My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 238 Straight to Yangdi
Liu Bei first informed Lu Su, Huang Jiu, and his trusted generals Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying that the emperor was about to appoint him as General of the Cavalry and to oversee the three provinces of Xu, Yu, and Yang.

Lu Su, Huang Jiu, and the other three were overjoyed and rose to pay their respects to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei smiled broadly, repeatedly expressing his humility, but inwardly he was marveling at his excellent son.

Thinking back on his life of wandering, he realized he couldn't even find a place to settle down.

Before heading to Xuzhou, Chen Changwen tried his best to dissuade himself.

Who could have imagined that after entering Xuzhou, in just over a year, he not only became the governor of Xuzhou, but also the Grand General of the Cavalry in the central government, with the same rank as the Three Dukes, and was even allowed to establish his own government and govern affairs. He was also enfeoffed as the Marquis of Qiao.

This is the Marquis of Qiao.

Pei State, as well as the capital of Yu Province, and the lands of Pei and Qiao, held special significance throughout the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties.

The emperor actually bestowed a title upon him.

He also appointed himself as the governor of Yuzhou and Yangzhou.

It's no exaggeration to say that Liu Bei had secretly pinched himself several times, fearing that he was still dreaming.

Seeing Lu Su and the others kneeling respectfully before him, he quickly got up, helped the four of them to their feet, and then returned them to their seats.

He wanted to show off a little more, but felt that it would be too disrespectful to the master, so he could only suppress his excitement and turn his attention to the important matter at hand.

"Gentlemen, this is what my son requests, and I would like to hear your opinions."

Liu Bei then relayed Liu Feng's request for him to transfer troops to Runan, then head north to encircle Yingchuan from the south and seize Linying to Lu Su and others.

Lu Su was the first to read the letter. After reading it, he passed it to Huang Jiu and then fell into deep thought.

After all four had finished reading, Liu Bei asked, "What do you all think?"

All eyes turned to Lu Su first, but Lu Su humbly looked at Huang Jiu.

Huang Jiu was already quite old, belonging to the same generation as Dong Zhao, and much older than Lu Su.

From this perspective, Huang can be considered Lu Su's predecessor and a famous scholar in Liang State. In the past, he was as famous as Dong Zhao in Jizhou, Hebei. His integrity, virtue and ability were all quite remarkable.

Huang sensed Lu Su's goodwill, nodded to the junior, and then said, "My lord, I think this plan is feasible! The young master described it in detail in his letter, and the plan is feasible. Although sending troops to Runan is a bit of a big move, the envoy will arrive in Liang soon. My lord can obtain the governorship of three provinces, and Yu Province is also under your jurisdiction. This can achieve twice the result with half the effort."

After Huang expressed his support, Lu Su immediately followed up with his agreement: "My lord, the young master's plan is far-sighted. Our Xuzhou was attacked twice by Cao Yanzhou, and we know well the suffering caused by the shortage of manpower. I was ordered by you, my lord, to assist Prime Minister Mi in rebuilding Pengcheng, and I have suffered greatly from the shortage of manpower."

Although Pengcheng Kingdom is not a large place with only five counties, it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, with plains in the middle and large lakes and hills of three to four hundred meters in height on all sides. It is fertile land, so the population has always been very high.

Before being razed to the ground by Cao Cao, this territory, which was only one-third the size of Donghai and Xiapi, had a population of 500,000, only 100,000 fewer than Xiapi. One can imagine how rich it was.

Even though Xuzhou has spent a lot of money and grain to recruit refugees, Pengcheng has only managed to recruit about 100,000 people so far. After all, it's not just Pengcheng that's short of people; Donghai, Xiapi, and Langya also need a large influx of people.

Lu Su not only had to compete with other states for population, but also with other counties and kingdoms within Xuzhou.

In the past six months, Pengcheng has been able to attract over 100,000 people. While Mi Zhu and Lu Su certainly did their best, they also benefited from the preferential policies of the Xuzhou prefecture.

After all, Mi Zhu was the future young lord's brother-in-law, the patron of the Duke, and a wealthy local tycoon in Xuzhou. Lu Su was a trusted advisor of both Liu Bei and his son, so naturally, he was the one they prioritized.

It was precisely because of this that Lu Su understood even more the preciousness of human life.

Huang Jiu stroked his beard and agreed, saying, "My lord, the young master said something in his letter that is thought-provoking. For every person I gain, the enemy loses one. This back-and-forth action is twice as effective with half the effort, which is indeed true."

Seeing that Lu Su and Huang Jiu both agreed with the plan, Liu Bei looked at his two trusted generals, Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying, and found that their faces were full of eagerness, and they were just short of asking to go into battle.

Therefore, Liu Bei made a decisive decision.

"Alright, in that case, let Xiahou Bo be the commander-in-chief and Zhuo Ying the deputy commander, leading 8,000 elite troops, passing through Chen County, heading to Runan, and then departing from Qiang County to attack Linying."

"Yes, sir! We will obey your orders!"

Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying rose at the same time, bowed, and accepted the order.

"Both of you have fought alongside me for many years and are highly experienced, so I don't need to say more."

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said, "Just remember, stability should be the priority in this battle. If we cannot take Linying, we can retreat to Qiang County and Yancheng County to defend. We must not allow the Yellow Turbans of Yingchuan to retreat into Runan, and we must not allow the two Yellow Turbans to merge."

There were also a large number of Yellow Turban remnants in Runan, but unlike Yingchuan, Runan was not greatly affected by the war. It had a large population and the government and local strongmen were very powerful, so most of the Yellow Turban army in Runan was suppressed in the peripheral mountainous areas.

Although the number of Yellow Turban rebels in Runan was greater than that in Yingchuan, their situation was worse because the Runan government was very powerful.

"Here!"

Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying accepted the order in unison.

Huang added from the side, "In that case, Your Excellency can open the Suiyang Armory to replenish the army with weapons and provisions."

As the capital of Liang, Suiyang naturally had an armory containing the military equipment and armor accumulated by Liang. These items were consumables on the battlefield, and could not be used by one person with a sword to fight from start to finish.

With Liu Bei based in Liang, the main mode of transport by water was grain; military equipment was not a priority. Moreover, in the event of an emergency, would Liu Bei really be foolish enough to simply guard the armory in Suiyang unused?
However, at this moment, Huang took the initiative to speak up, and as the Prefect, he could be said to have helped Liu Bei resolve his worries.

Of course, Huang was able to do this for several reasons: first, he had high hopes for Liu Bei; second, Liu Bei was about to take control of Yuzhou; and third, this operation was to march south and annihilate the Yellow Turban Army.

Few of the aristocratic officials did not despise the Yellow Turban Army.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei was overjoyed and said, "Excellent! In that case, I will trouble you, Prefect."

Having finalized his plan, Liu Bei immediately set off by water to send a message to Luoyang.

Liu Feng's side was also constantly gathering intelligence and formulating plans.

When Liu Bei's message arrived in Luoyang four days later, Liu Feng immediately convened a military meeting to assign specific tasks and prepare for the expedition.

Liu Feng's troops consisted of five divisions totaling 19,000 men: Guan Yu (6,000 men), Taishi Ci (4,000 men), Pan Zhang (4,000 men), Zhang Liao (2,000 men), Gao Shun (2,000 men), and Jia Kui (1,000 men). He also had four naval divisions totaling 6,000 men: Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Dong Xi, and Gan Ning.

In addition, there were more than 2,000 newly recruited Mikawa knights, 300 men from Guan Ping's separate unit, and more than 1,000 men from Jia Bin's separate unit.

At the same time, there were also 3,000 Guo Gong troops, 1,400 Xu Huang's own troops, and 800 cavalrymen aided by Yang Feng.

Except for the navy, which could only send half of its 3,000 troops ashore for combat, all other troops could be mobilized.

Therefore, Liu Feng made the following arrangements.

The Western Route Army was the main force among the main forces, with Guan Yu's 6,000 troops at its core, reinforced by a naval force of 3,000 men, with Zhou Tai as the commander-in-chief and Gan Ning as the deputy commander, Gao Shun's 2,000 troops, and Guo Gong's 3,000 troops, totaling 14,000 men.

The main task of the Western Route Army was to start from Xinzheng County, Henan Province, move south along the Wei River, occupy Changshe, Yanling, and Xinji, and then use the remaining forces to press Xu County.

Liu Feng entrusted Guan Yu with the specific allocation of troops and the operation, only giving him two instructions.

First, no large groups of Yellow Turban rebels are allowed to break through and escape from the Wei River direction.

Second, we must take Xu County with all our might and then encircle Yingyin from the east.

The Second Route Army was the Eastern Route Army, which started from Liang County, followed the Ru River southward to Jia County and Xiangcheng, and then directly attacked Yingyang.

This route is entirely a main road, making transportation very convenient. Moreover, it is an outer line of operations, which can provide timely support to Liu Bei's reinforcements in Lin'ying, as well as Liu Feng's central army on the main battlefield.

Therefore, Liu Feng assigned all of his main cavalry to this route.

The army was led by Taishi Ci as the main general, with Zhang Liao and Xu Huang as his deputies. The force numbered over 8,000 men, half of whom were cavalry.

Liu Feng only had two requirements for this journey.

First, a large force of Yellow Turban rebels must not be allowed to break through from the west and head towards Jingzhou.

Second, we must take Yingyang with all our might and then encircle Yingyin from the west.

The final central army was personally led by Liu Feng, who commanded 4,000 men under Pan Zhang, 1,000 men under Jia Kui, 300 men under Guan Ping, and over 1,000 men under Jia Bin, totaling nearly 7,000 men. They marched out of Huanyuan Pass, passed Yangcheng, and then headed straight for Yangdi.

The Yellow Turban Army in Yangdi was the second largest group in Yingchuan, with as many as 40,000 men.

The number of able-bodied men who could fight was at most ten thousand, and their equipment and weaponry were generally inferior to those of the Xuzhou army.

If it were a field battle, Liu Feng was confident that he could defeat the enemy within an hour.

The generals and military advisors couldn't find any major problems with Liu Feng's arrangements. However, Guan Yu and Taishi Ci secretly spoke with Liu Feng afterward, wondering if the central army's strength was too weak.

“Uncle, teacher, the only real enemy in the central area is the enemy of Yangdi. The enemy in Yingyin dares not make any moves. Moreover, if he really dares to come out, I will be overjoyed.”

Liu Feng was not arrogant at all. The Yellow Turban Army did not have a regular army. Apart from the generals' personal guards, they were all farmers who combined military and civilian life.

Such poorly trained and unarmed troops, who are driven only by brute force, are the easiest to defeat.

I dare not say more, but it is no problem for one person to be worth five.

The Yellow Turban Army was severely lacking in long-range firepower, and relying solely on infantry to charge into gun formations meant that no matter how many came, they would die.

Moreover, Liu Feng could retreat along the way.

The northern part of Yingchuan is all mountainous. If the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan dares to gather together and pursue Liu Feng to the north, Liu Feng will be laughing in his dreams.

Huanyuan Pass in the northern mountainous area is one of the key passes around Luoyang, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Liu Feng only needs to guard this pass for ten days or half a month, and the Yellow Turban Army's rear and stronghold will be completely destroyed by the Eastern and Western armies, and then they will be surrounded and annihilated in the hilly area outside Luoyang.

At the same time, Liu Feng could receive reinforcements from Luoyang at any time, especially from Yang Feng and Zhang Yang's forces.

After Liu Feng captured Gong County, he decided to hand it over to Yang Feng's troops.

On Liu Feng's advice, Yang Feng planned to establish a military settlement in Yin County, Henan Province. This county was located at a major transportation route and had ready-made fields, all of which had been cultivated by the Yellow Turbans. It was truly a blessed land.

Yang Feng was deeply grateful to Liu Feng, so sending troops to help was no small matter. Moreover, Yang Feng had originally intended to surrender to the Xuzhou army, and they had even agreed that he would receive 20,000 shi of grain from Xuzhou.

Therefore, Liu Feng left quite a lot of redundancy.

After all, if that's not enough, they can ask Cao Cao for help; Cao Cao was willing to pay out of his own pocket to help others.

After hearing Liu Feng's explanation, Guan Yu and Taishi Ci were finally relieved.

After arranging the battle plan, Liu Feng copied it down and sent it to the Liang Kingdom along with the launch time.

Meanwhile, Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying of Liang had already set out with their armies, passing through Chen to reach Runan.

Despite the fact that the entire journey was overland and involved crossing two rivers, Xiahou Bo and his men were not slow at all.

This was a major road during the Eastern Han Dynasty, a vital east-west transportation route in the Central Plains. The road was paved with stone slabs, allowing for rapid travel. Furthermore, the Liang Kingdom had many large carts and livestock, which further enhanced the mobility of Xiahou Bo's troops.

Both parties agreed to officially begin the operation on the tenth day of the second lunar month.

At the same time, a timetable for each department and each stage was stipulated. This timetable was not an instruction, but a reference.

After all, there were no telephones or telegrams for communication in this era.

Providing a timeline reference table can also help the commanders of each route make a judgment on the overall situation.

In addition, Liu Feng also emphasized in the plan that the eastern and western armies should establish contact with Xiahou Bo's Runan reinforcements as soon as possible, and it would be best to achieve the effect of coordinated operations.

Time quickly passed to early February, and all the troops had already moved into their respective starting points.

Guan Yu's troops entered Xinzheng, Taishi Ci's troops entered Liang County, and Liu Feng personally led the central army into Yangcheng.

Yangcheng was now abandoned, with only a few dozen households living among the ruins.

When they saw the army entering the city, these dozens of households were terrified.

Fortunately, the army did not make things difficult for these dozens of households; instead, they moved them to Gongxian in the rear.

Subsequently, various supplies such as grains, weapons, medicines, clothing, carts, and livestock were continuously delivered to Yangcheng.

On the morning of the tenth day of the second lunar month, Liu Feng announced the oath-taking ceremony in Yangcheng and set off.

The entire army of 7,000 set off from Yangcheng and marched in a mighty force toward Yangdi.

Between Yangcheng and Yangdi, there is a small settlement called Yangguan.

This place is close to Yangdi, less than ten miles away, and is an important stronghold on the outskirts of Yangdi. Therefore, three thousand Yellow Turbans were stationed here.

However, of the three thousand Yellow Turbans, fewer than six hundred were capable men, and of those, only two or three hundred were able-bodied young men.

After learning this news, Liu Feng decided to first wipe out this group of Yellow Turbans, giving the Yellow Turban army in Yangdi a small shock.

Pan Zhang couldn't wait to jump out and volunteer for battle, but Liu Feng calmed him down.

There are two reasons.

Firstly, Pan Zhang has already made enough contributions, and it's time to give others a chance. Guan Ping, Jia Kui, Jia Bin, Liu Fu, and others who came with him this time all need more credit than Pan Zhang.

Secondly, Pan Zhang's troops are the sole core of Liu Feng's central army, so they should not be mobilized casually. They should keep their strength hidden and await a major battle.

After appeasing Pan Zhang, and seeing the eager expressions on the faces of Jia Kui, Guan Ping, and others, Liu Feng entrusted the battle to Jia Kui as commander, with Guan Ping, Jia Bin, and Liu Fu as his deputies. Including preparation time, they had to eliminate the enemy completely within half an hour.

As important strongholds, Yangguanju and Yangdi naturally had a very close connection, and there was a main road for travel between them. Cavalry could arrive in just a quarter of an hour, and infantry could arrive in just half an hour.

The alarm bells had already been rung in Yangguanju when the Xuzhou army appeared.

Meanwhile, on the earthen mound specially piled up by the villagers, smoke signals were lit, and billowing black smoke rose straight into the sky, which was much faster than scouts.

Almost simultaneously, the Yellow Turban Army in Yangdi City would receive an alert, which is the fundamental reason why this part of the Yellow Turban Army was arranged to gather in Yangguan.

Liu Feng was accompanied by Jia Bin's knights, watching as Jia Kui, Guan Ping, Liu Fu, and others surrounded Yangguanju.

The frontline soldiers began to don their armor, while ranged firepower probed ahead, suppressing the firepower on the settlement walls and searching for weaknesses.

As for Pan Zhang's troops, they marched to the southeast of Yangguan, set up their formation by the river, and then sat down to eat and rest.

Don't be fooled by their relaxed appearance; in fact, Pan Zhang's armored soldiers have the heaviest task: to deal with the main force of the Yellow Turbans from Yangdi.

At this time, inside Yangdi City, the soldiers on the city tower, upon seeing the smoke signals gathering at Yangguan, immediately relayed the news to the prefect's office.

Yangdi was the capital of Yingchuan Commandery, but it was repeatedly breached.

It was once defeated by Bo Cai, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and later by the Western Liang Army, changing hands several times.

Fortunately, no fierce siege battles broke out, and the occupying forces did not set the city on fire when they withdrew.

Therefore, many buildings were still preserved in Yangdi City, which allowed the Yellow Turban Army to quickly fill this gap after the Yingchuan government's power was completely defeated by the Xiliang Army.

There were 40,000 Yellow Turban soldiers in Yangdi City, making it the second largest Yellow Turban group in Yingchuan. In addition, there were more than 30,000 civilians in Yingchuan.

These people farmed around Yangdi, and without anyone interfering with them, they actually settled down in Yingchuan.

In the original history, after Cao Cao entered Yingchuan, he easily wiped out these Yellow Turban rebels and then settled them in Yingchuan County to cultivate land.

This was also Cao Cao's unique advantage over the Yellow Turban Army. In the eyes of the Yellow Turban Army, Cao Cao was considered half one of their own, someone they could talk to.

Back in Jibei Kingdom of Yanzhou, without this connection, even if Cao Cao's ten thousand men won, they wouldn't have been able to wipe out the million-strong Yellow Turban army in one fell swoop.

It was precisely this windfall that made Cao Cao incredibly arrogant.

Not only did they seize the land of the local gentry in Yanzhou and distribute it to the Yellow Turbans for cultivation, but they also directly slaughtered Bian Rang's entire family.

Although Bian Rang was indeed not a good person, his father had once received a favor from Cao Teng, a famous virtuous official of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who was also Cao Cao's grandfather.

Therefore, when Cao Cao first arrived in Yanzhou, he felt that Bian Rang was one of his own and wanted to ask Bian Rang to speak on his behalf, so as to use Bian Rang's reputation to appease the gentry of Yanzhou and cede some of their interests to settle the Yellow Turbans.

But to his utter surprise, Bian Rang not only ignored him, but also relentlessly attacked Cao Cao every day, even targeting Cao Cao's father, which finally enraged Cao Cao.

Liu Feng felt that Cao Cao went too far in this matter, namely that he should not have killed Bian Rang's entire family. If he had only killed Bian Rang, the consequences might not have been so severe.

Liu Feng was different. Liu Feng's father was Liu Bei, and Liu Bei's teacher was Lu Zhi. These two were mortal enemies of the Yellow Turban Army and rose to power almost by stepping over the corpses of the Yellow Turban Army.

Therefore, Liu Feng was prepared for a tough battle, and even if he won, these Yellow Turban soldiers would have to be scattered and resettled separately and gradually assimilated.

(End of this chapter)