Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 338: Young Master with Great Talent
Continuing south, from Hulao Pass to the ancient capital of Luoyang, the defenses are not that strong. Even the most dangerous passes still need people to guard them. There are thousands of people in Hulao Pass now, and it is difficult to fill up the several layers of the city wall with people standing shoulder to shoulder...
And they were just ordinary defenders, not front-line troops.
The most important thing is... who is willing to fight to the death with a "passerby"?
Even Cao Cao had no desire to stop the Black Mountain Army. Sima Fang increased the population of Hanoi by more than 200,000 without moving a single soldier, which did make Cao Cao very tempted. However, his most important goal now was to pursue the Yuan family in Hebei!
After all, unlike in history where there was no "white rabbit effect", not only is Yuan Shao alive, but Yuan's youngest son Yuan Shang also died in battle, which greatly reduced the factors of internal strife in the Yuan family. It is also impossible for Cao Cao to continue to wait for internal strife in the Yuan family, otherwise it would be tantamount to giving the other party a chance to breathe.
Therefore, when Cao Cao saw Sima Fang's report that the Black Mountain Army intended to go west, he immediately relaxed a lot.
After all, the entire Sili area is now very "desolate".
But Cao Cao did not want to suffer in vain, and sent a fast horse to inform the people along the way in Luoyang and Hulao Pass, and they all thought of preserving the city on the surface, and privately persuading the Black Mountain tribe to surrender...
Zhang Yan was also troubled by this. When he was in Taihang Mountain, he was just the "leader of the alliance" and did not have strong control over the various tribes. Now that the tribes were scattered all over Sili, it was even more difficult for him to command them.
"It is said that the young master has always been very smart. Do you have anything to teach me?" Zhang Yan came to the car and asked Sima Yi who was lying on the bed.
Sima Yi had just come of age the year before last, and Zhang Yan was only seven or eight years older than him, almost thirty years old. However, one of them looked sickly, as he had not been exposed to the sun for a long time, while the other... had a rough beard and very strong bones and joints, and looked more than twenty years younger than him.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I am just a scholar and now I am ill..."
Before Sima Yi could finish, Yu Du, who also had a beard but had shaved it down to stubble, also stepped forward and said to Zhang Yan in front of Sima Yi, "Your Majesty, the cows that we robbed... ahem, the people presented to us by Huang Tian can no longer pull the carts. There is no point in keeping them. Let our brothers eat them!"
"Useless? Then just kill it and eat it! Don't forget to leave the beef leg for the young master." Zhang Yan said with a wave of his hand.
"Yes." Yu Du said, glancing at Sima Yi with a strange smile.
Zhang Yan continued to look at Sima Yi with a smile on his face and said, "Young Master, where were we just talking about?"
Sima Yi: ...
Well, if Cao Cao wanted to recruit him, he could pretend to have "rheumatism". Firstly, Cao Cao at that time did not care much about Zhongda, who was only of little fame; secondly, Cao Cao was proud and would not recruit a sick person.
However, in the case of Zhang Yan, even though he has "put on shoes" now, he cannot change his bandit habits. Pretending to be sick or stupid is obviously useless to Zhang Yan.
"Ahem, Your Majesty, are you talking about the officials along the way who would persuade the people of other tribes to stay? I have... well, three strategies that can be used together.
First, the king should give up any titles such as King of Yan and Great Commander of the Military, and strictly call himself by his military position, and assign positions and titles to the commanders of other departments under his command. Only in this way can the legitimate hierarchy between superiors and subordinates be reflected, and the people who follow him can feel at ease.
The second was to immediately make promises to the people of all tribes, letting them know that they were now heading to Guanzhong, a place with thousands of miles of fertile land and that the population in Guanzhong was sparse at the time. As long as they entered Guanzhong, each household could be given a hundred acres of good farmland.
Third, let the leaders of each tribe know how many Yellow Turban leaders died in the court's expedition, and let the accompanying people know that because of the war between the Prime Minister's Office and Hebei in recent years, the people in the Central Plains have been extra conscripted, and now many men and women of marriageable age have been sterilized..." Sima Yi thought for a moment and then told the story.
Zhang Yan was stunned when he heard this. After Sima Yi finished speaking, he pondered for a while. After a long while, he suddenly slapped Sima Yi's thigh and said, "Seconds!"
Sima Yi was slapped so hard that he almost couldn't breathe. He was about to sit up, but he immediately pretended to have a backache and lay back down.
"Just do as the young master says... Official position? Official position... What title should I give myself? General Tiangong? Generalissimo?" Zhang Yan was thinking about his own title.
However, Sima Yi was very upset and was speechless about this guy who wanted to be "banned".
Return to General Tiangong?
This is what Zhang Jiao called himself back then... Are you afraid that others won't think you are a traitor?
The general...
Who do you think you can beat, Yuan Shao or Bai Tu?
"This move is intended to make the general's name 'legitimate'. It is not appropriate to make boastful statements or use the names of official positions outside the court." Sima Yi said tentatively.
Zhang Yan didn't know whether he was slow-witted or just didn't care about these things. He didn't frown when he heard Sima Yi say that he was "boasting nonsense", but continued to think about what kind of official position to give himself.
"Since the general is going to Guanzhong, why not... lead the title of 'General of the Western Expedition'?" Sima Yi took the initiative to suggest upon seeing this.
The title of General who Conquers the West first appeared in the early years of the Later Han Dynasty. Liu Xiu sent Feng Yi, one of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, to quell the Red Eyebrow Army that was rebellious in Guanzhong. Because Guanzhong was to the west of Luoyang, Feng Yi was named "General who Conquers the West".
From then on, the general who commanded the troops in Yongliang was often named "General Zhengxi", which was below the General Wei and above the General Zhenxi.
In his early years, Cao Cao's dream was to become the General of the Western Expedition...
Although he is not as good as the general or the general of chariots and cavalry, he is just right for the destination of Guanzhong.
Moreover, Yang Feng would not have any opinion towards Zhang Yan because of this. After all, Yang Feng was directly appointed General of Chariots and Cavalry for his contribution in escorting the Han Emperor back to the east - of course, it was just a title.
Liu Xie had already given official titles to the "heroes" he wanted to win over. More than ten years ago, at the peak of Huangfu Song's career, he was only the Left General of Cavalry!
After listening to Sima Yi's explanation, Zhang Yan felt a little awkward because his rank was lower than Yang Feng's. However, because his position as General of the Western Expedition happened to correspond to the Yongliang area, Zhang Yan finally accepted Sima Yi's opinion.
It happened that Zhang Yan had not yet passed Luoyang at this time, so he sent people directly eastward to deliver a letter to Xudu - recommending himself as the General of the Western Expedition.
This was also what Sima Yi taught him. If Zhang Yan wanted to go to Guanzhong at this time, Cao Cao would not disagree.
As for the leaders of other tribes, Zhang Yan also appointed them as generals of various titles and promised each tribe that after entering Guanzhong, everyone would have good land to share. He also did not forget to slander Cao Cao for overdrawing the manpower of the Central Plains and even forcibly conscripting generals!
And they continued to coerce the people along the way, temporarily stopping the team from "slimming down"...
The defenders of Luoyang, Han Fu and Meng Tan, did not dare to show their heads, and almost let the Black Mountain Army pass in vain.
Finally, in July of the sixth year of Jian'an, Zhang Yan's vanguard troops had already joined Yang Feng in Hongnong County. The Black Mountain Army... officially completed its migration, left Hebei, and intervened in the battle for Guanzhong!
