I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 454 Qiangzhong and Nanzhong

Shen Pei said to Yan Xing, "Don't worry. No matter what you did in the past, now that you have surrendered as Yan Yan, your crimes as a traitor have been pardoned."

Only then did Yan Xing breathe a sigh of relief.

But Shen Pei added: "But the one who was absolved of his guilt was Yan Yan, who led the Qiang people to revolt in Shu County, not Yan Xing."

Yan Xing felt a little annoyed after hearing this. He felt that Shen Pei was playing a trick on him.

He said, "I respect you as a gentleman. Today, I will let you decide whether to kill me or chop me up. But please don't humiliate me with such words again."

"Yes, I am Yan Xing!"

Shen Pei smiled and said, "It is said that there are many loyal ministers in Liangzhou. If I remember correctly, he should be called Yan Ming, right? Yan Ming has the spirit of a loyal minister, but it's a pity that he was entrusted with the wrong person in his early years."

Yan Xing replied: "Thinking back on the past, it seems like a lifetime ago."

"Your Excellency, please speak frankly if you have anything to say."

Shen Pei saw this and said directly, "If Yanming can achieve great achievements, his past crimes will not be worth mentioning."

Yan Xing was a little puzzled: "Your Excellency is referring to the powerful people who were killed today? However, the imperial army is nearby, and Captain Zhao has stationed troops in Luo County and can send troops to Shu County at any time. Those brothers and clansmen will definitely not dare to cause trouble."

“I don’t know where the merit comes from?”

Shen Pei asked, "You have brought so many Qiang people to join you. You must have some reputation among the Qiang people outside the Great Wall, right?"

Yan Xing nodded. As for his reputation among the Qiang, a big part of the reason was that he was Han Sui's son-in-law.

But he still felt puzzled: "Now Shu County is already struggling to settle the Qiang people I brought with me and the local Qiang barbarians. It will be difficult to settle the Qiang people outside the Great Wall within at least a year, right?"

"There is no need to move inward, but you can expand outward!" Shen Pei said slowly.

Yan Xing opened his eyes wide.

His achievements in expanding territory can indeed make people overlook his previous crime of following Han Sui in rebellion.

But he soon realized something was wrong: "The terrain in Qiangzhong is extremely high, and transportation is inconvenient. The resources there are poor, and most of the Qiang people live in scattered places. Even the various tribes in Qiangzhong are not united. It is difficult to lead them to surrender."

"Moreover, the Qiang region is quite cold, making it difficult to farm. The Qiang people there make a living by herding. The Qiang people I brought with me from outside the Great Wall barely know how to farm."

Shen Pei certainly knew about these problems, but since he brought up the matter today, although he was affected by the burden of his clan, he actually had this plan in mind a long time ago.

He asked: "Since Qiang is poor in resources, are there any disputes among the tribes?"

Yan Xing said: "Of course there are. And because of the bad living conditions, the Qiang people outside the Great Wall are very brave and aggressive, and they are very narrow-minded and vicious, making them even more difficult to control."

"There were fierce conflicts among the tribes over the pastures."

"Yes!" Shen Pei clapped his hands and shouted, "Just like, shouldn't one party settle the dispute? Just like the story in the Western Regions."

Yan Xing thought Shen Pei was a little crazy, and he said bluntly: "My Lord, the Qiang are poor and miserable. Even if the Qiang people are willing to submit, and there are Han officials willing to go, it is impossible to collect taxes here, otherwise the Qiang people will rebel. But since there is no tax, what is the use of this place except wasting money and food?"

Facing the question, Shen Pei smiled and explained to Yan Xing: "What I want is not the taxes from Qiang, but the stability of Qiang."

"Since Yanming has been in Qiang for a long time, he should know why Liangzhou has been pacified but there are still occasional wars."

"Most of them came from the harassment of the Qiang people in Qiang."

Yan Xing was silent. He knew all of this very well. After all, life in Qiang was too hard.

Shen Pei paused for a moment, looked at Yan Xing's reaction, and then continued, "And setting up vassal states, they are also Han territory, but there is no need to waste too much."

"I just thought of a name, Qinghai Subordinate State, what do you think, Yanming?"

The governance requirements of a vassal state were much lower than those of a county, and were close to ethnic minority autonomy, and the Han Dynasty only needed to station some troops to maintain its presence. Once the power of the Han Dynasty entered the Qiang tribe, it could at least ensure that those Qiang people outside the Great Wall who attacked the border counties would pay a price even if they withdrew to the outside of the Great Wall.

After hearing what Shen Pei had said, Yan Xing was indeed tempted.

But he still had one thing he didn't understand: "I noticed that the Lord seemed to be in a hurry today, so I'd like to ask what the letter he read today said."

"Well!" Shen Pei said, "I know your secret, so it's okay for you to know mine."

"There is also a traitor in my clan."

Yan Xing: “…”

Seeing Yan Xing's astonishment, he explained: "Fortunately, your majesty trusts me so much that I can atone for my crime with my merits."

Yan Xing finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that the struggle before was just Shen Pei's final struggle.

so far so good……

Yan Xing bowed and said, "I will follow your words, but it is very difficult to get the various tribes in Qiang to return to their loyalty."

"Then start from now on. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!"

Looking at the resolute Shen Pei, Yan Xing, who had always been tortured by fate, suddenly felt a sense of heroism and bowed again, "I will obey your orders!"

……

There are four counties in southern Yizhou.

Yuexi, Zangke, Yizhou and Yongchang were established successively during the Han Dynasty.

However, due to their remote location, the four counties are clearly different from Bashu, which was developed earlier.

And these four counties had another name earlier - Nanzhong.

As early as when Nanzhong was first established as a county, some high-ranking officials responded to the call of the court and moved and settled here, just like the four border areas of Liangzhou and Hexi.

As time went on, these Han Chinese noble families and powerful men developed in the local area.

Because they were Han people, they were always able to become county officials in the prefectural government. With their status advantage, they were always at an advantage in their interactions with the local barbarians.

As the Han Dynasty's administration gradually deteriorated, the Han nobles in Nanzhong, where the Han Dynasty lacked a ruling foundation, suddenly transformed themselves into spokesmen for the barbarians.

There was nothing they dared not do, including expelling senior officials and starting rebellions.

Moreover, since ancient times, Nanzhong has indeed been regarded as a land of poisonous miasma, with high mountains and deep forests. Even if the rebellion is suppressed successfully by force, it often takes a long time and there are times when the suppression of rebellions fails.

As a result, Nanzhong became even more arrogant.

The Yong family, who claimed to be descendants of Yong Chi, was such a large family in Yizhou County.

A month ago, some Wa people living in Yizhou County were ordered by the county government to go to Qianwei County in the north to help suppress the rebellion.

Although the Wa people were also good at fighting, they were not as willing to be hired as the Bandun Man. They were unwilling to leave their hometown to fight in a foreign land, so their journey was inevitably slow.

However, under the incentives of money and grain and threats of punishment from county officials, the Wa people, although slow all the way, finally arrived in Jianwei County.

However, when they arrived, the battle was over and the Wa people didn't even get to drink the soup at the end.

The Wa people were not sad about their work being in vain. After returning to their hometown, they could not wait to find the governor to ask for the reward.

However, Zhuo Yang, the prefect of Yizhou County, felt that the Wa people had lost his face, so how could he be willing to give rewards for nothing?
The conflict between the two sides was on the verge of breaking out, which led to an attack, in which the prefect Zhuo Yang was killed.

(End of this chapter)