Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 248: Want to divide Yongzhou, keep the enemy for yourself

Chang'an, the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion.

Knowing that Zhang Yu had no place to stay in Chang'an, the court gave him a thorough reception. They cleaned up Dong Zhuo's mansion in advance and converted it into the General of Chariots and Cavalry's residence so that Zhang Yu and his staff could temporarily reside there.

Zhang Yu strolled along the pavilion corridor and said with a smile: "Dong Zhuo and Li Jue really know how to enjoy themselves. They built the Prime Minister's Mansion so luxuriously that it is comparable to the palace buildings in the palace."

Dong Zhuo was killed by Wang Yun just over a year after he moved to Chang'an; Li Jue was defeated by him less than a year after he took over the government. Both of them were powerful warriors. Now the court let him live in Dong Zhuo's mansion. Was it a subtle hint to him?

These scholars really know how to have fun!
If I wanted to be Li Jue, I would have sent troops into the palace long ago. Why would I have to wait for them to give me hints?
Seeing Zhang Yu intoxicated by the luxurious environment of the palace, Xin Pi pondered for a moment and said, "Since the reigns of Emperors Zhang and He, all those who held power in the court, such as Dou Xian, Deng Zhi, Yan Xian, Liang Ji, Dou Wu, Chen Fan, He Jin, and even the two who were recently defeated, Dong Zhuo and Li Jue, have not had a good end."

"Your Excellency saved the emperor from danger, and although you have made great contributions to the court, if you do not govern properly, it will be difficult to achieve good results. Now that your Excellency has no intention of using the emperor to command the princes, it is better to discuss court affairs as soon as possible, use the emperor to correct the status, and then move the emperor to Luoyang as soon as possible."

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yu laughed a few times and said, "Yuan Chang predicted that Dong Zhuo would definitely fall. He was predicting the outcome of future generations based on the stories of previous generations. Looking at it now, Dong Zhuo was defeated as Yuan Chang said, and Li Jue was exiled to Longshang. However, I am not Dou Xian, Dong Zhuo and others, and I am certainly not He Jin, Li Jue and others."

When Zhang Yu and Zhong Yao were discussing the general situation in Shangdang, Zhong Yao asserted to Zhang Yu that Dong Zhuo would eventually be defeated and advised him to take Guanzhong as his base.

At that time, Zhang Yu had a preconceived idea and did not think that Zhong Yao's prediction was so outstanding. When Dong Zhuo was killed by Wang Yun, Zhang Yu realized how amazing Zhong Yao's judgment was!
Therefore, Zhang Yu later asked Zhong Yao why he could predict Dong Zhuo's defeat, and Zhong Yao's answer was similar to Xin Pi's. That is, the past is a lesson for the future. No matter how powerful the powerful officials of the Eastern Han Dynasty were, they would eventually fail. Therefore, if Dong Zhuo forcibly took control of the government, problems would arise sooner or later.

Being a powerful official is too dangerous, especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty. No matter how outstanding your wisdom is, or how loyal you are to His Majesty, you will eventually die. If Cao Cao had not had a solid foundation, the Han Dynasty was weak, and Liu Xie acted rashly in the early days, I am afraid that Cao Cao would have followed in the footsteps of his predecessors.

Zhang Yu knew that Liu Xie was no pushover, so how could he dare to slack off now?

As he paced, Zhang Yu turned around and asked, "You are all wise men. The court intends to lead the Sili, so they relieved me of my post as Sili Xiaowei and appointed me as the Recorder of the Secretariat. Now that there is no Sili Xiaowei, it will be difficult for me to rule Guanzhong. I wonder what you think?"

"Your Excellency's father-in-law once served as Zuo Fufeng. Now you can recommend him as You Fengyi. The rest of Fufeng and Jingzhao can follow Fengyi's example." Xin Pi recommended.

Zhang Yu took a walk and thought for a while, then said, "Fengyi will eventually become the Sili, under the jurisdiction of the Sili Xiaowei. Moreover, I have appointed my confidant to an official position, and the court agrees now. If I appoint him to a new position in the future, I am afraid that it will lead to disputes."

"Besides, there is no vassal lord occupying Wudu County yet. The Han, Qiang, and Di tribes are thriving in the river valley, each with a population of more than 100,000. We must take over it now."

"This~" Xin Pi was in trouble.

Seeing that Xin Pi did not understand the central government's affairs, Zhang Yu did not make things difficult for him. Instead, he looked at Jia Xu and Dong Zhao and asked, "You two have been officials for many years. What do you think now?"

Dong Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "Sir, the rebels in Longyou are causing chaos in Guanxi. Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Song Jian have seized control of the counties in Longshang, which has gradually blocked the road from Guanzhong to Hexi. When Dong Zhuo caused chaos in the capital, the heroes of the country were fighting, and the powerful people in the counties of Hexi rose up. Liangzhou alone may not be able to control Guanxi."

"So in Zhao's opinion, you might as well send someone to submit a petition to adjust the prefectures and counties, and make the three prefectures of Guanzhong and the nine prefectures of Beidi, Longxi, Jincheng, Wudu, Anding, and Hanyang into Yongzhou, and the four prefectures of Hexi, including Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang, into Liangzhou. You can take charge of Yongzhou and supervise the military affairs of Bingzhou."

"In this way, all the counties in Shanxi will be governed by you, my Lord. Isn't that better than the Sili Xiaowei?"

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Longyou only had the administrative jurisdictions of Longxi, Wudu and Hanyang counties. The administrative jurisdictions of the six counties of Longxi, Tianshui, Nangan, Guangwei, Wudu and Yinping did not appear until Cao Wei pacified Hexi.

"Can Hongnong be incorporated into Yongzhou?" Zhang Yu asked greedily.

"I'm afraid it's inappropriate!"

Dong Zhao shook his head and said, "The three prefectures of Guanzhong and the six prefectures of Henei, Hedong, Hongnong, and Henan are under the jurisdiction of Sili. Your Excellency has already taken Henei and Hedong, and governed the three prefectures. Sili is only in name only. If you take Hongnong, how will your Excellency let the emperor live in peace?"

"Since you want to follow the example of Ji Zhou's eastward migration, you must leave the capital for the emperor, otherwise your achievements will be in vain. Moreover, if you make Yuan Shu jealous, it will be more trouble than gain!"

Zhang Yu thought about it calmly and nodded in agreement. Since he was bringing up the story of the Ji Zhou migration to the east, he might as well make it bigger and more impressive to bring honor to the court. If it was too shabby, wouldn't it go against his political slogan?

Moreover, if he took Guanzhong, he would be adjacent to Nanyang under Yuan Shu. If he acted too aggressively, Yuan Shu might have some ideas, since his strategic focus in the early and middle stages was on Hebei and Longyou.

"I wonder how big the capital area was under Ji Zhou's jurisdiction after he moved east to Luoyi?" Zhang Yu suddenly asked.

"The distance between Taihua and the outer side is six hundred miles!"

Jia Xu had prepared his study and said, "To the west is Guo, which occupies the strategic position of Taolin and is connected to the road to Xijing. To the south are Shen and Lu, which hold the backbone of the world and protect the southeast. Nanyang is backed by Ze and Lu and is the richest in the world. Huanyuan and Yique are surrounded by mountains and rivers. They are roughly the places where the three prefecture governors of Hongnong, Henan and Henei are located today."

Taolinsai is the ancient name of Tongguan. Shen and Lu are in Nanyang and Yingchuan. Nanyang, which is backed by Ze and Lu rivers, is Henei County.

As for why the name of Nanyang was changed from Henei to Nanyang in Jingzhou, it was because of the change of the Yellow River course and the change of situation in the pre-Qin period, which led to a major adjustment of the place name. Zhang Yu walked to the pavilion and said, "Henei is occupied by me, and I cannot give it to the court now!"

Jia Xu stroked his beard and said, "The strategy proposed by Mr. Dong is reasonable, but in my opinion, it may be a little bit adjusted to enhance your reputation."

"Laowen and Xiyan!"

Jia Xu sorted out his thoughts and said, "Yongzhou can be established, but governing nine counties is too much. It would be better to divide Jincheng, Beidi and Liangzhou, six counties in Liangzhou and seven counties in Yongzhou. Then report this to the court and let the court appoint a governor to take up the post, which will be convincing."

"I heard that you only have half of Henei County under your jurisdiction, and you have abandoned several counties in the east of the county. You might as well submit a petition to separate several counties in the east of Henei County into a new county and request the court to appoint them, to show your loyalty to the state. You can also use this as an excuse to order Yuan Gonglu and Cao Mengde to either donate land or allow officials sent by the court to take office."

Compared with Dong Zhao's method, the method refined by Jia Xu was more decent. Guanxi was divided into Liangzhou and Yongzhou, and Liangzhou had six counties. Zhang Yu could not be cautious because of Longyou. Including Longyou in Yongzhou would make it easier for Zhang Yu to conquer Longyou and digest the counties on Longshang.

The idea of splitting half of Henei County into a new county was Jia Xu's finishing touch. With Zhang Yu as an example, whenever the court suffered losses from the princes, it would surely remember Zhang Yu's kindness and would not spy on Henei in the short term.

"Although Wenhe and Gongren have good plans, I don't know who can submit a memorial on my behalf?" Zhang Yu asked.

"My Lord, when Li Jue was in power, he won over the officials in the court, such as Shangshu Wu Shuo. Now that Li Jue is in exile, Wu Shuo is terrified and has no land. My Lord, why don't you summon him to comfort him and ask him to submit a petition to establish Yongzhou." Jia Xu said, "When the emperor moves east, my Lord, you can appoint Wu Shuo as Shangqing to supervise the court on your behalf."

"color!"

Zhang Yu was delighted and said, "Now that I have Wenhe to help me, I don't have to worry about the unrest in Guanzhong. It's really my son Fang'er!"

"Your Excellency, you are too kind!"

Fearing that Zhang Yu's confidants would bear a grudge against him, Jia Xu declined, saying, "Xu is only familiar with the affairs of Guanzhong. For important matters, you need to consult with the wise men."

"Ha ha!"

Seeing Jia Xu being cautious, Zhang Yu patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I am happy to have Guanzhong, and even happier to have Wenhe!"

Jia Xu smiled bitterly, he wanted to do his work in a low profile, but Zhang Yu could always see his inner thoughts. He didn't know whether to say that Zhang Yu was smart or that his acting skills were too poor.

"Why can't I see Gongze?"

Zhang Yu changed the subject and asked, noting that he had not seen Guo Tu all day.

"My lord, Lord Guo and Lord Lu were invited to a banquet by Zhang Ji to appease the former subordinates of Li Jue and Guo Si on your behalf," said Xin Pi.

"The imperial edict was sent to appease the generals. I wonder how the situation is?" Zhang Yu asked.

"My lord, Duan Wei has submitted a letter of surrender and is now stationed in Shangyu; Fan Chou has submitted a letter of thanks and is stationed in Chencang with the remaining troops; Liang Xing, Zhang Heng, Wang Cheng and other generals have all submitted a letter of thanks and are stationed in various places in Guanzhong." Jia Xu said.

Dong Zhao said: "If you want to quell the rebellion, you can do it slowly. Now first order the generals to recruit 20,000 surrendered soldiers, and when the soldiers return to their loyalty, send the generals to fight and suppress them, then Guanzhong will be safe!"

"Dong Zhuo and Li Jue granted many officials positions in order to win the hearts of the people. Therefore, although we defeated the rebel army, the remnants are still there. It will not be possible to secure Guanzhong in a short time!" Zhang Yu sighed.

"Good and bad fortune are hard to predict. If Guanzhong is at peace, you will have no reason to occupy it. Now that the remnants of the evil are entrenched in Guanzhong, the court will have to rely on you." Dong Zhao smiled and said.

"Raising an enemy to protect oneself?"

This thought emerged in Zhang Yu's mind. In fact, since the defeat, Fan Chou, Duan Wei, Liang Xing, Zhang Heng, Wang Cheng and others were destined to not become a big threat. Zhang Yu ordered to recruit them just to leave some problems in order to threaten the court.

In particular, Zhang Yu ordered the release of more than 40,000 surrendered soldiers to return home. In addition to calming people's hearts, it could also be used as an excuse to threaten the court when necessary. After all, as Dong Zhao said, if he wanted to be relied upon by the court, he had to make sure that the court could not do without him.

Now we don’t know where Li Jue has fled to. In order to seek the position of Governor of Yongzhou, perhaps we can use Li Jue’s name to intimidate the officials in the court.

"My lord, since defeating Li Jue, Lu Bu has thought that he has made great contributions to the court and has acted in a domineering manner. I wonder if I could give him a warning or two." Xin Pi said, looking for an opportunity.

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow, I will go to the Secretariat and discuss with Lords Zhu and Yang about moving east to Luoyang and rewarding the generals. Wenhe is from Guanxi and will help me appease the generals who surrendered."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)