Chapter 552: Gao Gan

When Yuan Shang and Gao Gan set out together, Gao Gan inevitably yields his superior position to Shang; Yuan's army of over a hundred thousand forms a formation and advances, while ahead in Cao's camp only Zhang Liao's main force emerges. Yuan Shang sees this and rushes forward to fight Zhang Liao, and in fewer than ten exchanges Yuan Shang sheds his armor, drags his troops and retreats, while Zhang Liao merely strikes from behind cover. Gao Gan originally intended to go out to rescue, but then sees Xu Chu, Xu Huang and others charging, and also Dian Wei leading a foot soldier of massive build, heavy armor, and a great sword to break the formation.

Under an uncertain blockade they suffer a crushing defeat, Gao Gan and Yuan Shang lose troops and ground, and they rush back to Liyang in one breath. Yuan Shao, hearing of Yuan Shang's defeat, is shocked, his old illness flares up, he vomits several dou of blood and collapses. Liu's wife hurriedly rescues him into the inner chamber, his condition worsens. She urgently summons Shen Pei and Feng Ji, and stays at Yuan Shao's bedside to discuss his affairs. Shao can only point with his finger and cannot speak. Liu's wife asks, "Can Shang still have an heir?" Shao nods. Shen Pei then writes a will at the bedside. Shao rolls over, lets out a loud cry, vomits another dou of blood and dies.

Shang, now on the throne, first has to deal with his elder brother Yuan Tan. After a series of chaotic operations, the brothers are both defeated by CaoCao and hold Jizhou awaiting change. CaoCao attacks Jizhou several times without success and says, "The Yuan family disposes the elder, installs the young; between the brothers power merges, each builds a faction; if pressed they help each other, if delayed they fight." After speaking he leads his army back to Xudu, heads south to campaign against Liu Biao. Before departing a letter is sent to Bai Lang, which turns out to be an imperial edict.

The edict orders Bai Lang to subdue the rebellious Yuan brothers; when Bai Lang receives the letter, CaoCao is already on his southern campaign. This guy had a spree of killing on the frontier, almost wiping out all the barbarians of Hexi. He captured hundreds of thousands of barbarians; on the way back to Bingzhou, over a hundred thousand died, bodies and bones strewn along the road. Even Bai Lang's face wasn't pleasant; on the battlefield killing many is fine, but after they submit, dying is a bit regrettable.

But that's how the world is now; Bai Lang assigns these people to farm and raise livestock, seeing the previous pastoralism as waste. He plants forage like grain, then after green storage mixes with dry hay to feed, which is much better than moving with water and grass. All this must be rooted in advanced agricultural technology. "It's a pity corn is still in South America," Bai Lang mutters; otherwise, with corn and green storage, raising horses wouldn't be hard at all.

Nowadays the frontier horse breeds of the Han lands haven't degenerated; Bai Lang thinks that breeding horses might actually produce the Han's Treknah horse, a tall and handsome warhorse. He knows the best horse‑breeding regions aren't far away; Central Asia, now the Xiyu, is still largely under Han control.

But all this must be left to others; after receiving the edict, Bai Lang immediately prepares to act. First he must settle the captured populace; his subordinates lack talent for civil administration, so the work is slow, but he governs the captured Hu people with military law, so they are still settled. Millions of heads of cattle and sheep can sustain grain; at most he will slaughter two‑thirds to make jerky and meat paste, and of course various sausages are indispensable, from meat sausage to offal sausage to blood sausage… Bai Lang also develops distillation of alcohol, just to give the sausages a hint of white‑wine aroma.

The cavalry that went out of the frontier with him need rest and settlement, and this time infantry must be mobilized. In total Bai Lang spent over four months to finish the deployment preparations, and marching from Bingzhou across its mountains and rivers to strike Jizhou will take at least another two months. This time Bai Lang is preparing to capture some towns, also as preparation for his future "woman‑snatching." By the world's reckoning, Bai Lang is already thirty‑seven or thirty‑eight years old, and he still doesn't know how long he'll stay here.

Zou Shi is already thirty, and in these years there hasn't been a single boy or half‑girl; Bai Lang thinks this is mostly due to time‑space traversal. Actually, if Bai Lang had descendants, as long as they have some human resources they could probably establish a family line in the future.

Since CaoCao has withdrawn his army south, the Yuan brothers' internal fighting begins; Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan clash fiercely at the border of Jizhou and Qingzhou, a chaotic mess. Yuan Shang's forces are stronger; he surrounds Nanpi, while Yuan Tan holds the city to the death. Thus Yuan Tan decides to surrender to CaoCao; a messenger is sent, and at that moment CaoCao is confronting LiuBei. Indeed, Liu Biao lets LiuBei command troops to resist CaoCao, which is merely a diplomatic talk.

Yuan Tan's envoy is Xin Pi, who straightforwardly sold out Yuan Tan, scheming for CaoCao, prompting CaoCao to adopt the policy: "Take advantage of the brothers attacking each other, when they are exhausted they will turn to me; I will first dispatch troops to eliminate Yuan Shang, then observe the situation, and finally annihilate Yuan Tan. The greatest threat in all directions is Hebei; once Hebei is pacified, the hegemonic ambition will be fulfilled." He then returns from the Jingzhou front, briefly resupplies at Xudu, and heads north to aid Yuan Tan.

However, as CaoCao returns his army, Bai Lang raises three thousand elite cavalry and ten thousand infantry, with Gao Shun and others as his henchmen, and pushes straight from Jinyang along the river, charging into Weijun. Yuan Shang hears that the Bingzhou governor Bai Lang leads over ten thousand troops to attack Jizhou, and is greatly alarmed: "The tiger has come, what shall we do?" At that time Jizhou still has over thirty thousand cavalry, but Bai Lang's reputation is well‑known, and no one dares to leave the commandery to meet him. The only option is to have Gao Gan retreat first, using the remaining Bingzhou forces to hold Bai Lang, while Yuan Shang still hopes to break through Nanpi, kill Yuan Tan, and then withdraw.

Gao Gan returns to battle Bai Lang; the two armies meet, and Bai Lang roars as he charges forward. Yuan Shang's subordinate, the three Lu brothers, charge out; after only two exchanges they are slain—two killed, one captured—by Bai Lang. Seizing the momentum, Bai Lang slashes at Gao Gan for one exchange, then spurs his horse away. Behind him, Gao Shun leads infantry in, directly crushing Gao Gan's camp. In the field war, Gao Gan has no way nor time to build defenses. If he were to retreat to the city and hold, Bai Lang would bypass the city in the blink of an eye, leaving Jizhou in ruins…

Gao Gan suffers a crushing defeat and finally must dismount, shed armor, and surrender; incidentally Gao Gan's age is comparable to Bai Lang's. Bai Lang does not kill Gao Gan, but takes him into the prisoner camp; most of the Bingzhou troops also surrender. This time Bai Lang does not engage in mass slaughter. He captures the city before him, and the whole army camps outside to begin sorting prisoners. Gao Gan is to be put to use, while the Bingzhou soldiers are largely to be released from armor and return to farming, as bolstering the Han population of Bingzhou is the priority.

Bai Lang looks at the surrendered defeated general before him; he had met Gao Gan a long time ago, but can't recall exactly how he looked then. The man now appears even older, a bit listless, though traces of his former aristocratic demeanor remain. "Gao Yuancai, you submit to me, I will still appoint you as general, but I cannot grant you the title of Bingzhou Inspector yet." Since Bai Lang has made his decision, he naturally lets Gao Gan also command a portion of the cavalry.

Whether Gao Gan's surrender is sincere or feigned is irrelevant; as long as Gao Gan lacks the ability to harm Bai Lang for a day, he will not dare to rebel. With Bai Lang now in Weijun, his forces can point straight at Yecheng, and now even if Yuan Shang still wishes Yuan Tan dead, he must retreat to defend his stronghold.