Hearing what Man Chong said, Chen Qun was a little worried.
"I heard that Gongsun Zan is a fellow disciple of the general and a disciple of the Lu family. I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to handle, right? They are fellow disciples after all. If he is sentenced to death, I don't know what Taiwei Lu will think. If he is not sentenced to death, what will happen to Youzhou? Someone must be responsible for the losses caused by chaos, and in the final analysis, Gongsun Zan did not obey orders. This matter seems a bit tricky."
"yes."
Man Chong stopped writing, nodded and said: "Gongsun Zan did not obey the order, which led to chaos in Youzhou. Five county guards, as well as Wu Huanzhonglang general, and six two thousand stone officials were martyred for this, so the general insisted on He wants to make an expedition to the north, and he will not return to Luoyang to participate in the trial of Gongsun Zan."
"As long as the result is big enough, the merit can always be outweighed."
Zhong Yao whispered: "But Gongsun Zan has no way to offset his merits, and I don't know what the final result will be, and who will take the many vacant positions in Youzhou?"
Man Chong looked at Zhong Yao, who was nearly forty years old.
"Yuan Chang, if you have any ideas, why not recommend yourself?"
Zhong Yao was stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
"I just joined the General's Mansion, and I still work for the General a lot now. As for this matter, we will talk about it some time later."
Man Chong nodded noncommittally.
Several people continued to work hard until the first day of March, when they finally got the news that Liu Bei had successfully concluded the Northern Expedition and was preparing to return.
Everyone was overjoyed and immediately prepared a celebration banquet to honor Liu Bei.
On the seventh day of March, Liu Bei led a large army and huge victory results to Yuyang County. The huge victory results directly shocked Man Chong and others. They looked at the endless queue of "win results" and almost lost their minds.
Liu Bei and others were exhausted. After briefly explaining some things, they fell asleep and left everything to the miserable Man Chong and others. Therefore, Man Chong and others could only cheer up and go to Liu Bei's house. I worked overtime while sleeping.
The captured livestock need to be settled, and the captured prisoners need to be settled, they need people to take care of them, and they need a little food.
Because the results were so huge, it wasn't until Liu Bei woke up that they could finish the statistics and hand them over to Liu Bei.
In this battle, nearly 100,000 people were killed, and Xianbei, Wuhuan, Xiongnu and other Hu people were captured. The population was about 710,000 men and women, and the livestock was more than 3 million. The scale was really too big, and the fruits of victory were really huge, far exceeding all others. human imagination.
And a lot of management problems have arisen.
After Liu Bei learned of the situation, he immediately gave Man Chong an idea.
"I will contact the Zhen family as your helper. You can discuss with the Zhen family and ask them to mobilize local relations and sell a batch of the captives and livestock we captured to Jizhou to exchange for food with them.
Then he went further south to ask Qingzhou and Yanzhou if they needed livestock and captives, and tried to sell a batch to Qingzhou and Yanzhou. The speed must be fast, and the negotiation must be quick. It doesn't hurt to give away some profits. The key is to sell the things and exchange them for food. "
When Man Chong heard this, he immediately felt that this should be possible, but it should be done as soon as possible, otherwise the livestock brought back would almost eat up all the grass roots in the wild, and they must be diverted as soon as possible.
Send them north to the grasslands to open up pastoral areas under the control of the Youzhou government as soon as possible, learn from the advanced experience of Liangzhou, and engage in official grazing under official control.
Selling food southward to Jizhou and Zhongyuan prefectures and counties in exchange for food for the Youzhou people to help them survive this difficult year or two.
All in all, Youzhou will be starved to death if he can't eat these things in one bite, so they need to mobilize national connections to help the people of Youzhou and help them.
The idea was good, but it needed to be acted upon as soon as possible without delay. However, Manchong had no manpower available, so Liu Bei gave the task to Cheng Yu and asked Cheng Yu to run errands and contact buyers from various places for him.
After everything was settled and a charter was in place, Liu Bei finally breathed a sigh of relief and had a good meal.
He didn't eat meat during this meal. He ate a meal of grain, some fruits and vegetables, and drank a bowl of vegetable soup. This was a good way to get rid of the anger caused by eating beef and mutton for a long time.
But even when he was eating, he couldn't enjoy the food properly. He had to talk to Man Chong about the war situation in southern Jizhou during his expedition from east to north.
Then he learned that things were generally good.
Yecheng was still the same as before. It was surrounded by an army led by Niu Fu. The defender Shenpei sent people many times to break out, but Niu Fu, who counterattacked and defended, shot them back with random arrows. After many times of sending troops to attack but failed to achieve results, Yecheng was surrounded by soldiers. The people's hearts began to be turbulent, and their judgment was a bit unbearable.
As for Liu Yu and Qiao Mao, they both won.
Yecheng was besieged, and the entire command system belonging to Yuan Shao in Jizhou collapsed. The armies facing Qingzhou and Yanzhou soon ran out of logistical supplies and could not fight at all.
Facing the fierce attack of Bao Xin and Yu Jin, Jiang Qi could no longer hold on and retreated step by step, retreating continuously. Small defeats occurred one after another, and Guantao County's defense line quickly collapsed.
He himself couldn't hold on any longer and wanted to retreat. However, before the retreat was sounded, Yu Jin sneaked into his camp at night and succeeded. Jiang Qi was killed by Yu Jin in a sneak attack. The army collapsed. Yanzhou soldiers rushed in and came to Yecheng.
The same goes for Liu Yu.
Wen Chou's will to fight is very strong, because he is a member of the Wen family. Now the Wen family has followed Yuan Shao all the way to the dark side. There is no other way to go, so he fights very resolutely without giving up at all. of.
However, there is indeed a gap between the morale of the army and its actual combat effectiveness.
Liu Yu's army is mainly composed of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army that surrendered at the beginning. It has been trained in many ways and has considerable combat effectiveness and organization. Tai Shici is a local brave man he trusts. Guan Hai and Guan Cheng are the original commanders of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban and have a close relationship. .
Therefore, the combat effectiveness of this army is relatively strong. There is really nothing to say about Wenchou's army of strong men.
Wen Chou was suppressed by Liu Yu as soon as the war started. Although he relied on his personal bravery and elite private soldiers to attack the Qingzhou Army's military formation many times in an attempt to restore the disadvantage, the main force that brought him down would always defeat the advantage he had finally gained. Go back and post some more.
This defensive battle lasted for more than ten days. Wen Chou lost his logistics and food, and the battle could not go on. Most of his troops collapsed. In desperation, Wen Chou led his cavalry to launch a final charge against the Qingzhou Army and fought with all his strength. He reached the last person and was killed by Taishi Ci.
Jiang Qi and Wen Chou's armies were all defeated. The Qingzhou Army and the Yanzhou Army rushed to Yecheng according to the original plan. They met the Bingzhou soldiers led by Niu Fu at the foot of Yecheng. After talking with them, they learned that Liu Bei was leading his army in the Northern Expedition, and the situation of the battle was unknown.
It was said that the situation of the battle was unknown, but neither Niu Fu, Qiao Mao, nor Liu Yu believed that Liu Bei would be defeated, so they joined the team that surrounded and attacked Yecheng, waiting for the news of Liu Bei's victory to come back, so that they could work together Share military merit.
The result was of course what they expected. Not long after, in mid-to-late January, news came back that Liu Bei had defeated and destroyed Yuan Shao and the Xianbei cavalry one after another.
Yuan Shao's entire army was wiped out, and the Xianbei people who collaborated in the rebellion were also wiped out. The peace of the Youzhou Rebellion was finally pacified, and the Yecheng besieging army was very happy about it.
They were even happier when news came in late February that Liu Bei had defeated the Wuhuan people and was preparing to launch a further Northern Expedition.
The rebellious armies were defeated one by one by Liu Bei, which fully proved Liu Bei's combat effectiveness to dominate the world. This combat effectiveness will become a strong support for his power. For Liu Yu and others, cooperation with Liu Bei has therefore become a Something with a high return rate.
So they continued to insist on besieging Yecheng, and even launched several attacks on the city wall, trying to put some pressure on the city and promote its collapse faster.
In addition, they also tried to send news of Yuan Shao's death to the city, or sent people to shout loudly or something, in order to shake the morale of the troops in the city. However, the trial team was really capable. The city had been cut off from internal and external transportation and reinforcements for a long time, but it still did not collapse.
A few people who "destroyed the morale of the army" were also sentenced to death.
In this matter, Shen Pei was like a dictatorial king, determined not to allow any idea to survive. He firmly believed that Yuan Shao could defeat Liu Bei and lead the Xianbei and Wuhuan troops south to liberate Ye. The siege of the city.
So Yecheng has been holding on.
It was not until March 11th that the news of Liu Bei's victorious return from the Northern Expedition reached Yecheng. Niu Fu, Liu Yu and Qiao Mao were very happy about this. They held wine to celebrate, and then sent people to shout loudly that Liu Bei's Northern Expedition was successful. The news reached the city.
At this moment, Shen Pei's willpower is still resolute. He declares everywhere that Yuan Shao is not defeated. This is the enemy's plan to destabilize the army and is a despicable and shameless deception. Don't believe it.
But privately, at midnight, when the judge's willpower was at its weakest, he would also wonder whether Yuan Shao was really dead and whether they had really failed completely.
If this were true, wouldn't his current actions be a joke?
It was midnight, and at dawn, Shen Pei was still the determined Shen Zhengnan.
But his will is firm, which does not mean that others are firm. Therefore, Shenpei not only has to worry about the siege of external enemies, but also the sneak attacks of internal traitors. In the past half month, he has dealt with three premeditated and organized attacks. A sneak attack was launched.
This made him realize that the internal stability of Yecheng was about to become unstable. If Yuan Shao could not come back as soon as possible, Yecheng would really be doomed.
On March 14, an army of thousands of people marched south from the north, led by Bingzhou Mu Dong Zhuo. After Dong Zhuo arrived in Yecheng, he showed a large number of Yuan's army battle flags, as well as Yuan Shao's own commander's flag.
"The general said that you can place all these flags around Yecheng, and then wave Yuan Shao's own flag. If so, Yecheng will be in chaos."
Liu Yu and Qiao Mao were somewhat surprised by Dong Zhuo's arrival.
Dong Zhuo explained what Liu Bei meant.
Liu Bei has achieved a comprehensive victory in the Northern Expedition. The amount of captures and military exploits are unprecedented since Dou Xian's Northern Expedition. The dynasty's illustrious military exploits are enough to shine through the annals of history, so Liu Bei has no interest in obtaining more military exploits.
Considering that the military merits of the three governors were not enough, Liu Bei was willing to give the military merits of capturing Yecheng and ending the war to three, and the three would share them equally.
Liu Yu and Qiao Mao looked at each other, with exactly the same emotion in their eyes.
There's nothing more to say. No matter how hard they try, they can't achieve greater military exploits than Liu Bei. Now that people are willing to reward their help with a final military exploit, they are satisfied.
The most important thing for people is to be self-aware.
So Liu Yu and others followed Liu Bei's suggestion and checked Yuan Jun's military flag around Yecheng. Then they sent a Linchong chariot and asked a strong soldier to hold Yuan Shao's flag on the Linchong chariot. , showing off his power to the defenders in Ye City.
Then he continued to shout. The content of the shout was very simple.
"Yuan Shao is dead! Shen Pei surrenders!"
Just eight words, a circle of loud soldiers surrounded Yecheng and shouted loudly, making it difficult for people in the city not to hear them.
After the judge learned about this situation, he quickly went to the city to check the situation. At first glance, his heart dropped.
Doesn't he, the person in charge of logistics, know where these battle flags come from?
Not to mention the battle flag that he personally sent people to supervise and made to represent Yuan Shao himself.
Even if Yuan Shao is not dead, Yuan Jun is defeated. Since he is defeated, it is absolutely impossible to return to Yecheng to save him.
He was now fighting alone, with no help.
Shen Pei was desperate.
(End of chapter)
