Tiger Guards

Chapter 208: Midsummer Locust Rise
What is Yuan Shao busy with at this moment?
Ever since he defeated Gongsun Zan with the help of the coalition of Han and Hu warlords in Youzhou, Yuan Shao had to consider how to stabilize the Hu people in the border counties.

Originally, Gongsun Zan could have been destroyed directly last year, but when the army composed of Ju Yi and Liu He confronted Gongsun Zan, Gongsun Zan relied on Yijing to set up military settlements in the Yishui River basin.

However, the armies of Qu Yi and Liu He were extremely large, and the subsequent supply of food and fodder was insufficient.

The Han and Hu warlords in Youzhou began to starve and led their troops to leave one after another.

When Ju Yi could no longer hold on and had to withdraw his troops, he was pursued by Gongsun Zan and his entire army was defeated. All the baggage and vehicles became Gongsun Zan's property.

Afterwards, Ju Yi, the defeated general, dared to pursue the blame for the untimely supply of food. He behaved very arrogantly and had no respect for the superiors. He also bypassed Yuan Shao, the lord of Jizhou, and had close contact with the court envoys.

Naturally, they could not tolerate him and immediately killed Ju Yi. Even Ju Yi's troops who fled westward were pursued and killed.

The imperial envoy was also killed among Ju Yi's remaining followers. His name was Liu He.

Ju Yi was killed, and Gongsun Zan's power rose again; at the same time, Yuan Shao no longer had Liu He in his hands, so it was difficult for him to call on the Han and Hu heroes in Youzhou again... Liu He had a dual identity, he was the son of Liu Yu and also an envoy of the court. This was the fundamental reason why he was able to quickly mobilize the Han and Hu heroes in Youzhou.

But after the defeat, Liu He still had close contacts with Ju Yi, which was really courting his own death.

In order to curb Gongsun Zan's resurgence, Yuan Shao had no choice but to appease the Han and Hu warlords in Youzhou and make many relatives in marriage.

For example, Tadun, the nephew of the former Wuhuan leader Qiuliju, temporarily took control of his tribe because his son Louban was still young after Qiuliju's death.

But Lou Ban would eventually grow up, and out of this worry, Tadun took the initiative to make friends with Yuan Shao and marry a daughter of the Yuan family.

Both Yuan Shao and Tadun hoped to gain external support to consolidate their internal position.

In order to prove his own worth, Tadun led the Wuhuan of three counties to defeat Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao then forged an imperial edict to appoint Tadun and other leaders as the Wuhuan Chanyu and gave them seals.

Through this appointment, Tadun had a status equal to Lou Ban.

Although the leaders of the Wuhuan tribes praised Tadun's bravery, they preferred to follow Lou Ban.

Even Yuan Shao would not fully support Tadun in replacing Louban and annexing the Wuhuan tribes.

Not only the Wuhuan, but other Xianbei leaders, Han tyrants and heroes were also within Yuan Shao's scope of winning over.

For example, Yan Rou was captured and taken to live between the Xianbei and Wuhuan when he was young. He was well versed in Han and Hu customs and was trusted by the Hu people.

Later, Yan Rou used the power of the Xianbei people to attack and kill the Protector of Wuhuan. Not long after, Gongsun Zan killed Liu Yu. In order to seek revenge, Liu Yu's former officials jointly recommended Yan Rou as the Sima of the Protector of Wuhuan, exercising the powers of the captain, so as to unify the power of the Wuhuan and Xianbei people to attack Gongsun Zan.

However, Yuan Shao was willing to recommend Yan Rou as the official commander of the Wuhuan Guard, but Yan Rou refused to agree.

In fact, Yuan Shao didn't want to kill Liu He, so he could only blame Liu He for his overreaction.

First, Cao Cao massacred people in Xuzhou and Xiangben counties, and all of Liu He's clan and fellow villagers were wiped out; this matter can still be blamed on Cao Cao, as it was not Yuan Shao's original intention. It was really because Cao Cao could not control the Qingzhou soldiers and had to rely on them.

The next thing that happened was the execution of Qu Yi, who was a very scary person.

Yuan Shao was able to enter Jizhou because Ju Yi took the lead in raising an army to expel Han Fu and force him to abdicate.

If you want to kill Ju Yi, you really can't follow the procedure; otherwise, if the news leaks out, Ju Yi will be able to turn Yecheng into ruins.

Therefore, the process of killing Ju Yi was a bit rough, and then troops were dispatched to surround Ju Yi's troops. If possible, Yuan Shao did not want to destroy this elite force.

However, Ju Yi's troops fought to the death and refused to surrender. Liu He also brought people to join in. After breaking the siege, they fled to Taihang Mountain... What else could they do? They could only dispatch troops to chase and intercept them. Liu He died quietly in the chaos.

When Zhao Qi came to Yecheng, he didn't find Liu He and forgot about him.

The Han and Hu tyrants in Youzhou wisely chose to forget about it, but the imperial court started discussing it again.

This made Yuan Shao feel that Yan Rou rejected him because of Liu He, and Yan Rou also had to protect his reputation.

The more one comes from a remote county or a humble family background, and the more flaws one has, the more important one's reputation is.

Just as Yuan Shao was reading Yan Rou's letter of resignation, the sky suddenly darkened.

He just thought there were dark clouds in the sky and was worried about heavy rain and floods as the wheat harvest was approaching.

Just as he stood up and hadn't walked past the screen, he saw Xu You's face change drastically outside: "Mingsong, there are locusts again!"

"Are there locusts?"

Yuan Shao spoke calmly, neither angry nor frightened. He walked out along the corridor to the ladder and quickly climbed to the roof.

In just a moment, some locusts with bright yellow bodies and bright red dots and spots landed on him, as if they wanted to eat the bright red Shu brocade on his body.

The locusts were very fat, as big as his little finger.

Yuan Shao raised his sleeve and swatted the locusts that had settled nearby. His refined demeanor was gone, and swishing his sleeve vigorously proved ineffective, so he gave up and simply covered his face with it. With Xu You's support, the two men descended the stairs.

The number of locusts falling in the corridor was increasing, and even more were gathering in the flower beds surrounded by the corridor.

Yuan Shao glanced at the flower garden, flicked his sleeves and patted his legs, then walked towards the nearby pavilion.

Xu You, Pang Ji, Xun Chen, Guo Tu and others followed quickly, while Tian Feng, Ju Su, Shen Pei and others were mostly in the outer hall to handle government affairs. Most of those who stayed with Yuan Shao were his followers from other states.

Since the court appointed Yuan Shao as the right general last year and forgave Yuan Shao for his conspiracy to support Liu Yu, two teams have been formed under Yuan Shao's command.

One was the Right General's Office, which was in charge of military affairs and civil affairs; the other was the Jizhou Muzhou Office, which was in charge of government affairs and civil affairs and assisted in military affairs.

Due to the special nature of the state, only scholars from Jizhou could be recruited to supplement the staff; and Jizhou scholars with sufficient merits and qualifications could be promoted to county magistrates and prefects, and could also be added to the right general's office.

This made the scholars from other states very uncomfortable. The people of Jizhou kept forcing the children of their relatives and friends to come in, but their own children and former officials and students were far away and difficult to place; even if they were placed, there was a lack of sufficient turnover pool.

You can't just appoint anyone as a county magistrate. It would be easier to arrange the position if he has served in the government before.

But the world has been in chaos for so many years, and fewer and fewer people have this experience.

Therefore, the appointment of officials also had to go through the basic process. For example, to enter the Right Shogun's shogunate, one had to start as a clerk. There were few such positions, and their children, students, and former officials were also few... This made it even more unfair.

There is no reason for the people of Jizhou to abandon big men like Ju Shou, Tian Feng, and Shen Pei to pay homage to these people from other states. After all, there are too many channels for people from Jizhou to enter the officialdom.

You can gain experience in counties and prefectures, accumulate merits and be promoted, you can also go to provincial government offices, or go to the right general's office. There are many people and the supply is endless.

If this continues for ten years, these out-of-state people will definitely be squeezed out.

When everyone below you is from Jizhou and your words are of no use, you lose the value and meaning of your existence.

This trend has already begun and cannot be avoided.

While these scholars from other states gathered around Yuan Shao and watched the locusts through the window, Ju Su, Tian Feng and others also came to the attic.

The sound of the locusts flapping their wings gave Yuan Shao a headache. He caught a glimpse of Xu You out of the corner of his eye and hesitated to speak: "Ziyuan?"

"Mingsir, there is military intelligence from Bingzhou."

Xu You stepped forward and handed over the military information from Shangdang.

Yuan Shao reached out to take it, untied the string, and flipped through the military intelligence that had passed through many hands.

This was reported to Wang Ze by the people of Taiyuan, who then reported it to Gao Gan, who then sent an envoy to deliver it.

The content was very simple. The traitorous minister Zhao Ji forged an imperial edict and recruited soldiers from various counties in Jinyang. Now there are 30,000 soldiers. He also wanted to unite with the Black Mountain Army and kidnap the emperor to personally lead an expedition against Bingzhou Governor Gao Gan.

This is not even a matter of Gao Gan, Yuan Shao, and Hebei.

If the emperor really leads the army in person, even if they win the battle, the reputation of the Gao family of Chenliu will suffer a severe blow.

Yuan Shao passed the general's message around, still watching the locusts outside the window. "Gentlemen, what do you think?"

After reading it, Ju Su handed it to Tian Feng and immediately said, "My lord, this year we have suffered from both drought and locusts. Hebei is short of grain, and so are Hedong and Taiyuan. We should order the troops in Shangdang to strictly defend the area. Once the locusts pass through, we can fortify our defenses and clear the fields."

Yuan Shao nodded slowly and said, "This boy is very fierce. I am worried that he will join forces with the Black Mountain bandits and invade Hebei to seek food."

As more and more troops gathered at Zhao Ji's place, they developed into bandits and swarmed over.

It also involves the imperial court and the emperor. If the emperor encounters an accident, the stain on the faces of the scholars in Hebei will be difficult to wash away.

After all, the emperor was young and had not yet taken power. He was an emperor without a bad record. Officials and people from all walks of life were full of hope for this young emperor who had experienced many hardships.

Tian Feng then suggested: "We can dispatch troops from Changshan and place a decoy at Jingxing to threaten Jinyang. We can also dispatch troops from Zhao and Julu at Fukou. We can wait and see what happens and then we can prepare for any eventuality."

Pang Ji Ce had a different opinion: "It's difficult to deploy troops during the scorching heat. I believe Zhao's actions are intended to establish his authority. Why don't you send eloquent men, equipped with gold and jade, to Jinyang, demonstrating weakness? When he becomes arrogant and leads a large army across the Taihang Mountains, we can intercept him with our elite troops and capture him in one fell swoop!"

"good."

Yuan Shao immediately agreed and looked at Tian Feng: "It is not easy to mobilize troops. It is best to rest and recuperate the troops this year."

"Here."

Tian Feng and his men bowed in agreement. It was not that they looked down on Zhao Ji, but the hot weather and the locusts were enough to keep the Taihang Mountain side busy for a while.

(End of this chapter)