Ji Han Grand Commander

Chapter 391 385. Creation
Faced with his brother's earnest advice, Meng Huo naturally disdained it. After all, the stereotype of his brother as a nerd had been deeply imprinted in Meng Huo's mind. No matter how Meng Jie persuaded him, even citing examples that had happened in the Han Dynasty, Meng Huo was somewhat dismissive.

They are just Han people, they can't really kill everyone in Nanzhong, right?
In the end, the two of them parted on bad terms. Meng Jie saw that he could not persuade his brother, and he became disheartened and went to live in seclusion in a secluded place in the south. From then on, he no longer cared about worldly affairs, and spent his days reading and practicing swordplay, preparing to spend the rest of his life like this.

After driving away his brother, with whom he was not very close and who showed Han Chinese habits in every way, Meng Huo did not stop, but immediately led the 72 caves of Nanzhong to Yinan for a looting trip.

Because Liu Zhang was still the governor of Yizhou at that time, he didn't attach much importance to the defense of southern Yizhou. In addition, he was still fighting with Liu Bei, so he had no time to care about the barbarians from the south coming to loot.

The defenses of the Yinan counties were weak, and Yongchang County was hit hardest. Almost every household was looted by the Nanzhong, and many people were forced to flee northward.

Meng Huo also proved his theory and ability with this successful attack, which made the Seventy-Two Caves more convinced. After all, Meng Huo had thought that the Han people were weak before, and now they were absolutely unable to deal with them, and the facts were similar to Meng Huo's expectations.

Meng Huo used the resources looted from this wave to develop Nanzhong for a while, and at the same time prepared his troops for another attack after collecting grain next year.

After a winter, it was the year 213 AD. At this time, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang were still in a stalemate and the winner had not yet been decided. Meng Huo took the opportunity to plunder Yongchang County, which had just recovered some vitality, as well as parts of the areas south of Yizhou County and southwestern Zangke County.

The Nanzhong region under Meng Huo's rule immediately became rich and lived a good life thanks to the two raids. The lower-class Nanzhong people saw that Meng Huo was able to make them rich, so they naturally recognized Meng Huo's title of the King of Nanzhong.

However, in the third year, when Meng Huo wanted to repeat his old trick, he found that he could no longer plunder because the battle of Yizhou had been decided.

In the end, Liu Zhang was still no match for Liu Bei. Liu Bei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang and others surrounded him and brought their troops to the gates of Chengdu. Liu Zhang had no choice but to open the city and surrender, allowing Liu Bei to take Yizhou.

The flames of war and smoke of gunpowder in various places gradually subsided, and the counties of Yinan soon regained actual control. County soldiers were stationed in various places, which made Meng Huo realize that it might be dangerous if he continued to attack Yinan.

In order to avoid being held accountable by Liu Bei later, Meng Huo was very tactful and asked Meng You to be the envoy to take the initiative to submit to Liu Bei, so that Nanzhong could trade normally with the Han people and also pay taxes to the Han people.

At that time, Yizhou had just been conquered and Cao Wei in the north was eyeing it covetously, so they had no time to deal with Nanzhong. Therefore, Meng Huo's request, which was similar to surrender, was quickly accepted by Chengdu.

Meng Huo said nothing and asked his men to inquire about the surrounding situation to see where there was war. At the same time, he stepped up the training of soldiers in the caves to be prepared for any emergency.

Soon, news of the Battle of Hanzhong came, but Meng Huo remained indifferent, because the Battle of Hanzhong was different from the previous Battle of Yizhou, and the defense of southern Yizhou was still very tight. In addition, Meng Huo also knew from various channels who Liu Bei was. Unlike the wimp Liu Zhang, he did not dare to provoke Liu Bei easily. This old hero who had lived half his life would definitely be ruthless.

As expected, although the Battle of Hanzhong lasted for two years, Yizhou did not reveal any flaws, so Meng Huo behaved honestly and pretended to be a good boy. However, he still took the opportunity to bully the small countries around him. If I can't beat the Han people, can I beat you?
In this way, Meng Huo had been in power for nearly ten years, and in the eyes of most people in Nanzhong, he was already considered a wise and capable ruler.

Unfortunately, what happened later was beyond Meng Huo and everyone else's imagination. First, Liu Bei died of illness, and the new ruler ascended the throne. Meng Huo thought he had an opportunity, but Yong Kai and his two men were more incompetent than he could have imagined, so he had no choice but to reconcile with the Han people.

But unexpectedly, Yang Feng could no longer hold back and wanted to leave Nanzhong and join some damn Han people. A civil war in Nanzhong eventually turned into a war between Nanzhong and the Han people.

The result was as everyone knew: Meng Huo was defeated and his family was captured alive.

As for Meng Jie, although he lived in seclusion in the mountains and was content, he still had to go out every year to learn about worldly affairs. Although he and his brother had a dispute due to different philosophies, even now that he was in the mountains, he still missed his brother and Nanzhong's situation.

Hearing that Meng Huo had rashly raised an army because of Liu Bei's death, Meng Jie immediately became restless and prepared to go to Yinkeng Cave to persuade his brother again. The previous small fights were fine, but now directly raising an army is a naked rebellion. If the Han people react and the army to suppress the rebellion enters Nanzhong, there will be no room for maneuver.

Fortunately, before Meng Jie arrived at Yinkeng Cave, he heard that Meng Huo had killed the three bandit leaders and surrendered to the Han army. Meng Jie thought that his brother had repented, so he just breathed a sigh of relief and then turned around to go to his own secluded place.

After all, my brother has turned over a new leaf, so there is no need for me to show up.

But the good times didn't last long. This time, he heard the news about his brother from the Han people who sent an envoy to invite him. Meng Jie didn't know how the great governor mentioned by the envoy knew him, but he still caught the envoy and asked about the current situation in Nanzhong.

The Han army envoy was also very straightforward and told Meng Jie everything about the southern expedition. Meng Jie sat dejectedly on the wooden stake he used as a chair, unable to speak.

What Meng Jie was most worried about had happened. Now Nanzhong would inevitably be punished by the Han army. However, thinking of the Han army commander-in-chief coming to see him, Meng Jie still cheered up and asked the reason for the visit.

The Han army envoy was appointed by Feng Xi, so he naturally knew why his commander-in-chief wanted to find Meng Jie, so he told him about the Nanzhong Council. At the end, he told Meng Jie that because Meng Huo's behavior was too extreme, he could definitely not continue to serve as the master of Yinkeng Cave. The commander-in-chief now hoped that Meng Jie, who had a good reputation, would take this position.

Meng Jie himself probably couldn't have expected that the position of cave master, which had been delayed for more than ten years, would finally return to him.

Meng Huo planned and managed for more than ten years, but in the end, everything ended in vain. It was really fate that played tricks on him.

Meng Jie did not delay and immediately followed the Han envoy to the east of Lao Shui to prepare to meet the Han army commander-in-chief, which was what happened before.

(End of this chapter)