My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 255 Journey to Monan

After Lu Yi finalized the deal with Zhen, he ordered most of the guards to lead the grain transport team arranged by Zhen to return first.

He himself took a detour to Changshan County with several personal soldiers.

He did not forget that Zhao Yun was a perfect general.

The Xianbei wreaked havoc for a year, although Zhao Yun in history was not affected by this Xianbei rampage.

But now Zhao Yun was not at home, and his mother was the only one in the village. Lu Yi felt a little worried, so he took some gifts and food and went to visit her.

Fortunately, the people of Zhao are as tough as the Han people in Bingzhou, and a village that can produce a Zhao Yun is not an ordinary village.

In addition, the Xianbei people only stayed in Jizhou for a short period of time, so Zhaojia Village was not affected too much.

Although more than ten families suffered casualties while protecting Zhaojia Village, fortunately, Zhao Yun's mother was safe and sound, which made Lu Yi feel greatly relieved.

Zhao Yun is now traveling around with his master, and Zhao's mother is the only connection between Lu Yi and Zhao Yun.

If something happened to Zhao's mother, it would be much more difficult for Lu Yi to successfully subdue Zhao Yun.

Therefore, the first thing Lu Yi did when he saw Zhao's mother was to persuade her to follow him back to live in Luwu.

Luwu was able to withstand the attack of tens of thousands of Xianbei people, which can be said to be impregnable. If Zhao's mother could follow him back to Jiuyuan, not only would her personal safety be well guaranteed, but she would also no longer have to worry about Zhao Yun running away.

The Han Dynasty may have had some bad things.

But whether they are heroes or bears, most of them are filial sons.

At least he is quite filial to his parents.

If Lu Yi could control Zhao's mother, he would definitely be able to take advantage of the situation and recruit Zhao Yun into his army.

However, what made Lu Yi quite upset was that Zhao's mother was still very stubborn. Although she was touched by Lu Yi's concern, she still politely refused.

Lu Yi couldn't use force to kidnap this woman who looked weak but was actually very strong inside.

In that case, the friendship that was originally hard-earned would turn into hatred.

Seeing that Zhaojia Village was also severely affected by the disaster, he donated all the food he brought to all the villagers in Zhaojia Village.

Of course, Zhao's mother got the largest share.

Helping someone in need strengthens one's friendship.

Lu Yi's move immediately received countless expressions of gratitude in Zhaojia Village, where everyone was in a pale mood.

Although Zhao's mother did not want to accept help from others, every household in the village was short of food and clothing. If she refused Lu Yi, no one would have anything to eat, so she reluctantly accepted the food.

Seeing this, Lu Yi finally put down the heavy stone that had been hanging in his heart.

Since you have collected your own grain, you have done me a favor.

With the favor, Lu Yi was confident that because of his high regard for Zhao Yun, Zhao Yun, who was eager for fame and fortune and first joined Yuan Shao, then Gongsun Zan, and finally Liu Bei, would definitely not escape from his grasp.

After the little episode in Zhaojia Village, Lu Yi quickly caught up with the huge convoy.

The Zhen family's reputation itself is very effective in Hebei, and now there are soldiers from the Xianzhen Camp guarding them, so nothing went wrong.

When Lu Yi and Zhen Shi rushed back to Pingcheng with seemingly endless carts of grain, they were immediately welcomed warmly by the people of the city.

Having been hungry for a whole year, the most important thing in their eyes now is not the court laws or local officials.

But it is food that can be seen, touched and eaten grain by grain.

With this food, they will be able to survive this late autumn.

Get through this cold winter.

Get through next year's spring and hot summer.

By the autumn of next year, they will be able to completely get rid of their status as starving people and regain a chance to breathe.

But even the most basic respite would take a full year.

In one year, people starved to death a hundred times.

From this we can see that construction is always countless times more difficult than simple and brutal destruction.

"Great!"

"With this amount of food, Pingcheng will definitely be able to survive this year's famine even if tens of thousands more refugees arrive!"

Chen Gong and other officials who stayed in Pingcheng were all delighted when they saw this.

Now, because Pingcheng continues to provide porridge to the people under Lu Yi's mandatory order, refugees from the surrounding areas have been coming in an endless stream after hearing the news.

The consumption of stored grain in Pingcheng increased greatly, and the income had long been insufficient to cover the expenditure.

Now that so much food has arrived, the burden on Chen Gong's shoulders has suddenly been lightened a lot.

"Finally, the trip was not in vain."

When Lu Yi recalled the confrontation with Zhen's father, he couldn't help but feel a little frightened.

His foresight and the experience of the past two years are still not enough in front of an old fox like Zhen's father.

But the ending is finally good.

He exchanged a non-binding promise for abundant food for Pingcheng for the next year.

However, Lu Yi would certainly not be stupid enough to go back on his word in front of a powerful family like the Zhen family. This would definitely not be a wise move.

"Now that the food has arrived, the palace will need to properly accommodate the refugees who will come to surrender!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Gong immediately nodded firmly.

But then, thinking of the increasing number of refugees who were surrendering, he couldn't help but look worried.

"Your Excellency is right. However, there are a lot of refugees coming in every day. Today, the number has exceeded 300."

"If the situation continues like today, I'm afraid even 100,000 people at the gate of Pingcheng won't be able to stop them in a year!"

"Gongtai, there is no need to worry so much. No matter how many refugees there are, there is a limit. Before the Xianbei invaded, the entire population of Bingzhou was only a few hundred thousand. How could they all come to Pingcheng?"

"One hundred thousand people is impossible, but ten or twenty thousand is possible."

"Now these refugees are starving and clothed, and they are willing to come and surrender as long as they can survive. Pingcheng will not waste food and give up this great opportunity to vigorously develop the population!"

"Right now, Pingcheng has enough food for 10,000 people a year, and my caravan can have some surplus every month. How about this..."

After Lu Yi thought for a moment, he explained to Chen Gong.

"The limit is 20,000 people. As long as the number does not exceed this, no matter if you are male or female, old or young, as long as you can come to Pingcheng, we will accept everyone."

"Subordinate to obey!"

Seeing that Lu Yi insisted, Chen Gong had no choice but to obey the order respectfully.

"However, the public station does not need to worry too much. Since we cannot cut costs, we can just find a way to increase revenue!"

"Now that all matters in Pingcheng are on track and food reserves have been fully stockpiled, I would like to go to the grassland to gain more benefits and money for Pingcheng!"

Seeing that Chen Gong still had a worried look on his face, Lu Yi patted Chen Gong on the shoulder and comforted him.

"Oh!"

"If the county lord takes action, he will surely succeed. I and a group of officials will wait for good news from the county lord in Pingcheng!" Chen Gong, who has now been completely integrated into the core of Lu Yi, naturally understands the relationship between him and the Xiongnu outside the Great Wall. Therefore, he immediately congratulated him with expectation when he heard the words.

"I wonder if Big Brother wants to accompany Shunhe Xianzhen Camp this time when he goes out to the frontier?"

Gao Shun, who had been silent, suddenly stepped forward and asked.

The Hu people fear power but not virtue, so it is reasonable for Gao Shun to ask this question.

"Hesuto is my father-in-law after all, and we have a mutual interest in this, so this is more useful than ordinary favors."

"However, your words are quite serious."

After hearing this, Lu Yi thought for a moment and made arrangements for Gao Shun.

"Pingcheng is our new base, and there is so much food in it that we cannot afford to lose it. You lead the 400 soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp to guard it at all times, and I will lead half of them out of the border this time."

"But there is unrest outside the Great Wall, so it would be better for you to bring more people with you, brother."

Gao Shun was worried about Lu Yi's safety and wanted to persuade him again.

"Haha, have you forgotten that the Four Alliances are not just our Lu family?"

"Now that Huang Yi has been promoted, Fengxian and Zhang will naturally send troops to strengthen their forces. You don't have to worry about my safety. It will be a great achievement if I can defend Pingcheng well."

"Gao Shun takes orders!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Shun stopped trying to persuade him and left.

……

After Lu Yi arranged the affairs of Pingcheng, he first went to Mayi to greet his father-in-law Zhang Shang.

After explaining his purpose to him, he took Zhang Jia and two hundred elite sons of the Zhang family to the Mayi Great Wall Pass and met his brother Lu Bu, who had been separated from him temporarily.

When Lu Bu was just a military commander under Huang Yi, he secretly became the actual controller of the Mayi Great Wall with the support of Lu Yi.

As a result, the soldiers, who were fed with Lu Yi's sugar-coated bullets, only knew Lu Bu's orders but had no idea who the defending general would be.

Now, Lu Yi has been officially canonized by the court and has legitimately become the captain and garrison commander of the entire Yanmen County section of the Great Wall. His control over his subordinates has undoubtedly become much stronger.

Now, nearly two thousand regular soldiers of the imperial court in several checkpoints have essentially become private soldiers who obey Lu Yi's orders.

However, compared with the Xianzhen Camp which was completely loyal to Lu Yi, the degree of loyalty of these people was still questionable.

However, Lu Yi knew that as long as he did not openly oppose the court, such as raising the flag of rebellion.

So, for these soldiers who have to obey Lu Bu's orders within the laws of the court, his words still have some weight.

At the very least, they can open and close the door at the appropriate time according to Lu Yi's requirements, and finally decide who can enter and leave the pass. Such a simple thing can be executed perfectly.

Lu Yi exchanged greetings with his brother for the whole day, and generously rewarded the soldiers at the pass. After gaining a great deal of loyalty, he bid farewell to Lu Bu with some soldiers who had taken off their standard armor and put on leather armor for merchants on the grassland, and headed towards the new base of the Hunye tribe.

Now, although Lu Bu has two thousand soldiers under his command.

But half of them are combat soldiers and half are auxiliary soldiers.

Because of the Xianbei invasion, some of the soldiers guarding the pass had suffered casualties and had not yet been replaced, so there were only about 800 soldiers left.

Now that the war has subsided, the task of guarding the pass has been greatly reduced, and Lu Yi's bringing 400 people out of the pass does not affect Lu Bu's work.

Besides, Lu Bu himself is a human-shaped beast.

The general is the courage of the soldiers.

With him around, even if he only leads a thousand auxiliary soldiers, their combat power will be no weaker than a thousand combat soldiers.

At this point, the soldiers of the Xianzhen Camp, the elite sons of the Zhang family, and the four hundred border soldiers under Lu Bu's command were included.

The thousand elite light cavalry under Lu Yi were enough to roam the southern desert grasslands that were re-occupied by the Xiongnu after the Xianbei fled north in panic.

Although he has always had a good relationship with Huyabe and his father-in-law Kasuto.

Now that Lu Yi and Qiqige have another son, Lu Rong, the marriage between the two parties has come to fruition, and the relationship is naturally more stable.

But a stable relationship is a stable relationship.

Necessary muscles must also be shown.

Although Kasuto is the patriarch of the Hunye tribe, the Hunye tribe is not composed only of Kasuto's family.

Just like the Hunye tribe was the only tribe among the Southern Xiongnu who reoccupied the grasslands south of the desert.

The Hu people lived near water and grass.

Generally speaking, the location is still very difficult to find.

This time, due to time constraints, Lu Yi did not set out with the caravan. He was really a little overwhelmed by the vast grassland.

However, Lu Yi had already considered this situation.

He brought Qin Han, who was on vacation after finishing a round of business, with him.

This Han slave who was liberated by Lu Yi has now fully opened his mouth.

His originally thin body has now become strong due to good nutrition and the elimination of heavy labor.

Moreover, his originally timid character due to years of enslavement by the Hu people also became calm and introverted.

After more than a year of training by Lu Yi, he is now capable of leading a caravan on his own.

However, Lu Yi can be of greater use to this young man who is familiar with the customs and habits of the Hu people on the grassland and, more importantly, is loyal to Lu Yi and has already worshipped Lu Yi as his master.

Letting him gain experience in the caravan is only to develop his talents, not simply to train him to become a manager of a caravan.

Now, Lu Yi felt that the time was ripe, so he took him with him on this trip to the border.

On the one hand, they wanted him to be a guide, and on the other hand, they planned to keep him on the grassland so that he could play a greater role in the field where he was best.

Under the leadership of Qin and Han.

Lu Yi quickly found the Hunye tribe, which had just set up camp not long ago.

After not seeing his beloved brother-in-law for a year, Lu Yi's brother-in-law Hartler came to greet him on horseback when he learned that Lu Yi was coming.

He left his father-in-law Hesuto and a group of dignitaries far behind, who had also heard that Lu Yi was coming and came out to greet him.

"Brother-in-law!"

"Hatler wants you dead!"

Hatter galloped to Lu Yi's front and back, and nimbly jumped off the horse, which was still running due to inertia, and immediately gave his brother-in-law a passionate bear hug.

Although he has grown up now and has gradually begun to take over Hesuto's power in the Hunye tribe, becoming the de facto young patriarch of the Hunye tribe, he is second only to Hesuto in the Hunye tribe.

However, in front of his brother-in-law, who saved his life and whom he deeply admired and loved for his bravery and wisdom, he still acted like a child, and his feelings for Lu Yi were as pure as they were a year ago.

"Haha, I haven't seen you for a long time. My brother-in-law has grown a lot taller. He is almost as tall as me!"

When Lu Yi saw this young man who was becoming more powerful but still passionate, he couldn't help but feel a sense of intimacy.

After living a life of intrigue and deception for too long, this simplest emotional connection between people made Lu Yi feel comfortable and relaxed.

……

(End of this chapter)