Chapter 1012: Xiaoguan Aftermath

Chapter 1012: Xiaoguan Aftermath

Chapter 1012: Xiaoguan Aftermath (Part )

On the way to Xiaoguan, Shao Xun received news from the south.

In early and mid-April, Zu Yue sent two groups of envoys to Jianye, and their requests were the same: to seek rewards and to relocate family members.

What is shocking is that the Jianye court has not formally discussed this matter even after the second group of envoys arrived for several days. In other words, after the first group of envoys submitted their request, it may have been suppressed, or this matter was not the most important concern of the Jianye court, and they had more important things to do at that time.

This is fine. Shao Xun is too lazy to pay more attention to it because he has more important things to do.

We set out on the tenth day of May and arrived in Wei County one day later.

The famous Longshan or Longdi is just a few dozen miles west of the county.

The army was marching entirely along the Wei River Valley.

The river valley is not very wide, but a lot of farmland has been opened up.

Shao Xun did not ride in a carriage most of the time, but rode a horse in the mountains and valleys, carefully observing the local people's livelihood.

"After passing Yong County and heading west, the river valley land is the most valuable, and the competition for it is very fierce." Shao Xun said, pointing his whip at the mountains on both sides.

The fourth son Shao Yu, the fifth son Shao Yan, and the sixth son Shao Jin followed behind, looking into the distance.

The mountains are covered with flags, and a large group of soldiers can be seen marching.

A little further away, you can occasionally see a dock.

If nothing unexpected happened, it was the Rong family's fortress. They had previously gone to Caobi Town to donate 100,000 hu of grain and 5,000 cattle and sheep to support military supplies, and even gave two legitimate daughters of the family, both of whom were good-looking. However, they were politely declined by Shao Xun.

The Rong family is now a wealthy family.

Our ancestor Rong Ci once served as a captain under Liu Bang to defeat Xiang Yu, and was granted a fief of 8,000 households. Later, he was convicted and fell into disgrace. During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, he was relocated to Chang'an, and during the Later Han Dynasty, he was relocated to Fufeng, where his status was much lower than before.

After the Hu people poured into Guanzhong in large numbers, the Rong family was desperate and thought of changes. They began to build forts, manage manors, train their troops, and interact with the surrounding Hu chieftains.

There were even many Hu people among the Rong family's farmhands, but who cared? Later, when registering households, the Hu people in the Han manor were all Han people, and the Han people in the Hu tribe were all Hu people. The court would not carefully distinguish them, and there was no way to distinguish them, because they themselves could not tell whether their ancestors were Han or Hu, so they could only do it in a simple and crude way.

"Liang Nu, Yong, Wei and Chencang counties are your fiefdom. Are you moved by this scene?" Shao Xun asked.

Liang Nu rode his horse forward two steps and said, "Your Majesty——"

Shao Xun glared at him.

"Grandpa, there are no less than 1,500 households in the Rong family's fortress, or maybe even 2,000 households," Liang Nu said.

"There are only 5,000 households in the yellow book of the three counties. Do you think it is accurate?" Shao Xun asked.

"Of course it's not true. The rebellion of the Qiang people in Fufeng easily involved tens of thousands of people, so there's no telling how many households there are. And the source of the rebellion is in the western counties." Liang Nu said, "In the past, Yao Yizhong led the Qiang people to migrate eastward, and tens of thousands of people followed him, farming and grazing in Yumei. Over the years, the people did not disperse due to hunger and hardship, but instead became more prosperous. This is evident."

Yumei is located between Yong and Wei (near Qianyang County, Shaanxi Province today). Yao Yi Zhong advanced here and became a powerful figure in Guanzhong. He was named Duke Pingxiang by the Xiongnu.

Now that Yao Yi Zhong is gone, this land has been taken by the imperial court, and most of it has been assigned to Caobi Town.

When it comes to household registration, it's a black humor.

During the prosperous Taikang period of the Jin Dynasty, there were 23,000 households in the six counties of Fufeng. However, after years of war and natural disasters in the late Jin Dynasty, the court sent people to check the population of Fufeng County (not the land measurement) last year and found 25,000 households.

In fact, the original number was still reported as 23,000, but there were traces of erasure on the original yellow book, and 1,000 households were added to the names of Mei and Chiyang counties respectively, making it 25,000.

Shao Xun directly removed the prefect of Fufeng and replaced him with Jin Zhaohui, a native of Jingzhao, because he was unwilling to bother with your tricks.

It is said that Jin Zhaohui is the descendant of Jin Midi, a famous official of the Former Han Dynasty, and the great-great-grandson of Jin Shang, the governor of Yanzhou during the reign of Emperor Xian of Han. Her father, Jin Daozhen, was the deputy governor of Yangzhou during the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin, and then settled there.

Kim So-hye has an older brother named Kim So-myeong, who is currently serving as a military official in the Jin court. Her third brother, Kim So-hyeon, is managing property in Jianye. The second oldest is Kim So-hye, and the whole family ran back to Chang'an early.

After the fall of Liu Han, he was appointed as the magistrate of Chiyang. At this time, he was recommended by Liang Fen and promoted to the prefect of Fufeng.

The Jin family was also a major powerful family in Jingzhao County. As descendants of Jin Midi, none of them served in the Liu Han Dynasty.

"Sixth brother, these nobles deserve to be beaten." Yan Wang Shao Yu said loudly: "If you are willing to give me a few thousand elite soldiers to play with, it will be fine. I will clean up your fiefdom."

Shao Xun whipped at him with the whip, but Hu Tou seemed to have been prepared for this move. He jumped on his horse and dodged in a flash.

"Come here." Shao Xun waved his hand.

Shao Yu chuckled and rode his horse again.

Shao Xun whipped him hard with the whip, then praised: "Your riding skills are good. You have the style of your father in the past."

"Still a long way to go." Tiger Head said with a grin.

It’s not an exaggeration.

My father can still ride a strong horse and draw a strong bow, and his riding skills are far better than his own. Even the best soldiers in the army are amazed.

"You have already established a government, but you still don't pay attention to government affairs and haven't recruited many subordinates. Why is that?" Shao Xun asked.

"If I'm short of money, the Prime Minister will give me some. There's no rush." ​​Hu Tou said with a smile, "It's good to stay with my parents and help my brothers and sisters."

Shao Xun shook his head and laughed. This son took his mother's character and bravery.

Liang Nu also laughed.

Among all his brothers, he is closer to Hutou.

Shao Xun looked at Liu Zi again and asked, "The army is still here. If you don't hurry up and clean up the households and fields, you will regret it."

Shao Jin immediately replied, "Don't worry, father. I have already recruited several people in Fufeng to serve as officials. With their help, I don't think there will be any problems. We have cleared more than 3,000 households so far, and we are not far from 10,000 households."

Liang Nu was the King of Qin, and he was granted the three western counties of Fufeng County. Although he could only enjoy the rent and tax income of his fiefdom and could not interfere in government affairs, he still liked to promote talents in this fictitious fiefdom according to the tradition since the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

Psychologically, these talented people had a natural centripetal force towards him, and considered themselves to be the "fellow countrymen" of the King of Qin. This meant that they were working together in a two-way direction, and everyone was happy.

"For your fief, Hou Feihu fought two more battles in Fufeng and Lueyang." Shao Xun said, "Your other brothers don't have such benefits, so you got it cheap." After saying that, he waved his whip and galloped away.

The three sons followed closely behind.

For a moment, the valley was filled with the sound of cavalry galloping.

When the fortresses and tribes near and far heard the news, they were shocked and almost thought that the imperial court had come to settle the score.

On the way, Shao Xun issued an edict: divide the three counties of Dunhuang, Jinchang and Gaochang in Liangzhou to establish Shazhou, and appoint Xi Jian as the governor of Shazhou, in charge of Yumen Guard and Wu Ji Colonel.

He also appointed General Hou Feihu as the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of Liang and Sha provinces, the governor of Liang province, and the Grand Protector of the Western Regions Protectorate.

In connection with the previous appointment, Shao Xun obviously divided the Liangzhou area into two parts, namely Hexi and Longyou.

Longyou was divided between Xin Yan and Jin Zhun, while Hexi was decided by Hou Feihu.

After the upper level structure is determined, it is the middle and lower levels.

******
On May 18th, at the foot of Xiaoguan City, a group of officials led by Anding Prefect Yuan Xi had been waiting for a long time.

Yuan Xi has followed Shao Xun for many years. He used to be the commander-in-chief of the Huangtou Army and is now the prefect of Anding, guarding this place where the Han and the Hu people live together.

He happened to be from Lueyang, Qinzhou, a neighboring county. After Yuan Yan passed away due to illness, Yuan Xi, a family slave who had been given a surname, was actually officially included in the Yuan family tree and a new page was opened, which was also outrageous.

And it was precisely because of this that the Lueyang Yuan clan, who once helped the Xiongnu, avoided the fate of moving eastward and remained in the local area.

Behind Yuan Xi and a group of officials were elders from powerful families such as Liang, Huangfu, Hu, Yang, Xi, Wu, and Zhang.

This "Zhang" refers to the clan of Zhang Gui and Zhang Jun, located in Wushi County (now southeast of Guyuan and northwest of Pingliang, the former site of Wushi Rong in the Warring States Period and acquired during the Qin Dynasty).

A part of the army accompanying the emperor had arrived two days in advance and occupied the city of Xiaoguan and the nearby hilltops. They set up several lines of defense, set up camps and maintained strict alert.

At this moment, one group of soldiers after another and one carriage after another approached.

Everyone stared at it carefully, and when they saw the emperor's palanquin, they all bowed to the ground and said in unison: "Long live the emperor."

The imperial carriage stopped a few dozen steps outside Xiaoguan City. Shao Xun got off the carriage and looked around.

Xiaoguan is located at a high altitude, blocking a mountain pass, preventing the enemy from attacking from the northwest and breaking into the Jingshui River Valley.

Of course, it is impossible to block such a complex terrain with just Xiaoguan. It is conservatively estimated that seven or eight passes spanning hundreds of miles from north to south will have to be built.

This pass only blocks a relatively easy road. It has average military value, but great symbolic significance.

"Everyone, get up." Shao Xun said, holding up his hands.

Everyone stood up.

Shao Xun did not enter the city either. He just took a few steps forward, looked at the governor Yuan Xi, and said with a smile: "Back then, Yuan Qing was the first warrior under my command who dared to charge bare-chested. Times have changed, and now he is the governor of a county."

Yuan Xi bowed again and said, "If it weren't for your Majesty, I would be nothing more than a slave. Now that I have been awarded this noble position, I have brought honor to my family and will die without regrets."

"Without you, An Ding will be in turmoil." Shao Xun pulled Yuan Xi up and said, "Please recommend talented people to An Ding for me one by one."

"I obey the order," Yuan Xi responded.

Shangshu Zuo Pushe Liang Fen stood at the back, quietly looking at the mountains and rivers of his hometown.

When he was young, Emperor Wu of Han dismissed the county soldiers. The situation was complicated and he was unwilling to dismiss them, but he could not openly resist. So he recruited the private soldiers of the nobles to guard the passes. Liang Fen once led the Liang family to guard Xiaoguan.

Decades passed, and after years of silence, the Liang family once again came close to the center of power, and the family's stable position became increasingly solid.

He has nothing to complain about.

Perhaps, his daughter's growing belly is his only source of worry.

Thinking of this, Lao Liang couldn't help but glare at Shao Xun.

Quanzhong, you still have the mind to chat and laugh with the scholars of Anding. Once the fact that my daughter is pregnant is exposed, it will be a huge scandal. I have even hired a deaf-mute to take care of my daughter in secret. Can you please be more careful?

Pang Jue, the attendant of the imperial court, came over and found Liang Fen, the most senior official in the imperial court, and reported in a low voice: "Pu She, the General of the Central Army of the Xiongnu, Jin Gong, has led 5,000 cavalry to escort dozens of surrendered officials from Wuwei across the river. They are only three days away from here."

"Zhang Jun may be among them."

"exist."

"Okay." Liang Fen nodded and said, "I already know about this matter."

The servant bowed and left.

Liang Fen glanced at this person. He was a member of the Nan'an Pang family, and was also selected by him. He was a descendant of Pang De in the Han Dynasty.

Shao Xun has already entered the city.

Liang Fen thought for a moment, called another person over, and asked, "Why hasn't Yao Yizhong come yet?"

"When Yang Nandi heard that the emperor was going on a western tour, he was so frightened that he sent an envoy to surrender. Lord Yao ordered him to go to Xiaoguan to meet the emperor. Nandi agreed at first, but later changed his mind. Lord Yao then sent troops to attack him. Your Majesty also knows about this."

Liang Fen hummed and waved her hand to ask people to leave.

The situation in the west is so fragile that it seems like it will catch fire at the slightest spark.

It is necessary for the emperor to tour the west.

Liang Fen even wanted to persuade him to go to Tianshui and recruit some sons of wealthy families and Hu chieftains, even if it was just to make them his personal soldiers and guards.

It costs little but can soothe people's hearts, so why not do it?

(End of this chapter)