The personal guard acknowledged the order and departed.
Zhang Xin watched the retreating figure of his personal guard, a sense of anticipation stirring within him.
The last time he met Guan Yu was when he and Zhang Ning got married.
In the blink of an eye, almost two more years had passed.
"Time flies like an arrow, days and months like a shuttle; the ancients truly did not deceive me."
Zhang Xin sighed inwardly, "Thinking about it, it's been almost ten years since I transmigrated, yet it still feels like it was just yesterday..."
"Second Uncle, Yun Chang, Ninger..."
In that instant, Zhang Xin suddenly felt a pang of homesickness.
"After taking down Ji Province, I should build tombs for Second Uncle and my father-in-law."
Zhang Xin calmed his emotions and ordered the army to set up camp on the spot, awaiting Guan Yu's arrival.
The next day, Guan Yu, leading two thousand soldiers, found Zhang Xin with the guidance of the personal guard.
Upon meeting, Guan Yu was extremely emotional and immediately performed a grand bow in homage.
"Yu greets Lord!"
Zhang Xin quickly helped him up, a smile gracing his face.
"Yun Chang, it's been a long time."
After nearly two years apart, Guan Yu's face was even redder.
However, the redness on his face wasn't from living well, but from being tanned while guarding the border.
Since the Liang Province battle in Zhongping Year 4, Guan Yu had to part ways with Zhang Xin because he needed to lead the Youzhou Soldiers home.
Upon returning to You Province, the imperial court, acknowledging his past and present merits, bestowed upon him the title of a miscellaneous rank Colonel, placing him under Liu Yu's command, leading two thousand soldiers.
You Province's centuries-old border troubles stemmed from two sources: the Wuhuan and the Xianbei people.
The Wuhuan were relatively easy to deal with.
Although they shared a common origin with the Xianbei people, they had been migrating inland for over three hundred years since the time of Emperor Wu of Han, and their degree of Sinicization was already very high.
Moreover, there weren't many people of true Wuhuan ethnicity.
Historically, after Cao Cao decisively defeated Tadun, most of the two hundred thousand captives were Han Chinese.
Those Han Chinese were either abducted by the Wuhuan or voluntarily sought refuge to escape the chaos of war.
Without Han Chinese slaves, a mere few tens of thousands of Wuhuan, placed among tens of millions of Han Chinese, were quickly assimilated and absorbed.
Otherwise, the Wuhuan people would not have ceased to exist after the White Wolf Mountain battle.
The current situation was actually quite similar.
Zhang Xin's extermination of Wuyan, decisive defeat of Qiuliju, instigation of internal strife among the Shanggu Wuhuan, and release of Han Chinese slaves from Wuhuan tribes had severely weakened them.
Currently, the indigenous people of You Province Wuhuan, scattered and combined, totaled only about sixty to seventy thousand.
This figure even included infants born in recent years.
Furthermore, the opening of markets solved their survival issues, and Liu Yu, following Zhang Xin's advice, dispatched officials to guide them in farming and scholars to teach them to read...
Now, the Wuhuan, apart from retaining some customs, were basically indistinguishable from the Han Chinese.
According to Jishu and others, the young people of Shanggu Wuhuan had stopped shaving their heads in recent years and were learning from the Han Chinese to grow their hair.
Zhang Xin estimated that in just over a decade, the Wuhuan would likely cease to exist as a distinct group.
But the Xianbei people were different.
They were numerous, and their degree of Sinicization was shallow.
Although Zhang Xin's actions had fragmented the You Province Xianbei people into four warring tribes, and Liu Yu had also opened markets to alleviate their survival pressure, there were still some unruly herdsmen.
Due to deductions by their elders, they struggled to fill their stomachs and would still raid the border.
They no longer surged in by tens of thousands as in previous years; now, they broke into smaller groups, ranging from a dozen to one or two hundred, plundering border villages.
Furthermore, after Zhang Xin left, Yan Rou's prestige was not quite sufficient, and the Bing Province Xianbei people also frequently raided the border.
Therefore, Liu Yu placed Guan Yu in Gaoliu, near Bing Province, to resist the Xianbei people.
"It's been almost two years since we parted in Qing Province..."
Guan Yu first lamented, then excitedly said, "Today, I can finally join Lord in punishing the national traitors!"
Zhang Xin felt a bit awkward upon hearing this.
When Guan Yu came to Qing Province for his wedding, he had asked Guan Yu to prepare his army for a campaign against Dong.
However, he had too many generals under his command and forgot about Guan Yu when the army was dispatched.
Later, it was Guan Yu himsg Xin's command, over four thousand troops set off majestically toward Tanhan Mountain.