Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 82 Stabilizing Xiliang (First Order)

Perhaps because his father Xiahou Yuan died too early in Dingjun Mountain, he was only a General of the Western Expedition until his death, and did not enjoy the official titles and rewards when Cao Pi was named King of Wei and Emperor of Wei.

Therefore, the future of Xiahou Yuan's sons was completely incomparable to that of Xiahou Dun's descendants.

As soon as Cao Pi was crowned King of Wei, he immediately appointed Xiahou Dun as the general. Although Xiahou Dun served as the general for only a month before his death, his political legacy was passed on to his son Xiahou Mao, who was able to go to Chang'an.

Xiahou Ba was just a general at this time. At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to Xiahou Ba who was standing in the center of the hall.

Xiahou Ba's Adam's apple rolled and he swallowed unconsciously, as if the eyes of the emperor in front of him and the others were burning.

Cao Rui looked at Xiahou Ba and said slowly, "Xiahou Zhongquan, are you willing to serve as the governor of Liangzhou for me?"

Although Xiahou Ba felt something when the emperor said his name, he was still extremely nervous when the emperor actually announced the appointment.

The Governor of Liangzhou is the governor of the emperor! Don’t you see that the Governor of Yongzhou next door, Guo Huai, is almost fifty years old, the Governor of Yuzhou, Jia Kui, is over fifty years old, and the Governor of Qingzhou, Wang Ling, is fifty-five!
Although it is in Liangzhou, which is a bit far away, he is still a governor!

Being able to serve as a governor at the age of less than 40 was something Xiahou Ba never dared to imagine even in his dreams, but reality is often stranger than dreams.

Xiahou Ba paid homage with great respect, his voice trembling slightly: "I am willing to die for your majesty and for the great Wei."

Cao Rui laughed and said, "Stand up. There is no need for formalities at a banquet. I have not finished what I want to say."

Xiahou Ba slowly stood up and stood in the hall with his hands behind his back, waiting for the emperor's words.

Cao Rui looked at General Cao Zhen and said, "General, what are the current military and political conditions in Liang Province? Tell Xiahou Zhongquan about it."

In the second year of Huangchu, Cao Zhen led the army to suppress the rebellion of the Qiang people in Liangzhou. In addition, as the general, Cao Zhen was in charge of the military and political affairs of the whole country in Luoyang. Although he was not familiar with every detail, he could still grasp the general military, political and people's sentiments in Liangzhou.

The emperor asked, and Cao Zhen naturally had to speak up again: "The current Liangzhou is quite different from the Liangzhou in the Former Han Dynasty. In terms of territory, Liangzhou has one more Xiping County than the Liangzhou in the Former Han Dynasty, and it lacks the four counties of Nan'an, Tianshui, Longxi, and Guangwei in Longyou."

"The current capital of Liangzhou is in Guzang, Wuwei, which is much farther from Luoyang than the original capital of Ji County. After the death of Zhang Ji, the last governor of Liangzhou, the court has not found a suitable candidate to fill the vacancy. The civil affairs of Liangzhou have been managed by the governor of the neighboring Yongzhou."

"Liangzhou was pacified not long ago, and now it is a mixed population of Qiang and Han people. The Qiang people's minds are naturally difficult to understand, but the local Han people are also in turmoil, making it more difficult to govern than in the Central Plains."

In just a few words, Cao Zhen explained the situation in Liangzhou clearly: Liangzhou was far away and the imperial court could not reach it; Liangzhou had just been pacified and the Han and Qiang people were not very convinced.

In other words, ever since the rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty, the local warlords and aristocratic families have actually been ruling over the various counties in Liangzhou for decades. Why should they obey your court?
Xiahou Ba felt a little overwhelmed when listening to Cao Zhen's words. If Liangzhou was so difficult to govern, and he had no experience in civil affairs, could he handle the situation and stabilize the area if the emperor sent him to Liangzhou?

At this time, Cao Rui asked: "I ask you, what will you do after you take office?"

Xiahou Ba thought for a moment and said, "After I take office in Liangzhou, I will clear up unjust cases, appease the people's livelihood, and protect the territory for Your Majesty."

Xiahou Ba's answer was quite standard, but Cao Rui shook his head on the stage when he heard it.

Xiahou Ba became even more flustered.

Cao Rui said: "You are a general, do you think I am using you in Liang Province to make you a wise minister and bring peace to the region?"

"I want you to learn from Dong Zhuo, Han Sui, and Ma Chao."

Dong Zhuo, Han Sui, Ma Chao... Aren't they all former enemies of Wei? Aren't they all traitors? Xiahou Ba was puzzled.

Seeing Xiahou Ba standing in the hall in a daze, Cao Hong, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Zhongquan, why are you so stupid? His Majesty didn't ask you to go to Liangzhou to be a teacher, but to make friends with the Qiang people in Liangzhou and become the Mengchang Lord of Liangzhou!"

Xiahou Ba suddenly realized what was going on and quickly said, "I understand. I will definitely live up to your majesty's trust."

Cao Rui nodded and said, "Take your seat first. I will give you a formal appointment on the day of the court meeting."

Xiahou Ba saluted and then withdrew.

In fact, in Cao Rui's mind, the Wei Empire had leaks everywhere. Yongliang, Jingzhou, Yangzhou... Every place had shortcomings of one kind or another, and every place had room for improvement.

But there are only a limited number of capable officials, the country's financial resources are limited, and the deployment of military forces is cramped. In short, it is inevitable to prioritize.

As for Liangzhou, it was not long since it was incorporated into the government. It was unrealistic to expect Liangzhou to be as well governed as Henan. It would be good enough if Liangzhou did not cause chaos or hinder the imperial court. If it had some spare capacity, it would be an unexpected surprise if it could provide some support during the war against Shu Han.

Cao Rui used Xiahou Ba for three reasons:
Firstly, Xiahou Ba was quite brave and came from the Xiahou family, a noble family. In addition, he was a military general. It was hoped that Xiahou Ba could make friends with the Qiang leaders when he arrived in Liangzhou, so that the Qiang people would not be instigated by Shu Han to rebel. It would be even better if Qiang soldiers could be recruited in time of war.

Second, Xiahou Ba was a cavalry commander when he was in the central army. Liangzhou was a land that produced good horses and cavalry. Xiahou Ba could train cavalry in Wuwei, Liangzhou. Although Wuwei was thousands of miles away from Longyou, which bordered Shu Han, the cavalry was fast, so if there was an emergency in Longyou, it would still be able to provide support in time. Third, Xiahou Ba's father, Xiahou Yuan, died at the hands of Shu Han, and he often wanted to avenge Shu Han. Using Xiahou Ba to govern Liangzhou, it was believed that Shu Han would not shirk responsibility and retreat when it attacked, which provided a layer of insurance for Longyou.

As for the people's livelihood? Why not find a famous and capable minister to assist Xiahou Ba? As long as Liangzhou is not in chaos, it will be a blessing!

The singing and dancing in the hall had already stopped. Seeing that the emperor seemed to be thinking about something, the ministers also kept silent and waited for the emperor to speak.

"In addition to Liangzhou, there is also Yongzhou." Cao Rui said slowly: "Where is the left general Zhang He?"

Zhang He took a deep breath, stood up from his seat, walked around a little, walked down a few steps at the side to the center of the hall, and saluted the emperor.

Cao Rui looked at the veteran general. He thought a lot about royal family members, nobles, military generals and border guards.

Cao Rui said: "General Zuo, if you were to guard Guanzhong, what would you do?"

Zhang He bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, if I were responsible for guarding Guanzhong, I would do as Your Majesty just said, destroy or build passes on the four roads between Guanzhong and Hanzhong in order to hold on and find opportunities for battle as soon as possible."

"I think it is best to deploy the troops as they are now. Ten thousand troops should be stationed in Mei County to guard Chencang. They can support Sanguan nearby and go west along the Wei River Valley to Longyou. The remaining ten thousand troops should be stationed in Chang'an to guard the three prefectures in case of emergency."

Cao Rui nodded. He was quite satisfied with Zhang He's words. He basically followed the results of his discussion with Cao Zhen and Zhang He, and proposed a plan to rush to Longyou from Guanzhong.

Cao Rui asked again: "If I ask you to guard Longyou, what will you do?"

Zhang He was silent for a moment, then said: "Longyou is different from Guanzhong. Qishan Fort was well guarded as early as the time of the previous emperor. If I were in Longyou, I would only deploy layers of defense to delay the enemy and wait for the arrival of reinforcements from Guanzhong."

"I think that capable generals can be sent to garrison the three cities closest to Qishan, Xixian, Jixian in Tianshui County, and Shanggui. If these four cities are guarded, Zhuge Liang will not be able to enter most of Longyou. Even if he enters, he must always be on guard against his retreat being intercepted."

Deploy layers of defense to delay the enemy? Although this is sufficient from a military perspective, it is not easy to achieve if we only focus on the military.

Although Longyou now belongs to Yongzhou, it is actually still a county of Liangzhou. The issue of Yongliang has never been just a simple military issue of rebellion and rebellion suppression, but a problem involving people's hearts, politics, economy and other aspects.

If we only talk about people's hearts, a very serious problem since the Eastern Han Dynasty has been regional discrimination, and it is regional discrimination across the country.

As early as during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Huan, one of the "Three Great Masters of Liangzhou" and a famous general from Dunhuang who pacified the Qiang Rebellion, would rather not receive any reward after returning to the court, and instead moved his registered residence to Hongnong County in Henan.

In short, the people of Ru, Ying, Wan and Luo stood at the top of the chain of regional discrimination and contempt in the Han Dynasty, looking down on everyone equally. People from Henan looked down on people from Hebei, people from Jizhou looked down on people from Youzhou, and people from the interior looked down on people from the border counties.

The Liangzhou border county, located in Liangzhou and where Qiang and Han people live together, is at the lowest end of the contempt chain.

As the saying goes, "generals come from Guanxi and prime ministers come from Guandong." However, due to this long-term regional discrimination, the aristocratic families from the Central Plains often looked down on people from Liangzhou. Even many military generals from Liangzhou had to study Confucian classics hard in order to be accepted by the scholars in the court.

As rebellions in Liang Province continued, officials in the court discussed abandoning Liang Province. During the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, the Minister of State Cui Lie discussed abandoning Liang Province because of the rebellions of Bian Zhang and Han Sui, but was stopped only by Fu Xie of Beidi's fierce advice that "behead the Minister of State Cui Lie and the world will be at peace."

When Dong Zhuo marched into Luoyang at the end of the Han Dynasty, he was able to quickly unite with the people of Bingzhou led by Lu Bu because Liangzhou and Bingzhou were both border counties.

After Dong Zhuo was killed by Wang Yun and Lu Bu, who were from Bingzhou, Wang Yun, a scholar from Bingzhou, began to look down on people from Liangzhou and even wanted to kill all the people from Liangzhou in Chang'an. This led to Jia Xu leading Li Jue and Guo Si to capture Chang'an.

Even when Lu Bu later defected to Liu Bei, he had to use the fact that he was born in Jiuyuan and was from the same border area as Liu Bei, who was born in Zhuo County, to get close to him.

In the original history, when Zhuge Liang launched his first Northern Expedition, the three counties of Nangan, Tianshui and Anding surrendered at the first sight.

How to win the hearts of the people in the counties of Longyou is the key to Wei's ability to hold Longyou.

Cao Rui looked at Zhang He and said, "As you said, from a military point of view, it can be said to be complete."

"Let me ask you one last question. If Zhuge Liang came to Qishan with 80,000 troops, what would you do in Yongliang?"

Compared with the previous questions, it seems that this question is what the emperor really cares about.

Zhang He frowned slightly, and said as if he had made a great decision: "I will delay the enemy, defend the city, defend the important roads, fortify the walls and clear the fields, preserve the troops, and wait for the reinforcements from Guanzhong and Henan."

Cao Rui nodded upon hearing this: "In that case, I am relieved."

"Would you be willing to command the military affairs of Yongzhou and Liangzhou for me? I would like to entrust all the affairs west of Tongguan to you."

(End of this chapter)