Three Kingdoms: The Kingdom Cannot Be Partial

Chapter 80 Tao eats the pot of pulp to welcome Master Wang
As nearly 20,000 surrendered Wei prisoners entered the Wuzhangyuan fortifications, more than 10,000 Wei invaders on the north bank of the Wei River fled in panic towards Meiwu.

On and below the plateau, generals and soldiers, civil and military officials of all ranks burst into thunderous cheers of "Long live the emperor!"

The lower-level soldiers rushed around celebrating, thinking that their detachment had come at a good time and had once again benefited from the emperor's personal leadership. In the future, they would return home with rewards and become wealthy families. Those villagers who had served in their unit in previous years would surely be envious.

However, Han Dynasty stalwarts like Dong Yun, Deng Zhi, and Zong Yu understood that with this great victory, the fortunes of the Yan and Han dynasties would rise like the rising sun, just as His Majesty had said before: "The country will be restored to safety from danger, and will be bright again from darkness day and night."

Needless to say, Guo Huai's troops who were trapped in Ji County, Tianshui, just had to wait for Lu Pan and other pseudo-Wei surrendered generals to come to the city with Zhang He's head. Even if Guo Huai did not surrender, their morale would be high and the city would be captured in no time.

Once Longyou is stabilized, there will still be Liangzhou, which is guarded by Xu Miao, the pseudo-Wei governor, with few soldiers and generals, little food and poor land. Whether to take it or not is just a matter of decision for the Han Dynasty.

It's just a matter of timing and cost. If the war in Chang'an continues, we can just leave it alone.

Bashu, Longyou and Guanzhong are connected together.

The so-called Qin's momentum to conquer the world was just beginning to emerge, but the outcome of Chang'an was still unknown.

However, what the Prime Minister wrote that year, "The general will lead the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan. Who among the people would dare not welcome the general with food and drink?", was not realized by the previous emperor, but was accomplished by today's emperor.

At noon, Su Wei, the commander of Wugongwu Fort, who had been defending the fort and watching the battle, and who was also the descendant of Su Wu who herded sheep with the Han Dynasty flag, personally led a hundred riders to bring cattle and wine to congratulate.

He earnestly requested an audience with the Emperor of Han and sent the people of the fort to transport ten thousand stones of millet.

Although when the war was at a stalemate, he did not help anyone or disturb anyone.

But considering the current situation, he was the first to return to Han and offered his registration books and even military rations. It was impossible for Liu Chan not to express his opinion.

This directly violates the ancestral law of "Three Mutuals" of "Avoidance of Officials", and regards this person as a superior in military affairs, so-called following the rules during wartime.

He also recommended his eldest son Su Chao as a filial and incorrupt official, and his second son Su Yue, nephews and cousins, a total of ten people, as Longxiang Lang.

According to that person, there are now four surnames' forts in Wugong, Su, Yang, Li and Ji.

The Su family is a well-known family from generation to generation, and is the first among them. Now there are more than 800 households and more than 4,200 people living in the fort.

To be honest, Liu Chan was a little surprised that the Wugong Su family was the first famous family in Guanzhong to return to the Han Dynasty.

It should be noted that his clansman Su Ze once served as the prefect of Jincheng of Cao Wei. He was awarded the title of Duke of Duting for his contribution in suppressing the rebellion, and then went to Luo to serve as the attendant of Cao Pi.

It is said that he was able to quell rebellions with military force and govern the people with civility. In history books, his biography is combined with that of Du Ji, the prefect of Hedong, who was often the best in the world in governing the county.

After drinking a glass of wine, Liu Chan casually asked why he dared to join the Han Dynasty with his entire family when Chang'an was not yet taken. Wasn't he afraid that the Han Dynasty would not take Chang'an and would retreat directly?
The man seemed to have not expected that the unrealistically young emperor of the Han Dynasty would ask such a question. He was stunned for a moment, but finally answered calmly.

The Su family's martial arts achievements originated from their ancestor Su Wu, who fulfilled the mission of the Han Dynasty and was listed among the eleven heroes of the Qilin Pavilion of the Han Dynasty.

It can be said that they have received the favor of the Han Dynasty and enjoyed the Han salary for generations, and none of the clan members are happy to be the people of the pseudo-Wei.

Previously, they did not know that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty was coming to Guanzhong in person, so they defended themselves in the fortress and did not dare to move without authorization.

Now seeing the Wei invaders suffering repeated defeats and becoming disheartened, he realized that it was actually the Han emperor who had ascended to Chang'an. The old Su family shed tears and was eager to return to Han.

There is no time to think about whether the Han Dynasty will retreat without taking Chang'an. Now that Your Majesty has asked me, if the Han Dynasty is unfortunately defeated, the Su family is willing to follow the army and migrate south to Hanzhong.

Hearing this, Dong Yun, Deng Zhi, Zong Yu and others all sighed.

The same was true for Liu Chan. He did not expect that the four hundred years of power of the Han Dynasty still existed until now and it was not an empty talk.

After all, this Su Wei even brought the Su family’s household registration book!
In this era when it has become common practice for wealthy and powerful families to hide their household registration, this kind of thing is simply too unbelievable.

Liu Chan then asked about Su Ze.

Only then did I realize that after Dong Zhuo's rebellion, Guanzhong was in great poverty and famine. At that time, the fort had not yet been built, and many people fled. The Su family also fled in all directions.

It was not until the middle of Jian'an that some people gradually returned to Guanzhong to build forts to defend themselves and to recruit exiles. The Su family was no exception. The Su family was originally a side branch, and after being separated, they had almost no contact with the clan.

Moreover, he was originally the governor of Jincheng in the Han Dynasty.

Later, the pseudo-Wei usurped the Han Dynasty. The people thought that Emperor Xian Liu Xie had died, and they even held mourning for Emperor Xian. They also denounced Dong Zhao, the mastermind of the usurpation of the Han Dynasty, as a traitor in person. Finally, he was suspected and ostracized by Cao Pi and died.

Liu Chan also got a general idea of ​​it.

The Su family came to surrender because their ancestor Su Wu and his clan had received favors from the Han Dynasty. However, the Su family in Guanzhong did not benefit from Cao Wei's usurpation of the Han Dynasty, which is also a point that cannot be ignored.

But no matter what, the Su family came to surrender with their entire clan and presented their household registration books, which undoubtedly continued the connection between the Su family and the Han Dynasty.

At this time, Chang'an had not yet been taken and Guanzhong had not yet been settled. It can be said that he resolutely boarded the Han ship regardless of the consequences.

Regardless of whether Chang'an was captured or not, as long as the Han Dynasty survived, the Su family's rapid rise to prominence was foreseeable.

This is a sign.

When Su Wei was leaving, Liu Chan held his hand and said that he would never forget the friendship they had today.

The man was so grateful that he shed tears and took the initiative to request to leave fifty riders to join the expedition. He also said that after returning, he would persuade the other surnames to return to Han.

Liu Chan had no problem with the fifty knights who were skilled in archery and horse riding and had their own weapons.

Don’t think that fifty cavalrymen are few. You must know that the reward given by King Wu of Wei to important officials is only fifty cavalrymen!

However, Liu Chan was very open-minded about the other surnames coming to surrender. Chang'an was not captured, and as long as these people did not cause trouble, they were already helping.

After Su Wei led fifty cavalrymen back east, Liu Chan returned to the camp at the foot of the plateau to inspect the casualties and comfort the wounded soldiers. Finally, he took a piece of the blood-stained shirt of the seriously injured and fallen soldiers as a souvenir. Then, together with the military officers, he carved a plaque to commemorate the fallen soldiers and chose a day for their burial.

Fortunately, there were only more than 200 soldiers killed or missing, so the workload was not too heavy.

By sunset, the spoils had been roughly counted and collected in one place.

Liu Chan had already issued an edict that all captured items must be turned over to the public.

Finally, he, the emperor, would make distributions based on the merits of the soldiers from each department.

This ensures that every soldier can get a share of the spoils according to their merits, rather than just whoever grabs it getting it.

Since the Han soldiers could accept the Prime Minister's "system of distributing merit based on beheadings of ten to five people", then the "system of surrendering spoils to the public for redistribution" would not be difficult for them to accept, and it would even be a natural thing to do.

How many people can refuse the order issued by an emperor who can lead everyone to victory?
Otherwise, the more than 200 sets of heavy armor seized from Cao Zhen could not be gathered together, and Liu Chan would not be able to "select the vanguard".

According to the surrendered captives, one of the reasons why Cao's army did not assemble a group of heavily armored infantry as the spearhead was that this kind of heavy armor was a luxury item used to show off status and majesty in Cao's army, and was not used by the death warriors to break into the enemy lines.

Liu Chan had not yet encountered the dilemma of his subordinates refusing to listen to his orders, so he found it difficult to understand this matter for a while.

In the evening, Liu Chan once again ordered people to cook sheep and slaughter dogs to feast the soldiers.

When he was celebrating with the captains, Sima officers and meritorious warriors in the wooden house, Zhao Guang suddenly brought a piece of news that made Liu Chan frown slightly.

The person who should have arrived half a month ago but never showed up finally arrived today.

Liu Chan immediately ordered someone to invite him into the house.

Not long after, a young talent who looked to be about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, neither tall nor short, neither handsome nor ugly, rushed in.

The meritorious soldiers in the room were originally laughing and talking in a cheerful atmosphere, but when they saw this man come in, they all put down their cups and chopsticks and fell silent.

This is understandable. After all, after seeing the young man enter the house, His Majesty actually left his seat and walked forward!

There is no doubt that this is the son of Li Yan, the important minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor.

Before Liu Chan left Chengdu, he sent an imperial edict to Li Yan, appointing his son Li Feng as the Protector General of Grain Supply, and ordering Li Yan to allocate 3,000 Jiangzhou troops under his command to escort grain and fodder to the front line.

Logically speaking, it should have arrived half a month ago. It took so long to arrive. Only the father and son know what they were thinking.

"Your Majesty, the guilty minister Li Feng... greets His Majesty!" The young man named Li Feng couldn't help but distort his voice and movements, and was obviously feeling uneasy.

Of course it’s uneasy!

He originally thought that His Majesty would suspect that he and his son had ulterior motives because of his late arrival, and would directly hold them accountable!

He never expected that His Majesty would walk towards him slowly with a smile on his face!

Seeing this situation, he instantly understood that this must be the so-called emperor's mentality of not showing his emotions on his face.

All the soldiers fighting on the battlefield stopped their laughter and turned their eyes to him.

More obvious!

It turned out that it was His Majesty, whose power was growing day by day after he had personally led the army to fight and won victory after victory, wanted to use the power of these soldiers who had killed people and earned merits to give his young master a warning!

Liu Chan still had a smile on his face:

"What crime has Guo Sheng committed?
“It takes time to gather food and manpower.

"It's a thousand miles from Jiangzhou to here, and the mountain roads are difficult to travel.

“It’s rainy again in spring in Shu.

"Under such circumstances, it's perfectly normal for you to be a few days late. How can I blame you for this?"

Seeing that the man was still nervous, Liu Chan took his hand, patted it gently, and smiled:

"Okay, Guosheng, I'm happy to see you, don't think too much!

"If I really want to blame you for being late, I only blame you for being late by one day!"

Li Feng was shocked when he heard this.

Liu Chan smiled:
"Because you arrived a day late, you were not able to watch the battle with me on the plateau. You didn't see the Wei invaders being beaten and fleeing in disarray by our Han soldiers!
"And you didn't see the dozens of Wei invaders kneeling naked this morning, begging for surrender from me!
"But it doesn't matter, this kind of thing happened today and will happen again in the future!
"Come here, give me a seat!"

Liu Chan did not intend to investigate why the man was so late.

Although his father Li Yan was greedy for money and power and acted somewhat short-sightedly, he did have some abilities, otherwise he would not have been favored by Zhaolie.

Now is the time when the Han Dynasty needs people. If he wants to continue to lead the army in person, he needs a stable rear base.

Now that Li Yan's son is tied up, are you still worried that he might cause trouble in the future?
Li Feng saw that the emperor sounded sincere and did not seem to be joking, so he was shocked from the inside out. He was confused and didn't know how he was pulled by the emperor to sit at the table.

A moment later, the emperor returned to the chief seat, raised his glass to congratulate, and the room was once again filled with clinking glasses and laughter.

(End of this chapter)