Chapter 241

"The Huang Jin bandits have only just been pacified, and now a rebellion has broken out in Xiliang. Are they afraid that I'm living too comfortably?"

"Pass on my order: immediately mobilize Huangfu Song to go to Changancheng to preside over the suppression of the rebellion!"

"Yes!!"

Originally, Liu Hong thought that with Huangfu Song, Sun Jian, and the others, the rebel army in Xiliang would soon be suppressed.

However, the reality was completely the opposite.

First, Huangfu Song offended the eunuchs because he impeached the hometown mansion of the Eunuch Zhao Zhong for being slightly over the standard.

Then, he refused a bribe of 10 million from Zhang Rang, offending him as well.

Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong conspired to frame him, claiming he had achieved nothing in battle and had merely wasted Qian Liang. The Son of Heaven dismissed him from his post as commander, recalled him to Luoyangcheng, confiscated his seal and ribbon as General of the Left Chariots and Cavalry, stripped him of 6,000 households from his fief, and demoted him to Marquis of Duxiang with a fief of 2,000 households.

For a time, even Su Xuan could not help but sigh: "I didn't expect that even General Huangfu Song would be set up by Zhang Rang and the others!"

"Back then, he even advised me to keep my distance from the eunuchs and not to offend them to the point of no return;"

"In the end, when it came to it, he completely forgot this himself. Was it because his position and power had risen, and he got carried away? Did he stop taking the eunuchs seriously?"

He himself had once said that such petty people as eunuchs were the most capable of ruining things.

As it turned out, Huangfu Song still went and offended Zhang Rang and his lot; there was really no one else like him.

Of course, Zhang Rang had also gone too far.

To actually demand a bribe of 10 million from Huangfu Song—given Huangfu Song's power and status, it was indeed impossible for him to soften his stance and pay.

Otherwise, how could he maintain his standing among the scholar-officials?

This problem was simply unsolvable.

From the moment he offended Zhao Zhong, it was hard to avoid.

Unless Huangfu Song was effective in the war.

After Huangfu Song was removed, Zhang Wen was put in charge of the war in Yongliang, but the campaign went very poorly.

It dragged on for more than half a year before they finally annihilated Beigong Boyu and Bian Zhang, pacified Han Sui, and temporarily quelled the rebellion.

During this period, Dong Zhuo, with the help of He Jin and the Yuan Fu, successfully regained command of troops and participated in the suppression.

He achieved quite a few merits during this time, and Dong Zhuo was appointed as the Administrator of Xiliang and enfeoffed as Marquis of Dixiang with a fief of 1,000 households.

For a time, Dong Zhuo was infinitely glorious and began to develop rapidly in Xiliang.

"Tsk tsk! So Fatty Dong has risen after all! Soon, there will be a good show to watch!"

"Nurturing a tiger to cause trouble—it is nothing more than this. He Jin and the Yuan Fu will regret it!"

After receiving the report from the Xiliang secret guards about Dong Zhuo's development there, Su Xuan could not help but sneer.

Both the Yuan Fu and He Jin thought they could control this jackal, Dong Zhuo, but unfortunately, they overestimated themselves and underestimated Dong Zhuo's cruelty and audacity.

However, Su Xuan was happy to see this happen and had no intention of stopping it at all.

In 185 AD, a great fire broke out in the Southern Palace. To rebuild it, the Son of Heaven Liu Hong further intensified his extortion and heavy taxation, leaving the common people, who were already struggling to survive, unable to catch their breath.

In an instant, countless people chose to take risks and launched uprisings.

Within a month, peasant uprisings emerged everywhere, making the Great Han increasingly precarious.

Against this backdrop, time arrived at the beginning of 186 AD.

Zhao Ci, the Commandant of Jiang Xia, seeing uprisings everywhere and harboring a grudge against Qin Jie that had grown deeper over the years, suddenly let evil take hold of his heart. He directly led his troops to mutiny and rose in rebellion against the Han.

He caught the Administrator of Jiang Xia off guard, had his subordinates kill him, occupied the capital of Jiang Xia, Xilingcheng, and seized countless spoils.

He quickly expanded his forces and raised an army of 50,000.

Afterward, he marched triumphantly, capturing Anlu at top speed and advancing toward Nanyang.

After entering Nanyang, he took the bridgehead of Suixian. Zhao Ci originally wanted to capture Dengxian, then march north to conquer Xinye, and finally take Wancheng.

But considering that the County Magistrate of Dengxian was Su Xuan's father, Su Lie, he was very wary of Su Xuan.

He did not want to create extra complications for the time being; taking Wancheng was the priority.

Whether it was building bridges, paving roads, building cities, or working in workshops, mining in mining fields, or participating in wasteland reclamation and farming in agricultural reclamation camps, none of it was useless effort.

The entire process took no more than two or three days.

Because it was so rapid and Zhao Ci focused on blocking news, Qin Jie had received no information beforehand.

By the time he learned of it, Zhao Ci had already led over 50,000 troops to the city walls.

At this point, it was already too late for Qin Jie to gather troops to defend the city and counterattack.

That very day, Wancheng was breached by Zhao Ci, and Qin Jie was captured alive and brought before him.

Looking at Qin Jie, who was bound and kneeling on the ground, Zhao Ci asked with a ferocious and triumphant grin: "Qin Jie, back then you sabotaged my merits and kicked me aside. Did you ever think you would have a day like this?"

Hearing this, Qin Jie looked up at Zhao Ci and cursed indignantly: "Zhao Ci, you dog thief, when did I ever sabotage you?"

"I already explained it long ago. Your transfer to Jiang Xia was not my intention at all, but the Son of Heaven's appointment. Why wouldn't you believe me?"

"Besides, you and I have worked together for many years. Do you really want to continue making one mistake after another?"

"Don't you know that rebelling against the Han is a dead end?"

"Stop now, surrender, and you still have a chance to live. Otherwise, once the imperial court reacts and sends a large army to encircle and suppress you, you will surely die."

At this moment, Qin Jie was also panicking. He only hoped that Zhao Ci had not gone completely insane and could still listen to reason.

Otherwise, he feared his life would be lost today.

At the same time, Qin Jie felt aggrieved!

He really hadn't targeted or sabotaged Zhao Ci back then!

Zhao Ci's appointment as Commandant of Jiang Xia was truly the Son of Heaven's doing; what did it have to do with him?

Because of this matter, his relationship with Zhao Ci had been extremely poor for the past two years.

He had thought about improving it and had explained it many times, but it was useless; Zhao Ci simply did not believe him.

What could he do?

"Hahaha!"

However, upon hearing Qin Jie's words, Zhao Ci could not help but look up and laugh wildly. He looked at Qin Jie with mockery and said: "The imperial court? You're still counting on the imperial court?"

"Who doesn't know that the entire Great Han is now in rebellion because of the court's extortion and heavy taxes to build that useless Southern Palace for the Son of Heaven?"

"The court is now sending troops everywhere to suppress rebellions; how could they possibly spare any attention for me?"

"By the time they react, I will have completely swallowed up the entire Nanyang and even Jingzhou, and I might even march into Sili, take Luoyangcheng, and cut off that dog emperor's head;"

"By then, the whole world will be mine, Zhao Ci's. Why would I need to worry about the imperial court?"

"Simply ridiculous!"

At this moment, because everything had gone so smoothly, Zhao Ci had become completely inflated.

He no longer took the Great Han seriously, let alone the advice of a mere Qin Jie.

Qin Jie was also somewhat dumbfounded upon hearing Zhao Ci's treasonous words.

This really was a madman!

To actually think about taking all of Jingzhou, taking Sili and Luoyangcheng, killing the Son of Heaven, and changing the dynasty?

What a naive thought!

Did he not know that Sili still had tens of thousands of elite troops under the Grand General?

"You really are crazy!"

Qin Jie cursed and threatened: "Have you forgotten about Su Xuan, the General of the South in Nanjun?"

"He has at least 20,000 elites under his command. Do you think you can defeat him?"

"Have you forgotten the terror of his Black Armor Army?"

Never mind 20,000; even if Su Xuan still only had those 3,000 Black Armor cavalrymen, Qin Jie did not believe Zhao Ci could defeat him with his 50,000 rabble.

That way, he wouldn't have to worry and get a headache every time the suppression of rebellions in various places didn't go smoothly.

And wasn't he still easily defeated by Su Xuan and had his head cut off?

"Huh?"

Zhao Ci was stunned, then looked at Qin Jie with disdain: "Are you still counting on Su Xuan?"

"Yes! I admit he is indeed very capable, but I haven't spent these years doing nothing;"

"The 8,000 elites under my command are a true elite force that I have trained hard for two years and carefully cultivated;"

"I consider them to be no less than Su Xuan's Black Armor Army back then;"

"Plus my remaining 40,000 troops, which is more than twice the number of Su Xuan's, do you think I can't deal with a mere Su Xuan?"

"Don't take him too seriously!"

"How he defeated Zhang Mancheng back then, you and I both know very well!"

"It was nothing more than relying on being prepared early, and the Huang Jin army being too trashy, allowing him to succeed with a sneak attack to breach the city;"