Han officials

Chapter 206 The Price of Troubled Times [4K]

In June, the military chariots were ready.

Four sturdy horses are used to carry the usual clothes.

In the cool pavilion, a faint heat seeped in through the gaps in the bamboo curtains, and the constant chirping of cicadas in the ears added a bit of dryness.

However, Wei Zhe didn't care at all. He was enjoying eating a bowl of cold noodles.

Wow~ You know what, this cold cake mixed with sesame oil, pepper and soy sauce tastes simply amazing!
The so-called cold noodles are actually cold noodles, mostly made from wheat.

At present, the distinction between soup noodles and noodles is not very clear. For example, the noodles in Wei Zhe's bowl were cut into thin pieces according to his requirements. The chef then cooked them and refrigerated them in a well for an hour. They tasted so refreshing and comfortable that they could be called a top-notch summer food.

For example, at this moment, Xi Zhicai and Guo Yuan were each holding a bowl of cold noodle cake and eating it with relish.

However, their tastes are completely different. Xi Zhicai likes to eat it with pickled dogwood, while Guo Yuan prefers finely chopped water shield. As for fruit wine, they both like it very much.

Of course, these two people didn't come here on purpose to get a free meal, they just happened to meet.

Now that they were here, Wei Zhe naturally couldn't let his men talk on an empty stomach.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Wei Zhe took the two of them for a leisurely stroll in the corridor.

Hearing the occasional tinkle of copper bells from the eaves, Xi Zhicai couldn't help but praise, "The chef in your mansion truly possesses the talent of Yi Ya. Even a simple soup noodle can be made so delicious."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe laughed and said, "Why, are you targeting him again? Then take him back."

Unexpectedly, Xi Zhicai bowed and said, "Thank you for your reward, sir. I would be honored to refuse it."

Seeing him look so shameless and lazy, Wei Zhe was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

But since Xi Zhicai likes it, just give it to him. It’s not difficult to make anyway.

In comparison, Guo Yuan was more cunning and directly sent his own chef to the theater to learn.

It can be predicted that it won’t be long before this kind of cold noodles will become popular in Jixian County.

Jokes aside, after a few jokes, Guo Yuan got down to business.

"General Zhong has led his troops south and has already captured Leling County, Ban County, Xipingchang County, Yanci County, and other areas in the eastern part of Pingyuan County. Captain Wei's navy has also successfully landed in Donglai and is heading west, having already captured Huang County, Dongmu County, and Muping County."

Wei Zhe was not surprised by this. Since the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou attacked from four directions, Qingzhou was naturally empty.

In comparison, he cared more about whether he could gain a foothold in Qingzhou, and this was also the purpose of Guo Yuan's visit this time.

There is no way. Qingzhou is in such a miserable state that the farmland in such a vast area is almost deserted.

Except for some dangerous places with steep terrain, it is impossible to farm in other places.

Because even if they work hard to farm, their crops will be taken away when the harvest comes.

Without a common leader, there was no order at all among the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

Under such circumstances, even the fort owners who have managed to survive to this day live a miserable life.

As a result, the biggest difficulty for the two armies of Zhong Hu and Wei Muhua was not to capture cities, but to restore order, resume production, and most importantly, resettle the refugees.

At this point, Guo Yuan added, "The same is true of Zhou Yu, the governor of Qingzhou whom Jizhou recommended. Although he controlled the western counties of Pingyuan Commandery, he had previously been afraid to penetrate Qingzhou. It was only after the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou bypassed Gaotang County and entered Yanzhou that he began to recruit refugees and re-establish their communities."

Zhou Yu, the governor of Qingzhou, knew that whether he could capture Qingzhou was irrelevant, but if the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou were allowed to enter Ganling State from Pingyuan County, Yecheng would be extremely dissatisfied with him. After all, Yuan Shao had appointed him as the governor of Qingzhou in order to protect the prefectures and counties east of Jizhou.

But now Zhou Yu is also in a headache. Even if he has the Danyang soldiers in his hands, they are useless.

"Qingzhou's strategy lies in farming, not war!" Guo Yuan explained on the long corridor, "Qingzhou's people are now all traitors. If we can't stabilize the local area, even if we occupy the counties, it won't last long."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe fell silent. After a moment, he asked, "What do you want to do?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Yuan's eyes lit up, and he quickly bowed and said, "The five Liaodong counties have been recuperating for many years, their people are prosperous, and their granaries are plentiful. The surplus of Liaozhou can truly make up for the deficiency of Qingzhou! As long as the people of Donglai County can live and work in peace and contentment again, there is no need for a large-scale military campaign. The counties of Qingzhou can be conquered with a single edict!"

"Use the grain from Liaozhou to relieve the famine in Qingzhou?" Wei Zhe couldn't help but frown when he heard this.

It’s not that he was reluctant to give up the food, but he was considering the feasibility of this suggestion.

Indeed, Liaodong's geographical location is indeed a more suitable choice.

But... the food in Liaodong didn't come from the wind, did it?

After pacing for a while, Wei Zhe slowly shook his head and said, "Zini, the world has changed."

Looking at the maple leaves drifting down the stream not far away, Wei Zhe sighed softly, "I know you love the people like your own children, but in troubled times, you should use harsh punishments. Simply being kind and righteous won't do."

Guo Yuan wanted to explain after hearing this, but Wei Zhe waved his hand.

"No need to say more. Since Qingzhou can't distinguish between the common people and the traitors, there's no need to rush to re-establish the township community. It's better to set aside all the land for military farms."

Yes, this time Wei Zhe is planning to treat Qingzhou as a large collective farm.

By now, most of Qingzhou's four million people have already fled, and only two or three tenths remain.

After years of devastation by the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, the local nobles and powerful people in Qingzhou had become extremely weak.

What Qingzhou needs at this time is order, and it doesn’t matter what kind of order it is.

In the current situation, farming is obviously more efficient than allowing them to slowly resume production on their own.

Of course, when the time is right, Wei Zhe will definitely restore normal county order in Qingzhou.

But now, Wei Zhe will definitely not miss this opportunity to completely control Qingzhou.

After hearing what Wei Zhe said, Guo Yuan was surprised but had to admit that this was indeed a solution.

As the former head of the Liaodong Military Farm Department, he knew better than anyone how efficient planned military farms were.

But then he couldn't help but frown and said, "If that's the case, I'm afraid we'll need a large number of military farm officials and agricultural promotion envoys. This is not a small number!"

Wei Zhe couldn't help but nodded when he heard this. Indeed, no matter how good a plan is, it still needs people to execute it.

"...How many people are left in Qingzhou now?" Wei Zhe turned around and looked at Guo Yuan.

However, Guo Yuan was stunned. He really couldn't answer this question.

After a moment's hesitation, he said uncertainly, "Qingzhou used to have a registered population of approximately four million. However, after years of war and losses, including those who fled, died, and were injured... there should still be around one million people in the six counties of Qingzhou."

Of course, Guo Yuan's estimate was just an estimate, and even the people of Qingzhou themselves didn't know the actual number. Even so, Wei Zhe still couldn't help but feel a headache.

Although it is indeed sad that Qingzhou has fallen to this point, it is not easy to resettle so many people.

It is said that Cao Cao's Qingzhou army was also a farming army. It is unknown how he managed to properly settle the million Qingzhou Yellow Turbans after surrendering them. Even if the Central Plains is not short of literate scholars, it would be difficult to suddenly provide so many farming officials.

You don't know how difficult something is until you experience it. At this moment, Wei Zhe admired Prime Minister Cao very much.

Finally, after some discussion between Wei Zhe, Xi Zhicai and Guo Yuan, they managed to come up with a solution.

In addition to continuing to select suitable scholars from academies, deputy positions in various military farming departments can also be directly converted to regular positions.

In this way, as long as Zhong Hu and Wei Muhua control the speed of conquering the city, they should still have time.

Only after solving this big problem did Wei Zhe have the mind to care about other issues.

"By the way, what about the remaining Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou who attacked?"

Xi Zhicai immediately replied, "The 300,000 Yellow Turban bandits that raided Taishan Commandery have been repelled by Taishan Governor Ying Shao. The Qingzhou Yellow Turban bandits that raided Xuzhou have also been defeated. Now, the two groups of Yellow Turban bandits, totaling 500,000, have entered Yanzhou."

What’s interesting is that it was not Tao Qian who resolved the Yellow Turban invasion in Qingzhou.

Because Liu Bei, as a guest general, volunteered after the Yellow Turbans entered Qingzhou, Tao Qian naturally wanted to help.

Originally, Tao Qian had no confidence in Liu Bei. After all, he and Kong Rong were driven out of the Beihai Kingdom by the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou. They were defeated generals under the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou. Such a record was really not convincing.

The reason why Tao Qian agreed to Liu Bei's request to fight was simply to first wear down the Yellow Turban rebels' fighting spirit and avoid too many casualties among his own troops.

However, what Tao Qian did not expect was that Liu Bei, who had no logistical pressure, actually won victory after victory.

If Liu Bei had not had too few troops, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei would have almost captured and killed the enemy leader.

This made Tao Qian overjoyed, and he immediately allocated 4,000 Danyang soldiers to Liu Bei's command, and they repelled the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou in one fell swoop.

Although Tao Qian was a Confucian scholar, he grew up in Danyang County. Therefore, after taking office as the governor of Xuzhou, he gradually recruited nearly 30,000 elite warriors from his hometown of Danyang County, and only then did he secure his position as the governor of Xuzhou.

From this perspective, Tao Qian really admired Liu Bei as a foreign general.

This time, Liu Bei's luck finally turned, and he soon became prosperous in Xuzhou.

However, although Liu Bei was very proud, Kong Rong, who was also living in Xuzhou, was embarrassed.

Originally, the civil and military officials of Xuzhou thought that Kong Rong's subordinates were incompetent, but now it seems that it is his boss who is incompetent!
For a time, there were even sayings circulating in the streets of Xuzhou that "Kong Beihai has great ambitions but little talent" and "A pearl was secretly thrown away by Liu Xuande".

Unable to bear the humiliation, Kong Rong left Xuzhou in anger and went to the court in Chang'an.

Hearing this, Wei Zhe couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Kong Beihai has great ambitions but little talent, and Liu Xuande is secretly given a pearl? Hahaha, what a mean-spirited remark!"

To be honest, Wei Zhe did not expect that Liu Bei could still succeed in Xuzhou.

But he changed his mind and didn't find it strange anymore. After all, Liu Bei was no ordinary person, and he had brave generals like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei following him wholeheartedly. It would be strange if he couldn't stand out!
As the saying goes:
How can a golden fish be kept in a pond?
When faced with a storm, he transforms into a dragon.

After all these years of trials and tribulations, what Liu Bei lacks now is actually just an east wind!
However, in addition to expressing his feelings, Wei Zhe was more concerned about the movements of the other 500,000 Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

Compared with the million Yellow Turbans in the past, the pressure on Yanzhou this time is obviously much smaller, and Liu Dai should not repeat the same mistakes.

However, Wei Zhe was still somewhat worried, so after hesitating for a moment, he gave the order: "Send a letter to Yanzhou Governor Liu Dai in my name, and advise him not to be careless and to be extremely cautious during the battle."

Although Xi Zhicai felt a little surprised when he heard this, he still bowed and accepted the order.

……

On the other hand, while the Wei army was advancing rapidly in Qingzhou, the progress in Bingzhou was not very smooth.

Because from a geographical point of view, Jizhou can enter Shangdang County and Taiyuan County through the Eight Passes of Taihang Mountain.

In contrast, Bingzhou is only connected to Yanmen County and Youzhou.

However, the core areas of Bingzhou are basically in the southern part of Bingzhou, namely Shangdang and Taiyuan counties.

As for the northern counties of Bingzhou, they are almost the poorest places in the entire Han Dynasty, even poorer than Liaodong.

If Wei Zhe had a geographical advantage in Qingzhou, then it was completely the opposite in Bingzhou.

However, the current situation in Bingzhou is even more miserable than that in Qingzhou.

Even though Qingzhou has been repeatedly ravaged, it still has a population of over one million today, but the nine counties of Bingzhou had a population of no more than 690,000 in previous years.

Although it is called a state, in reality the population of the entire state is only similar to that of Zhuo County.

After the death of the previous emperor, the Han Dynasty was in turmoil, the various princes fought endlessly, and Bingzhou was repeatedly invaded.

The Qiang and Hu from Liangzhou and the Xiongnu from the grasslands took the opportunity to continuously invade the Han territory.

For example, the Shuofang County established by Emperor Qin Shi Huang was almost completely destroyed as the Southern Xiongnu continued to move south.

Today, the county seat of Shuofang County has been moved from Linrong County of Shuofang County to Wuyuan County, which means it is just an overseas location.

As for Shuofang County and its affiliated counties, they have all been reduced to ruins.

Similar to this is Shangjun in the west of Bingzhou.

In fact, as early as around the first year of Zhongping (184 AD), the Qiang and Hu people from Liangzhou plundered Shangjun.

As a result, the county seat of Shangjun had no choice but to move to Luoyang and set up counties again.

In other words, of the nine counties of Bingzhou, only seven, namely Taiyuan, Shangdang, Xihe, Yunzhong, Dingxiang, Yanmen and Wuyuan, are still under the control of the Han people.

Even within these counties, powerful families and Hu people often coexisted, and the situation was very complicated.

For example, after Emperor Liu Hong took power, in order to avoid the disaster caused by Dou Wu, Dou Tong, the then prefect of Yanmen, fled to the Xiongnu and later became a tribal leader.

General Dou Xian, who once led his troops over 3,000 miles out of the border to attack the Xiongnu in the north and recorded his merits at Yanran, was transformed from a Chinese to a barbarian and became a noble race of the Xiongnu.

In short, the northern part of Bingzhou is a place where Hu and Han people live together!

It was under these circumstances that Xu Rong and Zhang Liao led 5,000 Daijun garrison troops into Yanmen County...

(End of this chapter)