Chinese New Year

Chapter 1500: The Aftermath (Part 2)

When a person feels that time is passing quickly, he is probably doing nothing.

A whole summer had passed, and even the autumn harvest was over; the winter wheat in the fields had been sown, and Shao Xun finally realized that another year was about to pass.

In the Songshan Mountains within Xingyang, Shao Xun sat on a high platform, overlooking hundreds of military flags in the mountains and forests.

That was his army, the cornerstone of the nation he built, and the political force he devoted himself to cultivating.

This year, he went down to ride a horse and jog around, receiving cheers from the soldiers. Afterwards, he came to this high platform and watched the soldiers who were about to be disbanded and return home conduct their last military drills.

Shao Xun sat comfortably on a folding chair, with steaming hot tea and even a few fruits and snacks in front of him. It was more like an outing than a military training session.

An envoy from the Kingdom of Dayuan arrived in Bianliang a few days ago to attend the New Year's Day court assembly in the fifth year of the Longhua era. His arrival three months in advance demonstrates the importance he attaches to the event, not to mention the fifty fine horses he presented as a gift.

Seeing Ma Xinxi, Shao Xun immediately jumped on top of him, and the two of them wrestled for a long time before finally giving up.

The guards were terrified and eventually pulled all the horses away to avoid causing any further trouble.

After this incident, Shao Xun stopped insisting.

He gave up on proving that he was still strong and healthy; there was no need.

His era will eventually come to an end, that's all.

As the soldiers in the mountains advanced in a wall formation, forcing out some of the prey that had been released, the Imperial Censor Feng Bi had already delivered the edict drafted by the Council of State Affairs.

Shao Xun casually flipped through the pages, while Feng Bi waited patiently.

After a long time, just when Feng Pi thought the emperor was asleep, Shao Xun's voice came. He said, "Five thousand soldiers are too few, ten thousand is more appropriate. Let the two prefectures of Jiaozhou and Guangzhou handle this together."

"Your subject obeys the decree," Feng Bi replied.

"The coast of Linyi is winding. Let's choose a good spot to build a sea port." Shao Xun then instructed, "Build a city next to the sea port. It doesn't need to be large, but it must be strong. It should be garrisoned with at least three thousand soldiers and be able to maintain contact with the sea port so that communication is not cut off. From now on, the sea port will be used for trade, and the city will be used to deter bandits. That's all. Draft a new edict."

He accepted the order and left.

After conquering the Lin-yi Kingdom, the main army returned one after another, but Sun He still led more than 15,000 soldiers from the three prefectures of Jing, Guang, and Jiao to stay behind.

He was adept at handling the aftermath of battles, understanding that even if he won, failing to properly address the post-war issues would diminish his gains by half. Therefore, his primary task was to win over the local leaders of Linyi, offering them official positions and promises of reward, and to appease them, in order to further eliminate the ability of Fan Wen's son, Fan Fu, to stage a comeback.

This was no easy task; it took several months and the results were rather mediocre.

During this period, the attitude of the government was intriguing. It seemed that they tacitly approved the decision of the newly appointed Lin Yi Pacification Ambassador Sun He: to divide and rule the powerful clans of Lin Yi, grant them official titles and ranks, and leave some troops to guard the area for a period of time to help stabilize the situation.

Crown Prince Shao Jin, who had already stepped down as the commander-in-chief of the Jiaozhi campaign, repeatedly submitted memorials, saying that Linyi had just been acquired and should not be abandoned lightly, and requested that several thousand soldiers be stationed there as a means of pacification.

With things having come to this point, the plan for handling the aftermath of the Lin-yi Kingdom was decided. Everyone from top to bottom was trying to save face for Shao Xun—even if they couldn't station a permanent presence, they had to hold out for now and deal with whatever happened later.

The matter in the south was thus put to rest, and the territory of Jiaozhou expanded considerably, although it seemed that there was not much farmland—one of the main reasons for the Lin-yi Kingdom's northern expedition was that Lin-yi had little farmland.

******
Another major event in October was the completion of the repairs to the Bo Gate Road leading to Ningzhou.

From then on, the Central Plains dynasty once again had the possibility of mobilizing more than 50,000 troops to enter the heart of Ningzhou.

Shao Xun invited Sima Zuhuan, the Commandant of the Chu Prince's Palace, who had come to report, into the Lichun Terrace and questioned him carefully.

"So, my son intends to establish the capital in Guangtan?" Shao Xun asked.

“Indeed,” Zu Huan replied. “I further request Your Majesty’s permission to mobilize the manpower and resources of the seven prefectures to construct the capital and palace.”

Without hesitation, Shao Xun said directly, "The Bo Gate Road has been repaired, so what's one more city? Approved. You can build your homes at the same time. If anyone tries to shirk responsibility, we can send a proclamation to Yining and Ningzhou and dispatch a large army to suppress them."

Zu Huan's face lit up with joy, and he said, "Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty."

Shao Xun shook his head and said, “It will not be easy for you to come with my son to the former territory of Yelang. There are many ethnic groups in the southwest, and the people’s customs are complicated. The court is unable to spare any resources for the time being, so it has sent a vassal king to govern it. I expect that for the next few decades or even a hundred years, the court will not make great efforts to develop that area. Everything will depend on yourselves.”

Zu Huan put away his smile and said solemnly, "My family will certainly assist the King of Chu and defend the borders for generations."

"How magnificent!" Shao Xun exclaimed. "Before you depart, you may collect ten thousand bolts of silk of various colors from the Prefect. Upon arriving in Yizhou, you may take ten thousand bolts of silk and ten thousand bolts of fine yellow cloth and give them to my son, instructing him to use them properly. Ideally, if anything is lacking, we can buy it locally in Shu."

“I understand,” Zu Huan replied.

"I heard that last year some tribes, unable to bear the forced labor, rebelled in anger?" Shao Xun asked.

“It was the Luo clan, chieftains of Yelang County, who gathered three thousand men and rebelled from a strategic location,” Zu Huan said. “The King of Chu personally led his army to attack the mountain stronghold. Later, he received reinforcements of six thousand men from the Banshun and Baihu tribes. He persuaded the Lin and Huang clans, the chieftains of the rebels, to surrender and turn against them, thus inflicting a great defeat on the rebel army.”

"This was a clever move," Shao Xun laughed. "But it's not necessarily a bad thing. Places like Zangke have very few roads, and once they take up a stronghold, they're not easy to attack. Persuading a portion of the bandits to surrender is already the best approach; even I would have done the same. How did the Luo family handle it?"

"Exterminate their three clans." Zu Huan spoke these bloody words in a calm tone: "The people under his jurisdiction, registered as commoners, were relocated to the vicinity of Yelang County, totaling more than 1,700 households." "That's right." Shao Xun said: "Next, we will build the capital, estates, and open roads. There may be rebellions, so we cannot be careless."

“Your Majesty, please rest assured,” Zu Huan said. “We are not ignorant of military affairs, and we will certainly not let the traitors succeed.”

Shao Xun nodded slightly and said, "In that case, I am relieved."

Having said that, he waved his hand, signaling Zu Huan to step down.

After Zu Huan left, Shao Xun strolled over to the map.

Zangke Commandery encompassed almost half of Guizhou, covering a vast area. However, it was an extremely fragmented region, with various mountains, dense forests, and rivers, leaving very little contiguous land. The considerable population was scattered across various small plains, mountain basins, river valleys, and even slopes. Precisely because of this fragmented terrain, they were never able to unite, each living their own lives while nominally accepting the rule of the Central Plains court.

As long as Badger didn't anger the vast majority of tribes in Zangke County at the same time, he could still coexist peacefully with the tribal leaders. Or to put it another way, Badger was the largest chieftain in Zangke County, where hereditary chieftains were everywhere, and he was ranked above the other chieftains, forming an unusual lord-vassal relationship.

We've done most of what we can. Now we just need to help him clean up the mess for another two years, and then he should be able to retire.

If Xunniang knew this in the afterlife, she probably wouldn't blame him, right?

Thinking of this, Shao Xun sighed. Xun Niang did not know before she left that her most beloved child had been enfeoffed in Zangke.

That's good, that's good too.

******
Amidst the continuous autumn rain, a caged cart came to a difficult stop on the western outskirts of the city.

The soldiers from Sangcheng looked at the huge city nestled in the rain with curiosity and slight surprise.

One of the soldiers with white hair murmured, "This city didn't exist when we marched south to Chenliu. It shouldn't be like this."

The young martial artists burst into laughter, saying, "The Subu family has become emotional."

The old soldier turned his head and cursed them a few times in slang, then shook his head and laughed, saying, "When the King of Han was alive, we roamed freely in Henan. How carefree we were! You are too young to understand."

Everyone laughed even harder.

Hearing the noise, the person in the cage slightly raised their head, revealing a pair of cloudy eyes through their messy hair, listlessly surveying everything around them.

Bianliang? Isn't that Shao's eastern capital? So we've arrived here.

He looked at the soldiers escorting him; there were Han Chinese, Qiang people, but the majority were Xiongnu.

Sangcheng Town was a place where everyone was conscripted; anyone under sixty years old was subject to conscription. That old man was probably a veteran from Liu Yuan's era; it's truly remarkable that he's still alive today.

He probably still had some affection for the Liu Han dynasty, after all, it embodied his youthful dreams of achieving great deeds. But those in their twenties and thirties might not feel the same way. Even if some of them had served in the army during the later years of Liu Cong and Liu Can, they probably didn't think there was anything about the Liu Han dynasty that was worth remembering or being proud of.

In another ten or twenty years, the last trace of Liu Han's existence will also disappear.

Generation after generation, each generation has different ideas. Shao, is this your purpose?

The prisoner tilted his head back, letting the rain wash over his high nose and deep-set eyes.

One eye is already blind, wounded by an arrow from the Tuyuhun Xianbei.

There was a shallow scar on his forehead, which had already scabbed over; it was inflicted by a Qifu Xianbei knight.

As for the countless crisscrossing wounds on his body, it is already a miracle that he was able to come here alive.

A commotion was heard ahead.

A moment later, a procession of carriages and horses arrived, led by a man dressed in a green robe who appeared to be an official from Kaifeng County.

After negotiating with the officer in charge of the Sangcheng garrison, he waved his hand, signaling the prison cart to take the prisoners and escort them to Bianliang. He then met with the Sangcheng military academy at a roadside pavilion to complete the handover procedures.

The old Xiongnu soldier who had been crowding the perimeter couldn't see very clearly. By the end, he only saw the two characters "Shi Hu" on the official handover document. Those were the only two characters he knew, and he had learned them from someone else before setting off.

He had no good feelings towards Shi Le and his nephew Shi Hu.

If they had been able to work together with one heart back then, would they have suffered such a swift defeat? That was the General of Andong, who was sent out to take over Hebei.

The Han dynasty, which controlled the entire area north of the Yellow River, was not necessarily incapable of contending with Henan and Guanzhong.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in life. The world keeps rolling forward, crushing everything, including him, a remnant of the old era.

The new generation has become the people of Daliang.

(End of this chapter)