Chinese New Year

Chapter 587 Cooking (Part )

After the military parade, Luoyang ushered in a brand new political ecology.

It was very chaotic for a few days at the beginning.

First, many court officials left.

They took advantage of the favorable opportunity when the army gathered and the Huns did not dare to invade, and left Luoyang with their families and returned to their hometown.

After returning to their hometown, some people did not plan to continue to work as officials, so they visited relatives and friends at home, talked about metaphysics and philosophy, and spent the rest of their lives.

This will definitely have consequences. As the saying goes, if you don't advance, you will retreat. Others are making progress, but your family is regressing. You have thrown away the very valuable official position that you have worked so hard to obtain. Then you can't blame anyone if you are bullied in the future.

Another group of people planned to go south to Jiangdong with their servants and followers to join the King of Langya.

These people were intimidated by Shao Bing's fierce power and dared not confront him openly, but they still had the ability to vote with their feet.

In addition to the court officials, many ministers and scholars without official positions also left, and even some princes and kings - no one cared about them.

These people were mainly disappointed with Shao Xun.

Originally, Shao was trying to hide his identity, but now he is no longer trying to hide it. His tendency to become the new Cao Cao is very obvious. In addition, he has created a group of warriors, which has made many people dissatisfied, so those who should leave have left.

On June 25, when the emperor was holding a court meeting in the Taiji Hall, he suddenly discovered that at least one-third of the officials had left - mainly low- and medium-sized officials, and the high-ranking officials were reluctant to give up the positions they had worked so hard to obtain.

Wang Yan's handling of public opinion was somewhat effective, but not as effective as before. He was even ridiculed by some scholars, which made Lao Deng very sad.

Feeling depressed, he went to Shao Xun to complain, saying that even if he was of a humble background, as long as he had not promoted military men so blatantly, the current situation would not have happened.

To put it bluntly, many people are dissatisfied with your policies.

Shao Xun remained unmoved and continued to deploy troops and prepare for war.

On the 26th, Pei Kuo, the lieutenant commander of the Northern Army, led more than 25,000 infantry and cavalry of the three imperial guards to the west.

On the 27th, more than 7,000 young men recruited from around Luoyang marched westward.

On the 28th, 5,000 Guangchengze garrison troops (not garrison troops) went north, and 4,000 Dingzhuang troops from Xingyang and Chenliu went west to join the battle.

Pei Kuo set up camp outside Xin'an City, reorganized his troops, and built siege equipment. Everything was not much different from the Xin'an Campaign led by Xun Song three years ago.

Shao Xun ordered Chang Can to lead 2,000 cavalry, 3,000 infantry, plus their own troops, a total of 10,000 people, to camp southeast of Pei Kuo's camp, with deep trenches and high fortifications, not only for surveillance, but also to prevent attacks by the defeated troops.

He led 7,000 soldiers and retainers from the palace and more than 900 personal troops into Luoyang to serve as the general reserve force.

This year's war, he did not command it personally, but let it go entirely.

He has realized that in the past ten years, he has personally commanded too many battles, which has somewhat delayed the growth of his generals. This is wrong.

Everything should be done in moderation.

It's not good to do everything yourself and not allow others to get any training.

It is not good to let go of everything, let others make too many contributions, and cultivate a bunch of generals who are so powerful that they threaten the ruler.

His prestige in the army has become unshakable. This year is suitable for training generals such as Li Chong, Jin Zheng, Wang Que'er, Xi Jian, Pei Kuo, and Chang Can, allowing them to gain more insights and experience and accelerate their growth.

When the strategic decisive battle with the Huns came, he would take over personally and take the credit for destroying the country - if he could succeed in destroying the country.

"Li Chong is in charge of the house. He had to stop his troops and cover his retreat just after conquering Yuanshi. It's still a little too hasty. We should call a truce for a year this year to dredge the silted waterway between Anyang and Yecheng." In Shao Mansion (formerly the residence of Huangfu family) in Luoyang city, Yu Wenjun was enthusiastically directing the servants and personal soldiers to clean the house, while Shao Xun was enjoying the cool in the backyard and chatting with several important officials in the court.

Wang Yan had been to Yecheng and had some understanding of the local situation.

He knew very well that it was impossible to stop this year, as that would be a chance for Shi Le to stabilize his position.

According to the military report he had just received, Li Chong mobilized the refugee soldiers under the command of You Lun, the governor of Zhaojun, and the young and strong men from the noble families under Zhang Chai, the governor of Julu, to besiege Yuanshi.

After half a month of fighting, Zhi Quliu was wounded and fled, Yuanshi was conquered, and the door to Changshan was opened.

In this battle, Shi Le tried his best, but now, due to his limited strength, he could no longer resist Li Zhong's troops. Zhi Qu Liu stationed in Yuanshi even fought back and forth with You Lun and Zhang Chai's troops, and their combat effectiveness was no longer the same as it was a year or two ago.

If Liu Yao had not defeated Liu Kun again in Yangqu, captured the city, and sent more than 7,000 vanguard infantry and cavalry into Hebei, rumors would have spread in Changshan, Zhongshan and other places.

Before the major war is over, there is actually no chance to stabilize people's livelihood, which will only put one's side into a more dangerous situation.

Of course, Shao Xun was just complaining casually and didn't really think it was wrong.

Compared with Li Chong's army, Jin Zheng fought much more aggressively.

He headed straight for Hejian City ten days ago.

Hejian prefect Liu Zheng went out of the city to fight, but was defeated by the Silver Spear Right Camp and retreated into the city to defend it.

What followed was a siege by various soldiers.

During this period, Linghu Ni, the governor of Zhangwu, sent troops to rescue. Jin Zheng led the Right Camp of the Silver Spear and other cavalry to march more than a hundred miles away, defeating the Zhangwu army, beheading more than 3,000 people and capturing 2,000 people.

In addition, several thousand remnants of Liang Fuci's cavalry moved south from the northern counties of Hejian and joined forces with Liu Zheng to defeat the troops besieging the city.

Jin Zheng immediately killed all the prisoners and led his troops to rescue the Xiongnu. During the march, he was repeatedly harassed and besieged by the Xiongnu cavalry, but he eventually repelled them and successfully arrived at the south of Hejian City. He gathered the defeated troops, boosted morale, and surrounded Hejian City again.

After seeing the battle process, Shao Xun realized that Jin had fallen into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain.

Liu Zheng, Linghu Ni and others were still quite clever. They cooperated with the remnants of Liang Fuci's light cavalry and planned a successful anti-siege campaign.

Jin Zheng was able to save the situation thanks to the relatively high combat skills of the Silver Spear Right Camp and his own unparalleled bravery - when they defeated the Zhangwu County soldiers and returned to rescue Hejian, Jin Zheng always led the charge and was wounded three times.

Shao Xun no longer knew what to say to him.

It seems that not all the generals in these areas will become talented.

In addition to the two large armies, various towns also sent troops to harass.

Because Shao Xun was not there, these people were a little perfunctory, but the Cui family of Boling rebelled in time, sent troops to kill the Shi Le soldiers who stayed in Boling, and incorporated the whole place into Jin territory. So far, the overall war situation is still good, and if we continue to move forward steadily, the recovery of the counties is just around the corner.

"Are you going back to Yecheng, my lord?" Yu Min suddenly asked.

"Don't worry, Ziju." Shao Xun glanced at him and said with a smile, "I won't leave until I have sorted out Luoyang."

Yu Min cupped his hands and felt relieved.

Shao Xun looked at Wang Yan again and said, "Grand Marshal, go talk to Junior Minister Liu Qiao. Send all the craftsmen who should be assigned to Junyi. Yu Yuangui is in charge of supervising the construction of the new city of Junyi, and you ask Junior Minister Liu to listen to him."

"Okay." Wang Yan replied.

In his early years, Liu Qiao did follow the path of his cousin Wang Rong.

When he was desperate, he was the one who interceded for Sima Yue, who pardoned him and stopped pursuing the case, and even gave him the very important position of Military Advisor.

Wang of Langya not only recognized Liu Qiao's talent but also saved his life, so it was not difficult for her to drive him to do things.

"Many people have left Luoyang City. They left behind many servants, slaves, and farmhands. Send people to round them all up." Shao Xun looked at Chen Yougen again and said, "Yougen, I'll leave these people to you."

"How to place it?" he asked.

"Send them all to Junyi." Shao Xun said, "After the Qihuo Army left, a large area of ​​​​space was left behind. I want to place two soldiers from Longxiang Prefecture, so I will select them from the soldiers who defended the city during the battle of Shexian last year."

"Yes." Chen Yougen replied.

The two Longxiang Prefectures had 2,400 soldiers. In the battle of Shexian last year, only 4,000 soldiers remained. Excluding the 1,000 soldiers and their followers brought by Xi Jian, most of the remaining soldiers were from Guanxi, and they were still guarding Shexian.

Converting them into government soldiers is the greatest reward for them.

Two thousand four hundred soldiers require seven thousand two hundred households of soldiers, which is not easy to raise, after all, there are not many refugees now.

It seems that we still have to find a solution in Luoyang.

"Yu Yuangui brought 500 soldiers from his family, and I will give you another 1,000 soldiers from the government. You..." Shao Xun thought for a moment and said, "Find a way to clean up Luoyang."

"Yes, sir." Chen Yougen replied excitedly.

It’s long overdue!
My Lord, you had some reservations before, but now it has come to this. Everyone in the world knows your ambitions. What is there to hesitate about? Those who are unwilling to serve you will naturally leave, and all the slaves who stay will be conscripted to serve as soldiers for the government.

"Don't make too much noise." Shao Xun warned: "Scholars and officials who want to leave should not be stopped. Don't arbitrarily fabricate charges and torture them. Try not to touch scholars. The Sima clan members can be punished a little, but don't go too far. Just requisition their slaves. Rich clan members, such as the King of Wu, can be made to pay money to protect their families."

"Yes." Chen Yougen was a little unhappy.

Mr. Chen still treated the scholars kindly and was unwilling to kill them.

Well, let’s get a group of royal family members first.

Anyway, since more than ten years ago, no one has taken the royal family seriously. It is often the princes who bully each other, which is even worse than the scholars. Who told them that they have no country and no power to resist? The scholars have manors and troops, but most of the royal family have nothing.

After hearing this, Wang Yan, Yu Min and others looked at each other.

"Don't worry, I know my limits." Shao Xun said, "I won't do anything like massacring the royal family. I'll just conscript servants from the rich families. I did that when I was defending Luoyang. Sima Yi did it, Sima Yue did it, so why can't I do it?"

You are really no good! Wang Yan secretly complained, but he didn't dare to say it to her face.

Fortunately, Shao Taibai always knows how to act in moderation.

Since he did not attack the scholars, but only the royal family, it would not be too serious. Otherwise, he was not sure whether there would be a rebellion in the local area - thanks to Sima Yue, most of the royal family were now incapable of launching a rebellion.

"Who is Rong Cong Pushe?" Shao Xun ordered again.

"Wang Meng of Jingling." Wang Yan replied.

If Rongcong Pushe was still an important official position during the Cao Wei period and was deeply involved in palace coups, this position had become less and less important during the Guo Dynasty.

He had two responsibilities: one was to be a guard holding a spear in the palace, and the other was to guard the mausoleum.

This position is usually held by royal family members or prestigious scholars, such as Hua Yi, Sima Quan, Sima Teng, Sima Mo, etc.

The military power of Rongcong Pushe is pitifully small, and there is a tendency for it to transform into a civilian position, and it will gradually become a clean official.

However, since the current emperor has no military power, he attaches great importance to the position of Rongcong Pushe and wants to keep even the smallest bit of military power in his hands.

Shao Xun didn't want to give him this opportunity.

All the redundant soldiers with spears who were guarding the mausoleum have fled, and now only the redundant warriors with spears in the various halls are left.

"Taibai, be cautious about this matter." When Wang Yan heard that Shao Xun intended to disband the redundant servants, he immediately advised.

This is too ugly.

Shao Xun pondered for a moment and said, "Well, anyway, I am now an outsider and do not need to attend court meetings. Let Zheng Shida come back from Xuzhou and continue to let him serve as the deputy minister."

Since Zheng Shida could hold such a clean position as Rong Cong Pushe, he must have a good family background. In fact, he was a descendant of the Zheng family of Xingyang, who was driven away by Sima Yue. Later, he followed Yu Chen's path and joined Shao Xun.

His loyalty to the emperor had long been exhausted.

Letting him come back and continue to serve as a redundant minister is a compromise solution.

The generals in the palace guard the palace and accompany the emperor in and out.

Rong was in charge of the guards holding spears in the palace.

Shao Xun seemed to have not interfered in these two positions and did not do anything too embarrassing, but he was able to ensure that both positions were loyal to him, and that was enough.

"There will be a court meeting tomorrow, and there are some things that you still need to take care of..." Shao Xun continued to give instructions to several people.

(End of this chapter)