Yan Rou heard this and did not ask who he was fighting against. He immediately said, "I am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse."
He knew very well that the position of county governor was not easy to get. Now, he needed to prove that he had enough ability and loyalty in order to get greater rewards.
Yuan Xi understood very well what Yan Rou wanted. Although the border families in the north were not small in size, they were not recognized by the Central Plains gentry, let alone integrated into them.
But now, the Yuan family, the powerful family that Yuan Xi relies on, can give the Yan family and the Xianyu family what they want.
This made Yuan Xi sigh that the temptation to cross classes has never changed for both the gentry and the common people over the past thousands of years.
In fact, for most people in the Han Dynasty, there was no concept of nation and country, and there were only contradictions and conflicts between the two ethnic groups.
Especially Yan Rou, Xian Yu Fu and others, the Han people thought they were Hu people, and the Donghu thought they were Han people. The Han court had been conscripting their soldiers, but the lack of food and pay made it quite difficult for them to cope with the situation.
If it is useful to talk about ideals with Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci and others, then talking about the prosperity of the Han Dynasty with Yan Rou and Xianyu Fu will probably not resonate with them.
Therefore, if Yuan Xi could give their family a legitimate name, then at least in the short term, they would be willing to serve Yuan Xi.
Just as Yuan Xi was recruiting soldiers and preparing to go to Jicheng to meet Zhao Yun to plot against the Black Mountain Army, Lu Bu, who was far away in Henei County, received Yinhu's letter at the same time.
It was called a letter, but in fact it was just a thin piece of silk with only one line of words on it.
The emperor is returning to the east, does Marquis Wen know?
Lu Bu held the cloth strip in his hand, lost in thought. The shame of the defeat in Chang'an that day reappeared in his mind.
He prided himself on his bravery, but this incident was an indelible stain on his life.
Ten days, just ten days and we were defeated!
Or defend the city!
The loss of Chang'an not only left Lu Bu with no place to stay, but also led to the death of Wang Yun, who appreciated him.
To be fair, the fall of Chang'an was closely related to Wang Yun, because Wang Yun was a person who could not tolerate any injustice, but lacked the skills and magnanimity to command his subordinates.
Especially after Dong Zhuo's death, Wang Yun and Lu Bu had a big disagreement on how to deal with Dong Zhuo's former subordinates.
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Wang Yun": Yun initially proposed to pardon Zhuo's men, and Lü Bu also advised him several times. Later, he doubted and said, "These people are innocent and are just following their master. If we pardon them just because they are accused of evil and rebellion, it will only make them suspicious, which is not the way to reassure them." Lü Bu also wanted to use Zhuo's property to reward officials, generals and officers, but Yun also refused.
Because of Dong Zhuo's death, he left behind a large number of his old subordinates from Xiliang. Most of these people were still very grateful to Dong Zhuo for promoting them.
Wang Yun misjudged the situation at this time. He thought that Dong Zhuo was dead and his men were leaderless. How much trouble could they cause?
Therefore, Wang Yun stated that Li Jue, Guo Si and other former subordinates of Dong Zhuo who were outside Chang'an at the time and had not yet clearly expressed their willingness to submit to the court should surrender to the Han Dynasty and accept punishment.
But the officers and soldiers in Chang'an City were originally dependent on Dong Zhuo. Now the soldiers in the city are in panic. Who knows whether Wang Yun will take revenge on them later?
Lu Bu saw the risks involved and asked to use the property left by Dong Zhuo to buy off the hearts of the troops, including the troops originally led by Lu Bu and the troops that defected after Dong Zhuo's death.
To be fair, there was nothing wrong with doing this. At that time, winning over the hearts of the army depended on how much benefits were given. However, this proposal was rejected by Wang Yun.
As a result, the morale of Lü Bu's subordinates was low. Li Que, Guo Si, Fan Chou, Zhang Ji, Li Meng, Wang Fang and other generals of Dong Zhuo collectively attacked the city. Lü Bu went into battle and although he defeated Guo Si, he was unable to support the enemy alone and had to retreat into the city.
That would have been fine, Lu Bu thought he could always defend the city. After all, Chang'an was a big city in the world, how could it be so easy to break through?
Lu Bu also knew that Li Jue and Guo Si would definitely try to bribe Dong Zhuo's former subordinates secretly, but with himself as a fellow Xiliang officer in his way, the other side would not get their way easily.
However, something unexpected happened to Lu Bu.
A force under his command, which had previously not been taken seriously, rebelled.
Old soldiers from the territory of Yizhou.
In the Han Dynasty, "Sou" meant "barbarian". This group of Sou soldiers was the armed force sent to Chang'an by Liu Yan, the governor of Yizhou, to support Dong Zhuo. At that time, Liu Yan and Dong Zhuo were on good terms. After Dong Zhuo was killed, this group of Sou soldiers became dissatisfied, so they rebelled, opened the city gates, and led the Xiliang soldiers outside the city into the city.
The whole thing is very strange. Lu Bu really didn't expect that the old soldiers would rebel. Liu Yan was also a member of the Liu royal family after all. Wouldn't this action be a trap for the emperor Liu Xie?
But no one knows the inside story now. Once the city gates were opened, the city was filled with Xiliang rebels. Most of the strong cities were breached from the inside, and Chang'an was no exception and fell.
Lu Bu was at his wit's end. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, he wanted to escape with Wang Yun, but Wang Yun refused.
Wang Yun was stubborn, but Lu Bu was unwilling to die with him, so he fled Chang'an with his subordinates in a hurry and hid in the Sili area until he was found by the brothers Zhang Miao and Zhang Chao. Only then did he take Chenliu and have a place to settle down.
When Lu Bu thinks of this experience now, he feels quite aggrieved. He was in a high position at that time. If he could control the government with Wang Yun and stabilize the political situation, he would be able to assist the emperor to accomplish great things in the future.
However, no one expected that Chang'an could be captured, and all his ambitions became a pipe dream.
Lu Bu found that since he betrayed Ding Yuan, he seemed to have been going on the wrong path.
Ding Yuan was also from Bingzhou, but he was narrow-minded. The three people under his command, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Zhang Yang, were all suppressed by him. Neither their official positions nor their rewards were generous.
"Lü Bu, courtesy name Fengxian, was a native of Jiuyuan in Wuyuan Commandery. He was given Bingzhou for his bravery. Governor Ding Yuan was appointed as the Cavalry Commandant and stationed in Henei. He appointed Lü Bu as his chief clerk and treated him with great kindness."
This statement is actually quite contradictory. Ding Yuan's attitude is very good, but he just doesn't give anything practical.
Lu Bu was a military general. According to Lu Bu's leadership ability at that time, if he could not be promoted to Beijia, he could at least be a military position such as Zhizhong.
However, Ding Yuan promoted him from the rank of Cavalry Commandant to Chief Clerk, a civil official who assisted the Chief Clerk. This was obviously an attempt to set him up to guard against Lu Bu.
Moreover, when wars break out, Lu Bu still has to go into battle. He has to do the dirty and tiring work, but there won't be much benefit afterwards. How can Lu Bu be happy?
At this time Dong Zhuo appeared. He had been the governor of Bingzhou and had a good relationship with Lu Bu and others. At this time, he controlled the emperor and all the civil and military officials and occupied the political commanding heights. He took this opportunity to make Lu Bu understand his power and offered him the temptation of assisting the emperor and enjoying wealth and glory.
Dong Zhuo was very good at winning the hearts of the army. Fan Shu's "Biography of Dong Zhuo" states: (Dong Zhuo) followed General Zhang Huan as the military commander, and together they attacked the rebellious Qiang in Hanyang, defeated them, and was appointed as a doctor, and was given 9,000 pieces of silk. Dong Zhuo said, "Those who work are mine, and those who have are the soldiers." He then distributed all of it to the officials and soldiers, leaving nothing for himself.
In terms of ambition, military strength, and courage, Ding Yuan was far inferior to Dong Zhuo, so Lu Bu was persuaded.
Lu Bu lived in the frontier since he was a child and believed in the Hu people's theory that the strong prey on the weak. He also lived step by step in this way, otherwise he would never have been able to grow up alive.
Dong Zhuo was very good at judging people. Killing the leader was something that was despised by the world. Among Ding Yuan's subordinates, only Lu Bu had the least scruples in doing things, and Lu Bu was a very loyal person, so for the future of other brothers, he stood up.
After Ding Yuan's death, his subordinates including Zhang Liao and Zhang Yang did not cause trouble. They were all promoted and became closer to Lu Bu. It seems unreasonable to say that they had no idea about it beforehand.
In this way, Lu Bu surrendered to Dong Zhuo and thus held a high position. As for why he betrayed Dong Zhuo, only the parties involved knew the true story.
Dong Zhuo was later labeled a traitor by Wang Yun, but Lu Bu's reputation was also completely ruined. But no matter what, among all the people who held Emperor Liu Xie hostage, the time when Wang Yun and Lu Bu were around was the time when Liu Xie was most free to issue decrees on his own.
As Lu Bu's last sponsor, Wang Yun seemed to have a good relationship with Lu Bu, so much so that when Chang'an City was broken, Lu Bu was still thinking about Wang Yun.
But it was no use saying these things now. Lu Bu rolled up the silk strip in his hand, turned his head slightly, and said to the guest: "Dezhou, Yinhu asked you to come here in person to deliver the letter just for this matter?"
Sitting opposite Lu Bu was Qu Yi.
Almost no one would have thought that Qu Yi, who had captured Jicheng together with Zhao Yun more than a month ago, now secretly left Youzhou and came to Hanoi without even meeting Yuan Xi!
Qu Yi said, "Yin Hu said that the fate star of Wen Hou is linked to the emperor, which will affect the situation in the world, so he asked me to come and help."
After hearing this, Lu Bu laughed and said, "With Dezhou's help, there is no need to worry about not being able to accomplish great things!"
His face suddenly darkened: "But Texas, can you tell me who Yinhu is?"
"Is he taking advantage of me?"
"Is Texas hiding something from me too?"
Qu Yi's expression remained unchanged: "I don't know, and even if I do know, I can't tell you."
"But I can guarantee with my life that he has no intention of harming Marquis Wen."
After hearing this, Lu Bu laughed out loud: "This Hidden Tiger can make Dezhou serve him wholeheartedly, it seems that he is not an ordinary person!"
"Since Dezhou dared to come here alone, it shows his trust in Bu!"
"As for the emperor's return to the east, I will discuss it with Zhang Yang in the next few days. Please stay in my house."
Lu Bu stared at Qu Yi and suddenly remembered his vanguard of death-defying soldiers.
The Qu family's method of training soldiers is unique, and the first batch of death soldiers are already some of the strongest soldiers in the world.
Although Lu Bu also had Gao Shun's trap camp under his command, for various reasons, Lu Bu could not completely trust Gao Shun, and Gao Shun's method of training troops was also concealed.
Now that Qu Yi is right in front of him, if he can recruit him for his own use, it will definitely be of great benefit to him.
What's more, Yinhu is just a hermit and can't give Qu Yi much. As long as he promises Qu Yi a high position, why should he worry about not getting his loyalty?
As for whether Yin Hu had other princes behind him, Lu Bu felt that it was unlikely. He could just send an envoy. Why would he need to take risks with a general like Qu Yi?
Thinking of this, Lu Bu smiled and said, "Dezhou has been traveling a long way, so let me prepare some wine to welcome you back!"
Qu Yi couldn't refuse, so he had to agree. However, he felt a little depressed. The young master asked him to be a lobbyist, but he was not good at dealing with people.
But Qu Yi understood that this was something that only he could do.
Yuan Xi's real purpose was to find a way to have Lu Bu stab him in the back when attacking the Black Mountain Army!