Chapter 539: Military on one hand, politics on the other
On the sixth day of September in the sixth year of Zhongping, Liu Bei swore an oath in the south of Luoyang City, holding the Emperor's Sword given by the Emperor to represent the Emperor in conquest, declaring that he represented the Emperor in crusading and beheading his subordinates.
Then, the army was fully loaded, crossed Xuanyuan Pass, entered Yingchuan County, and met the five thousand troops of Yingchuan Prefect Li Min in Yangdi County.
Li Min was very grateful for Liu Bei's arrival and told Liu Bei that although he was not good at conquests, he would do his best to ensure Liu Bei's logistics and would never let Liu Bei's logistics have any problems. Liu Bei expressed satisfaction with this.
Then the two talked about what happened during this period.
"I didn't expect the Yuan family's rebellion, and I didn't expect their shamelessness. They had evil intentions from the beginning, trying to defeat me with the help of the army, and then coerced the late emperor to abdicate, and then let Prince Bian take over as a puppet to satisfy their desires.
selfish desires.
Regarding this situation, I couldn't believe it at first. I couldn't believe that the general and Situ had such wild ambitions, but that's the fact. Even though I didn't want to believe it, I had to admit that they were really rebellious.
Whether it is Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji, or Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu."
"The Yuan family was rebellious, and I couldn't believe it at first, but the matter is right in front of me, and I can't tolerate my disbelief."
Li Min said with emotion: "The fourth and third sons of the Yuan family were deeply favored by the country. I didn't expect that in the end, they would turn out to be such a group of ambitious people. If the emperors of the past generations knew about it, they don't know how sad and angry they would be."
"Then let them kneel and repent in front of past emperors."
Liu Bei smiled and said: "Before, Yuan Wei and Yuan Ji had already gone to repent. Now let's send Yuan Shu there. Later, we will send Yuan Shao together, so that their entire family can kneel neatly in front of the past emperors and repent of their wolfish ambitions."
.”
"good!"
Li Min laughed and said, "What the general said is exactly what the subordinate wanted to say!"
Li Min chatted and laughed with Liu Bei for a while. The more they talked, the more he felt that Liu Bei was a very good general. He spoke and behaved very well, showing good cultural qualities. He was really a debater who was famous in Luoyang back then.
But Li Min also knew that Liu Bei was both civil and military. He gave an eloquent speech in Luoyang, and a pair of nines were like gods descending from the earth. Later, he defeated 300,000 Xianbei in Liangzhou and won a great victory. It can be said that he was a versatile man in both civil and military affairs.
Before, he didn't understand how capable Liu Bei was in fighting, and he had never seen it with his own eyes, but now that he had seen Liu Bei's army with his own eyes, he finally understood why Liu Bei was so capable and powerful.
Just one look at his army will tell you that they are absolutely elite.
The armor is bright, the equipment is well-equipped, the queues are neat, the orders are enforced, and the order is in order.
Until now, Li Min has never seen such an army where all members are equipped with protective gear. Even the large-scale walking soldiers who fight in hand-to-hand combat are equipped with head armor.
Protective gear is standard, weapons are standard, and even the military uniforms and boots worn by soldiers are standard.
As a prefect with military experience, Li Min knew how much resources would be consumed and how much manpower and material resources would need to be mobilized to serve this army.
And this army marched very neatly, one after another, the formation was quite strict, and even the pace was relatively orderly. Looking from a distance, one might have thought they were a group of puppets.
Looking at the army he recruited, they didn't stand or sit properly. They walked in a ball, like broken greedy snakes. They could only maintain a general forward posture, which was different from the army under Liu Bei's command.
There is absolutely no comparison.
Even if Li Min doesn't know much about military affairs, looking at such an army, he knows that when he fights with this army, he will definitely get the goods delivered to his door.
After understanding this situation, and then thinking about the situation on Yuan Shu's side, Li Min knew that Liu Bei could send the whole family of the Yuan family to meet the previous emperors with only this army, but he still chose to mobilize the army of the eight commanderies.
Fight together with him.
Li Min secretly speculated that Liu Bei might have two purposes for doing this.
First, share the credit and win over local areas.
Second, use this to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Those who belong to the enemy can be attacked later, and those who belong to one's own can be promoted and appointed later.
It was widely rumored by the big family in Yingchuan that Liu Bei was very powerful in Kansai. He not only operated in Liangzhou, but also in Sanfu Land and Yizhou. In Kansai, Liu Bei's words were more effective than the imperial court. After he became the general,
It will inevitably extend its power to Kanto.
Who is a friend and who is an enemy? Can't we just use this war to tell them?
One hand is military and the other is politics. Liu Bei's wrist is so strong and hard that Li Min has never seen him in his life. Facing such a person, even He Jin and Yuan Wei were completely destroyed when they were tied together. Yuan Shu actually dared to act blatantly.
Something about rebellion?
Yuan Jiujiu, Yuan Jiujiu, you... are really looking for death.
Li Min was completely convinced and had no doubts about Liu Bei anymore. He did not go to the front line with him, but took the initiative to ask Ying to stay and provide logistics access for Liu Bei's army, ensuring that the army could smoothly pass through Yingchuan County and enter Runan County.
Of course, this is not difficult. As long as you make full use of Ying Shui's advantages, you can make logistics and transportation a matter of getting twice the result with half the effort. And this is what Li Min is best at - even if he is not good at it, he will do his best to make himself better.
He became a talent who was good at logistics and gained Liu Bei's favor.
He knew that after Huang Wan left Yuzhou as pastor, Yuzhou still had no serious chief executive. It seemed that the Luoyang court led by Liu Bei had not had time to appoint a chief executive of Yuzhou, so Li Min felt that he could try his luck.
.
Liu Bei's army arrived at Yingchuan County on September 13th, and arrived at Jianqiang County on September 17th. Yuan Shu's army did not deploy any defenses here. When the magistrate of Jianqiang County saw the arrival of the army, he said nothing.
The city surrendered.
"Yuan Shu was rebellious and had few officers and soldiers. He did not dare to resist, but he was also unwilling to help the generals to do evil, so he has been waiting for the arrival of the general!"
Song Wei, the magistrate of Jianqiang County, knelt on the ground and did not dare to look directly at Liu Bei.
Liu Bei was silent for a while, then got off his horse, stepped forward, and personally helped Song Wei up.
"When Yuan Shu is tyrannical, no one knows what he can do. Everyone will have doubts about it. This is human nature. I can't make a better choice when I am in a different place. You have done a great job."
OK, the court will remember you."
Song Wei looked at Liu Bei in surprise, then moved to tears and bowed again.
After taking Jianqiang County without bloodshed, the army did not stop advancing. Liu Bei entrusted Song Wei to join the army and handle logistics matters for the army. He then led the army to continue forward along Yingshui and arrived at Xihua County on September 19th.
There is resistance here.
Because after passing Xihua County, the next target is Ruyang County, the hometown of the Yuan family. Liu Bei's first stage of march target is Ruyang County, where he wants to destroy everything about the Yuan family.
According to the latest information, members of the Yuan family in Ruyang County have followed Yuan Shu southward to Pingyu County, the county seat of Runan County.
It seems that they also knew that they could not resist Liu Bei's troops here, so they only resisted for a while.
The person who deployed the defense in Xihua County was Yuan Shu's general Li Feng, but he did not have many troops under his command, only more than 3,000 men. It seemed that they were sent to die.
Liu Bei didn't even bother to attack such a small city with little defense capabilities, so he sent people to persuade Li Feng not to make unnecessary resistance and to surrender to Kaicheng.
The lobbyist who came to persuade him was Liu Bei's general, Liu Ye.
After Liu Ye took refuge with Liu Bei, he never had any chance to make achievements. This time he went on an expedition with the army. Liu Bei wanted to give the newly recruited generals and subordinates some opportunities to make achievements, so Liu Ye took the initiative to persuade Li Feng to surrender.
After meeting Li Feng, Liu Ye was very rude and bluntly said that Li Feng had made the wrong choice. Yuan Shu only gave him how much money a month, so he needed to work so hard?
The army under Liu Bei's command will be between 40,000 and 50,000, but the army brought by Li Feng is only 2,000 or 3,000. This is a strength difference of more than ten times. Is this a war?
This is suicide.
"The army under your command is only one-tenth of the army under the general's command. There is no comparison at all. Did Yuan Shu ask you to come here to let you hold on to the county seat? You only have more than 3,000 troops. How many days can you hold on to the city?
?
If Yuan Shu is in Ruyang County and sends you to lead the army to guard Xihua County, I can think that Yuan Shu has no choice but to do it. However, he escaped himself and asked you to stay here to die. I privately