At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 118

Zhao Qian looked at Zhou Qi who was kneeling on the ground, but hurriedly helped him up.

He comforted him with kind words: "How can Sun Jian be compared with Ziyi?"

"Zi Yi is the magistrate of Anfeng County. He has been an official for four years and has many virtuous names. Although I am the prefect of Runan, I have heard a lot about Zi Yi."

"Ziyi led the county soldiers to be transferred to the expedition, and recruited [-] strong men as the county magistrate, but it is also reasonable, which shows Ziyi's loyalty to the emperor and patriotism."

Having said this, Zhao Qian's face darkened, and he shouted: "On the other hand, Sun Jian is just a county magistrate, and none of the people he leads are county soldiers. If it weren't for his usual ambitions and relying on Sun's financial resources, how could he be able to do so in a short time? Recruit a thousand people?"

Zhou Qi heard this, but didn't know how to answer.

Sun Jian was the county magistrate of Xiapi before. As the county magistrate, he could only help the county magistrate in handling government affairs, and had no power to command the army.

But now.

Not long after the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, he was able to gather more than a thousand volunteers, which was obviously unusual.

On the other hand, Zhou Qi, more than half of his troops are county soldiers, and as the county magistrate, he also has the right to recruit county soldiers, so it is easier to recruit rebels.

Even so, Zhou Qi only brought a thousand soldiers and horses.

From this, it can also be seen that Sun Jian was a man with deep scheming, and he had long made friends with heroes in secret, and secretly supported his trilogy.

Although almost all the great families and big gentry in those places are doing this, but the Sun family is not even a big gentry, but they dare to recruit so many plays in private, just thinking about it makes people feel chills down the spine.

It was precisely because of this that Zhao Qian, the governor of Runan, had a cold attitude towards Sun Jian's tribe who came to the rescue.

Zhou Qi couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

The number of private soldiers he secretly raised in Anfeng County was far more than [-], but before going out to avoid suspicion, he only brought [-] rebels and [-] county soldiers.

At the beginning, some people thought that Zhou Qi's move was a bit unfounded.

Now it seems that Zhou Qi is indeed planning for a rainy day, and let him secretly warn himself that at least it is necessary to keep a low profile until the majesty of the big man is not completely trampled on the ground.

Even if you pretend, you have to pretend to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty.

Zhou Qi looked at Zhao Qian with a cold face, and persuaded: "Although that is the case, after all, Sun Wentai has a thousand songs under his command, and he led the troops to rescue Zhaoling at a critical moment."

"If Shi Jun's attitude is too cold, it may chill the hearts of everyone."

Zhao Qian pondered for a while, and finally sighed: "Forget it, the crusade against the Yellow Turbans is the most important thing now. Forgive Sun Jian for a mere assistant army Sima, and he can't stir up any troubles."

"At worst, after the Yellow Turban is pacified, I will secretly report to the court and give him a vacant position."

Zhou Qi heard this, and now he understands why in the original history, Sun Jian made great contributions to the crusade against the Yellow Turban, and Zhu Jun's strong recommendation, but he still didn't get any rewards, but only symbolically gave him the honor of being a Sima of another department Official position.

The feelings are hindered by Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan.

There is no intersection between the two in history, and perhaps it was not Zhao Qian's doing.

However, even Zhao Qian could see that Sun Jian had different ambitions, not to mention the other court ministers, whoever made a secret move could wipe out the merits of the powerless and powerless Sun Jian.

With this in mind, Zhou Qi immediately made up his mind to establish a good relationship with Zhao Qian and the Yuan family.

If he had no one in the court to support him, he might be like Sun Jian, no matter how much credit he made, he would be suppressed.

Zhou Qi looked at Zhao Qian and continued to persuade: "Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Zu Mao are all brave and loyal men."

"Now that Sun Wentai is not in the army, the envoy may be able to express his kindness to him, and later recruit a few people as county officials based on his merits. In this way, they will definitely be grateful for the support of the envoy."

It has to be said that Zhou Qi is indeed an old silver coin.

He thought that he would occupy Jiangdong in the future.

Neither Sun Jian nor his descendant Sun Ce are people who have lived under others for a long time.

If his wings can be clipped early, it will also save Zhou Qi some trouble in the future.

These four people were all important ministers of the Eastern Wu in history, and there is no doubt about their ability or loyalty.

Zhou Qi also took a fancy to a few young men, but with his current status, it was almost impossible to poach them under his command.

And with the loyalty of several people, they may not be willing to abandon Sun Jian and turn to themselves.

Zhao Qian is quite different.

Not only did he come from a famous family, but he was also the prefect of Runan, with a very prominent status and status. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion was put down, Sun Jian enlisted several people as county officials on the grounds of their meritorious service.

As long as they are separated from Sun Jian, the relationship will gradually become estranged over time.

When Sun Jian dies in the future, the few people may not follow Sun Ce, who has not yet reached the championship, to conquer the world.

Then, Zhou Qi, an old coin, has an opportunity to take advantage of.

Zhao Qian's eyes brightened when he heard the words, and he sighed, "Zi Yi really has the talent to govern the world."

He followed Zhou Qi's suggestion and asked someone to prepare meat, and hurriedly called Cheng Pu and others to the county government to discuss matters.

However, after Cheng Pu and others entered the city, they were dissatisfied when they saw that Zhou Qi was treated so grandly, but they were left out in the cold.

While they were complaining to each other, they suddenly learned that the prefect had summoned several people to the county government to discuss matters, and they were all a little puzzled.

They had just arrived at the county government office, and before they had even saluted, they saw the indifferent Runan prefect Zhao Qian, who went out to greet him with a smile on his face.

I saw Zhao Qian said kindly: "If Ziyi hadn't reminded me, I would have almost missed a few righteous men."

"Today, the danger of Zhaoling Mausoleum was relieved, thanks to the help of the righteous soldiers leading the army. It is inconvenient to drink alcohol in the army. I will use water instead of wine to toast a few righteous soldiers!"

After speaking, Zhao Qian picked up a glass of cold water and raised his glass to Cheng Pu and the others.

When they were stunned by Zhao Qian's sudden enthusiasm, they happened to see Zhou Qi next to him nodding and smiling in greeting. They immediately understood that the change in the attitude of the prefect of Runan should be thanks to Zhou Qi.

The resentment they had accumulated in their hearts disappeared without a trace, and they hurriedly toasted with Zhao Qian, with smiles on their faces.

Seeing this, Zhou Qi couldn't help sighing secretly.

Cheng Pu, who were still white, was indeed relatively easy to be satisfied now. They only needed Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan, to give them a step, and they immediately cleared up their suspicions, and even felt a little sincere and fearful.

But thinking about it is relieved.

If it were a later generation, if an ordinary person was cordially summoned by a provincial leader, it would probably behave like this, and it would even become their bragging capital for the rest of their lives.

The four of Cheng Pu are still young lads now, and they don't have the status in history, so they are naturally easy to be satisfied.

Otherwise, they would not have followed each other so easily under Sun Jian's deliberate befriending.

After the two sides cleared up their suspicions, they first ate some meat, and then Zhao Qian said solemnly: "Although the bandits have retreated, the Yellow Turban bandits have not suffered too much loss, and they will continue to attack the city tomorrow."

"I wonder if you guys have any strategies to defeat the enemy."

At this time, Juncheng, Dianwei, Xu Chu and others also came to the county government office.

Only the county lieutenant is currently being treated by the military doctor because he was injured in the fight on the city wall today, and he can't lead the army for the time being.

When everyone heard the words, they immediately expressed their opinions.

Some people say that all the forces in the city should be mobilized, relying on the advantages of the city wall and the geographical advantage, to defend Zhaoling County.

Some people refuted it, saying that the city walls were low and in disrepair for a long time, so they would not be able to resist the Yellow Turbans for a long time, and they should have made plans earlier.

The opinions of the public can be roughly divided into these two types.

Both sides hold their own opinions, and both sides are very reasonable. No one can convince the other.

Seeing everyone arguing and arguing, but still unable to decide on a strategy to defend against the enemy, Zhao Qian felt irritable in his heart, but in the end he set his sights on Zhou Qi who had never said a word.

"I heard that Ziyi is very strategic, why did he keep silent during today's discussion?"

Zhou Qi heard the words, but got up and worshiped: "I came to Zhaoling County at the beginning of the Xia Dynasty, and I don't know much about the specific situation in the county. If I speak rashly, I'm afraid it will be unrealistic."

"In my opinion, it's not too late to make a decision after a detailed investigation."

As soon as Zhou Qi finished speaking, the originally noisy room suddenly became quiet.

Jun Cheng, Cheng Pu and others all had unnatural looks on their faces.

No investigation, no right to speak.

Almost everyone, including Zhao Qian and Juncheng, came to Zhaoling County for the first time. Most of the situation in the city was told by others, and I had no time to investigate it myself.

Compared with Zhou Qi's rigor, the people who talked endlessly in order to express themselves, on the contrary, fell short.

Just when everyone was a little embarrassed, Zhou Jin pushed the door open, came to Zhou Qi and whispered in Zhou Qi's ear: "The map needed by the county magistrate, as well as the merchants and old people who are familiar with the nearby terrain and roads, have all been found. .”

Zhou Qi smiled apologetically at Zhao Qian: "In order to understand the details of Zhaoling and the surrounding area, the lower official ordered his subordinates to find these people. Please don't blame me."

Zhao Qian took a deep look at Zhou Qi and said, "We discussed the strategy of retreating the enemy before, and it was indeed a bit too arbitrary."

"The county lieutenant is injured today and cannot continue to command the soldiers to defend the city. Ziyi is quite strategic and good at military affairs. Why don't you temporarily lead the soldiers and horses in the city and be responsible for defending against the Yellow Turban bandits, okay?"

When Zhou Qi heard this, he panicked and said: "A certain person is only a county magistrate, there are not a few people in the house who are higher than his subordinates, and there are envoys sitting here, how dare such a person overstep?"

Zhao Qian waved his hand and said: "Let me act arbitrarily on this matter and let it be settled."

"Ziyi let go of his actions. If you can repel the Yellow Turban bandits, I will definitely ask for credit for you. Even if due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, you failed to defend Zhaoling in the end, I am willing to take this responsibility and will never take it. The son will take the blame."

Hearing this, Zhou Qi immediately restrained his face and bowed: "Meng Shijun will not give up, Qi is willing to be heartbroken, and vows to return the yellow scarf."

Zhou Qi first called the officials in the city and asked in detail about all the matters related to Zhaoling County, then frowned, looked at Zhao Qian and said: "Although the food and grass in the city can last for half a month, the city wall is broken and there is a lack of supplies to defend the city. .It can only last for five days at most.”

Zhao Qian's face changed slightly when he heard the words, and he asked, "In five days, I'm afraid that the left and right Zhonglang will not be able to put down the bandits in Yingchuan. If Peng Tuo and Bocai were to learn from Yingchuan, the consequences would be disastrous."

Zhou Qi frowned and said, "Please don't panic."

He then called the merchants who often come and go to Yinqiang County, and asked, "Wait between Yinqiang and Zhaoling, do you know how the defense of Yinqiang County is?"

The merchant hurriedly replied: "Yinqiang is located at the junction of Yingchuan County and Runan County, and it is built on the back of Yingshui River. There are constant business trips, and it is quite wealthy. It is far better than Zhaoling County that the city wall is often repaired to resist bandits."

Zhou Qi asked several people one after another, and they all got the same answer, so he knew it right away.

Zhao Qian moved slightly in his heart and asked, "Is Ziyi planning to retreat to Yinqiang?"

Zhou Qi nodded and said: "Zhaoling is not a place to guard for a long time. If you insist on stopping the Yellow Turban bandits here, the city will be destroyed in five days."

Zhao Qian's expression changed slightly, and he said, "However, the imperial court ordered me to guard Zhaoling to prevent the rendezvous between the Runan Yellow Turban and the Yingchuan Yellow Turban. If I abandon the city and leave, wouldn't it be against the imperial court's order?"

Zhou Qi said sternly: "The general is outside, and the military order is not accepted. If you know that Zhaoling is not to be guarded and guard it, not only will you not be able to prevent the Runan Yellow Turban from entering Yingchuan, but you will also kill all the officers and soldiers in Runan!"

Speaking of this, Zhou Qi spread out a map and said: "On the contrary, if we abandon the city and leave, Yu Yin will not violate the imperial edict to prevent the Runan Yellow Turban from going west."

However, Zhao Qian pointed to Yan County, southwest of Zhaoling, and said, "What if the Runan Yellow Turbans don't attack Yin Qiang after I retreat to Yin Qiang, but enter Yingchuan from Yan County?"

Zhou Qi shook his head and said, "Neither Yan County nor Dingling was captured by the Yellow Turban, if Peng Tuo entered Yingchuan here, not only would he have to conquer the counties along the way one after another, but he would also have to detour for more than half a month."

"The thieves are anxious to join forces with Yingchuan Huangjin, and they will definitely not go this way."

Zhou Qi pointed to Yin Qiang's location and said, "Let's garrison troops here. If Peng Tuo still insists on entering Yingchuan from Yan County, we can attack Zhaoling and Xihua and cut off their food roads."

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Qi pointed to the location of Changshe and said, "Peng Tuo wants to reach Changshe and Bo Caishi as soon as possible. Yinqiang is the only way to go. They can also transport grain and grass through Yingshui."

"Therefore, whether it is to protect Liang Dao, or to learn from Bo Cai as soon as possible, Peng Tuo will attack Yin Qiang first."

When Zhao Qian heard this, he couldn't help but suddenly realized, but he still said with some worry: "The Yellow Turban thieves are so numerous that they have surrounded Zhaoling County. It may not be easy for us to withdraw our troops."

Zhou Qi smiled and said: "This is easy. If this is the case, we will be able to evacuate Zhaoling County by surprise."

Zhao Qian was overjoyed when he heard the words, and said: "Since Ziyi has made a plan, just act according to the plan, and I will write to the court to explain the whole story."

With the support of Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan, Zhou Qi began to take drastic actions.

While having people demolish the houses in the city and preparing materials for defending the city, he conscripted civilian men to repair the city wall overnight.

Not only that.

Zhou Qi sent more than a dozen elite teams and sent them out of the city in hanging baskets at night. They took turns beating drums to harass the Yellow Turban Army surrounding Zhaoling City.

In the next three days, Peng Tuo urged the Yellow Turban Army to attack the city during the day.

With one night to prepare the supplies to defend the city, Zhaoling City barely resisted the Yellow Turbans' attack.

At night.

A small group of elite officers and soldiers beat drums one after another to harass the Yellow Turban troops besieging the city.

At the beginning, they were extremely nervous and even mobilized soldiers and horses from other places to help.

But after being harassed for a long time, the Yellow Turban Army realized that these were just a small group of officers and soldiers, so they simply ignored them, and only sent a small number of scouts to patrol the night, while the rest fell asleep.

In the early morning of the fourth day.

At this time, the sky was pitch black, and the general of the Yellow Turban Army who blocked the west of Zhaoling City was Liu Pi who defected to Liu Bei in history.

After three days of uninterrupted harassment by the officers and soldiers, although they no longer paid attention to it, the uninterrupted sound of war drums every night still prevented Liu Pi from getting a good rest.

Liu Pi, who was sleeping, suddenly heard a cry of killing.

Thinking it was another small group of officers and soldiers harassing the troops, he covered his ears angrily, turned over and continued to sleep.

But the shouts of death outside were getting louder and louder.

Liu Pi couldn't bear it anymore, got up suddenly, and cursed: "There is no end to the rats, and let people not sleep!"

"Commander Qu, it's not good, the officers and soldiers are coming to kill us!"

Just when Liu Pi was getting angry, suddenly a yellow turban wrestler rushed in, his face was full of panic.

Liu Pi, who had dark circles under his eyes, hurriedly asked, "Isn't it the officers and soldiers who harassed the troops this time?"

The yellow scarf warrior shook his head hurriedly and said: "They are the main force of officers and soldiers!"

Hearing this, Liu Pi picked up his sword and shouted, "Why are you still standing there, blow the horn, send a signal, and ask for reinforcements."

"Woooooo!"

"Choo Choo Choo!"

Not long after, the flames shot up into the sky, mixed with the sound of horns shouting to kill, and spread towards the camp where Peng Tuo was in the distance.

Peng Tuo, who was sleeping, was woken up by his subordinates. When he learned that there was a signal for help from Ximen, he immediately finished the approval and led the army to support him.

However, after Liu Pi sent out the distress signal, he looked at the chaotic camp and immediately shouted: "Pull up my flag and let everyone move closer to this side. As long as we hold on for half a stick of incense, reinforcements will come!"

The Yellow Turbans who were in a panic all around seemed to be reassured when they saw how calm Qu Shuai was. While raising the "Liu" flag, they lit a bonfire and shouted for the nearby Yellow Turbans to gather here.

Zhou Qi, who was leading the charge, saw the panicked Yellow Turbans gathering in the direction of the bonfire, and vaguely heard the shout of "Qu Commander Liu Pi is here".

With a slight movement in his heart, he pointed to the direction of the bonfire and shouted to the left and right: "The head of the thief is there, who dares to pretend to be a Yellow Turban thief and take his head?"

"Someone wants to go!"

As soon as Zhou Qi finished speaking, Xu Chu stood up covered in blood.

Zhou Qi said seriously: "In order not to attract the attention of the other party, we can't bring many people on this trip, is Zhongkang afraid?"

Xu Chu shouted: "It only takes twenty sons of my Xu family village, and I will behead the thief!"

Zhou Qi shouted: "If this is true, Zhongkang should take the lead in this battle."

Next, Zhou Qi ordered Xu Chu and others to change into the clothes of the Yellow Turban Army, and each of them tied a white cloth on their left arm, and mixed in with the Yellow Turban Army that was gathering in the direction of Liu Pi.

Zhou Qi was worried that Xu Chu might make a mistake, so in order to respond, he also led the troops to move closer to Liu Pi's direction.

However, there were too many Yellow Turban troops along the way, and many of them did not collapse at the first contact. Instead, they rose up to resist with weapons, which greatly slowed down Zhou Qi and others' advance.

But he said that ever since Liu Pi raised the banner and asked the nearby Yellow Turban Army to shout in unison, more and more people had gathered.

They knew that reinforcements were not far away, and seeing that the commander was so calm, the fear of being attacked at night gradually dissipated.

Everybody knows.

As long as they hold on to half a stick of incense, the officers and soldiers who come to attack the camp will be surrounded and will definitely die.

Seeing that the chaotic situation was gradually stabilized, Liu Pi couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, most of these Yellow Turbans are devout believers in Taiping Dao and have blind trust in their respective commanders.

If it is the Yellow Turban Army whose faith has collapsed in the future, or other troops, it will definitely not be much better than the current Yellow Turban Army.

Seeing more and more Yellow Turban soldiers gathered around him, Liu Pi couldn't help but gritted his teeth and said: "These cunning officers and soldiers, when Commander Da Fang Qu leads the troops over, he will personally lead the troops to kill and slaughter those dog officers. Only in this way can the hatred in my heart be vented!"

"Commander Qu, we have important information to inform you."

At this moment, there were suddenly one or twenty blood-stained Yellow Turban soldiers outside the Yellow Turban Warriors, and they shouted loudly to Liu Pi, who was protected in the middle.

Liu Pi frowned when he heard the other party's accent and felt that they were not from Runan.

But soon, he was relieved.

The accents of those people should be from the northeastern part of Runan, and now that famine is everywhere and refugees are everywhere, there are not a few people in the Yellow Turban Army who have foreign accents.

Liu Pi was protected by so many yellow turban warriors, so he didn't have anything to worry about.

Xu Chu is a native of Qiao County, Peiguo, which happens to border on the northeast of Runan County, and the accents of the two are very similar, which is why Liu Pi was deceived.

Liu Pi yelled at the yellow-turban wrestler who stopped Xu Chu: "Let the leader come over, I want to ask him what information he has."

Seeing that the other party only let him in, Xu Chu was not afraid at all.

Xu Chu was covered in blood. He raised his sword and stepped forward, silently counting the steps in his mind. However, he was stopped by the yellow scarf warrior five steps away from Liu Pi.

"Put the knife down."

Seeing that the yellow turban wrestlers protecting Liu Pi wanted to confiscate their weapons, a stern light flashed in Xu Chu's eyes, and he jumped up and chopped off the two yellow turban wrestlers who were blocking him.

When everyone was shocked, Xu Chu suddenly threw a flying stone, which hit Liu Pi directly in the right eye.

How powerful Xu Chu is.

Within five steps, the flying stone directly blew Liu Pi's eyes, and the other party immediately fell to the ground and howled horribly.

Xu Chu killed several people in a row, rushed to Liu Pi's side in an extremely arrogant manner, and beheaded the opponent's head with a knife in his hand.

I have to say that Xu Chu is indeed rough and fine.

With Liu Pi's martial arts, although he couldn't compete with Xu Chu, he could barely do it after fighting him for three to five rounds.

Liu Pi was surrounded by Yellow Turban troops.

As long as he can block Xu Chu's initial attack, those Yellow Turban soldiers who react will soon be able to surround Xu Chu.

It never occurred to me that Xu Chu has the unique skill of throwing stones at people.

He first seriously injured Liu Pi with flying stones, and then beheaded him with a single knife when the opponent had no ability to resist.

However, after Xu Chu killed Liu Pi, he lifted the opponent's head with his left hand and fought with the yellow scarf wrestler who had recovered from his senses with his right hand.

"Liu Pi is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

　Ha, this chapter has [-] words, and there should be another chapter today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)