My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 621: Zhuge Liang's drastic measures in governing Shu
Liu Zhang was properly settled by Liu Bei, and soon he took the private wealth he had accumulated in Shu for twenty years, sailed down the river, and went to Lujiang County at the junction of Jing and Yang to take up his post as the prefect of Lujiang.

Liu Bei successfully entered Chengdu and took over the treasury left by Liu Zhang, sealing it for future arrangements. He then announced a three-day banquet to reward his officers and soldiers.

Because the city of Chengdu in this life was finally opened without bloodshed and did not experience any substantial siege, it was certainly impossible for Liu Bei's army to allow the plundering of civilian property as they did in history.

Moreover, the battle to pacify Yizhou in this life lasted only more than four months, which was seven or eight times shorter than the three-year battle in the same period in history, and the pain of the war was much less.

The compensation that the soldiers needed to receive was originally about 20% off compared to the same period in history. Moreover, Liu Zhang surrendered earlier and spent much less money from the treasury. The remaining money in the treasury was enough.

To be honest, the ancient army fought for wealth and needed a lot of material incentives, which was inevitable for any monarch or prince. Even Liu Bei could not completely avoid making money, but he had a much lower limit than Cao and Sun.

Without exaggeration or slander, even if we cite the original words in Chen Shou's Biography of the First Lord, it clearly states that after conquering Chengdu, "the First Lord held a grand feast for the soldiers, took the gold and silver from Shu City and distributed them to the soldiers, and returned their grain and silk." However, Chen Shou did not specify whether the "gold and silver in Shu City" referred to the treasury or the people's gold and silver.

However, in the Huayang Guozhi, a local chronicle of Shu, it is written that "gold and silver from the people in Shu city were taken to reward the soldiers" - there is one more word "people" than in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. The Biography of the First Lord, which means that even the gold and silver from the people were collected. (This "people" may also be the soldiers who were rewarded by Liu Zhang to defend the city. Liu Zhang gave them money to encourage them to fight against Liu Bei. Liu Bei collected it and gave it to the soldiers who attacked the city.)

Of course, by referring to these two works, we can roughly see that Liu Bei was quite restrained, because he "returned the grain and cloth to the people", that is, he did not plunder the food and cloth that the people depended on for their survival, but only confiscated precious metals such as gold and silver from their homes.

This move is similar to the modern military's control of precious metals after changing regimes and occupying new areas, and not allowing people to privately store gold and silver. It is very different from Cao Cao's comprehensive, indiscriminate robbery.

In history, Liu Bei also thought about collecting farmland from the people after he found that the reward was not enough with just gold and silver, but he was dissuaded by Zhao Yun and did not do it. He certainly would not do it in this life.

In a nutshell, because the battle was fought quickly and with less pain, there would definitely be enough money to distribute rewards after the war, and there would be no need to do anything that would harm the people.

All these rewards and punishments were taken care of within just half a month.

The agricultural production of the people was successfully restored within half a month. Because the surrounding counties were taken over by Liu Bei's army in advance in February, the delay of spring plowing this year was limited to the people in Chengdu.

The people of Du'an, Guangdu and Pi County started their normal spring ploughing in mid-February, while the people of Xindu County and Luocheng only started spring ploughing in early March, which was a delay of half a month. It is estimated that the final yield will be reduced.

The people of Chengdu County did not start planting until mid-March, which delayed them for a full month. However, they could choose to plant only one season of Linyi rice and not plant late rice to save the situation.

All in all, the 200,000 or 300,000 people in Chengdu County would have to reduce their annual agricultural output by about 40%, but their workload would also be reduced accordingly, saving them a busy summer harvest. As long as Liu Bei did not collect land taxes and grain in Chengdu this year, the people could still be self-sufficient.

……

Time flies and it is already the end of March.

After more than half a month of rectification, the production of the people in Shu was finally restored and guaranteed.

Liu Bei was finally able to shift his focus to personnel arrangements, official promotions and the promotion of financial and grain reforms.

Of course, Liu Bei himself was not an expert in this job. At most, he could give a general idea of identifying and employing people. Other internal affairs had to be left to professionals.

Fortunately, the talented people he needs have arrived.

During the Chengdu Campaign, Zhuge Liang had been stationed in Jiangzhou, providing overall logistical support for the army, and had not been to the frontline in person. At most, he would write letters to the frontline generals to give them some advice on tactical adjustments based on the situation reported back from the frontline.

Of course, Zhuge Liang's work in the rear was also very important. After all, he had to personally take care of the entire grain route from Jiangzhou via the Yangtze River to Jiangyang, and then via the Luo River to Luocheng, to ensure that there would be no shortage of grain and fodder for the nearly 100,000 troops.

Given the difficulty of the Shu Road, the tortuous waterways, the great differences in the hydrological conditions of rivers, and the relative scarcity of food reserves in Shuzhong, it was not easy for Zhuge Liang to use limited resources to make the situation work and ensure that no troop was short of food.

Since mid-March, after confirming Liu Zhang's surrender, Liu Bei immediately sent someone downstream to report the news, asking Zhuge Liang to hand over the affairs in Jiangzhou, and then come to Chengdu in person to preside over the subsequent internal affairs rectification.

The letter was delivered to Zhuge Liang on March 14. Zhuge Liang spent three days handing over the internal affairs and logistics of Ba County to Zhang Song and Li Yan. Local civil affairs were handed over to Zhang Song, and military logistics were handed over to Li Yan.

After the two men shared Zhuge Liang's work, Zhuge Liang rushed to Chengdu without stopping. In order to save time, he did not take the Minjiang/Luoshui waterway, but changed to land route by horse from Jiangyang, and arrived in Chengdu on March 28th.

Upon hearing that Zhuge Liang had arrived, Liu Bei of course went out to greet him in person: "Sir, now that you are here, I can finally sort out the myriad issues in Shu. Once things are settled here, I can return to Jingzhou. Otherwise, if we delay for too long, Cao Cao will know that our army is mobilizing troops in Shu, which will be disadvantageous to us in Jing and Xu."

Liu Bei held Zhuge Liang's hand and explained the priorities directly. He was still worried that Cao Cao would take advantage of the opportunity to attack, so he could not leave the Guandong battlefield too far or for too long.

The reason why he dared to go to Shu for a long time in person two years ago was because Cao Cao himself came to Guanxi and took charge of the western front. Liu Bei and Cao Cao were at loggerheads, and both sides had relatively few troops left in Guandong, which was not enough to fully open up a second battlefield.

The situation is different now. Since last winter, Liu Bei has taken advantage of his victory in the Battle of Hanzhong and recovered faster than Cao Cao. Cao Cao has not recovered yet, but Liu Bei has already recovered. Then he took advantage of the time difference and defeated Liu Zhang in four or five months.

However, the war to annex Liu Zhang also took up more than 100,000 manpower of Liu Bei's army in order to win a quick victory. As a result, Cao Cao had an extra half year to recover and breathe, and most of his troops were concentrated in Guandong. When Cao Cao found out that Liu Bei had entered Sichuan, he would most likely march south in large numbers.

In particular, Cao Cao had to bear the information gap. He could not know that Liu Zhang had been defeated immediately. What if he got the news that "Liu Bei was attacking Liu Zhang and the two Lius had an internal conflict" and thought that Liu Bei had not yet killed Liu Zhang?
If Cao Cao thought that this was a good time to play the strategy of "besieging Wei to save Zhao" and attack Liu Bei to relieve the pressure on Liu Zhang and make the internal strife between the two Lius last longer, then he would definitely not miss this opportunity.

Liu Bei's subordinates had already reminded him of this when he was conducting pre-war deductions. It was also because of this that Liu Bei did not dare to stay too long when he rushed to Sichuan. After the major events were settled, Zhuge Liang was left to handle the subsequent internal affairs, and Liu Bei himself had to return to Guandong to deal with Cao Cao's attack and perhaps even launch a defensive counterattack.

Zhuge Liang was well aware of this, so there was no need for him to be polite to Liu Bei. They were so familiar with each other that they could communicate a lot of information with just a word or a glance:
"My Lord, rest assured. I will give Liang one to two years to deal with the affairs of Shu. This year, we will focus on restoring people's livelihood and adjusting the employment of personnel. Next year, we will fully implement the rent and labor system and the payment for the replacement of labor. Within two years, we must ensure that Yizhou's internal affairs are clear and the supply of money, food and soldiers is smooth.

And there will be no waste, ensuring that the efficiency of money and grain allocation at that time will be at least several times higher than when Liu Zhang ruled Shu."

Liu Bei: "With what you said, I have nothing to worry about. I will stay here for another ten days. By the beginning of April, when you have finished handling the promotion arrangements, I will review them and return to Jingzhou."

Liu Bei essentially handed over all the personnel scheduling rights in Shu to Zhuge Liang, but he also had to review and endorse it to ensure that it was implemented as soon as possible.

After all, those county governor-level positions were appointed based on Zhuge Liang's words, which seemed a bit hasty in terms of procedure. Liu Bei had to give his approval in person. This was also to strengthen Zhuge Liang's authority over internal affairs, so that the civil and military officials who had just joined him could also see clearly:
The Grand Commandant accepted all of Zhuge Lingjun's suggestions. This way, after the Grand Commandant left, government affairs here could run efficiently and smoothly.

After finalizing the timetable, the two did not waste any time and went straight to the personnel arrangements for the governors of the four counties in Shu that had just been recovered. This was also the most critical issue in employing people in Shu.

If the candidates for the prefect can convince people, there will be no need to worry about the middle-level officials below them.

Zhuge Liang then proposed his own personnel plan: "I think that in the future, the selection of the governors of the four counties in Shuzhong should take into account the civil servants who took the initiative to surrender before the war, the civil servants sent by our army to Shuzhong, and the civil servants who followed Liu Zhang to surrender. There must be candidates for governors for these three groups of officials, so that we can treat them equally and stabilize the people's hearts in Shuzhong as soon as possible.

Zhang Song and Fa Zheng will definitely step up to the position of prefects in the next three years. When Yizhou is fully rectified and fully engaged in the Northern Expedition, they can be entrusted with more important tasks. However, it is not appropriate for them to serve as prefects immediately for the sake of their reputation and to avoid being discussed by everyone if the lord tries to win them over as accomplices before the war.

So this year, I plan to retain two surrendered officials under Liu Zhang as prefects, and two people we brought to Shu as prefects.

As the governor of Ba County, I suggest that Li Yan take over temporarily. After a year or two, when the limelight has passed, he can be replaced by Zhang Song. By then, Li Yan will have another important position. As the governor of Guanghan, Dong He can be appointed. Similarly, in the next one or two years, Fa Zheng can be gradually selected to take over.

The governors of Shu and Qianwei will be held by Liu Zhang's old ministers. Because I have just arrived in Shu, I don't know much about the character and ability of Liu Zhang's old ministers. Please teach me about the specific candidates, my lord."

Zhuge Liang was also a mortal, not a god, and it was impossible for him to know the talents and talents of people he had never met. Liu Bei came to Chengdu half a month earlier than him, and he had a better eye for people. On this issue, Liu Bei obviously had more say.

However, Liu Bei did not want to restrict Zhuge Liang's thinking, so he did not rush to report his candidate immediately. Instead, he hoped that Zhuge Liang would give him some principled suggestions: "Although you do not know the talents in Shu, the way to employ people and the method to stabilize people's hearts are the same. Please try to explain it to me."

This question did not stump Zhuge Liang at all. He answered almost immediately: "As for how to reuse Liu Zhang's old ministers so that people will be convinced, I think it is nothing more than promoting those who are in obscurity and transferring away the aristocratic families and powerful people who are already in high positions.

For example, Wang Shang, who was originally the governor of Shu County, and his disciples should be transferred. Otherwise, they were already in high positions, and even the memorial that Liu Zhang submitted to replace Liu Yan was co-signed by Zhao Wei and Wang Shang. How could such people be grateful to their lord?

Similarly, Pang Xi, who was once a peer of Liu Yan and regarded himself as Liu Zhang's uncle, was later deprived of some of his military power by Liu Zhang, and surrendered when our army attacked Guanghan County. But such a person has been in power for twenty years, and we can only give him honor, but not real power.

Only by taking these people down and promoting some capable people who were only county magistrates and county magistrates during Liu Zhang's time can the lord gain complete control of Yizhou as soon as possible.

Moreover, the Lord had previously sworn in front of the two armies' soldiers and 100,000 men that he would launch a northern expedition within three years. I believe that the people in Shu are now quite willing to help, and they are all waiting to see the Lord's transfer, and they dare not oppose it immediately.

We can take advantage of this opportunity to cut the Gordian knot and deal with these offensive matters while the iron is hot, and the newly promoted talents will also work hard as a result."

When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded sincerely and it was obvious that he agreed with it.

Now that his prestige is high, no matter what drastic things he does, his subordinates dare not oppose immediately, they are frightened by his oath of "three-year agreement" and have to wait and see. If he does not take the opportunity to rectify the use of personnel, promote a large number of young talents, and remove those who originally relied on their power and status to abuse their power, wouldn't it be a waste?

Liu Bei followed Zhuge Liang's words and sighed: "The Wang Shang, Pang Xi and others you mentioned should indeed be moved. Wang Shang is a wealthy family in Guanghan County, and his great-grandfather was the Sili Xiaowei. When Liu Yan entered Shu, he first took refuge with the Guanghan Wang family. Therefore, although Liu Yan later killed many people and did clean up some illegal tyrants, the entire Guanghan Wang family became rich.

This is why when Liu Yan died, Zhao Wei, Wang Shang, and Pang Xi were the first to sign the petition to Liu Zhang to be the governor of Yizhou. Zhao Wei was killed by Liu Zhang in the civil strife in Yizhou seven years ago, but the remaining two were still alive.

Especially since Wang Shang has always been a famous scholar, his disciple Chen Shi is also from a famous Confucian family in Shu, and Chen Shi is now the governor of Qianwei. If Wang Shang is removed, it will be like being able to free up the governors of two large counties at once - but I wonder if you have any excuse to transfer Wang Shang and others this time?"

Liu Bei was quite familiar with these noble families who lived in seclusion in their local area and were unwilling to contribute to the country.

In particular, the Wang Shang family served as prefects in Shu for many years until the Western Jin Dynasty. Wang Shang's eldest grandson, Wang Peng, was the prefect of Zitong County during the Sima Yan period, his second grandson, Wang Zhen, was the prefect of Badong County, and his youngest grandson, Wang Chong, was the prefect of Shu County.

Three grandsons are governors of three counties in Shuzhong. Do you dare to say that this is not a noble family? Who would believe it? Moreover, this kind of person is definitely a big brother. He is a typical person who doesn't care who is in power in the central government. I just want to live my own life in Shuzhong.

Now that I have the opportunity to move away, I will definitely move.

Zhuge Liang also understood this truth, so he did some homework in advance: "I sent someone to check, Wang Shang and Wang Lei are both from the Guanghan Wang family, and their ancestral homes are also around Mianzhu, so they are distant cousins.

These people have always been against using the money and manpower of Shuzhong to support the righteous cause of the Han Dynasty. Perhaps we can thoroughly investigate those who advised Liu Zhang to close the border and hindered Liu Zhang from joining the righteous cause, and dig deeper into Wang Lei's case. As long as we can find some evidence, we can gradually remove him. Even if we don't dismiss him, we can transfer him to a noble and empty position."

Liu Bei: "That's a good reason. I'll leave this matter to you, sir. I hope there will be a result within ten days. Before I return to Jingzhou, you will naturally give me a reply, which will be the final word. The other officials who surrendered will no longer be in danger."

(End of this chapter)