Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 414 Moving the Capital
Han, Xiazhou, Tongwancheng.

It was very noisy outside the city gate. Under the watchful eyes of many soldiers, a steady stream of people gathered outside the city and entered the city one by one.

The war had just ended, but the wounds it left behind began to fester.

Food shortages began to occur in all parts of Xiazhou, and food prices remained high, at one point reaching astronomical levels.

Local public security also declined rapidly at a visible rate. People who could not afford to eat gathered together and began to use other methods to fill their stomachs.

Bandits can be seen everywhere on the road, and even wild beasts in the mountains come out to join in the fun.

Several villages in the south have reported several times that there are huge insects eating people and animals.

People in the city were in panic.

Inside the government office, several important officials of the Han State gathered to discuss countermeasures.

Because the governor of Xiazhou has not yet taken office, and the governor of Lingzhou, Gao Changgong, is better at fighting, the situation here can only be let Lingzhou General Hulu Xian take charge temporarily.

At this moment, the two men sat on the main seats, one on the left and one on the right, facing each other, and the other officials sat on their left and right respectively.

The one sitting next to Huluxian was a civil official, and the one sitting next to Gao Changgong was a military officer.

Huluxian looked at the people sitting next to him, his expression somewhat complicated.

"Gao, the governor."

It has been some time since the war ended, but Gao Changgong has been busy with transportation and clearing out thieves and defeated soldiers, and has not been able to enter the city to meet Huluxian.

When the two met again, Gao Changgong had a somewhat guilty look on his face.

He gave the general a hard time.

He said, "It was already inappropriate to have the general stay in the rear, but I didn't expect to cause him so much trouble."

The troubles that Gao Changgong mentioned were not the impact after the war, but the things that Hulu Xian had to undertake. Those things were not things he should have decided. Participating in local government affairs as a general and a relative of the emperor would easily be criticized and might even bring disaster.

This was exactly what made Gao Changgong uneasy.

Huluxian didn't care much about it. Beneath his rough appearance and heart, he had an extremely intelligent and cautious heart.

He immediately said, "These are nothing. I have already informed His Majesty in a letter, and Your Majesty will definitely not care."

"What needs to be addressed now is the livelihood of Xiazhou."

"After this war, the situation in various places has become extremely bad. Lingzhou itself is not rich, and it is already difficult to maintain the army. It does not have the strength to take care of Xiazhou as well."

"And Xiazhou has just been acquired. If it is not dealt with quickly, it may cause a greater civil unrest."

The other officials nodded, agreeing with Huluxian's words.

Gao Changgong also focused his attention on what Huluxian said.

“The main problem is the food shortage.”

"The government of Xiazhou doesn't have much grain in stock, so it needs to be transported from Yanzhou. The enemy has used the granaries many times before. After the granaries ran out of food, they collected it from the people again. Coupled with the impact of the war, a famine occurred."

"I heard that when General Hulu was governing various places, he attacked temples and powerful people and obtained a lot of food. Can this alleviate the famine?"

The government in Xiazhou is poor, the people are poor, but the damn temples and the powerful are not poor at all.

Huluxian's previous actions had accumulated a lot of good things for the granary.

Huluxian said calmly: "We did take a lot of things, but there were not enough officials."

"The household registration is in chaos and cannot be verified or issued. The people currently responsible for maintaining the local government are either the Zhou people who were temporarily promoted or the officials in the army."

"It will take at least a month for the officials and clerks appointed by the imperial court to arrive."

"What about seconding from Lingzhou?"

"Spring planting is a big event, and Lingzhou's own officials are barely enough. How can we borrow them?"

"Then send more military officers."

An officer immediately said, "The war has just ended, and the military officials have a lot of things to do. Besides, these people are more proficient in military logistics, which should be different from local affairs, right?"

Gao Changgong said seriously: "No matter what, we can't let this situation continue. Let's set up temporary relief in the severely affected areas first to protect people from death, and then wait for the officials to take up their posts before doing other things."

Everyone started discussing, and no one knew how much time had passed before an official came with a number of recorded orders, and everyone left.

Gao Changgong and Hulu Xian stayed here.

After seeing everyone off, Gao Changgong wiped the sweat from his forehead. These government affairs were no easier to handle than military affairs.

After the war, generals from other places such as Yao Xiong and Hulugu had left, leaving only the two of them, the indigenous people, behind.

Gao Changgong stood up and bowed gently to Huluxian again.

"These days, it's really hard for the general."

It can be said that everyone gained great merit in this war.

Hulugu killed another duke, becoming the only person in the Han Dynasty who set the record of killing two dukes.

Gao Yanzong also nominally killed a duke.

Not to mention Gao Changgong, who defeated Yuchi Jiong and captured Xiazhou.

Everyone has made great achievements in the war, except Huluxian, who stayed behind and was responsible for taking over the mess for everyone. He really got nothing.

It would have been fine if I didn't get anything, but I was also blamed for no reason.

After he intervened in the affairs of Xiazhou, the famine, theft and other problems that broke out in Xiazhou might become his fault.

Huluxian quickly shook his head and motioned Gao Changgong to sit down.

"I've already told you, these are not important at all!"

"People like you want military merits, but I'm a relative by marriage. What military merits do relatives by marriage want? Maybe one day I'll be promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry, or even General, because of my status as a relative by marriage. Then you'll have to look at my face!"

Huluxian had a smile on his face and started joking.

Gao Changgong laughed when he heard this. "Then you better be careful. In the Han Dynasty, generals whose relatives served as generals did not end well."

"Who said that?"

Huluxian retorted: "Isn't there something good about it?"

"That Wei Qing, isn't he also a relative of the emperor? Look at him, he has fought all the way to the North Sea!! How powerful. Hmm."

Huluxian was talking, but suddenly stopped and said angrily: "He hit me like it was my hometown."

Gao Changgong laughed out loud.

"Doesn't this prove that the general is much more powerful than Wei Qing? Wei Qing has to fight his way to Beihai, but the general only needs to walk back home!"

The two of them began to work together to take care of things here. Gao Changgong returned the military power to Huluxian, and he led the officials to fight against the next enemy, that is, the famine.

Huluxian also helped with all his strength.

They set up temporary relief points in various places to provide relief to the people around them by feeding the dead.

Fortunately, there is still some stock in the granary.

Hulu Xian also sent people to various places to chase the thieves and posted notices, saying that food from the temple would arrive soon and people should not steal!

Due to lack of manpower, they had to do many things themselves. Even Huluxian, a general of a state, had to lead a small group of cavalry to chase bandits all over the mountains.

After persevering for about a month, the officials from the temple finally rushed here.

The carriage carrying the new governor hurriedly arrived at Tongwan City.

He was followed by a large group of officials.

Gao Changgong was very excited about this and came to greet him with Huoluxian.

The two sides met outside the city gate and the governor got off the carriage.

This was an old man with gray hair and beard. He was tall and thin, with a stern face like a piece of iron and extremely sharp eyes. People around him did not dare to look him in the eye.

Gao Changgong hurried forward and saluted.

"Greetings, Mr. Xu!" The governor Xu Yuan stared at Gao Changgong in front of him. Looking at his appearance, for some reason, his eyes suddenly became much gentler.

"Get up."

Huluxian felt a little uneasy. They were all on the same level, but this man looked very imposing and made people feel afraid.

It's like a child meeting an elder.

Xu Yuan looked at Gao Changgong in front of him and couldn't help but nodded again.

"You really have the style of a high king."

He looked at Huluxian who was standing beside him again, "You have grown up this big?"

Huluxian just bowed his head and saluted.

Xu Yuan is a senior minister.

A long time ago, he worked as a local official, and then he met a man who changed his life.

That’s right, it’s King Gao.

After he defected to King Gao, he served as a county magistrate and an officer. Gao Huan discovered his talent and asked him to serve as a cavalryman by his side to assist in military operations, following him on expeditions and taking care of military affairs.

After Gao Huan's death, he served as a prefect in a local area. Because he was rude to Gao Yang, he was impeached and dismissed from his post by the censor. Later, Gao Yang promoted him again because of his past military achievements and made him a governor. Gao Yan was promoted again and became a general. The General of Wei who was replaced by Liu Taozi was Xu Yuan.

This man was extremely experienced, with rich experience in fighting wars and even more experience in governing local areas. He was usually stern, but very friendly to his subordinates and the people. When he was the governor, there was a flood in the city, and this old man personally led his men to put out the fire, winning the respect of everyone.

In front of him, people like Gao Changgong are just juniors among juniors.

Gao Changgong was also very polite to him and followed him into the city.

While walking on the road, the new governor asked about the conditions in various places.

The situation in this place made Xu Yuan couldn't help but frown.

Fortunately, he brought a lot of people this time, so the next things can be carried out in an orderly manner.

The new governor arrived, but Gao Changgong was not in a hurry to go back. Huluxian left Xiazhou first and returned to Lingzhou. There were also things for him to take care of there.

Gao Changgong helped Xu Yuan to stabilize the local situation.

After a large number of officials joined in, the situation in the local area really began to ease. With the development of the Law School, the petty officials of the Han Dynasty became more and more mature. It was just a crash course at the beginning, but now, they are really being trained in the way of governing the local area. The assessment is no longer a game of house as in the past. All aspects have become more demanding. As the difficulty increases, the quality of the petty officials is also improving.

The people of Xiazhou soon discovered the huge difference between the petty officials of the two countries. In fact, the petty officials of the Han Dynasty were not so gentle. They would also show dissatisfaction and be strict, but at least they would not bully the people.

They entered people's homes empty-handed and left empty-handed as well.

In the past, those people went in empty-handed, and when they came out, they had no place to put their belongings and they wished they could push the cart out.

The situation in Xiazhou is quite special. It used to be a military fortress with less arable land. There are mines, but they are difficult to mine. They are not open-pit mines like Shuozhou and Hengzhou.

In fact, many mines in the Pseudo-Zhou Dynasty are like this. In terms of quantity, the mining areas in the Pseudo-Zhou Dynasty may not be much less than those in the Han Dynasty, but they are difficult to mine and are hidden deeper.

Without breaking through the technical barriers, the efficiency is too low.

The only thing that Xiazhou can be praised for is its strategic location and terrain that is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

After understanding the local situation, Xu Yuan decided to abandon the Han State's usual style. Whenever the Han State arrived at a place, it followed a unified routine: first attack temples and powerful people, accumulate money and farmland, and then distribute farmland to the people, and then concentrate on managing local resources. This was the approach taken in most states.

However, within the territory of Zhou State, these methods did not seem to be so effective, and even local people were somewhat resistant to the granting of land. Xu Yuan decided to postpone the granting of land to the lower levels and adopt the official responsibility system, allocating public land to officials of different levels and letting them cultivate the land through employment as one of the calculations of their political achievements. The grain output of these public fields still had to belong to the government offices. The first step was to replenish the granary before making other plans.

Pingcheng.

Liu Taozi returned to the capital again.

The fruits of this victory are far greater than the last time.

The whole Pingcheng was excited by the return of the king.

The ministers seemed quite anxious. They gathered together all day long and conspired in low voices. Of course, they were not planning how to harm the King of Heaven. They wanted to push the King of Han to take another step forward.

After the King of Han occupied Hebei, for various reasons, he did not call himself the emperor, but only the Heavenly King, following the old path of the Zhou Dynasty.

To be fair, it is more or less unreasonable for just a few prefectures and counties in Hebei to claim to be emperors.

But now, there is no doubt about it.

If the king is not called the emperor, who can be called the emperor?

On the first day Liu Taozi returned, similar remarks became popular in Pingcheng and became known to everyone.

Ancestral home.

Zu Ting sat in the upper seat with a smug look on his face.

Many important ministers sat beside him. Some came from Yecheng, some from the border areas, and there were all kinds of people. They were not divided into any camps.

Persuading others to take office is a wonderful thing, and it will always bring rewards.

Now that Liu Taozi is the emperor, he still has concerns when awarding titles. But once he becomes the emperor, the titles he can award will be raised several levels. Those who are granted the title of marquis will be granted the title of marquis, those who are granted the title of duke will be granted the title of duke, and those who are granted the title of king will be granted the title of king.

Zu Ting stroked his chin gently and glanced at the people in front of him, his smug look was clearly visible.

"This matter is not easy to handle."

"You should know that your Majesty is a humble and virtuous person, just like the wise kings of ancient times."

"Your Majesty feels that it is not right for me to be called the Heavenly King, let alone to be officially promoted to the title of Emperor?"

Zu Ting said with a smile: "If you rush up like this, kneel before His Majesty and ask him to enter the Emperor's Chamber, I'm afraid His Majesty will kick you all out."

The ministers looked at each other.

Cui Jishu suddenly asked, "Grandfather, do you mean that we should give you some bribes before you are willing to take the lead in writing a letter?"

Zu Ting narrowed his eyes, "Okay."

"Bring me some money, as long as it can fill up my study, I will take the lead in studying."

Cui Jishu shook his head. "My grandfather often hunted. He became addicted to it."

"Grandfather, you should know that this is not a bad thing. Although the Heavenly King is noble, he is not qualified to rule the nine provinces. Only the Emperor is supreme."

"At present, the Three Kingdoms are in a three-way confrontation, and only the Han Dynasty calls itself the Heavenly King. Isn't this a disparagement to others?"

"When the country was first established, the Han Dynasty was well-respected by the people. People south of the Yellow River all heard of the Han Dynasty's virtues and submitted to it one after another."

"Now that I am called the emperor, my virtue will spread to the four seas and win the hearts of the people. Isn't that great?"

Zu Ting sneered.

"Is Lord Cui trying to spread his virtue throughout the world? Is he trying to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne?"

Zu Ting looked at him with disdain. "When we were discussing the selection of the governor, I heard that Mr. Cui said nothing. I heard that Mr. Cui was good at judging people and could always recommend young talents for the country. How come he was speechless at the critical moment?"

Cui Jishu disagreed and continued, "It is true that I did not make any suggestions on the matter of the provincial governor, but I have recommended 39 prefects, county magistrates and other officials, which is the most among all the officials. Moreover, Lord Gao and Minister Lu both praised the officials I recommended, and His Majesty awarded them titles. Perhaps my grandfather does not know about this?"

Zu Ting ignored him.

The morals of these guys in the country are generally not high, but it is wrong to say that they have no ability and no merit. They are indeed capable, but not as virtuous as myself.

Seeing that Zu Ting was silent, Cui Jishu continued to press, "It is Zugong who often uses personal matters to blackmail the ministers and use them as knives in his hands. If I am not mistaken, Zugong must have something to ask for the support of the ministers this time, right?"

Zu Ting stopped pretending.

"Move the capital."

"If we take over the area south of the river, Pingcheng will no longer be suitable to be the capital."

"It's too far to the south. Even with the fastest scouts, changing horses along the way, traveling day and night, and reporting on the rapid march, it would take nearly two months to get from the southernmost part to Pingcheng, which means four months for the round trip."

"The speed of a carrier pigeon is actually slower than this."

"Besides, Henan has just been acquired, and many things require timely intervention from the imperial court. Future wars will gradually start from the south."

"I am going to write a letter to your Majesty to propose the relocation of the capital. You should write a letter with me, and then we can persuade him to move the capital."

(End of this chapter)