Chapter 272 Arrival at Xia Pi
In the second year of Zhongping, which was the second year after Qiao Yan came to Bingzhou, Qiao Yan took away Zhang Yi's power as Bingzhou governor because of his performance during the locust plague, and he was responsible for disaster relief in Bingzhou.
Logically speaking, this was an act of Qiao Yan's overstepping the boundaries and usurping power, but at that time, she wrote in her memorial to Emperor Ling of Han that her action was only for the people's livelihood and not for herself, and she did not care about making such an offensive move. Although she was apologizing, she also gained favor from Emperor Ling of Han by choosing a name for herself.
Because of this, Emperor Ling of Han, who was delighted to have gained a loyal minister and future arm of the Han Dynasty, not only did not impose any real punishment on Qiao Yan at that time, but on the one hand, he confined her to Leping for protection, and on the other hand, he kicked Cui Lie, who proposed to give up Liangzhou, from the position of one of the Three Dukes and "exiled" him to Bingzhou to be the governor.
So Zhang Yi, the former governor of Bingzhou, was sent to Guangling to serve as a prefect.
Poor Zhang Yi at that time still thought that he had the support of the Runan Yuan family and was a real victim in this power seizure and should be compensated. When he had gathered enough strength to meet Cui Lie, he still thought that he was there to help him denounce Qiao Yan.
However, he didn't expect that Cui Lie was not here to help him, but to replace him.
At that time, the provincial governor system had already been implemented, and the status of provincial governors had also risen accordingly. Being transferred from the position of Governor of Bingzhou to the position of Prefect of Guangling was considered a demotion, and a rebuke to him for not being able to hold on to his own power.
Not only that, the Yuan family of Runan supported him to take the position of Governor of Bingzhou in order to implement a plan of Yuan Shao and Xu You, which was to control the north to protect the family's future. His loss of office completely destroyed this plan.
In the fourth year of Zhongping, Qiao Yan successfully became the governor of Bingzhou by virtue of the Battle of the Frontier and the selection of General Du Liao. When Emperor Ling of Han passed away, he brought out such an iron cavalry to fight against Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao did not think that it was Qiao Yan's ability to achieve such a situation in such a barren place as Bingzhou, but Zhang Yi's incompetence, which really destroyed his plan from the root.
With Yuan Wei's death and Yuan Ji's illness, the power of the Runan Yuan family in officialdom was divided between the two brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, making it even less likely that Zhang Yi would get any support.
All these led to a result. Although Zhang Yi had several years of experience in governance in Guangling and had done a good job, after Tao Qian became the governor of Xuzhou, Zhang Yi's power was gradually weakened and Zuo Rong took over the position.
After Tao Qian was transferred from the governor of Xuzhou to the governor of Xuzhou, Zhang Yi was stripped of his position as the prefect of Guangling with a written document, but Yuan Shao did not take the matter seriously.
After that, Zuo Rong's actions became more and more blatant, and Zhang Yi became less and less likely to be found in Xuzhou, or in Guangling.
Suddenly this name appeared on the paper written by Qiao Lan, and it took Qiao Ting a while to react before he thought of him.
It would undoubtedly be difficult for Zhang Yi to be reinstated.
Yuan Shao at the Yecheng court had a grudge against him and felt that he was not doing his job well and there was no point in keeping him.
As for the court in Chang'an, if he really went to ask for a position for himself, it would not be a difficult thing with his previous official experience. However, because Qiao Yan was the Grand Marshal of Bingzhou, he simply could not bring himself to do so.
Normally, he would have gone home to rest after losing his official position, but he didn't. Instead, he continued to live in seclusion in Guangling County, as if to say, "I want to see who will take over my job."
This piece of information was hidden among the thousands of pieces of intelligence that the two sisters had gathered in the past few months. It seemed to be as unimportant as the fact that Tao Qian had guests coming to dinner today, but it was still dug out by Qiao Lan.
She said: "The reason why we start with Chen Deng, Lu Su and others to investigate the situation in Xuzhou is to see whether these talented people can discover Tao Qian's shortcomings after he is old and weak in the conflict between Tao Qian and Zuo Rong. Considering the interests of the local people in Xuzhou, it will be beneficial for the future actions of the prince to create rifts and conflicts with Tao Qian's disciples. This is to fight evil with good."
Qiao Ting smiled when he heard this, "I understand. According to Sister's choice, it is to fight evil with evil."
This method of fighting evil with evil is really in line with Jia Xu's style!
Just from this choice, it can be seen that Qiao Lan has been listening carefully to Jia Xu's teachings and has gradually developed his own way of thinking.
However, if Zhang Yi knew that he was considered the "evil" in the Xuzhou situation in the eyes of these two sisters, he would probably feel wronged.
It was fine that he had been tricked by Qiao Yan before, but why did he have to face the schemes of her two nieces from the same clan now?
How can there be such a deceptive logic in this world!
Even because of the bottom line set by Qiao Yan, Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting could only appear as businessmen rather than "advisers", which meant that he could not hear any direct advice from them, which inevitably kept him in a state of being kept in the dark.
But how to say it...
With the changes happening in Xuzhou, he will most likely get the chance to be employed again. How could this not be a good thing for him?
After Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting encountered Liu Yang's galloping horse outside the city of Chang'an, they never encountered any trouble again.
The carriage passed through Tongguan and went through the Xiaohan Road into the territory of Henan Yin.
The two sisters made a brief stop here.
Although their destination was Xuzhou, they were also very clear that the goal Qiao Yan set for them was never just to complete a mission to prove their strength.
Xuzhou is just the beginning of their career.
The stops during this journey allowed them to convert the information they had received into reality, and also allowed them to continue to improve the details of their merchant identities to prevent others from discovering their identities.
"The goods we are selling to Xuzhou this time are mostly the Shu brocade that the great sage purchased from Shuzhong. When we were in Chang'an, we took the opportunity of meeting with the prince to replenish some paper and ink. These are all to be sold in the high-end market in Xuzhou."
Qiao Ting analyzed, "From a merchant's perspective, we are just about to expand into Xuzhou. Since we cannot guarantee that we can get along harmoniously with the local tyrants, we still need to further fill the gap in low- and middle-level demand for goods to ensure that this part of the income alone can cover the expenses of this trip eastward."
"So..." Qiao Ting pondered for a while and came to a conclusion, "We should choose some goods that can be produced by cheap labor and can be regarded as Sili's specialty."
According to the saying “One cannot buy grain over a thousand miles away”, the price of such handmade products cannot be too low, otherwise it would go against the principle of profit of long-distance trading.
So Qiao Ting discussed it with his sister and finally agreed that the goods would be floral cloth and green pottery.
Luoyang is no longer the imperial capital it once was, and its population of one million has scattered in the past few years. However, because it happens to be located in the middle of a tug-of-war between two imperial courts and is not on the front line, the remaining half of the population is unwilling to abandon their homeland and leave.
The market is quieter than before, but one can still vaguely see the prosperity of previous years.
The items sold here still embody some of the prosperity of the past.
After all, this was once the place where the emperor walked. Batik flower-dyed cloth, green-glazed pottery different from the gray pottery popular in the Han Dynasty, and palace lantern styles that have appeared since the Guangwu period all appear in the local markets. They were also sent to the capital for sale after the reconstruction of the imperial capital Chang'an this year.
In Qiao Ting's opinion, except for the last one which is not suitable for transportation, these things can be used as backup items under the Shu brocade because of the style and temperament they display, which is different from that of Xuzhou and Yangzhou.
With this purchase, they have become more accustomed to their new identities and have become more adept at their costumes and disguised voices.
This caravan, which expanded its cargo, then entered the territory of Yuzhou.
If Yuan Shu was still fighting with Liu Bei earlier, they might have worried about whether there would be any trouble, but there was no need to worry now.
Yuan Shu had just experienced the sudden attack from Ju Shou and Gao Shun and was in a state of laying low.
Shortly before the Qiao sisters set out from Chang'an, Hua Tuo's disciple Fan Acai followed Yuan Shu's son Yuan Yao to Runan to see his father.
Because of Yuan Shu's defeat, Liu Bei changed from his original residence in the northern part of Pei State to the situation of crossing the Wo River with Yuan Shu to rule Yuzhou.
In other words, Yuan Shu's previous attack on Yuan Shao was defeated, and Ju Shou's two counterattacks were fought in vain. I am afraid that if there is no opportunity for a sudden change in the short term, this balance will continue for a while.
"Liu Bei's territory is not large, and he was not well-known when he was fighting against Dong Zhuo, but he seems to be quite capable."
Once they passed the Wo River, Qiao Ting no longer sat in the carriage, but instead he and Qiao Lan each rode a horse so that they could see the scenery along the way more clearly.
The reason why Liu Bei is said to be very capable is that in the previous Yuzhou dispute, the counties south of Pei State, such as Guyang and Longkang, had returned to the hands of Yuan Shu and were subsequently taken back. However, a closer look at the people's livelihood here shows that the damage caused by the repeated stationing of troops by the two forces seemed to have quickly subsided.
The farmhouses along the roadside are well-maintained, and the scene looks peaceful.
From this perspective, Liu Bei and his followers killed Qiao Rui and entered Pei State last year, and they have been operating here for more than half a year, which has had a significant effect.
Even though Liu Bei had killed their father, the Qiao sisters had to admit it.
In order to prevent them from revealing any hidden hostility towards Liu Bei, Qiao Lan pointed to the east and said, "We should not stay here any longer. To the east of Pei State is Xuzhou's Xiapi. We should enter Xuzhou as soon as possible so that we can complete the instructions of the Lord as soon as possible."
If a war breaks out in a place like Xuzhou with flat terrain, it will often become a battlefield. But if it is in the current situation where all four sides are fighting and it is the only one staying out of the matter, it will become a prosperous place that merchants from all over the world like to come to.
The Huaihe River estuary in Guangling and Haizhou Bay in Donghai County are connected to form a place where ships dock, which is an important source of income for Xuzhou.
While the vast majority of people were still engaged in farming, Hongze Lake, Gaoyou Lake and the Huai River in Xia Pi and Guangling formed a criss-crossing water network and the fields irrigated by them, which could be regarded as another basic condition for the prosperity of people's livelihood.
So when they entered Xia Pi, they were impressed by the fact that Xuzhou had experienced few wars in recent years and had excellent conditions.
Compared to the Pei State that they had praised before, there was a more intuitive sense of richness here.
No wonder some places still have insufficient food to eat, but places like Guangling can even hold the Buddha Bathing Festival.
They commanded the caravan to temporarily settle in Xia Pi, and were not in a hurry to enter Guangling where the disaster started, nor did they intend to go to Xuzhou Prefecture first to let this large caravan register with Tao Qian.
Although Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting intended to proceed in different directions after entering Xuzhou, the two sisters had the same idea on the first step to enter Xuzhou.
A successful businessman must have good relations with local bosses.
Well, since we have already arrived in Xuzhou and Xia Pi first, we naturally have to go to Chen's house in Xia Pi.
Because Chen Deng, as the Captain of Agriculture, was either in the provincial capital or traveling around Xuzhou, when Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting submitted their visiting card to Chen, the person in charge there was Chen Deng's father, Chen Gui.
Although the Chen family of Xia Pi has declined slightly in recent years, it is still a well-deserved aristocratic family.
Chen Gui's uncle was Chen Qiu, who was recommended by Qiao Yan's grandfather Qiao Xuan and eventually promoted to the position of Taiwei.
Chen Gui's cousin Chen Yu was serving as a counselor in the court of Yecheng at that time, and another cousin Chen Cong was the prefect of Ruyin County. Chen Gui was a county magistrate who was recommended by his family as a filial and honest official in his early years, but he soon resigned and stayed at home. In comparison, he was an opposition figure.
He was quite surprised to hear that someone came to his door suddenly.
After hearing that it was a big businessman from Shu who wanted to ask him for advice on how to survive in Xuzhou, and when the man said his surname was Huang, he no longer found it strange.
The sisters Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting really chose a very suitable surname for themselves, because the word "Huang" is very likely to represent the Huang family in Langzhong, Brazil.
Nowadays, children from wealthy and powerful families are not in a hurry to seek a future for themselves, but first accumulate a batch of materials and manpower, which is also a way of development.
And such people are often the ones who understand the ways and rules of survival the best.
Chen Gui replied: "Please let them in."
Almost at the same time when the Qiao sisters arrived in Xuzhou, Zu Lang of Yangzhou welcomed a guest from the north.
After receiving a rejection from Mi Zhu at first, Zuo Rong did not feel discouraged. Instead, because he had great ambitions, he patiently continued to communicate with Bao Hong who had returned to Guangling.
At the same time, he also began to strive for another force that he might be able to win over -
It was the Shanyue people in Wu and Danyang counties who were severely suppressed by Sun Ce.
Zuo Rong knew very well that if he acted a little later, Sun Ce's control over this place would become even stronger, and the Shanyue's living space would be further squeezed. These Shanyue would either be wiped out by Sun Ce's subordinates or submit to Sun Ce's command.
But now, precisely because Sun Ce is still in the process of expanding his territory, there is a possibility that he may be won over.
However, he certainly would not say something like, "I have the intention to take over Xuzhou, and I invite you to join me in doing something to take action against Tao Qian."
It would be strange if this statement could be accepted by anyone.
The monk he sent bowed to Zu Lang and said, "The Master asked me to ask Zu Shuai if he is willing to go to Guangling to listen to the Buddha's teachings together."
Zu Lang was almost laughing at this invitation. He asked coldly, "Why, do you think I need to be saved by you?"
"That's wrong," the monk replied calmly, "The Master's intention is that Sun Bofu's killing in Yangzhou is against the harmony of heaven, and he wants to ask the Master to bathe the Buddha and pass on the Buddhist scriptures."
Zu Lang asked suspiciously, "What do you mean by that?"
The man recited a Buddhist mantra, "Those who are not helped by the gods and Buddhas will be punished by heaven."
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