My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 519 The Battle of Qingzhou
Although Lü Bu's reputation was already widespread among Liu Feng, Liu Bei and his son, the people in the hall, and even the heroes of the land, Kong Rong still admired him.

Kong Rong even praised Lü Bu's bravery and loyalty to the Han Dynasty.

Admittedly, Lü Bu's reputation did rebound somewhat, especially when he assisted Wang Yun in restoring order and killing Dong Zhuo. At that time, Lü Bu was indeed a loyal minister.

As the person who made the greatest contribution to the killing of Dong Zhuo, Lü Bu surprisingly obeyed Wang Yun and followed his orders.

The most absurd thing is that under the command of the madman Wang Yun, Lü Bu actually became a normal person, and even put forward insightful opinions, including but not limited to pleading for Cai Yong, pleading for the warriors of Xiliang, and recommending talented generals such as Xu Rong.

However, this was only a flash in the pan. After being driven out of Chang'an by Li Jue, Guo Si, and other warriors from Xiliang, Lü Bu seemed to have inherited Wang Yun's will and went on a rampage down the path of fanaticism, becoming unstoppable.

However, no matter how obsessed Lü Bu was, Kong Rong still liked him very much and praised him highly.

After Lü Bu went to Donglai, the two reconnected.

Kong Rong certainly admired and flattered Lü Bu, and Lü Bu also held Kong Rong in high regard, somewhat reminiscent of when he flattered Wang Yun in the past. Now that Liu Bei was leading troops against Yuan Shao, Kong Rong would undoubtedly follow suit. Asking him to contact Lü Bu might yield surprising results.

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, and also thought of this point, so he nodded in agreement.

Looking at everyone in the hall, Liu Bei pointed to one person and said, "Ziyu, it seems I'll have to trouble you this time."

The Ziyu mentioned by Liu Bei was naturally Shi Yi, whom Liu Feng had poached from Kong Rong's service. After fleeing south to avoid trouble a few years ago, Shi Yi was intercepted by Liu Feng. He worked diligently under Liu Bei, first serving as an inspector and then as a county magistrate. His outstanding political achievements earned him Liu Bei's high regard and made him a trusted confidant.

At this time, Yi was serving as the Prefectural Assistant of Donghai County, so he was also in the hall.

Upon hearing Liu Bei's words, Shi Yi quickly stepped forward: "It is my wish to take on this task, my lord. There is no hardship involved. Please rest assured, my lord, I will set off tomorrow to meet Master Kong in Beihai."

Liu Bei smiled with delight and instructed Shi Yi, "Ziyu, you must convey my regards to Lord Wenju and tell him the whole story, as well as what Fengxian asked for."

Shi Yi respectfully replied, "Yes."

Liu Bei nodded in satisfaction, turned to Liu Feng, and asked, "Is this satisfactory, my son? Is there anything else you find objectionable?"

If Liu Bei's words and actions had occurred with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, or any other warlord in the land, the officials in the hall would have been in an uproar.

Wherever the lord acts, he must consult the young master.

But when it came to Liu Bei, the atmosphere in the hall was harmonious. Whether it was Liu Bei's subordinates or Liu Feng's subordinates, they were all used to it and even thought that Liu Bei's question was very prudent.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Feng actually spoke up and added, "I have two more points to add."

"Firstly, the situation has changed and the circumstances are easily reversed. The battle of Qingzhou should be large-scale rather than small-scale."

Liu Feng explained to Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and the other officials in the hall: "The General previously requested aid to Hanoi, and I have already granted his request, sending an additional 4,000 elite troops to garrison Heyang. Hanoi is now beset by crises and is on high alert. Once the Grand Marshal sends troops, Hanoi will likely be the first to bear the brunt."

After introducing the situation in Hanoi, Liu Feng immediately explained his intentions: "The western part of Qingzhou is flat and open. If we talk about natural barriers, the only one that can be used is the Yellow River. However, although there is a great river to rely on along the Yellow River, it requires a large number of troops to be stationed there. If the troops are insufficient, even if we can achieve a small victory at the beginning, we will eventually be blocked by the Yellow River."

"Does Zisheng want me to cross the river?"

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu couldn't help but ask, "Once we cross the river, the Grand Marshal will likely be furious."

Small-scale skirmishes are one thing, but once they cross the Yellow River, even the territory of Pingyuan Commandery, it will be Yuan Shao's Achilles' heel, and it's like playing with fire. Moreover, when Xun You first proposed this plan, he also emphasized the need for flexibility and control over the scale, so as not to actually draw Yuan Shao to their side.

It must be said that Xun You was indeed an extremely brilliant strategist. This time, the disagreement between him and Liu Feng was not due to a lack of ability, but rather because their goals were different, which led to an information discrepancy.

Liu Feng laughed heartily and explained to his second uncle, "That's the second point. If we don't cross the river, the Grand Marshal will probably still only have eyes on Hanoi. If we want him to shift his focus to Qingqi, we must first make him feel threatened."

Liu Feng's ultimate goal was still Hanoi; compared to Hanoi, Qingzhou was utterly insignificant.

Let alone the now completely destroyed Qingzhou, even in its heyday, Qingzhou's terrain was among the worst, probably not even comparable to Yanzhou.

If Liu Feng could use Qingzhou to restrain Yuan Shao and preserve Hanoi, he would have made a huge profit.

"Wouldn't all the pressure from the Grand Marshal fall on our shoulders?"

Liu Bei frowned, somewhat worried, and said, "The saying goes, 'When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits.' This might just mean that we've helped Cao Mengde become the fisherman."

Xun You seemed to have thought of something and suddenly laughed.

"My lord, General Zuo is truly a brilliant strategist."

Xun You suddenly praised Liu Feng, which puzzled Liu Bei. However, he was not jealous at all and instead asked in a very humble manner, "What does this mean? I hope you can enlighten me."

Xun You quickly returned the greeting, then smiled and said, "If my thoughts are correct, General Zuo intends to achieve three goals with one action."

Amid Liu Bei's surprised and confused expression, Xun You continued, "The Grand Marshal is good at planning but indecisive, hesitant and indecisive. The General is suspicious and doubtful, harboring resentment and slander. My lord, imagine if our army marches north in a large force and crosses the Yellow River, what will the Grand Marshal and the General think, and how will they react?"

Liu Bei was taken aback for a moment, then continued to think about it according to Xun You's suggestion.

In fact, it wasn't just Liu Bei who thought this way; Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Lu Su, Liu Ye, and everyone else in the hall also had the same thought.

Some people just couldn't understand it, like the Second Master and the Third Master, while others' expressions changed.

If Liu's army were to actually cross the Yellow River and establish a foothold north of it, even if it were merely within the territory of Pingyuan County, the Grand Marshal would undoubtedly be both alarmed and fearful. In that case, the most likely course of action would be to reinforce the defenses rather than engage in a decisive battle with Liu's army.

Because of the Grand Marshal's personality, he could not make a decision immediately. He would only suspect that Liu Jun's crossing of the river might be hiding some kind of conspiracy. Under such fear, he naturally had no possibility of making a decisive move.

Similarly, the suspicious and jealous general would be shocked by Liu Bei's resolute actions, thus stabilizing his stance. Given Cao Cao's character and wisdom, he would certainly not be content to be subservient to others, and he would probably be quite happy to watch Yuan Shao and Liu Bei fight each other.

When he's happy, someone else is unhappy.

The Grand Marshal now harbors a deep-seated hatred for the General, considering him his number one enemy. With the General clearly plotting to profit from the situation, how could the Grand Marshal dare to let him succeed?

Despite Qingzhou's seemingly reckless military action, this whole affair actually helped stabilize the situation.

Whether they retreat to Henan after a minor defeat, retreat to Henan outright, or even suffer a major defeat, a closer look reveals that the initiative will always remain in the hands of Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng.

Given the size and strength of Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng, unless Yuan Shao was truly willing to swallow his pride and form an alliance with his former ally Cao Cao, and completely reconcile with him, it would be a pipe dream for Yuan Shao's family to devour the Liu family while diverting some of their forces to keep an eye on Cao Cao.

Not to mention, given Yuan Shao's personality, if Liu Bei and his son Liu Feng had shown even a little weakness, he would have definitely chosen to cause trouble for Cao Cao instead of continuing to target the Liu family.

At this moment, Yuan Shao was so angry that he wanted to tear the other man to pieces; the two had a long-standing grudge.

Cao Cao resented Yuan Shao's dismissive attitude towards him back then. Among Yuan Shao's old friends, Cao Cao actually came from the lowest social class. Despite his wealth and power, he was originally a eunuch.

Just as Jin Douzi said, even if Cao Cao's father had donated money to become one of the Three Dukes, the historical records would not have written that Cao Cao was from a noble family.

When Cao Cao served under Yuan Shao, his greatest wish was to use the Yuan family's status to help his son change his identity.

At the time, Cao Cao felt that he couldn't change the fact that he was the son of a eunuch, but he really didn't want his son to continue struggling in this quagmire. Moreover, given Cao Cao's vision, it wasn't hard to see that the good days for eunuchs were over. Within the Eastern Han Dynasty, which had originally been a tripartite balance of power, the power of the aristocratic families had expanded to the point of overwhelming the other two.

However, Yuan Shao disappointed Cao Cao. Yuan Shao himself often mentioned Cao Cao's eunuch background, so it's not hard to understand why Cao Cao hated his childhood friend and confidant so much.

As for Yuan Shao, it's even simpler. His former follower, relying on his support, now dares to climb over him and even writes letters to humiliate him.

Yuan Shao, being such an arrogant man, could not tolerate these things and naturally hated Cao Cao to the core.

However, these two men are both heroes of their time. Although they are both the type to be blinded by emotions, Liu Feng dared not gamble that their hatred could outweigh their interests.

Liu Feng was already quite satisfied if these grudges could somehow confuse their choices.

Under Xun You's guidance, Liu Bei finally realized the truth.

The decision to send troops to Qingzhou was thus made.

Originally, the main force of this expedition consisted of Guan Yu's 20,000 troops, plus the Qingdong Allied Army's 10,000 troops, while Zhang Fei's 20,000 troops were stationed in the northern part of the former Langya Commandery, which is now Dongguan Commandery, ready to reinforce Guan Yu's troops at any time.

According to Liu Feng's current thinking, even with the addition of 10,000 troops from the Qingdong Allied Army, a force of 30,000 would still be insufficient.

Therefore, after discussion, Zhang Fei's troops were immediately reinforced and given to Guan Yu. In this way, the strength of the troops could approach 50,000. Such a large-scale military operation, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei joining forces, should have been personally supervised by Liu Bei.

However, Qingzhou's opponent was only Yuan Tan, while Liu Bei was now a completely different person.

Four years ago, Liu Bei was just a general under Tian Kai, how could he be compared to Yuan Tan?
Four years later, Liu Bei had become the General of Chariots and Cavalry and was also Yuan Tan's patron. Yuan Shao's eldest son was not even worthy of being compared to Liu Bei, let alone being on equal footing with him. Even comparing him to Liu Feng would be an insult to Liu Feng.

Since that's the case, then let's just give Guan Yu and Zhang Fei some practice. With Guan Yu's composure, Zhang Fei's bravery, and the assistance of Lu Su, Liu Ye, and others, even if they are no match for them, they shouldn't suffer a major defeat.

One thing that deserves attention is Guan Yu's personality.

Guan Yu's contempt and dissatisfaction with the gentry were deeply ingrained. During the Battle of Jingzhou, Guan Yu was ambushed by Lü Meng and Lu Xun. Most of the local gentry in Jingzhou surrendered without resistance. Even the few who were willing to resist were powerless to turn the tide.

This was certainly due to the conflict between Guan Yu and the gentry of Jingzhou, but it was also related to Guan Yu's betrayal of the Nanyang gentry's allegiance.

This was a significant, yet relatively little-known, rebellion.

Local powerful clansmen like Wei Kai, along with Hou Yin, the Nanyang garrison commander of Cao Cao's army, seized control of Wancheng in one fell swoop, thus tying down Cao Cao's army for a full year.

As mentioned earlier, Wancheng is located in a very important position. It is not only the center of the Nanyang Basin, but also a key pass connecting Yingchuan, Jiangling, Jiangxia, and Xiangyang.

However, for a whole year, until Wancheng was captured by Cao Ren, they still did not receive a response from Guan Yu.

While factors such as poor communication and Cao Ren's swift capture of the city certainly played a role, Guan Yu's own disdain and contempt for powerful clans and gentry undoubtedly also contributed significantly.

Now that the powerful clans and gentry of Qingzhou have been driven to the brink of open rebellion by Yuan Tan, we cannot allow Guan Yu to send them back now, or we will truly become a laughing stock.

However, Liu Feng only mentioned it briefly, leaving this troublesome matter for Liu Bei to figure out himself.

In addition, because Zhang Fei joined the battle in Qingzhou, Liu Bei needed to transfer a capable force to Langya to serve as the successor to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

After looking at all the options, Chen Deng was the most suitable.

The reason Liu Feng had previously placed Chen Deng in Runan was entirely because he wanted to concentrate his forces to deal with Liu Biao in Jingzhou. Without Chen Deng stationed in Huai and Si, Liu Feng would not have been able to completely withdraw his troops.

Now that Jingzhou has been pacified, the Yangzhou army is able to free up its forces and, according to Liu Feng's plan, advance to Liang and Chen.

Under these circumstances, it was clearly somewhat awkward for Chen Deng to be stationed in Pingyu.

He was surrounded by generals under Liu Feng, but Chen Deng was the only one under Liu Bei.

Although everyone is under Liu Jun's command, in a dual-lord situation, Chen Deng's side will obviously appear out of place, which may even affect the coordination of battles in the future.

Therefore, transferring Chen Deng back to Xuzhou was undoubtedly a very good outcome.

The defense zone vacated by Chen Dengkong naturally fell to Liu Feng's jurisdiction.

Given the current situation, Zhou Yu is the most suitable candidate. Half of Zhou Yu's army can be temporarily transferred to Pingyu, Runan, to set up defenses.

(End of this chapter)