My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 265: Promoted to Acting Governor of Yanmen County

Qin Han was Lu Yi's confidant and was loyal to him.

After Lu Yi's bloody purge, the Zazade tribe no longer had any second thoughts about Lu Yi.

There were two forces, the Hunye tribe and the Zazade tribe, one positive and one strange.

This was when Lu Yi truly drove the nail into the grassland.

As for the temporary weakness of the Zazade tribe.

Now that the war is about to begin, in front of Lu Yi who possesses powerful military force.

It's only a matter of time before it flourishes.

……

In the midst of a tense confrontation.

The desolate late autumn passed, and the harsh winter came quietly.

In addition to the wind and snow, winter also brought Zhang Xun and the imperial edict from the Han court that he brought with him.

Although Zhang Xun, as the governor of Bingzhou, had only a salary of 600 dan, his position was low but his power was great and he could report directly to the emperor.

After he entered the court, he immediately found a way to Zhao Zhong and obtained the right to report to Liu Hong in person.

Now that Hebei has been pacified, the Xianbei have fled to the northern desert.

The Han Dynasty seemed to have returned to its previous state of peace and tranquility.

As the supreme ruler of the world, Liu Hong naturally returned to a life of decadence and dissipation.

He gradually became addicted to wine and women, and not only did he begin to ignore state affairs, but even loyal old ministers like Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song disappeared. Whenever these people visited Liu Hong every day, they would give him the same advice on reviving the country and governing the country diligently, which he was tired of hearing.

However, the affairs south of the desert concerned the safety of the northern Han court. Therefore, although Liu Hong was dissatisfied with having his fun disturbed, he still patiently met Zhang Xun under the persuasion of Zhao Zhong and other attendants.

After hearing about the impending chaos in the south of the desert, although Liu Hong was ambitious, his family fortune had been greatly damaged as Hebei was now in a state of decay.

Even if they wanted to send troops to attack Jiang Qu, they could not provide food and military pay.

Without food and military pay, it is impossible to mobilize tens of thousands of troops just by relying on loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Moreover, although Jiang Qu had acted disloyal, he did not raise the flag of rebellion after all. If the imperial court mobilized a large army to collect taxes without asking any questions, it might be accused of forcing the vassal states to rebel.

After much deliberation, Liu Hong, following the advice of several think tanks, adopted the same approach as Lu Yi and chose not to help either side.

He neither openly labeled Jiang Qu a traitor nor publicly expressed support for Zuo Xian Wang's rebel alliance.

He decided to sit back and watch the fire from the other side and let the Huns suffer heavy losses.

After all, the Xianbei people have been devastated.

There was little point in keeping the Huns as a watchdog. Not only did he have to give out hundreds of millions of dollars in rewards every year, but he also had to be careful about the vicious dog turning against his master. Therefore, the best outcome for Liu Hong would be to let the Huns continue to weaken due to internal strife.

However, under Zhang Xun's golden bullet offensive, Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang all signaled for Lu Yi in front of Liu Hong.

Because of Lu Yi's low official position, he could not legitimately command the troops. In addition, he would probably be despised by the Huns, which would humiliate the prestige of the court.

The prestige of the imperial court is Liu Hong's prestige. How could he bear it if it was humiliated?

Therefore, Liu Hong promoted Lu Yi several levels on the pretext of strengthening the influence of the Han Dynasty among the Xiongnu, and he went from being the head of one of the poorest counties in the world to the governor of Yanmen County.

Although Yanmen County was also one of the poorest counties in the world, the word "代" (modification) was added in front of Lu Yi's official title of Yanmen County Magistrate.

However, the salary of a county magistrate was generally two thousand dan.

As the acting prefect of Yanmen County, Lu Yi finally became a frontier official of the imperial court.

He can be considered a local lord.

Moreover, with Zhang Xun's investment regardless of cost, almost all of Luwu's profits since the opening of trade this year were used to bribe Zhao Zhong and others.

Zhao Zhong and others also increased military affairs in the border counties in order to control the Xiongnu and prevent the Xianbei from making a comeback.

In addition to the administrative power over Yanmen County, Lu Yi was also granted some military power.

Can command a border defense force of no more than one thousand people.

It can be said that he had gained initial military and political power in Yanmen County.

In addition to the silver and money, Lu Yi's first achievement in the Battle of Pingcheng a few months ago, in which he killed Fu Luohan in battle and recovered Tan Shihuai's body, also played an important role, which made Liu Hong have an impression of this young man of the same age who was rising in fame as a brave and warlike man.

Zhang Xun accompanied the eunuch who came to deliver the imperial edict and went directly to the central army of Lu Yi in Mo Nan.

After a simple but solemn ceremony, Lu Yi, at a young age, made the transition from county magistrate to mayor.

Although he is an acting mayor.

However, as long as Lu Yi can quell the Xiongnu rebellion in the south of the desert, I believe this title can be easily removed.

As for the next senior official.

Because the first generation "Lord of Shu" Liu Yan had not yet suggested to Liu Hong to promote the provincial governor system.

Therefore, if Lu Yi wants to continue to improve, he can only work hard towards Luoyang for the time being.

Become a Beijing official like the Nine Ministers.

However, that was inconsistent with Lu Yi's core plan of cultivating the local areas in depth, so Lu Yi would never consider being promoted to a Beijing official.

For him, the position of Yanmen County Magistrate was the highest he could achieve before the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

In order to avoid giving Jiang Qu, who had not yet formally started a rebellion against the Han Dynasty, the angel's message was not made public, nor was it told to King Zuo Xian.

After spending a lot of money to send away the eunuch who came to convey the imperial edict, when Lu Yi returned to the alliance tent, the county magistrate's official uniform on his body immediately changed into the standard new official uniform representing the county governor, which surprised Zuo Xian Wang and others.

Lu Yi simply explained the emperor's concern that forcing Jiang Qu to rebel would be detrimental to the alliance, and everyone then put aside their doubts.

However, King Zuo Xian, whose power is now growing, will naturally not be deceived by Lu Yi's wording which is full of mistakes and omissions.

He immediately saw through the court's intention of not helping either side.

Although Zuo Xian Wang was disappointed with the court when he saw this, at least he and his allies were not labeled as rebels.

Now Lu Yi is also in the alliance. He is a newly promoted provincial governor of the court and represents a certain tendency of the court.

As long as he could win in the end, even if the Han court did not favor him, he would have to admit defeat if he did not want to provoke a full-scale war between the Han and the Huns.

Therefore, Zuo Xian Wang made up his mind that even if the court did not explicitly support him and Jiang Qu in going to war, he would secretly send people to spread the news of Lu Yi's promotion to build momentum for the righteousness and justice of his rebellion.

After Zhang Xun sent the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict back to the border wall, he turned around and returned to Lu Yi.

Not only was he eager to fight against the Huns, but as the Governor of Bingzhou, he had the responsibility to supervise Lu Yi. Now that there was chaos outside the Great Wall, it was reasonable for him to stay with Lu Yi and exercise his duties as a governor.

Of course, as Lu Yi's elder brother-in-law, the court had no hope of getting any news from Zhang Xun that was unfavorable to Lu Yi.

King Zuo Xian welcomed Zhang Xun's arrival very much, and specially created a position of deputy leader for Zhang Xun to take on the position concurrently, with his rank even higher than Lu Yi.

He didn't know the relationship between Zhang Xun and Lu Yi, and was planning to let Zhang Xun check and balance Lu Yi.

But on the contrary, it allowed Lu Yi to gain more power in the alliance.

In this way, the four alliances established in the south of the desert two years ago were reunited. However, the original Han general Huang Yi was replaced by Lu Bu.

The Zhang family and the Hunye tribe were both relatives of Lu Yi.

Therefore, it is not quite appropriate to say that it is an alliance of four parties. It is better to say that it is the power of the Lu family itself.

However, the enemy that Lu Yi faced was far more powerful than the old thief Ang Riduo before.

Not only Jiang Qu, but also the alliance leader Zuo Xian Wang who is at odds with him.

Now, heavy snow has covered the entire grassland in white.

Everywhere you look, you can see snowflakes dancing in the air, and it’s all white.

The heavy snow not only turned the grassland into a snowy and icy place, but also prohibited all life activities.

It also interrupted the flow of personnel between Jiang Qu and Zuo Xian Wang.

The entire population, cattle and sheep in the south of the desert were all concentrated in two camps twenty miles apart.

The snow was so heavy that it was impossible to move.

This gave Jiang Qu and Zuo Xian Wang the opportunity to completely conquer the camp.

They all chose to attack the fence-sitters in their own camp.

In just a few days, several small tribes were brutally wiped out by both sides.

The heavy snow not only blocked the roads for both sides, but also blocked the way for these people to survive.

Lu Yi was happy to see these small tribes being massacred, so he remained inactive.

Anyway, those who died were all barbarians.

The end of the year is approaching. Isn't the reason why he stays on this grassland just to kill more Hu people?

Moreover, in order to win over Lu Yi and Zhang Xun, King Zuo Xian slaughtered these tribes and distributed a large number of their population and cattle and sheep to the two of them.

According to the dark thoughts of Zuo Xian Wang, Zhang Xun would get more than his superior Lu Yi as usual.

Zuo Xian Wang thought he was clever and tried to cause internal strife between Lu Yi and Zhang Xun.

However, he didn't know that there was no difference between what he gave to Zhang Xun and what he gave to himself. These people actually went into Lu Yi's own pocket.

It's just transfer from left hand to right hand.

After absorbing these captives, Lu Yi's Zazade tribe expanded by hundreds of troops.

It has to be admitted that although these Hu people are brutal and unrighteous, in the harsh living environment of Mo Nan, every Hu person who can grow up to be a qualified cavalryman.

Even without cavalry artifacts such as double stirrups and horseshoes, they were still skilled in archery and horsemanship. Not only could they ride on horseback as if it were flat ground, but everyone had amazing archery skills. They could shoot arrows steadily even on a galloping horse, and could hit seven or eight out of ten targets within thirty steps.

Therefore, when facing such outstanding soldiers, Lu Yi must not only guard against suppression but also make good use of them.

If used well, it can be a great fighting force.

Time passes slowly.

Under the heavy snow, the roads were closed, the vision was unclear, and it was impossible to fight.

Under the might of heaven and earth, the insignificant human power simply does not exist.

A few days later, when the time entered November.

The heavy snow during the Little Ice Age finally stopped and the sky became clear again.

However, there was heavy snow accumulated on the ground, several feet deep, and in some places it had piled up to the roots of people's thighs.

However, although the accumulated snow made it difficult for people to move, both Jiang Qu and Zuo Xianwang were cavalrymen, and although their movements were still restricted, it was much better than a few days ago when it snowed heavily and people could not distinguish between cattle and horses.

Both sides were becoming increasingly impatient. Not only was the conflict between them deep-rooted and completely irreconcilable, but both sides were also running low on food and fodder.

An army of fifty or sixty thousand, plus seven or eight times the number of old and weak, and hundreds of thousands of Huns crowded into an area of ​​dozens of miles. The daily consumption of food and fodder was an astronomical figure.

Although the Huns had herds of cattle and sheep, they could not withstand such consumption.

The way to survive is to quickly eliminate the enemy, and then disperse the various parts on the vast grasslands south of the desert to let them find food, or simply take advantage of the great victory to return south to the Han territory to forage for grass and valleys.

Both sides immediately launched tentative attacks on each other.

Although Lu Yi's own troops did not fight as the vanguard, he still sent Qin Han to lead a thousand cavalrymen from the Zazade tribe to fight among the vanguard of the alliance.

He wanted to take the opportunity to train this newly conquered Hu man during the battle.

In the battlefield, between life and death, it is the most testing time.

Although after this battle, there will be many casualties among the 1,000 men of Zazade's army, they will be able to quickly integrate into combat power, and some of the soldiers among them will become veterans.

Moreover, they are just some barbarians.

If you die, you will die.

There are plenty of them on the grassland anyway.

Is Lu Yi still afraid that he won’t be able to capture prisoners to expand the Zazade tribe?
Because both sides viewed the other as a rebel, even though it was only a probing attack from the front.

But as soon as they started fighting, it was a life-and-death struggle, and the battle was incredibly fierce.

After each battle, the casualties are over 10% to 20%.

In the era of cold weapons, this was actually a very high casualty ratio.

Even Lu Yi's 1,000 Zazade cavalrymen suffered more than a hundred casualties, leaving only 80% of their combat effectiveness.

The two sides clashed several times a day, with both sides winning and losing.

But overall, Jiang Qu's side, which currently occupies the right position and has slightly stronger military forces, has the upper hand.

Seeing this, the allied leader Zuo Xian Wang became extremely anxious.

But now the vanguards are drawn from various departments, and his troops only account for 20 to 30%, so he cannot be forced blindly.

If the casualties were too great, the tribes under his command, which he had finally subdued and tied completely to his chariot, would become restless again.

But if he sent more troops, the other side's Jiang Qu had more people and would naturally send more troops as well, which would not be helpful to the battle situation.

Therefore, he immediately set his sights on Lu Yi, who had been recuperating for many days.

Lu Yi now distributed the horses seized from the Haye tribe to two thousand auxiliary soldiers, allowing the auxiliary soldiers who were originally just chariot infantry to be immediately converted into light cavalry, greatly increasing the mobility of the entire army.

The heavy cavalry that he relied on as his trump card had also been recuperating for a long time during the past month or so, and their combat power was at its peak.

"The war situation is not favorable to the alliance now. Only the two thousand heavy cavalry under the command of the deputy alliance leader can be used. This alliance leader wants to arrange for deputy alliance leader Lu to lead the troops in person. I wonder what the deputy alliance leader thinks?"

King Zuo Xian could not force the other tribal leaders in the alliance too much, and naturally he could not force Lu Yi even more.

Although he was the leader of the alliance, in order to persuade Lu Yi to go into battle, his words were quite polite, even in a tone of request.

……

(End of this chapter)