Chapter 3 Gongsun Zan, the white horse of the late Han Dynasty
In February, spring comes and flowers bloom.
Guangyang County, Youzhou.
Gongsun Zan led 10,000 Youzhou elite, Xianbei, and Wuhuan cavalry, with bright clothes and angry horses, and they were high-spirited.
Historically, Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu had deep conflicts.
The root of this contradiction actually lies in the different governance methods of Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu.
Externally, Gongsun Zan was tough and Liu Yuhuai was soft.
Internally, Gongsun Zan imposed tyranny and extorted money, while Liu Yu pacified the people.
It seems that Gongsun Zan was very cruel, like a reckless man without a brain?
In fact, Gongsun Zan not only read books, but also had a very good level of knowledge. In his early years, he studied under the great scholar Lu Zhi, and later studied under Guang Luxun, Liu Kuan, and was promoted as Xiaolian.
During the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, Xiaolian was basically equivalent to Jinshi status and belonged to the ranks of senior scholars.
Therefore, Gongsun Zan is by no means an uneducated martial artist, but a literate person.
So why did he become so cruel later?
The reason is that Gongsun Zan hates the Xianbei and Wuhuan people very much, so he uses them as a ladder for promotion, and beats them to death whenever he meets them in order to get promoted.
Needless to say about Xianbei, Gongsun Zan became the magistrate of Zhuoxian County because he fought bravely against Xianbei in his early years and was awarded the title of magistrate of Zhuoxian County for his merits.
As for Wuhuan.
Although Wuhuan was attached to the Han Dynasty and often fought for the Han Dynasty, in fact, these people were just like nanny, and there was no such thing as loyalty or disloyalty.
At that time, there were about 300,000 to 400,000 Wuhuan people stationed outside the Great Wall in Daijun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, and Liaodong counties. Because the Han Dynasty often made them work and delayed their wages, the Wuhuan people also
Sometimes there is rebellion.
"Book of the Later Han·Biography of Gongsun Zan" records that the Wuhuan of Xianbei often made trouble on the border. "Zan was in charge of the troops and horses, and connected with the border bandits. Whenever he heard about the police, Zan would always look fierce and angry, as if he were going to the enemy, running away from the enemy, or followed by
It was a night battle. The prisoners heard the sound of Zan and were afraid of their bravery, so no one dared to resist."
This means that every time when he inspected the border and found that Xianbei and Wuhuan were making trouble, Gongsun Zan was extremely angry. He would rush over to the enemy as if he saw the enemy. Sometimes he would fight at night? The enemy knew his reputation and was afraid of him.
His bravery? No one dares to confront him.
It can be seen from this that Gongsun Zan actually had a very bad attitude towards foreign races.
After all, as a Youzhou native, he could often feel Xianbei invasion and Wuhuan rebellion, and he must be very dissatisfied with this.
Brutal internally.
Was it after Gongsun Zan killed Liu Yu? His power became stronger and stronger? He defeated Yuan Shao in Jizhou and defeated his army, occupying almost half of Jizhou and the entire Qingzhou.
Because he was surrounded by enemies and fought everywhere, the military expenditure was huge? Gongsun Zan had to plunder the people and invade places to supplement the military expenditure.
From these two points, Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu had completely different political opinions, and there was no personal enmity whatsoever.
But that's for later.
At least for the current Gongsun Zan, whether it is his hatred for Wuhuan Xianbei or the local people, he is not so violent, and he has no intersection with Liu Yu.
Why?
Because of the Wuhuan rebellion? It happened after Zhang Chun Zhang Ju.
Including the fact that Gongsun Zan later hated Wu Huan, was it because Zhang Chun Zhang Ju deceived Wu Huan into rebelling with them? Gongsun Zan was defeated by Wu Huan? So he deeply hated Wu Huan's capriciousness.
As for being cruel to the people.
Now is not the time when the war with Yuan Shao was later? It was during the period when Emperor Han Ling was in power. Due to Chen Mu's suggestions, the world was stable and the country was temporarily at peace.
Unless Gongsun Zan was out of his mind and wanted to rebel, he would not dare to rob the people even if he had nine lives.
What's more, Gongsun Zan is rich now.
At that time, Tan Shihuai unified Xianbei. The total population of the three Xianbei regions in the west, central and east was millions, and he dominated the country for a while. Even if the Han Dynasty fought against him, they would suffer heavy casualties.
When Tan Shihuai died, Xianbei was divided again and never unified again.
The northern part of Youzhou is the gathering area of the Eastern Xianbei tribe after the Xianbei split, with a population of more than 700,000 to 800,000. The Eastern Xianbei tribe is divided into three tribes, namely the Duan tribe, the Yuwen tribe, and the Murong tribe.
The population of these three departments is almost equivalent to that of a county, they raise countless cattle and sheep, and their consumption level is not low.
Gongsun Zan partnered with Liu Bei, Zhang Shiping, Su Shuang, and his sworn brothers Liu Weitai, Li Yizi, Le Hedang and others. They started by selling spirits and made friends with the three tribes of Dongxianbei. After two years of development, they had a net worth of hundreds of millions and no shortage of money.
.
Therefore, robbing people is even more nonsense and unnecessary.
This time Zhang Wen appointed Gongsun Zan to go with him to Liangzhou to put down the rebellion.
Historically, the Wuhuan people ran away as soon as they reached Jizhong, because the Han Dynasty always made them work for free without paying their wages, and the Wuhuan people suffered heavy casualties when they were recruited several times, and they were full of resentment towards the Han Dynasty.
He was unwilling to continue fighting for the Han Dynasty.
But this time Gongsun Zan was wealthy and gave them enough money and food, so they did not escape and still followed Gongsun Zan.
In addition to the 3,000 Han elites, 4,000 Xianbei, and 3,000 Wuhuan troops that the imperial court conscripted in Youzhou, the total number was 10,000 troops, which was far more powerful than the only 3,000 Han elites in history.
Commanding 10,000 cavalry, it was already a very powerful force at that time. Even during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the imperial court did not have that many cavalry.
Gongsun Zan was only in his twenties, but he had so many soldiers and horses, so he was certainly very high-spirited.
I saw him riding a tall white horse, wearing silver armor, holding a double-headed iron spear in his hand, one man leading the army, his red cloak fluttering, and he looked quite like a young general with a white horse and a silver spear.
Hundreds of white-horse righteous followers followed closely behind, with 10,000 cavalry and more than 20,000 spare horses, rolling in the wind and thunder, and the dust was flying like sea water.
"Brother, ahead is Ji Zhong."
Gongsun Zan's younger brother Gongsun Yue looked at the city in the distance and said to Gongsun Zan: "We will camp outside the city today and leave tomorrow."
Gongsun Zan looked at the sky and saw that it was already dusk. It seemed that he would not be able to return to Zhuoxian today, so he nodded and said: "Okay, we will set up camp outside the city, and go to the city with my edict and talismans to ask for grain and beans."
Jizhong was the capital of later generations and is now the seat of Guangyang County, with Zhuo County to the south.
When the army arrived outside the city, there were orders from the imperial court and commander Fu Jie. Gongsun Zan stationed himself outside the city without any hindrance. He could also supply supplies on the spot, including grain for people and soybeans for horses.
An hour later, it was getting late and the sun was setting in the west.
At this time, a horseman came from the east and headed towards the city of Ji County.
"What, Qiu Liju rebelled?"
In the Guangyang County Prefect's Mansion, the Guangyang County Magistrate's expression changed with horror as he looked at the soldiers who came from Yuyang County to report the news.
Since the former Guangyang Governor Liu Wei and Youzhou Governor Guo Xun were beheaded by the Yellow Turbans, the Guangyang Governor and Youzhou Governor are still in limbo.
After all, in the barbarian land of Youzhou, people would kill officials and rebel from time to time. It was not a big deal. Even if Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty wanted to put it up for sale, he would have to have someone brave enough to buy it.
Therefore, Guangyang County is now administered by the county magistrate.
"Yes, there are also Zhang Chun, the general who protected Wuhuan, and Zhang Ju, the former Taishan governor, who killed Gongqi captain! Qiu Liju gathered more than 100,000 people and rushed to Guangyang."
The soldiers were covered in blood, which showed that they had escaped from a bloody battle.
Jun Cheng sat back on the mat, feeling his scalp numb and his face pale.
Youzhou's defense force mainly relies on the Wuhuan Zhonglang General, who also has the Wuhuan Colonel, commanding the Wuhuan troops.
Now it is actually Youzhou's defender who has taken the lead in the rebellion, which means that the entire Youzhou has no defense force and will be under the iron hoof of Wuhuan.
What should I do?
The county magistrate was confused and panicked.
Wait a minute.....
There is an army outside the city!
Gongsun Zan!
The county magistrate suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted to the attendant outside the door: "Go and invite Gongsun Bogui!"
Gongsun Zan had already rested at this time.
After the soldiers had eaten and the horses had been fed a small amount of fodder and high-quality soybeans, they had to go to bed early to refresh themselves.
I still have to travel tomorrow.
From Youzhou to Xiliang, even if you pass through Daijun and walk through the Bingzhou grassland, you have to travel thousands of miles. Even if the imperial court recruited them this time and gave them enough money and food, and gave them three horses per person, it would still take at least a month to get there.
So when the soldiers watching outside came in to report the news, Gongsun Zan got up from the bed in a daze and asked, "What's the matter?"
The soldier said: "Captain, Gao Juncheng of Guangyang invites you to enter the city, saying that there is a rebellion."
Is there a rebellion?
Gongsun Zan was trembling all over, and he woke up immediately and said, "I'll go change my clothes and I'll be right back."
"only."
Soldiers go down.
After Gongsun Zan put on his clothes and left the camp, he said to the guards on his left and right: "Come fifty men into the city with me."
Although there should be no danger in entering the city, Gongsun Zan still needs to bring some manpower.
"Wei, Governor."
Everyone mounted their white horses and followed Gongsun Zan to the city.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the governor was not a permanent official position, but a temporary position, which had the same meaning as the military governor or the supervisor of the army.
Serving as a governor does not require a high official position. Ordinary generals, generals, lieutenants, and lieutenants can also serve.
Therefore, Gongsun Zan's official position was still the county magistrate of Zhuoxian County. He was granted the imperial edict Fujie by the imperial court. Now he is just a temporary supervisor of this 10,000-man army, and is called the governor.
After entering the city, we came all the way to the prefect's mansion.
The county magistrate was sweating profusely and greeted him at the door. He didn't wait for Gongsun Zan to speak before he said hurriedly: "Gongsun Dudu, trouble has occurred. Qiu Li has rebelled!"
"Who? Qiu Liju?"
Gongsun Zan was stunned and asked quickly: "Is Nanlou involved in it?"
"I've never heard of that."
Jun Cheng also knew who Nanlou was and said hurriedly: "It's just that Wu Yan and Su Pu Yan also followed Qiu Liju."
"As long as Nanlou is not involved, it will be fine."
Gongsun Zan breathed a sigh of relief.
The Wuhuan people are distributed in five counties: Daijun, Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaoxi, and Liaodong. Each county has a Wuhuan master who leads the Wuhuan people in that county.
Among them, from Daijun to Liaodong, the Wuhuan master of Daijun is called Pufulu, the Wuhuan master of Shanggu is called Nanlou, the Wuhuan master of Yuyang is called Wuyan, the Wuhuan master of Youbeiping and Liaoxi counties is Qiu Liju, and the Wuhuan master of Liaodong County is Qiu Liju.
It is Su Puyan.
Speaking of individual forces, Nanlou, the Wuhuan leader in Shanggu, was the most powerful, commanding 9,000 tribes with more than 100,000 people.
The Wuhuan tribe was based on family units, which was equivalent to one household in the Han Dynasty.
However, in the Han Dynasty, men would separate their families when they reached adulthood, so a household usually had between 3 and 10 people.
The Wuhuan tribe does not divide families, so the population of a tribe may be as small as ten people, or as large as twenty or thirty people.
For example, when Cao Cao later conquered Wuhuan, historical records recorded that he surrendered more than 10,000 tribes, totaling more than 200,000 people.
The Wuhuan soldiers Gongsun Zan recruited this time are Nanlou's troops. As long as Nanlou does not rebel and has enough money and food, the three thousand Wuhuan soldiers can still be used and there is no need to worry about rebellion.
However, just in case, Gongsun Zan still said to Gongsun Yue beside him: "Second brother, you immediately send someone to contact Nanlou to find out his attitude."
"I see."
Gongsun Yue turned his horse around and left the city, returning to the military camp to arrange for men.
Gongsun Zan said to Jun Cheng again: "Gao Jun Cheng, where are the rebels?"
"We don't know yet. I just heard that they are planning to come to Guangyang to kill them."
"If Wu Yan and Su Buyan also rebel, Yuyang and Liaodong may also be in danger."
Gongsun Zan muttered: "The thieves are powerful. If we only think about defending the city, we will die. We should close the city gate and lie in ambush outside the city. Wait for the thieves to attack. Take me as a signal and rush out of the city."
Although the county magistrate was afraid, he also knew that the cavalry had almost no effect in the city. He nodded repeatedly and said: "Everything will be subject to Dudu's arrangement."
That night, Gongsun Zan asked his two cousins Gongsun Yue and Gongsun Fan to recruit soldiers in the city. He took 10,000 cavalry and evacuated outside the city overnight, dismantled the camp and hid in the woods a few miles west of the city.
.
everything's ready.
On the second day, when the sun rose from the east, countless figures appeared on the vast eastern horizon, like a black cloud slowly floating in, as if it was about to crush the city.
The leader of the attack on Jizhong was Zhang Chun. Historically, this rebellion did not actually involve Zhuo County. The furthest Zhang Chun led his army only plundered Jizhong, and then stationed the main force in Feiru County, Liaoxi County.
According to the geographical location of later generations, one is in Qian'an City in later generations, and the other is in the capital Beijing, which is more than 200 kilometers apart.
The situation at that time was as follows: Zhang Chun led his troops to plunder Guangyang County, while Zhang Ju and Qiu Liju attacked the two counties in western Liaoning and Liaodong, killed the prefects of the two counties, and separatized the areas and called themselves emperor.
The occupied areas were Yuyang County, Youbeiping, western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, almost from Miyun to Qinhuangdao in later generations, and then to Jinzhou, Liaoyang, and Dandong.
Therefore, Qiu Liju's main Wuhuan troops were in this area, and Zhang Chun only led 20,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry.
Most of the infantry are remnants of the Youzhou Yellow Turbans.
During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Youzhou Yellow Turbans had very little momentum, with a total number of less than 100,000. Except for the execution of Guo Xun, the governor of Youzhou, and Liu Wei, the original prefect of Guangyang, they did not cause any major disturbances.
At that time, the governor of Zhuo County was called Han Zhuo. He was very capable. Together with Zou Jing, the captain of the Polu School, they defeated the Yellow Turbans of Youzhou. Han Zhuo and Zou Jing were also promoted due to their merit and are now serving as imperial officials in Luoyang.
In the original history, due to the misbehavior of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and the increase of land taxes, the local people in Youzhou were miserable. The Youzhou Yellow Turbans were originally the people of Youzhou. After being defeated, they fled among the people and continued to be obedient people.
Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty made a stupid move to collect a tax of 10 yuan, forcing these Youzhou Yellow Turbans to continue their rebellion. Therefore, Zhang Chun quickly gathered a large number of soldiers, with a crowd of more than 100,000, and the momentum was huge.
However, this time Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty not only did not make any mistakes, he even used the taxes collected from other states to govern the four states of You, Merger, Jiao, Liangbian, and Guan to appease the people.
This made the people of Youzhou no longer have any intention to rebel. Zhang Chun recruited people everywhere, and adding his old troops, he only got 20,000 people, which was really pitiful.
But even so, with the presence of five thousand elite Wuhuan cavalry, it was enough for Zhang Chun to gallop through the almost undefended Guangyang.
Zhang Chun was riding on a tall horse at this time, looking at the distant city of Jixian County, and said viciously to Wang Zheng beside him: "When Jizhong is plundered, we will kill Zhuo County."
Wang Zheng wondered: "General, what are you going to Zhuoxian for? We have just started now. We can just plunder Jizhong. There is no need to go to Zhuoxian. The battle line is too long. Logistics and supplies are a very serious problem."
.”
There was a hint of ferocity in Zhang Chun's eyes: "Brother Liu Xuande insulted me so much that I want to kill his entire family to satisfy my hatred. There is no need to worry about the supply issue. When the time comes, it will be enough for us to fight our way through."
"only!"
Wang Zheng knew that he still hated Brother Liu Bei, so he had no choice but to accept it.
In fact, Wang Zheng really wanted to tell Zhang Chun that plundering Guangyang County was already the limit, and if he continued southward, his life would be in danger.
Moreover, it was not the imperial court who wanted to kill them, but Qiu Liju who wanted to kill them.
After all, the reason why Qiu Liju rebelled was because the court was not trustworthy. It not only delayed their wages for several years, but also made them work in vain, which made Qiu Liju feel resentful.
In addition, it was profitable to plunder the place, so Qiu Liju agreed to rebel with them.
But once things got too big and the court mobilized a large army, Qiu Liju might chop off Zhang Chun's head and surrender on the spot.
These foreign tribes are very skilled. If the Han army is strong, it will surrender. If the Han army is weak, it will rebel. They will cause rebellions repeatedly. They know that the court will not make every effort to destroy them. As long as they make a good gesture and put all the responsibility on Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju, the court will also
I won't do anything to them.
There are too many examples like this in Youzhou. Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju thought they were taking advantage of Qiu Liju, but they didn't know that Qiu Liju was also taking advantage of them. Wang Zheng knew very well that Zhang Chun would not end well if he sought skin from a tiger.
It seems like maybe it’s time to leave a way out for yourself.
Wang Zheng looked at Zhang Chun and thought in his mind.
The army rushed forward and reached the city in a moment.
"Kill and attack the city. The women, money, and food are all yours."
Zhang Chun waved his hand, and the rebels behind him poured into the city like a tide holding ladders.
Brothers Gao Juncheng and Gongsun Yue Gongsun Fan went to the city to defend the city with a few garrison soldiers and more than a thousand warriors recruited temporarily.
All people in the Han Dynasty had to serve in the army for two years, which was somewhat similar to the Great Cold Kingdom in later generations, so as long as they were an adult male, they could almost go into battle with weapons.
More than a thousand warriors fought bravely and repelled Zhang Chun's first wave of attacks.
But soon the second wave of attacks came as expected.
This time, Zhang Chun had figured out the real situation in the city and knew that there were very few guards, so he ordered the entire army to attack.
Seeing that the second wave of attacks was very fast and violent, the city was about to be destroyed.
The ground suddenly began to shake.
In the distance to the west of Ji City, dust is flying all over the sky.
The Youzhou people who had been at the border for a long time knew immediately that this was a large cavalry unit.
Zhang Chun's face changed drastically. His Wuhuan cavalry came from the Wuyan tribe of Yuyang. This was already the latest cavalry force in Guangyang.
As far as he knew, there should be no cavalry in Guangyang, except for Nanlou on the Shanggu side.
After Qiu Liju's rebellion, he also contacted Nanlou, but Nanlou's attitude was ambiguous, saying that he would neither help the Han Dynasty nor Qiu Liju.
Logically speaking, it is impossible for Nanlou to send troops. How could other cavalry appear in Guangyang County?
Zhang Chun quickly raised his eyes and saw thousands of troops galloping towards him on the distant horizon.
The leader leads the team, wearing a white horse, silver spear, and chain mail, and a red cloak fluttering in the wind.
"Gongsun Zan!"
Zhang Chun squeezed out these three words through his teeth. He never expected that Gongsun Zan, who should have been transferred to Xiliang, would actually appear here!
However, Zhang Chun didn't know that in history, Gongsun Zan had already gone a long way to find out about Zhang Chun and Zhang Juqiu Liju's rebellion.
At that time, Gongsun Zan only had 3,000 men in his hands. By the time he rushed back, Qiu Liju had already occupied and digested most of Youzhou, and began to send his troops southward, from Bohai County as far as Qingzhou Plain Country, burning, killing and looting everywhere.
But now, because Gongsun Zan followed Zhang Wen's order and took advantage of his reputation in Xianbei, he went to Xianbei in the east to recruit people, which wasted time and just happened to catch up with his rebellion.
Because information was not developed, Zhang Chun thought that Gongsun Zan had already left with his men, so he had no idea that Gongsun Zan had just arrived in Guangyang County.
It can only be said that time is destiny. History has been completely changed by Chen Mu. No one can tell what will happen in the future.