Chapter 411: Collection of Manifesto
If there could be one person out of ten in the world who could read and write, the implementation of government policies would be many times easier than it is today. Among those who can recognize words, the number of those who can combine words into articles has to be discounted.
When the area was narrowed down to Guanzhong, the number of people had certainly increased due to Qiao Yan's promotion of literacy, but it was still not enough to fill two warehouses with manifestos.
This was no longer an era where books had to be recorded on bamboo slips. The improved version of paper allowed these people to submit articles entirely through paper.
So how many documents need to be sent to the proofreading office of Leping Monthly in order to fill two warehouses?
Yuan Shao originally thought that Qiao Yan was exaggerating this just to put pressure on them again. However, when Yuan Shao dismissed his subordinates and his eyes fell on the March supplement of Leping Monthly in front of him, he suddenly realized that when Qiao Yan even dared to publish the manifesto written by Chen Lin in the newspaper, she didn't need to build momentum for herself in this way!
Perhaps...the enthusiastic submissions and piled-up warehouses in Chang'an City are a reality.
How similar the role played by Yuan Shao is to that played by Wang Yun at that time!
Wang Yun's assassination of Qiao Yan caused this man, who should have been the Grand Marshal of the Han Dynasty, to gain support from the people who could not bear to see him in such a desperate situation, and even sent him to the position of emperor.
The denunciation written by him and Liu Bian once again aroused the support of the people of Chang'an for her. So no matter whether these people had the ability to write an article, they had to write a few words on the already cheap paper so that she could see it.
Regardless of whether there are still people in this world who are truly loyal to the Han Dynasty, and whether there are still people who think that her throne was obtained in an illegitimate way, in their hearts, she is undoubtedly the ruler of the world!
In fact, Yuan Shao was not wrong.
When Qiao Yan received the submissions for these essays from Cai Zhaoji, he found that many of them were just a few words or even a couple of limericks.
They expressed their protest against the punitive manifesto, their dissatisfaction with Yuan Shao and Liu Bian, and their support for her in an extremely simple manner, and also made her think of something for no reason.
"It looks very similar to that kite." Qiao Yan murmured.
Cai Zhaoji did not respond at this time to interrupt her thoughts.
She knew which kite Qiao Yan was talking about.
At that time, she had not yet become the governor of Bingzhou, but had seized the power of Bingzhou by holding Zhang Yi hostage in order to issue orders to quell the locust plague. When Cui Lie took over the position of governor of Bingzhou, she was about to go to Leping to face the two-year house arrest penalty. At that time, she "picked up" a kite on the wall of the Bingzhou provincial capital.
The word "Thank you" is written all over it, but not all of them were written by literate people. Many of them were copied. Even so, there are still quite a few that appear to be missing limbs.
This simple thank-you gift was later framed like calligraphy and paintings and placed in the provincial capital of Bingzhou.
And at this moment, these "manifestoes" sent here really have the same meaning as the kite.
"Select these and compile them into a separate volume and send them to me. The rest..."
Qiao Yan glanced at the manuscripts that Cai Zhaoji and her subordinates had already screened overtime, and then replied, "Take Zhongxuan's article as the first, and you can have the rest typeset in the April issue. The price of this issue remains the same, but the number of pages will be doubled."
Cai Zhaoji coughed lightly and tried hard to suppress the urge to laugh.
This special treatment of "double the number of pages" was definitely prepared for the court in Yecheng. There is no second possibility.
If it weren't for the fact that each engraving used for printing always takes time, and if more were added, the publication of this monthly magazine might be delayed, she had no doubt that His Majesty might want to distribute a copy directly to everyone.
"The Shaofu is in charge of the emperor's treasury, so he doesn't need this money." Qiao Yan flipped through two pages of the manuscript in front of him and said, "We have to let Yuan Benchu feel the enthusiasm of the people of Chang'an, right?"
Yuan Shao might not be able to feel this kind of thing.
The recruitment of military generals and the collection of manifestos that appeared simultaneously in the March supplement clearly showed Yuan Shao Qiao Yan's intention to take advantage of the situation to annex Ji and Qing states.
The sense of imminent crisis forced Yuan Shao to rely on Liu Bian's previous mobilization and recruit soldiers from the two states to continue to strengthen the garrison of various passes.
But the confrontation in public opinion had not yet ended when the war in the north broke out again.
The last time Lu Bu attacked, he caught everyone off guard. This time, only half a month after his last expedition, he once again attacked into Hejian County with an extremely brutal offensive.
Because his previous direct advance caused considerable harm, Yuan Shao, at the suggestion of Ju Su, promoted Gao Shun and gave him greater authority to mobilize troops.
However, this time, Lu Bu unexpectedly changed his style of using troops directly and wanting to kill his way through the enemy's formation. The moment Gao Shun's soldiers discovered him, he retreated back to Youzhou with the soldiers who had fought with him.
Moreover, he really didn't come out.
This sudden development made Yuan Shao suspicious. It might be a sign that the northern troops were planning to march south on a large scale. He was restless for two days because of this expedition that had no beginning or end.
But how could Yuan Shao know that this was only because Lu Bu drew the option of returning if discovered during the lottery.
It was at this moment, when Yuan Shao was at a loss about the war situation on all sides, that he received the April issue of Leping Monthly, which was delivered to him at full speed by his subordinates.
It seemed that he should not make himself unhappy in the situation that was already depressing enough, but when he thought that if there was something serious written in it, he would have to see it in order to make appropriate responses, Yuan Shao gave up the idea of turning a blind eye to it.
His hand remained in the air for a long moment, and then he took it as if he had made up his mind.
When he unfolded it, he saw six big characters "Selected Collection of Manifestoes" at the beginning of the monthly newspaper.
Yuan Shao: “…”
This is really blatant.
Normal essays would not be written in this way, but Qiao Yan didn't care at all about where these articles came from, and she wanted to show how much support she had received in the title.
A total of more than 7,000 manuscripts were submitted, and finally the 20 most practical, least absurd, most critical of current social ills, and most powerful were selected and published in the Leping Monthly in the hope that they will be preserved for a long time.
His eyes moved down and he saw the article that won the first place listed under the title.
The person who wrote this article was named Wang Can.
Wang Can, Wang Zhongxuan!
Yuan Shao remembered this name.
His father, Wang Qian, was once the chief secretary of General He, and was an old acquaintance of Yuan Shao and Xu You.
But what really made Yuan Shao remember Wang Can was not because of his father.
Although he no longer has the title of one of the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period, and naturally he would not be given the title of the first of the Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period, ever since Wang Can became famous in Chang'an for his poem "A Goddess Sending Her Away an Army" in the first year of the Jian'an Period, Yuan Shao has kept this person's name in mind.
But in Yuan Shao's eyes, he was at most a "flatterer" who used the title "New Road in Chang'an" to build momentum for Qiao Yan. Now...
But now, this person wrote a manifesto denouncing Yuan Shao in the Leping Monthly, and placed it on the front page in such a striking manner!
Thinking of his imaginative writing style back then, even though Yuan Shao had not yet formally read what kind of article it was, he subconsciously had a bad feeling in his heart.
When he saw the content of the manifesto, he really felt a darkness before his eyes.
This is not a denunciation written in the form of a serious manifesto.
This article is titled "Answering the Questions from an Old Farmer from Jizhou to General Yuan."
At first glance, this may sound like it has nothing to do with the manifesto, but from the first few sentences, it can be seen that Wang Can gave his literary name such a down-to-earth feeling, yet he had absolutely no intention of shrinking in his attitude towards attacking Yuan Shao.
Because he wrote-
[I set out on a white horse in the morning and arrived at Ye City in the evening. There was a vast expanse of abundant water and hundreds of flowers in full bloom. I was walking with an old farmer on the road. He said that this spring was the farming season and the situation might be different from last year. Suddenly, there were carriages and horses and a large number of followers passing through. Only a very powerful person could have seen them. However, they scattered when they were about to reach the city gate. The luxurious scenes of gold and jade were no longer there, and only a small number of people entering the city were carriages and horses.
When asked who this was, the old farmer replied that it was Yuan Shao, the great general of the Later Han Dynasty.
I laughed when I heard the voice, and said that it was still as hypocritical as before, and was imitating the old events. 】
Yuan Shao's face changed.
Why imitate the old days?
Even in his early years when he was still serving as the magistrate of Puyang, because Xu Shao was in Runan, Yuan Shao was afraid that he would get a bad evaluation from him, which would affect his purpose of "nurturing reputation". Therefore, he deliberately dismissed all his carriages, horses, and servants before arriving home, and returned to Runan in a seemingly simple style.
According to Wang Can's description, he also behaved in this way around Yecheng, which was no different from his hypocrisy back then.
Of course, Yuan Shao did not do such a thing in Yecheng.
But it doesn't matter whether he did it or not. The hypocrisy that Wang Can referred to was not necessarily because of such an act of reducing ostentation, just as he did not really come to the vicinity of Yecheng and met such an old farmer.
This could be a reference to the fact that he had not dared to ask for the position of general before, or it could be an alternative expression of him using Liu Bian, the emperor, as a fig leaf for himself. In short -
Yuan Shao was not a gentleman, but a hypocritical villain.
With such an attitude as the tone here, the old farmer in Yecheng, as a Han citizen, should naturally ask, General Yuan Shao was one of the most important contributors to the enthronement of the Han emperor, and he was always running around and mobilizing troops for the restoration of the Han Dynasty. His family background, status and merits were the best among the dignitaries in Yecheng. Why did Wang Can evaluate him like this?
Wang Can replied, "Hypocrites are always evil, and Yuan Shao is the worst."
[Kong Rong of Beihai rushed to accept Yuan Shao's invitation, letting the world know that the Han Dynasty was still in existence and the tradition of respecting Confucianism and valuing classics still existed. 】
[However, Yuan Shao could not comply with any of the Five Constant Virtues of Confucianism!] 】
[Looking at the time when Yuan family was in power in Jizhou, it can be said that they honored cruel villains, trusted treacherous people, let their money go to public officials, and were corrupt and corrupt, so that the prefecture and county suffered from disasters and could not be spared, and refugees revolted and reached Ye. This was inhumane! 】
Why was it that under Qiao Yan's rule there had never been a resurgence of the Yellow Turban remnants, while people like Zhang Niujiao and Liang Zhongning, who had once been members of bandit gangs, were able to find jobs to advance themselves, not to mention the handling of the various disasters in the past few years? This is certainly inhumane.
As for whether this "cruel, treacherous and cunning" person is a relative of Yuan Shao or someone like Xu You and Guo Tu, let them decide for themselves.
Anyway, in this kind of thing, people only look at the results and not the process.
[During the Suanzao Alliance, Shao was unable to defeat the rebels, which resulted in the death of the governor of Dongjun; during the Yanzhou Incident, Shao only wanted to survive, which resulted in many of his subordinates being killed or arrested. This was unjust! 】
During the Suanzao League, Yuan Shao intended to delay his entry into Luoyang, and made many inappropriate arrangements in his actions against Hua Xiong, Hu Zhen and others, which led to Qiao Mao's death.
Xu You had already made it clear in the previous monthly report that if Yuan Shao had not only been thinking about his own survival, he would not have been captured after losing his mount.
Then to his allies and subordinates, Yuan Shao is certainly a ungrateful villain!
[The eldest brother was sick and weak, so he was treated harshly. His cousin was reckless and died in Yuzhou. Shao's three sons were not arranged in order of seniority, and it seemed that they might repeat the same disaster. This is disrespectful! 】
Yuan Shu once blamed Yuan Ji's death on Yuan Shao's murder. This statement came from the Yuan family of Runan, so it would be okay for Wang Can to use it again at this moment. The mutual attacks between Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao after they had a falling out in their early years were something that everyone witnessed. So although Yuan Shu should be considered to have died at the hands of Cao Cao's subordinates, it was actually related to Yuan Shao.
Of the three brothers of the previous generation, only one was left. In the next generation, due to Yuan Shao's preference for the youngest son, there was already a hint of a situation where the three sons would compete for the succession. Is this in accordance with clan etiquette?
It didn't matter that Yuan Shao ordered Chen Lin to write that letter, but how could he dare to accuse Yu Qiaoyan of his harsh treatment of the Qiao family of Yanzhou in the letter?
He himself hasn't sorted out that mess yet!
[Gongsun was disloyal, but Yuan Shao befriended him; Cao was in Han, but Yuan Shao attacked him; Dong Zhuo was evil, but Yuan Shao recommended him; Hongnong had no talent, but Yuan Shao assisted him. This was unwise! 】
In the years since the death of Emperor Ling of Han, Yuan Shao seemed to have never let Jizhou and Qingzhou out of his control. He even made Youzhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou, Xuzhou, and the insignificant Jiaozhou obey the orders of the court in Yecheng. But when the territory he could truly control did not change at all from beginning to end, in a sense, he had already failed.
Anyone with true foresight should be able to see what kind of person Gongsun Zan is and what kind of person Dong Zhuo is. However, Yuan Shao allied with the former and introduced the latter to He Jin, clearly blaming himself for "failing to judge people".
Not to mention his misjudgments in the more minor details, what best demonstrates his unwiseness is that he supported King Hongnong to become the emperor.
[In the sixth year of Zhongping, Yuan Shao borrowed grain and never repaid it. It has been seven years now, and the interest is incalculable, perhaps trillions. This is unbelievable! 】
Wang Can might not know whether Yuan Shao had committed any other dishonest acts.
However, Yuan Shao still owed the Emperor of Dayong a huge debt, which anyone who had ever read the Leping Monthly Report would definitely know.
Then, he did not conform to any of the Five Constant Virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness!
But at this time he wanted to publicize the fact that Kong Rong came to Ye to show that the succession of the Han Dynasty was in sight. Wasn't this extremely hypocritical?
If Confucius knew that his name was being used in this way, he would probably come to settle the score with Yuan Shao.
How dare this unkind, unjust, impolite, unwise and untrustworthy person to occupy the top position among the noble families?
Seeing this, Yuan Shao's blood began to boil.
The accusations Wang Can made against him were far more vicious than ordinary words.
It was even a blow to Yuan Shao, who had just regained some confidence.
But having written this far, it is far from all that Wang Can wants to say.
In his story, the old farmer who was traveling with him told him not to say such things in Yecheng to avoid trouble, and planned to send him back to the other side of the river.
First they carried it south on horses and mules, and then found a boat to cross the river. When the two parted, Wang Can said to the old farmer again.
Yuan Shao sought change but not the solution. He wanted to use horses and mules to carry loads but did not care about their lifespan, so they had to use them for farming. He wanted to use the soaking method to make strong liquor but did not know there was a new method, so many people wasted the liquor.
Others would not know that these were all traps that Qiao Yan had secretly set for Yuan Shao. They would only see that, as Wang Can had said, it was a huge waste of supplies, making the situation of the already limited two states even more embarrassing.
[This can be said to be a waste of time and effort, and the cost is thousands of gold coins every day.] The first meeting was to collect the rent, which was ten years' rent. If they are allowed to drive it too long, parents will have difficulty protecting their children, and husbands and wives will abandon each other in bed, which is a great disaster. 】1
[Look at Guanzhong today. The granaries are full, the people live in peace, there are many war horses, and the culture is flourishing. How could it have been brought about by disasters because of strong liquor and donkeys and mules? 】
[If you believe in destiny and disregard human affairs, heaven will not give it to you. If you believe in human affairs and follow the principles of heaven, you will overcome them by yourself.] 】
Therefore, the fault for the fall of the Han Dynasty did not lie with the Emperor of Dayong, but with Yuan Benchu. 】
After Wang Can made this comment, he immediately asked the old farmer why he didn't go to Dayong with him to protect his old age.
However, the old farmer did not accept Wang Can's invitation, but returned to the north of the river, only smiling bitterly before leaving.
Wang Can had already reached Hulao Pass, but he was still worried about the old farmer's situation, so he turned back.
But when he followed the direction the old farmer had told him, he could no longer see the old farmer.
A young couple who stayed there told them that Yuan Shao wanted to recruit soldiers to fill vacancies and that each household must send one person. The old farmer was still in good spirits and could still be considered an able-bodied man, so he filled the vacancy.
At this time, the conscription team had already gone somewhere unknown.
Wang Can was not a member of the Yecheng court, so he could not save him from this fate and could only choose to leave at this time.
But how could he leave with a peaceful mind?
[The city of Ye was in chaos, with jackals and tigers roaming the city. A hungry woman on the road was heard crying. 】
[There is a song that says: I don’t know where I will die, how can we be perfect together?] 】
I drove my horse away, unable to bear to listen.] 】2
[He returned to Dayong and asked the emperor, who said, “We will definitely attack it.”]
After reading this, Yuan Shao's expression was so ugly that it could no longer be described.
In this calm yet powerful ending, no one would care whether Wang Can really went to Yecheng to complete this poem.
All his attention was focused on the last four words.
These four words "will definitely attack" are more chilling than any slogan claiming how much territory and how many soldiers a country has and ordering its subordinates to attack Yecheng together!
He turned to the next page of the Leping Monthly almost evasively, and saw the articles on two sides of the back page.
Compared with Wang Can's condemnation in the form of storytelling, the one on this page seems much more straightforward.
On the left, Huang Yueying scolded him for not taking off the cotton cloth and being a beast in human clothing. On the right, Ni Heng said that he could barely rely on his good looks to welcome guests, so it was no wonder that he made such unrealistic accusations against His Majesty the Great Yong.
Every word and sentence was filled with a threatening sharpness, as if to completely eliminate his last foothold.
So much so that at this moment, these words that seemed extremely familiar to him seemed like a collection of upside-down and disordered symbols attacking him.
[Why do you wear cotton clothes and look like a beast in human clothing…]
[Yuan Shao has good looks, and can be used to entertain guests...]
[…The mountains and rivers are all in my mind, and there is no room in Yuan Gong’s belly…]
[The rest of me are just mediocre, nothing more than this.] 】
This is indeed a collection of manifestos that could not be more successful!
Yuan Shao's body, which had not yet fully recovered from the battle of Yanzhou, made it difficult for him to stand firmly in his place.
He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and fell down in the terrified gaze of his subordinates.
"Great General!"
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