“So, a strategist can’t be the emperor?”
When Liu Xie first left behind the protection of his court officials, he never imagined that the lumberjack before him wasn’t a lumberjack at all.
Even his tumble down the mountain while trying to escape with Li Jue was part of someone else’s setup! Before he even woke up, they had crafted the whole scene.
If he truly had tumbled down like that, who knows if he’d even wake up at all?
All he saw was this lumberjack being a downright nice guy, taking him back to tend to his injuries, and then having his wife whip up a hot meal for him.
To Liu Xie, the rustic food was way too rough around the edges. Sure, after Li Jue took over, he had been treated a bit better.
But after everything he’d been through, that hot meal felt like a feast fit for royalty!
Despite being mature and quite clever, he couldn’t find any flaws in the simple couple who were leading a mountain life.
Of course, he couldn’t figure out the differences between their environment and the Yizhou he had heard about.
After spending three days sheltered by this kind couple, he overheard their quiet conversation about a son they had lost, who looked somewhat like him.
That’s when Liu Xie suddenly had a rather peculiar thought.
If… if there could only be one emperor in the Han Dynasty, wouldn’t that wipe out the roots of all this chaos?
Dong Zhuo could no longer wreak havoc in Chang’an, using his name to recruit troops and impose taxes.
If that happened, perhaps the chaos could finally settle down.
After all, given his injuries, there was no way he could be recognized by anyone unless they had seen his face before. It’s unlikely anyone would guess his identity.
So sticking around here might not be such a bad idea after all.
He could adopt a pair of foster parents!
Liu Xie wasn’t against the idea of being an emperor, either.
He was well aware that the position of emperor had been passed down by Emperor Ling of Han, filled with high hopes for him, and it was his responsibility.
But the timing just wasn’t right. Now that it seemed like a lifeline had been thrown to him, he made a bold choice without hesitation.
He even picked an alias for himself.
Since his mother’s surname was Wang and he had just come from Chang’an, he named himself Wang An.
That name sounded pretty fitting for a rustic villager.
For now, he would be just a simple villager.
With the mountains separating Yizhou and Sili, Liu Xie couldn’t quickly learn what was happening back in Chang’an.
The couple pretending to be his parents strictly limited any news from the outside.
Little did he know, while those people in Chang’an were still searching for him, Qiao Yan was already sending inquiries about supporting Liu Yu as the emperor towards Youzhou, while news of Liu Xie’s disappearance spread among the neighboring regions.
The states suspected of harboring Liu Xie received the war report first.
The first two to react were the ones closest to Wuguan—Jing Province and Yizhou.
The former’s Nanyang was already chosen by Li Jue as his temporary refuge, just like history’s Zhang Xiu.
Meanwhile, Hanzhong was another choice, spotting the emperor’s uniform pointing to its location.
Liu Yan and Liu Biao received this news practically in tandem and reacted in unison.
After jumping out of their seats in shock, they snatched the message from the messenger, almost questioning if their ears had deceived them.
They had always kept a close eye on the situation in Chang’an.
After all, that was where the emperor resided.
For them, maintaining communication with the Chang’an court was absolutely necessary.
But this sudden upheaval happened too fast.
Just over a month ago, Qiao Yan returned to Liang Province from Bingzhou, and Chang’an was still exchanging letters with them.
Now everything had changed!
No one’s “speed in matters of troops” could reach this level!
Whether or not Liu Xie was truly missing, Qiao Yan had indeed, just as she had promised so long ago, marched towards Sili through Liang Province, capturing Chang’an. That was the undeniable truth.
No one among the old officials in Chang’an perished as a result of this offensive, which was also a fact!
Just these two points were enough to leave one utterly stunned by this achievement.
She had lived up to Emperor Ling of Han’s trust in her during his lifetime.
Receiving the news, Liu Biao rode alone towards Jing Province, leveraging the power of the Jingxiang noble family to establish a foothold there. Liu Yan quickly proposed a plan to reappoint a governor, placing a trusted individual in Hanzhong to completely cut off external routes—
While among the tumultuous heroes of the late Han, they might not rank in the top tier, they could still count as a solid second tier.
But in their hearts now, they shared one common thought: how did she pull it off?
Especially after receiving follow-up news, it was hard not to be even more shocked.
All four clans of Hanyang teamed up with Dong Zhuo and Li Jue, bringing 20,000 troops from Chang’an into Liang Province, yet they were met with Qiao Yan’s counter-attack in the Weishui River Valley before reaching Shanggui, resulting in 4,000 casualties on the spot. The rest were incorporated into her harvest army.
Meanwhile, the passes leading to Chencang and Wudu had already fallen into her hands before she even made her move into the river valley.
Maiwu, a fortified city that Dong Zhuo had reinforced, was also taken down just one day after she laid siege to it.
The two opposing forces in Chang’an settled down quickly as Qiao Yan’s cavalry arrived.
Dong Zhuo was dead, and Li Jue fled.
Those straightforward eight words became the conclusion of this campaign towards Sili.
Every step of this sounded incredulous.
And she actually pulled it off!
Even knowing that since the suppression of Dong Zhuo… no, since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Qiao Yan had relied on her own set of strategies throughout the war, doing what seemed impossible, hearing this news still left them dazed.
They had to ask themselves: If it were them, could they pull this off?
Liu Biao exchanged glances with Cai Mao and Kuai Yue, silently responding.
No way.
But then they suddenly realized something far more terrifying. What they should be worrying about was not whether they could handle the offensive as Qiao Yan did but whether they could withstand it if they were the ones being attacked!
Even though continuous combat can be deadly for any army, if it truly came to that, using the accumulation of grain from the Guanzhong plain after the autumn harvest, they could manage it.
Especially since Li Jue had taken Liu Xie out for a getaway, she had the perfect excuse for her attack.
In subsequent news, Zhao Yun under Qiao Yan captured Yan Xing and stationed his troops at Wuguan.
This provided both an opportunity to search for Liu Xie’s whereabouts among the surrounding mountains and a way to strike at Jing Province’s Nanyang at any moment.
On the other hand, Xu Shu, who was originally just farming in Wudu County, quietly took down Zhang Lu’s men, seized Sanguan, and attempted to take Chen Cang using the Taishi Path as a cover. But who could guarantee he wouldn’t turn around and capture Zhang Lu himself to secure the pass into Hanzhong?
Liu Biao and Liu Yan were both in a dangerous spot.
Putting yourself in Qiao Yan’s enemies’ shoes to think about their situation is completely normal.
“I think the Lord should send a formal letter to Chang’an,” Kuai Yue said with a serious face.
Even though they never made any substantial promises to Dong Zhuo, they just cooperated under the pretense of supporting the little emperor in Chang’an. If you dig deep, they never really had any significant conflict with Qiao Yan.
But looking at the outcome from the alliance with Dong Zhuo, the d*ath of Sun Jian was always hanging over them.
If Qiao Yan hadn’t advanced on Chang’an so quickly, and they had time to turn their gains from pacifying the rebels in Jing Province into internal military strength, maybe they wouldn’t have been so panicked.
Unfortunately, at this moment, they hadn’t even taken over Changsha County controlled by Zhu Jun, and the battle in Chang’an had already concluded.
The situation wasn’t in their hands, so they could only show weakness for now.
Fortunately, they still had something to say.
Kuai Yue suggested, “Make sure the Lord doesn’t mention Sun Jian in the letter—not even a word!”
He said this very seriously.
They could argue that defeating Sun Jian with Dong Zhuo’s power was merely because Sun Jian was acting out of line in Jing Province.
They could even cite his prior impulsive killing of the Prefect of Nanyang and his conflict with Liu Biao as proof that Liu Biao’s actions were merely reactive.
But all of this depended on Qiao Yan not having any bias against Sun Jian and Liu Biao.
But that wasn’t the case.
Even Sun Ce’s official position was granted by Qiao Yan’s edict.
The closeness of their relationships was evident.
So instead of doing something to make excuses for themselves, which would likely provoke Qiao Yan’s displeasure, it was better to clarify their position in Jing Province in the letter.
For instance, they had no thoughts of being independent from the court, and Liu Biao initially obtaining the position of the Prefect of Jing Province was due to Emperor Ling of Han’s appreciation. Politically, they could align with Qiao Yan.
Secondly, Liu Biao had previously been misled by Dong Zhuo, thinking they could help each other, but now it was clear that Dong Zhuo and the Xiliang rebels only saw Jing Province as their escape route, wanting to hold it down.
By saying this, Liu Biao and they could never really be allies.
After Liu Biao put forth that attitude, as long as Li Jue wasn’t too stupid, he shouldn’t seek refuge with Liu Biao.
Thirdly, since they needed to find allies, it made sense to rely on the local noble families in Jing Province to do that without alarming anyone. They should let Liu Biao take care of it.
Meanwhile, Liu Biao needed to show his respect and gratitude to Qiao Yan for her capture of Chang’an, calling her a loyal minister preserving the integrity of the Han Dynasty.
Lastly, Liu Biao had to add that, regardless of whether Liu Xie could be found back in a short time, whether they would maintain Chang’an as the capital or move back to Luoyang, the offerings to the ancestral temple of the Han Dynasty could not be interrupted, hence he was sending his eldest son Liu Qi to Chang’an to assist Qiao Yan with the finishing touches.
The phrasing sounded nice, but essentially, he was sending a hostage to Chang’an.
Outsiders wouldn’t know that, for Liu Biao, his eldest son wasn’t particularly favored, but Liu Qi wasn’t useless and, according to propriety, was Liu Biao’s legitimate eldest son.
After this series of maneuvers, Liu Biao made his position and advantages very clear.
In this situation, if Qiao Yan still wanted to question him and invade, it would be a bit shaky.
Liu Biao’s decisiveness was not lacking at all. After Kuai Yue proposed this long list of responses, he promptly completed the letter to Chang’an.
Liu Yan was also busy.
He was writing to Zhang Lu, insisting he must guard the pass between Wudu County and Hanzhong County against any changes.
At the same time, he publicly declared he would temporarily block the passes between Hanzhong County and other areas of Yizhou, to prevent Li Jue from heading towards Yizhou, escaping to further southern regions.
In reality, he was using Hanzhong as a shield against assaults from Chang’an.
Compared to Liu Yan’s approach, Liu Biao’s well-measured actions were evidently more dignified.
But both were equally frightened.
Yuan Shu, a bit farther away, wasn’t in a better position.
How could Yuan Shu not be anxious?
He had just taken over the position of the Prefect of Yu Province from Dong Zhuo, and before he could even relish in that for a few days, he received the news that Chang’an had been breached by Qiao Yan.
Forget gathering talent from Yingchuan; in that short amount of time, he couldn’t even scold Liu Bei with his title of Prefect.
In just three or four days, he had fallen from the peak to the valley.
His underlings calculated the time and brought him the sealed letter, and it wasn’t even from Dong Zhuo, but from Li Jue who had seized power from Dong Zhuo.
Yuan Shu had every right to curse Li Jue endlessly.
Of course, he couldn’t scold Li Jue for giving him the title of Prefect of Yu Province.
If he said that, wouldn’t it mean he himself felt unworthy of that title?
He couldn’t put it that bluntly.
He had to criticize Li Jue for marching into Liang Province during the autumn harvest, completely disregarding the people’s livelihood—it was absolutely the act of a chaotic minister and a treasonous rebel.
Though what he really thought was, how could someone mess up an attack of twenty thousand men with some inside help to such an extent, not only failing to diminish Qiao Yan’s power but also allowing her to counterattack Chang’an? It had to be something only a foolish person could pull off!
“Those are twenty thousand people, not twenty thousand pigs!” Yuan Shu paced back and forth in the room.
Yuan Huan glanced at Yuan Shu.
Coming from the esteemed Yuan family of Chen County, he didn’t dare to mention that if Yuan Shu suddenly brought out twenty thousand pigs, it might even be a bit of a challenge. It wasn’t the time to criticize Li Jue’s incompetence.
This was entirely a testament to Qiao Yan’s exceptional capabilities.
He lowered his eyes, deep in thought about the current situation when he suddenly heard Yuan Shu turn to him and ask, “Yaoqing, what do you think we should do?”
Li Jue might bring the little emperor this way, giving Yuan Shu a sense of crisis.
After Qiao Yan captured the administrative command, she effectively connected Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Guanzhong into one entire unit, which made it incredibly easy for her to move east towards Luoyang and Yu Province.
No matter how arrogant he was, he knew that the current situation wasn’t too favorable for him.
With Liu Bei at the front, Qiao Yan at the back, Cao Cao to the north, and Liu Biao and Sun Ce to the south—what kind of hellish situation was this?!
Yet Yuan Huan calmly replied, “There’s no need for the Lord to rush, just wait and see how Yuan Shao reacts.”
Yuan Shu was momentarily taken aback, but then realized that Yuan Huan wasn’t wrong.
As a member of the Runan Yuan clan, he did have a comparison group.
Throughout the ages, the conflicts between Yuan Shao and Qiao Yan were always far more intense than those between himself and Qiao Yan.
Even in the current situation, that was still true.
So, that means he only needed to act more in line with the interests of Qiao Yan than Yuan Shao!
Yuan Shu’s brain finally kicked in, and he quickly ordered, “Go! Send someone to Ji Province to gather intel!”
He wanted to see how Yuan Shao would react to decide his own actions!
