The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 837 Gathering
Ming Dynasty, Qingzhou, Zhouzhi Plain.

Qu Yi led the Qingzhou Wei army to the north, retreated to the north of the Yellow River, and temporarily kept Qingzhou in the north of the Yellow River.

Qingzhou in the north of the Yellow River has only two counties, one is Pingyuan and the other is Le'an.

But in fact, Le'an County only has an inch of land in the north, and most of them are plain counties.

Xu An simply withdrew the land of Le'an County and merged it into Pingyuan County. After all, he couldn't really set up another county guard in a place that was only a few miles away and had no important cities.

In fact, Qingzhou controlled by the Ming court only has one county, Pingyuan County.

Therefore, the county government of Pingyuan County became the state government of Qingzhou.

It was June, the sun was scorching, and the weather was extremely hot.

Outside Pingyuan City, a large number of armored soldiers stood on both sides of the official road, enduring the sun's exposure.

Qu Yi was wearing a military uniform and stood on the side of the official road with a knife in his hand. He also stood obediently under the sun and stood respectfully against the scorching sun.

Passers-by who saw this situation knew something was wrong. They didn't walk in the middle of the road, they either walked under the curb, or changed lanes again.

Behind Qu Yi, a group of Qingzhou officials were also dressed in scholarly uniforms and official hats, standing under the sun.

Under the scorching sun, there were many people, but there was no noise.

Everyone's eyes were surprisingly consistent, all focused on the end of the road ahead.

Qu Yi naturally didn't seem to have nothing to do, so he brought all the soldiers and officials from Pingyuan City out for training.

The reason for this is because he received news from Yecheng not long ago.

Just today, Xu An will visit Pingyuan City.

The last time I met with Xu An, the pressure that Xu An put on Qu Yi was really a bit heavy.

Originally, when Qu Yi chose to join him, he was actually a little bit upset.

After all, he surrendered with an army of [-]. Logically speaking, Xu An should have received him early to show respect.

But Xu An delayed for a long time before summoning him, and it was not Yecheng.

It's just that when he really saw Xu An, he didn't dare to have any complaints.

Each of the Tengxiang Guards who guarded Xu An was full of murderous aura, as if they had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

Although Qu Yi is a veteran in the battlefield, he has no fear in his heart, but he knows that these people are definitely rare and powerful soldiers in the world.

Even the Wuwei army formed by Yuan Shao's selection of Jianrui and the team left behind by the Xiyuan Imperial Army is not half as powerful as Tengxiangwei.

When meeting with Xu An, he originally wanted to protest and express his dissatisfaction.

But when they met, the first time he felt fear, he couldn't see what kind of person Xu An was.

The heyday of the Ming army made Qu Yi understand the gap.

It was only at this time that Qu Yi realized that the [-] strong army he was proud of was not much different from the chickens and dogs in the eyes of the Ming army.

Later, Qu Yi obediently obeyed Xu An's order, handed over the general's power, and arranged most of the soldiers as villagers.

Although he is still the governor of Qingzhou now, most of the officials in the Qingzhou government office are officials from the Taiping Road.

There are more than [-] troops under his direct control. Xu An sent Song Xian, Wei Xu, and Guan Hai to take charge of the remaining [-] troops, and Guan Hai was the leader of the three.

Guan Hai was born in the old Taiping Road, so he was Xu An's confidant.

Originally, Guan Hai was the commander of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, but now he can be a governor or a heavy general.

But before the Battle of Luoyang, Guan Hai was in charge of the Xiliang camp. Because he underestimated the enemy and was careless, he was defeated by the Han army for a while, which almost caused a catastrophe.

It wasn't until the last few years that Guan Hai changed his mind after suffering a defeat and regained his strength, and then slowly resumed his original military position, but now he is still a fifth-rank general.

Song Xian and Wei Xu joined the Taiping Road very early, they followed Lu Bu, and now they have also been promoted to generals, but they have not been given titles.

Not only Qu Yi was waiting, Song Xian, Wei Xu, and Guan Hai were all waiting on the road against the scorching sun.

"call out------"

Qu Yi raised his head and looked towards the end of the road, a slight sharp sound rang in his ears, although it was slight, he could hear it very clearly.

Song Xian, Wei Xu, and Guan Hai also raised their heads at the same time, and they all heard the whistle.

That is the military post of the Ming army. The Ming army in Qingzhou has their own camps. Today, no one will wander outside the camp without incident.

Then there is only one answer, Xu An is not far from their location.

Qu Yi shook his body, raised his head and said.

"An order to everyone, Taoist Lord is about to visit the plains, cheer me up."

"Don't let Daojun think that my officials and soldiers in Qingzhou are lacking in energy, look and demote us in Qingzhou!"

Lu Zhao glanced sideways at Qu Yi, and now Qu Yi's attitude towards Xu An is extremely respectful.

Qu Yi used to be the leader of the military generals, relying on his military achievements to fly domineeringly, defiantly, and even didn't have much respect for Yuan Shao
Lu Zhao also had some doubts in his heart, but he hid his emotions well and did not attract anyone's attention.

The whistle was getting closer and closer, Lu Zhao also suppressed other thoughts in his heart, and looked towards the distance of the road.

Just as his gaze was looking into the distance, a ochre-yellow banner had already appeared in his career.

After Xu An established his country in Chang'an, he stipulated that the flags of the Ming army should be unified in ocher yellow.

Ochre yellow, with red in yellow.

Ocher yellow is earthy yellow.

Yellow represents the soil and the original identity of the Yellow Turban Army.

They are all farmers, they are all ordinary people, and they all rely on the land to live.

And the red in the yellow is dyed by the blood shed for the establishment and unification of the country.

The flags are flying, and the wind is blowing.

On the official road, a cavalry army with bright armor and waving flags is slowly coming towards Pingyuan City along the official road.

After the Ming army occupied Hebei, Xu An still managed Hebei by means of encouraging commerce and persuading farming and mulberry.

Most of the battles between the Han and Wei courts were carried out south of the Yellow River, so the land of Hebei did not suffer much war.

In the past two years, the economies of various places have been developing continuously, and have even almost returned to the level before the East County War.

On the official road, there were many merchants and porters. When they saw the Ming army cavalry with ocher banners arriving, everyone stopped in their tracks.

Although Xu An has never stipulated that the common people have the obligation to welcome the army, they have stayed under the rule of the Han and Wei courts for too long.

Even the Ming army has never harassed the villagers in the past two years, and many Ming troops even helped some people who encountered difficulties.

But the long-standing habit still made them stop at the roadside, hang their heads on the roadside, and wait for the army to pass.

The sound of horseshoes was low, and the cavalry on the official road slowed down and moved towards Pingyuan City.

"The last general, Qu Yi, pays homage to the Taoist Lord!"

Qu Yi's eyes were sharp, and he saw Xu An riding a red horse and walking ahead of the crowd at a glance.

"See you Daojun!"

On the official road, all the soldiers and officials who came to greet him also bowed down one after another.

"Woo——"

Xu An pulled the reins and stopped the horses under his seat, and the cavalry behind them also stopped.

The neighing of the horse and the sound of the hooves of the horse intertwined together for a while, forming a mass.

Xu An looked at the soldiers and officials who were waiting for him under the scorching sun, his expression darkened.

This kind of welcoming and sending is superficial, making people suffer, and the influence is quite bad, and it will also breed a bad atmosphere.

So it turned out that even if he was on a tour in Bingzhou and other places, at most the officials of the city would wait at the post station in advance. There was no such ostentation.

Qu Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he also noticed Xu An's expression, but he didn't dare to speak at this moment, after all, Xu An was already a little angry.

Holding the whip in his hand, Xu An drove the horse forward a few steps.

His anger was not directed at Qu Yi. Qu Yi had just joined for less than two years, so naturally he was not very clear about it.

But the chief officials of the Qingzhou Third Division are all old people from the Taiping Road, so it is impossible not to know.

There is a high probability that there is still a little hostility between them and Koji, and they did not remind such things.

Xu An looked past Qu Yi and looked at the chief officer of the third department standing behind him.

Sure enough, at this glance, he saw that the chief envoy's eyes were a little dodgy.

"As the chief officials of the third department, if you don't report what you know in time, set up ostentation, waste manpower, and each of you will be fined for two months."

Xu An didn't investigate in detail, the chief officials of the third division had their own responsibilities.

In ordinary dynasties, the so-called penalty salary is actually not serious. After all, the hidden income of officials is very large. Compared with the meager salary, it is much higher than the meager salary.

But in today's Ming Court, Xu An implements the system of maintaining integrity with high salaries. Of course, this high salary is a relatively high salary.

As long as you are an official, whether it is a civil or military position, you can guarantee a worry-free life and leave a lot of spare money for other purposes.

learn from past experience.

In the original time and space, what happened in the Ming Dynasty established by Zhu Yuanzhang is still vivid.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty, so he hated corruption.

He also knew the harm of corruption to the country, so he vigorously fought against corruption and imposed severe punishments on corruption to deter corrupt officials.

When Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, countless officials died of corruption.

It has even appeared that the leather of the previous official is still there, but the next official is already on the road to corruption.

In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, officials were corrupt, and even officials and nobles were their lives, piercing was a custom, bribery was a communication, and entrustment was a matter of course.

There are many reasons for this, but one of the most important points is that the salaries of officials are really too low.

Although the high salaries of officials and generals put a lot of pressure on the country's finances, it is precisely because of the high salaries that they will not have the desire to use power for personal gain because of the poor economic situation.

Of course, we cannot completely rely on high salaries to support honesty. In the Qing Dynasty, the "Yinyang Bank" was invented, which greatly increased the income of officials.

However, due to the imperfect supervision mechanism, there has been no significant improvement in corruption, but the trend of corruption has become stronger than before.

Corruption is difficult to ban. There are various reasons for this, which are difficult to explain at the moment.

However, in today's Ming Dynasty, because the country has just been established, there are inspections by the Eagle and Wolf Guards, and the punishment is supervised by the Chasi.

The administration of officials in various places is still relatively clear, and although there are cases of corruption, they are not many.

The two-month salary penalty is actually a relatively serious punishment.

"Get on the horse."

Xu An raised his whip and pointed at an unridden horse beside him.

Qu Yi was taken aback for a moment, but then he reacted immediately.

"promise."

Qu Yi sang, and walked forward in three steps in two.

Qu Yi was born as a general, so getting on a horse was a breeze for him, he stepped on the stirrup, pulled the saddle lightly, and jumped on the horse.

However, when Qu Yi got on the horse, he noticed that not far behind Xu An, there was a large four-wheeled carriage, which looked quite luxurious, and was driven by five white horses.

The son of heaven drives six, the princes drive five, the ministers drive four, the officials three, the scholars two, and the common people one.

Such rules are not clearly stipulated in the "Laws of the Taiping Road", but they have been used for a long time, so everyone dare not go beyond them easily.

Now the carriage behind Xu An is drawn by five white horses, which is completely treated like a feudal lord.

A big official like him in the frontier only uses a four-horse cart.

Qu Yi was not familiar with the internal affairs of the Ming court, so he couldn't figure out who in the Ming court was qualified to ride in the carriage drawn by five fine horses.

Even the chief officials of the three mansions and the generals of the second rank did not have such a big show.

What's more, Xu An was riding a horse, and this person was actually riding a carriage.

There are only two marquises in Taiping Dao, one is Lu Bu and the other is Gongsun Du, who can barely be counted as a prince.

But Gongsun Du is far away in Liaodong, and Lu Bu...

Qu Yi glanced to the side. The nearest military general was taller than him. He wore a crown of lotus flowers on his head, and was dressed in a military uniform with a Shu embroidered brocade robe with a ferocious tiger painted on it.

The general beside him seemed to be paying attention to Qu Yi's gaze, his eyes were slightly slanted, and he was also looking at Qu Yi.

When the general's eyes swept across, Qu Yi felt a huge sense of crisis, and his whole body tensed up. ,

No need to think too much, the identity of this person is already clear.

There are three crowns in Taiping Road, namely Taiqing Fishtail Crown, Yuqing Ruyi Crown, and Shangqing Lotus Crown.

Taiqing fishtail crowns are only eligible to be worn by Taoist priests of the Taiping Dao.

The Yuqing Ruyi crown is only eligible to be worn by a first-level doctor of the Taiping Road.

The Shangqing lotus crown can be worn by the governors of the three prefectures, the governors of the states, the chief officials of the second rank, or the marquis.

Qu Yi had seen the pattern of the three crowns on the document book, and he was sure that he did not make a mistake.

This person was wearing a lotus crown on his head and a brocade robe embroidered with a tiger. He was extremely burly, except for the famous Nine Plains Tiger, Qu Yi couldn't think of another person.

"Enter the city."

Holding the whip in his hand, Xu An pressed forward slightly, and said calmly.

The huge team moved forward again, and Qu Yi immediately led the horse to keep up with the pace of the team.

The sound of the horse's hooves was crisp, Qu Yi held the reins tightly, and the place Xu An left for him was beside him.

Walking beside Xu An put tremendous pressure on Qu Yi.

Especially, beside Xu An, he noticed that many people looked extremely extraordinary.

Xu An's visit to Pingyuan this time may not be as simple as he thought...

　The horn of the Southern Expedition has sounded, and there will be an update on 11.20. Tai Shici and Zhao Yun will arrive soon.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)