Chinese New Year

Chapter 567: War Season (Part )
Early in the morning, Yu Chen came to the ice well platform.

After some inquiries, he learned that Mr. Chen lived in Tongque Tower, so he turned back.

After going down to the Tongjue Garden, he stopped for a moment because he saw Lu Zhi.

"Master Lu." Yu Chen saluted.

"Captain Yu." Lu Zhi returned the greeting.

Lu Zhi was originally a Shizhong, and now he also served as the Right Chief Secretary of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Shogunate - originally, the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Shogunate had only one Chief Secretary, but after it was reorganized into the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Shogunate, it had left and right Chief Secretaries, with Pei Kang as the chief and Lu Zhi as the assistant.

Yu Chen was still the Inspector of the Imperial Capital, a court official, and did not hold a part-time job in the shogunate.

The area north of the Yellow River is now basically dominated by Yu Chen and Lu Zhi.

Although Yu Chen was Shao Xun's father-in-law, his roots in Hebei were shallow and limited to a small area on the north bank of the Yellow River. Therefore, Shao Xun gave him the three counties of Wei, Ji, and Dunqiu to manage.

Lu Zhi himself was from Hebei and came from a prominent family. He had served in Sima Ying's court for many years and had a deep foundation. His wife was the daughter of Cui from Qinghe, and she was a powerful figure in Hebei. Therefore, he took over the affairs of the seven counties and kingdoms of Qinghe, Leling, Bohai, Pingyuan, Julu, Zhao, and Boling.

The three counties of Guangping, Yangping and Anping were jointly handled by the two.

Yu Chen's main tasks were actually to gather refugees, resettle the people, check household registration, and measure land. To be honest, these were all things that offended people, but they were also things that consolidated the foundation.

The power of the aristocratic families in the three counties of Ji, Wei and Dunqiu has weakened to a considerable extent.

Located at the front line of the war, the local tyrants either died or left, and suffered heavy losses. After Shi Le took control, he cleared a considerable portion of farmland and grassland, designated it as official land, and "equally distributed land" in Wei County to distribute land and houses to the soldiers who had followed him for many years.

After Shi Le was defeated, Yu Chen took over and used his influence as an official in Ji County for many years to further deepen and consolidate Shi Le's original policies. He even cleaned up some of the scholars and powerful people who had colluded with the Xiongnu during the war, confiscated their farmhands and land, turned these people into self-cultivating farmers, and compiled household registration.

Lu Zhi’s mission was completely different.

He mainly recruited surrenders and rebellions, and did not affect the interests of the local nobles. He even appeased them and gave them official positions and status. As long as you surrender to him, everything can be discussed.

This is what he is good at and where he can best play his advantages. He did a good job and gradually stabilized the fluctuating hearts of people.

From the division of labor between the two, it can be seen that Yu Chen is responsible for managing the basic base for Shao Xun, while Lu Zhi is helping him to win over vassal forces.

Yes, the three counties of Wei, Ji and Dunqiu are managed as the core base, and are of the same nature as Puyang on the other side of the river and the counties of Luonan, Xiangcheng, Runan, Xincai, Nandun, Chen and Liang in western Henan - of course, the nature is the same, but the degree of stability is different, after all, this is Hebei.

Guangping, Yangping and Anping are between the basic base and vassal forces.

Shi Le distributed land in Guangping, and the number of self-cultivating farmers was quite considerable.

Yangping is located in a place where the north and south are in a tug of war, but the tug of war is not severe enough.

Anping was the residence of Liu Han's Jizhou governor. Many Hu people came there, and the wealthy families coexisted with the Hu people, making the situation complicated.

Simply put, the local powerful families in these three counties were badly damaged, but they still had considerable strength, and the situation was relatively complicated, so Yu and Lu worked together to handle it. The ultimate goal was to weaken the power of the powerful families, register the Hu people as citizens, strictly control them, and slowly turn them into a basic force.

This has been Shao Xun's idea for many years and he has persisted in it until now.

His goal is to build enough self-employed farmers to establish a strong base.

He divided the aristocratic families into three stages: the "complete" aristocratic families of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the military merit families of the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the bureaucratic families of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The ultimate goal is to establish a bureaucratic family. It may not be achievable, but if you can get to this point, your life will be worth it - it is impossible to completely eliminate the aristocratic family.

Families with military merit are acceptable because their land, number of troops and influence are far inferior to those of the Wei and Jin dynasties.

To put it bluntly, the economic base determines the superstructure, and he was targeting the economic base of the aristocratic families, namely land and population.

Isn't it scary to send out thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers at any time? Who has the final say in the local area?

After exchanging greetings, Yu Chen and Lu Zhi appeared to be in harmony with each other and went to the Bronze Sparrow Tower.

"I heard that Zidao went to Bohai to raise food, why did you come back?" Yu Chen asked while walking.

"The Bohai tribes have contributed 200,000 hu of grain and are sending it to Nanpi." Lu Zhi said, "The Hua family in Pingyuan is willing to contribute 200,000 hu, but the post of Yangping governor has not been implemented. I returned to Yecheng for this matter."

"I see." Yu Chen nodded and said, "The Hua family is a famous family, and Lord Chen has promised before, so the governor of Yangping is fine."

Lu Zhi felt a little relieved.

He couldn't make the decision on Yangping's matter on his own, so he had to discuss it with Yu Chen. If he could agree, there would be no problem with Mr. Chen, who would certainly follow his advice.

Of course, the reason why Hua Chang was able to become the prefect of Yangping was not because of money and grain. The most fundamental reason was the influence of the Hua family in Pingyuan in the surrounding areas.

With their people in office, the local area is stable, money and grain can be raised quickly, and they can also provide you with soldiers, laborers and even some weapons and equipment. If you change to someone else, it will not be impossible to do it, but at least it will be greatly reduced. This is the most important reason why the rulers since the Wei and Jin Dynasties had to hold their noses and cooperate with the aristocratic families.

The Hua family of Pingyuan is willing to provide 200,000 hu of grain, which is far more than the average. To put it bluntly, it is to remind Shao Xun, what about the governor of Yangping that you promised? Hurry up and make it happen.

Faced with a behemoth like the Hua family, Lu Zhi did not dare to be negligent. After dealing with the affairs of Bohai, he returned to Yecheng to urge them.

The two walked side by side and soon arrived at the foot of the Bronze Sparrow Tower and climbed up.

In the early morning, the trees on the platform are lush and green, and birds are chirping and circling.

Every seven or eight steps, there would be a soldier standing at attention with weapons in hand, looking straight ahead.

Occasionally I would meet servants going up and down the Bronze Sparrow Tower.

Some are used to transport grain, meat, fruits, vegetables and daily necessities upwards, while others are used to pull up waste from the platform.

Yu Chen had sharp eyes and saw a torn piece of clothing on the woman's belly. His face suddenly darkened.

But it was only for a moment, and soon returned to normal, but there was a bit more scrutiny in his eyes when he looked at the Bronze Sparrow Tower.

Lu Zhi also saw it, and caught the fleeting expression on Yu Chen's face, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curled up.

Yu Zimei placed many Henan officials in Ji, Wei and Dunqiu. What did he want to do?
Lu Zhi smiled, took the lead, and quickly climbed onto the Bronze Sparrow Tower.

"Are you bathing, my lord?" Liu Ling's words, who was on duty in front of the hall, made Yu Chen even more worried.

Wang Yifu's daughter! Whenever he thought of this identity, Yu Chen felt a little irritated.

It would be fine for other people, but Wang Yifu was a famous scholar in the world, but he was burdened with inexplicable pressure.

"Mr. Yu and Mr. Lu, please follow me to the side hall to rest for a while." Liu Ling stretched out his hand, his tone was very good, but his attitude was also very firm.

The two nodded and walked forward.

When passing by an equipment rack, Yu Chen couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Mr. Chen had the habit of getting up early to practice martial arts, but he stopped today.

******
Bathing also comes in different sizes.

A small bath is served by five or six people, using twelve hu of soup - one hu is about twenty liters.

The big bath was served by eight or nine people, and fifteen hu of soup were used - an extra one for washing hair.

Shao Xun had finished his bath and was sitting on the bed.

Wang Jingfeng was wearing a gauze, and her beautiful body was vaguely visible.

She took out lip balm and facial makeup to put on makeup for Shao Xun.

"Forget about these." Shao Xun quickly pushed it away, saying speechlessly.

Lip balm has two meanings: one is an ointment to prevent chapped lips in winter, and the other is pure cosmetics.

At this time, there were countless men from the aristocratic families who put on lip rouge to dress up, but Shao Xun would never touch this kind of thing.

Facial medicine is equivalent to powder applied on the face and is very popular among men of the gentry.

Cao Cao's adopted son He Yan - Meng De took his mother Yin as a concubine and adopted this burden - had a fair complexion. Emperor Wei Ming once suspected that he had put powder on his face, so he gave him hot soup noodles to eat in the hot summer. He Yan wiped his sweat while eating, and finally proved that he had not put powder on his face.

Shao Xun doesn't like this thing either.

He felt that he was a "country bumpkin" and a "country dog" and could not appreciate the "feminine beauty" of men who wore powder and lipstick, so he declined.

Wang Jingfeng sighed, touched Shao Xun's face, and said, "If you don't put on some powder, your face will be ruined."

"Didn't you feel the beauty of this face last night?" Shao Xun teased.

Wang Jingfeng sat directly in his arms, blushing and angrily said, "I'm going to die."

Shao Xun hugged her tightly, his hands moving like snakes on the gauze.

Wang Jingfeng is over 30 years old, but he has managed his body quite well and he tricked many of his elite soldiers last night.

Of course, what satisfied him most about this silly woman was her character.

I even confessed to him last night, telling him about my early marriage to Jia Mi, the Duke of Lu.

Jia Mi had been dead for more than ten years. The two were married for a short time and had no children.

Shao Xun was very satisfied that the woman was willing to tell him the truth, which meant she wanted to live a good life with him and she also liked him very much.

This is a sign of being conquered, he thought somewhat complacently.

Wang Jingfeng was touched until he was out of breath. He quickly stood up with a blushing face, took the robe that had been fumigated with incense, and put it on Shao Xun himself.

The wonderful Western fragrance in the incense burner was brought by Wang Jingfeng. Shao Xun had only smelled it at Princess Xiangcheng's residence, and Concubine Pei's house didn't have it, and used inferior fragrance.

Wang Laodeng’s family is really rich.

More than 10,000 pieces of cloth from his family have been used, which was Wang Jingfeng's dowry.

When will we be able to make the next profit?

"Life is becoming more and more extravagant." After putting on his clothes, Shao Xun smelled them and sighed.

“?” Wang Jingfeng was a little confused.

These are ordinary expenses, used every day and every moment, how can they be considered extravagant?

"My dear." Wang Jingfeng said, "You can save money on other things, but not on this."

"Oh? What's the reason?" Shao Xun asked with a smile.

"If you go out to meet guests without taking a bath or burning some incense, wouldn't that be disrespectful and neglectful to the guests?" Wang Jingfeng said.

Shao Xun was speechless.

"Hehe. You don't have to buy it." Wang Jingfeng suddenly thought of something and said with a snicker, "I brought all the incense burners that Grandpa treasured. The wonderful incense was given by my mother. Grandpa doesn't have any Western Wonderful Incense to use now."

After saying that, he actually started laughing foolishly, probably because he thought this was very interesting and fun.

Shao Xun was stunned for a moment, then looked at Wang Jingfeng with a doting look and said, "You should always be like this and be happy every day."

After that, he left.

Wang Jingfeng hummed a little tune happily, feeling very happy. After coming to the window, he looked at the bright sunshine outside, and the smile on his face became brighter.

Well, I have to go find my sister.

She changed into a skirt and went to her sister's residence like a fluttering butterfly.

On the other hand, Shao Xun had just met with Lu Zhi and Yu Chen when he received news: Liu Han sent General Anbei Zhao Gu out of Baixing and into Ji County, apparently with the intention of attacking Chaoge and Gong County.

This leaky environment has no time to rest. The new year's "war season" starts on time, damn!
(End of this chapter)