Tiger Guards

Chapter 179 Two Hundred Thousand Stones
In Zhongdu city, Wang Ling was invited to visit Sun Zi.

Sun Zi was supported by Wang Yun and was considered a disciple and former official of the Wang family of Qi County.

Wang Ling's courtesy name was Yanyun, Sun Zi's courtesy name was Yanlong... The character Yan was popular in the nine counties of Zhongdu.

Inside the house, Sun Zi read the handwritten letter handed by Wang Ling and felt very embarrassed.

Wang Ling was delivering a message on behalf of Wang Rou of the Taiyuan Wang family, hoping that Sun Zi could act as an intermediary to find out Zhao Ji's appetite.

Wang Rou had served as the prefect of Yanmen County and was now the General of the Central Army to the Xiongnu; his brother Wang Ze was now the prefect of Dai County.

On the Yangqu Guo family side, Guo Huai's family also often served as the governor of Yanmen County.

Including the relocated Dingxiang County, people from Taiyuan basically monopolized the positions of county governors in several counties of Bingzhou.

The counties outside the Great Wall had long been abandoned, and only Yanmen County and Dingxiang County still had some border defense significance; no one could hold on to the throne, so it was passed back and forth among the prominent families in Taiyuan.

Sun Zi slowly put down Wang Rou's letter and said awkwardly, "Yanyun, it's not that I don't want to, but the Xiongnu blocked the road before. Although it's very close, the imperial envoys couldn't reach Taiyuan. Many ministers in the court are dissatisfied."

Wang Ling frowned. "This isn't our county's fault. The origins of this matter can be traced back to the former Chanyu, Yufuluo. If he hadn't forcibly recruited volunteers and sent troops to Qubei to defend the king, how could the national chaos have been caused?"

It was the imperial court that sent people to recruit Xiongnu volunteers. Wang Rou, who was stationed in Lishi, Xihe County, also urged Yu Fuluo, who actively supported it, and only then was a volunteer force of more than 3,000 cavalrymen organized.

As a result, they won at first but then lost. After retreating to Hedong, the imperial court was unable to offer any rewards, which led to the disintegration of the Yicong troops, the alienation of the tribes, and a sharp drop in Yu Fuluo's prestige.

Then Yufuluo died of illness, and his younger brother, Zuoxian Wang Huchuxuan, succeeded him. It was also with the mediation of Wang Rou that Yufuluo's son Liu Bao was appointed Zuoxian Wang and became the future heir to the Chanyu.

The problems among the Xiongnu high-level officials were no secret to Wang Ling. In his opinion, the replacement of the Chanyu and the Zuo Xian Wang had triggered a greater round of chaos.

When the Xiongnu moved inland, they used Lishi, the capital of Xihe County, as the royal court of the Chanyu.

Continuing to migrate inland, the right part developed southward along the Luliang Mountains towards the Pingyang area, while the left part developed towards the south of Taiyuan.

At the beginning of the year, the Chanyu changed, and Huhuxuan succeeded him as Chanyu but refused to go to Lishi. The area around Lishi was mainly inhabited by the Tuge Xiongnu.

Although during Yufuluo's lifetime, the Tuge Xiongnu nobles and Huochequan were both hardliners within the Xiongnu; but after Yufuluo's death, Huochequan succeeded to the throne and changed his stance, which led to some conflicts with the hard-line Tuge Xiongnu.

Therefore, the Xiongnu Chanyu royal court was changed, and the previous Zuobu royal court was directly used as the new Chanyu royal court.

The Chanyu royal court in Lishi seemed to be divided and could no longer become the royal court of the left wing. Although the new Zuo Xianwang Liu Bao was young, he continued to move south with the support of old ministers.

This intensified the conflicts over pastures among the tribes, which blocked the highway and made it impossible for the imperial court to contact Taiyuan.

Of course, this is just what happened in the eyes of Taiyuan people.

The truth was simple: the Huns always managed to intercept and kill the imperial envoys, preventing them from reaching Taiyuan.

The people of Taiyuan would never admit to other things; if there was any fault, it must be blamed on Yu Furuo.

After hearing Wang Ling's explanation, Sun Zi said, "There's no point in discussing this. Minister Zhao has been granted the title of Marquis of Pingyang and now commands Taiyuan Commandery. He's commanding five divisions to attack Lüliang, with troops from Hebei as his vanguard. Using these words to try to dissuade Minister Zhao is unwise."

Sun Zi felt his tone wasn't strong enough, so he slammed his hand on the table and said urgently, "Yan Yun, April is when the Xiongnu are weak in cavalry. Now the Marquis of Pingyang is leading his troops north, and the Chanyu is gathering his forces. Qu Bei is marching to capture Luliang, and the Tuge Xiongnu are retreating and refusing to fight. Are we, the men of Taiyuan, going to oppose the Marquis of Pingyang's aggressive advance?"

"So how much does he want?"

Wang Ling was helpless. "They're coming with the combined forces of Zhang and Yang in Henei, numbering no less than 10,000 infantry and cavalry. Each man gets eight liters of food a day, which translates to about 800 dan of fodder a day. Could they be planning to use all the people in Hedong to devour all the rice and millet in Taiyuan?"

"Of course, this is impossible. The emperor and his officials are eager to return to Luodu and will not stay in Taiyuan for long."

Sun Zi gestured with his hand: "Two hundred thousand dan of millet, I think that should satisfy the Marquis of Pingyang."

How much is 200,000 dan of corn?

One acre of land produces three shi of grain, which is the summer harvest of 700 hectares of land.

None of the nine counties in Zhongdu had enough grain in their government granaries to produce this much.

Even if nine counties were to come together, they still couldn't make it.

But if it comes to the powerful people in a specific county, they can naturally collect 200,000 shi of millet.

Not to mention other counties, Sun Zi knew that Zhongdu County could produce 200,000 dan of millet. "200,000 dan is not difficult, the difficult part is how to establish credibility."

This is exactly what Wang Ling is worried about: "Last year, the locust plague in Taiyuan was mild, and families had some savings. But Hedong has suffered greatly from drought and locusts. If they see that Taiyuan has been able to gather 200,000 dan of millet, how can they easily withdraw their troops?"

Wang Ling then offered a solution: "If the Marquis of Pingyang can submit a petition to the court, resigning his post in Taiyuan and asking the court to appoint a wise and capable person, then the 200,000 dan of millet can be delivered in installments without difficulty."

This was not really about the 200,000 dan of millet, but because Zhao Ji held the seal of the Taiyuan County Governor and could mobilize forces from Hedong at any time, and he could suppress the powerful people in Taiyuan.

After letting Zhao Ji taste the sweetness once, he would definitely not think of other ways when he encountered difficulties in food supply again, and would pressure the people of Taiyuan to supply military rations.

Even satisfying Zhao Ji's need to maintain his army is not a big deal. What we are afraid of is that the people of Hedong will develop bad habits!
Only by taking away the position of Taiyuan County Governor from Zhao Ji can the basic interests of each family in Taiyuan be protected from the root.

If a reliable person is appointed as the county governor, Zhao Ji will still dare to lead his troops to ask for food. By then, they can rely on the new county governor and make friends with the Huns. Naturally, they will be able to repel the greedy Zhao Ji and the people of Hedong.

Sun Zi was at a loss. After a moment's thought, he said, "I will discuss this matter in detail with the Marquis of Pingyang, but food and fodder are scarce in Hedong. The Henei troops are the vanguard, so please gather the food quickly. Otherwise, the Henei troops will riot, and the Marquis of Pingyang will be unable to control or restrain them."

"Food is easy to talk about, but we can't let it overflow."

Wang Ling reiterated his position and asked, "Then what does the Marquis of Pingyang like?"

"He's not one to be greedy for money. Forget about anything else. Yanyun, go get some rice and millet. It would be best if you could gather 50,000 shi within five days. That way, I can give an explanation to the Marquis of Pingyang. If you run into any problems here, I can also intervene."

Sun Zi glanced around and whispered, "The Jinyang Wang family has frequently intermarried with noble Xiongnu families. This is no secret. Please don't delay. Send the emperor back to Luodu as soon as possible so that peace can be restored to this county. Otherwise, the Pingyang Marquis will mobilize the troops from Hedong to feed this county. The people from Yanmen and Dai counties will come here at the imperial edict. This county will be no match for them."

Wang Ling remained silent, his brows lowered.

When it comes to this critical moment, the Huns are really unreliable.

In the Battle of Jiangyi, Zhao Ji beheaded 3,000 people in the first two days, forcing the most powerful Tuge Xiongnu to retreat voluntarily, leaving Puzi City and the surrounding mountain pastures to Qubei.

In the past ten years, the Huns have not experienced such a devastating blow.

Not to mention slaughtering the Xiongnu, even the new Chanyu Huchuxuan was unwilling to fight against Zhao Ji.

If a real fight breaks out, it will be troublesome whether you win or lose.

People from Taiyuan took turns serving as county magistrates in Yanmen and Daijun, and they had established strong relationships with local powerful people as students and former officials.

But Yanmen and Daijun are border areas, and the system of disciples and old officials cannot restrain the wild spirit of the men in the border counties.

If the imperial court really issues an edict, the powerful people in these counties will definitely rise up in rebellion, which will be very disadvantageous to the people of Taiyuan.

It’s not that we are afraid of losing, but fighting will only result in both sides suffering losses, which is not worth it.

The court and the people of Hedong are going crazy because of poverty, but the people of Taiyuan still have a good life. They are really narrow-minded.

That's the imperial court. If we really want to resist, we can only exert 30% of our strength even if we have 100%.

After a moment, Wang Ling said, "Brother Yanlong, please continue to work for the welfare of our county at the Marquis of Pingyang's place. I will immediately gather the 200,000 dan of millet. I only hope that the Marquis of Pingyang will prioritize the interests of the court and, after raising the funds and grain, accompany the emperor back to Luodu as soon as possible."

How could he leave Luoyang and stay in Taiyuan to be the county magistrate?
Wang Ling almost instinctively and firmly believed that Zhao Ji would not serve as the governor of Taiyuan County for a long time, which was not in line with common sense.

Sun Zi had no choice but to agree and urged, "I will do my best to mediate."

From a personal standpoint, Sun Zi also wanted to extort more money and grain from Taiyuan.

He had been hiding in Hedong for several years and was well aware that Hedong's resources were about to run out.

If we can avoid the severe drought and locust plague this year, even if we coax Zhao Ji away now, he will still bring the starving people from Hedong to Taiyuan to beg for money after the summer harvest.

So if we have to do it, we have to do it right the first time and feed Zhao Ji and the people of Hedong as much as possible.

Zhao Ji was fed and the imperial court was embarrassed to initiate war.

But it was not appropriate for him to say such things now. If he were a commoner, he could still persuade Wang Ling with confidence.

He is now an envoy representing Zhao Ji and the imperial court, so it is difficult for him to speak in a "neutral" manner.

(End of this chapter)