Chapter 705 Hebei

Chapter 705 Hebei

Chapter 705 Hebei
Generally speaking, the office is located wherever the lord is.

In the past, Sima Yuanchao was stationed in Xuchang. When he heard that Wang Feibao was coming, he quickly went north and moved the capital to Puyang.

During his lifetime, he also used Linqiu and Fan County as his capital.

Shao Xun's current administrative center has moved to Jinmenwu.

After practicing martial arts in the morning, he returned to his bedroom to deal with official documents. He saw his daughter Huiwan coming to play with him. She accidentally tripped over the floor tiles and almost fell. He was suddenly startled and hurriedly sent his daughter to the outer room and handed her over to Sima Xiuwei.

After returning to the bedroom, he stepped hard on the brick for a long time before he felt relieved and reviewed the military reports about Hebei.

Pei Lingyan and Sima Xiuwei were in the kitchen.

Sima Xiuwei did not take any action, but just watched. She had no habit of serving others.

Pei Lingyan actually didn't have any, but Shao Xun had behaved well these past two days, so she reluctantly made some soup noodles for him.

Jinmenwu had excellent defenses, but the living space was cramped and very uncomfortable.

For example, this kitchen reserved for the castle lord is located on the westernmost cliff. Through the window, you can directly see the deep ravine below.

The stream was full of water and connected to the Luo River. It seemed that it had been widened and dredged by humans, because there were many piles of manure on the other side of the deep stream?
When Sima Xiuwei saw this, he covered his nose with his hands, his face full of disgust.

Pei Lingyan was also feeling uncomfortable, but she didn't show it and continued to cook seriously.

Halfway through, we saw more people outside the ravine. They were pulling wet mud from who knows where, mixed with feces, and immediately the stench was overwhelming.

"This is the method that my husband promoted many years ago." Pei Lingyan skillfully cut the thin dough into two-finger-long noodles and said casually, "Didn't your family learn it?"

Sima Xiuwei shook his head.

Her farm is now large, with a manor near the Princess Pond on the northern edge of Guangcheng Lake, as well as the mountains, lakes, pastures and fields attached to Suyu Palace, and 4,000 to 5,000 farmhands. This is the number after giving all the princess' fiefdom in Wuyang County to Shao Xun to settle the palace soldiers. The property is not ordinary.

The princess was a smart person and knew who helped the orphan and widow to keep so much property. So even though she was very angry about some of Shao Xun's actions, she still softened when Shao Xun hugged her last night.

Of course, she now had an extra layer of insurance.

That bastard man cares about his daughter very much and dotes on her. He will definitely keep an eye on Guang Chengze for a long time. He might even have his people in Su Yu Palace.

"My dear, you have been pushing this for many years. Some places in Henan have learned from it and achieved good results." Pei Lingyan said, "Mix silt with manure for composting and two-year three-cropping system. These two measures alone have greatly benefited the people of Henan."

Sima Xiuwei didn't care much about this.

She just felt that Pei had changed gradually after being with Shao Xun for a long time. She talked about the world and the people, as if her perspective had changed.

The neighing of horses was heard outside the window.

Sima Xiuyi looked subconsciously and saw people riding horses and driving cattle and sheep to graze on the gentle slope of a hill not far away.

It was already autumn, the grass was yellow and dry, but the livestock were all fat and strong.

The weather is nice and the horses are fat in autumn. Will the Huns take this opportunity to launch an attack?

Thinking of this, she sighed.

She is a sophisticated egoist who lives a luxurious and elegant life and never thinks about these troublesome things.

Even if the sky falls, there is always a man to hold it up. She only needs to coax the man, give him money, and serve him with her body when necessary to satisfy his vanity of turning over the throne and sleeping with the princess. But after following him around for so long, she unconsciously began to think about military and political affairs. It was really boring...

******
The Xiongnu did launch an attack, but on a small scale, with only three to four thousand men. They descended from Danzhuling and advanced unimpeded all the way to Xunshi County, but when they failed, they left.

The Xiongnu soldiers in the direction of Chenguan also set out.

Upon hearing the news, the Heilongjiang Army on Yewang's side assembled 3,000 combat soldiers, assisted by 3,000 conscripted light cavalry, and fought in the field, defeating the enemy on the banks of Qinshui River.

Wang Mi sent troops to attack Baichaowu, but was repelled by the imperial guards.

The scale of the three wars was not large, and it was unknown what the Xiongnu were thinking. In Shao Xun's opinion, it was more like performance art led by Liu Yao, Liu Xian, and Wang Mi - perhaps they wanted to eat some food?

When Pei Lingyan came in with the soup noodles, he had just dropped the news about the unrest in Hebei: it had basically been settled.

"The Huns are attacking again?" she asked softly.

"Yes." Shao Xun said, "The nearest bandit army came out from Xiashi Fort and attacked Baichaowu, but was repelled by Huang Biao and his men."

"Xiashi Fort..." Pei Lingyan was stunned for a moment.

This was when the Pei family was spreading their risk. The fortress built by the branch clansmen in Hongnong was quite old. In addition to the group of generals from Hedong who were brought there at the beginning, the fortress was mainly developed and expanded by absorbing refugees. It even absorbed a lot of the scattered Sima Mo soldiers and Luoyang imperial guards.

There are about 2,000 households now, but they are already under Wang Mi's deep control. It is said that the person currently stationed in Xiashi Fort is Wang Mi's clansman, Liu Han Ya's gatekeeper Wang Yan - the same name as the deceased uncle.

Shao Xun ate his soup noodles slowly and leisurely.

Hua Nu prepared snacks for him many times, but the number of times she cooked for him was really few. I remember no more than three times, so this meal was really delicious.

Pei Lingyan had already sat down. After frowning and thinking for a while, he sighed and said, "Don't count too much on the Pei family to help you."

Shao Xun hummed and continued eating.

After so many years, it’s time to see through the Pei family’s style.

Since the family suffered a heavy blow in the early days of the Eight Kings Rebellion, when all the outstanding members of the family were swept away, the family has become very conservative as a whole. Except for a few people who joined various parties with the family's tacit consent, the family itself rarely participates in any disputes.

A while ago, his third brother Shao Fan gave him a list of officials from the Pingyang court, but he only saw the names of two members of the Pei family on the last page. They were both minor officials of the seventh or eighth rank.

The youngest brother of the Pei family, a member of the Liu clan, also has only one official of the eighth rank.

Another younger brother, Xue, had none.

There are quite a few Song families in Xihe, and some of them have reached the fourth or fifth rank, which is in sharp contrast to the Pei, Liu, and Xue families.

But the problem is that they rarely come to Luoyang or Bianliang to serve as officials. It was only in recent years that Shao Xun rose strongly, and Pei Kang actively contacted, that the Pei family increased their investment in Bianliang, and tried to recover a little disadvantage by forming an alliance with the Wang family through marriage.

It can be seen that they want to actively plan, but the ship is too big to turn around, and the people who hold the right to speak in the family are conservative. They can increase their efforts to win over this family, but Shao Xun feels that perhaps only if he truly defeats the Xiongnu will they actively come over.

"The soup noodles are good." After eating, Shao Xun praised with satisfaction.

Pei Lingyan handed him another bowl of tea.

Shao Xun picked up the bottle and rinsed his mouth, then said, "I'll leave for home in a few days, okay?"

"Yeah." Pei Lingyan responded gently.

What else is not satisfying?
During these four months, most of the nights were spent just the two of them, hugging each other and talking before falling asleep.

As soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I can see him lying beside me, and a sense of security and satisfaction fills my heart.

He was destined to do great things. Sooner or later he would return to Bianliang, back among the thousands of troops, riding his horse and waving his whip, looking down on all directions.

She was content.

After the man rinsed his mouth, she cleaned up the dishes and left, leaving the man with some quiet time alone.

Zhang Bin waited outside for a long time. After seeing Pei Lingyan leaving with the tableware, he went inside to pay his respects.

"Mengsun, please sit down. Have you read the military report?" Shao Xun asked.

"I have seen it." Zhang Bin nodded calmly, his eyes were calm and without any fluctuation.

"How to deal with Bo Ling Cui?"

"Cui finally sent troops. He made minor mistakes but didn't commit any serious crimes. He should be given a light sentence," said Zhang Bin.

"How is it going to be resolved?"

"Move their clansmen and farmhands south and disperse them to resettle them." Zhang Bin said, "The vacant land will be given to Boling County as public land. If we ask them to hand over a few people, that will be enough."

In short, hand over a few scapegoats and confiscate the people and land.

"Is it possible to downgrade the status of the Bo Ling Cui family and give them a small surname?" Shao Xun asked.

Zhang Bin thought about it and said, "Yes."

In the short term, the loss of life, punishment of people and confiscation of land was relatively large, but in the long term, the loss brought by the decline of family status was even greater, because it meant that the starting point for the children of the Cui family of Boling to become officials was lower than that of other families, and there were fewer positions available.

Of course, the loss of population and land is also painful, as they are the foundation of the family.

In comparison, Qinghe Cui is more obedient.

On the day when the governor Yang Dan sent out his troops, they provided two thousand soldiers and a large amount of food and fodder, and sent their clansmen to help stabilize the situation, making a considerable contribution.

The overall performance was slippery and Shao Xun couldn't find an excuse to move them even if he wanted to.

Some people may ask why Shao Xun wants to touch Qinghe Cui.

The reason is not complicated. In this turmoil in Hebei, none of the aristocratic families survived, and the ones who jumped the most were the local tyrants, refugee leaders and some small and medium-sized clans. It is simply unbelievable.

However, Shao Xun did not believe that the Hebei aristocratic families were so innocent. They must be behind the scenes fanning the flames, but he could not find any concrete evidence. Lu Zhi also repeatedly defended him, pointing out that Hebei could not be in chaos anymore. It was most important to quickly stabilize the situation and start autumn sowing, because this year's autumn harvest had been greatly affected and the losses were huge.

Finally he agreed.

Killing people indiscriminately without any evidence is not his style, and it goes against his original intention of establishing order - if you want others to abide by the rules, you can't take the lead in breaking them, right?

"All the male members of the Suqiu clan will be killed, and the female members will be sent to the palace as slaves." Shao Xun said: "A portion of the men in the tribe will be given to the commanders who will go out to fight as rewards, and the rest will be sent to Xingyang to be registered as civilians. You should draw up a proposal on how to distribute them."

"Yes, sir." Zhang Bin replied.

"Send people to Liaoxi and ask them to hand over Liu Kun. All the Liu family members in Zhongshan who participated in the rebellion will be killed. The rest should be convicted or relocated. In short, I don't want to see the Liu family still in Zhongshan. This matter - let Liu Ling supervise it." Shao Xun patted the official letter on the table and said.

Liu Kun gathered several thousand people to defend Zhongshan, but of course it could not last long.

Under the command of Li Chong, Liu Mi, Gao Jiang, Liu Hezhu, Liu Ling, Yang Dan, Tao Bao, Zhi Xiong and other troops besieged the rebellion and quickly put it down.

Liu Kun escaped at night and reportedly took refuge with Murong Xianbei.

But the monk can run away but the temple cannot. Although many people from the Liu family in Zhongshan held cattle and wine to welcome the royal army and showed a respectful attitude, it was too late!
Shao Xun originally wanted to take the opportunity to clean up Hebei, and now that he has caught the opportunity and the evidence, how could he let it go?

The Zhongshan Liu family, a wealthy and powerful clan, was completely finished. Even if some members were retained, they would be dispersed and resettled in various places, and could no longer exist as a whole in the form of a large family.

In addition to these two things, Li Chong also sent people to Tianchang Town to build a city, defeated Shi Le's army that came to harass, and successfully completed the construction in mid-September.

At this point, Hebei is basically safe.

Natural disasters, foreign invasions, and the promotion of the honorary official system instigated by ambitious people were the main causes of the unrest in Hebei.

With the fall of the Liu family in Zhongshan, the political crisis in Hebei came to an end.

The implementation of reform was truly accomplished at the cost of blood.

The people of Hebei dared to resist openly, but the people of Henan did not resist much, but lay dormant silently, which made Shao Xun feel relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"The years go by so fast. Let's pack up and go back." Shao Xun said after looking at the falling autumn leaves outside the window.

At the end of September, after inspecting Tanshanwu, he said goodbye to Sima Xiuwei and his daughter Huiwan, and then led his troops eastward, arriving at Jingu Garden on the tenth day of October.

He was too lazy to go into the city to meet the emperor, so he directly met with the main court officials headed by the Grand Marshal Wang Yan in this Wang family manor.

(End of this chapter)