Chapter 171: Guardian of the Qiang
The reclamation work of the military farms in Wuwei County was carried out in full swing after the manpower was in place.
Qiao Yan said that we had to wait until next year to sow millet and wheat, but in fact we could still sow another crop this year, so the land leveling work had to be completed as soon as possible.
Of course, the crop sown this time was not wheat, but autumn rapeseed.
In the northwest region at the end of the Han Dynasty, this autumn rapeseed was called Brassica rapa, also known as Hucai. It was first planted in the Qiang, Hu, Long and Di areas and had not yet spread to a wider area. In other words, it was concentrated in the areas of Liangzhou and the Western Regions Protectorate.
This is indeed a crop suitable for the Northwest.
Qiao Yan flipped through the agricultural books that she had exchanged with the farming system, and on the premise of not disrupting the local crop varieties for the time being, she arranged for Bingzhou's agricultural fertilizers and tools, as well as the improved farming methods that she had taken the opportunity to introduce.
With Liu Yu and Huangfu Song taking over Gaoping City, and the old fox Jia Xu acting as an undercover agent, she didn't have to worry about Dong Zhuo suddenly having a whim and attacking directly from Chang'an.
Therefore, after she set up the remaining team, she directly invested more manpower in reclaiming and sowing fields in Jincheng and Wuwei County.
In the end, only two troops were left to suppress the rebellion in Liangzhou.
One group is composed of soldiers directly under Qiao Yan, led by Fu Gan.
One group is the naturalized Qiang people led by Yao Chang.
The two teams patrolled various places in Liangzhou alternately to ensure that there were no rebellious forces or Qiang people looting.
The other teams were transferred by Qiao Yan to military settlements or garrison areas at the pass.
Yao Chang hesitantly asked about her doubts about Qiao Yan placing her and Fu Gan in the same confidant position.
Qiao Yan asked back: "Isn't the battle with Ayang enough to prove your ability? Or have you seen another person who dares to come to the city to recommend himself to me?"
After walking a few steps forward, Yao Chang heard Qiao Yan ask again: "Or do you actually want to farm? Then it's no problem to change."
Yao Chang quickly shook her head.
If she said this, someone would definitely come to snatch her position.
The reason why Qiao Yan asked her to undertake the task of quelling the rebellion at this time was because he wanted to shift from directly killing all the rebellious Qiang people to capturing or persuading them, so he needed her as a Qiang general and her followers.
If not, she could have let Ma Chao and Qu Yan, who also had great reputation and prestige among the Qiang people, take her place instead of letting them use their extra energy on digging canals.
Yao Chang looked around and saw that among the ridges of the demonstration fields, Ma Chao, Yang Feng and others, who were famous for their looks in Liangzhou, were now dressed as farmers and were learning planting techniques from the agricultural officials dispatched from Bingzhou.
So that they, as generals, can give instructions in accordance with the rules when it comes to farming and storing grain between military exercises.
According to Qiao Yan, when the Black Mountain bandits were gathered in Leping by her, they were planted with crops such as yam which required careful care. Now she just asked them to reclaim wasteland and plant rapeseed to cultivate their patience, which was considered to have lowered the requirements a lot.
How could the soldiers who came to surrender from Liangzhou be willing to be outdone by the Black Mountain bandits? They immediately plunged into the heavy work.
Even after it became clear that Ma Chao was no match for Lu Bu in terms of martial arts strength, he began to compete with Lu Bu in the efficiency of reclamation and sowing in the Lu Shui military farm area.
But you have to know that no matter how Lu Bu seems to have succeeded by his bravery and recklessness, he has also experienced two years of cultivation in Baidaochuan Suiyuan City. If he would be defeated by Ma Chao's competition method of changing the track, it would be too much of an insult to him.
When Qiao Yan and Yao Chang passed by, they happened to hear Lu Bu say in a proud tone that the generals under your command must be both civil and military and able to farm, and Ma Chao was far from that. It would take at least another twenty years to surpass him.
Qiao Yan was too lazy to expose Lu Bu's show-off behavior.
It seemed that this fellow had developed a new hobby besides striving for military merit and spoils for himself, which was to show off the advantages he had gained from serving in advance to those generals who surrendered later.
It is difficult to say whether this was because he had not passed the exams of the younger students when he was sent to Leping Academy for further studies, which caused this sequelae.
Anyway, he can enjoy himself from it and also encourage Ma Chao and others to make progress. There is nothing wrong with it.
However, when Qiao Yan turned around, she saw that Yao Chang's gaze towards her had changed from the emotion of being entrusted with an important task to a state that could probably be considered admiration.
"...What are you doing?" Qiao Yan asked.
Yao Chang couldn't say that she could only see the figures of Ma Chao and others from a distance. Now, after looking at Yang Feng's face, which had to be covered with a ghost mask before, and Ma Chao's handsome face, and then looking at the working environment, she just wanted to say -
There is a reason why Qiao Yan can be a prince.
But it was fine for her to complain in her heart, as she was afraid of being beaten if she said it out loud.
So he just replied: "Your Excellency is already unmatched in terms of the distinction between moving and stillness during marches, and you have such accomplishments in farming, which is a blessing for Liangzhou. If you can store abundant grain and save thousands of lives, the Qiang tribe will surely be even more impressed by your Excellency."
Just look at the behavior of the nearby Lushui Qiang people and you will know.
It is still unknown how effective Qiao Yan's new farming tools are in farming in Wuwei County, but his efficiency in reclaiming land has made the Lu Shui Qiang people roaming around jealous.
The agricultural officials who came from Bingzhou showed them the agricultural tools used in this work without reservation.
But here comes the problem.
Both the curved plow and the harrow require ironwork to make. Even if you rob in Liangzhou, you can't get the finished products, let alone plundering the Bingzhou army.
Hit by the promise of a good harvest next year from such farming efficiency, and intimidated by the Xianbei people's gift of cattle and sheep to Qiao Yan, the Lu Shui Qiang people began to discuss among themselves the plan of joining Qiao Yan.
Rather than being tamed and taken in by the neighboring powerful families and becoming their thugs, it seems better to join a more powerful force.
Moreover, no one can guarantee that once Qiao Yan has established a firm foothold in the Lushui River Basin, he will use them as targets for demonstration.
Of course, what they didn't know was that instead of using them for demonstration, after having already intimidated Gaoping, Qiao Yan was actually more willing to use the local wealthy families in Wuwei and the other three of the four counties in Hexi as the "chicken" to kill to scare the monkeys. It's just that now he still needs to dig out the value of the Silk Road from them, so he shows them his image of being easy to talk to, easy to win over, and having a youthful mind.
In short, when Yao Chang and Qiao Yan said this, the leader of the Lushui Qiang tribe had already begun contacting the troops stationed here.
It was obviously necessary for Qiao Yan to send Zhao Yun here as the general to take charge of the overall situation.
Zhao Yun had a kind of righteousness that was different from that of the Liangzhou generals, and he also conformed to the Liangzhou people's standard aesthetic that generals must be supported by military strength. As a result, the Lu Shui Qiang, who had been somewhat hesitant at first, subconsciously relaxed their guard when they came into contact with him.
Zhao Yun's sincerity when interacting with others is far superior to his appearance, and he has a greater advantage than anyone else in facilitating the naturalization of the Lu Shui Qiang and becoming a helper.
This was a candidate that Qiao Yan decided on after careful consideration.
Qiao Yan was fully aware of Yao Chang's compliments. Her role was just to put the right people in the right positions, and they happened to be at a higher level than people in today's era.
But she didn't refute it.
The more prestigious her image is among the Qiang people, the more beneficial it will be for her to officially take over Liangzhou in the future.
So she just said to Yao Chang: "There are many wise men in the way of farming, but unfortunately most of them have not been able to get the credit they deserve. Little do they know that the reason why the people want to go against it is just as simple as this."
"Liangzhou is not a group of uncivilized barbarians, they are just people who want to survive."
She raised her hand, motioning Yao Chang to follow her to her residence in Guzang City.
In Qiao Yan's study, Yao Chang saw three agricultural books, all of which were compiled and recorded according to the Leping Academy's re-edited records.
She saw Qiao Yan holding up the first book and saying to her, "This is the Book of Fan Sheng from the Former Han Dynasty, but even the copy that was passed down to me had an extra chapter added to it, turning it into the Book of Si Sheng, which led to a misunderstanding. The man named Fan Sheng had risen from a councillor to an imperial censor, but in fact, with his achievements, couldn't he have been one of the Three Dukes?"
Of course not.
The book of Fan Sheng was later called one of the four great agricultural books.
It’s a pity that its importance in contemporary times is not that great.
But for Qiao Yan, the field division method and the urine seed method are not enough to cover the guiding value of this book. For a place like Liangzhou where mulberry and hemp are grown as additional cash crops, the method of cutting the stems of mulberry seedlings mentioned in Fan Sheng's book is extremely meaningful.
Yao Chang was about to say that such a person should be commemorated by a shrine when she saw Qiao Yan holding up the second book, "The author of this book died twenty years ago. Even though he was from the Cui family of Boling, his family was too poor to afford his funeral. It was Yang Gong, the Guanglu Xun, Yuan Gong, the Taifu, and Duan Jiming, the Shaofu, who prepared his coffin and burial utensils. Even the Four People's Monthly Orders he wrote was only compiled in the past two years."
"This man's surname is Cui, his given name is Shi, his courtesy name is Zizhen, and he is the younger brother of Cui Weikao, the governor of Xihe County under my command."
If he had not passed away, Qiao Yan would never have let go of this talent. Unfortunately, he died before Cui Lie could accumulate enough wealth to buy a high official position.
The book "Monthly Orders for the Four Classes of People" he left behind is ostensibly a political commentary, but is actually an instruction manual for planting according to the solar terms.
What was particularly valuable to Qiao Yan was that Cui Shi had once served as the prefect of Wuyuan County, and later as the prefect of Liaodong, until he was dismissed from office in the second year of Yan Xi and returned to his home in Hebei to be imprisoned.
These experiences resulted in the fact that most of the crops in this folk book were grown in the north and were suitable for the two states of Liang and Bing.
Cui Lie, the mascot, was not idle when he was unemployed in Bingzhou.
He often traveled between Leping and Jinyang and was friends with Cai Yong. So while Cai Yong continued to edit the "Dongguan Hanji", Cui Lie revised Cui Shi's "Political Theory" and "Monthly Orders for the Four People", and also sent the latter to Qiao Yan.
It is a pity that Cui Shi himself could not see such a situation, just like Fan Shengzhi of the Western Han Dynasty could not see that the illustrated version of "Fan Shengzhi Book" would appear more than a hundred years later.
When Qiao Yan said this, he had already picked up the third book.
"This is an unfinished agricultural book. It records the improvements in farming methods, fertilizers and tools in Bingzhou over the past few years. It is unfinished because it should include more crop species and more terrain and climate characteristics, which need to be recorded more when the military farms were expanded from Bingzhou to Liangzhou."
"I only hope that the humble farmers can leave their names on this book, so that this book can be completed and used by future generations, instead of letting it be forgotten like the previous two books."
"But the premise for achieving this step is that there are enough people to practice the way of planting, to perfect the contents of the book as much as possible, and to spread it. If this book is left for future generations to sort out, the fate of countless people will be delayed. With this in mind, I even feel that there are not enough Qiang people who have come to serve. Do you understand what I mean?"
What Yao Chang said was that Qiao Yan had stored up a huge amount of food, which would naturally attract the Qiang people to surrender.
But Qiao Yan said that she wanted to complete her third guiding book on agriculture and to develop Liangzhou into a fertile land in practice, which required more manpower.
It would be better if these people had more Qiang people in their hands.
Only in this way will they feel that the accumulation of these things and the records in the agricultural books are their contributions, and will not go elsewhere for any reason of interest.
So there must be people first!
Yao Chang understood.
She also roughly knows how she should convince people to invest!
Qiao Yan continued, "I will submit a petition to the court to re-establish the post of Protector of the Qiang. Six years ago, Bian Zhang and Han Sui invaded Longyou, and the court appointed Xia Yu as Protector of the Qiang. Gai Xun was unable to rescue him, and Xia Yu died for his country. This position has never been established since then."
"This memorial will be the most special since the establishment of the Protector of the Qiang, which is to use the Qiang to rule the Qiang."
Qiao Yan looked at Yao Chang steadily and said, "The Shaodang Qiang have not rebelled against the Han for many years. Now that you know my ambition to pacify Liangzhou and make the people live in peace, you have taken the initiative to serve me. I would like to recommend you for this position. What do you think?"
Whether the imperial court agrees or not is another matter. Anyway, if it does not agree, she can say that Dong Zhuo has blocked the judgment of Liu Xie, the "wise monarch". She can wait until she has stabilized the situation in Liang Province as Liu Yu said, and then go to talk to Dong Zhuo.
Now, this commander of the Qiang Guard must be one of her own, and he also needs to send a signal of appeasement to the Qiang tribes in Liangzhou that she had once conquered.
This position can only belong to Yao Chang.
Yao Chang also agreed immediately.
Since Qiao Yan had the courage to entrust her with such a task, she naturally had the guts to take it on!
However, everything was peaceful in Wuwei County, and the military and civilian settlements were carried out in an orderly manner after the experience in Bingzhou. After receiving Qiao Yan's memorial that "I will do it regardless of whether you agree or not", Dong Zhuo slammed the table.
He had just been feeling proud for half a month because Qiao Yan had to take a break from fighting, but now he saw that the other party had other plans.
In order to make Qiao Yan uncomfortable, he even had someone carefully pass on the gossip to Qiao Yan that Jia Xu had become his military advisor.
Who would have known that in this petition for an official position, in addition to Yao Chang's position as the Protector of the Qiang and Bi Lan's position as the Water Envoy, she also arranged a position as the Dike Protector for Jia Mu, who was transferred to Wuwei. It was obvious that she did not intend to follow Dong Zhuo's routine.
Dong Zhuo was so angry that he saw Jia Xu looking at him. He quickly concealed his thoughts and asked, "Sir, do you have anything to say?"
Jia Xu replied: "It is time for the Prime Minister to carry out the third thing I mentioned earlier."
What he said at the time was -
Please ask Dong Zhuo to help Liu Biao to resolve the friction in Jingzhou.
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