By killing, exiling, and deposing Sima Yuanxian's party members, Huanxuan promoted and appointed some excluded nobles. The government regained its vitality, the capital was full of joy, and everyone inside and outside the court expected the political situation to be stable.
Feeling that everything was under control, Huan Xuan decided to imitate his father Huan Wen's move to Zhengu, control the capital, and concentrate on preparing for the next usurpation of the throne.
On April 12th, Huan Xuan resigned from his post as minister and left the capital to study in Tuengu. The emperor issued an edict to approve it, saying, "All major affairs will be consulted, while small matters will be decided by Shangshu Ling Huan Qian and Danyang Yin Bian Fanzhi."
After returning to Gushu, Huan Xuan started to deal with what he considered trivial matters. One was to send Feng Gai's 20,000 troops to recapture Yongzhou, and the other was to ask Sun Wuzu, the governor of Jizhou, to pursue Liu Jingxuan, Sima Xiuzhi and others who had defected to Guangling.
Of course, when the army set off, it was not easy to move at will. What Huan Xuan faced was that there was insufficient food and grass. The grain and grass brought from Jing and Jiang prefectures were almost consumed, and there was not much grain in Beijing. Even the food and wages of the Sixth Army had to be supported by Huanxuan.
Huan Xuan ordered Feng Gai to train his troops and horses, and at the same time he ordered grain and grass to be sent to Gushu from Jingzhou, Jiangzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou and other places. However, except for Guangzhou, all places were affected by war, and it was very difficult to raise food.
Sanwu was originally the granary of Jiankang, but after Sun En's disaster, a great famine occurred. The people either starved to death or fled elsewhere, and their household registration was reduced by more than half. The population of Kuaiji County, which was once the most prosperous, dropped by four-tenths, while in Linhai, Yongjia and other counties near the sea, all the people died. Many rich families, wearing silk clothes and carrying gold and jade, starved to death at home.
When the new internal historian of Kuaiji, Wang Yu (the third brother of Wang Guobao), received the order from Captain Huan to collect grain, he was so annoyed that his brows knitted into knots. If he didn't obey the order, his career would be difficult to maintain. If he obeyed, where would the grain come from?
The clerk rushed in and presented an urgent report from Xin Jing, the governor of Linhai County. The urgent report told Ming Dynasty that Sun En had learned about the changes in Jiankang and led his army to attack again. Linhai was in a hurry and asked Kuaiji and the court to send troops for reinforcements. Xin Jing was an old general of Huan Wen. This time he came east with Huan Xuan and was appointed as the prefect of Linhai County.
Soon, Huan Xuan, who was in Gushu, received the battle report of Sun En's attack. Huan Xuan really didn't take Sun En seriously, and sneered at the court's inability to deal with mere Tao thieves. He was about to use Sun En to show off Jingzhou's troops and horses. Majestic.
While troops and horses were still being mobilized, good news came from Linhai. Xin Jing defeated Sun En's rebel army and went on a killing spree, killing all the people, men, women, old and young, who were threatened by Sun En.
Since Sun En's rebellion in the third year of Long'an (399), which lasted for four years, the entire Sanwu area has been devastated by his scourge, making people miserable. Last year, his vitality was severely damaged after he was defeated by Liu Yu. This time they were defeated by Xin Jing again, with only a few thousand people left out of hundreds of thousands.
Sun En was disheartened and committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea for fear of being captured. Hundreds of his disciples, concubines, dancers and others committed suicide.
There were still more than 3,000 people in the remnant group, and they elected Sun En's brother-in-law Lu Xun as the leader of the alliance. Lu Xun was born in Zhuo County, Fanyang. He was the great-grandson of Lu Chen, the famous scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the great-grandson of Lu Chen, the eunuch of the Later Zhao Dynasty.
The Lu family of Fan Yang, like the Yang family of Hongnong, once served in the Hu government, but it was too late to cross the Yangtze River. The Jiankang gentry did not recognize the status of the Lu family. The Lu family could only settle down in Guangling, and their descendant Lu Gu served as a minor in the state capital. Official.
Lu Gu and his son Lu Xun joined the Five Dou Mi Tao. Lu Xun married Sun En's sister and became a core member of the sect. Sun En went to sea and died, and Lu Xun took over the position of Taoist leader. Lu Xun pretended that Sun En could use water to transform his body into immortality, and respected him as "narcissus" to fool his believers.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Xun sent people to Jiankang to express his surrender to the court.
Huan Xuan looked down upon this group of mutinous people, and since Sun En was dead, he was no longer in danger. Huan Xuan's main purpose was to prepare to usurp the throne. For him, it was to connect with the feelings of the noble clans. Being able to restore order in the Sanwu area as soon as possible would enhance his reputation.
So Huanxuan appointed Lu Xun as the prefect of Yongjia, hoping to appease Lu Xun first. However, Lu Xun was not satisfied with the appointment of the court. Yongjia was located in the south of Linhai, with many mountains and few fields. After Sun En's disaster, there were not many people in Yongjia County at all. After taking office as the governor of Yongjia, Lu Xun was restless and sent troops to plunder the neighboring Dongyang County and Linhai County.
Seeing that Lu Xun was so rebellious, Huanxuan sent Liu Yu, a newly recruited soldier from the Fu army, to lead his troops to attack Lu Xun. Lu Xun was defeated and returned to Yongjia.
Huan Xuangao, who was stationed at the Empress of Gushu, soon revealed his arrogant and extravagant nature. He searched for treasures and snatched the rare treasures in the palace to Gushu. He indulged in pleasure and squandered money, which made the queen who was originally on the verge of death.
The economy, which is on the verge of collapse, is becoming increasingly overwhelmed.
Huan Xuan left Jiankang and arranged for Shangshu to make Huan Qian and Danyang Yin Bian Fanzhi responsible for the government. Huan Qian was his cousin and Bian Fanzhi was his confidant and friend. There was no need to worry about their loyalty. Huan Xuan put the two of them in charge and wanted to check each other, but this would inevitably lead to conflicts between them, unstable government orders, and the rise of cliques.
Originally, the government of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was a clan system. After Huanxuan came to take charge of Jiankang, he monopolized all important official positions. Except for the Huan clan members, they were his relatives and friends, or people who were flattered by his subordinates.
This made the noble clan very dissatisfied with Huan Xuan. In view of the fact that Huan Xuan held a large number of troops, the noble clan dared not speak out and were very cold-hearted towards Huan Xuan's attempts to win over him.
Huan Xuan was as eager to usurp the throne as Sima Zhao was, and everyone knew it, but he knew that his prestige was not as good as that of his father Huan Wen, so he had to wait patiently for the opportunity to mature.
Soon, Huan Xuan made a mistake. He ordered the destruction of the tools used to worship Chengyu. There were insufficient offerings in the palace, and even the emperor was hungry and cold, which turned everyone's initial expectations into disappointment. …
In Xiangyang, Yang Anxuan has been paying attention to the news in the capital, and there are endless messengers coming and going.
Huan Xuan took over Jiankang, and soon after Liu Laozhi died, tens of thousands of Beifu troops surrendered to Huan Xuan. In this way, Huan Xuan could directly mobilize more than 100,000 troops.
The Beifu army and Jingzhou soldiers and horses are both elite. If Feng Gai leads 20,000 elites to come and conquer Yongzhou with the strength of the whole country, it will be difficult to resist. Yang Anxuan showed confidence in front of everyone, but in fact he was still uneasy inside.
After receiving the information that Sun En had invaded again and that Lu Xun was in trouble, Yang Anxuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Huan Xuan turned his attention to the land of Sanwu, giving him a chance to breathe.
Yang Anxuan stepped up the recruitment of troops and notified all counties to recruit young men for training. Yongzhou is located on the border, bordering Qin and Wei. Qin attacked Luoyang twice, and Wei crossed the Yellow River south to attack Yingchuan, causing a large number of refugees.
There were constant wars in the Sanwu area, and many people fled across the river. Many people came to Yongzhou to visit their relatives and friends. These people had no livelihood, so it was not difficult to recruit soldiers. In one month, more than 10,000 recruits were recruited.
It is easy to recruit soldiers but difficult to raise food. When Huanxuan marched eastward, he transferred a batch of grain from Yongzhou, and all counties in Yongzhou were short of food. When the economy is lean in March and April, it becomes increasingly difficult to raise food.
The continuous war caused the price of food to rise rapidly. The original price of food was 150 yuan per stone, which had risen to 230 yuan per stone. While raising the price of food, Yang Anxuan asked the caravans to purchase grain from Qin, Wei and other countries, but it was a drop in the bucket and it was difficult to Emergency. In desperation, Yang Anxuan came up with an emergency plan to sell his official position in exchange for food.
The Yongzhou Prefectural Government's official document recruiting talented people was posted in every county within the territory. The official document contained descriptions of "promoting the humble and humble" and "promoting talent only", which immediately set off a trend in Yongzhou.
Soon, rumors emerged, saying that as long as the officials donated two hundred shi of food, they could be recruited into official positions and become minor historians, official officials, assistant officials, etc.; 500 shi County Zhonggongcao, assistant teacher; , family history; Qianshi can be a county captain or county chief registrar; if you can donate more than two thousand stones, you can hope to get the positions of county magistrate and state capital.
When the news spread, those wealthy businessmen and businessmen, including scholars, peasants, and merchants, were at the bottom of the list and had the lowest status. Seeing that there was an opportunity to change their destiny and the identity of future generations, it was nothing to spend a little money.
Soon, Yang Anxuan received criticism from the gentry, especially the children from poor families. They prided themselves on being born in the gentry. Although their families fell into disgrace, their status was still noble and they were qualified to participate in the selection of Zhongzheng to change their destiny.
Governor Yang's practice of focusing only on talent regardless of origin virtually blocked their way forward, and most of these people were from poor families and could not afford to buy an official position.
The nobles believed that they were of noble birth, so how could they associate with merchants? Governor Yang's actions were clearly a provocation to the ninth-grade Zhongzheng to recruit scholars. Even Kong Xian wrote a letter to persuade Yang Anxuan.
Yang Anxuan had to summon aristocratic families to refute the rumors, claiming that the Talent Recruitment Order was mainly aimed at talents from the gentry. Of course, local talents who were willing to donate food to support the government should also be rewarded. Only officials below the ninth rank would be appointed, and those above the ninth rank would have to be from the gentry. Qualified to serve.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Anxuan recruited more than a dozen people with virtuous names and poor backgrounds to serve as officials, suppressing the opposition of the gentry.
Soon, those powerful people discovered that Governor Yang had exchanged grain for officials.
This approach is of great benefit to them. Their children who are selected as ninth-grade officials have the opportunity to become officials, but compared to the entire family, the number of people who can become officials is still too small. If thousands of stones of grain can be exchanged for eighth-grade officials, this opportunity is really rare. .
In less than a month, Yang Anxuan awarded 136 official positions in exchange for 670,000 shi of grain, successfully solving the problem of insufficient military rations.
The quality of these newly recruited officials was uneven. Yang Anxuan selected a group of children from poor families and asked them to serve as county guards. They were responsible for delivering religious orders, supervising subordinate officials, inspecting cases and prisons, checking illegalities, and punishing officials. A batch of corruption was eliminated, and Yongzhou's officialdom was rectified.
Ordinary people don't care about the governor's recruitment orders. What they care about is their three meals a day and the food and clothing of their families. The plowing orders, soldier recruitment orders, farming orders, school opening orders, etc. posted at the city gate are closely related to them. .
The governor ordered all counties to supervise the construction of Yangjia plows and provide them to farmers for free. The government also leased cattle, grain seeds and other items to encourage the reclamation of wasteland.
The governor ordered that the soldiers recruited into the army should be paid one and a half stones and two bolts of silk per month. There is not much food, but for the refugees, it is enough for the family to survive.
The governor had an order to recruit refugees to work in the fields, and the government collected 40% of the rent...
The governor issued an order to recruit soldiers to build roads and bridges...
A series of government decrees were promulgated, and large amounts of money and food poured out, bringing vitality to the land of Yongzhou.
Fifteen thousand new soldiers have been recruited, Yongzhou has nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses, and eight new farms have been added. Yang Anxuan believes that when the summer grain comes into the warehouse in July, he will no longer have to worry about military rations.
The new army was scattered in various counties, so there was no need to worry about training. Five thousand of the new army in Xiangyang were handed over to Meng Longfu, and Yang Anxuan was relieved.
Now that we have the troops, we must hurry up with the ordnance. Yang Anxuan took the time to visit the Ancheng Zhou family and successfully "persuaded" Zhou Wei to transfer Tangyin Iron Industry to the Ying family.
Immediately afterwards, Yang Anxuan went to Tangxi, Xiping, and informed Ying Xu to discuss increasing production.
Ying Xu soon came to Tangxi, saw the young governor of Yongzhou, and felt that his bet was right. Not to mention the profits from the iron ore and colored porcelain business, even his third son Ying Kang was a general of raids and Sima of Xinyang.
The Ying family has been closely linked with Yang Anxuan. Even if the future is uncertain, it is worth continuing to bet. If Yang Anxuan can achieve great things, the Ying family will change the world.
Yang Anxuan decided to disclose the quenching method, let the Ying family speed up ordnance production, turn Tangxi into an ordnance workshop, appointed Ying Hao as a seventh-grade worker officer, recruit craftsmen, and increase production.
Ying Hao smiled from ear to ear. He never thought that one day he would become a seventh-rank official. He patted his chest and promised to produce two thousand sabers, one hundred thousand arrow clusters, and several other weapons every year.
Yang Anxuan told Ying Hao to pay attention to the confidentiality of the steel filling method and quenching method, not to allow the movement of craftsmen in the workshop, and ordered Ruyang to dispatch 500 county troops to garrison around Tangxi.
With the internal affairs arranged in an orderly manner, Yang Anxuan began to unite with the outside world.
