Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 163: The hearts of the people in the world can be won over
"Don't shoot, soldiers, please don't shoot. I am the chief of the Jin Cao in Xia Pi."

An ugly scholar wearing a Confucian cap and with his robe stained with blood walked out slowly, holding high the head of Zuo Rong with his eyes wide open.

In the melee, Zuo Rong was ambushed and killed by the Jin Cao officials. The remaining ten or so people were almost all injured. The official who beheaded the rebel had the greatest contribution, so he was asked to negotiate with Lord Xuande, while the others stood behind the wall and eavesdropped.

If Lord Xuande changes his mind and kills them all, then we have no choice but to - splatter the blood of the Qingzhou soldiers.

If you dare to kill us, we will dare to splatter our hot blood, making your armor bloody and corroding the leaves. Everyone could only comfort themselves in this way.

There was no way. Someone secretly looked through the crack in the wall and found that the soldiers were all wearing armor. What else can they do by fighting the armored with the unarmored except splashing blood on the other side?

What's more, Envoy Liu was the governor of Xuzhou. Even if the county soldiers received the news that a large group of cavalry had entered Xia Pi, they would still stand on the side of Lord Xuande if they broke camp.

"Lord Xuande, the traitor Zuo Rong has been killed, and the minor officials have been held hostage by him. Fortunately, thanks to your divine soldiers and heavenly generals, we have the opportunity to restore order and eliminate the traitor."

After Jin Caoyuan finished speaking, he threw Zuo Rong's head to the ground so that people could identify it.

He knew clearly that he should not claim any credit for killing Zuo Rong at this moment, and that he was lucky to be alive today.

"Take some people to take a look." Liu Bei said to Dian Wei.

"Yes!" Dian Wei bowed, then selected a few surrendered believers to confirm.

The Jin Cao official looked at Dian Wei, who was broad-shouldered and strong, and walked towards him with a frown on his face. He was startled and quickly bowed and said, "Thank you, brave man."

Dian Wei also bowed to him when he saw this.

When the believers confirmed that the head was that of Zuo Rong, Dian Wei turned sideways and shouted, "Sir, the traitor has been beheaded."

The Jin Cao official standing beside him was caught off guard by the shouting, and he covered his ears and looked at Dian Wei in horror, thinking: "What a brave and brave man!"

No normal person would have such a loud voice. Fortunately, I didn’t hold a fake head, otherwise I would have followed Zuo Rong on the road.

Not to mention that the opponent was wearing iron armor, even if he was not wearing armor, he probably wouldn't be able to defeat him with a sword.

Liu Bei was also slightly stunned by Dian Wei's call from a distance.

He turned to the officer next to him and said, "First tie them up and take them to Xia Pi County. I want to find out how many officials were in cahoots with Zuo Rong."

The cavalry came roaring in, coming quickly and leaving quickly.

A few days later, the news that Liu Bei suddenly led his army to Xia Pi County and captured and killed Zuo Rong shocked many county officials, county magistrates, county secretaries, as well as the gentry and wealthy families.

The distance between Tan County and Xia Pi County was a total of 176 miles. They fought tirelessly and carried out the surprise attack for two days and one night, without leaking any information along the way, just to control Xia Pi at the lowest cost and intimidate other counties.

Compared with Tao Gongzu's efficiency, there is a huge difference between them, one is in heaven and the other is on earth.

Even Chen Gui, who was in Pei State, could not help but slap his thigh and sighed when he heard the news: "This is what Emperor Gaozu was like when he was alive. Emperor Gaozu captured the Marquis of Huaiyin just as quickly as he did."

I looked up at Xiaopei, which was Pei County, where Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang rose to power.

Chen Gui could not help but hum with joy: "From the Si River, he was called Pei Gong, howling at the heroes, working hard and being a hero, ascending the throne at Fanshui, building a palace in Xianyang, with power throughout the world, and singing the great wind."

After Emperor Gaozu gained the world, he was very generous in conferring rewards. When he conferred the title of Marquis of Liu on Zhang Liang, he allowed him to choose 30,000 households in Qi. His achievements were comparable to those of Lu Wang.

In the end, Zhang Liang only chose Liu County, where he had just met Emperor Gaozu, and said: "The heaven has granted me to Your Majesty. Fortunately, Your Majesty's plan was successful. I am willing to be granted Liu County, but my contribution is not worthy of 30,000 households."

Chen Gui silently said, "If my Chen family helps the envoy stabilize Xuzhou, and then make contributions to the country, with Lord Xuande's generosity and kindness, there will be a possibility of rewarding him with a ten thousand households in the future, and it will be worth it for my family to assist him."

Thinking of this, Chen Gui felt deeply regretful. If the Chen family had made a great effort to help Xuande when he passed through Xuzhou seven or eight years ago, the official careers of the clan members for at least five generations would have been worry-free.

When Guangling Governor Zhao Yu, Pengcheng Prime Minister Xue Li, and Langya Prime Minister Xiao Jian heard the news, they compared themselves to Zuo Rong and found that they had no way to defend themselves. Envoy Liu did not look back, and did not hesitate to act. He was like an arrow shot from a bow, and arrived a thousand miles away in an instant.

The capture and killing of Zuo Rong shocked the whole of Xuzhou. Even if a prefect or county governor wanted to rebel later, he would take care of the whole thing alone without consulting the county officials.

Otherwise, as long as they conspired with the county officials to mobilize the soldiers and open the armory, any unusual signs in the counties of the county would be reported, and the army to suppress the rebellion would arrive in an instant, without even receiving the news that the previous county had fallen.

The mobilization of Qingzhou officials and soldiers was so quick that before you could even get them ready, the enemy troops were already at the gates of your city.

Who would be willing to join you in rebelling against Lord Xuande? You can be beheaded and win a great merit in suppressing the rebellion.

Do you think you can quickly mobilize county soldiers to fight against the Qingzhou army in just two or three days without telling anyone else?
Don't be silly, even someone as strong as Yuan Shao can't do it.

Ever since the war between Jizhou and Qingzhou broke out, Yuan Benchu ​​and his many staff members have been studying why Liu Xuande was able to mobilize troops so quickly and had so many brave and fierce soldiers.

Fang discovered that Liu Xuande had long surpassed the gentry and wealthy families and had deeply rooted himself in the countryside to serve as the most basic ruler. Taking advantage of the convenience of the military government, he organized ten households into a Jia, and ten Jias into a Bao, and went deep into the grassroots level for management, registering every household.

He employed agricultural students as clerks in the countryside, bypassing the county and township elders and township officials controlled by the powerful families. With his abundant energy and high efficiency, he was able to directly govern the common people in the countryside.

The common people may not necessarily know the names of the county magistrate, county magistrate, prefect and county governor, but their understanding and familiarity with Liu Shijun is like having a senior official who is the most benevolent to the people in their next-door neighbor's house.

Envoy Liu had a photographic memory and remembered everyone he had greeted or met. At the end of every year, some lonely elderly people and children would receive money, food and meat allocated by the envoy himself.

Many officials did not dare to neglect their duties, also because Lord Xuande was not like other lords who would forget the mistakes made by officials after being busy for a while.

Envoy Liu has a good memory. As long as government affairs are not done well, he will ask about the cause and effect of the matter even if he sees you again after a few years.

If a student is deemed incompetent, he or she will be listed as a special focus and undergo monthly performance appraisal.

Many officials in Qingzhou are conscientious in their work, careful and down-to-earth, and dare not commit fraud or corruption or accept bribes.

It was just the tip of the iceberg, which made Yuan Shao and his many staff members take a deep breath. They could not learn it at all.

Not to mention supervising officials to do their work, even if a hundred acres of farmland were distributed to the soldiers, they would not be able to do it.

The gentry and nobles of Hebei joined Yuan Gong in the hope of making further progress, not to offer their homes and lands to live a hard life.

Everyone was puzzled: Where did Liu Xuande get enough energy to handle so many matters, big and small?
One can't help but sigh that Liu Bei is really good at winning people's hearts. He has won the hearts of millions of people in Qingzhou.

He gave the land obtained from surveying and reclaiming wasteland as rewards to soldiers, and distributed the remaining land to the common people. As the governor of the state, he only owned a few hectares of arable land.

The land was used to grow vegetables, ginger, and herbs for food in his own mansion, and most of the remaining land was distributed to Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia and others.

I heard that the few acres of ginger field were specially planted for Guo Fengxiao, because he was weak and often suffered from colds. This made Guo Tu, who was far away in northern Hebei, jealous, and thought that it would be great if Mr. Yuan could be so kind to his subordinates.

The people of Jizhou discovered that these people were not fighting for the Han family, nor were they fighting for the Liu family, but were fighting to the death for Liu Xuande.

When Yuan's army marched into Qingzhou, they faced resistance not only from Liu Xuande's own soldiers, but also from millions of Qingzhou civilians who were all soldiers.

As long as Liu Bei's flag does not fall, there will be an endless stream of people fighting for him to the end.

At that time, Yuan Shao received the news that Gongsun Zan had resurrected. After much deliberation, he decided to go north to Youzhou to eliminate Gongsun Zan first, and then gather Quanzhou for a decisive battle with Liu Bei.

However, he did not expect that Gongsun Zan was so resilient that, despite the joint offensive of him, the Wuhuan and Xianbei peoples, the Gongsun clan had not yet been defeated, and Liu Bei's control of the land increased from two states to three states.

Yuan Shao watched Liu Xuande grow in power while he was held down in Youzhou by Gongsun Zan.

(End of this chapter)