Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1108 Revenge
Gao Shun and Gao Gan discussed for a long time but could not come to a conclusion. After all, Gao Shun was just a pure general. Although Gao Gan was an old man under Yuan Shao's system, he did not understand the style of Yuan Xi's subordinates, so he did not have a clear idea of ​​what Yuan Xi said in the letter.

During this process, the officials from the school office had been standing quietly by and listening. The senior official saw that the man looked to be around 20 years old and felt a little strange. He thought to himself, you are a spy who has delivered the letter. Even if you are waiting for a reply, shouldn't you go down and avoid it first?
Gao Shun also noticed this. He felt that this person looked familiar. He immediately remembered that he had seen this person next to Yuan Xi once when he was in Jicheng. He stood up and said, "This official looks familiar. What's your name? What's your official title?"

After hearing this, the man stood up straight, saluted and said to the two men, "My humble servant Lu Yu is currently the Chief Clerk of the Procuratorate."

Gao Shun was a little surprised. The chief officer of the Procuratorate was a colonel. The colonel of the Northern Procuratorate was originally held concurrently by Tian Yu. Later, after Tian Yu went to attack the Three Han States, there were news that Zhuge Liang held the position concurrently, but there were also rumors that Yang Feng, the colonel of Black Mountain, was in charge. There were many different opinions, but no one had any definite news.

Under the colonel is the chief clerk, whose official rank is just below that of the colonel. He is responsible for collecting and organizing intelligence from the Procuratorial Office. The ones who are truly responsible for specific affairs should be the five officials and the five officials doctors under the chief clerk.

What surprised Gao Shun was that Yuan Xi actually sent the chief clerk over, which showed that he attached great importance to the matter and did not just ask him to deliver the letter.

Moreover, the Procuratorate was also responsible for supervising all officials. Gao Shun thought that Yuan Xi was afraid that he would not be able to do his job well, so he sent this person to take charge?

Compared with Gao Shun, Gao Gan was more surprised. He paid attention not to the official position but to the name Lu Yu.

He quickly stood up and greeted him, saying, "Are you the son of Lu Zigan?"

Lu Yu clasped his fists towards Gao Gan and said, "That's right. When my father was alive, he once mentioned you, saying that you are a man of great talent and wisdom, and outstanding in both civil and military affairs. I am very fortunate to meet you today."

Gao Shun was a military general who had not initially joined Yuan Shao's circle of aristocratic civil servants, so he did not know Lu Yu. Only after hearing what he heard did he realize that the man in front of him was actually Lu Yu, the third son of Lu Zhi!
Lu Zhi was born in Zhuo County. He studied under the great Confucian scholars Ma Rong and Chen Qiu, and proofread Confucian classics together with Ma Riti and Cai Yong. He was a great Confucian scholar of his time, and was both civil and military. During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he served as the General of the North, and led his troops to defeat the besieged Zhang Jue. When Dong Zhuo was in chaos, he was the only one who dared to argue in court, and was nearly killed for this.

Later, Lu Zhi defected to Yuan Shao and became a military advisor. At that time, his status was higher than all the advisers under Yuan Shao. However, Lu Zhi died in the third year of Chuping (192 AD) not long after defecting to Yuan Shao. At that time, Yuan Xi traveled to this world.

Lu Zhi had many disciples, the two most famous of whom were Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei.

Lu Zhi had three sons, the eldest and the second son, both of whom disappeared in the battle between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan. There are rumors that Gongsun Zan had gone mad before his defeat and killed the two sons, while others said that he died in the chaos of war. But no matter what, the second son never appeared after that, so he must have died, leaving only the third son who was still young at the time.

The third son, Lu Yu, is only nineteen years old now and is not well-known. No one knows where he has gone. Now the high-ranking official Gao Shun has just learned that this person actually holds an important position in Yuan Xi's Procuratorate!
Gao Gan thought that maybe Yuan Xi arranged such an important position for the young Lu Yu out of respect for the previous generation?

But Gao Shun thought that Yuan Xi was good at stargazing and would never appoint mediocre people to important positions, so Lu Yu must have his own strengths. Moreover, the fact that he personally delivered the letter and appeared here also showed Yuan Xi's trust in him.

Thinking of this, the two men hurriedly led Lu Yu to sit on the guest seat, and while they were being humble, they said, "The lord sent the chief clerk here, do you have anything else to say to us?"

Lu Yu shook his head and said, "No."

"The Lord asked Yu to come here because he probably felt that it was difficult to handle this matter properly. Let the two superiors make their own decisions. Yu will do his best to assist you two."

"If Yu thinks that what you two are doing is different from what the lord wants, he will remind you. Under this premise, you can do whatever you want."

Gao Gan and Gao Shun couldn't help but grumble in their hearts when they heard the word "Random". Gao Gan smiled bitterly and said, "That's the problem."

“It’s really hard to grasp this degree.”

Lu Yu nodded and said, "That's true. If you are in trouble, my Office of Procuratorate can also help you with the specific matters."

Gao Gan was overjoyed when he heard this. He was waiting for that sentence and said quickly, "That's great. The chief clerk knows the master's thoughts much better than I do. I will cooperate with him!"

Lu Yuqian said: "I dare not. I can only provide intelligence. If we want to take action, we still have to rely on the soldiers."

Gao Gan said: "No problem, but Bingzhou is hundreds of thousands of miles away from Xiliang, and there are also areas where Qiang and Hu people live together in the middle. It is not known whether it can be passed."

Lu Yu said: "My lord, I have some ideas about this. As long as the negotiations are successful and they are promised huge benefits, the Qiang and Hu people can also be used by my lord."

"My lord said that this move is to completely destroy the arrogance of the Xiliang Army. Their previous massacre of civilians is no longer acceptable, so we can do it to the end."

"But the lord does not want to affect other innocent people, and requires that the target should not be spared, but innocent people should not be killed by mistake. Although this may be inevitable, the scope of the impact should be controlled to prevent the situation from getting out of control." "So Yu guessed that the lord's idea is to use money or benefits to win over the relationship between the Qiang and Hu border people, so that they will give up the marching route, or even directly issue a bounty order, so that the Qiang people, who have a grudge against the Xiliang army for exterminating their clan and slaughtering their villages, will directly attack the target."

"Of course, the latter may very likely use innocent people to fill in the numbers to claim the bounty, causing the situation to get out of control. Therefore, the intervention of the two soldiers is necessary and can also play a supervisory role."

"The ultimate goal is to kill the families of the Xiliang soldiers as a warning to others, to give an eye for an eye, and to exchange blood for blood. Only in this way can we truly strike a blow to the arrogance of the Xiliang army that is committing evil in Liangzhou."

The two nodded in agreement, yet at the same time they were vaguely puzzled. Lu Yu's style of doing things seemed to be much tougher than that of his father?
Lu Yu was thinking back to Yuan Xi's words at this time, "I know Mr. Zigan has a kind heart, but now I ask you to do these dirty jobs, you may not understand."

"But I also want to remind myself of one thing: being kind to your enemies is being cruel to your own people."

"For those enemies who killed their entire family, Han law has always allowed blood revenge, right?"

Seeing Lu Yu nod, Yuan Xi continued, "But what can be done for those who are unable to seek revenge, or whose entire families have been wiped out by the enemy?"

"So this time, even if my reputation is damaged, I will stand up and avenge these people."

"But such revenge can easily lead to the situation escalating and getting out of control."

"There are some people in the Procuratorate who are more resolute than you, but I am not at ease. The reason why I let you go is because you not only know how to draw the knife, but also understand the importance of putting it away."

"I believe you can grasp the proper boundaries of things."

Thinking of this, Lu Yu opened his mouth and began to explain his ideas step by step.

When Gao Gan and Gao Shun heard the details, they couldn't help but look at each other, thinking that it really was a chain of events.

Soon, the Qiang and Hu tribes to the west of Bingzhou received a message from Jinyang City requesting negotiations.

Moreover, the other party thought that there was no need to go to Jinyang, as the envoys had already arrived at the border and they could agree on a meeting place later.

After hearing this, the leaders of the Qiang and Hu tribes immediately sent people to the agreed location. When the envoys from various places arrived, they found that it was Gao Shun who came in person. They couldn't help but wonder in their hearts, "He is the highest military general in Bingzhou, why would he come here in person?"
Lu Yu, who was beside Gao Shun, stood up and explained his purpose to the Qiang and Hu envoys. Everyone then realized that Bingzhou wanted to send troops through the east and west of Liangzhou where the Qiang and Hu tribes were located and attack a city in Xiliang!
In response, Bingzhou will pay a considerable passage fee to the tribes along the way. At the same time, if the Qiang and Hu are interested, they can also send troops to participate in the war and collect a bounty for the enemy's heads!
When they heard the amount of the bounty, the envoys present were immediately tempted. They had originally been at odds with the Western Liang Army, and over the years many of their family members had been killed by the Western Liang Army, forcing them to flee eastward.

In a place like Liangzhou, whoever is more ruthless can survive, but the Qiang and Hu people cannot defeat the Western Liang army, so they have been at a disadvantage overall in recent years. Now that they hear that they can get revenge and money, they immediately become eager to try.

Lu Yu said in a deep voice: "Don't be too happy, everyone. This money is not easy to get, and it is uncertain whether we can return after going deep into the hinterland alone."

"And my Lord asked not to kill innocent people indiscriminately, so it was difficult to determine in advance that Ma and other families of the soldiers from Xiliang who slaughtered Jizhou were the targets."

"It is not easy to get away with revenge under such circumstances, so my Lord will not force you. You can collect the toll and wait and see what happens."

"Even if we want to participate, we must send the best troops in our tribe. Otherwise, we will not be able to defeat the Xiliang Army and will die in vain."

After hearing this, the Qiang and Hu envoys present all became hesitant. This money was not easy to earn, and some of them had already begun to back down.

This was exactly Lu Yu's purpose. Bringing a motley crowd would only do harm. What he wanted was to capture those people who had a blood feud with the Xiliang Army and were determined to take revenge, so that they would obey his orders, attack the rear of the Xiliang Army, and achieve his goal.

After some discussion, the two sides reached an agreement. All envoys went back to report, while Lu Yu and Gao Shun mobilized cavalry on the spot, raised food supplies, and prepared to enter Liangzhou as quickly as possible and attack the rear of Xiliang.

A few days later, a cavalry team of nearly a thousand people quietly entered the Qianghu territory and then disappeared into the vast grassland.

At the same time, Yuan Xi mobilized a large number of Youzhou light cavalry to enter Jizhou, and launched a fight with the Xiliang soldiers led by Ma Chao and his subordinates, regardless of cost and to the death. The situation was so tragic that even in later historical books, it was rarely mentioned.

(End of this chapter)