bookrandom Chapter 693: General of the Northern Expedition
Chapter 693: General of the Northern Expedition
He enjoyed a few days of gentle pleasure at home, accompanied Cai Zhaoji, slept with Zhen Jiang, and taught Diao Chan some special skills. The feeling is indescribable to outsiders.
However, Lu Cheng did not indulge in the gentle life. A few days later, he set off again for Bingzhou.
In the spring of the second year of Chuping, Lu Cheng ordered Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun to lead 30,000 cavalry and infantry troops to approach Guanzhong under the banner of "welcoming back the emperor and returning to the old capital". At the same time, Lu Cheng also sent Guo Jia to assist Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong.
In April of the second year of Chuping, Lu Bu led his troops to fight against Huang Zhong. The two sides fought again and fought for nearly two hundred rounds, but there was no winner.
Li Que and Guo Si originally wanted to lead their troops to launch a surprise attack, but were discovered by Guo Jia in advance. Guo Jia then ordered Zhao Yun to lead his troops to counterattack, defeating the Xiliang troops led by Li Que and Guo Si in one fell swoop.
The Xiliang army was defeated and lost several cities in succession.
Dong Zhuo in Chang'an was furious upon hearing the news, and rebuked Lü Bu and others for their incompetence: "Fengxian, don't you claim to be invincible? Why do you lose to Lu Cheng and Huang Zhong again and again? You are so useless, how can you live up to my trust in you? Come on, take Lü Bu out and punish him with 80 military sticks!"
Li Ru saw this and quickly advised: "Prime Minister, the Liaodong army is extremely powerful and our army has defeated them many times. It is reasonable that General Wenhou and Generals Li Que and Guo Si were defeated this time. I hope that Prime Minister will show mercy and forgive him."
"Humph! Since Wenyou pleads for you, I'll remember this. Go down!"
Lü Bu looked up at Dong Zhuo above him, and a surge of anger surged in his heart. He had charged into battle many times, and had never failed to do his utmost? The Bingzhou Wolf Riders followed him, suffering repeated casualties and no reinforcements.
On the other hand, Li Que and Guo Si, who also suffered a defeat, did not receive any punishment because they were direct descendants of the Western Liang Army.
When he thought of this, Lu Bu couldn't control his anger. But he was alone and weak at the moment, so he could only swallow his anger.
Suppressing his anger, Lu Bu returned home, smashed a few things in anger, and roared: "A real man lives between heaven and earth, how can he be depressed and live under others for a long time?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Bu's wife Yan said quickly, "My husband, be careful with your words. There are ears on the other side of the wall. You can't let the prime minister know about this."
Lu Bu angrily punched the table, then calmed down and said, "Don't be afraid, Madam. I naturally know the importance of this matter."
At the same time, in Situ Mansion in Chang'an City.
Wang Yun was sitting at home when a servant came to report: "Master Bing, there is news from Dong Zhuo's mansion. Lü Bu was defeated and severely reprimanded by Dong Zhuo. When Lü Bu walked out of Dong Zhuo's mansion, he seemed to be indignant."
Wang Yun was delighted when he heard this, then he stood up, paced a few steps, and said, "Observe Lu Bu more recently."
"Yes."
In the Xiangguo Mansion, Dong Zhuo scolded Lu Bu and sent him away. He then called a few beauties to sing and dance to liven up the atmosphere. After that, he called Li Ru over and asked, "Wenyou, this Lu Cheng is so aggressive. How should we deal with him?"
"Prime Minister, if Lu Cheng really wanted to attack Chang'an, he would not have sent only Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong to lead 30,000 troops. Even if the Liaodong troops were elite, they could not break through Chang'an with only 30,000 troops. Therefore, I conclude that Lu Cheng did not really intend to attack Chang'an, but had other intentions."
"Oh? Then what exactly does he want?"
"Last time, we asked the emperor to issue an edict to grant Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Jizhou to the Yuan brothers and Cao Cao respectively. Now, I think Lu Cheng is dissatisfied, so he sent troops to attack and seek an explanation.
Now, Lu Cheng has just occupied Jizhou and has not yet established a firm foothold, so he does not have the strength to send troops to Chang'an. If I am right, Lu Cheng will soon send an envoy to Chang'an to ask the prime minister for an official position."
Hearing this, Dong Zhuo was relieved: "It's just an official position, just give it to him."
Anyway, the emperor was under his control. It was just an official position. It was nothing more than asking the emperor to issue an edict. If he could get Lu Cheng to withdraw his troops and allow himself to continue to enjoy wealth and glory in peace, Dong Zhuo really didn't care about it.
Sure enough, not long after, an envoy from Jizhou met Li Ru and explained his purpose.
After careful consideration, Li Ru proposed to Dong Zhuo to appoint Lu Cheng as the General of the Northern Expedition and Governor of Jizhou of the Han Dynasty.
The Han Dynasty implemented the system of three dukes and nine ministers. In the military system, the highest position was the general, whose rank was equivalent to that of the three dukes.
Under the generals were the generals of cavalry, chariots and cavalry, and guards. Only these generals had the right to open their own offices.
Under that, sometimes there would be five generals, including the General Guarding the Nation, the General of the Palace Army, the General of the Upper Army, the General of the Central Army, or the Generals of the Front, Back, Left, Right and Center.
When Liu Bei later surrendered to Cao Cao, he was appointed as the Left General by the Emperor.
After that there were four generals of expedition, four generals of garrison, four generals of peace, and four generals of equality, such as the General of the Northern Expedition, the General of the Western Expedition, the General of the Southern Expedition, the General of the Eastern Expedition, etc.
Cao Cao later said at a banquet in the Bronze Sparrow Tower that his original wish was to have the words "Tomb of the Former General Cao Hou of the Han Dynasty's Expedition to the West" written on his tombstone after his death.
In fact, what Lu Cheng wanted was to be General of Chariots and Cavalry, or General of Light Cavalry, so that he could have the power to establish a government office.
When Yuan Shao led his army to fight against Dong Zhuo, he simply named himself General of Chariots and Cavalry.
However, these two positions had too much authority, and Li Ru did not want to give it to him, so in the end he only gave him the title of General of the Northern Expedition and Governor of Jizhou.
However, the General of the Northern Expedition was responsible for conquering traitors and resisting invasions. If Lu Cheng wanted to raise troops to attack someone in the future, he could also say that the other party had betrayed the court and disrespected the emperor.
Moreover, there are a large number of Yellow Turban troops entrenched in Qingzhou now. Now that Lu Cheng has the position of General Zheng Bei, he can also send troops into Qingzhou to attack cities and seize land in the name of conquering the Yellow Turbans.
Therefore, Lu Cheng directly ordered Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong to retreat.
When the imperial edict and seal of enthronement were delivered to Jizhou, the news spread quickly.
This piece of news seemed to be only related to Lu Cheng, but in fact it was an announcement to all the princes in the world that as long as you have enough strength and military force, you can force the Chang'an court to grant you an official position.
As a result, the prestige of the imperial court was further reduced, and the fighting among the various warlords underground became more and more intense.
Except for the three states of Youzhou, Jizhou and Bingzhou controlled by Lu Cheng, there were constant wars and rebellions everywhere, whether in the Central Plains, the south, or the southwest.
The powerful princes rushed to expand their territories, while the weak princes could only survive.
When Yuan Shao learned the news, he was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted again. His health was getting worse and worse, and he didn't have much time left.
Ever since Yuan Shao lost Bohai County, the Yuan family of Runan devoted more energy to Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu developed faster.
Soon after, news came from the south that Yuan Shu sent Sun Jian to attack Liu Biao. Sun Jian fought with Liu Biao's general Huang Zu and was shot to death by arrows, just in time to fulfill his oath.
The fierce tiger of Jiangdong fell from then on, and Sun Ce, the young overlord of Jiangdong who was only sixteen years old, continued to serve under Yuan Shu...