Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 120 Emperor Chapter The new official takes office with three fires, killing the chicken to scare the monkey

Liangzhou was a place where Han people and Qiang people mixed together, and the proportion of ethnic minorities was very large because they expressed their submission to the Han Dynasty and raised horses for the court.

Therefore, they obtained legal right of residence, but of course they were just like cattle and horses, and the degree of exploitation was several times that of the Han people!
Therefore, a large number of horses and livestock were provided. Due to the pressure from the large number of Han cavalry, these people dared not speak out and could only endure it silently.

However, as the imperial court's authority weakened, various parts of Liangzhou also reduced their troops on a large scale due to insufficient supplies, and the elite troops were incorporated into the imperial guards. This led to the long-oppressed Qiang people no longer wanting to endure it, and under the leadership of various generals, they formed an alliance and jointly rose up in rebellion.

Because Wang Feng, who controlled the government at the time, refused to send troops, the local governor had to change to a policy of appeasement. He would appease those who could be appeased, and would use county troops to encircle and suppress those troublemakers who could not be suppressed.

But the situation is gradually deteriorating. Now the Hexi Corridor only belongs to the Han Dynasty in name only, but in reality it has long been controlled by the Qiang people.

The fundamental reason is that the imperial court is unwilling to send troops and the local governments have no other choice, otherwise the number of people is not enough to fight. In fact, the difficulty lies in governance. During the reign of Emperor Yuan, the Qiang people were quite dishonest.

The situation got better after General Xu Ning, a great general during the reign of Emperor Yuan, beat him up several times. However, the situation remained unstable secretly, and by the middle of Emperor Li's reign, the situation was completely out of control.

Because Wang Feng withdrew the elite Liangzhou cavalry stationed here, the local area could only temporarily recruit some county soldiers, who were completely useless and could only barely maintain their authority in Long'an and Ding.

Therefore, the main goal of Xu Yuan, the governor of Liangzhou, is to first recover the three counties of Zhangye, Dunhuang and Jiuquan and open up the Hexi Corridor again so as to regain control of the court.

The Hexi Corridor is the only way to the Western Regions. The imperial court's control over the lands in the Western Regions has been getting weaker and weaker, so Xu Yuan is particularly courageous.

"I am Chen Xiang, the governor of Longxi, and I am here to see the governor of Xuzhou."

The local governor led all the officials to welcome the arrival of their immediate superior, and they did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

The governor of the state controls the military and political power of the entire Yongliang area! He is like a local emperor or a prince. If you offend him, you will not be able to be a governor.

What's more, Xu Yuan was already a well-known general. He put down the rebellion of Zhang Ning and Wang Tong, and was known for his bravery. He was good at using cavalry raids and had superb martial arts. He was also from the Xu family of Henan and had the support of the prime minister Xu Hua and the governor of Jingzhou Xu Zhong. He was very strong!

So the old-fashioned drama of hypocrisy certainly won't happen, and no one is bored enough to offend their boss who has a strong background.

"We are all working for His Majesty. Let's work hard together." Xu Yuan slowly dismounted from his horse. This time he only brought a few followers with him and did not take the elite soldiers trained in Nanjun with him.

I rode alone into Liangzhou and pacified this place by myself!
"The governor is in serious condition. Please come in." Chen Xiang led the way with an apologetic smile.

Xu Yuan did not ride a horse, but followed on foot. At the same time, he also paid attention to the soldiers beside him. If he wanted to pacify Liangzhou, he still had to rely on them.

"Hmm...good, Governor Chen has a good way of training his soldiers." He looked at them carefully. The soldiers were solemn and well-organized, and most importantly, they were tall and had a unique ferocity.

They are worthy of being soldiers from a cold and harsh place like Yongliang. Their level of eliteness is far beyond that of ordinary county soldiers, second only to the thousands of Danyang soldiers brought by Zhu Chun in the past.

And this is just a lack of physical fitness. In fact, the soldiers of Liangzhou have rich combat experience and have been through hundreds of battles. At the same time, they have been hunting since childhood and are skilled in archery and horse riding. Almost all of them are soldiers, so it is easy for them to form a combat-ready army.

It can be said that misfortune and fortune go hand in hand. The desolate environment and climate made the locals hungry, but it also gave them strong fighting power! Their archery and horsemanship skills were no worse than those of the Huns.

Moreover, the Longxi governor also has certain abilities, and this army obviously has strict military discipline. Such a situation would not be possible without systematic training.

"Haha... the governor is too kind. I am just doing my duty. If I don't even have this little fighting power, how can I survive in Yongliang?" Chen Xiang did not take credit for himself.

Showing off military training in front of Xu Yuan is no less than waving a sword in front of Guan Gong.

Although Guan Gong is not even a cell now...

Following Chen Xiang into the Prefectural Mansion, a sense of simplicity came into view. The layout was relatively simple and the area was approximately only one-third the size of the Nanyang Prefectural Mansion.

The interior decoration is completely incomparable. Maybe this is the difference between Nanyang and Longxi. How can you describe it in just one word: poor.

The governor's office in Xiliang had been abolished before, and there had been no governor here for many years.

Xu Yuan, who had always been calm, showed disappointment for the first time. He thought the house would be very shabby, but he didn't expect it to be so shabby. This was undoubtedly hard for him to accept as he came from a wealthy family.

"Please forgive me, Governor. Liangzhou has not been able to collect any taxes for many years. We can only send horses and livestock to Chang'an in exchange for subsidies, and most of these subsidies are used as military expenses."

"There is really no extra money to renovate the prefectural government office."

Chen Xiang also noticed this and looked a little embarrassed. It was indeed too shabby. It didn't look like the place where a high-ranking official of 2,000 stones or the governor of a county would live.

It was the same when he first came, but there was nothing he could do but make do with where he was, hoping to be transferred soon. As a result, there has been no news for so many years. That’s not too bad, as he used to be the prefect of Wuwei, and the environment there was even more difficult to describe.

Moreover, this time Chen Xiang can only live in the Long County Government Office, and as for the Long County Magistrate, he has to find a way himself.

There is absolutely no way around this.

"It's okay. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I'm here to do business for the court. Too much enjoyment is not good."

Xu Yuan quickly adjusted his mentality. After the disappointment faded away, he was shocked. Even the prefect lived in such a shabby place. What would the local people be like?

I'm afraid it's a question whether there is a house to live in. Xiliang has always been very poor, and with the oppression of the imperial court, it would be a miracle if there was anything good going on.

.........

After packing his luggage, Xu Yuan officially took office as the governor of the province. The first thing he did was to check the military equipment he could mobilize.

Longxi is the richest and most militarily powerful county in the entire Liangzhou. It can mobilize about 4,500 regular troops, including 2,000 cavalrymen with uneven armor configuration, and about 500 fully armored elite soldiers.

That is, the garrison of Long County. It was indeed very difficult to suppress a large number of Qiang people with such a small force. After Xu Ning put down the rebellion, he left behind nearly 10,000 elite soldiers and provided financial convenience.

Some troops were recruited, and at the peak period, there were 25,000 soldiers that could be mobilized, including 6,000 cavalry, which perfectly suppressed the power of the Qiang people and the powerful.

However, after Wang Feng became the general, he began to pay less attention to Yongliang, and he paid more attention to the defense of Bingzhou and Youzhou, that is, the Huns and the emerging Wuhuan people.

He maintained an indifferent attitude towards Liangzhou, and was also cold towards the Western Regions, otherwise he would not have given up the three counties of Dunhuang.

Subsequently, the elite troops stationed here were withdrawn one after another, and the subsidy money began to be reduced, resulting in the army's establishment being disbanded again and again, and now there are only a few thousand people.

There were more than 4,000 troops in Longxi, while the county troops in Wuwei, Anding and Jincheng generally had no more than a thousand men.

The attitude of the Liangzhou government is to constantly compromise, and only send more troops to those who really disobey. Therefore, the focus of defense is still Longxi.

As I was thinking, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Xuzhou Mu, your subordinate Chen Xiang."

"come in."

Xu Yuan also withdrew his thoughts, looked at the Longxi governor who came in, and said: "Tell me about the general situation of this place, such as what forces are enough to threaten the court."

"Yes, Governor of Xuzhou. The western part of Liangzhou, namely the three counties of Dunhuang, has been controlled by the Western Regions. There are not many troops stationed there. They are mainly used to support the Qiang tribes of all sizes. The most important one is the Baishui Qiang, which has 4,000 strong men. Together with other tribes, they can gather tens of thousands of people."

"Although there is a general lack of standard armor, it is still quite tricky to rely on local influence."

As expected, it was the work of the Western Regions. Xu Yuan was suddenly enlightened. Those Qiang people had no iron smelting technology at all. The imperial court had very strict control over fine iron, weapons and armor. How could they possibly get so much?

Now it seems that the Western Regions are secretly providing weapons to counter the power of the Central Plains.

In fact, the Han Dynasty did not treat the countries in the Western Regions very well. It just took advantage of them as much as possible and demanded a lot of tribute each time.

Of course, the main products are some specialties from the Western Regions, such as spices, which are very popular in the Han Dynasty.

In fact, it was the local Qiang tribes that controlled the three counties of Dunhuang, and the Western Regions only provided corresponding resources, so it was urgent to deal with the Qiang people.

"The situation in the eastern part of Liangzhou, namely Longxi, Wuwei, Anding, and Jincheng, is much more complicated than that in Dunhuang. Not only are there many Qiang people, but there are also a large number of local powerful armed forces, and their combat effectiveness is also impressive."

The current situation in this area is probably that the government, the powerful, and the Qiang people are in a three-way tie, with the government being the strongest, the powerful second, and the Qiang people being the weakest.

The powerful Qiang people generally united to fight against the government, and the three parties maintained a delicate balance. In order to govern the area well, the local government chose to make concessions and coexist with them.

This is why this most special political ecology has been formed, in which the power of the powerful is fully demonstrated.

The powerful people in other places have to use the names of guards and servants as cover, and they cannot have too many thugs, but the powerful people in Yongliang don't even pretend, and they start recruiting soldiers directly.

The local people will join whichever group offers better treatment, so the military strength of the powerful is also not weak.

"Then is there anything particularly disobedient about Liangzhou?" Xu Yuan asked after thinking for a moment.

"There is one, the Qian family in Wuwei, which has more than 2,000 private armed forces. They have also united with several surrounding Qiang tribes, with a force of more than 5,000. They have always been disobedient to the government and have repeatedly launched military invasions."

This is somewhat related to the Xu family's problem. They provided a practical family framework for the local area. Coupled with the policies made by Emperor Wu and Emperor Kang in order to win over the Xu family, the family's power found fertile ground for development.

The Qian family of Wuwei is a typical example. They built a fortress, recruited private soldiers, and engaged in the smuggling of grain and horses. They first transported the horses to Chang'an for dumping and then exchanged them for grain. They then transported them back to Liangzhou and sold them at double the price, making huge profits. They did not pass through government checkpoints on the way to ensure more profits.

This is a typical case of smuggling, and the Qian family has been driving up prices more than once. The local authorities have also issued warnings, but it is of no use because the Qian family has their own independent armed forces.

In order to show goodwill to other powerful people, the government chose to turn a blind eye.

"Let's start with them." Xu Yuan planned to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. As the saying goes, a new official starts with three fires. If he doesn't make some moves, others will think he is easy to bully!
We should first wipe out the Qian family and use this as a warning to other powerful forces in Wuwei. As for the Qiang people, we can let them go for now.

Without resource support, these Qiang people are of no concern.

.........

After leaving Qinghe, Xu Min rushed to Youzhou to take up his post.

The area of ​​Youyan is much richer than Liangzhou and Bingzhou. It has a population of nearly one million households and is rich in horses and iron ore. It is also an important horse-breeding area for the Han Dynasty.

Moreover, the imperial court attached great importance to this place and stationed tens of thousands of elite Han cavalry there to guard against attacks by the Wuhuan people. The situation was far less complicated than in Liangzhou, where you are in me and I am in you.

It's simply a foreign threat.

The capital of Youzhou was in Jicheng, Guangyang County. It had been the capital of Yan for many years and had always been an important town with the largest army and the strongest defense.

During the reign of Emperor Wen, a famous siege battle took place here. The Donghu people blocked the pass and surrounded Jicheng. Xu Zhao, the Grand Marshal of the Han Dynasty at that time, led his troops to rescue.

But halfway through the war, King Zhao Liu Ruyi launched a rebellion, and hundreds of thousands of rebels marched towards the capital Chang'an, putting the Han Dynasty in danger.

At this moment, Xu Gong took over the flag of his fallen brother. The so-called "coward" overcame his inner fear, led his troops to charge, killed the Donghu King Hu Duo in battle, repelled the foreign army, and became a god in one battle.

Later, Xu Zhao turned the tide, killed Liu Ruyi, and put down the rebellion in Zhao State on his own. Xu Gong returned to Beijing, was appointed General Wei, and began his career as an official.

After that, he repeatedly created miracles, advocated the establishment of the Imperial Academy, and his civil and military achievements reached the top of the officials. Some people commented that he was not inferior to Xu Zhen, the first Jinghou! Such achievements are terrifying.

As the place where Xu Gong made his fortune, Youzhou is of particular significance.

Xu Min rode on his horse and looked into the distance, feeling heavy in his heart. Many ancestors of his family rose to prominence in Youzhou, and now he had also set foot here.

How not to be nervous.

"Master, this is the map of Youzhou, please take a look." The servant handed over the map.

"Hmm..." Xu Min took it silently. Youzhou was an important military town, responsible for curbing the Wuhuan people, so of course he had to understand the geographical location and military deployment.

He had never fought in a war, so he was naturally inferior to his cousin Xu Zhong, so he could only make up for his shortcomings with hard work.

"Huh, it turns out that fighting is not that simple."

He took a deep breath and felt a great deal of pressure. In the past, he had only heard about it from his father and had rarely come into contact with a real military.

After all, Jizhou was very peaceful. There were indeed thieves in Qingzhou, but it was none of his business.

(End of this chapter)