Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 505 Peaceful Seaside
With the fall of Linzi and the death of Yuan Tan, the Qi-Yuan alliance was destined to perish.

After Man Chong captured Linzi, he followed Zhang Yu's orders and executed Yuan Tan's wife and children, as well as Meng Dai and his relatives, to deter the remaining rebels in Qingzhou. Considering that there were no more major bandits in Qingzhou, Man Chong released the captured Qi soldiers and children, collected travel expenses, and returned home on his own.

Inside the prefectural capital, Man Chong personally reviewed the household registers. Upon seeing that Qingzhou only had more than 50,000 registered households, he suddenly showed surprise and asked a question.

"Qingzhou used to have more than 600,000 registered households, but now there are only 53,000. Where did the 600,000 households go?"

Prefect Liu Xun hesitated for a moment before saying, "Qingzhou was previously ravaged by the Yellow Turbans, and the counties were devastated. Then Yuan Tan attacked Qingzhou, which lasted for two years. Many people were killed or injured. This is why there are so few registered households in Qingzhou."

“The number of registered households is less than that of the Shangjun County, how strange!” Man Chong frowned in confusion and muttered to himself.

"Perhaps powerful families are hiding people, or perhaps the common people are wandering in the wilderness and not reporting it!" Hao Zhao said dismissively, "Now that the governor has already beheaded Yuan Tan, the urgent task now is to subdue the two commanderies of Andonglai and Beihai."

Man Chong put down the bamboo slip and said, "His Majesty appointed me as the Governor of Qingzhou, in charge of military and political affairs, with the primary task of suppressing the bandits and the secondary task of pacifying the people. Now that the great bandits have been eliminated, my duty now is to pacify the people. Therefore, the population of Qingzhou is sparse, and we must investigate the reasons for this."

"The old household registers of Qingzhou were compiled by Yuan Tan and people from the old prefecture. If the governor wishes to investigate the reasons in detail, he should consult the people from the past," Liu Xun said.

"Do you know anything about people and events from the past?" Man Chong asked.

Before he could finish speaking, a servant rushed into the mansion and reported.

"General, Wang Xiu, a former official of Yuan Tan, is requesting an audience outside the city!"

Liu Xun said, “Wang Xiu, courtesy name Shuzhi, is from Yingling in Beihai. He was recommended by Kong Rong to serve as an official. When Yuan Tan entered Qingzhou, he recruited Wang Xiu as his assistant. When Yuan Tan governed Qingzhou, he had Wang Xiu, Liu Xian, and other officials compile household registers. Now that the governor wants to know the details of the household registers, he may ask this man.”

What is this person's reputation like?

"A man of loyalty and righteousness!" Liu Xun said, "When Kong Rong was in trouble, Wang Xiu led his troops to his rescue, and from then on, he became famous along the coast for his loyalty and righteousness. Before, when Yuan Tan attacked Yuan Shang, many people abandoned him, but only Wang Xiu and Guan Tong braved hardships to join him."

"good!"

After a moment's consideration, Man Chong said, "Summon Wang Xiu into the hall."

"promise!"

It is said that Wang Xiu was a former subordinate of Yuan Tan. When Yuan Tan was fighting against Man Chong, Wang Xiu was ordered to supervise the transport of military provisions. Upon hearing that Yuan Tan had been beheaded, Wang Xiu was greatly saddened and led several dozen people to attend Yuan Tan's funeral, hoping to collect the bodies of Yuan Tan and his family.

A short while later, Wang Xiu, with a resolute expression and a sorrowful face, entered the hall.

"Wang Xiu pays his respects to the Commander-in-Chief!"

Man Chong asked, "Yuan Tan has been defeated and killed. Have you come here to surrender to the Tang Dynasty?"

Wang Xiu bowed and said, "Yuan Tan was my former master. He has come here to collect my master's body!"

Man Chong narrowed his eyes, unsure of Wang Xiu's true intentions, and deliberately remained silent, wanting to see Wang Xiu's subsequent reaction.

Seeing that Man Chong remained silent, Wang Xiu continued, "Although Yuan Tan is a criminal, I have received great kindness from the Yuan family. If I do not repay this kindness, I will not be at peace. Therefore, I request that Yuan Tan's body be collected. If this violates military law, I am willing to accept punishment after collecting the body, and I will have no regrets!"

Upon hearing this, Man Chong said with emotion, "You are a righteous man from the seaside, and how could I dare to refuse the request of a righteous man? I grant you permission to collect Yuan Tan's body."

"Thank you, Governor!" Wang Xiu said gratefully.

In the past, Man Chong might have killed Wang Xiu. However, now that Qi and Yuan have fallen and the coastal prefectures have almost surrendered, the key is to appease the people. If Wang Xiu is a righteous man from Qingzhou, killing him now would damage Your Majesty's reputation. Moreover, by pardoning him now, it is clear that Your Majesty intends to promote the spirit of loyalty and righteousness.

"I have a question to ask you, sir. I would be grateful if you could answer it for me!" Man Chong said.

“You speak freely and without reservation.” Man Chong waved his hand, pointed to the bamboo slips, and asked, “When you were in charge of the Yuan family’s administration of the state and compiled books, why were there only more than 50,000 households in the six prefectures and sixty-five cities? In the Later Han Dynasty, there were more than 600,000 registered households and a population of 3.7 million. The difference is huge, and I cannot understand it.”

Wang Xiu composed himself and replied, "Although Qingzhou has a population of nearly four million, the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou caused the collapse of many prefectures, with war breaking out everywhere and chaos reigning in the countryside. Qingzhou is still not at peace. Yuan Tan entered Qingzhou and, with the help of the Yuan family's prestige, bestowed seals and ribbons upon the various bandits, which brought some relief."

"The Yellow Turbans, who led dozens of men, were defeated by Gongsun Zan. Others were defeated by Cao Cao, or turned into bandits. The people of Qi were scattered in all directions. The war ravaged Qingzhou. Some people sailed to Liaodong, some fled to the coast, and some hid in the mountains. Some even sought to establish their own independent regimes. Therefore, it was difficult to keep a record of their households."

After a pause, Wang Xiu added, “For example, Donglai County is near mountains and the coast, where remnants of the Yellow Turban Rebellion are entrenched. Powerful clans gather their people for self-protection. For instance, Guan Cheng from Changguang County has more than 3,000 households and is a threat to Donglai; Cong Qian, a bandit from Mouping, has nearly 10,000 followers and commands the area; Wang Ying from Dongmou has more than 3,000 households and has coerced Changyang County into rebellion. There are many such cases in Donglai County, at least 10,000 households that are not owned by the state.”

"In Jinan and Le'an counties, generals like Xu He and Sima Ju, remnants of the Yellow Turbans, each had several thousand households of followers who had previously served under Yuan Tan, but were not registered in the household register. In Beihai County, figures like Ge Chang and Lian Kai served as county magistrates, in charge of military and political affairs. In total, the followers and retainers of these generals numbered at least 20,000 households."

"Not only that, Gongsun Du of Liaodong sent generals by sea to Qingzhou to establish Yingzhou to gather refugees, which included several counties and tens of thousands of households."

Man Chong pondered for a moment and asked, "As you say, Qingzhou has more than 50,000 registered households. If the bandits are quelled, I wonder if there could be 100,000 households?"

"We can easily subdue the mountain bandits and sea pirates by 30,000 households, but it will be difficult to subdue them by 50,000. Unless—" Wang Xiu paused and then stopped speaking.

"Unless something else?" Man Chong pressed.

“Unless the governor reports to the Tang king that the powerful clans in Qingzhou are concealing household registrations and taking refugees into slavery, if we can send strict officials to deal with this, we might be able to bring 100,000 households to Qingzhou,” Wang Xiu said.

Yuan Tan's governance of Qingzhou was far from satisfactory. He relied on his father Yuan Shao's reputation to subdue many local bandits and powerful clans. However, this submission was merely nominal. The campaign against Kong Rong took Yuan Tan the longest, nearly a year, before he finally captured Beihai Commandery.

Therefore, when Man Chong entered Qingzhou, he was surprised by the small number of registered households in Qingzhou. After all, even if Qingzhou was so chaotic, it couldn't possibly have only 50,000 households left; obviously, the number of people who were not included in the household registration was certainly quite large.

Of course, the chaotic household registration system in Qingzhou wasn't limited to Yuan Tan's time. Even during the Cao Wei period, the registered households in Qingzhou and Xuzhou were similarly chaotic, or rather, surprisingly few. For example, in the first year of the Taikang era of the Western Jin Dynasty, the average population per prefecture in Qingzhou was less than 10,000 households, while some prefectures in Xuzhou even had 3,000 households.

As for the reasons? Besides military matters, another reason is that the generals of Mount Tai have considerable power.

During the Battle of Guandu between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, the generals of Mount Tai sided with Cao Cao and helped him attack Qingzhou. After Cao Cao's victory, in order to reward his generals, he divided up many counties from Qing and Xu provinces and granted them fiefdoms.

The generals of Mount Tai, possessing both military power and control over prefectures and counties, formed independent warlords. These warlords drew heavily on manpower from the Qing and Xu prefectures. Meng Da, who controlled the three prefectures of Shangyong, could command nearly ten thousand households of followers; how much more so the generals of Mount Tai, who had held sway for over a decade?

As for Cao Pi's seizure of military power from the generals of Mount Tai, it can be said that there were successes and failures. Although the prefects could move around, the power of the generals of Mount Tai remained, and they consistently limited the central government's ability to accurately count the number of households.

"One hundred thousand households, four or five hundred thousand people, though not as many as the upper prefectures, but considerably more than the lower prefectures!"

Man Chong muttered to himself for a moment, then said, "Regarding the affairs of the powerful clans, I will report to the Prince of Tang for governance. The key matter now is to quell the scattered bandits of Qingzhou."

Then, Man Chong looked at Wang Xiu and said, "Guan Tong, the prefect of Donglai, is a close confidant of Yuan Tan. I would be grateful if you could persuade him to surrender. If you succeed, I will report your achievement to the King of Tang."

"I am willing to accept the Governor's order!"

Wang Xiu gave a wry smile. He had come to collect Yuan Tan's body, but unexpectedly became an envoy of the Tang Dynasty. Considering his future prospects, Wang Xiu accepted the mission.

"Hao Bodao?"

"The general is here!"

Man Chong pointed to the general and said, "Since Donglai County is infested with bandits, you, General, should lead your troops to quell them. Unless they are willing to abandon their own troops, the rest should surrender and refuse to obey orders. After pacifying Donglai County, we will then attack Yingzhou to relieve the people of Qingzhou."

"Yes, sir!" Hao Zhao replied.

(End of this chapter)