Jinting Han people

Chapter 220: Roughly Determining the Situation (4k)

Talking about marriage is of course a major event in life, but the current situation is obviously not the time to talk about it.

Just as Fu Chang expected, the key to retaking Niyang this time lies in the Xiayang Hu people such as Hu Morgan and He Ganlin.

Although Liu Xian was unable to directly mobilize soldiers from Xiayang County due to various difficulties, as in the past, great opportunities often brewed in great difficulties. When he realized that he could also mobilize the Hu people, he immediately came up with a brilliant plan: to use the local Han people as a bluff, but in fact, to use the Xiayang Hu people to secretly attack Chencang.

However, this is essentially due to Liu Xian's previous equal treatment of the Hu people.

Over the past five years, he actively mediated conflicts among the Hu people, proactively participated in their criminal justice system, and established positions among the Hu people such as the Alliance Leader, the Three Elders, the Prison Supervisor, and the School Officer, successfully establishing his prestige among them. Even facing two successive uprisings, namely, Hao San and Qi Wannian, the Hu people of Xiayang remained unmoved, following Liu Xian's lead. This can only be considered a minor miracle for the Guanzhong prefecture.

But now that we have entered Niyang City, everything has to start all over again.

The Hu people who had surrendered the city with Hu Mogen were shocked to find that the attackers numbered less than a thousand men when Liu Xian and the Fu family servants arrived at the city. They realized they had been tricked and immediately erupted in unrest. This reflected Liu Xian's lack of a strong foundation in Niyang. If he couldn't find a way to quickly establish effective rule, the loss of the city was imminent.

Liu Xian was well aware of this. Although he advocated "establishing credibility" in his governance, he also understood that this was a time of war and the use of deception was indispensable.

He first showed everyone his appointment as commander of the Western Expedition Army and the seal of the Northern Territory Governor, then announced publicly: "Please rest assured, I am merely a vanguard sent by the court. After learning of the defeat in Meiyang, the court has already mobilized troops in Luoyang. A large army is gathering in the Luoyang area. Within two months, they will attack Qi Wannian. By then, with so many elite soldiers and generals gathered, they will be like a mountain falling, crushing everything in their path!"

The Hu people asked, "How many people are there in the court? Who do you plan to send?"

Liu Xian then made up a story, "Led by Minister of the Interior Wang Hun Gong, they also have Liangzhou Governor Luo Shang, Ningshuo General Liu Hong, and Minister of Agriculture He Pan under their command. They were all famous generals who participated in the destruction of Wu!"

At this point, he suddenly realized that the Hu people on the border didn't feel deeply about the destruction of the Wu army, and that the famous generals with achievements in Guanzhong were probably more prestigious. Thinking of this, he slapped his head again and said suddenly, "Oh, I also heard that the former Xinping prefect Zhou Chu, Duke Zhou Ziyin, is also participating in this rebellion!"

The Hu people who were welcoming him were a little confused at first, but when they heard Zhou Chu's name, they suddenly came to their senses and became very respectful. They said to each other, "If Lord Zhou comes, then it's a sure thing."

Liu Xian managed to stabilize the situation. He asked the Hu leaders to rest for a while and agreed to hold a banquet together at noon tomorrow to bring the two sides closer.

Both sides seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they both knew deep down that this was just a temporary measure. If Liu Xian could not show these Hu people his ability to truly stabilize the situation, they would soon turn against him.

So after the Hu people dispersed, he immediately entered the Beidi County Government and began to take over Niyang City.

To take over, the first thing you need is people, and Liu Xian is currently lacking people. After all, you can't just leave all the management matters to the Fu family's servants, right?

While Niyang is far less prosperous than Xiayang today, as the seat of Beidi County, Niyang is also one of the frontier defense hubs of Guanxi. This has led to an extremely complex bureaucracy in Niyang City. Before Qi Wannian's rebellion, the Beidi County government had no fewer than 600 officials, three times the number of Xiayang County government officials, not to mention the nearly 10,000 county soldiers stationed there.

However, after the Panlong Bay Battle, the Beidi County troops were completely wiped out. Half of the county officials had fled, but a small number remained in the city, currently being held in the county prison by the Tiele people. Therefore, Liu Xian's first priority was to rescue these officials and rebuild the Beidi County government.

Before arriving at the prison, Liu Xian hoped to find as many county officials alive as possible. But reality was cruel. By the time he got there, only about twenty of the more than eighty county officials who had been imprisoned were left.

The cause of death for the county officials was, of course, abuse by the Hu people. After all, even if the county officials didn't exploit the Hu people, they often discriminated against them. Now that they were in their hands, they naturally sought revenge. The officials who survived were either on good terms with the Hu people or had some connections, and the Hu people had no idea how to deal with them.

This number of people is certainly far from enough. Liu Xian can only comfort himself with good things, thinking that it has saved him some effort. At least in the short term, he doesn't have to worry about any corrupt officials appearing under his command.

After he rescued these officials, he introduced himself and invited them to have a meal. He then issued his first order on the spot, asking them to immediately contact those Han officials who were from Beidi County but had abandoned their posts.

Liu Xian promised in public:
"I know that abandoning one's post during wartime is a serious crime, but unless the situation is dire, no one would dare to leave without permission. Therefore, please help me convey this message: as long as these fugitives can return to Niyang within three days, I will not pursue any previous offenses, and will even reward them generously afterwards!"

"But if they persist in their wrongdoing, even if I, Liu Huai Chong, die, I will report their names to His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhao, and charge them with high treason and punish them with the severe punishment of extermination!"

Liu Xian had previously employed the most severe punishment, which was simply a life for a life, but now he was using the Yi tribe to intimidate them, a move he had no choice but to resort to. As the saying goes, in troubled times, severe punishments are called for. If the situation hadn't been so dire that Liu Xian couldn't take care of himself, he wouldn't have been willing to do so.

He then hurried to check the county government's treasury. By then, most of the grain in the county government had been taken away by the Tiele people, leaving only about 5,000 bushels of wheat and beans. Besides that, a lot of silk and gold and silver were left, although these two were of no use in the war.

Seeing this, Liu Xian immediately discussed with Fu Xi and others that he was willing to use all the money and property in the county government to buy grain from them at twice the market price.

After Qi Wannian's rebellion, grain prices in Guanzhong skyrocketed. Liu Xian had said he'd buy grain at double the price, but the current price was nearly five times higher than last year. Even so, Fu Xi still harbored doubts about selling grain; after all, no one could predict how long the war would last.

In the end, Fu Chang persuaded him, "Second brother, since you've already helped the Lord, why give up halfway? We all know the principle of helping someone when they need it, but don't give up halfway, or all your efforts will be wasted. Lord Liu is probably the most outstanding person in the world. Just treat it as making a friend, it's worth it."

Fu Xi finally made up his mind and agreed to sell half of the clan's grain, or 10,000 hu, to Liu Xian. With this promise, Liu Xian finally felt more confident.

He knew he couldn't do without the support of the Beidi Fu family, so he immediately asked Fu Xi to take on the position of Zhongzheng of Beidi County as a token of gratitude. He also asked him to take the lead in introducing local scholars of various ethnic groups to the county, in order to build closer ties and further recruit staff. Speaking of which, there were still about a hundred maids left in the county government. Liu Xian spoke with them and learned that half of them were left behind by the previous prefect, Zhang Sun, while the other half were looted by the Tiele people from the local area, attracted by their beauty, and now worked as errand boys in the county government.

Liu Xian was desperately short of manpower, and he didn't even spare these maids. He promised them that after the war, those who wanted to stay could stay, and those who didn't would be sent back home. But for now, he asked them to stay in the county government for a while and help with odd jobs like washing clothes and cooking.

By this time, Liu Xian had already done a lot of things, but at least for now, the situation was still far from the goal of taking over Niyang.

Whether it was the Fu family inviting local scholars, the county officials searching for former colleagues, or even recruiting soldiers within Niyang County, it would take time. Before these men were gathered, Liu Xian could only rely on the Fu family's 700 retainers and the 400 or so Hu people under Hu Mogen and He Ganlin.

It is no exaggeration to say that this was Liu Xian's weakest moment. After all, the Fu family did not share weal and woe with him. Once the Hu people showed any signs of disloyalty, they would collude and take the opportunity to turn against him. The Fu family would most likely abandon Liu Xian, which would mean failure at the last moment.

Liu Xian waited until the Hu leaders woke up, and he hadn't slept all night. He sent his maids over early, and at daybreak, he invited the leaders in one by one, saying he wanted to spend the day enjoying himself with these Hu guests, drinking and having fun together. No matter what happened outside the palace, they didn't need to pay attention.

Because it was already late autumn in September and the weather was getting colder, the Hu people loved wine and were reluctant to leave. When they heard that Liu Xian was inviting them to drink, they happily went. Even those who had second thoughts wanted to take the opportunity to get to know Liu Xian and see what kind of person this new lord was, so they did not refuse.

At the banquet, Liu Xian personally toasted the Hu people one by one and said, "The current chaos in Guanzhong is naturally due to the failure of officials like us. You are all citizens of the court. Please have some confidence. The court is rectifying the administration, and I will do my best to restore peace to the people."

Liu Xian's attitude was extremely humble, which greatly pleased the Hu people present. They drank a few more cups in a trance. Then Liu Xian took out the strings of his zither and played music for the Hu people himself, which made them even happier.

There was a man named Qina, a retired official. Around noon, he had gotten drunk and lost himself in contempt for Liu Xian. He said, "Lord Liu, your words may be nice, but what is the moral character of the court? How can we not know? The court is not lacking talented people, but people who know how to use them. That's why the world has become like this."

"You said that Lord Zhou Chu is coming. We do admire him, but if we think about it carefully, what can Lord Zhou Chu do under the command of the imperial court? Can he compare to Lord Zhang Gui?"

"A talent like you has no future in Niyang. Why don't you just surrender to Lord Qi Wannian? You know, we have 4,000 Qiang troops as reinforcements in Malan Mountain, and they are currently besieging Captain Zhang Guang. If they get the news and come to our aid, how can you hold on?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze. Many people who were already drunk were now a little sober and hurriedly looked up to check Liu Xian's expression.

Liu Xian's smile remained unchanged. He stopped playing the zither and said to the retired official Qina:

"Today is supposed to be a banquet, so let's not disturb the mood. Let's drink first. If there is anything, we can discuss it in detail tomorrow."

The implication is to pretend not to hear about it.

Retired official Qi Na realized he'd spoken out of turn and felt a bit annoyed. But considering he already had soldiers under his command, and Liu Xian's men weren't many either—judging from last night's count, there were only about a thousand men, seemingly less than half the number of Hu people in the city? And considering Malan Mountain did have four thousand reinforcements, what could this new governor do to him? He should have been smart and fled overnight, or else he'd be killed!
Thinking of this, he pretended nothing had happened and continued drinking with everyone. He even brought over the falcon he had trained and deliberately showed it off in public to show the military power of the Hu people and try to further provoke Liu Xian.

Even though everyone was superficially harmonious and no one at the banquet was drunk, Liu Xian continued to accompany the Hu people until dusk, when the banquet was declared over.

But when the Hu people came out of the county government again, they looked at the scene in front of them and found that there were many more Han people coming and going on the streets of Niyang. They couldn't help but be surprised.

It turned out that Liu Xian's invitation to the leaders for a banquet was just a cover.

While he was interacting with the Hu people in the mansion, Fu Chang, under his instructions, pulled out all the food from the treasury and arranged for the maids to distribute porridge and food outside the city in order to attract the Han refugees who had been driven out of the city. At the same time, in order to prevent the Hu people from leaking information, he also invited these leaderless Hu people to come outside the city to eat and drink together.

Taking advantage of this precious day, Liu Xian successfully recruited 2,000 Han refugees as county soldiers. The first batch of 100 county officials who returned also returned to the city to report on their work. At the same time, the three noble families of Qiao, Wei and Zhu in Niyang in the north also expressed their support for Liu Xian.

As a result, the situation in Niyang suddenly reversed, and the power of the Han people overwhelmed these Hu people.

When those Hu leaders, like Xiuguan Qina, who harbored disloyalty, returned to their tribes and learned what had happened, their faces drastically changed. Without waiting for Liu Xian to say anything, they gathered their people and left Niyang in disgrace. The remaining Hu tribes also offered hostages to Liu Xian as a token of their loyalty.

At this point, Liu Xian finally managed to stabilize the situation in Niyang.

Liu Xian had already endured two days and one night, and according to the original plan, he should have taken a short break. However, he didn't rest because at the banquet just now, he heard a problem that needed to be solved immediately.

After the disastrous defeat at Panlong Bay, everyone thought that the Northern Army had been annihilated. Unexpectedly, Northern Commander Zhang Guang was still alive. He was currently defending Malan Mountain and was being besieged by a large number of Malan Qiang.

Although he and Zhang Guang were not very familiar with each other, they were comrades who had fought side by side. How could he abandon him?

Liu Xian thought of Li Ju again. Shi Hui should have also participated in the Battle of Meiyang. It was said that there were heavy casualties in the battle. I wonder if he managed to save himself?
Thinking of this, Liu Xian suddenly felt overwhelmed and the road ahead was difficult.

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(End of this chapter)