Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 206 Return to Jin
In December of the second year of Chuping, Zhu Jun named himself General of Chariots and Cavalry and issued a letter to attack Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was furious when he heard the news and sent Li Jue, Guo Si and Zhang Ji to lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Zhongmou, hoping to deal with Zhu Jun who had raised an army in the capital.

In the same month, Sun Jian requested Yuan Shu to send more troops because Yangcheng was captured by Zhou Ang. In order to extend his power deeper into Yuzhou, Yuan Shu sent Han Hao, Gongsun Yue and Huang Zu to reinforce Sun Jian.

With the support of Yuan Shu's troops, Sun Jian led his army to attack Zhou Ang. Zhou Ang and his brother Zhou Yu led the troops to fight. Although Zhou Ang was defeated and fled in the battle, Gongsun Yue was unfortunately shot and killed when he led the cavalry to charge.

After this battle, Sun Jian recaptured Yangcheng, and took advantage of the situation to conquer Kunyang, Dingling, Xiangcheng and several other counties, officially entering Yuzhou.

When the news of Gongsun Yue's death spread from Nanyang County to Bohai County, Gongsun Zan was furious. In order to avenge his brother and annex Jizhou, he set up a large camp on the bank of Pan River and summoned troops from three states to gather there.

While summoning his troops, Gongsun Zan was worried about Yuan Shao's high reputation. In order to publicize the justice of his own expedition, he came up with an original idea and issued a manifesto, listing ten crimes of Yuan Shao and inviting everyone to fight against the traitor Yuan Shao.

In order to make up ten charges, Gongsun Zan blamed Yuan Shao for Dong Zhuo's entry into the capital and the deaths of Yuan Wei and Yuan Ji, and said that the reason Sun Jian's Northern Expedition failed was that Yuan Shao sent Zhou Ang to raid Yangcheng.

Gongsun Zan even dug up a series of events since Yuan Shao entered Jizhou, including persecuting his ally Liu Xun and framing Yao Gong, the prime minister of Ganling.

Of course, Gongsun Zan did not forget to praise Yuan Shu, saying that Yuan Shu and Sun Jian had made outstanding contributions in leading the army to defeat Dong Zhuo, unlike Yuan Shao, a scum of the Yuan family.

Since Gongsun Zan issued an edict denouncing Yuan Shao's ten crimes to all prefectures and counties, there was an uproar in all prefectures and counties in the Central Plains.

When Yuan Shao read the manifesto himself, he did not have the same good mentality as Cao Cao. Instead, he was so angry that he almost had a cerebral hemorrhage. The character he had worked so hard to create had been completely stripped away by Gongsun Zan. It was obvious that Gongsun Zan wanted to ruin his reputation.

Seeing that Gongsun Zan was determined to destroy him, Yuan Shao, in order to restore his own reputation, summoned troops from all counties to fight a decisive battle with Gongsun Zan.

When Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao gathered their troops for a decisive battle, Wang Ze, who had been released by Zhang Yu, returned to Taishan County to find Wang Kuang. Wang Kuang was furious when he learned that he had been betrayed to Zhang Yu by Yuan Shao, and decided to respond to Gongsun Zan's call to fight the enemy.

At the invitation of Yuan Shu, Tao Qian sent troops north to support Gongsun Zan. So when he arrived at Taishan County, he joined forces with Wang Kuang and stationed his troops at Fagan in Dongjun.

Seeing that Wang Kuang and Tao Qian were threatening him from the flank, Yuan Shao ordered Cao Cao, the governor of Dongjun, to send troops to Gan to help him contain the enemy in the Central Plains.

Zhang Yu saw the news on his way back to Jinyang, and received Gongsun Zan's manifesto denouncing Yuan Shao.

He did not stay in Shangdang for a long time. After all, the overall environment of Shangdang had changed a lot after being governed by him, Zhang Yang and Du Ji. Apart from restoring agricultural production in Shangdang, there were no other major tasks.

Therefore, Zhang Yu and Wang Chen talked about agriculture and inspected the Shangdang County soldiers who had resumed the capital. Especially the latter, considering the increasing chaos in the world, Zhang Yu asked them to train more soldiers, build more armored soldiers, and try to select a group of elite soldiers from the county soldiers to serve as the intermediate force for combat.

What does Zhang Yu think about the information coming from the Central Plains?
It can only be said that Yuan Shao's power has gradually grown after several months of preparation. Although Gongsun Zan is still strong and Yuan Shao is weak, it is not so easy for Gongsun Zan to defeat Yuan Shao. And if Gongsun Zan underestimates the enemy, it is estimated that he will ruin the advantage he has built up with great difficulty over Yuan Shao.

As for Li Jue and Guo Si's expedition to attack Zhu Jun, Zhu Jun is probably no match for Guo and Li with the troops he has. Dong Zhuo sent Guo and Li to attack Guandong, so the defense of Guanzhong would be much weaker. I wonder if this would be the opportunity Wang Yun was looking forward to.

After many days of travel, Zhang Yu arrived in Jinyang before the New Year, almost seven months after he set out on the expedition.

If the trip to Yanbei after the Chinese New Year is included, Zhang Yu basically didn't stay in Jinyang for long.

Being a prince is not that easy. If it weren't for the supervision of each other by his wives and concubines at home, and the watchful eyes of old man Zhang Ji, given Zhang Yu's personality, he would probably suspect that his wives and concubines were cheating on him.

After the army returned, Zhang Yu immediately gave holidays to all the generals in the army, allowing the warriors to go home and enjoy themselves with their wives and concubines.

Outside the city of Jinyang, Zhong Yao led people to greet Zhang Yu as usual. Zhang Yu greeted dozens of officials, big and small, and asked about their well-being. Taking advantage of the New Year, Zhang Yu rewarded the officials with some money and food, and also gave extra rewards to some officials who performed outstandingly.

"Yuan Chang, how many people have moved to Taiyuan this year?"

Arriving at the provincial capital, Zhang Yu could not take a break, as he had to understand the situation of the people he had relocated to Taiyuan.

"My lord, after checking by the state officials and county officials, as of three days ago, there were a total of 20832 new households in Taiyuan County this year, and the total number of households in the county is 51734," said Zhong Yao.

Zhang Yu was a little bit unconvinced and confirmed, "A hundred thousand people came here in just one year?"

Zhong Yao said: "Your Excellency has relocated tens of thousands of people from Hebei, and thousands more from Henei. Now we have created a new household register in the treasury, and you can check the documents at any time."

Seeing Zhong Yao's words, Zhang Yu sorted out the situation of the relocations himself. Henei relocated 5,000 households, Zhaosi County relocated more than 6,000 households, Julu relocated more than 4,000 households, and Zhang Yan promised him 5,000 households. The total was indeed 20,000 households. "Is there anyone who fled to Bingzhou this year to avoid war?" Zhang Yu asked.

"Have!"

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and hummed, saying, "I was worried that it would be difficult to resettle all the people in Taiyuan County in a short period of time. So after the number of households reached 20,000, I resettled more than 1,600 households in Yuanping and Guangping counties in the southern part of Yanmen County."

Zhang Yu asked again: "How are the people being resettled?"

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and said, "Although 100,000 people have flocked to Jinyang this year, they can still be properly settled because of the different seasons. For example, if the wasteland is granted in summer and autumn, beans and wheat can be planted. And if they come to Jinyang in autumn and winter, those who can plant wheat can plant wheat, and those who can't can reclaim wasteland."

"It is deep winter now, and the people have no food. The government is using work as relief to repair the city walls and build bridges. The construction of the new city on the east bank of the Fen River has already begun. When the new city is completed, Yao intends to let the people expand the Jinyang city."

"When the spring comes and we can grow wild vegetables and mulberries, we will let the people return to their fields and let them work. We will also provide relief through labor. When the harvest comes in the fall, we will be able to spend the next winter in peace."

Although the content of the speech was fragmentary, it is not difficult to understand from his words that Zhong Yao had long-term thoughts on the issue of migration and settlement of the people.

Zhang Yu invited Zhong Yao to sit with him and asked, "How was the harvest this year? With so many people relocated, I wonder how much grain is stored in the treasury?"

Zhong Yao pondered for a moment and said, "This year, we have been using the military frequently and providing relief to the people. Taxes are not enough for food. Fortunately, this year's harvest is good and the price of grain has dropped significantly. I have used the silk, cotton, and hemp I have collected to buy food and grass. I have also collected five-zhu coins and sent people to Youzhou to buy food. Therefore, there are 500,000 shi of grain in the treasury."

The world is in chaos and there are not many places that can be considered peaceful. Apart from Yangzhou, which has not been invaded by warlords so far, and the closed-off Bashu, only Bingzhou and Youzhou can be considered safe and sound.

Bingzhou's grain production has always been limited due to its small number of registered households. However, Youzhou is different. It has a large population. Zhuo County alone had 100,000 households at its peak, Yuyang County had nearly 70,000 households, not to mention Guangyang County had 45,000 households.

Therefore, although Youzhou experienced the Wuhuan Rebellion, under Liu Yu's governance, it became one of the few prosperous places in the world, and the grain price was close to that of the peaceful period. Now it is precisely because of Youzhou that Bingzhou can buy enough food to relieve the people.

Zhang Yu poured a bottle of warm wine for Zhong Yao and said, "Qingzhou has been ravaged by the Yellow Turbans, Jizhou is occupied by Yuan Shao and Gongsun, Yuzhou has three governors, and Yanzhou's Liu Dai has great ambitions but little talent. I see that war is raging everywhere in the world today, so next year I will try to buy as much grain as possible from Youzhou and store it in the treasury for emergency use."

"promise!"

Holding the wine jar, Zhong Yao suddenly remembered something and said, "Sir, according to the report from the governor of Xihe, the son of the Grand Marshal Liu He escaped from Guanzhong and stopped in Pingzhou yesterday. Should we invite him to Jinyang so that you can meet him?"

Zhang Yu was overjoyed and said, "Liu He is the only son of the Grand Marshal. He is the Minister of the Court and a close confidant of Your Majesty. Now that he is in Taiyuan, how can we not treat him well? Send someone to invite him to Jinyang immediately. If what I guessed is correct, Liu He left the capital without permission, and Your Majesty must have given him a verbal order."

At the beginning of this year, Liu Yu saw that the capital was moved west to Chang'an. Because he missed Emperor Liu Xie, he sent Tian Chou and Xian Yuyin to pass through Bingzhou and go to Chang'an. Now that Liu He has escaped from Guanzhong, it is not difficult to guess that this is related to Liu Yu's dispatch of envoys.

As Liu Yu's only son, Liu He would definitely inherit Youzhou if Liu Yu died. As Youzhou was Zhang Yu's long-term ally, it was impossible for them not to make friends with Liu He.

Zhong Yao nodded and said, "In that case, I will send someone to pick you up right away."

"it is good!"

Zhang Yu took a sip of wine and immediately thought of Lu Zhi. He asked, "I sent Ziheng to drive a carriage to meet Lord Lu in Jinyang. I wonder what's going on now? Why can't I see Ziheng?"

Hearing this, Zhong Yao smiled and said, "My Lord, Duke Lu and his family have been welcomed to Jinyang by Ziheng and are now living on the east bank of the Fen River. The Duke and his wife have come to visit with gifts, and especially his wife often sends her servants to bring wine and meat to Duke Lu."

"Recently, Lord Lu has been in poor health. Our doctors in Taiyuan have been unable to cure him. His son asked Ziheng to invite doctors from Shanggu to come south to see Lord Lu. Upon hearing this, Ziheng hurriedly led people to Shanggu to find a doctor for Lord Lu."

"Ziheng has worked hard. I thought it would be difficult to invite Lord Lu to come south, but unexpectedly, Ziheng persuaded Lord Lu for me. This year, Ziheng has made great contributions!" Zhang Yu said with emotion, "The current political situation in Bingzhou is all due to Yuanchang and Ziheng's control of the state government and military headquarters."

"The clean government and honest officials are not the credit of Yao alone. Yao was in charge of government affairs and wrote the document, while you officials worked hard. Now the credit goes to us all." Zhong Yao said modestly.

"There are 40,000 households in Henei County, and the households in Taiyuan and Shangdang counties are gradually becoming wealthy. Dingxiang and Yanmen counties have surrendered. This time when I return to Jin, I intend to recruit more soldiers and horses, and I hope you can prepare equipment for me!" Zhang Yu said.

Zhong Yao bowed and said, "I am willing to serve you, my Lord!"

(End of this chapter)