Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 384: Hebei is pacified and the country is unified

In November of the 12th year of Jian'an, in order to pacify the devastated Hebei, Liu Bei personally led an expedition again after several years of silence.

Perhaps they sensed that this was the last battle to pacify the world, so Taishi Ci, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Huang Zhong, Xu Sheng and other generals requested to go into battle.

Cao Cao's former subordinates also wanted to gain merit in this battle so that they could unify their families and bring them into the upper class in the future.

As a result, the entire Guanzhong and Sanfu areas were eager for war. Faced with this situation, Liu Bei was naturally happy, secretly thinking that the army's morale could be mobilized.

However, precisely because this is probably the final battle, he cannot be proud and must ensure complete victory.

So Liu Bei brought Qin Zhen, the military advisor who had been with him for the longest time and also the most important minister under his command, with him after a long absence.

In addition to Qin Zhen, a group of new and old counselors such as Dong Zhao, Lou Gui, Zhang Hong, Qin Song, etc. were appointed as military officers, and Zhao Yun and Lu Bu were in charge of the cavalry.

That’s right, this time, in addition to Zhao Yun, Liu Bei’s cavalry general also includes Lu Bu, who has not appeared in the army for many years.

In the past few years, Lu Bu has been staying at home as a rich man and has never had the opportunity to fight.

This was both Liu Bei's assessment of Lu Bu and a test of Lu Bu's old subordinates such as Zhang Liao and Gao Shun. As a result, Liu Bei was very satisfied with Lu Bu's performance.

It even made Liu Bei a little unbelievable that Lu Bu, a warlord who dominated the Central Plains, did not have much ambition.

Ever since being defeated by him, Lu Bu had no more involvement with his subordinates. He used the gold and silver provided by Liu Bei's army to train dancers and lived a life of debauchery.

After a few years, Lu Bu even gained a lot of weight, and his facial features became rounder. The only thing left for him to say to Liu Bei, "I am happy here and don't miss Shu anymore!"

Liu Bei was naturally a little confused about this and once thought it was Lu Bu's disguise, but after Qin Zhen analyzed it for him, he no longer had any worries.

To put it bluntly, Lu Bu is not Cao Cao after all. He is treacherous, short-sighted, greedy for money and lustful. The reason he was able to dominate the world before was purely because he was being used by others.

Even though he was being used by others, Lu Bu only pursued money and women. Although he had no territory now, Liu Bei had provided him with these things. In addition, he was already old, so Lu Bu naturally no longer had the desire to compete for supremacy.

In other words, Lu Bu's behavior was not to conceal his ambition, but his true nature was completely exposed and he no longer posed a threat to them.

After knowing this, Liu Bei was relieved, but he also felt a little regretful that the great general Lu Bu had been wasted.

So after discussing with Qin Zhen, Liu Bei decided to reuse Lu Bu and use his ability to command cavalry to restrain the northern barbarians.

This decision was made and starting from the tenth year of Jian'an, Lu Bu teamed up with Zhao Yun to sweep the Qiang people around Guanzhong and Xiliang.

Over the course of two years, he wiped out dozens of Qiang settlements, then headed north to Beidi County, wiping out all the ethnic minorities around Guanzhong, causing the Hu people to call him the Heavenly General.

In this battle, Liu Bei captured a large number of prisoners, while Lu Bu was given an additional thousand households and the title of General Zhenbei. Both sides benefited.

So after cooperating once, seeing that Hebei was about to be settled, but the Xianbei, Wuhuan and other tribes were not yet stable, Liu Bei used Lu Bu as his powerful weapon.

Liu Bei began to send out his troops at the end of November and entered Jizhou in January of the following year. At this time, Guan Yu had been in Yecheng for more than three months.

During these months, he ordered the three armies to build earthen hills around the city and secretly dig tunnels to attack it, but they were all defended by Shen Pei's designs.

Later, Guan Yu ordered catapults to attack again, but they were blocked by the death squad in the city. It became difficult to attack in winter, so Guan Yu simply stopped advancing.

In January of the 13th year of Jian'an, before Liu Bei arrived, he suddenly saw a white flag hanging on the city with the words "The people of Jizhou have surrendered" written on it.

When Xu Shu saw this, he said to Guan Yu, "There is no food in the city. Let the old and weak people surrender, and the troops will surely come out later."

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu ambushed Jiang Qin, Guan Ping and others by the road, and personally stood outside the city waiting for the people to surrender. When he gathered the people together, he saw a large number of troops coming out from the rear.

Upon seeing this, Guan Yu led his generals to attack and the ambush troops together, and then rushed into the city. Unexpectedly, when Shen Pei saw this, he even ignored the troops outside the city and directly ordered the city to be closed.

Guan Yu charged forward and Yuan Shang's troops were defeated. As for the suspension bridge, arrows rained down from them and they could not move forward. Guan Yu was shot in the shoulder and had to retreat.

When Liu Bei led his army here and saw Guan Yu was injured, he was furious and asked everyone for advice. Qin Zhen advised:
"Shen Pei is a foolish loyalist to Yuan Shang. He is defending Yecheng. It may be difficult to break through. It is better to dig the Zhang River to flood the city."

"Use water to block the reinforcements in the city, and divide the troops to attack Yuan Shang first. Once Yuan Shang is defeated, the people in Ye will be in chaos. Then we can attack again and take the city!"

Liu Bei followed his advice and diverted the Zhang River to flood the city. He dug a ditch more than 40 miles long. When Shen Pei saw this, he thought that the water in the Zhang River was shallow in winter and it would be difficult to flood the city, so he simply ignored it.

As a result, Liu Bei's army successfully dug up the Zhang River, and the flood poured into Ye City, blocking the area around the city gates.

At this time, the city had run out of food, morale was low, and all the officers had no desire to fight. Liu Bei ordered Zhao Yun and Lu Bu to defend with cavalry, and led the main force directly north to attack Handan first.

Yuan Shang originally thought that Liu Bei would take Yecheng first and then Handan, so he was not prepared at all. As soon as Liu Bei arrived, he was defeated and retreated into the city.

Liu Bei followed Dong Zhao's advice and recruited the generals under Yuan Shang. However, it happened that generals Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang had long been dissatisfied with Yuan Shang and led their men in rebellion.

The two men opened the city gate, and Liu Bei led his troops in. Yuan Shang was unable to resist, and his entire army was defeated and fled to the north again.

After Liu Bei won the battle, he ordered Zhang Liao to pursue Yuan Shang while returning to Yecheng. He asked his soldiers to carry Yuan Shang's clothes to persuade the soldiers on the city to surrender.

When Shen Pei saw this, he killed the soldiers immediately. Everyone in the city who saw this hated him. There was also a man named Xin Pi, who was actually Xin Ping's younger brother.

When Xin Ping fled in the past, Xin Pi did not flee. Seeing that the food and grass in the city had run out and the soldiers and officials were eating each other, he persuaded Shen Pei to surrender.

As a result, when Shen Pei heard this, he pushed him down and executed him, assuming that he was planning to collaborate with the enemy. Fortunately, his nephew Shen Rong persuaded him and he stopped.

But after this incident, Xin Pi already resented Shen Pei, so he advised Shen Rong to lead his people to surrender. Shen Rong agreed, first shot a letter outside the city, and then opened the gate to surrender the next day.

After Liu Bei received the letter, he ordered his subordinates to prepare, and on the next day he ordered his troops to charge into the city and captured Yecheng in one fell swoop.

When Shen Pei was captured, Liu Bei asked him whether he would surrender. Shen Pei repeatedly said no. Liu Bei wanted to keep him, but Qin Zhen said:

"This man is so loyal that he refused to surrender even when the food ran out. He has caused countless people to eat each other's children. How can we keep him?"

"We should execute him to correct people's hearts, otherwise, if everyone is like him in the future, I don't know how many more soldiers of our army will die in vain!"

Once he started to persuade, everyone followed suit. Liu Bei also knew that Shen Pei was difficult to use, so he simply ordered people to behead him and hang him above the city gate.

With the fall of Yecheng, Jizhou no longer had a large number of troops to resist. Liu Bei divided his troops into three routes and successively captured Zhao, Changshan, Qinghe and Anping.

At the same time, Yuan Tan saw that Yuan Shang had been defeated and fled to Zhongshan State, so he led his army to plunder Anping, Qinghe and other places, but encountered Zang Ba, was defeated and fled.

At this point, Tian Feng knew that Yuan Shang would never be able to win, so he asked him to try to unite with Yuan Xi and Yuan Tan to fight against Liu Bei.

Yuan Shang followed his advice and sent Feng Ji to persuade his brothers. However, Guo Tu had a grudge against Feng Ji, so when he saw him coming, how could he let him go?
He advised Yuan Tan: "Now that Liu Bei has come, his greatest enemy is Yuan Shang. If you help him now, Liu Bei will surely blame you!"

"Why not help Liu Bei destroy Yuan Shang first, pretend to obey, and then join forces with Wuhuan, Xianbei and others to march forward, and then we can conquer the four states of Hebei."

When Yuan Tan heard this, he felt that this made sense, but was afraid that Liu Bei would not believe it, so Guo Tu suggested:

"It so happens that Yuan Shang sent Feng Ji here. If we kill him and present him to Liu Bei, Liu Bei will be grateful for the loyalty of our army!" Yuan Tan followed his advice and beheaded Feng Ji. He then sent his head to Liu Bei's army, indicating that he was willing to surrender.

Liu Bei was delighted when he saw this, and thought that he could unify the country by destroying Yuan Shang. However, Qin Zhen said to him:
"Yuan Tan's son is cunning, how could he surrender? He must want to use our army to defeat Yuan Shang first, and then find an opportunity to march south!"

"Since he has already disregarded his brothers, you can send an envoy to return his head to Yuan Shang and see how Yuan Shang will deal with it!"

After hearing this, Liu Bei sent another messenger to return Feng Ji's head to Yuan Shang. Seeing Feng Ji being killed, Yuan Shang burst into tears and asked Liu Bei what the messenger said. Then he went to Tian Feng and Zhang He and said:

"I originally wanted to unite with my brothers to fight against Liu Bei, but now they have disregarded our brotherhood. What should I do?"

By now, Tian Feng and Zhang He were actually powerless to turn the tide. They were not as loyal as Shen Pei, nor as treacherous as Feng Ji and Guo Tu.

Qin Zhen asked Liu Bei to send Feng Ji's head, which was actually telling them that now they had to either surrender or die.

Because the initiative is in Liu Bei's hands, no matter what choice they make, they will be defeated by Liu Bei.

So after sighing for a while, Tian Feng said, "The only solution now is to surrender." After saying this, the man left with his cane and disappeared without a trace.

Zhang He also advised Yuan Shang to surrender. Seeing that all his civil and military officials were in the same boat, Yuan Shang had no choice but to send a letter to Liu Bei to offer his surrender.

When Liu Bei saw the surrender letter, he knew that the only serious threat was Yuan Tan and others, so he led his troops towards Yuan Tan's hometown, Nanpi.

In July, the troops arrived in Nanpi and joined forces with Zang Ba and others with a total of more than 100,000 troops to surround Nanpi.

Yuan Tan had no choice but to surrender, so he brought Xin Ping into Liu Bei's tent to surrender. Liu Bei saw that Yuan Tan wanted to surrender, so he couldn't say goodbye, but Lou Gui spoke up;

"Yuan Tan is cunning and fickle. If we surrender him now, he will rebel tomorrow. We can make him disperse all his troops and surrender alone!"

Liu Bei replied to Xin Ping and asked him to reply. However, when Yuan Tan heard this, he pointed at Xin Ping and said angrily:

"Your brother has already served Liu Bei. If he surrenders, why do you want me to disperse my troops? Do you want to help Liu Bei trick me out of the city and capture and kill me?"

Xin Ping was so angry that he fainted on the ground. Yuan Tan had him carried out, and Xin Ping died. Yuan Tan was feeling regretful, but Guo Tu said:
"The current plan is for Liu Bei to treat the people well, and to drive all the people to the front, and then the army to follow them, and fight to the death."

Yuan Tan followed his advice and that night drove the people of Nanpi to his camp, all of them holding swords and spears and obeying his orders. At dawn, he opened the four gates, with the people in front and he leading the troops behind, all the way to Liu Bei's camp.

But at this moment, Zhao Yun and Lu Bu rushed out from the rear and rushed straight to Yuan Tan's back road, Yuan Tan's army was caught off guard and fell into chaos.

It turned out that Qin Zhen knew the original process and Yuan Tan's strategy, and had long been prepared for Yuan Tan to drive the people to come to help.

After Zhao Yun and Lu Bu rushed out, they went straight for Yuan Tan's central army. Yuan Tan hurriedly ordered his general Peng An to stop them, but he was stabbed to death by Lu Bu's halberd.

It has to be said that Lu Bu was the best in the world at using cavalry. In the past, Qin Zhen led his army to attack Lu Bu's rear, but was almost killed by Lu Bu.

At this time, he and Zhao Yun attacked Yuan Tan's army. Yuan Tan naturally found it difficult to resist, and in less than two quarters, he was rushed to the center of the army by Lu Bu.

Before Yuan Tan could escape, he was caught up by Zhao Yun and stabbed to death with a spear. After Yuan Tan's death, his troops scattered and Guo Tu was killed in the chaos of the battle.

At this point, Yuan Tan died and all his troops surrendered. Liu Bei seized the entire Jizhou and arrived at Zhongshan State in September.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Shang led Zhang He, Jiao Chu, Zhang Nan and others to surrender. Among all the territories of the Han Dynasty, only Liaodong and Bingzhou were unconquered.

Following Qin Zhen's suggestion, Liu Bei divided his troops into two groups. He sent Guan Yu, Gao Shun and others westward to Bingzhou to drive out the Xianbei and other tribes, while he personally went north to Liaodong to launch a surprise attack on the Wuhuan.

The Youzhou area at that time was far from as lush and lush as it was in later generations. Going north from Zhuo County, one would enter the desertified grassland.

When Liu Bei's army arrived here, the soldiers were exhausted and had difficulty moving forward. However, at this time, an old friend suddenly came, Tian Yu, one of Liu Bei's original followers.

After Liu Bei went south, Tian Yu left because of his elderly mother at home and served under Gongsun Zan until Gongsun Zan's demise.

At that time, Xianyu Fu, a general under Gongsun Zan, led the remaining troops of Gongsun Zan and did not know where to surrender. Tian Yu advised him:
"In the future, the world will be ruled by Cao and Liu. Now that the situation is uncertain, you may as well go into the mountains and wait. When Hebei is pacified in the future, you can lead your people to surrender."

Therefore, Tian Yu and Xianyu Fu survived in the dangerous place north of Liaodong, took in the common people, and created a paradise with Guan Ning, Bing Yuan and others.

When Tian Yu heard that Liu Bei had pacified the north, he was delighted. He brought Xianyu Fu and all his troops to surrender.

Liu Bei and Tian Yu had not seen each other for more than ten years, but when Liu Bei saw Tian Yu, he excitedly held Tian Yu's hand.

Tian Yu was also very excited. When he heard that Liu Bei wanted to attack Wuhuan, he advised Liu Bei: "You want to attack them, but don't be too hasty."

"It is difficult to move baggage here. There is water in autumn and summer. It is too shallow for carriages and horses to pass, and too deep for boats to sail. It is the most difficult place to move."

"It would be better to turn back and lead the light cavalry to cross the dangerous Baitan Pass from Lulongkou, exit the empty area, and approach Liucheng to catch them by surprise. Then Tadun can be captured in one battle."

When Liu Bei heard his words, he nodded immediately and decided to use Tian Yu as the guide, Zhao Yun and Chen Dao as the front, Zhang Liao and Lu Bu as the back, and he as the rear.

When the troops arrived at Bailang Mountain, they encountered Yuan Xi and Tadun leading tens of thousands of Wuhuan cavalry. Liu Bei and Qin Zhen climbed up to a height and saw that their army was not in good order. Qin Zhen said:

"The enemy has come from afar and their battle formation is not in order. If we strike them now with one blow, they will be defeated and Tadun can be killed!"

After Liu Bei heard this, he handed over the military power to Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen then led Zhang Liao, Lu Bu, Xu Huang, Xu Chu and others down the mountain in four groups.

Tadun was in no hurry to organize his army, and the whole army was in chaos. When Zhang Liao saw this, he spurred his horse and killed Tadun on his horse. The rest of the army surrendered, but Yuan Xi fled far away.

Liu Bei captured Liucheng and wanted to seize Liaodong in one step, but winter had already arrived. Qin Zhen suggested:

"We have come from afar, and the climate and soil are not suitable for us. Many soldiers are sick and cannot stand it. Why not withdraw the army first and let the general stay here to train the three armies?"

"When the troops are ready, we will march into Liaodong and capture Gongsun as well as the remaining branches of the Yuan clan. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Liu Bei followed his advice and simply gathered his troops and retreated, leaving Zhang Liao, Tian Yu, Xu Huang and others here to train the troops, and took Yuan Shang, Zhang He and others back to the court.

In the 13th year of Jian'an, which was originally the year of the Battle of Chibi in history, Liu Bei led his army to the north and successively defeated Yuan Tan, accepted the surrender of Yuan Shang, and expelled Yuan Xi.

The campaign lasted for more than a year, during which they defeated more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, captured countless horses, weapons, and people, and returned in December.

At the same time, the Xianbei leader Kebineng and others heard that Yuan's army was defeated, so they led their people to plunder the border of Bingzhou, but were intercepted and defeated by Guan Yu, Gao Shun and others.

In the chaos of the army, Kebi Neng was beheaded, and tens of thousands of his troops were defeated, with more than half of them killed or wounded. His tribe was damaged and it was difficult for it to rise again.

In March of the following year, Liu Bei returned to Chang'an, and Guan Yu led his troops to attack Shangjun, Shuofang, Wuyuan and other places, killing tens of thousands of Xianbei people.

By July, the Xianbei people gradually withdrew from Bingzhou, so Guan Yu headed north and occupied the entire Bingzhou.

At this point, all thirteen states of the Han Dynasty fell into the hands of Liu Bei. The world was unified again, and the revival of the Han Dynasty was a foregone conclusion.

(End of this chapter)