Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 583 Pingyang Miscellaneous
In Pingyang County, frost dyes all the grass.

Zhuge Liang toured the suburbs by ox cart, where construction of a fortress had begun before he took office.

Since the Qin and Han dynasties, there has never been such great social turmoil as today.

Therefore, the location and layout of the previous villages and communities were not so reasonable.

Since he took office, he has gathered the population and given priority to the development of flat land that is conducive to irrigation; space for subsequent development has been left in remote areas, which are now used as grazing land or for planting trees.

In addition to the traditional mulberry trees, Zhuge Liang began to encourage officials and people to plant chestnut trees and jujube trees since the beginning of the year.

Dates and chestnuts can really save lives during years of famine.

As usual, Zhuge Liang inspected three fortresses in the eastern suburbs that day, each of which had accommodated ten newly relocated rebels from Youzhou.

These rebels were divided into groups of ten households and sent to various fortresses to serve as basic labor and to monitor and manage each other.

With a scale of ten households, they can barely protect themselves in a fortress where the number of households is generally limited to fifty or sixty, and avoid being bullied to death by the locals.

An ordinary fortress can accommodate a population of sixty households. If the surrounding terrain is open and there are fertile fields to be cultivated, and more people are needed, a larger fortress can be built, or two fortresses can be built side by side.

The purpose of building fortresses was to strengthen the original defense of the village, to reduce defense expenses, and to increase the cost of roaming small groups of bandits, so that they could not make a living. Over time, these groups that had been half-bandits and half-civilians for generations could settle down.

For such a group that has existed for many years, it is difficult to eradicate it using normal anti-bandit methods.

The fundamental purpose of a fortress is to protect the people, and productivity cannot be restricted simply for the purpose of building a fortress.

For example, if some rural communities are united internally, they can work together to build a big family fortress, which can save materials and work time.

However, some villages and communities also had internal conflicts, so three or four, or five or six small forts were built side by side to form a community group. This construction method made it convenient to set up stalls and manage in the gaps between the forts, which was beneficial to market and trade.

All the villages and communities in the suburbs and remote suburbs of Pingyang City were rebuilt in this way.

The rebuilt township was only lacking an earthen wall that would surround several small fortresses. If there was such an earthen wall, it would have become a township.

There are various ancient cities and towns within Pingyang County. These places are not lacking in protection, so they are not within the scope of the renovation.

During his long tenure, Zhuge Liang barely completed the reconstruction of the grassroots fortresses in the territory, and also promoted the cultivation of mulberry, hemp, jujube and chestnut.

It feels like it will take another two years for Pingyang County’s accumulated production potential to explode.

He inspected as usual...There are many problems that cannot be discovered through his inspections. Only if he inspects diligently can these problems be prevented from happening.

"County Master, the shogunate's envoy has arrived in the city!"

Outside a fortress, Zhuge Liang was checking the winter watering of newly transplanted saplings when he heard the sound of a galloping horse approaching in the distance.

The people around showed joy on their faces and bowed to Zhuge Liang to congratulate him.

Zhuge Liang frowned, but smiled and waved his hand: "I'm afraid you are all mistaken. I haven't made any achievements since I took office in Pingyang, and I haven't been evaluated for my performance this year. How can this be a good thing?"

Now some people looked worried again, and Zhuge Liang adjusted his appearance and went to see the county envoy and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know. Two shogunate envoys came from the north to see the county lord."

As the messenger spoke, he took out a wooden tablet, which was written by the county magistrate. Zhuge Liang picked it up and read it.

This county magistrate was born in Guanzhong and was one of the military officers who pacified the Huns. However, he was in his early forties, so he took office in Pingyang a few months earlier than Zhuge Liang.

The county magistrate has already asked the county lieutenant to go out of the city to hunt game, and hopes that Zhuge Liang can return immediately so as not to delay the trip of the shogunate envoy.

A county official beside Zhuge Liang said, "Your Excellency, please do not delay. Normally, the county should convey the order on behalf of the shogunate. Today, the shogunate's envoy has come in person. Either it is inappropriate for the county to intervene, or it is an urgent matter."

"That makes sense. Get the carriage ready."

Zhuge Liang immediately set out and arrived at the county town after traveling more than 20 miles. After changing his clothes, he went to the guesthouse to meet two shogunate envoys. Although they were called two envoys, in fact, there was only one envoy and the other was a guard.

But for a county-level unit like Pingyang, these guards are also the guards of the Grand Marshal, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are envoys when they go out on business.

Therefore, if it is not necessary, Black Bear will not send his personal soldiers on business trips.

The ability of grassroots corruption is too strong, and the personal soldiers who are trained with great difficulty can easily have mental problems under the active or passive service of the grassroots.

Inside the residence, the envoy was compiling a bundle of bamboo slips. Upon hearing that Zhuge Liang wanted to visit him, he took the order and went to the front hall to meet him.

After the two men exchanged greetings, the messenger showed his badge and introduced himself: "My surname is Chen, and I was given the name Yiyuan by the emperor. I was originally a sergeant of the imperial army, and now I am promoted to an officer of the Black Flag Team and am going to Guanzhong. I am entrusted by the emperor to deliver a letter to Zhuge County Lord."

As soon as Zhuge Liang heard this, he knew that the other party was the personal soldier who was granted a title in the second year. Now the shogunate had four batches of personal soldiers, one batch for each year.

The first batch of characters bestowed was the character "Yuan", which symbolizes the beginning of all things. The second year was the character "Yi", the third year was the character "An", and this year was the character "Ping".

Many of the guards selected into the personal guards generally had humble origins, so the initial names they registered when they joined the army were not nice, so they would be renamed when they joined the army; when they were selected into the personal guards, they would be renamed according to the characters of that year.

"It turned out to be Captain Chen."

Zhuge Liang clasped his hands. He didn't want to show any negative emotions. Even though Chen Yiyuan was an orphan, he was now a member of a large group.

He is now an officer of the Black Flag Team, which is the rank of lieutenant. Compared with many scholars in Chang'an City who are just trying to get by, Chen Yiyuan is just trying to get by with his seniority now, and in the future he will also be a lieutenant of two thousand stones.

I am not afraid of these military officers from poor and humble backgrounds fighting to the death, but I am afraid of them just relying on their seniority to gain experience.

Whether now or in the future, the personal guard system enjoys a unique naming treatment, and its cohesion far exceeds that of other places. It cannot be bullied or neglected by other places.

Chen Yiyuan pushed the bamboo slips sealed with mud to Zhuge Liang and said, "After you read them, please burn them."

"Yes."

Zhuge Liang took out the small knife he carried with him, cut open the mud seal, and took out the two wooden tablets inside.

He thought there would be words written on the wooden slip, but it turned out to be a folded piece of white paper. He pulled the two pieces of wood and unfolded them, revealing twelve or thirteen sides of folded paper.

He folded the wooden slip and folded the paper again, then sat down beside it and read it carefully with his head down.

This is Black Bear's handwritten letter, but Zhuge Liang felt that it should have been written by Taishi Wengong. Apart from Taishi Wengong, no one could write such neat golden book.

I really want to keep this golden book as a collection, but I also know that the handwriting evidence cannot be kept.

In the letter, Black Bear praised his achievements in Pingyang and indicated the next direction of his appointment, whether to stay in Pingyang County, which would be upgraded in the future, or to go to Dai County to be a captain.

The three counties of Dai, Yanmen and Shanggu are closely adjacent to each other and have various commanderies.

Going to a border county to serve as a commander, no matter if it is a commander for fortification, governing the people, or cultivating crops, is too one-sided; he can stay in Pingyang County, and after Hedong and Taiyuan counties are separated and Pingyang County is established, the county seat will inevitably be in Pingyang County.

With a county government looming over his head, Zhuge Liang had a very difficult life.

Except for the county governor who was from outside, all other county officials were recruited from the county, numbering only about 20 to 30 people. If you count a dozen guards and clerks, the county government would have no more than 50 people.

Zhuge Liang thought for a moment and asked, "May I ask Captain Chen, should I write back to the Grand Marshal, or should I trouble you to do it for me?"

"Just give me the letter and seal it with lacquer. I will go back to Guanzhong to report to Ganquan. The county lord's reply will be given to Sima Zhang, who will deliver it to the lord."

Chen Yiyuan patiently explained, and reminded: "If County Lord Zhuge has no doubts, please burn this book."

"Yes."

Zhuge Liang had no choice but to tear the letter paper off the two pieces of wood and put it into the brazier beside the hall.

(End of this chapter)