I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 337 Yuan Zijia Strikes Back with a Heavy Blow

After the battle ended, Yuan Shu began preparing his pest control plan in earnest.

Meanwhile, news of his great victory over the Xianbei quickly reached Luoyang.

When Yuan Feng heard that his son had defeated the invading Xianbei army and annihilated nearly 9,000 men, he was overjoyed. He immediately reported the matter to the emperor and then, in the emperor's name, bestowed upon Yuan Shu a large amount of gold, silver, jewels, silks, and satins. He also increased Yuan Shu's fief and promoted him to Right General.

Some officials in the court were initially not supportive of Yuan Shu becoming the governor of Bingzhou and were not optimistic about it. They were only forced to accept it. However, when the news came, a real and great victory silenced them and made them realize that Yuan Shu was indeed very capable in military matters.

We're all born of parents, so why are you so superior?

No one could figure out this problem, including Yuan Shu, who himself wasn't quite sure why he was so awesome.

But he really is awesome.

For more than a decade, no border general has been able to achieve such a record, annihilating nine thousand men in one fell swoop. No matter when it is mentioned, it can be considered a respectable victory.

Not to mention that a high-ranking official of the central Xianbei tribe was killed, and a group of Xianbei tribal leaders were killed or captured. In this battle, the Han army truly won a great victory.

In contrast, Beidi County in Liangzhou and Shanggu County in Youzhou were also invaded by the Xianbei people at almost the same time. The situation in these two places was not so good. Not only did they suffer heavy losses, but they also lost a lot of people and food.

Three states were invaded at the same time, but only Yuan Shu, the governor of Bingzhou, achieved a great victory, almost annihilating the invaders. Such a brilliant military achievement was enough to solidify Yuan Shu's position as governor of Bingzhou.

Suddenly, no one in the court mentioned that Yuan Shu was unsuitable to be the governor of Bingzhou. On the contrary, some people even began to discuss that the military affairs of the three prefectures of You, Bing and Liang should be handed over to Yuan Shu to manage, so that he could completely solve the border problems.

In this way, wouldn't they be able to sit back and enjoy a peaceful and prosperous life?

Once this idea was put forward, it took root in the minds of some people and gained a group of supporters. However, for most people, it was too early to discuss these things now. Even Yuan Feng did not want to put so much pressure on his precious son so soon.

He wanted to give his precious son enough time to do what he wanted and to implement his plans before considering what to do next.

Regardless, this suggestion has already gained its first wave of supporters in the government and the central government.

Yuan Shu was unaware of the turmoil unfolding in the imperial court. He only knew that after his victory, many things that were previously difficult to implement could now be smoothly pushed forward.

For example, in his border defense construction plan, he planned to build no fewer than 25 Liangzhuang (good villages) in five counties: Shuofang, Yunzhong, Wuyuan, Yanmen, and Dingxiang, in order to gather people, concentrate on developing agricultural production, and enhance Bingzhou's own grain supply capacity.

Incidentally, it can also serve to centrally protect the population and increase the population size.

These farm construction plans have achieved great success in Guanzhong and Luoyang. Based on this, Yuan Shu began to require the five northern prefectures to obey his orders, mobilize all manpower and resources to implement the plan, and begin site selection and preliminary publicity for the construction of Liangzhuang.

But having reached this point, Yuan Shu knew very well that the real key moment was just beginning.

He also needs people, a lot of people, a large population to support the scale of the farms and the grain production he needs.

But where is the population located?

In the hands of the wealthy landowners and powerful families in the southern counties, in their hidden manors, it would be quite difficult to wrest the people back from such a group.

Of course, it's not too difficult.

Since Yuan Shu controls the military in Bingzhou, all he needs to do is use some tricks to assess the performance of officials in Bingzhou and replace those less qualified officials with his own people. Then, at least the population needed for the first batch of Liangzhuang will be available.

As for the rest...

That depends on whether there are any opportunities later, such as disasters or other calamities, to see if we can bring in more people. After all, without people, it's really difficult to move an inch.

To be honest, the population of the Han Empire was already quite large by today's standards, over 50 million, almost 60 million. If you include those who were hiding, it might be even more. However, compared to such a vast territory and the major development tasks, this population was still too small.

If this country could be handed over to Yuan Shu, he would immediately abolish the poll tax and the poll tax, encourage childbirth and even reward childbirth, commemorate heroic mothers, and incidentally launch a large-scale development campaign. After twenty or thirty years of such efforts, Yuan Shu estimated that the population of the entire Han Empire would directly surge to two hundred million, a very gratifying situation.

Next, Yuan Shu acted immediately upon returning to Jinyang County. He began a comprehensive review of the data for the entire Bingzhou region and identified any discrepancies that had been found earlier, ordering relevant local government officials to come to Jinyang County for questioning.

He handled the matter county by county, issuing notices to each county, aiming to leave no county unchecked in the entire Bingzhou region.

He's really going to strike hard!
Starting from the end of the first month of the third year of the Zhengshi era, Yuan Shu began such interrogation and questioning work, summoning all the main officials of a county, including the magistrate, and the corresponding clerks, slapping the account books with problems in front of them, and asking them what exactly happened.

Why is your data different from the official strategy submitted by the prefecture to the imperial court?
Why is there such a big difference between your data and that of the neighboring counties?

Why is there such a large difference in the data from these counties that are so close to each other, even though it was the same disaster?

Why did you lose so many people?

Why are your grain production and land reclamation declining so rapidly?
Why hasn't production levels been restored after so many years? Is it because they're just occupying positions without doing their jobs properly?
Regarding these issues, Yuan Shu first targeted Taiyuan Prefecture, because the prefect of Taiyuan Prefecture, Zang Min, had just been parachuted in and had no entanglements with local forces or historical baggage, so he completely sided with Yuan Shu and assisted him.

The first to be interrogated by Yuan Shu were the magistrate of Daling County and his county government leadership team. They were all summoned by Yuan Shu and interrogated with questions about the data that had been uncovered during the investigation.

"From the second to the third year of Jianning, in just one year, your county's population dropped by 40% and the amount of cultivated land dropped by 30%. There has been no recovery since then; on the contrary, it has continued to decline, getting lower year by year. Last year's data has completely dropped to half of what it was in the second year of Jianning. Magistrate Zhang, I need an explanation."

Yuan Shu sat at the head of the table, looking down at Zhang Chuan, the trembling and pale-faced magistrate of Daling County.

Of course, Zhang Chuan was not the only one whose face turned pale; the entire governing team of Daling County, including the county magistrate and the county assistant, was being questioned by Yuan Shu.

Faced with Yuan Shu's stern questioning, Zhang Chuan's answers were not convincing.

He meant that a drought occurred in the second year of Jianning, and banditry also broke out, which severely affected the entire Daling County. Moreover, he had just taken office that year and did not have a full understanding of the whole situation.

Yuan Shu merely sneered at this.

"In the second year of Jianning, there was indeed a drought in Taiyuan Prefecture, but that occurred in the area of ​​Yangqu County and Langmeng County. Your Daling County is southeast of Zhaoyuze. I sent people to ask the residents around Zhaoyuze, and in the second year of Jianning, the water volume was very abundant!"

Furthermore, your Daling County is bordered by the Fen River to the east and the Wen River to the west, with the two rivers flanking the county and a large marshland. If a drought can occur here, then the entire Bingzhou will be so dry that no one can live there! And I find it strange that the drought is particularly severe in your Daling County.

Your neighboring county, Pingtao County, has very clear records. That year, there was less rainfall, so water conservancy projects were built, but there are no records of drought. If the drought was really that severe, why didn't Pingtao County, which is so close by, experience such a large-scale drop in rainfall?

There was also banditry. In the second year of Jianning, bandits appeared north of Langmeng County. The then prefect of Taiyuan led troops to quell the rebellion and then submitted a memorial to the court requesting a reward. The court commended him. Are you saying that the then prefect of Taiyuan was making things up? Then let's look at the records of Langmeng County.
According to the records of Langmeng County, in April of the second year of Jianning, a bandit uprising harassed the county town. The county magistrate was unable to quell the rebellion and sought help from the prefectural government. The then prefectural governor led troops to suppress the rebellion and quelled it in half a month. More than 300 bandits were killed, and the bandit leader was captured and taken to the bustling market of Jinyang County to be executed, thus deterring the villains.

"Something that could be resolved in half a month, and you're telling me it caused a 50% decrease in the registered population and land area of ​​your Daling County? Are these bandits some kind of evil spirit sent from heaven, specifically targeting your Daling County to wreak havoc? They only go to Daling County, and never to any other county?"

Yuan Shu presented a series of data to confront Zhang Chuan, who stammered, his face extremely tense, his whole body trembling, and large beads of sweat dripping onto the ground.

But in the end, he still couldn't say a word.

Seeing his state, Yuan Shu issued an ultimatum.

"I am the Governor of Bingzhou, holding the imperial insignia. Before assuming office, an edict was issued throughout the land, allowing me to dismiss officials below the rank of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain measure), and then report to the court. Officials below the rank of 600 shi can be dealt with at will, without needing to report to the court. You should think carefully!"

As he spoke, Yuan Shu stood up, walked to a shelf, took down his sword, placed it on his desk, and glared menacingly at Zhang Chuan and his subordinates.

Lu Zhi and Yuan Shu worked together seamlessly, immediately ordering the surrounding guards to move closer with their weapons, pretending to arrest them all.

Under such intimidation, Zhang Chuan and the others finally broke down psychologically and could no longer hold on, so they had no choice but to reveal the whole story.

(End of this chapter)