The Warriors of the Three Kingdoms

Page 226

When Liu Zheng heard the name, he was a little surprised immediately.

He was surprised not because of how powerful Ding Yuan was, but because if Ding Yuan played, then his adopted son Lu Bu would definitely follow Ding Yuan around, and it was Lu Bu who Liu Zheng was afraid of.

Not to mention being afraid, but Lu Bu is known as the parachutist after all, the number one fierce general in the Three Kingdoms, not to mention the number one military force in the world, and there is still a camp under him.

This trapped camp is where Liu Zheng feels afraid.

Invincible is always just a title. There are really 1 soldiers besieging and killing Lu Bu. No matter how strong he is, he will die on the battlefield. However, although there are only a few hundred people in that camp, it is enough to kill thousands of others. pose a threat.

"Yes, Ding Yuan led an army of [-] troops and entered Xiangyang City in Nanjun. However, they did not attack us, but they attacked Yuan Shu first."

"Use Yuan Shu for surgery?"

This time Liu Zheng was shocked at first, but then calmed down.

This is also normal, Yuan Shu has just defeated Jiang Xia, and has not yet gained a firm foothold in Jiang Xia.

Yuan Shu's own strength has been greatly reduced, and now he has suffered heavy losses. Ding Yuan, who is new to Nanjun, will definitely not trouble Liu Zheng. Liu Zheng's strength is too strong. If he wants to stand up, he always looks for a soft persimmon .

And Yuan Shu, who occupies the three counties of Nanyang, Runan, and Jiangxia, is the best soft persimmon.

As long as Yuan Shu is eradicated and these three counties are recovered, the strength of the imperial court can be consolidated, and at the same time, it can give Jingzhou soldiers some confidence.

If it were Liu Zheng, Liu Zheng would definitely make the same choice.

It is the right choice to concentrate on dealing with Liu Zheng after Yuan Shu is eliminated.

"It's such a good move. If my predictions are correct, Yuan Shu is about to die. He has only two ways to go. One is to ask us for help, and the other is to go to Youzhou and seek refuge with his elder brother Yuan Shao. "

Liu Zheng didn't expect Yuan Shu to be of any use at first. His usefulness was to be caught between Liu Zheng and the court and act as a buffer. If Ding Yuan was there, there would be no need for Yuan Shu to exist.

"My lord, what shall we do next?"

Xu You asked Liu Zheng puzzled.

"Ding turned out to be, and he must be coming for us. Although we haven't been attacked yet, it's only a matter of time. We have to guard against it. You go and ask Gan Ning and Zhou Cang to step up the expansion of their troops and let them take the original 1 people. At the same time, Zu Lang and Zhou Tai's [-] sailors were ordered to go to Dongting Lake."

Chapter 537

Nanjun already had strong armaments.

Not to mention that Liu Biao himself has 1 troops in Nanjun. Secondly, there are at least 1 people who fled back from Jiangxia Huangzu, and there are thousands of troops from Zhang Yun sent back by Liu Zheng.

There are more than 3 people in Nanjun, and with the [-] elite brought by Ding Yuan, there are at least [-] soldiers and horses.

These [-] soldiers and horses are not [-] brave men, but [-] elite soldiers and horses. Among them, [-] Dingyuan's soldiers and horses are the best among them.

In addition, Ding Yuan's subordinates include Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun and others. Whether it is from the perspective of generals or soldiers, they will be the most difficult enemies that Liu Zheng has encountered.

This made Liu Zheng have to pay attention.

Of course, although Jingzhou is important, Yangzhou should not be underestimated either. Today's Yanzhou, under the governance of Cao Cao and Liu Bei, has been rejuvenated. The relationship between Liu Bei and Cao Cao has not become suspicious because of those things in history. , On the contrary, the two have a feeling of sympathy for each other.

After getting together, a new spark burst out.

Liu Bei was the shepherd of Yanzhou, Cao Cao was the governor of Yanzhou, Cao Cao was in charge of internal affairs, Liu Bei was the commander of the military division, and cooperated with Tao Qian, the newly appointed governor of Xuzhou, to start the encirclement and suppression of the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou.

Although the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou has more than 30 troops.

But there were not many who could really fight. Under the siege of tens of thousands of troops such as Cao Cao and Liu Bei, they also retreated steadily. Although they were not completely defeated, they could only retreat to Qingzhou and dared not invade Xuzhou easily.

When Liu Bei and Cao Cao calm down and have trained their soldiers and horses, after the spring of next year, they will definitely launch a final encirclement and suppression against the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army.

After Liu Zheng knew the news, he already understood that if he couldn't repel Ding Yuan before the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army was destroyed, he would definitely be attacked by the enemy. Yangzhou and Jingzhou would fight together, which would be quite unfavorable to him.

Anticipating the possibility of multi-front combat next year, Liu Zheng, on the one hand, made great efforts to recruit new students from Jiaozhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou in the Military Academy.

At the same time, the recruitment list was started, and the officials of the three places were ordered to publish the recruitment list in various counties. Liu Zheng was willing to accept and welcome anyone who was superior in bravery or strategy, or even as long as he had a skill.

One month after the recruitment list was released, people came to reveal the list one after another.

Gu Yong, who was in charge of this matter, worked hard for a month, and in January 189, he summoned some of the people who unveiled the list from the three places to Wu County.

After waiting for Liu Zheng to meet in person, he can determine whether he will be included in the army.

There were dozens of people one after another, and the list was revealed, but most of them were from Yangzhou. Among the more than 80 people, Yangzhou accounted for more than 50 people.

While there are more than 20 people in Kengzuo, there are only a few pitiful people in Jiaozhou.

This is mainly due to the relatively small population of Jiaozhou. Second, Liu Zheng has been running Jiaozhou for too long. Some talented people have long been recommended by others to join Liu Zheng's subordinates, or entered the army through conscription, or Was recommended to enter the county as an official.

It is normal for the number of people to be small.

The fact that there are few people in Jingzhou is because Liu Zheng occupied Changsha for a relatively short time. At the same time, the talents in several other counties were scoured by Liu Zheng a few years ago, and they all moved to Jiaozhou, and there were not many people.

Only in Yangzhou, Liu Zheng has worked hard for more than a year. Those who were loyal to Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou, were mostly swept away by Liu Zheng. With Liu Zheng's kindness and power, they are gradually gaining popularity in Yangzhou.

Naturally, more and more people turned to Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng began to use three days to meet these talents who rushed over from all over the place.

Among them, there are mainly three types of people, one is military generals, the other is civil servants, and the other is capable people and strangers.

Among them, capable people and strangers are the most.

Of course, there are many people who are bluffing and cheating, and those who try to get away with shit luck. When the recruitment list was first released, thousands of people came to sign up, and those who were able to meet Liu Zheng had to go through several rounds of screening.

The selection is very simple, especially the selection of military generals. They directly ask people to fight. As long as they can beat three or five soldiers, they are eligible to come to see Liu Zheng.

It is more difficult for civil servants, but as long as they can recite a few classic books, such as the theory of Confucius and Mencius, they can be regarded as half-talented, and they can barely be used.

Only those capable people and different people are not easy to distinguish, because they are too mixed.

Some are proficient in manufacturing. To put it bluntly, they are called Shanyu Qixian Skills, but to put it bluntly, they are carpenters.

Some are good at alchemy and medicine, and they are wandering warlocks.

There are quite a few of these people.

Liu Zheng spent a few days interviewing these 80 people.

In general, I also understand that the recruitment list this time has been distributed, but it seems to have no effect.

The people they found were not particularly ideal. Among the generals, there was only one Yangzhou native named Zhu Zhi, who was worthy of use.

This Zhu Zhi, in his thirties, is quite old, older than Liu Zheng and others. His martial arts skills are average, but not very good. From Liu Zheng's point of view, even Zhu Zhi is not as good as himself. Not to mention Zhou Cang and others.

However, Liu Zheng still has some impressions of Zhu Zhi. In history, he was the founding official of the Wu Kingdom, and he can be regarded as a veteran of the three dynasties. Although his martial arts skills are average, his ability to defend the city is fair, so he can be regarded as a talent.

Now that Liu Zheng's soldiers and horses have been greatly improved, some second-rate generals are indeed needed to take charge of some troops. People like Zhu Zhi can barely get Liu Zheng's injuries.

However, among the more than 20 military generals who revealed the list, the one Liu Zheng favored was only Zhu Zhi. After Ci and Huang Zhong tested their martial arts, they were assigned to various armies as captains.

Although their martial arts are mediocre, they still have some three-legged cat skills, which are better than those of Liu Zheng's soldiers. It is more than enough to be a captain.

Being able to become the captain was a pleasant surprise for some of them, and it was even more surprising for a few of them who were not bad enough to be the captain.

Only Zhu Zhi, because of his decent performance, let Tai Shici's subordinates become a song director.

In this way, the military generals have completed the arrangements, and those literati are actually even simpler. When Liu Zheng's subordinates are short of civil servants, there are many people in the county government and even the county government around Liu Zheng. These people, First pull down to the county government offices in various places to hone, and those who are outstanding will be promoted in the future.

Chapter 538 Two Capable Men

In this way, it is not easy to distribute those capable people and strangers.

It is mainly these people with supernatural powers, which really give Liu Zheng some headaches. There are some people with special skills, and Liu Zheng is better assigned. For example, some people who are skilled in carpentry, it is okay to stay to shoot a new type of trebuchet, carriage and other things.

But those wandering warlocks have one or two folk prescriptions, and Liu Zheng really can't figure out whether he is a liar or a magic stick, or if he really has such a skill or two.

Among them, there were two people who attracted Liu Zheng's attention.

One is called Ge Xuan.

Regarding Ge Xuan, Liu Zheng is still aware of the name. A famous Taoist priest during the Three Kingdoms period, it is said that he followed Zuo Ci to cultivate immortals. However, Liu Zheng is not clear whether the legend is true or false. What he knows is that he has a The descendant is Ge Hong, who was especially famous during the Jin Dynasty.

Immortal cultivators like Liu Zheng and Ge Xuan don't really like it, but no matter what, Taoism is always a religion derived from the land of China, which is much more pleasing to the eye than foreign ones.

So Liu Zheng just invited Ge Xuan to serve as a guest minister in the army, and didn't arrange anything for him, the main thing was to let Zhang Zhongjing communicate with him.

There are many alchemy and medicine refining techniques in Taoism, which are worth learning for a doctor like Zhang Zhongjing.

It would be great if Zhang Zhongjing could learn something from Ge Xuan and use it for treatment.

The other person is called Gongshupan.

When Liu Zheng heard the name, he vaguely felt that this guy was not simple.

After a question, sure enough, this person directly said that he was a descendant of Gongshu Ban during the Warring States Period.

He is extremely proficient in the art of carpentry.

Of course, Liu Zheng is not a fool, he can't say who he is a descendant of so and so, Liu Zheng will believe it, Liu Zheng let the public loser show his ability on the spot.

This guy, sure enough, used a piece of wood to fiddle with it into a spear.

Although it was a bit simpler, Liu Zheng didn't have time to deliberate carefully. The skill of making weapons alone was enough to convince Liu Zheng.

Send them there first, study with the blacksmith under Liu Zheng for a period of time, and then investigate. If it is really credible, Liu Zheng doesn't mind keeping this talent.

Except for some liars who were discovered by Liu Zheng, the rest of the talents were arranged by Gu Yong to the corresponding departments, starting from the grassroots, unless Liu Zheng accidentally named them, otherwise An inspection period is required.

With Liu Zheng's current status and situation, it is impossible to directly trust those who take refuge in him. Some people with unknown origins are likely to be spies sent by other princes. Caution is required.

Unless it was the military generals and counselors who followed him very early, the chance of betraying him was very small. Once the local ministries were placed in a high position, Liu Zheng's plan of action would be easily leaked.

It's okay for ordinary information to be leaked out, but if confidential information is leaked out, it will make even Liu Zheng feel that it is a difficult problem.

After Liu Zheng finished handling the matter of recruiting talents, he received the news of Yuan Shu's request for help.

Liu Zheng had received the news of Ding Yuan's attack on Jiang Xia a month ago. Within half a month, Jiang Xia received the news that Yuan Shu's troops could not stop the attack of Ding Yuan's army. In just three days, the territory lost , was subdued by Ding Yuan, and within half a month, Jiangxia County was taken back by Ding Yuan.

Yuan Shu, who originally hoped to win Jiangxia and fight Liu Biao, fought bloody battles with [-] troops in Jiangxia and Ding Yuan, but eventually lost to Ding Yuan. Not only was he driven out of Jiangxia, but Yuan Shu's troops suffered heavy losses.

After losing Jiang Xia, Yuan Shu had no choice but to flee back to Nanyang and Runan in despair.

However, Ding Yuan never thought of letting Yuan Shu go like this. First, he continued to command Nanyang, and second, he began to block Yuan Shu's way to go south to ask for help from Liu Zheng.

Because Ding Yuan also knew that Yuan Shu and Liu Zheng were in the same gang. The two worked hand in hand, and they had done many disasters together.

As long as the news is blocked and Yuan Shu is eliminated before Liu Zheng's reinforcements come, then Dingyuan will be a big victory, which can give the dignitaries in Luoyang a peace of mind.

Of course, no matter how severe Ding Yuan's blockade was, Yuan Shu still sent people to Liu Zheng's territory to ask Liu Zheng for help.

The person who came was naturally Yuan Shu's son Yuan Yao.

It's just that this time Yuan Yao came to Liu Zheng not as calmly as last time. He looked anxious and asked Xu You to meet Liu Zheng.

However, at that time Liu Zheng was busy with recruiting talents and had no time to make great efforts to Yuan Yao. By the time he met Yuan Yao, it was already three days later.

As soon as he saw Yuan Yao, Yuan Yao's face was full of sadness, his eyes were bloodshot, and he knew that he was there, and he didn't sleep well these days.

"Yuan Yao has met your lord."

As soon as Yuan Yao saw Liu Zheng, he immediately saluted Liu Zheng, not to mention how humble he was.

"Yuan Yao, it's you. There were some things in the past two days, and I didn't take the time to see you. How are you doing? Is your father okay?"

Liu Zheng and Yuan Yao are considered to be familiar, so when they meet and chat, they don't save money. Although they are only three or four years older than Yuan Yao, when they talk to Yuan Yao, they always speak like an elder.

"My father is in good health, but recently, my father was besieged by soldiers and horses from the imperial court. The situation is not very optimistic. My father asked me to come to Mr. Liu Zheng to discuss countermeasures. At the beginning, Mr. Liu Zheng could say that he was advancing and retreating with my father. Now my father Being besieged by the imperial court, my lord must not ignore death and refuse to save him."

Yuan Yao was also in a hurry, without explaining the details, he just wanted Liu Zheng to ask for help.

In fact, he couldn't think of anyone else who could save the siege. In the current world, there are only two people who can fight against the imperial court. One is Yuan Shao from Jizhou, and the other is Liu Zheng from Yangzhou.

Yuan Shaoyuan was in Jizhou, and there was Lu Zhi standing in the way. If he wanted to go to Yuan Shao, the mountains and roads would be far away, and Yuan Shu would have died before Yuan Shao's troops arrived.

Moreover, Yuan Shu had offended Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao at this time was afraid that Yuan Shu would have a hard time, so why would he send troops to help Yuan Shu?

So the only person left is Liu Zheng.

As long as Liu Zheng is willing to send troops to help Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu must have a way out.

When Liu Zheng heard Yuan Yao's words, he calmly pretended to be surprised.

"What, didn't your father occupy Jiangxia, why did he fight with the court?"

"Hey, it's a long story, my lord. The imperial court dispatched reinforcements two months ago, and now there are [-] troops in Nanjun."

Chapter 539 I Have a Sister

Yuan Yao briefly described what happened in the past two months to Liu Zheng.