Regarding how to dispose of more than 1,000 Yellow Turban prisoners, Liu Bei held a special meeting in the Central Military Account to discuss and listen to the opinions of the generals.
"There is no need to discuss at all, just kill them directly, lest they waste food," Zhang Fei yelled, looking very impatient.
"It is easy to kill, but it will lose people's support. I have always pursued to take the world with benevolence and righteousness, and my foundation will be lost if the benevolence and justice are gone." Liu Bei obviously disagrees with Zhang Fei's point of view.
Fan Cheng worked as a doctor, Mi Zhu thought for a while, and said: "The Yellow Turban army has a hard time changing the thief's nature. It is better to be punished by hard labor and increase labor.
Liu Bei didn't express his opinion if he thought about it. It seems that I am still not satisfied.
"It's better to join our army and increase our army's strength," Zhao Yun said thoughtfully.
"Well, good idea," everyone agreed.
"The lord might as well let them go and let them return to Xiangyang," Liu Xun said suddenly.
Everyone was surprised. I didn't expect Liu Xun, who has always been prudent, to make such an unreliable suggestion. Our army is already small. Wouldn't it cause trouble for our army if it was returned to Xiangyang? Everyone did not understand.
Liu Xun continued: "A thousand soldiers are too few. If you want to recruit, you must gather the fifty thousand troops in Xiangyang City."
How to collect? Everyone is interested.
Liu Xun went on to explain: "Most of the Yellow Turbans are peasants who have lost their land. They have a simple and honest temperament. Those who put them back will talk about the situation of our army, and the enemy's military will inevitably shake. In addition, Zhang Bao has a suspicious personality and a very strong sense of suspicion. It will cause trouble, and our army is just taking advantage of it. We can find the right time to get rid of Zhang Bao, and the remaining Yellow Turban army can easily be incorporated."
Everyone suddenly realized, but still a little unbelieving.
Liu Bei thought for a while, and agreed to Liu Xun's suggestion. After all a thousand prisoners were released, the Yellow Turban army returned to Xiangyang City. Zhang Bao sent people to interrogate one by one, and found no doubts, but he did not trust the more than one thousand people, so he was just compiled into a camp. The treatment was very bad, the worst food, the heaviest work, and everyone rushed. complain. Everyone was grateful for Liu Bei's grace not to kill again, and felt that Liu Bei was still good, so they regretted returning. Slowly the news spread, and everyone knew Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, so the hearts of the people became more unstable.
After Zhang Bao found out, he was very angry and couldn't kill all people, but he didn't know what to do.
One day, Zhang Bao was groaning on his throne. Suddenly the attendant notified him, and Wei Yan begged to see him. Zhang Bao felt very strange and thought: I left him in the cold for many days. According to his temper, I hated me a long time ago. I don't know what tricks I want to do. Hey, see you first. Thinking of this, he asked the attendant to pass Wei Yan in.
Wei Yan came in and said, "Everyone has been talking about it recently, and there is no fighting spirit. If this continues, Xiangyang is very dangerous."
This sentence came to Zhang Bao's heart. Zhang Bao sighed and said, "Do you have any idea?"
Wei Yan said: "It's all because our army didn't win the battle in the shrinking city."
"Oh, it's not that I don't want to fight, but Liu Beijun is too strong, and we have never won against Liu Bei," Zhang Bao said frustratedly.
Suddenly, a personal soldier came to report, and Liu Beijun's pioneer Chen arrived and led an army of three thousand to fight.
Wei Yan said impassionedly: "The lord gave me a thousand soldiers and horses, and promised to drive away Chen to make our army stronger."
Zhang Bao was overjoyed and promised Wei Yan that if Wei Yan wins, the position of the deputy general of the Tianshi will be Wei Yan's.
After Wei Yan took the order, he led a thousand men out of the city. Wei Yan went out of the city and yelled: "Liu Bei is just a rat generation who weaves and sells banquets. He also has some wine and rice bags. He was lucky to win, and he was able to make an inch. He also dared to attack the army of the "general of the heavenly master"."
Chen Dao was very angry when he heard it, and went forward to fight with Wei Yan. After dozens of rounds of fighting, Chen Dao gradually couldn't beat Wei Yan, so he sold a flaw and ran away. Upon seeing this, Wei Yan waved an army to rush, Chen Dao left hundreds of corpses and fled back to the camp. Liu Bei has always been rewarded and punished, but this time he didn't punish Chen. Everyone was surprised.
Chen Dao was also a fierce general, always commanding Liu Bei's pro-army and protecting Liu Bei, but today he only fought with Wei Yan for dozens of rounds before he was defeated. It turned out that Liu Xun asked Chen Dao to do this on purpose. Wei Yan was always dissatisfied with Zhang Bao. Seeing Zhang Bao's repeated defeats, he made up his mind to take refuge in Liu Bei. One day at night, a confidant by his side sneaked out of the city quietly and delivered the letter to Liu Bei. Liu Bei facilitated Liu Xun’s discussion and helped Wei Yan gain Zhang Bao’s trust first. Wei Yan was looking for an opportunity to kill Zhang Bao, so that he could take down the city of Xiangyang without blood, and he could gather the army, killing two birds with one stone.
Zhang Bao was very happy to see that Wei Yan defeated Chen Dao, so he wanted to make Wei Yan the "Vice General of the Heavenly Master", but was blocked by the military master Chengxian. Although Zhang Bao didn't promote Wei Yan, he also rewarded him with a lot of gold and silver treasures, and he trusted Wei Yan even more.
Several of the Yellow Turbans who had been put back into the army could not bear Zhang Bao's suspicion and ran away, but they were captured by Zhang Bao and the owl showed up. The rest of the people were shocked, very angry, daring not to speak, and more and more people were dissatisfied. Zhang Bao thought that everyone had obeyed. He was very happy. He was so drunk every day, living a life of drunkenness and dreams. But I don't know, the danger is approaching quietly, and the disaster is not far away.
Seeing that the time was right, Wei Yan sent people to contact Liu Bei and Liu Xun to get in touch with the matter. Wei Yan rushed to contact the soldiers who were dissatisfied with Zhang Bao, especially those who had been captured, and prepared to kill Zhang Bao together as soon as the day came.
On the appointed day, Wei Yan led some rebel soldiers into Zhang Bao's hall, killed Zhang Bao's guards, rushed into the bedroom, and killed Zhang Bao who was sleeping soundly. The south gate of the city wall was opened again, and Liu Bei's army, who had been ambushing outside, was released. Liu Xun led the army in rushing in, shouting that the Yellow Turban army would surrender, and would not kill innocent people or nuisance the people.
However, there were still more than 10,000 Yellow Turbans occupying the Chengdong Camp. They refused to surrender because they did not understand the situation. Liu Bei wanted to persuade him personally, but Liu Xun stopped him. Liu Xun generously said: "The lord is the foundation of our army. If there is something wrong with the lord, our army will inevitably die. Let me go. I will definitely persuade them to join our army."
After speaking, Liu Xun rode to Chengdong Daying alone to answer the doubts of the soldiers in the Yellow Turban. The soldiers in the Yellow Turban had long heard of Liu Xun's wiseness and Liu Xun came to the camp alone. They admired Liu Xun's courage very much. Since Liu Xun answered all their doubts, they were willing to surrender.
After this battle, Liu Bei clearly recognized Liu Xun's talents, and was relieved to hand over the military strategy to Liu Xun completely. I am responsible for the overall coordination of the work.
Liu Xun reorganized the surrendered Yellow Turban Army and the Jingzhou soldiers brought by Liu Qi, excluding war casualties, the old, the weak, and the sick, and there were more than 55,000 in total. Among them, there are more than 10,000 cavalry and more than 40,000 infantrymen. The county town of Xiangyang belongs to the county without expecting the wind to descend.
Liu Xun finally obtained the coveted territory, and the army initially developed and expanded. After this battle, Liu Xun's prestige was further enhanced. His concubine Mi and his younger sister Liu Chun also came to Xiangyang, and the family was finally reunited, and there was no need to be displaced.
Although the army now has a total of more than 50,000 people, the quality of its personnel is not high and the discipline is lax. How to train this army has become a difficult problem for Liu Xun.
How is Liu Xun prepared to train this army