Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 261: Happy to Hear Advice, Discussing the Attack on Youzhou

Starting from the bank of the Wei River in the east, to the old Wuzha Palace in the west, around the Huangshan Mountain in the north, and next to the slope of the Nanshan Mountain in the south, this is the Shanglin Garden of the Former Han Dynasty. At the end of the Former Han Dynasty, the Red Eyebrows broke into Chang'an and burned Changlin Garden. The grand royal garden was reduced to ruins, and the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty could only see the old traces from the ruins.

In the past two hundred years, forests and fields have replaced the palaces and pavilions in Shanglin Garden, but the weathered ruins remain.

Because he was born in the northern border, Zhang Yu's greatest interest and hobby was hunting, and he often invited civil and military officials to tour, which was a form of socializing.

Some people like this kind of social interaction, while others don’t. For example, if an officer in the army went hunting on horseback, he could have close contact with Zhang Yu, and he might win Zhang Yu’s appreciation because of his outstanding performance.

The clerks in the prefectures were miserable. They did not rely on martial arts to please Zhang Yu, but on real political achievements. Moreover, they were not good at riding and shooting, so it was really a torment for them to follow Zhang Yu on hunting trips. Therefore, most of the clerks rejected hunting.

Although they were ostracized, the clerks did not dare to refute the interest of the great leader Zhang Yu. After all, no clerk dared not to appear without the order of the great leader. In particular, the great leader Zhang Yu often felt sentimental and liked to talk about ancient and modern events with his subordinates. The warriors could not answer, so they had to rely on the clerks to answer.

Now Zhang Yu saw the unknown ruins of Zhangtai and sighed, "The emperors of the Former Han Dynasty were wise and virtuous. They kept the country safe at home and repelled the barbarians abroad. The great unification was all due to the Former Han Dynasty. However, although the Former Han Dynasty prospered, it perished because of the people. When we think about the various things of this dynasty, it is said that the people suffered when it prospered and suffered when it perished. Now all the palaces have turned to dust!"

Guo Tu smiled and said, "Your Excellency has a sense of moderation in your conquests and cares for the people, so you can accomplish great things. Since the beginning of Dong Zhuo's dictatorship, the people of Guanzhong have suffered from turmoil. Now that your Excellency has been in Guanzhong for half a year, the people of the three prefectures have been settled and the order between the upper and lower levels has been completely renewed. This is your merit!"

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "When Emperor Gaozu entered Guanzhong, he made three laws because of the tyranny of Qin law. So now we have our predecessors as a lesson, we should use strict laws to control chaos and let the people live in peace."

People in later generations live too far away from the Qin Dynasty. Many people only know that Qin laws were harsh, but they don't know to what extent.

For example, according to Qin law, if one could not pay taxes, he had to pawn his wife and daughter to pay the taxes. In many civil or criminal laws, many penalties were fined a piece of armor, and even low-grade armor such as rattan armor and leather armor was not something that ordinary people could afford.

The people lived a hard life, and the burdens of county officials were equally heavy. In the face of a shortage of grassroots officials, they had to perform corvee labor for the Qin Dynasty, which led to the weakening of the Qin Dynasty's control over the grassroots.

In order to meet the needs of grassroots operations, a large number of former officials were selected to serve as officials, which further weakened the control over the grassroots. During the Qin Shihuang period, the search in Guanzhong for 20 days failed to find any bandits, which was a disguised proof that the Qin Dynasty could no longer ensure its in-depth rule over Guanzhong, let alone control over the six states in Guandong.
At the same time, the weakening of grassroots control did not make the Qin Dynasty realize that its rule was shaken. Instead, it intensified the exploitation of the registered households it could control, leading to the vicious incident of Liu Bang leading his people to become bandits. Due to the lack of officials at the grassroots level, it was impossible to suppress the refugees who became bandits.

In addition, in order to meet the needs of large-scale infrastructure construction, the Qin Dynasty levied unreasonable corvée. Take Chen Sheng and Wu Guang as examples. They were originally Qin Dynasty officers who went to the Jianghuai region to guard the border. Later, they were ordered to conscript the people of Huainan to serve in Yuyang County, Youzhou. The distance from Huainan to Beijing today is about thousands of kilometers, almost spanning most of China.

The so-called lenient laws of Liu Bang when he entered Guanzhong were aimed at correcting the unreasonable laws of Qin, rather than simply easing them. Therefore, when Zhang Yu governed Guanzhong, what he corrected was to prevent the people of Guanzhong from being disturbed by the chaotic soldiers and to strictly maintain public order. The two seem different, but in essence, they are both aimed at modifying the unreasonable systems of the predecessors.

While Zhang Yu was enjoying himself, he heard someone from his staff speak up and say, "King Wen did not dare to enjoy the fields, so he asked the secretary to warn the public; Lu Yin liked to watch the fish, so he was ridiculed in the Spring and Autumn Annals. Your Excellency follows the example of Emperor Gaozu, but I have never heard that Emperor Gaozu liked hunting, and when Emperor Gaozu destroyed Qin and pacified the world, he opened up Qin's palaces and gardens to let the people farm."

"The situation in the country is in chaos. Gongsun Ni has occupied Youzhou and his army is strong. Yuan has Jizhou and is rich and powerful. Therefore, you should order the officers to train the soldiers and order the civil officials to serve the country. Now you think that going out hunting to gather the officers and discuss the army is a good thing, but this is not the job of the civil officials. You are all so tired, how can you think of a high strategy for governing the country and how can you implement good policies to benefit the people?"

"I dare to speak so boldly, I hope you can understand me and live up to your expectations!"

The words of this person made the clerks present fall silent. Zhang Yu's hunting trip was just to torment them. However, due to Zhang Yu's prestige, no one dared to raise any objections.

Guo Tu was afraid that Zhang Yu would be displeased, so he shouted, "Cui Jigui, stop talking nonsense and leave immediately!"

"Wait a minute!"

Zhang Yu pointed his whip at Jia Xu with a calm expression and asked, "Are you not happy about going hunting today?"

Jia Xu looked embarrassed and said cryptically, "Xu is from Wuwei and is familiar with the art of riding a horse."

"Where's Gongda?"

"You are my lord's military officer. Now that you have important tasks to do, you should follow me!" Xun You said.

Seeing the two men change the subject, Zhang Yu knew that what Cui Yan said was true. He smiled calmly and said, "I recruited Ji Gui as an assistant to give you good advice. I lead the people to hunt for fun and also to discuss military affairs with the officers."

"However, entertainment is a private matter, and military discussion is a military matter, which has nothing to do with the civil officials. Therefore, from now on, the civil officials do not need to accompany the hunting party, and those who must go out can drive the carriage."

"As ordered!"

Zhang Yu looked at Cui Yan, who was well-dressed, and praised him, "Ji Gui is brave enough to speak out, which is worthy of praise. I will reward you with 100 pieces of silk, 100 dan of grain, and 50 dan of salt. Although the money and grain are small, they are my sincere wishes. If I make any mistakes in the future, please write a memorial to correct me."

"Thank you, my lord!" Cui Yan bowed with joy. Cui Yan was originally from Wucheng, Dong, Ganling, Jizhou. Although he was a descendant of the later famous Qinghe Cui family, he was fond of fencing and admired martial arts when he was young. It was not until the age of 22 that Cui Yan was recommended by his hometown to the county that he studied hard and studied "The Analects" and "Han Shi".

After Zhang Yu unified Bingzhou and invited Lu Zhi and Cai Yong to Jinyang successively, the 29-year-old Cui Yan gave up going to the chaotic Qingzhou in order to further his studies and went to Jinyang to study with Cai Yong.

Cai Yong saw that Cui Yan was very talented, so he accepted him as his disciple. After teaching him for more than half a year, he felt that Cui Yan was worthy of being used, so he recommended him to Zhang Yu. Zhang Yu received a letter from Cai Yong and learned that Cui Yan had arrived in Jinyang, so he immediately recruited him as a staff member of the General of Chariots and Cavalry.

At noon, Zhang Yu asked irrelevant clerks to return to Chang'an, and only left his close confidants to discuss military affairs.

Under the warm sun, Zhang Yu sat on a chair and asked, "According to the imperial letter, after Zhu Jun's envoy's persuasion, Yuan Shao agreed to send troops to fight the enemy. Now the imperial court asked about the time of our army's dispatch and ordered Liu He to lead his troops to Hedong to join our army. I want to send troops to Youzhou now. I wonder what you think?"

"Since Yuan Shao has obeyed the imperial edict, our army may as well send out troops. However, it is not advisable to send out heavy troops. We need to leave troops to guard Shangdang in case Yuan Shao launches a surprise attack on Shangdang." Xun You said.

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "Gongsun Zan has defeated Yuan Shao many times. Although he has taken Youzhou, his troops are not numerous. Therefore, I have no intention of sending out all my troops this time. I will send out 20,000 troops and recruit the Hu people in the northern border to join the expedition. Maybe they will be enough to fight Gongsun Zan."

"But the route to send troops through Jingxing is not feasible, so I want to send troops from Yanmen to Youzhou."

Jingxing Road is closer to Youzhou, but because of Yuan Shao, Zhang Yu dare not take Jingxing. Now he goes through Yanmen to Daijun. Although the journey is long, he does not have to worry about the consequences.

Guo Tu said: "According to the report from Yanmen, because Lord Liu is deeply loved by the Han and Hu people in Youzhou, many righteous men have come to Youzhou, such as Xianyu Fu, Qi Zhou, Xianyu Yin and other former officials. Yan Rou is from Yan State and has been traveling between Han and Hu for many years. He is deeply loved by the Hu people, so the righteous men have contacted Yan Rou and wrote to you for help."

"So, considering the current situation, if you send out 20,000 troops, gather the elite cavalry under Liu He's command, and recruit Liu Yu's former subordinates as well as the Xianbei and Wuhuan, you may be able to gather 50,000 troops. If you have 50,000 troops, you will be able to fight Gongsun Zan."

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Youzhou has Liu Gong's old officials to support us. I am not worried about conquering Youzhou now, but I am worried about the affairs of Guanzhong!"

"When I first conquered Guanzhong, if I led a large army to attack Youzhou, Guanzhong would be empty and without a general, so I'm afraid it would be invaded by troops from Liangzhou. I don't know who to choose to go to Guanzhong?"

Guo Tu thought for a while and said, "Lü Fan has a calm temperament and is in charge of military discipline. He is deeply respected by the generals. Why don't you appoint Lü Fan as the commander-in-chief to command all the troops in Guanzhong?"

"How about Zhang Liao?"

Zhang Yu hesitated for a while, then asked everyone, "Zhang Wenyuan has followed me for many years. This year, he led the troops to Guanxi and made many meritorious deeds. Maybe he can be used as a general!"

Seeing that Zhang Yu had already been chosen, Jia Xu analyzed and said, "Although General Zhang is young, he is brave in battle. In addition to being brave, he is not only able to recognize the military situation, but also has quick wits. If we order him to attack far away, he may not be enough, but if we let him defend Guanzhong, he will be more than enough."

"If you have any doubts, you may as well invite General Zhang to Chang'an to discuss the situation and see if he has the talent to command Guanzhong!"

As the territory becomes larger and larger, Zhang Yu must speed up the training of generals to cope with the increasingly complex situation in the future. Zhang Liao has followed him for the longest time and has a deep relationship with him. And with the blessing of historical achievements, Zhang Yu intends to train Zhang Liao to be able to take charge of the situation.

"good!"

"Then invite Wenyuan to Chang'an!"

"As ordered!"

"I wonder when you plan to send out troops?" Guo Tu asked.

Zhang Yu said: "It is September now and October is approaching. October in the northern border is deep winter and it is not suitable to send troops to conquer. I want to go to Anyi first and wait until the spring to send troops to conquer Youzhou."

Having followed Zhang Yu for a long time, Guo Tu knew a lot about the situation in the northern border. He said, "Your Excellency may as well let Liu He station troops at Yanmen first and let him recruit the old subordinates from Youzhou. Yan Rou has many contacts with the Hu people and can contact the Hu cavalry for you. In the early spring, your Excellency will lead the troops to Yanmen and after joining up with everyone, you can march to Youzhou."

"Can!"

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "I will discuss with Liu He first to see if we can jointly recommend Yan Rou as the governor of Dai County."

ps: I am out today so I will delay the update. There will be another chapter in the evening.
(End of this chapter)