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

Chapter 341 Both Banks of the Yellow River
In places where large groups of organized crime demand taxes, there are also places where taxes are paid quickly and no further demands are made.

Just as there are places like Chen and Jingzhou that don't follow the rules, there are also places that do.

There were still some prefects who were willing to respect the imperial court.

After all, Liu Bei was only pursuing regular taxes. The grain tax was one-thirtieth, and it didn't require paying grain; it could be converted into money or goods.

In fact, this standard is easily met by every county in terms of tax payment.

There was no need to transport grain, and no additional taxes were levied. The only taxes paid were in cash, silk, iron, cattle, horses, or similar items.

The tax rate was one-thirtieth. Taking a prefecture with about 100,000 households as an example, the regular tax would only be the equivalent of 150,000 shi of goods, and it was not calculated based on commodity prices, but according to the regulations of the imperial court.

(Note: The imperial court's tax revenue indicators were referred to as "shi" (石). This "shi" is special; it is neither a volume nor a weight, but rather refers to "the assessed value of one shi of rice," and it was the imperial court's assessed price, not the actual price of the goods.)
150,000 shi (a unit of dry measure), according to the court's conversion standard, is equivalent to about 1,500 bolts of silk, or 200 oxen, or 100 horses, which is really not much.

—Just hand over whatever you have. Liu Bei didn't ask for grain, and besides, you need oxen or horses to pull carts to transport it anyway.

Just like in Nanyang, Yang Xu prepared the supplies in just a few days after receiving the tax payment requirement. Moreover, the tax in Nanyang was much higher than in other prefectures. Although Nanyang had lost at least one-third of its population due to war in recent years, it still had more than 300,000 households, equivalent to a poor prefecture.

In counties where taxes are paid voluntarily, there are naturally no gangsters chasing after them.

Because the tax inspector would immediately order the gangsters to change their targets.

This was the case in Weijun of Jizhou, Nanjun of Jingzhou, and Lujiang of Yangzhou.

Li Pan, the prefect of Wei Commandery, Han Chun, the prefect of Nan Commandery, and Lu Kang, the prefect of Lujiang Commandery, all paid their overdue taxes in early September and also paid this year's taxes at the same time.

In fact, these counties were originally the places with the most local tyrants, bandits, and criminal gangs...

Meanwhile, there was another place full of thieves—Heishan Zhang Yan also paid his taxes on time and sent many people out of the mountains to collect taxes.

Xu Huang, who was stationed in Wei Commandery, had already led his troops into Ye City and, in cooperation with Li Pan, began to crack down on the clan bandits in Guangping, Yangping (both of which were currently under the jurisdiction of Wei Commandery).

With Zhang Yan in the west, Guan Yu in the east, and Xu Huang in the middle, all the powerful clans of Wei Commandery wisely showed their submission.

Ju Shou, a prominent figure from Guangping, Guo Tu, whose majority of businesses were located in Wei Commandery, and Shen Pei, a representative of powerful clans in Wei Commandery, once again chose to cooperate with Liu Bei, quickly stabilizing Wei Commandery.

At the end of September, Xu Huang sent a military report back to Liu Bei, stating that Wei Commandery had been stabilized, and suggested that Ju Shou and others go to Linzi to participate in the policy examination or to accept the bidding order.

However... none of the famous scholars from Wei County went. They did not agree with the examination system for selecting officials, nor did they intend to be ranked alongside the underworld.

There's no way to force it; everyone has different ideologies.

However, Wei Commandery remained relatively rational, and all parties exercised restraint and followed the rules.

Most of the powerful clans in Wei Commandery did not engage in excessive cruelty or harm to the people.

This was actually an effect of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Black Mountain Army; when powerful clans faced external threats, the common people and the poor were valued.

If the cruelty is excessive, the common people will not be able to survive and will either go to the Black Mountain or seek refuge with Guan Yu.

This is similar to a situation where many companies are fiercely competing – the fiercer the competition, the more rights workers and consumers will receive.

Once an industry becomes a monopoly or a single dominant player, both workers and consumers will be exploited.

Light and darkness coexist. For the Han Dynasty at present, the existence of dark forces is not something that disrupts people's lives; on the contrary, it can bring relative stability.

Government, local clan power, and external threats—these are essentially the triangular relationships that create a license for privateering.

Wei Commandery was the first to achieve this balance because of the presence of Heishan, Guan Yu, and Xu Huang.

In other counties, the tax inspectors would need to guide the underworld to act as external threats.

—After paying their taxes in some counties, the underworld began to band together under the guidance of the tax inspectors.

Meanwhile, Cao Cao and Tao Qian were also seeking reinforcements.

As a result, the Jianghuai underworld gathered in Qiao County to assist Cao Cao in dealing with Liu Chong, the Prince of Chen.

The criminal gangs in Xuzhou then joined forces with Tao Qian and went to Danyang.

Xu Huang and the Black Mountain Army continued northward, joining forces with Guan Yu, Zhang He, and Qian Zhao and Xianyu Fu of Youzhou to threaten the entire Hebei region.

The situation in Hebei is currently very favorable, and it seems highly likely that it will be quickly brought under Liu Bei's control.

……

Dongjun.

Upon learning of Liu Dai's uprising, the newly appointed Commandant of Dongjun, Zhang Liao, immediately rushed to Baima. This was precisely because Liu Bei had arranged for his troops to be dispatched to their respective commanderies in advance; he knew that a rebellion could occur at any time and needed to be suppressed promptly.

Upon arriving at Baima County, Zhang Liao led his armored soldiers in a charge, defeating Qiao Mao's militia force in a single assault and pursuing Qiao Mao all the way to Yan County.

Qiao Mao had more than two thousand men, but they couldn't even hold their ground against Zhang Liao.

Liu Dai met Qiao Mao in Yan County. Seeing that Zhang Liao had only eight hundred soldiers, he tried to join forces with Qiao Mao to fight and destroy Zhang Liao.

"My lord, you mustn't... Zhang Liao is a fierce warrior; you cannot confront him head-on..."

Qiao Mao had just been beaten up and knew how powerful Zhang Liao was, so he planned to stop Liu Dai.

But Liu Dai felt that Qiao Mao seemed to be looking down on him: "We have more than 5,000 troops combined, are we afraid of a mere 800? Qiao Yuanwei, are you underestimating me?"

"Mao had no such intention, but war is not determined by the number of troops..."

Qiao Mao shook his head, it was indeed difficult to say, because he himself had just suffered a defeat, and the arguments of a defeated general were not very convincing.

"The ten principles of military strategy are to surround the enemy and the five principles are to attack them. Now we outnumber the enemy several times over... Yuanwei, don't make excuses, fight alongside me and annihilate the enemy!"

Liu Dai planned to force Qiao Mao to join the attack.

"...a certain unit is exhausted and demoralized, and is probably unwilling to attack at this moment..."

Qiao Mao felt this was inappropriate and decided to remain in place.

But Liu Dai was rather stubborn. Seeing that Qiao Mao wouldn't even send troops, he felt that Qiao Mao was unreliable: "If we don't come out now, and are trapped by a mere eight hundred men, what can we do when Liu Bei's reinforcements arrive?! Are you really not going out?!"

"We really shouldn't go out now. Our troops are exhausted, morale is low, and if we go out, we'll only cause chaos!"

Qiao Mao shook his head and explained.

In fact, Qiao Mao was right. His troops had just been chased for dozens of miles by Zhang Liao, and now they were indeed lacking in both courage and strength. Sending troops out would only cause them to lose their composure.

But Liu Dai narrowed his eyes: "If you can't do your best, then what use are you to me?"

Having said that, he plunged his sword into the chest of the unsuspecting Qiao Mao.

After killing Qiao Mao, Liu Dai personally organized everyone and had his own troops force Qiao Mao's exhausted soldiers to leave the city together, intending to use their numerical advantage to defeat Zhang Liao.

However, Qiao Mao's remaining troops had no will to fight, and their fear of Zhang Liao's troops far exceeded that of Liu Dai's men.

Liu Dai had no problem forcing them to leave the camp and line up, but he couldn't force them to leave the city to fight.

As soon as the city gates opened, an unnecessary internal conflict broke out in Yan County, with Qiao Mao's remaining troops blocking the gates and refusing to leave.

Zhang Liao, with only about eight hundred men, had no chance of taking the county town, and he had already sent people to ask for help.

Upon seeing the infighting at the city gate, Zhang Liao realized it was like winning the lottery. He immediately led his troops in a fierce attack, rushing into the city gate with his elite soldiers.

If a fierce man like Zhang Liao were to charge into the city gate, the outcome would be tragic.

Qiao Mao's remaining troops were already timid, and they were so frightened that they fled in disarray, causing chaos among Liu Dai's forces.

Seeing that he was indeed no match for them, Liu Dai turned and ran. He changed into the clothes of a common soldier and led several hundred of his remaining troops out of the city through another gate, then fled towards Shanyang.

In fact, it would have been easier to flee to Chenliu in the south at this time, but Liu Daixin was no match for Zhang Miao, and he preferred to trust Bao Xin.

Zhang Liao had too few men to seal all the city gates, so he could only recapture the county towns to stabilize the people's hearts.

Although they failed to eliminate Liu Dai, they at least controlled Dongjun in a very short time, which can be considered as expanding the territory actually controlled by Liu Bei's group.

……

Things went relatively smoothly in Hebei and Dongjun, but Zhang Fei encountered some trouble in Shanyang.

He encountered resistance from Bao Xin and was stuck in the northern part of Juye County, unable to advance an inch.

Bao Xin's army size exceeded Zhang Fei's expectations—Bao Xin had actually organized a large army of nearly 20,000 men in the Juye area.

After receiving Zhang Fei's report, Liu Bei thought for a long time and decided to have Zhang Fei retreat to Shouzhang in Dongping to adopt a defensive posture, while also helping Zhang Liao to take control of the entire Dongjun.

We should deal with the easier ones first, and deal with the difficult ones when we have enough troops. Otherwise, if we divide our forces to defend too many places, we will be vulnerable everywhere.

Currently, Weijun and Qinghe (Ganling State has been abolished) in Jizhou, Dongjun, Dongping, and Jibei in Yanzhou, as well as the entire Qingzhou, are all under our complete control, which is the area along both banks of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.

(End of this chapter)