I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 520: States and Counties Shocked
In this way, Guan Yu did two things at once. On the one hand, he led his army southward and on the other hand, he met with local celebrities to appease the people.

One day, someone suddenly came with an order, claiming to be Zhao Yan from the Ministry of Education.

Guan Yu had mixed feelings about the School Affairs Department, which was developed based on the troops of the General of Chariots and Cavalry that he once led.

But Zhao Yan joined the school affairs department very late, and did not know the origin of this. Facing Guan Yu, he said in a businesslike manner: "General Guan, I have been ordered to help you eliminate the criminals."

After that, Zhao Yan provided Guan Yu with a long list of local powerful people.

Guan Yu had seen most of those north of Bohai Sea.

But are all the people on the list guilty? Do they all deserve to die? Guan Yu had investigated a case before, and he saw through the trick at a glance.

I am afraid that some people were put on these lists because of the reason of "it is better to kill the wrong person than to let him go".

If it were Guan Yu from more than ten years ago, if he had the opportunity to kill a group of powerful people, he would definitely not miss it.

But after all these years, especially in recent times, Guan Yu suddenly became hesitant.

Killing someone is certainly the end of everything, but what happens after you kill someone?
Not all powerful people are evil and deserve to die. When it comes to those whose identities are difficult to identify, should we be ruthless like Zhao Yan, or should we give them the benefit of the doubt...

Guan Yu thought of the conversation he had with the emperor when he accompanied him hunting last year.

Looking back now, the memory is still fresh -

At that time, the emperor was playing with an arrow in his hand, looking at their hunting haul, but he lacked the joy that he should have. At that time, the emperor asked, "Tell me, who should own the things in the mountains?"

The first to answer was Zhao Yun: "All under heaven is the king's land, and all the people are his subjects. These mountains, rivers and streams all belong to the emperor, and the emperor is kind, allowing the people to go up the mountains and down the rivers, to mine and capture..."

Guan Yu always felt that Zhao Yun was better at speaking than him.

Of course, Guan Yu thinks this is an advantage for Zhao Yun.

At that time, the emperor heard what Zhao Yun said and said, "In ancient times, when hunting, people would let the animals go. But nowadays, people are annexing land without restraint. They only care about their own enjoyment and don't care about others. As a result, they sell their children and daughters, and their families are broken up."

"As for concealing the number of acres of land, claiming to be the lord and ruling over the hidden households, with the power of life and death. I wonder how many of them there are in the Han Dynasty today!"

He waited until this moment to express his opinion.

What did he say at that time?

"I swear to eradicate evil for Your Majesty until death!"

The oath he made was still ringing in his ears. Guan Yu looked at Zhao Yan and suddenly asked, "In my opinion, there are still some problems with this list."

"For example, the Zhou and Li families did not have forts. When the rebellion broke out, the people of the two families retreated to the county town in time, thus avoiding the extinction of their families. However, even so, when the rebellion attacked the city, their people helped defend the city, and many were killed and injured. In addition, I have not seen the names of the powerful families on your list."

Seeing Zhao Yan's face turn pale after hearing his words, Guan Yu said, "Go back and re-investigate and draw up a list!"

Zhao Yan was indeed a little flustered. After facing Guan Yu directly, he finally understood why Guan Yu, who was not in the School Affairs Department, had so many admirers in the department.

He had just said goodbye and was about to leave to repair his mistakes, but he heard Guan Yu say, "Wait a minute."

Zhao Yan turned around and asked respectfully, "May I ask what your orders are, General?"

Guan Yu emphasized: "It is not a bad thing to have a utilitarian mind, but you must be extremely careful and use it in the right way." "If you are interested, go and check those who own more than thousands of acres of land. Don't listen to their reputation, go and check their deeds."

Zhao Yan said: "Thank you for the reminder, General."

After leaving, Zhao Yan thought about the feasibility of what Guan Yu said.

In fact, Zhao Yan did not care too much about his reputation among the people, otherwise, in history, he would not have taken away someone else's wife.

To him, there is no difference between the powerful and the common people.

But if the nobles...

After much thought, Zhao Yan decided to first investigate those powerful people who owned a lot of land.

As for the powerful families related to the rioters, that had nothing to do with him. After all, this was the list Guan Yu wanted, and it would be Guan Yu who would decide on their disposal.

By the end of May, Guan Yu recovered Bohai County. He found out that the governor of Bohai County had been killed by assassins sent by the "rioters" at the beginning of the rebellion. That was why the situation in Bohai County was so bad from the beginning.

Later, Guan Yu killed more than a hundred wealthy and powerful families in the county, and punished them all according to the law, which shocked the whole county.

Even though Guan Yu led his troops southward and arrived at Pingyuan County in Qingzhou, without sufficient troops to suppress them, Bohai County suddenly showed signs of being a place where no one could pick up anything on the road.

Besides, it stands to reason that Guan Yu had committed so many murders that his reputation should have been ruined forever.

But those "famous scholars" in Bohai County who survived and were received by Guan Yu, after Guan Yu left, all spread everywhere about Guan Yu's virtue of killing lawless people!
……

In fact, compared to Guan Yu, Huangfu Song, who set out from Luoyang, was the first person to set out.

He led the army and arrived in Yanzhou again.

This made the wealthy and powerful people in Yanzhou suddenly recall the fear they once felt when they were dominated by Huangfu Song.

Now, Huangfu Song is back again.

If Huangfu Song had shown some mercy in the past when he was investigating the private soldiers in Yanzhou, giving people a chance to surrender and avoid death, then now, Huangfu Song, who had returned as a General of Chariots and Cavalry, announced to all the counties and kingdoms in Yanzhou with practical actions - this opportunity was gone.

Hundreds of years ago, when Emperor Wen, Emperor Jing and Emperor Wu were in power, the county magistrate was ordered to govern a region. If he wanted to establish his authority as quickly as possible, the best way was to take action against the local powerful people.

The heads and properties of the powerful were the only way for the county magistrates at that time to gain a foothold in the county.

Today, Huangfu Song’s actions make the wealthy and powerful people in Yanzhou think of that long-gone era.

Yanzhou is closer to Luoyang, and the School Affairs Department is more powerful. With the cooperation of the School Affairs Department, Huangfu Song chopped down enemies along the way without stopping.

At the same time, Cao Cao, who set out from Xihe County, is now in Taiyuan County, Bingzhou.

It was not that he did not want to go to Jizhou immediately to quell the rebellion, but he discovered that someone actually wanted to collude with the Southern Xiongnu to cause chaos!
He has been doing business in Southern Xiongnu for so many years. Most of the nobles in Southern Xiongnu are proud to read Han classics and serve as Han officials. How can they allow anyone to destroy this good situation?
For a time, some students even sighed that the troops released by the emperor were not the royal army to quell the rebellion, but blood-drinking evil spirits.

At first, this statement had some impact, but after the court got the news of the serious crime of a petty official from a powerful family who used rumors to oppress the newly enrolled common people in the countryside and made it public, public opinion began to change in the Imperial College.

Although there are still some voices suspecting that these evidences and criminals are forged, they are unable to cause any waves.

(End of this chapter)