Capítulo 24: Lord Lu Bu
The hundred members of the Red Guard all expressed their gratitude to Lu Bu for giving them this name. Lu Bu quickly stepped forward to support the heavily injured team member, tears welling up in his eyes. He excitedly said to the injured member, "Wu Lie, I remember you. You saved my life, Lu Bu. Just now, two villains attacked me from behind. It was you who killed one with a knife and used your arm to block a blow for me, saving me from danger. Unfortunately, your arm is crippled now."
Lu Bu instructed Li Hei to record the military achievements and announced loudly, "Wu Lie saved the General's life and lost his arm in the process. Reward: 50,000 coins, promotion to the rank of squad leader, in charge of logistics. Other injured members will receive a reward of 10,000 coins, and those who killed the rebels will receive a reward of 10,000 coins. The rest of the guards will receive 5,000 coins."
In fact, Lu Bu could have easily avoided the two stabs from behind with his martial skills. However, he wanted to give his subordinates a chance to demonstrate their merit. At the same time, he seized the opportunity to showcase his generosity and righteousness, contrasting sharply with the stinginess of the deceased Ding Yuan.
After Lu Bu finished announcing the rewards, he personally distributed them to the guards. Using gold and silver to offset the large amount of copper coins, Lu Bu took out six pounds of gold from the gold and silver sent by Li Su and handed it to Wu Lie. This reward of 50,000 coins would sustain him and his family for five years. Wu Lie was moved to tears, kneeling down and expressing his gratitude. Lu Bu quickly helped him up, saying, "Everything you received is well-deserved. Your arm may be gone, but stay in charge of the logistics, do your duty faithfully, and I, Lu Fengxian, will not be stingy."
With a crippled arm, Wu Lie had to leave the Red Guard and transfer to the logistics unit of the Flying Tiger Army. Lu Bu then assigned Wu Chong to the Red Guard. Since he hadn't earned any merit yet, he would start as an ordinary guard. However, Lu Bu secretly rewarded him with 10,000 coins to commend his cleverness.
Lu Bu appointed Lu Tong, who had beheaded two enemies, as the captain of the Red Guard, and Xu Meng, who had beheaded one enemy, as the vice-captain. Both Lu Tong and Xu Meng were soldiers who had followed Lu Bu for many years and were trustworthy.
Before rewarding the Red Guard, Lu Bu had already sent someone to invite other generals, such as Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Cheng Lian, to come and discuss matters. He also dispatched a messenger to Luoyang to inform Gao Shun, Li Feng, and Xue Lan to join the meeting.
Meanwhile, Lu Bu ordered the Flying Tiger Army to patrol the entire Small Pingjin Military Camp, focusing on monitoring the close subordinates of Ding Yuan and Haomeng. Any attempts to cause trouble would be dealt with mercilessly. At the same time, Lu Bu informed all the soldiers: Haomeng colluded with Dong Zhuo and killed Lord Ding. General Lu killed Haomeng and his accomplices, avenging Lord Ding.
The soldiers were already aware that Lu Bu had been appointed as the Guanglu Xun and ranked among the Nine Ministers, even more prestigious than Ding Yuan's former position as the Shijiang Wu. They knew that the forces of Bingzhou would eventually come under Lu Bu's command. With Lu Bu's recent reputation for generosity and righteousness spreading throughout Luoyang, the hearts of the soldiers gradually stabilized.
While waiting for Gao Shun and others to arrive, Lu Bu used a combination of rewards and punishments to smoothly integrate the subordinates of Ding Yuan and Haomeng under his command. Those who resisted were executed on the spot, quickly stabilizing the situation in Small Pingjin.
Lu Bu's central military tent expanded a bit more. Lu Bu sat in the center, with Gao Shun, Li Feng, and Xue Lan on the left, and Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Cheng Lian on the right.
Originally, Gao Shun, Li Feng, and Xue Lan temporarily handed over their soldiers to Qin Yi, Chen Wei, and Li Hei to lead. They rushed back to Small Pingjin overnight to discuss the issue of the disposition of the Bingzhou Army.
Li Su came to Lu Bu's camp in Small Pingjin under the cover of night, without much fanfare. Lu Bu had the Red Guard escorting the surroundings of the central military tent, so except for those sent by Haomeng who could spy on them, other generals had no idea that Li Su brought the Red Hare horse and armor to Lu Bu. They believed the explanation given by Wu Chong, who was an elite guard and a close associate of Ding Yuan.
Now that Ding Yuan was dead, the Bingzhou Army was leaderless and in chaos. The immediate priority was to choose a leader for the Bingzhou Army. As for the mourning and wearing mourning clothes for Ding Yuan, it became less important at this critical moment of life and death. No one would neglect their own interests for a deceased master, especially one who had not treated them well.
Originally, under Ding Yuan's command were Gao Shun, Zhang Yang, Zhang Liao, and other martial arts generals. After them came Lu Bu, who was originally the Chief Clerk, while civil officials like the Directors and Aides were not highly regarded in the martial-dominated Bingzhou. No one cared about their existence. Now, Zhang Yang and Zhang Liao were recruiting soldiers outside, and Zhang Yang had always had a good relationship with Lu Bu. Zhang Liao was young and had little experience, so everything depended on Gao Shun's attitude. If he opposed Lu Bu taking charge, the situation in the Bingzhou Army would become very delicate and tense.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Gao Shun knew their thoughts. He stood up, walked to Lu Bu, and bowed, "Gao Shun, Gao Zhongping, pays respects to the Lord. Gao Shun acknowledges Lu Bu as the Lord, willing to serve the Lord with utmost devotion, to death."
Seeing Gao Shun taking the lead, others followed suit, kneeling before Lu Bu and pledging their loyalty.
Lu Bu hurriedly stepped forward to help each of them up, saying politely, "We are all brothers; there is no need for such formalities."
Gao Shun, with a stern expression, said, "If the names are not correct, the words will not ring true, and if the rites are not performed correctly, respect will not be shown. If we do not show enough respect to you, Lord, how can we awe the future generals?"
Wei Xu, who was usually carefree, spoke solemnly, "Zhongping's words are reasonable. From now on, I, Wei Xu, will no longer use 'brother-in-law' casually. I will address my brother-in-law as Lord. The Lord now holds the great merit of saving the Empress Dowager, the Young Emperor, and the King of Chenliu. He is favored by the Empress Dowager, honored as the Guanglu Xun, and is bound to be ranked among the Three Excellencies, and may even take charge of the position of Grand General in the future. As the saying goes, when one person becomes a deity, even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. In the future, the Lord will be above all others, and we may become generals, left and right generals, and commanders of various troops."
Hearing Wei Xu describe the bright future, everyone was delighted and laughed heartily. It seemed that Ding Yuan's death did not cause much sadness among them.
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