Chapter 109: Oath...
Zhang Rang was almost frightened when the minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor said this.
He immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, please don't say such unlucky words. You are just afraid of the cold. You will get better after the winter is over."
The power of eunuchs must rely on the imperial power to exist. How could Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others hold such great power? It was because Liu Hong relied heavily on them.
Therefore, Zhang Rang wanted Liu Hong to have no health problems or even die of illness more than anyone else.
But when he looked up, he saw that Liu Hong did not show any joy at all when he heard him say this. Instead, he stood up and paced back and forth in the overheated room. He suddenly said, "Don't I know my own body?"
From the end of the Guanghe period onwards, although he still enjoyed himself as before, driving the white donkey cart through the palace and letting the dog wearing an official hat follow him to show off, he knew better than anyone that as the older generation of ministers passed away one after another, his own body gradually collapsed, and he was completely unable to escape the vicious circle of most of the short-lived emperors of the Later Han Dynasty.
He stopped in front of Zhang Rang and said, "I just want you to answer me, do you think Qiao Yeshu can take on this responsibility of entrusting an orphan to me?"
Zhang Rang knew that what Liu Hong meant by entrusting the orphan to Qiao Yan was definitely not entrusting Liu Bian to his care. With General He Jin and General He Miao around, Liu Bian would naturally have someone to protect him. As the oldest surviving prince of Liu Hong, he could also legally succeed to the throne. The only possibility was that Liu Xie was entrusted to Qiao Yan.
To entrust a nine-year-old prince to a fourteen-year-old governor of Bingzhou, anyone would find it absurd.
Most of the important ministers entrusted with the care of the emperor's young son will not be too young. On the one hand, they must be able to suppress other court officials with their virtues and achievements. On the other hand, it would be best if the emperor could take back power after the emperor grows up, as the minister will become older and less energetic.
According to the former standard, Qiao Yan's experience can only be described as legendary, but she is not yet at the level where she can suppress all court officials. According to the latter standard, she is even more unsuitable.
No one could predict how a fourteen-year-old could develop into someone who was trusted by Liu Hong so much. Although Liu Xie is smart, he may not be able to suppress her.
But from Zhang Rang's perspective, he would not object to the suggestion of appointing Qiao Yan as a minister to take care of the orphan.
Qiao Yan held military power and had accumulated reputation during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. If he was included in Liu Xie's bargaining chips by Liu Hong, it would increase his chances of succession.
And Zhang Rang was more unwilling than anyone else to let Liu Bian ascend the throne!
Most of the scholars surrounding General He Jin were deeply affected by the Factions and Factions Disaster. If they were allowed to gain the upper hand and become important ministers who helped Liu Bian ascend the throne, the task of killing the eunuchs would definitely be put on the table again.
He didn't want to die yet, at least not in such a miserable way.
But he just kept his current action and replied: "Whether to use Qiao Bingzhou as support for the prince, your majesty has made up his mind, and I dare not speak rashly."
For such a dangerous decision, he said that this kind of invisible support was enough, but it could not be spoken directly.
He thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty now has the eight schools of Xiyuan in hand and a large number of troops at your side. Once the schools are properly trained, you can be called the supreme general and instruct them to suppress rebellions in all directions and be invincible. There is no need to be so hasty to make such a decision."
Compared to Qiao Yan, the one who was more trustworthy to Zhang Rang was naturally Jian Shuo, who was also a eunuch.
At this time, he mentioned the other party again.
How could Liu Hong not see through his little thoughts? However, Liu Hong had also considered the concerns in Zhang Rang's mind.
What Qiao Yan is showing now is indeed the behavior of a lone minister of the Han Dynasty. However, if a nine-year-old emperor were to take the position of emperor, there is no guarantee that he would not commit some rebellious acts.
What's more, her actions were indeed too cruel and extreme.
Now, this memorial does clearly list the feasibility of attacking the Xianbei, which seems to be a bit more stable. But no matter what, a newly-appointed governor has already begun to actively prepare for offensive operations in addition to defending during the winter, which is enough to show her offensive nature.
In the current chaos in the Han Dynasty, she is suitable to be the sword to quell the chaos, but not suitable to be an important official who takes on the responsibility of taking care of the orphans.
Unless the situation became difficult to preserve, Liu Hong even planned to leave her in a remote area like Bingzhou.
unless……
It really was the worst.
Now that he could see through He Jin's frame-up of the eight captains of Xiyuan, and put He Jin's little calculations into action in secret, there was really no need for him to make such a decision, which would also cause endless troubles.
"Get up, wait and see." Liu Hong was silent for a long time before speaking again: "Let's see her performance against the Xianbei first."
Looking at everything she listed in the memorial, Liu Hong felt that the possibility of her losing was slim.
But just as Qiao Yan said, after Tan Shihuai's death, the Xianbei had recovered from their previous division and decline, and the three brothers in power were not arrogant and willful leaders like He Lian. If someone among the other side had the potential of Tan Shihuai, there was no guarantee that something unexpected would happen.
Let’s wait and see until she gets through this!
Qiao Yan was far away in Bingzhou, so she had no way of seeing the negotiation between Liu Hong and Zhang Rang. Anyway, to her, whether she could get the important task of taking care of the orphan was not that important. On the contrary, it would be better if she didn't have any.
What is important is Liu Hong's approval to send troops.
The governor of Bingzhou did have the authority to lead military affairs in the entire Bingzhou, but the Xianbei were located outside the Yin Mountains.
Previously, the Huns invaded first and even massacred the people of Guyang County. She could say that she acted out of righteous indignation, but the Xianbei did not invade the border this winter, but she led her troops to fight. This doesn't make sense.
She can attack the Xianbei today, and attack Liangzhou and Jizhou tomorrow.
Because of this, she must report to Liu Hong about this situation where she needs to leave Bingzhou to fight.
Fortunately, the result she got was good.
send troops!
At the end of February, this message was delivered to her desk. She looked out the window and saw a scene of lush grass and singing birds.
Qiao Yan rode her horse along the path in the field. The stream in the river beside the path was flowing slowly. She looked into the distance and saw that the water from the tributary of Fen River was brought to the upper waterway by the newly installed drum cart, and then transported to the high mountains by the dragon-bone cart.
Above the background noise of the warm spring breeze, along with the sound of the drum blades and the trickling water, the voices of people in the distance also reached her ears.
That was Qin Yu explaining the use of the curved plow and harrow to the people of Jinyang County who were summoned here.
In the past few years, she has had a lot of dealings with the people of Leping County, so of course she would not be nervous at this time.
She glanced at Qiao Yan from a distance, indicating that she knew that the governor was also here at the moment, and then continued her explanation.
However, for farmers who have been dealing with farm tools for many years, it is not too difficult to understand how to use the curved plow.
They understand the advantages of the curved plow better than anyone else.
The long straight-beam plow used before was not only difficult to drag, but also difficult to turn. However, the curved-beam plow in front of them could be easily turned because of the plow disk. It looked much lighter than the original long-beam plow.
During the demonstration of the use of the curved plow, they saw Qin Yu push the plowshare forward so that the plowshare arrow pointed downward, which allowed the plowshare to penetrate deeper into the soil, allowing them to plow the fields more deeply.
It would be fine if this only seemed so convenient in the hands of the envoys led by the provincial government.
After they got the chance to use it, they found that they could easily use the curved-beam plow by making adjustments based on their previous experience using the long straight-beam plow.
OK! What a practical invention!
In today's Bingzhou, although the neighboring north is an excellent place for grazing, it does not mean that oxen are not a scarce resource. With this curved plow, animal power can be greatly saved.
Everyone realized that it was the perfect timing for the state government to show them this thing before the spring plowing season.
Someone immediately asked, "Where can I buy this curved plow?"
They all saw that the structure of the curved plow was good, but it was really not easy for them to reproduce the components of the curved plow exactly. You know, according to Qin Yu's explanation, there are eleven parts in it.
Since the state government has put this thing on display, it should be for sale.
We can't just let them gather here and spread the news by spreading it from one to ten or ten to a hundred.
If this is true, the time for spring ploughing has already passed.
Qin Yu replied, "The prefecture has naturally taken into account the needs of the busy farming season and has produced a batch of curved plows and wooden-framed iron harrows in the winter. The first 100 people from each county who go there can receive them based on their household registration, and those who come later can buy them for 50 coins."
Fifty cents?
Nowadays, iron farm tools cost about ten coins per pound. Based on this calculation, the price of a curved plow is slightly lower than that of ordinary iron farm tools, which is very suitable! After all, the bent wood will inevitably increase consumption, and the plowshare is indeed made of iron.
If the previous long straight-beam plow was used, it would be necessary to rent an extra ox to plow these dozens of acres of land, and the expenditure required would far exceed the price of the curved-beam plow.
In any case, this is a worthwhile expense.
What's more, there are free spots for the first 100 people.
Those of them who happened to pass by and were invited to be witnesses should be able to grab the first 100 spots.
As soon as Qin Yu finished speaking, these people disappeared, obviously going home to get their household registration.
Seeing this scene of people busying around, Qin Yu couldn't help but laugh.
Seeing Qiao Yan riding his horse towards her again, she bowed and asked the question she had been wanting to ask: "Why did Lord Qiao price this curved plow at this price?"
"Do you think they have any objections to the price?" Qiao Yan asked back.
Obviously not.
If this price was beyond the farmers' ability to afford, they would have obviously questioned it before leaving, but it was obvious that even if they failed to grab the top 100 spots, they would not mind paying the money.
"The workers who made the curved plow have already been paid by the prefecture government. I am not a saint, and I have to fight the next war to quell the rebellion and guard the border. I am not qualified to give things away as gifts." Qiao Yan looked at the figure in the distance and continued, "Don't worry, the farmers in Bingzhou will only praise the prefecture government for this move. With the first hundred people using the curved plow on their own farmland, there will be plenty of opportunities to spread the word."
Just like she needed to set a price for the mulberry leather jacket back then, what she needed was to let the people of Bingzhou know that she was making concessions on the matter, rather than giving it as a gift to win their hearts.
Whether to spend fifty coins or rent an extra ox was not a difficult question for these farmers, but for the state government, it not only recovered the capital, but also accumulated a sum of military funds. With this larger-scale transaction, the provincial government will have a precedent for promoting its future output to the people of Bingzhou.
"I'll have to trouble you and others to spread the word about this matter to other counties." She said to Qin Yu, and when she saw that the other party agreed, she rode away immediately.
As the governor of Bingzhou, she could do these things, but she had another thing to do at this time.
After Liu Hong approved the plan to attack the Xianbei, she should have integrated the army and marched toward the outside of the Great Wall as soon as possible.
This is not something that can be simply entrusted to subordinates. If this is the case, then it will be difficult to find a reason next year when she needs to prevent herself from receiving any information.
Therefore, in this first battle against the Xianbei, she must personally lead the army to fight and send a signal to the outside world that she, Qiao Yeshu, is a martial and bellicosity person!
When she led her men to the military camp in Yanmen County, she had already announced her plan to go to war in the spring in internal messages as early as December. Given Zhang Liao's strict command of troops, he had naturally reorganized the troops in place early on.
When Qiao Yan stepped onto the command platform, he saw the three generals Zhang Liao, Zhang Yang and Lu Bu in the front, and the battle team of more than 6,000 people in the back were lined up, looking very imposing.
As for why it was more than 6,000 people instead of 10,000 as she and Liu Hong reported?
In order to ensure the proper flow of supplies for the team when attacking outside the border, and mainly relying on cavalry to form a rapid attack, it is naturally more appropriate to use this number of people.
When she reported the number of Xianbei people, she exaggerated the figures. Who said she couldn't round off her own number as well?
But these six thousand people are undoubtedly the most elite troops she can mobilize at this time!
She looked down from the reviewing platform, and all she saw was armor gleaming in the sunlight, forming a mighty square formation in the front row. The three people standing at the front had been preparing and resting for the entire winter, and they looked in high spirits.
These three men were originally the top generals sent by the Thirteen States, and they gave the team below an unusually sharp spirit.
She saw it like this when she looked down upon them, and how could the people below not see her like this?
The signs of growth of all things in spring are also manifested in the young governor of Bingzhou.
As her fourteenth birthday approached, according to the conventional way of addressing ages in ancient times, she would be fifteen years old.
Because she paid special attention to dietary supplements in her life in Leping and now in Jinyang, and with the counselor system as a plug-in to supplement her physical fitness, Dian Wei even found it difficult to remember how pale and weak she looked when she was ten years old. She was now nearly seven feet and three inches tall, and with the long boots on her feet increasing her height, she was truly a heroic young general!
When she stepped onto the platform, she even brought the two-section three-barreled rifle with her.
This special weapon with a spear tip on both ends was not too unfamiliar to the soldiers under her command, but at this moment, when she came on stage with a weapon, there was an indescribable murderous aura coming towards her.
This is simply a signal that there is only the intention to make progress!
When she stood in front of the stage, she seemed to be surrounded by the silver light of the spear tip, the golden and purple glow of the gold seal and purple ribbon, and the red cloud of the scarlet cloak behind her, but these bright and eye-catching colors could not suppress the brilliance in her eyes.
"Everyone——"
Even without the information conveyed by the incitement skill, Qiao Yan knew clearly what she should say at this moment.
Say beheading is a meritorious service? No, the first merit system has long been a rule known to everyone in the military camp. There is no point in stating it again at this time.
Talking about national hatred and family feuds? Of course not. For these soldiers, most of whom came from Bingzhou, the border invasions by the Hu people were something that did not need to be elaborated on. When Zhang Liao and others recruited the last batch of soldiers, most of them were those who had suffered greatly in the border areas.
What about using the looted cattle and sheep as fertilizer for their own farming? These words had already been conveyed to everyone present in a subtle way, so repeating them at this time would make it seem that she, the commander-in-chief, did not have the magnanimity to intimidate the barbarians.
Therefore, when Qiao Yan continued to speak, he only said in a brief and powerful tone: "Today we are swearing an oath, so I won't go into details. I only have one thing to say. Whoever takes the head of any one of the three, Kuitou, Fuluohan, or Budugen -"
"In the name of Bingzhou Mu, I recommend him to be a county commander!"
The title of Duwei in border counties and prefectures is definitely not the same as that of an ordinary Duwei!
This means that the military power in the hands of the prefect will be transferred to the hands of the commander to a large extent, and he can even be considered to be on the same level as the prefect.
According to the practice started during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, a commandery post should be established in several counties near the border of Bingzhou.
However, probably due to the unrest in all directions, the court had no time to take care of it. After the previous commander Yu Tan Shihuai was killed during the period when he led the Xianbei, no new one was selected. Only the prefect was in charge of military affairs at the same time.
Since Qiao Yan was able to obtain permission from the emperor to march, it was obviously not impossible for him to use the governor's authority to recommend someone as a captain.
After the word "Duwei" was uttered, the soldiers responsible for conveying the order passed it on to ensure that everyone present could hear the news. The already sharp and imposing momentum in the entire military camp climbed to another level.
The heads of the three Xianbei leaders correspond to the duties of the three commanderies in Bingzhou?
This can be regarded as a derivative of the first merit system, or it can be regarded as a more clearly marked signal!
Who doesn’t want to be a captain?
Even Lu Bu, the current military officer of Yanmen Commandery, wants to be the commander.
That’s an official position higher than two thousand stones! It will give him a higher level of autonomy than his current position.
As long as he could capture one of these three men in this attack on the Xianbei, he could achieve this goal.
In the midst of such surging ambitions, he couldn't help but feel that the Bingzhou governor was truly a dazzling figure.
You have to know that he had such a strong desire to pursue the position of captain, but for Marquis Qiao, this position was just a reward that he could give out at will to encourage his subordinates to fight bravely.
What a spirit this is!
When he looked up at the stage, the other person's still somewhat childish face was blurred by the sunlight, but it was enough to see from the vague curve of her lips and her icy eyes that she was determined to win.
There is even only one word to end this inspiring speech.
"kill!"
What to kill? Kill the Xianbei!
Qiao Yan did think about using these Xianbei people as laborers in the open-pit coal mine that was about to be mined, but this was the first time that her soldiers had officially extended their hands into someone else's territory to attack. Without the guarantee of capturing anyone, what they had to do was to inflict maximum casualties on them.
Why would she give out the title of a captain as a reward for killing any one of Kuitou, Fuluohan and Budugen? Because the Xianbei today are not like the Xiutugu Hu, but just a small-scale group of the Hu people.
Just from the fact that they raided border areas as far west as Jiuquan and as far east as Liaodong, we can tell what a huge group this was.
The number of Xianbei people gathered under the command of Kuitou may not be 100,000, but after the Northern Huns moved westward, if all the Xianbei people on the grassland were gathered together, their number would be far more than that.
Only after causing enough casualties will there be a chance to tame them.
so--
"kill!"
The word "kill" did not come from Qiao Yanjiu's mouth, but was a shout from more than 6,000 soldiers below the stage!
In the battle for themselves and Bingzhou, this advance is inevitable, and they are also using this shout to express their determination!
Qiao Yan pointed the gun in his hand forward, pointing towards the north.
"Follow me—to fight!"
Under the guidance of experienced soldiers on border defense, the people lining up below the stage received their horses and luggage, checked the condition of their weapons, and the process of loading supplies onto trucks was extremely orderly.
It didn't take long for the team to disperse and then line up again at the camp gate.
This period of time was enough for Qiao Yan to explain everything that needed to be explained to Cheng Yu.
She is personally attacking the Xianbei this time. In order to find a good reason for a specific time next year, she will probably delay a little after successfully achieving her goal. When she is not in Bingzhou, Cheng Yu, the Bingzhou Beijia, must take on the important responsibilities of the state.
But generally speaking, his work did not increase much, because Qiao Yan was responsible for determining the direction most of the time, and the expansion of Leping Academy, cooperation with Bingzhou aristocratic families, preparation of agricultural tools for spring plowing, fermentation of new fertilizers and other tasks were almost completed in the winter. Now all Cheng Yu has to do is clean up and control the situation.
With an elder like Cheng Yu in charge, just as Qiao Yan dared to go to Luoyang to plan for the position of Bingzhou Governor before, and was away for two months, now she also dared to leave Bingzhou for a month because of the march.
In response to Qiao Yan's trust, all Cheng Yu could do was to work hard to repay him.
Fortunately, Bingzhou is not as complicated as the states in the Central Plains. After a whole winter of sorting out, the framework has been figured out.
Cheng Yu had received the "true teachings" from Qiao Yan, and planned to assign more work to Jia Xu if he really became overwhelmed.
On the contrary, as Qiao Yan said, one of the reasons why she initially approached Jia Xu was that he and Cheng Yu were close in age.
The two exchanged understanding glances, and Qiao Yan turned in the direction of Guo Jia.
When Qiao Yan saw the people following him, he couldn't help but want to laugh.
Guo Jia really lived up to the job assigned to him by Qiao Yan to intimidate the Southern Xiongnu. He specially invited Zhao Yun to help him and packed up the left-wing nobles of the Southern Xiongnu and sent them here.
After all, this did not violate the Han Dynasty's regulations that they could not take any action against naturalized Huns. It seemed that this could only be regarded as a friendly film viewing.
But for those who were forced to come here, this was a real torture.
They had previously felt the double pressure from the highest official of Bingzhou and the General who protected the Xiongnu because of Qiao Yan's appointment as the Governor of Bingzhou. Guo Jia, the official of Xihe County, looked lazy but often poked at their sore spots.
That would have been fine, but now they were brought here again.
The resolute aura of Bingzhou's sending troops to attack the Xianbei did not make the Southern Xiongnu nobles feel relieved because of the loss of this powerful force in the state.
On the contrary, they just think this is a trick of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys!
When Qiao Yan rode his horse towards them with a spear and a crossbow on his back, the King of Zuoguli subconsciously thought of the time when Qiao Yan pointed a spear at him, and shuddered instinctively.
However, his reaction seemed to be completely within Guo Jia's expectations, and he just reached out to help.
Although Guo Jia, who was supervised by Qiao Yan to maintain his health, could not compare with the generals in the state in terms of physique, he had no problem supporting King Zuo Guli.
As the two of them stood still, Prince Zuo Guli heard Qiao Yan say in a light tone: "I am going to fight against the Xianbei and the barbarians. I have to trouble Prince Zuo Guli to see me off. This is really too polite."
What kind of farewell is this? This is simply a threat! King Zuo Guli was secretly dissatisfied.
But with Qiao Yan in front and Zhao Yun behind him, he obviously couldn't just say that he came here because of a threat.
Who knows which gun will pierce him first after he utters such critical remarks.
He replied awkwardly: "Qiao Bingzhou is the father and mother of this state. Since he is going to travel, we should come and see him off."
"Well, it's rare that the King of Zuoguli has such awareness," Qiao Yan turned his head and showed an ambiguous smile, "Since you call me your father and mother, you should know the principle of not refusing a gift from an elder. I can forgive you for the loss of the wine jar before, but this time, after my triumphant return, I hope that the wine jar I gave to the Southern Xiongnu will not be lost again."
Without waiting for King Zuo Guli to react to this old account being brought up again, Qiao Yan kicked his horse and chased after the marching troops in front.
But it was precisely this situation where he seemed to be handling the weapon with care, but in fact the butcher's knife was hanging over his head, that made the rebellious King Zuo Guli even more panicked and confused.
Just at this time, he heard Guo Jia say, "Since the Lord is giving you a new gift, as a surrendered tribe in Bingzhou, shouldn't you also give some gifts in return?"
"...Yes, isn't it?" From what King Zuo Guli saw, the troops led by Marquis Qiao had a completely different momentum from the troops that had come to Meizhi City to recruit soldiers before.
If the Xianbei were still under the leadership of Tan Shihuai, they might be able to launch some counterattacks, but if they were only led by Kuitou and others, it would be another matter.
Besides, who would have thought that in the face of natural disasters within the Han Dynasty, they could still spare extra manpower to launch targeted attacks on the Xianbei!
Then he had to be prepared for how he should react when Lord Qiao returned victorious and offered him another wine glass.
Guo Jia took the opportunity to say, "I have a suggestion for you. Would you like to hear it?"
Qiao Yan, who had already ridden away on her horse, could fully anticipate that Guo Jia would do something to strike while the iron was hot, but when she left the Great Wall, she looked back and saw that those who had come to see her off were no longer there.
There was only a setting sun, falling on the land of Bingzhou.
She pulled the reins and headed north without looking back.
Go out of the border! Kill the Hu!
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