Chapter 698: Traveling and Observing

Chapter 698: Traveling and Observing

Chapter 698: Traveling and Observing (Part )

Wen Qiao had no place to live in Bianliang, so he came to a newly completed room in Lingbo Palace and got together with Yu Liang, drinking for half the night.

Before leaving the next day, my head was still a little dizzy.

It was also because of Yu Liang that Wen Qiao knew there was a reason why Duke Liang was in a hurry to go to Xuchang: Pei Kang, the Grand Marshal and one of the Three Dukes of Liang, died after being bedridden for a long time.

Duke Liang took Madam Pei to Xuchang to hold the funeral for Pei Kang.

"Yuan Gui, there are some things..." Before leaving, Wen Qiao sat at the door, looking at the prisoners and servants busy outside, and said, "Don't rush."

Yu Liang didn't drink much, so he was in much better condition than Wen Qiao. Hearing this, he asked, "What did Taizhen talk about?"

Wen Qiao sighed, unwilling to say more, and only said: "Don't be anxious, don't make mistakes. As long as you don't make mistakes, others will have no chance. Liang Gong -"

At this point, Wen Qiao closed his eyes and thought for a while, then said, "He is very ambitious and wants to do a lot of things. In fact, he really needs the support of others. You can do whatever you want. I can't say more now."

Yu Liang seemed to understand something.

Wen Qiao's second wife was a daughter of Wang from Langya, and he himself was appreciated by the Grand Commandant and was recruited twice in more than ten years. How could he not repay such a great favor? He could say so much because of their long-term friendship.

Yu Liang knew it was not appropriate to go into details, so he changed the subject and asked, "Are you heading north to Shangdang this time?"

"No." Wen Qiao shook his head and said, "Shangdang may seem close, but the Danzhuling section is under strict inspection. Lord Liang has already made arrangements to go to Yecheng first. Once there, Lord Lu will arrange for someone to take us through Leping County and then to Jinyang."

"Leping rarely sees wars, and there aren't many Xiongnu soldiers and horses, so it's not suitable for a large army to pass through. The road is a bit difficult, with all the mountain paths winding and steep, but it's safe." Wen Qiao stood up, shook his hungover head, and said, "Yuan Gui, won't you see me off?"

Yu Liang looked at the outer chamber official Liu Qiao who had already arrived at Lingbo Palace and was inspecting the construction site, so he felt relieved and said, "Let's go. I'll take you to Daliang Post."

The two of them then walked arm in arm, chatting and laughing, deliberately avoiding mentioning those heavy topics.

There are some things that you are destined to be unable to avoid when you are in this position.

As the situation becomes clearer, many people are becoming increasingly restless.

After Hebei was pacified, the idea began to arise.

After Qingzhou, Shangdang and Henei were all pacified, he became eager.

If Duke Liang could capture Pingyang again and drive the Huns completely to Guanxi, even if the two sides were faced off across the Yellow River, Tongguan, and Lantianguan-Wuguguan, it would be an achievement that would make people jealous.

The area north of the Huai River and east of the Yellow River is the most essential part of the world, enough for founding a country and becoming an emperor.

The situation develops step by step, and people's hearts change bit by bit.

Daliang Posthouse is just in the north of the city and we arrived there quickly.

Before leaving, Wen Qiao handed Yu Liang a folded piece of paper and left with a laugh.

Yu Liang opened the letter and saw only a few words: "The Yu family is at peace after being criticized by scholars."

These words - he seemed to be thinking about them, but also a little confused.

After leaving Daliang Posthouse, Wen Qiao headed north, passed Cangyuan Posthouse, and stayed overnight at Gongchen Posthouse.

The next day we arrived at Wenshiyi, crossed the Yellow River and stayed on the north bank.

Here he met a group of scholars heading north.

It is not entirely true to say that they are scholars, as their hands are covered with calluses from swords, bows and arrows, their speech is very heroic, and their tone of voice is also different.

Wen Qiao did not have much contact with them, but he only found out that they were going to Ji County to take up the posts of Lingchang, Xiancheng, and Xianwei. Before that, they served as clerks in Chen County, Nandun, Xincai, etc., and they were promoted after new people took over after the new year.

It turns out to be a martial arts student!

Wen Qiao suddenly realized that Lord Liang had not expanded his army for two years.

In the past, most of these martial arts students joined the Silver Spear and Black Shadow Army, and occasionally the Mule Army could get a few. In the past two years, a large number of them entered the grassroots of the counties of Liang State and operated the counties and towns for the Duke of Liang.

Of course, this was due to insufficient money and grain, but it was also an indisputable fact that Lord Liang wanted to control the real power at the county and township levels.

However, these martial arts students can only be used in these places.

For example, Ji County was completely destroyed, with few people to be seen. Most of the villages and towns rebuilt this year were refugees from Jizhou who fled south to escape famine.

The martial arts student is proficient in literature and has good martial arts skills. He behaves in a rather rough manner and is very good at dealing with these refugees.

Needless to say, resettlement of refugees is a complex and troublesome matter. Not only is it laborious, but it is also somewhat dangerous.

But everything has its pros and cons. After finishing the work, these students' abilities have been tempered and improved a lot. Most importantly, they have established prestige and accumulated connections at the township and village levels, which is very helpful for future governance.

If they were moved to places like Jiyin where the original structure has not been broken, they would not be able to achieve anything in eight or ten years due to the complex and intricate local relationships.

Lord Liang was a smart man. Through various maneuvers, he managed to build up some territory from which his commands could reach the entire village.

On May 14, Wen Qiao continued to head north. Besides Guo Rong and others, there were only two or three martial arts students traveling with him. Their destination was also Yecheng.

******
"During the Han Dynasty, the wealth of Henei, Jijun and Dunqiu was not inferior to that of Henan. But now they have almost become deserted places, which is really sad." The horses were moving slowly, and a martial arts student named Shao Jie kept chatting with Wen Qiao.

"Things in the world are like the water in the rivers and seas, rising and falling." Wen Qiao pointed with his whip and said with a smile: "Look over there, the fields are full of crops, and they can be harvested in late summer. As long as this crop is harvested, people's hearts will be settled."

"Once they have food to eat, they will start repairing their houses, dredging the canals, tending their gardens, and having children."

"This is the way the world is really like." After hearing this, Shao Jie also felt a little yearning.

He stopped talking and just looked at the villages on both sides of the post road.

He had actually been to Ji County and Wei County once before. Comparing the situation to the year before, he found that there were fewer forts. Perhaps because of the famine and war, the fort owners could not hold on any longer, so they took the people on a long journey to escape the famine.

The abandoned fort became a paradise for newly arrived refugees, but before long, it was transformed into an official office - the office of the battalion commander.

It was the same approach as Chen County back then, with teams and battalions lined up in a row, stretching for dozens of miles on both sides of the Qi River.

After a long time, the team will become a village, the camp will become a township, and then the land will become cultivated land.

"Mr. Wen, do you know the situation in Hebei?" Shao Jie suddenly asked.

"I don't know."

Wen Qiao's attention was focused on the villages on the east bank of the Qi River.

In the village, some houses have been dilapidated for a long time and no one lives there.

Some of them had been slightly repaired, and farmers were carrying manure to irrigate the gardens. His yard was full of new bamboos, and two naked children were playing and fighting in it.

A farmer picked a melon from the garden and walked along the uneven dirt road in front of the door.

He walked past several houses, all of which were empty and covered with knee-high weeds. Finally, he stopped in front of a newly built wooden door. The two of them chatted and laughed across the low wooden door, occasionally pointing at the pond not far away. In the end, the farmer left the melons behind and went to the pond to cut cattails to make mats.

"Julu prefect Zhang Chai is surrounded near Dalu Lake and can be defeated at any time," said Shao Jie.

Wen Qiao was speechless.

He really didn't expect that Zhang Chai, a local tyrant who had become a prefect with the help of Lord Liang, would actually attempt to cause chaos.

Maybe he felt that he was strong enough.

Aristocratic families may not be able to mobilize tens of thousands of soldiers, but Zhang Chai, a local tyrant and refugee leader, can easily mobilize more than 30,000 soldiers. Seeing the turbulent situation, he simply raised the flag of rebellion.

In fact, why do you want to rebel? Even if you succeed, will the Jizhou nobles care about you?

This is the most typical pioneer king in troubled times. He has no moral integrity and is always changing. He is instigated by others and becomes rebellious in a fit of anger. He lacks the vision and ability to see the general trend.

"I heard that Changshan and Zhongshan are in chaos again, and many places are secretly supporting Shi Le and providing him with food and equipment?" Wen Qiao asked.

"Yes." Shao Jie said, "General Li of the vanguard army led the troops of Wei, Zhao and Anping counties to the north and summoned the commanders of various towns to join the meeting. The commander of Lukou Town has not yet arrived. The Cui family of Boling is indecisive and is unwilling to send troops to attack Lukou Town on the grounds of insufficient food and grass. In Dai County, the Tuoba Xianbei are also heading south to plunder."

At this point, Shao Jie glanced at Wen Qiao and said with a smile: "Zhongshan Liu Kun has mobilized thousands of soldiers and horses, and some people in the county have opened the city to respond. I don't know what he is thinking. I heard that Xi Daohui has arrived in Nanpi and led the troops of Yang Dan, Liu Mi, Gao Jiang and other nobles to the north to besiege Liu Kun."

Wen Qiao smiled.

The situation in Hebei was chaotic, but Lord Liang refused to mobilize any troops to the north. The situation was entirely dependent on Hebei people fighting against Hebei people.

Judging from the current situation, it shouldn't take long to calm down.

At this time, we can see the importance of recovering the three counties of Ji, Henei and Shangdang last year. Neither Shi Le nor Liu Yao could provide much help to the Hebei nobles and refugee leaders who were dissatisfied with Duke Liang.

Wen Qiao even heard that Liu Ling, a subordinate of the general, might lead his own troops and the elite surrendered troops of the Tianshi Dao to the north to suppress the local situation.

With such a power comparison, the unrest in Hebei was doomed to fail. After all, the nobles did not take action directly, and they obviously had some concerns.

However, the Hebei faction suffered a heavy blow. Lu Zidao must be extremely worried by now, right?

But it was none of his business.

On May 18th, he arrived in Yecheng and immediately went to visit Lu Zhi, asking him to allocate manpower, arrange guards and guides, and cross mountains and rivers to Jinyang.

But Lu Zhi went to Anping, so he had no choice but to wait.

This wait lasted for more than ten days, until the beginning of June, when Zhang Chai's head was hung at Zhongyang Gate, and Lu Zhi finally returned.

People who are good at handling affairs of state always get into a panic when they encounter rebellious villains with knives in hand.

In the end, Lu Zhi relied on the troops of the Hebei nobles to defeat Zhang Chai.

He probably won't be able to stay in Yecheng for too long. It seems that he will have to go to Zhongshan soon and use his old relationship to appease Liu Kun.

At worst, they would have to recruit Liu Kun's subordinates and disband the troops he had raised. Without his troops, what else could Liu Kun do? I'm afraid he could only continue to flee.

"As for Jinyang..." Lu Zhi sighed, his hair was already white. He said, "You can handle it yourself. I don't have time to take care of you."

"Is there any news?" Wen Qiao asked.

Lu Zhi shook his head and said, "I heard that it is a barren land with Xiongnu people grazing there. You should take care of yourself."

Wen Qiao was silent for a moment, bowed, said goodbye and left.

The situation in Hebei was not something he should worry about, and Lu Zhi was right to be anxious. If the situation continued, both Mrs. Lu and Mrs. Le would probably be uneasy.

But maybe they don't care? Who can tell?

(End of this chapter)