AD 309.
In the third year of Yongjia, July, late summer.
Liu Yu appointed his brother Liu Yi as Zhendong General Commander Shi to act as military agent, and Hua Xiu as Qingzhou Biejia to act as government agent. They stayed in Linzi and led an army of 30,000 to pass through Wumen in Jibei County and enter Yanzhou.
When Liu Yu led his army across Jishui, which had dried up due to drought, and entered the territory of Dongping State in Yanzhou, only more than a hundred miles away from the target Juancheng, the scouts in front reported that they encountered several large groups of refugees in front.
These people were all common people in the northern counties of Yanzhou. During the tug-of-war between the Jin army and the rogue bandits, they all had to leave their homes and flee.
Liu Yu personally led several guards to greet him, wanting to inquire about the situation ahead.
Sure enough, Liu Yu and a dozen people walked less than a few miles when they encountered a large group of people coming from the south.
These refugees had already seen a dozen cavalrymen appearing in front of them. They originally thought they were Hulu bandits that suddenly appeared, but they soon discovered that these cavalrymen did not seem to be hostile to harass.
Several handsome men among the refugees took courage and came towards Liu Yu and the others.
When they learned that Liu Yu's warriors on horseback were reinforcements from Qingzhou, there was some surprise in their originally wary and fearful eyes.
"Ah, are you the Qingzhou soldiers who defeated the Hulu in Licheng?"
"How many of your Qingzhou soldiers have come? Can you drive away the Hulu bandits?"
"I heard that Liu Jixing, the governor of Qingzhou, was so powerful that he defeated Xiaogou and Wang Mi in a row. Will anyone come this time?"
When they heard that it was the Qingzhou soldiers who had defeated Wang Mishile before, the fleeing Yanzhou people all excitedly asked about it.
Seeing that these strangers in Yanzhou had such high expectations for the Qingzhou Army, the guards around Liu Yu straightened their backs and looked proud.
If it weren't for the complicated crowd of these Yanzhou refugees, some of the guards who were quick-talking might have long wanted to reveal Liu Yu's identity in the event of a sudden attack.
Liu Yu answered these questions one by one in a pleasant manner.
"Yes, we are the Qingzhou soldiers who defeated the Hulu in Licheng. The heads of the Hulu we killed are still hanging in Licheng."
"This time Liu Qingzhou personally led the army."
Immediately, Liu Yu asked them about the news ahead.
These refugee commanders all shook their heads and sighed.
"The officers and soldiers in Yanzhou are all fucking trash. Ever since the two thieves Wang and Shi entered Yanzhou, they have not won a single battle, which has made us common people unable to return home."
"That is, these officers and soldiers are not only unable to defeat the thieves, but they are also experts in robbing good people. My house was robbed by the officers and soldiers from Rencheng State before I even saw the Hulu thieves."
"Sooner or later, these guys who have nothing to do with having children will be filling the gap."
Several refugee commanders loudly criticized Yanzhou officers and soldiers, which was far beyond Liu Yu's expectation.
Liu Yu knew that the current Yanzhou had been taken away by Gou Xi and Sima Yue in large numbers. The soldiers in the hands of Yanzhou governor Yuan Fu were probably all with low combat power and military discipline.
However, Liu Yu was a little surprised that these refugee commanders dared to scold the Yanzhou Army in front of the Qingzhou Army who were also officers and soldiers.
Liu Yu asked this question curiously.
It turns out that in the eyes of the people of Yanzhou, there is a big difference between the officers and soldiers of Qingzhou and those of Yanzhou.
The current officers and soldiers in Yanzhou are either soldiers stationed in the fields or newly recruited wandering militiamen. If they are not officers and soldiers, they are the reserves of wandering bandits.
And they have all known for a long time that the soldiers of the Qingzhou Army are all military households who occupy land and have better conditions than ordinary households with good families, which is different from the Yanzhou army.
Liu Yu couldn't help but feel a little proud. It seemed that the Qingzhou Army had a good reputation.
He inquired about the situation in Juancheng again, but found that the situation was not very good.
"Alas, Juancheng is now besieged. I heard that the number of barbarians and bandits besieging the city is estimated to be 100,000."
"It's just nonsense. There are not necessarily 100,000 people in Juancheng. Where did these bandits get 100,000 people?"
The person being rebutted argued anxiously.
"What nonsense am I talking about? Wang Mi has 30,000 traitors, Shi Le has 30,000 traitors, and Liu Ling from Wei Commandery also has more than 30,000 people. Isn't it a hundred thousand?"
"What, the thief Liu Ling is here too?" Liu Yu asked in surprise.
"Yes, the Yellow River has dried up to the core. I heard that they arrived a few days ago. Looking at this situation, these Hulu bandits are bound to capture Juancheng."
"Juancheng contains the largest arsenal in Yanzhou. I'm afraid that's what these thieves are here for."
Liu Yu actually didn't care much about the reason why Wang Mi, Shi Le and Liu Ling paid so much attention to Juancheng. No matter what it was, they wanted to prevent them from seizing Juancheng, the largest city in Yanzhou.
It's just that Liu Yu didn't expect that in the original history, this Liu Ling was quickly attacked and killed by the Jin army. In Liu Yu's time and space, he was like an invincible Xiaoqiang, who had just been defeated by Wang Mi's Xianbei cavalry. Now tens of thousands of people have been pulled up.
Liu Yu then asked the refugees where they planned to move.
"Let's go to Jibei County first. If the situation goes bad, then go to Qingzhou or Youzhou."
"Hey, even if your Qingzhou Army beats away these bandits this time, we won't dare to go back. I'm afraid there will be no peaceful days in the future for Yanzhou, the place where the Four Battles took place."
After telling these refugee commanders about the land and other care they could get if they went to Qingzhou, Liu Yu continued to move forward.
I met several more refugees in succession and got the same information.
These refugees said that most of the bandits of Wang, Shi, and Liu had stopped looting the surrounding areas and instead besieged Juancheng with all their strength.
Many of these refugees were taken from the people who had narrowly escaped death when they besieged Juancheng, and what they said was relatively credible.
However, it is a pity that many of them do not have a clear understanding of the three groups of bandits and are not sure what the specific strength of these bandits is.
On the next day, Liu Yu led his army to Dongpingze.
In later modern times, Dongping County was known as Jiangbei Water City. This was because thousands of years of changes in waterways reduced the number of rivers and lakes.
During the Western Jin Dynasty, there were even more rivers here, and there was also a large lake and swamp area that has long since disappeared. At this time, it was called Dongpingze.
It was also because of the obstacle of this large swamp with a radius of nearly a hundred miles that the refugees we met yesterday were not too panicked.
Although the three-year drought in the north of Yongjia dried up the Jishui River and the lower reaches of the Yellow River, there is still a large amount of water in Dongpingze. Even where there is no water, a large quagmire has formed, making it impossible to pass through.
As long as you follow the road close to Jishui and bypass Dongpingze, you will directly enter the Yanzhou Heji Plain. It only takes one day of urgent march to reach Juancheng.
Therefore, Liu Yu led his army to repair here for a day.
When all 20,000 Qingzhou troops bypassed Dongpingze.
Liu Yu personally served as the vanguard and led two thousand elites to arrive at Fan County in Yanzhou first.
When he arrived, he happened to encounter thousands of Hulu who came here to plunder food and grass and besieged Fan County.
When these Hulu bandits who bullied the weak and feared the strong, when they saw the Qingzhou forwards, they thought they were Yanzhou soldiers from Taishan County or Rencheng State, and wanted to come forward and bully them.
However, as soon as the battle began, the thieves noticed something was wrong.
These Jin troops were not afraid of the harassment of the Hu cavalry by cavalry and shooting. Instead, they fought back with powerful crossbows and infantry bows. Soon the Hu Lu cavalry suffered a heavy loss.
This small victory in the shooting attracted cheers from the civilians and soldiers at the head of Fan County in the distance.
Some sharp-eyed Hulu saw that these Jin troops were not easy to mess with and suggested that they want to retreat.
However, there are still some Hulu bandits who are reluctant to leave behind the plundered people, food and goods, and are not willing to retreat so easily.
Soon, these Hulu cavalry planned to take advantage of the Jin army's infantry coming from afar, and took the lead in launching a cavalry attack.
If he were an ordinary scumbag civilian, he might not even have the courage to face the attack of thousands of powerful cavalry.
However, elite soldiers like Liu Yu no longer paid attention to these unarmored cavalry.
In less than half an hour, these Hulu cavalry abandoned all the looted goods and people and ran away, leaving behind with them the bodies of more than two hundred cavalry.
Looking at the Huru cavalry who quickly disappeared without a trace, Liu Yu couldn't help but thought bitterly that if he had cavalry, he wouldn't be afraid that these Huru cavalry could escape so easily.
When they saw the sudden appearance of the Jin army, how easily they drove away the barbarians and rescued the plundered men and women, the soldiers and civilians at the head of Fan County shouted with joy, feeling that they had narrowly escaped death.
Liu Yu quickly sent someone to the city gate and asked Magistrate Fan in the city to come out and answer.
"We are the Qingzhou Army. General Zhendong has personally led the army to rescue Juancheng. Let County Magistrate Fan come out and respond quickly."
The Qingzhou Army soldier was riding his horse and wandering under the city while shouting loudly towards the top of the city.
However, everyone at the top of the city looked at each other in confusion. After a while, no one saw Magistrate Fan or anyone answered him.
Finally, after the Qingzhou soldier shouted again, someone on the top of the city finally answered.
"Brother from Qingzhou, the magistrate of Fan County ran away yesterday. Now there is no chief official in the city."
When Liu Yu heard this, he frowned. In the Western Jin Dynasty, people were still very concerned about reputation. A bachelor like the magistrate of Fan County who abandoned the city and fled was also a ruthless person.
"Tell him and let their leader respond."
Soon, a leading general in Fan County responded.
When he learned that Liu Yu and the others were going to the city to repair for the night, the young general said with a troubled face that the two city gates in Fan County had been blocked with rocks, and it would be impossible to open the door for a while. , if we clean it up, I'm afraid we won't be able to finish it until dark.
When Liu Yu heard this, he knew that the Fan County defenders were so ridiculous in defending the city. If he hadn't arrived in time, the barbarian bandits would have really been able to break through the city.
In this case, after Liu Yu asked for some supplies from the city, he camped directly outside the city and waited for the subsequent large forces to arrive.
The thousands of people who were rescued from the Hulu just became the labor force for setting up camp.
Two bandits were also captured during this battle, and Liu Yu also took the opportunity to interrogate them.
At the beginning, the two thieves dressed as barbarians looked unafraid of death and ignored Liu Yu's questions.
Liu Yu's guards didn't talk nonsense. They escaped and cut off a barbarian's nose with their swords.
With such an example, the rest of the people became honest instantly.
"Whose subordinates are you?"
The first person Liu Yu asked was a thin man. Unlike the Jin people from the Central Plains, this man had braided hair. At first glance, he looked like a Xianbei or Wuhuan type of moustache.
"The villain is a subordinate of General Pingdong of the Han Dynasty."
As soon as this bastard finished speaking, there was a look of disgust in Liu Yu's eyes.
The guard next to him saw Liu Yu's eyes and immediately stepped forward and slapped him hard on the face twice.
"What a bullshit big man, even the Tuge slaves in Bingzhou deserve to be called big men."
This guard knew that his general hated the Huns in Bingzhou for calling themselves Han, and felt that allowing the Huns to call themselves Han was simply an insult to the Han.
These guards did not understand Liu Yu's thoughts at first, but with Liu Yu's indoctrination, these guards who originally only knew loyalty and filial piety gradually began to understand the ethnic groups, Yanhuang, and Huaxia that Liu Yu often talked about.
The bastard was stunned for a moment and did not dare to argue. He quickly grabbed the ground with his head and kept begging for mercy.
"The villain is Liu Ling's subordinate."
"How many people are there in Liu Ling, and how many people are there in Wang Mi and Shi Le."
"Returning to the general, when we came here, Liu Ling had 10,000 people, and now there should be 20,000. I don't know how many people Wang Mi and Shi Le have."
"You are so bold that you dare to hide how many people Wang Mishile has. How could you not know?"
The bastard was so frightened that he cried bitterly and argued: "I really don't know. I have been assigned to the North City since I came here. Wang Mi and Shi Le are in the South City and the West City. I don't know how many there are there." Ah, oh, probably 30,000 people each, maybe 50,000 people."
. . . .
Yanzhou, Juancheng.
In the camp of Pingbei General Liu Ling of the Xiongnu Han Kingdom.
"What, two thousand infantrymen beat you away?"
Seeing these men running back, Liu Ling was furious at first. He felt that these men were so stupid that they were defeated by the sheep-like Yanzhou Army.
But soon, when he learned that the one who defeated his cavalry was an unshakable infantry force, a bad premonition came to his mind.
Liu Ling thought with some reluctance, no, could it be that those Qingzhou soldiers are coming? He is really unlucky. There are people to deal with him wherever he goes. There are Qingzhou troops in Licheng and Xianbei soldiers in Jizhou. After finally arriving in Yanzhou, seeing that Juancheng was about to be conquered, these Qingzhou soldiers actually arrived.
Could it be that Yuan Fu, the governor of Yanzhou in Juancheng, should not die?
If it were before, I'm afraid Liu Ling would definitely join forces with Wang Mi Shi Le to clean up these Qingzhou troops. However, after experiencing Shi Le's previous betrayal, Liu Ling no longer had any confidence in their integrity.
Moreover, Liu Ling's current army of more than 10,000 people is almost the only number of miscellaneous forces that can be found in Jizhou. Most of the rest are either hiding in the Taihang Mountains and dare not come out, or they have gone to Bingzhou and directly defected to the Han. Emperor Liu Yuan has gone.
