Chapter 291 Where is Lord Xuande from

On December 20th, the Qingzhou army continued to attack cities and territories in Hebei, preparing to completely capture the only seven remaining counties in Weijun and Bohaijun before the second year of Jian’an.

Upon learning that Yuan Shao had been defeated, Xun Yu crossed the river from Jinan early in the morning and led the officials to restore the administration of Pingyuan. He heard that the envoy had dispersed and settled nearly 90,000 surrendered soldiers in various counties in Ganling, and at the same time dealt with the local tyrants.

Because Liu Bei had to appease the people of Ganling and the surrendered soldiers, even if he measured the fields and confiscated corn and wheat from the granaries of illegal tyrants, it was still not enough to feed hundreds of thousands of hungry mouths.

A big reason for this was that when Yuan’s army was defeated, some of his subordinates set fire to food and grass everywhere in an attempt to slow down the advance of the Qingzhou army. Although a lot of wheat was rescued in time, most of the stored grass and grain were burned to ashes.

There were tens of thousands of Yuan troops stationed in front and behind each county of Ganling, and both spring and autumn ploughing were affected. Especially after the arrival of Yuan Shao’s army, it was most convenient to collect grain locally, and almost all the surplus grain of the people for the next year was collected. Now the barn in the rear was burned down.

This forced Liu Bei to stop and deal with many issues such as the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in Ganling and 100,000 surrendered soldiers.

Guo Jia, who was with the army, also offered a suggestion: “The weather is getting colder. We should mobilize all the troops to march north to seize Jiyou. Although we are aggressive, we may be easily frustrated.”

“Jia heard that the cold air from the north had invaded, the snow was up to the calves, and the icicles were hanging on the beards when the soldiers breathed out. The soldiers often froze their fingers and cracked their skin. However, our army’s robes and linen shoes were not enough to keep 70,000 soldiers warm. At that time, the horses hesitated, and the soldiers were afraid of the cold and feared that they would not win the battle.”

“It is better to stop while we are ahead and capture Weijun and Bohai first, just like Qingzhou stretching its arms to embrace Hebei. When the weather improves in the spring of next year, General Guan will lead the army to attack Zhao and Julu, and attack Anping and Hejian from the direction of Ganling. The Bohai defenders can then attack Youzhou. Hebei can be pacified in just a year or so.”

Guo Jia was worried that the bitterly cold weather in the north would directly affect the combat effectiveness of the Qingzhou army.

What’s more, there are many Hu people in Youzhou. Although the Xianbei people heard that Yuan’s army was defeated and fled to Julu, and the Wuhuan cavalry also retreated to Hejian, their tribe has many horses and can rush back to Youzhou at any time. If the time comes, they can attack from both sides and disrupt the food supply route, which would be dangerous.

Seeing Liu Bei silent, Guo Jia bowed again and asked with a smile: “Are you worried about the sons of the Yuan family?!”

“I was fortunate enough to meet Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi in Yecheng. I learned about government affairs from their teachings. However, this is not a time for peaceful governance, and military strategies are not smooth. This is probably because these people are incapable of doing anything, so there is no need to worry about them.”

It’s not that Guo Jia looked down on the sons of the Yuan family. Yuan Shao was at least a role model for the world. Compared with Yuan Benchu, who was praised by his party members and scholars were willing to come from thousands of miles away to rely on him, his sons were not inferior in any way. They could only be called pigs. Who would care about the opinions of pigs when slaughtering them?

Liu Bei thought for a moment and nodded.

Hebei is indeed in chaos now. Even if we vigorously rectify the counties, it will take at least half a year. The sons of the Yuan family do not have the prestige and courage to carry out the rectification.

After Yuan Shao’s death, the Hebei gentry and wealthy families weighed the pros and cons and decided not to listen to the orders of Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi, who had no prestige at all.

Now there are many surrendered soldiers in Ganling, and he feels a little worried if he doesn’t leave more than ten thousand soldiers to defend it.

He then accepted Guo Jia’s advice and divided the army into three parts. One part went to Bohai, Hebei, the Huben cavalry went down southwest to attack Weijun, and the rest stayed in Ganling.

During this period, Liu Bei also urged Xun Yu to transfer food from Qingzhou and Xuzhou. As people from all over heard the news and surrendered, more and more Yuan soldiers surrendered. In particular, soldiers from Youzhou fled in groups from Hejian, Anping and Julu counties near Ganling and came to Ganling to surrender to the enemy.

Some soldiers not only escaped, but also killed the grooms, rode away with the pack horses, draft horses, donkeys, and mules, and wrapped weapons and armor in linen and tied them to the horses’ backs. Horse thefts occurred frequently in various counties in Hebei. Because many people in Youzhou lived with the Hu people, they were good at riding and identifying horses since childhood, and even the stolen horses were mostly good quality horses, so the pursuers sent by Jizhou had to chase for a long time before they could catch them.

At this moment, the Qingzhou army was still attacking various places. The soldiers responsible for capturing the stolen horses often did not dare to chase too far, for fear of encountering Qingzhou scouts halfway. They only ran a few miles symbolically and then hurriedly reined in their horses to return.

Liu Bei was very curious about this. How could so many people from Youzhou come here from hundreds of miles away?

Upon asking, I learned that the soldiers in Youzhou were spreading the word that Lord Xuande was from Zhuo County in Youzhou, and that as long as he could surrender and fight back, not only would he be forgiven for his past mistakes, but he would also be able to distribute land equally among the people in the village.

The words that were originally intended to persuade Qu Yi’s soldiers to surrender were spread through hearsay from others, and from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred, and the situation became more and more chaotic.

By the time the news reached Hejian State, Julu County, Anping County and other places, it was no longer clear to which area of ​​Youzhou the promise was made.

Some soldiers also quarreled privately about this.

Some people said that Lord Xuande was from Zhuo County, and that the promise was effective for the soldiers of Zhuo County. Someone scoffed at this and said bluntly, “Lord Xuande is obviously from Shanggu County, so the land should be distributed equally in Shanggu County.”

As they were arguing, a soldier from Yuyang County couldn’t help but interrupt and said, “You are all talking nonsense. I heard from my uncle that Lord Xuande is from our Yuyang County, and he is from Dongxiang, Yuyang County. He just migrated to Guangyang, Shanggu and other places, and finally settled in Zhuo County. But in the final analysis, Lord Xuande is from our Yuyang Township.”

The soldiers who had gathered around to watch, after hearing this man’s detailed explanation, finally understood what was going on. They immediately sorted out their thoughts and said to each other, “So that’s why so many people mistook Lord Xuande for a fellow villager. There’s actually such a reason.”

“If someone hadn’t told us today, we really wouldn’t have known this detail… So we are all half-fellow villagers of Lord Xuande.”

Hearing the exclamations from his comrades around him, the thin and yellow soldier could not help but raise his neck proudly.

These people, like him when he heard his uncle talk about this matter in the village before, couldn’t help but be amazed.

Moreover, my uncle also said that he had met Liu Shijun in Yuyang in the past!

If Lord Xuande still remembered, he only needed to say his uncle’s name, and perhaps he would be given a few more acres of land than others. Then he could return home in a gorgeous robe and pay tribute to his uncle properly.

When the thin and yellow soldier thought of this, he wished he could escape south tonight and visit his old friends thousands of miles away.

Yuan’s army was defeated, and as news of this spread uncontrollably, the number of Yuan soldiers who fled upon hearing the news snowballed.

Not only did the soldiers of Youzhou abandon their army and flee, but the soldiers of Jizhou followed suit, because Xuande announced to Hebei that he would remeasure the land in Ganling County and carry out equal distribution of land for the common people.

(End of this chapter)