Chapter 266 The Emperor's Edict
The southern suburbs of Puyang were where Zhang Liao was stationed.

When the battle report from the north shore came, Cao Cao's military order also came: anyone who discussed military affairs would be executed immediately.

Zhang Liao was not very happy with the various discussions among the soldiers in the army.

Due to insufficient intelligence, the opinions of the soldiers in the army often deviate from the truth.

All these speculations are subjective guesses made based on the personal interests of the officials.

Zhang Liao's troops have not changed much in recent years. Most of them are elderly and are relatively pure.

The military force Cao Cao currently controls is not enough to complete a major reorganization.

Only after annexing Hebei and suddenly gaining more than 100,000 registered soldiers and surrendered soldiers, did Cao Cao have room to maneuver and train the surrendered generals' troops.

Therefore, in the two years since the end of Guandu, most of the structures of Cao's army, especially the surrendered generals, were in control of their old subordinates.

Cao Cao could only add soldiers recruited under the staggered service system to these surrendered generals during the troop deployment process.

For example, Zhang Liao's army was composed of three types: the first was his old subordinates; the second was the surrendered soldiers from other states assigned to him; and the third was the soldiers whose families were controlled by local military settlements under the system of staggered service.

The first two types of soldiers would continue to be lost due to aging, illness, death in battle or desertion, and Cao Cao would continue to replenish them with scholar-soldiers.

Therefore, the longer the time goes, the weaker the independence of these surrendered generals becomes.

Zhang Liao was better off, as his old subordinates suffered minor losses. Including other surrendered soldiers and military households, Zhang Liao was able to replenish his forces to 3,000 when he went on the expedition.

If the war ends and the soldiers are dismissed, Zhang Liao will only have a thousand or so people left.

The proportion here for Xu Huang is even more exaggerated. The armies of Yang Feng and others were broken into pieces, and there was not much left for Xu Huang.

During the Battle of Guandu, Xu Huang was again tasked with cutting off food supplies behind enemy lines.

Therefore, Xu Huang was cleansed very well, with only other surrendered soldiers and literati soldiers assigned by the court left; because of this, when Xu Huang went on an expedition, after various assignments, the number of troops often reached 5,000.

In terms of troop deployment, the current Cao army is similar to the Jiangdong army; every general and captain has additional troops in addition to his own troops.

Cao Cao used other surrendered soldiers and soldiers from the gentry as his military force pool; the Jiangdong military force pool consisted of conscripted soldiers, incorporated Shanyue soldiers, and powerful soldiers.

But the difference is also obvious. Cao Cao is still alive and can adjust the troop deployment plan at any time. In the future, if he swallows up Hebei in one go and obtains the reinforcement of hundreds of thousands of troops, he can comprehensively adjust the military system.

The current military allocation system in Jiangdong is the result of various temporary adjustments made by Sun Ce during his lifetime. Sun Quan lacks prestige and is unable to change the system.

Sun Quan could only bide his time and wait for the officers and soldiers who had been given the troops to die of old age or in battle before he could get back this part of the troops and "organization".

At this moment, under the staggered service system, it was difficult for Zhang Liao to launch a mutiny; Xu Huang had no chance of mutiny at all... unless the enemy troops surrounded him and he could take advantage of the enemy's momentum.

Otherwise, if Xu Huang dared to change the flag, at the best of luck, most of his soldiers would flee.

Therefore, the only one who could mutiny and change the flag at any time was Liu Xun, the governor of Henei County.

From the beginning to the end, he had more than a thousand top-grade soldiers from Lujiang under his command. Given Liu Xun's command ability and battle record, it was impossible for Cao Cao to assign his precious soldiers to Liu Xun.

Upon hearing that Cao Cao was defeated in Liyang, Liu Xun immediately became restless.

He was subject to the least control. After Yuan Shu's defeat, Liu Xun briefly dominated the area between the Yangtze River and the Huai River.

It was not the experience of being a leader that gave rise to his ambition, but this experience that made Liu Xun dare not trust Cao Cao.

If he couldn’t even defeat Yuan Shang, how could he possibly defeat the fierce and ferocious soldiers in Guanzhong?

Liu Xun was born in Langya and was sensitive to information related to Taoists.

He now doubts the true position of the Qingzhou soldiers within the Cao army system. If the Qingzhou soldiers rebel, the staggered service system will lose its final ballast.

Now that the system of staggered labor service has been broken, how could Cao Cao's clan have a good ending?
For example, at this moment, Liu Xun suspected that the intention of transferring these surrendered generals and soldiers to Puyang was to prevent and suppress the Qingzhou soldiers.

The Qingzhou soldiers were too large in scale. They were stationed in the northern area of ​​Juye Lake, with 170,000 to 180,000 households, serving in shifts. There were always about 30,000 to 40,000 Qingzhou soldiers serving in Cao's army system at any time; the remaining 60,000 to 70,000 Qingzhou soldiers were waiting to be replaced.

The Qingzhou soldiers' loyalty to Cao Cao was not that strong. When Lu Bu was fighting for Yanzhou, most of the Qingzhou soldiers stationed in the strongholds chose to remain neutral and wait and see.

At the beginning of the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao could arrogantly cross the river and fight a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, but he was defeated due to bad luck.

After this defeat, Cao Cao could only defend his camp... The reason was that the Qingzhou soldiers who initially supported Cao Cao became neutral when they saw that Cao Cao had lost the decisive battle.

The Qingzhou soldiers had an organizational relationship that was higher than their fellow villagers and clans. The existence of this organizational relationship allowed the Qingzhou soldiers to always maintain a semi-independent status.

Even if the Qingzhou soldiers wanted to break away from the command sequence of Cao's army, no one dared to suppress them. Suppression would be tantamount to turning against them, and the behavior of the Qingzhou soldiers would be classified and characterized as rebellion.

Faced with a tough battle, the Qingzhou soldiers refused to attack and Cao Cao could do nothing about them.

From the beginning to the end, the Qingzhou soldiers and Cao Cao had a cooperative relationship.

During this cooperation process, the Qingzhou soldiers obtained a farming area recognized by the Han court, and were able to retain their weapons and Taiping Dao beliefs.

Cao Cao controls these Qingzhou soldiers, which in itself provides him with tremendous deterrent power.

But now, Liu Xun felt that the Qingzhou soldiers were no longer under Cao Cao's control.

With the intention of making the army bigger and stronger, Liu Xun invited Zhang Liao out of the camp for a meeting.

There was already a layer of tender green on the fields. Liu Xun breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zhang Liao and his men appear. This proved that even if his guess was wrong, it would not be too wrong.

As for Xu Huang who was stationed nearby, he had no intention of contacting Xu Huang as Xu Huang was a man who lacked freedom.

Unless the Qingzhou soldiers rebelled completely and the staggered service system collapsed, Xu Huang would have the opportunity to turn the tables and seize real control of the army.

Before this, whoever captured the families of the soldiers under Xu Huang would have the real command power.

"Lord Cao has suffered a minor setback. From what I know about him, he will definitely gather his troops for another battle."

When Liu Xun met him, he calmly expressed his views on the current situation: "General Wenyuan is a veteran general of the time. What will happen if Yuan Shang retreats to Yecheng?"

The two rode side by side, their horses' hooves trampling the soft soil, and the midday breeze blowing on their faces was very cool. Zhang Liao also nodded slowly, tacitly agreeing with Liu Xun's opinion.

How could Cao Cao evacuate from Liyang easily?
The biggest characteristic of Cao Cao when leading troops in battle is that he is tenacious enough!

When Cao's army was conquered in the second year of Jian'an, Zhang Xiu put up a tenacious resistance and inflicted heavy losses on Cao's army.

The rear was unable to gain reinforcements for the time being, so Li Tong mobilized nearly 10,000 brave men from the countryside. Only with this reinforcement of young and strong men was Cao's army able to break Zhang Xiu's will.

Everyone knows that Yuan Shao had used up all of Hebei's best soldiers and generals during his lifetime, and now Hebei can't even find a decent general.

Most of the soldiers in Hebei were newly recruited and lacked the experience of major battles. Even if they had courage in combat, this courage would be difficult to sustain.

Overall, Hebei soldiers lack resilience.

Cao Cao was just standing unsteadily and was caught off guard by Yuan Shang's sudden attack, but he was far from being seriously injured.

So when Cao Cao got serious, Yuan Shang could only hold the fortified city.

But the battle of Liyang had established enough prestige for Yuan Shang. The next time Yuan Shang mobilized troops, it would not be on the scale of 20,000 or 30,000, but 50,000 or 60,000.

At present, the number of defenders in Yecheng is between 20,000 and 30,000. A Yecheng like this cannot be captured by force at the moment.

Zhang Liao remained silent throughout. He knew that Yuan Shang just took the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Cao Cao.

Otherwise, according to common sense, Yuan Shang would wait until Qian Zhao arrived before launching an offensive.

Now, inspired by the victory in Liyang, the morale of the Hebei troops is generally high; if Cao's army besieges Yecheng, it will not be able to capture it in the short term, and the Yuan army on the periphery will gather more and more, and a decisive battle is very likely to break out.

Even if we win, can we capture Yecheng and kill Yuan Shang?
If we lose the battle, there is a high probability that the entire army will be wiped out.

In particular, before the decisive battle breaks out, when besieging Yecheng, there must be a tentative attack on the city. Who will do such a thing?

Seeing Zhang Liao was silent, Liu Xun said, "I have known Cao Gong since I was a teenager. I know Cao Gong well. He is a man of strong character and will not give up until he achieves his goal. General Wenyuan should not only consider himself, but also his fellow villagers and clansmen."

Liu Xun took out a scroll of silk and handed it to Zhang Liao: "This is a letter from Liu Ziyang to me. It is said that Yanmen County Governor Shentu Bei used the power of the Grand Marshal to make many Hu people in Yanmen send envoys to surrender. I don't want to threaten you with anything, but in this world, you and I are responsible for the rise and fall of thousands of families, so we must be careful."

"yes……"

Zhang Liao spread out his hands and read the silk book, which was a letter of persuasion written by Liu Ye to Liu Xun.

But the Black Bears have not sent out any troops yet, so even if they change their flags on the battlefield, they will lack the opportunity to display their skills.

Without reliable troops to support them, if they suddenly turn against us and if we are unlucky, most of our troops will be defeated and we will lose any room for bargaining in the future.

Since they are going to turn against the enemy, naturally the more troops they can mobilize, the greater their achievements after the war.

There was one thing that was a pity for Zhang Liao: Yanmen was far away and his family and clan were all in Yanmen.

Black Bear had a bad history of killing Wang Yun's three clans, which really angered Black Bear. He instructed Shen Tu Bei, and Shen Tu Bei would naturally start with the Zhang family.

Using family members to threaten others is not shameless, it is just a normal method.

For example, Zhu Ling defected to Yuan Shao, but the local tyrant from the neighboring county defected to Gongsun Zan, attacked Zhu Ling's hometown, and threatened Zhu Ling with his clan name.

As a result, Zhu Ling remained unmoved and attacked the city aggressively. Although he killed the enemy, Zhu Ling's family was also destroyed.

Later, when Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought for Yanzhou, Cao Cao was in trouble. Yuan Shao sent Zhu Ling to reinforce Cao Cao, but after the war, he took his soldiers and joined Cao Cao.

At that time, Zhu Ling no longer had any family members to check and balance him; and now, Zhu Ling has also lost the opportunity to lead troops independently because he has no family members to check and balance him.

Zhang Liao handed Liu Ye's letter of surrender back to Liu Xun, frowning and looking very embarrassed.

He didn't want to bring trouble to his family.

There are not many people as cruel as Zhu Ling. Even if Zhu Ling is so cruel, what is the result?

He has lost his family and is no longer loved by his fellow villagers. Although his help to Cao Cao was crucial, who dares to take responsibility for it now?

Zhu Ling is a tree without roots, and his high position in the army is just a figment of his imagination.

If a person doesn't even love his family, how dare you expect to be friends with him?
Therefore, Zhu Ling has no friends, and Zhu Ling's subordinates dare not die for him.

Now Zhu Ling has the official seal of the court, which makes him a human being; if he loses the status recognized by the court, Zhu Ling will be nothing.

This is similar to Xu You, both of them have become half-human, half-ghost, which is something Zhang Liao cannot accept.

Zhang Liao, who came from a remote county, naturally had a flexible moral bottom line.

Jumping from the Sikong to the Da Sima means serving the court, and there is no major obstacle.

If he changes jobs, his past resume and achievements will all be counted.

Seeing that Zhang Liao showed no obvious resistance, Liu Xun said, "My brother is the governor of Yuzhou, my nephew is the emperor's guard, and several of my brothers are quite trusted by the emperor."

Hearing this, Zhang Liao stared at Liu Xun.

Liu Xun carefully took out a stack of silk books from his arms and handed them over, looking far and near: "This is the emperor's handwritten edict."

Zhang Liao reined in his horse subconsciously and was about to dismount to receive the imperial edict, but Liu Xun grabbed his arm and said, "This is a handwritten edict. General Wenyuan, please stop pretending."

"Yes, I accept your order."

Zhang Liao took the imperial edict, spread it out, and saw a page of plain silk pasted inside the silk book.

After seeing the contents of the imperial edict, Zhang Liao felt relaxed from the inside out.

Liu Xun whispered at this time: "How can the emperor be without loyal ministers to protect him? Henan is now empty, General Wenyuan must not hesitate, and lead the troops to break through the siege quickly. If I am ordered to intercept you when you break through the siege, please do not hold back!"

As for a surprise attack on Xu Du to rescue the emperor, Liu Xun had never dreamed of it.

(End of this chapter)