Has the Han Dynasty been restored today?

Chapter 108 Protectorate

Along the official road from Wudu to Hanzhong, a constant stream of Di people, messengers, and soldiers migrated, making the once desolate and sparsely populated Wudu County appear increasingly densely populated.

Wuxing City, a key location in northwestern Hanzhong, has become quite busy and crowded.

News of Wei Jun Niu Jin's retreat quickly reached Mianyang.

For the Shu Han court, this was the first real achievement after the emperor moved to Hanzhong and established the Hanzhong Administrative Office.

On the one hand, they forced back the Wei army's probing attacks, and on the other hand, they relocated two tribes from the vicinity of Xiabian and Wudu.

The Qiangduan and Fushuang tribes together comprised approximately seven or eight thousand households and forty to fifty thousand Di people. Naturally, some members of these tribes were unwilling to come, and others who lived in remote areas hid away. But even if we calculate based on more than 80%, it would still add about forty thousand people to Hanzhong, which would certainly be considered a political achievement! Both Emperor Liu Shan and the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Fei Yi were very satisfied with this result.

According to the imperial court's arrangement, these 40,000 Di people were to be settled between Chenggu, Lecheng, and Chiban on the east side of Hanzhong. On the one hand, they could cultivate the land that had been abandoned for many years since Zhang Lu, and on the other hand, they could be used as a reserve of soldiers and laborers.

However, for the State of Wei, Qiang Duan and Fu Shuang were both Di people from within Wudu Commandery but outside the Wei territory. Inviting the two leaders to Chencang was just a matter of convenience. Whether they came or not, it would not have much impact on Sima Yi's actions of bestowing titles upon the Qiang and Hu peoples.

One could even say that the Wei Kingdom sent troops to Wudu, and the Shu Kingdom, in its fear, hastily dispatched troops to counter it, even relocating the Di people of Wudu to Hanzhong out of sheer terror.

Both the Han and Wei states viewed the same event as a victory, and were quite satisfied with each other.

Win-win.

Even Qiang Duan and Fu Shuang weren't too disappointed. Although they didn't receive the marquisate from Wei, they each received a rank of 1,000 shi, which was better than the lives of the Wudu Di people who were relocated to Guanzhong and Tianshui by Cao Cao in the past.

This is a win-win-win situation.

The relocation was slower than expected. Taking into account the speed of resettlement and the transportation of supplies, as well as the need to reduce the cost of transport vehicles, the imperial court took more than twenty days to complete the relocation from the day it began.

Jiang Wei, who was stationed by the Gudao River, stayed at his camp for more than ten days longer than planned.

Since there was no one left in Xiabian and Hechi, Jiang Wei, following the orders of the Ministry of War, completely demolished the long-abandoned ruins of Hechi on his return journey.

The Ministry of War dispatched another commander with a thousand troops to Xiabian to repair the city walls and station them there. From then on, the imperial court added another garrison in Wudu, bringing the total number of garrisons to four, including the existing Jianwei, Wudu, and Wuxing garrisons.

Jiang Wei's campaign lasted more than thirty days, and he returned to Mianyang in early March.

During this period, Emperor Liu Shan, Minister Fei Yi, and the Ministry of War had basically made a decision to send troops out around the beginning of April.

According to the imperial court's plan, this military expedition was to be led by Minister of War Xu Yun, who was in charge of all the armies, with General Wu Ban as the commander-in-chief. The 20,000 troops included General Wu Ban's own 6,000 men, General Wang Ping's own 4,000 men, Jiang Wei's 4,000 Tiger Infantry, General Shangguan Chou's 4,000 soldiers, General Mi Wei's 1,000 Tiger Cavalry, and General Liu Yin's 1,000 former Chengdu guards.

In conclusion, for the Shu Han court, this kind of army was the best configuration they could currently offer.

On March 0th, in the morning, Chen Zhi was still reviewing documents in his duty room when a series of careful, rhythmic knocks came from outside the door.

"Enter."

Chen Zhi didn't even look up, but called out directly.

Even within the officialdom, there are many unwritten rules for doing things. Take something as simple as knocking on a door, for example. A junior official should knock gently at first, and only if there is no response should the knocking gradually become stronger. If one were to knock forcefully from the start, it would be considered impolite.

However, if it is someone in a similar position, they can simply knock and push the door open to enter, which is quite different.

The clerk stood inside the door and bowed, saying, "I report to Minister Chen that Minister Xu of the Ministry of War wishes to invite Minister Chen over for a discussion."

"Okay, I understand." Chen Zhi nodded lightly.

After the minor official left, Chen Zhi continued working for a while longer before getting up to accept the invitation and leave.

"Greetings, Minister Xu." Chen Zhi entered the main hall of the Ministry of War and bowed respectfully.

"Fengzong has arrived? Please take a seat and let's talk." Xu Yun said with a hearty laugh, "Although we are in the duty room, it's just the two of us, so there's no need to be so formal."

"Greetings, Uncle." Chen Zhi smiled and nodded, cupped his hands in greeting, and then naturally found a seat on the left that was closer to him and sat down.

Xu Yun is in his early forties and is of the same generation as Fei Yi and Dong Yun. About ten years ago, when they were all in their twenties, the three of them were renowned young talents in Chengdu.

As for the title "Uncle" that Chen Zhi used, Xu Yun and Chen Zhi actually had some connection.

Xu Yun was also from Runan, but his family was located in Shangcai County, Runan Prefecture. They were a branch of the Xu family from Pingyu, Runan, that had separated eighty or ninety years ago. He was a distant relative of Situ Xu Jing, after five degrees of kinship.

If they were still in the Central Plains, given the extensive branch of the Xu family in Runan, these two Xu families wouldn't even be considered one family. However, after arriving in the distant Yizhou, there weren't many people from the same prefecture in the Central Plains, let alone distant relatives from the same prefecture or neighboring counties.

This definitely counts as one family!

When Xu Jing was alive, Xu Yun had already discussed their generational relationships, and Xu Yun was to address Xu Jing as his clan uncle. Having an additional clan uncle, Situ, was naturally a good thing for the young Xu Yun at that time, and he couldn't possibly refuse to acknowledge him.

From Chen Zhi's perspective, addressing Xu Yun as "Uncle Xu" is quite appropriate, since Chen Zhi's surname is not actually Xu.

Xu Yun didn't hesitate and went straight to the point, asking directly, "After Jiang Boyue returned to Mianyang yesterday, the court's military deployment plan was finalized and issued last night, with my Protectorate's armies in charge. Has His Majesty or the Minister already told you?"

7

"Yes." Chen Zhi nodded. "This is my first time accompanying the army, and I hope you will give me some guidance, Uncle."

The position of Protector of the Army, or the duty of Protector of the Armies, was an official post responsible for coordinating the cooperation between multiple generals when the court dispatched troops.

When Cao Cao was fighting Yuan Shao, the three generals Zhang Liao, Yue Jin, and Yu Jin were unwilling to cooperate because they had each made contributions and were of similar rank. Cao Cao then appointed Zhao Yan as his military advisor to coordinate the joint operations of Zhang Liao, Yue Jin, and Yu Jin.

Later, when Cao Cao attacked the Red Cliffs, Cao Cao appointed Zhao Yan as Protector of the Army, in charge of coordinating the seven armies of Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Lu Zhao, and Feng Kai.

This was an excellent improvement in the system, and the Shu Han court adopted it.