My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 552 Making Choices with Balance
Gongsun Gong was quite satisfied with the conditions. Although they exceeded some of his authority, he figured the clan wouldn't object, so he immediately agreed.

Once the deal was agreed upon, the atmosphere became much more harmonious.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Feng hosted a banquet for Gongsun Gong and specially organized a literary gathering for him, inviting famous scholars from all over Yangzhou.

According to the regional hierarchy of the gentry in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Youzhou was slightly higher than Yangzhou. Among the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai, two were from Youzhou, while none were from Yangzhou.

At the same time, there was no custom of separating civil and military officials during the Eastern Han Dynasty; the only distinction was between generals and ministers. People from Youzhou, located on the frontier, had a much easier time gaining merit than people from Yangzhou.

However, Youzhou had a small population and an overemphasis on martial arts, so its culture and education were actually much inferior to those of Yangzhou.

Therefore, Liu Feng intended to use Gongsun Gong, who came from a prominent family in Youzhou, to elevate the status of Yangzhou scholars and win over the local people. This was a way to use one person for multiple purposes and achieve multiple goals at once.

Sure enough, at the literary gathering, the Yangzhou scholars, like peacocks displaying their plumage, went to great lengths to showcase the culture and education of the South to Gongsun Gong, and many of them even praised Liu Feng's achievements in civil administration.

To be honest, Liu Feng didn't really invest much in education and culture.

This is not because Liu Feng did not value education, but because the timing was wrong.

Liu Feng wanted to promote education, specifically education for the common people. He didn't expect every person to become a great Confucian scholar, but he hoped they could recognize common characters and at least understand the edicts written in plain language.

This can effectively prevent lower-level officials from deceiving their superiors and subordinates, while also providing ordinary people with a path to upward mobility.

But that won't work now. Most of the resources invested now will be swallowed up by the powerful clans and wealthy families at the grassroots level, ultimately benefiting only the rich and powerful, without reaching the bottom.

What's even more embarrassing is that after these powerful and wealthy individuals have devoured the interests of the lower classes and increased their own power, they will also become new obstacles. In order to maintain their ability to continue to seize benefits, they will inevitably oppose Liu Feng's new policies even more vigorously. Rather than wasting these resources and increasing future opposition, it would be better to invest them all in Liu's camp and cultivate more loyal followers for oneself.

Gongsun Gong was a good-natured man and was not displeased by the boasting of the Yangzhou scholars. On the contrary, he gave many gifts to young talents such as Gu Shao and Zhang Wen.

Gongsun Gong stayed in Yangzhou for a full half month. Liu Feng was very generous and his hospitality, while not extravagant, was certainly exquisite. In particular, he added many new dishes, which greatly pleased Gongsun Gong.

As they parted, Gongsun Gong was still reluctant to leave and hoped to take a few cooks with him from Liu Feng.

If it were any other warlord or regional governor, Gongsun Gong's request, though somewhat excessive, would likely have been granted.

But Liu Feng was no ordinary man. In front of Gongsun Gong, he called the cooks in and personally asked them if they were willing to go to Liaodong with Gongsun Gong.

As a result, none of the cooks were willing to go. They ate well and dressed warmly at Liu Feng's residence, and Liu Feng treated the servants kindly, giving them rewards during festivals. As long as they didn't collude with outsiders or betray their lord, it was a very easy atmosphere to get along with.

Abandoning such a good lord and running off to Liaodong to become servants, these cooks aren't stupid. Even with Gongsun Gong offering high prices to entice them, not one of them agreed.

Gongsun Gong was also somewhat bored and could only return dejectedly.

**
Lu Xun spent over a month managing the large stronghold in the Liding Mountain. Finally, Sun Ce and his three armies, totaling eight thousand men, arrived, bringing with them the last batch of military supplies for the period.

Lu Xun was overjoyed and held a grand banquet for his troops that evening.

The next day, Lu Xun held court and, after discussing with Sun Ce and others, made arrangements.

All two thousand county soldiers brought were left behind, with 1,500 left in the mountain stronghold of Liting and 500 left in the large stronghold at Longxiakou.

Lu Xun personally led his own force of 1,500 men, along with 1,600 men from other Baiyue tribes and 6,000 men from Sun Ce's three tribes, totaling over 9,000 men. He also dispatched another 1,000 able-bodied men, bringing the total to 10,000, which was called a 50,000-strong army. Using Xiding Mountain as their forward base, they marched into Yizhou County.

During the military council, Sun Ce volunteered, wanting to request the position of vanguard.

This time, the army was assembled, with Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief, and Sun Ce, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan as his deputies.

However, in terms of seniority, Sun Ce could actually be considered the first deputy general. If the troops were divided, or if Lu Xun was unable to command, Sun Ce would be qualified to take over from Lu Xun and take command of the entire army.

Lu Xun used this reason to politely decline Sun Ce's request, instead appointing Wei Yan as the vanguard, Sun Ce as the second vanguard, Lu Xun himself as the commander of the central army and the young and strong logistics, and Huang Zhong as the commander of the rearguard.

After the military meeting ended, Lu Xun kept Sun Ce behind to explain the reasons and hoped that Sun Ce would not take it to heart.

Did Lu Xun like Sun Ce?

That's definitely something I don't like.

However, Lu Xun had to accept this favor. Even though Sun Ce had a grudge against everyone in the Lu family, Lu Xun had been genuinely good to him.

When Lu Kang died of illness, Sun Ce showed great leniency by sending all the surviving members of the Lu family back to their hometown, covering their travel expenses. After Sun Ce took control of Wu County, he was also quite lenient towards Lu Xun, even going so far as to arrange for Lu Xun to temporarily take over Lu Ji's family affairs.

Sun Ce had done Lu Xun a great favor.

Lu Xun kept Sun Ce alive, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him, because he didn't want to be seen as ungrateful and arrogant after achieving his goals, and he also didn't want subsequent military campaigns to turn into disaster due to discord between the generals.

Given Sun Ce's temperament, he was naturally quite dissatisfied, but Sun Ce was by no means a fool; on the contrary, he was extremely intelligent and decisive. He knew that in Liu Feng's eyes, he was not as good as Lu Xun, and that the Sun family and the Lu family actually had blood debts between them.

Therefore, Sun Ce did not show the slightest displeasure; on the contrary, he readily agreed.

Lu Xun was delighted to receive Sun Ce's approval and immediately invited Huang Zhong and Wei Yan back, hosting a small banquet in the main hall to entertain the three generals.

Two days later, the gates of the Xicheng Mountain Camp opened wide, and Wei Yan led his two thousand men, equipped with several hundred dwarf horses from the southwest, heading west.

**
Lügao County, Yizhou Prefecture, was later located within the territory of Tonghai County, Yunnan Province.

As a county-level unit, Lugao County was actually quite small. The area of ​​the county seat was smaller than that of a li (a traditional village) in the wealthy Central Plains. Lugao County was more like a fortified town than a city. It had only about 500 households and 2,800 people. The population was slightly larger than that of Longxiakou Dazhai, but the amount of farmland was less than that of the Long family, with less than 20,000 mu (about 1333 hectares).

However, strictly speaking, these data are all Han Chinese data and do not include Baiyue people.

Within the territory of Lügao County, there were still thousands of Baiyue people living. They were not registered as citizens by the Han government, so they were not counted as registered population. The land they cultivated in the mountains was also not on the imperial register.

However, the Han dynasty of this era was a world-class power in terms of military, culture, and technology. The yield of just 20,000 mu of land in Lügao County was comparable to that of 40,000 mu of land in the Long family, which demonstrates the power of intensive farming.

In addition, the city walls of Lugao County were at least constructed of rammed earth, which was much more solid and reliable than the wooden palisade walls at Longjiaxiakou Village.

The establishment of Ritsuga Prefecture was primarily to guard the strategic pass of Irimachi Mountain, control surrounding transportation, and pacify the surrounding Baiyue barbarians.

Therefore, the Han Chinese population of Lügao County was almost entirely concentrated within the county seat, with virtually no villages outside the city. After all, without the protection of Lügao County's city walls, even a large village of a thousand people could not withstand the repeated attacks of the Baiyue barbarians. On this day, County Magistrate Chang Shen was inspecting the city gates as usual.

Because Lugao County is a border region, it originally had a county commandant. However, now that the world is in chaos, and Lugao is not a good place, even the county magistrate is someone who was originally sent here and has not been transferred, let alone a county commandant.

Chang Shen was not a famous scholar, otherwise he would not have been assigned to a remote and desolate place like Lügao.

If he hadn't arrived early and hadn't been unable to leave, Lugao would have been without a county magistrate long ago.

However, for his own safety and the lives of his entire family, Chang Shen was quite concerned about defenses. This was not the inland region; Baiyue people were constantly coming down from the mountains to attack the fortresses.

Once Lügao City falls, even without the emperor and the court holding him accountable, the Baiyue people will not let him go.

"Your Excellency! Something terrible has happened!"

Just as Chang Shen ascended the city wall and was about to give his usual instructions, he heard the soldiers on the wall shouting in a halting manner.

"Stop talking nonsense."

Chang Shen's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly took two steps to climb up the city wall.

Before he went up, he still had the strength to reprimand the officers and soldiers, but once he did, he couldn't even shout anymore; his legs went weak. Looking out from the city wall, dust billowed to the southwest, and a large army of over a thousand men was heading straight for Lü Gao.

"Quickly, close the city gates!"

Chang Shen took several deep breaths before he could finally utter those words.

The officials and soldiers dared not delay and shouted loudly towards the city walls: "The county magistrate has ordered that the city gates be closed immediately."

Fortunately, it was discovered early, and the officers and soldiers below did their best to close the city gate in time.

When the army arrived at the city, the city gates were already tightly closed, and more than a hundred officials and soldiers were standing on the city walls. The able-bodied men inside the city had also been mobilized and were wearing armor and carrying weapons, preparing to climb the city walls to defend it.

Chang Shen cautiously peeked at the army outside the city, feeling somewhat hesitant.

The flags raised by the troops outside were clearly those of the Han army, and their uniforms were also red. They were well-equipped, with almost everyone wearing armor. The vanguard was even equipped with full armor, clearly showing their elite status.

At the officer's command, the soldiers at the front, having donned their armor, all sat down on the ground and began to eat and drink from their rations and canteens. Meanwhile, three riders galloped out from the rear of the army, carrying a Chinese-character military flag, and headed straight for the city walls.

Since there were only three people on the other side, the Lu Gao County side naturally did not fire any arrows, but waited for the other side to speak.

"We are the troops of Wei Yan, a colonel under the Left General. We have come to Yizhou County by imperial decree to suppress the rebellion and bring peace to the people. If you still have any loyalty or righteousness left, open the city gates immediately!"

The lead rider shouted loudly, waving his Han flag, which, combined with the gleaming cold light of the army behind him, made the people on the city wall tremble with fear.

“The county magistrate, the county lord, they claim to be soldiers of the imperial court.”

The officers and soldiers on the city wall swallowed hard and looked at Chang Shen: "We've come to punish the rebels and pacify the people."

Chang Shen's face turned pale and then red, his heart filled with doubt, confusion, and apprehension.

Yong Kai, the governor of Yizhou Commandery, had long harbored rebellious intentions, and several governors had been driven to despair by him.

Dianchi County, the seat of Yizhou Commandery, had long been Yong Kai's stronghold.

Don't underestimate Dianchi County. It was the site of the later Jinning County. It is located north of Dianchi Lake and south of Fuxian Lake. It was not only the seat of Yizhou Prefecture, but also the core gathering area of ​​Han people. It also occupied more than 200,000 mu of fertile land around Dianchi Lake.

These more than 200,000 mu of high-quality paddy fields have yields per mu that are 60% of those in the Central Plains. Moreover, the hot and rainy weather here ensures that rice can be harvested in a year, and in some areas, even three harvests can be achieved. Therefore, the total output is actually very close to that of the Central Plains.

It should be noted that in southern Yizhou, the land cultivated by the Baiyue tribes yielded only one-third the output of comparable land in the Central Plains.

Sixty percent of the yield is already more than twice the harvest of other fields in the Baiyue tribe.

Unfortunately, only fertile and well-watered areas like Dianchi County can achieve this level of development; even Weixian County, another core area of ​​Han Chinese population, cannot.

This explains why Liu Yan and his son Liu Zhang were unable to subdue Yong Kai despite his several rebellions, and why Liu Bei, even after entering Shu, lacked the resources to wrest local power back from him.

Chang Shen was conflicted at this moment, as the pressure from Yong Kai was too great.

If this place weren't so desolate, constantly raided by the surrounding Baiyue barbarians, it wouldn't be worth Yong Kai's trouble in sending someone to take over. If he had sent someone, he would probably have had to expend considerable effort to defend against the surrounding Baiyue barbarians. Not to mention, this place is so barren that it can't even support the county magistrate's salary, relying on funding from the prefecture. If Lügao County had any output whatsoever, Chang Shen would have long since lost his position as county magistrate.

The Han army in front of them was clearly there to deal with Yong Kai. Judging from their well-trained and well-equipped troops, they were no ordinary army.

If he doesn't open the city gates, and the city falls, Chang Shen will become a traitor.

But if the city is opened and the Han army is ultimately defeated, Yong Kai will not let Chang Shen's entire family off the hook.

Just as Chang Shen was hesitating and feeling terrified, the Han envoy below spoke up again.

"You only have the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. If you remain obstinate, once the army breaches the city, everyone below the rank of county magistrate will be executed without mercy!"

Upon hearing this, Chang Shen not only felt a jolt in his heart, but also noticed that the officers and soldiers around him were looking at him suspiciously from time to time, and he immediately knew something was wrong.

It seems I shouldn't care who wins or loses anymore. If the city gates aren't opened now, I'll die no matter who wins or loses.

"Kaicheng!"

Chang Shen gritted his teeth and shouted to the officials and soldiers, "Open the city gates immediately to welcome the royal army!"

The officials and soldiers, as if granted a pardon, hurriedly shouted down towards the city walls: "The county magistrate has ordered that the city gates be opened immediately to welcome the royal army!"

The officials and soldiers at the city gate breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly stepped forward to open the city gate.

Seeing the city gates wide open, Wei Yan's army immediately dispatched a force of two hundred men to enter the city first.

(End of this chapter)