I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 516 Sending out troops again
Liu Bian never expected that one day the boomerang would fall on him.

Just when we were thinking of letting our horses rest in peace and celebrating the fact that the national treasury was finally experiencing a surplus, another province or county saw a rebellion on a larger scale than the one that had occurred after the land measurement was announced last year.

Except for the prefectures and counties with very small hidden populations such as Sili, Liangzhou and Bingzhou under the emperor's feet, the more people were newly registered in the official register last year, the more fierce the rebellion became.

The time of rebellion in various states and counties was not the same. The earliest one should be Bohai County in Jizhou. Luoyang has not received any official documents from the governor of Bohai so far, and it is unknown what the situation is.

Following closely behind were Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou and Yizhou, which all had counties and kingdoms where rebellions occurred in a certain period of time.

Even in Youzhou, where Liu Bian once placed high hopes, rebellion broke out.

“It’s not just a matter of rumors.”

In the Yuntai Hall, Jia Xu explained in front of Liu Bian and Xun Yu.

The king and his two ministers were holding a closed-door meeting to discuss the ins and outs of the rebellions in various places here.

Jia Xu, who was in charge of intelligence work, continued, "These rumors have been widely spread in various counties and states in Shandong. As for Jianghuai, Jingshu and other places, we have not heard of any widespread rumors spreading."

"The root cause is that the problem of official administration has not changed after the increase of the number of people under the jurisdiction, and the number and salary of villages and officials have not increased... There are many complaints among the petty officials, and if the senior officials do not pay attention, these complaints will be borne by the ordinary people."

"I was careless for a moment and caused such a tragedy. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Liu Bian rejected the suggestion, saying, "If this had not already happened, who would have thought that it would lead to the current situation."

"Moreover, the current rebellion has developed to this point, and it is definitely not something that can be caused by the newly enrolled people alone."

Although the number of these people is nearly 15% of the total population of the Han Dynasty.

Xun Yu suddenly said, "Your Majesty, I think that Dong Si Tu's public announcement of the results of the land survey in the court a few days ago was a bit too high-profile."

"The number of new people and acres of land is really huge. Jealousy will lead to hatred."

After listening to Xun Yu's words, Liu Bian had to admit that he was indeed a little inflated after learning the data of measuring the land.

He believed that the world was stable, so even those scholars and officials who were dissatisfied with him dared to lie low.

Or just like Yuan Shao, bow your head obediently.

But the facts proved that some powerful families and wealthy people who controlled the population and land were still unwilling to admit defeat. They seemed to want to repeat the Yellow Turban Rebellion and use war to destroy the results of this land measurement.

Liu Bian said: "Deep roots and a solid foundation, a solid foundation will bring peace to the country. Judging from today's situation, the road ahead is long and difficult."

"But the people's hearts are with me. They cannot be reversed by a few clowns. The rebellion will not last long!"

Xun Yu saw that the emperor understood his meaning, and continued to suggest: "Just in case, I would like to appoint eight more pass commanders!"

The so-called Eight Pass Commanders refer to the eight important passes guarding Luoyang.

The late emperor had made this arrangement during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Later, when the rebellions subsided and no longer threatened Luoyang, most of them were abolished, leaving only a small number of garrison troops at the eight passes, and the Duwei was no longer established.

In peacetime, Luoyang's ability to obtain human and material resources from Shandong, Hebei, Jiangnan and other places is much better than Chang'an, but when facing military threats from the east, its security level is much inferior to Chang'an.

Although Liu Bian did not think that the rebels could really reach Luoyang, it was indeed necessary to increase the military strength in the eight passes.

He agreed immediately.

"In addition, we should continue to send troops to attack, but most of the Xiyuan Army soldiers have just returned from outside, and the Sanhe Knights have just returned home. They should be allowed to rest first. I think we can first mobilize the Northern Army and the border troops of Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou."

Liu Bian agreed again...

After the closed-door meeting, all the high-ranking officials above 600 dan were summoned to the court. Lu Zhi was unable to attend due to illness, and Huangfu Song, who had resigned due to illness, also came to the court.

Under the chairmanship of General He Miao, the emperor and his ministers discussed strategies to quell the rebellion.

Overall, based on Xun Yu's plan, we can make up for the shortcomings and improve the details.

The next day, at the Northern Army's parade ground, Liu Bian, wearing armor, watched the eight battalions of the Northern Army with more than 6,000 soldiers leave the camp.

Because of the timeliness of the imperial edict's delivery, they will be the first army to quell the rebellion.

Leading them was the new General of Chariots and Cavalry, Huangfu Song, who had just "recovered from illness".

Liu Bian looked at the departing army, and he saw Sun Ce, Ma Chao, Cao Ang, Zhang Xiu...all of them were the Yulin Lang who were by his side.

Liu Bian originally thought that they no longer needed to rely on civil war to make a name for themselves, but now he thought it was too early.

Ma Chao rode his horse in the middle of the team with his head held high.

Sun Ce’s earlier battle in Jizhou has made him envious until now.

Now that he finally had the opportunity to go out and fight, Ma Chao made up his mind that he must achieve greater merit than Sun Ce, so that Sun Ce would not have to brag in front of him all day long about having led troops and fought in battles.

Cao Ang, who was not far from Ma Chao, was not as excited as Ma Chao. Perhaps because he had seen the slaughter with his father Cao Cao before coming to Beijing, he was very calm when the army left the camp this time. All he thought in his heart was that he hoped that his performance on the battlefield in the future would not disappoint his father and his mother, Mrs. Ding, who raised him.

Suddenly, he noticed Dian Wei who was guarding the emperor, and a thought suddenly came to his mind - it would be great if he could fight alongside Dian Wei.

On the other side, Liu Bian on the high platform noticed the expectations of Dian Wei and Xu Chu beside him and asked, "Zhongkang, Awei, do you two also want to join the army and fight?"

The two men standing on either side of Liu Bian were one in front and one behind. Xu Chu spoke first: "I will obey your Majesty's orders."

Dian Wei responded: "If I leave, who will protect Your Majesty? I am willing to stay by Your Majesty's side."

Xu Chu immediately said, "Then I will not leave either."

"If you were by your side, I would be able to join the army and kill enemies for you without any worries!" Dian Wei showed a smug smile.

When Liu Bian saw this scene, he smiled, a rare smile in these days.

He called out, "Be careful with your words, Bogui."

Immediately, two Yu Lin Langs came to Liu Bian upon hearing the news. They were Huang Xu, the son of Huang Zhong, and Liu Qi, the son of Liu Biao.

Liu Bian asked, "Awei and Zhongkang, your abilities are not enough to protect me. What do you think?"

Huang Xu rested for another two years after being cured by Hua Tuo. Now that Liu Bian opened a military training class for the Yulin Army, he was immediately sent in by Huang Zhong.

Huang Xu is like his name, he speaks very little: "I am not stingy with my life."

In contrast, Liu Qi, who had been studying at the Imperial Academy and had already mastered the classics, spoke in a very organized manner: "Your Majesty, I think that when it comes to guarding, you should be cautious and thorough."

He knew that in terms of fighting strength, he was no match for Huang Xu, who was of the same age as him, let alone Xu Chu and Dian Wei who were in their prime, but compared to them, he was smarter because he had read books.

Liu Bian finally smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have already said hello to the General of Chariots and Cavalry."

"Yes!" Dian Wei and Xu Chu both left excitedly.

(End of this chapter)