My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 306 Rewards based on merit
The first thing he did was to secretly spread the news among the Yellow Turban high-ranking captives that after the coalition forces broke into the city, they would all be killed. This made Zhou Tang and others angry and worried all day long. Then Lu Yi repeated the same trick and secretly let these Yellow Turban high-ranking captives go, creating an opportunity for them to return safely to Julu City and meet Zhang Liang.

Afterwards, Lu Yi used a knife to kill someone by borrowing someone else's knife. He bribed the more greedy Han army generals under Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song, and asked them to focus on hunting down the Yellow Turban leaders after the city was captured.

After Julu City was captured, these people followed Zhang Liang completely.
The last trace of threat was completely strangled in the cradle by Lu Yi.

However, because Lu Yi did not take action personally, he gained a reputation among the previous captives as a man who kept his promises.

This is a relatively safe way to handle it.

The second thing was that Lu Yi took the initiative to make friends with Cao Cao and Sun Jian, the founders of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in history.

Now Lu Yi was above the two of them in both official position and fame. He was so humble and tried hard to make friends with them that it was easy for him to gain their favor.

The current Cao Cao and Sun Jian are actually very similar.

They are all passionate young people.

The only difference is that Cao Cao's point allocation method is more inclined towards wisdom and politics.

Sun Jian, on the other hand, focused all his attention on strength.

Sun Jian was born into a poor family. Although his ancestors had been officials in Wu County for generations, his father Sun Zhong had fallen on hard times and became a melon farmer. However, perhaps because of his ancestors' connections, Sun Jian himself became a county official at a very young age. When Sun Jian was seventeen years old, he once saw a group of river bandits openly dividing the loot on the shore. He disguised himself as a public official and pretended to call on other companions, then he attacked the bandits who were unprepared. The bandits thought they were surrounded by government troops and were terrified. In a panic, several of them were killed by Sun Jian, and the rest fled in all directions.

Sun Jian became famous for this achievement and was appointed as acting captain by the county. This was the beginning of his real official career.

I don't know if it was because Sun Jian tasted the sweetness of this, or if he cherished this opportunity especially, but from then on, every time he fought with the enemy, Sun Jian always led the charge, was courageous and resolute, and was even seriously injured and on the verge of death several times. He was a fierce man similar to Gongsun Zan.

Cao Cao's original surname was Xiahou. His father Cao Song was adopted by Cao Teng, a eunuch who had served in five dynasties. Since then, he inherited Cao Teng's surname. Although Cao Song even became the Grand Marshal, one of the Three Dukes, because of Cao Teng's power, not only did he buy his official position with donations, but also, unlike others who were descendants of officials, Cao Cao was a veritable eunuch with a bad reputation and was despised by the aristocracy. Cao Cao was deeply ashamed of this when he was young. Later, when Yuan Shao attacked Cao Cao, he ordered Chen Lin, the first penman in Hebei, to write the "Exhortation to Yuzhou on Behalf of Yuan Shao", in which Cao Cao and his family were cursed and even Cao Cao's headache was cured directly. It can be seen that although family background provided a lot of help to Cao Cao, it also provided a great hindrance in disguise.

Although Cao Cao's martial arts were not as good as Sun Jian's, his wisdom and political talent were far superior to Sun Jian, and he was even the best choice among all the officials in the court.

The fact that Sima Yi was able to consume Zhuge Liang to death is enough to show his talent. Throughout Cao Cao's life, Sima Yi was an honest man and an obedient official, and he never dared to act rashly. From this we can see the ability and means of Emperor Wu of Wei, Cao Cao.

However, Cao Cao at this moment was just like Sun Jian. In order to prove his talent and get rid of the negative influence brought by his family, he did things without following the unspoken rules, and was impartial and fair. When he took up his first post as the Northern Lieutenant of Luoyang, he arrested and convicted the uncle of the eunuch Jian Shuo, and beat him to death with the five-colored stick he created. This kind of courage and means are not something that ordinary people can possess. Even if Bao Zheng came, he had to call himself Little Cao Cao.

Later in history, when the Guandong coalition forces fought against Dong Zhuo, although the coalition forces were composed of high-ranking families who had enjoyed the Han Dynasty's financial services for generations and high-ranking officials of the current dynasty, only Cao Cao and Sun Jian were truly determined to fight against Dong and welcome the emperor.

Sun Jian was the strongest fighter in the coalition at that time. He beat Dong Zhuo without any resistance and directly recovered the eastern capital Luoyang. He also sent people to repair the palace and ancestral temple. Dong Zhuo had no choice but to send lobbyists to try to win over Sun Jian with high positions and generous salaries and to marry his daughter to the Sun family, but was rejected by Sun Jian. The coalition was jealous of Sun Jian's achievements. Yuan Shu, who was in charge of the coalition's military supplies, was even worried that Sun Jian would defeat Dong Zhuo by himself, so he was very unkind and cut off Sun Jian's food supplies. Sun Jian's army was without food and the morale of the army was in chaos. He was defeated and had to gather the remnants in

Cao Cao was the only one in the coalition besides Sun Jian who dared to risk his life to fight Dong Zhuo. After Dong Zhuo moved the capital westward, Cao Cao was the only one who argued and persuaded the coalition to pursue Dong Zhuo and bring back the emperor. However, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and his ilk were feasting and socializing all day long and were not moved at all. Cao Cao had no choice but to lead his 5,000 men in pursuit alone. Unexpectedly, he ran into an ambush by Xu Rong, Dong Zhuo's first commander and the only fierce man who had ever defeated Sun Jian. He was defeated and almost died on the spot. Fortunately, Cao Hong gave up his horse and he escaped.

Since Dong Zhuo forcibly took Emperor Xian to the west, Guandong was leaderless and the princes annexed and attacked each other. More than ten years later, the former blood alliance jointly attacked Dong Zhuo to rescue the emperor, otherwise their oath of being killed by heaven and earth would come true.

Among the former Guandong coalition forces, except Cao Cao and Sun Jian, two princes who were truly committed to fighting the enemy, the rest have all become dead bones in the graves. It is really ridiculous and ironic.

Although Lu Yi has been operating in Bingzhou for a long time, he will eventually rule the Central Plains one day in the future.

There are so many heroes in the world. If you are like Xiang Yu who only focuses on fighting and does not understand, or simply disdains to use politics to win over and divide other forces, your path to the throne will definitely be full of difficulties.

Xiang Yu could win countless times, but as long as he lost once, the invincible image he had built up would collapse, and all the forces he had offended before would rise up to attack him. This was the reason for his defeat.

Naturally, Lu Yi would not sit idly by and watch the precious experience provided by Xiang Yu with his life and country, and he would naturally learn from the experience.

Cao Cao and Sun Jian are the talents that Lu Yi can win over.

A gentleman does not care about his deeds.

Regardless of whether Cao Cao and Sun Jian had other dark thoughts and ambitions in their hearts.

It doesn’t matter what the two people and their descendants did in later generations.

But at this moment, at this moment, Lu Yi was sure that these two were loyal and righteous people.

Having loyalty and righteousness means that there is a bottom line in one's actions and one can rely on it in certain aspects.

Hence the need to make friends.

Moreover, Lu Yi's own background was not good, and his interests were contrary to those of the aristocratic families. Therefore, instead of trying hard to win over the aristocratic families, it would be more cost-effective to put the precious political resources on those talented but frustrated common people.

Sun Jian is an excellent choice.

In history, Yuan Shu behaved so disgustingly, but Sun Jian and his son Sun Ce still fought for Yuan Shu. This was not because Sun Jian loved Yuan Shu, but because he had no choice. Although Cao Cao's family was higher than Sun Jian's and he was a member of a wealthy family, his birth as the descendant of a eunuch made him not be liked by other people of the same kind. He was looked down upon and alienated, and his situation was only slightly better than Sun Jian's.

"Brothers Mengde and Wentai and I hit it off right away. I don't know when we'll meet again after this separation. If it weren't for the heavy workload at Yanmen, I would definitely stay with you two for a while longer, so we can drink together day after day and talk every night!"

After the Yellow Turbans in Zhang Liang and Julu were defeated, the Han army's finishing work soon came to an end. Lu Yi, who was preparing to lead his troops to escort the prisoners back to Pingcheng, said goodbye to Cao Cao and Sun Jian with a look of regret in front of the military camp.

"We two also had a pleasant conversation with Sixiao, but the emperor urged us to hurry up. We must follow the three commanders to escort the bandit leader and captives back to Luoyang. Otherwise, Cao must go back to Pingcheng with Sixiao to see Sixiao's governance methods."

Cao Cao also had a look of reluctance on his face. At the moment, Cao Cao was a passionate and immature young man. Lu Yi treated him so well as a national hero. How could Cao Cao, who had always treated other nobles with indifference, not treat Lu Yi as a national hero?
Historically, when Cao Cao was young, he was not favored by the aristocrats. Only Qiao Xuan thought that he was extraordinary and would become a great man in the future. Therefore, Cao Cao remembered Qiao Xuan's kindness.

After Qiao Xuan died, Cao Cao made every effort to prepare for his funeral and took good care of his wife and children. Later, when Cao Cao became rich and passed by Qiao Xuan's tomb, he personally wrote an obituary for him and offered sacrifices with the Tailao ritual, which was enough to prove that he attached great importance to friendship in his heart.

Now Lu Yi is the second person besides Qiao Xuan who values ​​him so much, so Cao Cao is naturally deeply moved.

"Alas... I, Sun Jian, am proud of my bravery and strength. I have never been able to find an opponent in Jiangdong. The elders of Jiangdong call me the Fierce Tiger of Jiangdong. I have fought dozens of battles, big and small, in the south and the north. There are not many people who can convince me with force, but I didn't expect that I would be convinced several times in a row by Sixiao!"

On the other side, Sun Jian seemed much more free and easy. There was no need for so many twists and turns between warriors. They always talked only about the facts. When he looked at Lu Yi and the three generals Lu Bu, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei behind him, his eyes were extremely complicated.

"It's fine that you brothers of the Lu family are so powerful, but where did you recruit brave generals like Yunchang and Yide? Why have I never met such heroes in my travels? I'm really envious of them."

As soon as Sun Jian said this, Cao Cao on the side nodded enviously. He has always loved talents as if their life were his life. He would be unable to move when he saw talented people and their wives. Naturally, he was also extremely envious of the star-studded generals under Lu Yi's command.

"In the past few days, not only Sixiao, Yunchang and Yide can fight me on equal terms, but Fengxian has left me completely helpless. Today, I, Sun Jian, have finally realized that there are always people who are better than you. But Sixiao, don't get complacent. I will train with you for a while, and I will definitely compete with you in the future!"

However, a tiger is still a tiger after all. The temporary setback did not make him depressed, but instead aroused his fighting spirit even more.

"Okay, I'll wait for you in Bingzhou!"

After Lu Yi smiled and patted Sun Jian on the shoulder and said goodbye to Cao Cao for the final time, he led his people to leave Julu and embarked on the return journey.

In this battle, Lu Yi brought 10,000 Bingzhou cavalry, and only suffered less than a thousand casualties, but captured more than 200,000 Yellow Turban prisoners. It was truly a great victory.

Moreover, these 200,000 Yellow Turban captives were just appetizers. The real bulk of the population came from Hebei, the Central Plains, and other places in the southeast, southwest, and other places, who were civilians and refugees who spontaneously migrated to Yanmen with their families because of the impact of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Over the years, the reputation of Lu Yi and Yanmen County has spread beyond Hebei, with people coming to join them almost every day of every month.

As for these precious resources, Lu Yi naturally accepted everyone except some ruffians and restless people.

As for the refugees who came with no money or food but only with their own people, Lu Yi naturally incorporated them into the military settlements as usual. After several years of settlement, they would be able to own their own land and houses and become free people.

However, for the surrendered people who had money and resources, Lu Yi directly gave them the rights of free men.

Of course, the so-called freedom was only freedom under Lu Yi's command. In all official documents of Yanmen, these people were still lawless outlaws with no sense of existence.

They placed their property and families under Lu Yi's command, which was equivalent to placing all the chips on the gambling table of fate. Even if it was to protect their own property and families, they would spontaneously support Lu Yi's rule.

Property provides them with a barrier for survival, but also places a heavy yoke on them, preventing them from betraying easily.

Although the refugees without property were grateful to Lu Yi for saving their lives, and some of them might be willing to die for him, the vast majority of refugees were still less reliable than the people with property. This was the basic setting of human nature.

In order to make them become stable members under his command, Lu Yi naturally has to help them own their own industry. In this way, their mentality will change accordingly and they will become the kind of good citizens in the public's impression.

However, Liu Hong and the current court's political views are completely opposite to those of Lu Yi.

They were deeply afraid that the people would live too hard, so they did everything they could to plunder their assets and food, causing the wealthy people who were originally tied to the land and lived a peaceful life to go bankrupt and become homeless. This gave rise to the Yellow Turban Rebellion that swept across the Eastern Han Dynasty. This was God's punishment for their short-sightedness and greed.

The people have no food to eat, no clothes to wear, no houses to shelter from the wind and rain, and they don’t care whether you, Liu Hong, are really the son of God, sent by the Emperor of Heaven to rule the people.

If the people are pushed into a corner, not to mention a small emperor, even if the Emperor of Heaven has a materialized existence, he will pull you down from the sky and stab you to death with a few knives.

Since ancient times, few incompetent rulers and tyrants have a good ending, and they are punished in this life without having to wait until the next life.

A country rises and falls quickly; it only takes ten years to prosper, while a country declines even faster; it can perish in two or three years.

Since Lu Yi had the ambition to rule the world, he naturally had to shoulder the responsibilities and obligations left by Liu Hong and become the spokesperson for the interests of the people under his rule, rather than just being a brutal plunderer. Otherwise, how would he be different from a beast?
Not long after Lu Yi returned to Yanmen, the court's reward and punishment were issued.

Unlike in the past, even though Lu Yi did not have any bonus due to his background, because of his great contribution in conquering the Yellow Turbans, especially in trapping Zhang Jue to death, the level of reward he received this time was still far greater than before.

(End of this chapter)