Tiger Guards

Chapter 185: Many Mediocre People
When smoke rose on the east bank of the Fen River, the Xiongnu people and the county army camp on the west bank were on alert.

The county military camp was closest to Zhao Ji, separated by the Daze and Fen River.

The county soldiers and the Xiongnu volunteers under Wang Rou's command were unaware of the external situation and chose to close their camp and wait and see.

Huochequan also gathered his troops in one place and did not take any rash actions.

Around 3 p.m., Zhang Yang arrived to join Zhao Ji, leading a pitiful 300-odd knights from Hanoi.

For the Yuan and Cao armies, these more than 300 Hanoi knights were a tactical strike force that could not be ignored.

But at this moment in Taiyuan, in a battle involving thousands of people, these more than 300 cavalrymen could be killed in half a day.

Zhao Ji left Zhongdu County and moved southward, arriving near the drainage outlet of Daze.

Some boats were also moved here to transport soldiers across the river.

Zhang Yang asked, "Is the Minister planning to cross the river?"

"With this idea, I'm worried that the Xiongnu and the county soldiers on the west bank will join forces to cause chaos."

Zhao Ji answered truthfully that one should not have too high expectations for the county soldiers. Under the instigation of military officials, they might cooperate with the Xiongnu in rebellion and support and instigate the clan bandits in various counties to revolt.

"You can't cross the river today."

Zhang Yang offered his own opinion, saying, "Currently, the clan rebels in various places are leaderless and perhaps unsure of what to do. The Minister of Justice should offer them a way out and ask the court to issue an imperial edict to pardon those who were unaware of the situation."

Remove those who are neutral or not deeply involved, it won’t be too late to settle accounts later.

Zhao Ji understood the meaning of "uninformed people". This could make those who were truly uninformed, or those who were informed, feel lucky, and the intensity of resistance would drop quickly.

In the subsequent investigation, they will follow the clues and blame each other. How can you prove that you were not aware of it?
Seeing that Zhao Ji seemed to be listening, Zhang Yang immediately added, "If Huchuquan hears this, he'll also want a piece of the action. Don't give him any advantage. Otherwise, his power will grow. With his position as Chanyu, it will only take two or three years for him to become unstoppable. Also, please have the Minister of State immediately order the county troops to close camp. Once the situation improves, the county troops can easily take over. If Huchuquan gathers his troops to plunder, the Minister of State will lead the troops to attack. With the support of the right path, Taiyuan will be secure."

It's not that the righteous will have many supporters. It's obvious that many people want to make meritorious deeds to atone for their sins, but are also afraid that the Huns will become more powerful.

Wang Rou has been playing with snakes. The powerful people who have profited from it can tolerate it, but most people are definitely not happy about it.

Xihe County has been completely devoured, and the entire county has less than 2,000 registered households.

Huochequan established the Chanyu royal court in the area of Zishi, stepped into the gate of Taiyuan, and could sweep across the counties at any time.

The richness of Taiyuan was enough for Huochequan to attract most of the Xiongnu tribes to participate.

Besides, no matter how cruelly Zhao Ji killed, he was only killing the leader of the clan bandits.

Liu Biao rode alone into Jingzhou and killed more than 50 clan members during a banquet. It was definitely not a case of confiscating property and exterminating the clan.

Instead, they killed their fathers, sons, and brothers, or even just the people themselves, and then selected people from among the other party's children to lead the old subordinates. Only then did they quickly reorganize Jingzhou.

Before this, because of the campaign against Dong Zhuo, the Jingzhou army had been almost completely controlled by Sun Jian.

The state and county troops were greatly weakened, which led to the situation where the clan bandits in Jingzhou became powerful.

Taiyuan was different. Zhao Ji had more than 10,000 people under his command, as well as a steady supply of reinforcements. With the emperor and the court around, he could directly and quickly recruit and arm the people of Taiyuan.

Therefore, the difficulty of operation is two or three levels lower than Liu Biao, not two or three times lower.

Zhang Yang added, "If we cross the river suddenly, our military momentum will be thwarted, and our favorable situation will be completely ruined. I hope the Minister will understand this!"

Zhao Ji nodded and expressed his concerns: "Right now, the five counties of Zhongdu are cut off from information. I am worried that information will be transmitted at night and the various families will unite."

Zhao Ji, who comes from the information age, has an instinctive wariness and fear of information transmission.

I have played many games, and as soon as there are even the slightest contributing conditions for various events, pop-up windows will pop up immediately, making you panic.

"Minister, it is difficult to discern the truth from the falsehood of the information transmitted tonight. There are few wise men in this world, but many mediocre ones."

Zhang Yang patiently explained, "Most of the heroes of Taiyuan who participated in the rebellion have already been executed. Why should we worry about the rest? What I'm worried about is Wang Ze defecting to Yuan Shao and inciting the sons of Taiyuan's prominent families to rebel. Therefore, after pacifying Huochuquan, the Minister of the Interior should relocate all of Taiyuan's prominent families and powerful individuals to Hedong!"

"I have the same idea."

Zhao Ji agreed, but still felt that he could not control the situation.

For example, he had previously considered policies such as exempting Taiyuan from five years of head tax to win over the hearts of the lower classes.

But after arriving in Taiyuan, they found that this policy was not very attractive. Most of the people had gone bankrupt and became retainers or tenants of wealthy families and powerful people. These hidden households did not need to perform labor service or pay any head tax.

If this policy were announced today, some people would immediately rebel.

The hidden households did not have much identification with the imperial court. They became hidden households because they could not survive as registered households of the imperial court.

If they are slightly instigated by the children of powerful people and their families are controlled, they can easily be incited to cause chaos.

While Zhang Yang was giving his persuasion, the county officials from the five counties had already begun arresting people under the surveillance of the Huben and Yulin soldiers.

With a small number of county soldiers, and with the assistance of the Tiger Infantry and Hanoi soldiers who had rushed to various towns and villages, they began to break into houses and arrest people... and asked them to go back to assist in the investigation.

Even if the county officials came from prominent families, powerful families, or were their disciples or former officials, they would not dare to stop at this moment. Officials were often able to convince themselves when carrying out the brutal orders of their superiors.

Especially when there are troops supervising them, these people work even harder.

Without a backbone, many children of wealthy families and powerful people did not even dare to resist, and actively cooperated under the persuasion or coercion of county officials.

After all... they were truly innocent and had no idea what was happening.

In order to successfully carry out the assassination, Wang Rou even concealed the truth about Chuquan and the county soldiers.

Fellow villagers are only reliable when they are united against external enemies... or to be more precise, when they are in a different place.

For example, Sun Zi's brother was killed. The only person who could have killed his brother was a powerful man in the same county who had a property conflict with him.

Sun Zi was able to organize his relatives and friends to take revenge, and the targets of revenge were fellow villagers in the same county... It was also highly likely that they had complicated in-law relationships with each other.

Even so, revenge had to be taken, but he was afraid of being retaliated by the other party's relatives and friends, so he could only flee to Hedong after the revenge was accomplished.

We are not very united internally, and the enemies are certainly not as united as we imagine.

It's a competition of who is quicker and braver.

What's more, the court's reputation is really effective.

Zhang Yang was in Henei for eight years, and at the beginning of the chaotic times, he was unable to kill the powerful. The reason was simple: Zhang Yang was not the legitimate governor of Henei.

By the time he became the official county governor, Hanoi had already been devastated and the powerful people were not able to eat enough, so there was no need to kill chickens for meat.

At this moment, Huochequan also led his troops to the other side. The two sides faced each other across the Fen River and the outlet of Daze, about ten miles apart.

There are mostly swamps and rotten lands between them, which are not suitable for forced crossing, but only suitable for small boats to travel back and forth.

When it was dark, Huochequan still had not received any useful information, so he sent an envoy to row a small boat to the east bank.

The messenger handed over a letter from Huchuquan, stating: "My Chanyu saw the smoke rising from the emperor's camp and was very concerned. If you need my Chanyu's help, please don't be shy. My Chanyu has great respect for me and is interested in making friends."

Zhao Ji looked through Huchuquan's handwriting. The handwriting was very beautiful, in standard cursive script.

The handwritten letter was written in a humble manner, simply expressing concern and the desire to make friends.

After reading it, he handed the letter to Zhang Yang and said to the messenger, "If the Chanyu wishes to be my friend, I will naturally not refuse. Please inform the Chanyu that the emperor will host a banquet tomorrow and will entertain the Chanyu. I hope the Chanyu will not be suspicious. If you have any concerns, you can attend the banquet in three or five days."

The envoy simply bowed and asked, "Excuse me, Lord Shizhong, will the court be stationed in Taiyuan permanently?"

"How can a remote place like Taiyuan govern the world?"

Zhao Ji asked in reply, trying to appease the other party: "Go back and tell your Chanyu that from now on, I will replace Wang Rou and be his neighbor for generations. If he is sincere in wanting to be my friend, he can come and pay his respects to the emperor tomorrow when the imperial envoy arrives to invite him."

The messenger asked again: "May I ask what happened here?"

He looked up at the bloodstains on Zhao Ji's body. Zhao Ji smiled and said, "Since you keep asking, I will tell you the truth. A traitorous minister just now tried to assassinate me, but I have killed him. I only have a little over ten thousand infantry and cavalry. If the Chanyu dares to start a rebellion, I will conquer him first!"

The messenger dared not speak and stood there with his head lowered.

Zhang Yang felt that Zhao Ji had gone too far and that he should continue to keep the secret from Huochequan.

He said to the messenger in front of him, "Words are not enough. I will write this letter here, and you shall take it to the Chanyu. I will not hide it from you. Minister Zhao will marry the daughter of Marquis Lü Wen. I hope the Chanyu will remember the friendship of Wuyuan and abide by the alliance. If the Xianbei invade in the future, Minister Zhao will be the only one we can rely on in Taiyuan and Hedong."

Upon hearing this, the envoy looked at Zhao Ji again and bowed deeply, saying, "If that is the case, I, your Excellency, will do my utmost to persuade the Chanyu."

"Well, tell him that a person's stomach is limited, but the land's products are unlimited; a person's patience is also limited, but anger is unlimited. I don't mean to threaten him, I just hope he will respect me. If we become friends, I will respect the Chanyu just as I respect the Right Wise King."

Zhao Ji turned to look at Zhang Zan and said, "Please also write a letter to the Chanyu to express my gratitude."

"Here."

Zhang Zan immediately began to write, and Zhang Yang also wrote a private letter himself.

The envoy sighed and said, "Zhao Shizhong is a man of extraordinary character, no less than Lü Wenhou. My Chanyu respects heroes and will handle the situation appropriately."

"Better so."

As Zhao Ji spoke, he took out his bow, picked up an arrow from the quiver, and shot it with full force towards the distance.

The arrow flew through the air and disappeared without a trace.

The messenger was puzzled, so Zhao Ji said, "Letters are not easy to come by. Please ask the messenger to retrieve this arrow. It will be my gift to the Chanyu."

"Yes."

The middle-aged envoy was not angry. After saluting, he took a few steps back, jumped on his horse, and led several riders to search in the direction of the arrow.

The further I walked, the more frightened I became.

(End of this chapter)