Sun Qian followed the Southern Xiongnu southward and eastward in high spirits. They harassed them all the way, but not a single soldier in the counties of Bingzhou dared to meet their attack.
In the past, Bingzhou resisted the Xiongnu in the north and the people were fierce. However, since Ding Yuan was killed, most of Bingzhou's subordinates returned to Lu Bu. Lv Bu went to Luoyang and followed Dong Zhuo to Chang'an. He was beaten back to Guandong by Li and Guo and lived in Yanzhou and Xuzhou. He eventually died in Bai. Almost all the gate towers and Bingzhou Langqi died in this journey of wandering.
With the most elite of the wolf cavalry trapped in the camp, more or less died together with Gao Shun, and the Bingzhou wolf cavalry has come to nothing.
After that, Yuan Shao occupied Bingzhou and made Gao Gan pretend to be the governor of Bingzhou. In order to compete with Cao Cao for supremacy, he expropriated civilian husbands, money and food, and the people of Bingzhou had ten houses and nine empty houses.
Nowadays, Bingzhou needs to recuperate. Liang Xi, the governor of Bingzhou, does not have many troops to deal with the southern Xiongnu. He sent letters asking for help to various places. Gongsun Kang, the prefect of Liaodong, ruled on one side. On the surface, he was submissive and did not send troops. However, other states and counties really had no troops to send.
He could only strengthen the walls and clear the country, defend the big cities, and ensure that every big city would not be captured.
As for the villagers outside the city, they can only be informed to flee to the city or mountains.
Under his control, no major city in Bingzhou was damaged, but many villagers still did not escape and were robbed.
Although Sun Qian was not happy with the atrocities of the Huns, he also knew that this was the price of the Huns' march south. It was better for him to remain silent as he was a soft-spoken person.
If this matter were discarded, Sun Qian would have been indescribably happy. Revenge against Cao Jun made him a little confused. He only felt that military advisor Pang Tong was really powerful. Some words from thousands of miles away caused the Southern Huns to stir up trouble and Bingzhou was exhausted.
He was concerned about the southern battlefield and hoped that Cao Jun could send some troops back to relieve the pressure on his lord Liu Bei.
He looked at the road ahead. A dozen miles ahead was Lishi City, where Xihe County was located. It was one of the top cities in Bingzhou besides Taiyuan.
If Cao Jun is no longer blocked here, they can drive directly to Taiyuan.
Sun Qian laughed in his heart. In the eleventh year of Jian'an, Gao Gan was defeated and fled to the south. Liang Xi became the governor of Bingzhou as a commander in another department. It has only been two years since then. After all, he is not a hero like Ding Yuan, Lu Bu and Gao Gan. This Bingzhou was like a sieve, completely undefended against the southern Xiongnu, and they could come and go at will.
Just as he was thinking about it, the Hun cavalry army suddenly stopped.
Sun Qian was surprised, so he drove his horse to the front. He saw Huquan Kitchen Chanyu with a solemn face, listening to what the scouts were reporting.
Shanyu Huquanchu once participated in escorting the emperor back to Luoyang. He also cooperated with Gaogan to attack Pingyang and was besieged by Zhong Yao. As a result, Ma Chao defeated Gaogan and Pang De killed Guo Yuan. Huquanchu was so frightened that he fled northward. I only dare to condemn envoys and become ministers, and I dare not cross the Great Wall again.
He was extremely familiar with the Chinese region and could speak some simple Chinese, but at this time he was speaking to the scouts in Hun language.
Sun Qian didn't understand, so he waited anxiously. Finally, he waited for the other party to finish speaking, then he rode over and asked, "Chanyu, why did you stop?"
Huquanchu looked solemn and said to Sun Qian: "Sun Qian, the flag hanging on Lishi City is wrong."
Foreigners from foreign countries, who were not familiar with etiquette, called Sun Qian by his first name. Sun Qian was used to it and did not feel dissatisfied. He patiently said: "What's wrong?"
"There are a lot more flags. My soldiers know Chinese characters and recognize some of them."
Hearing this, Sun Qian's expression became solemn. With the extra flag, could it be that reinforcements have come from Xihe County? Which route of reinforcements will it be?
Gongsun Kang, or the troops of Sili Colonel Zhong Yao?
"Sun Qian, please help me think about it. The flag says "Fenwu General Cheng", but the murderous man named Cheng Yu has arrived?"
Sun Qian was startled.
The name of a person is like the shadow of a tree. Cheng Yu was a counselor who followed Cao Cao in his early days. He worked hard to conquer the two Yuan Dynasties. He made great contributions and was known as a brave leader.
I don’t know where this man led the troops, but they also arrived.
"Also, who is the military advisor offering wine to Yuan?"
"Yuan Huan?"
Sun Qian blurted out that the official position of military advisor offering wine was specially created by Cao Cao for counselor Guo Jia. Guo Jia died in Liaodong last year, and Dong Zhao succeeded him for a period of time. Later, because Cao Cao abolished Sikong and appointed prime minister, people in the shogunate were promoted, and Dong Zhao Zhao entered the court as an official, and his successor was Yuan Huan.
Coincidentally, Yuan Huan also has the reputation of being a brave champion. Two of the three brave champions are already here.
Sun Qian frowned. The military advisor's wine was not high, but his words were very important. Yuan Huan had also arrived, and he really didn't know how many troops he had brought with him.
"besides……"
"who?"
Sun Qian's lips were dry. Why couldn't this barbarian finish his sentence at once?
"Captain Tiger Guard, who is that? He's not even a general, yet he hangs the flag."
"who?"
Hearing this flag, Sun Qian felt dizzy and held his forehead.
"Colonel Tiger Guard, I have been in the Central Plains for many years, and I have heard a lot about the official position of Colonel, but I have never seen this name."
Sun Qian no longer paid attention to him. He drove his horse back, found his interpreter, caught up with the scout, and asked personally what the words on the flag were.
The scout recognized the Chinese characters, but not all of them. After describing them carefully, Sun Qian's vision went dark and he almost fell off his horse.
Hu Quanchu asked: "Sun Qian, what's wrong with you? Who is the Colonel of the Tiger Guard?"
Sun Qian held his chest, and all the high-spiritedness he had just now disappeared. He said bitterly: "This person... Shanyu may not have heard of his name, but he must have heard of his deeds. He is Xu Chu, the tiger fool."
"Xu Chu?"
Hu Quanchu was also shocked. He was far in the north and had heard that Cao Cao had a guard with extraordinary brute strength and was called the Tiger Chi.
He knew the Han region well and was also a smart man. He instantly understood why Sun Qian was so panicked.
Xu Chu has arrived at Lishi. Could it be that Cao Cao has arrived too?
But how is this possible? Isn't Cao Cao fighting in the south? Xihe County is two thousand miles away from the Yangtze River. Why is Cao Cao here?
…
Xu Chu, the captain of the Tiger Guard, walked at the head of Lishi City with tiger steps.
Liang Xi, the governor of Bingzhou, bowed and walked behind him. Naturally, he was not following Xu Chu, but Cao Cao in front of him.
After Wu Lin was assassinated, Xu Chu did not dare to let anyone get too close to Cao Cao. Even if Liang Xi was a scribe like Liang Xi who seemed to have no ability, Xu Chu kept him away.
Liang Xi didn't feel displeased at all. There was a mix of fear and excitement on his face.
He didn't expect that the letter asking for help did not ask for troops, but instead asked Cao Cao.
Cao Cao traveled thousands of miles north from Xudu, with only Xun You, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu, Du Xi, Yuan Huan, Xu Chu, and their entourage, followed by more than a hundred cavalry, traveling lightly and simply, straight into Bingzhou, and arrived at Lishi before the Huns attacked Xihe County. .
Liang Xi was afraid that Cao Cao and others would make mistakes, but he was lucky to have the backbone. He didn't dare to express his anger behind Cao Cao. The other counselors were further away, and no one could give him any advice on what to say and what not to say. .
Cao Cao said: "Ziyu, you have done a good job of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness. You did not cause any damage to the city."
Liang Xi nodded in agreement and waited for the next step. He knew that he failed to protect the people scattered in Bingzhou, so he waited for Cao Cao to reprimand him.
However, Cao Cao did not mention this at all. He told a few interesting things about annexing the state, and then discussed the situation of annexing the state.
Liang Xi breathed a sigh of relief.
Xu Chu saw it in his eyes and said nothing. He knew the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister always only made trade-offs. As long as the big city could be saved, the Prime Minister would not care about the people.
What's more, the people in the prime minister's heart are different from the people in Liang Xi's heart. The people are the ones who are useful.
Cao Cao and Liang Xi talked for a while, and the three of them had arrived at the head of Bingzhou City.
Du Xi, one of the counselors behind, suddenly came over with a letter, bowed and reported: "My lord, the letter from Lingjun Xu Duxun has arrived."
Cao Cao said: "Read it."
"this……"
Du Xi hesitated slightly.
Cao Cao said: "Ziyu is from our family, and they are all our own people."
After Liang Xi heard this, he felt extremely grateful. He knew that he was weighing a lot of things. He had been serving as a local official. Although he briefly joined Cao Cao's shogunate, he was not an important minister. He was only transferred here to take over because of his strong ability to govern the local area. The devastated Bingzhou.
Now that the prime minister actually admitted his identity in front of Du Xi, a famous scholar in Yingchuan, how could he not be moved.
Little did he know that when Cao Cao appointed him, he had already thought a lot about it. If he had doubts about him, why would he give him the position of official in the border area?
Saying this now in person is just an invitation to win people's hearts.
Du Xi unfolded the letter and read it.
Xun Yu first explained his illness, and then reported on the situation in Xudu.
When talking about the impeachment of Cao Wu by hundreds of officials, Cao Cao frowned visibly, but he immediately started talking and did not make any comments.
"Anymore?"
Du Xi took out another letter and said, "This is from General Beifu to you. It's a letter from the Feng Family."
Cao Cao nodded, took it, opened it, and read it alone.
When Du Xi and Liang Xi looked up again, Cao Cao's face was already full of smiles.
He smiled, then laughed.
The laughter of "Haha" resounded throughout the city, and the guards did not dare to look more. Xun You and others did not know why Cao Cao was laughing.
After a long while, Cao Cao stopped laughing and said to Du Xi: "Let them raise Gu's flag."
Du Xi did not dare to neglect and hurried down.
Xun You and others looked at each other. They didn't know why the prime minister suddenly decided to hang up the Cao flag. They could only guess that Cao Wu had done something that Cao Cao admired very much.
Jia Xu's eyes were serious. He found that since Cao Wu went south, General Beifu's activities had become more and more frequent. He seemed to have started to enter the court because of the arrival of a certain time point.
Jia Xu sighed as he remembered that Cao Pi had asked him for help many times.
This year has been really eventful, and I don’t know who else’s head is about to fall.
…
The horses of the Southern Huns stopped moving forward.
When the big yak that read "The Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, Jizhou Mu, the riding general Cao" was erected at the head of Lishi City, Huquanchu was stunned.
There were many things on his mind at that moment.
Yuan Shao, Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan, Gao Gan.
Every one of the princes who died at the hands of Cao Cao or died indirectly because of Cao Cao seemed to be waving to him.
But Morton Shanyu's heroic ancestor had already left him.
After joining Emperor Guangwu, they went south to the Xiongnu and occasionally went south to plunder. When the news reached him, they were no longer what they used to be.
He had been scared out of his wits during the Battle of Pingyang.
Zhong Yao is so difficult to deal with, let alone Cao Cao?
Seven years later, he went south again, just to learn from his ancestors and use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate conditions with Cao Cao to see if he could exchange some capital.
But even if he had a hundred thousand courage, he would not dare to interview Cao Cao.
What's more, it's still an interview on the battlefield!
"Withdraw troops, withdraw troops!"
Huquanchu shouted in Hun language.
Sun Qian couldn't understand what he said, but he knew what the Huns were going to do by looking at their movements.
Sun Qian said anxiously: "Chanyu, we can't withdraw, we can't withdraw! Maybe the traitor Cao didn't bring any soldiers, maybe the flag on the top of the city is fake?"
Huquanchu was no longer pleasant, he looked coldly at Sun Qian and said: "If you keep making noises, I will hand you over to Mr. Meng Degong!"
Sun Qian had no choice but to rein in his horse and retreat. Only then did he realize that Huquan Chu knew the honorifics in Chinese, but he didn't speak these honorifics to him.
He wanted to speak again, but he didn't know where to start. He only dared to talk, and he didn't dare to bet whether Cao Cao was in the city or not, or whether he had received many reinforcements.
Cao Cao controlled the north, and his name was the best reinforcement.
Huquanchu continued to shout: "Withdraw the troops, withdraw the troops! Don't let those people go, throw away everything you robbed! Withdraw the troops!"
There were more than 10,000 cavalrymen and more than 10,000 cavalrymen who marched across the states. For more than half a month, not a single arrow was fired, not a single battle was fought, and not a single city was broken.
They just came and went without a trace. They were scared off by a handsome flag, and they didn't even dare to take away the people they had plundered before.
