Chapter 70: The Change in Jiucheng

  Zhang Er and Chen Yu restored Wei State in Chen County, and the first to receive the news was Jiujiang Prefecture adjacent to Chen Commandery.

  In the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shi Huang, Ying Bu, who had led tens of thousands of convicts in a rebellion at Mount Li, was then in Jiujiang. The rebellion at Mount Li was quickly put down by Emperor Qin, and Ying Bu, seeing that things were not going well for him, took his band of robbers and fled to the lakes and rivers of Jiujiang Commandery, where they became pirates.

  Ying Bu, a native of Liu County (now Lu'an, Anhui). He was also known as Tattooed Bu due to his punishment under the Qin law. The tattoo punishment involved tattooing characters on the face of the offender. Initially, he served under Xiang Yu and was one of the five major generals under Xiang's command. He was enfeoffed as the King of Jiujiang but later defected from Chu to Han and was enfeoffed by Liu Bang as the King of Huainan.

  Ying Bu, along with Han Xin and Peng Yue, were known as the three great generals of the early Han dynasty. In the eleventh year of the Han Dynasty (196 BC), Huaiyin Hou Han Xin and Liang Wang Peng Yue were successively killed by Empress Lü Zhi. Ying Bu immediately rebelled, and was eventually lured to his death in a civilian's home in Ziyang by Wu Rui, the Marquis of Changsha.

  The news of the restoration of the Wei State reached Jiujiang Prefecture. At this moment, Ying Bu, who was leading a group of ordinary bandits and hiding in the rivers and lakes, eating poorly, suddenly realized that this was the most realistic way out for himself and his men. His subordinates also clamored to rebel against the Great Qin.

  Ying Bu thought for several days, finally made up his mind to start a rebellion, but Ying Bu still felt that with only the people in his hands, he couldn't accomplish great things, so he quickly shifted his gaze to Wu Rui, who was also known as "Fan Jun" and strongly opposed the harsh policies of the Great Qin.

  After the First Emperor unified the six states, he implemented the county system nationwide. In February 210 BC, the First Emperor adopted the advice of Left Chancellor Li Si to stabilize the situation in the south and prevent the Hundred Yue from rebelling against Qin. He established Poyang County and appointed Wu Rui as its first magistrate to govern the Hundred Yue region (the southernmost part of which is now Vietnam). The imperial court did not provide any financial support, nor was he required to pay tribute to the imperial court.

  Wu Rui, the fifth grandson of Wu King Fuchai of the Spring and Autumn period, his father Wu Shen was the former Chu Da Sima. Wu Rui served as the magistrate of Poyang County (also known as Fan County), with benevolent governance, light corvée and taxes, emphasizing the care of the people, deeply winning the hearts of the people, and being revered by the Baiyue people (centered on Poyang, east to Zhejiang, west to Guangxi, south to Vietnam, and north to the southern bank of the Yangtze River) as "Fan Jun".

  Wu Rui was the first Qin official to openly rebel against the Qin dynasty in history. He was sealed as King of Hengshan by Xiang Yu, Wu Rui and Liu Bang's strategist Zhang Liang had a good private relationship, later attached to Han and anti-Chu, during the Western Han period he was sealed as King of Changsha.

  At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang conferred titles on 8 kings with different surnames. 7 of these kings were forced to rebel and were killed by Liu Bang. Only Wu's Changsha Kingdom remained uneventful throughout, lasting for 5 generations until it came to an end due to lack of heirs.

  That night, the sky was exceptionally dark.

  The weather in the south is already very hot now. Wu Rui wore a single dress and walked back and forth in her bedroom with anxiety.

  "Master, someone is asking to see you!"

  A servant's voice sounded outside the house.

  "Who wants to see me?" Wu Rui stopped in his tracks and asked doubtfully.

  "It is the lotus leaf in the lake." The servant replied.

  "What about Wu Zhi Bu?" Wu Rui was taken aback by the subordinate's words. He was not unfamiliar with Wu Zhi Bu, to be exact, they were quite familiar with each other.

  Fu Chou fled to the area around Poyang Lake, where he made a living by fishing and hunting, and naturally also engaged in banditry. Wu Rui had always been kind to his people, and although he was only a county magistrate, the territory under his jurisdiction was vast, so it was inevitable that he would have dealings with Fu Chou and others like him.

  Although Wu Rui was an official of the Great Qin, and Bu was a wanted criminal by the Great Qin, Wu Rui did not have much ill will towards Bu, and could even be said to have good feelings towards him. Therefore, after Bu and others had done one or two tasks, Wu Rui quickly sent someone to find them.

  Chī Bù was very wary of Wú Ruì, who was revered by the Baiyue people as "Fan Jun". He knew that if he offended Wu Rui, he and his men would have no way out but death. However, after learning about Chī Bù's situation, Wu Rui did not send troops to capture them, but instead reached an agreement with them.

  From then on, Bu and others no longer committed robbery against ordinary people in the Poyang area, and Wu Rui would occasionally provide them with assistance. As a result, the two became quite familiar with each other.

  "Invite him into the hall and serve him well! I'll be right there." Although Wu Rui didn't understand why Fu Chou was coming to see him so late at night, he quickly instructed his servants.

  "Yes!" The servant responded and withdrew.

  Soon Wu Rui, who had put on his clothes again, arrived at the main hall.

  Zhu Buro sat in the main hall waiting and saw Wu Rui come out from the inner hall, hastily got up and bowed: "Bu has seen Fan Jun!"

  "General Bu doesn't have to be so polite. What brings you here in the middle of the night?" Wu Rui asked straightforwardly after returning a courtesy.

  Zhu Bo heard Wu Rui's words and was slightly stunned. He had originally wanted to sound out Wu Rui first, before making a decision. He also feared that if Wu Rui was unwilling to start a rebellion, he would be sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth.

  At this moment, Wu Rui saw that Wu Mei was so direct, and he looked up at the maidservants attending in the hall, then looked at Wu Mei again. Apparently, he wanted Wu Mei to dismiss all the servants before he could speak his mind.

  Wu Rui saw the situation and felt even more strange, waving his hand: "You all retreat, no summons are not allowed to enter the hall!" He was not worried that when there were no people in the hall, Hu Bu would be unfavorable to himself.

  "Ah!"

  After everyone else had left, Wu Rui raised his hand and gestured for Xiang Yu to sit down and talk.

  "Do you know about the restoration of Wei State?" Bu asked after sitting down cross-legged.

  "Oh? Does Wu Zhuang also know about this?" Wu Rui's eyes flashed with a hint of inquiry as she asked back.

  "Chen Jun is adjacent to Jiujiang, how can we Jianghu people not know?" Tian Buchu laughed.

  "Although you came to tell me this in the middle of the night, I must say that I admire your loyalty to the country. However, I already knew about it at noon!" Wu Rui laughed and said.

  Huang Bu's eyebrows shot up as soon as he heard Wu Rui's words, and the tattoo on his face suddenly turned blood red.

  "What is this so-called 'heart for the country'? You, sir, are blinded. I resent that we cannot immediately overthrow the brutal Qin and destroy their state and people. How can there be a 'heart for the country'? Today, I have come to ask you, sir, to climb high and raise the flag, leading my countless Baiyue people to rise up and rebel against Qin. I humbly request that you, sir, complete this."

  Zhu Bao got up and knelt down on the ground, his voice trembling with excitement.

  Contrary to Zhubu's expectations, Wu Rui did not fly into a rage and order his men to rush in and bind him. Instead, he sat quietly, gazing calmly at the kneeling Zhubu, but the increasingly agitated waving of the fan in his hand betrayed that his heart was not as calm as it seemed.

  In fact, before Wu Zixu arrived, Wu Rui was so anxious in the house because he had received news of Wei State's restoration.

  When the First Emperor was alive, large-scale infrastructure construction across the country had exhausted all the people of Qin, and everyone originally expected that after the Second Emperor took over, he would make changes to benefit the lives of the people.

  However, what everyone got was Hu Hai's even larger-scale recruitment of civilians to build the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the Epang Palace, and more taxes. From then on, Wu Rui began to think about rebelling against the Qin dynasty.

  Of course, at this moment, Jiujing and other counties have not yet received Hu Hai's three decrees of self-blame.

  The news of the restoration of Wei State made him see the first glimmer of dawn, he believed that the remnants of the six states who had been eager to move during the First Emperor's time would not let go of such a great opportunity after hearing the news of the restoration of Wei State, and in a short period of time, there must be more people standing up to rebel against Qin.

  Where should I go and where should I come from? This is what he has been hesitating about all along.

  Now, Fu Chai's words made the idea of anti-Qin in his heart even stronger. Fu Chai was just a prisoner, and now prisoners were going to rebel against Qin. If the powerful forces of the six nations' remnants were added, the overthrow of the Great Qin would likely be imminent.

  "General, I know you love the people like your own children. However, for the sake of countless people in Ba and Shu, I implore you to follow our request. Rebel against the cruel Qin to save the people all over the world. I am willing to be your vanguard!" Bu said hastily when Wu Rui remained silent for half a day.

  Wu Rui was well aware of the fighting strength of Bu and his gang, and previously did not want to capture them but instead befriended them. Now that he heard Bu was willing to acknowledge him as their leader and take the lead, he completely put down his concerns.

  He believed that with his reputation in Baoyue, as long as he called out loudly, countless people would rush to him, and all he lacked was a great general who could conquer and fight well. Moreover, as the descendant of the Spring and Autumn hegemon Fu Chai, how could he not have the ambition to compete for the world?

  "Good!" Wu Rui struck the palm fan heavily on the table and got up to support Tong Bu down the hall.

  "Since General Wu has such a heart, how can he ignore the suffering of the common people? I wonder if General Wu has ever taken a wife?"

  Huan Chu heard Wu Rui respond with rebellion against Qin, and excitedly stood up saying: "Sir is truly a hero! Has Sir not yet taken a wife?"

  "Rui Yuan will marry off his young daughter to a strong man, but does he know if the strong man is willing or not?"

  Bu didn't expect that Wu Rui would marry his daughter to a vagrant convict like himself. Upon hearing Wu Rui's words, he was taken aback for a moment before reacting quickly and kneeling down again to kowtow: "Bu greets his father-in-law!"

  "Haha! Alright! From now on, we're just one family." Wu Rui laughed happily and helped Bu up.

  The two of them burst out laughing at the same time.

  Since they had already married their daughter off to Fu Chai, when they sat down again after laughing together, they became much more intimate.

  "Tomorrow is a good day for a minister, suitable for marriage and starting an army. Why not get married first tomorrow, and after the stupid girl and the virtuous son-in-law are married, immediately issue a decree to heaven and earth to start an army against Qin. Two joys arrive at the same time, it should be very good! What does the virtuous son-in-law think?" Wu Rui said.

  "I humbly obey the orders of General Yue!" But Fu Chou was also a man who would climb up the pole of power.

  "Haha! Great goodness! Tomorrow we'll rise up and overthrow the cruel Qin!"

  There's only one update today. I owe you a chapter, which will be made up for the day after tomorrow. The Diaoyu Islands will have a result tomorrow, and it's time for us to show our sharp teeth.

  Deep gratitude to those who have always rewarded me, ~情`╱☆殤,澹台十三,悼武华夏 and several book friends, as well as the brothers who silently cast recommendation votes. Although only one chapter was released today, Jiuzhou still wants to ask for recommendations. Thank you!