Tiger Guards

Chapter 477 Dragon City Patch
Last year, when the entire army withdrew from the Central Plains, Zhao Ji held a celebratory banquet but did not drink alcohol. This year, there was also no alcohol at the banquet in Jiangyi.

Even mare's milk wine and fruit wine were not served. If anyone wanted to drink them, there would be plenty of opportunities to do so privately after the banquet.

The banquets without alcohol, and the increasingly obvious disparity in social status.

This resulted in the banquet focusing primarily on eating and drinking. Jia Kui himself was not skilled at organizing banquets, so he simply arranged a few common forms of entertainment, such as military drumming and wrestling.

After Zhao Ji finished his meal, he left with Jia Kui and Pei Xiu. As they left, it was getting dark, and the campfire that had been prepared was lit. The hidden mare's milk wine was also moved into the camp.

Wei Ji stayed in the camp to participate in the final banquet, holding a cup of mare's milk wine and drinking alone in a corner.

He would only go to the campfire to refill his wine when he had finished drinking.

Most of the time he was alone. Although the powerful and influential people of Hedong escaped a calamity, most of the outstanding members of the noble families and clans of the same generation and background as Wei Ji were either eliminated by the court or by Zhao Ji after the military remonstrance. The survivors also followed the court.

Therefore, Wei Kai found it difficult to mingle with other fellow villagers from Hedong, yet he also couldn't afford to be too isolated.

He survived entirely because Wei Gu showed him kindness and righteousness within the Tiger Warriors, and Zhao Ji decisively launched a military remonstrance.

Otherwise, the court officials who were jealous of the Wei family would have killed them long ago.

Upon arriving at the county government office in the city, Zhao Ji and his two companions found hot soup already prepared. Zhao Ji took his first hot bath since returning from the retreat.

Pei Xiu and Jia Kui also took a simple bath, and twelve oil lamps shone brightly in the spacious living room.

These oil lamps stand on both sides, some high and some low, covered with thin paper, making the room bright and full, like a daytime day with clouds obscuring the sun.

Zhao Ji, wearing clogs and a long-sleeved bathrobe with a front opening over his boxer shorts and tied at the waist, entered through the side door.

Pei Xiu and Jia Kui also took a simple bath, washing away the oil and sweat, and felt refreshed.

Jia Kui and his companion stood up and bowed, saying, "Grand Marshal."

"Today is for business, so let's not have too many formalities."

Zhao Ji strode in, picked up a table and placed it near the head of the table, then put the two tables together.

Seeing this, Jia Kui and Pei Xiu also moved his table to the vicinity of the main seat. On the table they carried were two trays containing more than twenty scrolls of bamboo slips.

These bamboo slips look like a lot, but in reality, they only contain a little over ten thousand characters.

In addition, there were some silk scrolls and a stack of books, which contained the most detailed information.

One volume contains detailed information on more than a dozen counties, down to the population and economy of each township, and detailed records of each county's post stations, fortifications, military stations, passes, field camps, military settlements, horse farms, and mines.

Even in some counties or towns where arrow making was skilled, or where government-run paper mills or forging workshops were built, these would be recorded.

Jia Kui not only sent data on the eight counties of Pingyang Marquisate, but also information from other surrounding prefectures. This can be considered an internal strategic move.

The Pingyang Marquisate governed eight counties, making it a medium-sized kingdom and border prefecture.

Jia Kui was nominally the prime minister of a marquisate with an official rank of 1,000 shi (a unit of grain), but he was no different from a prefect.

Besides the Marquis of Pingyang, this also includes detailed information on eight other prefectures: Hedong, Taiyuan, Shangdang, Xihe, Hongnong, Jingzhao, Fengyi, and Fufeng.

Although Shangdang was still under the jurisdiction of Xue Hong, a former official of Zhang Yang, it was practically empty. Several western crossroads leading to Hedong and Taiyuan had long been under military control. Information about Shangdang was the simplest, and Xue Hong, being astute, had a copy of the registers here with Jia Kui.

Although it was a copy of the book records sent by Xue Hong, its accuracy is hard to say.

However, the powerful clans and wealthy families in Shangdang had already been dealt with by Zhao Jili once; the resistance encountered when the counties of Shangdang redraw their records was also small, and even if there were errors in the information, the deviations would not be too great.

The same applies to other prefectures; even in areas where details are vague or unclear, they still involve the military settlements and troops of the generals in Guanzhong.

The nature of the land occupied by military settlements is difficult to classify, and the nature of the population of the retainers is also difficult to define, so the statistics of each county are often handled vaguely.

This was not something they could handle on their own; Zhao Ji needed to conduct a thorough reorganization of the generals in Guanzhong through rewards for military merit.

These matters could have been resolved in May or June, allowing for the relocation and resettlement of the generals and troops in Guanzhong at a lower cost.

But Yuan Shu created a system of titles and institutions for rebellion, leaving the emperor, high-ranking officials, and Lü Bu all without any support... Now that I think about it, I was indeed too proactive.

They haven't received the rewards they deserve for their united front value, but if they don't take the initiative, they're afraid the court will suddenly collapse.

If he had just sat back and watched the situation change, and dragged it out until it was a matter of life and death, he could have at least managed to bring back the Marquis of Jin. Unlike now, where he only managed to save over two hundred thousand people and unexpectedly took Cao Cao's head. Zhao Ji patiently flipped through the more detailed records of various prefectures. The paper in these records was tough and was clearly made of high-quality mulberry bark paper. However, the decolorization technology was outdated and did not meet the standards of the time, so it was yellow.

Under the light of an oil lamp, the yellow hue of these books appeared even more vibrant.

Zhao Ji did not look at the bamboo slips summarized and refined by Jia Kui. Instead, he focused on studying the original texts from various prefectures. He said something else: "Now it's difficult. Our army and the Guanzhong troops have not been integrated and assimilated, yet we are eager to serve the king and punish the rebels. Although the Guanzhong soldiers have not made great contributions, they still have a bond of camaraderie. However, we cannot deal with them arbitrarily."

Jia Kui replied, "Since the Grand Marshal intends to conquer the northern and Lushui tribes and restore the three commanderies, if we use the troops from Guanzhong as the vanguard and enable them to achieve merit, we can also quell the disputes and appease the differences."

In principle, the Tiger Infantry from Hedong and Taiyuan should not suffer too many losses. In Zhao Ji's view, this loss limit was 30% of the able-bodied men who could be mobilized.

In the eyes of Jia Kui, Jia Xu, Pei Xiu, Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and others, Zhao Ji was too conservative. He believed that the loss of half of the young and able-bodied population was something that could be sacrificed, including their own relatives and friends.

To build a great enterprise, how can we be afraid of sacrifice?
Based on their understanding of the internal situation, they felt that the able-bodied men and women in Taiyuan and Hedong could withstand half of the losses.

With this loss of half, we will lose the ability to expand outwards, but defending our territory will still be no problem.

It's not that they are ruthless, but rather that about 85% of the able-bodied men are servants, retainers, and Xiongnu slaves who were released and rescued by Zhao Ji.

The vast majority of people who regained their freedom, even if they became government tenants, were able to arrange marriages and assign wives... What was there to worry about then?
During this expedition to Guandong, Zhao Ji mobilized the Tiger Step Army and the Righteous Cavalry in shifts and batches. The problem was that the continuously mobilized military force could not keep up with the rate of increase in prisoners, which put great pressure on the entire army and created a hidden danger of collapse at the slightest touch.

The army that collapsed could not have been the Tiger Step Army or the Righteous Cavalry, but rather the five battalions of the Grand Marshal that were incorporated last year, the various armies of Guanzhong that were incorporated this year, as well as the four armies of Han Dang, Lüqiu Jian, Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, and Qingzhou.

If two or three of these people deliberately cause trouble, the battle line will go from wavering to chaos and collapse.

Leading such a rabble and controlling over 200,000 people, Zhao Ji's ability to escape unscathed was beyond Jia Kui's imagination.

This will definitely come at a price, the price being that Zhao Ji gave up too many opportunities to defeat the enemy.

Any opportunity to defeat the enemy is a test of a motley crew's mettle. Zhao Ji deliberately gave up this opportunity, thus avoiding most of the risks.

For example, Ji Ling, who was left with only half of his camp, was essentially stripped naked, but Zhao Ji kicked him into the woodshed.

Many people saw it that way, but only Zhao Ji knew that although Ji Ling was naked at that time, she looked like she had crawled out of a latrine and was really untouchable. The risk and cost of this adventure were too high.

The Guanzhong army had not undergone rigorous training; instead, Gan Ning, Zhang Liao, and the four Qingzhou troops proved themselves and took the lead among the Guanzhong soldiers.

Now that the entire army has withdrawn and a new round of war is being reorganized, it is impossible for a large number of unfamiliar attached and subordinate armed forces to suddenly appear at the moment of this battle.

From the very beginning, the participating forces were controllable, allowing for targeted attacks on certain armies, either crushing and reorganizing them or having them prove worthy of their military stipends.

While Zhao Ji and Jia Kui were discussing, Pei Xiu seized the opportunity to speak up and express his concerns: "The Tiger Step Army has not yet achieved enough merit. If the outer troops were to achieve more merit, and the military officers were to be transferred to county and prefectural positions, I am worried that it would be difficult to maintain control in the future. This is something we must be concerned about."

"That's not difficult; I already have a plan."

Zhao Ji smiled and said, "From now on, military officers who are transferred to civil service positions will have to go to Longcheng University to study case studies and laws related to civil affairs. Those who are not familiar with official documents will also have to study them again. The officials I send to the prefectures and counties must be able to do their jobs and cannot occupy positions for nothing."

This is also a balancing patch for the forces of Gan Ning and Zhang Liao. Otherwise, most of the officers and soldiers under these two commanders would have accumulated enough merit to be transferred to local official positions with a salary of 600 or 1000 shi (a unit of grain measurement), which would be too exaggerated.

Pei Xiu raised her eyebrows to look at Zhao Ji's face, and as their eyes met, she seemed to realize something: "Dragon City University... what will happen if we fail the assessment?"

"The fact that they were able to gain admission to Longcheng University through merit shows that they are not inherently unruly. If they fail to pass the assessments for a long time, then their attitude towards learning is not proper. If they are so perfunctory in their studies, how can I feel at ease letting them participate in civil affairs?"

Zhao Ji spoke with confidence, and even smiled modestly as he spoke.

In his preconceived notion, if one's attitude towards school and exams is perfunctory and improper, then becoming an official would be worse than being a pig or a dog.

The transfer of military officers to local positions had the greatest impact on the prefecture and county levels. Originally, the system was based on recruitment, with county officials coming from their own county and prefecture officials from their own prefecture. Only the prefecture and county chiefs were outsiders, making them easy targets for manipulation.

Everything is new now, and many problems are actually between us and the enemy, which makes them much easier to solve.

Seeing that Zhao Ji had already taken precautions for the transferred military officers, Pei Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

Even if the Tiger Step Army is of poor quality, its officers are still Tiger Warriors. The re-education of Tiger Warriors in the army has always been strictly enforced, so there is no possibility that they will be blocked by Dragon City University after accumulating enough merit.

Tiger Warrior not only had to suppress these collateral military officers in the army, but also after being transferred to local posts, he had to suppress them as well.

If he could, Zhao Ji would love to have everyone as his loyal followers... But look at the various atomic nuclei and electrons, they are all arranged in orderly layers inside and out... There are only so many core positions, and high-quality resources are always limited.

To maintain overall stability, we must occasionally wield a big stick and kill off a group of people; only then can we maintain vitality and activity.

(End of this chapter)