Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 333: Longyou is roughly stable, and six counties are established

After Ma Teng led his troops to surrender, he recommended his eldest son Ma Chao to Zhang Yu as a general to lead his elite troops.

However, Zhang Yu was worried about Ma Chao's "tyrannical" deeds in history, and he really didn't dare to let Ma Chao lead the Ma family troops alone. So, on the grounds of admiring his nephew Ma Dai, he appointed Ma Chao as General of the Central Army and made his nephew Ma Dai a Cavalry Commandant, and the two of them led the Ma family troops separately.

Zhang Yu did not intend to accept all of the 12,000 surrendered soldiers of the Ma family, so he sent Gao Shun, Ma Chao, and Ma Dai to select 5,000 elite infantry and cavalry from them, 3,000 of which were assigned to Ma Chao and 2,000 to Ma Dai. Among them, Pang De was transferred to Ma Dai's account to serve as a cavalry general.

After splitting up Ma's troops, Zhang Yu set up the Tianshui Army, appointed Meng Ningzhi as the chief general, Ma Dai as the deputy general, and Pang De as the cavalry general, with a quota of 5,000 people. As for Ma Chao, Zhang Yu did not dare to send him to the local area at will, so he transferred him to the National Protection Army on the grounds of appreciating Ma Chao's bravery.

Ma Teng had expected the split of the Ma family. After all, it was difficult for any prince to accept the emergence of an independent army under his command. So when Ma Teng learned what Zhang Yu had done, he was not angry, but instead told Ma Dai and Ma Chao to serve Zhang Yu well and try to revive the glory of the Ma family.

After selecting 5,000 elite troops, Zhang Yu released the remaining 7,000 Han and Yi soldiers and horses to return home to enrich the local population and help resume production in Longyou.

Ji County, the county seat.

In the hall, Zhang Yu read the letter sent by Shi Yi and said with a smile: "Jincheng, Yunwu, Yuzhong and other counties have surrendered, and Han Sui and his civil and military families have all been captured by Shi Yi. The Guo and Qu families in Huangshang actually respect Guo Xian and Qu Yan as their most respected. Now both of them have followed my orders and will come to Ji County to pay homage soon."

Jia Xu stroked his beard and thought, and said: "My Lord, the Guo and Qu families live in seclusion in Huangshang, and are not bound by the court. They are unruly. Although I have come to Ji County to pay homage to you, it may not be easy to make the two families surrender sincerely!"

Zhang Yu asked, "Wenhe has been in Liangzhou for a long time. Do you have any good ideas?"

"If you want to prioritize stability, you can just appease the two clans. And if you intend to attack Liangzhou in the west, you may need to conquer the Guo and Qu clans first." Jia Xu said.

"Hexi is thousands of miles away from Guanzhong, and each county is occupied by a powerful person. Sending 5,000 troops on a long expedition is like sending 30,000 troops to attack Hebei. Therefore, I have no intention of attacking Hexi for the time being, but want to pacify Huangzhong first. After the Central Plains is slightly settled, we will discuss the matter of conquering Hexi and Huangzhong." Zhang Yu said thoughtfully.

"Since Your Excellency wants to pacify Huangzhong, I have a plan that may help You split the two tribes." Jia Xu said with a smile.

Seeing that Jia Xu had a 'poisonous plan' to offer, Zhang Yu perked up slightly and said, "I'd like to hear Wenhe's plan."

Jia Xu said: "The Guo and Qu families have lived in Huangzhong for hundreds of years. The two families are actually related by marriage, and the relationship is complicated. If you want to make Huangzhong stable, it is better to marry into the Guo family, use the Guo family's children, and ignore the Qu family's children. If there is a difference in strength, the two families will find it difficult to be of one mind."

"If the Qu clan disobeys, you can send the Guo clan's troops to fight together with the Protector of the Qiang. The two clans are interdependent, and if the Qu clan disappears, the Guo clan will be unable to support itself. If you move your relatives to Guanzhong, no one will dare to disobey your orders; and if the Qu clan obeys, you can settle Huangzhong and slowly govern it in the future."

"color!"

Zhang Yu nodded and said with a smile: "Wenhe knows the people of Liangzhou very well. With Wenhe by my side, there is no need to worry about the insecurity in Longzhou!"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Zhang Ze on his left and asked, "Yuan Xiu has governed Long for many years. What do you think of Wenhe's strategy now?"

Zhang Ze pondered for a moment and said, "Mr. Jia's words make sense. However, if you want to govern Longyou thoroughly, you may need to split up the counties in Longyou. Although the population in Longshang is declining, the clans are powerful, and the big clans often intersect with the Qiang and Hu forces. Splitting up the counties can weaken the big clans, and it will be easier to count the households, which is beneficial for the court to collect taxes."

Due to the long-term unrest, the people were unwilling to rely on the imperial court, and instead turned to the local powerful and wealthy families with military power. As the situation developed, the powerful and wealthy families controlled more and more people and gradually influenced the political direction of the county.

Take Xue Xia, the guide under Zhang Yu, for example. Hanyang County was influenced by the four major families of Jiang, Yan, Ren and Zhao, so the recommendation of talents in the county was almost entirely decided by the four major families. Therefore, all the people in the county looked up to the four families.

Xue Xia was born in a poor family and was unwilling to submit to the Four Clans. Therefore, he was punished by them. In order to avoid the revenge of the Four Clans, Xue Xia traveled east to study. If Zhang Yu had not recruited Xue Xia as his staff, Xue Xia would not have dared to return to Hanyang County.

In short, the grassroots situation of the Longyou counties is different from that of the Central Plains and Shanxi counties. Although the big families in the latter counties are strong, they are not controlled by the big families from top to bottom. The former counties can be said to be a grassroots composed of big families and Qiang and Di tribes. In order to govern the Longyou counties, it is necessary to deal with the relationship with the big Han families first.

Zhang Yu said, "I agree with Yuan Xiu's words about breaking up the counties in Longyou. Now that Longshang has just surrendered, the remnants are still there. The old counties are too large to be used by the county governors to dispatch troops to fight the rebels. If we use small counties to govern counties and towns, if the counties and towns rebel, the county governors can get military reports and dispatch troops the next day."

"But it is not easy to separate counties and prefectures. New counties need to be established according to mountains and rivers. For example, Weishui, Guanlong, Fanxu and other roads are the gateways to Longyou. They can be separated from Hanyang County and several counties on the edge of Longshan Mountain can be used as new counties."

"Your Excellency's opinion is in line with military intelligence!" Zhang Ze thought for a moment and said, "Except for Hanyang County, Longxi County is vast and mostly inhabited by Qiang, Di and Hu people. Your Excellency can also set up a new county."

Seeing that Zhang Ze was thinking about governing Longyou for himself, Zhang Yu suddenly became interested and asked, "You are the governor of Hanyang County. Dividing Hanyang County is a weak monarch's power. Now you have made contributions in defending Ji County and offering to divide counties. I wonder what you want?" Zhang Ze said seriously, "There has been unrest in Longyou for a long time. When I was the governor of Liangzhou, I wanted to govern Longyou. Now that you are leading the army to suppress the rebellion, how can I neglect the important matter of governing Long for the sake of my own petty gains? The matter of merit should be reported to the emperor by you, and it is not something I can consider."

"You are a man of high moral character!" Zhang Yu praised him, "Now we are dividing the counties in Longshang. I have asked you to draft the official document so that I can govern Longyou."

"promise!"

The area under the jurisdiction of Longyou is larger than that of Yuzhou and Yanzhou, and there are only four counties that manage such a vast territory: Longyou, Hanyang, Jincheng, and Wudu. Whether it is to further govern Longyou or to meet the needs of Zhang Yu's officials to serve as prefects, it is necessary to split the four bloated counties.

Not to mention that Zhang Yu was in Ji County, where he successively met with the leaders of the Qiang and Di tribes in Longshang, and won over the gentry in Hanyang and Longxi counties, and was busy with social engagements every day.

At the same time, Man Chong led his troops to Heshou and defeated Song Jian's troops stationed in Fuhan. He slaughtered Song Jian's family members and hundreds of his appointed prime ministers and ministers, and moved thousands of the elderly and weak to Guanzhong.

After defeating Fuhan, the Protector of the Qiang, Shi Yi, saw that the Zhongshan Qiang relied on their residence in Xiaohuangzhong (the upper reaches of the Yellow River) and were unwilling to send people to Jincheng to surrender. In order to intimidate the Qiang in Longyou, he ordered Man Chong to prepare cattle and sheep in Fuhan and leave Yan Xing to garrison Jincheng.

In November, Shi Yi led two thousand cavalrymen to cross the snow to Xiaohuangzhong and slaughtered the Qiang in Zhongshan. Afterwards, Shi Yi crossed the snow-capped mountains from Xiaohuangzhong to Dahuangzhong (the upper reaches of Huangshui River), slaughtered the Qiang in Congzhi, and moved two thousand tents to Jincheng. The leaders of the Hehuang Qiang and Di tribes were terrified and went to Ji County to pay homage to Zhang Yu.

Zhang Ji, who was stationed in Xingguo, also took action. After persuading Yang Qianwan to surrender, Zhang Ji sent his nephew Zhang Xiu to attack Gaoping, destroy the Tuge Qiang, and move hundreds of tents to Jingyang County of Anding County.

After the separate expeditions by Man Chong, Shi Yi and Zhang Ji, and the military deterrence by Zhang Yu, the areas in Longyou were temporarily at peace.

In Ji County, after many days of discussion with others, Zhang Ze presented Zhang Yu with an official document on the establishment of various counties in Longyou.

"Each of Jincheng, Longyou, and Hanyang will be separated into a county, and Wudu County does not need to be separated for the time being."

Zhang Ze pointed to the map of Longyou and said, "According to what you said, Hanyang, because of its proximity to the Long River, can be divided into five counties: Linwei (the county seat), Qingshui, Lueyang, Pingxiang, and Xingguo, to form a new county. Longxi, because of its vast territory, can be divided into four counties: Zhudao (the county seat), Xinxing, Zhongtao, and Xiangwu, to form a new county."

"Longxi and Hanyang shall be governed by their original counties and towns, and the rest shall not be changed. As for Jincheng County, Your Excellency shall not bother to combine the counties of Huangzhong into one county, so as to appease the Guo and Qu tribes."

Looking at the jagged map of Longyou, Zhang Yu nodded slightly and agreed, saying, "We can first divide the above counties according to Yuan Xiu's proposal. If there are any inconveniences in implementation, we can adjust the county and township areas."

"The county that controls the Long Mountains is called Linwei County, the county that divides Longxi is called Weizhong County, Longxi County is renamed Lintao County, several counties in Huangzhong are named Xiping County, Hanyang is restored to its old name Tianshui County, and the name of Jincheng County remains unchanged."

"Your Excellency may need to consider the appointments of the five county governors of Lintao, Weizhong, Tianshui, Jincheng and Linwei, as well as the county magistrates under the five counties!" Guo Tu said.

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "The five prefecture governors are not in a hurry. I would like to appoint Longxi's inspector first!"

Everyone looked at each other and were quite interested in the position of Longxi Inspector that appeared out of nowhere.

"I wonder what the duties of the Longxi Inspector are, and how they differ from those of the Protector of the Qiang?" Xue Xia asked.

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "The Longxi Inspector is responsible for supervising criminal cases in Longyou counties, supervising county officials, and transporting taxes in Longyou. The Protector of the Qiang puts military affairs first, fights against the Qiang, Di, and miscellaneous Hu, and cooperates with the Longxi Inspector to govern the Longyou counties together."

Longyou and Guanzhong were both Yongzhou, and should have been governed by Anyi. However, considering that Longyou was far away, the current three counties were split into six counties, and the notification was not timely, and the counties needed to be supervised by their superiors, Zhang Yu simply created the Supervisory Envoy to thoroughly govern Longyou. Zhang Yu had already chosen the Supervisory Envoy, who was none other than Zhang Ze, the former governor of Liangzhou.

Zhang Ze had made great contributions before and after Zhang Yu entered Long, so it was difficult for Zhang Yu not to reward him. Moreover, Zhang Yu lacked people who understood the situation in Longyou. Now, letting Zhang Ze take charge of the inspection of Longyou counties as the governor of Tianshui County was a reward for him. After Longyou was stabilized, a more suitable candidate could be replaced.

As he spoke, Zhang Yu looked at Zhang Ze and said with a smile, "You were the governor of Liangzhou in the past. Now I'm afraid you will need to take on the role of the Inspector of Longyou. Whether Longyou can be governed peacefully now depends on your ability."

Zhang Ze's expression was slightly moved, and he said in a deep voice: "I am willing to take on the important task of governing Longyou for the court and the governor."

(End of this chapter)