Chapter 1070: Convincing Gongsun Fan and Gongsun Yue
In fact, Huangfu Chaobo also considered having a good chat with Yan Gang, but he immediately gave up the idea after Guo Jia's persuasion. Gongsun Zan would definitely know about his meeting with Shan Jing, Yan Gang and Gongsun Fan. With his character, it would most likely arouse suspicion. What do you mean, Huangfu Chaobo? You came all the way from Liaoxi and met and chatted with my subordinates, could it be that you want to do something wrong in my backyard? If that's the case, it's possible that Gongsun Zan and Huangfu Chaobo will turn against each other.
Although Huangfu Chaobo really wants to bring the counties of Youzhou into Xi's pocket, the time is not right yet, so naturally, there are some things that he should avoid. However, at the gate of Tuyin City, Huangfu Chaobo still revealed some news to Yan Gang. There was no way. Although Yan Gang was not bad, he was still inferior to Gongsun Fan, so it would be safer to let Gongsun Fan guard Youbeiping. As for Yan Gang, if it doesn't work, there is still a chance to escape directly from Shanggu.
It was nearly 400 miles from Linyu to Yuyang, and Huangfu Chaobo led the cavalry to arrive in two days. After arriving in Yuyang, Huangfu Chaobo arranged the 4,000 guards to camp outside the city, and he led Dian Wei and Guo Jia directly to Gongsun Yue's prefectural mansion.
At this time, Gongsun Yue, who had already received the news, was waiting in the Yuyang prefectural mansion, and beside him, Shanggu prefect Gongsun Fan had also arrived here.
As soon as they met, the two bowed deeply to Huangfu Chaobo and said, "Thank you, Lord Tang, for your help. If not for this, brother would not have escaped so easily."
"The two generals have said that I just helped a little. With General Bogui's strength, it must be no problem for him to return to Youzhou. How could Yuan Shao stop him?" Huangfu Chaobo replied;
"Anyway, if it weren't for Lord Tang, we wouldn't have been able to meet brother's army so quickly." Gongsun Fan said;
"Now that brother Bogui has returned to Youzhou safely, let's put this matter behind us. By the way, how is brother Bogui doing now?" Huangfu Chaobo asked;
After hearing this, the two were silent. Gongsun Zan's current situation is not good, and it is very bad. After returning from the battlefield of Jizhou, Gongsun Zan, with his extremely conceited character, how could he bear this heavy blow? It can be said that what Gongsun Zan is thinking about day and night is how to restore his strength and then send troops to retaliate against Yuan Shao.
However, in history, Gongsun Zan fought against Yuan Shao's army in the Battle of Jieqiao, the Battle of Longcou and the Battle of Jumashui. After being blocked from going south, he turned to attack Liu Yu and eventually killed him.
Afterwards, Liu Yu's troops joined Yuan Shao's army to counterattack, and they were defeated in battles. All the counties in Youzhou killed officials and rebelled against Gongsun Zan. After he died in Yijing City, he was finally defeated by Yuan Shao's army and killed.
But the situation is completely different now. After Gongsun Zan and Huangfu Chaobo formed an alliance, he got a large number of weapons and war horses from Huangfu Chaobo, and he actually sent troops to destroy Liu Yu and finally occupied most of Youzhou. However, he was defeated in the Battle of Jieqiao afterwards.
Now Gongsun Zan has returned in defeat, and all he thinks about all day is how to reorganize the army and send troops to Jizhou to seek revenge on Yuan Shao. So after returning to Ji County, they began to prepare to rebuild the cavalry, but cavalry could not be assembled in a short time, let alone elite cavalry like the White Horse Volunteers. It was not easy to gather white horses alone. Now there were less than 10,000 cavalry left out of the 30,000 White Horse Volunteers.
The 20,000 people under Gongsun Zan's control were basically lost in Jizhou, and only less than 3,000 people ran back with him, and the White Horse Volunteers led by Gongsun Fan to meet them also lost more than 2,000. In this way, the total number of White Horse Volunteers under the command of the three people was less than 10,000 cavalry, but here, there were more than 4,000 elites and nearly 6,000 ordinary Volunteers.
After returning to Ji County, the two brothers Gongsun Fan and Gongsun Yue left most of the White Horse Volunteers to Gongsun Zan, and they only took 2,000 White Horse Volunteers each back. After several months of recruitment, the White Horse Volunteers in Gongsun Zan's hands recovered to 10,000 again, but their combat effectiveness was not even as good as the ordinary Volunteers before Jieqiao Zhizhan.
In addition to the loss of the Baima Yicong, Gongsun Zan's 10,000 elite ordinary cavalry and 20,000 elite infantry were also lost at Jieqiao. These soldiers were the elites that Gongsun Zan had accumulated with great difficulty over the years. It can be said that the loss of this battle stunned Gongsun Zan.
Nowadays, Gongsun Zan is recruiting soldiers and training soldiers, and holding banquets with his three sworn brothers. Not to mention military advisor Guan Jing, even the brothers Gongsun Fan and Gongsun Zan's son Gongsun Xu can hardly see him, let alone admonish him.
After listening to the two people's narration, Huangfu Chaobo was stunned for a moment. It seems that Gongsun Zan's situation is much more serious than he imagined. Thinking of this, Huangfu Chaobo winked at the two people. The Gongsun brothers were stunned, and immediately reacted, drove out all the idle people in the house, and then looked at Huangfu Chaobo and stopped talking.
Huangfu Chaobo no longer concealed anything and told them all his strategies in detail, not only his ideas about the personnel changes in Youzhou, but also his plans to build a city in Leting and recruit soldiers in preparation for sending troops to the vassal state of Liaodong, as well as all the things he did to immigrate to the Longhua area.
It took nearly an hour for Huangfu Chaobo to explain these things to the two people clearly, then he picked up a cup of tea on the table, drank it all and said: "Two generals, the military book says: The lord should not raise an army because of anger, and the general should not fight because of resentment. Judging from the current situation of Brother Bogui, he will definitely lead his troops to the south within a year. It seems that it is not easy to persuade him to stop. In this case, we can only find another way."
"On the one hand, we should strengthen our own strength as much as possible, and on the other hand, we should be prepared in case of failure and the army will be defeated again. Therefore, three generals guard Yuyang, two generals guard Youbeiping, and together with General Shan and the cities of Leting, we can form three lines of defense. In this way, even if the worst result comes, we can still defend Liaoxi, Liaodong, Chifeng and Longhua, and keep the connection with the Central Plains open, so as to make a comeback."
Huangfu Chaobo's words stunned the two people and they were speechless for a long time. Since Gongsun Zan returned, the two people have been worried about things. Finally, there is a plan to deal with it. It can be seen from this that Huangfu Chaobo really wants to keep his own power. Of course, this also has his own selfishness, that is, his Liaodong vassal state in Longhua and Leting, but this is understandable. Both of them know that there is no free lunch in the world. If there is no profit, Huangfu Chaobo will not be so dedicated to help his family.