Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 235 Liangzhou people have been blackmailed
On July 196, the first year of Jian'an (), Yuan's general Qu Yi led his troops to arrive in Dian County. The entire army had more than soldiers, and civilians were recruited along the way. More than half of the soldiers were veterans who had fought in Youzhou and against the Gongsun clan.

The remaining tens of thousands were soldiers trained by the counties and states who had fought against the Black Mountain bandits entrenched in the Taihang Mountains in Ji and Bing states in the past two years. This part followed Zhu Ling's garrison in Ling County a hundred miles away to form a pincer attack.

When Liu Xuande led his army to attack Lu County, the defenders of Ling County were able to attack its flank and cut off the transportation of grain, fodder and military equipment by the canal boats on the river.

Because the city of Du County was strong but the land was small, Qu Yi had no choice but to order the vanguard Jiang Qi to lead the soldiers to build a solid camp and station them on the east and north sides of the city, facing Pingyuan County.

He also specifically ordered that the camp walls must be built solidly so that even if the field battle was unfavorable, they could retreat to the camp and use bows and crossbows to resist the enemy.

Thanks to the experience gained in using crossbows to contain powerful enemies in Liang Province and in the battle with Gongsun Zan, Qu Yi's army carried a large number of powerful crossbows. Ordinary leather armor could be easily pierced through, and even ordinary armor at close range could be penetrated by the arrowheads.

A powerful crossbow can shoot from a distance, and is undoubtedly a powerful weapon for dealing with Liu Xuande's elite Qingzhou army. Qu Yi then suggested this to Yuan Gong, and after thinking it over, Yuan Shao nodded in agreement.

He even appointed his trusted aide Feng Ji as the military inspector, commanding tens of thousands of soldiers in Ganling County, and asked Feng Ji to convey a personal message that as long as Qu Yi could defeat Liu Xuande, he would be rewarded with a title, land, houses, beautiful maids and musicians, and urged him to work hard.

Qu Yi was extremely excited and felt itchy. He did not mind even if Feng Ji acted as the military supervisor to share his military power. Instead, he jumped for joy and could not sleep all night.

Ever since Gongsun Zan was defeated, Lord Yuan had not been so generous to him for a long time. He received such a reward just for defeating Liu Bei. If he had shot and killed Liu Xuande in the battle, which meant he had made the first contribution in the battle for Hebei, then Qu Yi would have been the most meritorious person in Jizhou. Which noble family would dare to underestimate him?
This achievement is comparable to the merits of Dangdang, and he deserves the golden seal.

After personally visiting various tribes and inspecting the camp built by Jiang Qi, Qu Yi could hardly hold back his arrogance. He nodded and praised Jiang Qi standing beside him, saying: "Yiqu built such a solid camp. Even if Liu Xuande led his entire army to attack, he would be beaten to pieces and blood would flow, with many casualties."

"Yiqiu has the style of a famous general, comparable to Zhou Yafu who was stationed at Xiliu."

Although Jiang Qi despised Qu Yi, who was born in Liangzhou, he also knew that he was the commander-in-chief at the moment, and Yuan Gong's trusted aide Feng Ji was standing beside him, smiling and stroking his beard, watching the two of them quietly.

He should not show his contempt for him, so he bowed respectfully and replied: "Thank you for your praise, General Qu. I am ashamed to accept it. I dare not compare myself to Zhou Yafu, who suppressed the rebellions of various countries."

Qu Yi's smile was stiff, and he glanced at Jiang Qi with gloomy eyes. In his opinion, if someone was flattering him like this, he should at least bow his head and kowtow to him. He answered casually.

Isn't it the case that the scholars in Guandong have always had a contemptuous and sneering attitude towards the border counties?
Decades ago, even though Sanming of Liangzhou had made many achievements on the frontier, he was still looked down upon by the world when he arrived in Luoyang, and was treated like a piece of trash by these Central Plains gentry.

As for the warriors and nobles from Liangzhou, they came when called and left when dismissed.

Jiang Qi's casual and perfunctory attitude undoubtedly touched the most sensitive part of Qu Yi's heart. The scene of being ridiculed and insulted by officials in Jizhou before lingered in his mind.

Feng Ji, who was standing on the side, did not try to persuade him. Instead, he smiled and looked like he was enjoying the show.

Qu Yi clenched his fists and tried several times to put his hand on the hilt of the knife, draw his sword and teach Jiang Qi and Feng Ji, who turned a blind eye, a lesson.

He thought about it again and again, and finally suppressed his anger and walked away angrily.

After he left, Feng Ji looked around, then stroked his beard and said to Jiang Qi in a serious tone: "Qu Yi is the commander who Yuan Gong relied on to defeat Liu Xuande's army. You are in the army, and you know that he is arrogant and proud. If you bow down and serve him more, it will be more conducive to the harmony of the army. Why don't you do it?!" Jiang Qi almost blurted out, "You, Feng Yuantu, are the military supervisor sent by Yuan Gong, and you also look down on Qu Yi of Liangzhou. I was just a little casual in my attitude. How can you, Feng Ji, blame me?"

Normally, don't you scholars always speak ill of Qu Yi in front of Lord Yuan and treat him as worthless? Don't think I don't know. Why are you pretending to be so?
Feng Ji seemed to be aware that the captains and generals in the army had long looked down on Qu Yi, and Yuan Gong had certainly been fanning the flames. Their purpose was to prevent Qu Yi from establishing too much prestige in the army by defeating Gongsun Zan repeatedly.

He was also afraid that Qu Yi would follow Dong Zhuo's example and gain prestige by commanding soldiers during battles, and eventually turn them into his private soldiers.

Just like when Dong Zhuo suppressed the rebellion in Liang Province, he directly disobeyed the imperial court's conscription orders, saying that the Huangzhong Volunteers and Hu soldiers he led pulled his carriage and prevented him from returning to Luoyang to take up the post of Shaofu, and that many soldiers forcibly stopped his carriage and prevented him from leaving.

Dong Zhuo wrote to the court, suggesting that it would be better for him to stay and appease the soldiers and the Hu soldiers first, and then return to Luoyang to accept the appointment after the appeasement was completed.

As a result, this appeasement lasted until the eve of the Luoyang Rebellion. Dong Zhuo led his troops to station in Hongnong County, quietly waiting for the secret letter from the Yuan family.

Yuan Benchu ​​had personally experienced Dong Zhuo's rebellion and could no longer tolerate Qu Yi, who was also from Liang Province, enjoying great prestige among the soldiers.

Yuan Shao even sometimes said in front of his trusted staff: "The people of Liang Province are fickle and have been mixed with the Qiang people for a long time. They are familiar with the customs of the Hu people and put profit first. They have no sense of being subordinate to the emperor. They cannot be kept for long."

Xun Chen, Ju Shou, Xin Ping, Xu You, Shen Pei, Feng Ji and others could not help but nod their heads when they heard this.

The discrimination against Liangzhou by the Guandong gentry has a long history, and the Qiang people often rebel. Both appeasement and suppression are unable to stop the Qiang disaster. The continuous war between the Han and the Qiang for a hundred years has consumed nearly 40 billion yuan in money and cloth of the Han family. The bloodletting that has lasted for a hundred years is even greater than the losses suffered by Emperor Xiaowu in attacking the Huns.

Some officials also suggested to the court that they should simply give up Liangzhou. Since the capital was in Luoyang anyway, losing Liangzhou would not be a big deal.

However, the imperial court retorted that Liangzhou must not be abandoned. If Liangzhou was lost, the Qiang disaster would spread directly to Sili, and even invade Yizhou on a large scale, in addition to the Xiongnu who moved to Bingzhou.

If there were any natural disasters or man-made calamities, Chang'an might fall into the hands of the Hu people. Although Emperor Guangwu established his capital in Luoyang, important tombs such as Changling, Baling, Maoling and Duling were all near Chang'an.

How could the Han be willing to give up Liangzhou? Even if the Qiang people continued to migrate to Liangzhou every year to compete with the Han people for land, and there was fighting every day from spring to autumn, they would still send troops to suppress the rebellion.

Simply giving up Liangzhou would not stop the Qiang people from migrating. It would only bring the war to Sili and cause chaos near Chang'an.

The scholars all over the world wanted to give up Liangzhou, but they couldn't do so. Instead, they kept sending blood and money to it. In addition, Liangzhou was a mixed population of Hu and Han people, and their behavior was extremely crude, so they had long looked down on and resisted people from Liangzhou.

Not to mention Qu Yi, even Sanming of Liangzhou could not escape contempt.

Feng Ji was about to return to the city, but he was still worried before leaving, so he explained, "The battle with Liu Xuande will determine the fate of the Yuan family. I am the military supervisor, and I have been granted the power to make decisions by Lord Yuan. Anyone who dares to delay the battle and cause discord between the soldiers and generals will be beheaded on the spot."

"Yiqiu, please don't make things difficult for me..."

(End of this chapter)