Chapter 252 Welcome Lord Xuande back to his Nanyang

The Wuhuan leader Tadun did not move, and the Yuan army led by Zhang He, Gao Lan, and Dong Zhao did not move either.

Liu Bei felt a little regretful that he could not cut off another arm of Yuan’s army.

He handed the reins of the horse to Dian Wei, went straight back to the main tent of the army, and took off his armor with the help of Xu Chu and other personal guards.

He took out the clay-sealed letters on the table, pried them open along the seam with a carving knife, and looked at them carefully.

This can be considered a story of the Han Dynasty. Before every decisive battle, the gentry and wealthy families in Hebei and the Central Plains liked to send secret letters to choose sides. Other counties were a bit far away, and perhaps they were afraid of being discovered by Yuan Shao on the way, so few people came.

The counties that sent the most letters were Wei County in Jizhou, Bohai County, and Ganling County. These three counties and countries were the places that bore the greatest pressure from Qingzhou and Yanzhou.

However, what surprised Liu Bei a little was that the patriarch of the Zhen family in Wuji County, Zhongshan, took advantage of the previous business dealings with him. Other noble families all talked about their righteousness in letters, expressing their desire to restore order, support the Han Dynasty, and build achievements for the world.

Only the head of the Zhen clan actually talked about the girl. He said that the Zhen clan had a little girl who was born on the 12th month of the fifth year of Guanghe. The close relatives of the family often saw someone holding a jade garment to cover her in their dreams. Later, the fortune teller Liu Liang passed by Wuji County and looked at the sons of the Zhen clan. He pointed at the girl and exclaimed: “This girl is so precious that it is beyond words!”

So Zhen kept it a secret. When the girl grew older, she became interested in reading. Her brothers teased her and asked her if she wanted to become a female doctor.

The little girl then said, “I have heard that all the wise women in ancient times have learned from the successes and failures of the past and used them as a warning for themselves. If you don’t know how to read, how can you learn?”

For these reasons, the head of the Zhen family believed that this girl had the talent of Ban Zhao. The fortune teller said she was precious and had an extraordinary appearance. The Zhen family did not dare to promise her to anyone else and only wanted to make her a concubine of Liu Shijun.

At present, Yuan Shao does not allow anyone to communicate with Qingzhou, so roads in various places are cut off, and the caravan’s carriages and entourage are all staying in Fuyang County.

I also hope that Lord Xuande will capture Nanpi of Bohai Sea and lead his troops to Fuyang so that they can stop and rest for half a day after their fatigue.

When Liu Bei saw this, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Ever since the beginning of the Han Dynasty when Bo Ji was read by Xu Fu, and then to the time when Emperor Xiaowen Liu Heng took over the empire, there would always be a few extremely valuable women running away whenever there was troubled times.

Now she still wants to use this kind of thing to get close to him.

Liu Bei pondered for a while, then picked up his pen and patiently told the head of the Zhen family that to restore the Han Dynasty, more righteous ways were needed. As long as the descendants of the clan were talented and knowledgeable, there would be no worries about wealth and honor.

Later, he led his army to suppress Yuan’s rebellion and marched into Zhongshan County. If Zhen could persuade all the counties to submit to the Han Dynasty, it would be a great achievement.

Liu Bei rolled up the reply letter, sealed it with mud and stamped it, but found that there was no way to send it now. He could only think about persuading Zhen.

For a moment, I forgot that after the battle of Yue County, Yuan Benchu ​​was afraid that the morale of Jizhou would be unstable, so he simply blocked all the post offices near Qingzhou and Yanzhou to prevent any letters that might disturb the people from circulating.

These noble families who were willing to surrender also went through untold hardships before sending the letters.

Unless Liu Bei specially sent someone to deliver the letter, the journey was too long, and no matter how familiar the knight was with the route, he could not guarantee that it would be delivered safely. If it was lost along the way, those nobles and wealthy families would also be in trouble.

What’s more, the cavalrymen who avoided Yuan’s scouts and traveled lightly into the heart of Jizhou were picked from among the scouts. No one would be able to bear the pain of wasting such cavalrymen.

Putting the reply aside, Liu Bei opened other letters. Cui Yan, a member of the Cui family in Dongwu City, Ganling County, served under him and had written to him early, lamenting that he did not have enough troops and did not dare to start a rebellion easily. He also explained that the Cui family’s hundreds of troops were forcibly recruited by Qu Yi, and it was not that the Cui family in Dongwu City intended to be an enemy of Lord Xuande, and hoped that the public would carefully examine it.

In addition to them, there are the Bao family and the Xin family of Weijun, and the Zhang family of Nanpi in Bohai, also known as the descendants of Zhang Liang. However, these aristocratic and powerful families had no previous dealings with Liu Bei, and at the moment they had no intention of joining him. Instead, they seemed to be afraid of being prosecuted and punished in the future, so they wrote a letter in advance and sent it out to express their loyalty to the Han Dynasty.

In terms of sincerity, he was not as good as Wuji Zhen. At least he took the risk of being discovered by Yuan Shao and sent Zhen’s daughter to Fuyang County.

Thinking of this, Liu Bei couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh, and said to Guo Jia with emotion: “Feng Xiao, why are there always people in the world who want to gain wealth and honor for generations with very little effort? Don’t these people know that if they want to live a rich and honorable life, they must work hard?”

“Since you have placed your bet on the Yuan family, why not just go all the way and help Yuan Benchu ​​to take a gamble? Maybe you can get unexpected gains. Now, at the slightest sign of trouble, you want to change the family and choose a new master, but you are afraid of being punished by the old master.”

“With so many aristocratic families in Hebei, I’m afraid they will still be unable to dodge the blade on their necks, just like they were two hundred years ago. In comparison, the aristocratic families and noble families in Nanyang are much smarter.”

“Before the troops were ready to reach Jingzhou, they asked the Yingchuan nobles about my intentions. Each family also secretly sent their clan members to come to Pingyuan County to pay a visit, regardless of the long journey and the fatigue of traveling by boat and carriage…”

Liu Bei thought of the patriarch of the Yin clan in Xinye. While other noble families in Nanyang sent their sons to pay him a visit, he, who was over 60 years old, forced himself to secretly take a horse-drawn carriage from Nanyang to Yingchuan, Chenliu, Dongjun, and finally to Pingyuan.

He traveled thousands of miles across three states, holding his breath to come and apologize. He almost died of exhaustion in Chenliu County, which scared the prefect Zhang Miao.

The patriarch of the Yin clan could die anywhere, but not here. He had already suffered from Yuan Shao’s pettiness. What if one day in the future Madam Yin suddenly thought that her patriarch came to pay homage to Lord Xuande, and was fine when he passed through Yingchuan County, but fell ill and could not get up when he arrived in Chenliu County?

If he mistakenly thought that it was Zhang Mengzhuo who failed to take good care of Zhang and caused trouble for Zhang in some matters, then Zhang would be finished.

Zhang Miao quickly wrote a letter to Liu Shijun, saying that he had heard that Hua Yuanhua, a famous doctor from Qiao County, Yuzhou, had gone to Qingzhou. Now the patriarch of the Yin family had suddenly fallen ill, and the doctors in Chenliu were helpless, so it would be better to let Hua Fu come to treat him.

When Liu Bei saw the document, he immediately sent Hua Tuo to Chenliu County. After half a month, he finally brought the patriarch of the Yin family back from the dead.

When Madam Yin Jun heard this, she was grateful and asked her servant to give Hua Fu three hundred gold coins.

This also made Zhang Miao exclaim in his heart, fortunately he had foresight and did not ignore the head of the Yin clan because of the gossip that Yin and the envoy were not in harmony.

The head of the Yin clan in Xinye, despite his old age and frailty, rushed to pay a visit to Lord Xuande. In addition to apologizing for what happened in his early years, he also wanted to discuss the matter of Liu Jingsheng.

If Liu Biao, because of his party member status, stood on Yuan Shao’s side and decided to let the Jingzhou army enter Nanyang, he would want to attack Yingchuan and Sili.

You can let the third general Zhang Yide lead the troops from Luoyang out of Liang County and take Nanyang, Lunan, Zhi County, and Bowang County.

Military Marquis Le Jin led his troops from Xiping in Runan County to attack Ye County and Duyang, and then the two armies joined forces to besiege Wen Pin in Wancheng.

At the same time, the noble families in the remaining thirty-odd counties of Nanyang Prefecture all mobilized their troops and responded to the Han army.

Each family agreed to join forces to destroy the Han traitor Liu Biao and welcome Lord Xuande into Jingzhou.

(End of this chapter)