Chapter 244: Return of the troops, movements of all parties [Subscription required]

The Wuhuan Chanyu, Tadun, was thirty-seven years old at the time.

He was brave and good at fighting since he was young, and people inside and outside the tribe compared him to Maodun.

You should know that Maodun was once a powerful overlord of the Xiongnu, who once dominated the north and south and dominated all the barbarians.

At this time, Tadun was personally leading his troops to prepare to respond to the offensive from Yanzhou.

Yanzhou took advantage of the population trading route between the gentry and the Wuhuan and moved up from Tonghaikou in the south.

Upon hearing the news, Tadun immediately dispatched troops to meet Cao's army.

At noon, the sky was overcast.

Tadun wore a thin leather robe over one shoulder, revealing his bulging muscles and rough, dark skin.

He was reading a letter, which was sent by Yuan Shang.

Yuan Shang was released by Cao Cao and went north to the border town of Jizhou, where he successfully took over a group of remnants of the Yuan family.

After he learned that his brother Yuan Xi was in Wuhuan, he wrote a letter to Wuhuan, seeking an opportunity to cooperate in resisting Cao.

Yuan Shang wrote in the letter that he would gather all the forces inside and outside Jizhou to oppose Cao Cao.

If we could join forces with Tadun.

The two, one in the east and the other in the west, hope to regain Jizhou.

Yanzhou is strong, and Yuan Shang can gather part of the remaining power of the Yuan family within Jizhou, which is exactly what Tadun wants.

"The Han people are busy fighting among themselves. If the Xianbei can agree to join forces with the Wuhuan and march south, the rewards will be extremely rich."

Tadun's goal was to at least prevent the Han Dynasty from regaining its unity, stability and strength.

Only when the Han people were in turmoil did the Wuhuan have an opportunity.

Tadun's gaze fell on a huge cowhide map.

Two routes of the Yanzhou army's attack were marked on it.

One positive and one odd.

"Yanzhou thought that the troops coming from the southern port were surprise troops, but they didn't know that they were unstable internally. The nobles had already informed me secretly. When their troops boarded the ship, I knew... It wouldn't take long for the Yanzhou army coming from the south to fall into the trap I set."

"As the Han Chinese say, this is called turning the tables on the opponent."

There was a hint of joy on Tadun's tough and dark face.

----

Attack Wuhuan externally and suppress the gentry internally.

In August, Cao Cao continued to move north and entered Hejian.

Hejian is located between Zhongshan and Bohai counties. It is located here when you come up from Qinghe River. If you continue north, you will enter Youzhou.

After the Qinghe Cui family pushed the Liu family out to offer sacrifices to heaven, other noble families saw that someone was taking the lead, and more and more people came to Cao Cao secretly to surrender.

In mid-August, the weather is hot.

Zhen Yan took a carriage and arrived at Gaoyang County on the north side of Hejian.

Cao Cao's massive military campaign this time was extremely deterrent to the various aristocratic families.

The Qinghe Liu family has royal blood and has always been prosperous.

But he also could not escape the "poisonous hands" of Cao Cao.

This shows Cao Cao's determination to wipe out the gentry.

After the nobles voluntarily came to him to hand over their land, he distributed the land to the people who had been enslaved by the nobles before.

Then a phenomenon emerged.

The people who were previously enslaved by the nobles became bolder now that they had their own land and the support of Cao's army.

They began to hate the nobles who had previously enslaved them.

The two formed a mutually restraining relationship.

There was no need for Cao Cao to continue killing the gentry. The gentry, whose power had been weakened, were becoming increasingly vulnerable.

Upon learning that Cao Cao had settled in Gaoyang County in Hejian, more and more nobles came to visit him.

Zhen Yan was also sent from Zhongshan by the Zhen family.

She got off the car wearing a smoky pink, light silk dress. Her long legs showed off her plump and rounded curves under her skirt as she walked. Her small, fair feet were wearing embroidered shoes of the same color as her dress.

Zhen Yan, wearing a red jade hairpin and jingling rings, was led by Wei Xu to the Gaoyang County government office where Cao Cao was.

Cao Cao was wearing a black robe and sitting in the central hall of the county government office.

Before Zhen Yan came, he was studying Youzhou's military strategy.

"sit."

Zhen Yan came in and sat opposite Cao Cao's low seat.

She quickly glanced at Cao Cao, whom she hadn't seen for two years.

Cao Cao's majesty grew day by day, and his eyes were as blazing and intimidating as ever.

Zhen Yan retracted her gaze, lowered her head and looked at her chest, and whispered: "My family asked me to ask if my Zhen family is on the list of the state governor to purge the nobles this time."

"Well, then what?"

Zhen Yan bit her lip lightly: "If you were here, let me dedicate myself to you, I hope you can show some mercy."

She didn't want to come and felt ashamed, but she had to come.

The Zhen family previously supported Yuan Shao.

At this moment, survival depends on Cao Cao's one thought.

"Yuan Shao died in Zhongshan. I didn't clean up the Zhen family then, and I won't do it now.

From Luoyang to Chenliu, you have helped me many times, and I will always remember it. "Cao Cao said.

Zhen Yan breathed a sigh of relief: "My family said they are willing to hand over the land that was given to us when Yuan was alive."

Then he said, "I came here to tell you a few things."

"After you killed Lu Bu, Zhen Xin died on the way back. It wasn't suicide as my family said. She was killed by someone.

When I saw her body, her throat was shattered, and someone had crushed her."

"Some elders in the family said that you had someone kill her behind her back. But I know that's not the case. If you wanted to kill her, you wouldn't let her go. If you agree to let her go, you won't kill her again."

The spies in Yanzhou had discovered Zhen Xin's death at the beginning, so there were some problems.

However, with the forces of various parties intertwined, anyone who hopes to hold Yanzhou back may do so, and it is impossible to identify the murderer.

Killing Zhen Xin would make the Zhen family hate Cao Cao, and it was probably done by someone out of convenience.

“One more thing, I know you are investigating the human trafficking to Wuhuan.

In addition to the Jizhou nobles you discovered, a similar situation actually occurred about three years ago."

"At that time, someone spread the news among the nobles in Jizhou and collected a large number of refugees."

Three years ago, Cao Cao had just taken control of Yanzhou and news was not flowing smoothly.

It was the first time he heard that someone was secretly trying to recruit people at that time.

"Three years ago, a piece of news spread among the nobles of Jizhou. Someone said that he could refine an elixir that could prolong life. The recipe was the immortal recipe that the Qin Emperor had obtained from overseas.

Although the elixir he refines cannot make people live forever, it can extend their lifespan for several years, but it requires people to be exchanged for it. "

Zhen Xin said: "After eating it, some elders from noble families became more energetic, and some people's gray hair turned black and looked several years younger."

"This matter has been quietly spread among the nobles of Jizhou for a while. It's very obscure, and I don't think anyone will take the initiative to tell you.

There was a noble family in Jizhou who took a lot of refugees on boats and went out to the East China Sea to exchange with the other side. I don’t know who they were.

You're investigating human trafficking, maybe this could be of some help to you?"

As early as several years ago, some people were accumulating population?

who is it?

Cao Cao's eyes swept across the map and fell on a location east of Youzhou.

To the east of Youzhou is Liaodong County.

Few people know that among the heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a man named Gongsun Du.

He was the governor of Liaodong in the late Han Dynasty and the founder of the Liaodong separatist regime.

In history, the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi had nowhere to live after the Wuhuan were defeated by Cao Cao and were forced to flee to Liaodong.

The two men were then killed by Gongsun Du's son and their heads were presented to Cao Cao.

Gongsun Du openly pledged his allegiance to Cao Cao.

But because of the long distance, it actually maintains independence and autonomy.

In the second year of Jianning, Gongsun Du served as Shangshu Lang and also as the Governor of Jizhou, but was later dismissed.

When Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang, he was recommended by his fellow villager Xu Rong and was appointed as the prefect of Liaodong.

After Gongsun Du established his foothold in Liaodong, he attacked Goguryeo in the east, Wuhuan in the west, and Liaodong Peninsula in the south.

As its power grew, it crossed the sea to capture the Donglai counties in the northern part of the Jiaodong Peninsula and expand its territory.

Later, he married his daughter to Wei Choutai, the king of Fuyu, made friends with distant countries and attacked nearby ones, recruited many refugees, and then proclaimed himself Marquis of Liaodong and Governor of Pingzhou.

Under Gongsun Du's management, the Liaodong region became peaceful.

He is a very resourceful person.

From a geographical point of view, it is possible that Gongsun Du took advantage of the turmoil in Han territory to gather population and strengthen himself.

Due to the turmoil in the Central Plains, many people fled to Liaodong.

In the past few years, there were millions of refugees. Someone was secretly accumulating the population. The plan was well planned, which made Cao Cao take notice of him.

Zhen Yan met him and then bowed and left.

Mid-August.

Cao Cao set out from Hejian and returned to Yecheng, the center of Jizhou.

After this screening of the gentry, Cao Cao further stabilized the situation in Jizhou.

According to statistics afterwards, there were more than 40 aristocratic families that were eliminated, and they received a large amount of land returned.

At this time, Jizhou was truly acquired by Cao Cao. He defeated the Yuan family, removed the obstacles of the gentry, and initially calmed the turmoil and hidden worries in Jizhou. Only then could he talk about governance.

Over the past few months, there have also been different changes in other parties.

Yuan Shu was attacked by Sun Ce and Yanzhou in Huainan, and lost another county in a short period of time.

He only had one county left, and was hiding in Shouchun, in a precarious situation.

Yuan Shu wrote to Cao Cao several times within a month, hoping to negotiate peace.

"After this purge of the nobles, most of them obeyed openly, but a small number of them still took action secretly."

"When we were cleaning up the noble families, Yuan Shang secretly contacted several families that supported the Yuan family in the past."

"Very good. Yuan Shang has taken over Yuan Wei's legacy and started to help me with Yanzhou's work."

After returning to Yecheng, Cao Cao met in the study room of the mansion with Guo Jia, who was in charge of the cleansing of the Bingzhou gentry and had also just returned from outside, and exchanged information.

Ling Jin also returned to Yecheng at the same time as Cao Cao, with a full load.

In the afternoon, Ling Jin also came to the study to report to Cao Cao.

"Provincial Governor, we have brought back all the things.

But there is something strange in what was found in the tomb of Marquis Haihun."

"On the way back, not only me, but also several people in the team had the same dream many times. The dream asked us to return the gold in the tomb, otherwise there would be a disaster..."

Ling Jin had an indescribable look on his face:
"On my way back, I repeatedly checked the gold and made rubbings of the patterns engraved on it."

"You can tell at a glance that the Tomb of Marquis Haihun seems to have some special connection with the mysterious tomb at the main peak of Qinling Mountains!"

He asked an attendant to help him open a leather scroll and showed it to Cao Cao about the abnormalities he had discovered in the Haihun Tomb.

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(End of this chapter)