Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 316 Recruiting Heroes, Spreading Wings
Jizhou, Xindu.

The battered walls surround the once prosperous city.

Today's Xindu is no longer what it used to be. After experiencing the two rebellions of Gao Guiyan and Liu Taozi, Jizhou has completely lost its past glory.

The city walls were in ruins, even the gates.

Nine out of ten houses in the city are empty, and almost all the people in Jizhou are fleeing.

When Lou Rui pacified Gao Guiyan, many local people fled, and those who did not have time to flee were those who had experienced the chaos of war. The military discipline of the Qi soldiers was obvious to all. Once they were allowed to enter the city, there would not be many civilians left.

Later, Liu Taozi asked the bandits to come here again, and this time they killed many people.

Many people ran south of the river.

This made the entire Jizhou empty, and at the city gate, two officials stood.

If this had happened in the past, in such a busy city, two clerks would definitely not be enough to be responsible for entry and exit, and at least a dozen clerks would have been needed to help.

But nowadays, there are too few people entering and leaving the city, so few that both of them are a bit redundant.

Because this is also the seat of the provincial government, the two officials came from two different government offices, one was a county official and the other was a provincial official.

Neither of them was too old, and both were officials who came from the Law School.

The official's surname was Liu, the same as the general's. However, he was not the general's fellow villager. He was from Youzhou.

He had done well in his studies and passed the examination with high scores, and became an official in Jizhou, guarding the city gate. Although the job seemed menial, it actually provided a lot of room for him to display his talents.

The county official’s surname was Wang, and he was also from Youzhou.

Liu Li sat on the small Hu bed, looking at the empty city gate, feeling very disappointed.

"I was hoping to gain more merits here, but I didn't expect that only a few people would come in and out all day."

"If this continues, where will there be any chance for us to achieve success?"

"It seems that we still have to find a way to change the position."

Wang Li was sitting right opposite, and at this moment he was just writing with his head down, concentrating on his work.

Liu Li looked at him, smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Why are you doing this? There are only more than ten people coming in and out these few days. Do you still need to compare them?"

Wang Li raised his head. He was obviously older than Liu Li, but he looked dull and lacked spirit. He whispered, "There are not many people, but two of them went out to chop wood and have not returned yet, so I marked them."

"Then he ran away."

Liu Li looked around and whispered, "You don't know yet, do you? Something big has happened in the city."

"what?"

"As soon as the governor arrived, he began to strengthen the Law School and prepare to conduct examinations and select officials for appointment."

"Let me tell you, there are still a lot of vacancies in government offices across the country. Once these locals pass the assessment, we can fill these vacancies."

"The official in the state government office is also from Youzhou."

"If you're interested, you can walk around more."

Wang Li said blankly: "Bribery is illegal."

"Who asked you to bribe? We are from the same hometown, isn't it normal for us to support each other?"

"You just need to go meet him and let him know that you are a fellow Youzhou native. Are you afraid that things will not go smoothly in the future?"

"Besides, we all graduated from the Law Department. No one is weaker than the other. Who gets promoted depends on his words, right?"

Wang Li hesitated, but still shook his head, "Forget it. When we were in the law school, the chief priest said that we must not go astray, and we must do everything in the right way."

Liu Li's expression was somewhat complicated, and he stopped trying to persuade her.

Originally, Liu Li was very happy to know that the other party was his fellow villager, thinking that they could support each other. He did not expect that this fellow villager would be such a fool.

He doesn't care about fellow-townsmen ties at all. If you want to win them over, he pretends not to notice. If you want to give him advice, he doesn't care at all.

There is nothing wrong in doing things all the time, but you also need to be a little flexible.

There was a hint of disdain in Liu Li's eyes.

At this moment, a group of people suddenly appeared slowly from a distance and approached here.

The soldiers in the distance were the first to take action. Liu Li also jumped up and began to look into the distance. He squinted his eyes for a moment and suddenly was overjoyed.

He walked quickly forward, cleared his throat, and got ready.

In the distance, two people were seen riding horses in the front, and behind them were hundreds of infantry and cavalry.

One of the two leading men was the bandit group that had just swept through this place not long ago.

The bandits who were marching towards the general's mansion were now wearing exquisite armor and riding tall war horses. They looked very proud and dignified.

The person accompanying him was Cui Jie, the governor of Jizhou.

He was also born into a prominent family, the Qinghe Cui family. However, he belonged to a small branch of the prominent family and had been separated from his main family for a long time. Of course, his own family was still good, with generations of officials, and his brothers were also extremely powerful.

He started to join the army when he was young, and then served as a minister, a secretary, a minister of the Central Secretariat, and later became a cavalry officer, a secretary, a governor, and a chief priest of the Imperial Academy. After Gao Yan came to power, he served as the Minister of Rites, the Minister of Revenue, the Minister of the Five Armies, and edited the national history.
It can be said that this person has absolutely rich experience. He has worked in all positions, from TV stations to local governments, to education and diplomacy, economy, military, and culture. He has worked in almost all departments, and has received unanimous praise in all departments.

Lao Cui is already over sixty years old this year.

At this age, he can be Kou Liu’s grandfather.

Therefore, Kou Liu was quite respectful to the old governor, "I am really ashamed that Mr. Cui came out of the city to welcome me personally."

Kou Liu received an order to set up a military headquarters here, and then rushed here. Cui Jie came much earlier, and this time he went out of the city specially to welcome him.

Cui Jie shook his head and chuckled, saying, "I was just outside the city when I learned that General Kou was coming, so I just happened to come back with the general to discuss some things. General, there is no need to do this."

Kou Liu looked at the dilapidated city wall in the distance.

"The situation in Jizhou has reached this point. How many years will it take for it to return to its former state?"

Cui Jie also looked at the scarred city wall and said slowly: "Everything depends on human efforts."

Kou Liu had a lot to say, but considering that the other party had been running around outside all these days and was so old, he decided to wait for the old man to rest for a few days before making any plans.

As soon as the group arrived at the city gate, Liu Li hurriedly bowed to greet them, and Wang Li was a step slower and also followed suit.

Cui Jie suddenly stopped and looked at the two clerks.

“How many people came in and out yesterday?”

Liu Li hurriedly replied: "There are six people without any official or soldier status!"

Cui Jie nodded and asked, "Is there anything unusual?"

Wang Li picked up the document, but before he could speak, Liu Li said hurriedly, "Two woodcutters went out under the pretext of cutting wood and have not returned yet."

Wang Li held the document and handed it directly to Cui Jie to read.

Cui Jie looked at the document and then nodded.

"it is good."

"well done."

The group passed through the city gate like this, and Liu Li was filled with joy. Of course, he knew the governor, and this time he answered questions fluently, showing off his prowess!

Kou Liu turned around and looked at the two officials, and said, "There are many good officials in various places nowadays."

"Yes."

Cui Jie narrowed his eyes, chuckled and said, "The county official standing on the left is very good and can be promoted."

Kou Liu was stunned. "It was the official on the right who answered your question just now. Why do you say the one on the left is better?"

"He is not bad either, he is articulate and knows how to find opportunities for himself. If he is used in the right place, he will definitely be able to show his ability. But the other person is serious and meticulous in his work. I saw that his documents have the same handwriting for several consecutive articles. They are all written by the same person. He is not in a hurry to show himself. This calm person, if such a person has more experience, can become a real official." Kou Liu nodded slowly, "What you said makes some sense."

Cui Jie said seriously: "Whether it is governing the world, governing the army, or governing a small village, it is actually governing people."

“Everything is man-made. If you cure people, things will be accomplished.”

"I have been to many places and held many official posts. Apart from other things, I still know how to employ people and what kind of people to employ."

"Tang Yong of Youzhou also ruled people, but he was too strong. He adopted harsh laws to intimidate officials so that they would not dare to violate the law."

"But my approach is different from his. I prefer to promote qualified talents. I am more tolerant towards everyone and will not interfere too much. I just find the right person, put him in the right position, and then let nature take its course."

Cui Jie grinned and Kou Liu agreed with the other party's point of view this time.

Kou Liu said: "I have been ordered to recruit troops this time. According to the system, I can recruit 10,000 new soldiers. The imperial court has only given me 3,000 of the food and supplies I need. For the remaining 7,000, I need help from the local government."

"The governor has already informed us of this. General Kou has received quite a lot. Many places don't have as much as General Kou. However, it's not easy to get the local governments to give you so much food and fodder. I think you can first gather these 3,000 people and train them. The rest can be provided annually."

"This is not okay."

"You have to give me enough soldiers and households. Don't forget that I was the one who conquered Jizhou. I know how much food and supplies were seized after I conquered it."

"I personally brought people to search the big families and temples in the city. You won't tell me that there is not enough food and grass here, right?"

Cui Jie chuckled, "General Kou, your gains are indeed not small, but most of these things still need to be used in the local area. The local area is the foundation. If the local area is not governed, how can this military government be maintained?"

"I have already made arrangements for the distribution of these provisions, so they cannot be moved for the time being."

"I know what General Kou is thinking, but you don't have to be so anxious. I will find a way to help you solve it."

Kou Liu wanted to say something else, but thinking of his brother's letter, he had to hold back for the time being and said, "We'll talk about it later."

The original dispute between Zu Ting and Cui Jishu came from whether to focus on the local area or the Zhou area. The reason why the two did not come together was because of resource issues.

The implementation of these policies requires a huge amount of resources. Although the Xingtai is not poor, it is definitely not that rich.

Just the task of training the new army, with ten military headquarters, recruiting, organizing and training them, no one knows how much material will be consumed.

The most important thing is of course food.

Nothing can be done without food.

The imperial court could not provide full food and fodder to all military offices at once, and could only provide it to a part of them first.

The military-government system was originally intended to be maintained with the help of the local equal-field system. If it relied entirely on the government, the huge military expenses would drain the government dry.

But the place was still so dilapidated at this time, having just experienced a war.

Kou Liu first came to take over the local parade ground, and then made various deployments. He set up his general's mansion directly outside the parade ground.

He couldn't wait to recruit.

Liu Taozi imitated the Zhou people and mostly recruited Han people to form his army. The two armies originally trained by Liu Taozi also proved that the Han people were not incapable of fighting. If they trained hard and were given food and water, they could also compete with the Zhou people. There was no difference.

The bandits had a lot to do, but fortunately they had a lot of military officers to help.

Compared to the busy Kou Liu, Cui Jie was much more comfortable.

He didn't interfere much in the affairs of the counties. Most of the time, he traveled around and checked on his subordinates. If he met capable people, he would promote them. If he met people with problems, he would explain things to them. If he met people with ill intentions, he would dismiss them.

To outsiders, his way of governing seemed to be that he just wandered around every day, rarely convening officials to meetings, and letting everyone do their own things.

He also did not make too many demands regarding relevant policy orders.

The overall atmosphere is completely different from that in Youzhou, but it cannot be said that it has no effect.

Many talented officials were promoted, and many people who had fled to other places began to return.

In the general's mansion.

Kou Liu sat at the desk, looking at the many documents in front of him, feeling a bit of a headache.

This general of the military government is really different from the generals of the past.

The general of the military office has more things to do and has to deal with many local people. This is the first time Kou Liu has experienced all this, and the issue of recruitment alone is a huge headache for him.

After more than ten days here, he has not been able to recruit a thousand people, and the training has not even officially begun.

Thinking back to when he first came here, he made a big statement and asked the governor to prepare food and fodder for 10,000 people, Kou Liu couldn't help but blush.

Just when Kou Liu was thinking hard, a soldier suddenly walked in.

"General, Governor Cui is here to see you."

"Ah, let him in, come in."

Kou Liu stood up hurriedly, but then felt something was wrong, "I'll go out to greet him."

Kou Liu hurried out and happened to meet Cui Jie at the gate of the courtyard.

Kou Liu immediately bowed and saw Cui Jie was still smiling. He quickly helped Kou Liu up and they walked towards the main house together. On the way, Cui Jie looked at Kou Liu's face and asked, "General Kou, things are not going well?"

Kou Liu was stunned and said hesitantly: "It's not that it's not going well, it's just that the local population is too small and my food is not enough. This is my first time..."

Cui Jie asked again: "Do we still need to send food and grass for the 10,000 men to the general?"

"This"

Looking at Kou Liu who couldn't answer, Cui Jie laughed and said seriously: "I didn't agree to you at the beginning because of this situation."

"It's not enough to just have food and grass. The military government is a precedent in the country. The situation over there cannot be fully learned from the Zhou people. The more anxious General Kou is to complete it, the more difficult it will be to complete it."

"I knew General Kou was in a hurry to get this done, so I didn't come to disturb you. I only dared to come after you experienced it."

Kou Liu lowered his head, "I see."

The two men walked into the inner room. Kou Liu asked Cui Jie to sit in the upper seat, and he sat on the side. He said seriously, "Mr. Cui, I don't quite understand why I can't recruit soldiers here?"

"No matter how few registered households there are here, we can still gather more than 10,000 young and strong people, right?"

"This is not a frontier. The reason you failed to recruit soldiers is because the people are in a state of panic."

"Fearful?"

"In the past, the county soldiers were all forcibly recruited and deceived. Every year, people were captured and sent to the border to serve as laborers. I don't know how many times such incidents of arresting and killing people in the name of recruiting soldiers have happened. General Kou just went on a killing spree here not long ago."

Kou Liu slapped his forehead suddenly, "I actually forgot this. These traditions have always existed in the local area, in my hometown. I haven't been back for too long, so I actually forgot it."

Cui Jie laughed, "Given General Kou's background, as long as he understands these things, he will naturally know how to solve these problems."

"I won't say any more."

"General Kou, the sooner you finish building the government, the better. You have to look at the foundation before you do anything. As long as the foundation is solid, everything will be convenient. Now, General Kou is just building the foundation. Don't rush to finish it. You need to be more careful. The situations and problems in different places are different. You have to find the most suitable method for the local area."

Cui Jie told a lot of stories and Kou Liu listened very carefully.

After the other party finished speaking, Kou Liu saluted again.

"When I came to take up the appointment, my brother told me in a letter not to get carried away and to listen to your advice after I came here."

"Now I know why he said that."

Cui Jie was stunned and asked, "Did the general really say that?"

"Of course."

Cui Jie was a little excited. He said with emotion: "When Emperor Xiao Zhao was in power, he told me about the general many times and wanted to arrange a meeting between us. Unfortunately, before the great cause was completed, Emperor Xiao Zhao passed away. After the emperor ascended the throne, he wanted to settle accounts with us old ministers. I was dismissed from my post just because I opposed He Shikai, and I almost lost my life."

"Now it seems that the person who can inherit Emperor Xiao Zhao's ambition is the general, right?"

ps: At the beginning of Tianbao, he was appointed as the Minister of the Imperial Household for discussing the abdication of the dynasty, and was also appointed as the Imperial Academy's Priest, and was in charge of the internal affairs and confidential information. He was honest, frugal, diligent and prudent, and was well known by Xianzu. He was appointed as the Governor of Southern Qingzhou, and achieved political achievements during his tenure. In the middle of Huangjian, he was appointed as the Secretary General, the Grand Justice of Qizhou, and then the Minister of Rites, and then the Minister of Duzhi of Bing Province. He was soon appointed as the Minister of the Imperial Household, and soon became the Minister of the Five Armies, and the Supervisor of the National History. He was known for his simplicity and uprightness among the officials. ——"Book of Northern Qi·Biography of Cui Jie"

(End of this chapter)