Ji Han Da Sima

Chapter 728: Duke of Xiangyang
Huo Jun has always been concerned about the issue of Huization in the Guanlong area.

As a person who knew the course of history, Huo Jun knew very well that the problem of Huization in the Guanlong area would erupt into the historical event of the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China due to the Rebellion of the Eight Kings during the Western Jin Dynasty, and then lead to the Southern and Northern Dynasties that lasted for hundreds of years.

During those turbulent hundreds of years, the Guanlong area was ravaged by war, and the Han and Hu peoples fought each other and coexisted, resulting in the phenomenon of Han people becoming Hu people and Hu people becoming Han people.

During this period, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty chose Sinicization reforms in order to govern the Central Plains. Although the Northern Wei Dynasty was destroyed, the Western Wei Dynasty, which was split from the Northern Wei Dynasty, continued to implement Sinicization measures because of its weak power.

With Yuwen Tai's implementation of the military system as a landmark event, the Xianbei people of the Western Wei Dynasty incorporated the powerful families and clans in Guanlong into the military system in order to compete with the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Due to their class interests, the Guanlong Group was formed.

During that period, the Han people were given the surname Hu by the Yuwen family in order to be consistent with the ruling class; the Xianbei people also chose to change their surnames and recognize their ancestors in order to integrate into the Han society.

The policy of Han-Hu integration in the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties not only solved the problem of Huization in Guanlong, but also helped Zhou to destroy Qi by reducing internal ethnic conflicts. Under the leadership of Yang Jian, Han and Hu further integrated and helped Sui to unify China. During the Tang Dynasty, the problem of Huization in Guanlong was largely solved.

With the preparation of the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, the Sui and Tang dynasties largely solved the problem of Huization in Guanlong and established a dynasty dominated by Han people and mixed with Hu customs. However, in some areas, due to time constraints, they were not completely Hanized. For example, in northern Shaanxi and the Hetao area, there were still semi-Hanized Hu people gathering.

Because of this, in the early Northern Song Dynasty, due to the outrageous operations of Emperor Zhao, the Dingnan Army, mainly composed of the Dangxiang people, successfully established its own regime. In order to compete with the Northern Song Dynasty, the Dingnan Army forced the people under its rule to become Hu people, thus establishing the Western Xia. Northern Shaanxi and Hetao were then Hu people again.

The Mongols destroyed the Western Xia and slaughtered the Tanguts, which led to their assimilation into the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups. As for the issue of the sinicization of northern Shaanxi and Hetao, we had to wait for the Ming Dynasty several hundred years later.

In short, the problem of Huization in Guanxi arose in the Eastern Han Dynasty, worsened during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, was largely resolved during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, worsened again during the Song and Xia Dynasties, was massacred by the Mongols, and was restored during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Huo Jun naturally couldn't remember much about the Guanlong Huhua problem, which had such a profound impact. With his current memory and his understanding of politics over the years, he only knew that the Guanlong military merit group composed of Han and Xianbei had largely solved the Huhua problem.

How the Han Dynasty solved the problem of the Huization of Guanlong is worthy of Huo Jun's deep thought.

Due to the different basic foundation, the Southern Han was destined to be unable to replicate the operations of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and use class interests to form the Guanlong Group.

As for learning from Emperor Wu of Han's practice of relocating large numbers of people to the border, it is simply impossible for the current Han population.

The reason why Lu Xun raised the issue of the Huization of Guanlong to Huo Jun was that he hoped Huo Jun would carefully consider the location of the capital.

If the capital is Luoyang, the political status of Guanxi may further decline, similar to the Eastern Han Dynasty, leading to further deterioration of the Huization of Guanlong; if the capital is Chang'an, due to its location as the capital, the Huization problem may be alleviated or solved.

For example, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Deng Ai proposed a strategy to divide and sinicize the barbarians and force them to relocate to guard the border; Jiang Tong's operation was crude and he directly hoped to relocate the Hu people.

Embarrassingly, Deng Ai violated his earlier ideas and took the initiative to move 30,000 Xianbei households to Hexi in order to conquer Shu. Fu Xuan criticized Deng Ai for this and proposed to the Jin Dynasty to restore Beidi County, but due to various problems, it could not be implemented for a long time.

From Huo Jun's perspective, the three people's suggestions were not enough to systematically solve the problem of the Huization of Guanlong. Especially now that the Xianbei people were entrenched in the Hetao area, if the Guanlong Hu people were forcibly relocated, it would lead to internal rebellion and external chaos, and Guanlong would be in chaos again.

The Han Dynasty must implement multiple policies in parallel under the environment of stable borders to gradually solve the problem of the Huization of Guanlong. Therefore, due to the complexity of the problem, Huo Jun has no particularly good solution for the time being.

After thinking for a while, Huo Jun asked, "What do you think, Bo Yan?"

Lu Xun pondered for a moment and said, "In my opinion, we may move the capital to Chang'an and move the tribes in Guandong to Guanzhong to enrich the population of Guanzhong. When the Han people prosper, the Hu customs will decline. We should gradually restore the border counties and gradually subdue the barbarians."

Then Lu Xun shook his head again and said, "However, judging from the current situation, it may not be easy to gradually restore the border counties."

"Not urgent!"

Huo Jun smiled and said, "If it takes ten years to accomplish, then try for twenty years. If it still doesn't work in twenty years, then try for another generation, and you'll eventually succeed!"

The problem of the Guanlong Huization cannot be solved in one or two generations. It will probably take decades or even nearly a hundred years.

Huo Jun's task is nothing more than to formulate reliable policies, complete what needs to be done, and leave a path for successors to follow.

"Mr. Huo is right!"

Lu Xun bowed and said, "Xun is anxious!"

“There’s so much to do!”

Huo Jun blinked his eyes and said, "Money system, legal system, redundant officials, water conservancy, official system, border affairs, Hu affairs and more than ten other national affairs will be taken care of by Kong Ming and Boyan in the future."

Hearing this, Lu Xun was a little confused and asked, "What does Mr. Huo mean by this?"

Huo Jun was preparing to semi-retire and hand over power to Zhuge Liang, which was known only to Liu Chan, Zhuge Liang, Jiang Ji and a few others. As a general of the outer town and not Huo Jun's political partner, Lu Xun naturally had no right to know. "Bo Yan will know later!" Huo Jun said with a smile, pretending to be mysterious.

Seeing that Huo Jun did not answer, Lu Xun had no choice but to return to his seat in confusion.

When the banquet is halfway through, the guests are happy.

Liu Chan seized the opportunity to quiet everyone in the hall, and said with a smile: "You gentlemen led the army to the Northern Expedition, recovered the two capitals, and revived the Han Dynasty. Your contributions are outstanding and should be rewarded."

"Come here, read out the reward decree!"

"promise!"

Dong Yun, with a serious expression, stepped out and read out the imperial edict of reward.

"I issued an edict to Grand Marshal Jun: You are extremely wise and brave. You have made plans and plotted battles thousands of miles away. You have served as a general and a prime minister. You are unparalleled in the world in both civil and military talents. You were ordered to fight the Northern Expedition and succeeded. You did not boast or brag. You did not bully the people or take their wealth. You were upright and without fault. Your light shines brightly like the stars. Your achievements are as great as those of Han and Bai, and you are respected by Yi and Zhou. You assisted the government in the revival of the country. Your achievements are unprecedented in ancient and modern times."

"Following the example of Xiao He, he was dismissed from his old post and became the prime minister. He was granted the title of Duke of a county and made Xiangyang his fief. He was given a fief of 36,000 households. His achievements were recorded in gold and stone, and his family lineage was passed down from generation to generation. He lived as long as the Han Dynasty. How respectful!"

Huo Jun stepped out of the line and knelt before everyone, saying in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, I, Jun, would like to thank you. The Han Dynasty's grace is profound, and I will repay it for generations to come!"

During the Han Dynasty, the highest official position was not the Grand Marshal or the Prime Minister, but the Xiangguo, also known as the Xiangbang, and the Prime Minister was the Xiangguo's deputy. When Liu Bang conquered the world, he changed his name to Xiangguo because of the conflict between the word Bang and Xiangbang.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, there was a position of prime minister. The first person to hold the position was Han Xin, the second was Xiao He, the third was Cao Shen, and the last was Lü Chan. After Lü Chan, the position of prime minister was abolished and was not established in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was not until the period of Dong Zhuo's dictatorship that he became prime minister because of his power and the desire to usurp the throne.

Huo Jun was the chief minister, assisted by Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, and was actually the chancellor. However, for many reasons, Huo Jun did not become the chancellor. At that time, Huo Jun planned to retire and gave up many political rights. The only position that the Han Dynasty could give Huo Jun was the chancellor.

As for his fief, Huo Jun was promoted from Duke of Jiangling County to Duke of Xiangyang County, and his status was ensured to be hereditary.

After Huo Jun accepted the official position, Dong Yun read out the imperial edict conferring titles on Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun.

Zhuge Liang was dismissed from his post as governor of Jiangzhou and appointed governor of Jizhou, commander-in-chief of the military affairs at home and abroad, recorder of the Secretariat, and director of the court affairs. He was the Duke of Yangdu County and had a fief of 5,000 households.

Lu Xun was dismissed from his post as governor of Yongzhou, and was made the commander of the military affairs of Guanxi, and was given the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry. He was also the Duke of Chencang County, and his fief was 8,000 households.

Why was there a difference in the fiefs of Lu and Ge? Because under Lu Xun's leadership, they first pacified Longyou, then conquered Guanzhong, and would soon pacify Hexi. Zhuge Liang was inferior to Lu Xun in terms of the territory he conquered, so his fief was smaller.

The gap between the two and Huo Jun was more due to the fiefdom that Huo Jun had accumulated in the past and Huo Jun's semi-retired status, so they were treated with high positions and generous titles.

Afterwards, Zhang Fei and Guan Ping were conferred the title of county duke.

Zhao Yun had enough experience, but his status and achievements were not good enough. Liu Chan asked Huo Jun for his opinion on whether to confer the title of Duke of County. Huo Jun thought it would be better to postpone the award, after all, Hebei had not been recovered. Therefore, Zhao Yun was ranked in the second tier to be conferred the title of Duke of County, and Wen Pin was ranked with him.

Wen Pin lived a long life, had outstanding military achievements in the Northern Expedition, and was a county marquis when he founded the country. It would be unreasonable if he was not granted the title of county duke.

After the county duke, generals of all ranks, such as Quan Cong, Pang Tong, Gao Xiang, Huo Du, Xu Sheng, Wang Ping, Wei Yan, and Wu Yi, were either granted the title of county marquis or given additional fiefs; more than ten civil and military officials, such as Xu Shu, Lu Dai, and Huo Fan, were granted the title of duxiang marquis.

With the large-scale reward of titles, the generals at the banquet were extremely happy.

Politically, due to Huo Jun's retirement, Jiang Ji became the general of the guard army in order to take care of his political interests. The governors of Qi, Qing and Lu were still Huo Fan, Xu Sheng and Liu Ji, while Pang Tong was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou. Bu Zhi was appointed as the governor of Yuzhou, and Zhang Yi was appointed as the governor of Yangzhou.

In order to govern Guanzhong, Zhuge Liang appointed Ma Liang as the governor of Yongzhou and the military advisor to the General of Chariots and Cavalry; Sima Zhi was appointed as the Inspector of the Capital and concurrently served as the Governor of Henan to rectify the capital and Luoyang.

In Hebei and the five states of Hexi, in addition to Zhuge Liang serving as the governor of Jizhou, Wei Yan was appointed as the governor of Bingzhou, Taishi Heng was appointed as the governor of Youzhou, Sun Quan was still the governor of Pingzhou, and Wang Ping was appointed as the governor of Liangzhou.

The reason why Zhuge Liang took the position of Governor of Jizhou himself was mainly because Jizhou under the rule of Cao Wei was too large. The person who was to be the Governor of Jizhou needed to be both a civil and military talent, and be able to appease the people. Since it was difficult to find a suitable candidate in the short term, Zhuge Liang planned to take the responsibility himself.

In the Secretariat, Chen Zhen, the Minister of the Secretariat, was transferred to the position of Weiwei, and Gu Yong, the Deputy Minister of the Executive Secretariat, was appointed as the Minister of the Secretariat, and he and Jiang Wan, the Deputy Minister of the Executive Secretariat, assisted Zhuge Liang. The rest of the officials of the Executive Secretariat were granted the positions of county chiefs in Henan according to their abilities.

Huo Jun's son Huo Yi was only promoted to the position of Imperial Concubine and Commander, and continued to work as a secretary. Zhuge Ke was given the title of Governor of Dongjun by Zhuge Liang for his good performance in the Northern Expedition.

As the changes in official positions became clear, everyone realized that Huo Jun was no longer in charge of military and national affairs, and his power was transferred to Zhuge Liang!

(End of this chapter)