Chapter 241

"I told you to wait for the situation to become clear; who told you to attack Huguan without authorization!"

Yan Liang cupped his hands,

"My lord, we discovered that Huguan was actually being defended by a young general named Hao Zhao, who is not even twenty years old, with a force of only two thousand. Your subordinate wanted to capture Huguan, so..."

"This Liu Bei is looking down on people too much!"

Gao Gan also cupped his hands,

"Uncle, we also wanted to take Shangdang to prepare for the seizure of Bingzhou."

It would have been better if he hadn't spoken; once he did, Yuan Shao became even angrier. He kicked the desk away,

"That would be one thing, but you two led twenty thousand men to attack, suffered heavy losses, and actually couldn't do anything about a Huguan defended by two thousand men, and that Hao Zhao isn't even twenty yet!"

Yuan Shao was so angry he was about to have a heart attack!

He was angered by these two pieces of trash!

Guo Tu cupped his hands,

"My lord, calm your anger. It is just as well that it wasn't taken; this time Liu Bei won a great victory over Dong Zhuo, and if Huguan had been taken, he would surely be furious."

Yuan Shao muttered,

"I didn't expect Liu Bei's military strength to be so formidable now."

"Ju Yi and Zhang He were originally my Jizhou generals; I only hate that Liu Bei got there first!"

"And those thousand heavy crossbows are also things from my Jizhou!"

Xu You bowed,

"My lord, Liu Bei's victory this time by exploiting Dong Zhuo's underestimation of the enemy was long premeditated; military strategy, schemes, and war equipment were all indispensable."

"Guo Jia is very wise, Liu Bei's generals are good at fighting, and his soldiers are willing to die for him; he will be a great enemy of our army in the future."

Yuan Shao nodded. There was one thing he didn't want to mention: last year, the alliance of the eighteen warlords didn't achieve such a good record, yet Liu Bei alone actually beat Dong Zhuo into a rout!

Does Alliance Leader Yuan not need to save face?

"If Liu Bei joins forces with Gongsun Zan to attack me, wouldn't that be..."

Xu You cupped his hands,

"My lord, why not send an envoy to Jinyang to show goodwill to Liu Bei."

Yuan Shao felt it was feasible,

"Who should be sent?"

"My lord, the second young master of the Zhen family can serve as the envoy."

Send Liu Bei's brother-in-law? That works.

Shouchun,

Yuan Shu was crazily smashing things,

"You big-eared thief, on what grounds, on what grounds are you always so lucky?"

Yuan Shu's little expression was extremely aggrieved. He had just been drinking to celebrate Dong Zhuo's hundred-thousand-strong army attacking Liu Bei,

and before he could even find a girl to celebrate with, in the blink of an eye, Dong Zhuo had been defeated!

He felt terrible.

Now the entire Yangzhou was discussing this matter!

"Dong Zhuo is trash! If I were still in Nanyang, I would definitely lead troops to take Chang'an directly!"

Yan Xiang, Li Shunchen, and the others all quietly rolled their eyes. The master was about to blow his own bragging to pieces!

Yuan Shu said angrily,

"Everyone, recruit soldiers and buy horses; I want to strengthen my forces and take Chang'an directly!"

After that, he paused,

"That Yan Xiang, should I send a congratulatory gift to Liu Bei?"

Yan Xiang?!

Yuan Shu's expression was a bit unpleasant,

"Do you think I have no courage?"

Yan Xiang's survival instinct was extremely strong,

"No, no! My lord can bend and stretch, possessing a breadth of mind that exceeds ours! In the past, Gao Zu suffered humiliation, but eventually achieved a great cause!"

Yuan Shu stroked his beard; that was more like it!

The broadcast room burst into laughter,

"Yuan Gonglu, you are just a coward!"

"Yuan Shu feels like a punching bag!"

"This little expression is funny!"

Jingzhou, Xiangyang,

Jingzhou Governor Liu Biao, looking at the bamboo slips in his hand, sighed with emotion,

"Liu Xuande's thirty thousand troops defeated Dong Zhuo's hundred thousand Xiliang iron cavalry?"

"To think that my Han clan still has such talent!"

Liu Biao's eyes lit up. Previously, his Nanyang had suffered greatly from Dong Zhuo's looting, so it would be possible to befriend Liu Bei.

"Cai Mao, you send someone to deliver a congratulatory gift to Liu Bei."

"Yes!"

Jinyang City,

Liu Bei had already led his army back,

Ju Shou organized the battle reports from various places,

"My lord, Zhang Liao defeated Kuchuquan's Xiongnu tribe in Wuyuan Commandery,

pursued them with light cavalry for ten days and nights, beheaded Kuchuquan in the northern desert, captured forty thousand Xiongnu soldiers, among whom were many Western Regions people, eighty thousand Xiongnu women, two hundred thousand head of cattle and sheep, and eighty thousand horses!"

Everyone's eyes lit up,

Liu Bei laughed,

"Wenyuan, this has cleaned out the Xiongnu's nest. Eighty thousand Xiongnu women—this time the rewards will be enough."

All the generals laughed loudly.

Han Hao cupped his hands,

"My lord, the main force of the Xiongnu has been wiped out. In the short term, there is no threat from foreign tribes in Shuofang and Wuyuan Commanderies. We can move our Han people there to occupy the pastures and reclaim wasteland."

Liu Bei nodded,

"I have exactly this intention. For the people who moved from Feng Yi Commandery this time, give generous policies to those willing to go there."

Ju Shou laughed,

"My lord, I was previously worried that the land in Taiyuan and Yanmen would not be enough to distribute, but now I feel that there are still too few people!"

"Report~!"

"My lord, Xu Rong defeated the invading Heishan bandits led by Bai Rao in Hedong Commandery, capturing thirteen thousand enemy soldiers, and at the same time, one hundred thousand Henei people followed the army back."

Liu Bei shook his head, appearing somewhat worried,

"This Xu Rong, I only asked him to defeat the Heishan bandits; I didn't expect him to bring back one hundred thousand people. How should I reward him?"

Everyone laughed loudly.

Xu Shu cupped his hands,

"My lord, Henei Commandery is a populous commandery with nearly eight hundred thousand people.

Nowadays, there are many forces in Henei Commandery: the Heishan Army led by Zhang Yan, Yu Du, Sui Gu, and Bai Rao, as well as Zhang Yang, who was appointed Governor of Henei by Dong Zhuo, Wang Kuang, who defected to Yuan Shao, and so on."

"These forces are fighting each other, and the people live in misery."

Zhang Fei quickly said,

"Big Brother, then we must bring the people over!"

Liu Bei intended to build Shuofang and Wuyuan into a great granary, which required more population; this was a must!

"Good, put this into the near-term goals."

Another soldier came to report,

"Report~! My lord, General Zhao Yun, five hundred miles north of Pingcheng, defeated Kebineng's Xianbei coalition, captured thirty thousand enemies, seized fifty thousand Xianbei women, rescued over ten thousand Han people, and captured forty thousand warhorses and two hundred thousand head of cattle and sheep."