I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 384 The Triumphant Return to Luoyang
On the grasslands, Duan Jiong launched a fierce attack on the eastern Xianbei, destroying several Xianbei tribes and pastures, capturing many prisoners, and inflicting heavy losses on the Xianbei tribes left behind when Yuan Shu was fighting against Tan Shihuai.

However, during the military operations in Shanggu and Dai counties, Duan Jiong suddenly fell ill and could not continue halfway through, thus failing to ultimately defeat the Wuhuan in the two counties.

In the end, Duan Jiong had no choice but to accept the mediation and allow the Wuhuan people of Shanggu and Dai to hand over the "culprits" in exchange for the understanding of the Han Empire, thus ceasing military operations against Shanggu and Dai.

Duan Jiong deeply resented this and could not forget it.

However, he was getting old and his health could not keep up, so he had to return to Zhuojun to recuperate, and the military operations in Youzhou came to a temporary end.

However, Duan Jiong soon learned that Yuan Shu had won a great victory in Bingzhou, almost annihilating the Xianbei people. He was overjoyed and excited, and his condition improved greatly. He was even able to return to Luoyang to continue recuperating, which was quite an interesting thing.

By mid-November, Yuan Shu had returned to Bingzhou to reorganize the state administration, military, and the captured prisoners. He then spent a month compiling and summarizing all the details of the war and writing a complete military report to report to Luoyang.

He himself began to deal with the large number of Xianbei prisoners of war.

Regarding the handling of prisoners of war, many subordinates offered him various suggestions from different perspectives, but in the end, Yuan Shu chose to follow his own ideas.

He ordered that the more than 300,000 prisoners of war be divided into two groups: one group consisted of young and middle-aged women of childbearing age, and the other group consisted of everyone else.

A register of young and middle-aged women of childbearing age was compiled, and then the state government coordinated the distribution of these women to unmarried men within the state of Bingzhou as wives. The state government would also send some grain, cloth and money as "gifts".

If there are still surplus women who have not been assigned, then select high-quality, strong men with many sons from each county and marry these surplus young and strong women to them as concubines. The prefecture will send even more grain, cloth and money as "gifts".

Then, try to have children.

The tax system of taxation and poll tax within Bingzhou has been effectively abolished by Yuan Shu, and there is no need to pay more taxes for having children, so the policy of encouraging childbirth can be implemented.

Yuan Shu hopes that these young and middle-aged women of childbearing age can bring more newborns to Bingzhou.

This group numbered approximately 170,000, including many women who were not yet of childbearing age. The Bingzhou government set up a farm to settle these women, raise them until they reached the appropriate age, and then reassign them.

In conclusion, increasing the population requires everyone's joint efforts.

As for the remaining tens of thousands of Xianbei people, Yuan Shu saw them as cogs in the machine and fuel for development.

The war caused great damage to many cities, villages, roads and water conservancy facilities in Bingzhou. Yuan Shu would assign these people to carry out construction and repair tasks. They would not be paid and would only be given one meal a day to ensure they would not starve.

They would perform heavy physical labor under strict surveillance until the construction task was completely completed or they died.

Their ecological niche would not exist in the future Han Empire.

As for the large number of cattle, sheep and horses, Yuan Shu submitted a memorial to the court, requesting that the court allow Bingzhou to expand, select large grasslands with abundant water and grass to set up administrative districts, arrange for some Han people to go north to become herdsmen, divide pastoral areas, and implement the grazing policy that Yuan Shu had previously planned.

He wanted to make these livestock play their proper role and began to establish an administrative system different from that of the Central Plains agricultural areas, so that the Han Empire would begin to have the administrative capacity to actually govern pastoral areas.

The Han Empire in the past lacked the administrative knowledge and talent reserves to govern pastoral areas. Now, Yuan Shu decided to start accumulating experience himself to lay the foundation for the Han Empire to fully control the grassland region.

After dealing with this series of matters, it was already mid-to-late December, close to the New Year. Yuan Shu finally completed most of the post-war reconstruction work, bringing Bingzhou back on track and switching it from a state of war to a state of peace.

Yuan Shu finally had some free time and could lead some important prisoners of war back to Luoyang. If they were quick, they might even make it in time for the New Year and have a lively holiday with their families.

On December 19th, Yuan Shu set off from Taiyuan County in the bitter cold.

He delegated all major government affairs to his subordinates, delineated their responsibilities, and instructed them to manage Bingzhou well in his absence.

He then led a group of officers and soldiers who had distinguished themselves in battle, escorting many valuable prisoners and spoils of war on their return journey.

Previously, when he led his army to escort prisoners back to Bingzhou, he was welcomed by the people of Yanmen County and Taiyuan County along the way. The people were extremely excited about the glorious victory achieved by the Han army and generously offered cheers and thanks to Yuan Shu and the Han soldiers.

Honestly, Yuan Shu finally understood what it meant to welcome the king's army with food and drink.

Many Han army generals and soldiers were seeing such a scene for the first time, and they finally understood what Yuan Shu meant by the honor of soldiers that he kept talking about.

So, without realizing it, the Tianxiong Army has become an army with a sense of honor and mission.

Because of their rapid pace, Yuan Shu crossed the Yellow River and returned to Luoyang on December 26th. In Ping County, north of Luoyang, Yuan Wei, the Grand Minister of Works and Emperor's Special Envoy, arrived with imperial credentials to welcome Yuan Shu and his meritorious generals. News of Yuan Shu's successful counterattack against the Xianbei and his great victory had already reached Luoyang. The court knew, the people knew, and the news quickly spread throughout the country. It was believed that it wouldn't be long before the entire nation knew the news.

Leaving aside other places, just talking about Luoyang alone, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the whole city was jubilant.

The impact of the Xianbei people on the Han Empire was not only borne by the northern prefectures and counties. Many of the losses had to be balanced through transfer payments via Luoyang, otherwise Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou would have collapsed.

As a result, the living standards of Luoyang residents will fluctuate due to these events, and these fluctuations are often negative.

The complete annihilation of the enemy, preventing them from causing further trouble, was certainly a good thing, not a bad thing, so they were overjoyed.

Not to mention that this was a glorious victory in which 400,000 enemies were wiped out, and the person who won this glorious victory was Yuan Shu, the top figure in Luoyang. With the two top figures combined, you can imagine the emotions of the people inside and outside Luoyang.

Speaking of which, many people have felt more than once that although Yuan Shu left Luoyang more than three years ago and rarely came back, although he is no longer here, the legend about him has always been there, as if he had never left Luoyang.

Combined with the previously inexplicable rumor that "the Mandate of Heaven belongs to the Yuan family," even those who were not officials, many intelligent people in Luoyang City already sensed that something big was about to happen in the world.

Aside from the onlookers inside and outside Luoyang City, the Yixin members were the most excited, thrilled, and even euphoric group.

Their sense of belonging and personal worship towards Yuan Shu was already quite strong. Now that Yuan Shu has made such great achievements, as soon as the news reached Luoyang, the Yixin members also benefited from it.

Members of the Yixin VIP membership wear a uniform. Wearing that uniform signifies their Yixin VIP status, and others are not allowed to wear it.

Wearing this clothing signifies that they are on the same path as Yuan Shu, that they are "of one mind." Over time, people outside the core group also came to know about this.

Therefore, whenever there is any news about Yuan Shu, people in Luoyang City will always pay special attention to them if they have a member nearby, hoping to get some clearer information from them.

But for many members of Yixin, what they feel is a strong sense of pride and honor.

With such an awesome and powerful leader, how could these "fellow travelers" not feel proud?

The Yixin members who stayed in Luoyang started their celebrations very early. An excited Cheng Li approved a sum of money for the celebrations, and everyone held banquets for three consecutive days to celebrate Yuan Shu's great achievements. They also recited famous quotes from "On Knowledge and Action" to express their respect for Yuan Shu.

Without a doubt, their image as die-hard Yuan Shu's loyalists has never been so clear.

This further enhanced the appeal of Yixinhui to scholars and those from humble backgrounds, making its siphon effect on talent from all over the world increasingly apparent.

Moreover, Yixin Hui increasingly held a special position in the political life of the entire Eastern Han Empire.

Specifically, being a member of Yixin is a prestigious thing in the community.

Wearing the uniform of Yixin members in crowded places will attract special attention and treatment. The admiration and respect that ordinary people have for Yuan Shu will also be reflected in some of the Yixin members.

Pay attention to it.

respect.

This special emotional value is something only a dedicated member can possess.

This means that if an official is also a member of the Yixin Party, he will prefer to wear the Yixin Party uniform in various occasions, except when he is in office.

Beyond their identification with official positions, they also identify more with their identity as members of Yixin.

Furthermore, as time goes on, the longer they serve as officials, the more the vast majority of Yixin members identify with their Yixin membership than with their official status.

Cheng Li and Jia Xu discussed this particular point many times during their daily conversations.

Ultimately, they concluded that being an official can often be frightening.

As a member of Yixin, the widespread positive image of Yixin members often makes people feel respected and relaxed.

(End of this chapter)