Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 47: Conquering Donglai
On the 21st day of the first month of the fourth year of Chuping, it rained heavily.

The authority of the imperial court was once again trampled upon by the people of Liangzhou.

People all over the world are in turmoil, but they cannot stop Qingzhou's prosperity.

After confirming that the army would be ready to go and spring ploughing could proceed as usual in the counties, Liu Bei used the governor's seal to allocate grain, grass and beans from various warehouses.

Weapons were taken out from the armory, including spears, guns, halberds, bows and crossbows, arrows, swords, axes, hammers, daggers, and sickles.

Various equipment such as armor, armor, vest, shield, etc.

There were also three hundred chariots that were two zhang long and fourteen zhang wide, with spears tied to the outside of the chariots and large shields placed on the inside.

Although there are a lot of allocations, many of them are consumables for use on the battlefield.

Especially when encountering fierce battles, the troops are consumed very quickly.

If you are lucky, the arrows you shot can be recovered, but if the blades of other weapons are broken, you can only collect the iron blocks and bring them back to recast them.

The reason for the expedition to Donglai this time was not because of the previous flirting between the Donglai prefect and Yuan Benchu, but because of Gongsun Du, who was recommended by Dong Zhuo as the prefect of Liaodong in July of the previous year.

He sailed across the sea to attack Donglai County, killing and looting many powerful families. The prefect led the county soldiers to resist but was also killed in the battle.

The officials who fled from Donglai County came to Liu Bei with sad faces and asked for reinforcements. Liu Bei was also a little surprised.

I've been here for so long that I almost forgot there was such a thing in Qingzhou.

Gongsun Du was used to being the king and dominating Liaodong, but he dared to cross the sea to attack Qingzhou.

You want to take advantage of the situation, but don’t you know that the Qingzhou uprising has been over for more than half a year?

Although Donglai County is still independent of the state.

But if Gongsun Du dares to extend his hand into his territory, don't blame him for chopping it off.

I heard that in addition to the infantry, there are also quite a few cavalry.

Liu Bei found craftsmen to build Wugang chariots to defend against the enemy cavalry.

We did not send out any troops last year, so we had a lot of food accumulated.

Various powerful families, such as Guan, Liu, Yi Yan, Yan, Rong, etc., all took the initiative to pay the population taxes.

The harvested grain for tax payment was sent to the Pingyuan granary. After verification, the average yield was three hu per mu. However, these wealthy families had many fertile fields, and the yield from the best fields was even higher.

The lands of the wealthy families in Pingyuan County were combined together and a total of 96,722 hu of land was paid.

These wealthy families owned 500 to 300 hectares of fertile land.

Among them, the Liu family owned more than a thousand hectares.

The troops mobilized this time included 9,750 vanguards, 431 armored soldiers, 1,300 archers, more than 600 auxiliary soldiers of the Huben cavalry, and 280 scouts.

The rest of the inner court's combat troops will not be mobilized, but 7,000 auxiliary soldiers will be mobilized from outer courts.

Except for the three battalions and one cavalry in Pingyuan, the auxiliary soldiers mobilized were all from Jinan County, Le'an County, and Qi County.

Among them, most of the auxiliary soldiers were recruited from Qi County.

Liu Bei knew very well how to centralize power most quickly against those officials who pretended to obey but actually disobeyed. That was to concentrate the resources that the common people and powerful families could mobilize in his own hands in the name of conscription during the war.

Military orders are as heavy as mountains. Seventeen prohibitions and fifty-four executions are no joke.

The remaining troops were not mobilized. After all, Pingyuan was too close to Jizhou and Yanzhou, and it was too dangerous without elite troops stationed there.

What if Yuan Shao of Jizhou and Liu Dai of Yanzhou suddenly launch a surprise attack?

If you are caught off guard, you may suffer heavy losses.

Liu Bei stood on a watchtower that was three meters high and two meters wide, and saw endless mountains and forests in the distance.

In the heavy rain, the horses galloped like a tide of thousands of horses.

After the rain, the sky cleared up and the strong smell of grass, trees and soil filled the air.

Meditate on how to deal with Jizhou and Yanzhou.

Liu Bei's eyes suddenly lit up, and he smiled and said, "Now that the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou have been pacified, Liu Dai and Bao Xin don't need to die in battle."

"Cao Mengde owes me a favor, so I'll keep Wen Ruo here. I wonder if he'll have another chance to become a duke. It also saves him from overstepping the line and being hindered by others."

"Plus, I indirectly saved his superiors and friends. All in all, Cao Mengde already owes me a lot. How will he repay me?"

Liu Bei couldn't help but wonder, is there anything else on Cao Cao's side that's worth his attention?
"Xuan De, it took me a long time to find you..." Liu Bei was awakened by the voice.

It was Wen Ruo who came to see him.

Xun Yu stayed and worked with the counties for several months, and he became very familiar with the situation. Liu Bei was surprised to find a treasure. With Jian Yong and Qian Zhao being promoted to county prime ministers, the state department lacked talents for overall planning.

Therefore, Xun Yu was appointed as the assistant to the governor. At present, there was no deputy governor in Qingzhou, and apart from Liu Bei, Wen Ruo was the only one with power in the province.

Some of the books in Qingzhou had to be checked by him before being handed over to Liu Bei.

When Liu Bei was put in charge of the counties, his workload suddenly dropped by one third.

Xun Yu became much busier, as he had to write down the statistical matters in great detail.

County officials, county officials, and township officials checked repeatedly at each level.

In order to prevent fraud, sometimes off-site verification would be conducted and officials from other counties would be exchanged for investigation.

Xun Yu reported: "The armories of all counties have been checked and the numbers in all counties are normal. Only Zhu'a County was missing three ring-handled swords and two bows during the inventory."

Liu Bei asked, "The chief and chancellor of the armory don't know where the swords and bows are?"

"The clerk replied that the two were so frightened that they didn't know anything," Xun Yu replied.

Liu Bei pondered and said, "Investigate this matter thoroughly. We cannot neglect the matter of the arsenal and military equipment. Otherwise, there will be more and more loopholes, and we will never be able to plug them."

Xun Yu nodded slightly.

It doesn't matter if the county register is poorly maintained, or the county register is incorrect, or someone really stole the money.

Someone is definitely neglecting their duties.

The arsenal had not been opened for a year, and this had caused some people to become impure.

From then on, the country will be in great order, with civil officials flourishing and military officials at peace.

Wouldn't the armor and weapons in the armory be stolen?
How could such a thing be so absurd? Stealing from an armory is a serious crime.

A thousand-mile long dam can be breached by a single ant hole. Even if there is only one missing sickle, we must investigate thoroughly.

Xun Yu added: "All the people in Le'an and Qi County have been registered and counted."

To register all households means to record the information of each household on bamboo slips or paper books.

Record your name, skin color, height, age and other information in the household registration.

If there are young children, wives and daughters in the family, or if the family is an official, they must also be registered.

And it is updated once a year to prevent impersonation.

The household registration of all the houses and gardens in Qingzhou counties and prefectures was brought under the jurisdiction of the Household Department, and then sealed.

When it is time to check, the files will be opened and clerks will be sent to each township and county to call out the names, compare them one by one, and re-register them.

This method was not thought up by Liu Bei, but was started during the Qin Dynasty.

It was gradually improved during the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bei listened to Xun Yu's report for a long time without stopping.

He walked to the side, poured a bowl of water, and handed it to him, saying, "Wen Ruo, don't be anxious. Talk slowly. Have a drink of water first."

Xun Yu happened to be thirsty, so he took a big gulp of water after bowing.

He was too busy to rest all day long. Although he was highly respected, he was still too busy to do anything.

Even so, he is still no match for Xuande.

She had twice as much official work to do, but she finished reviewing it faster than him.

If it weren't for the fact that the sixteen officials who were busy running behind the envoy had already been idle.

Nor would he have thought that Xuande had already dealt with today's affairs.

I went to the watchtower to look out into the distance.

Xun Yu could not help but say: "Xuan De, the provincial governors are short of officials. Although there are many talented people at the bottom, it will take time to hone them."

“Even if we arrange the descendants of the Liu and Guan clans to serve as officials in the prefectures and counties, it will take time to hone their skills, and they cannot be promoted again and again in the short term.”

"This method can't solve the urgent problem."

"What plan does Wen Ruo have?" Liu Bei asked.

“We need to recruit more talented people who are familiar with government affairs in order to fill the vacancies of officials in the prefectures and counties.” Xun Yu said after thinking for a while.

　Thanks to Yueying, Yifeng, 7294, Sha Yixiao, and 3282 book friends for their monthly tickets!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)