Anyi City, Hedong, was a rare prosperous city in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

The city is lined with merchants, the streets are spacious, and the bluestone paved roads are clean. Not only is the city more extensive, but the population is also larger than the population of the three cities of Dayang, Xiayang and Yucheng combined.

This city was once the capital of the Wei State in the early Warring States period, and after the Qin and Han dynasties, it has been used as the seat of the Hedong county system.

Annihilated the main force of the Hedong Army led by Wang Yi along the Lianshui River, Liu Wei led the army to march towards Anyi non-stop, some distance away from Anyi, and he saw that the city wall of Anyi had already been planted with his battle flag.

Xu Shu led Dian Wei and Zhou Cang to wait at the gate of the city early, and behind them, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers lined up in a neat formation, waiting for the arrival of Liu Wei's army.

The vanguard led by Han Xian had already arrived at the city, and informed Xu Shu of Liu Wei's arrival, and under the guidance of a group of officers and soldiers who had entered the city early, they went to the military camp in the city first.

The army slowly advanced towards Anyi City, and from a long distance I saw Liu Wei wearing gold armor walking at the front of the army, and Xu Shu took Tong Dian Wei and Zhou Cang without riding horses, and quickly greeted them.

After running hundreds of steps quickly, the servants approached the army, Xu Shu hugged his fists and bowed deeply to Liu Wei, while Dian Wei and Zhou Cang half-knelt on the ground, clenching their fists and looking up at Liu Wei.

"Your Highness!" Standing in front of Liu Wei with his fists clenched, Xu Shu said to him: "Your Majesty, Dian Wei and Zhou Cang have already taken Anyi, and the people in the city are not allowed to leave the city in the past few days, and the news has not leaked at all!" ”

"The military advisor is hard!" Liu Wei turned over and jumped off the horse, held Xu Shu's arm with both hands, and said to Dian Wei and Zhou Cang on the side: "Dian Wei, Yuan Fu, you two should also get up!" ”

After everyone straightened up, Liu Wei asked Xu Shu: "The military advisor wants this king to drag Wang Yi on the shore of the Lianshui River, and at this time he blocked the news that Anyi City has been taken, I don't know what to do?" ”

Looking at Liu Wei standing in front of him, Xu Shu smiled slightly and said to him: "This matter will be talked about until you enter the city, now that Wang Yi is dead, within ten months, this Hedong County will be the world of His Highness!" ”

Xu Shu was reluctant to say the follow-up strategy here, Liu Wei knew that he must have something difficult to say, so he didn't ask anymore, beckoned to Zhao Yun and the others who followed behind him, and shouted loudly: "The whole army enters the city!" ”

As soon as he led the mighty army into the city gate of Anyi, Liu Wei saw that at an intersection facing the city gate, hundreds of people wearing linen and filial piety were kneeling on the ground and burning yellow paper.

These people were crying while burning yellow paper, and the situation was very sad.

"Why is this the case with the people?" Walking side by side with Xu Shu on the streets of the city, Liu Wei turned his head to look at the group of people who were crying on yellow paper, and asked Xu Shu.

"Don't dare to deceive Your Highness!" After glancing at those people, Xu Shu said to Liu Wei: "Wang Yi has a good reputation in Hedong, and he can be regarded as a good official. He was upright, and the people of Anyi received much of his favor. Hearing that he died on the battlefield, many people who are not afraid of death came to the intersection to mourn! ”

"These people are also loyal!" After listening to Xu Shu's explanation, Liu Wei pursed his lips and said to Xu Shu: "Let them go, but this matter should not be made a big fuss, and it should be managed, and the situation in Anyi should not be unstable because of the people's gratitude to Wang Yi!" ”

"Your Majesty has made arrangements!" Xu Shu nodded in response and followed Liu Wei towards the city.

As the seat of the county system, Anyi City is much larger than the cities of Dayang and Yucheng occupied by Liu Wei before, and the official government is also more magnificent. As for the barracks, they can accommodate two or three hundred thousand troops.

The army went straight to the barracks under the leadership of several generals, and Liu Wei led his own soldiers to Anyi County Mansion with Xu Shu.

There are often documents in the government that need to be transmitted by fast horses, and the content of many documents is very important, and the bustling streets are densely populated, and it is impossible for fast horses to gallop on the streets, so the site selection when building the government will be selected in relatively quiet streets.

The same is true of the county hall of Angeup, where the streets outside the gate are mostly filled with houses and shops selling high-end goods, such as silk cloth mills, and the business is not very prosperous.

Standing at the gate of the county government, Liu Wei looked up and glanced at the three big words "Anyi County" hanging on the door of the county government.

The three characters are engraved in small seal font, the word is gilded, the sun shines on the word, the golden characters shine with dazzling light, and under the background of the black plaque, it is more and more dazzling.

"The Anyi County Mansion is magnificent!" Glancing at the big words on the door, Liu Wei whispered a word to Xu Shu beside him, and walked into the county mansion with his feet raised.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he smelled a faint fragrance.

On both sides of the garden, there are flower beds planted with flowers that bloom in each season. At this time, it is early summer, and the clumps of the moon are blooming.

Red, pink, and white, the flowers of the moon swayed their stalks in the breeze, like dancers in bright brocade, singing and dancing to the melody of the wind.

"That Wang Yi is a person who knows how to play!" Looking at the blooming moon season in the garden, Liu Wei turned his head to Xu Shu on the side and smiled slightly, and said to him: "The king of the official mansion has been in a few places, and it is not uncommon for flowers and plants to be planted in the back garden, but this front yard is ......."

"Your Majesty also feels that planting flowers and plants in the front yard is not in line with the prestige of the county government!" Standing behind Liu Wei's side, Xu Shu looked at the flowers and plants in the front yard and said to the soldiers behind him: "Pull out all these flowers and plants!" ”

A group of pro-soldiers answered, and raised their feet to rush to the flower garden to trample the flowers and plants.

"Wait!" As soon as the soldiers moved, Liu Wei hurriedly stopped them and said to Xu Shu: "Flowers and plants are also lives, and such beautiful things, it is a pity to pull them out." The strategist went back and asked him to find a few gardeners and move them to the backyard! ”

"No!" Liu Wei didn't let these flowers and plants be pulled, and Xu Shu couldn't insist anymore, so he responded and waved his hand at the group of soldiers who were about to rush to the flower garden.

The pro-soldiers retreated behind them, and Liu Wei did not enter the main hall, leading everyone straight to the backyard.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the county chiefs in various places, although they also had other residences, mostly lived in the official mansions and did not move out until they left office.

Wang Yi served as the county guard of Hedong and had always lived in the county government.

If you want to talk about Wang Yi, he can be regarded as a rather elegant person. He not only likes flowers and plants, but also likes to read and play the piano.

The original servants and servants in the county government had all been repatriated to their hometowns when Xu Shu occupied Anyi, and when Liu Wei came to the county government, except for the soldiers who guarded it, the palace was almost empty.

The personal soldiers who followed Liu Wei into the mansion took over the posts of the guards and soldiers, and alerted the entire county government, while Liu Wei and Xu Shu went straight into the study of Wang Yi in the backyard.

In the study, there are hand-copied classics, and in the corner, there are many bamboo slips rolled into a cylindrical shape. Since Cai Lun invented papermaking, bamboo slips have gradually been replaced by paper. However, at this time, the papermaking process was still relatively rough, and the cost of making paper was not much cheaper than writing on silk. Therefore, bamboo slips have not completely replaced the historical status of paper.

Walking to a stack of classics, Liu Wei reached out and picked up a hand-copied copy of "Spring and Autumn", flipped through the two pages very casually, and said to Xu Shu, who entered the house with him: "Wang Yi has read a lot of books, but it's a pity that such people are dead!" ”

"Reading is not useful, just dead reading, there is no pity!" As soon as Liu Wei's words fell, Xu Shu smiled slightly and said to him: "The ministers have already searched for the classics in this house. There are many military classics in the classics, but unfortunately Wang Yi only knows how to read it, but he doesn't know how to understand it, so he has a defeat! ”

"That's what the military advisor said!" Thinking of Wang Yi, Liu Wei felt an inexplicable sentimentality in his heart, that day he cleared the rout in the east of the river, led the army to cross the riverbank, and heard that Wang Yi committed suicide, he also had the same feelings.

Wang Yi can be regarded as a loyal minister, but he is only loyal to Liu Xie, who is now sitting in the court, but not Liu Wei, the former abolished emperor.

In the past, Liu Wei did not expect that fighting the country as the abolished emperor and the king of Hongnong would also be resisted to the death by the courtiers of the Han Dynasty, until he saw Wang Yi's corpse on the shore of the water, he completely understood that there are thousands of people in the world, and his identity does not make all loyal ministers submit wholeheartedly.

Wang Yi, who died on the shore of the water, and Zhu Jun, who wanted to dedicate him to Dong Zhuo, were the most prominent representatives of this kind of courtier.

"Why did the military advisor want this king to delay the victory of the Battle of Lianshui, can you tell me?" Putting the hand-copied "Spring and Autumn" onto a stack of books, Liu Wei turned his head to look at Xu Shu and raised the doubts in his heart to him.

On the shore of the Lianshui River, almost all of Liu Bian's operational plans were prepared for him by Xu Shu in advance before sending troops, and only the interception of the Lianshui and some specific responses on the battlefield later were temporary arrangements made by Liu Wei due to the battlefield situation.

During the few days of fighting with the Hedong army on the bank of the river, Yang Feng and others always asked Liu Wei when he would launch a general attack, and Liu Wei also wanted to take down the defeated Hedong army immediately, but he thought that Xu Shu wanted him to deliberately delay, so he did not make a decision rashly.

Now that the army has arrived in Anyi, the Yanjian area has also entered the control of Liu Bianjun, and the entire Hedong can be taken in a few days.

"Back to Your Highness!" Liu Wei asked again why he wanted to delay the time to win, Xu Shu bowed slightly, clenched his fists and said to him: "Your Majesty wants to delay the time, just to use fewer swords and soldiers and take Hedong as soon as possible!" ”

As he spoke, he took out a cloth full of words from his arms, held it in both hands and handed it to Liu Bian, and said to Liu Bian: "This thing is that His Majesty recently ordered people to persuade the officials of the cities in Hedong, and several nearby cities have already given a reply. ”

Reaching out to take the cloth handed by Xu Shu, Liu Wei frowned slightly, looking at the dense small words on the cloth.

Each line of small print begins with the name of a place, followed by the words "surrender or rejection of surrender" here.

After reading the small words on the silk, Liu Wei raised his head and asked Xu Shu, "What is the explanation?" What does it have to do with procrastination over time? ”

"Attack the city for the bottom, attack the heart for the top!" Bowing slightly, a smile spread on the corner of Xu Shu's mouth, and he said to Liu Wei: "Your Highness and the Hedong Army have always had the upper hand in the battle of Lianshui, but they do not give a decisive blow. In this way, it is as if the enemy army is fleeing while our army is slowly approaching. Often on the battlefield, it is easier to collapse the enemy army than to fight! ”

"I see!" Liu Wei nodded, holding the cloth in one hand, and pointing to the two lines of words on it with the other, and asked Xu Shu: "What should be done with places like Wenxi and Yi who are unwilling to surrender?" ”