My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 341 Coercion and inducement

"Haha, can you two stop pretending in front of me?"

When Zhang Ji and Fan Chou drew their swords and pointed at him angrily, Li Ru was not at all flustered. Instead, he pointed at the two of them and laughed out loud towards the sky.

"Mr. Dong treated us well, but he was just using us to work for him. He didn't necessarily treat us sincerely."

"Besides, I don't know the personalities and pasts of the two generals. If you were truly loyal and devoted, why did you surrender to Lord Dong after being defeated by him?"

Li Ru's few words made Li Jue and Guo Si blush, and even the swords that were pointed at Li Ru firmly were no longer so firm.

Dong Zhuo's rise to power has only been in the past few years, which is not much longer than Lu Yi's.

And Dong came from a poor family.

Dong Zhuo's father, Dong Junya, was only a county lieutenant.

Although they are much stronger than ordinary people, they are not even comparable to aristocratic families like Yuan Shao.

Dong Zhuo's real opportunity to rise to power was the Qiang rebellion that wreaked havoc in the northwest a few years ago.

The imperial court sent several commanders in succession, but they failed to quell the Qiang rebellion. Instead, they were defeated by the Qiang people and either died or were punished and dismissed by the imperial court.

Dong Zhuo, a general, seized the golden opportunity when the commander-in-chief was vacant with his talent and courage. He tried to win over the officers and nobles of the Han army in Liangzhou, while attacking and dividing the Qiang tribes.

In just a few years, a world-famous Western Liang cavalry was established based on the Han army and Qiang warriors.

At this point, not only did the Western Qiang dare not oppose Dong Zhuo, but they also settled down.

Even the imperial edict sent to Dong Zhuo became much more polite, no longer as domineering as before.

However, after Dong Zhuo became powerful enough, he began to pretend to obey the imperial court but actually disobey it.

Not only did he repeatedly refuse the imperial edict that summoned him back to Beijing to serve as an official, but also wanted to deprive him of his military power.

He allowed his soldiers to plunder and cause harm to Xiliang, and he used this as an excuse to cut off Xiliang's taxes to support his troops.

Later, after he became the governor of Bingzhou, he became even more lawless. This time he went to Beijing, he wanted to control the central government and become a more powerful official than Huo Guang.

It’s a pity that he met Lu Yi.

An ambitious person who has greater ambitions than him, more skillful than him, and a heart that is crueler and darker than him.

Death and defeat were destined to be Dong Zhuo's fate.

As soon as Dong Zhuo died, a huge flaw in the power under his command was exposed.

Because Dong Zhuo rose to power too quickly, he did not have complete control over his subordinates.

The arrogant and brave generals among the Xiliang Iron Cavalry under his command were basically hungry wolves that were fed by him.

The hungry wolf was obedient only because it was temporarily full.

But if it is not full, not only will it not obey orders, but even its owner may be attacked by it.

Therefore, the reason why Dong Zhuo repeatedly appeared in history as a tyrant and often allowed his soldiers to plunder the countryside and cities was that he often did so.

This is the reason.

It was fine when he was defeated and retreated to Chang'an, feeling disheartened and building Meiwu.

But when he first entered Luoyang and took control of the government, he was full of vigor and ambition, but instead he allowed his troops to plunder the imperial capital Luoyang. Didn't he know how much of a blow this would be to his prestige and reputation?
It’s not that Dong Zhuo was stupid and foolish and didn’t know how to cherish his territory.

Instead, he was kidnapped by the Xiliang Cavalry and had no choice but to do so.

Such an army, which is fed with money, is more like mercenaries than private soldiers.

How could he be so loyal to Dong Zhuo?
During the rising period, everyone is happy, and of course we are all facing the same direction and pointing the same target.

Now that Dong Zhuo is dead, Lu Yi is in power, and the Western Liang army is in a trough, the only possible outcome is disintegration.

Historically, after Dong Zhuo's death, the Western Liang Army was quickly defeated in the melee between Li Jue, Guo Si and others.

What a clever strategist Li Ru is.

If he couldn't see the shortcomings of the Xiliang Army, how could he be willing to take the risk and come here to act as a lobbyist?

"Ugh……"

Seeing that Zhang Ji and Fan Chou were in low spirits and their hostility had temporarily subsided, Li Ru immediately sighed, put on a compassionate look, walked up to the two men and pressed down the swords in their hands.

"I am not here for my fame and fortune, but for the friendship between you and me as former colleagues. I want to point out a way out for you!"

"Now the Marquis of Jin has welcomed the emperor and controls the imperial capital."

"The Duke of Jin not only controls Sili and Bingzhou, but also Gongsun Zan, the governor of Youzhou, is a close friend of the Duke of Jin and follows his orders."

"In terms of territory, the Marquis of Jin has two more states than you. In terms of military strength, which of the Bingzhou cavalry and the Youzhou cavalry is weaker than the Xiliang cavalry?"

"In terms of military achievements, Lord Dong only temporarily pacified the Qiang rebellion, while Marquis Jin caused the Xianbei to flee north, and destroyed the Yellow Turbans, Black Mountain, and Qingzhou."

"My Xiliang army is the enemy of the Marquis of Jin. How can we survive?"

"And if the two generals insist on having their own way, I will be defeated and killed, but I am afraid that my clan will be implicated."

"Your family is about to be destroyed, and I hope you two generals will think twice!"

Li Ru's words seemed sincere, but were actually threatening. They made Zhang Ji and Fan Chou feel bitter and gradually panicked.

Fan Chou had fought his way to his current position with great difficulty using his sword and spear.

If he just died like this, he would naturally feel unwilling.

Zhang Ji had just recently married his beautiful wife, Zou, and was deeply immersed in her beauty.

If he died, his beloved wife would be touched by others and would have to force herself to smile and enjoy the pleasure of another man. When Zhang Ji thought of this, he would never agree.

Both of them felt unwilling and reluctant.

After hearing this, they could no longer hold the swords in their hands. After looking at each other, they quickly dropped the swords and knelt down in front of Li Ru.

"Please, sir, save us for the sake of our friendship as colleagues!"

Li Ru was delighted to see that he had successfully persuaded Zhang Ji and Fan Chou.

He immediately smiled and went forward to help the two of them up.

"Don't worry, General Jin. The Marquis of Jin is eager to recruit talented people. If you two generals join the Marquis of Jin, you will be valued. If you lead your troops to join the Marquis of Jin, you will be granted titles of nobility and appointed as generals!"

"If so, we two are willing to submit to the Marquis of Jin!"

Zhang Ji and Fan Chou looked at each other and said happily.

"However, now half of the 200,000 Xiliang troops are under my command, while the other half are under the command of Li Jue and Guo Si. We are only bringing 100,000 Xiliang cavalry to surrender, and we have not been able to accomplish our mission. I am afraid that the Marquis of Jin will blame us."

However, Zhang Ji changed his mind and said with some concern.

"Haha, rest assured, I have sent someone to deliver a letter to Liangzhou. Li Jue and Guo Si will lead their troops to surrender soon!"

"Oh? Sir, why are you so confident that you can persuade Li Jue and Guo Si to surrender just by sending them a letter?"

Fan Chou couldn't help but feel puzzled when he heard this.

"Haha, I am naturally confident, because my letter of surrender was not sent to Li Jue and Guo Si, but to someone else!"

Li Ru smiled confidently.

"who is it?"

Zhang Ji and Fan Chou were shocked when they heard this and asked hurriedly.

"Jia Xu!"

……

"Jia Xu, what do you mean?"

"Do you think we can betray Lord Dong just by holding a letter?" Li Jue looked at Jia Xu in front of him unkindly with a letter in his hand.

Guo Si, who was standing by, also silently placed his hand on the sword at his waist.

"I didn't want to deal with these trivial matters..."

"But this letter from Li Ru dragged me into this situation."

"You two can kill me if you want. Anyway, you will be buried with me, so my death will not be in vain."

Although Jia Xu's strategies were more radical than Li Ru's, he was the number one ruthless scholar in the Three Kingdoms period.

However, Jia Xu was of a calm nature and never became impatient unless the situation became critical.

Moreover, Jia Xu had no so-called aristocratic complex and did not care much about who his lord was.

He was slacking off under Dong Zhuo, he was still slacking off under Zhang Xiu, and when he came to Cao Wei, he was still slacking off every day and staying away for a long time.

This is due to his calm nature and also a strategy for him to protect himself.

Therefore, even though bosses such as Dong Zhuo and Zhang Xiu were defeated and surrendered one after another, Jia Xu's status continued to rise.

After arriving in Cao Wei, Cao Cao had to consult Jia Xu first even on such important matters as appointing a crown prince, and only then did he make up his mind to appoint Cao Pi as the heir.

However, Jia Xu was just slacking off.

However, his ability was among the best in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

Even compared with Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Guo Jia, Sima Yi, Zhou Yu and others, he is not inferior.

Moreover, Jia Xu was good at using open strategies. He would always set up his trap and wait for his opponents to fall into it, making it difficult to defend against.

Because his strategies were effective, not fussy about details, and result-oriented, he was given the name of the Poison Scholar.

He even came up with a plan to instigate Li Jue and Guo Si to rebel against the imperial court and attack Chang'an. What else would he not dare to do?

Li Ru was well aware of his talents, so he bypassed Li Jue and Guo Si and wrote directly to Jia Xu, explaining the situation and bringing this vicious scholar into the water.

It would be fine if Jia Xu didn't know about it, he could continue to fish happily.

But after learning about it, his stance changed.

If he did not follow Li Ru's plan to persuade Li Jue and Guo Si to surrender to the throne, he would definitely be punished by Lu Yi, which was in conflict with his philosophy of life of keeping a low profile.

If they followed Li Ru's plan, they would become swords in Li Ru's hands and be used by Li Ru.

"Alas, I, Jia Xu, always thought I was invincible in conspiracy, but I never thought I would fall into the conspiracy of Li Ru today."

Jia Xu was also quite resentful about this, so he directly forwarded the letter to Li Jue and Guo Si without any hesitation.

It was not difficult to persuade Li Jue and Guo Si to surrender. If Li Ru could do it himself, it would be easy to capture them. However, he had to persuade Fan Chou and Zhang Ji to surrender, and he was busy now, so he had to use Jia Xu to do it.

The only difficulty in persuading the two men to surrender was to find someone to help these two brave but unwise generals see the situation clearly.

For Jia Xu, this little task of analyzing the situation was a piece of cake and he could do it with ease.

He still did not beat around the bush with Li Jue and Guo Si, but instead came up with a blatant conspiracy.

"Jia Xu, what do you mean?"

Li Jue was also confused when he heard this.

He had seen people who were not afraid of death, but he had never seen someone like Jia Xu who came to seek death in a hurry.

"If you want to kill me, just kill me. Why waste your time talking?"

However, Jia Xu was sure of the two men's personalities and still held his head high and spoke coldly.

"Ahem...Mr. Jia Xu, we are too stupid to understand what you mean. Please help us solve our confusion for the sake of our respect and courtesy to you."

Since Li Jue played the good guy, Guo Si, who had a tacit understanding with him for many years, immediately played the good guy. He immediately released his hand that was holding the sword, stepped forward and humbly asked Jia Xu for advice.

Look, look...

Jia Xu clearly came to persuade Li Jue and Guo Si to surrender for his own safety, but with just a few simple words from him, Li Jue and Guo Si actually begged him for surrender.

"Humph!

"If it weren't for the fact that you two had shown me some respect in the past, how could I have come to rescue you two today?"

Seeing this, Jia Xu's face darkened a little, and then he began to analyze the situation to Li Jue and Guo Si.

"I'm just saying something simple."

"Li Ru has sent a letter saying that Zhang Ji and Fan Chou have surrendered. Lü Yi now not only controls three states, but also has more troops than you two."

"If Lu Yi attacks, can you resist?"

One look from Jia Xu made Li Jue and Guo Si look unhappy.

Lu Yi's military strength was originally comparable to that of Dong Zhuo. Although the number of Bingzhou cavalry was less than that of Xiliang cavalry, their quality was obviously superior. With the support of Gongsun Zan, they could naturally become the enemy of Dong Zhuo.

Now that Lü Yi had 100,000 Western Liang cavalry led by Zhang Ji and Fan Chou, how could Li Jue and Guo Si be able to contend with them?

However, it was a bit too much to ask Li Jue and Guo Si, two arrogant generals, to say that they were not as good as Lu Yi. It took them a long time to managed to utter a word.

"We are no match for Lu Yi!"

"Okay, let's not talk about military strength now. I know that both of you call yourselves fierce generals."

"May I ask if the two generals can defeat General Hua Xiong?"

After Jia Xu finished speaking, he said another word.

"Hua Xiong is the most powerful warrior in Xiliang. We are naturally inferior to him."

Li Jue and Guo Si couldn't help but become even more arrogant after hearing this.

"Hua Xiong is the most powerful person in Xiliang, but Li Ru said in his letter that he was killed by Lü Yi in a confrontation. Can you be confident that you can defeat Lü Yi when the two armies meet in battle in the future?"

"cannot……"

Li Jue and Guo Si's momentum dropped by another three points.

"But Lü Yi has many brave generals under his command, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, and Zhang He, all of whom are the best generals in the world. His brother Lü Bu is even more capable of defeating ten thousand people. He has been in the army for ten years and has never met an enemy."

"May I ask again whether the two generals can defeat the generals under Lu Yi's command?"

Jia Xu took advantage of the victory and continued to interrogate the enemy.

"..."

At this time, Li Jue and Guo Si had lost all their spirit, and the arrogance and rebelliousness in their hearts were replaced by panic.

"We can't win the battle, and we can't defend ourselves."

"Now that you two do not want to surrender to Lu Yi, are you planning to be defeated and killed along with me?"

"This……"

Li Jue and Guo Si couldn't help but hesitate when they heard this.

It’s not impossible to surrender, since they both had surrendered to Dong Zhuo before.

However, the two of them felt unwilling to surrender in an unclear and worthless way.

"You two!"

Jia Xu knew very well what Li Jue and Guo Si were thinking.

After the intimidation, he immediately started to bribe.

(End of this chapter)