Jinting Han people

In the days that followed, Liu Xian was busy with two things: first, to clean up the mess after the Battle of Chengdu, and second, to lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of a new regime.

As mentioned earlier, Liu Xian defeated a powerful enemy, but this did not signify the end. After all, governance is different from warfare. Warfare involves killing, and victory or defeat is often decided by a single blow; the dead lose everything, and the living win—it's very simple and clear. But establishing a new regime is a completely different matter.

Lao Tzu said, "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish; it seems easy, but it is actually very subtle." In cooking, the chef must consider the heat, seasonings, ingredients, and techniques, as well as time and the diner's taste. A slight excess or deficiency will drastically change the flavor. And most importantly, once cooked, the result cannot be changed. Governing a country is similar. To establish a sound state, the ruler must consider not only military matters but also diplomacy, population, taxation, commerce, education, official conduct, stability, and law—a comprehensive approach is needed. There are no black-and-white issues, and every action has far-reaching consequences.

Liu Xian had many years of experience governing both the local and imperial courts, so he was well aware of this point. Back when Sima Jiong, the Prince of Qi, entered Luoyang to take power, how spirited he was! He claimed he would drastically change the long-standing abuses of the Jin dynasty, but in just over a year, he had ruined his reputation and created a complete mess. In the end, he not only failed to accomplish his goals but also lost his life.

From then on, Liu Xian realized that stability should be the priority in governing a country. No matter how sweeping the reforms, they must be carried out with the utmost patience, taking steady steps one at a time. Political victory is not a one-time achievement, but a long and arduous process.

He first sent envoys to various places to pacify them, informing them of his victory in the Battle of Chengdu. He promised Li Xiong and the remaining forces of Luo Shang that as long as they were willing to come to Chengdu to take up their posts, their past actions would not be forgiven, but at least their lives would not be in danger. If they were truly talented and virtuous people, Liu Xian would not only not be wary of them, but would also select and employ them.

This lenient policy greatly alleviated the harsh atmosphere caused by the great war. In the vast area north of the river, the prefects and officials of the five prefectures of Wenshan, Hanjia, Jiangyang, Bajun, and Fuling, as well as many Yi kings of the Qiang and Di tribes, and naturally the remaining followers of the Celestial Masters sect, all surrendered to Liu Xian one after another.

This even included Qiao Deng, who had escaped. After leading his men back to Jiangyang, Qiao Deng knew that all was lost. Recalling the words of the old man he had met when entering the battle, he felt even more bewildered about his choice, truly unsure of what to do next.

After hesitating for several days, he first received news of Jiangzhou's surrender, and then met with the envoy sent by He Pan to persuade him to surrender. After careful consideration, Qiao Deng made a request to He Pan, saying that Luo Shang was, in a sense, his former lord, and he hoped that Liu Xian would return Luo Shang's head so that he could be buried with dignity. If Liu Xian could grant this condition, Qiao Deng would be willing to surrender the city. Luo Shang was, after all, an old comrade-in-arms of He Pan, and seeing him end up like this, even if he deserved it, He Pan felt some pity and relayed Qiao Deng's request.

Upon learning this, Liu Xian naturally agreed. By this time, Luo Shang's body had been exposed for more than half a month, which was sufficient as punishment. Liu Xian then ordered his son, Luo Yanshou, to collect the head and body, and to act as an envoy to contact Qiao Deng to jointly preside over the funeral. In the end, Luo Shang was buried north of Jiangzhou City.

After this incident, Qiao Deng finally surrendered, but out of pride and concern for his family's reputation, he refused to see Liu Xian. He immediately resigned his post and returned to his hometown, declaring that he would withdraw from worldly affairs and live a secluded life in the mountains, farming the fields. Liu Xian was deeply impressed by Qiao Deng's performance in battle and naturally did not want such a valiant warrior to leave the battlefield. Therefore, he repeatedly issued recruitment orders, hoping that He Pan would persuade Qiao Deng to return to service. However, judging from He Pan's replies, the effect was not good.

At the same time, there was bad news: He Pan failed to seize Badong Commandery, and instead, Pi Chu, the Prefect of Jianping in Jingzhou, beat him to it. While He Pan was still pacifying Ba Commandery and Jiangyang, Pi Chu learned of the defeat in Jiangzhou first, and then sailed west, quickly capturing the three counties of Yufu, Qu, and Nanpu with four thousand naval troops. He Pan did not have enough troops to take them, and could only fortify his defenses along the river.

Although these three counties are not large, and the Jingzhou army could not enter Shu through them after He Pan set up defenses, Yu Fu was originally the location of Baidi City, which was Yong'an, one of the four major military regions of Shu Han. Liu Xian now has to govern his old country, has already taken control of Hanzhong and Jiangzhou, and Li Yi of Ningzhou is also willing to submit. The absence of one of the four major military regions is somewhat of a shortcoming.

However, in Liu Xian's view, three county towns were nothing to worry about. Analyzing the pros and cons, it meant he didn't nominally control all of Bashu, but it wasn't worth escalating the conflict with the Jingzhou army. According to previous reports, Liu Hong's health was already precarious. Once Liu Hong died, Jingzhou would inevitably fall into a state of leaderlessness and transition, at which point retaking Badong would be a piece of cake.

Right now, his busiest task is recruiting talent.

To govern a place well, talent is always the most important factor. Some people in later generations tend to exaggerate the role of systems, believing that a good system can solve all problems—this is undoubtedly wishful thinking. Undeniably, a good system can help people better utilize their talents, but any system is created by people and needs to be implemented by them. A system without implementation is nothing more than empty talk.

Within a year and a half, Liu Xian had conquered almost the entire Bashu region, encompassing fourteen commanderies. This rapid expansion revealed a severe shortage of officials and extremely weak foundations for rule in various areas. He now urgently needed to expand his own government, establish a stable rule in Bashu, and prepare for his eventual establishment of a kingdom.

Fortunately, right after the fall of the Chengdu Kingdom, there was a group of readily available talents.

As the saying goes, "Though the sparrow is small, it has all the vital organs." Before his death, Li Xiong had already established a small court within the country. Although this small court had many shortcomings, it possessed all the necessary departments—the Ministry of Personnel, the Secretariat, and the Chancellery—and effectively maintained the normal operation of the Chengdu Kingdom. It had considerable administrative experience, which perfectly suited Liu Xian's needs. Now that this small court had surrendered along with Li Xiong, Liu Xian gathered its officials and conducted examinations for them one by one within the prefectural government, then appointed them according to their abilities.

The questions for the policy test were quite simple: they asked these people to describe the state of Chengdu before its rise and fall, and to discuss their experiences and lessons learned.

The results were better than Liu Xian had imagined. Former Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Yan Yu, Left Vice Minister Yang Bao, and Grand Secretary Shangguan Dun, among others, all delivered excellent performances.

Yan Yu's answer was the most insightful. As a veteran minister of three dynasties in Chengdu, he summarized Liu Xian's experience by saying that the reason Chengdu was defeated and destroyed was not only due to military shortcomings, but also due to deficiencies in civil administration.

Although Li Xiong was nominally the King of Chengdu, he lacked true royal authority, and the country was effectively shared by members of the Li clan. Each member of the Li clan either commanded an army or governed a region; while they verbally obeyed Li Xiong's orders, they were in reality de facto rulers of their own territories. Li clan members holding high-ranking official positions possessed the power to bypass the imperial court and independently levy taxes and appoint and dismiss officials within their jurisdictions.

As a result, Chengdu's national decrees were issued by multiple departments, the imperial court had extremely poor control over the local areas, and laws could not be strictly enforced. Furthermore, Li Xiong's leniency towards the Celestial Masters sect led to a situation where the people were unaware of their ruler, and the ruler was unaware of his people. While this seemed to align with Lao Tzu's ideal of non-action, in practice, after Liu Xian entered Shu, most counties easily defected, and the soldiers, except for the veterans, were mostly easily defeated.

Yan Yu also cited his past advice to Li Xiong as an example. He had suggested to Li Xiong that a hostage guard be established in Chengdu, using the sons of various powerful clans as hostages. He didn't expect this army to be particularly powerful, but it would at least weaken Liu Xian's influence and strengthen the loyalty of the Ba-Shu gentry to the Chengdu state. However, this plan failed. How did it fail? The powerful clans of various counties were unwilling to go to Chengdu, so they bribed Li Yun, Li Li, and others. Li Li and his associates accepted the money and pretended nothing had happened. Whenever Li Xiong inquired, they verbally promised to handle the matter, but in reality, they kept delaying. Li Xiong couldn't severely punish his own clan elders, and in the end, the matter was left unresolved.

Yan Yu then advised Liu Xian, saying, “In the past, the Han dynasty gained the empire, but the empire was not at peace; great chaos followed one after another, and it took three generations to quell the rebellion. The Cao Wei dynasty gained the empire, but lost it after three generations; the Jin dynasty gained the empire, but also lost it after three generations. Why? Because there were states within states and prefectures within prefectures, leading to lax laws, ineffective decrees, tyrannical officials, and impoverished people. Although this was somewhat better than Luo Shang's oppression of the people, it was not a sustainable way.” “Now, Your Highness wishes to bring great order to the regions, you should learn from history, establish laws and regulations, clarify rewards and punishments, respect hierarchy, and ensure that the emperor's authority is manifest throughout the land, so that the ruler and the people can live in harmony.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Xian greatly appreciated Yan Yu's idea and recruited him into his official household, temporarily appointing him as a clerk in charge of household affairs. He also tasked Yan Yu with leading a drafting of a new set of laws, modeled after those formulated by Zhuge Liang and Fa Zheng, emphasizing the principles of moral instruction, clear laws, and the promotion of good while condemning evil. This new law was to be formally promulgated after Liu Xian became king and then implemented throughout the Ba-Shu region.

Secondly, Liu Xian admired Yang Bao, who, citing the fact that the dead are gone, did not mention Li Xiong's mistakes, but instead directly pointed out Liu Xian's miscalculation.

He bluntly stated that Liu Xian had made three major mistakes since entering Shu:

First, there was a narrow-minded approach to personnel selection. Overemphasis was placed on the relationships between former Shu Han officials, while neglecting their abilities and shortcomings, resulting in many incompetent individuals being scattered throughout the counties.
Secondly, he is prone to taking risks. As a monarch, who holds the weighty responsibility of ruling the world, it is like riding a vicious horse and holding a spear. If he acts hastily, he fears injuring himself; if he acts slowly, he fears losing his position. He should cherish his life and exercise self-control.

Thirdly, there is a lack of attention to water conservancy. Southern China is prone to flooding, often resulting in devastating disasters, making the management of dikes and dams particularly crucial. Two years ago, Li Xiong had just begun repairs, but before any progress was seen, the war in Sichuan and Chongqing delayed the efforts. While Liu Xian holds the advantage, he has no interest in water management; if heavy rains occur this year, many areas in Sichuan and Chongqing will likely suffer from flooding.

Liu Xian readily accepted this offer and recruited Yang Bao into his court as an advisor, tasking him with offering criticism and remonstrance. At the same time, Liu Xian was also deeply concerned about the floods mentioned by Yang Bao. Realizing it was better late than never, he urgently ordered Lu Yun to Chengdu to discuss flood control measures in Shu with Yang Bao.

Along with Yan Yu and Yang Bao, Shangguan Dun, Xi Bin, Wang Da, and others entered the Anle Duke's mansion. These people all had some experience in civil administration and were mostly from the background of displaced scholars from the north. Liu Xian assigned them some minor clerical work first, and after they became familiar with each other, he would appoint them as local officials based on their character.

Of course, while Liu Xian was wary of the military personnel in the Chengdu army, he would still recruit some according to his previous plan. He intended to have most of the soldiers serve as agricultural settlers, and most of the generals could be directly promoted to agricultural settlement commanders. After a certain number of years, the agricultural settlers would be allocated land and become civilians, while the agricultural settlement commanders would be directly promoted to county magistrates or county lieutenants.

However, this approach is not suitable for certain talents and armies. Having only pacified Ba and Shu, to truly unify the world, one still needs many brave warriors and generals capable of charging into battle. The Chengdu army still retains over ten thousand veteran soldiers from the Western Yi tribes, a considerable fighting force. However, a significant portion of them are Di people, who would be difficult for ordinary generals to manage; they will need to be managed by the Di themselves.

With this in mind, Liu Xian entrusted the veteran soldiers of the Western Yi to Yang Nandi, instructing him to integrate them with the Di people in the Qiuchi army, reorganizing them into a new army. Because most of the Di people also believed in the Way of the Celestial Masters, Liu Xian named this army the Longevity Army. Famous generals and officers from the original Chengdu army, such as Fei Hei, Wen Shuo, and Zhang Bao, were also incorporated into Yang Nandi's command.

However, it is worth mentioning that one person in the Chengdu army caught Liu Xian's attention, namely Li Feng, the former General of the Chengdu State Guard.

After the war, Liu Xian heard people mention Li Feng's name. They said he was a distant relative of the Li clan of Lueyang, beyond the fifth degree of kinship, and held little status. However, this man was extremely resourceful; it was Li Feng who had devised the plan for Li Xiong to invite Luo Shang for assistance. This had caused Liu Xian considerable trouble and inflicted many casualties on his army. Therefore, the Anle Duke's mansion harbored deep hatred for Li Feng, and some even wanted to kill him to vent their anger. Curious about this man, Liu Xian ordered an audience with him.

To give Li Feng a hard time, Liu Xian had him tied up, forced to walk through a group of heavily armed soldiers, and then dragged to Liu Xian's feet before throwing him to the ground. Li Feng landed unsteadily, rolling twice on the ground, getting covered in dust and looking quite comical.

However, after he stood still, Liu Xian carefully examined him and found that Li Feng was fairly decent-looking. He was in his early thirties, with a high forehead, long cheekbones, thick eyebrows, narrow eyes, and rather thin lips. Frankly, his appearance wasn't outstanding, and his physique was average, but he possessed a strangely sharp temperament. Liu Xian was very familiar with this temperament; clearly, this was an intelligent person, so intelligent that he could see the flaws in others at a glance, which made him somewhat unpleasant, hence this temperament.

Liu Xian then feigned intimidation and angrily asked, "What? You've killed so many of my men, aren't you afraid of death? How dare you look at me like that?"

Li Feng sneered, "As the saying goes, 'Even dogs bark at those who are not their masters.' I serve my former master, and killing more enemies is my skill and merit. Does Duke Anle intend to use merit to harm people?"

Liu Xian replied leisurely, "What is honey to one is poison to another. Since you've admitted it, what's wrong with me avenging my soldiers?"

Li Feng followed up, saying, "Does Your Highness intend to become the ruler of the world, or the ruler of Bashu? With such a vast world, how many people will oppose Your Highness and kill you in the future? Does Your Highness intend to kill them all? Cao Cao, in order to quell Yuan Shao, even put aside his hatred for the killing of his son and heavily relied on Zhang Xiu. Your Highness, who prides yourself on being a descendant of Liu Bei, is your magnanimity inferior to that of Cao Cao?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xian stared at Li Feng for a moment. Seeing his considerable courage, he burst into laughter and slammed his hand on the table, saying, "What a sharp tongue you have! I can forgive your crime, but if you want me to use you as Cao Cao did Zhang Xiu, I'm afraid you're not qualified. After all, I am not Cao Cao, and you are not Zhang Xiu."

"Zhang Xiu is nothing but a brute; how can he compare to me? If Your Highness would employ me, I can do what Yue Yi and Xian Zhen did!"

"Oh?" Hearing this, Liu Xian couldn't help but become interested. After all, among the former officials of Chengdu, Li Feng was the first to dare to boast to Liu Xian like this. He asked, "Then tell me, how should I take over the world?"

"Given Your Highness's past and the background of your officials in the Duke's court, I dare say that once Your Highness becomes king and establishes your own regime, your plans will surely be in the north!"

Li Feng immediately straightened up, his hands still bound behind his back, and looked intently at Liu Xian, saying emphatically, "In my opinion, Your Highness's ambition to establish an empire lies not in conquering the north, but in advancing eastward!" (End of Chapter)