Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 509 Taking Office (Part )

Heba Yue bid farewell to his brothers and led the elite troops from the six towns under his command to Jingxingkou.

When Heba Yue arrived here, he felt as if he was in another world.

During the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons, they brothers fled from Hengzhou to Bingzhou and took refuge with Erzhu Rong, who treated Heba Yue with courtesy.

He first started as the cavalry commander beside Erzhu Rong, and step by step accumulated merit and Erzhu Rong's trust. The first important appointment he received was to guard the exit of Xingji to defend against the rebels in Jizhou at that time.

After experiencing so much, following Erzhu Rong in battle for so long, and making such great contributions, Heba Yue was appointed again, still to guard Jingxing.

It would be a lie to say that Heba Yue had no dissatisfaction in his heart.

When the Heba brothers got together, they were very dissatisfied with Erzhu Rong's stinginess in official positions and his vigilance against outsiders.

Look at what Su Ze did?

Forget about Yu Jin, he is Su Ze’s close comrade-in-arms and a direct descendant who has followed Su Ze since he started his career.

Who is Hou Jing? When he was in the Six Garrisons, he was not even worthy of carrying Heba Yue's shoes. Now he is the governor of Yizhou appointed by Su Ze, in charge of Yizhou's military and political affairs.

Houmochen Yue, Houmochen Chong, Dugu Xin, these old people from the Six Garrisons, and even Yuwen Tai who was abandoned by Erzhu Rong, are now valued under Su Ze.

It’s a pity that after years of hard work, my brother is back to the same starting point.

How could Heba Yue balance this?

Moreover, Heba Yue not only represented the interests of the Heba brothers.

As the leading figure of the Six Garrisons faction under Erzhu Rong, Heba Yue is related to the future of all the brothers in the Six Garrisons.

At the beginning, relying on Erzhu Rong's personal charm, he did recruit many heroes from the Six Garrisons to work for him.

But no matter how charming Erzhu Rong is, people still have to live based on reality.

“The poorest patriot in the East End of London can involuntarily puff out his chest when he thinks of the industry and wealth of Britain.”

But the poorest patriots in London ultimately have to rely on the material world to survive, and they also need their own interests.

When Heba Yue returned to Jingxing again, he looked at the place where he had once fought and called local officials to question him.

Jingxingkou was actually a semi-militarized town where Erzhu Rong set up camps and guards. If there was no town commander, local affairs would be handled by the party leader.

Heba Yue remembered that when he was stationed in Jingxing, the party leader was a kind old man who assisted him in handling many civil affairs and they cooperated very well.

Today Heba Yue summoned the party leader, but he turned out to be a simple middle-aged man.

"Where is the former party leader Guo Laohuai?"

The middle-aged man immediately knelt down and said:
"General! I am the son of Guo Laohuai. My grandfather passed away last year."

Upon hearing that the former party leader had passed away, Heba Yue felt sad for a rare moment. He looked at the middle-aged man who looked similar to Guo Laohuai and asked how Guo Laohuai died.

The middle-aged man was named Guo Zhuang. He said sadly:

"To answer the general's question, my grandfather was beheaded last year when General Tianzhu conscripted him to transport grain for labor, but he failed to deliver the grain on time."

After hearing this, Heba Yue felt it made sense again.

Erzhu Rong was extremely strict in disciplining his army. He not only used military law on the army, but also liked to use military law when governing civil affairs, which was the Qin system that stipulated that those who missed the deadline should be beheaded.

Although Bingzhou was Erzhu Rong's base camp, it was the place that experienced the most war, and the local people had long been tortured by the harsh laws to the point where they could no longer survive.

In addition, most of Erzhu Rong's elite troops came from Bingzhou, and Bingzhou itself was not a major grain producing area. In order to support these elite troops, the local area also had to bear extremely heavy taxes.

Heba Yue asked again:

"When he was in Jingxing, didn't your grandfather accumulate military merits? I remember he was awarded a medal of honor. Doesn't a medal of honor exempt one from the death penalty?"

In Erzhu Rong's military system, everything is linked to military merit.

The original system of honorary officials in the Northern Wei Dynasty did not have any preferential treatment, but after Erzhu Rong's magical reform, it became a system of granting titles based on military merit similar to the Qin system.

Through military merit, one can accumulate honors, and honors can enjoy many privileges. Even if a crime is punishable by death, one can use official title to atone for the crime.

Guo Zhuang put his head on the ground and said:
"To atone for one's crime, one needs a reward. Over the years, the imperial court's taxes have increased day by day. How can one afford to pay the reward to atone for one's crime?"

This time Heba Yue was silent.

Over the years, Erzhu Rong's wars in the south and the north have already emptied the Erzhu family's wealth accumulated for a hundred years.

The most obvious feature is that even Erzhu Rong's elite armored cavalry began to lose personnel.

On the one hand, there were not enough soldiers, and on the other hand, there were not enough good war horses.

The Erzhu family had accumulated and carefully selected high-quality war horses capable of carrying armored cavalry over the years, but many of them had been lost in the war.

No matter how suitable Xiurong is for horse breeding, the output over the years is not enough to make up for the loss of the best war horses.

The best war horse producing areas in the world today, the Longyou region and the northern grasslands, are now controlled by Su Ze.

There was no supply of war horses, and the food and wealth accumulated in Bingzhou had been almost consumed in the war. The heavy burden of military service and labor had made the people of Bingzhou miserable.

Heba Yue was not a sentimental person before. He came from a family of generals, and his attitude towards ordinary people was not friendly at all. He often allowed his soldiers to plunder the people.

But now, after hearing what happened to the old party leader, Heba Yue felt a sense of sympathy.

He treated ordinary people as consumables. Didn't Erzhu Rong also treat these generals who were not "Erzhus" as consumables?

No matter how many contributions he made, he still could not gain Erzhu Rong's full trust.

This time, Heba Yue was appointed to garrison Jingxingkou, while Heba Sheng was surrounded by a group of "Erzhus". However, his brother Heba Yun was kept by Erzhu Rong, actually as a hostage.

Heba Yue said to Guo Zhuang:

"From today on, you will be the battalion guard commander. You must inherit your grandfather's legacy and continue to serve General Tianzhu."

Guo Zhuang bid farewell to Heba Yue and returned to his room.

The wife who was weaving came out, closed the door and made sure no one was following her, then said to Guo Zhuang:

"My dear, you didn't arouse General Heba's suspicion, did you?"

Guo Zhuang hugged his wife and said:

"General Heba had an old relationship with my late grandfather. I told him about my grandfather's life, but he didn't doubt me. He even asked me to inherit my grandfather's position and continue to be the party leader."

The middle-aged woman said:

"He came not earlier nor later, but just when my husband was feeling better, he came. Now things are difficult to handle."

Guo Zhuang also sighed and said:

"There's nothing we can do about it. Jingxingkou is a key city defense town, and military law is enforced. You can't leave your residence without permission. It's only with the help of Grandpa Yu Ze that I was able to contact some people, but there are still too few people to start a rebellion."

Guo Zhuang was indeed the son of Party Leader Guo, but his wife had fled from Hebei. After being taken in by the old Party Leader and marrying Guo Zhuang, they had been living a peaceful life.

But when Guo Laohuai was killed for failing to deliver grain and grass on time, Guo Zhuang's wife revealed her identity. She was actually a spy from the Xuan Jing Division under the command of Duke Su.

With his father's death in his arms and under the influence of his wife, Guo Zhuang secretly developed a group of accomplices who were dissatisfied with Erzhu Rong and tried to seize Jingxingkou.

It’s a pity that Erzhu Rong used military law to govern the people and implemented a strict curfew and collective responsibility system. To this day, Guo Zhuang has not been able to develop a few accomplices, and then Heba Yue came.

Heba Yue led his troops into Jingxing Pass and Guo Zhuang was summoned for questioning. He thought his plan had been exposed and left his last words to his wife.

However, he did not expect that Heba Yue, remembering their old friendship, asked about his father's situation and appointed him as the party leader.

The wife said in surprise:
"Wouldn't it be more convenient this way?"

Guo Zhuang frowned and said:

"Now that the army has entered Jingxing Pass, it will be more difficult to start an uprising."

Guo Zhuang's wife said:

"My dear, do you think we can win over General Heba?"

Guo Zhuang immediately shook his head and said:

"How is that possible? General Heba is a die-hard supporter of that old villain."

The wife said:
"My dear, think about it. General Heba was stationed at Jingxing Pass a few years ago. After so many years, he was sent by the old thief to guard Jingxing Pass again. Do you think he would feel resentful?"

Guo Zhuang was stunned for a moment, and what his wife said seemed to make some sense.

The wife continued:

"Anyway, now that you are the leader of the party, and General Heba is stationed at Jingxing Pass, we will definitely be able to deal with each other in the future. We will just have to see what he does when the time comes."

Guo Zhuang nodded heavily. Now he could only take the long view.
-
In July, Erzhu Dulü rode into Luoyang City on horseback, escorted by an entourage of white horses.

After getting an official position in Jinyang last month, Erzhu Dulü headed south without stopping. He was appointed as the Yin of Henan, in charge of the capital area, and rushed to Luoyang to take up his post.

Erzhu Dulü was only 22 years old, at the peak of his youth. The Yin of Henan was the position that Li Daoyuan held after returning to Luoyang. To hold such an important position at such a young age, Erzhu Dulü was naturally very proud and elated.

Moreover, the office of the Henan Yin was in Luoyang, and he was in charge of the capital area. Erzhu Dulü felt that he had gained the trust of Erzhu Rong.

As for Erzhu Rong's request that he take good care of Emperor Yuan Ziyou and cooperate with Xi Yi and Liu Gui who stayed in Luoyang, Erzhu Dulü threw all these words behind his mind.

After arriving in Luoyang, Erzhu Dulü looked down on the official residence where Li Daoyuan once lived. He felt that although the official office of the Henan Yin was large, it was too solemn and old-fashioned, and the living area in the mansion was not exquisite either. So he wrote a letter to Emperor Yuan Ziyou asking for a better mansion.

Moreover, the first thing Erzhu Dulü asked for was the mansion of Yuan Yi, the former King of Jiangyang.

In those days, when King Yuan Yi of Jiangyang was in power, his mansion became the largest mansion in Luoyang, but a small part of it was burned down in the chaos that followed.

Erzhu Dulü not only wanted Yuan Yi's mansion, but also asked the emperor to provide money and manpower to renovate the mansion.

Such an arrogant attitude once again aroused the dissatisfaction of the Luoyang officials.

(End of this chapter)