Tiger Guards

Chapter 605 The Dispute over the Ancestral Temple
Pingyang, on both banks of the Fen River.

The various camps were arranged in an orderly manner, and relying on the Fen River canal and local reserves in Pingyang, the army could maintain low logistical costs when it assembled in Pingyang.

The original Pingyang Marquis's residence... When Jia Kui served as the prime minister of the Pingyang Marquisate, he never built a decent Pingyang Marquis's residence.

Now that Zhao Ji has been promoted to Duke of Hedong, there is no need for him to build a Pingyang Marquis's Mansion.

The people of Hedong naturally supported Zhao Ji's promotion to the title of Duke of Hedong.

The counties that originally belonged to the Pingyang Marquisate were originally separated from Hedong, and many of them had long been abandoned due to the Xiongnu invasion.

Under Zhao Ji's leadership, the people of Pingyang's various counties were finally able to return to their hometowns.

Therefore, the people of Hedong and Pingyang strongly supported Zhao Ji, to the point that the elders of each county came to the Pingyang camp together to ask Zhao Ji to build the Zhao clan ancestral temple and erect the altar of the land and grain.

Whether the ancestral temple and the altar of the land and grain should be built in Pingyang, or in Jishan or Wenxi, these are all matters that require careful consideration.

To put it bluntly, this directly determines the permanent tax-free treatment of a certain region in the future.

Therefore, while the people of Hedong and Pingyang were giving their full support, they also got into a dispute over the location of the ancestral temple and the altar of the land and grain. The dispute went on and on until they rolled up their sleeves and started fighting.

The harsher the beating, the more it demonstrates the determination and sincerity of the local people in requesting the establishment of the Zhao Clan Ancestral Temple and the Altar of the God of Earth and Grain.

As a result, cases of armed fights and killings occurred from time to time, disturbing Zhao Ji's ability to focus on military affairs.

Since the Empress moved to Jinyang, Zhao Ji has been living and eating in the military camp and has adapted to the regular military life.

That evening, Zhao Ji returned from his patrol of the camp. While waiting for dinner, he flipped through the military books and saw a report that three death row inmates had been added to the daredevil corps. He couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

He doesn't really care about the location of the ancestral temple and the altar of the land and grain; now is not the time to be distracted by that.

If he really had to choose a location, he preferred Jinyang.

This is also the reason why the people of Pingyang and Hedong fought each other so urgently.

They were unwilling to let such a great benefit fall into the hands of Pingyang or Hedong, and even more unwilling to let it fall into the hands of the people of Jinyang.

Being granted the title of Duke allows one to establish ancestral temples and altars to the land and grain, which is an extremely glorious and solemn event for the world.

Therefore, they would accept a major conflict, even if it meant establishing a new county in Jishan to build ancestral temples and altars for the land and grain, but they absolutely could not allow the people of Jinyang to gain an advantage.

Although armed fights and killings constitute homicide, the sentences for such homicides are relatively lenient and do not result in the death penalty.

Since Zhao Ji's 6,000 daredevils made outstanding contributions in the campaign against the Hu, how to replenish and maintain the ranks and combat effectiveness of the daredevils became a daily issue for the Grand Marshal's office.

Therefore, when the cases from various counties were submitted to the shogunate for judgment, they would intentionally select able-bodied criminals, either sparing them from the death penalty and sending them to the army, or appropriately changing their sentences to several years of military service, in order to continuously replenish the vacancies for the daredevil soldiers.

Currently, there are too many brave and strong barbarian soldiers within the 6,000-strong daredevil force.

Even if these people were to serve as suicide soldiers, they would have taken a half-step into the promotion system of the various armies under the Grand Marshal's administration, which naturally aroused the vigilance of some people.

To reduce such potential risks, we need to find ways to fill the ranks of the daredevils with criminals from Han China, thus diluting the proportion of brave and strong men from the various non-Han ethnic groups.

At this moment, Zhao Ji looked at the relevant files and felt even more troubled.

He then turned to look at Wen Hui, the clerk of the Grand Tutor's office who was accompanying him: "What should we do about the various regions vying for my ancestral temple?"

To ensure political stability, Zhao Ji did not change the Grand Marshal's Office to the Grand Tutor's Office, but instead recruited Wen Hui as a clerk in the Grand Tutor's Office, making him the only clerk in the Grand Tutor's Office at present.

Wen Hui sat at the lower end of the table, waiting for the meal to be served. After thinking for a moment, he said, "What the elders and commoners of the various counties are fighting for is fame and profit. Although Jinyang is the seat of the prefecture, it is a small city. It has only become prosperous today because of the expansion by the Grand Tutor and his descendants. Now, the officials, men and women of Jinyang are all from families that have made contributions to the Grand Tutor and the Grand Preceptor. How can we ignore them?"

Zhao Ji nodded upon hearing this. As the only official in the Grand Tutor's mansion, Wen Hui naturally had his own unique uses.

In the years since Wen Hui's mourning period ended, he has been recruited as the chief clerk of the governor of Bingzhou. He also studies at Longcheng University in Jinyang from time to time, and is highly regarded by young scholars. He has the potential to become a famous scholar in Bingzhou.

To prevent him from becoming a rising star who could influence the entire prefecture, Zhao Yan preemptively recruited Wen Hui, an accountant in Taiyuan, and recommended him as a candidate for the Taiyuan Provincial Examination for the year. When Zhao Ji was gathering a large army in Pingyang, accountants from various prefectures rushed to Pingyang, and Zhao Ji again recruited Wen Hui as a clerk in the Grand Tutor's office.

Although he was called a clerk, he actually did half the work of a chief clerk, assisting Zhuge Jin, the chief clerk of the headquarters, in handling official documents.

As they were talking, Gao Yanglong brought in dinner. After his personal guards served the food and left, Gao Yanglong sat cross-legged on the other side of Zhao Ji, picked up his plate, and said as he grabbed his chopsticks, "My lord, I heard that Chang Mao has entered the camp?"

"Hmm, he's in Xintianying on the south bank. Why do you want to go see him?"

As Zhao Ji spoke, he picked up a piece of cucumber salad and put it in his mouth. He then looked at Wen Hui and said, "Tomorrow, you will take my command token and go to warn the three elders of Xiaoyu and other counties. Tell them that Jinyang is the ancestral home of our Zhao clan, and the ancestral temple and altar of the state should be located here. If we leave it unattended, the fighting between the people will only result in unnecessary deaths and injuries. Furthermore, when the armies from Taiyuan march south, they will also join in the struggle."

As Wen Hui said, there are actually very few native Jinyang residents in the current household registration system; the vast majority are families of meritorious officials who followed Zhao Yan and Zhao Ji.

If word gets out of the underhanded tactics of the people from Hedong and Pingyang, and when the wounded and retired veterans from Jinyang march south in groups, they might just slaughter the three elders of all the counties without a second thought.

To dare to compete with the meritorious officials of Jinyang for the location of ancestral temples and altars is simply asking for trouble.

"Here."

Wen Hui accepted the task with a cupped hand, not finding it particularly difficult.

Although the counties of Pingyang were Zhao Ji's fiefdoms and some Han and Hu families who had made meritorious contributions had been relocated there, their influence in the army was nowhere near that of the people of Jinyang.

As for the people of Hedong, they currently refer specifically to the people of various counties south of Fen River and Jishan Mountain. In fact, their influence in the army is limited. Those who are truly influential in Hedong have all migrated to Pingyang or Jinyang, or are distributed in various military towns, manors, and pastoral areas.

In the traditional sense, the influence of the Hedong people in the army was not as great as that of the Sinicized Xiongnu officials and soldiers who were granted surnames for meritorious service.

Seeing that Wen Hui agreed, Zhao Ji then went to see Gao Yanglong: "If you want to talk to Chang Mao, you are allowed to go and drink with him after dinner, but you must not be drunk."

"only."

Gao Yanglong was from Hedong and was legally a subject of Zhao Ji, the Duke of Hedong. When performing the ceremony, he would say "Yes".

He had a happy look on his face. When the Tiger Warriors were formed, there were only two people in the whole army who were the tallest and strongest. One was him and the other was Chang Mao. Both of them were over nine feet tall and stood out from the crowd.

Over the years, the two have become friends.

Zhao Ji also missed Chang Mao, but he couldn't summon Chang Mao just because he missed him.

Although key figures like Chang Mao missed the campaign against the Hu people and thus missed out on many meritorious deeds, they were still very much involved.

But as long as Chang Mao stays in a certain army, that army is reliable.

His own personal guard needs to be expanded, and Chang Mao is a good candidate to be Gao Yanglong's deputy.

The army needs to make adjustments step by step, and what Zhao Ji has in abundance right now is patience.

It's not him who's eager to start a war right now; it's Xu Du's side.

Whoever initiates the war will certainly have an advantage on the local battlefield, but the early mobilization and deployment of the army will also deplete its reserves and morale in advance.

Moreover, there is still a potential threat on the other side that has not been eliminated: Yuan Shu, who established the Zhong clan.

Before engaging in war with himself, Liu Bei would certainly first unite with the other Lius to eliminate Yuan Shu, thereby honing his army and boosting morale.

The Imperial Seal in Yuan Shu's possession was also a very important symbol for Xuchang, and could effectively boost the morale of the army.

Even if the future development resembles the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Zhao Ji would accept it.

By holding onto their current base and waiting for the Southern Dynasty to launch wave after wave of northern expeditions, they can inflict low-cost and periodic damage on the Southern Dynasty's coffers.

Only by maintaining a state of war can the hegemonic rule be effectively implemented, and internal problems be eradicated step by step.

(End of this chapter)