Chapter 26: Zhang Jue's Death, Yellow Turban Rebellion
Just when Qin Mo was busy cutting down troops, the situation in the Central Plains changed again.
In August, Dong Zhuo's attack on Zhang Jue was unsuccessful and he returned empty-handed. The court could only ask Huangfu Song to lead his troops north. However, due to the long journey, Zhang Jue died of illness before Huangfu Song and his troops arrived.
The Yellow Turbans ushered in their darkest day.
Unexpectedly, just after the seventh day after Zhang Jiao's death, Zhang Liang, the General who succeeded Zhang Jiao, announced that Qin Mo, the former guest official of Taiping Dao and leader of the Yellow Turban Army in Youzhou, did not abide by the rules of the sect and would be expelled from the sect immediately and would no longer have anything to do with the Yellow Turbans.
The whole country was in an uproar and rumors spread.
What is even more strange is that in response to this matter, except for Cheng Yuanzhi, who had already led his troops into Yizhou and made a few remarks, all the other leaders of the Yellow Turban Army chose to remain silent, which is unusual.
There is something weird about things.
…
Because they followed Huangfu Song north to attack Zhang Jue, Du Shihao, Wu Kui and Chu Zhongliu, although they were from different affiliations, were brought together by coincidence.
After several months of fighting, the status of the three men were improved.
Du Shihao was promoted to the rank of general two months ago. The soldiers under his command were mainly players and surrendered Yellow Turban soldiers. His personal cultivation had also broken through to the marrow cleansing stage.
Wu Kui and Chu Zhongliu were also promoted one after another, and the gap between them was not big.
They are now all non-staff members of the official army. Once the campaign to suppress the Yellow Turbans is over and they have done some lobbying, they will have the opportunity to be transferred to other posts as county lieutenant, county magistrate, Sima of a separate department, or even county lieutenant.
It looks dazzling, but it doesn't feel right at all.
The source of the three people's dissatisfaction was Qin Mo, who was entrenched in Youzhou. Not to mention Qin Mo himself, even one of his generals could guard an entire county.
In comparison, what else do they have to brag about?
"No matter what method Qin Mo used to deceive the Yellow Turban generals, as long as the imperial army defeats Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, we will encourage Huangfu Song and others to lead their troops north to eliminate Qin Mo." Wu Kui said.
The three of them would never allow an unknown person to always be superior to them.
"Don't worry." Du Shihao was calm. "Did you notice? From the imperial court to the generals, everyone reacted coldly to Zhang Liang's statement. They didn't respond at all. What does this mean?"
"The mark of the Yellow Turban on Qin Mo's body cannot be washed off, and it is destined to be just a flash in the pan." Chu Zhongliu rushed to say.
“That’s right!”
The three of them smiled at each other and were in a good mood.
…
Liaoxi County, Yangle County.
Gongsun Zan, who had already led his troops to take over Liaoxi, received the news that Qin Mo was expelled from Taiping Dao, and thought, "Is this your plan?"
Gongsun Zan began to look forward to arrangements.
…
Ji County, the governor's office.
"Marshal, what's going on?" Faced with such a sudden change, Deng Mao was a little panicked.
Qin Mo seemed to have expected this, and said calmly: "Don't worry, this was arranged by the leader before his death, in order to leave a spark for the rebels. Do you understand what I mean?"
Deng Mao seemed to understand, and said in frustration: "The commander-in-chief is saying that the leader predicts that the Ding army will be defeated?"
As one of Zhang Jiao's disciples, Deng Mao followed the rebel army in the uprising and still had a bit of passion and faith in his heart. When he suddenly heard this, he felt as if his faith had collapsed.
"I didn't say we would lose, I'm just taking precautions." Qin Mo said.
Deng Mao was silent.
He was not stupid. Thinking about the previous adjustments of the generals of the Yellow Turban Army in Youzhou and the secret order from the leader, he vaguely sensed something and felt even more depressed.
There is a feeling that the building is about to collapse.
Qin Mo patted Deng Mao's shoulder vigorously and said gently: "Calm the soldiers down, do what you should do, and don't think too much about other things ."
Deng Mao is the oldest member of the Youzhou Yellow Turban Army, and Qin Mo needs him very much now.
After the Yellow Turban Army in Youzhou was reduced to 10,000 people, Qin Mo did not follow the usual practice of placing players as generals, and basically all he chose were old Yellow Turban veterans.
It’s hard to recruit .
Fortunately, Qin Mo controlled the supply of food and grass, which was equivalent to strangling the lifeline of the Yellow Turban Army. Even without the Yellow Turban flag, the Youzhou Yellow Turban Army was still under the control of Qin Mo.
It doesn't have much impact.
To the Yellow Turban soldiers and refugees, whoever can give them food is the boss.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a Yellow Turban or not.
"Also, ask the Yellow Turban brothers in the Royal Guard Camp to pay attention to the behavior of the strange people in the Royal Guard Camp recently. If there is anything abnormal, report it to me immediately." Qin Mo said faintly.
As the Yellow Turbans declined, Qin Mo could not guarantee whether the players under his command would become disloyal.
Trusting the loyalty of players is like trusting a sow climbing a tree.
Fortunately, the current situation is still unclear and it has not yet reached the worst time. At least for now, Xu Qiang, Zhao Liuyun and others will not do anything out of line.
"Yes!" Deng Mao saluted subconsciously.
Now, Qin Mo is his backbone.
After seeing Deng Mao off, Qin Mo began to think about the imperial court's amnesty. In order to stabilize the current situation and prevent the players from having any disloyalty, the best way was to obtain the imperial court's amnesty, so that he would have a "legitimate reason" again.
Otherwise, if the name is not right, the words will not flow.
Just as he was thinking about it, Li Bingyun walked in and reported to Qin Mo about his contact with the Ten Attendants.
This is the second time Li Bingyun has returned from Luoyang.
Not long after Qin Mo entered Ji County, he collected another batch of treasures and again entrusted Li Bingyun to send them to Luoyang, to continue to show his filial piety to the Ten Attendants and at the same time to test their attitude.
"How is it going? Is there any progress?" Qin Mo asked anxiously.
Li Bingyun said: "Zhang Rang's intention is to recruit you, but at most he will give you the position of a county magistrate, and he also wants us to cooperate with the court and cut most of the troops."
"What an ungrateful person." Qin Mo gritted his teeth.
On both occasions, Qin Mo gave away almost all the treasures he had looted, as well as the belongings and savings of the Yellow Turban Army of Youzhou sent by Deng Mao, except for jade, gold and silver, to the Ten Attendants, but in return he only got the position of a county magistrate.
Really greedy.
This is a far cry from what Qin Mo wants.
"I understand. You go down first." Qin Mo waved his hand and fell into deep thought.
Li Bingyun retreated silently.
…
For the next month, the Three Kingdoms subcontinent was calm again.
Taking advantage of this round of rest, which happened to be summer vacation, Qin Mo took his jade stock and not only visited all the antique shops in Jiangcheng, but also visited all the surrounding major cities.
Finally, all the jade was sold, with a total profit of 20 million.
With this huge sum of money, Qin Mo won't have to worry about money in the short term. Similarly, it will be inconvenient for him to continue selling jade for a long time in the future.
That's too eye-catching.
If Qin Mo wants to raise money in the future, he probably can only sell gold nuggets.
After dealing with the current affairs, he stabilized the situation in Youzhou with the help of Deng Mao and dealt with several escaped players. On the fifth day of October, when Huangfu Song led his troops to Guangzong, Qin Mo also quietly left Ji County.
Three days later, he appeared on the outskirts of Luoyang.
