, or is it an expedient measure?" Sun Ce watched the two people leave, and became more casual. He sat next to the desk and asked with some worry.
If Wu Jing were not here, he would not have thought of garrisoning in Qu'a. Although he had more than a thousand cavalry and was not afraid of Qu'a's thousands of county soldiers, he did not want to start a war until Sun Jian's army came back.
"Don't worry, Meng Hua used to be my subordinate in Jiujiang County. You can trust me." Wu Jing knew Sun Ce's worries and said, "But we still need to be on guard against this Mo Cong beside him. Mo Cong should be Xu Gong's man." .”
He often served as the county magistrate of Jiujiang County. Han Deng was his long history and was regarded as his old subordinate. He still believed in Han Deng, otherwise he would not have been avoiding trouble in Qu'a.
"Xu Gong? Captain of Wu Commandery, I understand." Sun Ce looked desolate and nodded.
In the camp in Qu'a County, Sun Ce told Wu Jing in detail about the process before and after Jiangdong's army participated in the Eastern Expedition. Wu Jing listened quietly, frowning at times. Sometimes angry, sometimes surprised.
"What a great Yuan Shu, I never expected that such a villain would come out of the family of the Four Generations and Three Dukes." Wu Jing suddenly snorted coldly and cursed angrily with an angry look on his face.
"Hmph! If my father hadn't stopped this villain, Ce would have killed him with one shot!" Sun Ce also said coldly. At only sixteen years old, he was already in the early stages of becoming a first-rate military commander, and he was relatively more confident. .
"It's a pity that the imperial seal was delivered to him." Wu Jing's eyes flashed with admiration, his brows moved, and he sighed.
Sun Ce didn't hide anything from Wu Jing, including Yuxi's secrets.
Before the tiger Sun Jian grew up, the Sun family could not match the influence of the Wu family in Wu. Later, Sun Jian wanted to marry the eldest daughter of the Wu family. The Wu family was unwilling, thinking that he was a rough man and behaved recklessly. Later, Wu Jing single-handedly facilitated this marriage. Wu Jing had known Sun Jian in his early years. He always believed that Sun Jian would achieve great things sooner or later.
Wu Jing has a close relationship with Sun Jian over the years. He has been secretly assisting Sun Jian. Otherwise, how could Sun Jian be able to train 30,000 elite Jiangdong soldiers with just one county in Changsha.
Sun Jian was able to achieve the prestige he has today because he relied on his four brothers Cheng Pu, Zu Mao, Huang Gai, and Han Dang when marching and fighting. In terms of political and financial resources, he relied on two people, his brother-in-law Wu Jing and his younger brother Sun Jing.
The two of them spent all the financial resources of the Sun and Wu families to support Jiangdong Army.
