I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 70 Yuan Shu wants to start his own business
Probably because they were turned away in Maoling County the previous two times, this time the Qiang people came specifically to cause trouble and specifically targeted Maoling County to attack.

From the time the Qiang rebels began to attack Maoling County until the imperial court sent General Zhang Huan to lead troops to rescue, Maoling County held out for a total of thirty-seven days.

For thirty-seven days, the Qiang soldiers attacked the city every day, with attacks of varying scales and intensity.

At first, they can be repelled with bows and arrows alone.

Later, all the traps and chevaux de frise were removed, and the Qiang people came directly to attack the city carrying siege equipment such as ladders and siege towers obtained from other places, and also brought in 3,000 reinforcements. A total of more than 8,000 people besieged Maoling County.

Lu Zhi, Lian Da and Shao Yuan assumed important responsibilities.

Lu Zhi was responsible for coordinating the overall situation, while Lian Da and Shao Yuanze were responsible for leading the soldiers to defend the city walls. They often took the lead in attacking and killing the Qiang people who climbed up the walls and fought fiercely with them.

Yuan Shu did not go up to the city wall at first, but he also actively helped them think of ways to defend the city.

For example, they collected the feces and urine of the people in the whole county and transported them to the city wall, put them in a large tripod, and heated them into golden juice, a terrifying weapon of war. When the Qiang army attacked the city, it would pour down, drowning a large number of Qiang people so that they could neither live nor die.

During the battle, many members of the Yi Xin Society were injured or killed, and the county archers and civilians in the city were also killed or injured. Yuan Shu handled logistical affairs in the city, assisted in the treatment of the wounded, and did his best to ensure that every wounded soldier received medical treatment.

He found ways to distill alcohol and obtained relatively high concentrations of alcohol to disinfect the wounds. He also bandaged their wounds himself to boost morale.

Later, the Qiang people's offensive became more and more fierce, and the defenders on the city walls were under greater pressure. The reserve troops also went up to the city. Han Jin was forced by Yuan Shu to carry supplies, and was shot in the buttocks. He lay in bed for several days without getting up.

Finally, Yuan Shu could no longer sit still, so he simply changed into a more suitable set of armor, took Xu Chong and dozens of Yi Xin Hui warriors to the city to help, beating drums to cheer.

When he went up to the city wall for the second time, he happened to encounter Qiang soldiers breaking through the defense line and fighting on the city wall. Lian Da and Shao Yuan were suppressed, and Lu Zhi was surrounded. The situation was very dangerous, so Yuan Shu took Xu Chong and rushed over to rescue them at the risk of his life.

That was also the first time he and Xu Chong killed someone.

Xu Chong killed three people, and he killed one person. Lu Zhi and the other three, who were covered in blood, were shocked to see Yuan Shu going into battle. In order to protect Yuan Shu, they fought to the death and finally drove the Qiang people away and defended the city.

That was the most thrilling one and also the last battle to defend the city.

At dawn the next day, Yuan Shu, who was sleeping on the top of the city wall, was awakened by a loud noise. He looked outside the city in panic and found that reinforcements had arrived.

Zhang Huan dispatched his military commander Yin Duan and Dong Zhuo to lead cavalry to attack the Qiang people who were besieging Maoling County. Also coming with them was Yuan Shu's father, Jingzhao Yin Yuan Feng.

The Qiang people were already exhausted after 37 days of siege and were ambushed by the Han cavalry at dawn. They immediately collapsed and were defeated. The Han army killed people outside the city until noon, killing one thousand Qiang people and capturing more than four thousand.

The 37-day-long attack and defense of Maoling came to an end, and it was also the first time that Yuan Shu saw the man who sounded the death knell for the Yuan family - Dong Zhuo.

At that time, Dong Zhuo was still a man in his thirties, with a strong and tall build. At first glance, he looked like a fierce general and very majestic.

However, in front of Yuan Shu, Lu Zhi, Lian Da and others, Zhang Huan, who was of higher status, and Dong Zhuo, who was more arrogant, did not behave in a disrespectful manner.

The reason is simple: military achievements are right before our eyes.

Lu Zhi and Lian Da were both under thirty years old, and Yuan Shu was only thirteen.

None of them were officials, but they risked their lives to fight against the Qiang people. They repelled the Qiang people 27 times, killed more than 2,000 of them, saved the county town of Maoling and all the people in the county, and tied down more than 8,000 Qiang people with their own strength, which greatly reduced the strategic burden on other places.

Especially Yuan Shu, who had blood all over his face, looked exhausted and had a relatively immature look.

He stood in front of several big men with an equally impressive aura. He spoke to Zhang Huan and others on behalf of the entire county, explaining the course of the city defense battle with neither humility nor overbearing, which made them certain that Yuan Shu was the backbone of this city defense battle.

Zhang Huan and others were all moved by this.

Yuan Feng was so proud of this that he hugged Yuan Shu with tears streaming down his face.

Yuan Shu was respected by Zhang Huan, Yin Duan and Dong Zhuo. Zhang Huan lamented that Yuan Shu was worthy of the title and was worthy of being called a child prodigy of the Han Dynasty. He immediately announced that he would recommend credit for Yuan Shu and others, and sent the recommendation to Luoyang the next day.

Afterwards, Zhang Huan continued his attack and defeated the Qiang people, killing their leader and capturing more than 10,000 Qiang people. He won a great victory and ended the Qiang rebellion.

Soon, the Luoyang court learned that Yuan Shu had led the people of Maoling County in a hard battle for 37 days to protect the county town, which caused heated discussions in the court and the country.

This kind of heart-wrenching event should have been worthy of being reported by the political power of the Yuan family, who even planned to promote Yuan Shu's reputation nationwide and create a great momentum for it.

But unfortunately, Emperor Huan Liu Zhi was seriously ill at that time. Because he had no son, the court and the public were in chaos with open and covert struggles over what to do after Emperor Huan's death.

Therefore, the rewards given to Yuan Shu and other "righteous people" in the end were nothing more than money, cloth and the like, and the matter was hastily dealt with. Then they continued to fight openly and secretly over Liu Zhi's affairs after his death.

Later, Yuan Shu learned from Yuan Feng that if Emperor Huan had not been seriously ill and the eunuchs and scholars had not been fighting among themselves, the reinforcements would have arrived earlier.

Yuan Feng had wanted to lead his troops to rescue Yuan Shu a long time ago, but because Chang'an City was also under threat, he really could not leave. He also had limited troops and was unable to attack. He had no choice but to shed tears every day and could only keep urging the court to send reinforcements.

After waiting for a long time, he finally waited for Zhang Huan to come. He couldn't wait to attack Maoling with Zhang Huan and rescue Yuan Shu.

Fortunately, the heavens have mercy on Yuan Shu, who is still alive. Otherwise, Yuan Feng would have really led his troops to Luo to fight those bastards to the death. "In order to argue about the emperor's posthumous affairs, they actually ignored the chaos in the three prefectures! They delayed the dispatch of troops for ten days! They put my son Qilin in such a dangerous place! They can all be killed!"

When the father and son were alone together, Yuan Feng hugged Yuan Shu and said these heart-wrenching words while crying.

Yuan Shu didn't react much at the time. He just kept comforting Yuan Feng and told him to stop crying, even though his shoulders were almost wet with his tears.

But in his heart, he did have a deep hatred for those insects.

After a fierce battle that lasted for thirty-seven days, he lost 126 capable, loyal and brave members of the Yi Xin sect, and more than 170 people from Maoling County also died.

There were more injured people, but because of Yuan Shu's full efforts to treat them, most of them survived and did not die.

Despite this, the deaths of 126 Yi Xin members still made Yuan Shu heartbroken. He personally erected monuments and wrote biographies for them, presided over their funerals, distributed pensions, and set up altars for sacrifices in order to calm people's hearts, but he could never soothe his own grief.

He concealed his intense hatred, and after the war actively cleaned up the battlefield and repaired the wounds. He also took the opportunity to tell Yuan Feng that he wanted to develop in Youfufeng for a long time, and eventually set up his own sect.

Yuan Shu wanted to emulate his sixth-generation ancestor Yuan Liang and his son Yuan Chang.

The two father and son worked hard and successfully stood out from the Chenjun Yuan family. They branched out and set up their own family, establishing the Runan Yuan family. Yuan Shu wanted to learn from them and set up the Fufeng Yuan family.

Yuan Shu shared this idea with his cheap father Yuan Feng, and soon received a positive response from Yuan Feng.

Only then did Yuan Shu realize that Yuan Feng had also been troubled and hesitated about this issue.

That’s the second thing.

Yuan Shu is not the eldest son. If he were the eldest son, he would not hesitate. Yuan Shu would be the next head of the Runan Yuan family.

But he was the second legitimate son, and above him was Yuan Ji, the eldest legitimate son.

Although Yuan Ji did not have great talents, he did not make any major mistakes. He had average abilities, lacked the talent for advancement, but had the ability to maintain the status quo. Moreover, as the eldest son, he was highly competitive for the position of the next generation leader of the Yuan family.

Moreover, after Yuan Shu became famous, there were many doubts within the family about this matter, so much so that Yuan Ji even semi-publicly stated that "the one who can prosper the Yuan family in the future will definitely be Yuan Shu."

Yuan Shu privately speculated that Yuan Ji's semi-public statement was Yuan Ji's attempt to "force the emperor to abdicate" on Yuan Feng, rather than a statement of "brotherly love and respect".

Yuan Feng also thinks so.

He was actually very dissatisfied with Yuan Ji's declaration of forcing the emperor to abdicate. Although he, as a father, did think about letting Yuan Shu inherit most of Yuan's political assets, as a son, you cannot threaten your father like this.

Is this how you, the eldest son, do things?

Not filial at all!
So Yuan Feng had a lot of opinions about Yuan Ji.

However, he was the eldest son and had not committed any major mistakes in principle, so his statement actually blocked Yuan Feng's way of handing over the position of head of the family to Yuan Shu. Although the blockage was not so severe, it was obviously not an easy one.

So Yuan Feng had another idea, which was to let Yuan Shu set up his own business and expand the Runan Yuan family.

With Yuan Shu's talent, it is hard to say whether he can make any great progress if he stays in the Yuan family of Runan. The family's main political resources will definitely be given to Yuan Ji. According to the established rules, what Yuan Shu can get is relatively limited.

So he began to think about letting Yuan Shu set up his own business.

If Yuan Shu could set up his own business and establish another Yuan clan, then Yuan Feng would have a lot of room for maneuver.

As a father, he could give Yuan Shu some help in starting his own business, divide some of his political assets and give them to Yuan Shu, so that the Yuan family belonging to Yuan Shu would have a very high starting point.

"My son Qilin is a natural talent. He has inherited the legacy of Master Ma and will surely become a master in the future. In this case, it is not impossible for him to spread out and set up his own school."

Yuan Feng said this to Yuan Shu.

Yuan Shu is a capable child. He can earn what Yuan Ji doesn't want to give him.

Although Ma Rong's academic heritage is not as solid as that of modern literature, but having inherited the legacy of the master of ancient literature school, he may still be able to make a name for himself.

Moreover, this happened after Yuan Ji forced the emperor to abdicate. For Yuan Ji, if Yuan Shu chose to set up his own family, it would mean that he was making way for him and indicating that he would not compete with him for the position of head of the Yuan family.

Although no one said it openly, all the members of the Yuan family understood that this was Yuan Shu's concession and his respect for his younger brother.

Your younger brother is respectful, so shouldn't you, as the older brother, be a little friendlier?
When dividing the resources, shouldn't you also give Yuan Shu a little more benefits?
Not willing?
No one is competing with you for the Ru'nan family property anymore, what else do you want?

Do you understand what it means to be friendly and respectful to brothers?

With his cheap father taking sides, Yuan Shu didn't worry at all about suffering any serious loss.

(End of this chapter)