Ever since he was tricked by the little girl and the trainer, Yuan Yao no longer dared to play cards with them.
In the blink of an eye, a few days passed.
On this day, just as Yuan Yao, Yan Xiang, and Bu Zhi were discussing how to settle more refugees and reclaim more wasteland.
The attendant outside the hall came in with an urgent report from the north.
When Yuan Yao saw this, he sneered in his heart.
You big eared thief Liu Bei, I didn't find trouble with you, but you actually dared to take the initiative to provoke me.
Yuan Yao handed the silk book to Yan Xiang and Bu Zhi.
After the two of them saw it, their expressions changed slightly. They looked at each other and hesitated.
"If you have something to say, just say it. There's no need to hesitate.”Yuan Yao said indifferently.
"Your Majesty, Jiang Ting's cultivation is currently at a critical moment. As long as we wait until autumn, we will be able to harvest a large amount of food and provide sufficient rations for our army.”
"However, if Liu Bei leads his army to attack Huainan, it will definitely interrupt our cultivation and affect the autumn harvest. The hard work of the past few months may be in vain.”
"That's why we must stop Liu Bei's army outside of Huainan, at least not before the autumn harvest.”Yan Xiang said solemnly.
"Huainan has been in war for a long time, and the people are in dire straits. His Majesty has been recruiting refugees to open up wasteland for the past few months, and he has finally recovered a little. If war breaks out again, the people who have just settled down will definitely flee in all directions, and the recovery of the people in Huainan will be far away.”
"Therefore, we must defend against the enemy outside the country. We cannot let the flames of war spread to the newly stabilized Huainan!”Bu Zhi also reiterated.
When Yuan Yao heard this, he slammed the table heavily and said," Very well. I will personally lead the army to meet the big-eared thief Liu Bei. I will not let a single one of his soldiers enter Huainan!"”
"The two beloved ministers can rest assured and preside over the wasteland. Wait for my good news!”
"Yes!" Yan Xiang and Bu Zhi accepted the order and left.
…………
Runan County, Shangcai City.
In the prefect's manor, a banquet was in progress.
"Come, let's toast Imperial Uncle Liu together. I wish that we can capture the traitor Yuan Yao under Imperial Uncle Liu's leadership and render meritorious service to the Imperial Court.”An eight-foot-tall man with a full beard raised a large glass of wine and said to everyone in the hall.
"Yes, a toast to Imperial Uncle!"
Everyone shouted in unison.
With that, everyone downed the wine in their cups.
Liu Bei also raised his wine and said," I am indebted to all the heroes present here for thinking highly of me and being willing to do great things with me. I, Liu Bei, promise you today that I will lead everyone to make contributions and seek a rich future.”
"Alright, Imperial Uncle is heroic and righteous!"
"Let's toast Imperial Uncle again!"
Everyone in the hall agreed.
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the atmosphere of the banquet became even more lively.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Liu Bei took out a yellow silk cloth from his sleeve.
He came down from the hall, holding a yellow silk cloth in his hands."Liu Pi," he shouted,"Gong Du, receive the decree!"”
Liu Pi and Gong Du hurriedly stood up and left the banquet, respectfully kneeling on the ground.
Seeing this, Liu Bei spread out his yellow silk cloth and read aloud," The Emperor issued an edict saying that although Liu Pi and Gong Du were born in the wilderness and were once bandits of the Yellow Turban, the Imperial Court is willing to forgive them for their sins.”
"Today, the two of them have returned to the Imperial Court and followed Imperial Uncle to crusade against the traitor Yuan Yao. This shows their loyalty.”
"Therefore, Liu Pi is now appointed as Changshui Lieutenant and Gong Du as Hengye Lieutenant. They will remain under Imperial Uncle's command!”
Liu Pi and Gong Du were overjoyed when they heard this. They quickly kowtowed to receive the edict and shouted long live.
All along, Liu Pi and Gong Du had been vexed by their former identities as Yellow Turban bandits.
The two of them were originally small local tyrants in Runan. When they saw Zhang Jiao's uprising, they joined the uprising in order to fight for the future of a founding hero.
Who knew that the Yellow Turban Uprising, which seemed to have a great momentum, would be suppressed by the Han court in just a few months? Not only did Liu Pi and Gong Du fail to become the founding heroes of the country, but they also became traitors that everyone hated.
Now that they had a chance to clear their name, how could they not accept it?
He decided to follow Imperial Uncle Liu with all his heart.
Liu Bei saw that his plan had worked and his eyes flashed with joy.
It turned out that Liu Bei had swindled 15,000 soldiers from Cao Cao.
But what kind of person was Cao Cao? How could he not be wary of Liu Bei taking away his soldiers? He had arranged for Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao to monitor Liu Bei and allowed them to act first before reporting.
Thus, although Liu Bei was nominally the commander of the army, if he had any disloyalty, he would immediately be taken down by Zhu Ling and Lu Zhao.
Liu Bei was also well aware of this. The only troops he could control were merely a few hundred remnants brought back from Xuzhou.
Left with no choice, Liu Bei could only have the idea of taking in the Runan Yellow Turban Army.
Runan County was the hardest hit area of the Yellow Turban Uprising. Even though more than ten years had passed since the Yellow Turban Uprising failed, almost all the counties in Runan County were still controlled by the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army.
Among them, there were large factions like Liu Pi and Gong Du who had tens of thousands of troops, and small factions like He Yi, He Man, and Huang Shao who had thousands of troops.
They would either occupy several counties or one county.
As for bandits like Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, and Pei Yuan Shao, they were even more numerous.
It could be said that the entire Runan County had become a den of thieves.
Cao Cao had been busy with the war in the Central Plains, and the decisive battle with Yuan Shao in Hebei was imminent.
He had no time to deal with them for the time being, so he could only turn a blind eye to this den of thieves.
Liu Bei, who did not have any soldiers, used the Emperor's summons to confer official titles to Liu Pi and Gong Du in order to gain their loyalty.
Liu Bei's plan was indeed effective, and he immediately had an army of twenty thousand men.
Although this army was mostly made up of raiders, their discipline was lax, and their combat strength was really hard to compliment.
However, under the continuous training of Guan Yu, who was known for his ability to lead troops, the combat strength of this army had increased by quite a bit, and they were already strong enough to fight.
This way, Liu Bei was even more confident in defeating Yuan Yao. He was filled with pride and wanted nothing more than to charge into Huainan and destroy Yuan Yao.
However, Liu Bei did not know that Yuan Yao was no longer in Huainan. Instead, he had taken the initiative to lead his troops to Runan to cause trouble for his uncle.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。