Chapter 251 Don’t be afraid, dizziness is normal
When Sun Qian visited Zhuge Xuan and left Jingzhou.

In the Youzhou camp in the north of the Qingzhou Plain, Liu Bei personally took Guo Jia, Xu Chu, Dian Wei and more than dozens of personal guards to inspect the Youzhou camps.

Wherever he went, the soldiers of Youzhou gathered together and rushed to watch Envoy Liu.

They heard Liu Bei greet them with the familiar Youzhou accent, and even enthusiastically inquire about their hometown affairs. He asked with a smile how many people were in their family, how their lives were, whether the local officials collected too much taxes, and whether they were paid for their corvée labor.

Many Youzhou soldiers have learned from the Qingzhou army about the treatment of the Qingzhou common people, auxiliary soldiers and combat soldiers. The common people have farmland owned by the government. Although the land belongs to the state, they can continue to cultivate it until the common people die of old age. The land will then be taken back by the government and redistributed.

All male adults were given land. Even if it was not as much as the fifty or one hundred acres given to auxiliary soldiers and combat soldiers, it was still very good.

The land distributed to the soldiers directly belongs to them, and apart from the restriction that it cannot be bought or sold, it basically has no disadvantages.

Now the envoy has kept his promise and sent military officers into the military camp to register household names and prepare to distribute land, which surprised and delighted many Youzhou soldiers.

What made them happy was that Xuande kept his word, but what made them surprised was that the land distributed was the newly reclaimed farmland in Qingzhou.

When many soldiers surrounded Liu Bei, someone thought for a while and asked in a low voice: “Sir, my parents are all in Shanggu. Can we change the farmland to Youzhou? My family members are attached to their hometown and don’t want to move elsewhere.”

Liu Bei followed the voice and saw the person who was speaking was a thin, dark-skinned soldier. When he saw Lord Xuande looking at him, he suddenly looked a little flustered and stammered, not daring to say anything more.

Liu Bei smiled and nodded at him, saying: “Of course you can, but Youzhou is still in the river area, and we still need you to follow me and fight the Han thieves. Once we fight back to Youzhou, we can share the farmland.”

“Excuse me, sir, how long will it take?” someone in the crowd asked in a low voice.

Liu Bei smiled, raised his finger to the sky, and said: “With your help, the Han Dynasty will be able to recover Hebei in no time!”

When the soldiers heard this, they couldn’t help but cheer. Compared to the land of Qingzhou, they preferred to distribute the arable land of Youzhou. No one would want to leave their homeland unless they were desperate.

What’s more, the envoy is a fellow villager and a man of his word, making him more approachable than the Gongsun and Yuan families. As the lord of several states, he can humble himself and talk to these common soldiers. I have never seen such a thing before, and my uneasy heart was instantly calmed.

The soldiers from Youzhou were excited to learn that they would be given farmland from their hometowns after Hebei was recovered. They cheered with red faces and necks.

Even after Liu Bei and his party left the camp, the shouting behind them continued.

Guo Jia praised while riding his horse: “Your Excellency’s move is like Emperor Gaozu’s promise to reward the soldiers and return home. The soldiers’ morale is greatly boosted, and they will march to Guanzhong to destroy Western Chu.”

“Once this matter spreads, the Youzhou soldiers under Yuan Benchu ​​will be demoralized and look forward to surrendering to the Han Dynasty.”

“Yuan Shao has recruited the nobles, the soldiers of the counties and states, and the Wuhuan and Xianbei. It seems that they are coming in large numbers and with great momentum, but in fact, they are not united and it is difficult to coordinate them. We should not be afraid of them.”

After hearing this, Liu Bei said, “Although the Yuan army is in disarray, we cannot underestimate it. Recently, I have camped on the border of Pingyuan and provoked the Wuhuan people many times, but Chanyu Tadun has repeatedly refused to move. So I hid in Xiu County on the north bank of the Huan River and watched from across the river.”

“And Ju Shou, Zhang He and others stationed in Nanpi, Bohai, did not advance either. They were waiting for Yuan Shao to send troops from Jizhou. They did not give me a chance to evade the strong and attack the weak. They wanted to destroy Qingzhou with a thunderous force.”

“It’s a pity that no matter how many people he brings, now 20,000 combat soldiers have been mobilized to the plains, and auxiliary soldiers are also being mobilized. As long as the people can cross the river, there will be no worries in this battle, and we can fight with all our might.”

“Even if we destroy the plains and the area north of the Great River, as long as we defeat the main force of Yuan’s army, Yuan Shao will never be able to rise again.” “Even if the noble families of Hebei resist, it will be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.”

Liu Bei said with a chuckle.

He liked this kind of method of constantly putting pressure on the enemy, forcing the enemy to mobilize all its main forces for a decisive battle.

This saves him from attacking one city after another, which is time-consuming and laborious.

Yuan Jun didn’t want to delay time and wanted to suppress his momentum as soon as possible, so come on.

Because of Qu Yi’s death, Yuan Shao and his close aides were afraid that their soldiers would only think about protecting themselves and would not dare to take the initiative to attack.

He had no choice but to give up the plan of defending the city and using cavalry to harass Qing and Yan states, and then switched to the strategy he used before Guandu, directly making a big bet and going all out for a decisive battle, which was quite what he wanted.

This would also allow Yuan Shao to personally experience the difference between the 20,000 soldiers in Qingzhou and the nearly 100,000 Yuan troops.

In war, the more people the better, it is not the case that more people are involved. Rather, it is about military training, strict military discipline, clear rewards and punishments, the training of grassroots military officers, the quality of military equipment, and the unity of purpose among officials, civilians, and soldiers.

I wonder how many of them Yuan Benchu ​​can gain when he comes for the decisive battle.

After Liu Bei and dozens of his men left the Youzhou camp, they returned to the Qingzhou military camp without stopping. In addition to the Wugang chariots and crossbows distributed around the camp, the camp was arranged in double rows in a moon shape, and the pack horses, draft horses, mules and other livestock they brought were placed in the rear camp.

Three trenches were dug around the rear camp, and chevaux de frise, horse traps, and wooden fences were set up, with caltrops hidden, specifically to prevent enemy cavalry from making sneak attacks from behind.

Tall watchtowers and observation towers were built in all directions of the camp, and soldiers were always on guard to keep an eye out for the enemy.

Even though the Wuhuan leader Tadun sent cavalry across the river to observe the Qingzhou military camp last time, he thought he was safe but was shot dead by crossbows from hundreds of steps away. He never let his scouts get close to Liu Bei’s camp again.

The Wuhuan scouts only dared to stand a thousand steps away, and simply took a few glances before waving their whips and running away.

This undoubtedly meant that the camp that Liu Bei had carefully built was not of much use.

Looking at the towering watchtower, Liu Bei sighed slightly and said, “The Hu people are becoming more and more difficult to deal with. I only brought 3,000 troops to camp here. There are only thousands of newly joined Youzhou soldiers next to me. The cavalry commander Zhang Wenyuan is still dozens of miles away in Ge County. The ones transporting food and grass are just the auxiliary soldiers Chaiying led by Ran.”

“Faced with such a good opportunity, Tadun has 7,000 men, and his cavalry is hasty and lightly equipped, yet he is not tempted at all. Is he still a Hu man who is short of supplies and iron tools?”

Liu Bei couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. He transported food, supplies, and military equipment from Pingyuan County, Ge County, and Ande County, just to lure the Wuhuan people into taking the bait.

I don’t know whether it was really because of the severity of Yuan Shao’s order or because the bed crossbow scared Tadun.

But the problem was that he only placed thirty crossbows in the military camp. If he ran into the fifty or so remaining in Chaiying, wouldn’t he be frightened to death? !

(End of this chapter)