Chapter 54 March Arrives
If we calculate by status, Qiao Yan holds the position of Marquis of Leping, so the social status of Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, is naturally lower than hers.
But this is not the only way to look at it.
Her absolute control over Leping County comes from the fact that the position of Leping Prime Minister is her own, but once Zhang Yi arrives, her autonomy will be greatly restricted.
Although the power of the Inspector of the Han Dynasty was not acquired until they were renamed as Provincial Governors, the power held by the Inspector today has been greatly expanded compared to that in the Western Han Dynasty. The two core powers are particularly important: one is to select and appoint officials, and the other is to impeach and report.
These two powers were enough to allow a governor to win over a large number of people by recommending officials to the central government after taking office, and then eliminate dissidents through impeachment and reporting. This also made it easy for a governor to form a centralized state in the later period of his tenure.
As the central government's ability to govern the states declined, the power of the governors grew year by year and spread to those states and counties that were too far away from the capital Luoyang. The governors might also be able to infiltrate their power into the military.
Bingzhou has the Taihang Mountains across the dividing line. Even though it is not as far away from Sili as Youzhou and Qingzhou, it is undoubtedly a territory that is difficult for the capital to interfere with.
If the "inspector is biased and takes things for himself", coupled with frequent frictions in important border areas, it is inevitable that with these changes the inspector will gradually become a local emperor.
Unfortunately, Zhang Yi cannot be considered a very capable governor.
In front of him was Duan Jiong, one of the "Three Great Men of Liangzhou", who was still as fierce as a killer when he was the governor of Bingzhou. In the back were Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, who were his successors. Zhang Yi was sandwiched in between and had no strong presence. The only record of him left in the historical materials was -
When the Southern Xiongnu leader Qiangqu in Xihe County sent his son Yufuluo to lead troops to support the Han Dynasty in suppressing the local rebellion, the Southern Xiongnu's left-wing nobles joined forces with Xiutuguhu to kill not only Qiangqu, the Xiongnu Chanyu, but also the governor.
Of course, now that Qiao Yan has teamed up with the Wang family of Jinyang to win over the hearts of the Huns with wine, as time passes to the fifth year of Zhongping, it is still unknown whether this rebellion within the Southern Huns will actually occur.
But obviously, although Zhang Yi had a lot of people under his command at that time, he was unable to curb the rebellious spirit of Xiu Tu Ge Hu, and it is difficult to change it now.
Such is the governor's ability in dealing with external affairs. What about his internal affairs?
Qiao Yan had no way of knowing.
This group of candidates to become provincial governors were all very "young" - in terms of their experience in officialdom.
For example, Wang Yun was recommended as the Imperial Censor of the Three Dukes' Palace not long ago, and he got the opportunity to be promoted during the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. For example, Huang Wan was previously unable to serve as an official in the court due to the influence of the Party and Factions Persecution, and was recommended by Yang Ci last year.
Qiao Yan listed these names together, and it is not difficult to see Liu Hong’s intention in doing so.
The four governors, Chen Wen, Zhang Yi, Wang Yun, and Huang Wan, were the emperor's compromise with the aristocratic families and scholars. The appointment of Huangfu Song and two members of the royal family as governors was the emperor's consolidation of local power.
The prerequisite is that the two members of the royal family can remain loyal to the Han Dynasty. As they stated to Liu Hong when they fought for this position, they really only held the power of governor in order to pacify the local areas more quickly, and they did not want to establish their own regimes after taking office.
"The wisdom of the emperor is unquestionable, but it is difficult for him to take care of the people. He should first think about improving people's livelihood and balancing power..." When Cheng Li was specially invited by Qiao Yan to inquire about his attitude towards Zhang Yi, he saw the young county lord standing by the window. On the half of his face that he could see, the deep contemplation on his face was clearly visible.
“This is not the way to save the country.”
Cheng Li knew that Qiao Yan was no ordinary person. Otherwise, he would not have followed her to Leping and taken up the position of Prime Minister of Leping. However, when he heard her judgment, he was still shocked by her bold comment.
However, Qiao Yan had never said such a thing in the previous meeting where everyone was instructed to do their respective duties. He only touched upon such a dangerous and sensitive topic in private discussions with him. It was hard for Cheng Li not to feel that Qiao Yan valued and trusted him.
This reliance undoubtedly made him more certain that he would not change his decision to stay here and help her govern Leping.
Of course, what made him determined in this decision might also be the ambition she vaguely revealed in her words.
However, it is enough for everyone to have a general idea of this kind of thing, and there is no need to point it out during conversation.
He just said: "Your Excellency had previously written a letter in Luoyang about the harm of the provincial governor system, and also presented it to the emperor in person. When he returned at that time, he already knew that the provincial governor would be executed. Now he is just acting in response to the situation."
"Of course I know that, but I just think it's sad to see new chaos during this turbulent time."
Qiao Yan immediately changed the subject, "Forget it, let's not talk about this matter. Whether it's the governor or the provincial governor, it's not something we can interfere with. Let's talk about the new provincial governor. Mr. Zhongde, do you think the new provincial governor will have an impact on our actions in Leping?"
Cheng Li had thought about this matter before in the hall, and replied without hesitation: "No matter what kind of person Zhang Yi is, one thing will not change. At least within a year, he will not extend his hand to Leping."
"The power of supervision and impeachment of the provincial governor can be used to its greatest effect only when the impeached person is unable to report to the emperor. However, Marquis Qiao presented gifts to the capital, and I became the Prime Minister of Leping thanks to Marquis Qiao's petition. We have mutual interests. As for what happens next—"
Cheng Li's words and deeds are prudent, and his performance at this time is not difficult to make people feel at ease. "We still have a year to wait and see what he says and does. Because of the paper mulberry leather clothes and hero wine, the two major families in Jinyang have maintained a cooperative relationship with Leping. There are still allies to rely on, and they can be consolidated within a year. Your Excellency does not need to worry."
Qiao Yan replied, "Then I'll have to trouble Mr. Zhongde to take care of it."
For a counselor, this kind of trouble is nothing.
Moreover, compared with the governor Zhang Yi who is about to take office, because of the major epidemic in five states outside Bingzhou, it is more important to prevent the disaster in Leping County before it happens.
The pandemic is no joke.
Fortunately, in this era there are not so many visits and tours. After all, Leping is just a small place in the mountains and can be considered to be in a relatively independent environment.
In addition, the cleaning and rectification task assigned by Qiao Yan to the county residents in December became a task that county residents competed to do because the first two thousand households that completed the task could receive two kilograms of salt from the county government. This so-called further prevention was not a difficult task to accomplish.
They are not unaware of the effect of the environmental management and improvement in the county.
But Xi Zhicai was a bit unlucky. Although he was given food supplements by Qiao Yan for a few months, his physical condition was not good. At the end of the first month of the lunar year, he was a little careless and fell ill due to a cold. He became the first person to be subject to the isolation regulations issued by Qiao Yan this month.
She had deducted the drinking allowance for two of the six days without hesitation.
While drinking the yam and pork ribs soup brought in from the window, Xi Zhicai wrote a letter to his good friend about his "miserable" life in which he would not drink alcohol for about a month, without caring at all that his behavior was ostentatious.
But after all, he only had a cold and not a serious epidemic, so after confirming that he was alive and well, he was released.
But before he was in the mood to drink, Qiao Yan told him a particularly shocking news.
On the Jiyou day of February in the second year of Zhongping, a fire broke out in the Nangong Palace in Luoyang. The fire took half a month to be completely extinguished.
The Yutang Palace where Liu Hong lived was the most severely damaged in the fire.
But perhaps it was because the successive disasters had already made the emperor somewhat numb, or perhaps it was because of the various astronomical discoveries at the end of the Han Dynasty. Even if it were not for what Qiao Yan said in the debate at that time, he would not care so much about the theory of the connection between heaven and man. In short, this fire did not make him feel alert. Instead, he made a decision after the fire subsided.
Increase taxes on all land in the world.
Before this, the land tax was extremely harsh for the people. Who would have thought that during the first month of the year, when the epidemic had not yet been completely subsided, Liu Hong would use the burning of the Yutang Palace as an excuse to tax the land and make money.
Qiao Yan could guess the intention behind his decision.
After employing royal family members as governors and scholars as provincial governors, the next people to be employed are their own people.
Eunuchs were not qualified to gain a foothold in the court, so his attention was still on the Hongdu School.
But the training of students requires money, and Liu Hong was obviously short of money.
However, this act was equivalent to levying heavy taxes when the people were in the most difficult time, so Qiao Yan couldn't even say that he was "smart" this time...
This land tax imposed on all places was indeed a heavy burden, and there were only two places that were able to escape its impact.
One is Qiao Yan's Leping. After she arrived here, the per mu tax was exempted because the tax could be decided by herself, and naturally there would be no change due to the additional levy from above.
One was Jizhou controlled by Huangfu Song, the then governor of Jizhou. Since it was not difficult for him to take office, he had already submitted a petition requesting the exemption of one year's land rent in Jizhou to support the hungry people long before the fire in Nangong Palace, and it was still within the one-year deadline.
But even though the people of Jizhou praised Huangfu Song for "recovering their homes thanks to Huangfu", Liu Hong was unable to withdraw his decision to levy additional land tax. In the following March, Liu Hong changed Huangfu Song's post as Jizhou Mu back to his original post as General of Chariots and Cavalry and ordered him to attack Beigong Boyu who had attacked Sanfu.
Was it because there were no generals available that Huangfu Song was sent there, or was it because he still felt that it was a bit dangerous to put Huangfu Song, a person who was not a royal family member but had a very high prestige, in the position of Jizhou Mu, so he made a transfer -
No one is a worm in Liu Hong's stomach, and no one can give a definite judgment.
But the knowledgeable people in the world were sad once again.
Previously, because Qiao Yan reminded Cao Cao to pay attention to the epidemic after the war, he wrote another letter to thank him in the first month of the year. The two places also exchanged some letters in February and March. Although Cao Cao did not mention the matter of Huangfu Song in the letter in March, he also casually complained that it was not easy to be the prime minister of a country.
Could it be easy? The sudden imposition of this acre tax has brought a burden that needs no description.
But Cao Cao could not reveal any criticism of Liu Hong in the letter, and Qiao Yan could not express any agreement.
Perhaps the only good thing in this series of bad news is that March has arrived, and it is time to plant yam.
The yam tubers were taken out from the previous warehouse, and after the fine sand on top was cleaned off, they were divided into short sections of less than one foot long. After the "disinfection" operation as Qiao Yan said, those with small sprouts were taken aside separately, and those with similar shapes were gathered together, divided into different baskets, and then sent to various mountain ridges.
The field preparation before the arrival of winter last year formed deep trenches in the area where yam is planned to be planted this year, and the seeds can be planted by simply turning over the filled soil before the snow fell.
When Zhang Niujiao came to the mountains carrying a basket on his back, he looked around and found that the familiar faces seemed to have gained a little weight after such a cold winter.
He subconsciously touched his face and realized that it also had a little more flesh than before.
But this... this is not some lazy behavior on his part.
Or maybe the food conditions provided to them in Marquis Qiao’s territory were too good.
He had never eaten so well before when he was in Taihang Mountains and occasionally broke into towns to plunder.
This morning, he sorted out his wages and found that there were nearly two hundred five-zhu coins in it. Although he did not receive any extra rewards like the two people who improved the mulberry leather clothes and those who were diligent in making the products and produced superior products, it was still a sum of accumulated wealth.
Moreover, according to what Marquis Qiao said, she detained the people temporarily to warn everyone not to take chances and hide in the mountains as thieves. Seeing that they behaved like good citizens, she planned to let them go in August.
If there are those who meet the criteria to become citizens of Leping County, they can not only stay in Leping, but also receive their wages according to the market price.
But there are only 3,000 places available.
Zhang Niujiao thought that he stayed here just to learn how to grow yam. By August, he would have learned almost everything and there was no need to fight for the spot.
But his instincts reacted faster than his thoughts.
When he saw people around him starting to plant the yam tubers after listening to the explanation, he was afraid that he would fall behind the top three thousand people, so he immediately started to work diligently.
This is when the advantages of his martial arts skills and strong physique are demonstrated.
He thought so in his heart, and felt even more satisfied when he tasted two slices of meat in his meal today.
Although Qin Yu said when distributing meals that this was a special treatment because planting started today, she also said that after today, in every team of 100 people, the five people with the most evenly spaced yam plants and the highest efficiency will continue to receive meat rewards.
This thin piece of meat doesn't have much fat, but after eating the bark, it is really a delicacy.
Zhang Niujiao paid attention to his "competitors" among the hundred people in his group today, and found that few of them could compare with his physical strength and efficiency.
With this comparison, he became more motivated. After finishing the food in the bowl, he burped comfortably, and then met Chu Yan's expression which was quite difficult to describe.
"...Why are you here, my dear brother?" Zhang Niujiao asked guiltily.
"We have enough bamboo baskets, and the yam seedling supports that Lord Qiao mentioned have also been completed, so naturally we should come here." Chu Yan replied.
Before Zhang Niujiao could find an excuse for himself, he heard Chu Yan ask, "Is that what the General is going to do?"
Zhang Niujiao was almost startled and jumped up. He quickly gestured to Chu Yan to keep quiet, "You can't call me that now. I still hope to be a village chief."
As soon as he said this he realized that he seemed to have spoken his true feelings.
But now that it has been said, it seems that there is nothing to hide, and he can't help but feel a little relieved in his heart, "My dear brother, you said that we are rising up, not for the sake of being a noble or a general, nor do we have the ability to become an emperor. Isn't it the life we live in Leping that we want? This is not a betrayal to my brothers, right? And I think..."
He looked around.
To be honest, everyone changed sides faster than him.
He's just being stubborn.
That’s not right. There’s also this kid Chu Yan.
Chu Yan felt something was wrong when they attacked Leping earlier. He had always been the one with the most ideas. The words "General, this is your plan" just now made Zhang Niu Jiao feel that he had been keeping silent and was thinking of leading a group of people to make things difficult for Qiao Yan.
Sure enough, the next moment he heard Chu Yan say, "I don't plan to do this."
"..."By the way, what reward can I get if I report this kid?
"I want to strive for a position in the county government." Chu Yan's next sentence made Zhang Niujiao give up his eager thoughts.
"When I passed by the other day, I heard the newly promoted manager was being taught to read. They were reciting the story of Du Kang making wine, Cang Jie creating characters, Chu Li the mastermind, and Bian Shao the scripture collector." He seemed not to notice the other person's wonderful expression and continued, "I think I can do it too, so why not give it a try."
The Zhao Yun who captured him was not yet the official county lieutenant here at that time. However, because Marquis Qiao was short of people and his actions were for the people's livelihood, Zhao Yun chose to stay in Leping after reporting his safety to the elders of Changshan County, and officially took up the position of county lieutenant in Leping County.
He was not yet of age, but since he had already started working he could have a name. After he came back from Changshan, people in the county knew that the name given to him by his elders was Zilong.
Chu Yan wanted to compete with him, and naturally did not want to just be a village chief like Zhang Niu Jiao.
Of course, before that he had to wait for Qiao Yan to come back before he would have the opportunity to recommend himself.
When it was time to plant yam in March, Qiao Yan saw that Qin Yu had handled the farm work properly and the cutting of the tubers and planting were also proceeding in an orderly manner, so he put aside some of his worries about converting the yam from wild to artificial cultivation.
Also, because of Zhang Yi's previous official handover, he received the imperial edict in the first month of the year, but he officially took office in March. It was at this time that Qiao Yan planned to meet the governor in person and make an assessment of him.
So at this time Qiao Yan was not in Leping County, but in Jinyang.
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