The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 151 Volume Reversal of the Heavenly Gang
"Is the Qiang plague... so serious?"

Lu Bu, a native of Bingzhou, was the first to express shock.

"I thought the activities of the Southern Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Wuhuan in the north of Bingzhou and the Hetao area were outrageous enough, so why is the Qiang threat in the west so serious?"

That’s Longdi!
These are the four Hexi counties that have been managed by the Han people for more than four hundred years!
It has been the place where the Chinese people have rested and prospered since ancient times.

It is not like the front lines in the north where the fight with the foreign tribes on the grasslands lasts for years.

As for Yufuluo, the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu who fled to Hedong, it was simply an accident...

"The court has abandoned the western frontier for too long."

During the reign of Emperor Ling, Han Sui and Bian Zhang led the Qiang soldiers in a rebellion and defeated the then General Huangfu Song, causing turmoil in the imperial court.

Si Tu Cui Lie even advised Emperor Ling to ask the court to give up Liangzhou and hand over the state to others.

If it were not for Fu Xie, a councilor from Lingzhou in Beidi County and a descendant of Fu Jiezi, Marquis of Yiyang in the early Han Dynasty, who argued for his point of view, the foolish imperial court would have really abandoned Liangzhou.

Fu Xie was a counselor, but he was not afraid of the powerful and he stood up and shouted at Prime Minister Cui Lie to be beheaded!

Even though some scholars and eunuchs stood up to impeach Fu Xie, accusing him of insulting ministers in the court, Fu Xie still refused to give up.

"When Maodun, the chief of the Xiongnu, disobeyed Empress Dowager Lü, General Fan Kuai boasted that he wished to have 100,000 men and run rampant among the Xiongnu. Despite his loyalty to the emperor and his love for the country, Ji Bu still said that Fan Kuai should be executed!"

"Liangzhou is a strategic point in the world and a national defense. Emperor Gaozu and Li Shang pacified the Longyou area. Emperor Shizong Wudi expanded Liangzhou and established four counties. People at that time thought that this was like cutting off the right arm of the Xiongnu!"

"The governance of Liangzhou is in chaos and there is rebellion. Instead of suppressing the rebellion as soon as possible, we have to give up a vast territory! If we allow foreigners to obtain Liangzhou, they will launch a more powerful offensive. The next step may be to attack Guanzhong or even invade Luoyang in the east! Isn't this a disastrous consequence?"

Emperor Ling then repented and sent Dong Zhuo to quell the rebellion, driving out Han Sui and others and retaining Liangzhou for the imperial court.

Although the ending is still satisfactory.

But from this we can see that the Guandong samurai really did not regard the people of Liangzhou as human beings!

Moreover, after Fu Xie argued for the court to save Liangzhou, he offended the powerful people of the time because of his excessive integrity, so he was exiled to Liangzhou and served as the prefect of Hanyang.

Later, the Liangzhou rebels returned and Fu Xie was besieged by the rebels in Ji County, the seat of Hanyang County. Many Xiongnu people admired Fu Xie's integrity and came to the city gate to kowtow, asking Fu Xie to surrender and promising to escort him safely to his hometown in the north.

Even Fu Xie's 13-year-old son Fu Gan persuaded his father: "The emperor is incompetent, the eunuchs are in power, and my father cannot be tolerated by the court. Now Liangzhou has been controlled by the rebels, and we can't resist. Why don't we accept the Xiongnu's suggestion and return home temporarily, and then recruit warriors. When a wise man is born, we can consider saving the world. How about it?"

Before Fu Gan finished speaking, he was interrupted by Fu Xie——

"Bie Cheng (nickname of Fu Gan), do you know that I must die here today? As the saying goes, 'the wise are the most chaste, the next is the most loyal'. Even a cruel king like King Zhou of Shang had Boyi starving himself to death for him. Confucius even praised Boyi as a wise man. Today's court is not as cruel as King Zhou of Shang. Can my character surpass Boyi? Troubled times cannot cultivate upright people. How can I, who am paid by the court, not share the worries of the court? Now that I am here, I must die here."

For a time, everyone around was in tears. After entrusting his son Fu Gan to the chief clerk Yang Hui, Fu Xie led the few soldiers in the city out of the city to meet the enemy, and eventually died on the battlefield... (Note 1)

Guandong treated the people of Liangzhou like this, and the imperial court treated the people of Liangzhou like this. Liu Xie asked himself, if he had stayed in Liangzhou, he would have rebelled against the imperial court long ago...

"So, if the imperial court does not provide support to the local area and the local Han people are unwilling to support the imperial court, it will be difficult to suppress the Qiang invasion."

Liu Xie now truly understands what it means that good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.

The courts of the Later Han Dynasty wanted to save money and food on the border, and sometimes they simply ignored the people living in the border areas...

On the surface, it did save the imperial court a lot of money and food and avoid war, but all the gifts had already been secretly marked with a price.

For example, now, the mines laid by the previous emperor of the Later Han Dynasty directly hit the current emperor Liu Xie.

Liu Xie could only thank Fu Xie and Dong Zhuo now. Fortunately, the people of Liangzhou never gave up and tried hard to save themselves, so that the imperial court did not lose Liangzhou.

Otherwise, the situation of himself and the Han court would be a thousand or ten thousand times more difficult than it is now!
"What should we do now?"

After learning about the Qiang threat in the west, Lu Bu also asked Liu Xie very carefully.

"Your Majesty...are you going to send troops?"

Now is not the time for Liu Xie to decide whether to send troops.

But Dong Zhuo will definitely send troops!
His own brother died at the hands of the Qiang people. After seeing what Dong Zhuo had just done, Liu Xie realized that the Grand Master might have to fight this battle!
But how could the imperial court have the qualifications to fight this war?
Just now, Liu Xie had just returned from Dong Bai’s ancestral temple.

There are so many skinny people on the road, it is not easy for them to get a bite of food, how can there be extra food to supply the army and let the soldiers go to Longyou and fight the Qiang people in the deep mountains and forests?

"beat!"

Lu Bu thought that Liu Hui would be embarrassed for a moment, and then try to persuade Dong Zhuo.

Unexpectedly, the Son of Heaven is just one word——

beat!
"Your Majesty, do you really want to go to such lengths for the Grand Master?"

At this moment, Jia Xu was no longer silent.

"Although the situation is difficult now, we can still get by. As long as we can survive this year and the people's livelihood in Guanzhong is restored next year, your Majesty and the Grand Master will use the army wherever they want, and I will not complain at all."

"But at this moment, we really can't send troops!"

How could we destroy the overall situation of the court just for Dong Min?

Liu Xie was not surprised by their reaction. "The attack on Longyou and the suppression of the Qiang invasion were not just for the personal grudge of the Grand Master, but also for the safety of the imperial court!"

"Have you ever thought about this? Since the Qiang people dared to kill even Dong Min, how long can Ma Teng hold out?"

"Although Ma Teng was wavering, he was still an official of the imperial court after all, representing the dignity and rule of the imperial court in Liangzhou."

“If the imperial court does not send even a single soldier to Ma Teng, then Ma Teng will soon be driven out of Liang Province by those Qiang people!”

"Once Ma Teng is expelled from Liang Province, the imperial court will really hand Liang Province over to the enemy!"

"Besides..."

There is one more important point!
"In the future, the imperial court will certainly go east to fight against the bandits."

"And Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are both great enemies of the world! To deal with them, you must be wholehearted and not distracted for a moment!"

"If the Qiang people from Liangzhou suddenly invade Guanzhong while the imperial court is fighting against them, how will the imperial court deal with it?"

Fighting on two fronts is a taboo in military strategy!

Although Li Ru had used a trick to allow the imperial court to capture Taiyuan County without bloodshed, he had the geographical advantage of suppressing Yuan Shao.

But after all, there is still a Cao Cao.

If Yuan Shao and Cao Cao could cooperate sincerely, who among the generals in Guanzhong could guarantee that they could defeat the two in a short period of time?
If not, and the rear is on fire and they rush back to help in a hurry, once they are chased by the two, they will most likely be defeated!
Not to mention there are worse cases.

What if by the time we conquer Yuan Shao, we are in a hurry to return home, and there are not enough forces left in Hebei, allowing Cao Cao to take advantage of us for nothing? That would be a real threat to the court!

After defeating Yuan Shu, Cao Cao took over Yuan Shu's territory in the Central Plains and controlled the two states of Yan and Yu.

If Cao Cao takes Hebei, it will be like a complete Cao Wei...

By that time, it would be even more difficult for the imperial court to recover its homeland!
Therefore, in order to resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the internal situation!
Liangzhou is located in the rear of Guanzhong. Once it is occupied by the enemy, the imperial court will be almost isolated and helpless.

If we don't hurry to quell the Qiang threat now while Ma Teng is still supporting Liang Province, do we have to wait until Liang Province is completely occupied by the Qiang people before sending out troops?

"Therefore, stop trying to persuade me! I will go in and talk to the Grand Tutor directly!"

Liu Xie walked straight back into Dong Zhuo's palace and even began to simulate the battle situation in his mind.

"Li Jue and Guo Si are currently stationed in Hedong and Taiyuan to guard against Yuan Shao. It is impossible for them to lead the expedition to conquer the Qiang people."

"Xu Rong and Zhang Ji are stationed in Hangu Pass and Wuguan Pass respectively, guarding the important roads east of Guanzhong. They cannot be easily transferred."

"Among the remaining people, Niu Fu cannot take charge alone... In this case, we can only let Feng Xian lead the troops."

Lu Bu was born on the border and fought against foreign races for many years, so he had some experience in fighting against foreign races.

After the main general had made his plan, Liu Xie began to think about the deputy general.

When Dong Zhuo saw Liu Xie coming back in, he also spoke:

"Your Majesty! (Grand Master!) I have something to say to you!"

The two of them spoke at the same time, and said exactly the same words.

Liu Xie thought that Dong Zhuo was worried that he would not agree to send troops, so he took the initiative.

After all, it was not uncommon for him to disagree with Dong Zhuo on the issue of sending troops. The last time, they also had a big disagreement on whether to send troops against Yuan Shao.

But this time, that kind of situation will definitely not happen——

"Don't be anxious, Grand Master. Listen to me first."

Dong Zhuo shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, it would be better if you listen to me first!"

"In that case, then the Grand Master should speak first."

Liu Xie was ready to give Dong Zhuo a surprise.

Dong Zhuo took a deep breath, as if it was extremely difficult for him to say the next sentence -

"Your Majesty, please do not send troops and live in peace with the people. Wait until people's livelihood is restored next year before sending troops to Longyou to avenge Shuying!"

"Haha! Grand Master! I have already decided to go..."

Liu Xie's eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.

"Grandmaster...what did you say just now?"

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Note 1:

The biography of Fu Xie is taken from the Book of the Later Han, Volume 58, Biographies of Yu, Fu, Gai and Zang

(End of this chapter)