Chinese New Year

Chapter 661 Faction
Receiving a city after a war was commonplace for the Shao army, and they already had a set of systematic procedures. However, there were too many miscellaneous soldiers this time, and they didn't know the rules very well, which made the whole scene a little chaotic.

"Anyone who enters the city to rob will be beheaded and their heads will be hung somewhere to serve as a warning to others." The military supervisor Shen Ling shouted and gave the order.

The guards following him rushed forward and pinned to the ground several soldiers who had just left the yard.

There were a few other people in the courtyard, and when they saw this situation, they immediately looked fierce.

Shen Ling was shocked. There were only five or six people inside and outside the yard, but he had hundreds of people at his disposal. Yet he did not flee and instead wanted to resist. He was truly courting death.

Most of the guards were hereditary soldiers from Xuchang, and their fighting capacity was just so-so, on par with the miscellaneous soldiers. Their advantage lay in advance preparation, so several archers were dispatched, and with a volley of arrows, all the looting soldiers who intended to resist were shot down.

There were fellow soldiers on the street who did not participate in the looting, but after seeing their fellow villagers being executed, they felt a sense of grief and made a lot of noise.

Upon hearing the news, the soldiers of the Silver Spear Battalion who were counting the inventory in a nearby warehouse mobilized more than a hundred people and watched them eagerly.

Those people were in a stalemate for a while and then left in shame.

Shen Ling secretly rejoiced, but at the same time a little annoyed: none of these insatiable people should be allowed to enter the city.

After a small episode, as the heads of the soldiers who had raped and looted at will were hung up for public display, the hot and restless hearts of the various troops entering the city finally cooled down.

After a great defeat, the commander's prestige will be reduced, so he can complain, say strange things, or even plunder.

Now that we have won a great victory, we are not so brave anymore - everyone thinks that the conquerors who have won the battle are dangerous, but in fact, our own troops who have suffered a defeat are equally dangerous, and may even do more ruthless things.

At this moment, the people of Guanggu closed their doors and windows and watched all this in fear.

When a child cried, his mouth was covered, for fear that a passing soldier might kick open the door and enter to do evil.

Even if there are officers to enforce military discipline, not every evil deed can be discovered. Discipline or not is just a matter of how much evil is committed; it is impossible not to commit evil.

But then again, as long as you don't invade the scholars, the nobles, and the students, you will be praised as "harmless" and "the king's army", and even the history books will write about you with admiration. Even if your soldiers invade many ordinary people, they will be ignored and no one will speak for them.

In general, because of the strict discipline, Shao Xun's troops caused the least disturbance to the people. When people in later generations read history, they might even beautify it further. After all, the soldiers really couldn't rush into the mansions of the big families guarded by servants and slaves under the eyes of the officers, so there must be no shortage of flattering words.

By the afternoon of the 29th, the entry into the city was basically completed.

The Yang clan troops, the Hebei troops, the Silver Spear Army, and the Xianbei troops each occupied a place, and no one suffered any loss. When writing military reports in the future, they can mention that "a certain unit entered from a certain gate", and everyone will have made a contribution.

Yang Chen led his generals and officers directly to Cao Yi's shogunate.

The clerks and servants in the palace had fled long ago, official documents were scattered everywhere, desks were tilted, and there were traces of blood on the ground. It was obvious that this power center of Qingzhou had once been the scene of a bloodbath - before surrendering, Cao Yi held a Hongmen Feast here and beheaded more than a dozen officers.

Liu Ling followed at the end of the team and was speechless when he saw the magnificent shogunate and solemn furnishings.

He put himself in Cao Qi's position and imagined himself sitting at the top, giving orders to the generals and staff and holding the power of a state in his hands. What a pleasure that would be!
A real man cannot live without power for a day!
Money and women are just embellishments brought by power. As long as you have power, you will have everything.

Cao Yi, a worthless scholar, was able to get Qingzhou by chance and act arrogantly for many years. I wonder how comfortable he was. And what about him? He fled everywhere with Wang Mi, was chased by Liang Gong, and was finally captured and almost lost his life.

Cao Yi had hundreds of concubines, but he was busy all day long, so it was impossible for him to have women and children. Or maybe he had some, but after he was captured, most of them were taken by others. Damn it!

It was only after he became an officer in Liang Gong's personal army that he settled down a little. He married a merchant woman in Xuchang and had children.

He is actually not as successful as Cao Yi!

Jin Zheng and Zhang Shuo gathered together, talking and laughing.

"The Grand Commander has ordered the nobles of all counties to send people to Guanggu, most likely for rewards." Zhang Shuo said, "Perhaps they are also asked to donate some food and fodder."

Jin Zheng was not interested in this and only asked, "Did Master Shao say anything to you?"

Zhang Shuo looked at Jin Zheng in doubt and said honestly, "After the war, my troops will probably have to stay in Zhenguanggu for a while."

Jin Zheng patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't be alarmed. It's good that the Central Camp is staying here. Keep an eye on Qingzhou and don't let so many counties and kingdoms be taken away by others."

Zhang Shuo thought silently and said nothing.

He was one or two years younger than Jin Zheng, and his qualifications and status were not as good as his. Even if he disagreed with what he said, he would not refute it.

He was a very pure warrior and didn't think much about some things. But after being reminded by Jin Zheng today, he seemed to have awakened something and his thoughts were a little confused for a while.

On the other side, Duan Pidi and Duan Wenyang followed the crowd closely with respectful expressions.

The capture of Qingzhou in two months shocked them greatly, but also made them a little discouraged.

In fact, when Liu Borgen started the rebellion, the Jin army in Qingzhou was unable to defeat him and suffered repeated defeats. However, they followed Wang Jun's order to march south and destroyed his main force in one battle, killing Liu Borgen. From a military perspective, they could even defeat all the enemies in Qingzhou in just one month.

But winning a battle is one thing, and establishing stable rule is another, and the difficulty is not on the same level.

The Qingzhou nobles abandoned Cao Qi at the critical moment, which was the main reason for his failure.

Lord Liang is very popular among the wealthy families!
After all, he was from Jin, so it was easy for him to attract the nobles of Jin to join him. As long as he was alive, the situation in the Central Plains would probably not change much. Even if the Duan tribe of Xianbei wanted to find an opportunity to get rid of their current situation and gain a real piece of land, it would be difficult.

This made them both very disappointed.

Wang Xuan was slightly two steps behind Yang Chen and had a pleasant conversation with Cao Yi's staff who accompanied him.

He knew his mission very well.

In terms of family status and fame, the Wang family of Langya has a great advantage in Qingzhou.

As for the Qingxu scholars, the two words Qing and Xu are listed in parallel and are often mentioned together.

The nobles of these two places had many marriages and close relations, so they naturally liked to gather together. It was precisely because of this that Lord Liang sent him here, and he was happy to come.

He recalled a conversation he had with his father earlier this year.

My father said that when he sought the post of Qingzhou governor for Chuzhong (Wang Dun) and the post of Xuzhou governor for Maohong (Wang Dao), he was targeting the fact that the gentry in Qingzhou and Xuzhou were closely related.

After the plan failed, as the situation became increasingly chaotic, it was difficult for my father to recreate this political layout. Because he had obvious shortcomings, he could not drive away Gou Xi and Cao Yi, no matter how much you said, it was useless.

Now, with the help of Lord Liang's powerful military force, it seems that there is some possibility.

Wang Xuan was very worried for a while, but his father looked at him meaningfully and said that Lord Liang might not object.

Wang Xuan suddenly understood.

The Qingxu scholars were a group that had some influence in Jianye. There were many of them, including the Wang, Yan, Zhuge, etc.

But in the north, during Sima Yue's time, Qingxu scholars were still relatively popular. However, after Shao Xun unified Henan, the Qingxu political group collapsed, and Yuzhou scholars represented by Yingchuan rose strongly.

Among the three dukes, six ministers, and six chancellors of the State of Liang, one third of the positions were given to the scholars of Yingchuan, not to mention the scholars from other counties and kingdoms in Yuzhou.

Lord Liang is obviously from Xuzhou, but the scholars of Qingxu have never been able to rise up. Isn’t this strange?

"Mr. Liang has no objection", hehe.

My father is really shrewd and has been waiting for the opportunity.

******
After the good news was reported back to Lu County, Shao Xun ordered his men to pack up and head to Guanggu to take a look.

Zu Ti led the navy to capture Pi, and the four military cities of Jianye north of the Huai River also cooperated in the attack, mobilizing more than 30,000 naval and land soldiers.

Liu Chou was stationed in Pengcheng and ordered his troops to hold their ground and not to fight recklessly.

Zu Ti and his companions were unable to capture the fortified city, and in the end they could only force or trick some of the people of Xuzhou into retreating to the south of the Huai River. Together with the people of Xia Pi and Pengcheng who had moved south during the retreat, they were settled in Guangling and other places, serving as both farmers and soldiers.

After learning about Wu Bing's movements, Shao Xun decided to leave. Coincidentally, the victory report arrived and there was nothing more to say.

Before leaving, he considered it over and over again and issued a series of orders:

1. Open the government treasury and reward all the soldiers. Each person will be given one piece of silk and two pieces of cloth. If there is a shortage, donations can be collected to supplement it.

2. The able-bodied men in the Xianbei, Hebei, and Henan counties were successively dismissed, and all the surrendered soldiers were sent to Bianliang to build a palace.

3. Liang State added the position of General of Light Chariots and appointed Zhang Shuo to this position, and he led the Silver Spear Camp to garrison Guanggu.

4. Announce to the entire army, select 3,600 men with outstanding military achievements, and move their families to Chenliu to become government soldiers.

5. Add the post of General Wu Ya and appoint Yang Quan to this position. Select 10,000 surrendered soldiers and lead his troops south to Xuzhou to reinforce the Huai River line.

6. Lou Xiu, the clerk of the West Division of the General's Office, will go to Qingzhou, and Wang Xuan, the Minister of Agriculture of the Liang State, will take over the duties of the clerk of the East Division. The clerk will be dismissed after the task is completed.

For now, these are the six orders. The more specific arrangements will have to wait until he goes around before deciding.

In addition, he also had to see what Qingzhou was like now.

More than ten years ago, Liu Borgen and Wang Mi started rebellions one after another. When the Gou Xi brothers were in charge of Qingzhou, they used harsh punishments and endless killings. Then they fought against Cao Yi. After Cao Yi took over, he fought against Shao Xun for several years...

Judging from these extremely frequent wars, Qingzhou was in great chaos. Otherwise, Wang Dun would not have been scared away by bandits and left his wife behind.

At the same time, this is actually an opportunity, an opportunity to accommodate a large number of people and truly register all citizens.

Shao Xun needs counties that he can directly control rather than rely on indirect control by the gentry. Qingzhou should give him this opportunity - Henan and Hebei have entered a "stock society", and a big state is completely worthy of him personally getting involved and competing with the gentry for food.

On the fifth day of June, the army left Lu County and marched towards Guanggu.

Before leaving, a message of victory was sent to Luoyang by a messenger on Pegasus.

(End of this chapter)