But no matter what, this reason resonated too much with Liang Zhongning, immediately convincing him.

However, if he had paid attention to Dian Wei’s expression at this moment, he would have noticed a hint of speechlessness and choking in the slightly dark complexion.

As soon as Liang Zhongning left, he blurted out, “When did I say that I wanted my son to bow down to you?”

Qiao Yan glanced at him. “So you want to walk outside and be restricted everywhere, even making the Leader wary of you, and then be put in shackles?”

Dian Wei thought about this scene and chose to remain silent.

As Qiao Yan said, with this reason she provided as a bottom line, although Dian Wei could be considered a “surrendered general,” he could still move freely in Puyang City.

At first, there were still people who occasionally sized him up.

But in Qiao Yan’s view, compared to vigilance, this kind of scrutiny seemed more like looking at an alien, even with a hint of admiration.

After she called one of them over to inquire, it confirmed her speculation.

The Yellow Turban soldier said, “Sir, please don’t blame us for being abrupt. It’s just that this strong man, when he was captured, took a lot of effort from our leader and even required the strength of several people to subdue him. Later, the general tested his strength against him, and…”

He couldn’t say that Liang Zhongning’s behavior at the time was a bit ridiculous, so he just rubbed the back of his head and chuckled innocently, leaving it unsaid.

“We want to see how this strong man has such martial prowess, how much food he eats in a day. If we can learn a thing or two from him, it will be useful.”

It seemed like they were afraid that Qiao Yan would have some opinions about them, so he added, “But sir, you are still sir. Even such a strong man can be brought under your command.”

In this era, people with abilities can earn respect from others, not to mention that Qiao Yan can also help Liang Zhongning ensure they are well-fed.

Even though she is a child, she won’t let the speaker look down on her.

Seeing Qiao Yan wave her hand to indicate that he should continue his patrol work, he quickly walked away and caught up with the previous team.

Of course, this matter was not over yet.

She estimated that Liang Zhongning had left some people to supervise Dian Wei’s actions.

However, with Dian Wei’s fellow villager still eating and drinking well in prison, and seeing that he had indeed not acted strangely in the past few days, Liang Zhongning was relieved and withdrew the surveillance.

But just as he withdrew, something happened.

He listened to his subordinates report the situation while rushing to the scene with a gloomy expression.

When he arrived, he saw Dian Wei holding a pair of halberds in front of Qiao Yan, and several bodies were lying on the ground opposite him.

If this was just dissatisfaction with him occupying this place in Puyang City and someone wanted to take action against the military adviser he had identified, it would be fine.

But unfortunately, the dead bodies were also Yellow Turbans, and they were not even from the Yellow Turban Army under his command.

They were Bu Ji’s men.

Not far from these several bodies, there stood a middle-aged man in armor with a rough and unruly air about him.

The most distinctive feature was undoubtedly the yellow cloth strip tied around his forehead.

This man stared at Dian Wei with a tense face, gripping the sword in his hand tightly as if it could stab him at any moment.

Seeing Liang Zhongning arrive, his expression immediately relaxed, but then it turned into a stormy anger. “Liang Jing, you must give me an explanation!”

Liang Zhongning ignored his angry shout and instead turned to Qiao Yan with a apologetic look, saying, “Sir, forgive the disturbance,” before turning towards Bu Ji.

On the way here, Liang Zhongning had already inquired about the situation and naturally understood that although Qiao Yan had been moving around a bit more frequently and conveniently “happened” to be near Bu Ji, ultimately—

This matter should be blamed on Bu Ji, not on Qiao Yan.

Ever since he obtained 600,000 bushels of grain from the Tian family’s fortress, along with those smoked meats and stored sauces, Bu Ji’s eyes had never turned back from red.

Their three parties had received instructions from a great teacher to station troops in Dong commandery.

Once there was a change in the defenses of the line located in Changshe, they needed to quickly organize and join forces to resist the imperial forces.

However, when they stationed troops in Dong commandery, they only mentioned mutual assistance among the three parties, but did not say that all the food would be shared.

But Bu Ji didn’t think so.

He just felt that someone surnamed Liang was hoarding.

Previously, between the two, they reluctantly reached an agreement over a few drinks, with Liang Zhongning agreeing to give one-tenth of what he had obtained to be divided among the other two, which could be considered his support as the “host” for them stationing troops outside Puyang City.

But Bu Ji, this person, not only could plunder villages beforehand and force refugees into his marauding ranks, it was already apparent—

He was not a person with a small appetite.

Moreover, he considered that they were all just small leaders of the Yellow Turbans at first, but now there were differences in the number of people they were leading, and there was a bit of arrogance in their mentality.

In his view, Liang Zhongning was able to capture Puyang, the capital of Dong commandery, mainly because he happened to have the advantage in the marching route.

But in terms of ability, there was really nothing about Liang Zhongning that impressed Bu Ji!

Especially after hearing that he actually relied on a young boy’s guidance, Bu Ji felt even more that letting this person have enough food for two years was a waste.

Two days ago, when he continued to demand food without success, he received Liang Zhongning’s reply, “There are countless fortresses around, why doesn’t General Bu help yourself?”

Bu Ji acted recklessly.

How could he withstand such provocative words? He immediately led his men to besiege one of the fortresses.

But it should be noted that the amount of grain stored in a fortress was closely related to the financial resources of the fortress owner and the amount of land they purchased.

The Tian family—not to mention in Puyang, even in Dong commandery, they could be considered one of the top wealthy families.

As a result, after breaking into that fortress by force, Bu Ji’s harvest was much less compared to Liang Zhongning’s 600,000 bushels.

People fear comparison the most.

Especially when there was no external force like the imperial army pressing into Yanzhou, naturally, there was no force compelling the three of them to unite.

While Bu Ji was checking his gains, he couldn’t help but have more grievances towards Liang Zhongning.

This kind of resentment, after he tried to attack another larger fortress and suffered a defeat just like Liang Zhongning did before, accumulated even more in his heart.

So when he saw Qiao Yan and Dian Wei showing off in the street, and even saw the young boy give him a provocative smile, he immediately exploded.

But who was Dian Wei?

One of the prerequisites for a military commander is strength, and he showed it extremely.

He could even lift heavy objects like the Yamen flag with one hand.

In the original historical trajectory, during the battle between Cao Cao and Lu Bu in Puyang during the Xingping years,

Dian Wei broke the enemy’s formation, emphasized his armor, held more than ten small halberds, and even when the enemy was within five steps, he remained calm, throwing the halberds to break the enemy’s formation, allowing Cao Cao to lead his troops away.

And in the battle against Zhang Xiu in Wancheng, although he died in battle, he also cleared a path for Cao Cao to escape.

He was a first-rate tiger general!

Bu Ji originally intended to teach Qiao Yan a lesson, which could also be seen as a warning to Liang Zhongning, but he never expected to pick a fight with someone of such caliber.

Dian Wei had long been informed by Qiao Yan that he didn’t need to worry about anything else, and if anyone attacked, he could kill them.

So the only soldiers lying on the street were those under Bu Ji’s command.

If Qiao Yan hadn’t shouted to stop, the next head to roll might have been Bu Ji’s.

After his fear subsided, his anger only grew.

This was why, when he saw Liang Zhongning arrive, he estimated that the other party would not dare to delay the important matters of the great teacher, nor would he dare to watch him die here, so he immediately shouted angrily to gain the upper hand.

But Liang Zhongning couldn’t be bothered to give him any face at this moment.

Just listen to what excuses he used when causing trouble for Qiao Yan!

He actually said that “Yan Qiao” had many provocations in his expression!

How could that be possible?

In Liang Zhongning’s understanding, Qiao Yan only came here because of the astrology and star charts, to help him solve his problems, and also as part of the deal to have his men escort her back to Gaomi.

The credit she had in the battle of breaking the Tian family’s fortress, he had never seen her mention it when she was in Puyang City or when she was with outsiders.

Not to mention, just yesterday, Qiao Yan had almost reached an agreement with Dian Wei, and she could have escorted her to leave, coming to ask if he had any extra manpower available.

This was someone who was about to leave this place!

Her mentor, who was a great talent of the time, had been confined to Gaomi, a tiny place, for more than ten years under the influence of the Party Censorship, and it was difficult to guarantee that he would not be able to win over others after the Yellow Turbans’ victory and become the banner of their faction.

How could such a person arbitrarily provoke Bu Ji, this brute!

Furthermore, since meeting Liang Zhongning, Qiao Yan had shown a demeanor of a noble scholar, leaving a deep and lasting impression on Liang Zhongning.

She may be young, but she always acts calmly and lightly, so the idea of provocation is absurd.

With this understanding, Liang Zhongning became more and more displeased with Bu Ji.

Furthermore, when he thought about Bu Ji’s way of addressing himself, he couldn’t help but think, why didn’t Dian Wei just kill this guy named Bu before he arrived? Then he could come and clean up the mess.

No… he couldn’t think like that.

Bu Ji’s manpower was almost equal to his own, and if you counted the new additions, it was almost twice as many as his.

Even if this person might not be as favored by his subordinates as he was, once there were people among them who wanted to avenge him and cause trouble, it wouldn’t be easy to solve.

If the great teacher knew about it, he would definitely not get away with it.

Thinking of this, Liang Zhongning suppressed his displeasure towards Bu Ji’s provocations and said, “General Bu, why be so angry? Tian Gongjun has ordered that once we take control of the city, apart from capturing the ruling officials of this place, we are not allowed to use weapons in the city to disturb the people’s lives. Is General Bu going to disobey this order?”

After he finished speaking, he couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself.

This was the argument Mr. taught him to use against Bu Ji when he was trying to persuade Qiao Yan yesterday, mentioning his current precarious situation. The idea was that as long as he occupied this high point of public opinion, he would have a decisive advantage.

The second half of his sentence was his own extrapolation: “Or is it that General Bu is using force against Mr. because of a failed attack, and wants to take my men to assist you?”

Qiao Yan didn’t know whether Liang Zhongning had unlocked some deep-seated grudge in the previous insults outside the Tian family’s fortress.

But perhaps this was his slight disdain for Bu Ji that came from deep within, no matter how much he tried to cover it up, it would always be revealed in his tone.

So when he finished speaking, Qiao Yan saw Bu Ji’s face turn red, then white, then green, looking incredibly ugly.

For him, the failure to capture the fortress was undoubtedly a humiliation, and talking about taking people to assist him was even more unspeakable!

This was too much of a hit below the belt!

Bu Ji immediately shouted angrily, “A useless scholar, not to mention a child like this. It’s just that your luck is still okay. It’s only because of your skills that you treat the other party as an honored guest. It’s really a joke! Why would I kidnap her?”

“It’s you who is sheltering this person and this strong man and making a move against my soldiers. Are you trying to take over the city regardless of General Tian’s orders…”