Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 472 The war resumes
Su Ze’s judgment was correct. After Murong Shaozong of Ji County received the news, he made a decision quickly.

He personally led the troops from Ji County straight to Zhuo County where Liu Lingzhu had raised an army.

The North China Plain is flat and vast. Murong Shaozong, whose ancestors lived in Shanxi, finally understood why the ancestors of the Murong family were able to rise so quickly in Youzhou, quickly move south to seize Jizhou and lay the foundation for the hegemony of the Former Yan.

This road is so easy to walk on!
Shanxi is not without terrain that is suitable for cavalry combat, but the ravines and gullies in Shanxi, and the ups and downs of the mountain roads are very demanding on the horses. Marching in hills and mountains is complex, and it is necessary to constantly send out cavalry for reconnaissance to ensure that there are no ambushes before moving forward.

This is also why mountain warfare often progresses slowly, not entirely because the roads are difficult to travel.

But there was no such problem on the North China Plain. There was almost no obstruction on the road, and the large group of cavalry could be safe as long as they gathered together. Although the cautious Murong Shaozong still sent out cavalry every day, the marching speed was several times faster than when he fought in Longxi County.

In mid-February, Murong Shaozong had already arrived in Beiping County. He soon received a battle report from the Beiping County Chief Hulu Guihan that Liu Lingzhu's "Yanwang Army" had been blocked in Zhuo County.

When he first received the news, Murong Shaozong was a little bit unbelievable. He even suspected that it was a false report by Hulu Guihan.

However, after sending his trusted aides to investigate, he found that Liu Lingzhu's "Yanwang Army" could not even leave Zhuo County and was blocked at the doorstep by Hulu Guihan.

If it weren't for the fact that the number of county soldiers who returned to the Han Dynasty was too small, Liu Lingzhu's rebellion might have been put down.

Murong Shaozong felt a little toothache. How come you, Liu Lingzhu, had rebelled with such a huge momentum, mobilized the whole state, and united the local powerful families? But how come you were blocked at your doorstep by a team of county soldiers in the end?
With this ability, don't rebel. Can't you just tell your fortune?
However, rebellion had to be quelled as soon as possible. After learning about the situation on the front line, Murong Shaozong immediately rushed to Zhuo County, met up with Hulu Guihan, and then attacked Zhuo County together.

After the two men reunited, Murong Shaozong looked at Hulu Guihan in front of him.

In fact, Murong Shaozong is not very old, only twenty-four years old.

Hulu Jin is actually thirteen years older than Murong Shaozong. As Hulu Jin's younger brother, Hulu Guihan is only two years younger than Murong Shaozong and is twenty-two years old this year.

If it were a normal era, a 22-year-old county magistrate would be considered a young and successful person.

But in troubled times, this age is not enough.

Chen Chong and Wei Xiaokuan, who have now emerged in Su Ze's system, are not very old, and Yuwen Tai, who has just been appointed by him, is only seventeen years old.

There is no way. The troubled times are such an unreasonable era. There is no such thing as waiting for seniority or age. Capable people will be promoted and reused soon. There is a shortage of people in the positions now, not too many people and too few positions.

Murong Shaozong had never worked with Hulu Jin, but Yu Jin specifically asked Hulu Jin to go to Hedong County, which shows that Hulu Jin really has some abilities.

Unexpectedly, his younger brother was also good at both literature and martial arts. Murong Shaozong said in a good mood:

"How's it going?"

Hulu Guihan was still a little nervous when facing his boss.

The Northern Wei Dynasty had a three-level administrative structure consisting of states, counties, and districts. Originally, there should have been a county governor above Hulu Guihan, the county magistrate.

However, Su Ze felt that having a county between the county and the state was too redundant, so he no longer set up counties in the state, and the county officials were directly responsible to the governor.

The county level was only set up in some places whose area and population did not reach the level of a state but whose strategic location was very important, such as Wuyuan County, Hedong County, and Longxi County.

After Hulu returned to Han, he quickly calmed down and reported the situation on the front line to Murong Shaozong.

It turns out that Liu Lingzhu's "Yanwang Army" was not always so weak.

When they came out of Zhuo County, their progress was very smooth at the beginning. Many local warlords along the way also joined their army. Even a failed uprising in Lin County fled to Zhuo County and joined the "Yanwang Army".

The "Yanwang Army" soon expanded to 7,000 people. At this time, Liu Lingzhu felt that he was capable enough, so he sent someone to send a letter to Hulu Guihan, asking him to surrender as soon as possible so that he could be appointed as a general.

Hulu returned to Han and killed the messenger. He also knew that the "Yanwang Army" had a large number of soldiers, so he ordered the county soldiers to build a camp.

Hulu Guihan knew his own soldiers very well. Although these county soldiers were led by their own backbone yamen runners, they were generally new recruits who had never experienced the battlefield. Therefore, Hulu Guihan did not expect them to be able to fight any tough battles.

Just let them hide behind the camp and shoot arrows.

In fact, Hulu had no big ambitions when he returned to Han. He only wanted to delay the "Prince of Yan's Army" as long as possible before Murong Shaozong arrived, and then he would have made a great contribution.

However, when Hulu Guihan returned to Han, he did not expect that after a round of rain of arrows from him, the "Yan Wang Army" was actually defeated. Every day, they only sent some generals to persuade them to surrender symbolically, and then there was no other action.

When Hulu Guihan came back to Han, he wondered if he had encountered the "Yan Wang Army" or if the main force had bypassed him.

However, when they sent out scouts to inquire, they found that the "Yan Wang Army" had already set up camp opposite them.

Now even Hulu Guihan couldn't figure it out.

Speed ​​is of the essence in war, and rebellion is meant to catch the enemy off guard.

If they could win in a head-on fight, there wouldn't be any conspiracies or tricks like assassination.

Isn't it because they can't win in a head-on battle that they resort to all these conspiracy tricks?

Taking advantage of the time difference in the government's reaction, as long as we capture a few counties and spread the panic, there might be a chance of success.

But what do you, Liu Lingzhu, mean by setting up camp?
Hulu Guihan did not understand the reason, but Jia Zhi, a descendant of a noble family, understood it very well.

After Liu Lingzhu and Lu Wenwei started the rebellion, Jia Zhi pretended to surrender, but Lu Wenwei did not trust him and took him into the army and imprisoned him in the barracks.

However, the military camp was a crowded place with many people and noisy conversations, and there were no prison cells, so Jia Zhi actually had some freedom.

When Liu Lingzhu's army was not going smoothly, some people began to show goodwill to Jia Zhi. At first, they just gave him more abundant food and asked the soldiers who delivered the food to say a few words.

Gradually, the soldiers on guard were completely bribed, and people began to pay Jia Zhi a visit and present him with gifts.

After that, they simply stopped pretending, and some people even came to Jia Zhi crying and begging for forgiveness, asking him to apologize to the Duke of Su on their behalf.

One day, a beautiful woman was even sent to Jia Zhi's tent. God knows how such a woman sneaked into the military camp.

Jia Zhi sighed in his heart, isn’t this a noble family?

We can share wealth, but not adversity.

The interests of the family are above any other interests, and anything can be sold for the family.

Jia Zhi suddenly felt a little bitter. He suddenly understood why Duke Su did not trust these gentry.

They are simply too untrustworthy.

As a member of the noble family, I find these behaviors despicable.

Jia Zhi also clearly felt that times had changed.

Maybe the Chongwen Pavilion imperial examination will be the right way in the future?
This idea suddenly came to Jia Zhi, and he was shocked by his own bold idea.

But if you think about it carefully, it seems that the Chongwen Pavilion imperial examination can indeed replace the gentry.

What is needed to govern a place is nothing more than "reading and writing".

After all, administrative work is clerical work, and at least in grassroots bureaucracy, it does not require too much subjective initiative.

Good officials are selected step by step. Guanzhong's increasingly perfect examination mechanism, coupled with the supervision mechanism of the Jianxiulang, a big net covering the heads of officials, can always screen out outstanding talents.

If promotion is based on ability, then what does it matter whether one is born into a noble family or not?
Anyway, the Chongwen Pavilion Imperial Examination was just a means to screen qualified talents.

and many more.

In the future, even Chongwen Pavilion may not be needed.

If one can become an official by studying, then naturally some people will let their children study. If there is no need to study in Chongwen Pavilion, what about holding the imperial examination directly?
Jia Zhi continued thinking along this line, and was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

If everyone can study and become an official, then there will be no need to talk about the difference between the gentry and the poor, because in the future even the poor will no longer exist.

Jia Zhi thought of the time when he was in Guanzhong, when there was already a market selling "Thousand Character Classic" to teach children at home how to read.

As more people read in the future, the gentry will no longer be able to monopolize knowledge.

Jia Zhi broke out in a cold sweat.

But Jia Zhi thought again, allowing the people to study through the imperial examination and allowing more people to read, isn’t this what the ancient sages dreamed of?

To educate the world is a great merit!

What a genius Lord Su is to come up with such a brilliant idea.

However, Jia Zhi also knew that in his generation, most of those who could come out of Chongwen Pavilion would definitely be children of noble families.

After all, from the beginning of life to learning to read, to being able to understand the meaning of the scriptures, and finally being able to write satisfactory answers, this requires several years or even more than ten years of training.

This is not something ordinary people can afford.

But the trend is here, and the role of the gentry will inevitably decline.

After Jia Zhi saw this clearly, he became more determined.

Isn't it just a roll?
Is the Guzang Jia family still afraid that they can’t beat others?

Jia Zhi decided that if he could survive, he would definitely suggest his father to open a clan school at home, so that the children who were able to read could study the scriptures compiled by Chongwen Pavilion, and send more children to study in Chongwen Pavilion!

However, Jia Zhi's days of imprisonment soon came to an end. After Murong Shaozong's army arrived, while the military camp was in chaos, Jia Zhi was quickly rescued by the elite soldiers sent by Murong Shaozong.

Murong Shaozong only launched a night attack, and the 7,000-strong "Yanwang Army" was completely defeated.

Before Liu Lingzhu had a chance to escape, he was captured by several large families who were eager to turn against him. In order to compete for Liu Lingzhu's token of allegiance, these families even fought each other. The intensity of the fighting was even greater than when they attacked Hulu Guihan's camp.

The father and son of the Lu family were even more miserable. As they were the heads of the Fanyang Lu family, they knew a lot about the dirty deeds among the Youzhou gentry and were killed directly in the chaos.

Youzhou was pacified.

At the same time, a messenger rushed into Jiankang City. The emperor Yuan Hao, who was enthroned by the Southern Liang Dynasty, asked Xiao Yan for help. Erzhu Rong mobilized all his elite troops to attack Hulao Pass!

In addition, Hou Jing's request for assistance in attacking Baidi City was also placed on Xiao Yan's desk.

(End of this chapter)