Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 305 Six Towns as Slaves
Li Daoyuan frowned. After he passed Tongguan, he saw deserted villages, people's livelihood was in decline, and there were even bandits near Tongguan.

Guanzhong had already reached this point, yet Xiao Baoyin still sent envoys to Luoyang to offer bribes?

Li Daoyuan's evaluation of the Duke of Danyang was even lower.

However, sending gifts to Luoyang is now a normal practice for local officials. Although Xiao Baoyin's actions may seem disregarding the people's livelihood, Li Daoyuan cannot impeach him for this.

Li Daoyuan thought of his good friend Jia Sixie who promoted agricultural technology in Gaoyang. The grain output of the entire Gaoyang increased by nearly half in five years. However, even so, because he did not give gifts to important officials in the court, he was still the prefect of Gaoyang for five years.

Thinking about his own experience, Li Daoyuan felt as if his heart was blocked.

The next morning, Li Daoyuan was about to set off on his journey, but was stopped by someone.

The person who was blocking the road was the messenger Xiao Baoyin who had stayed in the official inn yesterday.

The envoy's surname was Xiao and his name was Qi. He was one of the first people from the Southern Qi Dynasty to follow Xiao Baoyin in fleeing north. Xiao Qi had always been a close confidant of Xiao Baoyin.

Xiao Qi looked at Li Daoyuan and others. He had already learned from the postmaster that Li Daoyuan was a minor official going to Guanzhong to take up his post.

So early in the morning, Xiao Qi stopped Li Daoyuan and said to him:
"We are envoys sent by Grand Commander Xiao to Luoyang. Our horses are tired, so we have to confiscate your horses."

After saying this, Xiao Qi looked at the horses tied in the stable by Li Daoyuan and his group with greedy eyes.

The captain of the imperial guards who was protecting Li Daoyuan was furious, but was stopped by Li Daoyuan. He crossed his arms and said:
"I have a certificate of clearance from the Ministry of Personnel and must take up my post within the specified time limit. I hope you will show some mercy."

Seeing Li Daoyuan's weakness, Xiao Qi said even more arrogantly:
"The Grand Commander sent us to Luoyang for urgent military information. Why do we need to requisition your horse? If we delay the Grand Commander's mission to suppress the rebellion, can you afford it?"

After saying this, the members of Xiao Baoyin's delegation actually rushed directly into the stable and tried to snatch Li Daoyuan's horse.

At this moment, a soldier of the imperial guards who was protecting Li Daoyuan could no longer bear it. He opened the envoy's ceremonial guard and said to the Xiao Baoyin envoys:
"How dare you! Lord Li is the ambassador appointed by the imperial court to pacify Guanzhong. How dare you snatch his horse?!"

Xiao Qi was not ignorant either. He saw that the imperial guard soldier unfolded a Zuo Yu banner.

The Zuo Yu Banner depicts a mythical beast with a tiger body and a lion head, with white fur and black stripes. It is said that this mythical beast is kind by nature and cannot bear to trample even green grass.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Zuo Yu Fan was used as a flag to represent the court's military orders. It was specially given to ambassadors of consolation or important officials in charge of front-line mediation, and its status was even higher than that of the Jingji Banner.

When Xiao Qi saw the banner, he was so scared that he immediately knelt down.

Li Daoyuan sighed. He forged an official document in the Ministry of Personnel and traveled light with a small entourage, just to investigate the sentiments of the people in Guanzhong.

Now that my identity has been exposed, it will be difficult to continue the investigation.

But the imperial guards also wanted to protect themselves. Li Daoyuan ignored these messengers of Xiao Baoyin and led his men to Chang'an.

After Li Daoyuan left, the deputy envoy of Xiao Baoyin's delegation said to Xiao Qi tremblingly:
"I've heard that Luoyang has appointed this Lord Li as the ambassador of comfort. He is a person that the lord must be careful to receive. Now that we have offended him, what should we do in the future?"

To be appointed as the chief envoy by Xiao Baoyin, he must have some shrewdness.

Xiao Qi certainly knew how much work Xiao Baoyin had done to welcome this ambassador of comfort.

The court sent Li Daoyuan to Guanzhong to express condolences, in fact, to investigate the strength of Guanzhong and to determine the nature of Liu Kai's Battle of Weishui.

But you can't stop talking.

Ever since Xiao Baoyin entered Guanzhong, he has been appointing generals from Guandong and trying to find a balance, which has completely disappointed the Guanxi gentry.

When these people heard that Li Daoyuan had entered the pass, they would definitely go to him to complain.

Xiao Qi quickly weighed the pros and cons and said to the deputy envoy:
"You send gifts to Luoyang."

"what?"

Xiao Qi said:

"I will report to my lord as soon as possible. The ambassador Qiao Zhuang entered the pass because the court was suspicious of my lord and asked Li Daoyuan to secretly contact the Guanxi nobles to overthrow my lord!"

"what!?"

The deputy envoy hadn't figured out what was happening when he saw the envoy already mounted his horse.

"If Li Daoyuan doesn't die, then we will die. His death is better than ours! Send someone to follow him, and I will report to the lord!"

After saying this, Xiao Qi rode out on his horse and headed towards Xiao Baoyin's office.

Behind Li Daoyuan's team, there was another team following from a distance. They were Su Ze's envoys from the Xuan Jingsi lurking in Guanzhong.
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As both were ambassadors of consolation, Yang Yu walked much faster than Li Daoyuan.

He set out from Luoyang and headed north through Jinyang. He hurriedly read out the imperial edict that Yuan Tianmu would take office as the governor of Bingzhou, and then continued northward. He arrived in Pingcheng in less than 15 days.

Prince Yuan Shen of Guangyang led Prince Yuan Yanming of Anfeng, Prince Yuan Gong of Guangling and a group of meritorious subordinates to warmly welcome Yang Yu outside Pingcheng.

Yang Yu first read out the imperial edict commending everyone in the court. Prince of Guangyang Yuan Shen was promoted to Shizhong, and was promoted to General of the Cavalry for his military merits, and was also the Third Secretary and Shangshu Pushe.

The title of General of the Cavalry was originally conferred on him by Yuan Yi after Li Chong stepped down. After Yuan Yi's downfall, the title of general was also taken back.

This reward confirmed Yuan Shen's status as the number one in the army. All the generals who went out to fight were rewarded, and everyone was smiling.

King Anfeng Yuan Yanming led his troops back to Yanzhou. He was also appointed as the governor of Beixuzhou and concurrently the governor of two states. He was considered to be the most honored and favored person in the royal family.

Prince Yuan Gong of Guangling was also appointed as Palace Attendant, entered the ruling ranks, and took office as the Governor of Hengzhou.

Pei Yan, who borrowed troops from the Rouran, was also granted the title of Duke of Linru County and appointed Governor of Xiangzhou.

After the reward was given, Yuan Shen welcomed Yang Yu into the city. He couldn't wait to ask:

"Mr. Yang, the court has decided how to resettle the survivors of the Six Garrisons?"

Yang Yu whispered:

"The court wants the survivors of the Six Garrisons to fill the three states of Ding, Ying, and Ji."

Yuan Shen, who had just been promoted, was in a very bad mood. He sighed and said:
"These people are begging for their lives again, and this is where the chaos will come from."

Yang Yu also supported Yuan Shen's plan, but he did not expect that Empress Dowager Hu would change her mind after the meeting of the Menxia Province was over.

As the ambassador of consolation, he was also responsible for resettling the remaining people of the Six Garrisons, and the burden on his shoulders was even heavier.

When he thought of this, he became confused about his future.

Yang Yu said to Yuan Shen:

"The court ordered the king to lead the imperial guards back to Luoyang the day after receiving the decree, and the King of Guangling led the Hengzhou soldiers to assist me in completing the relocation of the remaining people in the six towns."

Yuan Shen understood that the court was worried that he would rebel with a large army, so they ordered him to turn back quickly.

He could only say to Yang Yu:

"The six towns are not submissive to the imperial court. If we divide them and eliminate their resentment, there is still a glimmer of hope. I hope the three states will not oppress them too harshly."
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But Yuan Shen's idea was destined to fail.

After Yang Yu took over the surrendered soldiers from the Six Garrisons, he read out the imperial order to them, ordering them to be resettled in Dingzhou, Yingzhou and Jizhou.

In fact, the survivors of the Six Garrisons did not have much resistance to this order at first. After all, Dingzhou, Yingzhou and Jizhou were all relatively prosperous and wealthy states in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Although it was difficult to leave their homeland, no one was willing to continue staying in the Six Garrisons to guard the border.

However, the first policy announced by Yang Yu encountered opposition from the survivors of the Six Garrisons.

Transferring the remnants of the six towns to Dingzhou, Yingzhou and Jizhou was itself a super-large-scale population migration task.

Such large-scale immigration work could be accomplished during the founding and rising periods of a dynasty, but by the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was simply no such organizational and mobilization capabilities.

Although the imperial edict also said that the states along the way should provide assistance and even provide carriages and horses for the migration of the survivors of the Six Garrisons.

But in fact, the northern states were very hostile to the remnants of the Six Towns and were not willing to provide supplies at all.

Since they were not given any, the survivors of the Six Garrisons also had to survive, and they caused huge public security problems along the way.

In such chaos, Yang Yu had no choice but to declare martial law, organize the survivors of the Six Garrisons into legions according to their place of origin, and order them to migrate to the Three States under military law.

The reason why the troops were organized into legions based on their place of origin was because Yang Yu wanted to enforce the military law, which was the law of collective responsibility in the army.

If the army of the remnants of the Six Garrisons disturbed the local area, or if someone escaped secretly, all the people in the team would be punished and killed. However, this method of collective punishment would only be effective for people from the same hometown, nationality, or even clan.

The remaining residents of the Six Garrisons erupted in strong opposition, which was all suppressed by Yang Yu.

The people of the Six Garrisons did not object to the relocation of the three states, but this form of organizing the army reminded them of the situation when they were garrisoning the Six Garrisons.

What the people of the Six Garrisons hated was the state of martial law. The people of the Six Garrisons had been guarding the Six Garrisons for generations, and they were not respected by the court and were discriminated against by other states.

The military registration of the Six Garrisons is the shackles of eternal slavery. The court finally withdrew the towns, and now they are organized into legions according to their original places of origin. Isn’t it a waste to withdraw the towns?
When we reach the three states, will the court continue to use military status to enslave the people of the six towns?
This is something that the survivors of the Six Garrisons are uncertain about.

But Yang Yu had no choice. If he did not organize an army, the remnants of the Six Garrisons would never be able to reach the Three States.

Yang Yu could only promise that he would lift the military control and register them as civilians as soon as they reached the Three Prefectures. Only then did he reluctantly drive the 200,000 remnants of the Six Garrisons towards the Three Prefectures.

Going south from Hengzhou, the first place you enter is Dingzhou.

When Yang Yu arrived in Dingzhou, he felt relieved to see that the governor of Dingzhou, Yang Jin, had already led the nobles of Dingzhou to welcome him at the state border.

Yang Jin, the governor of Dingzhou, was from the Hongnong Yang family just like Yang Yu. Since they were brothers from the same clan, Yang Jin had already received the news and organized the wealthy families of Dingzhou to take in the survivors of the Six Garrisons.

After Yang Yu handed over some of the survivors of the Six Garrisons to Yang Jin, he simply told him to treat the survivors of the Six Garrisons well and register them as citizens as soon as possible. Without much greeting, he continued to lead the remaining survivors to Jizhou.

The survivors of the Six Garrisons who had traveled all the way were given rest and rare food supplies. They thought that good days would come, but they did not expect that not long after Yang Yu left, they heard shocking news.

Yang Jin, the governor of Dingzhou, sold the remnants of the Six Garrisons to the wealthy families of Dingzhou as pastoral slaves and serfs on the grounds that they had participated in a rebellion.

(End of this chapter)