At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 400 No regrets
"Jingle Bell!"

"Jingle Bell!"

"Jingle Bell!"

On the official road in the south of Xiangyang City, a carriage moved forward slowly. After the car curtain was opened, a scribe with a square face carefully looked at the fields on both sides of the road and the people who were working hard, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

"If I could see this happening everywhere in the world, my life would be enough!"

Listening to the scribe's expectant exclamation, his companion said: "My lord is light on corvee and pays little in taxes, encourages farmers and merchants, and establishes schools. As long as he is hardworking and not lazy, almost every family will have a field and a surplus of food."

"Within a few years of this, the Chu State will surely be rich and powerful, and its people will be strong, and unification of the world will be just around the corner."

"The envoy is an important minister of the Chu State and is highly respected by the lord. In the future, he will not only be able to see that day coming, but he can even directly participate in it, and his name will be left among the bamboos and silks."

The scribe is Tian Toyota Yuanhao, the former governor of Jiaozhou, who is now on his way back to Xiangyang.

Previously, Jiaozhou was initially decided, but there were still many hidden dangers. Zhou Qi had to send his confidant Tian Feng to take up a post in Jiaozhou.

All in all, the seeds of hatred were quietly buried.

Seeing that the threat was in vain, the powerful families immediately raised their troops to rebel. In a short period of time, almost all counties in Jiaozhou were full of rebellions.

Where does Tian Feng still have any celebrity style at this time? He directly transforms into a cruel official, arrests those who violate the law, and jails them mercilessly. In serious cases, they are directly executed.

Since Tian Feng became the governor of Jiaozhou, he has been recruiting talents selected through the imperial examination system in various counties and counties. Most of these people come from Jing, Yang, and Yizhou. They are unlikely to have any entanglements with the Jiaozhou clan and are completely loyal to the Chu state.

As for whether local vested interests will cooperate, Tian Feng doesn't care.

However, he did not expect that under the strong influence of the aristocratic family, the so-called government decrees were almost like waste paper.

Many policies that are beneficial to the people and the country often lose vested interests, that is, local powerful families.

At the beginning, the powerful people in the family were quite wary of Tian Feng and did not dare to act too arrogantly. But when they saw that Tian Feng was weak and could be bullied, their behavior became more and more rampant and they did not pay attention to Tian Feng's decrees. , but instead intensified their efforts to annex land and oppress the people.

However, today's Jiaozhou is different from the past.

Of course, the process won't be smooth sailing.

I don’t know if they resent the wealthy family’s plundering or the government’s inaction.

If they had not seen hope before, these people might have continued to suffer silently even if they were oppressed. But first they saw hope, and then their hopes were shattered. The strong gap made many people feel resentful.

However, Tian Feng, as a top strategist during the Three Kingdoms period, once manipulated the families and merchants of Jing and Yang states, so how could he be restrained by the powerful in the border area?

However, Tian Feng is known for his uprightness. Since he is determined to eliminate all the shortcomings of Jiaozhou, how can he compromise easily?

The people, who already had deep grievances, were overjoyed to see the governor suddenly start acting, and rushed to report the illegal deeds of the wealthy family.

Tian Feng's outburst was so sudden and violent that all the aristocratic families were caught off guard.

After Tian Feng arrived in Jiaozhou, he promoted education, encouraged farmers and mulberry trees, and became benevolent to the ethnic minorities within the territory. He implemented many policies that were of great benefit to the country and the people.

In the second year of Tian Feng's tenure in Jiaozhou, he was already well aware of the affairs in various parts of Jiaozhou. He immediately stopped holding back and turned on the violent mode. The autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves and began to eliminate the cancer in Jiaozhou.

The people originally saw the decrees issued by the government and thought that their lives would get better and better.

At first, Tian Feng appeared extremely cowardly in the face of the refusal of the powerful powers in the counties to cooperate. He just posted the measures that were beneficial to the people in every county, county, township, and pavilion with great fanfare.

Tian Feng's actions set off a storm in Jiaozhou. The wealthy families connected with each other and wanted to coerce Tian Feng into giving in.

Although the rebellion was huge, with these people firmly guarding each place, and the people's emotions being aroused, the small-scale rebellion was put down by officials from various counties without Tian Feng's intervention at all.

As for the two or three larger-scale rebellions, Tian Feng ordered Pan Zhang, Dong Xi, and Ma Zhong to each lead two thousand troops to put down the rebellion. In the end, they all defeated the rebels and killed the leader.

Since then, Jiaozhou has been reborn, the old system has been completely shattered, and the government's decrees have begun to be truly promoted to all places.

After the implementation of the New Deal, Jiaozhou relied on the advantages of three crops a year and abundant production. Not only did the grain reserves begin to increase sharply, but the metallurgical industry, textile industry and fruit export also made Jiaozhou's business flourish, attracting many businessmen from other places. The team comes.

Because of this, Tian Feng won the hearts of the people. After gaining the support of the people, he was able to promote various policies with ease. In just a few years, he turned Jiaozhou, a barbaric frontier, into a prosperous place.

After Tian Feng received the transfer order and returned to Xiangyang, tens of thousands of people gathered on the day of departure and knelt down to persuade Tian Feng to stay.

As a result, it was naturally impossible to save him.

Tian Feng finally calmed down the agitated people and assured them repeatedly that even after he returned to Xiangyang to report on his duties, he would still pay close attention to Jiaozhou to prevent his many years of efforts from going to waste.

Even so, wherever Tian Feng passed by on his way back, almost all the people who heard the news gathered together and came to see Tian Feng off.

Tian Feng didn't want to disturb the people, nor did he want to be blocked on his way back, so he simply resorted to the plan of building a plank road in the open and secretly attacking Chencang. First, he sent a substitute to continue returning the same way with great fanfare, but he took a few followers, disguised himself and then changed the route. Return to Xiangyang.

After Tian Feng left Jiaozhou and entered Jingzhou, he also carefully observed the living conditions of the people along the way, and the results made him very satisfied.

Jingzhou was already prosperous and had a large population. Since Zhou Qi made Xiangyang his capital, Jingzhou has become the focus of the development of Chu State. In addition, Zhou Qi came from a later generation. No matter how he liked power and tactics, he still had deep feelings for the people at the bottom. Therefore, he imitated Emperor Wen of Han and combined with later generations to implement many policies that were beneficial to the people.

Logically speaking, in these troubled times, in order to meet the needs of successive wars, land taxes and taxes should be increased for the people.

This was not the case for Zhou Qi. Instead of increasing taxes, he imposed light taxes on farmers and only increased taxes on wealthy families with large amounts of land and large merchants.

This means that while the lives of the people at the bottom of Chu State are getting better and better, the tax revenue of Chu State's treasury has not decreased much.

Of course, there are many issues involved, which cannot be explained in a few words, so I will not go into details here.

All in all, Chu State has not used the power of the whole country to fight for so many years, so that even after defeat, it can recover quickly.

Otherwise, it will be like Ji Han after the Battle of Yiling in history. After the battle, his vitality was severely damaged, leaving Zhuge Liang with only a mess and half of Yizhou.

Another example is Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition in history. Wei could be defeated many times, but Ji Han could not withstand any major defeat.

Ingenious plots can only achieve temporary victory. Unless used in a decisive battle that affects the fate of the country, the destruction of a country will always rely on comprehensive national strength.

Just like Wei Yan's Ziwu Valley conspiracy, regardless of whether this plan can succeed or not, even if Wei Yan is lucky enough to win Chang'an, so what?

For Cao Wei, Chang'an was just a relatively important city. Even if Xiahou Mao really abandoned the city and escaped without fighting, it would not have the same huge strategic significance as Deng Ai's siege of Chengdu. Wei could mobilize its army at any time to take it. recapture.

What's more, as Chencang is an important military town, Zhuge Liang may not be able to conquer it in a short time. If Chencang cannot be conquered, Zhuge Liang will not be able to successfully join forces with Wei Yan.

You know, Zhuge Liang failed here in history.

The 100,000 rebels led by Wang Guo and Han Sui could not defeat Chencang for more than eighty days. During this period, Chencang's guard did not even deserve to be named. Even though Huangfu Song had led troops to Meiyang, he still refused to rescue Chencang. , which shows Huangfusong’s confidence in Chencang city defense.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Chencang was so easily breached, Wei Yan would not need to take risks to attack Chang'an. Zhuge Liang only had to capture Chencang and cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Liangzhou, and Longxi's campaign could be settled.

It can be seen from this that Wei Yan's so-called Ziwu Valley conspiracy, even if he was lucky enough to allow Xia Houmao to flee without fighting and capture Chang'an, there would be a high probability that the entire army would be annihilated.

What's more, the possibility of Wei Yan taking Chang'an is slim.

Don't think that Deng Ai can steal Yinping Road. That's because there was almost no road on Yinping Road before. It was completely a new path opened by Deng Ai. This move is extremely concealed.

Ziwu Road is different. It is an official road with strong military significance. Since the Han Dynasty, there have been special officials on Ziwu Road. Wei Yan's so-called sneak attack on Ziwu Valley was almost an obvious one. It will inevitably be discovered by others in advance.

Zhuge Liang was well aware of the power of the Wei state, and if he wanted to revive the Han Dynasty, he could only raise an upright army, take Longyou first, and gradually encroach on Cao Wei's territory. Only with the decline of one and the other, could there be any possibility of victory.

This is why, even if Zhuge Liang failed in the Northern Expedition, he still tried his best to extricate his people.

Another example is Xiaozi's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Even though he achieved a temporary victory, the gap in basic industry and the size of the country also doomed its failure.

Zhou Qi knew this very well, so he would not imitate Yuan Shao's Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's Battle of Chibi, or Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling, hoping to accomplish all his achievements in one battle.

Zhou Qi's national strategy is to work hard as much as possible, take a big bite when he finds an opportunity, then stop when it's good, and then develop domestically with peace of mind.

This is how Guangling County, Runan and Xuzhou came to be.

When Zhou Qi occupied Jingzhou, he first encroached on Changsha County, then gradually penetrated Jingzhou, and then decided the outcome in one battle.

When attacking Yizhou, they first took advantage of the rebellion of Gan Ning and others to occupy Bajun, and then repeated their old tricks and finally captured the entire territory of Yizhou.

Only when facing Piao, Shan, Hanzhong and Jiaozhou, because they have an absolute advantage, will they think about completing their achievements in one battle.

This method may seem a little wretched, but in fact it is very effective. While it continues to strengthen itself, it will not appear to be sharp, and it can also ensure domestic development.

Just like Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Although he made many Northern Expeditions, he was able to take into account domestic production every time.

When Jiang Wei took charge of the army, the repeated Northern Expeditions greatly consumed Ji Han's national strength, and the population eventually dropped to more than 900,000.

Tian Feng gently stroked his beard, recalling all the past events, and felt a little sad on his face.

In order to gain Zhou Qi's support, Yuan Shao did not hesitate to leave Tian Feng in Yangzhou. At that time, Tian Feng was disheartened. Even though he finally surrendered to Zhou Qi, he could not help but feel a little knotty.

Looking back on his past choices today, Tian Feng realized that joining His Majesty the King of Chu was the most correct choice in his life.

The King of Chu's talent, strategy and generosity indeed far surpassed Yuan Shao's.

In particular, Zhou Qi won a great victory in the Battle of Guangling. After receiving the news, Tian Feng was originally worried that the King of Chu would be dazzled by the victory and wanted to take advantage of the great victory to continue the Northern Expedition to unify the world. He also wrote a letter eight Baili hurriedly sent him to advise Zhou Qi.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Qi was far more rational than Tian Feng imagined. Instead of continuing the Northern Expedition, he let go of Yuan Shao, a great enemy, and gained many benefits in exchange for a bloodless attack.

In Tian Feng's view, compared to these generous benefits, what does Yuan Shao's life mean?
Those who are not measured by others will surely be captured by their lord again sooner or later!

The assistant officer saw Tian Feng's smile and asked, "Is your Majesty happy because you see the people living and working in peace and contentment?"

Tian Feng shook his head slightly and said, "I feel lucky for my original choice!"

(End of this chapter)