Chương 383: Qingzhou, the Eastern Expedition Ends

The soldier next to him asked, "Boss, is that Zhou Cang? Is it really the Zhou Cang who served the Great Teacher of Virtue back then?"

The leader scratched his head and said, "It seems so... I've seen him before, he looks quite similar."

The soldier then asked, "So, should we surrender or not?"

The leader hesitated for a moment, then asked the people below the city:

"Zhou Cang! The Prince of Yan you're talking about, is he the... the General of the Southern Army... the Prefect of Zhuojun?"

Zhou Cang was taken aback, then burst into laughter:

"Yes! That's right! Let me tell you again, the daughter of the Great Teacher of Virtue, the Holy Maiden Zhang Ning, is now the concubine of the Prince of Yan! We're all family! What are you resisting for?"

Upon hearing this, the leader immediately laughed and said:

"Open the door! Open the door! Our family is here!"

The city gates opened, and the Yellow Turban soldiers swarmed out, kneeling on the ground.

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao stepped forward and addressed them as brothers, creating quite a lively atmosphere.

In the days that followed, wherever Xue Rengui went, he would have Zhou Cang take the nine-section staff and wander around. Zhou Cang would loudly proclaim:

"Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao, under the command of the Prince of Yan, have come on the orders of our lord to persuade you all to submit!"

"The token of General Tiangong from back then is here! Saintess Zhang Ning is now a concubine of the Prince of Yan, and is deeply favored! If you still remember the bond you formed during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, you should lay down your weapons and submit to the Prince of Yan!"

"You all know how the Prince of Yan treats his former Yellow Turban followers! The Yellow Turban brothers from Ji Province back then have all been allocated land in You Province and are living peaceful lives! What are you doing still gnawing on tree bark in the mountains?"

The results were surprisingly good.

Those Yellow Turban leaders who ruled the mountains knelt down on the spot as soon as they saw the nine-section staff.

"This... this is the Great Teacher's sacred artifact!"

"Holy Maiden Zhang Ning! The Holy Maiden married the Prince of Yan? Isn't the Prince of Yan one of our own?"

"Surrender! Surrender! We were originally soldiers of the Great Teacher of Goodness, and now that the Holy Maiden's men have attacked, of course we must submit!"

These words resonated deeply with many Yellow Turban leaders.

They've been hiding and running for years, barely scraping by, and they've had enough.

I heard that the Prince of Yan is good to the former Yellow Turban rebels, giving them land and food. Who wouldn't be tempted?

Furthermore, the nine-section staff was indeed genuine, and Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were indeed veterans of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Immediately, half of the leaders surrendered with their men.

The rest are all die-hards.

They were either used to being mountain bandits, or they had too many blood debts on their hands and dared not surrender, or they didn't believe in this superstition, or they were just latecomers who didn't accept Zhang Jiao's doctrines.

Xue Rengui didn't waste any words; those who refused to surrender were attacked directly.

Gongsun Zan's cavalry was most skilled in field battles.

Those who dared to leave the city to fight had barely formed their battle formation when Gongsun Zan led his iron cavalry to charge forward, annihilating them all in a single charge.

Qu Yi's infantry were most skilled at siege warfare.

Qu Yi set up ladders and pushed battering rams to launch a fierce attack on those who stayed inside the city.

...

In the Northern Sea Kingdom, the Yellow Turban leader was Guan Hai.

This guy is a tough nut to crack; he has tens of thousands of men under his command, occupies several county towns, and is extremely arrogant.

Xue Rengui sent someone to persuade him to surrender, but Guan Hai immediately drove them away and relayed a message:

"I'm doing just fine in Qingzhou, why should I surrender? Let your so-called Prince Yan come and negotiate in person!"

Upon hearing this, Xue Rengui sneered and said:

"Talk to him in person? Does he deserve it?"

The next day, the army marched directly to the city walls of Guan Hai's stronghold.

Standing on the city wall, Guan Hai looked at the orderly army below and felt a little uneasy. This army did not seem easy to deal with.

But he remained defiant and continued shouting:

"Go ahead and attack the city if you dare! I'll be waiting right here!"

Xue Rengui, too lazy to waste words with him, waved his hand and said:

"Attack the city!"

Arrows rained down, pinning down the Yellow Turban soldiers on the city wall so they couldn't lift their heads.

Then the infantrymen carried ladders and rushed up, setting up the ladders and climbing up.

Guan Hai panicked. How could these people be so good at fighting?

He personally led his personal guards to block the breach, but as soon as he showed his face, he was shot in the shoulder by an arrow and almost fell off the city wall.

In less than half an hour, the city wall was breached.

Guan Hai tried to escape with his remaining troops, but was caught up and hacked by Gongsun Zan's cavalry. In the end, he was tied up like a dumpling and brought before Xue Rengui.

Xue Rengui, mounted on his horse, looked down at him and said:

"Didn't you tell me to come and talk in person? Here you are, speak."

Guan Hai's face turned deathly pale, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Xue Rengui waved his hand and said:

"Delay it and handle it according to the rules."

As Guan Hai was being dragged away, he was still shouting:

"I was wrong! I was wrong! Please have mercy!"

No one cares about him.

Next, Xue Rengui and his team cleaned up the area county by county.

Some surrendered, some resisted.

Those who resist, just beat them into submission.

Those who surrendered were incorporated into the military and resettled.

Zhou Cang's nine-section staff played a significant role in this process.

The Yellow Turban leaders, upon seeing this, knelt down as quickly as if they had seen their ancestors.

However, some leaders, though they surrendered, were not convinced and wanted to find an opportunity to escape.

Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao were responsible for doing ideological work, which, to put it bluntly, meant reasoning with them, and if that didn't work, they would resort to force.

Pei Yuanshao patted a leader on the shoulder and said earnestly:

"Brother, if you follow the Prince of Yan, you'll have food to eat and clothes to wear, and you won't have to hide anymore. Following us is much better than messing around on your own. If you want to run away, that's fine, but what happens after you run? Continue being a bandit? What if you get your head chopped off by the government troops one day? Is it worth it?"

The leader thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he stayed obediently.

More than a month later, the entire territory of Qingzhou was recovered.

Xue Rengui stood on the city wall, looking at the fields in the distance that were gradually calming down, and let out a long sigh:

"Finally, it's over. This place is really chaotic."

Gongsun Zan said from the side:

"Don't be afraid of chaos. As long as we manage it well, things will gradually return to normal."

Xue Rengui nodded, then couldn't help but sigh:

"My lord's move is truly brilliant. One nine-section staff is worth an army of ten thousand!"

Gongsun Zan nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right. Qingzhou is completely safe now."

Qu Yi smiled and said, "We recovered the entire Qingzhou with few casualties. This battle was very satisfying!"

Afterwards, Xue Rengui wrote a long report of victory, detailing the process of recapturing Qingzhou, and concluded by writing:

"The entire territory of Qingzhou was recovered, and more than 100, 000 remaining Yellow Turban rebels were captured and over 100, 000 refugees were resettled. Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao made great contributions, and the nine-section staff played an indispensable role in this victory."

...

In just over two months, the four armies recovered all of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, and Qingzhou.

When the news reached Luoyang, Liu Ce couldn't stop smiling.

"Good! Excellent! These guys did a great job!"

He turned to Guo Jia and said:

"The four provinces of Kanto are like soft persimmons, they can be crushed with a single squeeze."

Guo Jia said with a smile:

"My lord is wise. But the real battle is yet to come."

Liu Ce nodded.

...