Jinyong City.
This time, Jinyong City was one of the few cities that did not experience direct fighting. However, because Dugu Yongye escaped, soldiers looted, so the city was quite desolate.
Officials sent from Hebei are moving south of the river in a steady stream.
As Wang Lin and Kou Liu's last army completed their crusade, the State of Qi was completely destroyed.
There is no longer a city that flies the flag of Qi.
Except for Lianghuai, which was still in the hands of the Chen people, all the other counties fell into the hands of Liu Taozi.
This was originally a good thing, but at the moment, there is no joy in Henan. Various places have been severely damaged, the people are exhausted, and the grain depots are empty. It is a poverty visible to the naked eye.
A group of people appeared at the south gate of Jinyong City.
The soldiers at the city gate were already very familiar with this scene.
During these days, officials often go to their posts.
These people are not the first group.
They skillfully checked each other's past, but upon seeing this, the sergeants quickly became serious, and the smiles on their faces disappeared a lot. They bowed respectfully to the visitor and sent someone to report to the city government office.
, and then sent the other party into the city.
Just because the person who arrived this time was no ordinary official.
It's the governor.
Yuan Biao, the governor of Luozhou, stretched out his head and looked at the surrounding situation, his eyes full of worry.
The governor is about to enter his half-century, but you can't tell from his appearance.
He was dressed like a celebrity, clean, and exuded a strange fragrance. It was because he had brought a sachet.
The smell of a rich man lingers on him.
Several slaves followed him, looking at the dilapidated scenes around them, each of them a little distracted. When someone was about to complain, Yuan Biao stopped them.
Yuan Biao stared at them and whispered: "No one should talk nonsense."
These people immediately lowered their heads.
Yuan Biao walked into the city with everyone behind him.
Yuan Biao had been working here in Bingzhou before. As he was doing business, he suddenly received an order from the court, telling him not to stay in Bingzhou and to go to Luozhou as soon as possible to be appointed governor.
Yuan Biao himself was stunned, but he had no other choice but to rush to Luozhou with the officials who gathered immediately.
Therefore, he came quickly.
When Yuan Biao led everyone to the official office in a hurry, Zu Jue was standing at the door with a smile, waiting for them.
Seeing Zu Jue, Yuan Biao trembled all over and hurriedly lowered his head to salute.
"Grandfather!!"
"Hahaha, Mr. Yuan, why are you so polite?"
Zu Jue hurriedly helped him up, but Yuan Biao's eyes were a little flattering, "Grandpa, the great man, the Prime Minister, deserves all the courtesy he receives."
Zu Jue was overjoyed and took his hand directly, "You are still as good at talking as before!"
Yuan Biao's face was full of smiles, and he praised Zu Jue in various ways.
This Duke of Yuan came from a wealthy family, had qualifications and administrative talents. He had managed frontier fortresses and the Central Plains, and his political achievements were particularly outstanding. However, the only thing he was criticized for was that he was a bit too low in stature.
This is not to say that Yuan Biao will betray himself for the powerful and do shameful things like those villains in China, but he simply does not have that kind of arrogance, works cautiously, and compliments everyone he meets. No wonder.
Strange.
Zu Jue said: "Your Majesty is inside, I will take you over to find him."
Hearing these words, Yuan Biao trembled all over, fear clearly showing in his eyes.
The smile on Zu Jue's face suddenly solidified.
He slowly stared at the frightened new governor and asked, "Why are you so afraid of seeing your Majesty?"
"Did you make some mistake?"
Yuan Biao was about to cry but had no tears, "Grandpa, it's not me, it's my incompetent brother!!"
Zu Jue instantly let go of his hand, and even his voice became alert, "Your brother? What did he commit?"
Yuan Biao said bitterly: "Back when His Majesty had not ascended the throne and was still holding an official position in Liyang, my brother Yuan Wenyao served as the governor there. He had no talent and little virtue. He offended His Majesty and offended the governor Shi."
"If Your Majesty uses this matter as a punishment, what should I do?"
Only then did Zu Jue react.
Oh, it happened when His Majesty was an official.
Zu Jue took Yuan Biao's hand again and said seriously: "You can rest assured."
"Your Majesty is definitely not the kind of crazy king from Qi State."
"To serve His Majesty, it is very simple. All you need to do is show merit. Your Majesty never holds a grudge against anyone, nor does he care about the origins or status of the people under his command. He does things fairly. Those who have meritorious service will be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes will be punished. That's all.
"
"You are the governor because of your qualifications and merit. His Majesty will never blame you for those things."
Listening to Zu Jue's words, Yuan Biao finally felt much better.
Yuan Biao was also an old Xianbei, and his ancestor was the chief of the Bald Tribe. However, he had stayed in the Central Plains for too long, and the entire family had completely transformed into a large Han clan.
It's not just their family, many families are in the same situation.
Under the leadership of Zu Jue, Yuan Biao lowered his head and carefully walked into the official office, all the way to where Liu Taozi was.
Even after Liu Taozi became a Heavenly King, his residence was as simple as ever. There were not so many etiquette and complicated rituals exclusive to emperors or Heavenly Kings. When you opened the door, you could see him. He was sitting there, with only two scribes beside him.
.
Everything was very casual, but Yuan Biao was very strict about using prostrations.
Liu Taozi just looked at him curiously and asked him to sit aside.
"Yuanwen Zongyuanwenyao, who are you?"
"Your Majesty, he is my brother."
"Um."
Liu Taozi nodded, but did not ask about this matter again. He asked directly: "The temple has reorganized the prefectures and counties. The current Luozhou is much larger than the past Luozhou, and the land of Heluo is included.
Inside.”
"It has gone through the war and is in dilapidated condition. What are your thoughts after taking office?"
Yuan Biao hurriedly straightened his body. When he talked about work, the timid expression on his face disappeared and he became much more confident. "Your Majesty, I think the first thing Luozhou needs to do right now is
Gather civilians to build docks, bridges, roads and inns on both sides."
Liu Taozi snorted and asked, "Why?"
"The situation in Luozhou is different from other places. It has a very large population and serious damage. It cannot be self-sufficient in the short term and can only rely on surrounding relief. Moreover, this is an important road connecting both sides of the river. In the future, the south side will need to be managed.
We have to pass through Luozhou, and the west is close to the enemy, and we are easily attacked by the enemy."
"Therefore, we must first ensure that we can communicate with the surrounding areas to ensure that food supplies can be transported smoothly, and restore the inns along the road to ensure that we are not attacked by the Puppet Zhou."
Yuan Biao talked more and more. He had indeed done a lot of preparation work before arriving here.
Listening to his talk, Zu Jue was a little surprised.
He talked about a lot, from people's livelihood, to commerce, to the recovery of surrounding villages and towns, etc.
Liu Taozi listened to his story carefully and asked a few questions from time to time.
It wasn't until he finished speaking that Liu Taozi's eyes showed some relief.
"You are very good."
After Yuan Biao finished speaking, he returned to his frightened look just now.
Liu Taozi added: "Isn't this look of a confident man a hundred times better than the timid look just now?"
Yuan Biao didn't know what to say, and his eyes were a little confused.
"You can be bolder, not only in doing things, but also in daily life. In the past, temples were dangerous and it was difficult for everyone to protect themselves, so they were afraid and submissive. I can understand it. However, you don't have to be so afraid in the future. If someone bullies you,
Just write to me and let me know, and I will help you."
"More, more, thank you Your Majesty."
After Yuan Biao left, Zu Jue suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the ministers have not let you down."
"Many of the recommended governors are all wise, have nothing to do with anyone in the court, have various backgrounds, and have not turned into a spoils-sharing convention."
Zu Jue squinted his eyes, his eyes fierce and cold.
Zu Jue only requested three places, but he could actually recommend more.
Only recommending three is actually misleading the people in the DPRK.
Those three people are Zu Jue's smoke bombs. Let's take a look at the three people he recommended. Fang Bao is the magistrate of Cheng'an County, and there is a high probability that he will be mistaken for Cheng'an faction, while Su Qiong is a Han official from Yecheng.
He is regarded as a Yecheng sect. As for Meng Ye, he started his career in Dingzhou. He was recommended by Dingzhou and served as an official of the Dingzhou sect. It is easy to be mistaken for a Dingzhou sect.
This was the practice of Qi State in the past.
When we were in Qi State, newly established positions were often divided up along the way, with each person sharing a little bit to ensure that each faction had meat to eat.
Zu Jue did it on purpose, he wanted the ministers to think like this.
He was looking forward to these ministers giving him a surprise, especially the Han ministers from Yecheng. If they could recommend a few provincial governors who could not be as good as the middlemen because of their birthplace and lack of qualifications, then Zu Jue would be happy.
Saw it.
If His Majesty doesn't kill them, they will shed their blood like rivers, and they will not be able to live up to the name of the real one who has committed a crime.
It's just a pity that these people don't even have the courage to nominate. It's a pity, it's a pity.
Liu Taozi just said: "Although the officials who arranged it are pretty good, the local situation is too bad."
"Each of these eight newly established states needs temples to provide relief."
"Your Majesty, don't worry about it. In my opinion, this is Zheng Guoqu's strategy."
"In ancient times, South Korea was afraid of Qin and feared that Qin would attack, so it sent craftsmen to the country to induce it to build canals. Qin State spent a lot of money and did not have the ability to fight in the short term. However, after the canal was successfully built, its national power was unstoppable.
Unbeatable!"
"Isn't it like this now?"
"Yang Su seems to have temporarily delayed our attack, but the powerful families in various places were also seriously damaged and easily allowed us to take over the eight states."
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"If it weren't for him, let Duan Shao confront us. Duan Shao has always been good at fighting. I really don't know how long it will take to get the land of these eight states."
Zu Jue cleared his throat, "It is indeed difficult now. It will consume a lot of energy. You may not be able to go out to fight for several years."
"But as long as we resolve the situation in these eight states, we can return them to normal."
Zu Jue couldn't help but laugh, "Your Majesty, with the ten prefectures in Hebei, has forced the enemy to this point, what if the nineteen prefectures use their strength at the same time?"
"One day, Yang Su will find out how big a mistake he has made."
"He will see with his own eyes our elite soldiers wearing hundreds of thousands of armors, breaking through the Chang'an city wall."
Before Zu Jue could finish boasting, Liu Taozi picked up the document in his hand and handed it to him.
"Let's talk about the matter at hand first."
"Look at this."
"This is sent from the front line. Yu Wenxian led the troops to start a counterattack and wrote a letter asking Yuchi Jiong for support. It seems that they have decided to counterattack Xiazhou and will never give in."
Zu Jue looked at it very seriously.
After looking at it several times, a trace of hesitation flashed across Zu Jue's face, but it quickly disappeared.
He subconsciously hid the document in his sleeve, then quickly realized and put it down immediately.
"Your Majesty, the Zhou people are disobedient and unwilling to retreat, then we will let them see what will happen if they continue to fight."
The next day, the gates of Jinyong City were opened wide.
An elite cavalry group rushed out of the city and headed west.
At the same time, the troops stationed in many surrounding towns also rushed towards the west.
Zhou, Ningcheng, Zhongzhou.
The terrain of Ningcheng is extremely high, and the city walls are much higher than ordinary city walls. The guard was standing on the city wall, staring at the Han troops that kept appearing in the distance, his chest heaving.
He was frightened.
Starting yesterday, a large number of Han cavalry appeared on the official road leading to Luozhou.
The garrison towns along the road were in panic, saying that they had seen enemies, and today, these enemies appeared in front of them.
These cavalry were all scouts. After they arrived, they completely ignored the defenders in the city and began to observe the surrounding terrain and defenses in a swaggering manner.
This is where the attack begins.
The guard's eyes were full of horror. He swallowed and looked to the left and right.
“What did the governor say??”
"I haven't replied yet."
"The enemy is about to attack the city, and it's Liu Taozi's flag! Liu Taozi is here in person!"
"There are more than 3,000 scouts alone. How many troops must there be behind them?"
"Let the governor summon the troops from all over the country as soon as possible. I can't stop him. I can't stop him."
The guarding general's panic spread easily, making the other generals particularly fearful.
From Luoyang to Chang'an, it is not as far as imagined.
The same is true for the distance between Heluo and Pseudo Zhou.
When Liu Taozi began to gather the troops around him and began to actively move closer to Zhongzhou, the Puppet Zhou Dynasty suddenly started to panic.
Because there has been no attack here for too long.
Shouldn't you be hunting for jade?
Why are you here!!
The news here also continued to spread, and the governor quickly spread the news of Liu Taozi's army to Chang'an.
Yu Wenyong in Chang'an was still busy with the paperwork in his hands. Before he finished the things in his hands, he heard the news that Liu Taozi was about to attack from the direction of Heluo.
Yu Wenyong was completely stunned.
He quickly summoned many confidants to determine whether the news was true or false.
After everyone arrived, they didn't say much.
This series of failures and setbacks caused many people to lose the courage to face Liu Taozi.
Gao Jiong looked at the people around him and spoke first.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to worry."
"It is impossible for Liu Taozi to send troops from Heluo to attack Chang'an."
"He doesn't have that much food. Besides, it will be spring planting soon. How can he use troops to fight at this time?"
Gao Yan said helplessly: "Liu Taozi acted like this just to force us to retreat. He is anxious to end the war, and we are still fighting the enemy in Yanzhou. He is just intimidating us."
Yu Wenyong was extremely tired, with an indescribable loneliness in his eyes.
When Yuwenhu was in power, he looked down upon Yuwenhu so much, thinking that if he were in his place, everything would go smoothly.
But when he started to handle these things personally, he realized some of Yuwen Hu's helplessness.
This matter is indeed not easy to handle.
In other words, Liu Taozi is indeed too difficult to deal with.
This is not intimidation, this is humiliation.
In Liu Taozi's eyes, Yu Wenxian's fierce attack was just a child's unreasonable entanglement.
Faced with such entanglement, he directly raised his hand and threatened the children: Have you had enough?
Yu Wenyong even felt that if he ignored Liu Taozi and insisted on paying more to support Yu Wenxian's expedition, Liu Taozi might actually start from Heluo. No one said that spring planting must not be allowed to go on the expedition, and he was not completely
No food can be brought out.
He brought with him a small force of cavalry, enough to feed him a pot.
Suddenly, Yu Wenyong felt a deep sense of despair and powerlessness.
One wrong step, one wrong step.
After Yu Wenhu ruined the accumulated national strength, Zhou State fell into passivity everywhere. Every time it went out for an expedition, it could only use ten or twenty thousand troops. It could no longer summon the twenty-four prefectures and give him two hundred thousand as before.
The army sets off for battle.
Moreover, the troops deployed each time were insufficient in terms of ordnance, food and grass supplies, or other aspects.
The combat effectiveness was reduced, and then they were defeated one after another by the Han army.
Now, the situation and crisis have reached the point where it is difficult to control.
Some people in China even proposed to move the capital, and some wanted to run to Hanzhong!!
Every time Yu Wenyong thought of this, his heart filled with anger.
He stood up suddenly, his eyes fierce and his whole body shaking.
Gao Jiong sensed the emperor's anger and felt bad, "Your Majesty!"
Yu Wenyong took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.
"Send someone to inform Duke Qi."
"The troops along the road withdrew individually."
Chapter completed!