The Taiping Army returned victorious. A hearty victory excited all the commanders and the entire Taiping Army.
Luo Xiao knew that King Qin's army could not sit idly by and would definitely take action, so he sent people to investigate the movements of King Qin's army.
The Yinghou Luo Zichuan led the army to the northeast of Xingyang, preparing to cross-coordinate with the Wushuang Hou Luokong.
Jing County.
To the south of Xingyang, Yuan Shao took the oath as the leader of the Guandongnan Road Alliance and gathered the eight major princes. There were more than ten others like Liu Bei who were quite powerful but not qualified to be among the princes. In terms of strength, there were more than 100 princes on this road. Twenty princes.
"Yuan Shao, I am the son of Duke Zhong, a humble person. Thanks to the nobles for not being mean, I have been entrusted with the great responsibility of leader of the alliance."
On the high platform, Yuan Shao was full of energy and said loudly: "Now with great righteousness, I call on the heroes and warriors from all over the world and tell the righteous people in the world:
Since Emperor Shizu Guangwu was appointed again, the decline of the Han Dynasty has never exceeded this moment.
His Majesty's life has never been more threatened than at this moment.
The chaos and killings suffered in the sea have never exceeded this moment.
The yin and yang were reversed, order was lost, and all life in the Nine Provinces was in ruins, never more so than at this moment.
Some of the princes came from poor families in the surrounding counties, some came from scholarly families and poor families, but they were all loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty.
Today's alliance is based on blood, not on birth status, but on loyalty and merit.
Suppress peace and revive the Han Dynasty. "
As soon as he heard this, Gongsun Zan was instantly dissatisfied. When he was in Luoyang, his relationship with Yuan Shao was average. Now Yuan Shao's words about a rude person in the border county instantly made him angry.
But after listening to the shouts of the people in the place where they swore the oath, they knew that now was not the time to have a conflict with Yuan Shao, so they could only whisper and angrily said to Liu Bei: "You reckless man from the border county, who is this Yuan Benchu talking about?"
When Liu Bei heard this, he quickly comforted him and said, "Brother belongs to a prominent family with a family worth of two thousand stones. The rough people in the county here are definitely not my brother. I'm afraid they are people like me, Liu Xuande."
Gongsun Zan's expression calmed down slightly, but he still said angrily: "Xuande, you are a member of the Han clan, how can you be Cao Mang in the border counties? This Yuan Benchu has always looked down on me and other prominent families in the border counties because he was born in a wealthy family of Confucian classics.
Look at the Luo family, a famous family with thousands of years of history, hundreds of schools of thought, and no grand ceremony for classics. Such a famous family in the world has never had the slightest discrimination against our famous family in the border county. When I went to Zhaocheng to study, I learned that I was The Gongsun family of Youzhou and the Luo family also greatly praised my Gongsun family.
Moreover, he was just a concubine, so there was nothing to be proud of.
Seeing that this time King Qin, I, Gongsun Zan, must make the greatest contribution and slap Yuan Shao hard in the face. "
Hearing this, Liu Bei could only comfort him, and secretly smiled bitterly in his heart. Yuan Shao, Yuan Benchu, and his brother Gongsun Zan both have talents, but they both have shortcomings.
Yuan Shao is a little over the top and values his family background. You can't blame him for this, it's like this now.
The only person who doesn't value birthplace is Luo Shi, but the reason why Luo Shi doesn't value it is because in Luo Shi's opinion, there is no difference.
Moreover, even wealthy noble families still have their children marrying noble sons from poor families. The last time the Luo family's legitimate daughter married outside the family can be traced back to Marquis Jinghuan, the champion of the former Han Dynasty.
It is easy to get a high official, but it is hard to find a Luo girl. This is a saying that was circulated in the Han Dynasty a hundred years later.
Yuan Shao paid too much attention to family background, but he was just a hero, and even if he didn't reuse a poor family, his impact on the great cause was actually not great.
Gongsun Zan's shortcomings are more serious. He is not very broad-minded and can hold grudges so much with just some ambiguous words.
In Liu Bei's view, the most important thing is to have people who can accomplish things, and the most important thing is to make more friends. If you make a lot of friends so that those who come to you can make the best use of their resources, how can you fail to accomplish great things?
Fortunately, Gongsun Zan still knew that the overall situation was more important and did not conflict with Yuan Shao at this time, otherwise Liu Bei really wouldn't know what to do.
The most urgent thing now is to put down the Taiping Army as soon as possible so that the world can settle down as soon as possible.
Then he entered Luoyang and persuaded the emperor in a friendly way to reform the world as soon as possible, get rid of all the eunuchs who were causing harm to the country and the people, and choose loyal and upright ministers to govern the country.
Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei were talking in a low voice here. The oath had come to an end. An old scalper was led in front of everyone. A sharp dagger was lightly touched on the throat of the old scalper, accompanied by a shrill cry. , streams of blood fell into the bowl.
Yuan Shao was the first to step forward and smeared the cow's blood on his lips. The other princes came forward in order. Gongsun Zan also stopped communicating with Liu Bei and smeared the cow's blood on his lips. Liu Bei looked on with envy. I don’t know when I will have the capital to form a blood alliance with these heroes of the world.
"Heaven above, we and other princes will advance together as one, we will make an alliance with our blood, and we will achieve peace together. This is our oath."
All the princes shouted in unison, and then Yuan Shao showed his spirit and said: "March to Xingyang, with Mengde as the vanguard.
Bogui had the best cavalry in the world, so he assisted Mengde. Only Bogui could deal with the cavalry of the Taiping rebels. "
Hearing what Yuan Shao said, Gongsun Zan couldn't help feeling proud. His ability to train cavalry was the thing he was most proud of in his life. Now that he saw even Yuan Shao praising him, how could he be dissatisfied?
"Please see, Mr. Zichu, the cavalry of the Taiping rebel army are nothing more than embroidered pillows. I, the white-horse followers of Youzhou, will trample them into bloody mud.
Moreover, Meng Degong's soldiers may not be elite enough to bear the important task of vanguard, so we should leave it to Zan.
The first battle must be won, otherwise how can the leader's prestige be demonstrated? "
As soon as Gongsun Zan said these words, Liu Bei wanted to step forward and cover his mouth. Brother, you have a loud voice, but when did you have such a loud mouth?
How can you say this?
This directly offended both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
As expected, a trace of anger flashed across Cao Cao's face, and the two powerful brothers Cao and Xiahou behind him immediately wanted to step forward to seek an explanation for their brother.
Liu Bei also brought his two sworn brothers to step forward to support Gongsun Zan. Although Gongsun Zan was a big talker, he was one of his own after all and had to help.
Guan Yu stood behind Liu Bei, secretly dumbfounded. He considered himself a person with a relatively arrogant personality and looked down upon most people. But now that he saw Gongsun Zan, he realized that there are people outside the world, and there is a world outside the world. This is called arrogance.
The situation where they had just joined forces suddenly became tense. Yuan Shao quickly stopped it. He knew very well that there must be no internal strife now.
But when he saw Gongsun Zan's rather arrogant smile, a trace of deep dissatisfaction flashed across Yuan Shao's brows.
He admitted that Baima Yicong was indeed very strong. When Gongsun Zan led the army to the alliance, it shocked all the princes. Almost none of them had seen such elite cavalry, but Yuan Shao did not expect Gongsun Zan to be so arrogant.
He, Yuan Shao, is the leader of the alliance. You, Gongsun Zan, are so popular. Have you ever taken me seriously? If it weren't for the rebellion of the Taiping Army, a bumpkin from a border county like you would never be able to enter Luoyang and become a public minister. It is impossible for them to form an alliance with me, Yuan Benchu.
Now you are so humiliated to me!
Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are good friends, and even their personalities are very similar.
There is no doubt that both of them are absolute heroes, and even in this era of numerous heroes, they are extremely rare.
But both of them were able to look for opportunities frantically and use their talents to the best of their ability when going against the trend.
But the disadvantage is that the tailwind is too rough, and this tailwind is not an objective tailwind, but what Yuan Shao and Cao Cao think of themselves as a tailwind.
Now Yuan Shao feels that defeating the Taiping Army is an easy task, so his goal is not only to win, but also to win beautifully and gain prestige.
Thinking of this, Yuan Shao secretly said cruelly in his heart: "Gongsun Zan, let you be arrogant for a while. When you are defeated, let's see how I deal with you. Let's see how you still have the face to act arrogant in front of me at that time. I won't take you down." Pi, I will give you my reputation as a handsome man in the world."
After Gongsun Zan said what was in his heart, he felt very happy. He smiled and led the army to leave with Liu Bei and others. As Yuan Shao's younger brother and friend, Cao Cao comforted Yuan Shao and promised that he would earn face for Yuan Shao and also lead the army. leave.
The other princes looked at each other in disbelief, and each went to lead his army to prepare to attack Xingyang. Although Gongsun Zan refused to give him any face, the leader of the alliance still seemed to take the overall situation into consideration, which made everyone feel more at ease.
As for Gongsun Zan, just let him go. The warriors in the border counties are like this, ignorant of etiquette and education.
If Gongsun Zan knew that these people missed him so much, he would probably get angry with them on the spot.
…
"These Qinwang princes appear to be powerful and have many troops on the surface, far superior to our Taiping Dao, but in fact, they all have their own agenda, and there are not many princes who are really willing to fight to the death.
The friendly troops are in trouble and remain as motionless as a mountain.
It is absolutely impossible to overcome difficulties.
This is what they will do. How can a country with extremely corrupt politics have soldiers who are not afraid of death? "
In Xingyang, after receiving the news of Yuan Shaohui's allied attack, Luo Xiao spoke to the Qushuai in a disdainful tone. The Qushuai were convinced that they now understood what it means to be able to use the people's support.
After Luo Xiao's rear management, the four words "the world is prosperous" were moved from Luo Xiao's fantasy to the Taiping Army. This obvious change in life has become better, and will be even better in the future. The changes in his mood brought about It's just too obvious.
Now when the Taiping Army is fighting, there is no need for Commander Qu to be in front to boost morale. As soon as the war drums sound, the soldiers will naturally charge with roars.
Both the will to fight and the perseverance have been greatly improved. These two are the factors that most affect the combat effectiveness of the army. The current Taiping Army is much stronger than before.
————
At a banquet in Luoyang, the generals talked about the art of war. The emperor said: "I have learned from Huaiyin and Sun Tzu, but the bravery of Taiping uses life and doubts Taoism. When it comes to advancing to the throne, it is Zhijiao's doings, not the evil spirits. , is actually the art of Taoism. It uses the king's domineering power to create a peaceful world. Therefore, if Taoist disciples are brave and brave, how can they not win the battle?" - "Book of Wei: The Chronicles of Emperor Wu"
(End of chapter)
