My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 312: Bingzhou Mu Jinxiang Hou

"Zilong has done a great job in eliminating the bandits today, and killing Zhang Yan is the first achievement of this battle."

"I will definitely report to the emperor to report your achievements. With Zilong's achievements, you can even be granted a title of nobility!"

After Lu Yi helped Zhao Yun to stand up, he never mentioned any words of recruiting him. Instead, he was fully aware of the righteousness and prepared to reward him for his contribution.

He was familiar with Zhao Yun's past and understood that if a person like Zhao Yun approached him with the purpose of making friends with him, he would feel disgusted.

For example, when he was in Jingzhou, he conquered Lingling County for Liu Bei, captured Lingling County Prefect Zhao Fan, who was from the same hometown as him, and made friends with him. He even married his widowed sister-in-law to Zhao Yun, but was despised by Zhao Yun.

Therefore, if Lu Yi wanted to subdue Zhao Yun, he could not give him any impression of plotting against him.

Anyway, he has been supporting Zhao's mother for many years, and the favor has already been arranged. It would be better to show an attitude that he just admires Zhao Yun but is not prepared to ask him to serve as an official out of kindness.

Sure enough, Lu Yi's behavior immediately moved Zhao Yun, who was already grateful to Lu Yi, even more.

He quickly took two steps back and bowed deeply to Lu Yi.

"The reason why Zhao Yun killed this official today was definitely not for the imperial reward or the title of marquis, but to repay the Lord's kindness to the Zhao family."

"If you don't abandon me, Zhao Yun is willing to follow you, even if it means his death!"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Years of sowing finally borne fruit today, and Lu Yi could not help but be overjoyed. He immediately pulled Zhao Yun up, patted his back and smiled.

"Today I am not happy about conquering Heishan and killing Zhang Yan, but I am happy about obtaining Zilong!"

"My lord, please accept Zhao Yun's greetings!"

Zhao Yun was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately bowed to Lu Yi for the third time to confirm the relationship between master and servant.

"Haha, brother, you have gained another brave general today. It is really cause for celebration!"

Seeing that his brother's power was growing stronger, Lu Bu couldn't help but step forward to congratulate him happily.

"Zhao Yun, huh? You are quite good at martial arts. You can come to me and learn a few moves in your spare time."

Then, Lu Bu patted Zhao Yun's shoulder with an appreciative look and spoke to him with care.

"Zilong, be careful. Fengxian's martial arts are rare in the world. He is the best general under the lord's command. Yunchang and I are not his match. You must not fall into his trap!"

Zhang Fei also laughed when he saw this and stepped forward and said.

"Fengxian is only slightly better temporarily, why should Yide destroy his own prestige?"

Guan Yu said proudly that he joined Lu Yi's army, and especially after his defeat at the hands of Lu Bu, he realized that there are always people better than you. Now he is practicing the Spring and Autumn swordsmanship even more diligently, hoping to defeat Lu Bu one day.

Later, Gao Shun, Hou Cheng and others also came to congratulate.

They have all seen Zhao Yun's abilities. He was able to suppress Zhang Liao and Zhang He. He is no ordinary general. They are also honored to have such a hero as their associate.

Although Zhao Yun was highly skilled, he was always humble and elegant. He treated the praise from his colleagues with courtesy and never became arrogant because of his achievements.

"Zhang Liao was not good at martial arts and was defeated by Zilong today."

"However, the three of you are the same age, but Zilong should be careful that we two might catch up with or even surpass you in the future!"

Zhang Liao and Zhang He also came over with gloomy faces.

"If this is possible, it will be a blessing for the lord, and Zhao Yun is also looking forward to it!"

However, Zhao Yun's answer made Zhang Liao and Zhang He feel a little better. The anger on their faces faded a little, and their relationship with Zhao Yun also eased a little.

"All right!"

"Don't say congratulations."

"I have already said before that whoever can kill Zhang Yan will be the first to achieve great success in this battle. Although Zilong is new to our army, he deserves a reward for his contribution!"

"I appoint you as the Sima of another army, and you can command a thousand soldiers on your own."

However, Lu Yi waved his hand to stop everyone and announced to Zhao Yun on the spot.

Zhao Yun has just arrived, and if he is promoted rashly, it is likely to make other generals dissatisfied. It is better to take this opportunity to implement the reward.

Now that Lu Yi has more and more generals under his command, arrangements have to be made more carefully.

"Zhao Yun thanks you, my lord!"

Zhao Yun was overjoyed upon seeing this and immediately bowed and accepted the order.

He had just arrived, and Lu Yi had already valued him so much that he couldn't help but realize that a gentleman would die for his friend.

The leaders of the Black Mountain Army were all eliminated by Lu Yi, and even the chief Zhang Yan was killed by the newly surrendered Zhao Yun. As a result, the 100,000-strong army without a leader, as well as the more than 200,000 old and weak people in the Taihang Mountains were easily packed up by Lu Yi and transported back to Yanmen County.

After swallowing this big piece of fat, the population under Lu Yi's command once again surged, approaching 2.5 million, which was great news.

However, although this news is good, it is not the only good news.

After Lu Yi reported the victory of annihilating the Black Mountain Army to the court, he was finally issued a formal appointment letter by the court and obtained the position of Governor of Bingzhou that he had longed for.

From then on, Lu Yi had already taken control of one of the thirteen states in the world.

Not only that, Lu Yi's title of Jiuyuanting Marquis was also promoted due to his merits, and he was conferred the title of Jinxiang Marquis by the court.

"Marquis of Jinxiang?"

"Isn't the Marquis of Jin a title of the Sima clan?"

"I didn't expect this to happen to me. It seems like this is God's will!"

Lu Yi felt helpless when looking at the imperial edict of reward from the court.

However, although Lu Yi was somewhat disgusted with this title because of the rise and fall of the Sima family and the Jin Dynasty, the civil and military officials under Lu Yi were very happy about it.

The State of Jin has a long history and is naturally much stronger than the Jiuyuanting Hou.

And generally speaking, single-word titles are better than double-word titles.

Therefore, the civil and military officials under Lu Yi were naturally happy for Lu Yi.

"Now that our Lord has taken a step further in his title of Duke, and has been granted the title of Governor of Bingzhou, we all congratulate our Lord!"

Tian Feng and others immediately stepped forward to congratulate Lu Yi.

As their lord, Lu Yi's power is growing, and their status as his subjects will naturally rise as well.

"This is all due to your efforts, not just my own!"

Lu Yi came back to his senses after hearing this, waved his hand and smiled. "Now that you have become the governor of Bingzhou, I'm afraid the burden on your shoulders will be even heavier."

"I am willing to serve my lord!"

Chen Gong and others also answered one after another.

After Lu Yi became the governor of Bingzhou, he immediately took over the military and political power of the entire Bingzhou.

The Bingzhou Mu and the Bingzhou Governor, who only had prosecutorial power and could report to the court, were completely different things.

Lu Yi had all the military and political power in Bingzhou.

Apart from nominally obeying the court's orders, Lu Yi made all other arrangements on his own, even taxes could be withheld for his own use.

Bingzhou governs nine counties and more than ninety towns.

They are Shangdang County, Taiyuan County, Shang County, Xihe County, Yanmen County, Wuyuan County, Yunzhong County, Dingxiang County, and Shuofang County.

The original seat of government was Shangdang, but since Lu Yi became the governor of Bingzhou, he naturally moved the seat of government to Yanmen County, Pingcheng.

Lu Yi's territory suddenly expanded to eight counties, but the population did not increase much.

Now he did not have the energy to make an enemy of the entire aristocratic family, so he did not touch the population hidden by the aristocratic family, but only counted the official free people.

However, Bingzhou was originally a sparsely populated place, and with the addition of foreign invasions, the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans, and the natural disaster of locusts during the Little Ice Age, the entire Bingzhou, including the more than two million households hidden by Lu Yi himself, had a population of less than three million.

The population of the other eight counties was not even a fraction of the population of Luyitun.

However, as long as there are good policies and financial support, coupled with a stable internal environment, there is no need to worry about the population once you have the territory.

Lu Yi immediately separated most of the settlers who were originally gathered in Yanmen County and Jiuyuan County and scattered them throughout Bingzhou, in order to strengthen his control over Bingzhou while easing the population of Yanmen County.

Although Yanmen County can feed these settlers, the farmland is still limited. Therefore, leaving the vast wasteland and unowned land in the other eight counties uncultivated and crowding them all into Yanmen will only lead to ineffective internal circulation. Even if Lu Yi can feed them, there is no way the population can be increased through natural growth.

It is now over two million, and it will still be over two million in ten years, and it won't increase much.

And if they were scattered throughout the other eight vast counties, even if Lu Yi no longer accepted refugees and stopped plundering the population, they could increase rapidly through natural growth, and there would be no problem doubling the population in ten years.

After all, in this era, there is no need for birth control, and people are very positive about having children.

The lack of entertainment activities is a big reason that people can only have children at night, but raising children to provide for their old age and pass on the family line is an even bigger main reason.

In this era, a couple has no conditions but to have at least three to five children. Due to multiple factors such as the strong demand for labor in manual agriculture and the dreaded infant mortality rate of this era, if they do not have so many children, the family will weaken and may even become extinct.

The number of households in the north is originally larger than that in the south, so they have more children, at least five to seven.

Now that we have Lu Yi's support and protection, we can have children when conditions allow.

In addition, these settlers were not Lu Yi's slaves. Lu Yi had promised them that as long as they worked diligently and fulfilled their duties of paying taxes and labor service, which were not too demanding, he would grant them the status of free men in two or three years at the earliest, or at most ten years. He would also reward them with the land they cultivated, the houses they lived in, as well as their oxen and farm tools.

After becoming free people, their burden was even lighter.

Having ample time, Lu Yi did not fall into the same predicament as other princes who were forced to engage in war and aggression. Instead, he adopted a policy of streamlining the military and government and keeping the wealth for the people.

For him now, development comes first. After all, it is not yet time to start the full-scale annexation of the princes.

Therefore, these settlers and free people no longer had any worries under Lu Yi's rule, and they would naturally choose to have many offspring, pass on the incense and expand their family heritage.

These are also some of the things that Lu Yi can do within his ability for his compatriots of this era.

After the population is resettled.

Lu Yi also appointed his civil and military officials to key positions in the prefectures and counties.

Among the nine counties in Bingzhou, seven were occupied by Lu Yi as his own civil and military officials, and the remaining two lucky survivors also fully demonstrated their loyalty to Lu Yi.

Lu Yi now possesses absolute military and political power, and the appointment and dismissal of county-level officials under his jurisdiction is just a matter of his words.

This is the terrible thing about the provincial governor system.

Liu Hong believed Liu Yan's slander and handed over the power symbolizing the central government of the court to the governors at the state level.

However, there is a lack of effective supervision and countermeasures, which has led to the governor becoming the local emperor of a state, the king among kings.

What's worse, the instigator, Yizhou Mu Liu Yan, has ordered his general Zhang Lu to occupy Hanzhong, pretending to be a rebel and cutting off ties with the court. If the court wants to regain control of Yizhou, the first step is to defeat Zhang Lu by force, conquer Hanzhong, and resume correspondence with Xichuan.

But now the imperial court is deeply troubled by the Qiang Rebellion, and all its military forces are invested in the battlefield in Xiliang. How can it have the ability and energy to take care of the distant Xichuan?

If Lu Yi was not planning to take a part in the future struggle between foreign relatives and eunuchs, he could actually recruit the captives of the Black Mountain Army or simply send his own generals to reoccupy the Taihang Mountains, cutting off the connection between Bingzhou and the court, and still be a local emperor behind closed doors.

Now, due to the stimulation of internal and external troubles, Liu Hong's physical problems caused by years of indulgence in alcohol, sex and excessive desire have finally been gradually exposed.

He is only the same age as Lu Yi now, but his body functions have been rapidly declining and he is often sick. It is obvious that he will not live a long life.

Once he died, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others would lose their protection and would inevitably be oppressed by He Jin, who represented the aristocratic family and was also a relative of the emperor.

The pie is only so big, and the Game of Thrones has always been a zero-sum game.

As soon as Liu Hong died, the power struggle between the Ten Attendants and He Jin would become extremely fierce.

Even if both sides are unwilling to go to war, the aristocratic families who have been fanning the flames beside He Jin, represented by Yuan Shao of the Runan Yuan family, will not let them get their wish.

Since the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of aristocratic families has grown increasingly stronger.

The existence of the imperial court and the powerful emperor itself became an obstacle that prevented them from continuing to grow stronger.

As a result, none of the emperors in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty lived long.

Liu Hong, who died a few years later at the age of just over 30, was actually considered the oldest among these emperors.

Moreover, Lu Yi's adoptive father Liu Zhi and his successor Liu Hong have begun to transform the secret struggle between imperial power and the aristocratic families into an open conflict.

The Party and Faction Persecution was the most obvious and symbolic event among them.

If the aristocratic families want to continue to grow stronger, they must continue to annex land, hide their population and evade taxes.

Whether the emperor wanted to achieve something or collect money for his own enjoyment, he needed to do the opposite, track down the hidden population, check the land, and increase taxation.

Therefore, the conflict between the two sides is irreconcilable and will be extremely tragic.

It was so tragic that within just three days, General He Jin and the Ten Eunuchs who held power died together.

It was so serious that even the emperor was implicated, and was deposed and poisoned to death by Dong Zhuo.

Once a power vacuum appears, it will soon be occupied by other forces.

Naturally, Lu Yi would not miss such a key opportunity to quickly expand his political influence and follow the example of Liu Yan, who only wanted to be a local emperor behind closed doors.

(End of this chapter)