Yang Feng followed Chen Gui's advice and finally decided to postpone the move and move all the people to Xuzhou. All related matters were handed over to Chen Gui, who proposed.
In December, he went to Guangling again to inspect the progress of the relocation and found that Chen Gui was effective.
Chen Gui followed the example of Shang Yang of Qin and summoned the heads of all counties in Guangling. He ordered that every ten households in each county should be given one tithe, and the richest one should be the chief, and let the chief be responsible for the relocation. Anyone who could not move would be killed. In order to hold people accountable, the order continues like this.
Although the selection of the organization was time-consuming and took more than 20 days to be fully prepared, within only 10 days after it was completed, more than 20,000 people had moved out of Guangling. According to this progress, all the people in Guangling will be able to move out by January next year.
Yang Feng was very forgiving about this. When he returned to Xiapi, he immediately selected a pair of golden phoenixes from the collection and ordered his attendants to send them to Chen Gui overnight to show his favor. After that, he continued to indulge in wine and sex, living in a state of drunkenness and dreaming all day long. At some point, the fifth year of Yanxing came quietly.
Tens of thousands of people were relocated to Guangling, and the momentum was unprecedented in several years. In addition, the people were slow to move, and the Han army in Pengcheng could not pretend to turn a blind eye. After the New Year, Yang Feng received several military messages every other day, saying that there seemed to be Han army scouts spying on Pei State, and occasionally there were cavalry wandering on both sides of the Huaihe River, but they could not go deep, but Bai Bo had obviously been discovered. Resettlement trends. I'm afraid it won't be long before the Han army takes action.
When he thought about the possibility of fighting with the Han army, Yang Feng's consciousness, which was hazy due to drunkenness, suddenly woke up a little. But after all, he is not the Yang Feng who marched to the north. Today, Yang Feng neither has the courage to fight the Han army nor the clever strategy to avoid the battle. He spent half a day thinking about it in his house, and finally had to ask his companions and assistants. What's the plan?
But he's not the only one who's brave? The evil owl is like Dugu Qubei. When he heard that there was going to be a war, he could not help but show a timid attitude. He suggested that it would be better to lead the army into Qingzhou first and go to the south bank of the river, and then lead the relocated people. The implication is to get rid of all the relocations. Yang Feng couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this. If they abandon Xuzhou, where can they move the people? It is rare to escape unscathed. But such a plan actually won a lot of approval. He lamented in his heart: The morale of the army has been lost.
The remaining strategies were all mediocre strategies, and Yang Feng could not adopt them. After thinking about it, he remembered Chen Gui, who had achieved great success in relocating the people. He thought he was both wise and loyal, so he quickly wrote to ask for advice.
Not long after, Chen Gui replied and sent it back overnight. His reply was unique. He did not talk about today's predicament at the beginning, but specifically mentioned the Ruying War in the third year of Yanxing. The letter said that after Yuan Shu's defeat, Yang Feng led the Baibo Army to withdraw from Henan. At that time, they were deep in the enemy territory of Yuzhou. There were large armies waiting in the north and south. The danger was even worse than today, but why was Yang Feng able to retreat unscathed?
He later analyzed that this was because Bafu was influenced by Liu Bei and Chen Chong. Before and after the battle, in addition to victory or defeat on the battlefield, he would also consider the people's livelihood and public sentiment. Therefore, although it is easy to use danger in joint battles, it rarely attacks the people. At that time, Yang Feng plundered the people and property along the road, and the number of people at one time was close to 100,000. Han troops were following him all the way, and they did not dare to attack. This was probably because if a joint war was launched, the number of civilians who would be accidentally killed would be immeasurable, and Bafu Only because of this false reputation did Yang Fengan retreat.
Nowadays, Xuzhou is relocating people on a large scale. Yang Feng might as well follow the old example and order the army to go with the people, which can achieve the effect of treating the people as quality. The Han army will definitely not rashly fight Bai Bo. The remaining countermeasures are nothing more than two. They either look for opportunities to block roads, or send people to secretly appease the fleeing people. As long as the Baibo army can seize the main route to the north and the army strictly guards the people, the Han army will be helpless.
If you are still not at ease, you can let out the news that Yuan Shu of Jiujiang holds the Imperial Seal, which is a national treasure. Once the Overlord hears the news, no matter what Xuzhou does, they will definitely attack Yuan Shu first. Although Yuan Shu had few troops, he had the danger of the Huaihe River and the treacherous ministers of Shouchun, so he could always delay Bai Bo for a while.
After reading Chen Gui's reply, Yang Feng and Han Xian discussed it. Except for the hesitation about taking the people as hostages, they all praised the rest of the plan and immediately started to implement it.
First, defend the main route to the north. Now that we have made up our minds to abandon the land, there are not many major roads to control. There are only two ways to go north from Xuzhou: one is to take Taishan County, pass Licheng from Fenggao, and cross the river from Gaotang; the other is to take Langya, go around Mount Tai to Le'an, and cross the river from Liaocheng. Comparing the two, there is Cao Cao's tiger waiting next to Taishan County, and the road is steep and difficult, so it is naturally better to take Langya. Although they made a big circle, they were blocked by the East China Sea to the east and Mount Tai to the west, so the Han army could only lead the way and follow them.
Then the disaster was diverted to the east. Although Yuan Shu could be considered an ally at this time, the situation was so urgent that Yang Feng and the others could not take care of it. In addition to sending soldiers to spread the news that Yuan Shu had passed down the imperial seal, Han Xian also carefully selected from his correspondence with Yuan Shu and selected a letter written by Yuan Shu: It not only said that the imperial seal had been passed down, but also that Yuan Shu The words vaguely recommending Yuan Shao proclaim himself emperor, and the letter is stamped with the seal of the empress general, making it absolutely impossible to forge it. After Yang Feng sent this letter to Pengcheng, the consequences can be imagined.
After everything was done, Yang Feng sent Cao Bao and two thousand knights to Xia Qiu, and sent out scouts day and night to spy on the movements of the Han army. Internally, Chen Gui continued to be reused and all relocation matters across the state were handed over to him. When Yang Feng handed over the important task, he lamented to the envoy: "If it weren't for Chen Gongxiang's help, I would have been having trouble sleeping recently, for fear that I wouldn't even be able to taste the wine!"
Not long after, news came from the west, saying that General Liu Bei had learned of the incident in Guandong and had led tens of thousands of Bafu troops south to Hanoi. Yin Guanyu of Henan Province had also ordered all his troops and horses. The two armies combined a hundred thousand people and called them a combined attack. The two thieves Yuan Shu and Bai Bo aim to regain Shandong and Huainan, and will lead their troops eastward soon.
At the same time, Yuan Shu knew nothing about it. Since the battle of Ruying, Yuan Jiuji has rarely had such a time. Although he adopted Zheng Hun's suggestion and reluctantly negotiated peace with Baibo's army by submitting a surrender statement to Linzi, he achieved overnight stability. But after all, he was controlled by others. To the south was Sun Ce, who was galloping east of the Yangtze River. To the west was Huangfu Li, who was encircling and suppressing the mountain bandits. To the east was the Baibo army who was rebelling and seizing territory on the battlefield. Caught between three sides, Yuan Shu was always terrified.
Late at night, he often dreamed of a fierce battle, stabbing him directly from the smoke. As he entered and exited, blood flowed profusely, and then he woke up from the bed. He was dazzled for a long time, but he could not fall asleep again. He had been plagued by this kind of nightmare for a long time. He couldn't eat to his taste and was in a trance. His originally healthy body quickly began to lose weight. Sometimes when he went to the military camp to see what was going on, he seemed to hear someone whispering, laughing at his various ugliness in the Battle of Ruying.
This situation lasted until recently, after he, Yuan Shao and Bai Bojun reached an agreement on moving north. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief, but what followed was the pain of not knowing what to do.
The eldest son Yuan Yao proposed the strategy of sending the jade seal away. In July, he said to Yuan Shu: Although the imperial seal is extremely valuable, it is still a dead thing. What if I can exchange for my father's peace for half his life? Although Yuan Shu was reluctant to give up, he still agreed. But now that he thought about it carefully, Yuan Shu felt an indescribable feeling of sadness: it seemed that the previous thirty years of fighting for power were just a dream, and what he fought for seemed meaningless.
Thinking of this, Yuan Shu seemed to have broken a string in the dark. So a new problem arose. Late every night, he would sit alone in meditation, and then rub the jade seal under the light, not knowing what he was thinking.
Until one day, Yuan Yao brought a brazier to warm his father, but he saw that Yuan Shu had put down the jade seal, but was in a daze in the bedroom holding a dagger. Before Yuan Yao could speak, Yuan Shu suddenly said: "Why is Yuan Gongli of Runan in such a situation?" Without waiting for the eldest son to answer, he closed his eyes, held the dagger high, and stabbed hard into the heart.
Unexpectedly, after the stabbing, Yuan Shu felt no pain at all. He wanted to pull out the knife and stab again, but found that the blade was stuck in a pair of palms. He pulled it out and only reacted when he heard the groan of the eldest son.
The brazier brought by Yuan Yao has been spilled on the ground, and the red-hot charcoal is scattered around, and it also shines red on the blood dripping on his hands. Yuan Yao asked Yuan Shu caringly: "Why is father like this?" After hearing these words, Yuan Shu overflowed with tears and rolled down his clothes. He immediately fell into his son's arms and cried so loudly that his voice became hoarse. Then he kept mumbling to himself: "Why is Yuan Jiuji like this! Why is Yuan Jiuji like this!"
After this incident, Yuan Shu finally let go of his worries. After he sealed the imperial seal in the letter, he called his three sons and two daughters to his knees and said to them: "I, Yuan Gongli, have filial sons and daughters, so God has treated me well." So he took advantage of this last moment. At the end of the year, he had a feast with his children. Then he ordered his subordinates to sort out their finances, gather soldiers, and wait for news from him day and night. Once there is an order, they will immediately prepare to go north.
In Yuan Shu's view, he is now a small county with less than 10,000 soldiers. In the eyes of the Han army, he is just a feather in the forest. However, the Baibo army in Xuzhou is a traitor to the Han army and has tens of thousands of people. It is obviously a Han army. The army's chief enemy is the enemy.
Yuan Shu then thought that he did not need to rush northward, but should delay for a while. After the Han army comes east and engages in a brief battle with the Baibo army, no matter how many troops the Han army has, it will inevitably lose sight of one thing. He could take advantage of this opportunity to suddenly lead his troops into Xu, and then go north day and night to defect to Yuan Shao.
He thought very well, and the situation seemed to change just as he thought. On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, when Liu Bei arrived in Luoyang, Yuan Shu found out that there was a baggage coming in and out of Zhang Xian's headquarters in Pengcheng. It was obvious that action would be taken soon. Huangfu Li of Yuzhou was still suppressing bandits in Anyang and had no intention of coming east.
Pengcheng is adjacent to Baibo, Xiapi, and is separated from Jiujiang by Peiguo. It seems that the Han army will attack Xuzhou soon!
How sad! The emperor woke up from his dream, but Yuan Shu was still dreaming of living an ignoble existence.
However, at noon on the 20th of January, when Yuan Shu was having dinner with his wife and children, a military report ruthlessly shattered this dream. The letter said that a group of Han troops suddenly came out of the north of Zhongli, and a group of Han troops suddenly came out of the east of Yicheng. They were all flying Zhang Xian's flag. The actions of the two teams had already cut off Yuan Shu's escape route east of the Huaihe River.
