Chapter 296 Three people traveling together
Chapter 296 Threesome
Chen Yan’s appointment was announced: Hefei Duzhi Xiaowei.
On his way to take office, he came to Chen County to express his gratitude.
As a member of the Chen family of Xuchang, he was very clear about the important reason why he was still able to transfer to Hefei after his defeat: Marquis Chen submitted a petition to protect him.
In this matter, the Minister of Finance Wang did not object, and the emperor had more important things to do, so he also did not object. So, with the King of Donghai leaving to govern Yanzhou, the matter was settled.
He set out from Luoyang, boarded a ship when he arrived at Junyi County, Chenliu, and went south through Suiyang Canal, heading straight for Chen County.
Sima Yue was also in Junyi.
He joined forces with the seven or eight thousand defeated soldiers gathered by Liu Qia - the troops led by Wang Kan and Wang Shiwen and the army of the Kingdom of East China Sea - and the total number of troops was 40,000. He fought fiercely with Wang Mi in the areas of Suanzao and Baima.
The combat was lackluster.
Wang Mi dug deep trenches and built high fortifications, avoiding battle and only guarding the ferry.
Sima Yue entrusted the army to the Chief Secretary Pei Miao, with He Lun, Wang Bing, Liu Qia, Bo Sheng and others as deputies. After a siege of ten days, they captured the ferry crossing north of Suanzao County, but failed to capture Bai Ma.
Chen Yan did not stay here for long. After waiting for the ship, he headed south from Junyi County.
Junyi County is in a mess.
The county magistrate had resigned long ago.
The beggar general Chen Wu led his troops to occupy this place, but they were not a rebel army, but were ordered to guard this place.
Last year, Sima Yue summoned the beggars of Hebei to come to the capital, and Li Yun and Bo Sheng obeyed the order and went to Luoyang.
Chen Wu led more than 5,000 Han and Wuhuan refugees to Chenliu.
Wang Ping and Qi Ji were even more outrageous. Seeing that Chen Wu was in Chenliu, they did not fight with him, but went directly to Liang State next to Chenliu and found a piece of land to settle down.
The development of the Beggar Army was very rapid.
Back then, Sima Teng brought only more than 10,000 beggar soldiers to Hebei, most of whom were officials, soldiers and civilians from Bingzhou.
After Zhen Ye, Sima Teng only dispatched a small number of troops to guard the city for him, and most of the beggars sought food in the various counties of Jizhou, thus starting a great development.
Not only did the Hu and Han people from Bingzhou go east to Jizhou to join, but many Jizhou soldiers and civilians also joined.
When Jisang rebelled before, the Qihuo Army dispatched 50,000 troops at once, which shows its scale.
Compared with the general purpose of the refugee army, which is to "oppose the Jin Dynasty", the purpose of the Beggars' Army is to "support the Jin Dynasty". This is the biggest difference between them and the refugee army. After all, they are within the system.
At present, the Beggar Army has formed three major "bases".
Those north of the Yellow River were active in the area of Shangbai in Guangzong (Anping County in Jizhou), farming and fighting at the same time, and were led by Tian Hui, the chief clerk of Sima Hu, the former King of Fanyang.
The troops south of the Yellow River were stationed in Junyi County of Chenliu State and were commanded by Chen Wu.
After Wang Ping's separation, Liang State was about to become his third base.
When Chen Yan went south from Junyi, he could see refugees with Bingzhou and Jizhou accents everywhere. They were fierce and aggressive, and were robbed by nature. If he had not been an official and had hundreds of followers, he might have been robbed.
"Such an important water transport town was actually occupied by the Beggars' Army." Chen Yan sighed.
"After all, they are Situ's soldiers, so they won't cut off the canal transportation." Yang Jun, who accompanied him south, comforted him.
"They are obedient now, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future." Chen Yan shook his head and said, "Situ is probably overthinking if he expects these people to resist the Xiongnu."
"If we don't use them, who else can we use?" Yang Jun said helplessly: "The governor of Xuchang doesn't have many soldiers. The soldiers of Yanzhou are also in the hands of the Minister of Justice. The place is empty. We can only call on the beggars to resist a little."
"That's true." Chen Yan nodded, then looked at Wang Yin who was following behind him and asked, "Uncle Chu has returned to his hometown. He is much better than those of us who are busy outside."
Wang Yin, courtesy name Chushu, was the younger brother of General Wang Hu, a brave cavalry general, and a native of Chen County, Chen Commandery.
Their family is considered to be a poor family.
Poor families probably have the biggest difference in status among all the families in the world. Some poor families have no extra money and live a hard life, not even having enough food to eat, while others have many farmlands, many servants and live a luxurious life.
The Chenjun Wang family was relatively poor, and it was not until Wang Hu's generation that their lives began to improve because he served as a general in the imperial guards.
But as a general of the imperial guards, the benefits he can gain are limited, and he cannot compare to local officials like the prefect.
Fortunately, the two brothers had a good attitude and did not have high material demands. Especially Wang Yin, he was satisfied with reading and writing books, and did not have high demands for other things.
He had been living in Luoyang before, never leaving the house. Unexpectedly, despite his low profile, Lord Chen still found out about him and hired him as a doctor in the mansion (ninth rank).
Wang Yin was reluctant to take up the post, but his brother persuaded him and he was going back to his hometown in Chen County, so he agreed after repeated consideration. This time he went south with Chen Yan and Yang Jun - Yang Jun was originally a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but he had left the government and was sent by Wang Yan to discuss matters.
"Captain Chen, you are joking." Wang Yin pulled the corners of his mouth and forced a smile, saying, "Hefei is a quiet place, isn't it better than Zhongzhou? Nowadays, I don't know how many well-dressed scholars have crossed the river to the south, even if they have to lose their official positions to go to the south. Captain Chen is able to manage the finances in Hefei, I don't know how many people envy him."
Everyone knew that the post of Duzhi Xiaowei was a lucrative one. Moreover, it was Duzhi Hefei, far away from the troubled Luoyang, which was an even more lucrative post.
I heard that Chen Yan and Mi Huang were close friends and that they had fought against Wang Mi at Huanyuan Pass together with Chen Hou, so their relationship was naturally special.
Besides, the Chen family of Xuchang had already sided with Marquis Chen, so it was not surprising that he could go to Hefei to supervise the transportation of grain.
After the Prince of Donghai was sent to govern Yanzhou, if one wanted to seek an official position, it would be right to look for people like Wang Yan and Liu Tun. However, if one took another approach and went to the mansion of Marquis Chen, there might sometimes be surprises.
His relationship with Wang Yifu is special!
"I went to Hefei to do something that offended people." Chen Yan smiled bitterly, "It's been three months, and not a single grain ship has arrived in Junyi via Woshui. The Grand Marshal and the Minister are all anxious, and even the Emperor has issued an order to inquire about it. I don't know what's going on when I go there this time."
"Hasn't Qian Kui's rebellion been put down? The Prince of Langya has always been respectful, so would he withhold money and food? Not really?" Yang Jun asked in surprise.
Qian Kui's rebellion was quickly launched and quickly destroyed, and has now been suppressed by the armed forces of the Jiangnan nobles.
The one who sent the most troops was Zhou of Yixing. This was his third attempt to pacify Jiangnan.
The first time was to send troops to pacify Shi Bing. The main credit went to Chen Min, but Zhou Qi of the Zhou family of Yixing gathered his troops and private soldiers to join the war.
The second time was the Chen Min Rebellion. This time, the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River collectively betrayed him and turned against each other. Zhou Qi also led his troops to join the war.
The third time was the Qian Kui Rebellion. Zhou Qi once again sent troops to put down the rebellion in one fell swoop.
Therefore, he earned the reputation of "Three Dings of Jiangnan".
It can also be seen from the side that the power of the Jiangnan wealthy families has become very strong. The Zhou family of Yixing can easily organize more than 10,000 private soldiers, and they have considerable combat effectiveness. However, it is not known how much land and population this family owns. They can probably "turn the market into a closed market" and "be self-sufficient."
Langya King Sima Rui could only appease and win them over, and dared not even say harsh words. Unless more and more scholars crossed the river to the south and brought a large number of northern soldiers and civilians, Sima Rui and Wang Dao would be able to straighten their backs a little.
"What I'm worried about is not Qian Kui, but the attitude of the nobles in Wu." Chen Yan shook his head and didn't want to say more about this.
The money and grain collected in Hefei not only included taxes collected in the old Wei and Jin territories such as Shouchun, but also grain from the Wu area further south. With the court in this state, Chen Yan was a little worried that the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River would become disloyal, which would be difficult to deal with.
Yang Jun understood as soon as he heard it, and immediately felt worried.
As a member of the Hongnong Yang clan, he had no intention of crossing the river to the south. After Sima Yue left the town, he took refuge with Wang Yan and actively approached Chen Hou Shao Xun, whose father Yang Zhun was good friends with Le Guang, and Yang Jun was also good friends with Le Guang's son Le Zhao and others.
He knew very well that the current Luoyang court could not do without the money and grain from other states. With the Central Plains becoming one, the relatively stable South was a rare place to pay taxes.
The Guangling Duzhi Xiaowei Yamen has been paralyzed. If problems arise in Hefei again, it will be really troublesome.
But he had no way to deal with this matter. He could only hope that Zhou Fu, the governor of Yangzhou (governing Shouchun), could stabilize the situation and collect as much money and grain as possible to transport to the capital in order to wage a protracted war with the Huns.
The few of them chatted as they walked, and two or three days later they followed the Suiyang Canal across the Fuguo and entered Yangxia County.
At this time, a huge fire rising from a distance caught their attention. They sent someone to inquire and found out that the fire was caused by one of the manors of the He family of Chen County.
Governor Lu Zhi led his army to capture the former Zouping prefect He Ji. He Ji raised an army to resist, and when his manor was breached, he set himself on fire.
"This..." Chen Yan was speechless and shocked.
Yang Jun looked at the He's Manor with a serious look, feeling confused and uncertain.
Wang Yin, who had been silent all this time, suddenly looked up and looked at the once glorious He family manor, and remained speechless for a long time.
He even climbed onto the top of a boat and watched silently.
There were a large number of soldiers besieging He's Manor, but their clothes were in disarray and their weapons were varied.
A little further away, there were more than 2,000 armored soldiers standing with weapons in hand, apparently to provide support.
If nothing unexpected happened, the soldiers who supported the battle should be the Silver Spear Army, the private army of Lord Chen. Then, what kind of soldiers were besieging the He family?
The answer is actually very obvious: the aristocratic tribes.
As to which family or families these are, it is unknown, but most likely they are the Yuan and Xie families.
Perhaps there were other families, because Lord Chen was gathering all the clans here, and every family brought some people here.
Drive the soldiers of the nobles to attack the nobles, and then divide up the He family?
It’s really a good method.
After this incident, "Chen County" would probably really become "Chen State" - the Chen State of the Shao family.
(End of this chapter)