Chinese New Year

Chapter 542: Human Heart and the Right Medicine (Part )
The place where I met Shao Yi was in a wilderness west of Nangong City.

Hundreds of Hu cavalrymen who arrived one after another were training.

These people are gathered from various departments.

I have fifty, you have one hundred, and he has two hundred, so we have more than two thousand in total. Now there are five hundred of us, and we have started to organize and train.

Since the Northern Expedition, the number of cavalry first decreased rapidly and then increased sharply.

He planned to incorporate these more than 2,000 men into the Yicong Army. In this way, the total strength of the army would exceed 7,000, greatly increasing its strength.

However, although the number of people has increased, the combat effectiveness has decreased, and the morale of the army is also rather confused, so it will take time to rectify the situation.

When Shao Yi arrived, he saw these cavalrymen practicing the tactics of dividing and conquering.

Amid the rumbling sound of horse hooves, Shao Yi bowed and saluted.

"How is Sizu these days?" Shao Xun took Shao Yi's hand, asked him to sit down, and asked with a smile.

Seeing how familiar Mr. Chen was, Shao Yi knew what was going on and immediately replied, "After my father returned home, he joined forces with the Marquis of Jibei to force Cao Yi to withdraw his troops."

"What did Cao Yi go back for?"

"It's probably about tidying up the place and consolidating the foundation."

"Cao Yi has quite a good vision," Shao Xun said in an ambiguous tone.

"Cao Yi was originally a remnant of the Tianshi Dao, and he was rampant in Qingzhou, relying on the Tianshi Dao followers. Over the years, he has been very courteous to scholars, won over many people, and his power has become increasingly stable."

"Didn't he force some scholars away?" Shao Xun asked.

"If you cannot be used by him and always go against him, Cao Wei will also take ruthless action."

Give both grace and power!

Shao Xun couldn't help but look up to Cao Yi.

Although this man has no great ambitions and only wants to rule Qingzhou and become a local tyrant, he still has some skills.

Moreover, he is not without a base in the local area. The "remnants of Tianshidao" is the annotation of his identity.

It's actually quite interesting.

Cao Yi provided Shao Xun with another possibility for his rise, namely religion.

Religion can weaken the disadvantages of birth and family background, making it easier for the lower classes to rise. In recent years, there are many scholars who believe in Tianshi Dao, mainly in the eastern part of Yanzhou, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and Jizhou. Among them, Qingzhou is the place where Tianshi Dao develops best. Through religious beliefs, some scholars can be won over to work for it.

Simply put, Tianshi Dao reshaped a social evaluation system, in which the proportion of family background decreased and became more friendly to ambitious people at the bottom.

"Once the situation in Hebei is stabilized, we will take action against Cao Qi sooner or later." Shao Xun glanced at Wang Yan and said.

Wang Yan stroked his beard and said, "Taibai, you can't expect Cao Yi to surrender with just a few words. We still have to resort to violence."

At first, the imperial court was unwilling to surrender Cao Yi, thinking that if rebels were surrendered, wouldn’t it encourage more people to rebel? In the past two years, the court gradually became unable to hold on and began to contact Cao Yi, but Cao Yi refused to surrender.

The Xiongnu gave the Jin court everything it could, and the conditions were more relaxed. He started out as a rebel, so from a personal emotional point of view, he must have hatred towards the Jin court. Why would he surrender when the conditions of both sides were similar?

Now that there are constant battles in Hebei, Cao Yi can no longer sit still.

But no matter what, his primary demand was to maintain his independent status and become the local tyrant of Qingzhou.

All his actions serve this ultimate goal.

For this reason, he could now consider the Jin court's offer of amnesty, but which side he should surrender to was a matter of debate.

If Shao Xun expected to place officials in Qingzhou, station troops and demand too much money and food after Cao Yi surrendered, it would definitely not work.

Therefore, we still have to fight against such people, and don't expect to slowly win them over by boiling them in warm water.

"Now is not the time to attack Cao Yi." Shao Xun said, "I heard that you brought a few talented people from Bohai with you?"

"Yes. They are all descendants of Bohai Gao family. They once fought together against the Xiongnu."

"Call him here quickly." Shao Xun said.

Shao Yi immediately asked his followers to summon Gao's children to meet him.

Taking advantage of this gap, he briefly introduced the situation of the Gao family in Bohai.

When Wang Jun relied on the Yi people to build up his power and dominated Hebei, his brother-in-law Cui Bi took advantage of his power and obtained the posts of governor of Pingzhou and commander of the Dongyi.

The Qinghe Cui family enjoyed a high reputation among the people of Hebei, so they recruited a group of Hebei scholars and powerful people to go to Pingzhou.

Among them, Bohai Gao Zhan and his uncle Gao Yin first led thousands of their tribesmen to follow Wang Jun to avoid the chaos. Later, they found that Wang Jun was really not a good person, so they followed Cui Bi of Qinghe Cui family and moved to Liaodong.

It’s not that Cui Bi has any extraordinary abilities. In fact, he is indeed better than Wang Jun, but his abilities are average.

The most important thing is that Cui Bi is the great-grandson of Cui Yan, the head of the scholars in Jizhou, and his descendants have been the leading family in Jizhou for generations. The reputation of the Cui family in Jizhou is as naturally attractive as the reputation of the Wang family in Qingxu.

Han Heng of the Anping Han family also defected to Cui Bi of Liaodong for the same reason.

In addition to these two families, many aristocratic families in Jizhou, both large and small, fled to Liaoxi and Liaodong with their families. They also used their reputation and network of connections to recruit refugees from Liaoxi for Cui Bi - Hebei was in constant war, and many people took refuge in Liaoxi and Liaodong because it was relatively peaceful there.

In today's social atmosphere and values, things like fame and family background can really be used to make a living.

What merits and abilities did Cui Bi have? However, when the refugees who had taken refuge in western Liaoning heard about the reputation of the Cui family of Qinghe, they flocked to join him.

As soon as the call for service came, all the nobles and powerful men in Jizhou, both big and small, would rush over to serve.

People like Gao Zhan even brought thousands of his troops and farmhands from Bohai to join the invasion.

Of course, there are also those who don't care about Cui Bi.

For example, Cui Bi once invited Huangfu Ji to be the chief secretary, but Ji refused and surrendered to Murong Wei together with his brother and clansman Huangfu Zhen.

For scholars like Huangfu Ji who were exiled to Guanxi, they could look at Cui Bi very objectively.

In the eyes of the wealthy Huangfu family in Anding, the Qinghe Cui family was indeed famous, but it was not enough to blind their eyes, and they did not have many relatives and friends. It would be very uncomfortable to leave, so it was better for them to join the Murong Xianbei.

After listening to Shao Yi's story about the old days in Liaodong, Shao Xun was a little speechless.

If he came from a noble family like the Qinghe Cui family, the Langya Wang family, or the Hedong Pei family, even if he was just a child of a poor and remote branch, it would have been much easier.

Relying on the family's reputation, Gao, a local tyrant in Bohai, immediately came with thousands of his followers to join him.

With such capital, why should I lick a rich woman? Don't I have self-respect?
I have made up my mind that I will not lick women anymore and let women lick me. While I was daydreaming, someone came over.

"Gao Jiang from Bohai pays his respects to Mr. Chen." The man, who was about thirty years old, bowed and saluted.

"Get up, sit down and talk." Shao Xun raised his hand and said.

Gao Jiang stood up, tall and solemn, neither humble nor arrogant.

Shao Xun introduced the staff around him to him.

When Gao Jiang heard the name Wang Yan, he was very excited, bowed deeply, and said, "Lord Wang is a famous scholar in the world. It is a great honor for me to see his true face."

Shao Xun was speechless again.

It is true that distance creates beauty. He saw Wang Yifu every day and thought that he was an old man who talked nonsense. But in the eyes of outsiders, Wang Yan was really famous, and it seemed that - he had broken the circle?

Wang Laodeng was no longer just a leader of the Qingxu scholars, he was also very popular throughout the north, had friends all over the world, and his fame spread to every corner.

It seems that I need to be more respectful to Lao Deng in the future.

Zhang Bin was introduced later.

Gao Jiang also looked at him a few more times and said, "I've heard a lot about you."

Zhang Bin bowed and said nothing more.

His family background is better than that of the Gao family and the Feng family of Bohai.

The family background is evaluated every three years by the county’s Zhongzheng.

In some families, there were people who served as officials in the previous generation, but there are none in this generation.

In some families, one generation of someone becomes an official, but the next generation sees no hope.

This kind of family struggles between the lower class and the wealthy, and can easily slide down the social ladder if they are not careful.

The Zhang family of Zhongqiu had served as officials for two consecutive generations and was rated as an eighth-grade family by the Zhongzheng of Zhaojun. Although they were a humble family, they were still better off than the Gao family and the Feng family of Bohai.

But he became famous in Hebei mainly because of Shi Le. Who doesn't know that Zhang Bin and Zhang Mengsun were the military advisors of the Dahu?
After the introduction, Shao Xun asked directly: "Since you came to see me, I believe you have something to teach me about the overall situation in Hebei?"

Gao Jiang stole a glance at Shao Yi, and seeing him nod imperceptibly, he said, "I am willing to serve you and bring honor to your family."

"Why did you retreat last time?"

"We were defeated by the Huns and had a complete retreat." Gao Jiang said embarrassedly.

"Maybe regroup?"

Gao Jiang hesitated for a moment, and then, seeing Shao Yi's reminder, he gritted his teeth and said, "I am willing to die for you, sir."

In fact, it was not that he could not see the situation clearly, but that most of the Gao family's assets had been emptied by Gao Yin and Gao Zhan, uncle and nephew.

They took away thousands of households and more than 20,000 people to western Liaoning. How many were left in their hometown?
If the remaining members of the Gao family wanted to bet on Shao Xun, they would have to spend all their money, and even that would not be enough. They would have to contact some in-laws, old acquaintances, and good friends to go to war together.

If successful, you will gain great benefits.

If they lose, the family will be destroyed, at least the Bohai branch will be finished.

It’s really hard to make a decision because you are not making the decision for yourself alone.

Every decision you make means the life and death, honor and disgrace of countless families who depend on you.

What Gao Jiang just said, "bringing honor to the family", was actually his condition.

He wanted to get an official position and complete the process of his family becoming aristocratic.

"Okay." After hearing what Gao Jiang said, Shao Xun slapped the table and said, "You are a straightforward person, and so am I. Bohai Governor Cui Fu is not doing his job well, so he can be dismissed and go home. If you can lead 5,000 people to Anping to besiege the Xiongnu, after the success, Bohai Governor will be given to you, what do you think?"

"Thank you, Lord Ming, for your cultivation!" Upon hearing this, Gao Jiang knelt down on the ground, bowed deeply, then stood up and stood solemnly aside with an extremely determined expression, obviously he had given it his all.

Shao Xun, Wang Yan and Yu Chen looked at each other.

The Liu Mi I met yesterday is from a prominent family in Hebei, and his in-laws, the Pingyuan Hua family, are also very prominent.

The attitude of these old money from Hebei is very clear: continue to maintain their previous status.

The Gao family of Bohai are much more ambitious. They have not yet completed the process of becoming aristocratic and are in urgent need of progress. They are willing to take risks and go all in, and they are very motivated.

As for the Liu family, Shao Xun could only rely on the bond of Princess Nanyang, speak nice words to them, flatter them, treat them as "his own people", and half-trick and half-win them over.

For the Gao family, it was like offering a carrot to lure them, a naked exchange of interests, very direct.

After Gao Jiang left, Shao Xun summoned Shi Xi again.

He had only one solution for this kind of people: send people to Xuchang and Luoyang to invite Madam Le and Minister Lu over.

Originally, I didn't want Lu Zhi to get involved in Hebei affairs, but after the Huns invaded on a large scale, the people of Hebei were in chaos again, so I had to invite Old Lu over.

As for Shao Yi——

In the evening, a banquet was held in the Nangong County Government Office. At the banquet, Shao Yi was instructed to call Shao Xun "uncle".

Shao Xun responded.

Of course, this is not a clan alliance.

To unite the clans requires recompiling the family tree, which is obviously not the case here.

Shao Xun and Shao Yi addressed each other as uncle and nephew, which was just a way of expressing their closeness.

Shao Xun wanted Shao Xu and Shao Yi to help him stabilize Leling, and sent some troops to Anping to attack the city, to set an example and stabilize people's hearts. Gao also had some friendship with Shao Xu and Shao Yi, which was even better.

Shao Xu and his son wanted to get close to Shao Xun and gain greater political benefits.

Both parties get what they need, but with "family affection" as a lubricant, this method is more stable than a simple exchange of interests.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it’s all united front work, just with different means and methods.

Now, he needs to see results.

(End of this chapter)