Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 161 Fellow villager! I need to borrow your head, I'm so eager to improve!

Northwest of Luoyang City, Shanglin Garden

The highest is the supreme one!
Shanglin Garden, the most prestigious garden in the area, is backed by Mangshan Mountain to the north, faces Longmen to the south, borders Gushui River to the west, and spans the Chan River to the east.

The Luo River, like a ribbon, meanders through the verdant hills of Shanglin Garden. The late spring sunlight pours down, turning the eaves of the pavilions in the garden into a shimmering gold color. The vermilion corridors are reflected in the rippling blue pond, startling a flock of egrets.

In the distance, the rustling of leaves on the southern slope of Mangshan Mountain mingled with the calls of deer nearby, and wild cherry blossoms fell like snowflakes, covering the fresh mud trampled by the boots of the Tiger Guards.

“Woo! Woo! Woo!”

In the hunting grounds north of Shanglin Garden, the sound of horns suddenly rang out, breaking the tranquility of the garden. The Tiger Guards, riding fine horses and wearing exquisite gold and silver armor, moved back and forth in the garden, appearing and disappearing among the gaps in the trees.

Hundreds of elite guards formed a crescent moon formation, their lances twirling red banners. Their hunting dogs barked like thunder, startling the deer and wild boars hiding in the tall grass, causing them to tremble and spring into action.

A valiant general on a green horse, his thick eyebrows furrowed, raised his arm, waved his flag, and shouted in a stern voice: "Surround them!"

The shouts were like thunder, and hundreds of elite cavalrymen moved at the sound and immediately gathered together. The shouts, the sound of horses' hooves, and the occasional arrows were fired, driving all the beasts eastward.

Amidst billowing smoke and dust, the herd of animals was finally forced into the hunting grounds, which were surrounded on three sides. As the last fencing closed, the preparations for the hunt were complete.

"Commander Qu has worked hard."

Seeing that all the prey had been driven into the hunting grounds, Chen Gong, the Crown Prince's son by a concubine, smiled slightly and quickly approached Qu Yi, the Tiger General who had dismounted, and greeted him with a cupped-hand salute.

However, Qu Yi didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard anything. He simply nodded slightly, handed the reins to the Tiger Attendant behind him without expression, and strode off to the camp to rest.

"This……"

Chen Gong frowned, a barely perceptible glint of anger flashing in his eyes, and a surge of rage rose within him.

Qu Yi was a county magistrate promoted by His Highness the Crown Prince when he was in Jizhou. He made meritorious contributions in suppressing the E bandits and was quite talented as a general. After his meritorious service, His Highness the Crown Prince promoted him to the Tiger Guard and appointed him as Tiger Guard General, with a rank equivalent to 600 shi (a unit of grain), and commanded 600 Tiger Guards.

As Chen Gong watched Qu Yi's retreating figure, he gritted his teeth and couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "How dare this scoundrel be so rude!"

Hmm, why in a low voice...? Because Chen Gong was afraid of getting beaten up!
Qu Yi was arrogant and rude, looking down on everyone except his fellow townsmen from Liangzhou. He had verbal conflicts with Zhang He, Yan Liang, and others, which eventually escalated into physical fights that resulted in bloodshed, earning him a reprimand from the Crown Prince.

Judging from Qu Yi's current behavior, he has already restrained his temper, which is also thanks to His Highness the Crown Prince's authority.

Furthermore, Qu Yi also suffered a setback among the talented princelings. Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Lü Bu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Wang Yue, and others all beat him up severely after being provoked by Qu Yi, which greatly diminished Qu Yi's arrogance.

In particular, Dian Wei, whose foot combat skills even surpassed those of Lü Bu, knocked Qu Yi unconscious with three punches, nearly resulting in his death.

With three punches, Qu Yi shattered Dian Wei's arrogant spirit and declared, "General, I'm one of your own!" From then on, Qu Yi was far more respectful to Dian Wei than ever before!

Although Qu Yi was wary of fierce generals like Dian Wei and Xu Chu, he showed no mercy to civil officials and scholars, and would beat them without hesitation if they disagreed with him.

Lu Cui was from the Lu family of Chenliu and was a direct disciple of Cai Yong, so Qu Yizhao beat him without hesitation.

Although the Crown Prince had reprimanded and punished Qu Yi, Qu Yi humbly accepted the reprimands and never changed his ways.

Moreover, Qu Yi indeed possessed the qualities of a renowned general, and given his identity as a native of Liangzhou, the Crown Prince turned a blind eye to his actions. Fortunately, the Crown Prince was temporarily appointed as the Tiger-Ben General, otherwise, given Qu Yi's temperament, he would have caused trouble sooner or later. Currently, the Tiger-Ben Imperial Guard is structured as follows: the Tiger-Ben General commands Tiger-Ben Generals (rank equivalent to 600 shi), Tiger-Ben Attendants (rank equivalent to 400 shi), Tiger-Ben Gentlemen (rank equivalent to 300 shi), and Tiger-Ben Attendants (rank equivalent to 200 shi).

Promotion in the Tiger Guard was based either on merit or seniority. Starting from the Tiger Guard, one could be promoted gradually based on years of service and ability, with the highest rank being Zhonglang.

Moreover, the Tiger Guard's organization was based on a father-to-son succession system, but only the qualification to join the Tiger Guard was inherited, not the father's official position.

Currently, no Tiger General has been appointed in the Tiger Guard. The three thousand Tiger Guards are each commanded by five Tiger Generals, who in turn directly obey the Crown Prince's orders and commands.

Besides Wang Yue, the other four of the five Tiger-like Generals were newly recruited: Qu Yi from Xiping County, Liangzhou; Gao Lan from Bohai County, Jizhou; Duan Wei from Wuwei County, Liangzhou; and Zhang Xiu from the same county.

In addition to taking command of the Tiger Guard directly into his own hands, the Crown Prince also sent a very clear political signal to the outside world—the Crown Prince trusts the people of Liangzhou!

Of the five Tiger-like Generals, three were from Liangzhou. The implications of such a political signal for the people of Liangzhou are self-evident, and this is the fundamental reason why Liu Bian was completely unafraid of the Qiang and Hu rebellion in Liangzhou!

Over the years, all the discerning people in the court have been able to see that the reason why the Qiang and Hu people of Liangzhou surrendered and then rebelled again was nothing more than a grand drama staged by the people of Liangzhou in order to seek promotion, a huge drama performed at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

If a Liangzhou native leads a guerrilla unit in the suppression army, the Liangzhou Qiang and Hu rebels will leak their intelligence to the Liangzhou generals in the Han army through the mouths of "Liangzhou righteous men," giving these Liangzhou natives the opportunity to make merit. At the same time, the Liangzhou generals' leak of intelligence about the rest of the Han army leads to successive defeats for their allies.

With one victory and one defeat, the loser naturally appears more pathetic, while the winner becomes all the more precious. Once the winner rises to a high position, he can promote his fellow townsmen from Liangzhou to higher positions.

Of course, if the merits are not enough, then Liangzhou can simply launch another rebellion.

The deaths of some Qiang and Hu people in Liangzhou, and then some Han people in Liangzhou, will make a great contribution to the future of all the people of Liangzhou. Why not do it?

This secret was revealed to him by Dong Zhuo before his departure, which can be considered as clearing up his doubts.

But the more this is the case, the more intolerant the other states in the Central Plains become of the people of Liangzhou. Why should the people of the other states suffer because of your selfish interests?
As a result, the imperial court intensified its crackdown on the Liangzhou faction, and the more severe the crackdown, the more the people of Liangzhou were inclined to rebel!

This situation created a vicious cycle in which the loyalty of the people of Liangzhou to the Han Dynasty continued to decline.

But the most serious consequence was that as the Liangzhou rebels repeatedly defeated the Han army by using intelligence from Liangzhou people within the Han army, the ambitions of the Liangzhou people gradually grew and were fueled.

Since the Han army is so weak, why is it that the emperor's throne is always occupied by members of the Liu family?

Especially during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the most outstanding contributors were Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, and Dong Zhuo, the latter two of whom were from Liangzhou.

This gave the ambitious people in Liangzhou the illusion that we Liangzhou people are very strong and invincible!

Since that's the case, let the emperor's throne rotate, and tomorrow it'll be my turn. Let's just rebel against the hell and establish a regime created by us Liangzhou people!
This rebellion of the Qiang and Hu peoples in Liangzhou was the result of these ambitious individuals; it was the two-week Qiang uprising that broke out of control.

Both Bei Gong Boyu and Li Wenhou were extreme radicals in the Liangzhou faction. What they wanted was no longer the rights of the people of Liangzhou, but a change of dynasty!

However, after leaving the remote and impoverished Liangzhou and entering the dreamlike metropolis of the capital, both Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo witnessed the true strength of the Han Empire hidden beneath its seemingly weak exterior.

In particular, they all realized that conquering the country is easy, but maintaining it is difficult. Expecting these crude and uncouth warriors of Liangzhou to govern the country is simply wishful thinking. In the end, they would have to rely on the powerful and influential families of the Central Plains.

Rather than bearing the stigma of disloyalty while still being constrained by the scholars of the Central Plains, it would be better to honestly follow the wise crown prince who has no prejudice against people from their place of origin or region!
Especially for people from Liangzhou like Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo, who have now prospered by following the crown prince, how could you, a bunch of uncouth people from Liangzhou, want to overthrow the rule of such a virtuous crown prince and shake our prosperous lives?
How can this be tolerated?
Fellow villager! I need to borrow your name; I'm really eager to improve!

(End of this chapter)