Chapter 139 Everyone is Enemy
Huaili County, the office of the Zhengbei Shogunate.

Fu Gan, who was recruited by Ma Teng, was wearing a black official uniform, with a sword hanging from his waist and official boots on his feet, and was walking up the stairs.

Then he saw a minor official walking towards him and whispered, "There is a change in the east, leave quickly."

Fu Gan recognized Zhao Huan, an old official of his father, and asked hurriedly, "Why?"

"Come on."

Zhao Huan walked out the door holding the three bamboo slips. Fu Gan thought about it for a moment, then turned around and followed him out.

He was born in the north and his response to Ma Teng's call was not just to give Ma Teng face.

From a public perspective, the imperial court appointed Ma Teng as the General of the Northern Expedition to set up a government to handle affairs, and he was asked by the Inspector of the Imperial Capital to respond to Ma Teng's call to enrich the Northern Expedition government.

From a personal perspective, when Han Sui's 100,000 rebel troops attacked Tianshui, his father Fu Xie refused to break out and instead defended the city.

He and Han Sui had a grudge against each other for killing his father, and Ma Teng and Han Sui were hostile to each other, so staying with Ma Teng would help guide Ma Teng and keep Ma Teng and Han Sui in opposition.

Although he cannot get revenge, he can still create trouble for Han Sui.

As soon as Fu Gan walked out of the government office gate, he saw Pang De, the assistant commander of the Northern Expedition Army, dismounting from his horse.

Pang De was very respectful. He handed the reins to the guard and walked forward quickly: "Why did Mr. Fu come out?"

"I was careless when I woke up early and forgot the official documents."

Fu Gan answered Pang De gently in his usual tone, and did not look down on him because Pang De came from a poor family in Longxi.

Pang De was just a middle-level military officer under Ma Teng, commanding a troop of a hundred elite cavalrymen in Longshan. Currently, he was only serving as a military assistant.

The positions of Bingcao Yuan and Shu, the chief and deputy chief, were vacant, and Ma Teng was thinking of using the vacant positions to recruit and absorb other talented people from Yongliang and Bingzhou.

Fu Gan rejected Pang De's offer to borrow his horse and walked slowly towards the mansion.

Pang De didn't find it strange. What was surprising was that Fu Gan was willing to accept his favor.

Fu Gan turned into the street and saw Zhao Huan standing in the corner waiting for him.

As he approached, Zhao Huan took the initiative to explain: "The Tiger Tooth Army attacked Huayin early in the morning the day before yesterday, and captured it around noon, killing the defending general Liu Kai."

Fu Gan listened patiently. Zhao Huan whispered, "Yesterday morning, the Weibei camp moved southward. The infantry went first, followed by the fleet transporting supplies, and finally the knights led by Yuan Changgong. At night, Ma Chao and Ma Dai led their close knights to flee and their whereabouts are unknown."

"You mean to say that the Tiger Tooth Army has broken Huayin, and the Hebei Army's morale has been greatly broken, and they can no longer advance to Guanzhong?"

Fu Gan was more concerned about the war, and asked, "What is the specific situation of the war in Huayin?"

“I don’t know the number of casualties among the defenders, but after the battle, the Tiger Fang Army collected and buried less than a hundred people.”

Zhao Huan answered in a low voice and looked around.

Fu Gan knew without him explaining in detail that Huayin was the former garrison of the Inspector of the Imperial Capital and had a large population. Yuan Tan and Linghu Shao would also send their trusted men to garrison there, and its defenses would be far superior to those of other counties.

If such a county, which is considered the best in Hongnong, was easily conquered by the Tiger Tooth Army, it would trigger a chain reaction.

When the city can no longer provide effective protection, those who can make decisions in the city will definitely re-examine their relationship with the Tiger Tooth Army.

This is the case in Hongnong, Hedong, and all over Guanzhong.

Fu Gan immediately understood that the Tiger Tooth Army's punch had confused the minds of all parties.

When the city can no longer withstand the attack of the Tiger Tooth Army, the best and only option for all parties is to unite and destroy the Tiger Tooth Army.

Otherwise, they will be controlled by others. If they don’t want to be destroyed, they can only take the initiative to surrender to the Tiger Tooth Army.

Among the generals in Guanzhong, how many are willing to do so?
Ma Teng would certainly not be happy about this, and might even admit his mistake to his sworn brother Han Sui.

Perhaps in the process of admitting mistakes, your brain is a good example of sincerity.

In an instant, he understood the change in the situation. The Guanzhong generals who had been sitting on the sidelines watching the fight had to step down; while Yuan Tan's side was able to slow down and become the spectator.

This sudden news was hard for Fu Gan to accept, and it was even more difficult for those generals in Guanzhong who were used to bullying others.

Taking over a city in one day, is this something a human can do?

How did Guo Si die?

He was surrounded in Meiwu by the generals from Guanzhong, deserted by his friends and relatives, with no outside reinforcements. His food and fodder were completely exhausted and he was eventually wiped out.

How did Li Jue die?

They occupied Huangbai City near Gaoling on the north bank of the Wei River. As a result, Shangshu Pei Maodu led Duan Wei to launch a surprise attack, seized the city gate and rushed straight to Li Jue's mansion, killing all the family members.

After Li Jue's death, the clan members scattered across the country were unable to stir up any trouble and were jointly suppressed.

When Li Jue was at his strongest, he and his clan members were very good at fighting. When they were alive, the generals in Guanzhong did not dare to breathe loudly.

It was also because of Li Jue's indifference that the generals in Guanzhong united to besiege and destroy Guo Si.

As long as the city is stable and these generals and core followers are alive, they can be won over and gathered at any time.

Therefore, the safety of the city is more important than the number of troops!

You can’t carry a million troops with you!

But as long as you are in the city, you are safe, you will not be killed easily, and you have the ability to resist.

Now the Huya Army used the two famous cities of Xinfeng and Huayin to declare a fact: as long as the Huya Army launched an attack, no one would see the sunrise the next day.

You don't have time to put your connections, your peripheral troops, and all your clever plans into action!
When a person dies, all things cease to exist.

No one will avenge the He Jin brothers, no one will avenge Dong Zhuo, and no one will avenge Li Jue and Guo Si.

It's because people are dead, there's no point in avenging them, and there won't be any reward in return.

Fu Gan took a deep breath and already knew what was going to happen next.

He looked at Zhao Huan and asked, "Where are you going?"

Zhao Huan pointed to the north and said, "Duke Yuan Chang ordered me to go to Beidi County to persuade Duan Wei."

Fu Gan was a famous family in Beidi. Duan Wei was awarded the title of Marquis of Yanxiang (Marquis of Mosquito Repellent) for his merit in killing Li Jue, and was appointed as the governor of Beidi County.

Zhong Yao had already pointed out the way, and Fu Gan immediately cupped his hands and said, "I am willing to go with you. Duan Wei is different from the other generals, and I can ensure the stability of the North."

There is no guarantee that Duan Wei can be persuaded to send troops to assist Zhong Yao, but there is no guarantee that Duan Wei can remain neutral.

If Duan Wei refused, Fu Gan was confident that he could persuade the Qiang and Hu tribes in the north and the Xiongnu tribes in the south to contain Duan Wei.

Isn't this what Zhao Huan was waiting for when he came here, risking his head?

The two of them no longer hesitated. Fu Gan didn't even go home and left directly with Zhao Huan.

Fu Gan had been married for seven or eight years, and he was indifferent to marriage. He had no shortage of women around him, so he could just abandon her at this time, and Ma Teng would not embarrass the maid. Fu Gan followed Zhao Huan out of the city and joined a group of knights from the north who were waiting here.

When these knights saw Fu Gan, they were all excited.

A dozen knights, each riding two horses, surrounded Fu Gan and ran in the opposite direction, heading west; they were preparing to make a detour and go to Beidi County.

He was afraid of being hunted down by Ma Teng and meeting Ma Chao on the way.

Going west is the safest route.

Lantian Camp.

Black Bear is performing a sand table simulation in the quiet room.

Zhong Yao had no other choice, merging with himself was the best way out.

In this way, the previously chaotic situation in Guanzhong immediately became clear, and enemies were everywhere, and they could be defeated one by one.

The situation was chaotic before, and we had to guess and win over people one by one.

It’s very good now, the enemy and us are clearly distinguished.

During this period of time, Zhong Yao's 8,000 troops had stabilized.

We don't ask this army to cooperate in the battle, just stand by and watch neutrally.

Now it depends on who jumps up first, and who will be hit first!

The key is Ma Teng. Let's see how long this guy can endure.

The longer he endures, the greater the power Ma Teng will unleash, but during this time he can also continue to devour and digest Zhong Yao's 8,000 men.

Fortunately, we didn't expect Zhao Yun and his more than 300 people to assist in the battle from the beginning, otherwise there would be problems.

And there was Zhao Yun, who fought with Lu Bu for such a long time that day.

Didn’t you notice anything unusual about Lu Bu?
When Black Bear walked out of the quiet room, Zhen Mi had already cooked breakfast.

There was no cooking in that era, and due to the lack of suitable woks, Black Bear was unable to demonstrate any cooking skills.

But personal taste is difficult to change, so most of his meals are fried or grilled, with very few mainstream stews; even if there are any, they are cooked in bone broth.

The two of them sat face to face at a table. Zhen Mi saw that Hei Xiong had a dull expression and was obviously distracted while eating, so she spoke in a low voice to avoid disturbing his thoughts.

He barely ate until he was 70% full for breakfast. After the meal, Black Bear drank some tea and opened his work records.

Now military advisor Liu Ye has arrived at Shangluo County with the vanguard of immigrants. In two days, thirty centurion teams and seven artisan teams will arrive in Lantian.

In addition to replenishing manpower, they also brought a new batch of tools purchased from Xiangyang; once the camp was established, they would be able to manufacture and repair equipment and armor.

There is also salt, which is best solved around December.

There are three immigration teams, one is the front team led by military advisor Liu Ye, and the second is the rear team led by Chen Yang.

Young and strong men were selected from the civilian households to form the Danshui water transport fleet, which was under the charge of Xuanliang.

Around early November, all our forces will be withdrawn.

Therefore, Xuan Liang was under great pressure in transportation as he had to transport all the grain stored in Nanxiang to Shangluo; Sima Zhi of Shangluo was also under great pressure as he had to build a temporary warehouse large enough to store grain.

Fortunately, grain is transported in sacks, so the requirements for grain storage pavilions are not high. It only needs to be suspended to prevent moisture and the top floor to protect against rain.

In traditional grain storage mansions, grain is stored like in granaries and must be absolutely moisture-proof.

The work records also include Wang Can’s recent letters.

Wang Can asked about the situation in Guanzhong. If it was stable, he would lead people into Chang'an to dig up the collection of books he had buried.

Black Bear took out a piece of bamboo paper and summoned a goose feather pen to demonstrate his simplified hard-tip running script calligraphy, but just as he was about to put pen to paper he felt something was not right.

Wang Can is a very smart person. If you write simplified Chinese in the reply letter, Wang Can will definitely understand it. But if you come up with other ideas, you will be asking for trouble.

Black Bear said to Zhen Mi, "Wang Can wants to come to Guanzhong. Please write back for me and tell him that Ma Teng and other generals in Guanzhong are showing signs of rebellion. I will invite him to Guanzhong next spring. If Nanxiang is not safe, he may come to Shangluo to give lectures. Sima Zhi will receive him properly."

Seeing that Black Bear rightfully accused Ma Teng of possibly causing trouble, Zhen Mi couldn't help but purse her lips and smile: "Yes."

It is estimated that the reason why Ma Teng launched the resistance was that his side had kidnapped the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, Zhong Yao, and had intended to coerce and annex his troops.

Naturally, when fighting, Zhong Yao must be pushed to the front row.

Zhen Mi turned around and went to the study to write. A personal soldier came in with a name card and a letter: "General, Wei Ji, the Chief Clerk of the Ministry of Revenue, wants to see you."

Yesterday, Wei Ji led his troops on the journey and only after nightfall did he deliver 3,000 infantrymen to the Lantian camp.

"Prepare tea and wheat cakes. I'll meet him in the side hall."

After giving the instructions, the black bear looked down at his orange robe. Autumn had finally arrived and it was time to wear clothes suitable for the autumn harvest season.

Seeing that his robes were neatly arranged, he took out a palm-sized, polished bronze mirror, and saw himself in the mirror with a golden turban on his head, raising his eyebrows and smiling.

He put away the bronze mirror, hung the mask on his right waist, hung the sword on his left waist, and walked out of the newly built semi-suspended wooden house in clogs.

The construction time was too tight and there was no time to build the foundation.

They were all logs from Mount Li, and after a little polishing they were used to build the wooden house.

Outside the wooden house is a long, narrow, and spacious wooden shed where some officials do clerical work.

The black bear came to a small hall separated from the side. It was ventilated on three sides and had straw curtains hanging on it.

Wei Ji was sitting cross-legged waiting when he heard the sound of clogs hitting the wooden floor approaching, and he sat up straighter.

Soon Black Bear came in from the opposite side of him, took off his sword and sat at the top. The personal soldiers who followed him brought boiling water and made tea for the two of them.

On the small table in front of Wei Ji, there was a plate of wheat cakes and a plate of pears, with three pears on the bottom layer and one in the middle.

Wei Ji stared at the pear in a daze. Black Bear noticed and waved his hand and said with a smile: "This was sent to me by Cui Yan. He said that Yuan Shang asked him to do so. I don't know if it's true or not. It is said that the pears from Zhending are not ripe yet. The messenger said that if they are ripe, they can't withstand transportation."

Wei Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and explained: "General, this is the Hedong pear."

"It seems that Cui Yan is very anxious and has resorted to such means."

Black Bear didn't think much of it. He had plenty of fruit to eat, so he said to Wei Ji, "Since these are pears from my hometown, you can try some."

Even though they were not fully ripe, they were early-ripening pears carefully selected by Cui Yan, and they did not taste noticeably sour or have any residue.

But in Black Bear's opinion, it's still not sweet enough.

Wei Ji rolled up his sleeves, grabbed the wheat cake in one hand and the pear in the other, and started eating.

(End of this chapter)