My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 285 The Uncrowned King
However, these people were soon killed without a single one left under the siege of Jiang Qu's army of nearly 20,000. In the end, only Zuo Xian Wang, covered in blood, was left alone to face Jiang Qu's army.

"Jiang Qu!"

Seeing that his way of survival was cut off, Zuo Xian Wang did not want to be humiliated so he placed the scimitar on his neck.

"I lost today, but not to you!"

"But I lost to Lu Yi!"

"And after I die, you'll be next!"

After saying this, Zuo Xian Wang slashed his throat with his sword and killed himself.

Ever since he started the rebellion, he had anticipated that this might be the outcome.

Although he, Zuo Xian Wang, failed, he was by no means a coward who feared death. He also understood that if he stayed in Jiang Qu's hands, he would be living a life worse than death, so he acted decisively.

"I'm next?"

The Huns did not have the same etiquette as the Han people, and Jiang Qu was not a heroic leader like Cao Cao. He did not make proper arrangements for Yuan Shao's funeral and hold personal memorial services like Cao Cao did in history after he conquered the Yuan family in Hebei. He had no respect or recognition for his dead enemy. Instead, he stepped forward and chopped off the head of this thorn in his side, without forgetting to make a final mockery.

"Humph, do you think I'm such a fool as you?"

"Alliance Lu Yi, agreeing to his conditions is just a delaying tactic on my part."

"Wait until I can get through this year, and when the grass and water are plentiful in the autumn of next year, that's when I will kill Lu Yi!"

Now Jiang Qu only has about 10,000 or 20,000 combat-capable soldiers under his command, while Lu Yi has 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 auxiliary troops on his own.

Together with the troops under Hexutuo and Qin Han, their number is already equal to that of Jiang Qu, and their combat power is even greater than that of Jiang Qu.

Therefore, even if Jiang Qu did not want to form an alliance, he did not have the strength and confidence to confront Lu Yi.

He was unwilling to give up the southern part of the desert and flee to the northern part of the desert to become a stray dog.

Therefore, he had no choice but to form an alliance with Lu Yi against his will, but the alliance was just a delaying tactic.

In the future, there will definitely be another battle between him and Lu Yi.

……

This is the end.

King Zuoxian and his anti-Jiangqu alliance have been completely destroyed.

All the soldiers who were able to fight were defeated by Jiang Qu, most of them died in battle and a few were captured.

However, Jiang Qu did not have the military doctor that Lu Yi brought from Luwu, and it would be difficult for the injured prisoners to survive the infection of their wounds.

These military doctors have basically learned some of Hua Tuo's true teachings, and are particularly good at treating external injuries such as those on the battlefield.

Usually, 50% of the soldiers in Lu Yi's army who were injured in battle could recover and return to the battle sequence, and even the disabled soldiers had a 20% chance of surviving successfully.

These recovered veterans are treasures in Lu Yi's heart and the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of his troops.

With these veterans in charge of the middle and lower levels, setting an example and teaching by words and deeds, not only can the combat effectiveness of the troops be restored immediately, but also the new recruits can grow at a faster rate.

And those disabled and wounded can also play an extremely positive role.

According to the historical trajectory of this era, unless they were generals, ordinary soldiers had to retire after being injured or disabled, but the pensions they received were pitifully small.

They are generally the backbone and strong laborers of their families. Now they have to return home with disabled bodies and can only perform extremely limited labor. Not only will their own lives be overshadowed, but the fate of their families will also become bleak. Their days will be extremely difficult, even more difficult than before.

However, Lu Yi repaid them with kindness. Not only did he provide them with generous relief, but he also placed a large number of them in the civil administration system under his rule, either as managers of military settlements or as officials in rural villages.

Although these people have difficulty in moving, their loyalty to Lu Yi has been tested on the battlefield with their own lives, and they are completely worthy of Lu Yi's trust.

Moreover, Lu Yi treated them so well that they must be more grateful for his kindness, so they were one of the most loyal groups to Lu Yi.

With them working at the grassroots level in civil affairs, Lu Yi had countless eyes and ears and hands at the grassroots level. It can be said that under Lu Yi's rule, the tradition of power not being transferred to the countryside was ended.

On the other hand, with their role model effect, other soldiers under Lu Yi's command saw Lu Yi's sincerity and no longer had any worries. In the future, the soldiers of the army will fight more courageously and strive to be the first.

That night.

Lu Yi and Jiang Qu held a grand and victorious meeting in the camp of the former rebel alliance, which had changed its surname to Lu.

The two sides temporarily put aside their hatred and shook hands in peace.

Lu Yi held a grand welcome ceremony and banquet for Jiang Qu.

Jiang Qu and all the princes under his command attended the banquet with pleasure.

At the banquet, they sat opposite each other.

The former mortal enemies now toast each other and get along harmoniously for the sake of their own interests.

The military rations brought by Lu Yi have basically been eaten up, and if all the captured cattle and sheep are eaten up, there will be no new calves next year.

Jiang Qu's strength was severely damaged, and the war needed to be ended as soon as possible.

After a brief discussion, Lu Yi and Jiang Qu, who were not on good terms with each other, swore an oath of blood to form an alliance.

From then on, Lu Yi controlled the Mo Nan grassland north of Bingzhou, while Jiang Qu led his troops eastward, occupying the central grassland north of Youzhou and bordering Wuhuan in the east of Youzhou.

The two sides agreed to cease hostilities and live in harmony.

After the meeting, Jiang Qu would appoint Lü Yi's father-in-law He Xutuo as the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu in his capacity as the Khan of the Xiongnu in accordance with the agreement, giving legal support to Lü Yi in controlling the grasslands south of the desert in Bingzhou.

In addition, another force under Lu Yi, Qin Han, was also named the Lord of the Left Tribe of the Xiongnu by Jiang Qu, and he and the Hunye tribe jointly ruled the Bingzhou grassland.

According to the agreement, Lu Yi would also submit a memorial to the court together with his elder brother-in-law Zhang Xun, the governor of Bingzhou, to clear Jiang Qu's name.

In the memorial submitted to the court, Zuo Xian Wang was labeled a traitor, while Jiang Qu became a loyal minister who suppressed the rebels who wanted to rebel against the court, thus resolving the hostile relationship between the court and the Huns and restoring the previous tribute trade relationship.

Finally, Lu Yi wanted to expand his trade monopoly in the grassland.

He also incorporated Jiang Qu, who occupied the grassland in the central part of Youzhou, into his own business system.

From then on, all the Han Dynasty resources that Jiang Qu needed had to be purchased from Lu Yi.

As for the largest trade on the grassland - horse smuggling, Lu Yi must become the sole trader, and the horses of Jiang Qu's troops can only be sold to Lu Yi.

At least that's the case on the surface.

Under the huge interests, Lu Yi and Jiang Qu exchanged sharp words for three days and finally reached a trade price that neither side was satisfied with but could barely accept, and they planned to renegotiate the price every six months.

After the covenant is concluded and interests are bound.

The relationship between the two sides became more harmonious after several days of celebratory banquets.

"It is a blessing for the Xiongnu that the Khan can turn the tables at a critical moment. From now on, you and I will be neighbors and now business partners. I hope the Khan can abide by the oath. Here, I also wish the Khan a safe journey and prosperity for his livestock!"

Lu Yi raised his glass to congratulate Jiang Qu at the farewell party for him to Youzhou.

"If it weren't for Lord Lu's advice, I'm afraid I would be guilty of a grave sin without even realizing it!"

"With the wine that Lord Lu gave me as a farewell gift, I would like to wish you a prosperous career and business!"

Jiang Qu was also very polite to Lu Yi.

The two sides toasted each other, and there was no sign at all that they were mortal enemies fighting to the death half a year ago, which made the top leaders of both sides in the big tent look at each other in dismay.

There are no eternal friends, nor eternal enemies. In the final analysis, whether it is between people or between countries.

Interests are the standard for measuring everything.

Both Lu Yi and Jiang Qu are people who are not lacking in political wisdom.

Naturally, he would not be like those reckless men under his command who only knew how to fight and would not fight to the point of mutual destruction or death.

After seeing Jiang Qu off, Lu Yi finished dividing the territory of Youzhou grassland and prepared to return to Bingzhou.

Although this trip to the south of the desert did not completely pacify the Huns, it did clear out the hostile forces in the south of the desert.

From now on, as long as Lu Yi can continue to maintain his strength, the long-term looting of Bingzhou by the Hu people will naturally not happen again.

In a way, the only northern threat to Yanmen County was temporarily settled, allowing Lu Yi to concentrate on developing Yanmen and managing Bingzhou.

And Lu Yi also obtained the political bargaining chip of the Xiongnu Zuoxian King, which was considered to be part of the righteousness.

Even if I fall out with Jiang Qu again in the future, I will have a legitimate excuse.

In essence, the failure of Zuo Xian Wang was not because he was unpopular, but because of his lack of fighting power.

If he, the Zuo Xian Wang, was the winner in the end, he could still become the new generation of Xiongnu Khan by virtue of his title of Zuo Xian Wang.

Although Lu Yi's father-in-law He Xutuo is shrewd, he is already old. Moreover, he has overdrawn his body after experiencing wars in his early years. Now as he gets older, his body is getting weaker. Even though Lu Yi is not good at medicine, he can see that he will not live for many years. Even if he wants to do something to get rid of Lu Yi's control, he lacks the time and energy.

Although Lü Yi's brother-in-law Hatler is brave and good at fighting, he is very courageous, but he is simple-minded and admires Lü Yi very much. He is an obedient and capable chess piece. If Hatler succeeds to the throne of Zuo Xian Wang in a few years, the Hunye tribe will be more obedient under Hatler's leadership.

By controlling the Hunye tribe, which had been given the title of Zuo Xian Wang, Lu Yi could remotely control the entire Bingzhou Monan grassland.

What's more, Lu Yi was cautious throughout his life, so he would naturally not just pin his hopes on the obedience of the Hunye tribe. Qin Han was a good chess piece left by Lu Yi to restrain the Hunye tribe.

After settling all matters concerning the Mo Nan grassland in Bingzhou.

Lu Yi led his people back to Pingcheng.

There are many things waiting for him to deal with now.

Apart from anything else, he has not yet completed the personnel arrangements in Yanmen County.

As for the captured cattle and sheep, except for a small portion used as rations for the army on the road, the rest were left to the Hunye tribe and Qin and Han.

Not only would these cattle and sheep lose a lot of weight if transported back to the interior, but there was also no place to graze them. Except for cattle that could be used for farming, the rest of the livestock could only be slaughtered for meat.

It would be better to stay in the south of the desert. In this way, the livestock can recuperate and reproduce, and then provide Yanmen with a large number of war horses, oxen and meat livestock every year.

Moreover, after a year of governance by Lu Yi, Pingcheng and other places have regained their vitality. Although it is difficult to expand the army, it is no longer a difficult task to support the current 5,000 professional soldiers and feed the more than 100,000 people under Lu Yi.

After Lu Yi returned to Pingcheng, he immediately divided his army into smaller units and dispersed them throughout his jurisdiction.

The most difficult part of supplying military rations is not collection but transportation.

On the contrary, when a war breaks out, especially a long-range battle on a long line of troops, the proportion of food consumed that is actually eaten by the soldiers is very small.

Moreover, the longer the battle line, the smaller the proportion.

When it comes to the battlefield thousands of miles away, even 95% of the food is consumed on the way to transportation.

Of the 10,000 dan of military rations, perhaps only 500 dan could actually be delivered to the front line.

The remaining 9,500 shi were consumed by the laborers who transported the grain.

After all, you can't let the laborers go out to transport grain without feeding them, and they have to eat while they are transporting the grain, and they can't come back with an empty truck.

The poor road conditions and transportation capacity in ancient times also exacerbated this dilemma.

Not to mention the distant past, almost all the princes in the late Han Dynasty were short of food and fodder.

It’s not that they have no food in their nest, but that they can’t transport it.

Moreover, even if it were transported here, the consumption on the road would not be enough.

Therefore, now that the war has subsided, Lu Yi immediately dispersed some of his troops to solve the supply problem nearby.

In this way, without the consumption on the road, the pressure of supplying military rations is greatly reduced.

On the other hand, Zhang Xun took the gold and silver seized by Lu Yi in this battle and the good horses on the grassland and set out on the journey to Beijing to report.

Now that Lu Yi has gained a lot of benefits, it would be even better if he could get some face from the court.

He himself took Tian Feng and Chen Gong to start the most important personnel arrangement process.

Although he was the prefect of Yanmen County, he did not have the authority to appoint or dismiss officials such as the county magistrate.

However, personnel issues are not limited to appointment and dismissal.

Differentiation and winning over are also very important means.

After years of experience, Lu Yi is already familiar with this.

Sure enough, with Lu Yi's persistence and hard work.

These senior Han civil servants were not afraid of Lu Yi's sugar-coated bullets and corruption, and were quickly brought down.

Lu Yi made an agreement with them that they would follow his lead in politics.

But when it came to profits, Lu Yi shared the spoils with them.

After this trip to the south of the desert, Lu Yi had become one of the three largest international trade smugglers in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the leading smuggler among them.

He monopolized all foreign smuggling trade in the entire Bingzhou and the central grasslands of Youzhou.

Only Liangzhou and half of Youzhou were not under his control.

The Hu people were very eager for Han products.

The Han people also had a strong demand for the Hu people's livestock products such as horses, cattle, and sheep.

However, the imperial court banned trade with the Hu people, which further stimulated market demand and indirectly increased the value of goods.

The establishment of rules itself creates huge benefits for those who violate them.

Lu Yi controlled this lucrative trade route and earned profits far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Wouldn't it be easy and pleasant to use it to win over and corrupt some corrupt officials who came to power in an illegitimate way?

When spring came, Zhang Xun returned from Luoyang.

He also brought back the reward from the court for Lu Yi's suppression of the Xiongnu rebellion in southern Mobei.

Not only was the "Dai" character on Lu Yi's head removed, but Lu Bu was also awarded the title of General of the Guards of the Xiongnu for his merits.

One of the two brothers was a local governor holding political power, while the other held military power at the border. They were both in a very successful position.

In Yanmen and the land south of the desert.

Lu Yi had in fact become a de facto separatist regime.

He is the well-deserved uncrowned king!

(End of this chapter)