Chapter 242 Yuan Shu proclaims himself emperor
Since ancient times, economics has been about right and wrong, and conspiracy is the most taboo. ----------Two Poems with Feelings by Tang Sikong Tu
It is said that the Chang'an Military Conference laid the foundation for unifying the world based on Jingzhou. China is so big that the warlords' melee is an endless game of chess. As the saying goes, the general trend of the world is that if it is divided for a long time, it will unite, and if it unites for a long time, it will divide.
After the Yuan Shu incident occurred, the jade seal in his hand not only attracted the firepower of the royalists, but also attracted the attention of northern warlords such as Lu Bu, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao. Chen Long kept a low profile, but the situation in Chang'an strangely stabilized, and a peaceful state was maintained.
continue. Amidst the calm, midwinter has arrived, and Chen Long and his four wives welcomed the first heavy snow in Chang'an.
In the spring of 192 AD, after a winter of adjustments, all of Chen Long's military deployments were in place. The number of troops guarding Wancheng around Wancheng reached 80,000 in two legions, with Zhao Yun as the main general, Zhang Xiu as the deputy general, and Ju Shou and Jia Xu as the deputy generals. The military division can be said to be at its peak, facing Yuan Shu's army at a distance, becoming a strong stronghold deep into the Central Plains. The Jiangxia Navy was stationed in Hanyang Water Village, with Huang Zhong as the Army Commander, Xi Zhicai as the Military Advisor, Yang Huai as the Navy Commander, Bu Zhi Buzishan as the Military Advisor, with 20,000 Navy troops and 40,000 Army troops, with a total strength of six Thousands of people, overwhelming the waterway coalition forces of Huang Zu and Sun Ce in Jiangxia, controlled one side of the Yangtze River waterway, blocked the outlet of the Xiangjiang River, and defended the safety of Jiangling and Changsha.
Jiangling also formed a water and land coalition, with Zhu Huan as the chief naval general, Gao Pei as the deputy general, Xue Zong and Xue Jingwen as the military advisor, with 25,000 water troops as the main force, guarding the defense line on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Liu Xun and Liu Zitai as the army chief, and Zhu Zhi As a military advisor, he commanded troops and was stationed at the land fortress in Jiangbei. He not only inspected the land fortress between Yizhou and Jingzhou, but also ensured the smooth passage between Lingling, Wuling, and Jiangling. However, the number of troops was small, only 10,000. Jiang Wan arranged for Hu Zhen, Hu Wencai, Zhang Nan and Zhang Yanbei to lead five thousand troops each to protect Liu Xun's flanks and set up beacon towers to prevent the Yizhou army from sneaking out of the mountain road to attack.
Xiangyang, as the new administrative center, is defended by the Fifth Army Corps. Commander Shamoko and military advisor Pan Jun and Pan Chengming have a strength of 40,000. The leaders of the navy, Gan Ning and Lu Su, lead the Xiangyang navy of 20,000 people. As Jingzhou navy At the military headquarters, Chen Long specially appointed Lu Su as the commander-in-chief of the navy. There are more than 20,000 Danjiangkou troops in the upper reaches of the Han River. Wei Yan is the chief general and Ding Yi and Ding Zhengli are the military advisers. They try their best to prevent the Shangyong Navy from coveting Xiangyang.
Throughout the winter, Chen Long established a very good relationship with Ma Teng, Ma Chao and his son, and also made Ma Teng and his son realize Chen Long's political philosophy of benefiting the people. Chen Long learned that Ma Tengjun's current position in Xiliang was just the lord of Anding City. The real overlord was Han Sui, the great warlord who controlled Tianshui, Wuwei, Zhangye, Dunhuang and other vast areas. Due to the vast land, sparsely populated areas and landforms It is desolate and many places are co-governed by Qiang and Hu.
Wuwei, located at the east end of the Hexi Corridor, was an important town on the ancient Silk Road. It has been known as the "ancient capital of the Five Liang Dynasties and the metropolis of Hexi" in history. It is also known as the "Silver Wuwei". Since ancient times, it has been "populated with people and dense with mulberry trees." It is a fertile land, a strategic military location that "connects the vast desert with water and controls the throat of five counties" and an important commercial port town where "carriages and horses intersect, singing and blowing the sun are everywhere". Han Sui stationed a large number of troops here, with Yan Zhong, a famous scholar from Liangzhou in the late Han Dynasty, as his military advisor, Li Xiangru, Huang Yan, Wang Guo and others as his staff. He had eight generals: Liang Xing, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng and Cheng Yi. Ma Wan and Yang Qiu are both brave and good at fighting. They are scattered in the important towns of Liangzhou like stars over the moon. They can be said to be powerful and have always overpowered Ma Teng to become the overlord of Xiliang.
Ma Teng's several wolf-like sons gradually grew up, especially Ma Chao, who was extremely skilled in martial arts, and gradually became dissatisfied with Han Sui. Chen Long promised the Ma family to permanently control Liangzhou, act as an agent in Hanzhong, conspire with Yizhou, and participate in the CPPCC, in accordance with Xun You's strategy , the spearhead of the strategy was directed at Tianshui and Hanzhong.
With the arrival of Zhang He and Gao Lan's troops and the 5,000 cavalry brought by Chu Feiyan, the strength of the Qinglong Army in Chang'an reached an unprecedented 65,000. Chen Long ordered Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead the army around the city and join forces with Ma Teng's army. Deployed in Sanfu area. Military advisors Zhou Buyi and Guo Jia entered the city to reunite with their lord. Considering that Guo Jia died of illness during the expedition in the official history, Chen Long did not dare to let Guo Jia work too hard, so he asked him to assist Huang Gai in guarding Chang'an. Guo Jia refused many times, so Chen Long urged Fang to stop.
Chen Long arranged for Mrs. Cai Yan and Mrs. Zou to return with their eldest son and stay in the Queen Mother He's palace. The special forces and Huang Gai Guards were mixed to form a guard to ensure safety. Since there were super masters such as Wang Yue and Shi A among the royalists, Chen Long ordered Sun Li to train female officers day and night, and also organized a female guard, so that they would not panic too much in case of trouble. At the same time, Lu Zhi mobilized thousands of soldiers and horses to guard the perimeter of Queen Mother He's palace. With such heavy protection, the assassins did not dare to move lightly.
As for Tong Feifei and Chu Feiyan, they pretended to be two cute little soldiers and prepared to conquer Liangzhou and Hanzhong with Chen Long. The Qinglong Army began to recruit a large number of troops in various cities. Arsenals, shipyards, and munitions factories in various places were operating at full capacity. War horses were purchased in Chang'an. Weapons, armor, and horses were continuously equipped to the soldiers. After nearly five or six years of accumulation, Jiang Wan, who is in charge of internal affairs, already has relatively sufficient funds in his hands, and the total number of Qinglong Army has exceeded 300,000. Since the new soldiers needed time to train, Chen Long discussed with several military advisers and decided to set the time for the expedition in the third year of Jian'an, that is, in the early spring of 193 AD.
In the year of Chang'an, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and Chen Long were at peace with each other. After the incident of Yuan Shu's jade seal, Wang Yun seemed to target Yuan Shu, who had obvious rebellious tendencies. In the autumn of this year, during the wheat harvest season, news came that shocked the world. Zhang Kun, a native of Hanoi, made a divination for Yuan Shu and said that he was destined to be emperor. Yuan Shu claimed that he had been ordered by heaven and proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang. The Zhong family of Jianyuan appointed hundreds of officials and built a royal ancestral hall in the northern suburbs of Luoyang.
Yuan Shu was born into a famous family in the Eastern Han Dynasty. His family was the Runan Yuan family of the fourth generation and the third Duke. He was the second son of Sikong Yuan Fengzhi. Legend has it that when he was born, the gods entrusted his mother with a dream, saying that the child in her arms would have a destiny. Since Yuan Shu's brother-in-law Yuan Shao was the adopted son of his uncle Yuan Cheng, although Yuan Shu was Yuan Shao's cousin, they were actually half-brothers. Yuan Shao's mother was just a maid, and Yuan Shao's status in the family was quite low in his early years.
After Dong Zhuo's Rebellion, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shu met each other and became warlords of one side. Yuan Shao wanted to establish Liu Yu of the Han clan as emperor, so he sent someone to notify Yuan Shu, hoping to get Yuan Shu's support. However, Yuan Shu had long watched the decline of the Han Dynasty, and he had already harbored dissatisfaction and was unwilling to support an adult Han emperor, so he used justice to disapprove of Yuan Shao's proposal, and the two brothers fell out with each other. At that time, most of the heroes were attached to Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu was furious and said, "Are these Zhuzi not following me, but following my servants?" So he wrote letters everywhere and spread the news that Yuan Shao was not a descendant of the Yuan family. Although Yuan Shao was angry, because he was working hard to manage Jizhou, the two brothers had not officially started fighting yet.
Yuan Shu had been operating for many years, and his troops had reached more than 300,000, focusing on Luoyang, Hulao, Runan, and Shouchun. Before proclaiming himself emperor, Yuan Shu teamed up with Jin Shang to attack Yanzhou in order to eliminate Yuan Shao's ally Cao Cao. Yuan Shu stationed his troops in Fengqiu, and then paid a lot of money to invite the Xiongnu Yu Fuluo and others to help him fight. He fought with Cao Cao in Kuangting, but was defeated. Yuan Shu retreated to Yongqiu and returned south to Shouchun. The defender Chen Yu refused to let him enter the city. Yuan Shu retreated to Yinling and gathered his troops to attack Chen Yu. Chen Yu fled back to Xiapi. Yuan Shu then led the rest of his troops to Jiujiang County, killed Chen Wen, the governor of Yangzhou, and took the post of Yangzhou Mu, also known as Xuzhou Bo. He made generals Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui generals. After a great battle, although they failed to eliminate Cao Cao, they also occupied large areas such as Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou, with a population of one million and more than 300,000 troops.
Yuan Shu brazenly proclaimed himself emperor, and the limelight suddenly overshadowed the rapid rise of Chen Long. He immediately became the target of public criticism and was despised by all the princes in the world. Sun Ce first declared rebellion and self-reliance in Jiangxia, broke with Yuan Shu, formed an alliance with Huang Zu, and drove away Danyang, the prefect appointed by Yuan Shu. This also caused Yuan Shu's Guangling prefect Wu Jing and general Sun Ben to abandon Yuan Shu and surrender after receiving Sun Ce's letter. Sun Ce caused Yuan Shu to lose large areas of land such as Guangling and Jiangdong, and his power was weakened. Later, Lu Bu and Zhang Miao sent troops to Chenliu to defeat Yuan Shu's army in Huaibei, burning, killing and looting. Cao Cao was not idle either and personally led the army to conquer. Yuan Shu captured and beheaded Yuan Shu's generals Qiao Rui, Li Feng, Liang Gang, and Lejiu in Qiyang. Yuan Shu once again lost a large area of land in Huainan.
In the winter of the second year of Jian'an, the area ruled by Yuan Shu encountered a severe drought and drought that had not happened in a century. Yuan Shu's rule was once again hit hard. There was even a tragedy of cannibalism between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River. Wang Yun believed that the time had come to destroy Yuan Shu, and formed an alliance to destroy Yuan Shu, but no one responded. Except for Chang'an Lu Zhi's 10,000 imperial forest troops who were nominally affiliated with the imperial court, and Zhu Jun's 10,000 field troops stationed in Luoshan, Wang Yun had no soldiers. However, they managed to gather 10,000 infantrymen in Chang'an. With Wang Yue as the commander, they planned to attack Luoyang along the Yellow River, echoing Zhu Jun's attack on Runan. Wang Yue felt that his troops were too few. Wang Yun had no choice but to put down his attitude and come to Chen Long to discuss an alliance.
Chen Long has been dormant this year. In addition to cultivating himself and continuing to plan the battle of Hanzhong, he also did several major things. Among them, the most important thing is to let Liu Qian recognize Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying as their adopted grandchildren and adopted granddaughters, and comprehensively guide them to understand modern technology and take advantage of Liu Qian's time travel. Although Liu Qian was not proficient in science, engineering and machinery, her knowledge was a hundred times better than that of the wise men at that time, and she could be regarded as a good teacher of the generation.
In the middle of winter that year, a mysterious carriage rushed from Lingling to Chang'an, delivering a large wooden box in the heavy snow. The person who came was none other than Zhang Ning and Liu Qian's special envoy, special operations captain Li Tong, and the box he brought was actually a successfully developed machine gun-like mechanical repeating crossbow.
The mechanical repeating crossbow is so powerful that it can fire twenty crossbow arrows continuously after filling the quiver, and it is extremely convenient to change the quiver. Although it is a little cumbersome to transport, it is not a problem for moving troops. It only needs to be transported by horse-drawn carriage. And when used for defense on the city walls, it made Chang'an city defense even more powerful.
Chen Long classified the Liannu wooden box as top secret and began to secretly assign it to troops in various places. All troops transporting and using wooden boxes are strictly ordered to surrender if they encounter any threat to their lives during the war, but they must smash the wooden boxes before being captured, otherwise they will be executed. However, Chen Long's long-awaited mobile phone bag and remote communication device have not made progress due to environmental constraints.
Yuan Shu's proclaiming himself emperor disrupted Chen Long's planned plan to conquer Hanzhong. At the end of winter, in the early spring of 193 AD, Wang Yun finally set foot on the threshold of Chen Long's mansion.
If you want to know what happens next, listen to the explanation next time.
