In April of the sixth year of Yanxing, I received a reply from Yuan Shao in the middle of the court, talking about the war against Hebei. Shocking news came from Liangzhou: General Fenwu fought against the Liang army at Fengyi Mountain and was defeated. He lost tens of thousands of his troops and only escaped with his own life. This shocked the capital.
Since Chen Chong and Liu Bei were transferred to Jinyang, the biggest defeat they encountered was Chuping's battle against Dong. Huangfu Song moved around and annihilated Gongsun Zan, Guo and other tribes within one month, with a loss of nearly 30,000 people. But Lu Bu's losses in this battle were even worse. Because the Liang people attacked suddenly and were located in a mountainous area, the 60,000-strong army wanted to escape but didn't know where to go. Shortly after Lu Bu fled, the only mountain road was blocked by the Liang people. The Han army in the camp soon had only three choices: jump off the cliff, commit suicide, or surrender.
Since then, the Xiliang rebels captured nearly 50,000 prisoners in the first battle, which was the highest achievement in the war against the Han in history. Soon, the princes in the court awakened their memories of the past: In the past forty years, the Qiang rebellion in Liangzhou has been unable to be quelled, and the bones of three generations of famous generals and ministers in the court have been buried in Longshang, many of them Officials like Fu Xie and Zhou Shen still suffered such losses to this day, which made people feel frustrated and thought that Pingliang was far away.
Then there began to be an argument in the court that although the country occupied the land of Liangzhou, it had not benefited from it for many years and had repeatedly spent money in vain. He also increased taxes on the nine states of Guandong, which was widely criticized by the world, so it was better to abandon it. Instead, they built more forts in Fufeng and Feng Yi areas to block the rebels on Long Ban. In this way, the country's annual income is greatly reduced, but it can still have a surplus, and there is no need to ask the dragon head to issue more new policies.
This is a saying that has been made since the late emperor was still alive. Situ Cui Lie was talking like this at that time, and it was quite influential in the court. However, in the end, the late emperor did not adopt it, but instead reused Fu Xie's faction who opposed Qiliang, and it has been about fifteen years now. Originally, after Chen Chong came to power, the situation in Liangzhou gradually improved, and no one said much about it. But now that Feng Yishan was defeated, the theory of abandoning Liang was revived overnight.
Chen Chong sneered at this and said to the officials in court: "If we lose, we will abandon the land. How can we have a country and a country today?" This blocked the minister's speech. The minister doesn't care, after all, most of the people in the court are Chen Chong's students, so they won't be able to cause much trouble. What is really worrying is this year's campaign against Hebei.
Originally, he and Liu Bei had made a plan to mobilize all the troops in the Central Plains of Kansai at the end of July this year and send more than 200,000 troops to Hebei in order to win in one battle. The mobilization of troops from various places was being prepared. But at this critical moment, a big change occurred in Longshang, which forced Chen Chong and Liu Bei to make a choice: Should they still go to Hebei? Or should we give up for the time being and recover Liangzhou?
When Chen Chong was discussing with Liu Bei, he analyzed that although Yuan Shao in Hebei Province was powerful, the Central Plains to the south had been pacified by the imperial court, Bingzhou to the west had many mountainous dangers, and Duan Xuan still occupied Juyong to the north. It could be said that it was surrounded by three sides. If a hundred thousand soldiers were left to guard it, , and we won’t lose ground in a hurry. But if you want to raise troops to attack, you have to use all the strength of the country. But in this way, the three assistants will be empty. If the Liang people go south, they will damage the foundation of the country. From this point of view, force should be used in Longshang first.
In early May, while Chen Chong was still discussing with Liu Bei how to use force and plan the march route, another military report came from Liangzhou Prefecture. However, this time the news was more shocking than last time. Lu Bu wrote a letter saying that after the rebels were victorious, they actually planned to leave it alone and surrender to the imperial court.
This was really unpredictable, and even Chen Chong was caught off guard. He hurriedly sent Wang Yi to the north to learn the details from Lu Bu.
It was not until ten days later that specific news was sent back to Xijing. It turned out that Han Sui and other Xiliang generals had been stationed in Lingzhou, waiting for the envoys from the DPRK. Cheng Yi told Wang Yi that Liangzhou had been fighting for more than ten years, and most of the leaders of the Qiang rebellion had been killed. Those who are still among the rebels are either good people who could not bear the harsh rule of the late emperor and were forced to flee, or people who fought for the Qiang army in the early years. He coerced the Han generals to survive and protect themselves. But now Longshou is in charge, and the third assistant is Yan Ranheqing. He has the reputation of Gantang being in charge. Liangzhou has seen it, and has no intention of perpetuating chaos. However, the imperial court blindly suppresses it, and has resisted until now.
After explaining the reasons for his conversion, Cheng Yi began to talk about the conditions for surrender. Han Sui's ministries were willing to return 50,000 prisoners after the Battle of Fengyishan, and like Zhang Yan in the old days, they paid taxes, troops, horses, and armor to the court every year, and promoted filial piety and integrity, appointed planners, and obeyed the orders of Liangzhou Mu. command. But correspondingly, the rebels also hoped that the imperial court would recognize their own titles and territories, grant them the title of Marquis of Guannei or above, allow their descendants to join the ranks in Liangzhou, and have the right to collect taxes, recruit troops, and perform corvee services on their own.
After that, Cheng Yi gave Wang Yi a list, which included the names of the leaders of the rebel armies and their titles, territories and rewards.
Wang Yi handed the list to the Sili Mansion intact. After hearing the conditions of Liang Jun, Chen Chong looked at the list in his hand, then smiled at Liu Bei and said, "It's really amazing. I didn't expect that after three days of separation, Chen Chong This group of warriors in Longshang will also argue with the imperial court."
Liu Bei read the list and put it on the table. He was obviously relieved. He nodded with a smile and said, "If Yuan Shao hears this news, I don't know how scared he will be." He thought he would be in a dilemma this year. But since Han Sui and others are willing to surrender, the war in Western Xinjiang will naturally be eliminated, and Bafu can reorganize his army and rush to Hebei.
But Chen Chong was deep in thought at this time. He considered and said to Liu Bei: "Xuande, I think Lu Bu's two defeats at Longshang were all caused by the rebels' trap. This man is a strategist and is good at showing the enemy weakness. He is Lu Bu Zhong." After one plan, he was still paralyzed and careless, and then he was defeated with a surprise attack. This is really the way of the snake on the mountain!"
Speaking of this, Chen Chong frowned and said slowly: "So I am also thinking about whether Liang Ren's surrender this time is also a way to show weakness?"
When Liu Bei heard Chen Chong's remarks for the first time, he was shocked, but after thinking about it, he smiled and said: "Ting Jian is worried too much. Don't forget, they still have to pay back Lu Bu's 50,000 soldiers!"
Chen Chong was speechless. This was indeed a difference from the previous situation: if Liang Ren had used a tactic to show weakness before, but now he has released conditions and will return the prisoners to Lu Bu, Lu Bu will inevitably suffer two big losses from him. Be on strict guard against the Liang people, with 50,000 soldiers stationed at Longshang. The Liang people want to cause chaos, but they have to defeat Lu Bu again before they can break into the third auxiliary army. This is indeed a fantasy.
However, Chen Chong still had an ominous premonition. He felt as if he was in the clouds, with clouds rolling in the distance and a dragon peeping faintly. Therefore, he did not agree easily, but spent another twenty days negotiating back and forth with Han Sui and others in order to obtain more favorable conditions.
Negotiations continued until early May, when Ryoto finally made concessions.
Han Sui promised the court that he would dismantle several forts in the three counties of Hanyang and Longjincheng, and cede the three counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, and Zhangye for the court to appoint and remove county guards. He also allowed the court to set up a Qiang-protecting school captain in Jincheng, subordinate to Liang. The most important thing is that all generals and county guards awarded by the imperial court must respond to the pledge order at the beginning of the year and send their brothers or children to Chang'an as pledges. After reaching this point, Chen Chong finally felt at ease.
On the sixth day of the fifth lunar month, after the prisoners were released to Beidi County, Liu Bei went to Chencang with the imperial edict, gathered the heroes of Xiliang, and formally appointed Han Sui as the general of Zhenxi, Ma Teng as the general of the west expedition, Song Jian as the general of Heguan, and Cheng. Gongying was the prefect of Jincheng, Yang Qiu was the prefect of Anding, Liang Xing was the prefect of Hanyang, Zhang Heng was the prefect of Wuwei, and the rest were all given the title of prefect and were all transferred to the commander-in-chief of the county. Except for Han Sui, Ma Teng, and Song Jian, who opened their own mansions and received orders from the court, the rest were all entrusted to Lu Bu. After the meeting, each ministry also sent its own disciples to worship Liu Bei in public and then returned to Chang'an.
Everyone would have thought that a great chaos that swept through Sanfu just disappeared. When all the officials heard about it, they all held their foreheads in joy. However, from beginning to end, neither the DPRK nor the Central Government knew that Dong Zhuo's old troops had united with Han Sui. Naturally, he would not know that Jia Xu had already sneaked into Lingzhou City and had secret meetings with Lu Bu for many days.
Let’s start from the beginning. Since the battle of Yishan, Lu Bu’s heart was extremely depressed. He thought that he had defeated all his elites in one battle and suffered unprecedented humiliation in the world. The rebels would probably continue to pursue him in the near future and force him to withdraw from Longshang. But he had no choice but to go down to Longshang sadly and be ridiculed when he returned to the court. Unexpectedly, in this gloomy mood, what greeted him was not the siege of the rebels, but a peace envoy.
The envoy brought Han Sui's personal letter to Lu Bu.
The letter said that the power of the world is like flowing clouds and mist, gathering and dispersing indefinitely. Yesterday's enemies and bandits can also be today's enemies, and today's allies can also be tomorrow's enemies. The changes are nothing more than profit. Lu Bu was originally a hero from Bingzhou and a warrior from the Five Plains. The Liang people had no intention of enmity with him, but he was instigated by others, thinking that the Liang people could be bullied and the land of Liang was easy to obtain, so they fought with him for many years. Now, although the Liang people have won a great victory, they admire the bravery and uprightness of General Fenwu and cherish the feeling of returning home. Therefore, they are not only unwilling to enmity with the general, but are also willing to return the prisoners of war. They serve Lu Bu as the master. Please surrender. he.
Lu Bu didn't expect this turn of events. Even though he was uneasy, he had no choice but to agree first after being defeated one after another. On the one hand, he reported to the court and on the other hand, he received the envoys from Xiliang first.
At Liang Ren's request, Lu Bu and Liang Ren both took only a dozen people and met in a deserted village twenty miles outside Fuping City. Lu Bu didn't know why, but he had to do it.
It was midsummer, and a refreshing rain had just fallen from the sky, but in the dry longshang sky wind, there was soon only a faint feeling of humidity left. Lu Bu stepped on the red rabbit and arrived at the deserted village at noon. He saw it standing on a mountain, next to a cliff formed by the impact of the river. When you climb up and look into the distance, you can see the dark green on the tops of the mountains.
After getting off his horse, Lu Bu saw the Liang people's envoy from a distance. There were about ten people standing guard and guard, and three more people were sitting by an ancient well, under the jujube forest. They were obviously the leaders of the negotiations, and they were taking a rest in the cool air. Lu Bu led the people straight up, wondering whether the trip would be successful. Unexpectedly, when he got closer, a man smiled and greeted him, and Lu Bu was shocked.
Jia Xu stood up and said with a smile: "It has been years since I last saw Fengxian. How could I have expected that we would be here today?"
