Chapter 999: Professional Rebel

Chapter 999: Professional Rebel

Chapter 999: Professional Rebel

The big banner with the word "Jin" was taken down.

Xin Yan took a look at it and threw it away, not planning to keep it.

Behaving like this shows that he is a ruthless person who has no intention of leaving any way out for himself.

At the same time, another large flag with the word "Liang" on it was raised.

Everyone inside and outside the city of Fuhan who saw this scene knew clearly that Henan had changed completely overnight.

The young men from various tribes who were conscripted here because of the war looked at each other in bewilderment.

But it doesn't matter. For decades during the Jin Dynasty, the Liangzhou Shogunate still had a certain amount of prestige over these tribes.

This deterrent power once declined, but after Ma Long's westward expedition to Liangzhou and the defeat of Tufa Shuji, it recovered a lot, and then declined again. To this day, the last part still remains, making them subconsciously follow the Liangzhou shogunate and its middle and lower-level officials who directly govern them when making decisions, such as Xin Yan, the guard of Fuhan.

They really didn't understand what the Jin Dynasty and the Liang Dynasty were, and many people didn't even know that the Liang Dynasty had been founded. Xin Yan led them to submit to the new dynasty, and they just followed their superiors' orders out of habit.

As for how long they will obey, it depends on whether there is any external power to break their psychological habit, or whether they simply develop ambitions of their own, disenchant the Fuhan Guards and even the Liangzhou Shogunate, and go it alone.

For the time being, it was clear that they had followed Xin Yan's orders.

Tens of thousands of people who were building the city suddenly changed their attitude, picked up their weapons, led their war horses, and set out in a mighty procession towards the Huangshui River Valley.

Wen Qiao came to Sangcheng Town.

After learning that Xin Yan did not lead his troops eastward but went directly north, he immediately sent out the troops at hand, crossed the Wogan Ridge and headed north to Jincheng.

The reason is simple: the opportunity for war is fleeting. If we delay and wait for Jin Zheng’s main force to arrive before heading north, the situation in Jincheng may change.

After much deliberation, Jin Ming, the commander of Sangcheng Town, decided not to send troops and wait for orders from General Jin Zheng.

At this time, the situation in Jincheng County was very delicate.

On the fifth day of April, after learning of Xin Yan's "rebellion", Jincheng Prefect and Light Chariot General Dou Tao acted decisively and led 5,000 cavalry south to Wogan Ridge.

There is a village on the ridge, which was built before the winter last year to cope with the tense situation.

The defending general is Xin Yan, the former magistrate of Guzang, who has two thousand men under his command, but no one knows what his position is. In short, Dou Tao thinks that he should capture this man, and then use Wogan Ridge as a screen to seize the favorable terrain. Then, they can freely choose whether to surrender or fight to the death.

Of course, there is another very important reason, but it is not known to outsiders...

After Dou Tao led his troops away, the gate of Jincheng County was suddenly closed, as if the people guarding the city realized something and were trembling with fear as if they were facing a powerful enemy.

They are right to be nervous.

Just the day after Dou Tao left, an intense mobilization was taking place in a large manor north of Jincheng, which was backed by mountains and faced a river.

A popular proverb from the Jin Dynasty goes: "When traveling with friends, there are not many cattle or sheep; when you open the red gate in the south, you can see the brothel in the north."

We are talking about the two powerful families in Jincheng County, the Qu family and the You family.

So the question is, if we don’t count the cattle and sheep, what do we use to count them? The answer is very simple and crude: the valley.

How many sheep and cattle do you have in your valley? I have ten.

I have twenty valleys of cattle and sheep, and I am richer than you.

The nobles in the border areas are so willful.

On this day, the descendants of the Qu family gathered from all over the place, and the uprising was imminent...

******
"Uncle San, are they rebelling again?" The rumbling sound of horse hooves was heard outside the manor. As they got closer, Qu Tao jumped lightly off the horse and shouted loudly.

Upon hearing this, the white-haired Qu Ke smiled faintly and said, "In which year did our Qu clan rebel less? Even if Shao Xun governed Liangzhou, he would still rebel if he was not satisfied."

Qu Tao laughed out loud.

During the Han Dynasty, Bian Zhang and Han Sui caused chaos in Liang Province. The Qu family took advantage of the situation and finally beheaded Han Sui, then continued to dominate the country.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Qu clan continued to rebel.

When Zhang Gui governed Liangzhou, Qu Chao and Qu Pei plotted to depose Zhang Gui and replace him with brothers Zhang Yue and Zhang Zhen (the latter was then the governor of Wuwei). After their plot failed, Qu Ru and his group "hijacked" the former Fulu Ling Qu Ke as their leader, intending to respond to Pei Bao, the governor of Qinzhou, and seize power, but were eventually suppressed by Zhang Shi.

They kept causing trouble like this, and the Zhang family couldn't do anything about it.

The Qu family is quick to cut ties and draw a line between themselves and the rebellious clansmen on the surface, but they are also local tyrants. You, Zhang Gui, are an outsider without any foundation and can only use other people's strength to your advantage. How can you uproot the Qu family?
Qu Ru took advantage of Zhang Gui's stroke to rebel, but despite such a serious incident, he could not be executed and they could only "relocate more than 600 families of the main evildoers." It was not until Qu Ru rebelled for the third time that the rebellion was put down.

The cost of only pursuing "more than 600 families" in a rebellion is too low, so they rebelled again today.

"Is Zaolang back?" Qu Ke asked as he walked out of the manor gate.

"He ran away the day before yesterday and should be back soon." Qu Tao replied, "I have sent someone to pick him up."

"Zao Lang" was named Qu Hu, and he was a military officer in Zhang Jun's shogunate. When the Qu family rebelled, of course he had to run away.

However, theoretically, it was not a big deal. The one who rebelled was Qu Ke, so what did he have to do with Qu Hu?
But we have to be prepared for the worst. If Zhang Jun gets angry and really kills Qu Hu, wouldn't that be a waste of his life? So Qu Hu strongly requested that he run away first, and you guys should slow down your rebellion.

"Come back if you want. There's no point in joining the army." Qu Ke said, "The Emperor of Daliang has promised me the post of governor of Jincheng. I don't want Wuwei anymore!"

"Haha." Qu Tao laughed and said, "Third uncle finally figured it out. It's a pity that second uncle, fifth uncle and others just couldn't figure it out and insisted on going to Chang'an to wade into the muddy water. Not only did they lose soldiers and generals, but they also let Zhang Gui and Zhang Shi, father and son, gain fame."

In fact, Qu Tao also traveled eastward.

Zhang Gui sent him to lead 3,000 elite troops of the Qu family to travel east to check out the situation, but he finally ran back halfway.

Guanzhong was in chaos, with troops from all directions fighting each other.

The Xiongnu could sort it out, Shao Xun could sort it out, but the Qu clan didn't have the ability to do so. Looking at it from left to right, it would be better to occupy Jincheng, first unite with the You clan to bring down the Dou clan, and then kill the You clan. The remaining Bian clan, Zong clan and other clans are all small families and not worth mentioning.

After truly controlling Jincheng, the richest county in Hexi, we will then find a way to take over everything south of Yanzhi Mountain - then we will have to face the obstacle of the Xin family, and the road ahead will be long and arduous.

"Uncle San understands. I will leave today. Don't delay any longer." Qu Ke said, "The longer the night, the more troubles we may encounter. Let's take Yuzhong first and establish the reputation of our Qu family. Even if the Daliang army arrives in the future, it will be too late to regret it."

"Okay!" Qu Tao stopped talking nonsense, looked at the elite soldiers who were lining up in armor outside the manor, and said, "Uncle San needs to provide me with more soldiers."

"I'll give you two thousand." Qu Ke said, "These two thousand five hundred elite soldiers are enough."

Qu Tao nodded and went to check the troops immediately.

A moment later, the army surged out, crossed the Yellow River in one day, and headed south to the outskirts of Yuzhong City.

Just as he was about to knock on the gate, he saw a shower of arrows falling from the top of the city wall, injuring several soldiers.

Qu Tao cursed loudly, "Xin Mao, do you still want to work for the Zhang family today? Have you forgotten about your aunt?"

A man on the top of the city wall heard this, leaned out half of his body, saluted, and said, "General Qu, please don't worry about my family's affairs. My uncle is the governor of Hezhou and is coming all the way. If the general has nothing to do, he can leave."

When Qu Tao heard this, he thought to himself that something was wrong.

Starting from Fuhan and heading along the Lishui (Daxia River) valley, you can reach Zuonan County and Zuonanjin (now submerged in the Liujiaxia Reservoir) of Jinxing County. After crossing the river, turn northeast and you can reach Jincheng County (now west of Lanzhou). Further east is Yuzhong County, the capital of Jincheng County.

They are here to rob Jincheng County.

Your mother is a servant! You must not let me be proud of you!
However, he didn't have any better solution.

Cavalry cannot attack a city, so should they dismount and attack? But they lack siege equipment, so they don't know what to do for a moment.

When Xin Mao, who was on the top of the city wall, saw this, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

There were really not many soldiers in the city, and almost all of them were taken away by the prefect Dou Tao.

As for why Dou Tao ran away, it’s actually very simple: he couldn’t stay.

His home base is not here, he was supported by Zhang Gui to fight against You and Qu. If he is blocked in Yuzhong, what if his tribe is raided? Who can he go to for justice?
The families south of Yanzhi Mountain have many conflicts with each other and fight fiercely. Otherwise, how could the Zhang family be so proud until now?
What Qu Tao said about his aunt just now was not groundless.

At that time, his cousin Xin Li served Zhang Gui. Gui wanted to take away his wife and marry his widowed sister to him, but his cousin was unwilling and cut off his nose as a pledge.

Zhang Gui was furious and demoted him to be the prefect of Dunhuang. His cousin died soon after - "he died of grief."

In the era of Zhang Mao, his father Xin Ping was the governor of Dunhuang. At that time, he (Xin Mao) returned to Longxi to worship his ancestors and was left behind by Xin Yan. It happened that there was a rumor in Wuwei that Xin Yan was going to rebel, forcing his father to take the initiative and suggest Zhang Mao to attack Xin Yan.

Zhang Maowenjun is the only son, and he is "forced" to be killed by Xin Yan. Aren't you afraid of being killed?
This question is a bit hurtful, because it implies that you, the Xin family, are in collusion with each other. Are you sure that Xin Yan will not kill your only son because you are from the same clan?

Fortunately, it was finally proved to be a rumor, Xin Yan did not rebel, and the matter was dropped.

But the Zhang family did not trust the Xin family at all. After Zhang Jun came to power, he wanted to attack Xin Yan. It was really unreasonable.

Now that you have got what you wanted, our Xin family has really rebelled. What will you do?

"Guard the city defense carefully, don't be lazy." Xin Mao, the magistrate of Yuzhong, said to the officials of the various departments in the county and the officers of each family: "The Qu family has always been unfaithful. From the rebellion of the Later Han Dynasty to the present, the emperor of Daliang deeply dislikes them. But my Xin family has been a frontier general since the Han Dynasty. We are loyal to the country and have a good reputation. The scholars in Zhongzhou praise us one after another."

"Now my uncle is the governor of Hezhou and is trusted by the emperor. You can reflect on yourselves and choose Xinye, Douye, Quye or Youye?"

"One wrong thought can lead to eternal damnation. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"You are not required to do anything now, just guard the city. Your families are all in the city. If you let the Qu family enter the city, it might disturb your family and you will regret it."

"That's all I have to say. You should think about it carefully."

This was true, and everyone responded after hearing it.

They were not big families like the Dou, Qu, You, and Xin families, and had no right to get involved in their fights.

It's good to be an official for the Zhang family, but it's better to be an official for the Emperor of Daliang. Just protect your family and property and wait for the arrival of the royal army of Daliang.

Shao Xun was able to unify the north and bring peace to the world. It was obvious that he had great luck, and they didn't want to resist his destiny.

(End of this chapter)