webnovelfull Chapter 450 Troops from all sides rush to Jiangling
Chapter 450 Troops from all sides rush to Jiangling
As Guan Xing stepped through the city gate onto the solid ground inside the city of Gong'an, countless emotions welled up in his heart.
The city of Gong'an, which had been occupied for several months, was back in Ji Han's hands. The feeling of regaining what was lost was simply amazing.
It's important to know that Gong'an City held great significance for the Shu Han dynasty; in fact, the name Gong'an itself was derived from Liu Bei.
This story begins with the Battle of Red Cliffs. During the Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei was stationed in Gong'an. Since Liu Bei held the official title of Left General at the time, the first thing officials from various places would say when writing to him was "Left Gong'an is here." After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei renamed the place Gong'an to commemorate his military experience.
Liu Bei only started his rise to power after the Battle of Red Cliffs. From this perspective, Gong'an can be considered Liu Bei's place of origin. Liu Bei attached great importance to Gong'an. After occupying Jingzhou, he sent Fu Shiren, a veteran who had followed him in the uprising in Zhuojun, to personally oversee the area. However, Fu Shiren turned out to be a traitor, which led to Gong'an falling to Eastern Wu.
But now the public security forces have returned to Liu Bei's hands. They were just captured and then quickly recovered. How can such a rapid reversal not be impressive?
Bu Zhi, however, had a different feeling. His eyes revealed the sorrow of having gained and then lost something, but he wisely did not dwell on it and said, "General Guan, Gong'an is a small county and cannot accommodate too many troops. Please make do with staying at the North Gate for now."
Although Guan Xing called him "Grandpa" very affectionately, Bu Zhi was not so arrogant as to not consider himself an outsider. After all, he had just surrendered and had not yet established sufficient trust with Guan Xing. In addition, his son was in Guan Xing's hands. Before things were settled, how could he dare to act like an old man in front of Guan Xing?
Hearing Bu Zhi's arrangement, Guan Xing smiled with satisfaction: "Then I'll have to trouble you, Grandpa."
He knew in his heart that Bu Zhi's decision to have him stay at the city gate was not because there was really no place to stay inside the city, but because Bu Zhi wanted to use this opportunity to express his loyalty and dispel his suspicions.
Because once Guan Xing takes control of the city gate, he can both attack and defend. If the Wu army inside the city rebels, even if Guan Xing cannot defeat them, he can easily retreat through the city gate. Isn't this better than being trapped inside the city and having his door locked to catch a dog?
Bu Zhi laughed and said, "It is only right. Besides, General Guan has been traveling for days and is exhausted. He must be in dire need of rest as he has to set off again tomorrow morning. So I will not host a banquet for you tonight. I will host a banquet to apologize to you after we return to Jiangling and defeat the Wei army."
Guan Xing smiled and said, "Grandpa, you flatter me. I should be the one inviting you then. Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
Bu Zhi looked at the shovels, hoes and other farming tools on the shoulders of the Han soldiers and said, "Your farming tools look very sharp, but it's inconvenient to fight with these things. How about I contact the gentry in the city and exchange the farming tools for some swords and bows and arrows?"
Guan Xing laughed and said, "No problem. These farm tools were originally intended to be remelted and converted into weapons by blacksmiths in Jiangling. It would be even better to have ready-made weapons."
Bu Zhi: "..."
Wow, so that's how farm tools are used?
However, it is true that modifying farm tools into weapons is much easier than mining iron ore and reforging them.
Guan Xing, you really know how to play this game.
Bu Zhi escorted Guan Xing to the North Gate, and after completing the handover, he rushed back to the county government office. He opened the armory and returned the weapons and armor that he had recently ordered to be made but had not yet used to Guan Xing, exchanging these equipment for Guan Xing's farming tools.
So here's the question: if there's equipment in the armory, why did Bu Zhi suggest exchanging it with the gentry?
The reason is simple: the weapons and equipment are public funds, but the farm tools are private property. The equipment in the armory is allocated to Guan Xing, but the farm tools he receives in return are not sent to the armory for registration. Instead, they go into Bu Zhi's private pocket, and he takes out two or three percent of that to symbolically exchange with the gentry, and that's how the accounts are settled.
This can be considered the most basic form of money laundering. After all, General Bu has many clansmen to support and needs to find ways to acquire some property for himself.
Of course, the most important thing is that Guan Xing's farm tools are too good. They are glossy and shiny from being maintained with tung oil, which is pleasing to the eye. A big landowner like Bu Zhi would love such farm tools more than his own son. He couldn't help but get a few if he didn't get his hands on them.
Fortunately, he was still rational. He didn't make Guan Xing hand over the farm tools before receiving the equipment. Instead, he delivered the equipment to Guan Xing first, and only received the farm tools from Guan Xing after Guan Xing inspected them.
The order of this matter is important because the farm tools are now Guan Xing's weapons. He and Guan Xing have only just met and have not yet established trust. If the farm tools are confiscated first, it may arouse Guan Xing's suspicion and lead to a fight between the two sides. After all, no matter how stupid Guan Xing is, he would not hand over his only reliance to an outsider, right?
The shrewd and experienced Bu Zhi handled his fragile relationship with Guan Xing very well. Not only did he not cause any trouble during the handover, but he also did not invite Guan Xing to dinner. Instead, after the handover of the farm tools was completed, he sent someone to deliver a batch of grain to Guan Xing, thereby eliminating Guan Xing's concern that he might poison him.
The two sides spent the night in this amicable manner. At dawn, Guan Xing appointed Geng Shang as the magistrate of Gong'an County and a lieutenant general. He transferred 500 men from his own command and 500 men from Bu Zhi's command to Geng Shang to take command and garrison Gong'an City. Then, he joined forces with Bu Zhi and led 5,000 troops by boat, traveling upstream along the Yangtze River to Jiangling City.
Although water transport is slower than land transport, it has one advantage: soldiers don't have to expend energy while sitting on the boat, and can immediately engage in battle after arriving in Jiangling.
After boarding the ship, Guan Xing was only one step away from Jiangling, which he had been longing for. As long as his respected father-in-law held on for one more day, he would be able to successfully step onto the city wall of Jiangling.
Dear father-in-law, you must hold on!
……
Gangneung City.
After a series of open and covert struggles, Sun Quan finally broke off relations with the gentry of Jingzhou and the officials of Eastern Wu who had surrendered to Cao Cao.
Sun Quan reiterated his determination to surrender to Liu Bei to his soldiers. Having stabilized the internal situation, he actively launched the next step of his operation. He moved his general's mansion and personally took charge of the east gate. He also ordered Zhang Zhao to take charge of the south gate, and ordered Xu Xiang, who was familiar with the city's terrain, to lead troops to attack the mansions of the gentry in the city and seize their stored grain. He also ordered Hu Zong to lead troops out of the city to attack the manors of the gentry outside the city and continue to seize their grain. He then launched a major battle to seize grain from the rebel army on the opposite side.
Jiangling City originally had granaries built and grain reserves prepared by Guan Yu, but the little grain Guan Yu stored was taken by Lu Xun to the east. Now the official granaries are so empty that even rats would leave with tears in their eyes. If they don't rob grain, what will Sun Quan's thousands of troops eat?
Moreover, Zhou Tai is about to return. Sun Quan's order to Zhou Tai is to return to Jiangling as quickly as possible. In order to pursue speed, Zhou Tai will certainly not carry too much food. As a result, Sun Quan will have to prepare food for Zhou Tai. That is tens of thousands of troops. Can they survive without food?
At this time, Sun Quan would naturally not rob the people of their food. Firstly, his status as a surrendered emperor of Liu Bei did not allow it, and secondly, the meager food rations of the people could not satisfy the appetites of tens of thousands of troops. If he wanted to get rich quickly, he could only rob the gentry.
While Sun Quan was actively seizing grain, Zhu Yi was also gathering grain. To prevent it from being robbed, various tribes mobilized carts and people to transport the grain to the North Gate. Upon receiving the news, Hu Zong decisively launched an attack and seized the grain halfway. Zhu Yi quickly dispatched troops to support him. The two sides fought fiercely in the open field for the grain.
While people were desperately fighting for food in Jiangling City, a Wu army of three or four thousand men arrived at the Yangtze River in a disheveled state. They cut bamboo and felled trees to cross the river and enter Zhouling. After a short rest, they rushed towards Jiangling at top speed. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the leader of the army was Zhou Tai's eldest son, Cavalry Commandant Zhou Shao.
At this moment, Zhou Shao was covered in wounds, and there were even tear stains on his face, but he dared not rest and dragged his exhausted body to fight his way towards Jiangling.
At the same time as Zhou Shao crossed the river, a Wei army of about 20,000 to 30,000 men, bearing the banner of Jiang, was heading towards Jiangling along the Nanzhang River to the north of Jiangling. They had already passed Dangyang. The commander of this Wei army was Jiang Ji, and with Jiang Ji by his side was an old acquaintance of Guan Yu, who turned out to be Yu Jin.
At the same time, a large army was also rushing towards Jiangling from the direction of Yidao City in the west. The army was small, with only three or four thousand soldiers. The leader of the army was none other than Sun Huan, the garrison commander of Yidao City of Eastern Wu.
With the addition of Guan Xingbuzhi who came from the south, Jiangling City instantly became incredibly lively.