Chapter 143: Watching the Fight from the Mountain...
Li Su's voice stopped at the three words "Respectfully" which he had not yet uttered.
The visitor from Yecheng could not be anyone else except the envoy who falsely proclaimed the Emperor of Han!
For a moment, Li Su almost thought that this was a fake drama staged by Qiao Yan to show his suppression of him, the envoy from Dong Zhuo.
However, he found that she looked uninterested even when listening to his announcement of the title of General of the Cavalry, and she couldn't help showing some surprise after hearing that there was an envoy from Yecheng.
However, what surprised Qiao Yan was not that someone would come from Yecheng.
The existence of Dong Zhuo, a hero in adversity and a coward in prosperity, enabled him to quickly win over all parties after gaining a foothold in Chang'an in order to consolidate Liu Xie's legitimate position in his hands.
The ministers who supported Liu Bian to ascend the throne had to make such a move in the absence of the empress dowager, the imperial seal, and the will of the late emperor.
So what if Qiao Yan once scolded Yuan Benchu in the street for being “all show and no substance”?
When the Bingzhou Mu was needed to support military rations, she took them out without hesitation.
This is exactly what Yuan Shao showed when he hadn't figured out the ridiculous algorithm for counting wheat and hadn't told his subordinates about the additional chips.
So what if she once denounced Yuan Gonglu in court for supporting the new Junshi, which was no different from Dong Zhuo?
If Yuan Shu and Dong Zhuo were really put together, at least Qiao Yan led an expedition against the latter.
This is worth talking about.
After all, the governor of Bingzhou is now actively preparing for the conquest of Xiliang, and is using Liangzhou as a passage to attack Chang'an, rather than directly sending troops from Bingzhou to Yecheng, in order to denounce the legitimacy of Liu Bian's accession to the throne.
If the attack between her and Dong Zhuo became more intense, it is hard to guarantee that Liu Xie would become a victim.
Since only one of the previous emperor's two princes was left, whether Liu Bian was the legitimate heir was not so important.
This was the conclusion reached at the end of the dispute in the court in Yecheng a few days ago.
Of course, they did not say anything in front of the emperor, saying that only when your brother dies can you be considered orthodox. Instead, they tactfully expressed their expectations for Qiao Bingzhou to eliminate the bandits. For this reason, they discussed and decided to give him the title of general as a reward for his martial virtues.
Or to win over.
As for what position to give, it is not difficult to guess.
Yuan Shu attacked Luoyang from the south and entered Luoyang from the second route, and was rewarded with the merit of saving the emperor and supporting him to the throne, so he could be named General of Chariots and Cavalry. Qiao Yan led his troops to break the city first, and almost all of his troops were Dong Zhuo's most elite troops, so he should be ranked above Yuan Shu.
This was said by Yang Biao.
When he said this, his expression was very serious, and no one could tell whether he was seeking benefits for his son who was now working under the governor of Bingzhou.
And if we follow what he said, in the general hierarchy system established since the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, there were only two positions above the General of Chariots and Cavalry: the General of Cavalry and the General.
But the position of general could not be given to Qiao Yan, otherwise she would have the authority to mobilize troops from all over the world, and who knew whether she would send a surprise attack on Ye City.
So the only option is...
General of Cavalry.
Xu You came to Bingzhou carrying the imperial edict conferring him the title of General of Cavalry.
But he didn't come alone.
Qiao Yan invited the "visitors from Yecheng" to the hall, and heard the two men introduce themselves.
There is no need to say much about Xu You, as Qiao Yan had met him before.
After Dong Zhuo took control of the government, Xu You, who was an aide to General He Jin, decisively fled Luoyang. After Liu Bian established the capital in Yecheng under the arrangement of the Yuan family, he went to Yuan Shao for refuge, and happened to miss Qiao Yan.
But Xu You was also present at the Dingzhongguan policy discussion more than five years ago.
At that time, he felt, like Chen Lin, that Qiao Yan's ability to curse was a little lacking, but he also gave her a very high evaluation for having such political awareness at such a young age. But looking back today, her ability to belittle others with words has not improved much, and she is getting better and better at using her own achievements to attack others from a superior position.
What made Xu You feel a subtle sense of time dislocation was that in the past, he, Xu Shao, Chen Lin, Wang Qian and others could give comments and praise to Qiao Yan as elders, but now they could only reluctantly say that they had a keen eye for talent at that time, and had to accept Qiao Yan's scrutiny from above during this visit.
It was the person who was walking with him who bowed and spoke to Qiao Yan, which interrupted his thoughts. "Wei Jun Shen Pei has met with Marquis Qiao."
Trial and Matching...
Qiao Yan pondered over the other party's origins and replied, "The arrival of Xu Ziyuan and Shen Zhengnan has brought glory to this humble place."
She said something that was a compliment, but if Shen Pei and Xu You were to judge the tone of her words, they might not find much genuine compliment in them.
But at this moment, none of them could accuse the other of mistreating the famous scholar, because Qiao Yan had already made his position very clear two months ago.
The late emperor entrusted her with the task of supporting the Han Dynasty and clearing the court of corrupt officials. With the late emperor's will in her hands, she could indeed criticize Liu Bian for having assumed the throne in an illegitimate manner.
Then these officials belonging to the Eastern Han court were false ministers in her eyes.
But anyway, I wasn't kicked out directly, so I can still talk.
Xu You's eyes inevitably swept over the distinctive imperial edict in Li Su's hand, and he realized that he might have chosen an extremely special time to arrive in Bingzhou.
This person must be Dong Zhuo's messenger!
This made him, as an envoy, feel even more urgency.
He ignored the hint of sarcasm in Qiao Yan's words and replied, "Marquis Qiao has made outstanding military achievements and is well-known throughout the world. If the prefecture of Bingzhou is to be called a humble place, then I'm afraid that only the residence of the emperor can be called a Mingtang."
Qiao Yan raised his eyebrows when he heard this. "This is not something you, Xu Ziyuan, would say. Sir, you are known for your sharp criticism of current problems and your sharp words. Why do you have to say something that is not easy for you to say? It will only make you feel upset and unhappy."
"Lord Qiao's words are not true," Xu You said to her, "Times have changed, and people have been bent by them. If you can face your heart, then it may not be false and insincere."
"So, what does Mr. Ziyuan have to teach me?"
Xu You bowed to her and said, "May I ask Lord Qiao, at present, natural disasters and people's calamities are frequent. Now there is a master in the west who is surrounded by tigers and wolves. There is a master in the east who can recruit wise ministers and open up channels for people to speak. Where should the people go?"
Qiao Yan smiled and said, "People will go to places with lower taxes and better livelihoods. Mr. Ziyuan, what is the current grain price in Yecheng?"
Xu You was stuck for a moment.
He wanted to use the gathering of wise ministers around Liu Bian to make him more suitable to be a king, and Dong Zhuo was just a tiger and wolf. Even if Lu Zhi and others went to protect him, they would only be confining Liu Xie in their own territory to try to persuade Qiao Yan.
The people did not have the extra time for her to rescue Liu Xie.
Before this, the Han Dynasty court formed around the monarch Liu Bian must have been stable and became a court recognized by the people. So what would be the point of rescuing Liu Xie at that time?
Wouldn't it be necessary for the two kings to fight each other before the world can be pacified again?
This is definitely not a good thing for the people of the world. In this case, it would be better to enshrine Liu Bian as the new master as soon as possible.
However, Qiao Yan's answer was a rhetorical question, asking about the current price of grain in Yecheng.
She was right when she said that Dong Zhuo was a hero in adversity.
After he fled to Chang'an, he changed his previous violent style in Luoyang. In addition to setting up military farms in Huayin with Duan Wei, he did not impose too much tax on the people of Chang'an.
This may be because the number of soldiers under his command in Liang Province was reduced a lot, making them relatively easier to control than before, or it may be because Lu Zhi, Huang Wan and others advised him. After losing Li Ru, the military advisor, Dong Zhuo had to believe in the advice of these loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty.
But the results are obvious.
Chang'an was originally the capital of the Western Han Dynasty. It had natural advantages in terms of population size and planting conditions in the Guanzhong Plain. When Dong Zhuo restrained his wolfish nature and refrained from levying heavy taxes, the grain price in Chang'an remained relatively stable.
But Yecheng is different.
This place was suddenly promoted from a large county in Jizhou to a national capital. The number of dignitaries suddenly increased to a level, which has caused the city to be overloaded. The city must be expanded and evacuated outward as soon as possible.
It just so happened that these dignitaries had just experienced the Luoyang Incident, and their urge to stockpile goods was much stronger than before, so it was inevitable that they snatched up all the food in Yecheng.
In order to fill the national treasury and replenish the military rations for Yuan Shao's army, they also requisitioned a batch of grain from the surrounding areas.
Bingzhou and Yecheng are connected through Fukou Pass, one of the eight passes in Taihang Mountains. It would be much easier for Qiao Yan to know what is happening in Yecheng than to find out what Dong Zhuo is doing in Chang'an.
She also knew clearly that under such pressure from many aspects, even though it was approaching the harvest season, the price of grain in Yecheng remained high.
If grain was not in short supply nowadays, Qiao Yan would have wanted to make a fortune with Bingzhou's grain.
Seeing Xu You silent, Qiao Yan said coldly: "I don't need Mr. Xu Ziyuan to teach me any great principles, and don't use words like "two masters in a country is not good for the people's livelihood" to convince me. If you have any will, just read it out. Whether you listen or not, I will naturally make a decision."
Xu You felt that he had never seen such an absurd scene since he had made a name for himself among the literati.
The one who was holding the imperial edict and reading it became the one in the wrong, while the one who was listening to the imperial edict sat calmly, just like an audience watching a play.
But if he had seen how Bao Hong handed the late emperor's will to Qiao Yan, he probably would not have thought so.
But now the situation is stronger than him, and he can only read out the edict of enthronement.
In Qiao Yan's opinion, this edict was more worthy of the learned people in Yecheng. It contained endless words of praise, such as "a famous family has brought blessings, a great family has given birth to an outstanding person, the soil has been gathered into an array, and silk has been torn into a flag." There were three or four lines in a row, all of which were meant to find common topics between them and Qiao Yan, so that she could see clearly which camp she should stand on.
And then came the most important sentence, "I hereby appoint you as General of Cavalry."
When this sentence came out, Li Su almost jumped up in shock.
As early as when he saw that the people coming from Yecheng were Xu You and Shen Pei, he felt that he, as the representative who announced the imperial edict on the side of Prime Minister Dong, was completely not on the same level as those two.
Shen Pei was a strong-willed man, and Xu You was good at debate. If he were to compete with the two, he would have no chance of winning.
The only thing that could bring Qiao Yan a little closer was this: he was from Bingzhou.
Hearing Qiao Yan's sarcastic rebuttal to Xu You, Li Su felt secretly delighted. He also felt that with Xu You's tone, the people in Yecheng might still think they can rely on the name of righteousness to win Qiao Yan over to their side.
If they really did so, they could irritate Qiao Yan even more, which would give them a chance to negotiate.
However, I didn't expect that these children from aristocratic families were actually able to bend and stretch. Although they were morally blackmailed, they still got all the titles they deserved.
This is... very embarrassing.
The envoys arrived almost at the same time. The former because he belonged to Dong Zhuo, and the latter because of the regime they belonged to. Neither of them could get absolute recognition from Qiao Yan. Now they came up with the same name.
I don't know whether it should be said that after the Battle of Luoyang, both sides had to face up to Bingzhou's strength, or whether it should be said that fortunately she had given her own luck a boost, making this icing on the cake that came with her strength full of drama.
Qiao Yan smiled meaningfully: "I think you two should exchange your opinions first, compare your strengths, and then come and discuss with me."
Having said this, she didn't say anything else and just stood up and left.
Anyway, she has enough power to ignore both sides, so just let them stay.
Seeing Qiao Yan leave, Xu You hurriedly borrowed the imperial edict from Li Su. When he saw the four words "General of Cavalry" written at the end, he immediately realized why she had such a reaction.
Oops! They still underestimated the reflection and remedial actions taken by Dong Zhuo at this time!
He exchanged a glance with Shen Pei, who immediately understood and chased after Qiao Yan.
Fortunately, they had a second plan. This time, Shen Pei went to Bingzhou not to read the imperial edict, but to thank Qiao Yan on behalf of the eldest son of the Yuan family.
"I heard that Shen Zhengnan has a reputation in Hebei for being generous and unyielding. Ever since Yuan Benchu served the emperor in Ye, he entrusted Mr. Zhengnan with an important task. Why is he here to deliver gifts on behalf of the eldest son?" Qiao Yan replied nonchalantly, feeling a little depressed.
Yuan Shao really knows how to select the people he sent this time.
Shen Pei came from a powerful family in Hebei and was loyal to his master. Although he was often regarded as "self-centered and without strategy", his ability to defend a city showed that he had considerable military ability. No matter how capable this person is, he will not be instigated by Qiao Yan who is in Bingzhou.
Not to mention Xu You. Rather than serving General He Jin's office, it would be more accurate to say that he always maintained a friendship with Yuan Shao. Moreover, although this person is somewhat intelligent and talented, he is also greedy and unruly, and is obviously not someone that Qiao Yan wants to win over.
Upon hearing this, Shen Pei replied, "The Yuan family is united from top to bottom, and it is most appropriate for Yuan Qingzhou to return the favor for the eldest son."
This may also be expressing another meaning. Qiao Yan was indebted to Yuan Ji and had a grudge against Yuan Shao, but because the Yuan family was originally one, kindness outweighs hatred, so Qiao Yan did not need to be prejudiced against the Yecheng court because of the small conflict between him and Yuan Shao.
Seeing Qiao Yan accept the gift, Shen Pei couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
However, he did not expect that on the second day, after he had discussed a plan with Xu You, when he arrived outside the provincial capital, he heard a piece of shocking news: Qiao Yan was not in the provincial capital.
Cheng Yu, the Bingzhou Beijia, still looks quite threatening when he has a stern face.
Facing the gazes from Shen Pei, Xu You, and Li Su, Cheng Yu replied calmly, "It is a good harvest season in Bingzhou. What's wrong with you personally going to inspect the four directions? After all, we have taken out an extra 50,000 shi of military rations from the Luoyang campaign."
"..."Xu You could swear that based on what he and Shen Pei saw along the way from Fukou Pass into Bingzhou, through Shangdang County to Taiyuan County, the bumper harvest in Bingzhou was enough to ensure that Marquis Qiao would never be short of those 50,000 shi of grain.
It would be almost accurate to say that this is a rejection of their subtext!
But before Li Su could feel proud for long, Cheng Yu continued, "Besides, the autumn harvest is for the purpose of conquering Liangzhou and Dong the thief, so we should be more cautious."
Li Su's smile immediately froze on his face.
If these two sentences were said by Guo Jia or Xi Zhicai, they would definitely not be as effective as if they were said by Cheng Yu.
He has been in charge of the central government for a long time for Qiao Yan, and there is a murderous aura in his words.
It also made the matter of conquest he mentioned seem to be beyond discussion...
Unless you pay more.
Even though Li Su had learned from Duan Wei before leaving Chang'an for Bingzhou that it would not be easy for the Bingzhou army to attack Chang'an, it was hard not to be anxious at this moment.
But come to think of it, what Qiao Yan asked Cheng Yu to say were not entirely excuses.
After this bumper harvest, she would indeed have to give further consideration to the use of military rations.
It's not just a matter of food storage, but also the issue of how to store and carry rations during combat.
Zhang Niujiao felt that he had almost become an all-round worker in Bingzhou, from house construction to farm tool production, and now to the military food industry. In comparison, he envied Liang Zhongning, who was arranged by Qiao Yan to train migrant soldiers.
But when Qiao Yan asked about the results of the part he was responsible for, he quickly replied: "Your Excellency said before that you wanted to make pot cakes as military rations. This is the simplest."
Guokui is naturally simple.
The stone mill processing technology by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was advanced enough that Qiao Yan could even use it to make homemade cement. It was not difficult to grind wheat dough and make pot cakes as dry food.
However, most of the early military rations were not distributed in the form of this kind of dumpling, but mostly a mixture of corn and beans called "qiu qiu". So they had to specially send someone to do some research to confirm that the thickness and weight of this pot cake were suitable for the needs of the march.
Seeing Qiao Yan pulling out a bow and arrow for testing, preparing to test the pot cake hanging on the wall in the distance, Zhang Niujiao's eyelids jumped, and he quickly snatched it over: "No... Don't bother, my lord, I'll do it."
What a joke!
Considering the arm strength and archery accuracy of their Bingzhou Mu who can pull a three-stone bow, what will happen if she were to take such a test?
Qiao Yan did not reject his proactive action. Seeing that he bent the bow and drew the arrow a little loosely, he wanted to simulate the situation of stray arrows on the battlefield. He did not ask him to use more strength.
In fact, on the battlefield these days, it is impossible to encounter arrows of her level all the time. As long as it can play a certain protective role, especially for the soldiers who can only wear leather armor, it is enough.
The arrow pierced the Guokui but did not penetrate it. Qiao Yan walked forward, patted the still thick Guokui, asked Zhang Niujiao about its weight and time to spoil, and then walked to the next place.
The second type of military rations was undoubtedly jerky.
With the number of cattle and sheep in Bingzhou, it is possible to prepare enough meat in a state of war.
She no longer needed to worry about the skill of drying meat jerky.
She didn't know if it was her illusion, but she felt that Zhang Niujiao had become a lot fatter in the past six months. She thought that in this environment where it was difficult to avoid self-production and self-sales, the improvement in the food was too much.
Seeing Qiao Yan looking towards his face, Zhang Niujiao tried to press the flesh on his face twice with his hands and led Qiao Yan, "Next place, let's go to the next place."
The next place produces cheese.
Based on his memory of how cheese was made, Qiao Yan asked Zhang Niujiao and his men to dry the cow and sheep cheese into skins in July and August, stir-fry them and continue to expose them to the sun, and then knead them into balls. They actually made an ancient military version of cheese that could be stored for quite a long time. 1
In fact, the crispy mountain can be considered a by-product of cheese making.
Since cheese takes a very long time to store, she simply asked them to complete production as soon as possible and store it using traditional methods so that it could be used when needed.
As dairy products, these cheeses were no worse than meat for the soldiers of that era, which is why it is said that "military kitchens value goat cheese, and it is an old custom to feast on the soil."
In addition to human consumption, cheese also has a greater significance as military rations:
This thing can eliminate the hunger and thirst of war horses, which is undoubtedly of great significance for the war horses' galloping battles in Liangzhou.
After Qiao Yan had an idea of the cheese stock, he went into the next workshop.
This place is a little special. The dry rations provided to the soldiers are not for satisfying hunger, but are stir-fried sesame seeds put into paper bags.
Putting sesame seeds in your mouth during a long march is like feeding cheese to a war horse. It can greatly relieve hunger and thirst. More importantly, this thing does not take up much space.
Guokui, jerky, cheese, sesame bags, and pickles produced in the next workshop are the basic food distributed to every soldier.
Zhang Niujiao secretly made himself stronger, under the pretext of preparing for future wars, but he was very careful when it came to equipping himself with food packages.
Since it was not yet time to march, the pot-cakes, which had the shortest storage time, had not yet been put into production. However, if there were sufficient manpower and materials, this production line could be put into use quickly to complete the final assembly of military rations.
Military strength alone is not enough to win the war against Liang Province.
Judging from the protracted warfare waged by Duan Xing, Huangfu Gui, Zhang Huan and others against the Qiang people in Liangzhou, she must fight at least one sufficiently deterrent battle to avoid future troubles for a period of time.
So there can't be any mistakes in the smallest details!
After inspecting these food processing workshops, and visiting the border military camps and war horse training grounds, she also visited the Baidaochuan military settlement, which had already had a good harvest for the second year, to ensure that every place was in a thriving state. Only then did she leisurely return to the provincial capital.
Not surprisingly, Li Su, Xu You and Shen Pei had all left Bingzhou.
While she was not in a hurry to accept the reward offered by any party, they were the more anxious ones.
So obviously, this situation of leaving does not mean giving up.
"If we go by the position of General of Cavalry offered by both parties, Your Excellency has already reached a state where there is no more title or reward available. Why do you still want to push them to increase the offer?" Cai Zhaoji was recently transferred from Leping to Jinyang by Qiao Yan for publicity work. She was beside Qiao Yan at the moment and asked.
At this moment, Qiao Yan was reading through the harvest information reported by various states and counties, as well as the initial wasteland reclamation work completed by people from other places who had been incorporated into Bingzhou. He felt a great sense of satisfaction seeing the numbers displayed in front of him.
When Zhao Ji asked this, she replied, "Because accepting the order of any party may seem prominent for a while, but in fact it is just declaring a position. But I don't accept it, it doesn't mean I am not."
"What do you mean?"
Qiao Yan replied, "As you said, there is no need to confer titles, because they will not give me the position of general, which will do them no good. There is no need to reward them, because apart from rare treasures, they have no wealthier than the Bingzhou industry I own, and at this moment, rare treasures are more important than a meal."
"But in the face of the checks and balances between the two sides, neither side can easily withdraw this decree, otherwise I will inevitably fall to the other side."
If I can't take it back, then I can only...
Cai Zhaoji clapped her hands and said with a smile, "Yes, they can't take it back, even if they know that the Lord will disdain it and will not even accept it, they can't take it back! The most appropriate way is to directly address the Lord by this name."
As Qiao Yan had guessed, at the end of August, Liu Xie in Chang'an issued an edict, appointing Qiao Yan, the governor of Bingzhou, as General of Cavalry, in charge of military expeditions.
Almost two days earlier, Liu Bian of Yecheng also respected Qiao Yan as General of Cavalry from afar.
It obviously doesn’t matter whose cavalry general she is!
Anyway, in such a situation, the other party did not gain any advantage!
Qiao Yan did not use the power of establishing a government that a General of Cavalry could exercise to appoint several people under her command who did not yet have formal official positions. However, since she had the title of General of Cavalry, she had absolute power to suppress Ma Teng and Han Sui.
Doesn’t Dong Zhuo know that this is inappropriate? Of course not!
He could only bet that Qiao Yan would not launch the battle against Liangzhou so quickly.
"For one person to receive the title of General of Cavalry from two imperial courts is truly unique in the world." Cao Cao, who was in Yanzhou, couldn't help but shake his head with emotion when he received the news.
He originally felt that what he had done in Dongjun was good for both the people and the army, and he even got Chen Gong, who was also in Dongjun, to come and join him.
It can be said that after the campaign against Dong Zhuo, although he was not in the central government, his gains were not inferior to those of the central government.
But compared with Ye Shu, it seems that he is still a step late.
Cao Cao was probably not the only one who expressed such sentiments.
However, at this moment, the person being discussed by so many voices did not feel that anyone was criticizing her. After reading all the account books, she leisurely opened her system interface.
In fact, the one-month cooldown period for her [Magic Tips] function had already expired, but Qiao Yan always felt that she had lost some luck by getting those two envoys together, so she waited another half a month before reopening it.
I hope there won’t be any more outrageous gossip…
She thought about it and clicked with her eyes closed.
When she opened her eyes, she saw—
[You have obtained the leader information-Yuan Shu]
[According to the grapevine, Yuan Changshui, a fierce ghost on the road, was very fond of commenting on celebrities in his early years. His evaluation of Xu You was: Xu Ziyuan is a vicious and lewd person, his conduct is impure; his evaluation of He Yong was: He Boqiu is a man of evil character, I should kill him. 】2
“…”
Qiao Yan couldn't help but laugh.
It is no wonder that Yuan Shu, who came from a family of three generations of officials, had such a good reputation among celebrities.
He himself was a reckless street fighter, so how could he comment on Xu You's "cruelness and lewdness" and He Yong's "evil character"?
Society, it really is society.
Although she really didn't understand what was so great about this trick, it would be really interesting if it were used as a monthly entertainment.
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