Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 385: A Day in the Life of a County Lord

There were not many people going to Wuyuan this time, only two thousand cavalry and two thousand craftsmen in total.

These craftsmen were not enough to build the city, so Su Ze also gave Dugu Xin the power to act arbitrarily, allowing him to take in refugees in Wuyuan and organize them to build the city.

Although the number of people is small, all the accompanying personnel are elite.

Su Ze established Wuyuan County, Dugu Xin was the governor of Wuyuan County, and his deputy, the magistrate of Wuyuan County, was Wei Xiaokuan.

Dugu Xin's two thousand cavalrymen, in addition to the old troops he brought from the Six Garrisons, one thousand of them were the [Light Cavalry Battalion] trained by Su Ze himself. People in Guanzhong knew that all the troops trained by Su Ze himself were the elite among the elite, and they could fight ten enemies with one on the battlefield.

The leader of the two thousand craftsmen was named Su Tong ([the city builder of Tongwan City]), who was then the Langzhong of the Ministry of Works. It was Su Tong who led the craftsmen to build Yongle City, and he was the best city builder in the entire Guanzhong area.

In addition, Gao Guiyi, the son of Gao Hui, the acting General Pingxi and the Vice-Minister of the Administrative Affairs Hall, accompanied his father Gao Hui on many diplomatic missions to the grasslands. He also went to Wuyuan as Dugu Xin's assistant to assist Dugu Xin in handling grassland affairs.

The hundred-man team that Wanqi Chounu and Chen Chong were in was also requested by Dugu Xin, and they served as Dugu Xin's personal cavalry.

By the time the army crossed the Maosu Gobi Desert, it had snowed a lot in the north. When they reached the Yellow River, the river was indeed frozen.

Dugu Xin found the temporary floating bridge that had been built by Po Liu Han Baling. After reinforcing the suspension cables, he ordered the soldiers and craftsmen to hold the suspension cables and cross the Yellow River.

At this time, the ice surface of the Yellow River was completely frozen, and people could cross the river by tying dry grass to the horse's hooves. Dugu Xin was also concerned about the craftsmen in the army, so he was more cautious and used a rope to cross the river.

After crossing the river, Dugu Xin saw a bleak scene.

Various corpses can be seen on the roadside. These are the people who died before and after the Battle of Wuyuan.

Chen Chong looked at the remains on the side of the road, thinking of how his brother had fought fiercely with Po Liu Han Baling here, and how Po Liu Han Baling was finally defeated by the Rouran people here and finally fled to the Yellow River. He couldn't help feeling sad.

These are the bones and flesh of the people of Liuzhen!

When Chen Chong stood here, he finally understood why his brother talked about the Luoyang court with such deep hatred.

Looking at Dugu Xin again, his expression was equally heavy.

At the beginning, Dugu Xin asked people to collect the remains on the roadside, but there were too many corpses and bones, so Wei Xiaokuan proposed to erect a monument on the bank of the Yellow River. Dugu Xin accepted Wei Xiaokuan's suggestion and erected a monument to commemorate the dead soldiers and civilians of the Six Garrisons.

The group continued to move north and soon arrived at the ruins of Wuyuan City.

A few years ago, Gao Guiyi accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to the grassland and stayed overnight in Wuyuan City. When he saw the ruins of Wuyuan City, he felt a little depressed.

Su Tong took the craftsmen out for an exploration, and returned to the camp and said to Dugu Xin:

"County Governor, we can use the relatively intact east wall of Wuyuan City as a base to build a fortified city first, and then slowly rebuild Wuyuan City."

Yongcheng is a defensive fortress with high walls.

When Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, the city walls were dilapidated and the palaces were destroyed.

However, the ministers and nobles brought by Emperor Xiaowen had no place to live, so they first rebuilt Jinyong City in Luoyang and lived in Jinyong City temporarily. They moved into the Luoyang Imperial Palace only after the city walls and palaces of Luoyang were completed.

Although building a Yongcheng would consume a certain amount of manpower and material resources, it could improve the sense of security of the soldiers and craftsmen accompanying the army. Dugu Xin naturally agreed to Su Tong's plan.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Xiaokuan and Gao Guiyi both advised Dugu Xin that since they were going to build a city here, they had to establish good relations with the surrounding tribes and caravans, send out scouts to understand the movements and positions of the larger tribes nearby, and do the preliminary work for the war.

Dugu Xin naturally followed suit. He asked Wei Xiaokuan to contact passing caravans, and sent cavalry to protect Gao Guiyi, who was proficient in various grassland languages. He led the delegation to visit the surrounding nomadic tribes and establish contacts with them.

Dugu Xin felt that it was a little unreal.

When he was the military commander of the Six Garrisons, he had to take care of his superiors and maintain relations with his colleagues before doing anything. He also had to consider the interests of his subordinates. He had to be careful in handling everything to avoid problems.

But now he is the governor of Wuyuan County, commanding more people than before, but things have become much easier.

Military affairs were naturally handled by their subordinates. Before arriving at Wuyuan City, Su Shen, the commander of the Light Cavalry Battalion, had already led his troops to clear out the refugees and bandits near Wuyuan City. Every time they set up camp, Su Shen did a great job and was so cautious that even Dugu Xin thought he was overdoing it.

[Careful and Cautious Yulin Light Cavalry]

Name: Su Shen;
Grade: Orange;
Effect: Be cautious and reduce the possibility of the team being attacked by surprise;
Evaluation: "Better safe than sorry." Price: 800 wen tai and 100 baht coins, and a maintenance fee of wen tai and baht coins per month.

Once they entered the vicinity of Wuyuan City, Wei Xiaokuan was naturally in charge of placing the craftsmen, Su Tong was also in charge of building the city, and even the task of gathering news from the surrounding tribes was handled by Gao Guiyi, who was very familiar with the situation on the grassland.

Under the coordination of Duke Gaoping, it seems that I don't have to do anything and just reap the credit in Wuyuan City for free?
Dugu Xin had another thought: Is it the same when the Duke of Gaoping fights wars and governs the country?
In Dugu Xin's opinion, Su Ze, the Duke of Gaoping, should be sitting high up in the clouds, letting his ministers and subordinates rule the country, but he actually leads a boring life every day.

Getting up every morning to practice martial arts is a habit Su Ze developed after he traveled through time and became a member of the Imperial Guard. Until now, dancing with a spear every morning is Su Ze's habit.

It’s just that in the past, people practiced martial arts in order to shed less blood on the battlefield, but now they practice martial arts just to strengthen their bodies.

Next, Su Ze will handle various military and political affairs in Baizhang Tower.

Su Ze had to personally review all the memorials sent by the State Affairs Hall and the military intelligence from various places sent by the Shogunate, even if he agreed with the opinions of the State Affairs Hall and the Shogunate.

In addition, there are secret letters written to him, which must be reviewed by Su Ze personally and cannot be handed over to others.

Generally speaking, it is already afternoon when all these are dealt with.

Just handling paperwork is not enough to understand the whole situation. In the afternoon, Su Ze will summon various subordinates and have interviews with them.

Apart from important officials in the Government Affairs Hall and the Shogunate, Su Ze had no regular pattern in summoning his subordinates.

He might suddenly summon a prosecutor to ask him about a case he was handling.

Or he might summon a craftsman from the Ministry of Works to ask him about the progress of a certain project.

Or perhaps an official came to Yongle City to do business or report on his work and asked him about the local situation.

Even some non-official scholars, ordinary craftsmen, soldiers stationed in Yongle City, and merchants traveling to the Western Regions could be summoned by Su Ze to discuss some trivial matters of daily life.

Su Ze was busy like this until the evening, and he still had to open the system to process the mountains of information and data and check the status of [buildings] in various places.

Because of Su Ze's diligence, his subordinates were more cautious. Even Su Chao, who had followed Su Ze the longest, did not dare to be careless when doing things. Although Su Ze, the Duke of the County, seldom got angry or scolded people, he would always keep an eye on how well you did your job.

Merits must be rewarded, and mistakes must be punished. The officials and generals around Su Ze all understand this truth. Everything you do is seen by the county lord, so naturally no one will cheat and joke with their own future.
-
In comparison, Erzhu Rong's life was much more carefree than Su Ze's.

Every morning, Erzhu Rong would eat half full and then lead his soldiers out hunting.

It is called hunting, but in fact it is military training. Soldiers who perform poorly in the hunting will be punished, and soldiers who make mistakes will be killed. The cavalrymen who have undergone such training are the elite of the time.

After noon, Erzhu Rong would eat a few bites of food quickly and then go to handle affairs in the hunting ground.

However, Erzhu Rong did not neglect government affairs. On the contrary, he actually had a good talent in government affairs.

Erzhu Rong could often solve various problems raised by his subordinates with just a few words. He also made personnel appointments and dismissals in such a way that he could make the best use of their talents and put the right people in the right positions.

Erzhu Rong also trusted his sworn brother Yuan Tianmu in handling the specific civil affairs of Bingzhou. As for the specific military affairs of the garrisons in various places, once Erzhu Rong issued the tasks, he did not care how they were implemented. For example, after Heba Sheng was stationed in Jingxing, Erzhu Rong would not ask about it as long as there were no problems in Jingxing. The same went for Erzhu Zhao who was stationed in Yanmen Pass.

However, once something went wrong when doing things under Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Rong would show no mercy and would even kill his trusted nephews.

To put it simply, Erzhu Rong ruled the country with military law, and working under him was like signing a military order. You'd better pray that nothing goes wrong, or that if something goes wrong you can solve it yourself, otherwise you'll be beheaded by Erzhu Rong using military law.

But even so, Erzhu Rong at least had a standard. He handled things objectively and fairly, and did not discriminate based on closeness or distance. Those who had made contributions would be rewarded, and those who had made mistakes would be punished. Moreover, he was able to know people and use them well, and was particularly good at discovering military generals who led his troops.

Just being able to achieve this is already much stronger than the Northern Wei court.

In addition, Yuan Tianmu was also a capable man. Under his rule, Bingzhou had been enjoying good weather and good harvests these days.

Relying on his special relationship with Erzhu Rong, Yuan Tianmu was able to correct Erzhu Rong's overly strict governance to a certain extent. Even when people from the Erzhu family made mistakes, Yuan Tianmu would persuade Erzhu Rong to be lenient.

In the two states under Erzhu Rong's rule, government affairs flowed smoothly. Not only were they not affected by the war in recent years, but they also absorbed many survivors of the Six Garrisons and became increasingly powerful.

On this day, Erzhu Rong returned to the camp after hunting again, and Liu Gui was already waiting for him in the camp.

(End of this chapter)