Chapter 0402 Tao Qian's Heart

Pengcheng, Xuzhou

The crescent moon is hidden in the black clouds, the rain has stopped, and only the blazing flames are shining up and down the city. The bodies have been restrained by Cao Tao and his side, and black bloodstains still remain.

The evening breeze in the late summer night is somewhat cool, and under the red light of torches, a group of people are patrolling the city defense and comforting the soldiers. The elderly leader is dressed in a green robe, with a simple appearance and a divine light in his eyes. His gray hair shows that he is no longer young.

Tao Qian is from Danyang. He was famous for his wild personality in the county when he was young. At the age of fourteen, he used cloth as a war flag and rode a bamboo horse to play with children in the village. When the governor of Cangwu, Gan Gong, passed by, he met him and found it strange. After a conversation, he was very satisfied and ignored his wife's opposition, marrying his daughter and urging him to study.

First, he passed the imperial examination and was appointed as an official in the county. Later, he was promoted to the position of Maocai and appointed as the Minister of Personnel. He successively served as the magistrate of Shu County and Lu County, and later moved to the position of Governor of Youzhou. Six years ago, he went on a campaign with Huangfu Song to fight against the Qiang and Hu tribes in the west. Later, he withdrew from his post and resigned due to the slanderous words of the eunuchs Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang.

Until the drought in Qingzhou and Xuzhou three years ago, the refugees turned into bandits, and the dust came back. Tao Qian was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou alone, and Zang Ba, a Mount Taishan native who had fled to the East China Sea, and Sun Guan, a fellow villager, were appointed as generals. In the first war, the bandits were defeated, and the remnants were forced to flee to Qingzhou and Yanzhou. The territory was temporarily Yanran.

Tao Qian immediately petitioned Zang Ba and Sun Guan as cavalry commanders and ordered them to station in Kaiyang, the capital of Langya Commandery, to guard against bandits and Cao Cao in the north of Xuzhou. Due to the famine in the whole state, he appointed Chen Deng, a famous scholar from Xiapi, as the commander of the Diannong School, and tried to cultivate farmland in Xuzhou - earlier than Liu Bei and Cao Cao at this time. At the end of the Han Dynasty, there was no shortage of heroes.

Xuzhou was originally located in the Jianghuai area and did not lack water sources. However, most of the water channels were in disrepair for a long time. At this time, the soil conditions were investigated, water conservancy was restored, and farmland irrigation was developed. Over the course of three years, the rice harvest was abundant and the wealth was unparalleled. No wonder it aroused the covetousness of Cao Cao in Yanzhou.

I patrolled all the way without any danger, but my gaze turned to the dark wilderness outside the city. Ten miles away was the enemy's main camp, and their morale soared into the sky.

Cao Cao

Tao Qian frowned and sighed slightly at several closely following Taoist priests, "You Taoist priests have worked hard. Just now, Cao Cao launched a night raid with Taoist priests. If it weren't for everyone, it would have been dangerous

Just that this person used to frequently serve Zhang Rang during his assassination. I have seen him before, and in my impression, he was a loyal and straightforward person who was angry about the court. When did he become so unscrupulous

The Taoist priests all checked their heads and said, "If the elders in our hometown are in trouble, dare they not contribute their meager strength? Although there are many enemies, fortunately there are no true Dharma masters, and we can barely make up for it

Tao Qian looked at the silence. During the half month battle, Cao Cao's spell troupe had shown great power, suppressing the battlefield and healing soldiers, keeping the exchange ratio between the attacking and defending sides at 1:1. Even at night, they launched a surprise attack into the city as an insider. At first, they were caught off guard and almost succeeded.

Fortunately, with Liu Shijun's reminder, local Taoist priests were recruited and their sharp soldiers fought hard to hold on.

This is still the result of Xuzhou's wealth and diverse sects in ancient times. If it were another province, it would have been conquered long ago.

The war in the past half month has been very miserable, but as they stumbled along the way, the soldiers still treated the old man with respect, just like their ancestors. Nearly half of the soldiers in the Xuzhou army were Danyang soldiers. At this time, Danyang County was still known as Danyang. Since ancient times, the mountains have been dangerous and the people have been prosperous, which is a legacy of the Spring and Autumn period's dominant state of Wu. However, the livelihoods in the mountains and fields were poor, and by the Han Dynasty, the population had multiplied relatively too much, so they could not survive and could only become bandits.

Many young people who have no way out and are unwilling to become thieves, after hearing about the recruitment, gather together to go north and seek refuge with this hometown celebrity Tao Shijun. No matter how they fight evil battles, it is better than starving to death in the mountains and being killed by the government army.

Thirty thousand Danyang soldiers, some of whom were veterans who even followed Tao Qian to suppress the Xianbei in Youzhou and fought against the Qiang in Xiliang, have now attracted more fellow townsmen to follow. This can be said to be the solid foundation of Tao Qian's rule in Xuzhou and the backbone of this battle.

Due to the increasing ferocity of the enemy's spell group, local Taoist priests were on guard against covert attacks. However, more often than not, they launched grand offensives on the battlefield. Under large-scale spells, it was this backbone unit that led to casualties and injuries. By this time, only 20000 out of 30000 Danyang soldiers had combat effectiveness.

Tao Qian's gaze was slightly regretful as he patrolled to a military garrison. He covered a fifteen or sixteen year old soldier with a robe and glanced at six soldiers. Originally full of ten soldiers, three of them were killed in battle without losing their morale. He was a rare elite soldier who died 30% of his life on the cold weapon battlefield without losing his morale.

Do you miss home? "Tao Qian's voice hoarsely asked. His hometown, Danyang County, is not in Xuzhou, but in Yangzhou, separated by Xiapi and Jiujiang counties, and the journey is far away.

Falling leaves returning to their roots has been a tradition since ancient times, but as the soldiers looked at the old servant, they all laughed and said, "I thought to myself, only by following the servant can we have food to eat. What can we do when we go back

Tao Qian was well aware that the mountainous areas of his hometown could not accommodate many people to reproduce and make a living. He sighed and said, "I have to do this, but I cannot repay the fellow villagers who died in this battle

A few bold veterans stood up with a resolute expression and said, "It's just a matter of dying early or late. The bandits of Cao were brutal and killed my relatives and friends. Their hatred is unbearable, and even if they die, they have no regrets

These Danyang soldiers did not know that in later history, when Liu Bei rescued Xuzhou, four thousand Danyang soldiers were assigned to Liu Bei by Tao Yaojun in front of him, which gave Liu Bei the most solid family foundation and also prevented these people from returning home after fighting in the north and south.

They were enemies with Cao Cao for a lifetime, and in this matter, they fulfilled their wish.

At this point, the Danyang army had not yet reached its final stage, with a resolute expression and only a hint of white energy rushing out. This was already a reserve of elite soldiers. Unfortunately, the commander Tao Qian was old and weak, unable to fully utilize the strength of the Danyang army, while the enemy was even stronger - outside the city were Cao Cao's 50000 strong army, the unruly 60000 Qingzhou soldiers, and other counties were invaded by more Qingzhou soldiers.

Tao Qian was unaware that he had once again blocked a disaster for Liu Bei. This group of Qingzhou soldiers, known to all above ground, had average quality but a terrifying quantity of 300000. The governor had already prepared to shift the target and use this group of bandits to harm Yuzhou, but unfortunately they were driven out of eastern Henan by Ye Qing ahead of schedule.

After a round of inspection, Tao Qian turned to the main city gate, where the lights were bright and several generals were deducing the battle situation.

Tao Qian pushed open the door and saw that the generals were about to bow. He waved his hand and looked at the first sturdy man, saying, "General Zang, how is the situation

Report to the lord, the enemy general Cao Ren has captured the east of Pei County, along the Sishui River to Pengcheng, driving the people to attack and besiege more than ten cities. These Qingzhou soldiers are already bandits, indulging in plundering and debauchery... "Zang Ba responded with difficulty," In short, we are a lonely city that is difficult to defend now, and this battle is not easy to fight

Sun Guan was also promoted for his bravery, but the intensity of the war in the past half month still made him tremble. He couldn't help but ask, "My lord, do you have any news about the reinforcements from Yuzhou and Qingzhou

Tao Qian furrowed his brow and fell silent, sighing, "There's no need to say that Master Tian from Qingzhou, and Master Liu from Yuzhou is also a trustworthy person. He won't disappoint me... I'm only afraid that the Cao army will be in a difficult position to retreat, so I'll have to wait until his army supplies run out before retreating on my own

As soon as Zang Ba mentioned this, he looked at the large camp outside the city, his tiger eyes flashing with anger: "Cao Cao couldn't even support the military food consumption of 300000 Qingzhou soldiers! I heard that in Yanzhou, large-scale killings disrupted local production order. He had barely supported 50000 regular troops and only relied on invading eastern Henan to maintain finances. This year, he was driven out of Yuzhou by Liu Yaojun. What did he feed these newly recruited 300000 Qingzhou soldiers

This Qingzhou soldier is not an army at all, he is clearly driving out bandits and causing trouble! Cao Cao dared not touch Yuzhou again, so he plundered our wealth, food and grass in Xuzhou. This is a necessary thing to resort to military tactics and rely on war to sustain the war. He even used the excuse that his father Cao Song was brutally killed by us, which is really a waste of his reputation

Tao Qian sighed as he listened and didn't say anything about his subordinates' complaints.

As the last group of senior officials in the Han dynasty, I am not lacking in both civil and military skills. The problem is that at the age of sixty, I had already reached the end of my life and had no energy or time to do many things

Just like the crumbling Eastern Han court, it only barely managed to withstand the natural disasters, man-made calamities, and warlord attacks, and worked hard for several years. However, the wealth that was barely accumulated in this way was also plundered by jackals and wolves.

Wealth is nothing, it can be saved up again if it's gone, but when a person dies, they can't be resurrected, "Tao Qian gazed out the window at the darkness, worried as he said," The soldiers in Qingzhou come from a background of bandits. Being a bandit cannot change their aggressive nature, especially without military provisions to indulge in looting. If they are released, they can still be retrieved

The disaster victims from Qing and Yan provinces have migrated southward and attached themselves to me. Many of them have settled near Pengcheng. As soon as the army arrived this time, they were all killed, and there were no chickens or dogs left. There were no survivors in the village

Sun Guan's eyes flickered as he listened and interrupted with the latest military situation: "The scout reported that Cao Ren had turned to lead his army across Sishui, and had conquered the three counties of Chuluo, Juling, and Xiaqiu in the south, all of which were slaughtered

Behind a 'massacre' lies countless bloody and tragic events, causing everyone to remain silent for a moment.

Although it is widely believed that this massacre was beyond the control of the Qingzhou army, it may not have been Cao Cao's intention - it is no longer the background of the situation where the Qin army killed 200000 Zhao soldiers in a pit. Since the unification and integration of the Qin and Han dynasties, doing such a massacre in our own ethnic group has caused far more harm than benefit, unless we abandon our own ethnic position?

But no matter what, half of the blame for Jirai lies with the leader, and Zang Ba still cursed, "This Cao thief must die a good death

Sun Guan sighed inwardly and asked, "The Governor of Qingzhou, Tian Shi, is still wandering around and unable to enter. He can only rely on Liu Shijun from Yuzhou, but I don't know where Liu Shijun is now

Under the heavy blockade of Pengcheng, it was difficult for everyone to determine whether Liu Bei had sent troops as promised before they knew that the anti Dong proclamation had been released, and they were anxious for a moment.

At this moment, a person quickly rushed in and said, "The Taoist saw a red energy coming from the east, obviously intentionally releasing it. It's thirty zhang high and has already entered Xuzhou

Ah... "everyone exclaimed softly, with only one happy thought in their hearts:" Liu, the servant, has sent troops and personally surrendered

I really believe in people, "Tao Qian said contentedly.

In history, Tao Qian gave Xuzhou to Liu Bei in order to revive the Han dynasty and hope that Liu Bei could play the old story of Emperor Guangwu again - otherwise, who wouldn't do it for, the wandering Liu?

At this moment, seeing such a strong momentum, I was even more delighted. I took a few steps and reached the city tower, looking from afar.

Although he couldn't bear to be angry, as he watched the continuous rainy night, he couldn't help but mutter a prayer to the heavens: "Thank you to the heavens for bringing out Liu Shijun again. I should follow the old history and follow the new master

I'm just old and weak, can I see the Three Han