I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 341 His "Kingdom"

As for the local people of Bingzhou, they actually did not have the strength to strongly resist Yuan Shu.

Needless to say, the counties that were originally border prefectures could be manipulated however they pleased without anyone gossiping.

Even if it's not a border prefecture, he can use his connections with the imperial court to make it one.

For example, Dingxiang County, which was included in Yanmen County and Yunzhong County, was forcibly turned into a border county by Yuan Shu on the grounds that it was "small in area, close to the border, and often invaded by the Xianbei people".

The Xihe Commandery and Shang Commandery were also designated as border commanderies by Yuan Shu, based on the reason that they were "close to the settlements of the Southern Xiongnu and frequently involved in military conflicts".

The imperial court quickly approved it.

This is what is meant by "it's good to have a big tree to lean on."

As a result, all seven counties in Bingzhou except for Taiyuan and Shangdang became border counties. The local forces, which were not very powerful to begin with, were completely plunged into the abyss after Yuan Shu plundered their wealth and population, and lost their theoretical basis for challenging Yuan Shu.

From then on, Yuan Shu was free to mold and manipulate the situation as he pleased.

Xia Yu, the prefect of Yanmen Commandery, and Zang Min, the prefect of Taiyuan Commandery, had already openly pledged their allegiance to Yuan Shu; they became prefects precisely because of Yuan Shu.

Wang Zong, the prefect of Xihe Commandery, Song Gao, the prefect of Shang Commandery, and Zeng Xin, the prefect of Dingxiang Commandery, distinguished themselves in many actions initiated by Yuan Shu and paid great attention to catering to Yuan Shu's needs. As a result, they were appreciated by Yuan Shu and rewarded, and thus became Yuan Shu's men.

Subsequently, in June of the third year of the Zhengshi era, Yuan Shu impeached the prefects of Yunzhong, Wuyuan, and Shuofang on charges of "corruption" and "dereliction of duty," resulting in their dismissal.

Then Lu Zhi was reassigned as the governor of Yunzhong Commandery.

Shaoyuan was reassigned as the Prefect of Wuyuan Commandery.

Lian Da was reassigned as the governor of Shuofang Commandery.

From then on, apart from Puyang Qian, the prefect of Shangdang Commandery, who was not a confidant of Yuan Shu, the other eight men were all Yuan Shu's men.

Of course, Yuan Shu wouldn't let Puyang Qian, who wasn't very obedient, get away with it. The Shangdang Commandery under Puyang Qian's control was also the commandery with the biggest problems in Yuan Shu's opinion. So in August of the third year of Zhengshi, Yuan Shu impeached Puyang Qian on the grounds of "dereliction of duty" and "disrespect for the governor," and sent Puyang Qian to prison to be sentenced to death.

The governor of Shangdang Commandery was Liu Biao, a native of Shanyang Commandery, who was quite close to Yuan Shu.

Thus, starting in August, Yuan Shu took control of the highest power in all nine counties of Bingzhou.

As for the more than ninety counties under his jurisdiction, the magistrates and county heads of more than sixty counties were directly dismissed or punished by Yuan Shu, and then all of them were replaced by people he trusted.

If there aren't enough people around, then recall the Yixin members who were previously transferred to other places to serve in grassroots positions to take up positions such as county magistrate, county head, county lieutenant, and county assistant.

By around October of the third year of the Zhengshi era, Yuan Shu and his team had almost completely taken control of both high-level and grassroots power in Bingzhou.

In just one year, Yuan Shu had completely taken control of Bingzhou, turning it into his own "kingdom".

Admittedly, this matter was somewhat excessive. If it were someone else, they would probably be accused of ulterior motives. But the problem is that the person who did this was Yuan Shu.

His father was the number one de facto ruler of the Han Dynasty, while he himself was the number two de facto ruler of the Han Dynasty.

Do you need to tell me what he wants to do?
Or do you want to tell his father about him?

The events that occurred in Bingzhou, including the people killed and the officials dismissed by Yuan Shu, all revealed Yuan Shu's tough political skills and powerful political capital. After eliminating a group of people, he could replace them with another group and maintain normal operations.

In many people's eyes, Yuan Shu's Yixinhui Group was originally just a school of thought, just a group of people who talked big, but who knew that it would evolve into a super group that was successful in politics, military affairs and academia.

Who can you tell me about this?

In any case, as things stand right now, Yuan Shu has the final say in the entire Bingzhou region. He can do whatever he wants, and as long as it doesn't provoke too much public outrage, probably no one will say a word against it.

Moreover, Yuan Shu never intended to do anything that would anger both heaven and man.

He simply wanted to build a good village, restore agricultural production, train troops, and launch a northern expedition against the Xianbei.

These are all important matters, good things, and things that are for the benefit of the country and its people. They are not just for his own benefit. He can say with complete confidence that he is strengthening himself while also working for the benefit of the country and its people.

Who can refute that?

This is the kind of person that many people fear most.

He does things not only for himself, but also for the whole, cleverly integrating his own needs with the needs of the whole, and then moving forward from this starting point.

Quite invincible.

Just like the construction of Liangzhuang, it started as an experimental ideal state, but the more it was experimented with, the more feasible it became. The population and scale were reported to the government, and the government's tax revenue was never reduced.

Liangzhuang also charges some management fees, which are also paid for with grain.

After two tax collections, most farmers still had enough to eat and wear, enough to support their families. In fact, over time, they even accumulated savings, and having enough to eat was no longer a problem.

This incident didn't just happen in Maoling and Luoyang; it also occurred in other places.

With the protection of Liangzhuang and the provision of farming tools, the interests of farmers were greatly protected. The government could not and dared not levy more taxes than the court stipulated on farms bearing the name of Yuan Shu, let alone levy taxes multiple times. It could only honestly follow the regulations, which effectively prevented farmers from going bankrupt.

With savings, farmers are less likely to go bankrupt and are better able to maintain or even expand production.

The taxes paid to the government were paid in full without delay, and the management fees collected by Liangzhuang according to the agreed proportions were also increasing, and the whole village entered a virtuous cycle.

At this point, if the propaganda team is mobilized to promote and export the Liangzhuang model, some farmers who have suffered greatly from exploitation will naturally come with their land to request to join, or some tenant farmers will flee and enter Liangzhuang to seek refuge.

This situation has occurred in all places with good villages, and it will naturally occur in Bingzhou now as well.

Furthermore, Yuan Shu also made good use of his experience in Maoling, not only targeting Han people with propaganda, but also spreading the message to ordinary people of other ethnic groups.

Because the lives of ordinary people from other ethnic groups were even worse than those of the Han people. At least the Han people could settle down and produce, and could have a stable income if there were no natural disasters or man-made calamities. However, even if there were no natural disasters or man-made calamities, the nomadic people were not necessarily guaranteed a stable income.

Furthermore, their daily diet was extremely scarce, and they were more likely to go bankrupt and become slaves than the Han Chinese, with a lower average lifespan.

Under these circumstances, the ability to have enough to eat and a place to settle down was just as attractive to them as it was to the Han people.

Therefore, the tens of thousands of Xiongnu, Qiang, Xianbei and other mixed Hu people of unknown ethnicity living in Liangzhuang in Maoling, under the effective management of Liangzhuang, their living conditions were no different from those of the Han people.

Propaganda works well for Han Chinese, and it works just as well for these people. Han Chinese bring their families along, and some even bring livestock to join them, offering their livestock to the good village, making it seem like they are paying a blood oath.

Liangzhuang's strategy for dealing with this group of people was also very sophisticated: changing their surnames and given names to Han Chinese, replacing their hairstyles and clothes with Han Chinese ones, assigning special people to teach them to speak Han Chinese and learn Han Chinese characters, and setting up various reward and punishment measures.

After they basically settled into a peaceful life, the so-called "naturally fierce" and "cunning as wolves" traits of this group disappeared.

Being able to live a peaceful life, to have a full meal, and not to suffer from hunger all the time—that's everyone's common wish. What more could you ask for?
In Yuan Shu's view, these effective strategies were not only good for stabilizing the Han people, but also for dealing with the foreign ethnic groups scattered throughout Bingzhou. Bingzhou had hundreds of thousands of Southern Xiongnu people, as well as many Qiang people, Xianbei people, and mixed Hu people of unknown ethnicity.

In places like Shuofang Commandery, Xihe Commandery, and Shang Commandery, the number of Han people was small, while the number of these Hu people was large, far exceeding that of the Han people. This is why, in the later period, Bingzhou was gradually eroded, leaving only Taiyuan and Shangdang.

Yuan Shu planned ahead, taking advantage of Liangzhuang's production and organizational strengths to gradually encroach on the areas where these outsiders operated, and to persuade and spread propaganda among their people.

To this end, he also sent people to Liangzhuang in Guanzhong to recruit members of the propaganda team who were of Xiongnu and Qiang origin, and organized them into a powerful propaganda team to launch a comprehensive propaganda offensive against the Southern Xiongnu and Qiang tribes.

In recent years, the Southern Xiongnu have been relatively well-behaved, but the annual investment of several hundred million yuan is still too much. Yuan Shu decided to use various methods to dismantle the Southern Xiongnu and solve the northern border problem at the same time, while dealing with the Xianbei.

Therefore, the construction of Liangzhuang was not solely supported by the financial investment of Bingzhou. Bingzhou was in dire financial straits, and financial funds alone were far from sufficient.

Fortunately, after the purge, the bureaucrats and powerful clans were severely weakened. The funds, food and other resources obtained from this operation were enough to support the construction of the first phase of Liangzhuang. The material and financial needs for the construction of the twenty-five Liangzhuang in the five northern prefectures have been fully met.

As for the construction of Liangzhuang in the four southern counties, especially Shangjun and Xihejun, Yuan Shu plans to contribute some money himself, try to get some more money from his father in Luoyang, and if that's still not enough, he'll have to get it from Bingzhou itself.

The common people are all poor and there's no money left to squeeze, so we'll squeeze money from the rich and powerful families.

Let the powerful and wealthy families suffer, let them bear the infamy, and let me, Yuan, take all the credit. That's how things should be done!
Thus, starting in the latter half of the third year of the Zhengshi era, Yuan Shu's large-scale construction plan for Bingzhou was launched in full swing. More than 200,000 people moved north to Liangzhuang for a major construction project. From site selection to building walls to repairing connecting roads, people worked enthusiastically.

Yuan Shu provided these people with rations at a standard slightly lower than that of the army. The ample food supply greatly improved their efficiency and also played a significant role in their expectations for the future.

In Liangzhuang, everyone could be allocated land, houses, and farm tools. Ten households could also share livestock such as oxen to help with plowing. Yuan Shu also brought the most advanced farming techniques and tools from the Central Plains.

Where there is water, it goes without saying that the solution is to build water conservancy projects in places where there is not enough water. In short, there is a lot to be done and a huge amount of money to be invested.

Putting aside everything else, feeding more than 200,000 people is a huge burden. Although they don't need to eat three meals a day like the army, they still need to eat two meals a day, and at least one dry meal must be guaranteed, otherwise they simply cannot sustain such a large workload.

The Bingzhou government had stored grain, and Yuan Shu could also use the stored grain in Liangzhuang, Luoyang to supplement part of the supply. However, there was still a considerable shortfall, so Yuan Shu could only purchase grain locally, from Taiyuan County and Shangdang County.

This led to a rise in grain prices.

But who exactly is Yuan Shu?

King of Bingzhou!
Price increase?

You'd better ask the knife in my hand if it agrees first!

(End of this chapter)