Chapter 252: Official Fields Order
On the east wall of Chang'an, Guan Yu rode Red Hare to observe the inside and outside of the city.

Chang'an City looked very empty in his eyes at this moment. There was a university town in the middle, and many ruins in the four corners had not been cleared.

Looking outside the East City, people were resettled and relocated to various ruins. These people initially lived in tents, and during this period they continued to add to and repair their houses.

There is not much greenery in sight.

The trees are gray-brown, the soil is black and yellow, and the houses and tents are also gray.

The clothes worn by men, women and children coming and going are mainly leather jackets, mostly gray and black, with a few sheepskin jackets being white.

Even the cattle, horses and sheep seemed to be covered with a layer of gray.

The only color was on the messengers, who used white feathers. Even though their helmets were decorated with white feathers, their uniforms were still bright and eye-catching red.

No, there is another color, a very pure turmeric yellow.

Guan Yu reined in his horse and saw that the black bear was wearing a ginger-colored turban and loose leather inlaid armor, a kind of leather armor that Guan Yu had never seen before.

The overall shape is somewhat similar to Ming Guang Armor, with a large and bulging breastplate.

Guan Yu only took a glance and concluded that there must be a layer of steel plate sandwiched inside the cowhide breastplate.

When they were about ten steps away, the knight who led Guan Yu turned around and dismounted. Guan Yu also dismounted and handed the whip and reins to his followers.

Another guard led Guan Yu forward. Black Bear looked at Guan Yu with a smile and did not stand up.

Guan Yu is a person who cares a lot about his reputation and is a principled person.

So don't expect to give Guan Yu enough face and expect him to make concessions on principles.

Now at the age of 40, Guan Yu had a better temper and control ability. He only took five or six steps forward... without stopping. When he was four steps away from the black bear, the dozen or so personal soldiers around him glared at him.

Guan Yu was about to go forward when he saw Lu Bu, who was standing behind the black bear with a halberd in his hand, raise his halberd and slam it heavily on the ground with a dull sound.

Guan Yu then stopped and bowed three steps away from Black Bear: "I, Guan Yu from Hedong, greet General Zhenbei."

"Please take a seat, Lord Guan."

The black bear stretched out his arms to signal, but Guan Yu did not thank him and just sat in the empty seat that the black bear pointed to.

When the two were three or four steps apart, Black Bear asked, "Zhao Zilong has just left, and Mr. Gongyou is about to return from Yecheng. What is the purpose of Lord Guan's visit?"

"Foreign ministers came to Guanzhong, and there were three things before and after."

Guan Yu placed his sword on his right side, and stopped when he saw the black bear guards bringing him tea. After the guards left, he said, "First, it's official business. My lord, Lord Xuande, wants to fight against the traitors again. Hebei and Jingzhou will help. Because Gongyou is in Ye, my lord will send me to Guanzhong to discuss the fight with the general."

Sun Qian will definitely reach a relevant agreement in Yecheng; Jian Yong, another lobbyist under Liu Bei, will be sent to Jingzhou to do work for Jingzhou.

Black Bear nodded after hearing this: "Lord Xuande wants to punish the traitors, so I naturally support him. I wonder how many troops Lord Xuande, Hebei, and Jingzhou can send?"

Guan Yu raised his hand and pointed in the direction of Hebei: "Hebei will raise three armies, no less than 50,000 troops; my commander will mobilize the soldiers of Xuzhou and Yuzhou, also 30,000 people; Jingzhou's troops will not be less than 30,000, of which 20,000 will guard Wankou."

Black Bear smiled after hearing this and said, "So, the number of people who can actually participate in the war and be controlled by Lord Xuande will not exceed 30,000?"

Guan Yu neither refuted nor admitted it. Black Bear took a sip of tea and said, "I know Lord Xuande's background. I have also been to Hebei and Jingzhou, and I know the characters of General Yuan and Liu Jingsheng. I can only guarantee that when Lord Xuande raises his army, I will let Gan Xingba march to Shangluo."

Black Bear didn't ask for any additional conditions. Guan Yu felt a little uncomfortable seeing that he agreed so readily.

Seeing Guan Yu's self-doubt, Black Bear laughed even more happily, looking up at the sun at about ten o'clock with squinting eyes: "In fact, if Lord Xuande did not send troops, I would also support Gan Xingba to attack Xiahou Dun. During my campaign against the Xiongnu, Xingba was guarding Tongguan and was very anxious. I promised him at that time that I would allow him to attack Xiahou Dun."

"I can't guarantee what the outcome will be after Gan Xingba sends out his troops."

Black Bear smiled and looked at Guan Yu: "If Lord Guan can do me one thing, I can guarantee that Gan Xingba and I will work together to hold back 30,000 to 50,000 enemy troops while Lord Xuande is fighting Cao Cao."

Guan Yu frowned: "What's the matter, General?"

"I heard that when Guan Junhou was in Xuzhou and Xudu, he was on good terms with Zhang Wenyuan and Xu Gongming. I hope Guan Junhou can write two letters of persuasion, and I will wait for an opportunity to send them to Generals Zhang and Xu."

"I'm sorry that I can't agree to your request, General."

Guan Yu explained: "I have a deep friendship with Wenyuan and Gongming. Friends should help each other to achieve success. Now that the two armies are fighting, each showing their abilities, it is the time for a real man to make achievements. How can I ruin their reputation and disturb their will?"

"Since Lord Guan is unwilling, let's just forget about this. I wonder what the other two things Lord Guan mentioned are?"

"The rest is private, so let's not talk about it."

Guan Yu really didn't expect that Black Bear would be so decisive in giving up trying to persuade Zhang Liao and Xu Huang to rebel. Black Bear just listened, and Guan Yu took a sip of tea before saying, "I first heard that you defeated the Xiongnu and rescued countless captive men and women. I admired you so much that after getting your brother's permission, I hurried to Guanzhong to help you. I didn't expect that you would be so powerful and recover the three counties."

In response, Black Bear just smiled and said, "What a pity. What else?"

"This is Hedong's affair. This is the general's internal affairs. I have no right to interfere."

Guan Yu felt a little embarrassed as he spoke and forced out an awkward smile.

After hearing this, Black Bear picked up some food with chopsticks, tasted it, put down his chopsticks and said, "The powerful people in Hedong have always been lawless. As the saying goes, you must go to extremes to correct a wrong. Compared with their letting the Xiongnu cause trouble and forcing the people to become slaves and servants by taking advantage of the Xiongnu's power, my method is already a rare mercy."

Guan Yu neither refuted nor supported this. If the powerful people in his hometown were really so generous and loyal, why would he kill someone and then flee?

Being powerful is hardly related to being generous.

The ones who are penny-pinching, take advantage of the power of others, call their friends over, bully the weak, skin and tendencies, are domineering and arbitrary, and force people to buy and sell are the powerful ones.

After thinking for a moment, Guan Yu turned his head to look at Lu Bu behind Black Bear: "When I came to Guanzhong, I met Zilong. Zilong highly praised General Taishi Wengong. I also heard that during the general's expedition against the Xiongnu, many of Lu Fengxian's former subordinates and fellow villagers responded to his call." Guan Yu glanced at Black Bear and said: "I wonder what the general's relationship with Lu Fengxian is?"

"Rumors among the people cannot be trusted."

The black bear thought for a moment and said, "He and I are definitely not father and son. My mother died early and I was raised by my uncle since I was young, so I took my mother's family as my surname."

Guan Yu listened and nodded slowly, seeming to agree with Black Bear's explanation.

Without giving Guan Yu time to think, Black Bear said, "I will send troops to Liyang soon. If Lord Guan is willing to help, I can give you a handwritten order to recruit more than a hundred knights in Hedong."

Guan Yu immediately asked, "Only a hundred knights? Can the general provide money, food, military supplies, equipment, and horses?"

"I can lend it to Lord Guan, but since we won the battle of Liyang, the spoils must be considerable. Even if Cao's army withdraws calmly, the friendly forces in Hebei will provide you and me with the necessary money, food, and equipment. How about this, Lord Guan, do you want to recruit more?"

Guan Yu then smiled embarrassedly and explained: "I do have this intention. Can you increase the number of people and recruit more than 300 people?"

Black Bear shook his head: "There are only a few hundred people. Those who are favored by Lord Guan must be the heroes of the county. Lord Guan recruits more than 300 people. In the next seven or eight years, there will be no one available in Hedong."

Two-thirds of the powerful and wealthy families in Hedong moved away. Among the remaining population, excluding the young and middle-aged men who served as county officials and county soldiers, there were very few people left who met Guanyu's recruitment requirements. They were the lifeblood of a county.

Guan Yu was somewhat helpless, so he just bowed and said, "Yes, I obey your order."

There are more than a hundred people, if you are sensible, they will be about 120 or 30 people; 150 people is a warning line, the more people there are, the more likely you are to encounter difficulties.

When you live under someone else's roof, you have to follow the rules in everything you do.

Liu Bei stayed in Xinye for almost a year and only recruited new soldiers from Xinye, and his strength did not change.

Because Liu Biao didn't ask, Liu Bei didn't recruit new soldiers.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Black Bear said, "It is settled. I will go see Zhong Yuanchang, and Lord Guan can do as he pleases."

As Black Bear stood up, a personal soldier immediately handed Guan Yu a page of military orders that had already been written on silk.

Guan Yu also stood up to see him off. Black Bear climbed onto the horse and took a look at Red Hare beside the city wall. Red Hare was obviously much thinner, but had a big frame and was full of energy.

After looking at it a few more times, I realized that Red Hare was a castrated stallion and immediately lost interest.

Black Bear led Lu Bu on horseback and galloped along the wide city wall, while the rest of the personal guards cleaned up the tables and prepared the food.

Guan Yu checked the silk book and the general's red seal again and again before putting them away.

His followers brought the Red Hare, and Guan Yu climbed on it. He saw that when Black Bear's personal soldiers were cleaning the table, all the leftovers, except for the tea, were eaten by these people on the spot.

Zhong Yao's Sili Xiaowei Yamen was becoming more and more useless. When Black Bear rode his horse over, the military officer guarding the gate immediately came to greet him: "General!"

"Is Lord Yuan Chang here?"

"He is handling government affairs in the hall."

This military officer was only from Guanzhong. He could not even straighten his back when speaking, but his smile was as bright as the sun.

Black Bear just nodded and rode his horse in.

Several clerks who were sitting in the corner of the front yard basking in the sun were terrified when they saw the black bear. After one of them knelt down, the others knelt down uncontrollably and saluted.

Several officials who noticed the commotion walked out of the hall and saw the clerks and guards kneeling one after another. One of them hurried to inform Zhong Yao, while others wanted to step forward and talk to him.

Strictly speaking, Black Bear has no affiliation with their Sili Xiaowei Yamen.

But at this moment, Tai Shi Wen Gong came in on horseback, dragging his Fang Tian Ji, and the three subordinates immediately knelt down with weak legs.

Without waiting for Hei Xiong to ask, Zhong Yao hurried along the corridor to see him, wearing only socks, without even having time to put on clogs.

Black Bear jumped off his horse and stepped forward to support Zhong Yao who was bowing and saying, "Please forgive me for disturbing you, Lord Yuan Chang."

"I dare not, General."

Zhong Yao stretched out his arms and let Black Bear go first, then he raised his hand to signal the other officials to stand up.

Then he followed Black Bear into the side hall where government affairs were handled. The weather was cold, so it was convenient to keep warm in the side hall.

As soon as Black Bear sat down, he took out a scroll of bamboo slips and handed it to Zhong Yao: "Lord Yuan Chang, take a look at this. This is the 'Official Land Law' I drafted these days. If Lord Yuan Chang has no objection, when the court appoints me as the Grand Marshal, this will be the first decree of the Grand Marshal's Office in the future."

"Yes, let me take a closer look."

Zhong Yao took it, sat beside the charcoal brazier and spread out the bamboo slips. He saw that on the fine bamboo slips were characters in the Slender Gold style, as well as punctuation marks and sentence divisions.

For a moment, Zhong Yao lost his balance.

Taking a deep breath, Zhong Yao raised his eyebrows to glance at the black bear who seemed to be indifferent, and then studied the text carefully again.

But looking at each word, he ignored the meaning and only looked at the shape of the word.

These characters echo each other, as if they were alive, twisting and jumping slightly.

As the words jumped, Zhong Yao gradually became obsessed with them.

(End of this chapter)