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

Chapter 176 Arrogant and Domineering Lu Fengxian

Yangzhou, Shouchun.

Looking at the letter in his hand, Zhou Qi couldn't help but smiled at Tian Feng: "Yuan Gonggong is indeed a person who understands the general situation, and he has agreed to strike peace with Jingzhou."

Tian Feng took the letter, and after reading the contents, he couldn't help sighing slightly, secretly said: "It seems that this plan to provoke Zhou Qi and Yuan Shu to compete has come to nothing."

"However, Yuan Shu is arrogant by nature. Being forced like this by Zhou Ziyi today, he must hold a grudge. Sooner or later, the two of them will have a fight."

Thinking of this, Tian Feng felt relieved.

He bowed slightly to Zhou Qi, and said: "I came here to understand the danger in Jingzhou. Now that the war is over, it is inconvenient to continue bothering General Cheqi."

After speaking, Tian Feng planned to return to Jizhou.

Xi Zhicai smiled and said, "Mr. Yuan Hao will stay in Yangzhou from now on, there is no need to return to Jizhou."

Tian Feng frowned slightly, and asked with some doubts: "What does the play director Shi mean by this?"

"General Hussar has ordered your husband to take up a post in Yangzhou. Because he was worried that he would miss his family, he asked me to bring my family here to be with him for a while."

At this moment, Lu Su suddenly walked out and looked at Tian Feng with a smile on his face.

Behind him, Tian Feng's wife and children followed.

When Tian Feng saw this, he didn't see the joy of his relatives. Instead, his face was full of shock and anger.

With Tian Feng's wisdom, he quickly figured out the key.

He didn't expect that he had traveled thousands of miles to act as a lobbyist for Yuan Shao, only to be sold to Yangzhou in the blink of an eye, without even asking for his opinion.

He originally thought that Yuan Shao had the qualifications to be a hero, and he planned to assist him to help him achieve his great cause.

But today, it seems that the other party is nothing more than this.

Sadness is greater than heart.

Seeing that his family members had already arrived in Yangzhou, Tian Feng knew that he would never go back, and his face turned pale immediately.

Zhou Qi could also understand Tian Feng's mood, and hurriedly comforted him: "No matter where you are, you are pleading for the people and doing things for the court."

"Sir, your reputation is well known and your wisdom and scheming are extraordinary. If you don't give up, Qi is willing to worship you as a military advisor."

However, Tian Feng sighed dejectedly: "I have little talent and learning, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to take on this great responsibility."

Zhou Qi continued to ask: "Sir, if you want any position, please try your best to find it. As long as Zhou Qi can do it, I will accept it."

Seeing Zhou Qi who was full of sincerity and enthusiasm, and remembering Yuan Shao who sold himself to Yangzhou, Tian Feng turned to look at his wife and children, finally sighed slightly, and said: "I only wish to be a small history of the county, to be able to support wife and children."

Now Tian Feng, the knot in his heart has not been resolved. He is not willing to serve Zhou Qi, but he is not willing to accept his favor and let Zhou Qi help support his family, so he plans to only serve as a small historian to earn some living expenses subsidies. Home use.

Zhou Qi pondered for a moment, then turned to look at Xi Zhicai and said, "How about letting Yuan Hao follow Zhicai?"

Xi Zhicai smiled and said: "I can't ask for it!"

Both Zhou Qi and Xi Zhicai were somewhat indifferent to Tian Feng's actions.

As long as the other party can stay in Yangzhou, even if he only serves as a small official in the county, he will be owned by Zhou Qi sooner or later.

As for how long it will take for Tian Feng to return to his heart, it depends on Zhou Qi's performance.

Zhou Qi made a lot of money this time by mediating between Yuan Shu and Liu Biao.

Not only did Tian Feng retain a great talent, he also obtained millions of stones of food and grass from Jingzhou, which was enough to solve Yangzhou's urgent needs.

Nowadays, all parts of Yangzhou are developing according to plan. It can take as short as two or three years, as long as four or five years. There will inevitably be earth-shaking changes.

Zhou Qi ordered Zhou Cheng to lead the troops back to Jiangxia County, and then planned to continue to grow.

The reason for this is not that Zhou Qi has no enterprising spirit, but that he is forced by facts.

Although he has many soldiers and horses under his command, there are not many when they are scattered among various counties.

Nowadays, the refugees are not yet self-sufficient, and the mountains and rivers in various places have not yet been pacified, so Zhou Qi does not really have many troops to mobilize.

If troops are forcibly transferred from various counties and counties, it will inevitably affect the development of the local area, and may even lead to Shanyue's counterattack, which is not worth the loss.

Only by following the strategy formulated by Du Ji, while stabilizing the refugees, using the entrapment strategy to completely quell the Shanyue Rebellion within a few years, can Zhou Qi have the spare power to carry out large-scale expansion.

Otherwise, once the war reaches a stalemate, it is very likely that Yangzhou will be dragged down.

Yuzhou, Runan, Ruyang.

Ruyang was originally not the government of Runan County, let alone the government of Yuzhou.

During the Yellow Turban Uprising, Runan County was one of the main battlefields, and the county government was already quite dilapidated.

Ruyang, the hometown of the Yuan family in Runan, has been preserved very intact. Instead of being baptized by the flames of war, it has become unprecedentedly prosperous because of the influx of many wealthy people and refugees.

In the final analysis, it all depends on the prestige of the Yuan family in Runan.

According to the original historical development, Yuan Shu should live in Shouchun, but now that Shouchun is occupied by Zhou Qi, Yuan Shu simply stationed troops in his hometown Ruyang.

Here, he can truly get the full support of the people in Runan.

But everything has pros and cons.

Once Yuan Shu is defeated one day, Ruyang will definitely suffer the disaster of war, and the Yuan family in Runan will definitely be affected.

At least from now on, stationing troops in Ruyang has indeed brought great benefits to Yuan Shu.

However, it is said that after Lu Bu led his soldiers and horses to plunder all the way to Ruyang, the number of people had expanded from hundreds to 2000.

However, most of the soldiers and horses were young and strong captured by Lu Bu forcibly, and they had not yet formed combat effectiveness.

Even so, Lu Bu's mouth started to bleed a little.

However, Lu Bu was ambitious and unwilling to have only a few men under his command, so he went out to plunder people every now and then.

Zhang Liao, the cavalry captain, advised: "We are no longer under Dong Zhuo's command, and this place is the foundation of the Yuan family in Runan, and the general is under someone else's control."

"If we continue to plunder the population unscrupulously, it may make Yuan Shu unhappy. General, please think twice."

Speaking of the relationship between Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, it is not as many people imagined. Zhang Liao is Lu Bu's loyal subordinate.

Although they were both generals under Ding Yuan before, they were not subordinate to each other.

On the contrary, Zhang Liao became famous at a young age. He served as a county official at the age of fifteen or sixteen. He was famous in the county for his bravery. Recruiting soldiers in Hanoi can be said to be a smooth career.

At this time, Zhang Liao was under the command of General He Jin, and he had soldiers and horses under his command. It could have been regarded as having a bright future.

However, Zhang Liao was in bad luck. Before he could take off through He Jin, his immediate superior was killed by the eunuch.

It just so happened that Ding Yuan was also recruited into Beijing by He Jin at this time, and Zhang Liao returned to Ding Yuan's command.

Originally, Ding Yuan had a heavy army in his hand, and they were all relatively good soldiers in Bingzhou, so it might not be impossible to make contributions in troubled times by following the opponent.

What people didn't expect was that not long after Zhang Liao returned to Ding's command, Ding Yuan was killed by Lu Bu.

Zhang Liao had no choice but to be recruited by Dong Zhuo again.

Dong Zhuo was indeed in power, but his direct line of soldiers was the Xiliang Army, and the Bingzhou Army, except for Lu Bu, was not doing well under Dong Zhuo's command.

Unexpectedly, Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu again, and Zhang Liao became a rootless duckweed again, and followed Lu Bu with the masses.

However, since Zhang Liao always had his own trilogy, he basically led the army alone. Even though Lu Bu was in charge in name, Lu Bu might not be able to mobilize Zhang Liao's troops.

After Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo and gained power, in order to win over Zhang Liao, the general of Bingzhou, he worshiped him as the captain of cavalry.

As for Lu Bu himself, he was named General Fenwei.

This is just a miscellaneous general, although his rank is higher than that of the riding captain, his rank is the same.

Later, Chang'an was broken by the rebels. During the emergency breakout, many of the soldiers and horses under Lu Bu and Zhang Liao's command were damaged and lost. Only a few hundred horsemen remained after leaving Chang'an.

The current Zhang Liao is indeed a general under Lu Bu's command in name, but the relationship between the two is not that close.

Even after Lu Bu captured Xuzhou in history, Zhang Liao still occupied a county and had his own soldiers and horses.

Faced with Zhang Liao's persuasion, Lu Bu naturally didn't dare to ignore it, but he still didn't feel that he had done anything wrong. Instead, he said with a smile, "I killed Dong Zhuo, avenged Yuan Gonggong's family, and did Yuan a great favor. How can he be so stingy when he is strong and full of troops?"

Looking at Lu Bu's indifferent face, Zhang Liao couldn't help but sigh in his heart, but didn't say anything more.

He was now following three bosses, but all three of them were killed one after another, which made Zhang Liao doubt whether he was the one who could defeat them.

Zhang Liao didn't have a good impression of Lu Bu. After all, he was capricious and ungrateful, and he even killed Ding Yuan, who was kind to him.

However, people live in the world, and many times they can only follow the crowd helplessly.

He was born in Bingzhou, and he has long been labeled as Bingzhou.

Now besides Lu Bu in Bingzhou, only Zhang Yang can occupy a place.

After thinking about it, neither of these two people is the master of understanding.

But compared to Lu Bu, who is brave and good at fighting, Zhang Yang is even less worthy of defection.

However, Zhang Liao had just finished persuading Lu Bu when he heard that Yuan Jiujiu had sent people to summon him. He couldn't help but wonder, "Yuan Jiujiu sent people to summon the general at this time. Why?"

He was a little worried, because Yuan Shu couldn't understand Lu Bu's arrogance, and sent troops to plunder everywhere, so he sent troops to question him.

In fact, if it weren't for Zhou Qi's butterfly effect, the current Yuan Shu would have had enough of Lu Bu and would have expelled him from the country.

Lu Bu had no choice but to run north to join Yuan Shao, but he made the same mistake again. Yuan Shao was furious and not only drove him away, but also secretly sent troops to intercept and kill him.

Hearing Zhang Liao's words, Lu Bu couldn't help laughing and said, "This must be to repay Yuan Gonglu's kindness."

Zhang Liao persuaded him, "I don't think Yuan Gonglu is a generous person. He must be displeased when he sees the general looting everywhere. Please be more careful, general."

Lu Bu waved his hands, and said indifferently, "I will avenge Yuan's family. He comes from a wealthy family, how can he avenge his kindness?"

"Wen Yuan, don't worry for now, I will definitely gain something from my meeting with Yuan Shu this time!"

After finishing his speech, Lu Bu immediately held his head high and straightened his horse and halberd to the rear general's mansion.

He got off his horse, handed the red rabbit horse to his subordinates, and then carried Fang Tian's painted halberd, wanting to enter the mansion.

Unexpectedly, he was stopped by the soldiers guarding the gate.

"You are not allowed to bring weapons into the house."

Lu Bu was so arrogant and believed that he was kind to the Yuan family. He immediately flew into a rage. He held the Fangtian painted halberd with eyes wide open and cursed at the soldiers at the door: "I am General Fenwei. How can I leave my sword?"

"Yuan Jiujiu wants to remember my kindness, how dare you, the guard dog, stop me?"

Lu Bu was tall and powerful, and his martial arts were extraordinary, and the aura he brought out of fighting on the battlefield was quite bluffing.

Seeing this, the gatekeepers backed away in fright, their faces turning pale.

Lv Bu snorted coldly in disdain, ignored everyone, and rushed in with Fang Tian's painting halberd in hand.

However, he didn't go far before he heard a thunderous sound exploding in his ears.

"You idiot Lu Bu, how dare you trespass into the Palace of the Empress General!"

Lu Bu turned his head to look, but saw a majestic general in armor and holding a fine iron long knife, leading dozens of soldiers, coming in a menacing manner.

Several archers among them had already drawn their bows and set up their arrows, aiming at Lu Bu.

Seeing this, Lu Bu remembered Zhang Liao's entrustment before he left, and couldn't help feeling tense.

This is the courtyard, the space is small, and Lu Bu has no horses, facing the siege of dozens of people, if he is not careful, he will die in hell.

What's more, there were archers on the other side, so Lu Bu didn't dare to act rashly.

Lu Bu looked at the leading general and shouted: "The general invited me here, what do you want to do?"

The leading general was Ji Ling, who stared wide-eyed and shouted, "When an outsider enters the Empress General's Mansion, he must disarm him. This is the rule."

"Even if you are invited by the general, there is no exception!"

Lu Bu was already suspicious at this time, worried that Yuan Shu had the intention of killing himself, let alone throwing away his weapon.

Ji Ling didn't receive Yuan Shu's order, so he only dared to intimidate, and didn't dare to really conflict with Lu Bu.

In this way, the two sides began a tense stalemate.

Yuan Shu was in the mansion at this time. After getting the news, he couldn't help but became furious. He couldn't help but cursed: "That fellow Lu Bu is so rude. How dare you rush into the mansion with a halberd? Have you ever put me in your eyes?"

Zheng Tai hastily persuaded: "Lv Bu, the jackal is also, the general should not be angry with him."

"The harder Lu Bu is to tame, the more trouble he can cause Zhou Qi by sending him to Lujiang."

"The general should not miss such a good opportunity just because he is angry for a while."

According to the original history, when Zheng Tai came to join Yuan Shu, he would be named the Inspector of Yangzhou, but he fell ill and died on the way to the post.

Since Zhou Qi is now the shepherd of Yangzhou, Yuan Shu naturally did not dare to appoint Zheng Tai as the governor of Yangzhou, so he kept him in the mansion and changed his fate.

At this time, although Yuan Shu did not have Yan Xiang to assist him, he had a more difficult Zheng Tai. It can only be said that things are unpredictable.

Yuan Shu himself was an arrogant and domineering person, but he didn't expect that Lu Bu was even worse than himself.

But he thought of Zhou Qi who had become his confidant, so he could only suppress the unhappiness in his heart and went out to meet Lu Bu in person.

In the courtyard, Lu Bu and Ji Ling were still in a stalemate.

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting more and more dignified, there was a rush of footsteps from far to near.

Yuan Shu walked out quickly and yelled at Ji Ling: "Fengxian is the person I invited, how dare you do this?"

"Stay back quickly!"

It was only then that Ji Ling ordered people to withdraw their weapons, but he did not leave. Instead, he led someone to stand behind Yuan Shu, staring at Lu Bu with unkind eyes.

Seeing this, Lu Bu breathed a sigh of relief, and then said with some dissatisfaction: "Is this the way to treat guests on the highway?"

When Yuan Shu heard Lu Bu calling him his cousin, a look of displeasure suddenly flashed in his eyes, and he thought to himself: "How virtuous and capable is Lu Bu, he dares to call me my cousin to my face?"

"If Zheng Gongye had not listened to his plan, he would not be able to leave this courtyard today!"

Yuan Shu suppressed the anger in his heart, forced a smile on his face, and said: "Feng Xian sent Dong Zhuo's head, and avenged my Yuan family, such a great favor must be repaid."

"I heard that Feng lost troops and generals before Chang'an, and has yet to gain a foothold."

"In order to repay the great kindness, I would like to express Fengxian as the governor of Lujiang County. I don't know if Fengxian is willing to go to the post?"

Lu Bu couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard this.

He currently has no soldiers, no food, and no territory. If he can get a county, he can recruit troops.

Lu Bu believed that with his bravery, he would definitely be able to lay a foundation in this troubled world.

But soon, Lu Bu suddenly woke up and asked: "Isn't Lujiang County the jurisdiction of Yangzhou? How can the Chariot and Cavalry General Zhou Qi, as the shepherd of Yangzhou, be willing to let me take the post of Lujiang County Governor easily?"

Although Lu Bu was arrogant, he was somewhat afraid of Zhou Qi.

The only thing he relies on is his own bravery.

When Zhou Qi confronted Dong Zhuo outside Luoyang City, Lu Bu once fought Dian Wei, but he was at a disadvantage.

If Zhou Qi hadn't saved him face, I'm afraid Lu Bu would have been defeated.

Until now, Lu Bu still feels a little apprehensive when he thinks of Dian Wei.

What's more, in addition to Dian Wei, Zhou Qi also has a fierce general Xu Zhu who is not inferior to Dian Wei.

But he didn't know that Xu Chu was now stationed in Danyang County, and he couldn't escape at all.

Although Lu Bu firmly believed that if he could ride a war horse, he would definitely win over Dian Wei, but he was unwilling to fight with such people for no reason.

Yuan Shu saw Lu Bu reacting, but he said calmly: "Fengxian didn't know that since Zhou Ziyi became the governor of Yangzhou, he sent new governors to all counties except Lujiang, but there was no one. Replace the governor of Lujiang."

"Do you know why?"

Lu Bu asked with some doubts: "But what's the secret?"

Before Yuan Shu could answer, Zheng Tai who was standing next to him immediately laughed and said: "Lu Kang, the governor of Lujiang, is from a noble family in Jiangdong. He has a wide influence in Yangzhou. Even a general on horseback would not dare to offend him easily."

"It is for this reason that the prefect of Lujiang was not replaced."

"The rest of the counties in Yangzhou all have elite soldiers and horses dispatched, but only Lujiang County has only the original [-] county soldiers."

"With Marquis Wen's bravery and combat prowess, is it not easy to attack Lu Kang's rotten Confucianism?"

Lu Bu thought that Lujiang had nothing to do with Zhou Qi, so he was overjoyed immediately, but soon said with a sad face: "I only have two thousand soldiers and horses under my command, and I lack food and grass. It may not be easy to seize Rujiang."

Yuan Shu and Zheng Tai looked at each other, then smiled and said: "Since Fengxian has shown great kindness to me, Yuan family, I will do my best to help you."

"Fengxian already has two thousand soldiers under his command, I will lend you another two thousand."

"With the bravery of Fengxian, leading four thousand soldiers and horses to attack Lujiang, where there are only three thousand county soldiers, is it not easy?"

When Lu Bu heard this, he immediately said with pride on his face: "I regard the soldiers of Lujiang County as if they were chickens and dogs, and I can easily defeat them!"

(End of this chapter)