Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 212 Liu Bei: A generous reward is necessary
On May 196th of the first year of Jian'an ( AD), the morning light rose slowly in the east.

The Huben Cavalry and Ruichong Camp, which had moved their troops to Xiang County in Pei State, began to pack up their belongings and washed clothes, preparing to break camp and retreat to Qingzhou with the envoy.

The soldiers were all smiling and happy. They were very excited to finally be able to return home after fighting for so long.

Since following the envoy to attack Heluo, other military camps have already had their turns to rest. Only they followed the envoy non-stop to Xuzhou to garrison it, and then went to Yuzhou Peiguo to defeat the Yellow Turbans. Even though they had received rewards, they were extremely exhausted.

If the general had not set an example by sharing the hardships with the soldiers, I'm afraid there would have been a lot of complaints among the people.

At the same time, another unit of Huben Cavalry stationed in Xia Pi also received news to return home for rest.

Taishi Ci, who was re-elected as the Prime Minister of Xia Pi, was also a little envious. He was a soldier who was about to return to Qingzhou. He had received great favors from the envoy and now he was a 2,000-stone official. He also wanted to go back to Donglai County to see his fellow villagers.

Liu Bei seemed to know that Taishi Ci would be upset at this time, so he wrote a letter to him: "Ziyi, please be patient. A real man should carry a three-foot sword and do great deeds. I have heard that someone said that Yuan Gonglu in Runan secretly hid the imperial seal and had evil intentions."

"Xia Pi is the closest to Huainan. If Yuan Shu makes a move, we can lead our army to attack him and take back the imperial seal for the Han Dynasty. By then, Zi Yi will have made great contributions to the Han Dynasty and will be granted the title of Marquis with the title of 2,000-stone official. In the future, he will visit the village and bless the ancestors, just like the common people in the county and village who wear embroidered clothes in broad daylight. How can we not be honored and envious?"

"A man is inspired and has far-reaching ambitions, not limited to momentary boasting."

When Taishi Ci saw the letter, he was shocked and wrote back: "In ancient times, saints and sages made great achievements. There was Dayu who passed by his home three times while controlling floods but did not enter. In the end, his achievements were passed down among the people and poems were circulated. Although I dare not compare myself to Dayu, I still want to make great achievements to repay Lord Xuande for his special favor."

Liu Bei appeased Taishi Ci, and appointed Chen Gui as the governor of Mount Tai in Yanzhou, and transferred Ying Shao to be the prime minister of Pengcheng.

Ying Zhongyuan was ordered to fight against the bandits who had fled to Mount Tai. He led more than a thousand soldiers and was almost ambushed and wiped out by the bandits.

Liu Bei almost fainted when he saw the documents that were urgently sent to him. All the other states and counties had won battles, and the powerful troops had fled in fear, but Taishan was the only place where he suffered a defeat.

Therefore, Yu Jin was quickly transferred to be the commander of Mount Tai to lead his troops to fight against the bandits, and the military affairs of Langya were handed over to Sun Bofu to handle properly.

Guan Hai was transferred to be the commander of Pei State, and he was ordered to lead the elite camp stationed in Pei and be responsible for encroaching on the thirty-seven counties of Runan County. He was also given the right to make decisions on the spot and persuade the Yellow Turbans to surrender first.

Even though Liu Bei did not return to take charge of the Xuzhou turmoil, it was gradually quelled by many good officials, which made him extremely impressed.

The government treasury was opened to distribute money, grain and fine silk to reward numerous meritorious officials. A total of 133 state officials were meritorious, 872 county officials were meritorious, and a total of 4,956 county and township officials were meritorious.

In addition, there were 1,173 legal and military officers, 352 military officers, and soldiers who beheaded and were rewarded, totaling 18,492 people. During this period, many powerful families and tribes turned to Liu and defected to him when the battle came, and rushed to lead the Qingzhou army to attack the powerful manors.

As a result, when the military officials checked the number of beheadings after the war, they found that the number far exceeded the number of soldiers mobilized. They checked it several times to make sure that no innocent people were killed to gain credit. Only then did they pass the list up the chain of command, which alarmed the generals and governors who led troops to suppress the rebellion in various places.

Many officials asked these people whether they should be rewarded for beheading people on the battlefield as normal soldiers. This would undoubtedly result in a lot more money being distributed than originally expected.

Liu Bei thought for a moment and wrote back to ask them to record their military merits according to normal records. The Han Dynasty would not let down its meritorious ministers. Merits would be rewarded and mistakes would be punished. Moreover, if small merits were not rewarded, great merits would not be established. The Xuzhou rebellion would be calculated based on the gains on the battlefield.

Cao's office in Qingchuan was transferred to melt the seized copper coins, both good and bad, and re-cast copper coins according to the size and weight of Qingzhou Wuzhu coins.

They filled sacks on grain boats or supply carts and transported them one by one to various places in Xuzhou for distribution to the people.

The government treasury's expenditure alone amounted to tens of millions of coins, not including rewards such as corn and cloth. The Caohe River was busy, and some people cried while others laughed. When carts full of Wuzhu coins were transported to the military camp, the soldiers could not take their eyes off them. The brand new coins seemed to be shining, and many of them were urgently transferred from Qing and Yan states.

This made the soldiers, who had just joined the envoy's army not long ago, swallow their saliva.

You should know that this is the heaviest Wuzhu coin, not the copper coins that were previously circulated everywhere with varying quality.

When the military officials called out the names according to the list, they went up the steps one by one to be rewarded for their merits. The soldiers who received the money had red necks and shouted loudly: "Long live Lord Xuande!"

"Long live the big man!"

"Long live the Lord!"

Led by one person, the whole army raised their arms and shouted, and the sound spread farther and farther.

The nobles and clan leaders heard the shouts from the military camp from afar and said with emotion: "Lord Xuande has won the hearts of the people in Xuzhou with this move."

However, Liu Bei was not yet done with his work in Xiang County. While dealing with many affairs in Xuzhou, he also had to take into account the affairs of Yanzhou and Qingzhou.

Officials from Xuzhou and Yanzhou were transferred back and forth, even the top officials were no exception. Even the newly appointed Zhang Zhao, Zhuge Jin, Chen Jiao, Bu Zhi, Liu Ye, and Wei Jing were transferred to Yanzhou as officials.

He also recruited clan members from the Chenliu Cai family, the Taishan Yang family, the Chenliu Bian family, the Henei Sima family, and the Henei Zhang family to serve as officials in Xuzhou, breaking the tradition of only recruiting local gentry and wealthy families as officials.

Zhang Miao, the governor of Chenliu, wrote to Liu Bei carefully, saying: "Scholars are not used to being in a foreign land. Whether it is eating habits, local customs, or language, they are all different. Lord Xuande may wish to consider this."

Liu Bei asked in his letter: "You are all the people in the world who are receiving salaries from the Han Dynasty. You put public interests before your own and your country before your family. If you don't want to be an official, can't you go to another place to serve as a good official?"

"As an official, should one be honest and upright, and fulfill one's duties, or should one be eager to gain every bit of profit and pursue fame and fortune? Mr. Zhang, even if you are serving the Han Dynasty, you should be upright and not follow the habit of just saying yes."

Liu Bei's words were so harsh that he didn't even call Zhang Miao by his courtesy name anymore, but just addressed him as Zhang Jun.

This frightened Zhang Miao greatly. He had offended Yuan Benchu ​​by his careless words before, and now he was going to offend Lord Xuande as well. Then Zhang would be finished and would have nowhere to run.

Now that the county troops have been abolished, the soldiers are in the hands of the military government. Without the seal of the governor, he, as the prefect, cannot mobilize people.

I could not help but complain about the many nobles and powerful families in Chenliu County, secretly saying: "If you have any problems in the future, go and talk to Lord Xuande yourself, don't drag me, the Zhang family, into this. The land measurement incident in Xuzhou has shocked the whole world, and there are rumors everywhere that Guangwu has returned."

Of the three states of Qing, Yan and Xu under the governor's rule, only Yanzhou had not yet carried out large-scale land measurement, and only slight progress had been made in Dongjun and Taishan counties.

If you don't try to please Lord Xuande now and dare to touch the tiger's whiskers, you are really asking for trouble.

Thinking of this, Zhang Miao suddenly had the idea of ​​transferring out of Chenliu County. Whoever wants to be the prefect of Chenliu can do it. I don’t want to do it anymore.

(End of this chapter)