Chapter 220

Chapter 220: The Three-Party Alliance

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 7: Eight Hundred Qinchuan, Holding Guanzhong, Chapter 220: The Three-Party Alliance

From the book: Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 220: The Three-Party Alliance

Gongsun Zan knew that there weren’t so many perfect outcomes, so he didn’t expect to pacify Liaodong in a single battle.

He could only achieve two possible results.

First, killing Liu Yu, and then facing Qiao Yan wouldn’t be a problem.

He wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of Ma Teng and Han Sui.

Because he himself was young enough, he would never underestimate Qiao Yan.

He would also skillfully exploit the friction between Qiao Yan and Yuan Shao, while leveraging his familiarity with the terrain of Youzhou to block Qiao Yan.

Once Liu Yu’s influence was gone, it wouldn’t be easy for Qiao Yan to quickly win the hearts of the people in Youzhou.

Gongsun Zan would also preemptively tarnish Liu Yu’s reputation and then use the forces under his command to steer the direction of Youzhou.

If Qiao Yan rashly ventured deep into the heart of Liaodong, given the territory she currently held, Gongsun Zan had plenty of ways to gain assistance from others and stab her in the back.

This was the most favorable situation for Gongsun Zan.

The second, less ideal option, was to force Liu Yu into a quick decisive battle.

Instead of Qiao Yan’s forces helping him suppress bandits while he hesitated, it would be Liu Yu himself, actively launching an attack on Gongsun Zan!

He was tired of seeing Liu Yu’s indecisiveness and preferred to engage in full-scale warfare before Qiao Yan could deploy more forces to the Youzhou battlefield.

This way, he could also take advantage of the chaos to undermine Liu Yu’s reputation in Youzhou or exploit any mistakes in his command to achieve his counterattack goals.

In this scenario, he still had a way out.

He might even achieve a true cessation of hostilities.

After making up his mind, Gongsun Zan sent out two letters.

With his own strength alone, he couldn’t achieve either of these goals.

With Bingzhou’s support for Liu Yu, once winter approached and the rivers froze, Zhang Liao might strike first.

In this situation, he was bound to suffer.

It was likely that before achieving his goals, he himself would be in trouble.

He needed to find some allies.

So, one letter was sent to Ke Biner, the leader of the Xianbei branch.

The other was sent to Tadun, the nephew of the Wuhuan chieftain Qiu Liju.

As the leader of the Xianbei branch, Ke Biner led his tribe to live north of Youzhou.

To be precise, in the Raole River basin north of the Yan Mountains.

Three and a half years ago, Qiao Yan launched a raid on the Xianbei royal court, and Lü Bu severely injured the then Xianbei chieftain Quidou, leading to his death.

The son of the previous chieftain, Qianman, was forced to flee east and eventually submitted to Ke Biner.

Guo Jia, following Qiao Yan’s orders, intimidated and divided the Xianbei forces outside the border, even establishing contact with Ke Biner and supporting his rise through trade to counter Budugen.

Just as the Han Dynasty could have emperors in the east and west, the Xianbei could also have two kings fighting each other.

But with the further submission of the Southern Xiongnu and Qiao Yan’s military actions in Liangzhou to intimidate the Qiang, a balance of power had formed between the Xianbei, Xiongnu, and Qiang in Liangzhou and Bingzhou.

Thus, the more obedient Budugen completely replaced Ke Biner’s role in Bingzhou.

Geographically, Budugen, being closer to Bingzhou, was more suitable as Qiao Yan’s proxy in the grasslands.

Ke Biner was a smart man and had keenly realized the signs of Bingzhou abandoning him.

Unfortunately, with his current strength, he couldn’t protest this abandonment.

Moreover, within his tribe, as Qianman grew older, some supported him to reclaim the Xianbei chieftain position from Budugen, given his grandfather’s heroic legacy in intimidating Youzhou and Bingzhou from Mount Danhan.

If Ke Biner wanted to prevent his tribe from falling apart, he had to quickly raise the banner of opposition to Budugen and take action.

But doing so might also provoke an attack from Bingzhou.

Risky, but necessary.

This was the situation Ke Biner faced when Gongsun Zan’s letter arrived.

Gongsun Zan outlined this situation in his letter.

He wrote that although Liu Yu pursued a conciliatory policy towards the Hu people north of Youzhou, even establishing markets in Yuyang and Shanggu to foster friendly relations between Han and Hu, Liu Yu was now about to become emperor with Qiao Yan’s support.

If Liu Yu defeated Gongsun Zan, it wouldn’t be Liu Yu staying in Youzhou, but Qiao Yan.

Was that good news for Ke Biner? Not necessarily.

Look at the situation with the Qiang in Liangzhou.

While she recruited Qiang into her army, taught them Han language and farming, and even guided them into other industries, this was all built on the foundation of the massacres in Gaoping City and Ayang County.

For the Qiang tribes split from Huangzhong, she killed some and spared others. What about the Xianbei?

Gongsun Zan didn’t know about the minor cooperation between Bingzhou and Ke Biner’s tribe, but his question wasn’t wrong.

He asked Ke Biner, why do you think you can serve under Qiao Yan alongside Budugen after showing such rising strength?

Perhaps Ke Biner should consider the fate of the Zhong Qiang, who were completely annihilated, rather than the Shaodang Qiang.

Reading this, Ke Biner’s expression changed.

The life-threatening danger Gongsun Zan pointed out was indeed something he had considered.

Because of this personal interest, he momentarily forgot to consider whether Gongsun Zan’s situation was more dangerous than his own, or whether Gongsun Zan was indeed more aggressive towards the Hu than Liu Yu.

For the same purpose, even former enemies could unite.

Especially when it was about survival.

Ke Biner continued reading.

In the letter, Gongsun Zan proposed an alliance with Ke Biner to jointly attack Liu Yu and drive him out of Youzhou, while also trying to recruit Tadun of the Wuhuan to join their forces.

Of course, whether Tadun agreed or not wouldn’t affect the final outcome.

According to Gongsun Zan’s strategy, they would surely break the siege by Liu Yu and Qiao Yan.

If successful, Gongsun Zan would assist Ke Biner in attacking Budugen and help him claim the Xianbei chieftain position.

As for whether Qiao Yan would launch a full-scale attack on the Xianbei?

If she only had Bingzhou, perhaps.

But with troops stationed in Guanzhong and Liangzhou, she couldn’t lead an expedition to the northern deserts like before.

Wasn’t this Ke Biner’s opportunity?

By then, he could rebuild the royal court near Yanran without worrying about Gongsun Zan’s potential betrayal.

“Rebuild the royal court…” Ke Biner read this, his thoughts racing.





Gongsun Zan’s face was inscrutable.

In painting a rosy picture for him, Gongsun Zan had indeed exaggerated.

Ke Biner had ambition and ability, but as a relatively pragmatic Xianbei leader, he hadn’t considered something as distant as rebuilding the royal court.

However, Gongsun Zan had truly grasped his mindset in this letter.

On one side was a life-threatening crisis, and on the other was the prospect of peaceful coexistence with Gongsun Zan after a victory.

These two points directly tipped the scales in Gongsun Zan’s favor in Ke Biner’s heart!

This cooperation was indeed worth discussing!

Ke Biner immediately sent a reply to Gongsun Zan, promising to launch an attack as Gongsun Zan had suggested.

After sending the letter, he began mobilizing his tribe’s manpower.

Meanwhile, Tadun also received a letter from Gongsun Zan.

Unlike the Xianbei, who lived outside the Great Wall, most of the Wuhuan people resided within Youzhou, mainly distributed across the three commanderies of Youbeiping, Yuyang, and Shanggu.

Only the Wuhuan chieftain’s location was further east, in Liaoxi Commandery.

Tadun wasn’t surprised that the letter from Gongsun Zan was addressed to him.

Shortly after the suppression of Zhang Ju’s rebellion in Yuyang, the chieftain Qiu Liju’s health had not been great.

Liu Yu, relying on his position as the Governor of Youzhou and favorable trade conditions, had managed to pacify the Wuhuan, partly due to Qiu Liju’s declining health and waning ambition.

Since Qiu Liju’s son Lou Ban was too young, Tadun, as Qiu Liju’s vigorous nephew, began to take charge of affairs, much like the situation in the Xianbei tribe.

Once Qiu Liju passed away, Tadun would become the next Wuhuan leader.

However, unlike Ke Biner, Tadun wasn’t facing any life-or-death crisis.

Upon reading Gongsun Zan’s straightforward alliance proposal at the beginning of the letter, he even showed a hint of disdain.

He had no need to get involved in this matter.

If Liu Yu won, given Liu Yu’s attitude toward the Wuhuan, Tadun could continue the friendly relations his uncle Qiu Liju had with Liu Yu, maintaining a peaceful coexistence.

If Liu Yu were to become the Son of Heaven in Chang’an, Tadun could cut off the strategic pass of Lulong Fortress between western and eastern Youzhou, making the lands east of Youzhou the Wuhuan’s domain.

If Gongsun Zan won, it would likely be a pyrrhic victory.

The Wuhuan could either claim that not stabbing Gongsun Zan in the back was their way of supporting him, or they could simply reap the benefits of the conflict.

This inaction would allow them to preserve their strength to the greatest extent.

But as Tadun read further, his expression grew serious.

Gongsun Zan said, “Having fought and interacted with your Wuhuan people up to now, I deeply understand what you seek.

The Wuhuan are skilled in battle, yet the territory they occupy is less than a third of that of the Xianbei and Xiongnu. Is this really just due to geographical reasons?”

Gongsun Zan believed it wasn’t.

The real reason was that the Wuhuan lacked the legitimate claim to rule the northern deserts like the Xianbei or Xiongnu.

What did this mean?

Take the Xianbei, for example. The Xianbei’s previous chieftain, Tanshihuai, after repeatedly invading the Han Dynasty successfully, was even approached by Han envoys during the reign of Emperor Huan in the ninth year of Yanxi, intending to confer a kingship upon him and arrange a marriage alliance.

The seal was ultimately not granted.

At that time, Tanshihuai, holding strong power, boldly rejected the Han court’s attempt to win him over.

But because of this seal, even after Tanshihuai’s death and the rapid decline and fragmentation of the Xianbei tribes, the name “Xianbei” remained the undisputed leader of the north.

In this sense, the Wuhuan also needed to make a name for themselves and receive such an imperial conferment.

So, if they were to fight, they should fight Liu Yu and the Bingzhou coalition!

The other Bingzhou force had attacked Chang’an two months prior, defeating Dong Zhuo and reclaiming the Guanzhong region, representing the highest level of combat prowess in the Han Dynasty.

If the Wuhuan could achieve a victory in this battle, they could rightfully demand a kingship from the court in Ye City.

Qiu Liju was old and frail, and Tadun could temporarily become the chieftain due to Qiu Liju’s son being too young. This was a fact.

But his situation wasn’t great either.

It must be remembered that within the Wuhuan, there was a rule of three kings assisting in governance. They could wait until Lou Ban came of age and then easily overthrow Tadun, allowing Lou Ban to become the chieftain.

But if Tadun had a reputation like Tanshihuai’s, bringing more benefits to the Wuhuan, would he still be overthrown?

Don’t talk about how peaceful coexistence with Liu Yu could also bring benefits. In the eyes of the Han people, Qiu Liju had surrendered to Liu Yu!

Tadun stared intently at the words on the parchment before him.

Even though, like Ke Biner who had also received a letter, he clearly knew that Gongsun Zan’s proposal for cooperation at this time was more about self-preservation, it was hard not to be swayed by Gongsun Zan’s words.

Having grown up in Liaoxi and rarely ventured beyond Youzhou, Gongsun Zan’s understanding of the Wuhuan and Xianbei was no less than that of their own tribesmen, allowing him to pinpoint their vulnerabilities with precision.

Under this persuasive call to battle, Tadun could no longer remain a bystander!

If he didn’t want to be sidelined from the chieftain position one day, he had to follow Gongsun Zan’s plan!

That scoundrel Gongsun Zan even ended the letter with a premature congratulations on his demotion to one of the three kings.

What chieftain? That didn’t exist!

Tadun slammed the table and immediately sent a reply to Gongsun Zan.

They would cooperate!

The two replies from Ke Biner and Tadun swept away Gongsun Zan’s previous gloom.

With these two allies, they could make up for the support Zhang Liao and Qu Yan under Qiao Yan had given to Liu Yu.

Moreover, they had the advantage of fighting on home turf.

But at the beginning of November, the news received in Liu Yu’s Yuyang County was that Gongsun Zan’s rear army was retreating from Pinggu toward Wuzhong.

Liu Yu looked eastward.

In his view, the Baqiu River was shrouded in a frosty mist in the early winter.

Perhaps because the narrow sections of the upper river had already begun to freeze along the banks, the river’s flow had slowed considerably.

From the city walls here, the movements of Gongsun Zan’s forces couldn’t be seen, but if they were truly retreating, it made sense.

Liu Yu said to Zhang Liao, “The coastal road beyond Wuzhong often floods, making it difficult for carts, horses, and boats to pass. Since the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty by Emperor Guangwu, the road hasn’t been repaired much, and it’s been over two hundred years now. That’s why I previously had to establish trade markets in places like Yuyang.”

“Gongsun Zan suffered a defeat earlier. If we could cross the river in winter, his current advantage would be lost. It’s indeed better for him to retreat east of Wuzhong. This way, we won’t be able to deal with him for a while, and we’ll have to try getting the Wuhuan to hand him over.”

As Liu Yu spoke, Zhang Liao also looked in the direction of Gongsun Zan’s forces.

For some reason, he had a strange intuition that Gongsun Zan’s retreat wasn’t a retreat but rather a signal for an attack.

And indeed, three nights later, north of Yan Mountain, a cavalry force broke through the mountain pass formed by the Baqiu River and entered Yuyang.

At the same time, Tadun of the Wuhuan came from Youbeiping and joined forces with Gongsun Zan, charging straight toward Yuyang County!