Another World Super Dimension Summoner

However, it was just the beginning. It was now the middle of winter, which was not suitable for an advance. In addition, the coalition forces were leaderless and were arguing over the position of leader, which meant that the battle had not officially started yet.

And in this calm before the storm, all internal reforms in Qingzhou continued to advance steadily. The borders were closed, but refugees were accepted in all directions and commercial travel was allowed. It acted as if it had no time to care about other things and had no intention of getting involved in the battle against Dong Zhuo.

Of course, as long as Yuan Shao, Han Fu, Bao Xin, Tao Qian and others were sane, they would not be fooled by this attitude. Therefore, no matter how harmless Qingzhou appeared, Yuan Shao and others did not relax their vigilance, which greatly tied up more than half of the anti-Dong coalition's forces.

At the same time, Yuan Shao and others saw that Qingzhou continued to absorb refugees, so they all drove the countless refugees who had become unsafe in their respective territories to Qingzhou.

Then Yuan Shao and others waited to see the joke.

Yuan Shao and others were actually very aware of the importance of population, but they had to be able to feed it. Currently, there were constant droughts and locust plagues. Most of the states and counties such as Qing, Ji, Yan, Yu, and Xu were suffering from famine, and the scope of the disaster was unprecedentedly wide. According to a rough estimate, there were at least tens of millions of people affected. Yuan Shao and others were worried that the large number of refugees in the country would cause trouble in the long run. Now Qingzhou was actually accepting refugees without limit without knowing the consequences. It was like finding a bed when you were sleepy. Yuan Shao and others didn't need to use much tricks. As long as they told the countless refugees that they would "get food" when they arrived in Qingzhou, they could easily drive the refugees out of their direct jurisdiction.

Yuan Shao and others thought that no matter how rich the Qingzhou governor's background was, he would certainly not be able to withstand the harm caused by tens of millions of refugees.

However, what stunned Yuan Shao and others was that while a terrifying number of refugees were being driven to Qingzhou one after another, the Qingzhou Qin army actually attacked from all sides. At first, Yuan Shao and others were scared half to death, but they soon discovered that these elite Qingzhou troops were not going to attack them, but were carrying a large amount of supplies to escort the refugees into Qingzhou along the way. It was simply unbelievable.

After discovering that Qingzhou seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of food, some people had some evil ideas. For example, Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei State in Yanzhou, could not help but attack a small group of Qin troops escorting refugees because the famine in the country was too severe.

Then, of course, the entire Jibei Kingdom was taken over by the Qin army in just a few days, and Bao Xin and his subordinates Yu Jin and others were all taken prisoner.

With Bao Xin's example, Yuan Shao and others immediately put away their greed and increased the supply of refugees. They wanted to see how many people Qingzhou could support.

Just like that, by the beginning of January of the following year, that is, the beginning of the first month of the first year of Chuping, Qingzhou, which originally had a population of only more than 8 million, had grown to nearly 20 million.

The large population also brought various problems, but with Qin Bin personally keeping an eye on it and providing unlimited money, food and material figures, there was no trouble.

Because of proper management, there was a large-scale infrastructure boom in all places under the jurisdiction of the Qin army. Countless people participated in building cities, repairing roads, building bridges, and reclaiming wasteland. Various handicrafts and light industrial workshops sprang up everywhere like mushrooms after a rain. In just one or two months, Qingzhou and the surrounding counties captured by the Qin army went from being a desperate place to thriving.

More importantly, a high-yield grain crop that could mature in about two months appeared in the Qin army's jurisdiction. When the first batch of off-season grain crops such as millet, sorghum, wheat, beans, and rice were harvested, and the yield per mu was determined to be several times that of the fertile land in other prefectures and counties in the Han territory, the people in the Qin army's jurisdiction were completely relieved, and they supported their monarch even more, even worshipping him as a god.

Of course, these scenes could not escape the planning of Yuan Shao and others, and even Dong Zhuo and others.

After all, Qingzhou did not prohibit the entry and exit of merchants and travelers, and it accepted refugees without restrictions. This meant that spies from all sides could easily enter the Qin army's jurisdiction to obtain intelligence. Qin Bin did not care about these things, and even sent spies to various states and counties in the Han court to openly and secretly publicize the benefits of Qingzhou, in order to create a contrast for the 200 million people in Han territory.

When Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and others learned about the situation in the Qin army's jurisdiction, they could not help but reveal expressions of disbelief. They even suspected that Qin Bin had the mark of heaven that could increase crop yields. At the same time, they also realized a problem, that is, if Qingzhou could be maintained in this way, then what was the point of their fighting?

Once the people's livelihood in Qingzhou stabilized, even a fool would know that the Qin army would attack cities everywhere. What would they do then? Destruction was basically a matter of time.

In this regard, by the end of the first month of the first year of Chuping, the war against Dong Zhuo that was supposed to begin had not made any progress. Instead, various forces began to secretly collude with Dong Zhuo. Judging from the trend, it would be sooner or later that this group of heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty would form an "anti-Qin alliance."

After receiving the news in Ju County, Qin Bin and Xiao Bai couldn't help but be stunned for a long time.

In a study room in the Ju County government, Xiao Bai looked at the letter in Qin Bin's hand that Lu Bu had secretly sent from Luoyang, and then looked at Qin Bin again, "Is this... going to be a six-nation alliance to fight against Qin?"

The content of the letter is not complicated. It just says that Lu Bu witnessed with his own eyes that Li Ru persuaded Dong Zhuo and the princes of Guandong to reconcile, and they conspired to unite to deal with Qingzhou.

"It seems so." Qin Bin nodded with a smile. He didn't expect it to turn out like this.

Xiao Bai pursed her lips and said, "We went too far and missed the battle to defeat Dong Zhuo. What a pity. There is no drama. How about letting Lu Bu kill Dong Zhuo in advance, so that there will be a power vacuum in Luoyang and attract the attention of the princes in Guandong?"

Xiaobai's words made Zhang Juzheng, Fan Zhongyan, Lu Zhi, Cai Yong and others who were present at the scene couldn't help but twitch their lips.

The reason they were here was because everything within the Qin army's jurisdiction was now on track, and everything was progressing smoothly and steadily. The military forces of each unit were gradually being freed up due to the new recruits. In addition, the famine in Yuzhou was getting worse, so they were thinking about whether they should take over Yuzhou or not, so they came together to ask for instructions.

As for why Lu Zhi was also here, it was of course because Lu Zhi suppressed his feelings towards the Han court, put the people first, and thus joined Qin Bin's army to contribute to the better future for the people of the world.

And like Cai Yong, Lu Zhi also wrote letters to their respective disciples and students, asking them to come and serve Qin Bin.

However, because the time is still short and the means of information transmission in this era are very limited and backward, so at present, only a few scholars from the states and counties near Qingzhou who are not recorded in history have come to surrender.

Let’s get back to the topic.

Qin Bin shook his head at Xiao Bai's suggestion. "No need. Now that we have established a firm foothold, we don't need to resort to such tactics."

Xiaobai shrugged, "Okay."

Qin Bin looked at Zhang Juzheng and the others again, "Shuda (Zhang Juzheng's courtesy name), it's no problem for you to take over Yuzhou, but if you want to take over Yuzhou, you can't avoid Yanzhou and Xuzhou. Are you mentally prepared for the workload to increase several times?"

After Qin Bin said this, Zhang Juzheng and others were cheered up and bowed and spoke in unison.

"We will not let you down, Lord!"

Qin Bin nodded slightly, "In that case, you go find Pengju and give me a relatively detailed plan to capture Yan, Xu, and Yu in three days."

"promise!"

Chapter 356: Architecture

At the beginning of February in the first year of Chuping, after reading the three-state attack plan proposed by Yue Fei and others, Qin Bin summoned the main military and political officials in his jurisdiction and held a meeting to make decisions for the Qin army, or to establish the military and political system under Qin Bin's command.

To put it bluntly, Qin Bin felt that the time was ripe and it was time to establish the state system, political system, and military system after the unification of the world.

These days, in addition to taking care of people's livelihood resettlement issues, he spent most of his time working on these frameworks.

During this meeting, Qin Bin basically finalized the future constitutional monarchy and highly centralized system.

Generally speaking, under Qin Bin, the cabinet, ministries, departments and agencies were set up as the central administrative agencies.

The cabinet has one chief minister and nine deputy ministers.

The ministry has one Shangshu and one Shangshu's attendant on the left and right.

The office has one chief secretary and one assistant secretary on the left and right.

The office shall have one director and one assistant on each side.

It also abandoned the Han court's method of distinguishing official ranks based on salary, and directly used the official rank of the 18th rank.

The chief minister is of the first rank, and the second minister is of the second rank.

The Shangshu was of the second rank, the Sizheng was of the fourth rank, and the Director was of the fifth rank.

Local institutions are divided into five levels: state, county, town, and village.

Each state has a governor, who is of the third rank.

The county has a county governor, who is of the fourth rank.

The county has a county magistrate, who is of the seventh rank.

The town has a mayor, who is of the ninth rank.

The village has a village chief who has no rank but only a salary.

I will not list in detail the officials under the central and local chief officials.

In terms of military system, Qin Bin and a group of generals worked together to come up with a military system that was both modern and ancient, both Chinese and foreign.

The national law clearly stipulates the separation of military and political affairs, and that the emperor is the supreme commander of the army.

Under Qin Bin's design, there would be no local army, only patrols and armed patrols. All troops were sent by the central government to local areas for garrison every three to five years.

The army was organized as follows: the emperor was the supreme commander, followed by the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Staff, and the Ministry of Quarterly Affairs (Logistics).

These three departments are all directly under Qin Bin personally.

Then there are the legions numbered starting from 1, such as the First Legion and the Second Legion.

There is one corps commander, two military officers, and other subordinate officials not listed in detail.

The corps commander-in-chief is at the same level as the provincial governor, and his military rank is major general.

There are only three levels and nine grades of military ranks: general, colonel, and lieutenant.

The corps is divided into brigades, battalions and teams.

The teams are divided into three levels: large, medium and small.

Generally speaking, 7 soldiers, including the squad leader, form a squad, 6 squads form a squadron, 6 squadrons form a battalion, and the minimum organization of a battalion is 6 battalions. Similarly, the minimum organization of a brigade is also 6 battalions.

A legion is generally composed of three brigades, with a total of about 30,000 combat and auxiliary troops.

After formally establishing the military and political organizational framework, Qin Bin appointed Zhang Juzheng as the first acting prime minister to form a cabinet, and appointed Yue Fei as the first acting minister of the Ministry of War to coordinate military affairs on behalf of Qin Bin.

Then the Qin army began a large-scale rectification operation in all the areas under its jurisdiction, which took almost a month.

Naturally, the many actions that Qin Bin disdained to conceal soon fell into the ears of Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and others. If Sima Zhao had not been born yet, Dong Zhuo and others would definitely say "Sima Zhao's intention is known to everyone" when talking about Qin Bin.

When Dong Zhuo and others learned that the Qin army had set up six new legions, the first legion was stationed near Ju County in Qingzhou, the fifth and sixth legions were stationed in Pingyuan County, facing Jizhou, and the second, third, and fourth legions were stationed in Yanzhou and the counties in the north of Xuzhou occupied by the Qin army, they knew what the Qin army was going to do next.

At this time, the collusion between Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao and others was almost complete. In the middle of March of the first year of Chuping, Yuan Shu issued a proclamation to the world, severely criticizing Qin Bin, the governor of Qingzhou, for having rebellious intentions.

Yes, the person who issued the proclamation to the world was not Dong Zhuo, nor was it an imperial edict, but Yuan Shu, who represented the aristocratic family.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Dong Zhuo was not stupid. Although Qingzhou seemed to be powerful, Qingzhou had not yet explicitly opposed him, Dong Zhuo. In addition, Qingzhou was far away, so there was no need to directly label Qingzhou as rebels.

Dong Zhuo even thought that it would be better if the princes of Guandong and Qingzhou fought to a draw.

However, Dong Zhuo did not completely refuse to participate in the establishment of the "Anti-Qin Alliance". Instead, he let Yuan Shu, who loved to take the lead, do it, and he sent some people to do it and wait and see what would happen.

Yuan Shu also knew that Dong Zhuo would not cooperate fully, but he could not care about that at the moment. Qingzhou was about to expand outward. If it was not curbed, once Qingzhou grew rapidly, the first to bear the brunt would be the hometowns of the Guandong big families like Yuan Shu. So the Guandong princes headed by Yuan Shu led their troops to Wuyan County, Dongping State, Yanzhou.

Dong Zhuo also asked Li Jue to bring 5,000 elite cavalry to Dongping State for a meeting, as a token of his appreciation.

Dongping State borders Jibei State. Previously, Bao Xin of Jibei State mobilized the Qin army that was escorting refugees into Qing, and then Jibei State was swallowed up by the Qin army.

Now the princes from all sides are going to gather in Dongping State, and their goal is of course to fight against the Second and Third Corps of the Qin Army in the territory of Jibei State.

In Jizhou, Han Fu and Yuan Shao, as well as Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, also assembled an army of 200,000 on the border of Qing and Ji, waiting for an opportunity to act.

However, Xuzhou, the last link in the "anti-Qin" encirclement, was in chaos at this moment.

This is because Xuzhou is too close to Qingzhou, and it has suffered several heavy losses at the hands of the Qin army before, so it knows how terrible the Qin army is.

In addition, the Mi family, Gan family, Cao family, Chen family and other powerful families under Tao Qian have already benefited from Qingzhou at this moment, and the trade between the two states is booming, which has led to the emergence of many "surrender factions" in Xuzhou.

Among them, the Mi family and the Gan family were the most active, because the daughters of these two families entered the inner courtyard of the Qingzhou Governor's Mansion.

Although the reason was not glorious, as they were kidnapped by a bandit general named Chang to seek credit, the heads of the Mi and Gan families had been to Qingzhou and had truly witnessed the infinite potential and bright future of the Qin army in Qingzhou, so they both became very happy to see it happen.

(There is too little information about Madam Gan, so she is inexplicably set as the daughter of a small or medium-sized tyrant in Xuzhou.)

As for the Cao family and the Chen family in Xuzhou, that is, Cao Bao and Chen Gui and his son Chen Deng, it was more because Qingzhou was too close and they had a very thorough understanding of Qingzhou. They knew that if Xuzhou, or the Han court, took on the Qingzhou faction, it would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Next, although the Qin army was harsh on the big families and powerful people, they did not torture them to death. Not to mention the distant past, even now, those big families and powerful people who took advantage of the situation to leave Qingzhou and were well-informed are now regretting their actions.

Because the families that had no choice but to stay in Qingzhou were now all doing well as Qingzhou's handicrafts and light industries were flourishing. There were even rumors within Qingzhou that once the national education system was complete, Qingzhou would add an imperial examination system to select talents for the government without completely abandoning the recommendation system.

Although it is said that the talents produced by the imperial examination system have to start as clerks and cannot rise to the top overnight, there is a premise that their background is not restricted. This is a huge opportunity for the powerful, farmers, workers, and businessmen who are not from the aristocratic family. The attraction is even greater than the low taxes in Qingzhou.

There was no way around it. When the Han court selected officials, it was said that character and knowledge were given priority, but in reality, it was based on family background. The upper and lower classes were the first tier, and those from poor families who came from aristocratic families were the second tier.

Unless the second tier are too outstanding and dazzling and are promoted out of turn, they can basically only become retainers or even servants of the first tier to have a chance to stand out. This is the consensus among the aristocratic families of this era.

As for the third tier? Sorry, there isn't one.

Yes, there wasn't. Before Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an and the world entered a situation of fierce competition among heroes, there was no third tier.

Liu Bei?

Liu Bei's family was very poor. He and his mother had to make a living by weaving mats and selling shoes, but this was mostly due to the early death of his father.

Liu Bei's grandfather, Liu Xiong, was selected as a filial and incorrupt official and served as the magistrate of Fan County, Dongjun. Going back further, most of Liu Bei's ancestors had served as officials in prefectures and counties, and some even had titles. Even though Liu Bei's family was poor, he still had a good uncle who was able to let his son and Liu Bei study together under Lu Zhi, who returned to his hometown of Zhuojun to open a school. Lu Zhi also supported Liu Bei's family from time to time. So it can't be said that Liu Bei was truly from the bottom of the society, at least not entirely.

Chapter 357: Push

As for Cao Cao and Sun Jian, there is no need to say much about Cao Cao, and while Sun Jian seems to have an ordinary background, the Sun family has been serving as officials in Wu for generations, so he can be considered a descendant of officials and his family is very wealthy.

In general, looking at the history of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms, people who truly came from the lower classes were rare. Therefore, Qingzhou's new official selection system seemed particularly attractive.

Of course, for the big families, it was just the opposite. However, the attitude of the Lord of Qingzhou was very clear. If they were obedient and followed the rules, then everyone would be fine. Otherwise, they would be sent to labor reform, or some of their property would be confiscated and they would be "sent out of the country with courtesy". Now they were just sent out of Qingzhou, but what about the future? If they were not obedient in the future, wouldn't they have to go out of the border? Even if they went out of the border, they would be safe? If the Qin army continued to be strong, then the possibility of sending troops to the outside of the border after replacing the Han court was not low at all.

So, you can't just go find a place where no one is around and slit your own throat, right?

Therefore, most of the powerful families in Ji, Yan and Xu provinces, who knew the situation in Qingzhou best, had the intention to submit. However, Jizhou had Han Fu and Yuan Shao. Especially the presence of Yuan Shao made it difficult for the powerful families in Jizhou to make any big moves for the time being. Yanzhou bordered Sili, and was currently crowded with the armies of various princes, so it was also difficult for them to take any action. The only exception was Xuzhou. Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, had only taken office in the fifth year of Zhongping, which meant two years ago. He was not a native of Xuzhou and had just secured the position of governor of Xuzhou. His control over Xuzhou was very limited, which made the powerful families in Xuzhou think a lot, and this led to the so-called "surrender faction".

However, although there are "surrender factions" in Xuzhou, it does not mean that these people do not have a lucky mentality. Among the "surrender factions" in Xuzhou, except for the Mi and Gan families who do not have a lucky mentality, the Cao and Chen families tend to let Xuzhou remain on the sidelines and see whether Qingzhou can withstand the encirclement and suppression of the "Anti-Qin Coalition Forces". If it cannot, then they will cooperate with the coalition forces. If it can, then of course they will welcome the "royal army".

However, the result was such that all the powerful families who were waiting and watching were stunned, because not long after the coalition forces had assembled, the Qin army took the initiative to attack. The second, third and fourth legions launched a full-scale offensive from multiple directions, advancing one city at a time.

The commander-in-chief of the Third Corps, Xu Da, led his troops straight to Xuzhou. Xuzhou's resistance was not strong to begin with, so the entire territory of Xuzhou was almost wiped out in just a few days. Xu Da even appeared in Yanzhou with a main cavalry brigade to assist the Fourth Corps in attacking the main force of the Yanzhou coalition forces, and defeated the coalition forces in one fell swoop. Then he returned to Xuzhou and stationed on the border between Xuzhou and Yangzhou, eyeing Yangzhou covetously.

Chen Qingzhi of the Fourth Legion, after defeating the coalition forces in Yanzhou, set about pacifying Yanzhou. In early April of the first year of Chuping, he pushed the battle line directly to Chenliu County, confronting Dong Zhuo's troops who had retreated to Yinzhongmou County, Henan.

Li Jing, commander-in-chief of the Second Army, also fought together when Xu Da and Chen Qingzhi were dealing with the Yanzhou coalition forces. He led the Second Army, which was mainly composed of cavalry, to pursue the defeated coalition forces all the way into Yuzhou, and then pushed all the way from Pei State to Yingchuan County. After driving the remnants of the coalition forces into Jingzhou and Sili, he stationed in Yingchuan County to intimidate Sili and Nanyang County of Jingzhou.

At the beginning of May in the first year of Chuping, this war that swept across the three states of the Central Plains ended with the complete victory of the Qin army.

When the Qin army marched, they were followed by tens of thousands of grassroots officials, so when the war finally ended, it seemed particularly indifferent. At least the damage to the people in the Central Plains was controlled to a very small extent.

When the Qin army completely stopped its expansion and turned to absorb the nearly 100 million people in the three states, the princes from all over the country also entered the most difficult stage of waiting to die.