Chapter 1130 Enlightenment

Chapter 1130 Enlightenment

Chapter 1130 Enlightenment
The main post road from Chang'an to the west is actually the road leading to Liangzhou. It has been like this since the Han Dynasty. It is divided into two roads, north and south. The north road goes directly to Liangzhou, and the south road goes around Qinzhou and then goes north to Liangzhou.

King Qin Shao Jin inspected the west and took the southern road.

On the 20th, the vanguard of the westward-bound army had entered Fufeng, while Shao Jin was resting in Wugong County.

"I heard that there was a drought in Yuzhou this spring. Unexpectedly, there was also a drought in Yongzhou. Is it serious?" Shao Jin asked in the pavilion, looking at the people who were harvesting crops.

"People carry water everywhere, and we can barely make ends meet." Jin Guan replied: "Fortunately there is no war this year, otherwise there would be a great harvest failure."

"You are not only good at fighting, but you also care about the people's sentiments. That's great." Shao Jin asked, "Do you have a courtesy name?"

"The word is 'Shou Zhang'."

"Who took it?"

"Zhen Gong, the Chief Secretary."

"Is Lord Zhen from Jizhou?"

"That's right." Jin Guan replied, "My father was hired by the emperor when he was fighting against Liu Yao in Hebei. He was from the Wuji Zhen family."

"That was many years ago." Shao Jin calculated silently in his mind. It has been more than ten years since then.

This Zhen Changshi seems to be Jin Zheng's top aide and is deeply trusted by him. He even gave his son's courtesy name.

"Can you read while obeying the rules?" Shao Jin waved his hand to call over the servant Yu Zun, and after giving him some instructions, he asked.

Yu Zun took the two of them to fetch water from a nearby river to make tea.

"I haven't read much." Jin Guan glanced at the King of Qin and thought to himself, "I am a cavalry official in the shogunate, not a recorder. Why do you ask me this?" He remembered that when the emperor summoned him to answer questions, he asked him how many times he could shoot flying birds while riding a horse. These father and son are really different.

Shao Jin didn't know what Jin Guan was thinking, and said to himself: "I have some books that can be given to Shou Zhang. Reading them in your spare time can cultivate your character and help you distinguish right from wrong."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Jin Guan bowed and said.

The teapot was bubbling.

Yu Zun fiddled with the entire set of tea sets at a dazzling speed. It was busy but not chaotic, and full of rhythmic beauty.

The manner of a scholar! Jin Guan silently withdrew his gaze.

His mother, Li, came from a poor family in Xiangcheng. She could barely afford food when she married Jin Zheng. However, she was able to read and write, so she was favored by Jin Zheng. Of course, this was also related to the generally mediocre status of the student soldiers at that time.

Jin Guan’s wife, Ms. Wu, was from Chenliu. She had been glorious during the Han Dynasty, but now she is not even a member of the gentry. She has fallen into great decline, with only some remnant family influence left.

Both father and son generations either married women from poor families or married local tycoons, which seemed to be a way to help alleviate poverty.

Jin Guan was well versed in literature and had a passing knowledge of Yi, Li, and Yue, but he really did not like reading. On the contrary, he liked to wield swords and sticks.

In the past, Shao Xun asked him how good he was at shooting flying birds on horseback. Jin Guan demonstrated it on the spot, hitting the target five times out of ten, stunning everyone.

Now he is a cavalry officer of the shogunate. He went to battle for the first time at the age of fifteen. He was called "Flying Bear" and led 2,000 cavalrymen to charge into battle. He was the vanguard in suppressing the rebellion in Guanzhong.

After Shao Jin learned about Jin Guan's past, he secretly felt that it was a pity for this man as he had more martial arts than literary talent.

He knew that Jin Guan was not Jin Zheng's eldest son, and in fact he had an older brother named Jin Lian.

According to Yuan Dan, Jin Lian entered official service for the first time last year when he was 20 years old and was appointed as the recorder of the Left Jinwu Guard (eighth rank), which was considered a civil military officer.

The person Shao Jin was most familiar with was Jin Zhu, the third son of the Jin family, who was one year older than him. He had met him several times when they were studying literature and practicing martial arts together, but they were not close friends.

Jin Zheng has five sons and six daughters in total. Two sons are married and three daughters are married. The families of the marriages are all ordinary.

This is a typical nouveau riche family. Due to their lack of foundation and "inappropriate marriage", if the second generation of the Jin family can still hold a high position, even if it does not reach the level of dictatorship like Jin Zheng, as long as they have two thousand stones, preferably a governor, by the third generation, the Liang County Jin family will be sought after.

The tea was soon ready.

Shao Jin signaled with his eyes, and Yu Zun personally poured a bowl of tea and brought it to Jin Guan, saying, "General, please sit down and drink some tea."

Jin Guan thanked him, sat down on the stool with confidence, picked up the tea, took a sip, and put it down again.

He knew Yu Zun.

The Yu family was an inconspicuous aristocratic family in Fengyi County. Jin Guan even doubted whether this family still existed in the county's genealogy, and perhaps it had already been removed from the list.

In the past, when Xu suppressed the Quanqu rebellion, the Yu family fortress was besieged by the Qiang people for more than twenty days until the Shogun's governor Hu Song (formerly a general under Sima Bao, a surrendered official of Liu Han, and a ancestor of the Anding Hu family) and the cavalry official Jin Guan led the Huangshi Xiongnu soldiers and the Anding Lushui Hu to come to the rescue.

Jin Guan still had a psychological advantage over the Yu clan's children, because he had really seen how miserable they were - when the rescue army arrived, the Yu clan's children cried with joy and collapsed to the ground. They had no manners at all at that time.

"When we were in Acheng earlier, Governor Jin mentioned that there was unrest among the Hu people in Huangshi. Aren't they always loyal and brave?" Shao Jin asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Official soldiers and bandit soldiers are just a matter of thought." Jin Guan was silent for a while, and then said, "In the past, when we besieged Chang'an and eliminated Quan Qu, he was also very loyal and brave. After his son died in Huainan, he directly rebelled."

"Eliminate Yi Yu? Just because of this?" Shao Jin asked.

"It was just an inducement." Jin Guan said, "The fundamental reason was that the court appointed You Ziyuan as the governor of Fengyi, which made Quan Qu very dissatisfied. He thought he had contributed to the attack on Chang'an, but got nothing. Later, he also sent troops to quell the rebellions of the Four-horned King Boquda and the Northern Qiang King Penquchu, but the court did not trust him and instead placed palace soldiers in Fengyi to monitor him, so he started a rebellion."

"Huangshi Xiongnu leader Lu Songduo was once expelled by Tuge Xiongnu and fled to Qinzhou." Jin Guan added: "After the fall of Liu Han, the court invited this man back to guard the area. Huangshi Xiongnu fought hard in several battles, but heard that Lu Songduo was dying and his sons were fighting for the throne, so there might be chaos." "Anding Lushui Hu was conscripted to fight many times and believed that he had made outstanding contributions. But my father felt that Lushui Hu was too powerful and wanted to suppress it, so Peng Tianhu was dissatisfied and complained in public. Hearing that Lushui Hu men were going to be conscripted to attack Hanzhong, Peng Tianhu threatened to disobey military orders."

"It's really a mess..." After hearing this, Shao Jin also felt that the situation in Kansai was complicated and a mess.

The key point is that these Hu chieftains are really unreliable. They start rebellions when their minds are hot, without caring about the consequences at all.

Originally, Yang Dan was guarding Yinmi and could exercise some checks and balances on these people. Now, Yang Dan has taken away three thousand elite soldiers. These Hu chieftains are not very smart and may think that the court can no longer control them.

"My father once said that the only people in Guanxi who can be truly trusted are the hereditary soldiers of Chang'an and the soldiers of the Zuochang Guard." Jin Guan said meaningfully: "The rest of the Hu chieftains and even the aristocratic families are not to be trusted."

Shao Jin smiled and felt that it was too much.

"I heard that the military discipline of Chang'an's hereditary soldiers is very bad. They often plunder the local area. When they kill people, the pits and valleys are full of corpses. There is also an event called "Jingguan" to display human heads..." Qin Wang Wenshu Guo De suddenly said.

"Slander." Jin Guan sneered, "Besides, the life of hereditary soldiers is very hard. If we don't give them benefits, who will fight for them? My father always said that Your Majesty should give money and goods to the soldiers and ask about their well-being during festivals. If the wives and children of the hereditary soldiers in Chang'an can't have enough food and clothing, and if the wounded and the dead don't have compensation, how can they have the heart to fight? It's so pedantic!"

Guo De choked.

He was not deliberately trying to embarrass the Jin family, but there were complaints from scholars in Guanxi that he knew. He was a straightforward person, well-read, and he longed for the atmosphere of a royal teacher who would not offend anyone, so he could not help but ask.

Shao Jin stopped Guo De and said, "The land of Yongqin must be guarded by hereditary soldiers, so it is right to be lenient with them."

"Your Highness's words have touched the hearts of warriors." Jin Guan said with a smile: "Huangshi Xiongnu, Lushui Hu, Anding Diqiang are not far from your Highness's fiefdom, you can reach them as soon as you get out of the mountains."

Guo De's face changed, and then he became angry.

What a bunch of warriors!
Shao Jin also felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't show it. At the same time, he secretly wondered if all warriors in the world were like this. Maybe he should go out and see more.

However, he still had a very good impression of Jin Zheng, because he said that he "carried the hopes of the world", and he even sent his own 500 personal soldiers to protect him.

Having had a lot of contact with the gentry in the past, he developed many habits, so it might be normal for him to feel uncomfortable when he suddenly comes into contact with a group of warriors.

My father said that military men and the gentry can check and balance each other, and this principle should be correct.

If the focus is on military men, there will be unscrupulous people like Zhang Fang.

The Sima and Jin dynasties, Wei and Yin dynasties set an example of making use of scholars.

You still need to experience more! There are many things that you can't understand, but maybe after more experience, you will understand them naturally.

After drinking tea, everyone continued on their way.

Shao Jin changed out of the prince's brocade robe, put on a hunting suit, slung a bow and sword around his waist, and mounted his horse.

At this time, the way Jin Guan and others looked at him changed.

******
On the 22nd, the army arrived at Mei County, the capital of Fufeng, and the prefect Jin Zhaohui went out of the city to welcome them.

Shao Jin stayed here for two days. While inspecting the residence and armory, he also talked about Fufeng's local conditions and this year's autumn harvest.

The quality of the autumn harvest is directly related to the income of the fief.

The regulations for fiefs in this dynasty were based on the number of households, not the amount of taxes. If there was a severe crop failure, taxes would generally be reduced or exempted, which was directly handled by the local government, and the income from the fief would also decrease.

There is indeed some drought this year, and the harvest will definitely be poor, but it will not reach the level of tax reduction or exemption. Fortunately, Fufeng is too "backward" and is still growing millet, a relatively drought-resistant crop. Otherwise, the situation might be even worse.

Four days later, the army arrived at Caobi Town, and the town commander Jin Ming led officials including the chief secretary to greet them at the bank of Wei River.

This is the place occupied by Yao Yi Zhong after he went east in the late Jin Dynasty. It has abundant water and grass, and is suitable for grazing and farming. It is now under the jurisdiction of the Jin family.

Shao Jin stayed for two days as usual to inspect the mansion and armory - there was no need to worry about this, Caobi Town had its own granary and armory, would they cheat and harm themselves?

Jin Ming reported the evil deeds of the Di and Qiang in Lueyang to Shao Jin, saying that they had repeatedly crossed the border to rob and commit various illegal acts, which surprised Shao Jin very much when he heard about it for the first time.

However, Jin Guan told him privately that this was the norm in Guanxi. It was not obvious in the east, but it became more common as one went west. The people there were tough and wild, and "none of them were good people."

Shao Jin burst out laughing.

During this tour to the west, he saw many new things, which had a profound impact on him.

How can you possibly understand what is happening in the world if you sit in Luoyang all day? You can't trust what others say, you have to see it with your own eyes.

At the same time, I also had a vague feeling: Daliang is too big and the situation is too complicated. We must adapt to local conditions and must not act recklessly.

A law suitable for Kanto may well cause rebellion in Kansai.

Methods that are suitable for Kansai may be too rough and easy to let go after being moved to Kanto.

Governing the world is really not easy.

In mid-September, the army arrived at Nan'an County, and the prefect Yao Yi Zhong welcomed them at his old residence in Chiting.

(End of this chapter)