Chapter 65 Yan Yan...
Can this act of kidnapping the governor of a provincial government to quell the locust plague be considered as a strategic point?
The strategist system really wants to say that it is still a newbie, so can it please not do such terrible things.
But it also heard Qiao Yan's explanation, "I should be considered to be following the system rules. The previous refutation of the state governor system can be settled with counselor points. Obviously, under the premise that the lord has not been determined, maintaining the initial camp position and making suggestions or actions that are beneficial to the emperor should be counted."
“It’s still the same now.”
[That's true, but you acted too early. Even if we follow your logic, the current situation is that Zhang Yi has only proved that he did not have the foresight to discover the locust plague and prepare in advance, but it cannot prove that he does not have the ability to solve it. 】
"Then let's put it another way." Qiao Yan was not discouraged by the system's denial. Instead, he continued, "Power struggles within a camp are the norm. For example, the many factions under Yuan Shao, who will dominate the four states in the future, can be said to be fighting each other. If the counselors' actions can change the direction of the internal struggles to the direction that the lord hopes for, can it be counted?"
After looking through the rules, the system replied hesitantly: [It seems to count. 】
It's not even just about settling points.
There are actually corresponding achievements for assisting in the cleansing of internal forces.
However, it is better not to tell her this too early, lest she does something outrageous again.
But the answer it gave now was enough for Qiao Yan to confirm some things.
Since this is an acceptable direction, she only needs to get Liu Hong's approval of her behavior.
Of course, before that, she had to completely suppress the locust plague in various parts of Bingzhou to ensure that apart from forcibly detaining the Bingzhou Governor and Taiyuan Prefect, she would not be blamed for anything else.
This is not a difficult thing to do if you have a good start.
The "provincial governor" issued a directive and posted a notice. The aristocratic families represented by the Wang family of Jinyang took the lead in the action. All counties in the state opened warehouses to exchange locusts.
With this combination of measures, people's enthusiasm for eliminating locusts has been guaranteed.
However, Qiao Yan quickly realized that there was a loophole and immediately issued a supplementary notice.
The notice stated that in order to exchange locusts for food, one must hold a household registration in this county, otherwise the exchange would not be possible.
"This supplementary regulation is particularly necessary," Qiao Yan explained after hearing the system's puzzlement. "Clearing locusts, digging up locust eggs, and exchanging them for food is a way to quickly get food rewards through labor, and it is relatively less unfair."
[Isn’t this a good thing?] 】
"It may be a good thing or not." Qiao Yan replied: "For example, judging from the locust distribution reported by various counties in Bingzhou, the locust plague spread from the three auxiliary capitals, and also showed a significant characteristic of more in the south and less in the north. So is it possible that a situation will occur-"
"Will people in the northern counties come to the south to earn food by killing locusts, and then return to their hometowns?"
This is obviously possible.
Among the northern counties of Bingzhou that Qiao Yan could not see all of them, there was a future number one military general in the world. He actually considered this idea when the first wave of imperial edicts were issued.
Because there were only a few locusts in Wuyuan County when the decree was issued, he wanted to go south to other counties to try his luck.
He thought that with his agile skills, it would be no problem for him to get a large reward.
Of course, he wasn't just after the bite, but was thinking about -
If he carried hundreds of kilograms of locusts to the exchange place, not to mention how much food he could exchange for, this opportunity to show his physical strength and martial arts would be a chance for him to seek a rank for promotion, wouldn't it?
However, before he could pack his luggage, he saw the supplementary regulations that were issued.
"..." Lu Bu extended his greetings to the Bingzhou governor from a distance.
When this approach seemed to be a dead end, he could only choose to continue to vent his extremely high martial arts power against the Huns who were attacking the pass.
After hearing his fellow townsman's explanation, Lu Bu reluctantly accepted that the governor had indeed made the decision after careful consideration.
It makes sense. If all the northern counties want to go to the south to catch locusts to make a fortune, and the border defense in the north does not rely solely on the soldiers, there may be some defense gaps, allowing the Xiongnu and Xianbei foreigners to find opportunities to enter the country.
It seems that this governor has some vision.
"In addition to the people from the northern counties, the original rules will also attract the unorganized bandits from the surrounding mountains." Qiao Yan continued to explain to the system, "Under this special situation, attracting these people may not be a good thing either, because I am only temporarily exercising the power of the governor and cannot issue continuous orders."
"Then the question is, when there are no more locusts to dig around, will these people naturally become county citizens through naturalization, or will they plunder and then return to the mountains?"
“I prefer the latter.”
Qiao Yan felt that, as the entire area was being harassed by locusts, Bingzhou's relatively orderly approach to handling the situation might not necessarily reach the ears of the governors of other states separated by mountains, but it would most likely reach the ears of the bandits hiding on the border.
Because it is still summer, the mountains are covered with grass and trees and food is available, which makes it more suitable for bandits to survive than winter.
In the vast Taihang Mountains, it is impossible that there is only the Black Mountain Army.
It's not even just within Bingzhou.
For example, in the mountains near the Hedong area, there was a group of bandits who had not yet started an uprising in Baibo Valley as it later developed. Their leader, Yang Feng, was particularly interested in Bingzhou's new rules for locust control.
Unfortunately, his little plan was also nipped in the bud.
But when he thought about it carefully, he realized that he might be able to gain some benefits from it.
Given Bingzhou's efficiency in eliminating locusts, by the time of autumn harvest, there must be more grain stored than in other places.
It is easy to determine the direction of this year's autumn wind!
Even the bandits who only sent out scouts to spy on the edge of Bingzhou had this feeling, and the local people in Bingzhou had an extremely clear understanding -
These locusts do not seem to be an irresistible natural disaster.
In the face of such a sweeping and unusually decisive locust eradication campaign, driven by profit, not only the locusts that had not followed the locust plague troops to act independently, but even the locust eggs laid in the desolate and dry soil were quickly dug out.
The geese and ducks raised by each household also played a vital role in this searching process.
Afterwards, the dead locusts and their eggs were burned to ashes in front of the government offices in various counties.
I don’t know if it’s because good rain knows when to fall, but after the vigorous locust eradication campaign from July to August, Bingzhou had heavy rain for several consecutive days.
The heavy rain was enough to moisten the land in most areas of Bingzhou and curb the reproduction of locusts.
Now that August has arrived, the harvest time will not be far away.
Qiao Yan walked out of the "prison cell" where a prefect and a provincial governor were imprisoned, and looked towards the courtyard through the rain falling under the eaves.
The two of them didn't do anything like a hunger strike, but it was certain that they didn't look at Qiao Yan well.
Especially the governor Zhang Yi.
During this visit, Qiao Yan also threatened her that once the imperial court discovered the abnormality here, she would be in trouble.
Qiao Yan was not completely unprepared for this, so he just ignored his words.
She just watched the gradually increasing rain accumulate into a puddle in the courtyard of the Jinyang Prefecture. Suddenly, she became worried about the yam plants in the fields of Leping Mountain that were not tolerant of waterlogging, so she called Chu Yan over and asked him to go back as soon as possible to check on them.
But before she could finish her explanation, she heard someone say "No need" from a distance.
She looked in the direction of the voice and saw a familiar figure. It was Xi Zhicai leading the prefect Guo.
This is what he said, of course.
When Xi Zhicai came closer, he spoke again, "The progress of locust control in Leping is faster than that in other places. There is enough time to tidy up the drainage ditches before the rain. Your Excellency does not need to worry."
Qiao Yan felt relieved after hearing what he said.
She immediately turned in the direction of Governor Guo and saw that he bowed to her, an action that clearly showed his gratitude.
"Actually, Governor Guo shouldn't have come," Qiao Yan said solemnly, "Fortunately, there aren't many people on the street today. If you return early, no one will notice that you are here to join the evil."
Under the current circumstances, the safest thing for Guo Yu is to stay in Shangdang and not worry about who issued the order. In short, it is enough to obey it.
In this way, even if the fact that Qiao Yan was acting as the governor was exposed later, it would never affect Guo Yu.
But obviously this upright governor did not think so.
He replied solemnly: "What Marquis Qiao has done for Bingzhou has benefited the people. The pea interplanting and dragon bone turning over in Shangdang also played a significant role in this disaster. I have received Marquis Qiao's great kindness, so how can I choose to turn a deaf ear and dumb at this time just to seek benefits and avoid harm.
If I am criticized in the capital this time, even though I don't have great talent, I can still say a few words. ”
Although he did not mention Yangqu Guo in this promise, it was still very important.
Until he was allowed to stay here temporarily and watched his figure disappear among the corridors, Qiao Yan still couldn't help but look a little dazed.
But now is not the time for her to be stunned. Xi Zhicai's arrival also means that -
"Is your manuscript finished being polished?"
Xi Zhicai couldn't help laughing. Only Qiao Yan could make someone write a letter of apology so plausible.
When he followed Qiao Yan into the study, the light was dim due to the rain outside, and the candles in the room had been lit, illuminating the documents in the study that were traveling between various counties.
Obviously, during this month, Qiao Yan did not only expand the arrangements for the locust plague from Leping to various places, but also did a lot to maintain the government affairs of Bingzhou.
Xi Zhicai was moved, but he didn't say much. He just took out the prepared book from his sleeve and handed it to Qiao Yan, "I will live up to your trust."
Qiao Yan reached out and took it, then spread it out in front of him.
Although Xi Zhicai was sometimes teasing in the letters he wrote to his friends, he had his own agenda. He also felt that he had not misjudged Qiao Yan because of his behavior of carrying an arrow with him. He was also very excited, so how could he play around with this matter?
In Qiao Yan's opinion, although Xi Zhicai's letter of apology did not have the literary talent of Chen Lin's manifesto, it was obviously more comprehensive and in line with her needs at the time.
Also, because he had been in Leping for a year, even if he could not be said to know all of Qiao Yan's thoughts, he was able to understand her intentions from a subtle point of view. When writing this letter of apology, he was more inclined to stand on Qiao Yan's side and express his true feelings.
As for the core purpose, the wording of this letter did not deliberately give the governor Zhang Yi much scorn, but the indignation of a childish nature was contained in it, which indirectly expressed the accusation against Zhang Yi for not adopting the promotion of Longgu's failure.
Qiao Yan felt that if she were to write the story, it might not be as poignant as Xi Zhicai's, and it would be difficult to combine an apology and a complaint.
Of course, the ending was still a little peaceful, and Cheng seemed to be apologizing.
This is what is meant by [requesting that the prison cart be brought into the capital to rectify the court's laws and regulations].
Qiao Yan read the entire letter of apology word by word and was quite satisfied with Xi Zhicai's meticulous understanding of her thoughts.
But after she considered it for a while, she asked again, "Sir, what do you think if I add a few more sentences?"
Xi Zhicai looked at Qiao Yan's expression and felt that she was not nitpicking. In her opinion, she had a trick up her sleeve. "I'd like to hear more about it."
Qiao Yan said, "Only those who have reached the age of coming of age or marriageable age are given courtesy names. However, Yuanzhi and Zilong were not yet of age when they took office in Leping, so they were given courtesy names first, to show that they are ready to take on responsibilities. But I don't have that yet."
"This letter of apology mentioned that I took action against Zhang Yi because I thought people's lives were difficult and the governor was ineffective. Therefore, my apology was only for violating laws and regulations, not regretting my actions. So, how about adding another sentence along this line of thought?"
Qiao Yan looked towards Xi Zhicai, his eyes calm but with a blazing brilliance, "This is Qiao Yan's decision, not someone else's instigation. With the locust plague approaching, I am the only one to blame. So I took a courtesy name at this time to show that I can shoulder this matter alone."
Xi Zhicai replied: "If so, this courtesy name must hit the heart, only then will it be effective."
Xi Zhicai knew several people named Yan.
For example, the famous scholar Cui Yan, his courtesy name is Jigui, which means Yan, which means beautiful jade. For example, Cai Yan, who is now in Leping, his courtesy name is Zhaoji, which means Yan, Yan's beauty.
If Qiao Yan had given up asking his elders to give him a courtesy name, and instead given himself a courtesy name in the face of this particularly special event and decision, in the hope that this letter of apology would have a more desperate meaning, then -
This courtesy name must not be mediocre!
In other words, it can't be a name that can be thought of hastily and perfunctorily just to make up the story.
"I wonder what you think of these two words, sir?"
Seeing Qiao Yan picking up the pen and writing on the book in front of her with a certainty, Xi Zhicai walked to her side and read the two words clearly.
A strange light flashed in his eyes, "These two words are very wonderful!"
The letter sent to the capital was finally completed!
Luoyang.
In August, Luoyang was already very hot and dry, and the locust plague hit it, which was like adding insult to injury.
I don’t know if it was because the Taihang Mountains blocked the water vapor, but the sudden rain in Bingzhou did not benefit the Sili area.
Therefore, the area is still dry and the grass and trees are withered.
Zhang Rang carefully observed the expression of Liu Hong, who was sitting above him.
After the Nangong fire, Liu Hong agreed to his suggestion to levy an additional land tax, seemingly resuming his use of people like them. But in fact, in Zhang Rang's opinion, Liu Hong became more moody.
The emperors of the Han Dynasty seemed to be inherently mean and ungrateful, or the instinct of political creatures, which was fully reflected in Liu Hong.
For example, at this moment, when he was listening to reports about locust plagues in various places, there was an indescribable calmness on his face, which made people even feel that these disasters did not seem to happen on his land.
He just casually placed his hand over the ice basin on the table to dispel the heat from his body.
Just when Zhang Rang was about to fall asleep due to afternoon drowsiness, he suddenly asked, "Do you think it is right to use Zhang Wen to replace Huangfu Song?"
This kind of question...
This is not a question that can be answered casually!
But Zhang Rang could not say that it seemed somewhat inappropriate to suddenly bring up the war in Liang Province at this time when dealing with the locust plague was more important. He could not say that Liu Hong was simply giving him a death sentence.
He knelt on the ground in the Jiade Hall, which had just been cooled by water, and replied carefully, "General Zhang has just arrived in Liangzhou, and he has subsequently appointed Dong Zhongying as the General of Breaking the Enemy. It will take some time for him to get familiar with the situation in Meiyang. It is not easy to advance in the hot summer. If Your Majesty wants to determine whether the change of generals is appropriate, I am afraid it is impossible to tell now."
Liu Hong responded without comment.
He was extremely eager to attack the rebels in Liang Province; otherwise he would not have replaced Huangfu Song during the locust plague.
Just as Zhang Rang said, he first approved Dong Zhuo's decision to promote General Po Lu to deputy general, then sent Sun Jian, who had left some impression on him in the previous Yellow Turban Rebellion, there, and gave Yuan Pang, who was from the Yuan family of Chenjun, the position of Praetorian Guards, and arranged to send him there as well. Qiao Yan also knew about Bao Hong who was going to Liangzhou.
This is the best move Liu Hong can make in the current situation.
It's not that he doesn't know that in the battle of Liang Province, given Zhang Wen's cautiousness, he would never make any rash moves. At least he should first find out the movements of Bian Zhang, Han Sui and Beigong Boyu.
In addition, the weather is not good at this time, so it is normal for it to be delayed until November.
But the locust plague is very troublesome. There is resentment among the people in the capital Luoyang. If no progress is made in the war on the border, other chaos will probably arise in all directions.
What bothered him the most was that at today's court meeting, Cui Lie actually proposed the idea of giving up Liangzhou because of the long-term failure of attacking Liangzhou!
Listen to what this is talking about!
Who is Cui Lie? In March of this year, he dismissed Yuan Wei from the position of Si Tu and replaced him with Cui Lie to express a warning to the Yuan family.
However, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, younger generations of the Yuan family, became famous one after another. The former seemed to be not in the court, but in fact he relied on General He Jin, implicitly planning and waiting for the right time, while the latter was accumulating qualifications in the position of Yin of Henan.
Yuan Ji, the eldest son of the Yuan family, had already been promoted to the position of Grand Coachman. The absence of a Minister of Education who had been reprimanded by the emperor in court earlier could not be considered a warning at all.
Cui Lie also failed to live up to Liu Hong's expectations of him. The decision to give up Liangzhou alone was enough to make Liu Hong angry.
Fortunately, although Huangfu Song's great achievements made him feel jealous and he failed to quickly defeat Beigong Boyu, the deputy general Fu Xie he trained was as straightforward and merciless as he was, and he requested the execution of Cui Lie in court.
It was a sharp blade that Liu Hong had not expected and was really useful.
Fu Xie said frankly in the court that Liangzhou was the strategic point of the world and the barrier of the country. In the past, Emperor Gaozu pacified Longyou and Emperor Xiaowu opened up the four counties of Liangzhou. Did he want today's prime minister to propose to give them up? If this is true, the Huns will certainly take advantage of the situation and invade as well, which is "the greatest concern of the world."
Anyone with eyes can see this situation clearly. If Cui Lie cannot see this, he is unwise. If he sees this and still dares to say so, he is disloyal.
Anyway, you can choose one of the two charges.
Liu Hong felt quite refreshed when he heard Cui Lie being scolded.
But, doesn't this also mean that his decision to choose Cui Lie as Situ to replace Yuan Wei was indeed a wrong decision?
At this moment, Liu Hong was apparently asking about replacing Huangfu Song with Zhang Wen, but in fact he was also asking about replacing Yuan Wei with Cui Lie.
Zhang Rang’s answer is not wrong. Let’s wait and see.
I don’t know whether the locust plague can pass during this period.
Just as he thought of this, he heard a eunuch outside the palace come to report an urgent news from Bingzhou.
"Show it up!"
When he heard the word "Bingzhou", Liu Hong suddenly realized that in the past month, he had been distracted by many troubles and had forgotten that he had never received any report from Bingzhou.
Only then did he suddenly realize that something was wrong.
The locust plague spread to the Sanfu area and it was impossible for Bingzhou to be missed. At the same time, there were frequent wars and frictions in the border areas of Bingzhou, and the frequency of wars was no less than that of Liangzhou.
It was at this time that an urgent report came, and Liu Hong subconsciously felt that this was bad news.
If Cui Lie claimed to give up Liangzhou first and then Bingzhou was lost quietly, it would be a sign of the collapse of the Han Dynasty.
With this in mind, as soon as the two memorials held by the eunuch arrived in front of Liu Hong, he hurriedly took them over.
He first opened the upper one and saw that it was stamped with the governor's seal. He guessed that it should be Zhang Yi's report on the situation in Bingzhou.
But when he opened it, he found that the handwriting on the cloth looked familiar.
He had a good memory and immediately pulled out the "On Feudalism of Provincial Governors" that he had kept for backup from under the table. He saw that there was no difference in the handwriting of the two documents, and it was obvious that they were written by the same person.
Liu Hong couldn't help but frown.
But thinking that he had not received any news from Bingzhou for a long time, even if he had some doubts in his heart, he had to watch and see first.
What he didn't expect was that this report, which was clearly stamped with Zhang Yi's seal but was written by Qiao Yan, actually contained good news.
It said that Bingzhou was indeed affected by the locust plague, but the situation is now under control.
Even if locusts are indeed magical, they have to give way to this year's harvest, so a locust catching operation was launched in Bingzhou.
There were fishing nets above, thatched huts burning at night, and ditches filled below. The three methods of catching and killing insects were used simultaneously. In addition, the state government exchanged grain for locusts and locust seeds. Although some grain was lost in the government treasury, there were no locust eggs within a thousand miles that could hide in the soil and give rise to new harm.
“…”
This is the style that Liu Hong believes Qiao Yan would be able to do.
In the past, she had only challenged the authority of the Taiping Dao with her eloquence, and had refuted the provincial governor system proposed by the Grand Master in the capital. Now, she even dared to catch locusts, which were often worshipped in ancestral temples!
But as stated in this memorial, this decision that previous generations did not dare to make undoubtedly produced excellent results.
Because the locust catching operation in Bingzhou was very fierce, the migrating locusts dared not land on the ground. Moreover, more than 20 days have passed since the first batch of locusts entered Bingzhou, and no large-scale locust larvae have yet emerged from the ground. This is due to the efforts of digging up the soil and seeds.
Liu Hong unconsciously compared the situation in the capital area with that in the report, and felt that Bingzhou had done a good job in this matter.
But the more he watched, from Zhang Rang's perspective, the expression on Liu Hong's face seemed to be about to bring about a storm, and it was clear that he was dissatisfied with someone.
Zhang Rang never saw what was written in the memorial, and could only guess that something went wrong in Bingzhou at this time, causing Liu Hong to be very angry.
But how could he know that Liu Hong was not angry because others did something wrong, on the contrary, it was because some people did something too outrageous.
But for such a person, like Huangfu Song, it is difficult for him to completely avoid feeling the slightest fear.
What's more, the person who wrote this memorial is only eleven years old.
Eleven years old...
Liu Hong sighed in his heart. In comparison, his eldest son Liu Bian was of a similar age, but was far inferior to her.
And under what circumstances did this memorial, which was originally supposed to be written by the governor of the prefecture, end up being written by Qiao Yan?
This is obviously not because of Qiao Yan's outstanding literary talent.
At least in Liu Hong's opinion, this memorial inherited Qiao Yan's usual plain style of writing, and simply reported the situation in Bingzhou truthfully. As a civil servant, Zhang Yi's writing skills were sufficient to handle it.
With this thought in mind, he opened the second report.
The three large and eye-catching characters on it caught his eye.
Letter of apology.
It’s also Qiao Yan’s handwriting.
This overly straightforward expression made Liu Hong stunned, but it was obvious that all his doubts should be answered in this letter of apology.
It must be said that the draft that Xi Zhicai prepared for Qiao Yan was indeed quite ingenious in describing Qiao Yan's explosive motive.
Not only did Liu Hong fail to realize that this was not the tone of Qiao Yan's handwriting, but he seemed to have witnessed firsthand how this young orphan made Leping his home after arriving there, and how he chose to report it to the provincial government immediately when he discovered signs of a locust plague.
Finally, when the locust plague really came, the state government was short-sighted and in order to avoid missing the opportunity, they simply chose to attack the people first and detain them until the locust plague was resolved.
Liu Hong almost blurted out "How audacious" when he saw the next sentence written by Qiao Yan.
The general meaning is that although she knew that what she did was wrong, she would dare to do it again next time. However, after thinking it over, she felt that it was too shameful for His Majesty's trust, so she wrote a letter to apologize.
Attached to the letter was a proposal she had previously written to the state government and a special letter found at Zhang Yi's place, to prove that she was forced to bring arrows to the door.
Liu Hong frowned when he saw this, feeling that the county marquis he had conferred upon him seemed to be a real troublemaker.
But seeing Qiao Yan's outburst made him less wary of this precocious child.
At least there are still some childish behaviors...
It's just that I'm too good at offending people.
Such a person is destined to be only a solitary official, and cannot become a qualified powerful official.
Liu Hong thought to himself that this didn't seem like a bad thing for him, so he read on and saw Qiao Yan wrote:
Of course, wrong is wrong, and not following the rules means being punished. If Your Majesty wants to send her to Luoyang for interrogation in a prison car, she will never resist and will allow Your Majesty to deal with her in accordance with the law.
However, Leping Prime Minister Cheng Li did not support her actions this time, and even sent a county lieutenant to stop her when she was leaving Leping. It was only because her sudden action was too unexpected that he failed to catch up with her. It cannot be blamed on him for not taking action to stop it sooner.
After that, all the instructions issued by the provincial government were stamped with the official seal. Under such circumstances, whether it was the Prime Minister of Leping or Shangdang, Yanmen and other places, they could only obey her orders.
Therefore, she can shoulder all the responsibilities alone.
To show that she is now an "adult", when writing this letter of apology, she thought hard for a long time and decided to give herself a courtesy name.
[In case of locust plague, you can just fill the ditches or burn them.] 】
[Those in Bingzhou who are just sitting there doing nothing can be burned to ashes.] 】
[Yan is a jade with a fiery color and brilliance, which is exactly in line with this philosophy, so the character "Ye" is chosen; Shu has an elegant meaning, so the middle part is "Yu", so the character "Yu" is chosen as the character...]
"Yeshu..."
Yeshu!
Liu Hong studied the two characters written in bold strokes on the apology form. His frown relaxed a lot and he suddenly laughed out loud, "Great! What a great Qiao Yeshu!"
"It's also a good fire of sacrifice!"
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