Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 228 The Pacification of Qingzhou?

Like Liu Bei, Tao Qian also supported a proxy in Qingzhou.

This man was named Zhang Kai, originally from Dongguan in Langya (Note: at that time Dongguan was a county, belonging to Langya Commandery. After Jian'an, Dongguan and Chengyang were upgraded to commanderies), but he became a thief in the Qi State of Qingzhou.

This is not surprising. A philanthropist who builds bridges and roads in his own county becomes a murderous and arsonist gangster in a neighboring prefecture. This has been the case throughout history and across the world.

Tao Qian led his army to a great victory over the Yellow Turbans in Linzi, and Zhang Kai surrendered with his troops. Zhang Kai then became Tao Qian's henchman.

Tao Qian drove Zhang Kai westward, capturing Le'an and Jinan in succession, and marched onward according to the list given by Liu Bei.

Zhang Fei and Zhuge Xuan followed Tao Qian all the way, providing him with support.

Liu Bei gave Tao Qian a whitelist, meaning that anyone not on the list could be dealt with.

Qingzhou is a place where famous scholars are as numerous as hairs on a cow. When Liu Bei issued the order to control floods in Pingyuan, quite a few people responded.

For example, renowned scholars from Gaotang such as Hua Xin and Ren Zhao from Bochang brought their families to the banks of the Yellow River and each took charge of a section of the embankment.

Hua Xin had also advised Tao Qiuhong not to participate in Wang Fen's rebellion, but Tao Qiuhong felt that his reputation had already been ruined by Liu Bei, so he decided to give up and did not heed Hua Xin's advice.

However, despite their cooperation, none of these renowned scholars intended to submit to Liu Bei.

In addition, Zheng Xuan, a great Confucian scholar from Beihai, also replied, expressing his willingness to cooperate in the matter of pacifying the people and controlling the floods. However, due to impassable roads, he could not bring his disciples with him and only sent his disciple Sun Qian to Pingyuan.

The renowned scholar Guan Ning also replied, stating that his family was too poor to provide financial assistance and that the roads were too blocked to travel there. However, he recommended his friend Guo Yuan from Gaixian County, Le'an, to go to Pingyuan.

In fact, the meaning is the same: neither Zheng Xuan nor Guan Ning intended to work for Liu Bei; they were merely showing a cooperative attitude.

Having the right attitude is enough. Liu Bei didn't expect the Confucian scholars to think highly of him, especially since he was Lu Zhi's abandoned disciple and a junior to Zheng Xuan and others.

Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan were fellow disciples, both having studied under Chen Qiu and Ma Rong, and Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi had a very good relationship.

Hua Xin, Guan Ning, and Ren Zhao were all fellow students of Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan—they were all disciples of Chen Qiu, and although they were only a few years older than Liu Bei, their seniority was evident.

Liu Bei was of a lower generation, so it was indeed difficult for him to command these seniors.

Moreover, these great Confucian scholars were not easy to do things for others. The three high-ranking officials of the court, as well as He Jin and He Miao, had all tried to recruit them, but without exception, they all refused.

A few years earlier, when Zheng Xuan was recruited by He Jin, the local officials coerced him into going to court. Zheng Xuan had no choice but to go to the capital to see He Jin. To show respect for talented individuals, He Jin treated Zheng Xuan with great courtesy and elaborate ceremony. However, Zheng Xuan refused to wear court robes, meeting He Jin in plain clothes only. Moreover, he fled the next day, before He Jin had even bestowed upon him an official position.

These scholars were not actually powerful figures. The reason for sending them messages was that they could influence powerful figures. The reason why scholars were famous was because there were people behind them who packaged and managed them, and they cooperated in publicity. No one's reputation is obtained out of thin air.

Chen Deng, a scion of a wealthy family, could influence the local powerful clans of Xiapi to choose to cooperate with him.

These renowned figures in Qingzhou could influence the choices of many powerful families in Qingzhou through their influence and reputation.

As long as the scholars show a certain degree of cooperation, that will be enough for Liu Bei; he doesn't need them to actually serve him.

Only Guo Yuan and Sun Qian, the two younger generation members, were truly willing to obey the orders of the Qingzhou Governor's Office. They were appointed as Attendants by Jia Xu and Jian Yong, respectively.

Guo Yuan assisted Jia Xu in managing the waterways, while Sun Qian served as an envoy responsible for communication between various regions.

The attitudes of these scholars did indeed have an effect; after Sun Qian became an Attendant, the number of Yellow Turban rebels in western Qingzhou decreased by more than half.

At the same time, Tao Qian's methods of manipulating Zhang Kai were quite ruthless and decisive, and the gentry of Qingzhou were truly afraid.

In Qi, Le'an, Jinan and other places, all powerful clans that were not on the whitelist and were unwilling to cooperate in providing grain and land to resettle the starving people were attacked and their fortified villages were breached, and the entire clan was killed.

Zhang Kai's troops were essentially bandits, accustomed to robbery and murder. Driven by a desire for advancement, Zhang Kai acted without hesitation, completely unafraid of offending anyone. Tao Qian and Cao Bao, whose forces were mostly Danyang soldiers, also relied on plunder for sustenance. Since they were the ones offending the powerful clans of Qingzhou, and it was Zhang Kai and Cao Bao who were the ones carrying out the attacks, Tao Qian didn't care.

While killing to seize military supplies, they also replenished their forces from surrendered local armed forces, disregarding losses to sustain their war effort, and fought far more fiercely than real bandits.

The powerful clans in western Qingzhou were largely purged.

Because of his ruthlessness and the large number of powerful clans he killed, renowned scholars such as Zheng Xuan, Hua Xin, and Guan Ning wrote to Pingyuan, expressing that the bandit Zhang Kai was too cruel and requesting the governor of Qingzhou to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Liu Bei was not in Qingzhou. Jia Xu and Jian Yong replied that the river was not repaired, the ferry crossing was blocked, and the roads were obstructed. In addition, there were a large number of Yellow Turban rebels blocking the way. The Qingzhou governor's office could not send troops for the time being and could only ask the various counties of Qingzhou to deal with the rebels on their own.

—This is the significance of working together with Tao Qian to quell the rebellion. If it were Liu Bei himself, he would have been unable to clean up Qingzhou if he had been entangled with the elders and famous figures of Qingzhou.

Tao Qian killed powerful clans to raise money for his army, while Zhuge Xuan obtained grain to pacify the people; progress was quite smooth.

Although the Danyang soldiers are notoriously greedy for money, their fighting capacity is guaranteed as long as they are paid enough.

With Zhuge Xuan's advice, Zhang Fei did not step forward to compete for military affairs, and most of the time he focused on more important matters such as pacifying the people and helping them settle down.

Zhang Fei only directly participated in the battle when he attacked Dongpingling.

He was entrusted by Cao Cao to rescue Xiahou Yuan.

The rescue of Xiahou Yuan went smoothly, but this direct involvement in the battle led to a minor incident—although Zhang Fei did not fly a flag, he had led his cavalry to charge against Tao Qiuhong's rebel army, leaving a deep impression on those rebels.

After the rebels were scattered and killed in Xingyang, a few returned to Jinan.

Upon seeing Zhang Fei, the remnants of the former rebel army quickly fled Dongpingling, scattering and disappearing without a trace.

The rebel army that Tao Qiuhong led were all from powerful families in Qingzhou, including Zheng Xuan's disciples and officials and retainers from various counties in Qingzhou.

After capturing Dongpingling, the Yellow Turbans in all counties and prefectures of Qingzhou fell silent, and there seemed to be no more large-scale Yellow Turban activities in Beihai and Donglai.

With the wealth, grain, and land of the powerful clans in western Qingzhou, there was indeed enough to resettle the starving people, and repairing the river was a good way to provide relief through work.

With the cooperation of Guo Yuan and Zhuge Xuan, Jia Xu managed to gather over 100,000 starving people within a few months to repair the river channels, dredge the silt, and even use the river silt to fertilize many fields along the banks.

In the southern part of the plain, the northern part of Jinan and Le'an, and the land between the Yellow River and the Ji River, more than 200,000 people were resettled within half a year. The three counties of Gaotang, Zhuxian, and Dongchaoyang, which had been abandoned, all became large counties with 20,000 households each.

By the end of October, Qingzhou appeared to have been pacified.

Tao Qian did indeed finish his work, and he did it very well.

Tao Qian returned his army to Xuzhou and ordered Zhang Kai's troops to be stationed in his hometown of Dongguan to keep an eye on the situation in Qingzhou, so as to avoid retaliation from the powerful clans of Qingzhou.

The cooperation between Liu Bei and Tao Qian can be considered a mutually beneficial one.

Tao Qian and Liu Bei jointly submitted a memorial to the court, stating that most of the Yellow Turban rebels in Qingzhou and Xuzhou had been quelled, but there were still bandits resisting in places such as Beihai in Qingzhou, Guangling in Xuzhou, and Taishan in Yanzhou.

A performance review should be conducted in this way: it should showcase both achievements and challenges.

The court needed to know both the success of suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the fact that large groups of rebels still existed and that great difficulties remained. This showed that the court had chosen the right people and could not replace them immediately, lest someone else steal the credit.

Meanwhile, two other people were also submitting memorials to the court, accusing Tao Qian of persecuting the gentry and accusing Liu Bei of letting his troops commit atrocities.

The real trouble has only just begun.

(End of this chapter)