Chapter 762: Changes

Chapter 762: Changes (Additional chapter for the leader's favorite eternal seraph)

A huge hand-painted map hung on the wall.

Zuo Min Cao Shangshu Zao Song took the yellow book handed over by the assistant and reported in person: "Pingyang County has resettled more than 7,000 people, including 41 households in Yang Village, Qingyangli, Yongji Township, and 38 households in Lan Village..."

"These villages are still there?" Shao Xun turned around and asked.

"The houses are still there, but they all have owners. In times of peace, they live in different villages farming and grazing, and in times of alarm, they move to the manor to live together."

"Have all the owners of the manor been punished?"

"Each one will be punished."

"Pingyang is a place that is comparable to Chenliu. It's not easy to get a little land." Shao Xun turned around and said, "Continue."

"Xiangling County has settled more than 2,000 people. It is the manor of Liu Yi, the pseudo-Han Hejian King. It was originally used to settle the garrison troops. Now it has been distributed, including..."

"Yang County has resettled more than 4,000 people..."

After the lengthy report, Shao Xun came back to his senses and said, "That is to say, Pingyang County was allocated more than 20,000 people, who were spread across the counties. Hedong County was allocated more than 14,000 people, of which Dayang County accounted for half. The remaining 5,000 people will be moved to Xihe County after a year?"

"Yes." Zao Song replied, "There are manors and pastures of the pseudo-Han Gaoping King in Lishi."

"Is that enough?"

"There is a Wang family manor in Jiexiu. The king has also newly established two counties, Shilou and Fangshan. There may be wasteland that can be reclaimed."

"No." Shao Xun turned around and looked at Zao Song, saying, "The wasteland in Shilou and Fangshan should be reclaimed by the Xiongnu people. Anyway, they are constantly migrating, and some of them have not come to pay homage to us yet, so we can ask for it. The land given to the men of the Wansheng Army must be cultivated land."

Zaosong responded with a yes.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yan, the commander of the Left Army, immediately said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will go to Xihe next spring and will definitely get this done."

Shao Xun smiled and asked, "Is Yi Fu not going back to Luoyang?"

"There is nothing going on in Luoyang, but the most important thing is to settle the Wansheng Army." Wang Yan said, "To be honest, Your Majesty, Luoyang is now in decline, and there is no point in living there. Even spices are not available. The merchants are very smart. They used to go to Bianliang, but now they come to Pingyang."

Shao Xun couldn't help but smile.

Merchants know best where to do business. In the past year, many people were tired of running back and forth between Bianliang and Pingyang, so they requested to stay in Pingyang temporarily, and the last batch of replies agreed.

Shao Xun didn't want to cheat them.

In the next two years, there will probably be no major construction in Bianliang City. There will basically be only small-scale construction activities, mainly digging ditches and dredging. It is unlikely that manpower and material resources will be used to build cities and palaces.

The political center has slowly shifted to Pingyang.

Due to lack of financial resources, this is all we can do.

In the fifth year of the Divine Turtle Era (321), people could not fight a war, could not afford to fight, and did not have the ability.

"I heard that Guanxi had a good harvest last year?" Shao Xun looked at the map again, drew a line with his finger west of the Yellow River, and asked.

"There has been enough rain in Guanxi, but no disasters have occurred." Zao Song sighed, "It has been two years in a row."

In fact, in the second half of the year, some bandits left the east city of Pubanjin and attacked Hedong, but were repelled by the Silver Spear Right Camp that came from Lishi to the south. This is a clear example.

Now the Silver Spear Right Camp has returned to Bianliang for rest, and was replaced by the Black Spear Left Camp which has been resting for half a year. Considering the positions of the great families in Hedong, the Xiongnu have no chance on this side.

The Silver Spear Left Camp also went back to rest and was replaced by the Silver Spear Middle Camp that stayed in Bianliang and stationed in Pingyang.

So far, the troops stationed in Pingyang and Hedong counties mainly include 12,000 combat soldiers from the Black Spear Left Camp and the Silver Spear Central Camp, plus 40,000 imperial guards, mule troops, palace soldiers and miscellaneous soldiers from various departments, totaling 52,000.

If Liu Can wanted to attack, he had to bring the approximately 17,000 imperial guards under his command to have a chance of winning.

But if these 17,000 elite soldiers were to surrender, Guanxi would certainly not be able to be defended. It seemed that he did not dare to take the risk.

Now that we have 40,000 Yellow-Headed Army, let alone other things, there is no need to use the various miscellaneous soldiers serving as auxiliary troops. At most, we need some tribal light cavalry.

The main military focus next year will be on training the Yellow Head Army. If there is an opportunity, we will raid Hexi, move in and out quickly, and give the Xiongnu a little surprise.

The main economic activities are farming, animal husbandry and savings.

Last year's war and this year's floods were extremely costly. The estates of the wealthy and powerful families are not unlimited ATMs. In fact, they have been squeezed almost to the limit. If they continue to do so, they will really rebel.

Politically, the focus was on clarifying the official system.

After a year of discussion on the ninth grade and eighteen levels, the complete plan has been completed and can be put into trial operation.

This was a very sensitive matter, and several old Dengs were fighting overtly and covertly, and were almost about to fall out in public.

Shao Xun is now an arbitrator. He seems to be aloof, but he cannot act blindly.

As for diplomacy, there is actually no diplomacy.

Last year, some areas in Jiangdong also suffered from floods, and many people in Jianye starved to death. They had no ability to go north. Even if Wang Dun and others insisted on going their own way, they would be suppressed.

Wang Chuzhong did not ignore Jianye's capabilities, and he was not a fool.

If Henan was a mess, maybe we could give it a try. But now that Henan is unified, which idiot would do such a stupid thing when they are attacked from all sides?

"China is in a difficult situation, and we must stick together." Shao Xun stopped looking at the map and said, "Forget it, the New Year is coming soon, let's not talk about these boring things."

What he needs most now is time.

It’s not that he doesn’t have enough time, but that his changes to society need time to settle and accumulate.

If we cannot see any results in one or two years, we have to extend the time span to 20 to 30 years, or even 30 to 40 years before we can see some clues.

******
As the snow fell silently, another new year arrived. When they conquered Pingyang the year before last, the emperor of Luoyang did not announce a change of era name, as if he had lost his spirit. Therefore, this year is the fifth year of Shengui (321) - changing the era name is one of the few powers Sima Chi has.

The surname Lu will be officially implemented in the new year.

The Lu surnames are also divided into levels, but they are rather rough, with only four levels: A, B, C, and D.

Originally, Wang Yan suggested creating a "secondary" level, namely, Second Class A, Second Class B, etc., but it was rejected and will not be implemented for the time being.

There are many supporting measures for assessing the status of a family with a Lu surname, the most important of which is to change it to a Han surname.

In fact, the noble families in the Central Plains attached great importance to this. Even if they really wanted to form an alliance, they "hated the fact that their names were repetitive", and ultimately everything fell through.

In history, the Northern Wei Dynasty faced such a situation, and the final result was that the Hu people compromised.

For example, Bu Liugu was changed to Lu, Wanniu Yu was changed to Yu, Qiu Dun was changed to Qiu, Hu Gukou Yin was changed to Hou, Ta Luoba was changed to Luo, and so on - however, some two-character surnames were not changed, because there are also two-character surnames among Chinese surnames.

But it was not so troublesome at this time, because the Huns had entered the Central Plains for many years and many people had voluntarily changed their surnames.

To put it simply, the Xiongnu nobles were old money and could not be compared to the new rich like Tuoba Wei.

In the first batch of assessments, Shangdang Liu and Beiping Duan were named "surname Jia".

Kelan Liu and Guangning Su are both "Yi surnames".

Pingyang Liu, Pingyang Huyan and Xihe Qiao are all "surname Bing".

As for Hedong Dong, Pingyang Lan, Xihe Wang and the like, they are all named "Ding".

When selecting officials, the fourth-rank Hu surnames were demoted three levels, that is, the highest-ranking Shangdang Liu and Beiping Duan were equivalent to the fourth-rank gentry among the Han surnames. Taking into account that when formally appointed, both Hu and Han families had to be demoted, therefore Shangdang Liu and Beiping Duan could only start as minor officials of the seventh or eighth rank.

But in any case, this is already a breakthrough from zero, which is very rare.

Therefore, upon hearing the news, Shangdang prefect Liu Runzhong was overjoyed and came to Pingyang in person to pay his respects. That night he also held a banquet in his mansion and invited several familiar scholars to drink together. The party lasted all night and was very lively.

Wen Qiao also went, and the next day he staggered to visit his old boss Wang Yan.

"Who was present yesterday?" Wang Yan asked after he ordered his servants to prepare a sobering soup, then sat opposite Wen Qiao.

"Most of them are scholars with the surname Lu, or old clans of Bingzhou." Wen Qiao said with a groan, feeling a little pain in his head.

"You look lazy." Wang Yan laughed and scolded: "What's the scenery like?"

At this point, Wen Qiao sobered up a little and said, "Among the famous Xiongnu surnames such as Liu, Qiao, and Huyan, their children often have impressive literary works and are well-dressed and elegant. I am quite surprised."

"Oh? How impressive is it?" Wang Yan asked.

Wen Qiao frowned and thought hard, as if it was difficult to judge, and could only say: "More like a scholar than King Liang."

Wang Yan clapped his hands and laughed.

"I think so too." After laughing, Wang Yan shook his head.

Yesterday was the New Year's Day celebration, and the Ningshu Palace was very lively. A noble lady from the Xiongnu clan, Huyan, actually wrote a poem, which shocked everyone.

Yesterday was also the first time that scholars with the surname Lu were invited to attend the court celebration, and the event had strong political implications.

"Shangdang Liu family is not very good." Wen Qiao added: "Although I ate their deer tail, which was very delicious, I still have to say that their family foundation is too poor, and they don't have any royal family."

"What a pity!" Wang Yan suddenly sighed, "King Liang values ​​practical affairs more than romance, what can we do about it. The Shangdang Liu family's warriors can at least ride horses and shoot arrows, so their situation is not much worse. However, if Liu Runzhong knows how to do it, he should educate his grandchildren well, value poetry and books, and know etiquette, so that they can be accepted by the Guan family."

As for why they didn't train their sons, it was because it was too late! They were all just deadbeats, they were set in stone, it was a waste of effort.

"Hey, Liu Runzhong was arranging marriages for his sons and daughters last night. Although his words were obscure, everyone present could hear it." Wen Qiao said again.

Wang Yan chuckled and said, "Maybe there are some poor people who would like them."

"Really?" Wen Qiao said with a smile, "He is from a fairly high family, a member of the Sun clan in Zhongdu."

"Oh? That's really shameless." Wang Yan said in surprise.

The Sun family of Taiyuan Zhongdu was quite famous during the Cao Wei period. Sun Zi had served as General of Cavalry and Palace Attendant. However, they were not so successful in this dynasty and fell into great decline.

During the Yongjia Rebellion, a large number of clansmen fled south to Jianye, and those who stayed in Taiyuan suffered repeated heavy losses and could hardly keep their family going.

The Liu family of Shangdang was a Hu people with the surname Jia. They had many followers. Liu Runzhong, Liu Hezhu, Liu Da, Liu Quan, Liu Zhao and others had all made many military achievements. It was obvious that their family was on the rise, so it was still worth trying to establish a relationship with them.

Especially since they are obviously more inferior now and are easy to pick up bargains, so as long as you don't care about your reputation, the benefits of marrying with them will be huge.

It seems that the Sun family in Zhongdu has given it their all.

"Liu Runzhong's three sons all married the daughters of tribal chieftains. This time he plans to marry a legitimate daughter to a member of the Sun family. In the future, the Shangdang Liu and Taiyuan Sun tribes will be in-laws." Wen Qiao said.

Wang Yan was silent.

There was no way he would lower himself to make friends with the Shangdang Liu family.

This family with a strong military color already has a low status, not to mention that they are Hu people.

The pride of the nobles must not be lost.

To put it bluntly, even if King Liang has come to this point, Wang Jingfeng and Wang Huifeng are still widows, and King Liang is not worthy of marrying them, let alone making them his wives - wife is a nice word, isn't she just a concubine?

But - alas, he finally knelt down flexibly.

"Liu Runzhong just started it." Wang Yan sighed: "The world is in turmoil, how many families of scholars have been ruined? There are countless people who are eager to revive their families. When people are pushed into a corner, what can't they do? In the future, more and more people will marry into the noble families of the barbarian surname. This is an unstoppable trend. I don't know what this world will become."

(End of this chapter)