Chapter 809 Changes

Chapter 809 Changes

Chapter 809 Changes
More than half a month passed after the news was sent back from Dai County before a messenger took a detour to the south via Wuyuan. Under the escort of the cavalry of the Hedouling tribe, he crossed the river at Junzijin and headed south to Xiurong.

Helan Aitou has been contacting various tribes in the past few months.

Not sure if it was because things weren't going smoothly or what, but he was still undecided and finally decided to send someone south to test Shao Xun's opinion - this behavior explained a lot of things, he had the intention but not the courage.

After Shao Xun and Zhang Bin discussed it, they decided to follow the established policy and have Luoyang send an envoy to confer the title.

In early November, the chieftains of the five counties of Xiurong, Kelan, Jingle, Hehe and Loufan, as well as the six counties of Fangshan, Lishi, Shilou, Dinghu, Linshui and Pingyi in Xihe County in the south, all gathered in Xiurong and launched a large-scale activity that was both a military and hunting campaign.

Linshui and Pingyi counties are both newly established and belong to Xihe County. Currently, there are only a few hundred households in each county.

The former is located in the west of today's Lin County. It is an old county of the Western Han Dynasty. It is now re-established to assimilate the various Hu peoples.

The latter was located near today's Zhongyang County, and its purpose was also to naturalize the various Hu peoples. As a result, Xihe County had nine counties, namely Lishi, Xicheng, Zhongyang, Jiexiu, Fangshan, Pingyi, Shilou, Dinghu, and Linshui. Guyuan County (today's Qinyuan) was abolished because of years of war, as the population was almost wiped out due to casualties and escapes.

Xiurong is located in a relatively flat river valley area, and its prosperity is far greater than that of Jingle County, which is the county seat.

According to the latest figures, the county has more than 3,200 households and more than 16,000 people - of course, so many people can only be seen in winter or during wartime, and they are usually scattered everywhere.

On this day, six Han noble families, namely Dinghu Jia, Hehe Zhou, Xiurong Zang, Loufan Guo, Shilou Yan and Fangshan Xiao, rode their horses to Xiurong County - the Jia family was chosen by Shao Xun himself, the Zhou family had committed a crime and was exiled, and the remaining four families were all brought here by Wang Laodeng.

"This county town is quite impressive." Dinghu County Magistrate Jia Gui dismounted from his horse and looked at the city wall that had just been raised and thickened this year. He smiled and said, "After being disturbed by the Xianbei, the first thing I thought of was not to fight back, but to repair the city defense."

Xiurong County Magistrate Zang Tao, whose home was just outside the city, was unhappy and said, "This is the order of King Liang. Do you have any objection?"

Jia Gui was speechless, perhaps because he was humiliated. He was indignant and said, "Zang Qihui, I heard that your family served Tao Qian first, and then became bandits--"

"You bastard!" Zang Tao drew out his knife and cursed, "How dare you, a descendant of Jia Chong, insult my ancestors?"

After saying that, he rushed forward with a knife. When everyone saw that something was wrong, they immediately stepped forward to persuade them to separate the two.

Jia Gui's face was uncertain, he snorted coldly, and said: "This year I sent my soldiers across the river, captured and killed 238 Xiongnu bandits, what contribution have you made?"

"In the battle last year, if I hadn't led my troops to fight hard, Xiurong would have been dead. What would you have done?" Zang Tao said loudly across several people.

"Why are you two arguing?" Loufan County Lieutenant Guo Jing sighed and said, "Just now the commander sent a messenger to say that the King of Liang has returned from hunting and will be here soon. If you continue to argue, none of you will end up well."

Fang Shan ordered Xiao Zheng to watch silently from the side.

Many years ago, as the magistrate of Huaiyin, he followed Sima Rui, who was in charge of Xuzhou, to the south, but he never expected that he would be exiled to Piling. Among the scholars who moved south, those with high status lived in Jianye City, those with average status lived in the suburbs of Jianye, and those with low status were settled in Piling (now Changzhou, Jiangsu).

This broken place has "vast land and sparse population" and "most of the fields are filthy". The environment is extremely bad and it has a wild and primitive appearance. It is simply not a place for human beings to live.

Moreover, after he moved south, the Jianye Shogunate did not continue to grant him any official positions and ignored him.

There was no other way. After hearing about Shao Xun's rise, Xiao Zheng thought that as a native of Donghai (the five counties of Lanling originally belonged to Donghai), it would be better for him to go back and join him.

It happened that the Grand Commandant Wang Yan wrote to Jiangnan to win over the scholars of Qingxu, so Xiao Zheng took his two young sons back to his hometown and even fought in the battle during the attack on Qingzhou.

Last year, with Wang Yan's efforts, he finally got the position of Fangshan County magistrate.

To be honest, even though he was mentally prepared, Xiao Zheng was still shocked when he arrived in Fangshan: Is this place very different from Piliang?
But he had no other choice. He kept jumping around and was hated by everyone, so he had no choice but to take office.

Coming to Xiurong today, he was extremely excited. He had planned in his mind countless times what to do when meeting King Liang: first try to get close to him in his hometown dialect, then show his loyalty, and finally briefly mention the measures he took to pacify the various Hu people after arriving in Fangshan County.

During the Chinese New Year, he had to carry gifts to Pingyang and express his loyalty to General Wang.

It is really not easy to be an official, and it is even more difficult for a family to rise.

"King Liang is here!" Several riders ran past from the north bank of Lanshui and shouted.

The people who were shouting stopped immediately and stood aside.

The nephews, nieces and family soldiers they brought with them also lined up neatly, staring closely at the western horizon.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves like thunder was heard, and a dense sea of ​​cavalry appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

These inland nobles had been coming to the border for some time. When they first saw the large group of cavalry, they were shocked and almost felt an irresistible trembling in their hearts. After more contact, they became numb, accustomed, and no longer afraid. Some of the bold ones even threatened to study the art of resisting cavalry with infantry, saying that even if the large infantry formation was broken up, they could still form a back-to-back formation of five or ten people and fight against the cavalry, and they would not necessarily be at a disadvantage.

The changes that the environment can bring to people are terrible.

When the Hu riders, some with shaved heads and some with braided hair, came near, they dismounted one after another and stood solemnly on the road, just like the men on the south bank of Lanshui.

After a while, a large number of soldiers with yellow scarves on their heads appeared in the distance.

There were so many of them that they almost filled the entire valley, and wherever their carriages and horses passed, the sky was filled with smoke and dust.

Those with sharp eyes could even see the prey piled up on the carriage: hares, pheasants, wild boars, deer, and even tigers and wolves.

Large-scale hunting is actually a very good way to train troops. It not only tests the drums, gongs and flags, but also trains the coordination between infantry and cavalry. As for archery, it is the focus.

"Are these Hu people really willing to surrender?" Xiao Zheng asked softly, standing beside Guo Jing.

Guo Jing's family background was much higher than that of the Lanling Xiao family, but he was warm-hearted, easy-going, and not arrogant. Hearing this, he said, "I heard from my brother (Puzi Ling Guo Yang) that the people were not very obedient when they conquered Liu Han. Even if they surrendered, they were hesitant. Last year was better, but when the Xianbei invaded, many people still rebelled. After the failure, some were liquidated, and some were more alert and crossed the river to join Liu Yang and Shi Le. This year, the situation has changed a lot. At least no one has openly rebelled."

Xiao Zheng secretly compared the situation with that in his own Fangshan County and found that what Guo Jing said was basically correct.

Before I knew it, it was the third year. Those who should have run away or rebelled had almost all been cleared out, and the rest were relatively obedient.

Before being ordered to come to Xiurong, he summoned the tribal nobles from the three townships in the county, and all those who could come came. They also offered thousands of cattle, horses and other livestock as operating expenses for the county.

Yes, he couldn't control the affairs of those tribes, but the nobles at least recognized him as the county magistrate, so it was acceptable on the surface and everyone could live in peace.

The hundreds of villagers he brought from Xuzhou were farming on both sides of the Chihong River. They were the people he, as the county magistrate, trusted the most. There was not much flat land available for farming in the Chihong River valley, but there were few people. After each family was given 100 to 200 acres of land, there were still a lot of wasteland that could be reclaimed.

Last year, most of the captives who were captured during the suppression of the rebellious Xiongnu tribe were sent to Bianliang to serve as laborers, and hundreds of families were settled in the county, so the number of households he could directly control was probably only about one thousand.

"Mr. Guo--" Xiao Zheng said again.

"No, no!" Guo Jing was anxious and said immediately, "Just call me Guo Jizi."

"Ji Zi, Jia Ding just said nonsense that he crossed the river to attack and kill the Huns. What's going on?" Xiao Zheng asked again.

"What's Mr. Xiao's name?" Guo Jing asked. "His courtesy name is Gongqi."

"Gongqi lives in Fangshan, not far from Dinghu. You should find out what's going on in the neighboring counties when you have free time." Guo Jing said in an elder brother tone, "Dinghu County has Mengmenjin, which faces the Xiongnu across the river. If we send a small group of soldiers across the river when the enemy is unprepared, we may be able to capture the bandit leader. Of course, Shi Le also often sent people across the river to harass each other."

"How many soldiers does Jia Guicai have? How could it be so smooth?" Xiao Zheng asked.

"Jia Wenhong has been skilled in archery and horse riding since he was young. He was once the commander of a fort in Zhongtiao Mountain. He fought for the Xiongnu and also fought for the Xiongnu. He is different." Guo Jing said, "Fortunately, I am in Loufan. If I had gone to Dinghu, Shi Le would have attacked in large numbers and I would have been in a mess."

"Ji Zi is too modest." Xiao Zheng said, "The people of Runan Zhou are in Hehe County, aren't they fine?"

"Them!" Guo Jing said with a wry smile, "The Zhou family of Runan is famous for its literary style. Even the Hu people know about it. The Zhou family was exiled to Hehe, with hundreds of men, women, old and young. The King of Liang also sent 200 households of Langling garrison troops and 200 households of Xiangcheng civilians, all of whom were from Runying. When the Zhou family arrived in Hehe, they intermarried with the Hu people. The leaders of the tribes were overjoyed. They were all proud to marry Zhou's daughters and lucky to marry Zhou's sons. When the Xiongnu attacked, a bunch of Hu people served in the army, so nothing would happen."

"I heard that Zhou no longer had any hope for a career in government, but studied hard, reclaimed wasteland, built forts, had many children, and made friends with the Hu people. This is exactly what King Liang wanted to see. He hoped that the great Chinese families would take root in the border areas, educate the Hu people, and change their customs."

"What? King Liang wants us to settle down in the border areas?" Xiao Zheng was shocked.

Guo Jing looked at him strangely and said, "If there are outstanding sons and nephews, they can serve as officials in Pingyang and Luoyang, but isn't the foundation of the clan still in the border areas? I plan to slowly move the farmhands to Loufan County. Gongqi is in Fangshan, and the Xiao family should be the most powerful family in this county, and even in Xihe County, it will not lag behind. Isn't that good? Has the county included the Xiao family in the genealogy?"

Xiao Zheng felt like he was struck by lightning.

Yes, the prefect Tian Mao has already sent a letter to Fangshan, saying that he wants to include the Xiao family in the list of surnames in Xihe County, but it has not been processed yet.

Is it interesting to be a noble among a bunch of monkeys in human form? Xiao Zheng wanted to cry but had no tears. He felt that he had been fooled by Wang Taiwei. It would be better for him to continue to mess around in Piling. Maybe one day Zu Ti would take a fancy to him and give him a position in the imperial court. Wouldn't that mean he could get an official position?
Xiao Zheng regretted it again, and after a long sigh, he felt a little depressed.

But now that things have come to this, what can be done? Let's see if we can get in touch with King Liang and use the advantage of our hometown party to jump out of Fangshan's fire pit.

While the two were talking, Shao Xun had arrived at the north of Xiurong City, surrounded by a large group of people.

Shao got off the horse first and came to the side of Liu Ye's horse.

Liu Ye was an excellent rider, but suddenly he seemed unable to get off the horse.

Shao Xun picked her up, gently brushed the dust off her shoulders, held her fingers, and went towards Xiurong County.

The series of smooth movements were seen by Liu Zhao, the governor of Kelan, who felt relieved.

Recently, some people said that King Liang was afraid of the power of the Liu family and wanted to clean them up. This is nonsense. Just go back and execute him.

His father Liu Runzhong presented the party to the king, opening the door for him to enter Bingzhou.

Our ancestors Liu Hezhu and Liu Da fought for King Liang for many years, and countless brave men from the tribe died on the battlefield. Now they are guarding Changshan and serving as a shield for the country.

The second brother Liu Sui was killed in the battle of Hanoi, and the third brother Liu Quan captured Liu Ya alive. Now he has to rush to Xinxing to confront Suotou directly.

He was the governor of Kelan. Last year, he fought hard and prevented Suotou from making any progress. This year, he built Ningwu Pass on the old site of Loufan Pass, preparing for the establishment of Ningwu County, the sixth county of Kelan Prefecture.

Why would King Liang want to target the Liu family, a family full of loyal and brave people?
Furthermore, the smile on my aunt's face was genuine, and she was much happier than when she was the mistress of Shi Le's mansion, with a stern face and pretending to be dignified. It was obvious that King Liang loved her very much.

If only I could be the queen!
If their cousin becomes emperor in the future, they will raise 100,000 soldiers from four counties to help him fight against the enemy, and if they refuse to obey, the world will be pacified.

As he thought about it, Liu Zhao became happier and followed Shao Xun into the county town.

"Every year there are new changes, which is great." After entering the county government office, Shao Xun first took off Liu Ye's cloak, then looked at Qiao Yu, who had changed from county chief to county magistrate, and said, "I just looked at some fields on the way. Some were planted with wheat, and some were planted with turnips. There were also radish roots drying in the yard of the villagers. Are they planted in the fall?"

"Your Majesty is very attentive to the people's sentiments." Qiao Yu said, "Plant radishes in autumn, harvest them slowly after the frost falls, mix them with hay and feed them to cattle and sheep. People can also eat them."

"That's right." Shao Xun nodded, and then said, "After all, they grow millet, wheat, turnips, radishes and other crops for the livestock to survive the winter, so their focus is still on the livestock, not just farming for a living. But it's good this way, you can't force anything, just take it slow."

"Your Majesty is right." Qiao Yu said, "In the past, when Liu Cong occupied Pingyang, he ignored the Hu tribes in Taiyuan, Xihe, and Kelan counties and only demanded cattle, sheep, and horses and conscripted men. After Liu Can took over the Chanyu throne, he still ruled according to the old law. When Your Majesty took over these counties, the Hu people realized that something was wrong and said that Liu Cong and Liu Can, father and son, were far inferior to Your Majesty."

Shao Xun was very happy to hear this, as it was an affirmation of his governance.

These mountain barbarians have already been convinced militarily, and now we have to make them convinced through governance, so that they can truly win over.

In fact, some results have been seen this year.

During large-scale hunting, wherever he gave the order, the young and strong men from all tribes rushed forward and retreated in an orderly manner. It was obvious that they were quite obedient to his military orders, which was a good thing.

"I will stay in Xiurong for a few more days. After these days, you ask the chiefs of each tribe to keep an eye on their subordinates and not to run around randomly." Shao Xun said again.

"This is..." Qiao Yu was a little confused.

"An epidemic has broken out in Hebei, and the people are in a panic." Shao Xun said, "I'm worried that the disease will spread to Bingzhou. Be careful and don't be careless."

There will always be an epidemic after a major disaster, let alone three consecutive years of floods.

Although during disaster relief efforts, requests were made to bury the bodies and reduce traffic, this could only reduce the severity of the disaster but could not completely eliminate it - for example, previously 30% of the population would die, but now only 20% or even 10% would die.

Bingzhou has also suffered a disaster, but it was much less severe than that in Hebei. No signs of a major epidemic have been found yet, so we need to alert them in advance and try to minimize possible losses.

Qiao Yu was worried after hearing this.

Facing Suo Tou, he still dared to climb the city wall and fight hard, but the plague was invisible and intangible, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

"In a few days, the National Middle School will send a letter here. Don't visit others. Wash frequently, drink plenty of hot water, and try to get through it." Shao Xun said, "The three-year disaster is over, and the epidemic is no problem. I want to see how long God will make things difficult for me!"

After hearing what Shao Xun said, Qiao Yu felt a little relieved.

King Liang was truly strong-willed, and nothing could defeat him. Following behind such a man, he could not help but feel more confident.

Perhaps, only such a person can take control of the world and create the current situation.

On the fifth day of November, after meeting with various people one by one, Shao Xun led his army to leave Xiurong, went south via Lishi, and returned to Pingyang at the end of the month.

As expected, this year's celebration was cancelled again.

Under the shadow of epidemic, the people under Shao Xun's rule welcomed a New Year with relative abundance.

(End of this chapter)