Three days later, Yan Liang led his thousand light cavalry to Ancheng, the headquarters of Runan County.
Runan County is located at the southernmost tip of Yuzhou. You can reach Jingzhou by crossing the mountains to the west. Going south along the Ying River within its territory, you can reach Shouchun, an important town in Huainan. Going up the Ru River, you can get deep into Yingchuan County in a few days.
The troops were directed towards Xu Du.
Because the area around Runan is mountainous, after Cao Cao defeated the Yellow Turbans in Runan, many of the Yellow Turban remnants fled into the mountains and became bandits.
Yuan Shao sent his troops southward, and the Central Plains was shaken. These remnants of the Yellow Turbans took advantage of Cao Cao's lack of time to look south, and took advantage of the situation to fight out from the mountains. Under the banner of responding to Yuan Shao, they attacked and plundered everywhere.
Runan is the hometown of the Yuan family, and many powerful locals are interested in Yuan Shao, and secretly unite with the Yellow Turban Army.
Under such internal and external attacks, Runan's county soldiers were unable to resist. Several counties in the southern part of the county opened their cities and surrendered one after another. The county guards were killed, and the governor's city also fell into the hands of the Yellow Turban Army.
When Yan Liang arrived in Ancheng, nearly tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops had gathered inside and outside the capital, including Gong Du and Liu Pi, the leaders of the Runan Yellow Turbans.
What surprised Yan Liang was that this group of Yellow Turbans was said to be tens of thousands and powerful, but in fact there were only six or seven thousand people capable of fighting. The so-called tens of thousands actually included family members such as young and old who could not go into battle.
.
Moreover, the quality of the six to seven thousand young and strong warriors was also uneven. Most of them did not even have any decent weapons in their hands, let alone armor. The weapons they used were just sharpened wooden sticks.
"It's hard for me to think that such a group of bandits want to threaten Xu Du..."
Riding horse and walking slowly towards the east gate of Ancheng, Xu You kept shaking his head and making sarcastic remarks while looking at the messy Yellow Turban camp beside the avenue.
Yan Liang smiled secretly.
Runan was just a passer-by to him, and he had no intention of fighting against Cao Cao at all.
Although the Yellow Turban Army is now a ragtag group, if they can select the best and train them, Yan Liang believes that with his ability to command troops, he will definitely be able to train an elite division.
When Yan Liang entered the city gate, he saw everything was withered.
Apart from the Yellow Turban Army, not a single civilian could be seen on the streets. The city was in dilapidated condition, as if it had been looted.
"Runan is a prosperous land, with a dignified government and a city, how could it be so dilapidated?"
Yan Liang was suspicious, but when he saw a few Yellow Turban soldiers carrying chickens and ducks coming out of private houses, he understood what was going on.
Obviously, the entire Ancheng has been looted by this group of Yellow Turban Army.
Listening to the cries coming from the private house, Yan Liang felt a little sour.
Since coming to this era, Yan Liang has been planning to dominate, compete in the world, and vent the grievances he suffered in the office.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Yan Liang realized that among the heroes fighting for hegemony, the people who suffered the most were the people at the lowest level.
"When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people suffer."
Yan Liang felt this and murmured this famous line for later generations.
Xu You, who was separated by a horse's head, was surprised when he heard Yan Liang's muttering to himself.
There are countless princes and generals in the world. Most of them are just fighting and killing for their own selfish reasons. There are only a few who can really think about the common people.
If this statement came from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, or Liu Bei, Xu You would not be surprised at all.
But what Yan Liang said deeply shocked Xu You.
"It's really amazing that he, a military general, can have such insights. Yan Ziyi, how many more surprises can you bring to me..."
Yan Liang, who was immersed in thinking, did not notice the change in Xu You's eyes. He who originally only wanted to fight for hegemony suddenly had another belief in his heart:
I want to put an end to this troubled world with my own hands, and treat the people of the world with kindness and justice, so that they can live a life of food and clothing!
Yan Liang also knew that talking about benevolence and righteousness without strength would be self-destruction.
Liu Biao, Kong Rong, Liu Zhang... these people seemed to be benevolent and righteous, but their benevolence and righteousness attracted the invasion of foreign enemies, which plunged the people under their jurisdiction into dire straits.
If you want to be benevolent and righteous, you must first engage in violence.
He who dances with relatives to help the world is a truly benevolent and righteous king.
After understanding this truth, Yan Liang held the steel knife in his hand tighter.
The sound of horse hooves sounded, and several horses came towards me.
"I don't know that General Yan has arrived, but Liu Pi didn't come far enough to greet him. Please forgive me, General." The general in front of him, wrapped in a yellow scarf, raised his hand in greeting, and the other general next to him called himself Gongdu.
Yan Liang looked at Liu Pi. Although he was dressed like a yellow turban thief, he still had an upright look on his eyebrows.
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao in Runan and almost committed suicide when he had no way to escape. At the critical moment of life and death, Liu Pi said "Fight to the death and fight to save the king" to persuade Liu Bei, but he was killed by Gao Lan.
kill.
It was Liu Pi's desperate fight that bought Liu Bei time, and Zhao Yun's reinforcements saved Liu Bei's life.
It can be seen that although Liu Pi had a bad background, he was also loyal and loyal.
"Everything General Liu says is from his own family, so why are you so polite?" Yan Liang returned the courtesy with his hand, which was more polite.
Liu and Gong then accompanied Yan Liang into the prefect's mansion.
After entering the meeting hall, Yan Liang pretended to be in the guest seat. Liu and Gong repeatedly refused and forced Yan Liang to sit in the main seat.
Yan Liang did not refuse and knelt down generously. Zhou Cang stood on one side and Xu You sat beside him.
Yan Liang comforted the two of them in the name of Yuan Shao, and the two generals expressed their loyalty to Yuan Shao and resolutely followed Yan Liang's orders.
"Since the two generals are willing to follow my orders, Yan is welcome." After a few pleasantries, Yan Liang turned to the topic, "I expect that within a few days, Cao Cao will send troops south. With our current strength,
, If you want to resist Cao Jun’s attack, you two must obey me on two things.”
Liu Pi hurriedly said: "General, please go ahead and give the order."
Yan Liang nodded and said slowly: "For this first thing, please order your troops to stop disturbing the people immediately, and not to rashly disturb the people again."
There is a powerful enemy in front of us. If we cause public dissatisfaction and cause internal chaos, how can we resist the external enemy with all our strength?
As soon as Yan Liang spoke these words, Xu You nodded slightly and secretly praised his move.
Unexpectedly, when Gong Du heard this, he was unhappy and said: "It is our Yellow Turban Army's long-standing rule to break into the city and plunder what we need. General Yan, if you don't let your brother take the people's things, how can you have the enthusiasm to work for the general?"
Yan Liang's eyebrows were darkened, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
Gong Du just kept saying that he would obey his orders, but now he openly contradicted him in front of everyone, which made Yan Liang very unhappy.
However, at the time of employing people, Yan Liang had just arrived in Runan and had not yet established a stable foothold, so he could not act rashly against these local snakes, so he temporarily suppressed his murderous intention.
He smiled and said calmly: "Runan is a rich land. It can be used for military supplies. It can be collected from the people in accordance with the law, so there is no need to deplete the lake for fishing."
"General Yan is right. If we rob the people of their food, they will definitely flee elsewhere to find a way to survive. By then, the whole city will be empty. Who will feed us?"
Liu Pi echoed from the side.
"This Liu Pi has some knowledge and is a talent that I can use."
Yan Liangliang secretly praised him and turned his sharp eyes towards Gong Du.
Gong Du felt uncomfortable staring at him. After hesitating for a while, he could only agree with a grumble.
Yan Liang then said: "The second thing is to reorganize the troops and horses under your command and obey the general's orders."
He wants to withdraw his military power.
Liu Pi hesitated for a moment, but still obeyed the order.
But Gong Du jumped up and shouted: "How can this be done? I single-handedly pulled out my thousands of brothers, why should I let others command them?"
"What, General Gong, don't you want to listen to my orders?" Yan Liang's tone was cold and solemn, and his hand was quietly pressing the hilt of the sword.
"Of course not. If General Yan has an order, I will lead my brothers into battle, but I can't hand over my troops to others." Gong Du's attitude was also very firm and he refused to hand over his military power.
Liu Pi had no choice but to persuade him from the side, but after a long time, Gong Du refused to obey, and even shouted that if Yan Liang insisted on doing this, he would take his troops and leave.
Seeing the yellow turban general in front of him who was yelling and not listening to orders, Yan Liang was furious, and murderous intent suddenly appeared in his eyes.
