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

Chapter 370 Blood Phoenix

Zuo Yuan is very lucky.

She encountered two fellow townsmen from Wuwei, both of whom were outstanding individuals.

One was invincible, the other had flawless strategies.

Duan Jiong taught her to do things that Liu Bei couldn't do, how to give up something in order to gain something, how to be ruthless enough to sacrifice herself, and how to become a player in the game.

Jia Xu taught her how to keep her hands clean, how to use the enemy as a weapon, how to survive while eliminating the enemy, and how to control the game of chess.

Only those who are self-reliant can gain the help of others. Duan Jiong and Jia Xu were able to genuinely help Zuo Yuan, but it wasn't just because they were from the same hometown.

Zuo Yuan is truly studious; perhaps studiousness can be addictive. She has never stopped pursuing knowledge, and she is genuinely able to absorb it all.

After receiving guidance from Jia Xu, Zuo Yuan ordered Yuan Yi and Xu He to each lead the remaining surrendered troops to pursue the fleeing enemy remnants.

Tian Yu and Zu Mao were in charge of supervision respectively—Yuan Yi surrendered to Tian Yu, and Xu He surrendered to Zu Mao.

Xu He knew who the participants were, and he was responsible for finding them.

Yuan Yi had many surrendered soldiers under his command, who were responsible for arresting and killing people.

Moreover... Zuo Yuan didn't give them armor, only short swords.

Zuo Yuan did not carry out a purge, but he demanded that anyone involved in the rebellion be identified and executed, regardless of their origin or where they were hiding.

Enemies who flee the battlefield shall be pursued to the bitter end, and anyone who shelters a traitor shall be considered an accomplice.

After beheading, his relatives were ordered to collect the body themselves, and the appearance and names of his direct relatives were recorded. His direct descendants were disqualified from taking the imperial examinations and were barred from joining the army or entering officialdom.

A few days later, Qi Commandery was completely purged. Sima Ju's entire family was wiped out, and almost none of the dozen or so powerful families in Qi Commandery who had conspired with Sima Ju to rebel survived.

Subsequently, many powerful clans rallied together to fight against Yuan Yi and Xu He in order to protect their families who had escaped back.

After Yuan Yi and Xu He entered Yingling County in Beihai Commandery, almost the entire county's powerful clans were exterminated.

The two men were extremely ruthless in their pursuit of the rebels, killing more than 10,000 people in just the two prefectures of Qi and Beihai.

The remaining troops of the two men who had surrendered also suffered heavy losses in the constant killings and confrontations. In the end, a mutiny broke out in Yingling, and Xu He died at the hands of his own men.

However, these surrendered soldiers were unarmored and were easily suppressed by Tian Yu and Zu Mao, who were in charge of monitoring them. Guan Yu was also in Yingling at the time, and none of the mutinous soldiers escaped the pursuit.

Yuan Yi was fortunate enough to survive, and he had already fulfilled his duty as a loyal subject, so Jia Xu gave him the position of Grand Master of Ceremonies.

This is the most prestigious official position among doctors, but it is also the most idle and sinecure position at present. It has no real power whatsoever, and it doesn't even have a fixed office or staff.

Its main function was originally to be a national policy advisor, but now that the national policy is in Liu Bei's hands, Liu Xie doesn't need an advisor. This Grand Master of Ceremonies can just stay at home and collect his salary, and doesn't even need to attend court.

……

mid-July.

To avoid being implicated, many large clans split up on their own after learning the news.

Many powerful families also migrated out of the state.

For a time, large clans with tens of thousands of members were almost nowhere to be seen in Qingzhou; most of them were divided into smaller clans.

The tenants and servants of each household were dispersed and reorganized into various government-run settlements.

Even Guan Hai's family was split again—some members of the Guan clan participated in Sima Ju's rebellion. Guan Hai personally dragged them out, and then forcibly divided the clan into several branches. Guan Hai's own branch even moved to Donglai.

At this point, almost all of the 20,000 troops that Chen Gong, Gao Lan and others had brought to Qingzhou were wiped out, leaving only less than 2,000 troops under Yuan Yi's command.

The local rebellion in Qingzhou, including the more than 10,000 armed forces of powerful clans led by Sima Ju and Xu He, as well as the clan rebels who rose up in various counties, totaling more than 20,000 people, was almost completely wiped out, leaving only a few hundred of Xu He's subordinates.

The additional casualties from the confrontations during the pursuit exceeded ten thousand, all of whom were sons of powerful families or their retainers and servants.

More than 50,000 people were killed in Qingzhou within half a month.

Such killings would naturally be described as a "massacre," and the killing of the powerful clans of Yingling was called a "slaughter of the city." Some people reported scenes such as "bones lying everywhere, flames burning for days; corpses filling the river, causing the Zi River to stop flowing."

However... the blame for the massacre did not fall on Liu Bei.

After all, it was Yuan Yi and Xu He who led the army to "massacre" the gentry after surrendering, and Liu Bei's troops also suppressed their forces.

But Zuo Yuan's reputation will certainly be affected, as many people associate him with blood and fire, and some even privately call him the 'Blood Phoenix'.

Zuo Yuan herself was quite open-minded, saying that having a fierce reputation was also a talent, and that it was not impossible for her husband to be a benevolent ruler and for her to be a "Blood Phoenix".

The renowned scholars of Qingzhou, Guan Ning and Bing Yuan, believed that the killings were excessive and therefore left Qingzhou, traveling by boat to Liaodong.

To minimize any potential repercussions, Jia Xu ordered that the homes of the traitors be confiscated and all their property used locally as compensation for the people's well-being.

Apart from the farmland, other assets were distributed to the local innocent families who had suffered losses, or to the servants who were newly incorporated into the settlement, as a basic guarantee of livelihood.

This isn't about seizing land from the rich and distributing it to the poor; it's about fighting traitors and dividing their property. It's a way of taking one group down and then recruiting another. Although it's rather brutal, it can at least lessen the hatred.

……

The aftereffects of killing can be both good and bad.

The process of exchanging inferior money for superior money became extremely smooth immediately after the war.

There is no longer any resistance within the state, or rather, no one dares to resist anymore.

In fact, Guo Jia suggested that people from other provinces should only be exchanged for twenty coins, but people under Liu Bei's jurisdiction could be exchanged for fifty coins. This price difference itself was a kind of psychological comfort.

This demonstrates the superiority of Liu Bei's rule, which can boost the confidence of the people under his rule, reduce the resistance of the powerful clans in the state, and at the same time create a buzz for rapid dissemination.

Purely decrees will not spread quickly on their own. They need to be presented with a gimmick that gives people a sense of superiority, and they also need to benefit from them in order to spread them quickly and spontaneously.

Such a large price difference between in-state and out-of-state markets is a ready-made bargain and a gimmick, which inevitably leads to the emergence of 'scalpers'... or rather, resellers.

In fact, the daily volume of small-amount exchanges is also quite large. Many small-amount customers from Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou and other places come to Qingzhou, and the money exchange in Jinan is always crowded with long queues from morning to night.

Guo Jia knew perfectly well that many powerful families in Qingzhou, as well as some tenant farmers in government-run settlements, frequently exchanged large sums of money, with some even coming to exchange it every day.

This significant price difference led to the rapid formation of an industry for the "exchange agency business" of middlemen in Qingzhou.

However, Guo Jia did not crack down on scalpers, and Liu Bei did not intend to crack down on speculators either.

Liu Bei didn't intend to make money for himself; what he needed was for large-denomination coins to quickly become widespread and replace inferior ones.

The fact that people under Liu Bei's rule relied on household registration to act as scalpers actually highlighted the importance of large-denomination coins, which was beneficial for promoting their widespread use and would inevitably increase the speed of recycling inferior coins.

It can also attract people, and many people will move to Qingzhou as a result.

Guo Jia had deliberately used a somewhat harsh attitude to make Cheng Yu and Le Jin struggle with exchanging money for a large sum, intending to escalate the situation and spread the word.

Because the purpose of selling grain is not to sell grain, but to exchange it for money.

However, Chen Gong took advantage of this situation.

Now that this matter has become such a big deal, the advertising effect is extremely good.

The moment Liu Bei and Cao Cao "go to war," the whole world will pay attention to this matter, since the "Cao-Liu War" was caused by exchanging large sums of money.

Anything that can cause war is certainly a good thing.

After instigating a war between Cao Cao and Liu Bei, Chen Gong and others were wiped out... This news was even more explosive.

After that, Yanzhou changed hands, tens of thousands of people died in battle in Qingzhou, and the gentry of Qingzhou rebelled—or you could say the 'Yellow Turban Rebellion in Qingzhou'—all of which were attributed to the exchange of large sums of money.

Regardless of how this massacre is ultimately portrayed, it will at least create the idea that "big money is more valuable."

(End of this chapter)