I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 327 Yuan Shu's Show of Power
Unlike Puyang Qian, who was dressed as a scholar, Zang Min was dressed as a pure warrior. He was tall and strong, with broad shoulders and a thick waist, and one could tell at a glance that he was brave, strong and very capable.

To Yuan Shu's surprise, on the way to Jinyang County, he chatted with Zang Min and learned that Zang Min's son was studying at Zhixing Academy and was nominally Yuan Shu's student.

Yuan Shu was quite surprised and continued to inquire. He then learned that Zang Min's son had been granted special permission to become a child prodigy because of his merits and was able to study at the Imperial Academy. However, during that time, Yuan Shu was shining brightly and single-handedly overshadowed the scholars in Luoyang. Zang Min's son, Zang Hong, admired him greatly and directly switched from the Imperial Academy to the Zhixing Academy, becoming a follower of the School of Mind.

"The fathers are your subordinates, the sons are your students. My entire family will serve you. If you need my help, just give the order, and I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Zang Min bowed to Yuan Shu, thus expressing his loyalty to Yuan Shu.

Good heavens, is this even possible?

Yuan Shu never expected that he would have such a connection with this father and son. However, after regaining his senses, he was also very happy, because this meant that there was another layer of relationship between him and Zang Min, in addition to their superior-subordinate relationship. The emergence of this relationship would inevitably make Zang Min more willing to serve him.

At this moment, the burly man's fawning and subservient manner towards him perfectly illustrates this situation.

Yuan Shu then laughed heartily, helped Zang Min up, and then ordered Xu Chong, who was beside him, to bring twenty taels of gold and three bottles of wine as a gift to Zang Min.

Zang Min was overjoyed and immediately asked Yuan Shu if he could try the wine. Yuan Shu nodded in agreement, and Zang Min opened one of the bottles. After taking a sip, he closed his eyes in pleasure.

"I have long heard of the rich and mellow aroma of wine, but have never had the chance to taste it. Now that I have finally tasted it, I can die without regret!"

Zang Min drank the wine in big gulps, completely unable to control himself, and finished the small bottle in the blink of an eye, leaving Xu Chong staring in astonishment.

Yuan Shu burst into laughter.

"Zicang, do you know that although these three bottles of wine are also Liangzhou wines, they are made from the finest grapes produced in Wuwei County? If these three bottles of wine were outside, even their weight in gold might not be enough to buy them. And yet you drank a whole bottle in one go? Hahahaha! Look at my personal general, he's so scared, hahahahaha!"

Yuan Shu laughed uncontrollably. Zang Min glanced at Xu Chong's extremely shocked expression and quickly realized what he had just done.

He was immediately alarmed, then quickly stuffed the remaining two bottles into his pocket, looking extremely nervous.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness, there are still two bottles left, only two bottles left!"

Yuan Shu laughed loudly, and after laughing, he told Zang Min that as long as he made meritorious contributions, he would still give Zang Min these wines. He told him not to worry too much, because although these things were precious and rare, the main production sources were under his control.

Zang Min was relieved.

Soon, Yuan Shu led his army to Jinyang County. He arranged for the troops to camp and rest in the military camp outside the city that Zang Min had prepared, and to carry out the next training mission at any time. The training was still personally supervised by Lieutenant General Lu Zhi. Yuan Shu went into Jinyang City to check his office and planned to spend some time sorting out the important matters that could be handled at the moment.

He had many things to do when he arrived in Bingzhou, but he was well-prepared in terms of how to do them and in what order.

For example, the first thing to do is to investigate the fields and use this as a way to get things started.

On the one hand, doing this would allow for the collection of statistics on the amount of farmland and the number of people registered in each county of Bingzhou, so that he would know the specific steps to take to restore agricultural production.

On the other hand, doing so can also clarify the operation of the local government and whether the current officials are actually doing their jobs properly.

He brought with him all the best strategies that the various counties of Bingzhou had submitted to the Luoyang court, intending to compare them one by one. If any numbers didn't match, he could spot it at a glance.

No county can be left behind!

Then, based on the results, he would send people to inspect the various prefectures, investigate the local officials, and examine those who were capable, incompetent, corrupt, or traitorous. He would then make arrangements based on the circumstances.

The saying goes, "To repel external aggression, one must first pacify internal strife." If he wanted to deal with the Xianbei people, he had to first cleanse the internal strife. As the governor of Bingzhou, he naturally had the authority to reform the Bingzhou officialdom.

Those who are capable and obedient will stay, while those who are incapable but want to cause trouble will be dismissed, and then it will be natural to install our own people in their place.

In any case, many border counties in Bingzhou can have their own people appointed as governors and other key positions in the county, without being constrained by so-called locals. As long as Yuan Shu is willing, places like Wuyuan County and Yunzhong County can be filled with his confidants from top to bottom without anyone uttering a single word of dissent.

As for the only two relatively well-developed prefectures in Bingzhou—Taiyuan and Shangdang—Yuan Shu also had a solution.

Zang Min, the prefect of Taiyuan Commandery, has now openly sided with him. Having only been in Taiyuan for a few days, he has no connection to the local authorities and will undoubtedly be loyal to him. Relying on his prefectural power, he might not even need Zang Min, the governor, to do anything. They might even play good cop/bad cop. As for Shangdang Commandery, Puyang Qian has been its prefect for several years, and his power base is certainly much stronger than Zang Min's in Taiyuan Commandery.

Yuan Shu has no connections or old friends in Shangdang County, so it's hard to say what will happen to him in the future. But if Puyang Qian doesn't obey, Yuan Shu can take matters into his own hands and replace him with one of his own.

Having finally become the governor of Bingzhou, I naturally want to build Bingzhou into my base. In the future, the important task of connecting the grasslands and Luoyang will be entrusted to Bingzhou!
The first thing to do right now is, naturally, to make the first move of a new broom sweeping clean.

Send all the land registers and population records of the nine prefectures of Bingzhou to Taiyuan Prefecture. I need to verify the land and population figures.

Yuan Shu publicly stated that his reason for this was to restore agricultural production as soon as possible and to investigate the agricultural development situation in Bingzhou.

It's unclear whether the officials of the nine prefectures of Bingzhou understand his true intentions, but regardless of their understanding, he's determined to make this first move a resounding success.

Furthermore, Yuan Shu also ordered Lian Da to begin scattering scouts across the grasslands and to find locals to guide them, so as to more reliably grasp the latest movements of the Xianbei people.

In addition, Yuan Shu ordered Xun You, Zhang Hong, Zhong Yao and others from the staff office to form an inspection team to go to five counties north of Taiyuan to investigate the local border defense and border troops, and to record the actual situation word for word.

He planned to compare the data given to him by Dong Zhuo, the data reported by the border counties themselves, and the data obtained by the inspection team.

This makes it easier for him to obtain the most authentic and effective data.

This also allows us to further determine which of these border prefecture governors are capable of serving and which are not.

In the days that followed, Yuan Shu reviewed the documents of Bingzhou, inquired about the training of the army, and also took some time to host a banquet for the officials of Taiyuan Prefecture, as well as the most prominent gentry, noble families, and powerful landlords in Taiyuan Prefecture.

At the banquet with the officials of Taiyuan, Yuan Shu's attitude was the same as his attitude towards the officials of Shangdang County. It was a show of force to let them know that this young man with a great reputation was not a clueless greenhorn who had no practical skills.

If we disagree, I'm going to kill someone!

As for the gentry, noble families, and powerful landlords within Taiyuan County, their original attitude was roughly the same.

If you all behave yourselves and obey me, I will naturally not do anything that no one wants to see. But if you do not cooperate with me and cannot demonstrate my power, then I will have to demonstrate my power in my own way.

I hope you won't give me that chance.

Then Yuan Shu announced that trade in ironware with the northern grassland tribes would be banned throughout Bingzhou, and that any individual or group would be prohibited from selling any ironware to any northern grassland tribe. Anyone found doing so would be severely punished.

In terms of specific measures, all government-run ironware workshops were brought under the control of the governor's office, with Yuan Shu personally sending people to supervise them, and they were responsible for producing high-quality weapons for the army.

All private ironware workshops were to be converted to produce high-quality agricultural tools. The quality of the tools needed to be guaranteed, and the governor's office would send people to sample and inspect the quality before putting them on the market for farmers to use.

All iron mines were to be supervised by officials from the governor's office. All mining operations required the governor's office's permission and seal before mining and smelting could begin.

All ironware produced must be marked with the manufacturer's name. If any is found to be outsourced, the investigation will be thorough, leaving no stone unturned from production to sales to final use.

In short, Yuan Shu demanded that no piece of iron be allowed to flow into the grasslands and fall into the hands of the Xianbei people throughout the entire Bingzhou region.

For most people, this order is meaningless, since they've never done these things before.

However, for a minority of people, this decree will be a bigger blow, because they have really made a lot of money and become very wealthy through this, and now they are suddenly told not to do it, which is more or less difficult for them to accept.

The day after Yuan Shu issued his decree, Xu Cheng, the magistrate of Jinyang County, wrote to request an audience with Yuan Shu, who received him after handling some official business.

Xu Cheng was from Lujiang County in Yangzhou. He had been serving as the county magistrate for two and a half years. When it came to understanding Jinyang and Taiyuan County, even Yuan Shu and Zang Min combined were no match for him. Therefore, Yuan Shu had previously summoned him to inquire about the local customs and culture of Jinyang.

His answer was good, which shows that he has a good understanding of Jinyang.

Yuan Shu originally had a fairly good impression of him, considering him a capable official. However, Xu Cheng came to see him this time to plead for a group of people affected by Yuan Shu's ban.

(End of this chapter)