Jinting Han people

Ever since the end of February in the seventh year of Yuankang, when the news of the Jin army's defeat in Fufeng reached Luoyang, the court had been filled with quarrels.

"I've long said that the court doesn't know how to judge people. Prince Liang has nothing but experience, Xiahou Jun is ignorant of military affairs, and Zhou Chu even has conflicts with them. Although they are all virtuous ministers in name only, if they can't complement each other's strengths and weaknesses and work together, what can they accomplish? The situation in Guanzhong is so dire right now, and tens of thousands of people have been lost. Who is responsible?"

King Sima Jue of Qi had always been critical of the court's policies. Now that he had the opportunity, he became even more aggressive and questioned loudly in the East Hall, as if he was judging a case in the Imperial Court Prison and would not give up until the real culprit was found.

"Your Highness, Prince of Qi, what does this mean? Changing generals mid-battle is a cardinal sin in military strategy. It's precisely because of the current situation in Guanzhong that we must unite and overcome this difficult time. Chang'an is still in our hands. If something goes wrong again and we lose Chang'an, who will be held responsible?"

Facing Sima Jue's accusations, Pei Wei argued forcefully. But how could he suppress such a massive military defeat, with so many members of the imperial clan secretly fueling the flames? The court needed to answer to the public, both morally and morally.

Fortunately, Empress Jia was a competent politician. After consulting with Jia Mi, she had the emperor issue an edict stating, "Sima Rong is incompetent in military affairs. Harming his generals out of personal grudges is truly foolish. However, in the face of national crisis, we must not harm loyal and loyal men. Prince Liang has been loyal to the king for decades, fulfilling his duties with dedication, a fact witnessed by all. For the sake of his officers and men, we will allow him to serve his sentence while serving his duty and return to battle when the opportunity arises."

This was a criticism of Sima Rong first, showing the court's attitude of clearly distinguishing between rewards and punishments, but it was not dealt with temporarily because of the difficult situation.

Later, an imperial decree was issued posthumously to confer the title of General Pingxi on Zhou Chu, commemorating his achievements and stating: "Zhou Chu was virtuous and upright, and possessed exceptional talent and ability. He served in four prefectures, maintaining peace and establishing governance; he served in government offices with unwavering integrity; he sacrificed his life in battle, and gave his all in times of danger. These are all examples of loyalty and virtue, and the enduring integrity of a martyr. I hereby posthumously confer the title of General Pingxi, grant him one million yuan, a burial plot of one hectare, fifty mu of land in the capital as a residence, and five hectares of farmland near the royal family."

This extraordinary posthumous honoring was used to express the court's remembrance of the loyal minister.

But this wasn't the end. Empress Jia had another edict to issue to her ministers, stating, "In times of national crisis, when great men punish the wicked, it is time for those with lofty ideals to serve. As the saying goes, when the king's corpse was executed, Bao Xu sought troops; when the capital was under siege, Mao Sui volunteered. From the court and the prefectures, we should recruit capable men to train and teach military tactics, to serve the king and quell the crisis. Regardless of background, we will prioritize talent. I will not be stingy with money, but if you ask, there will be a response. If you succeed in your training, we can mobilize our troops and bring peace to the world."

This is an order seeking talents, ordering the court to recommend suitable generals to lead troops. Now we should prepare to train the troops. As long as the training is successful, we will send reinforcements to Guanxi.

These three edicts were extremely well-written, criticizing past mistakes while also praising loyal officials, demonstrating a balanced approach to reward and punishment. Most importantly, they demonstrated a willingness to cede power, like throwing a piece of meat to a pack of wolves. The surrounding kings, eager to seize the opportunity, immediately gathered around and began vying for control of the military.

With such an arrangement, the rear party was able to get away with it, muddying the waters in the court while delaying time and waiting for the development of the situation in Guanxi.

They thought that as long as Chang'an could hold steady, they could launch a counterattack at any time. Little did they know that the situation in Chang'an was extremely critical, with the city on the verge of collapse due to lack of food. The famine that followed the siege of Chang'an was something they had not anticipated.

But the subsequent developments were even more difficult for the Hou Party to understand. Qi Wannian unexpectedly lifted the siege of Chang'an and then turned to attack Beidi County.

"In the end what happened?"

Zhang Hua immediately sent a letter to Chang'an to inquire about the details. After receiving a report from Fu Zhi, he learned that Suo Jing, Liu Xian, and Li Han were engaged in a bloody battle with the rebels in Niyang. Fu Zhi petitioned the court to urgently dispatch 10,000 to 20,000 reinforcements from Bingzhou to ensure the survival of these elite troops.

After learning the details, Jia Mi was overjoyed. He smiled and said:

"So Liu Huai Chong wants to serve his country loyally. I'll help him!"

So he suppressed Fu Zhi's letter of request for assistance and instead said to the court: "The situation in Guanxi has stabilized. There is no need to rush now. Train the troops well in Luoyang. When you are confident, it will not be too late to go to Guanzhong."

Thus, for three full months, the imperial court failed to send any reinforcements, effectively allowing Qi Wannian to wage a massive siege on Niyang. In Jia Mi's view, the disparity in strength between the two sides made the outcome self-evident. Given Liu Xian's character, he would undoubtedly die in Niyang, inflicting heavy casualties on the rebels. This was the so-called worthy death! Upon receiving the news of Liu Xian's death, he would undoubtedly hold a funeral no less lavish than Zhou Chu's, expressing his grief.

As for Suo Jing, Li Han and others, he didn't care about them at all.

As time went by, Jia Mi still hadn't received any news of Liu Xian's death. He couldn't help but feel anxious and asked repeatedly, but the result was always the same: the rebels were besieging Niyang very fiercely, but had not yet broken through the city.

This made him a little suspicious, and then, unusually, he did not discuss literature in Jingu Garden, but instead talked about military affairs.

Lu Ji said, "Qi Wannian's thinking was quite shrewd. He knew Chang'an was difficult to attack and defend, so he thought it would be better to take Niyang and eliminate the worry from both sides. But he had only been in rebellion for a year, and while his men were not a ragtag bunch, they were still a mixed bag. Attacking a city is far beyond the capability of such an army. As long as Lord Suo defends the city properly and keeps the morale of the army high, we should be able to resist."

Ouyang Jian also approached Jia Mi at this time and said, "I've heard that Niyang is one of the few fortified cities in Guanzhong. It shouldn't be so easy to capture."

These remarks made Jia Mi anxious. He couldn't help but think: Did I give Liu Xian a chance to achieve extraordinary feats?

Of course, this idea made no sense. He had never been to the battlefield and didn't know how terrible the fighting was.

When Shi Chao heard the news, he recalled his childhood agreement with Liu Xian and couldn't help but lament to himself, "Alas, we agreed to work together on the frontier to achieve merit, so why am I the one who fell behind? When Pi Ji returns to Luoyang, I'm afraid I'll be behind him!"

After hearing these words, Jia Mi felt so much in his heart that no words can describe it.

Finally, in late June, the battle report from Niyang finally reached Luoyang, via the Western Expedition Army Headquarters. Liu Xian detailed the course of the battle in his report, taking responsibility for Li Han's unauthorized request for aid from the Xianbei, and requesting the court to assess his merits and demerits.

When the battle report reached the Secretariat, almost everyone was in disbelief. After all, according to the report, over the past five months, the over 10,000 Jin troops in Niyang, allied with the Xianbei, had killed or wounded nearly 40,000 rebels, while suffering fewer than 5,000 of their own casualties. This was undoubtedly the first major victory since Qi Wannian's uprising. But it was accomplished entirely outside the control of the imperial court. How could anyone maintain their dignity?

But the truth was, the plaque contained signatures not only from Liu Xian, Suo Jing, and Li Han, but also from Sima Rong, Xiahou Jun, Fu Zhi, and Jie Xi, all in Chang'an. This proved that the Western Expeditionary Army had verified Liu Xian's claims. Jia Mi could no longer tolerate this, and he angrily declared, "Liu Xian is merely the heir of a fallen nation. How can we allow him to continue his upward climb? Where will the imperial court's dignity be then?"

Shu Han had been lost for over thirty years, its political foundation essentially shattered. But in a world where family background is paramount, allowing a descendant of a fallen nation to rise above the rest of the elite would undoubtedly severely damage the reputations of the other prominent figures. Especially someone like Jia Mi, who had publicly humiliated Liu Xian, would undoubtedly be ridiculed in private.

"If I had been cruel back then, he would have died in the imperial prison immediately!" Jia Mi murmured.

Yes, six years ago in the imperial prison, if Jia Mi had not treated Liu Xian with a toy mentality, he would have died long ago. Afterwards, Jia Mi threw him to the frontier with a cruel mentality. Unexpectedly, six years later, this man actually fought his way out from Guanxi.

After the officials of the three provinces had reviewed the notice, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Zhang Hua said:

"No matter what, this is a good thing. The situation in Guanzhong was originally urgent, but now they have saved the day. Sending reinforcements can be postponed until next year."

"We can also postpone the reward issue for now and discuss it in detail when we send troops next year."

Zhang Hua's opinion was that Liu Xian and his men should still be rewarded. After all, the court lacked time, not manpower, to quell the rebellion. Last year's floods in Guandong had inflicted enormous damage on the court's finances. As long as this year and next year were over and the Guandong provinces could collect taxes normally, they could mobilize their vast resources and manpower to suppress the rebellion. This battle had precisely bought the court precious time.

However, considering the impact on the court and Jia Mi's reputation, it is not appropriate to reward immediately. It may be delayed for a while. It will not be too late to make plans after fully consulting the opinions of all parties.

Although Jia Mi hated Liu Xian, he also knew that with the Jin army suffering a series of defeats, he couldn't hold him accountable for his unauthorized actions. He could only reward him. Otherwise, who would still serve the court? Furthermore, the Hou faction was currently mired in the turmoil of their defeat in Guanzhong. With this victory report, he could at least give an explanation to the princes.

He frowned and looked at everyone for a while, then said, "That's fine. Let's publish this information first."

Jia Mi was about to dismiss the meeting, but the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Chen Zhun, immediately asked, "Duke Lu, this notice mentions how the famine in Guanxi will be dealt with."

The atmosphere in the field suddenly turned cold.

Needless to say, everyone present knew that Guanzhong was in the grip of famine. Qi Wannian had been wreaking havoc in Guanzhong for a full year, leaving the people of two prefectures and ten counties unable to farm. Hundreds of thousands of refugees had fled, and reports from Hanzhong and Hongnong reported large numbers of refugees entering the region to beg for food. The extent of the famine in Guanzhong was self-evident.

Because everyone knew about the famine in Guanzhong, no one mentioned it at the meeting. After all, the country simply couldn't accommodate so many refugees.

During periods of great prosperity, local famines occurred, and the state could provide unconditional relief, but this was a rare occurrence. Early in his life, after the conquest of Shu, Liu Song, as an official in the prime minister's office, inspected Shu and discovered that the people of Shu were starving and the land was destitute after the war. Without Sima Zhao's permission, he took the initiative to open the granaries and distribute grain, partly as relief and partly as a loan, saving many lives. However, for acting on his own initiative, he was stripped of his title and rank.

Therefore, when the country encounters a disaster, the more common situation is that the measures taken are similar to the measures taken to deal with the Kanto flood last year, which is to exempt ordinary people affected by the disaster from taxes for one year and at the same time provide them with low-interest loans to be repaid in three years.

But this was only implemented to cover a single year of disaster. In areas like Guanzhong, destined for repeated disasters, a single year of loans wouldn't solve the problem. More ruthlessly, the imperial court viewed these areas as bottomless pits. Farmers who lost their land would never be able to recover their grain loans, and if they encountered barbarian slaughter or bandit looting, they would die on the spot, rendering the loans completely wasted.

Therefore, the officials in the court unanimously chose to turn a blind eye. As long as no one mentioned it, they let these people make a living based on their own abilities.

But this treatment was somewhat too undignified. After all, the people of Guanzhong were all subjects of the imperial court. If anyone were to mention that the emperor and his officials turned a blind eye to the people's suffering, it would greatly undermine the prestige of the imperial court.

Chen Zhun, a descendant of the renowned Yingchuan Chen clan, was not a true member of the Hou Party. Having previously cultivated his prestige in his homeland of Yingchuan, he enjoyed considerable prestige and close connections with the various princes, a figure similar to Xiahou Jun. Following the Wannian Rebellion of Qi, Jia Nanfeng promoted him to the Secretariat to appease public opinion. While Chen Zhun held a high position, he held little real power. Even so, as long as he avoided the infamy of his position, he could still cause considerable trouble at court.

Facing Chen Zhun's question, Jia Mi could not pretend not to hear it. He could only ask Zhang Hua expressionlessly: "Mr. Mao, do you have any solution?"

Zhang Hua was also troubled by this problem. He stared at the rooftops and said, "Once this year's taxes and rents are collected, we can open the warehouses to provide relief next year. But it will definitely be a drop in the bucket. The most urgent thing is to save lives. Many of the taboos of the past can no longer be considered for the time being."

Jia Mi said impatiently: "Just say it!"

Zhang Hua then said, "We can issue an imperial decree to Guanzhong prohibiting the selling of flesh and blood. At the same time, we can order wealthy merchants from Guandong to come to Hongnong and provide relief through trade. This way, the dilemma will be resolved."

As soon as these words were spoken, the East Hall fell into dead silence.

This method went far beyond the moral code of ethics. Family love, with moral principles at the forefront, had always been frowned upon by the government. While commoners often sold their children in secret, at least the government outwardly prohibited it. Zhang Hua's suggestion was for the government to take the initiative and order wealthy merchants from Guandong to come to Guanzhong to buy and sell slaves. This would both bring in food and reduce the burden on the government.

But who could understand this? Merchants don't work without profit, and the slave trade inevitably leads to massive casualties. By doing this, the government simply demonstrated that it had come up with a solution. The resulting tragedies were not the government's responsibility.

"Let's quickly select the generals for the reinforcements." Chen Zhun had no better solution, so he lowered his head and said, "The sooner we capture Qi Wannian and eliminate this threat to the people, the sooner the country and people's livelihood can return to normal."

With the exception of Jia Mi, the expressions of the other court officials gradually tightened. For the next few days, they discussed the selection of generals to suppress the rebellion. (End of this chapter)