Chapter 173 Qiang-Han Language
Liu Yu was not sure whether this could be considered a strategy for long-term stability in Liangzhou.
But he could see clearly that although Qiao Yan said it was an unreasonable request, he had already made up his mind about it.
He also heard Qiao Yan say: "The Qiang people of Liangzhou live in many places, but they do not completely communicate with the Han people in language. Even the Shaodang Qiang, whose habits are very similar to those of our Han people, mostly use their own language."
Most of these Qiang people originated from Huangzhong and the areas around Xiaoyu Valley.
Today, large branches of the Canlang Qiang, Baima Qiang and Shaodang Qiang still survive there.
Because that place is connected to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Qiang people's language is actually a branch of Tibetan.
Liu Yu followed Qiao Yan and continued walking along the ridges of the field. He heard her continue, "I wonder if Liu Youzhou has noticed that there are Qiang people in Liangzhou and Yizhou of the Han Dynasty, but their languages are different."
While listening to her say this, Liu Yu couldn't help but look around out of the corner of his eye.
Although most of the scenes seen are deep pits dug for planting mulberry trees, making the outermost circle look riddled with holes, the scenes of Han and Qiang education coming and going still make people subconsciously let down their guard.
Liu Yu replied, "I would like to hear the details. But why didn't Qiao Bingzhou use the local Han people to convey the government orders? In the past, there was a Hu market in Guzang City. It should not be difficult to find some people who are fluent in Qiang and Hu languages."
Qiao Yan shook his head. "There aren't many of them. Even if Han Sui raised an army in Jincheng, the general's order to the Qiang tribe was passed through the leader of the tribe. This also means that they are still a complete force. Once they want to raise an army and cause chaos, it will be impossible to persuade any of them."
“This is one of them.”
"As for why they didn't let the Han people of Liangzhou learn the Qiang language, but wanted to trouble the people who came to Liangzhou with Liu Youzhou, it has something to do with the difference between the northern and southern Qiang languages that I mentioned."
Qiao Yan led Liu Yu to stop for a while beside a group of Baima Qiang people working.
Because Liu Yu came from Youzhou and had dealt with the Hu people many times, he subconsciously listened to the conversations of these Qiang people.
This was a language different from the Hu people he had encountered before. He could not understand what they were saying, but he suddenly realized that they spoke in the same way as the Qiang people near Gaoping City. "Does the Qiang language in the north have no tones?"
This does not seem to be a situation unique to the Qiang people near Gaoping.
Qiao Yan replied: "Yes, and the language differences between the northern Qiang people are relatively small. The only difficulty is in the expression form and structure that need to be remembered."
In this way, Liu Yu roughly understood Qiao Yan's thoughts.
A language without tones greatly reduces the amount of memory required. For students who have been taught by Lu Zhi or Xun Shuang and are proficient in literature and writing, as long as their memory is not bad, it is indeed possible to memorize it quickly.
These people had received education and naturally knew how to teach the Han language to the Qiang people.
Of course, theoretically speaking, there is actually a group of people who have been in the Liangzhou environment, have come into contact with the Qiang people, and have some academic foundation.
They are the noble families in the north.
But when Qiao Yan mentioned this choice, he said:
"To be honest with you, Liu Youzhou, there are countless northern nobles who disregard the trust of the Han Dynasty and rise up to respond to the storm. However, in most cases, in order to maintain the stability of the counties in Liangzhou, they will not investigate and hold them accountable. Even though there are quite a few among them who are knowledgeable and insightful, I don't trust them to teach the Qiang people."
Liu Yu nodded: "I understand."
On the contrary, they can easily become the leaders of the Qiang people. Therefore, if Qiao Yan really wants to facilitate the Qiang people's reunification, he should not rely too much on them.
Qiao Yan said: "This is why I chose those scholars as my helpers. I trust the character of Lord Lu and Lord Xun, so I naturally trust their disciples as well."
This question of trust or not can only be said to be relative.
Since there were not enough manpower in Bingzhou, we simply chose a relatively optimal solution.
These students are not locals of Liangzhou, which gives Qiao Yan another reason to use them.
But Qiao Yan didn't need to express this consideration. He just changed the subject and said, "Of course, I didn't let them work for nothing."
Although the northern Qiang language has no tones, it has quite a rich variety of...what we would call "complex consonant codas" in today's terms, and its grammatical expression is relatively complex.
Why did she expect these people to study hard to learn the Qiang language, and then teach Chinese to the Qiang people while enduring their uncivilized state?
It is probably not enough to simply say that this move is conducive to maintaining peace in Liangzhou and that it complies with their consideration of the lives of Lu Zhi and Xun Shuang.
It would be even better if they could serve as officials in Liangzhou after the mission is accomplished.
For military generals, the positions of Liangzhou officials were very dangerous, which has been a foregone conclusion over the years. Otherwise, Fu Xie's position as the prefect of Hanyang would not have been a "demotion" after he offended the eunuchs.
Not to mention these literati.
At least today's Liangzhou, compared with the Central Plains, is still in a devastated state.
If we want them to work with the same motivation as when they entered school, we have to put out a suitable bait in front of them so that the donkey can run faster.
She said, "Liu Youzhou should know that during the Luoyang Incident, Lord Xun and I worked out a strategy of internal and external cooperation. Lord Xun was in charge of the Lanting Palace in the capital at that time and protected many classics. In addition to ordering Strategist Xun to assist me in the battle, he also gave me some of his collection of books."
"The great scholar Cai Bojie was in Bingzhou, and many of his books from his early years were with me. He and his daughter Cai Zhaoji were both good at memorizing and reciting many classics. These books were recorded on Lepinghou paper and stored in Leping Academy."
"I feel bad for making these scholars work so hard for nothing. I have sent some books from Bingzhou to the government office in Wuwei County. Along with the books, there is also a batch of Lepinghou paper for copying. If they can complete the task of teaching today, they can come to the government office to copy the books and study. What do you think?"
When Qiao Yan said this, a look of surprise flashed across Liu Yu's face.
He could tell that Qiao Yan was not joking with him.
But this condition——
Not to mention that the students who came with him would feel generous, other scholars in the Central Plains would probably be attracted by this and come here in droves!
Not to mention them, even Liu Yu felt for a moment that it was not impossible for him to do such a thing.
It’s just that he is still thinking about the situation in Youzhou and knows that he won’t stay here for long.
Liu Yu commented truthfully: "This is a great act of kindness."
Once this move is made, the situation of Liangzhou's lack of attractiveness will undoubtedly undergo a drastic change.
What will happen when more Qiang people learn Chinese? Liu Yu did not dare to make a definite judgment.
After all, Qiao Yan did not do anything beyond the rules. All she did was to stabilize the border of the Han Dynasty to ensure that Liangzhou would not become independent due to the chaos in the central government.
In this way, Liu Yu could not make any criticism of her.
Just as he guessed, "As long as you learn Qiang language and then teach the Qiang people Chinese, you will have the opportunity to read and copy books." As soon as the news came out, the students who came to Liangzhou immediately flocked to the county government.
Anyone who sees this will have to say something positive.
In fact, not all of them came to Liangzhou for the sake of education.
The Han Dynasty's system of selecting filial and honest officials made most people who had no way to advance in official career choose to cultivate their reputation and seek fame.
So, is it a good thing to stop a tyrannical army from going to war for the sake of your mentor's orders?
It must be counted. This is sacrificing one's life for the teacher's kindness.
But people have to weigh their own interests, and there is nothing wrong with this. Even Qiao Yan herself, when she just realized that she had traveled to the end of the Han Dynasty, chose to use the Yellow Turban Rebellion to plan a reputation that would benefit her in the future.
So she did not condemn these people's choices, but decisively assigned them tasks.
And in the cryptic conversation among these people, she also heard a special piece of news.
"Yuan Qingzhou intended to invite Lord Zheng to Yecheng to re-establish the Imperial College, but Yecheng was full of Luoyang nobles and Hebei gentry, so there was no chance for us to make a name for ourselves. Instead, Qiao Bingzhou generously gave us the opportunity to copy books and study. It was not as terrible as what we had heard before coming to Liangzhou."
Qiao Yan really wanted to hear what kind of image she had in the rumors, and didn't know which one was better, compared with Ma Chao's misunderstanding. Unfortunately, the other person in the conversation only replied "That's right" and didn't continue.
However, what caught her attention more was that Yuan Shao wanted to invite Zheng Xuan to Yecheng to set up the Imperial Academy.
Imperial College...
If he really succeeded in doing this, it would not be good news for Qiao Yan.
Yecheng and Leping are only blocked by the Taihang Mountains. For those who truly want to study, this is not an insurmountable barrier.
If there are no interfering factors, in a few years, with Leping Academy as the center and because of the existence of the Academy of Sciences, she will definitely be able to build this place into a cultural center.
Just like during war, Jingxiang would become a place of refuge for scholars because of the relatively peaceful environment, Leping could also achieve such a status because of Qiao Yan's military power and the existence of the Taihang Mountains.
But the premise of all this is that there must not be an imperial academy under the authority of the royal family nearby!
She turned to the attendant beside her and said, "Go and get Fengxiao here for me."
The plot against the powerful families in the four counties of Hexi has come to an end for the time being. Ma Teng and Xu Rong have already set off for the Western Regions. Let's find something for Guo Jia to do first!
At the same time, in Changsha County of Jingzhou, rows of soldiers were boarding warships.
The shipbuilding capacity of the South had not yet undergone the changes which were urged upon it by the requirements of later naval warfare.
However, the opening of the Maritime Silk Road allowed Jiaozhou's ships to be optimized and spread to a wider area south of the Yangtze River, including Changsha County.
These warships look strong and durable as well as beautiful, making the scene before them even more grand.
Sun Jian looked at the fleet in front of him and the soldiers ready to go, his eyes full of confidence and ambition.
These are the soldiers he trained in Changsha County during this year!
The soldiers are strong and the generals are good.
Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang and Zu Mao, who participated in the battle against Dong Zhuo with him, were all brave generals who had fought through life and death with him!
Among the people boarding the ship at this moment, the one who looked particularly heroic was his eldest son Sun Ce.
Seeing Zhu Jun coming to see him off, he hurriedly went to greet him, "General Zhu, you caught a cold the day before yesterday, why bother to go out. I have already told you that it is enough for you to participate in the battle to capture Chang'an. I will take down Liu Biao of Jingzhou. Except for Bofu who will go with me, my wife and children are left in Changsha, and I need General Zhu to take care of them for me."
"I'm not a general now." Zhu Jun waved his hand. "It's been seven years since we met, and you're still the same as you were back then."
Zhu Jun's "like" was not entirely a compliment. He immediately added, "I often feel worried about this, but since you can defeat the enemy with force, it's not a big deal. But it's better to be cautious in everything."
Sun Jian smiled and said, "General Zhu, don't worry. We attacked the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang together in the past, and I, Sun Jian, was the first to climb the top of Wancheng. I also traveled this road from Changsha to Nanyang County when I was fighting against Dong Zhuo, so I am very familiar with the places along the way."
What Sun Jian said makes sense.
Jingzhou was not a strange place for Sun Jian.
The soldiers he has gathered under his command are all loyal men who are dedicated to serving him, and after more than a year of preparation for battle, they have a better chance of winning.
Who can defeat such a powerful army?
At least Liu Biao doesn't seem to have this ability!
Zhu Jun replied: "Okay! Then I will wait for the news of your triumphant return!"
Sun Jian strode towards the leading ship. His majestic steps as he held his sword in his hand made it easy to see his determination to win.
After boarding the ship, he drew his sword and pointed it to the north, shouting loudly: "My fellow soldiers, follow me to fight! Let's see if that villain Liu Biao has what it takes to stop us!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Changsha army, which although not as large as a thousand-mile long army, had boats stretching across the river, immediately split into two teams.
Heading north, we crossed the Yangtze River and headed towards Yunmengze.
Heading eastward, they turned at the junction of the Han River and the Yangtze River and continued their advance by water.
Summer and autumn are the seasons when the Han River floods. Since these ships are transporting military rations and have a shallow draft, they can continue to sail, which undoubtedly reduces Sun Jian's burden of transporting food during his land marches.
So he only needed to lead his troops through Yunmengze and then meet up with the fleet in Jingling.
Then the ships took the waterway and the people took the land route, following the Han River northwards, and Xiangyang was not far away!
Liu Biao was not a mediocre person and he was well aware of his plans.
Huang Zu, who was stationed in Jiangxia, first sent a small group of cavalry to harass and fight in Yunmengze, intending to achieve the effect of tiring the soldiers. He also set up an ambush at Huarong Road, and then deployed a battle team in Jingling.
According to the news reported to Sun Jian, this person even put up iron chains across the Han River to prevent Sun Jian from advancing by water.
But just as Sun Jian told Zhu Jun, he knew all the terrain very well, so how could he be blocked by Huang Zu's little tricks!
Outside the city of Jingling, the army assembled by Huang Zu was hit by the vanguard led by Sun Jian and was forced to flee in all directions, without even waiting for the moment of the main army clash.
Among the fleeing enemy troops on the opposite side, Sun Jian saw Huang Zu at a glance.
He led his troops in pursuit without hesitation.
If this fellow was allowed to escape across the Han River and flee back to the capital of Xiling County in Jiangxia after repeated provocations, he would not be called Sun Jian!
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