Chapter 170 Planning Water Conservancy
Of course, Yan Jun was still a little hesitant about the information given by Guo Jia.
After sending the person away, he first discussed the matter with people who had dealings with the wealthy families in the same county, and then sent someone to deliver a letter to Jiuquan, asking Huang Yan, the governor of Jiuquan, for advice.
Huang Yan, the governor of Jiuquan, was a descendant of the Huang family of Jiuquan. He was also the typical representative figure mentioned by Qiao Yan who was no longer subject to the constraints of mutual laws because of his location in the most remote area of the Han Dynasty.
If we have to count, this person, together with Wang Guo from Didao and Li Xiangru, the prefect of Longxi, all responded to Han Sui's rebellion.
If Fu Xie's death was to be blamed on Han Sui and Wang Guo, who had already died, Huang Yan could not escape the blame either.
However, when the rebels besieged Ji County in Hanyang, this man tried to persuade Fu Xie to surrender. Soon after Qiao Yan was stationed in Gaoping City, he foresightedly realized that Han Sui could never be her opponent, so he quickly made the decision to defect and support her. He was not included in the targets of Qiao Yan's liquidation after she defeated Han Sui.
This kind of defection did not cause any loss to Huang Yan. After all, Jiuquan was not very close to Anding and Jincheng. At best, it was just a verbal gesture of goodwill.
But in Yan Jun's opinion, Huang Yan made a very wise decision.
It may have been at the instigation of this man that the Jiuquan Yang family sent Yang Feng to serve under Qiao Yan.
It is still unknown whether he has profited from it, but at least he has not been singled out as an example.
Yan Jun didn't know that Qiao Yan had discussed the issue of whether to kill or release Huang Yan with Fu Gan after the Battle of Jincheng. So he actually thought that Huang Yan had said something nice to Qiao Yan in the correspondence between them, so he regarded him as an adviser.
However, what Fu Gan and Qiao Yan said at that time was: "If we stop at Wuwei County, the territory controlled by your army will only double. If you want to take Dunhuang, Jiuquan and Zhangye, the territory will almost double. The Han Dynasty cannot control this mixed-inhabited area on the border and relies on the autonomy of the nobles, let alone you. Even if we release this man, it is better than killing him."
"Your Excellency has killed the thief Han Sui, and the kingdom was defeated by General Huangfu long ago. Beigong Boyu died in the civil strife. If my father knew about this, he would rest in peace. There is no need to cause any more trouble."
According to Fu Gan, Huang Yan is just a clown and there is no need to spend too much effort on him. Just let him continue to govern Jiuquan. Otherwise, the territory controlled by Qiao Yan would have doubled compared to before, and he would inevitably fall into a situation where he had the will but not the strength.
If the settlements along the Lushui River in Wuwei could be completely built, this comparison would further highlight Qiao Yan's wisdom.
This conversation was not spread outside, so Huang Yan felt that he was indeed insightful. He was also quite proud of the support of the Jiuquan Huang family. After receiving Yan Jun's inquiry, he replied: "It is strange that people have no selfish desires. The young governor of Bingzhou was made a marquis and is willful and arrogant. Let him be satisfied first and then make plans."
Huang Yan pondered over the information Yan Jun had found out.
The hobby of eating desserts is indeed a luxury in today's environment.
But Qiao Yan was from the Qiao family of Liang State. Although he had not been in contact with his family in Yanzhou for several years, he still had a solid aristocratic family background. Considering the state he ruled, he could afford the expense.
Then this isn't some ridiculous hobby.
At most, it just caused some trouble to those who wanted to please her.
If she liked some beautiful woman, she could always find one in Liangzhou. If she liked some rare treasures or gold or silver, the worst that could happen was that she would lose money to avoid disaster.
But since rock honey is something that is eaten, it must be made with extreme care.
Although we all know now that this thing is obtained by extracting sugarcane juice, boiling it and exposing it to the sun, the added milk, rice flour and other blending ingredients have different recipes in different places.
The quality of the Xiji rock honey produced in Xirong is far higher than that of other places.
At least it is sweeter than those produced in Yizhou.
He then added, "Wudu has a route into Shu. To prevent the Wudu surname from taking precedence, it would be better to send a caravan to the Western Regions to obtain the best products as tribute."
Yan Jun made up his mind after receiving the reply.
Given the current situation of the Han Dynasty, the wealthy families in the four counties of Hexi had already adopted a wait-and-see attitude following the rebellion of the Qiang people, not to mention how much respect they had for the Han royal family.
It was for this reason that Huang Yan said, "The world no longer belongs to the Han Dynasty" during the rebellion in the fourth year of Zhongping.
However, in order to seek benefits and avoid harm, they cannot offend Qiao Yan, who controls the local military power and can pose a threat to them.
It's just a matter of getting some sugar.
but……
Wait, this isn't that easy!
There were many Dingling, Wusun, Dayuan and even Kushan people in the Wuwei Yan family's westward caravan, so language was not a big problem in this trade.
The main problem is that the area originally under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Protectorate and the places further west are not peaceful at present. It is risky to purchase the best quality rock honey from the Kushans.
Within the territory of the Han Dynasty, border tyrants like Dong Zhuo were able to hold the central government hostage, resulting in the division of imperial power into two.
The areas outside the Central Plains were also in the midst of conflict.
In the Kushan Empire, Hubishaka II succeeded to the throne around the first year of the Zhongping reign of the Han Dynasty.
The southward migration of the power center has allowed Kangju, Dayuan and other places to break free from their constraints in recent years. A few years ago, caravans returning from business trips brought news that Khwarazm had also broken away from Kushan rule.
The Parthian Empire to the west of the Kushan Empire was under the rule of Vologases IV.
More than 20 years ago, he led his army to invade the West, but was attacked by the Roman expeditionary force, and even the Parthian Palace in Ctesiphon was burned down by the expeditionary force.
Since last year, Persian resistance forces have been attempting to take advantage of the weakening power of the Parthian Empire to rise up.
Before, the wealthy families living in the four counties of Hexi watched the excitement of the Han Dynasty while listening to the new news from the distant big country, and they often found both sides entertaining.
But now... now they are the ones that Qiao Yan can slaughter at any time.
"What you mean is that you want to present the best quality rock honey to the prince as I said, but the situation outside the country is turbulent, so you have to gather a larger caravan and hire some brave guards to accompany you to protect the goods?" Guo Jia, who was once again approached by Yan Jun, heard him say.
Yan Jun nodded and said, "Mr. Guo, think about it. The Xiliang rebels have just been pacified. If we rashly gather such a team, and Marquis Qiao misunderstands us and thinks we want to secede and resist, and directly sends troops to wipe us out, wouldn't that be troublesome? I would like to give a surprise directly, but the current situation is such that I really can't do it."
This young man from a noble family in Wuwei seemed to regard Guo Jia as his own military advisor.
Since Guo Jia was a young man, he accepted his invitation without any precautions and even revealed such a method to please Qiao Yan. It can be seen that he was very satisfied with the inducement he offered.
Little did he know that Guo Jia's good attitude towards him at this time was entirely due to this new information.
Guo Jia thought to himself that the situation seemed to be much more favorable than he had imagined.
Before Guo Jia proposed the theory of Shi Mi, he was actually not as clear as Yan Jun about the situation outside the Han Dynasty!
The knowledge that most scholars in the Central Plains received only mentioned the Wuhuan, Xianbei and Xiongnu at most. They had no idea what the environment was like outside the area across the Western Regions Protectorate.
Therefore, his original idea was, after creating the "flaw" of Qiao Yan's imperfection, to take a step-by-step approach and have the other party make two more trips to offer treasures, until a trend of offering treasures was formed, and then let Qiao Yan take control of the matter in his own hands.
However, this foreign trade route has been outside the jurisdiction of the Han regime for decades, and there are many unpredictable things in it, just like now, which requires him to adjust his plans at any time.
No, it should be said that Qiao Yan can adjust the plan at any time.
Since Yan Jun said that he needed to recruit brave guards, how could they compare to the soldiers under Qiao Yan's command.
This gave her the opportunity to arrange for people to join the team in a legitimate way.
Although the importance of introducing materials from abroad cannot be placed before operating the already owned lands such as Bingzhou and Liangzhou, this would be putting the cart before the horse. But sending this group of people out might also be a good time to adjust the personnel structure of your subordinates.
This is also something that needs to be decided by Qiao Yan himself.
After listening to Guo Jia's retelling of Yan Jun's words, Qiao Yan raised his eyebrows.
The Roman Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Kushan Empire and the Han Dynasty are the four largest empires in Eurasia today, geographically arranged from west to east.
Coincidentally, they are almost all facing their greatest crisis at this time.
But this kind of judgment about the situation on a larger scale cannot come from her mouth.
Unless something miraculous happened to her, it was impossible for her to grow a pair of eyes out of thin air and be able to see what was happening on the other side beyond the Western Region Protectorate.
This news could only be spread among merchants along the Silk Road into the four counties of Hexi, and finally reached her ears.
Even because it is too far away from here, there is a possibility that there will be errors and omissions in the transmission of information.
Fortunately, the information we got from Guo Jia was generally correct.
It was indeed because of the frequent wars on land transportation routes that in the ninth year of Yan Xi during the reign of Emperor Xiaohuan, the monarch of the Roman Empire sent ivory, rhinoceros horns, tortoise shells and other items to the Han Dynasty through the Maritime Silk Road.
"Then who do you think would be more suitable to send?" Qiao Yan asked.
Guo Jia smiled at Qiao Yan, "I think you already have the answer in your mind. You should have been a little hesitant about the arrangement of someone. But now you have a more suitable place."
"There's someone?" Qiao Yan muttered, "No, it's not just one person."
She raised her hand and wrote two names on the paper in front of her and handed it to Guo Jia. "What do you think of these two?"
Guo Jia took the paper and saw two names written on it——
Ma Teng and Xu Rong.
The former was exactly what he wanted to say, and the latter... was indeed a very suitable candidate!
He bowed and said, "Your Excellency is wise."
Ma Teng had indeed surrendered, but from the fact that when Qiao Yan used him as a troop to attack Kuiyuan Gorge, he still needed Huangfu Song to supervise Ma Teng, we can know that Qiao Yan was still somewhat wary of his command of troops.
Perhaps Cao Cao's arrangement for Ma Teng was appropriate.
Giving him a position with the title of a high position but no real power would enable him to behave himself, which also fits his desire to find a safe position to protect himself.
But the situation Qiao Yan faced was different from that of Cao Cao.
She could not issue any orders on behalf of Emperor Liu Xie, and had to stay temporarily in the territories of Liangzhou and Bingzhou.
This makes Ma Teng's existence somewhat awkward.
So she could let Ma Chao serve as the vanguard to help pacify Wudu County, but she did not dare to let Ma Teng lead an army alone for the time being.
But if he were assigned to the Silk Road, it would be very appropriate.
Ma Teng was a man of both civil and military proficiency, and had long-term experience living in Liangzhou. To suppress the caravans organized by the Liangzhou nobles, his personal authority was enough.
After Ma Teng left Liang Province, according to Ma Chao's way of commanding the army, he could not replace Ma Teng as the core leader of the next generation, which gave Qiao Yan the opportunity to take advantage of the time to completely eliminate Ma Teng's army.
This is by no means exile.
Because there were also people like Ban Chao who once served as the "Protector General" of the Western Regions Protectorate!
Ma Teng wouldn't think that comparing him with Ban Chao was an act of humiliation, right?
Another person whom Qiao Yan had chosen to do this was Xu Rong, but this was not because Qiao Yan was on guard against him.
She simply felt that, as Dong Zhuo had not yet been killed, even if Xu Rong had shown his willingness to surrender completely, his situation was completely different from Zhang Xiu's. Letting him lead an army to attack Dong Zhuo would still easily attract criticism.
What's more, it would be better for her to attack Dong Zhuo slowly rather than quickly. If she mobilized Xu Rong to join the troops to attack Chang'an, it would make it easier for her to fail in the goal she sent Jia Xu to achieve.
It would be better to use Xu Rong in the north, especially in the battlefield in the Liaodong direction.
But this is obviously not a situation that will occur in the short term.
No matter how Qiao Yan thought about it, he felt that before this, Xu Rong was only a commander of Shuofang County, with few opportunities to fight, which was actually a waste of his manpower.
It would be better to let him go abroad!
After Xu Rong was transferred from Shuofang County to Wuwei County, she specifically called Xu Rong to tell him: "On the surface, the trade on the Silk Road will be a trade of rock honey, but I want you to keep your eyes open and record everything along the way that can be used for the construction of Bing and Liang states. Especially war horses and crops."
In the first transaction on the Silk Road, Qiao Yan would not choose to break the balance between him and the nobles of Liangzhou.
Because she needed her own translator, her own supply channels, her own caravan, and she also needed to use this time to complete the first round of military farming in Wuwei County.
So what Xu Rong has to do is to see——
Get a clear view of the road conditions, the situations of the countries in the Western Regions, and the goods being traded!
These things are very likely to be misrecorded in the classics handed down to later generations, and only first-hand information is the most relevant to the times.
One is to introduce——
Large-scale transactions were not possible yet, but if one only wanted to buy a few horses, a few horse breeders, or some cotton imported from India into the Kushan Empire, it would always be possible.
Qiao Yan continued, "In addition, I need you to supervise Ma Teng. When he leaves, some people may think that I am trying to exclude him, the former rebel leader. If there is anything wrong, please let me know when you come back."
"Do you understand?"
Xu Rong was silent for a moment, then asked, "Your Excellency, aren't you worried that I will never come back and raise a team outside the Great Wall?"
Ma Teng had not yet spent much manpower on Qiao Yan's attack on him, and he had already chosen to open the city and surrender after Pang De was killed and Ma Chao was captured. However, Xu Rong and Qiao Yan once confronted each other on both sides of the Yellow River, and he also had a former master Dong Zhuo who was still alive.
If we have to compare, he is much more dangerous than Ma Teng.
But when he asked this, Qiao Yan just shook his head: "You are wrong. I actually have no doubts about you and Ma Teng. What I want you to see is not Ma Teng's fault, but the fault of the people traveling with you. Do you understand what I mean?"
Xu Rong had some vague guesses.
Qiao Yan wanted to find another reason to settle accounts with the nobles of Liangzhou, not to find a reason to hold Ma Teng accountable.
As for why you didn’t tell Yu Ma Teng about this?
As a captive, once he knows that someone might want to use him as an object of exploitation, he will probably remain on high alert.
By then, I'm afraid it will be impossible to even go around people, and there will be no chance for people to perform.
Xu Rong looked at the interested look on Qiao Yan's face and couldn't help but feel relieved: "If your Excellency says so, then I know what I should do."
Qiao Yan continued, "I need you to pay special attention to a few things. I will give them to you in the form of an atlas later, and I will also give them to Ma Teng as a token of trust. You can say that you don't know anyone along the way, and you don't have any familiar accents, so please be sure to look out for each other and help each other."
Xu Rong agreed solemnly.
After receiving this special assignment from Qiao Yan, Ma Teng was stunned for a moment, but still agreed decisively.
It was obviously not that Qiao Yan wanted to deal with him by forcing him abroad, but to transform him from a separatist leader to an ordinary military general.
Such a move is almost life-saving for someone like Ma Teng who has been lacking reassurance since his surrender.
He even took the initiative to request that his two sons, Ma Xiu and Ma Tie, born to his later wife, be sent to Bingzhou to study.
It doesn’t matter whether you can learn something in Leping Academy.
What’s important is that this is an act of sending a proton to Qiao Yan.
Qiao Yan did not stop this, but just mentioned to Ma Teng in a casual tone that she intended to split the army under Ma Teng into parts.
One part would continue to be led by Ma Chao, one part would serve as her direct Liangzhou Army, and the other part would be used to dismiss the soldiers who were forcibly conscripted. If there were those who were willing to stay, they could first join the civilian settlement in Wuwei County, and the best ones would be transferred to the military settlement in Jincheng County, and then be selected into the team.
Ma Teng replied: "Your Excellency, it is up to you to decide on this matter. I don't need to think about this. Instead of thinking about this, I should think about whether I should first learn a few words of the official language commonly used by the other side."
Compared with Ban Chao, who was able to restore diplomatic relations between the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty and deter the rebels with just a few words, it was really difficult for Ma Teng.
But since there is a safer way to survive, and it also allows him to temporarily avoid this environment where the war is postponed, Ma Teng was grateful and felt that he had to do something for Qiao Yan.
Of course, compared to his eagerness to try, Yan Jun was much more frightened.
Because the water route from Wuwei to Shuofang is downstream, the speed is extremely fast. By the time Xu Rong received the news from Qiao Yan and rushed over, only seven days had passed since Yan Jun asked Guo Jia about this matter.
But what he never expected was that he did get the permission to travel. Presumably, it was because of his proactive show of goodwill that he got a reputation with Qiao Yan. However, he still had to bring along two heavyweights, Ma Teng and Xu Rong, and their attendants. What was going on?
Yan Jun did not dare to ask Guo Jia whether Qiao Yan's action should be considered as eliminating dissidents, and he only dared to complain to his own followers.
But as soon as he said this, he suddenly realized that this seemed to be good news for him!
Because this means that in addition to his liking for sweets, Qiao Yan also has some other teenage habits.
Sending the two surrendered generals, Ma Teng and Xu Rong, on a long journey instead of simply wiping them out completely or using some superficial efforts -
No matter how you look at it, this is something that only someone who hasn't thought it through would do.
It's a pity that the opponent's military strength is there. No matter how much he underestimates her in his heart because of her personnel arrangement, he can only continue this flattering behavior.
Fortunately, after this incident, he became more certain that there was no need to scare them so much about the Bingzhou Mu who had these characteristics.
Then her military farming in Wuwei County would most likely have no effect.
Just let her do what she wants.
But since he didn't expect Ma Teng and Xu Rong to accompany him, he would never have thought that Qiao Yan had already begun to refine the water conservancy construction in the farmland area she had outlined after the arrival of Jia Mu, a native of Guzang, Bi Lan, the founder of Longgu Fanche, and the agricultural officials of Bingzhou.
There is no intention of indulging in pleasure.
Water conservancy projects were never uncommon during the Chinese period.
Taking Cao Wei as an example, the water area of Shaobi irrigation area flows through a hundred miles and opened up 40,000 hectares of farmland; it took one winter to open up Zhengbi, and the acreage increased by the next year; the navigable area of Liling Weir irrigated 10,000 hectares of farmland; there were even major projects such as "diverting the Yellow River to Luo River to facilitate water transportation"; it was not uncommon to build Suiyang Canal for military ferry and Baigou for attacking Yecheng for the purpose of transporting military grain.
In comparison, the water conservancy project between the Lushui River Basin and the six river fan-shaped land under the Qilian Mountains is considered a small project.
Of course, compared with the previous practice of digging existing canals in Bingzhou and using water trucks to irrigate the fields, in the Wuwei basin, we also have to consider the various issues of cross-irrigation areas and uneven water supply. We have to consider both water transfer and water storage projects, which is no small matter.
Bi Lan walked along the Lu River with Qiao Yan for a while. Listening to the prospect in Qiao Yan's words, he suddenly felt that the burden on his shoulders was particularly heavy.
But for some reason, the thought that occupied his mind at this moment was——
Fortunately, he escaped from the Luoyang Rebellion last year and chose to flee to Bingzhou.
Digging ponds and building canals is more likely to leave a name in history than having a keel overturned!
What a blessing this is!
He also heard Qiao Yan say at this time: "The so-called water conservancy is to stop the dragon and relieve the water, irrigate the fields and live the people. There should be an official position to match it. Unfortunately, the government is in chaos now, and the idea of adding an official position is difficult to resist. If Bi Changshi is willing, how about I privately establish it in the name of the Water Envoy?"1
Upon hearing this, Bi Lan no longer cared whether Qiao Yan's taking of an official position privately was against the rules.
The water messenger?
This name means much more to him than the word "Changshi"!
This is... this is a major event concerning people’s livelihood!
How could he, a former eunuch in the Han Palace, deserve such an appointment?
The excitement in his eyes was clearly seen by Qiao Yan, even though he didn't say it out loud.
He replied in a clear voice: "Since you dare to entrust me with this waterway, I, Bi Lan, will complete the task of building ponds and rivers for you even if I have to sacrifice my life to fill the canal!"
"Then you don't have to sacrifice your life." Qiao Yan waved his hand and smiled.
She pointed to the river running northwest in front of her, with a hopeful look on her face, "Let's plant grains all over this place next year. Let me see what it will look like here!"
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