[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-overthrowing-han":3,"chapter-overthrowing-han-overthrowing-han-chapter-524":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Overthrowing Han",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1223283,1620,"Chapter 524: No Withered Branch Seen When the Soil Was Tended (Part 2)","overthrowing-han-chapter-524",524,"\u003Cp>Leaving aside what Liu Xuande intended by speaking the speech of men to men and the speech of ghosts to ghosts, after the New Year, during the spring planting season, Jiangxia suddenly erupted with yet another preposterous major event.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is said that after the New Year, the Son of Heaven formally appointed General of Pacifying the South Liu Biao as Grand Commandant overseeing the Secretariat, and Liu Biao gladly accepted. He received the office of Grand Commandant right there in Xiling city in Jiangxia and prepared to conduct the spring sacrifices on behalf of the Son of Heaven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at the same time, Liu Bei, who should have crossed the river back to Yuzhang, suddenly traveled west alone by horse (and boat), entered Nan Commandery, and, exploiting the gap while Liu Biao was staying in Jiangxia, took control of Nan Commandery in his capacity as Governor of Jingzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The civil and military officials of Nan Commandery, led by the Kuai and Cai clans, chose a course of non-resistance, even tacit acceptance, of Liu Bei’s arrival, and began, as demanded by this Liu of Jingzhou, to hand over grain, fodder, arms, and troops one after another, assembling them at Xiangyang city, and then one by one extricated themselves from the affair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Liu Jingsheng, it is said that at first he attempted to turn back, but was blocked at the Shaxian river mouth and had no choice but to issue a statement, the gist of which was that he too understood Liu Xuande’s ambition, and so they might as well go their separate ways and meet again if fate allowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately thereafter, he asked the Qinghe notable Cui Yan, who was then in Jiangxia, to convey his intentions toward Nan Commandery on his behalf, and then simply returned to Xiling in Jiangxia, paying no further attention to Xiangyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as if long prepared, Liu Jingsheng’s three sons and one daughter all safely made their way to Jiangxia one after another, whereas his second wife, Lady Cai, showed no intention of leaving Nan Commandery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the news spread, the people of the realm were at first naturally astonished and baffled, but soon they took it in stride. After all, Jiangxia was already in its twilight days, and the more the age nears its end, the more freaks and monsters appear, and strange events become commonplace. If Shu could be that absurd, then Jingzhou could naturally be this bizarre.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who’s looking down on whom?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, by the spring planting season of the eighth year of Jian’an, the prevailing view across the realm was that within the year Lord Yan would likely truly unify all within the four seas and replace the Han with Yan… And if that were truly the case, then counting from the campaign against Dong Zhuo, no matter how one calculated it, the time Gongsun Wenqi took to sweep the realm would probably not exceed ten years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To seize the realm in ten years far surpassed Guangwu and could be mentioned in the same breath as Han Gaozu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, those who truly understood the matter would dismiss this conclusion, because Han Gaozu unified in haste, departing before he could even clear away the vassal kings, the consort clans, and his own meritorious officials, whereas Lord Yan’s foundation was clearly far more secure than his… This was the truly preposterous part.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet at the same time, only a handful of people truly understood that Lord Yan had already completed the construction of his core faction, and possessed his founding heartland base, his army, and even enormous financial and material resources before the authority of the House of Han had utterly collapsed… Of course, this too was forced by circumstance. Before the campaign against Dong Zhuo, no one could say that the General of the Guards of that time was not a loyal subject of the Great Han, right? Nor could anyone say there was anything improper about his prestige in Hebei or his military authority within the Great Han system at that time, right? He could not possibly have been scheming back then, thinking of founding his Yan and overthrowing the Han of the Liu clan, could he?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if Emperor Ling came back to life, he would not have the face to say so.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not necessarily,” inside the Bronze Sparrow Pavilion’s inner cabinet, as spring hurried by and the air gradually warmed, Gongsun Xun, seated in the host’s position, mused thoughtfully. “It may not be that Xuande gained Nan Commandery merely by trickery…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This minister also thinks so,” Jia Xu, standing at the very front, almost blurted out in agreement. “Nan Commandery has many famous cities — Xiangyang city in the far north, Jiangling city in the far south, Huarong city in the southeast, Yiling city in the southwest… Each of these cities could have held out and resisted, yet not one offered resistance. Could it be that Liu Biao, after so many years in Jingzhou, had not a single trusted confidant? Moreover, his eldest son is already grown, and his nephew Liu Pan is a veteran general in the army… I fear this is a case of Liu Jingsheng, seeing the tide has turned and long harboring thoughts of retreat, and Liu Xuande, an indomitable hero, hitting it off with the Nan Commandery gentry clans who are extremely resistant to Your Highness, attempting one last gamble… Everyone simply understands without saying it aloud.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then does Wenhe think Xuande’s action in this still counts as a hero’s deed?” Gongsun Xun suddenly sighed at these words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sudden silence fell over the inner cabinet, and while others might have let it pass, Jia Wenhe, having been directly asked, could not but speak: “Liu Xuande at this moment still has courage to spare and can throw himself fully into one last fight — how can he not be called a hero? Moreover…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Moreover?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Moreover, his posture now clearly seems to be gathering all the remnants from every side for a single decisive battle. If he succeeds, he holds the southeastern half of the realm and reverses the course of heaven; if he fails, all is finished together, and those forces in the Jiang-Han region that Your Highness has long wished to eradicate will be like fish and meat entering the pot, left for Your Highness to deal with at will… Thinking back to his earlier initiative in handing over the Huainan-Huaibei matter, there was also a subtle hint of aiding Your Highness, sparing you a bit of trouble.” Jia Xu’s words caused the other members of the inner cabinet to fall into thought. “In this minister’s view, before that it was nothing special, but after the Battle of Guandu, Liu Xuande’s conduct has carried a faint air of magnanimity and broad-mindedness, and his stature has actually risen considerably.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Indeed,” Gongsun Xun slowly nodded, and for a moment seemed somewhat dejected. “In truth, after the Huainan-Huaibei matter, I had already begun to sense it, and by the time I reached Hedong I had already formed some conjectures… At that time I thought, is not Xuande’s predicament today the result of my own pressure back then? If I had kept a little distance under Master Lu’s tutelage in those days, with his ambitious and formidable nature, he might have long since taken the field himself in the great battles of the Central Plains and fought me to the death. Then, whether he perished then or now, his line extinguished, it would have been a clean break between us, with nothing else to say. And if I had been a little harsher at Mengjin back then, he might very well be in this cabinet today. In the end, it was my own lack of resolve in youth that let a peerless ambitious hero, no less than Cao Mengde, fall into today’s plight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, many in the cabinet showed signs of dejection. After all, Han Dang, Lou Gui, Wang Xiu, and even Shen Pei and others had known Liu Bei for a long time, while Lu Fan, who was now at the front overseeing the overall Central Plains situation and facing off against him, was even Liu Xuande’s senior fellow apprentice, and Liu Xuande had also been his matchmaker… And the Inspector of Yuzhou, Qian Zhao, at the very front line, was simply Liu Bei’s boyhood friend sworn to a death pact. As for Liu Xuande’s chief general Zhang Fei, he too shared bonds of brotherhood with many figures under Gongsun Xun’s command.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what could be said?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Liu Bei had embarked on the path of contending for supremacy, there was nothing more to say. And whether it was Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, or Jian Yong, given the three men’s knight-errant ways, they probably never took their own lives and deaths seriously… After all, though one might speak of the success or failure of this campaign, the real question was: how great was the chance of success? And how great was the chance of failure?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The implications could not but make one sigh with emotion!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And with this thought, a group of old acquaintances grew ever more dejected; even Dong Zhao sighed repeatedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The matter has come to this; there is no need to dwell on it,” Gongsun Xun, who seemed to have long had his own thoughts, was the first to recover his composure, and spoke calmly from his seat once more. “We can only say that since Xuande is so magnanimous, we must not let his intentions go to waste…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The various chancellors in the inner cabinet, along with Dong Zhao, Wang Xiang, and the numerous personal attendants and clerks, all straightened with solemn expressions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This battle is unavoidable. I intend to dispatch all the surrendered generals and troops from Xuzhou and Yizhou, along with the soldiers of Liangzhou, to respond,” Gongsun Xun paused briefly, then stated his plan. “What do you think?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From Jia Xu on down, the expressions of the several chancellors in the inner cabinet remained unchanged, as if they had long anticipated this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The truth was, Gongsun Xun’s meaning was quite clear: since battle was unavoidable, it would be better to let those stubborn local forces that had survived for various reasons foot the bill for this final large-scale campaign… And to be fair, these local forces were probably willing to fight this battle for the sake of securing a future foothold under the Yan state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Settle everything in one battle, eliminate the local forces as much as possible — the court at Ye would be satisfied, and these people could also stand tall with a clear conscience. Why not do it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Indeed, the three places Gongsun Xun mentioned were precisely the three places where stubborn local remnant forces were most entrenched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take Liangzhou, for instance. Liangzhou was a problem left over from history… The surrender of Han Sui and Ma Teng had caused the powerful military clans below them to switch sides en masse, and at that very moment Gongsun Xun was planning the decisive battle for the Central Plains, so he inevitably had to prioritize stability in Liangzhou and the newly acquired Hanzhong. This resulted in many great families with real military strength still being widespread in the Longshang region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Xuzhou — although this region was recovered during the great Guandu campaign, Guan Yu’s miraculous raid had caused nearly entire commanderies and counties there to choose surrender. Thus, compared to the orderly withdrawal in the Huainan-Huaibei region and the “cleanliness” after the bloody battles in the Central Plains heartland, the great households of Xuzhou had somewhat benefited from disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yizhou went without saying — the advantages of swallowing Yizhou in three months were self-evident, but so were the disadvantages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, as a political leader, a certain necessary dark mentality was indispensable, and Gongsun Xun had originally harbored the shadowy intent of letting the local forces of Liangzhou and Yizhou wear each other down on the Shu roads, but he never expected that Xu Yuanzhi’s single sword would ruin the entire scheme.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, to continue pursuing this through Liu Bei’s hands seemed to require no further comment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is not unfeasible. The various armies under Ye have sufficient merit already, and the surrendered soldiers of the three provinces also have the will to redeem themselves through service — they would naturally be willing to take the field,” though he had no objections, Shen Pei could not help but solemnly add a word of caution. “But the key lies in whether victory can be assured. No matter what, success or failure in battle is paramount…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It should be sufficient,” Jia Xu lowered his gaze, thoughtful. “Those powerful clans of Liangzhou are always serviceable in war, and the manpower and resources of Yizhou and Xuzhou are ample. Moreover, in this campaign, our army’s chances of victory are simply too numerous.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other ministers all nodded in agreement… This was only natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even so, we must leave nothing to chance,” Gongsun Xun clearly already had plans and ideas in mind. “In addition to the troops of the three provinces, I intend to personally go to Luoyang to take command, overseeing the Sizhou troops and the two divisions of Zhang Liao and Gao Shun from Ye, and sending Xu Huang’s division and Huang Zhong’s division forward to Luyang as a connecting force. In this way, even if the front line falters, I can advance directly and continue to sustain the offensive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The amount of information in this statement was not large, but it was extremely weighty. Yet unexpectedly, including Shen Pei, not one of the chancellors uttered a sound, and Dong Zhao, though momentarily startled, immediately regained his composure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And there is Zang Ba’s division.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a long pause, it was actually Wang Xiu, who rarely interjected in military and state affairs, who broke the silence and offered his opinion. “Earlier, when the Cao, Xiahou, Ding, Li, and other Central Plains clans relocated to Luoyang and Ye, Zang Xuangao also voluntarily proposed relocating, but considering that Xuzhou had just been pacified and had also suffered flooding, the Langya units were allowed to remain there for the time being… Could we take this opportunity to have them shift their garrison to Luoyang or Luyang, and formally relocate them to Luoyang after autumn?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Agreed,” Gongsun Xun nodded immediately. “Zang Xuangao is a capable general and did not falter at the critical moment; he should be given a good outcome. Let it be as Shuzhi says — his division need not go to the front at Xiangyang; have them garrison Luyang instead… Is there anything else to add?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could we allow the Xuzhou troops to bring some of their own grain and fodder from the province?” Xi Zhong suddenly suggested. “Wasn’t it said that grain supplies are somewhat insufficient?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the campaign drags on, or if disaster strikes again, they will certainly be insufficient. But if the campaign can be successfully concluded before the autumn harvest, then naturally there will be no worry,” Wang Xiu solemnly reiterated his own area of responsibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I meant…” Xi Zhong smiled wryly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That is not necessary,” Gongsun Xun cut off their exchange and directly interjected with a decision. “Whether it is Xuzhou or the future Jiang-Han region, all are under my governance. Necessary purging and weakening are proper, but we must not put the cart before the horse… Things like grain supplies concern stability; do not touch them lightly. If it truly cannot be helped, I can use the Anli Trading House to exercise some control.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, another silence fell — there was no helping it. At this juncture, everyone understood that the moment of heaven and earth turning upside down was imminent, and many earth-shattering matters might be concealed within just a few sentences. And the extra information Gongsun Xun revealed today in his sparse words, while seemingly addressing Liu Bei’s bold stance, was each more sensitive and more solemn than the last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And these matters, even the several chancellors could not easily interject before things were fully laid bare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then let it be so!” Gongsun Xun looked around, roused his spirits slightly, and simply dismissed them directly. “The Three Departments, Six Ministries, and Four Courts — together, draw up the final strategy… Yigong, resign your post as Commissioner of Military Affairs now, switch with Demou, and go to Luoyang ahead of me to make arrangements.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The assembled chancellors, just before taking their leave, heard yet another major matter of this magnitude, and were instead somewhat numb to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, the court at Ye set the broad strategy for dealing with Liu Bei, but merely a few days later, another preposterous “major event” came from the south.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The matter was somewhat convoluted, and the details were as follows:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhu Zhi, the Grand Administrator of Kuaiji, who was returning from Jiangxia to Wu Commandery, was, after reporting to Sun Quan on the contents of the court deliberations at Xiling in Jiangxia, actually detained by the regent Xu Kun. Subsequently, Sun Quan’s cousin and father-in-law Xu Kun then appointed himself Grand Administrator of Kuaiji and set off for Kuaiji.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, midway, when Xu Kun crossed the Zhe River (the Fuchun River), he encountered armed resistance from Ling Cao, the Commandant of Kuaiji, and Xu Kun died on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately after, Ling Cao sent word to Sun Quan asking for punishment and requesting the release of Zhu Zhi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In response, the young Sun Quan readily accepted the advice, but Zhu Zhi, disheartened, returned directly to his hometown in the neighboring Danyang Commandery, where he reportedly went to keep company with the still-living Tao Qian. Thus, Wu Commandery and Kuaiji Commandery, in a bizarre yet thought-provoking manner, fell completely into the hands of the young Sun Quan!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sovereign is young and the state uncertain, turmoil and unrest — this is an opportunity for war!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, faced with such an opportunity, Gongsun Xun made no strategic adjustments whatsoever. He merely issued an additional order to Guan Yu, instructing Guan Yunchang to command the naval forces and ensure the annihilation of the habitual bandit Yu Du, who had reportedly fled to \"Yizhou\"... Clearly, this was meant to continue using the navy to squeeze Sun Quan and force his surrender. As for the final battle, it was still aimed at Liu Bei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Liu Xuande \"did not disappoint.\" By the second month of that year, with the spring planting barely finished, a \"Proclamation Against the Usurper\" penned by Cui Yan arrived directly at Yexia from Xiangyang. In contrast, Duke of Yan Gongsun Xun paid it no mind. He engaged in no war of words, but instead issued military orders, directly mobilizing troops from several provinces to respond!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short order, the Yizhou and Liangzhou troops under the Gongsun Yue–Tian Feng–Zhao Yun command group in the Yizhou theater all sprang into action. The main force split into two: one route emerged from the Three Gorges, attempting to descend along the river; the other followed the Han River downstream from Hanzhong, attempting to drive straight for Xiangyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Simultaneously, the Xuzhou troops and local Huai River forces under the Lu Fan–Xun You–Han Dang command group in the Central Plains theater also divided roughly into two routes. One advanced toward Dengxian, attempting to link up with the Hanzhong forces on the Han River; the other simply gathered from the eastern side of Mount Tongbai (the later Xinyang region) toward the Suixian–Sheqiu area, clearly aiming to drive straight for Anlu and attempt an incursion into Jiangxia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond this, the Qingzhou–Xuzhou naval forces sailing south across the sea, and the Jiaozhou troops pressing on Jingnan, need no further elaboration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, the Duke of Yan actually left Jia Xu, Shen Pei, and four other ministers to guard Yexia, while he personally led the most elite troops under Gao Shun and Zhang Liao from Yexia to Luoyang to command the Sizhou forces. He also had Xu Huang and Zang Ba advance to the Luyang area at the northernmost tip of Nanyang to provide support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It must be said, the current situation truly shows a stark disparity in strength. The Duke of Yan, though seemingly extremely restrained when he finally moved, had clearly adopted a posture of total encirclement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, according to semi-public documents intentionally or unintentionally released by the Yan army, the forces allocated to the Xiangyang–Dengxian front alone — that is, troops from Xuzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, and other regions — numbered as many as twenty-eight battalions and over forty divisions, totaling forty thousand men! This is to say nothing of the combined forces on other fronts and the civilian laborers handling logistics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meddlesome young officials in the Ministry of War, making rough estimates based on troop deployment dispatches from various regions, easily concluded that across the entire theater, from the naval forces at the mouth of the Yangtze in the far east to the units in the Bashu–Hanzhong region in the far west, although the Duke of Yan exercised extreme restraint, this campaign had in fact mobilized over a million civilian laborers, with frontline troops numbering around one hundred fifty to sixty thousand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, at this juncture, such numbers held little meaning... Everyone's gaze shifted directly to the southernmost tip of Nanyang Commandery, the Xiangyang–Dengxian area, for it was there that the final battle under Heaven was likely to erupt, settling the score between Yan and Han once and for all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fifth day of the third month, the Duke of Yan arrived in Luoyang. Han Dang, the Governor of Sizhou who had been making preparations there, immediately advanced into Nanyang to serve as Lu Fan's deputy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the seventh day of the third month, Deputy Commander of the Western Route and Champion General Zhao Yun led the Liangzhou and Hanzhong troops to Xixian (later Baihe) on the middle reaches of the Mian River, now less than four hundred li from Xiangyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the tenth day of the third month, Grand Marshal and Grand Commander Lu Fan arrived from Runan at Wancheng, the administrative seat of Nanyang Commandery. There, he assembled the two deputy commanders — Han Dang, now reassigned as Governor of Sizhou, and Military Adviser General Xun You. The three men promptly established a new forward base of operations there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the eleventh day of the third month, the forces of Xu Huang and Zang Ba, approximately twenty thousand strong, reached Luyang, the strategic choke point at Nanyang's northernmost edge, and joined forces with Huang Zhong's unit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the fifteenth day of the third month, two recruit battalions from Luoyang, led by the newly appointed Henan Commandant Sima Yi — seeking to atone for past failures — and former Luoyang Agricultural Commandant Han Fu, converged at Xinye with four battalions from the Xuzhou theater under Chen Deng, Mi Fang, Cao Hong, Kong Xiu, and Chen Qun. The combined force totaled four combat battalions and two support battalions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the twenty-first day of the third month, as Meng Da, vanguard of Zhao Yun's main force, led the five battalions of Zhao Ang, Jiang Xu, Fu Gan, Han De, and Xie Zheng to Chaoyang, the forces directly before Dengxian on the front line already numbered a full eleven battalions! Among them, eight were combat battalions and three were support battalions, totaling fifteen divisions and fifteen thousand men!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, absurdly, the troops Liu Bei had gathered at Xiangyang numbered only seven or eight thousand... There was no helping it. When the time truly came to prepare for a decisive battle, the comprehensive inferiority in manpower and materiel was laid bare. Coupled with the aftermath of the Battle of Guandu, the impact of Jingzhou's prior all-out support for Yizhou, and the four commanderies of Jingnan refusing to provide logistics, Nan Commandery had clearly fallen into a logistical crisis of its own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under these circumstances, the troops from Danyang and Yuzhang Commanderies had yet to arrive, with only a few fierce generals making it this far. To make matters worse, they still had to detach forces to Wen Ping, so the latter could defend against Gongsun Yue at Yiling... So the question arose: how many troops could a single commandery possibly have left?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet an even more fatal point was this: as the might of the Yan army was displayed once more, certain people's legs went weak again, especially in the southeastern part of Nan Commandery... An increasing number of local great clans, using the defense of the Han throne as a pretext, refused Liu Bei's conscription orders and instead flocked to Jiangxia to assemble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was laughable, really. In the Jiangxia region at this time — the three districts of Anlu, Xiling, and Shaxian — a combined force of thirty to forty thousand troops had now gathered!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Bei sent Cui Yan to request reinforcements. The young Emperor, Liu Biao, and Jing Ze all gritted their teeth and agreed, yet these men simply piled up at Shaxian and refused to budge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Given this situation, one could almost imagine: once Zhao Yun's main force arrived, or Xu Huang and Zang Ba's troops advanced to Dengxian, there would be no need to wait for Gongsun Yue upstream to break through the Three Gorges, or for Guan Yu's marines downstream to force Sun Quan's surrender, nor for the four commanderies of Jingnan to defect behind them... The disparity in troop strength before Xiangyang City alone would gradually become a chasm of despair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the situation as it was, some of those resounding, grandiose declarations had truly become utterly meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Forget it, there's no need to wait any longer!\" That day, atop the walls of Xiangyang City, as the sun set in the west, Liu Xuande gazed north toward the Han River, silent for a long while. His expression unchanged, he turned calmly and made a rational and fitting decision before the civil and military officials of Jianghan. \"My mind is made. We must seize the moment before the enemy is firmly entrenched and take the initiative to strike first, smashing these eleven battalions of new recruits!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The civil and military officials of Jianghan were all speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the twenty-third day of the third month, Liu Bei left only a thousand troops with Lu Su to defend Xiangyang, and personally led seven thousand men across the Han River, advancing out of Dengxian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as his force crossed the river, Lu Fan, who held an absolute advantage in scouting cavalry, dared not be negligent. He personally led roughly ten thousand local Nanyang troops gathered at Wancheng southward, and ordered Sima Yi, Meng Da, and the other commanders to move out immediately... The Yan army combined its forces to nearly twenty-five thousand men, then, with a nearly fourfold advantage in strength, surged forward mightily along both banks of the Yu River.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon learning this, Liu Bei showed not the slightest fear. He continued to detach a thousand men to Mi Zhu to hold Dengxian, then, with Zhang Fei as the vanguard and Li Tong bringing up the rear, led only six thousand troops northward along the Yu River to meet the enemy head-on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, word reached Luyang. Xu Huang, Zang Ba, and Huang Zhong, who had long since received their orders, immediately mobilized their troops southward, heading for Suixian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—————I am the dividing line of having neither troops nor horses—————\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Pei Songzhi's Commentary: Bei was awe-inspiring yet gracious, brave yet righteous, magnanimous and possessed of grand strategy; thus he could win men's hearts, bearing the semblance of a hero. However, first, he judged matters by emotion, bound by life-and-death bonds; second, he struggled to distinguish primary from secondary, neglecting the greater strategy. Had he been placed in the Central Plains, he could disrupt others but could not bring order. If he seized a defensible frontier, he was sufficient to be master of a single region. Moreover, encountering the Grand Ancestor, he was measured but slow, ultimately becoming but a wandering knight in the lands of Yan, never achieving the caliber of Emperor Gaozu.\" — *Dianlüe*, Yan Dynasty, annotated by Pei Songzhi\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: The review section is very lively, but why haven't many of the creative works tagged themselves for the completed-book event? Only about twenty-some posts have the completed-book event tag. Posts with that tag can earn money... Don't try to save me money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, the reviews are truly brilliant. I genuinely want to crowdfund the writing of a book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the way, recommending a book: *Reborn in South Africa as a Policeman*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",4755,"2026-06-04T19:42:52.587Z",1,"Novelzhen Translator","1d6e01bf13253852b50e140a1fe5589e6fbaf3d28d1c91a8c8c23f9ac0b1402c","overthrowing-han-chapter-525","overthrowing-han-chapter-523",548,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foverthrowing-han-cover.jpg"]