Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 321 Yuan Ziyou

[The "First Group A Camp" launched an attack on Pucheng and has already occupied the city wall! ]

The battle report of this operation is as follows:

Deaths: 104

Seriously injured: 40

Persons punished for violating military orders: 49 people.

Please see the attachment for the specific list.

Su Ze closed the system report. [Xiandeng Jiaying] was the third legion organized by Su Ze.

The system set the legion to have a thousand people. Now Su Ze's followers made him reorganize only three legions, namely the [Guards Battalion] of armored cavalry, the [Valiant Cavalry Battalion] of mixed cavalry, and the [Vanguard A Battalion] responsible for siege operations.

Attacking a city is indeed a cruel thing. Despite such a huge advantage, the [Xiandeng Jiaying] still lost so many soldiers in the battle to capture Pucheng.

This was even after Yu Jin had already consumed a lot of troops and worn down the morale of the defenders, and only then did he allow the [Xiandeng Jiazi Camp] to be deployed, and the casualties were still so great.

Therefore, even if you are the most capable monarch, it is impossible for him to conquer cities one by one, otherwise all the veteran soldiers who founded the country would die.

Conquering a landmark strong city and then having nearby cities "surrender" and incorporating and reorganizing the surrendered troops was the norm for ancient armies.

Unfortunately, Hu Chen abandoned the city and fled when he saw the situation was not good. Yu Jin pursued him along the Zhengguo Canal and recaptured the western part of Huazhou occupied by Hu Chen. He also counterattacked and entered the area occupied by Hu Chen, and successively captured three small cities along the Zhengguo Canal.

Immediately afterwards, Su Ze ordered Su Miao to set up Douchang (a grassroots water conservancy department in charge of water conservancy and irrigation) along the Zhengguo Canal, and to use the prisoner-of-war camp to dig the blocked river section in Pucheng.

Then Su Ze looked at another report, which was submitted by the military judge in Chen Shun's (Hou Mo Chen Shun) team who led troops into Huazhou to "suppress bandits".

After deciding on the policy of "cleaning the house before moving in", Su Ze also had a private talk with Hou Mo Chen Shun before going on the expedition.

It has to be said that this general of the Six Garrisons perfectly fits the literati's stereotype of the "Six Garrisons Warriors", and Chen Shun can be said to have completely subdued the Huazhou nobles along the way.

After Chen Shun led his troops into Huazhou, he cooperated with Dugu Xin and his clerks in the general's office to survey the land and began a large-scale liquidation work.

First of all, those powerful families who had had connections with Hu Chen were the first to be eliminated.

With the hat of infidelity pressed down on him, Su Ze could be said to be standing on the moral high ground, shitting and pissing below.

Although the concept of "loyalty" had already become a slogan during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, some dynasties were even built on the basis of "disloyalty".

However, any ruler in power must promote loyalty and filial piety, and as long as one is a scholar, he must always emphasize loyalty.

They could not make a fuss about the righteousness of Su Ze killing these nobles who colluded with Hu Chen, so the Huazhou gentry began to criticize Su Ze for "killing too many people, appointing cruel officials, and appointing warriors to disturb the local area."

It's a pity that this hat might be of some use if it was put on the sons of aristocratic families like the Yu Jin and Su brothers, but on the head of Chen Shun, a general of the Six Garrisons, it can't be said to be useless, it is completely useless.

Speaking of loyalty, when I was leading the isolated army of the Six Garrisons under the command of General Li and facing the army of Po Liu and Han Baling alone, you guys were colluding with the rebels in the rear.

Chen Shun doesn't care what kind of aristocratic family you are, no matter if your family has been in the government for generations, or if your ancestors have been prime ministers. Anyway, we will act according to the law. Anyone who colludes with Hu Chen will be executed, and their family land will be confiscated. They will be exiled to the hard labor camp and sent to Pucheng to dig the Zhengguo Canal.

After Chen Shun eliminated a group of the most stubborn powerful families, Dugu Xin came on the scene. He led the clerks from the general's mansion to survey the land, demanding that the powerful families give up the occupied land and demolish the forts that were not built in compliance with regulations.

Dugu Xin would write reports to the Shogun's office every day, describing the difficulties he encountered when surveying the land. Seeing the ways these powerful families hid their land, Su Ze could only say that he was greatly enlightened and was shocked by the difficulty of surveying the land.

It is no wonder that even Emperor Guangwu of Han, a leader who restored the Han Dynasty, could not implement his policy.

For any matter, doing it with all your heart or doing it casually may result in diametrically opposed results.

Any task requires a large amount of manpower to collaborate and ultimately it is people who are responsible for doing the work.

For example, in the letter sent by Dugu Xin yesterday, he talked about the fact that the land of two counties had just been surveyed and there were problems with the officials being lazy and slacking off in the assignment of responsibilities.

It tells the story of two clerks from the Shogun's office who were assigned to clean up the countryside. As they were unwilling to visit the fields under the hot sun, they simply asked the wealthy families in the countryside to hand in a number on their own and submit it to the Shogun's office for report.

The local wealthy families discussed it and finally handed over several hundred acres of land. The two officials then returned to the city with the land register that had been measured.

However, some of the lands handed over by these powerful families were actually wasteland, and some were forced by the self-cultivating farmers in the countryside. Later, a villager came to the city to file a complaint, and the matter was exposed.

Dugu Xin immediately began to investigate and found that the two officials had done so in three townships, and they did not accept bribes. They just wanted to save time and complete the land survey and assessment tasks assigned by their superiors.

Dugu Xin severely punished the two clerks. Su Ze saw the list and found that the two clerks were from poor families recruited by Su Ze in Chongwen Pavilion. He did not expect that they wanted to improve themselves so much that they did such a thing. In addition to the laziness of the clerks, there were many land issues that were difficult to deal with.

For example, when Dugu Xin was surveying the land, he discovered a large amount of land that was registered in the names of these powerful people.

When the land was cleared, these powerful families handed over the land, but the original owners of the land complained to the government, saying that they had only mortgaged the land and had not transferred the land to the powerful families.

There are also a large number of old cases that have been unearthed during the land clearance. These cases involving property rights can even be traced back to several generations, and each party has its own reasons.

In addition to feeling disappointed, Su Ze also understood that these grassroots jobs were difficult.

Many times, pure malice can be dealt with with thundering means, but in fact most grassroots problems are "laziness", "stupidity" and "not wanting to cause trouble".

You survey the land. No matter how much land you survey, what does it have to do with me, a minor official who receives my salary on time?
Even if there are reward incentives, only a few people can be rewarded in the end.

The merits belong to the superiors, the hard work belongs to the grassroots, the talented people go to the court, and the mediocre people go to the grassroots. This has never changed throughout the ages.

Now the territory is small, and they still use SSR-level talents like Dugu Xin, but they still cause so much trouble.

When the territory becomes larger in the future, there will be a few more Dugu Xins who can do the work themselves.

It can only come slowly.

Su Ze picked up his pen and wrote back to Dugu Xin, warning him not to be anxious. Land surveying is a slow process. The Shogun's office will not evaluate their work based solely on the speed, nor will it set specific goals for how much land must be surveyed in each county.

At the same time, Su Ze also sent Feng Shu to Huazhou and asked him to set up a special court to handle local land lawsuits.
-
May, the second year of Xiaochang.

The most concerned issue in the court was naturally the rebels in the five states of Hedong.

Su Suan (an envoy who is well versed in human nature) came out of the backyard of the city. The market in the district was becoming more and more desolate. The Hu Bing stall of the old man Qihu, who used to set up a stall every day, was still there. Su Suan ordered a bowl of mutton soup and two pieces of Hu Bing, and started to eat while sitting on a Hu stool beside the stall.

Among so many stalls selling mutton soup and Hu Bing in Luoyang, this stall has the best taste. They use fat sheep sent by Xiurong. After the mutton is boiled, it produces clear white soup, unlike the milky white mutton from other places. The taste is also the most delicious.

Su Suan finished his mutton soup and Hu pancakes and left a hundred coins. Many of the Hu benches around were empty, which was far from the lively scene in the past.

However, this old Qihu man should be the same as Su Suan. He should be a spy sent by Erzhu Rong to Luoyang, so he doesn't care about the success or failure of the business at all.

This Hu Bing stall is located on the only way to the Nan Ya court. Nowadays, even grassroots officials have to tighten their purse strings and dare not eat out casually. This shows what the whole Luoyang has become.

Su Suan rode on a donkey. Nowadays in Luoyang City, people without official positions dared not ride horses. This was not because of any rule of the court, but because the last time Su Suan rode out on horseback, he was forcibly requisitioned by officials from the Taiwei Mansion to serve as a military horse. Since then, Su Suan dared not ride a horse on the street anymore.

Su Suan rode a donkey and slowly came to the residence of Prince Changle Yuan Ziyou.

Su Shun (a eunuch who changes his attitude according to the situation) opened the side door and let Su Suan into the palace. Passing by the pavilions and towers, Su Shun saw the Prince of Changle who was "recuperating from illness."

Ever since Empress Dowager Hu seized power in a coup, Prince Changle Yuan Ziyou became "ill". Although the palace kept sending doctors to treat him, his condition did not improve.

But when Su Suan met Yuan Ziyou, he was flipping through a copy of "Shennong's Herbal Classic".

Although Yuan Ziyou's eyes showed worry, he did not look sick. He was not at all like the person who was seriously ill and unable to get out of bed as the outside world had said.

Su Suan had already known about Yuan Ziyou's situation through Su Shun. He bowed to Yuan Ziyou and said:

"I pay my respects to the king."

Yuan Ziyou knew Su Ze's intention of setting up a backyard in Luoyang. He knew that Su was Su Ze's eyes and ears in Luoyang, and naturally would not put on airs as a prince.

After the greetings, Yuan Ziyou looked at Su Suan and said:

"I have a letter. Please ask Su Liuhou to pass it to Captain Su."

Duwei means the Duwei of the son-in-law of the emperor. Yuan Ziyou called Su Ze the Duwei of the son-in-law of the emperor instead of the General Pingxi, just to get closer to Su Ze.

Su Suan understood and put the letter in his arms. In fact, he didn't need to go in person to deliver the letter, but this was his first time to Yuan Ziyou's house, and he wanted to get closer to Yuan Ziyou.

Now the two sides still lacked trust, so they just exchanged a few pleasantries. Yuan Ziyou asked Su Shun to present a gift, and then sent Su Suan out of the palace.

After sending Su Suan away, Yuan Ziyou said to Su Shun:

"Your Majesty asked me to make friends with foreign ministers. Erzhu Rong is ambitious, and Su Ze is not a pushover either. I'd better observe for a while before deciding who to give the imperial edict to."

(End of this chapter)