The fourth year of Yongjia, AD 310, July, late summer.
After more than a month of preparations, Liu Yu at this time had led the Qianqing Prefecture Army to attack Langya County southward from Beihai County as planned.
In fact, between Beihai County and Langya County in Qingzhou, there is also Dongguan County of the Xuzhou Governor's Department.
This Dongguan has the same name as Dongguan, a famous city in Guangdong Province in later generations. The word "Guan" in it is the name for cattail during the Ji Zhou Dynasty. This cattail was used as a raw material for making mats at that time, because there are Yishui and Shuhe rivers in the territory. Therefore, Dongguan County produces cattails, hence its name.
However, after Liu Bogen's defeat, Wang Mi led the remnants of his troops to flee into Dongguan and Chengyang counties. During this period, they committed massacres and massacres. By the time Liu Yu took control of Qingzhou, the severely damaged Dongguan County had never recovered.
Moreover, under Liu Yu's rule, Qingzhou once again reorganized the farmland into households, and imposed low taxes and levies. This greatly affected the already dilapidated Dongguan County, and many dilapidated farmers and landowners fled to nearby areas. Went to Beihai County, Qingzhou.
As a result, when Liu Yu led his army south, not only did he not encounter any decent resistance, but even after occupying Yingling and Zhuxu, he did not encounter even a serious Dongguan County soldier.
The Qingzhou Army led by Liu Yu passed through, although it was not a waste of food, it also opened the city twice to welcome surrender.
Alas, this situation made Liu Yu a little unhappy.
He led thousands of soldiers and came with murderous intent. He wanted to beat up those Dongguan tycoons who resisted the "rebels" and then annex their land and population.
However, Liu Yu's style of painting along the way was not quite right. The powerful men in Dongguan County were already so unruly.
Why don't you resist?
The more Liu Yu thought about it, the more depressed he felt. These powerful men from Dongguan County had even opened the gates of Yingling and Zhuxu cities one after another, showing an air of resignation.
This way, Liu Yu had no way to start. After all, everything at this time had to be based on a name.
This name is the benchmark for your actions. The powerful people in Dongguan County have already cooperated in this way. If Liu Yu still holds the butcher's knife high, it will seriously damage his reputation. The most important thing is to destroy the confidence of those who surrender in the future.
Moreover, Liu Yu led the Qingzhou soldiers along the way and found that the powerful people in Dongguan County were just like a bunch of rural landowners compared with the powerful people in Beihai County and Qi County.
Although each of these powerful families also owns a lot of land, Dongguan County is very mountainous and there are not many real good fields. Moreover, after several ravages by Wang Mi's rebels, these powerful forces have suffered great losses. In addition, the recent The Tianke farmers fled, causing serious damage to these powerful forces in Dongguan County.
Therefore, when these people heard that Liu Yu led the Qingzhou Army with great momentum, they all surrendered without hesitation. Although they all knew that Qingzhou was very strict about measuring fields and checking households, the current situation was so Come on, there's nothing these people can do.
Even some of the Dongguan County tycoons thought of taking this opportunity to cling to Qingzhou's No. 1 tyrant Liu Yu, who might be able to find a new way for their clans to develop.
For example, in Zhuxu City, where Liu Yu is currently located, several clan heads including the Yin family, a wealthy family in the city, came to pay their respects.
After Liu Yu entered Zhuxu City, he gave special treatment to Zhuxu Yin family and other powerful people who surrendered in Kaicheng. After all, these were all meritorious people, and they had great merit.
Zhu Xu's powerful families not only opened the city to welcome Liu Yu's Qingzhou soldiers into the city, but also prepared the houses, food, fodder, firewood and other materials needed by the army, and put on a cheerful display to welcome the king. The posture of the teacher.
Of course, Liu Yu would give more preferential treatment to those who cooperated so well. Anyway, he has now seen that these powerful people in Dongguan County are basically very poor.
"Everyone, my general is raising the rebel army this time to eradicate the ruthless officials and bullies who are doing evil in the county. You are so proud of your reputation that you are helping our Qingzhou rebel army this time. When our army returns from victory, I will definitely reward you for your contribution. "
Liu Yu just stayed in Zhuxu for a day, and then continued southward. The so-called speed of soldiers meant that they had to pass through the dangerous pass of Gonglai Mountain as soon as possible before the soldiers from Langya and Dongguan could react.
Therefore, Liu Yu could only give these people a series of bad checks at this time.
Hearing what Liu Yu said, the group of powerful sect leaders below all smiled and said that in order to help the rebels fight against the cruel officials and bullies, a little money and food were nothing at all.
Casually, Liu Yu began to ask about the situation near Zhuxu City.
After listening to what everyone said, it was basically not much different from the information Liu Yu knew before.
Ever since Wang Mi's rebels ravaged Dongguan County and killed two Dongguan County governors, a large number of bandits and bandits have been active in the entire Dongguan County, outside the city and the powerful Wubao. Tebi is the new Dongguan County Governor. The prefect of the county has been huddled in the governor's mansion in the city since he took office. For his own safety, he also mobilized all the surrounding county soldiers to Dongguan City. In this way, the guards of the cities such as Zhu Xu and Ying Ling also We can only rely on these local powerful people.
Liu Yu thought, if this is the case, it means that all the Jin troops in Dongguan County have been concentrated in Dongguan City.
Moreover, through these descriptions of the powerful Dongguan County, the current Dongguan County Governor Fan Hao is definitely a timid person who cherishes his life, and he should not have any foresight.
Liu Yu estimated that Governor Fan should have heard about the Qingzhou Army's southward attack. If he wanted the best defense, he would first send troops northward to occupy the dangerous pass between Gonglai Mountain. In this way, the Qingzhou Army would If you want to continue the attack south, there are only two ways. One is to attack the pass despite the huge geographical disadvantage, and the other is to go around to the Tobu area on the east side of the mountains.
Of these two routes, the first requires risking huge casualties, and the second is a tortuous and difficult mountain road.
However, judging from the actions of Dongguan County Governor Fan Hao, he will definitely not send troops out of the city and will definitely stick to Dongguan City. After all, the sense of security brought by the city wall in front of him is comparable to that of a mountain pass dozens of miles away. Much stronger.
Sure enough, two days later, when Liu Yu led Qianqingzhou soldiers to Gonglai Mountain, there were only a hundred or ten people controlling the dangerous pass in the mountain, and there was no large-scale defensive army.
After several rounds of intensive arrow rain from the Qingzhou Army, the defenders gave up resistance and chose to surrender to the Qingzhou Army before the Qingzhou Jia soldiers climbed up to attack.
The leader of the garrison, a tall and thin man, had already been tied up by the Qingzhou Army.
Liu saw the warning and ordered the guards to loosen his bonds.
The military leader hurriedly shouted, "General, you are so benevolent. This villain surrendered because he heard that the general was kind and caring for the people, so he persuaded his men to give up resistance, and then surrendered to the general."
Liu Yu knew that this little soldier just wanted to remind him not to forget his contribution in opening the door and surrendering.
"You're a bitch, you just talk a lot, and I haven't settled the score with you yet."
Hearing what the surrendering leader said, Zhao Kun, the general beside Liu Yu, immediately cursed.
"I'm already prepared. Even if you don't open the door, I can seize your broken barrier in one go."
Zhao Kun was about to lead his own soldiers to attack, but he didn't expect that the pass defenders surrendered at that time, which made all the credit for winning the pass disappear.
"Since you surrendered on your own initiative, you are a meritorious member of our Qingzhou Army. This wealth and land are indispensable." Liu Yu waved his hand, stopped the resentful Zhao Kun, and said to the surrendering military leader.
However, what this young military leader said was somewhat beyond Liu Yu's expectations.
"General, I don't want any reward. I want to be by the general's side. I just want to be a groom for the general's horse."
groom?
What are you thinking? This can only be done by people who are close to this general.
However, Liu Yu knew that this was a common rhetoric for surrender.
Liu Yu suddenly realized that he hadn't asked the little soldier's name yet, "By the way, what's the name of the strong man?"
The surrendered military leader felt secretly happy when he heard Liu Yu ask his name. In this way, his request would probably be successful.
"The villain's name is Kong An."
When Liu Yu heard this, he realized that his surname was Kong?
"Kong An? Are you a descendant of Saint Kong?"
Kong An said with some embarrassment on his face.
"The villain is a descendant of the Saint Miao, but my ancestors were reduced to military garrison households during the Cao Wei Dynasty, and have long been expelled from the Kong family."
The field soldiers during the Cao Wei Dynasty were a very hard-working existence. Although their basic lives were guaranteed, cruel oppression and low status were always present throughout. Many people were ashamed of being soldiers, and some even became refugees. After becoming a soldier in the field, they never mentioned their previous clan place of origin out of shame.
From this point of view, Kong An's ancestors were expelled from the Kong family in Qufu because they were reduced to military households.
This situation of being expelled from the "clan" was still rare in the Western Jin Dynasty, so Kong An felt a little embarrassed.
However, Liu Yu didn't care too much about this. He laughed and said.
"Hahaha, a man who has made great contributions will naturally gain fame. Otherwise, what's the use of holding on to the name of a great sect in Qufu?"
After Kong An heard this, he felt happy. He didn't know if his contribution to surrendering and offering the pass could be regarded as merit.
"Then the general agreed?!" Kong An asked.
"Since you want to serve me, you must strictly abide by military orders and re-train. The most important thing is that our Qingzhou Army cannot have any soldiers who abandon the city and surrender."
Hearing this, Kong An's face turned red and he was slightly angry. However, he looked up and saw that there was no joking or mocking expression on Liu Yu's face, but a serious look on his face. He felt relieved, knowing that Liu Yu's words were not directed at himself, but rather the Qingzhou Army.
"General, please don't worry, I will definitely follow the general's teachings." Kong An replied.
However, Liu Yu still had some doubts about Kong An's desire to join the Qingzhou Army. Although the soldiers of the Qingzhou Army had land privileges, after all, it was a job of fighting in battle. Most people were not willing to take this risk, especially when Kong An was on the battlefield. Logically speaking, the soldiers who surrendered should be greedy for life and afraid of death.
Faced with Liu Yu's inquiry, Kong An also behaved very generously.
"Does the general know that since the general occupied Yingling, a large number of people have fled through this pass and headed south?" Kong An asked.
"Of course I know." When Liu Yu just started attacking and before he captured Yingling, many people nearby fled south.
"After learning that the general had gone south, I personally reported back to Dongguan City and told Shangguan that as long as five hundred more elite troops were sent to control the pass of Gonglai Mountain, the Qingzhou Army could be delayed for at least one or two months. However, Dongguan's superiors But the officials only knew how to summon soldiers from the surrounding counties and enter Dongguan City to defend the city. No one paid any attention to my suggestion. At that time, I knew that Dongguan County would definitely not be able to defend it." Kong An said.
When Liu Yu heard this, he didn't realize what was going on. Kong An, a small team leader who led a hundred or so people, could think of so much.
After another conversation with Kong An, Liu Yu found that although Kong An was a bit slippery, he was still familiar with military affairs and was quite popular among his subordinates.
Although Liu Yu agreed to Kong An's request to join the group, he did not agree to Kong An's request to continue to lead his original subordinates.
In Liu Yu's view, most of Kong An's soldiers were unqualified soldiers, and even serving as auxiliary soldiers were very reluctant.
After learning about Liu Yu's attitude, Kong An could only agree to Liu Yu's request and place his beggar-like troops in the rear first.
As for Kong An himself, because he was familiar with the situation of the county soldiers in Dongguan City, Liu Yu made an exception and placed him in the army as an intelligence officer facing the enemy.
After passing through the natural pass of Gonglai Mountain with zero casualties, the Qingzhou soldiers led by Liu Yu went south along the Yishui Valley to take Dongguan City.
He must capture Dongguan within ten days, then continue south to Dong'an and enter Langya County, and then cooperate with Wu Xin's troops who attacked from Chengyang County, and then capture the entire Langya County.
According to the plan, Dong Ping, who was attacking Taishan County from the west at this time, should have already started to attack. When Taishan County soldiers began to counterattack Dong Ping, Liu Yu could just start from Langya County and attack Taishan County from east to west.
After marching fifty miles in two days, the Qianqingzhou soldiers led by Liu Yu arrived outside Dongguan City calmly.
It was not until this time that Liu Yu and his Qingzhou soldiers saw the shadow of the Dongguan County soldiers.
Outside Dongguan City, Liu Yu was sitting on a horse. Kong An, who was beside him, stretched out his arm to show Liu Yu the flags of the county soldiers on Dongguan City.
From Kong An's explanation, Liu Yu knew which ones were elite soldiers with sophisticated equipment under the banners of the densely packed county soldiers on the city, which ones were ordinary soldiers working in the field, and which ones were even powerful tribes in Dongguan. Kong An can also point out the soldiers and horses one by one.
After secretly calculating, Liu Yu was already 90% sure about this battle to seize the city.
"Kong An, this general gives you a task. First, send a copy of the prepared notice to all the powerful people nearby, and then ask each of them to send a person."
Kong An was a little confused, "General, what are you asking them to send people for?"
Although Kong An knew that the powerful forces nearby were more optimistic about the prestigious Qingzhou Army, Dongguan City had not been broken yet, so what should he send first?
"What to do? Of course I invite them to watch the ceremony. I want to show the powerful people in Dongguan how this general conquered Dongguan City in a blink of an eye!"
