Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 364: Future Fruit, Today's Cause

Mozhe Tiansheng's defeat was an inevitable outcome that had been deduced many times by the Shogun's office.

Three armies are advancing at the same time, and all three are capable of destroying Mozhe Tiansheng's force. It would be a miracle if the Qinzhou rebels are not destroyed.

However, the result was beyond Su Ze's expectation. In the end, Hou Jing, as the main force, only got the smallest share of the credit.

Yang Kan, who captured Tianshui City, was naturally the main contributor. Moreover, Yang Kan was very "considerate" in dealing with the troublesome Hou Gang, thus preventing his superior Su Ze from being in a morally disadvantageous position. Such a subordinate should naturally be rewarded.

Yang Kan is both civil and military. He can manage the civil affairs of a state and lead troops to fight. In addition, his loyalty makes him suitable for the task of governing a region outside the capital.

However, the reward for Yang Kan will have to wait until he recovers from his injuries. Since his subordinates have set up the "stage" for him, he also has to sing a few lines.

Su Ze still asked Su Liang to draft a letter to express his condolences to Yang Kan, and sent a medical officer with precious medicinal materials to Tianshui to treat Yang Kan.

In addition, Su Ze also wrote an article expressing his feelings. He originally wanted to fulfill his promise of not killing if he surrendered and give him a peaceful old age. However, he did not expect that Hou Gang was so loyal to Mo Zhetian and wanted to murder his general by means of false surrender.

Su Ze said that he almost lost a general because of the criminal Hou Gang, so he ordered Hou Gang's body to be beheaded to warn the world that such a fickle villain will not have a good end.

The second credit goes to Yu Jin, who was stationed in Lueyang.

Yu Jin captured Lueyang. Although he was unable to enter Tianshui City first due to the hindrance of bandits in the rear, the credit for accepting Mozhe Tiansheng's surrender made him surpass Hou Jing and become the second most meritorious.

Whether it was the Battle of Jieting or his cautious management of Lueyang later, Yu Jin's ability and character showed that he was a talented general who could be entrusted with important tasks.

Those who are good at fighting have no great reputation.

When fighting with an advantageous position, the greatest achievement is to avoid making mistakes.

Because war is something full of inevitability and contingency.

Necessity means that if one side has a big enough advantage, victory is inevitable. For example, Qin has the ability to annex the world, and it will not be unable to destroy the six kingdoms because of one or two local defeats.

As for the randomness, there are too many factors that determine victory or defeat on the battlefield. Even if Zhuge Liang had a perfect plan, there would still be variables like Ma Su's loss of Jieting. In the end, wars still need people to fight.

This time, Hou Jing was in charge of the attack. Su Ze allocated his most elite [Cavalry Battalion] and [Guards Battalion] to him, and also provided support to the entire Longxi and Hehuang areas. However, in the end, when it came to judging the merits, he could only rank third.

Regarding this result, Su Ze could only say that he was helpless.

Rewards are given based on merit on the battlefield, and the merits on the battlefield are the final results.

Because on the battlefield, everyone risks their lives to earn credit. If the rewards are unfair, the soldiers will not fight hard.

No matter what, only the results of the battle are the most intuitive and the least controversial.

If you behead three people, that will be a twelve-turn military merit, and no one will object to that.

If we talk about who worked harder and who made greater contributions on the battlefield, it's just a matter of each having their own reasons.

Hou Jing's contribution this time was that he besieged Gangu City, delayed Mozhe Tiansheng's army, helped Yang Kan capture Tianshui City, and facilitated Mozhe Tiansheng's surrender to Yu Jin.

In addition, there are some military achievements counted by military judges.

The shogunate has its own system, and all rewards and punishments were determined by the shogunate long ago. Hou Jing did not get any credit this time and could only sigh that he had a bad fate.

The next issue is the resettlement of the Qinzhou rebels.

The ordinary officers and soldiers of Qinzhou were easy to place, but Mo Zhe was born to be a hot potato.

Mo Zhetian surrendered voluntarily. According to Su Ze's promise in "The Proclamation to Punish Qinzhou", those who surrender voluntarily will not be killed.

But not killing him would also have its troubles. Mo Zhetian was still respected by some people in Qinzhou, and keeping him alive would also be a hidden danger.

Just when Su Ze was in trouble, Su Liang said:
"Whether to kill Mo Zhetian or not should be left to the Duke of Danyang to decide."

Yup!

The Grand Commander of the Western Expedition is Xiao Baoyin, not me, Su Ze. Once Mo Zhe Tiansheng is captured, he should be handed over to Xiao Baoyin for disposal!
Su Ze immediately ordered Yu Jin of Lueyang to send the surrendered Mo Zhe Tiansheng to Xiao Baoyin as soon as possible and get rid of this hot potato.
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The third year of Xiaochang, the fifth year of Tonggong, 524 AD.

(Due to historical changes, the Northern Wei dynasty changed its reign title to Xiaochang in the third year of Zhengguang, and it is now the third year of Xiaochang. The Southern Liang dynasty did not change its reign title.)
Tongtai Temple, which was supposed to be completed before Buddha's Birthday, was finally completed in June. However, the Bodhisattva Emperor of Daliang was still very generous in rewarding all the craftsmen and laborers who participated in the construction. However, this time everyone received newly issued iron coins.

Bian Ji looked at the busy Zhu Yi and could only sigh that being a treacherous minister was a difficult task.

There are also treacherous ministers who are purely flattering, such as Zheng Yan and Xu He of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and there are also treacherous ministers like Zhu Yi who do not often flatter, but rely on their actual actions to make Xiao Yan happy. In Bian Ji's view, capable treacherous ministers like Zhu Yi are even more harmful than the previous ones.

In just over a month, Zhu Yi produced the first batch of iron coins. Then Xiao Yan issued the "Iron Coin Order", requiring the people to exchange copper coins for iron coins according to the currency value.

It can only be said that Zhu Yi was indeed very active. He first ordered the market officials to search for those merchants and people who were still using copper coins. Once found, all of them would be confiscated. When the merchants entered Jiankang City, they were forced to exchange the copper coins on them for iron coins.

Zhu Yi also encouraged the public to report others. Anyone who reported that someone was hoarding copper coins would have half of the confiscated income converted into iron coins as a reward to the informant. This led to people throughout Jiankang city scrambling to exchange for iron coins. In order to use up the copper coins as quickly as possible, iron coins became more expensive than copper coins.

Thanks to Zhu Yi's series of moves, iron coins soon became widely circulated in Jiankang City.

The biggest benefit of using iron coins was naturally for Emperor Xiao Yan, who controlled the country's iron smelting and had almost unlimited coinage rights from then on.

The iron coins used as rewards to the craftsmen and laborers of Tongtai Temple this time were newly minted. If they were changed into copper coins, this reward alone would be enough to bankrupt Xiao Yan's treasury. But for Xiao Yan today, it was just a matter of opening a few more iron smelters to cast coins.

Bian Ji instinctively felt that something was wrong and always felt that if Xiao Yan continued like this, there would be problems, but now the city of Jiankang seemed to be thriving.

Bian Ji did not know that the original commodity economy of Southern Liang was already quite developed, but due to insufficient money supply, economic activities were sluggish.

Simply put, Nanliang produced enough goods, but had no money to trade.

This abnormal prosperity led to deflation in Southern Liang due to insufficient money supply.

Because copper coins are becoming more and more valuable, everyone from high-ranking officials to ordinary people tend to save the money after getting the copper coins. This leads to fewer copper coins in the market, which is exacerbated by austerity.

Under such circumstances, issuing iron coins objectively increased the amount of money in the market and alleviated the deflationary situation.

This kind of forced exchange is actually plundering the wealth of the powerful.

The copper coins they hoarded were forcibly exchanged for iron coins, but the issuance of more and more iron coins actually diluted the wealth of these powerful people.

Xiao Yan built Buddhist temples and palaces on a large scale. His palace servants shuttled between markets, constantly purchasing goods with iron coins, which was equivalent to distributing a large amount of iron coins to the people.

If Xiao Yan had stopped here, it would have been to inject an appropriate amount of money into the market and maintain a certain level of inflation, which would have been beneficial to economic activities.

But it is obvious that after Xiao Yan tasted the sweetness, it was impossible for him to stop there and issue iron coins.

Bian Ji was inspecting Tongtai Temple today. Xiao Yan ordered that all the ten Buddha statues in Tongtai Temple be gilded. Accompanied by the abbot of Tongtai Temple, Bian Ji walked into the main hall and was confused when he saw the golden Buddha statues.

It’s so gorgeous!
This huge wooden Buddhist temple was built according to the regulations of the Jiankang Imperial Palace. It features a giant Buddha statue that looks very cute, and craftsmen are sticking gold foil on it.

Buddhist temples at this time basically all worshipped Amitabha Buddha, who is the Buddha of the present age and the master of the Pure Land proposed by Bian Ji.

However, Tongtai Temple enshrines Maitreya Buddha, the Buddha of the future, which also reflects Xiao Yan's ambition.

Next to Maitreya Buddha is a slightly shorter Bodhisattva statue with the same appearance and body shape as the main Buddha statue.

This Bodhisattva statue is also Maitreya, because Maitreya is the future Buddha and is only a Bodhisattva in this world. Only after Amitabha Buddha passes away can Maitreya Buddha become the new master of Buddhism.

Maitreya is the only one in Buddhism who is both a Bodhisattva and a Buddha.

Tongtai Temple enshrines Maitreya, and Xiao Yan is known as the Bodhisattva Emperor. Even if you are not a Buddhist, you can see what he is thinking.

After hurriedly inspecting Tongtai Temple, Bian Ji saw a large team entering the city from Xuanyang Gate, the main gate of Jiankang City, and marching in a mighty manner on the central street.

When Bian Ji looked, he saw that it was the convoy of Yuan Hao, the Governor of Xuzhou and King of Beihai of the Northern Wei Dynasty, entering the city.

Yuan Hao wanted to take Xuzhou to surrender to Southern Liang. In the end, Xiao Yan couldn't resist the temptation and sent troops north to accept Yuan Hao's surrender.

This time Yuan Hao surrendered sincerely, and Xiao Yan captured the important city of Pengcheng without bloodshed.

Because of his contribution in surrendering the city, Yuan Hao was greatly rewarded by Xiao Yan and was welcomed into Jiankang City as a prince.

Bian Ji shook his head slightly. Because of Yuan Hao's rebellion, Northern Qingzhou and Southern Jingzhou of the Northern Wei also surrendered to Xiao Yan.

In this way, the results that the Southern Liang Dynasty had failed to achieve in the Battle of Zhongli allowed the Southern Liang Dynasty to reap a huge advantage during this civil strife in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

As a result, the entire Jiankang city was filled with a carnival atmosphere.

Bian Ji looked towards Tongtai Temple again and caught a glimpse of the gloom beneath the carnival.

(End of this chapter)