My father Liu Xuande

Chapter 523 Pacifying the Three Counties
Since taking office in the former Yuzhang prefecture, Zhuge Liang's actions were quite similar to those of Lu Xun. He first sent Lü Meng, Ling Tong, and others to lead elite guards to scout the terrain and identify powerful local figures.

Although Yuzhang Commandery was divided into three commanderies at this time, the situation was no easier than that of Huinan and Danyang Commanderies.

In the eastern part of Yuzhang Commandery, now Poyang Commandery, Peng Cai, Li Yu, Wang Hai and others raised an army and rebelled, harassing the local area, threatening the county seat, and gathering more than 20,000 people.

Meanwhile, in the central part of Yuzhang County, You Tu, the leader of the Yue tribe, led more than 40,000 people in the Meiling area and actively joined forces with powerful figures such as Peng Hu in the Poyang Lake basin to start a rebellion.

In the southern part of Yuzhang Commandery, which is now the newly established Gan Commandery, the powerful mountain strongman Pan Lin of Yuzhang refused to submit to the emperor's rule, raised an army to resist the Han army, and drove away Han people and court officials.

In addition, in the eastern part of Yuzhang (present-day Shangrao area), the powerful Tongzhi raised an army and rebelled. Now he has even declared himself the governor of Luling, occupying the area and committing all kinds of evil deeds, levying exorbitant taxes and levies.

As for the conflicts between private armies among the prominent families of Yuzhang (such as the Tu family of Nanchang and the Chen family of Yichun) and the expulsion of officials, those were countless.

Under these circumstances, Zhuge Liang adopted a strategy of dividing and resolving the problem, and prescribing medicine according to the specific symptoms.

He first gathered his troops in Nanchang, the capital of Yuzhang Commandery, to intimidate the local powerful clans.

Subsequently, Zhuge Liang targeted the Tu family, the most notorious family in Nanchang, and issued a proclamation denouncing their crimes and demanding their surrender.

After being refused, they sent troops to suppress the rebellion.

Lü Meng, Ling Tong, and others, along with Fu Tong, Huo Du, Huo Jun, and other elite troops, breached the Tu family's fortified village outside Nanchang City in just over half an hour, killing over a hundred men and capturing over a thousand one hundred young men alive.

The clan leader of the Tu clan presented Zhuge Liang as a captive at the city gate of Nanchang.

This move greatly shocked the local powerful clans and gentry. The Han army's powerful combat strength and fearless style directly silenced many powerful clans and gentry in Nanchang.

Subsequently, with the cooperation of the governor of Yuzhang, Zhuge Liang used a combination of appeasement and persuasion to recruit the sons of powerful families such as the Liu family of Nanchang and the Chen family of Yichun to serve as officials. This successfully appeased the local powerful clans and wrested back some of their administrative power. At the same time, he also gathered the private armies of the major clans and built a county and prefecture army of more than 4,000 men.

Immediately afterwards, Zhuge Liang sent a letter to Jiangling, requesting assistance from Jiang Qin, the local naval commander. Jiang Qin provided a thousand elite naval troops and more than two hundred warships.

With this elite naval force as the core, supplemented by more than a thousand naval troops from local strongmen in Yuzhang, and led by Lü Meng himself, a thousand elite troops, a total of three thousand men, they launched a night attack on Peng Hu's water fortress. The battle was a great success, with more than seven hundred killed, more than a thousand drowned, and more than ten thousand households and more than forty thousand people captured.

Peng Hu was captured after being seriously wounded by Lü Meng, and the rest of his troops surrendered without resistance.

Meanwhile, Ling Tong led Fu Tong and Huo Jun, along with 2,000 elite troops and 2,000 soldiers from Yuzhang County, for a total of 4,000 men, in a head-on battle against You Tu, inflicting a great defeat and killing more than 2,000 enemy soldiers.

Subsequently, they launched a surprise attack on You Tu's stronghold and broke through it again. Huo Jun killed You Tu's fierce general You Ya in battle, and Fu Tong cut down the You Tu banner and captured You Tu alive.

After the remaining troops were routed, they successively surrendered, and all their surrenders were granted.

After these two battles, the mountain tribes and Han ethnic strongmen in central Yuzhang who refused to submit to the king's rule were wiped out, and more than 40,000 able-bodied people and 70,000 elderly, weak, women and children were captured.

Zhuge Liang then ordered the selection of over ten thousand elite soldiers to form a naval force of two thousand.

Seeing that the main force of the Han army had moved west and Poyang was left undefended, the powerful warlord Tongzhi thought there was an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Therefore, he led more than 6,000 of his elite troops out of the mountains, attempting to launch a surprise attack on Poyang.

As a result, outside Poyang City, they were defeated by Huo Du's elite force of one thousand men and fled in panic.

In this battle, Huo Du killed over four hundred enemy soldiers and captured over two thousand. Tongzhi suffered a complete loss of its elite forces and was no longer as powerful as before.

Subsequently, Zhuge Liang allowed the people to recuperate, pacified the local area, encouraged mulberry farmers, and actively recruited local powerful clans, ceasing military operations.

The surrounding rebel leaders and mountain tribes were all terrified by Zhuge Liang's military prowess, and their morale was greatly dampened, causing the rebel forces to become more low-key.

After the autumn harvest, the Yue rebels thought Zhuge Liang would launch an attack, but the Han army did not make any move for a long time. Seeing that the weather was getting colder and heavy snow was about to close the mountains, they breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Zhuge Liang would not fight again this year, and became very relaxed.

However, Zhuge Liang quietly launched an attack after winter began.

Relying on his naval forces, Zhuge Liang divided his army into two routes. One route, with 6,000 troops, sailed along the Poyang River, heading straight for Changping. This place is the site of the later Jingdezhen, surrounded by mountains where Han Chinese and Yue people lived together.

Peng Cai, Li Yu, and Wang Hai rebelled here, threatening Poyang.

When Tongzhi attacked Poyang earlier, they wanted to join forces, but Tongzhi mistakenly thought that Poyang was undefended and already his, so he rejected Peng Cai and others' proposal to join forces.

Peng Cai and his group gathered 20,000 to 30,000 people around Changping. Among them were Han Chinese and Yue people, and even Peng Cai and his group were of mixed blood.

After Tongzhi's disastrous defeat outside Poyang City, Peng Cai and others lived in constant fear of an attack by the Han army.

As a result, the Han army did not make any moves until winter, and naturally everyone from top to bottom relaxed their vigilance.

By the time the Han army's surprise attack was discovered, the Han army had already appeared outside the camp.

The hasty battle was quickly thwarted, and the camp gates fell after only an hour of resistance. Peng Cai was killed by Lü Meng, Li Yu was killed by Huo Jun, and Wang Hai, seeing the opportunity, surrendered successfully and saved his life.

In this battle, Lü Meng beheaded more than 480 people and captured more than 20,000, half of whom were young men.

Meanwhile, another force, led by Ling Tong, marched along the Yu River into the Shangrao region, their target being Tong Zhi, who had previously suffered a crushing defeat outside Poyang City.

After his crushing defeat, Tongzhi returned to the Shangrao region, where his prestige plummeted, and many of the smaller Yue tribes under his command began to stir with restlessness.

Fortunately, the Han army did not press their advantage, giving Tongzhi the opportunity to suppress the dissent and quell the internal strife.

Seeing that the Han army had not made any moves since the beginning of winter, Tongzhi breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

Just as Tongzhi was thinking about raising an army again next year to fight Poyang and avenge his defeat, Ling Tong's Han army was already right under his nose.

Even when the Han army launched its offensive, Tongzhi still did not believe it.

When Ling Tong led his personal guards in armor to confront him, Tong Zhi was so terrified that he knelt down and surrendered.

Once Tongzhi surrendered, the morale of the Yue army completely collapsed, and the soldiers either surrendered or fled.

With heavy snow blocking the mountains outside, the Yue people generally lacked the winter preparations made by the Han army. Even if they managed to escape, they would have no way to survive.

The Han army was able to operate in this way entirely because Zhuge Liang had prepared extremely ample logistical supplies and excessive transport capacity for the Han army. Every time the Han army camped, even ordinary soldiers could enjoy the privilege of soaking their feet in hot water.

It was precisely because of this that the Han army was able to march and fight in the winter without suffering a large number of casualties.

The Han army's great victory was already destined by Zhuge Liang's perfect logistical support.

This is precisely because a skilled warrior achieves victory without seeking glory. Therefore, in the following days, the Yue people emerged from the mountains one after another and surrendered to the Han army.

Soon, news of the Han army's great victory and the capture of Tongzhi spread. Not only did the soldiers in Tongzhi's stronghold return to surrender, but the Han powerful families and Yue tribes who had previously been allied with Tongzhi also surrendered one after another throughout the Shangrao region.

Within seven or eight days, Ling Tong's troops had captured more than 30,000 households and nearly 200,000 people from the Shanyue tribe, and the entire Shangrao region was pacified.

After receiving the news of the victory, Zhuge Liang sent people to appease the people and planned to move them to the plains after the new year, register them as commoners, and send officials to guide the mountain people in farming and sericulture.

In a short time, the former territory of Yuzhang was completely cleared. Rebels, bandits, and powerful mountain tribes were all wiped out by the Han army, leaving only the forces of Pan Lin, a powerful mountain tribe in the southernmost part of the newly established Gan County.

This is not because Pan Lin is too strong, but because his location is remote and surrounded by mountains, making it difficult to advance for the time being.

Now that the heroes of Yuzhang County have surrendered and the rebel army has been eliminated, only Pan Lin's force remains, making it particularly conspicuous.

It is foreseeable that after the start of spring this year, the Han army will definitely gather its main force and head south.

At that time, Pan Lin will likely face tens of thousands of elite Han troops.

At this time, Zhuge Liang, Lü Meng, Ling Tong, and others were unaware of the great victory achieved by He Qi, Gao Shun, and Zheng Bao in the south.

Thus, Pan Lin's tens of thousands of men were now surrounded by 40,000 to 50,000 Han troops to the east and north. If the Han troops in Nanhai Commandery and Guiyang Commandery were also taken into account, it would truly be a dead end, surrounded on all sides and ambushed from all directions.

It is clear that although Pan Lin is still barely clinging to life, his condition is already as serious as scabies.

If Pan Lin were wise enough to surrender early, he would still have a chance to save his entire family.

If they were to resist to the bitter end, it would truly be providing Liu Feng's generals with an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

The situation in southern Kuaiji was the original pattern in history, and the local Yue and Han people's powerful clans also raised troops to rebel at this time.

These people did not refrain from rebellion simply because it was Liu Feng, not Sun Ce, who arrived. In fact, they were even more enthusiastic about rebelling because Liu Feng was more forceful in promoting Sinicization and institutionalization.

The fundamental contradiction lies in the fact that Liu Feng's policy of replacing local chieftains with centrally appointed officials is completely opposite to and in conflict with the goals of the local Han Chinese gentry and the Yue chieftains in the mountains who want to maintain their rule.

However, the rebellion in Yuzhang Commandery and Danyang Commandery greatly exceeded Liu Feng's expectations.

Although this fundamental contradiction remains, Liu Feng, in order to attack Jingzhou, drained the elite military forces of Yangzhou, leaving most of the territory to be maintained by local gentry and powerful families, as well as a limited number of county and prefectural troops.

Therefore, Liu Feng relaxed his grip on the powerful clans and local magnates in Yuzhang and Danyang counties, as well as the mountain chieftains, in addition to the previous suppression campaigns carried out by Zhou Yu, Jia Kui, and other forces.

It was thought that these measures could be maintained until the end of the Jingzhou campaign.

However, Liu Feng overestimated the intelligence of these powerful clans and the chieftains of the mountains, and underestimated their greed and ambition.

These people have no desire to suffer any loss of their interests; in fact, they want to take the opportunity to expand their power.

The rebellions that Lu Xun and Zhuge Liang quelled had occurred in history before, but not in the present.

But now it has all come out at once. Although there is some instigation from good neighbors, the bigger reason must be the resentment, disgust and resistance of these people towards the reform of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials.

These people banded together in rebellion because they wanted to take advantage of the Yangzhou army's main westward expedition to overthrow Liu Feng's rule in the area, and then use that opportunity to negotiate with Liu Feng, demand benefits, and even fantasize about autonomy.

Liu Feng assigned Zhuge Liang, Lu Xun, and Pang Tong to various regions, hoping to use their talents to quell rebellions and pacify the areas. At the same time, he also hoped they could pass these tests, gain merit, and accumulate capital.

It now seems that all three of them have done better than they imagined.

Among them, Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun were the most outstanding.

This result is actually quite true, after all, both of them are military strategists of the Martial Temple level.

Pang Tong, on the other hand, also performed brilliantly, fully living up to Liu Feng's training and trust in him.

After this incident, few people will likely object to these three being promoted beyond their rank in the future.

Like He Qi and Lu Xun, Zhuge Liang's report, in addition to reporting the course of events and the results of the battle, also mentioned the matter of building more counties and towns.

Take Yuzhang as an example. Shangrao, Changping and other places are still sparsely populated and can be divided into several new counties.

Historically, the Shangrao area also included counties such as Guixi, Yiyang, and Yushan, which shows that it was indeed too loose to govern it with only one county, Shangrao.

Liu Feng strongly agreed with the requests made by Zhuge Liang, He Qi, Lu Xun, and others, but he did not make a decision immediately. Instead, he delegated the authority to Zhuge Liang and others, allowing them to conduct preliminary investigations and report the results to the headquarters for a final decision.

The news of He Qi, Zhuge Liang, Lu Xun, and Pang Tong's victory greatly relieved the pressure on Liu Feng and the entire Yangzhou prefecture and the Left General's headquarters.

At the same time, their great victory and the suppression of local forces will undoubtedly greatly enhance the control of the Yangzhou prefecture and the Left General's headquarters over local power.

These controls are not meaningless; they mean more money, more manpower, and more resources.

It is obvious to the naked eye that Yangzhou's tax revenue will definitely rise to a new level this year. According to Liu Feng's own conservative estimate, the tax revenue will probably increase by at least 10%.

Not to mention that these people won a great victory and also gained an astonishing amount of money, food, and treasures.

He Qi's troops alone sealed up hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, which originally belonged to Hong Ming and others as military rations, but now all of it has fallen into He Qi's hands.

Similarly, Zhuge Liang's actions in Yuzhang were also ordinary.

After the battle, they discovered that, aside from the losses, they had actually made a huge profit. They had netted hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain alone, not counting other supplies such as furs, timber, and money.

The reason for this outcome is entirely due to the local powers' usurpation of local authority and tax revenue.

These taxes, originally intended for the state, ended up in the pockets of private individuals, even becoming the capital for them to raise private armies, oppose the state, and preserve their illegitimate power.

Now that the fight has failed, these supplies will naturally fall back into the control of the state.

However, such windfall can only be made once. After all, such a large amount of food, money, and various supplies is what these local tyrants have accumulated over decades, or even generations.

(End of this chapter)