Northern Prefecture Rivers and Mountains

Chapter 30: First Arrival
In late autumn, both sides of the Yangtze River become bare, and all you can see is yellow-brown land.

The weeds and trees on the land had long been cut down.

This autumn is obviously colder than last year. It is only September, but the river breeze makes people shiver. Liu Zhong and Liu Zhen have already wrapped themselves in straw mats.

After crossing the river, I could clearly feel the difference between the north and south of the river.

First, there were too many people, with thatched houses everywhere, crowding the river bank. Second, there were corpses everywhere, with no one to collect them. The bones were black and no one knew how long they had been dead.

Thirdly, there were clerks and soldiers everywhere, parading through the streets.

After the Yongjia Rebellion, refugees from the north moved south. In the fourth year of Xianhe reign of Emperor Cheng of Jin, overseas counties were set up to manage them. At that time, four prefectures, namely You, Ji, Qing and Bing, were set up in Guangling in the north of the Yangtze River. Southern Xuzhou was set up in Jingkou in the Yangtze River. Southern Yuzhou was set up in Juhu in Huainan County. Liang, Qin and Yong prefectures were set up in Xiangyang one after another.

The overseas states and counties had no real land, but had a large population, so they were constantly in dispute with the local people.

Over the past seventy years, more and more overseas counties and prefectures have been established, overlapping with each other, and even the government does not know their respective boundaries.

With the collapse of Di Qin, more and more refugees moved south, and Jiangbei became increasingly chaotic.

In the small city of Guangling, there are four states, namely You, Ji, Qing and Bing, as well as the General Zhenglu's Mansion. Naturally, there are more monks than porridge, and the pressure of survival is enormous.

Even when Huan Wen implemented the Gengxu Tuduan, he bypassed the two counties of Guangling and Jinling.

There were so many government offices in Guangling City that Liu Daogui searched for two hours before he found the General Zhenglu's Mansion in the north city. He was only allowed to enter after showing his certificate.

I thought that some colleagues would come to greet me, but unexpectedly, there was only an old soldier with gray hair and a crooked mouth, who led me to a dilapidated courtyard in the west wing.

A piece of the courtyard gate was missing and half of the house inside collapsed.

A few rats cocked their heads in the ruins, looking at everyone...

"You all look like you will be rich and powerful, and you will definitely have a bright future. Let me first say congratulations." The old soldier said as he stretched out his hand like a chicken claw.

Liu Zun was confused, "What's this for?"

"Hey, I'm an old man, poor and destitute, with no food or clothes..."

Liu Daogui looked at the thick linen clothes on him, then looked at the patches on his own clothes, feeling inexplicably ironic. However, since he had just arrived and was completely in the dark, it would be better for him to keep a low profile, so he gave him twenty coins.

Unexpectedly, the crooked-mouthed old soldier looked at me with disdain, "It seems you must be from a small family. The last person who joined the army was given a full ten thousand coins."

"Old man, I think you are tired of living." Liu Zun didn't have such a good temper. He and Liu Heibin drew their ring-handled swords on the spot, one on the left and the other on the right, looking ferocious.

"You..." The old soldier's face changed.

The barbarians fear power but not virtue, and the same is true for villains.

Liu Daogui stepped forward to stop the two men. "Your eyesight is not bad. We are indeed a small family, but we have a long way to go. Let's make friends today."

Being an official is like doing business. Harmony brings wealth. There is no need to embarrass everyone.

"You'd better join the army...you have great courage...I, an old man, just spoke out of turn." This guy looked like a sly old man, and he went down the stairs.

"You just said your last term was in the army. Where is he now?"

"Hey..." The old soldier smiled crookedly and looked Liu Daogui up and down.

Liu Zun and Liu Daogui had lived together for more than ten years and had long since become close friends. Liu Zun pointed at his face and cursed, "If you have to fart, just fart. Don't play tricks in front of me."

The aggressive ones are afraid of the stupid ones, the cunning ones are afraid of the ruthless ones, and this old soldier is the same. He can't be persuaded by the nice words, so he has to teach him a lesson.

"He died... Last month, he was punished by... Envoy Huan for neglecting his duties. He couldn't bear it and died..." A trace of gloating flashed across the old soldier's eyes.

Liu Daogui was stunned. Although the Zhongbing Canjun was a subordinate of the General Zhenglu, he was also an official of the ninth rank in the court. Huan Hong had no power to hold the imperial seal, so how could he beat someone to death?

It seemed that the cold reception he received today wasn't accidental, but rather a deliberate act of intimidation. Wherever there are people, there are rivers and lakes. The Chief Clerk, Secretary, and Recorder under the General of the Expedition's Office were ranked above the rank of a middle-ranking soldier. If they were successful, they could rise to the sixth rank.

Among them, the Chief Secretary was in charge of various departments within the General's Office, and the Sima was in charge of military and political affairs. He was the immediate superior of Liu Daogui, a military officer.

In the past, people in Jingkou fought openly for survival. Now that they have become corrupt officials, open fighting is inevitable, and the covert fighting will only become more intense.

It has always been like this since the founding of the Jin Dynasty. From top to bottom, there has been constant internal strife. They are best at bullying among their own people and dealing with the Hu people. Even if there are a few famous generals who are good at fighting, they either die in the internal strife or are angered to death.

The more famous ones include Zhou Chu, Zhou Qi, Gou Xi, Zu Ti, Xie Xuan and others, and there are probably many more who are not famous.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Liu Daogui adjusted his mindset and believed that the strong never complain about the environment.

Huan Hong came from a high-ranking family, so it was impossible for him to do everything personally like Zhuge Wuhou. There were no such people in those days, and there was a need for corrupt officials like Liu Daogui to do the work.

Liu Daogui led everyone to clean up the courtyard.

Although the courtyard is dilapidated, it is much better than the Liu family's house which is penniless.

The desk in the main room was piled with documents, covered with a thick layer of dust. They were probably military affairs that the previous soldier had not had time to deal with.

With these things, Liu Daogui can find some clues.

While it was still early, I picked up a copy, shook off the dust on it, and read it carefully.

The above record is about the Zhao and Sun military households in Niujiaobei, who fought over irrigation water in April of this year, resulting in 34 casualties. The incident was so serious that 37 Zhao households became bandits, and 41 Sun households with over 200 people fled to the State of Yan...

A pond is a field with water, which is often used as a settlement for military households.

Wei inherited the Han system, and Jin inherited the Wei system, both of which implemented the Chinese and foreign military systems.

Military households were set up on the border and were given some land to support themselves. When a major war broke out, the military households would send men to fight.

However, the status of military households was extremely low, not much different from that of servants and slaves. They had to risk their lives during wars, and guard the border and farm when there was no war. When the father died, the son would inherit, and when the elder brother died, the younger brother would inherit, and they lived in poverty.

Ordinary people were unwilling to marry their daughters to them.

The fighting among nearly eighty military households at Niujiaobei was by no means a trivial matter.

At the very least, it will cause unrest among other military households, and at worst, it will trigger a rebellion.

But this incident happened in April, and now it is the end of September, almost half a year, and it has not been resolved yet.

The bandits were not suppressed, and the defeated troops fleeing north were not pursued, so it just dragged on like this...

And this isn't the first one, there will be more of this kind of shit to come.

Entangled with other overseas Chinese states.

As for the training of soldiers, not a single word was mentioned.

It took Liu Daogui two full hours to finish reading all the documents, and he felt that the General Zhenglu's Mansion was in shabby condition.

It would have been fine if most of the military households had fled, but the core soldiers were not even fully staffed.

The four divisions, front, back, left, and right, nominally had 5,400 regular soldiers, but only the front division, led by Huan Hong's trusted followers, was fully staffed. The other three divisions only had 300 to 500 soldiers. All four divisions combined had a total of only 2,600 men...

When Huan Chong was alive, the General's Office was one of the mainstays and had participated in the Battle of Feishui. But only six or seven years had passed and it had become like this.

Without the huge external threat of Di Qin, the Jin Dynasty no longer even put on a show.

(End of this chapter)