Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven Sneak Attack

"What should I do?" Yuan Shao asked his staff for their opinions. The fierce general Lu Bu led hundreds of five original cavalry to seek refuge.For this person, should we take him in?Or reject it? After Dong Zhuo's death, the battle for hegemony in the world became more intense.Gongsun Zan in the north, Yuan Shu in the south, local gangsters... Yuan Shao faced many enemies.At this moment, he really needs a powerful helper.But the problem is that Lu Bu is a dangerous man.This man had killed his master twice. "It's better to take him in! In order to defeat the enemy in front of us, we must not hesitate to take in a powerful legion."

A staff member replied. "However, Lu Bu is a treacherous villain. This person can even cut off the head of a sleeping person. If you take him in, won't you be able to sleep peacefully at night?" Yuan Shao didn't seem very happy about taking in Lu Bu. "Instead of worrying about being beheaded by him while he is sleeping, why not consider cutting off his head while he is sleeping?" "Chop off his head?" "That's right! No matter how tyrannical Lu Bu is, he will not kill his master easily. He killed Ding Yuan in order to seize his army, and such a thing is not possible in our camp. Even if there is Intent, he will wait and see for a period of time before making a move. We can use this time to let him work hard for us on the battlefield, and then deal with it when it is no longer useful. Isn’t it good? He is indeed a dangerous man , Long-term employment will definitely cause trouble in the end, but it should be possible to use him in an emergency."

"That's right. Well, let's hire him as guest minister! As for when he should be dealt with, we will hold a cadre meeting to decide later." From this we can get a glimpse of how mysterious and complicated the relationship between the lord and his retainers was at that time. Even Lu Bu, who had a serious problem with his character, needed to rely on his strength, because the combat power of Yuan Shao's camp was much lower.The low combat power is not just related to Gongsun Zan's successive years of fighting.It turned out that most of them were regarded as the generals of Yuan Shao's camp and no longer obeyed Yuan Shao's command.This reason has to be said that Yuan Shao has a problem with his moral character.

Yuan Shao is the leader of the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, but the leader is not the lord.But Yuan Shao regarded himself as the lord.The allied generals who were treated as his retainers felt disgusted.Since this is an era when the weak prey on the strong, the leaders of various factions only regard him as the leader under the mentality of "relying on the big tree to have firewood".It is a natural tendency to stand on your own when you have sufficient strength. At this time, Cao Cao's strength has also reached the level of semi-independence. In the third year of Chuping (AD 192) when Dong Zhuo was killed, Cao Cao fought the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army in Shoudong. Although he lost his ally Bao Xin, he finally pursued the Yellow Turban Army to Jibei and defeated it.According to legend, there were as many as 300,000 Yellow Turbans who surrendered at this time.

History books say so, but is it true? Cao Cao was the one who won the world later, so he has the ability to leave a historical record that is beneficial to him.Can such a record be completely trusted? To say that the Yellow Turbans "surrendered" actually seemed to be "negotiating peace". At the beginning of the battle, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army numbered 300,000, and when they surrendered, the number was also 300,000. This record shows that the Yellow Turban Army did not lose a single soldier due to the battle, that is to say, there was no fierce battle between the two armies. .Generally speaking, in the battle at that time, unless more than half of the soldiers were lost, they would not surrender.

The facts seem to be that Cao Cao made peace with the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, and after gaining 300,000 troops, he used this force as a backing to stand on his own.Since then, Cao Cao's army has an elite army named "Qingzhou Soldiers", which has greatly exerted its power. After the Qingzhou soldiers were incorporated, Cao Cao no longer needed the "big tree" Yuan Shao. As far as Yuan Shao's standpoint is concerned, the "retainer" leaving the team like this will certainly affect his combat power. ——Even if you take the risk, you have to hire Lu Bu, a dangerous person!

Now, Yuan Shao and his staff can only do this. At that time, due to famine, there were many refugees.These refugees began to organize groups in search of food.In fact, they have nothing to eat otherwise.They attacked government offices all over the country and wantonly robbed government treasuries of food. Such refugee groups have repeatedly launched guerrilla warfare near Yuan Shao's base. ——The neighborhood of your home must be cleaned up. With this in mind, Yuan Shao concluded a peace alliance with his long-time enemy Gongsun Zan. Just at this time, the Chang'an court sent a man named Zhao Qi, who was working hard to mediate the reconciliation among the eastern generals.Gongsun Zan was also exhausted at this time, so the two sides readily accepted Zhao Qi's mediation and agreed to withdraw their troops.

The reconciliation between Yuan and Gongsun took place in the first month of the fourth year of Chuping (193 A.D.). "They mess around, of course we can mess around too!" This is Zhang Yan's mantra. Zhang Yan is the leader of the refugee group. "Zhang Yan" is not his real name. He is called "Yan" or "Fei Yan" because of his brisk movements.The leaders of the refugee group include Yu Po, Qing Niujiao, Li Damu, Zuo Miaozhangba and others, none of whom use their real names.They are all desperadoes. The reason why they use fake names is because they are afraid of hurting their family members?

Refugee groups often haunt Montenegro, and the government forces called them "Black Mountain bandits". Why did farmers fall into famine?Natural disasters are of course one of the reasons, but the biggest reason is man-made disasters.They worked hard, and when the harvest time came, the army suddenly appeared and snatched all their harvest.As a result, farmers lost their willingness to work hard and abandoned their land and went into exile. The government troops often plunder them, so why not let us also rob the government treasury of food! Zhang Yan's remarks immediately aroused huge echoes from the farmers.right!Only do it now!

They raided the treasury again and again, and the government troops, of course, defended it vigorously.However, the refugee groups fought to the death because they would have nothing to eat without a fight. When tens of thousands of "Black Mountain Bandits" led by Yu Du attacked Yecheng, the prefect of the place was killed and the official food was robbed. This is Yuan Shao's territory, and the prefect who was killed was appointed by Yuan Shao.In any case, Yuan Shao must attack the Black Mountain followers and clean up the land near his home. The peace with Gongsun Zan and the hiring of the dangerous Lv Bu all have room for consideration because of this incident.

Five days after Yuan Shaojun surrounded the poisonous army on Luchang Mountain, he finally broke through it, then went north, and finally cut Zuo Miaozhangba. The elite Black Mountain Army led by Zhang Yan defended Changshan and stubbornly resisted Yuan Shao's attack.During the Battle of Changshan, Lu Bu finally went out to serve as the vanguard of Yuan Jun. "These bumpkins, watch me beat them to pieces!" Lu Bu spoke so boldly.His hometown, Wuyuan, is in what is now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which was already the living circle of nomads at that time.Nomads move freely by chasing water and grass. They have always looked down on farmers who cling to the land and rely on farming for their livelihood. Nomadic life itself is a kind of military training.Therefore, nomads produce more excellent soldiers. "Impossible to be defeated by farmers!" It was only natural for Lu Bu to underestimate the strength of the Montenegro Army, the fugitive peasant group.And the Montenegro gangsters were surprisingly resilient.Holding the concept of "starving to death is worse than fighting", they are quite brave and courageous.The Wuyuan cavalry led by Lu Bu was repeatedly attacked by peasant soldiers and suffered great losses. "How could such a thing happen?" Lu Bu felt very unconvinced, so he launched strong battles again and again. Zhang Yan seems to be a person with super leadership ability.He was able to wield the fugitive peasant army who had no formal military training freely, and he was able to fight the regular army of Yuan Shao, the leader of the world, evenly.He can also calmly deal with the tough attack of the famous fierce general Lu Bu. This happened in June, and in June of this year, it rained for more than 20 days day and night.As the Battle of Changshan unfolded in the heavy rain, Lu Bu's best cavalry maneuvering tactics were hindered, which greatly benefited the Montenegro Army. Furious, Lu Bu's combat methods became more and more tough.He let the Wuyuan cavalry regiment directly under him rest for two days as an excuse, and replaced it with infantry borrowed from Yuan Shao. "How can this work?" Yuan Shao frowned.He was not mourning the casualties of soldiers, but worried about the reduction of troops. "Lu Bu's combat method is too wasteful of troops." The combat staff also thought that Lu Bu was wrong. "But, to fight the enemy to this extent, is there another person besides him?" Yuan Shao believed that it was right to hire Lu Bu in terms of the results. Due to Lu Bu's tough fighting, the Black Mountain Army led by Zhang Yan was finally forced to withdraw from Changshan.However, Yuan Shao's army also suffered great losses and had to retreat. "The Battle of Changshan is regarded as neither winning nor losing. If there is no Lu Bu, we may be the ones who suffer. What should we do now?" Yuan Shao asked his staff again. Should Lu Bu, a rare fighter, continue to be employed? "The soldiers are extremely dissatisfied, and Lu Bu himself knows this." The aide replied. The soldiers were of course extremely dissatisfied with Lu Bu, who had no intention of sacrificing soldiers, and it was not simply dissatisfaction.Lu Bu was unwilling to use the cavalry regiment, which he regarded as a treasure, in a war of attrition-this added a layer of "hate" to the soldiers' dissatisfaction. "I'm worried that the dissatisfaction of the soldiers will cause problems in the control of the army..." Yuan Shao murmured. "It seems time to take action." The staff member nodded. "Let's kill him!" "It's not too late..." When Yuan Shao was discussing with his staff, the secretary came to report: "General Lu said that he would ask for leave to go to Luoyang, because his family is in Luoyang..." "What? Ask for leave? Lu Bu fought hard enough in Changshan, so it is right to let him rest for a few days." Yuan Shao said. "Yes, this subordinate will tell General Lu." The secretary bowed and stepped back. "Where do we start?" The staff member said with a treacherous smile. "Didn't you say that it's not too late? Instead of doing it on the way, it's better to do it here!" The two discussed how to get rid of Lu Bu. "This guy Lu Bu is really brave enough to fight..." Yuan Shao already had a nostalgic tone. "This person seems to be born to fight. In order to win, he doesn't even have any sense of human ethics..." "It's a pity to lose this kind of person, but it's dangerous to keep him by your side. If you let him escape, it will strengthen the side he has turned to..." I don't want to use him anymore, but I don't want to see him hired by others.In this situation, assassination can be said to be the most appropriate solution, right? "Yes, one Lu Bu is indeed worth ten thousand troops, perhaps more than that!" "It's a pity that this guy is simple-minded..." Yuan Shao looked at the ceiling and muttered. Is Lu Bu really as simple-minded as Yuan Shao thought? Lu Bu really seemed like a man born for war.As far as fighting is concerned, his keen sense of smell is almost as keen as that of animals. "It seems that an assassin has sneaked in..." That night, Lu Bu quickly noticed Yuan Shao's intentions.There were not just three or two assassins, and the dormitory seemed to be surrounded. It was raining heavily, in torrential downpours. Lu Bu entered the room holding the kite.The zither is a qin with thirteen strings, and the music comes from his room. ——After the zither sound stopped for two quarters (thirty minutes), he rushed into Lu Bu's bedroom. The captain of the assassination team ordered the twenty selected members to do so. However, Zheng Yin seems to be willing to challenge the sound of rain, and there is no sign of stopping. "Strange! Could it be?" The captain of the assassination team began to feel a little uneasy. He then changed the way of fighting and ordered all the troops to rush into Lu Bu's bedroom immediately. The captain kicked down the door himself. In the room, only a blind musician was playing the zither, and there was no sign of Lu Bu. "Damn it! Where did Lu Bu go?" "I have no idea." "Where did you come in from?" "I was waiting in the stables, but someone took me and brought me here." "What? The stables?" "Yes. According to my feeling, I seem to have come from under the eaves. The person who brought me in told me to play the kite until late at night..." "Oops!" The captain of the assassination team gritted his teeth. Lu Bu entered the room with his kite in his arms, and then went out to bring the blind musician who was waiting in the stables into the room from under the eaves.After that, he must have escaped on the famous horse Chitu, right? "The sound of the hooves of the horses cannot be heard because of the sound of the rain, and those who escape on the red rabbit horses will not be able to catch up no matter how hard they run!" The captain of the assassination team stomped his feet angrily.