Banquet of wine

  Dong Zhuo, Fu Xie and Gai Xun were all old acquaintances. Fu Xie and Gai Xun had a thorough understanding of Dong Zhuo. Before entering the county government office, Gai Xun was worried that it would be difficult for Gao Fei to deal with Dong Zhuo for a while, so he briefly explained Dong Zhuo's situation, which made Gao Fei have a comprehensive understanding of Dong Zhuo.

  Dong Zhuo, styled Zhongying. From his style name, it can be seen that he was the second son in his family. In ancient times, people's style names were very particular, and the order of brothers could often be inferred from their style names, which frequently incorporated the characters Bo (伯), Zhong (仲), Shu (叔) and Ji (季). For example, Confucius' name was Qiu, and his style name was Zhongni, indicating that he was the second son in his family. Similarly, Sun Ce's style name was Bofu, while Sun Quan's style name was Zhongmou; these were all simple indications of the order of brothers.

  Dong Zhuo was a native of Lintao, Longxi. Speaking of which, he and Gongsun Zan can be considered as people from the same place. Lintao is much more complex than Xiangwu. It was an important border town for defense against the Qiang people during the Han Dynasty. The mountains are high and the waters are treacherous, with a mix of Qiang and Han people living together. Everyone rides horses and shoots arrows, and the local customs are fierce. Dong Zhuo grew up in such an environment.

  Dong Zhuo's military strength was not weak, and his generous personality made him popular among some Qianghu chieftains. Later, Dong Zhuo was selected as a Lang of the Feathered Forest due to his family background in six counties, marking the beginning of his official career. During this period, many Qianghu tribes rebelled against the Han dynasty, although their uprisings were not large in scale but frequent, and the constant wars between the Qiang and Han peoples carried a strong ethnic hatred. Dong Zhuo's merits and prestige gradually accumulated as he repeatedly quelled these rebellions, which became his capital for establishing himself in the imperial court. His official rank rose step by step, and every time there was a rebellion in Liangzhou, the imperial court would think of him first. This eventually fostered his arrogant attitude of taking credit for himself and looking down on others.

  After listening to Gai Xun's brief introduction, combined with Gao Fei's reading about Dong Zhuo in history books, Gao Fei even began to suspect that it was Dong Zhuo who was secretly manipulating this rebellion. However, one thing is certain, and that is that this large-scale rebellion in Liangzhou is absolutely not something that Dong Zhuo can manipulate.

  At the banquet, Fu Xie made an excuse that he was injured and did not attend. In fact, he didn't want to see Dong Zhuo's face, so he handed over all the tasks of entertaining Dong Zhuo to Gai Xun. Gai Xun also had some disgust towards Dong Zhuo in his heart, but after all, everyone worked for a boss and often came and went in Liangzhou, so they still maintained their courtesy towards Dong Zhuo.

  "The imperial court has sent Lord Dong to quell the rebellion, and with his prestige among the Qiang and Hu chieftains, I reckon it won't take more than a month or two for the Liangzhou uprising to be put down. By then, Lord Dong's achievements will be most impressive, and he'll surely receive promotions and honors." Ge Xun said slowly as he raised his cup of wine.

  Dong Zhuo glanced at the wine and dishes in front of him, still somewhat satisfied. At least Ge Xuan had not treated him poorly. He chuckled and raised his cup, saying: "Thank you, Ge Zhangshi, for your kind words. But if Dong certain had been stationed in Liangzhou back then, how could he have easily withdrawn with 20,000 troops in hand?"

  Gao Fei sat beside Ge Xuan, and seemed to have detected a hint of sarcasm in Dong Zhuo's words. After all, he was the one who had advocated for withdrawing from Liangzhou, so he didn't plan on explaining anything to Dong Zhuo. He just smiled slightly, raised his wine cup, and said politely: "I've long heard of your great name, Lord Dong. Today, I finally get to meet you in person, and indeed, hearing about someone is not the same as meeting them. It's a great pleasure for me to meet such an accomplished and meritorious person like yourself. Here's to you, Lord Dong!"

  Dong Zhuo, although arrogant and overbearing, still had some sense of propriety. Otherwise, after so many years in the officialdom, if he had shown such an attitude to everyone he met, he would not have risen to the position of Eastern Central Lang General. He lightly clinked his cup against Gao Fei's, then downed the wine in one gulp. After finishing, Dong Zhuo slammed the wine cup in his hand onto the ground, and a crisp sound was heard as the cup shattered into pieces, leaving Gao Fei extremely embarrassed.

  Bao Hong didn't know why Dong Zhuo was acting like this, and seeing Gai Xun's face change color, he hastily turned his head to Dong Zhuo and said: "Lord Dong, you're drunk, so drunk that you can't even hold the wine cup in your hand, haha, hahaha..."

  "Let your mother's fart!" Dong Zhuo heard Bao Hong say this, and scolded loudly, then stretched out his hand and said in a loud voice, "Dong hasn't drunk yet, how can he be drunk? Dong Zhuo just thinks that drinking with cups is not enough, bring the big bowl!"

  Bao Hong's kindness was met with disdain by Dong Zhuo, who was not pleased in his heart. He coldly hummed a tune and picked up the wine cup in front of him, drinking it all in one gulp. After all, he and Dong Zhuo were equal-ranking middle Lang generals, although he had less seniority than Dong Zhuo. However, Dong Zhuo's behavior was not giving him face, making him unable to save face, so he was also very annoyed. He took the opportunity to vent his anger and shouted at the bailiffs outside the main hall: "Where have all the people gone? Didn't you hear that Lord Dong wants you to change to a bigger bowl? Bring me a few jars of wine!"

  "Dogs bite dogs, a mouthful of fur!" Gao Fei saw this scene and raised his wine cup to drink it all in one gulp, laughing to himself.

  Guo Xun hastily came out to mediate, first persuading Dong Zhuo and then persuading Bao Hong. Unexpectedly, both Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong were furious, neither of them gave him any face, he was so angry that he didn't care anymore, letting Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong shout in the main hall.

  The moment the wine meeting became a drinking competition, Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong used the drinking competition to suppress each other's momentum. The final outcome was obvious: the two unyielding Central Lang generals fell drunk and couldn't get up, and in the end, Gai Xun had someone send Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong back to their rooms.

  "Covered with a long history, today this matter has been messed up..." After the wine party ended, Gao Fei shook his head and said to Gai Xun.

  Gai Xun also shook his head and said slowly: "It seems that Chen Cang City will no longer have a peaceful day from now on..."

  Gaofei didn't make any statement after hearing this. He now knows Dong Zhuo, although he is arrogant and domineering at the moment, but has not yet reached the point of being cruel and inhumane, let alone disregarding the imperial court. After all, he is not a powerful warlord who dominates one side. He doesn't care much about the matter between Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong. With those two making trouble in Chen Cang, it's actually beneficial for Fu Shuo and Gai Xun. His mind was on the outcome of last night's Night Hawk operation. He had to go to Wu Yue Mountain himself because there was another difficult task waiting for him to do.

  After the wine party, Gai Xun went to visit Fu Shuo and discussed how to entertain Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong. Huangfu Song ordered Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong to guard Chen Cang and wait for the arrival of the main force, which meant that Dong Zhuo and Bao Hong would have to stay in Chen Cang for a while, what a headache!

  Gao Fei took advantage of the chaos to escape, and together with Zhao Yun, they left Chen Cang's west gate and rushed towards Mount Wu Yue.

  The two of them rode their horses for more than a couple of hours before arriving at Mount Wu Yue, where they left their horses at the foot of the mountain and had someone take care of them before heading up.

  Upon arriving at the mountain, the Flying Feather Troop's officers and men were still immersed in joy. They moved all the stolen weapons and equipment into the cave. When they saw Gao Fei arrive, with a loud shout of "assemble", everyone gathered together quickly and formed a neat square formation.

  Gao Fei came to the front of the crowd, swept his gaze over the soldiers, and then shouted loudly: "I was very satisfied with last night's Night Eagle plan, but there were still two small flaws. Bian Xi, step forward!"

  Bian Xi stepped out of the team, took three big steps forward, and stood upright. In his heart, he knew what was going on. Last night, because of his mistake, the entire plan almost fell apart. He would definitely be scolded by Gao Fei soon, or punished. At this moment, he had already mentally prepared himself and quietly waited for Gao Fei's reprimand and orders.

  "Yesterday's situation wasn't as simple as I thought, Bian Xi stole the key and encountered a bit of trouble, but he was able to think on his feet and didn't let the whole plan fall apart, so he should be commended. However, injuring Fu Xie shouldn't have happened, fortunately, Lord Fu is shaken but unharmed, if he had died unexpectedly, things wouldn't be so simple. I reward and punish clearly, this time Bian Xi's merits and demerits cancel each other out!" Gao Fei said loudly.

  Bian Xi was slightly surprised after hearing, he looked at Gao Fei, moved his lips, wanting to say a word of gratitude, but before opening his mouth, he heard Gao Fei loudly shout "Enter the ranks". He immediately responded with one voice and returned to the team.

  Gao Fei's face suddenly turned iron-green and he said coldly: "Do you all still remember the military rules that must be followed when entering this unit?"

  "Unconditionally obey the master's orders, no disobedience is allowed, otherwise beheading will be carried out immediately!" More than two thousand soldiers replied in unison.

  Gao Fei said, "Huh, everything you said is good and clear, but why did someone still violate my orders last night? I had already determined the items and quantities to be obtained in this operation. Why was something missing when we thoroughly searched the warehouse last night? Who took it? Step forward!"

  Everyone looked at each other in confusion, unclear what Gao Fei was referring to. Each person followed the plan and did not dare to disobey orders. For a time, more than 2,000 soldiers did not respond, nor did anyone want to stand out, all still maintaining their military posture.

  Gao Fei saw this scene and coldly laughed, saying: "I'll say it one last time, whoever took something they shouldn't have, step forward voluntarily and I'll be lenient. If I have to investigate and find out who did it, don't blame me for not considering the relationships between us! I'm counting from 1 to 10 now, if no one steps forward to admit it voluntarily, the entire army will be punished together! One... Two... Three..."

  When Gao Fei was counting the numbers, everyone present was wondering to themselves. When Gao Fei counted to "eight", a person in the queue suddenly flashed out and shouted loudly: "Master, it's me who took it! I'm the one who took those things!"

  "Is it you?" Gao Fei felt very surprised, never expecting that the person standing in front of him was Pang De.

  "It was me, I took something I shouldn't have last night. Punish me, milord!" Pang De said fearlessly, standing there and speaking loudly.