Chapter 152: Taking Advantage of the Fire

Yuan Xi was smug, having finally gotten Guo Jia to offer advice by trading conditions with him.

Guo Jia, tormented by his dual addictions to alcohol and criticizing, finally set aside his pride and negotiated terms with Yuan Xi.

One jug of wine and one concubine per day, in exchange for one scheme from Guo Jia each day.

If he wanted two ideas in a day, he would exchange them for double the price.

Such a blatant exchange of benefits made Yuan Xi feel a little embarrassed.

Wu Zhao, who overheard, secretly felt sorry for Guo Jia. Given Yuan Xi's stinginess, which could squeeze a person dry, she feared that Guo Jia would soon regret it.

Sure enough, when Yuan Xi returned, he mobilized everyone to brainstorm and think about what the most pressing issues were, gradually sorting them out.

For Guo Jia's health, Yuan Xi decided that he would ask no more than one question a day, and when he asked, he would get to the bottom of it. Once he had compiled all the questions into a "One Hundred Thousand Whys" book, Guo Jia would be liberated.

The first question was quite troublesome: how did the Yellow Turban Rebellion start among the common people, and how did they establish a message transmission mechanism? Yuan Xi grilled Guo Jia for most of the day, making Guo Jia's intestines turn green with regret.

When Yuan Xi finally left satisfied, Guo Jia gritted his teeth and picked the most beautiful maid in the mansion to be his concubine, taking her back to enjoy a whole night.

As a result, early the next morning, when Guo Jia woke up wanting to continue his efforts, Yuan Xi came knocking again, causing the ready-to-go Guo Jia to vomit three liters of blood.

This time, the question Yuan Xi brought was how to use the remaining Taiping Dao teachings of the Yellow Turban Army for his own benefit.

Only then did Guo Jia understand what Yuan Xi wanted to do.

So that's how it is.

Unexpectedly, it's like this.

How dare he do this!

This question was too troublesome, and Guo Jia had no choice but to use all that he had learned to explain it to Yuan Xi from the beginning.

Unlike Wu Zhao and Cao Xian, who were women who never left their homes, Guo Jia had truly experienced the entanglements between the gentry and the Yellow Turban Daoists, and his understanding was naturally deeper.

This time it took even longer, a whole day, before Yuan Xi understood the origins of the Yellow Turbans.

At that time, Emperor Ling of Han was immoral, the people were living in misery, the imperial power was weakening, and religions took advantage of the situation, especially Zhang Jiao's Taiping Dao.

He divided the believers in the eight provinces of Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Yu into thirty-six districts, and even now, ten years later, they still have a wide influence in the eight provinces.

Among them, the Qing and Xu Yellow Turbans are the most famous, but the Jizhou Yellow Turban forces are also very strong, especially in the current Ye City, which was the base camp of the Yellow Turban uprising at that time.

When Guo Jia said this, Yuan Xi seemed to have realized something. The influence of the Yellow Turban Daoism is difficult to eliminate. The chaos in Ye City, the Black Mountain bandits, if the Yellow Turban Daoism is acting as a link in it, it seems that everything makes sense.

Guo Jia finally said: "Black Mountain, White Wave, Yellow Dragon, Zuo Xiao, there are still dozens of large and small Yellow Turban remnants in the world, wandering in the mountains and forests, tens of thousands for the larger groups, thousands for the smaller ones. The Black Mountain Army is even rumored to have a million soldiers, but of course, there aren't that many in reality."

He gloated and said: "The Yuan family is now involved with the most troublesome branch, the Black Mountain Army. Young Master must not be sleeping well at night, right?"

Yuan Xi shook his head, thinking that Guo Jia was still holding a grudge against him. He opened his mouth: "Is there any way to completely eliminate them?"

This time, Guo Jia shook his head decisively: "Even if there is, I can't think of it."

Yuan Xi suddenly changed the subject: "Do you know the prophecy about my name?"

Guo Jia nodded: "This is already an open secret in the gentry circle. I don't know where Yuan Shijun got the courage."

"Do you know that there are actually many people who believe in prophecies who are watching, thinking that you are the only one in the Yuan family who, in terms of name, can compare with Yuan Gonglu."

Yuan Xi knew that it was that prophecy again: 'The one who awaits the Han is Dang Tu Gao'.

He said: "I want to use my name to occupy a place in the Yellow Turban Daoism, what should I do?"

Guo Jia laughed when he heard this.

"Young Master is so brave!"

"However, those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters. Although I hate you, Young Master, I have to admit that this idea is very interesting!"

Yuan Xi thought to himself that if he wasn't forced to, who would use this kind of trick?

He only had a few thousand people, while the Black Mountain bandits, Gongsun Zan's army, and even the Southern Xiongnu could easily send out tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

If they were all brought together, he would be drowned by the sheer number of people.

In the end, it was still necessary to avoid making enemies on all sides, but to divide and separate them so that they could not join forces, which was the best strategy.

Yuan Xi and Guo Jia discussed it for several days in a row, and the idea gradually took shape.

He ordered Zhao Yun to disperse the captured Black Mountain bandits into various reclamation teams, led by squad leaders, to do labor outside the city.

The Black Mountain prisoners of war originally thought that they would be waiting for days even worse than slaves, but they did not expect the other party to promise that as long as they completed the work of digging rivers and reclaiming wasteland every day, they would not only have food to eat, but also be released after a month!

The Black Mountain prisoners were overjoyed, but many people dared not believe it. Wouldn't this be just a trick to get them to do hard labor?

With such doubts, some people did not work hard, while more people worked hard, just for the faint hope of surviving.

Gradually, they discovered that, apart from other things, two meals a day were guaranteed, and in addition to coarse grains, there were also some fine grains, and occasionally they could even eat meat!

What shocked them even more was that the things they ate were served from the same pot as the soldiers and civilians of Beixin City, without any discrimination.

Moreover, they often saw a young general with two personal soldiers eating and reclaiming wasteland with them.

In the evening, as they slept on the straw mats alongside the squad leader, the soldiers would chat idly. They were surprised to learn that the young general was actually the current Prefect of Zhuo Commandery, Yuan Shao's own son, Yuan Xi!

The squad leaders said proudly, "Not only is the young lord formidable on the battlefield, but he's also unmatched when it comes to treating us well."

"Especially since he's very likely the person prophesied in the omens! He's also a significant figure within the Taiping Dao!"

A captured Black Mountain Army soldier retorted, "I used to be with the Taiping Dao, how come I never heard of his name?"

The squad leader sneered, "That just means you weren't high enough in the ranks!"

"Or perhaps your Daoist principles overlooked a great figure like the young lord, which only proves that your Daoist principles are nothing special!"

He explained the origin of Yuan Xi's name and spoke of his love for the people and his ferocity on the battlefield, finally saying, "Tell me, isn't such a figure far superior to the mountain bandits your Taiping Dao boasts about?"

The captive was speechless, especially since he was also from You Province. Upon hearing that Yuan Xi had actually defeated Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, he was even more astonished.

The trio of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei had also risen to prominence in Zhuo Commandery. The Yellow Turban Army he had been a part of had also been defeated by the three, making him aware of their might as generals. Yet, Yuan Xi had actually defeated them?

Could it be that Yuan Xi was truly blessed by the Yellow Heaven?

Such conversations quietly occurred in various camps, and rumors about Yuan Xi gradually spread among the Black Mountain bandits in private. The more the rumors spread, the more outrageous they became.

A month passed quickly. The Black Mountain bandits were gathered together, and soldiers, holding bamboo slips, individually tallied the work performance of each bandit.

After the count, out of nearly a thousand people, more than half had completed their work. The remaining individuals, due to laziness and other reasons, had not finished their tasks and needed to continue working.

Zhao Yun called out those who had passed, gave each of them several days' worth of rations, and allowed them to return home on their own.

Watching the gates of the camp wide open, those people held the distributed bean cakes in a daze. Were they really being let go just like that?

Could they really go back to see their parents, wives, and children?

After a while, they woke up as if from a dream, kowtowed to Yuan Xi in joyous gratitude, and left one after another.

The remaining people, seeing their comrades disappear into the mountains and not being intercepted and killed by the soldiers, finally understood that the promise was real.

Their intestines turned green with regret, and in the days that followed, they worked desperately, finally completing their tasks and leaving.

Yuan Xi watched as the last Black Mountain bandit kowtowed to him in gratitude and departed, thinking that each person had family and friends behind them. The return of these thousand people would affect nearly ten thousand.

The seed had been planted. As for whether it could ignite a fire among the Black Mountain bandits, it would depend on luck.

The Black Mountain bandits should be temporarily unable to understand his actions and would be in a short period of observation.

The Southern Xiongnu would have to bypass Dai Commandery to get here, and they shouldn't be able to arrive anytime soon.

Taking advantage of this time, he could finally free up his hands to deal with Gongsun Zan's side.

He had people send messages to Qu Yi and Taishi Ci in Fanyang and Rongcheng, preparing to catch a big fish.

Of course, the bait was himself.

Without personally taking the risk, the big fish wouldn't take the bait on its own.

He returned to the residence, where Wu Zhao and Cao Xian were waiting in the courtyard.

Seeing him return, the two came up to help Yuan Xi take off his armor, smiling and saying, "Young lord, you've finally returned."

For more than a month, Yuan Xi had been reclaiming wasteland with the Black Mountain bandit prisoners, acting the part completely, eating and living together with them. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible to convince them.

Wu Zhao took the armor and said to Yuan Xi, "The water in the back hall is already heated. Young lord, go take a bath."

Yuan Xi hadn't taken a bath in a month and felt like he was starting to stink, so he agreed and headed to the back.

Seeing that Cao Xian wanted to help her, Wu Zhao said, "I'll go wipe down the armor. You go serve the young lord in his bath."

Cao Xian quickly agreed. She went into the house to get Yuan Xi's new undergarments. When she arrived at the back hall, she saw Yuan Xi already sitting in a large tub filled with hot water, his eyes closed in rest.

Cao Xian quickly went over and said softly, "Let me scrub your back for you, young lord."

Yuan Xi leaned against the edge of the tub, enjoying the delicate hands gently rubbing his back through the fine linen cloth, feeling the fatigue of the past month instantly alleviated.

He asked, "How have you two been in the residence these past months?"

Cao Xian said softly, "It's been good, I've gotten much more used to it."

She thought of when she had first arrived in Beixin City, when she had been quite unaccustomed to the food and had suffered for a while, and couldn't help but blush.

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I didn't lie to you, it's definitely not as comfortable as living in Ye City, right?"

Cao Xian said softly, "I've been to the streets a few times and saw that the lives of the common people are much worse than those of the commoners in Ye City."

"Even I lived better than the local commoners in Ye City, and I still live better than the commoners in Beixin City now, yet the young lord is able to eat and live with them."

"Since the young lord can endure hardship, how can this concubine be a burden to the young lord?"

Yuan Xi nodded, "I heard that you and Wu Zhao together composed some rumors about me and spread them in the city?"

Cao Xian said, "Most of them were thought up by Sister Wu Zhao. They're all easy-to-remember nursery rhymes."

Yuan Xi learned a few from Cao Xian and realized that they were all adapted from Western and Eastern Han Dynasty prophecies and nursery rhymes.

For example, "Light in the sky, Xi on the ground, Harmony or not, in Hebei", was clearly adapted from the nursery rhyme "Harmony or not, in Chimei, Gain or not, in Hebei" from when Liu Xiu raised his army.

The latter alluded to the world of Chimei and Liu Xiu, while the former clearly referred to Yuan Xi.

Yuan Xi was dumbfounded and said, "Isn't this a little too obvious?"

Cao Xian covered her mouth and smiled, "Young lord, if it wasn't so straightforward, the common people wouldn't understand."