The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

And opened up the border with Yuan Shao's territory, so that the two territories can be linked together, as each other's horns, and cooperate with each other.

In order to win Nanlou to his side, Yuan Shao not only asked his eldest son Yuan Tan to personally go to Nanlou's subordinates until Nanlou attacked Youzhou, but also provided Nanlou with a large amount of food and grass in exchange for Nanlou and his cooperation.

The cooperation with Nanlou allowed Yuan Shao to have a large number of cavalry in a short period of time.

Gongsun Zan's [-] troops soon reached Jizhou and had their first confrontation with Yuan Shao.

It is a pity that Yuan Shao, whose strength has greatly increased, has tens of thousands of troops under his command, and with the cavalry he obtained from the Nanlou Department, his strength soars, and he easily defeats Gongsun Zan.

In the first confrontation, Gongsun Zan lost troops and generals, [-] troops, and directly lost more than [-] people, which disrupted the rhythm of Gongsun Zan's attack. If Bai Mayi, one of his subordinates, escaped from covering Gongsun Zan, it is very likely that Gongsun Zan would have been killed on the spot.

Leading [-] defeated troops, Gongsun Zan could only retreat to the junction of Jizhou and Sili, and confronted Yuan Shao's men. On the one hand, he did not dare to attack again. On the other hand, he had just suffered a defeat. At this time, Gongsun Zan was very sad when.

Today's Yuan Shao, after all, is not his [-] soldiers and horses, so he can deal with it.

And in the same way, Nanlou attacked Youzhou and occupied a lot of Qiu Liju's territory, causing some conflicts between Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju.

The two sides were at war with each other, Nanlou united with Yuan Shao, Qiu Liju and Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun, and began to fight. It seemed that a big battle could break out at any time.

Regarding this, Liu Zheng is not worried at all. The more chaotic the situation in Youzhou, the better. As long as it is chaotic enough, Liu Zheng can rest easy in the south, accumulate food widely, and build high walls.

Early January 187.

Liu Zheng loaded [-] horses and [-] oxen and returned to Jiaozhou.

Of the 500 horses, more than [-] of them were captured from the horse thieves in Qingzhou, and the remaining [-] horses were bought from Su Puyan in exchange for grain.

When Liu Zheng returned to Jiaozhou, the second round of northbound trade ships from Jiaozhou had already set off for Youzhou.

Get off the boat and step on the land of Jiaozhou.

Liu Zheng felt refreshed immediately. After half a month of wandering at sea, the boat was swaying all the time, and every second was a bit tormented.

Now that I finally don't have to blow the sea breeze, the feeling of walking from the sea to the land is completely different.

Especially after half a month from Youzhou to Jiaozhou, from a cold place covered with snow and a white environment in front of my eyes, to a warm spring-like Jiaozhou, that feeling is unbearable. Reassuring.

Not only Liu Zheng felt this way, but also the other people on his boat, Gan Ning, Zhou Tai and others.

They never thought before that in this vast world, there are some places where there is no snow, and some places are so cold.

Those who have lived in the south all year round and have never been to the north in their life cannot experience the coldness in the north.

At the same time, they finally understood that not every place has four seasons. In some places, spring, summer, autumn and winter may be particularly distinct, while in some places there are only two seasons, one is spring and the other is summer.

After Liu Zheng returned to Jiaozhou, he immediately came to Hepu City to deal with the matters left over from the time he left.

Soon, Yuan Zhou came to report to him on the work during this period. At the same time, Liu Zheng talked to Yuan Zhou about the things that happened in the north, and told him some things about Yuan Shao in the north.

When Yuan Zhou heard that Yuan Shao actually supported Liu Yu as emperor in the north and colluded with the Karasuma people, he immediately flew into a rage.

"Damn it, Yuan Shao, that bastard! He's trying to discredit our Yuan family!"

"I, the fourth generation and third father of the Yuan family, how could there be such a bastard as Yuan Shao, what he did would make our Yuan family fall into a place of injustice, infidelity and filial piety!"

Yuan Zhou is originally a member of the Yuan family, so what he said.He should still belong to Yuan Shao's cousin.

Yuan Zhou joined Liu Zheng. In fact, the original purpose was to be better than those of the direct line of the Yuan family. Although Liu Zheng has made some achievements, Yuan Zhou's status is naturally not comparable to that of Yuan Shao and others. Comparable.

But Yuan Zhou also wanted to prove to those Yuan clan members that their offshoots were no worse than the children of the direct line.

But now, by doing such things, Yuan Shao is trying to get Yuan to recruit black people.

Although the prestige of the Han court is getting lower and lower, it is still orthodox in the world after all.

Chapter 398 Another Year

"Mr. Yuan Zhou, don't worry, that fellow Yuan Shao won't last long. Joining forces with a foreign race is like seeking skin from a tiger. It seems to be beneficial now, but it's actually a big disadvantage. In a few years, those Karasuma people will begin to occupy Youzhou. Afterwards, they absorbed the population of Youzhou and changed from nomadic to settled, and when the population increases, their ambitions will be revealed."

"As for Yuan Shao, this time's actions are bound to lose the hearts of the people. In the end, he has nowhere to go, only death."

Liu Zheng was not optimistic about Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao was actually a man of some ability. He was not the eldest son of the Yuan family, but just a concubine. After all, Yuan Shu was the eldest son of the Yuan family.

However, Yuan Shao insisted on relying on his specialty of being good at communication. He became famous at a young age, and was appreciated by the great general Dou Wu at that time. Although it is the facade of Yuan Shao's family, Yuan Shao's own ability is not lacking.

It was impossible for Yuan Shao to rely on the big tree of the Yuan family to develop into the princes he is today. However, this guy's fault was that he did not help the Han Dynasty, but wanted to collude with outsiders.

At this point, the title of Four Generations and Three Dukes is completely unusable.

On Liu Zheng's side, it wasn't long after he finished talking to Yuan Zhou about the northern Youzhou. Sure enough, a spies sent the news back to Jiaozhou, saying that after Yuan Shao supported Liu Yu as emperor in Youzhou, he completely angered He Miao.

Originally, Yuan Shao and others attacked Luoyang under the name of helping the Han Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, and there were legitimate reasons for it, but after Yuan Shao did such a rebellious thing, he completely broke his face with the court.

All members of the Yuan clan in Luoyang were arrested by He Miao and beheaded for public display.

This led to the beheading of Yuan Wei, who was the imperial tutor, and all of Yuan Wei's family members. After the news reached Youzhou, Yuan Shao was furious, but there was nothing he could do, so he could only hate it. .

And when this news reached Liu Zheng, Liu Zheng didn't have much reaction. After all, he was not very interested in the matter of Yuan Wei and Yuan Shao's family. In history, when Yuan Shao raised troops and formed the Eighteenth Route Coalition , Yuan Kai was also beheaded by Dong Zhuo.

Now that Yuan Shao rebelled against the imperial court, his uncle Yuan Kai naturally couldn't escape the fate of being killed.

But Yuan Zhou, who was beside Liu Zheng, had a mixed expression on his face.

From Yuan Zhou's face, Liu Zheng saw a mixed look of joy and sorrow. He was happy that the direct descendants of the Yuan family also had today.

What is sad is that he, Yuan Zhou, is also a member of the Yuan family after all. Although it is only a side branch, the decline of the Yuan family is also something he does not want to see.

Fortunately, Yuan Zhou never wanted anything from the Yuan family. Seeing the decline of the Yuan family, he may be more happy in his heart. After all, only in this way can he single-handedly restore the Yuan family to its former glory.

He also believed that as long as he followed Liu Zheng and was absolutely loyal to Liu Zheng, he would be able to use Liu Zheng's hand in the future to make the Yuan family even stronger.

After returning to Jiaozhou, Liu Zheng didn't continue to be busy with other things, because it was the end of the new year.

There is no snow in Jiaozhou, so that sometimes Liu Zheng forgets that the Chinese New Year is approaching.

This is the third year he has come to the world of the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty.

This year, compared with the previous year, although his territory has increased again, from the original Jiaozhou, there are more than half of Kuaiji County in Zhuyazhou and Yangzhou.

Although there is only such a little more territory, the actual territory he can control has increased by one-third. After all, more than half of Kuaiji County is already equivalent to the two counties of Jiaozhou.

At the same time, the tens of thousands of people he migrated from various places in Yangzhou, Kuaiji County, allowed him to control a lot more people in Jiaozhou.

Especially this year, the weather in Jiaozhou has been favorable, which has greatly increased the birth rate of the people in Jiaozhou. The people have no worries about food and clothing.

These changes only happened in the year when Liu Zheng took control of Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou was originally a place where many ethnic minorities lived together, but since Liu Zheng's arrival, those ethnic minorities have undergone great integration. They came out to live with the Han people, but many ethnic minorities who are close to the Han people have already begun to try to Sinicize.

Liu Zheng also vigorously promoted schools, wanting to allow more people to read and read, and graded schools, trying to continue the imperial examination.

When we first started doing these things, although we met with great resistance, because Liu Zheng had too few people around him.

Not only did he think of the famous counselors and civil servants of the Three Kingdoms period, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Gu Yong and others that he met in Moling County a year ago.

If these people can be used by him, what Liu Zheng wants to do may be much simpler. Unfortunately, some things are not so easy to satisfy.

At the end of the year, Liu Zheng once again slaughtered pigs and sheep wantonly, rewarded the armed forces, and allowed non-duty soldiers to drink alcohol as in previous years.

At the same time, a red envelope was sent to each soldier as condolences.

It took several days, in several military camps, to go back and forth and accompany those soldiers to drink and talk to improve morale.

Now he has five standing battalions under his command.

Xu Huang's first battalion.Basically, it serves as the defense force of Hepu, the capital city, and basically does not leave Hepu City, and is responsible for all wars in the entire Jiaozhou territory.

Huang Zhong's second battalion was based in Cangwu, on the one hand to guard against possible enemies from Yangzhou, and on the other hand, if Gan Ning's third battalion fought, they could gallop to help.

Gan Ning's third battalion has been guarding Guiyang since they defeated Sun Jian in Guiyang, guarding against Cai Mao in Jingzhou. Although Cai Mao is very honest and rarely comes to harass him, necessary defense is still necessary.

Zhou Cang's fourth battalion was arranged by Liu Zheng in Yulin County, because there are too many ethnic minorities in Yulin, and from time to time there are barbarians coming from Yizhou. Liu Zheng left Zhou Cang for the sake of He and Gan Ning Huang Zhong's men and horses assisted each other.

The Fifth Battalion, which was finally established, has always been commanded by Wenpin. It suffered heavy losses in the First World War in Yangzhou before it was reorganized not long ago, and has been in a state of training.

Also in training, there is also a water army newly replenished with soldiers and horses, which is temporarily led by Jiang Qin.

In addition, Liu Zheng also mobilized 5000 soldiers from various places and allocated them to Sun Jian, who asked Sun Jian to lead [-] people to guard Linyi County.

This is the standing army under Liu Zheng now. As for the reserve army, there are still tens of thousands of people in the entire Jiaozhou, distributed among the elder brother's counties.

Chapter 399 Tai Shici's Request

"Wow! Brother Liu Zheng, so you are the famous Yellow Turban Army Commander Liu Zheng."

"My God, why is this name so familiar? I felt strange when I heard it for the first time, but I never figured out where I heard it."

"Tsk tsk tsk, you are simply my idol, man, you should carry a three-foot sword and make an invincible feat!"

Tai Shici, a follower, followed Liu Zheng all the way from Liaodong to Jiaozhou, and finally knew Liu Zheng's identity.

However, unlike Liu Zheng's expectations, Tai Shici did not have Liu Zheng's identity as a traitor, so he began to alienate Liu Zheng. Instead, he looked at Liu Zheng with admiration, like a little fanboy. As far as Ci is concerned, his loyalty to the court is not particularly strong.

Although he is a small official in the local area, the governor of Qingzhou has persecuted him, and he has already felt abhorrent about some things in the officialdom, so he has enough understanding of the fact that the Han court is exhausted .

It is not because Liu Zheng was a Yellow Turban Army before and is now a wanted criminal by the court that he will not have any prejudice against Liu Zheng. On the contrary, because Liu Zheng has done these things during this period, each of them has paid attention to causing a sensation among people. Although Zheng's reputation in the court is not very good.

But among the people, Liu Zheng is a virtuous and good official. Not only did he exempt all the people on the territory under his command from a lot of taxes, but even Liu Zheng was paid as a soldier.

In many cases, serving as a soldier is an obligation under the hands of other princes. If you don’t go, you can’t do it. If you don’t go, you will be arrested. A large sum of pensions, even rewards for military exploits are huge sums of money.

Even if he has no military exploits, as long as he doesn't make any mistakes, he can get a military salary every month. This amount is not less than farming at home, or even more.

And it's not that hard work. In Jiaozhou, others are rushing to be soldiers, and Liu Zheng is still picky. No one from other places comes, and they are all forced to recruit.

Tai Shici followed Liu Zheng, and after Liu Zheng took him around the various military camps for a few days, he relied on Liu Zheng and refused to leave.

Whatever you say, you must join Liu Zheng's subordinates and serve as Liu Zheng's soldier.

"Brother Liu Zheng, do you agree with what I told you?"

"What's the matter?"

Liu Zheng asked the question knowingly and deliberately pretended to be stupid.

"Didn't I tell you last time that I was with you and served as a soldier for you? I want to join the army!"

"Joining the army, yes, you can go to Brother Gan Ning to sign up, and you can become a soldier under him tomorrow."

Tai Shici offered to serve as a soldier here, and Liu Zheng was naturally ecstatic. Logically speaking, he should have been extremely surprised, and then everyone was happy, but at this time, Liu Zheng showed a look of indifference .

Because after these days, Liu Zheng and Tai Shici got along with each other, and Liu Zheng had a certain understanding of Tai Shici, and he also knew that this guy had developed his skills at a young age, and he had developed an arrogance. character.

This is the case with Tai Shici in history. After he came back from Liaodong to avoid disaster, in order to repay Kong Rong for taking care of his mother during his absence, he once helped Kong Rong. Because of the favor between friends, it is not that Tai Shici is willing to work under Kong Rong.

Even when Tai Shici went to join Liu Yao later, it was only because Liu Yao was already the governor of Yangzhou at that time, and the two were from the same hometown, so he temporarily succumbed to Liu Yao's subordinates.

However, during this time, Tai Shici also looked down on Liu Yao, because Liu Yao did not treat Tai Shici as a great future, but treated Tai Shici as if he was taking in friends from his hometown.

It wasn't until Tai Shici and Sun Ce met, and after a fierce battle between the two that each had a winner or loser, that Tai Shici was able to meet the Ming Lord.

Taishi was kind and arrogant, but he was convinced by Sun Ce. His admiration for Sun Ce made him willing to submit to Sun Ce's subordinates, and he became Sun Ce's right-hand man. fierce general.

It is precisely because Liu Zheng has seen Tai Shici's arrogance that he wants to sharpen Tai Shici's character. Otherwise, with his current mentality of refusing to accept anyone, once he leads the army, something will definitely happen.

As for Tai Shici's arrogance, Liu Zheng can also understand that after all, young people have abilities, who is not arrogant, and no one can look down on them. Gan Ning, apart from showing some respect, he doesn't pay attention to others.

Even Liu Zheng, he didn't particularly care, because Liu Zheng's strength was indeed not as good as him, but Liu Zheng was the boss of that group of people after all, so he showed some respect for Liu Zheng, knowing that now he knew Liu Zheng's strength. After learning Zheng's true identity, Taishi Cicai truly admired Liu Zheng.

And what Liu Zheng wants to do is to use his subordinates to kill Tai Shici's prestige, and let him know that there are people beyond people, and there is a sky beyond the sky.

At this time, Tai Shici heard that Liu Zheng agreed to his request to join the army, and at this time too, there was a hint of surprise on his face, but the surprise soon turned into a wry smile.

"You have to start from a small soldier. I am such a powerful person, do I have to start from a small soldier? Brother Liu Zheng, don't you know my strength? Didn't you see it when you were in Huang County? I'm not bragging , even that Gan Ning under you may not be my opponent, and my archery skills are definitely better than him!"

Tai Shici wants to join the army, and he wants to return to Huang County with his ancestors, to become a leader, but he heard Liu Zheng said that he would start from a small soldier. Just be a general and lead hundreds or thousands of people.

"Why, don't you want to start from a small soldier? You have to know that General Gan Ning, who can become the commander of the first battalion now, is all because he grew up from a small soldier. When he defected to me, he only brought I have a few hundred brothers, and I am just a Qu Zhang under my command, and it was not until I followed me in the South and North Wars that I gradually used my military exploits to be promoted to a battalion commander."

Liu Zheng explained to Tai Shici.

But Tai Shici still had an ugly expression on his face.

"This is my strength, and you know it anyway. It might be unreasonable for me to be a small soldier. Why don't you also give me a song leader?"

Tai Shici was quite resistant to being a soldier when he came up.

When Liu Zheng saw him say that, he also knew that it wouldn't make sense to rely on words.

Chapter 400 Archery Competition

"Well, since you are so obsessed with being a general, it's not impossible."

Liu Zheng knew that since he couldn't dispel Tai Shici's desire to become a general by relying on his words, Liu Zheng had no choice but to find another way.