Chapter 45 Declaration of Elimination of Thieves
Zhao Yun came here to eliminate bandits, so how could he refuse Qiao Yan's request?
The words "Jun Hou" were originally respectful titles for marquises. The word "Jun" actually carries a lot of weight, and it carries the hope of entrusting something to someone. Now, looking at Qiao Yan's behavior and words, he really lives up to this word.
If she only wanted to defend her territory given her fiefdom, she could simply mobilize half of the able-bodied laborers among the ten thousand households. With the people under Chu Yan, they would certainly be unable to do anything to her.
And if she wanted to accumulate wealth, her previous improvements in the wine-making method would be enough to turn rice and wheat into wine, which she could sell and create a considerable fortune.
However, every step she took was down-to-earth, and she truly lived up to the expectations of thousands of households in this county.
What touched Zhao Yun even more was undoubtedly her stern and resolute spirit.
He was still in his teens, young and full of vigor. How could he not feel inspired by the thunderous movement of Qiao Yan dropping the flag like a chess piece?
So almost at the moment when Qiao Yan finished speaking, he bowed and replied: "Yun must do his best and live up to your trust!"
Zhao Yun's promise was undoubtedly a good start for Qiao Yan.
Even without looking at the records passed down to later generations, Qiao Yan could make a judgment about his character simply by looking at his performance in this month.
Although Qiao Yan asked him to temporarily serve as the county lieutenant, he obviously did not make any perfunctory moves just because it was a temporary appointment. Instead, he really held himself to the standards of a county magistrate and patrolled strictly day and night.
Moreover, compared with outsiders like Dian Wei, he is naturally more familiar with the terrain of Taihang Mountains, and is therefore more suitable to serve as the main general in this mission to eliminate the bandits.
Seeing him agree at this moment, with a firm look on his face, which even made people temporarily forget his age, Qiao Yan knew that he would definitely do his best on this matter.
"Perhaps I made a mistake. I shouldn't have said it was aimed at the tiger, but at the swallow."
As Qiao Yan walked out of the house, he said to Zhao Yun, "You are a spear that catches tigers and a net that traps swallows. Don't let me down."
With her words in mind, how could Zhao Yun dare to slack off?
It is said that warriors train in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. Zhao Yun's ability to display such a high level of martial arts at such an age is naturally not simply a matter of talent. A lot of energy has been spent on training and tempering himself.
Now that Qiao Yan had said that the time had come to eliminate the thieves, he had to make sure that he was in a state of familiarity.
He does not have the master named Tong Yuan mentioned in the gossip background. He is self-taught in the practice of spearmanship and has to work hard.
Although Qiao Yan was not familiar with martial arts, he intuitively felt that Zhao Yun's spear skills, though crude, had a natural spirit, which was obviously more rare than the exquisiteness of the moves.
When she turned around, she saw that Dian Wei's eyes were full of provocation as he looked at Zhao Yun.
"Do you want to try it?" Qiao Yan raised his eyebrows.
Not to mention that Dian Wei was excited to see the prey, she also wanted to know who was stronger between the two. But when she thought that Zhao Yun was young after all, and not yet fully grown at his current age, she couldn't help but feel that Dian Wei had the advantage.
But as a military general, how can he perform well in a life-and-death battle without going through some battles? Qiao Yan thought about it and just said, "Be careful" and let Dian Wei go.
No matter how the system looked at this picture, it felt that this was not the state of a strategist. After all, according to its understanding, a strategist should not be able to control two first-tier generals in the world like this.
However, it soon saw Qiao Yan retract his gaze from the two people, and when he turned to walk towards the county government office, he suddenly asked: "Do you think it is possible for me to learn martial arts?"
System: […Aren’t you a counselor? 】
"Advisors also need to ensure their personal safety." Qiao Yan replied solemnly: "There is always a kind of lord in this world who can be very wise at certain times, but can also be very foolish at other times. At this time, you must be able to withdraw. Take Yuan Shao as an example. If it is a situation like Guo Jia who has not yet made a name for himself under him, it is not difficult for him to leave, but what if it is a situation like Tian Feng?"
The system looked through the memory records and saw that Tian Feng was thrown into prison on the charge of affecting morale because he advised Yuan Shao to adopt a protracted war. After Yuan Shao was defeated in the Battle of Guandu, he was killed because of Feng Ji's remark that "Feng clapped his hands and laughed in prison."
system:【……】
"Tell me, if I had to face this situation, with my own martial arts value not low, would I be able to fight my way out and choose another master?"
Qiao Yan continued confidently, "Of course this is an extreme case. For example, if Pang Tong died in the battle, if I had the strength to fight, even if I couldn't save the situation, with Zhao Yun's ability to come and go freely on Changbanpo, wouldn't I be able to save my life temporarily and try to make a comeback?"
The system was silent for a moment and then replied weakly: [The example you gave is quite extreme. As for the issue of personal safety, didn’t you say that there was Dian Wei? 】
If she had to say something, Qiao Yan had said before that she would wait and see for a suitable lord after building up enough reputation, in order to strike at the target with one strike.
If under such circumstances, the situation of Yuan Shao and Tian Feng would still occur, which seems a bit abnormal.
But the system was confused by Qiao Yan's sophistry at this moment, and did not remember this matter for a while.
It heard Qiao Yan ask again: "I am only explaining the lower limit and the necessity. Even if I really want to learn martial arts, I can't devote as much energy as a general. At most, I can only give myself more self-protection ability."
The system felt that it could foresee the future. Previously, Qiao Yan only added points to her own physique to ensure that she had the physical strength to outlast other counselors. Now, according to her logic -
Did it really see the day when she had an intelligence statistic?
Of course, what made the system speechless was that Qiao Yan asked again: "Speaking of which, I remember you once said something to me before. You said - you are not the saintly system next door, so -
"Do you have a martial arts system next door?"
[……?] ? ? ? 】
The system's screen was filled with question marks, which was clearly revealed in its sudden silence.
"I don't plan to ask for any secret manuals of internal skills. I just want to ask what conditions can be exchanged for some methodical offensive routines, such as gun skills."
In ancient battlefields, weapons obviously followed the rule that an inch shorter, an inch more dangerous, so although Qiao Yan had used a sword when he was a military advisor in the Yellow Turban Army before, he had never thought of using a sword as his own weapon.
In comparison, a gun is naturally much more suitable.
However, although modern people can handle things like drawing maps, building terrain, debating strategies, and deploying troops, the same cannot be said for the use of weapons, especially hard-core weapons like guns.
Of course, Qiao Yan had also considered asking Zhao Yun for advice, but even if this kind of master-disciple relationship was not formally confirmed, it would undoubtedly add some interference factors between the original superior-subordinate relationship and affect her assignment of the other party.
This was not a situation she was happy to see.
If the system can achieve this goal through some exchange means, it would be more appropriate in every way.
[I'll go and ask, but don't hold out too much hope, and a bargaining chip is definitely required in a transaction. 】
For some reason, it strangely felt a sense of satisfaction from Qiao Yan's request.
Perhaps it's because its host is too capable and has too many ideas, so now that it may be able to find some new uses for itself besides being an alarm clock and a map, it actually feels like it is somewhat of an auxiliary system.
However, it will take some time to connect to the next door. At least before the system gives a reply, the granary selected by Qiao Yan has been quickly sorted out, and the grain convoy from Jinyang has also arrived in Leping.
Just as Qiao Yan had requested to Wang Yang before, these convoys loaded with grain set out from Jinyang City at night and arrived in Leping just when the people in the county were out doing farm work.
This series of convoys, loaded with sacks of food, was undoubtedly a grand spectacle worth watching for the local county residents.
As for why we are sure that this is food——
One of the sacks happened to break, and the millet inside the sack spilled out. A farmer who was watching picked it up and said, "This is the fine millet that has been threshed..."
The way everyone looked at those grain bags immediately became somewhat different.
Threshing means that the rice is actually much more than the one or two stones they usually say.
This is really an astonishing amount of food reserves.
Although every household has land to farm, there was a drought last year and it is not yet harvest time this year. The warehouses of each household are almost half empty. Perhaps only by piling up the grain of each household in the county together can they have the amount of grain they see now.
Qiao Yan met the people from Jinyang Wang family who came to deliver grain, looked at the convoy, and felt a little surprised.
How much grain was there that Wang Yang had decided to add to the 15,000 shi? Because Qiao Yan had previously "robbed" a powerful stronghold together with Liang Zhongning, she naturally had some idea of the amount. But the batch that was delivered as she wished was obviously not just that amount.
However, as the head of the Jinyang Wang family, Wang Yang would not be stupid enough to make any mistakes in conveying orders. The only possibility is that the increase in the amount now was an order he gave to his subordinates.
Qiao Yan asked, "I wonder what your Excellency has to say?"
The Wang family retainer replied, "The master has a letter to tell you."
Qiao Yan unfolded the letter and saw that Wang Yang wrote on it that after obtaining this new fermentation method, he told Wang Rou, the Lieutenant General who protected the Xiongnu, about his plan to trade with the Southern Xiongnu.
Compared with Wang Yang, Wang Rou obviously knew better the extent of the dissatisfaction of the Southern Xiongnu tribe in Xihe County with the Chanyu Qiangqu in the past two years. He also had some ideas of mediating rather than suppressing them by force.
The news sent by Wang Yang now is like timely help.
He immediately wrote back to Wang Yang, saying, "If this can be accomplished, it will be a great achievement in the world. How dare I reward him with only 5,000 dan?" 】
After hearing this, Wang Yang began to think about increasing the thank-you gift, thinking that there would always be opportunities for exchanges between Jinyang and Leping in the future, so now he just needed to double it, so as to avoid worrying too much about such things.
This is what Qiao Yan saw today.
For these aristocratic families, official interests and reputation are undoubtedly much more difficult to obtain than such materials. However, for Qiao Yan, who has already won himself a county marquis position and received high praise from several celebrities, giving money and food is really a very appetizing thank-you gift.
If it weren't for the fact that as the master of a county, it would not be appropriate for Qiao Yan to show excessive emotions when facing the guests from the Wang family. It would probably be difficult for him not to be very enthusiastic towards the other party.
But she smiled generously, "I just did a little bit of work, but I received such a generous reward. The Wang family is able to gain a foothold in Jinyang and become a model of aristocratic families. This is what they deserve. When you go back, please convey my gratitude to the master."
“It’s natural.”
The other party nodded to Qiao Yan and then retreated one after another. The grain bags transported here were delivered to the granary by Bao Hong and his men.
The sight of 30,000 shi of grain neatly stacked in the warehouse made Qiao Yan feel a sense of accomplishment.
Although this is far less than what she had collected in the fortress before, you have to know that the stored grain at that time came from the plunder of the uprising, while this batch now comes entirely from her legitimate acquisition.
This was also her first "harvest" since she obtained the fiefdom of Leping.
At the same time, this also guarantees her to obtain a second income.
When closing the warehouse door, Qiao Yan almost subconsciously turned his gaze towards Taihang Mountains.
I don’t know whether Chu Yan on the mountain also received this message at this time.
Just talking about Chu Yan's side, there are 4,000 people gathered together. Even if they have stored food and can rely on the mountains for food, it is definitely not a long-term solution.
The Taihang Mountains' easy defense and difficult attack, as well as their circuitous warfare through the Xingkou mountain roads, were indeed their advantages, but the fact that mountains were not as suitable for farming as plains was also clearly their disadvantage.
Zhang Niujiao, who was supposed to start the rebellion in the second year of Zhongping, moved the time of the rebellion forward by one year and came to meet Chu Yan.
The addition of a larger group of people not only led to leadership friction between the two, but also made food in the mountains scarce.
Chu Yan is a man with great vision, which can be seen in his decision to lead people into the mountains quickly to avoid the search and arrest by the Jizhou royal army. Another move was that after Zhang Niujiao arrived, he chose to let the other party be the "general".
The reason he gave was that the other side brought more people.
But in fact, Zhang Niujiao knew very well how many of his men were just bringing their families with them. If we really talk about combat effectiveness, they are definitely not as good as Chu Yan's young and strong followers.
Therefore, after being awarded the title of general by this leader, he did not really think that he could command Chu Yan's subordinates.
With Chu Yan taking the lead in taking a step back, the two parties were able to develop a cooperative environment.
However, things like food shortages obviously cannot be solved by something like a pie falling from the sky in a harmonious win-win situation where everyone is happy.
That’s not right. Now Zhang Niujiao really feels like pie has fallen from the sky.
Nine thousand people were spread out across a long mountain range. It seemed that they did not occupy much space, but it was enough for the reserved outposts among these people to appear in the key places among the mountains, and to patrol and inspect the county towns on both sides of the mountains. So one of the exploration teams happened to see the huge grain delivery team.
When the news was reported to Zhang Niu Jiao, his eyes immediately lit up.
The fact that this was the food of a county marquis made him feel that the operation was feasible.
Shouldn't the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by these princes and nobles be given to them?
It would be better to let these Black Mountain soldiers fill their stomachs than to let them gather dust in the warehouse.
"Brother, look..." Zhang Niujiao asked Chu Yan.
Chu Yan is only about twenty years old. Otherwise, he would not be so appealing in gathering young and strong people from his hometown. Zhang Niujiao is more than old enough to be his father.
But perhaps because this young man always had his own ideas and showed extraordinary leadership qualities, Zhang Niujiao could only get along with him as an equal.
Chu Yan was silent for a moment.
Leping...
To be honest, this is not a place he wants to touch.
Judging from Qiao Yan's stance alone, she is completely opposed to him, but Chu Yan has her own logic in judging things. He is also keenly aware that except for Bu Ji, Zhang Bo, Bo Cai and others who really died at the hands of Qiao Yan, most of the Yellow Turbans even relied on her actions to be saved. This is not a person who takes a black-and-white stance.
Although he was in Jizhou and had no access to information in the mountains, so he didn't know about Qiao Yan's performance in Luoyang City, he had a hunch that a person who could obtain the title of county marquis from the emperor and sit firmly in this position until he took office safely was definitely not an easy person to deal with.
It is better to avoid such people if possible.
Even with this grain temptation clearly laid out before our eyes, there is no guarantee that there won’t be some trap.
But he had to admit that if it was true as the reconnaissance team said, there were more than 30,000 dan of Qiao Yan's personal grain in Leping. Even if it was just unhusked corn, it would be enough for them to eat for half a year.
After all, among their current population, there are actually quite a few non-strong laborers.
This is indeed a big business where you can make a profit and then take a break for a while.
Besides, it's still summer now, but they should always prepare for winter in advance.
When he looked up, he saw the people discussing matters in the tent, and they were obviously very interested in the wealth.
It also includes Sun Qing and Wang Dang, who arrived earlier than Zhang Niu Jiao and were mentioned in the information shared by Zhao Yun and Qiao Yan.
In this situation, if he tried to stop them, it would not only fail to make them realize that they made this decision out of a vigilant mentality, but would instead cause internal friction.
So when he opened his mouth, he said, "If the general wants to get this amount of food, I have two suggestions."
This does not mean a rejection.
Zhang Niujiao said immediately: "Brother, please feel free to speak."
"First, we must investigate the environment of the granary to see if there are any ambushes set up around it. In particular, we must send someone to find a way to sneak into the granary to ensure that there is indeed food inside and not something to trick us."
"Second, if we really want to take action, please divide us into two teams, one to seize the food, and the other to provide support. And we must act quickly."
Zhang Niujiao heard this and said, "I will listen to you, brother."
After all, with Chu Yan's support, the possibility of seizing grain is much higher.
Seeing Zhang Niujiao going to inform his men to take action in high spirits, Sun Qing and Wang Dang also went to make preparations. Chu Yan sat alone in the tent, still feeling a little uneasy.
He tried hard to convince himself that Qiao Yan had only been in Leping for a month, and he might not have been able to cooperate closely with the local citizens.
This situation where it is difficult for the other party to work for her with all their strength will definitely affect her actions in arresting the bandits.
In this case, he doesn't necessarily have to be so wary of her.
But what he didn't know was that when Qiao Yan instigated Tian and Xue to deliver the letter to Changsha for her, she knew to draw a pie in the sky that would go down in history and make the other party die. How could she forget this at such a critical moment in dealing with the Black Mountain bandits?
Besides, everyone in the county now knew that she had such a considerable amount of rice. When famine was once rampant, it was hard not to have some hatred towards the rich.
This will undoubtedly reduce the positive effects of her previous tax cuts and distribution of improved seeds.
She would never do such a loss-making business!
So on the third day after the 30,000 shi of grain were delivered to the warehouse, Qiao Yan set up a stage in front of the county government office to show that he had something to say.
The girl standing on the stage has a county marquis seal hanging around her waist, indicating her unique status in Leping County.
But perhaps, even without this seal, it is enough for people to see her as a noble from her unique demeanor.
There were people who were curious and spread the news among them, and soon a large number of county residents gathered in front of the county government office.
When most people had arrived, Qiao Yan said, "You must be wondering why I came here to look for you today."
There were some sporadic sounds of people talking to each other from below.
She seemed not to have heard the surprise and indifference of the people below, and continued to speak loudly: "Since Qiao Yan arrived in Leping, he has checked the population and household registration, inspected the fields, reduced the per mu tax, temporarily exempted the head tax, and distributed good seeds. This is because someone once told me that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. You are all hardworking people, and with these conditions, you can live and work in peace and contentment."
"However, there have been droughts in recent years, severe cold in winter, locust plagues, and epidemics. Leping may not be peaceful again. In order to give this county some room for survival, I purchased a batch of grain in Jinyang City and stored it here. If a disaster year comes, this will be the basis for Leping County to survive. Qiao Yan promised in front of the county government today, and he will never go back on his word."
"If these 30,000 shi are not enough to sustain the county, I will find another way."
As soon as she said this, the audience immediately became excited.
Using 30,000 shi of grain as reserve grain for the county in case of a major disaster means that this grain is not Qiao Yan's private property, but is equivalent to the public grain reserves of Leping County.
They all heard Qiao Yan's words clearly, so there was naturally no room for her to regret.
This county marquis is truly a kind person!
But before they could rejoice for long, they heard Qiao Yan say, "Now that bandits are rampant in Taihang Mountain, this thing will surely be coveted, but the county officials and the Northern Army soldiers are limited, I am afraid it will be difficult to defend."
"Therefore, Qiao Yan begs everyone to help me get rid of the thieves and keep Leping!"
The people present immediately saw a notice posted in front of the county government office, which was stamped with the seals of the county marquis and the prime minister of Leping, and promised the ownership of the 30,000 dan of grain.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
