Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 263: Personnel Affairs in Two Prefectures, Jin Salt to Chu

Zhang Yu went from Chang'an to Anyi, not just alone, but also brought officials from the Yongzhou Mu's Mansion to Anyi.

After arriving in Anyi, Zhang Yu first set about reorganizing the functions of the Bafu, intending to unify the personnel of the two offices of the General of Chariots and Cavalry and the Governor of Yongzhou.

The reason why the personnel of the two governments should be unified is because the two governments were established under different legal principles and thus have different scopes of power.

Because the governors of prefectures and counties governed the local areas, they naturally had the power to establish offices and recruit staff, so the staff of prefectures and counties gave priority to governing the affairs of their local areas. In addition to prefectures and counties, only the three dukes and the generals had the power to establish offices. However, in order to limit the power of the three dukes, the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty moved the affairs to the Shangshutai.

As the power of the Three Dukes weakened, it gradually became a channel for the children of the great families to enter the government. For example, after Wang Yun was summoned to be the deputy governor of Bingzhou, he was summoned by the Three Dukes because of his fame and became a staff member of the Situ Mansion. Later, because of his outstanding political achievements, Wang Yun was transferred from the staff member of the Situ Mansion to the Imperial Censor.

The status of the staff of the Three Dukes was higher than that of the officials in the prefectures and counties, and their path to officialdom was no less than that of the scholars from prominent families who were selected as filial and honest officials.

The General of Chariots and Cavalry was allowed to have a government office like the Three Dukes, and the staff he recruited were treated the same as the staff of the Three Dukes. For example, Deng Zhi was granted the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry and was granted the title of Three Dukes.

Therefore, from the above, the Yongzhou Governor's Office was responsible for the governance of the Yongzhou area because Zhang Yu was the governor of Yongzhou; the Chariot and Cavalry General's Office had central attributes and was slightly higher than the Yongzhou Governor's Office. However, because the governor had strong independence, the staff of the Chariot and Cavalry Office had no right to interfere in the governance of Yongzhou and at most had the right to provide guidance.

In history, when Liu Bei controlled Yi and Jing states, in order to facilitate the coordination of the management of the two states, he placed the Left General's Office above the Governor of Yi and Jing states, and had Zhuge Liang in charge of the Left General's Office, rather than letting Zhuge Liang hold a single official position within the office.

When Zhang Yu was about to set out for an expedition to Youzhou, it was naturally impossible for him to allow the two governments to remain independent. Instead, he would integrate the functions of the two governments through personnel appointments and institutional reorganization.

For example, Zhong Yao was appointed as the Army Advisor and General of the Central Army, in charge of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Office, in charge of Bing and Yong states, and in charge of the taxation of the two rivers.

Du Ji served as the governor of Hedong and concurrently as the chief secretary of the Palace of Chariots and Cavalry, and was Zhong Yao's deputy in charge of two states and two rivers.

Yang Jun was appointed as the chief clerk of the Palace of Chariots and Cavalry, and was responsible for evaluating the performance of officials under his jurisdiction.

Lü Fan was appointed as the Sima of the Palace of Chariots and Cavalry and served as Zhang Yu's military deputy.

Guo Tu was the military advisor of the Cavalry Palace, responsible for discussing military affairs of the General's Palace and supervising military affairs.

Jia Xu, Dong Zhao, and Xun You were respectively the Palace Attendant or the County Magistrate, and concurrently served as military officers of the Chariot and Cavalry Bureau. Of the three, only Dong Zhao actually held an official position, governing the Jingzhao Yin.

Zhang Liao was appointed General Suppressing Bandits and concurrently served as Protector General of the Cavalry.

Yu Yi, in his capacity as the Commandant of the Ministry of Finance, concurrently served as the Salt and Iron Officer of the Cavalry Bureau, in charge of the official salt and iron camps in Yong and Bing states.

In addition to the above-mentioned officials, Zhang Yu also appointed Cui Yan, Shentu Bei, Li Wei, Linghu Shao and other officials to the Cavalry Department.

In order to honor the Palace of Chariots and Cavalry and suppress the power of the provincial governor's office, Zhang Yu recruited a small number of Guanzhong scholars to serve as officials in the provincial government, such as Su Ze of Fufeng, Jimao of Fengyi, Fu Gan of Beidi, Zhang Meng (son of Zhang Huan), Zhang Shi of Hedong, Geng Ji of Fufeng and more than ten other famous scholars from Guanzhong.

The duties of the Yongzhou Prefecture officials were to supervise the three prefectures and counties in Guanzhong and issue decrees to them. When Zhang Yu was in Anyi, they reported to him. If Zhang Yu went to Youzhou, they would be managed by Zhang Shi, the governor, and guided by Zhong Yao and Du Ji.

After a series of personnel adjustments by Zhang Yu, the power of Bingzhou and Yongzhou was finally unified under the General of Chariots and Cavalry Office, and an organizational structure of five major departments was established. Du Ji was the Chief Clerk, responsible for the government affairs of the General's Office; Lü Fan was the Minister of War, responsible for the military affairs of the General's Office; Guo Tu was the Military Advisor, responsible for the military affairs of the General's Office; Yang Jun was the Chief Clerk, responsible for the performance of officials in the prefectures; Yu Yi was the Salt and Iron Officer, responsible for the salt and iron official camps under his jurisdiction.

Above the five major departments was Zhong Yao, who was in charge of the Palace of Chariots and Cavalry. When Zhang Yu went on an expedition, he was responsible for acting on Zhang Yu's behalf; when Zhang Yu was in office, he assisted Zhang Yu in governing the military and political affairs.

After the personnel adjustment, it was already November, snowflakes were falling, and Anyi was covered with snow.
Outside the windowsill, snowflakes were falling. Inside the house, the warmth from the fire pot dispelled the cold air in the house.

"Your Excellency has left the armies of Gaoping, Fengxiang and Xi'an in Guanzhong, and has also provided them with troops from the three auxiliary counties of Guanzhong, which is enough for General Zhang to protect the military affairs of Guanxi!" Zhong Yao asked, "But I don't know which troops you want to mobilize to march to Youzhou?"

Zhang Yu sat on the main couch and said, "I want to send out 20,000 troops. In addition to the National Defense Army, I will also transfer the Yunzhong and Hezhong armies. I will leave the Xianyang, Xihe, and Heyang armies in Bingzhou to guard against Yuan Shao's troops."

Zhang Liao, as a subordinate of the General of Chariots and Cavalry, commanded the three generals Zhang Ji, Cheng Pu, and Man Chong, and was stationed in Guanzhong with about 15,000 soldiers and horses. Zhang Yu led the two generals Xu Huang and Li Song to the expedition, leaving Hao Zhao, Zhang Yang, and Shi Yi to guard Jinyang, Henei, and Hedong respectively.

After a wave of military expansion in Guanzhong, Zhang Yu had nine armies under his command, with as many as 50,000 soldiers. Looking at the princes in the world, the only ones who could surpass Zhang Yu in terms of troops were Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. Although the two Yuans had a large number of troops, their quality was probably not as good as Zhang Yu's.

After all, although Zhang Yu's troops recruited a large number of soldiers when they entered Guanzhong, those surrendered soldiers were experienced border troops or imperial guards, and their quality was much better than that of the troops in the inner counties.

"Your Excellency, you have left your troops in Bingzhou. I wonder if you will follow the old strategy and continue to plunder the Qiang and Hu people?" Zhong Yao asked. "Yes!"

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment, then said with a smile, "Before, the Yunzhong Army went to fight, and this time, Hao Zhao will lead the Xihe Army to plunder the Qiang and Hu!"

Previously, Zhang Yu wanted to deal with the Qiang and Hu all at once, but due to the changing situation, Zhang Yu gave up the plan of conquering the Qiang and Hu with a large army, and adopted the strategy of tiring the enemy, constantly sending troops to plunder the Qiang and Hu. Now that the army is expanding too fast, the combat effectiveness and organization are questionable, it is better to use the Qiang and Hu as a whetstone and let the troops of each unit take turns to plunder the Qiang and Hu.

Qiang Hu was unlucky to meet Zhang Yu. The Loess Plateau was abandoned by the imperial court, so no matter how Zhang Yu plundered, Qiang Hu could only consider themselves unlucky. Moreover, Zhang Yu's troops entered and exited the Loess Plateau with almost no one to stop them. When Qiang Hu plundered Bingzhou in turn, they were blocked by the Yellow River and Luliang Mountains to the west. Qiang Hu was frustrated by the mountain and water defense lines, and only wasted their troops and lives.

"correct!"

Zhang Yu remembered something and looked at Yu Yi and asked, "How is the Hedong Salt Lake now?"

Yu Yi immediately replied: "My Lord, with the help of Du Hedong, the salt pond has been turned into a government-run business. Since it is inconvenient to dry salt in winter, we want to let the Hedong Salt Pond produce salt after the beginning of next spring."

"Have you calculated how much salt can be produced and how much money can be earned in a year?" Zhang Yu asked.

Yu Yi was prepared and estimated: "Hedong can produce 460,000 dan of salt a year. If the price of salt is 900 coins per dan, we can earn more than 414 million coins a year. After deducting the purchase cost, we can earn at least 300 million coins, which is far more than the small salt ponds in Taiyuan and Yanmen can compare to!"

Zhang Yu sighed. When he was in Yanmen before, when he was operating the Canhe Salt Pond, he could make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. At that time, the Hedong Salt Pond was something he thought about day and night. Now the Hedong Salt Pond finally belonged to him. Now that he had the Hedong Salt Pond as a profit, he undoubtedly had a more stable source of income to support his troops.

Zhang Yu looked at Zhong Yao and said with a smile, "Yuan Chang, compared to taxes, how does the profit from salt compare?"

Zhong Yao stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "This year, the taxes collected more than 600,000 dan of grain and tens of thousands of bolts of hemp, silk, and cotton. Next year, with the taxes from Guanzhong, the salt revenue from Hedong will account for nearly half of the annual revenue. After you conquer Youzhou, you can return home to recuperate for a year, and then you can show off your military power in Hebei and fight Yuan Shao to the death."

Zhang Yu said with emotion: "I finally understand Yuan Chang's real intention in persuading me to move the capital to Anyi!"

Although there were many registered households in Hedong County, the population decreased significantly due to the Baibo Rebellion. However, the root of Hedong was not in the registered households, but in the Hedong Salt Lake. It was precisely because of the salt lake that the regimes with Guanzhong and Luoyang as the core in all dynasties included Hedong under the direct jurisdiction of Sili.

Zhong Yao's advice to Zhang Yu to move the government to Anyi was undoubtedly the finishing touch. It not only allowed Zhang Yu to better govern Bingzhou and Guanzhong, but also helped Zhang Yu control the most critical source of tax revenue under his rule.

Yu Yi pondered for a moment and said, "Sir, we want to earn more than 300 million yuan in salt profits next year. It is not enough to rely on the people of Bingzhou, Guanzhong, and Jingji to buy salt. We need to trade with Jingzhou and sell salt to Jingchu."

"Jingzhou doesn't produce salt?" Zhang Yu asked puzzledly.

"Jingchu doesn't produce salt!"

Seeing that Zhang Yu did not understand the situation, Yu Yi said, "There are few places in the world that can produce salt. Liangzhou in the northwest produces pond salt, Yizhou in the southwest produces well salt, and the states along the coast produce sea salt. Liangzhou and Yizhou produce and sell their own salt, while the states along the coast mostly supply their own states and nearby counties."

"There is no salt in Jingchu, so since the pre-Qin period, most of the salt supply has come from Yang, Shu and Hedong. For example, when Yuntai General Jia Fu was an official in Nanyang County, he was ordered to go to Hedong to buy salt. On the way, he encountered bandits and robbed them, so he transported the salt back alone!"

Although there are many rivers in Jingchu, no salt was produced in the agricultural era. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu expanded westward, in large part because it coveted the well salt in Bashu. After Bashu was owned by Qin, Chu expanded eastward, annexed Jiangdong, and obtained the production area of sea salt.

During the Qing Dynasty, the rulers took advantage of the fact that the two lakes did not produce salt and implemented the policy of using Huai salt to help Chu, levying high salt taxes on the two lakes. During the Taiping Rebellion, Huai salt was not enough to help Chu, so Sichuan salt was used to help Chu. Zeng Guofan collected a large amount of salt taxes from it, which enabled him to train a new army and defeat the Taiping Army.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, well salt and Huai salt had not yet experienced a huge production boom, and the salt from areas in northern Jing, such as Nanyang, needed to be supplied by Hedong.

Zhang Yu thought for a moment and said, "Although Yuan Shu controls Yu and Jing, he probably relies more on Yi and Yang for salt. Now that I have made an alliance with Yuan Shu, you can send a letter to propose the policy of using Jin salt to help Chu, so as to seek mutual benefit for both sides."

Zhang Yu then looked at Zhong Yao and said, "After I sent the letter, Lao Yuanchang sent someone to negotiate with Yuan Shu. If there is any benefit, how could Yuan Shu not agree?"

"As ordered!"

Considering that his wallet was getting fatter, Zhang Yu said with a smile: "When I was in charge of Bingzhou, the prefecture was short of money and in dire straits. Now that the prefecture is getting richer, it is not appropriate to be too harsh. Therefore, Yuan Chang will see if he can prepare some items to reward the experienced soldiers and officers in the new year."

"Your Excellency is benevolent and righteous!" Zhong Yao praised.

(End of this chapter)