Chapter 206
This was a purge of local forces in Qingzhou. The suzerain supervisory system that had been implemented for two or three years was a compromise that gave local powerful powers great autonomy without requiring corresponding obligations. ,
Historically, after the Yongjia Rebellion, the north has been in a cycle of continuous rise and fall of the upper class. It has no great jurisdiction over the powerful local counties and counties, which is why this clan supervision system has been able to develop and exist for a long time. s reason.
Until Tuoba Xianbei unified the north with his powerful force, and gradually stabilized, the suzerain supervisor system was quickly replaced by the three-chief system.
In short, to sum it up in one sentence, the suzerain supervisory system tacitly allows the powerful to hide their tribes, avoid taxes and calculations of taxes, in exchange for the peace of local counties. After all, these powerful suzerains only need to follow the rules registered in the official yellow book. You only need to pay taxes based on the number of household registrations. The numerous hidden customers of each family do not need to pay a penny of taxes, and all the value created belongs to the clan leader.
When Liu Yu first occupied Qingzhou, he had no time to integrate the powerful powers in various counties and counties, so he used the suzerain guardianship system to appease the powerful powerful people in each county. In this way, all powerful powerful people would have the same good life. However, no one is qualified to take the lead and stir up trouble.
However, there are now about 10,000 soldiers in Qingzhou. Including the families and relatives behind these soldiers, there are as many as 200,000 to 300,000. These are the forces that Liu Yu relies on and trusts the most.
As the saying goes, "With a sharp weapon in hand, a murderous intention arises."
Even if Sun Gongyuan hadn't reported Yan Zang and other people for poaching, Liu Yu, who was already going crazy from poverty, would have chosen some of the "fat pigs" he had raised for several years to eat meat sooner or later.
Of course, Liu Yu did not have enough strength at this time to implement the three-chief system that went deep into the villages, but it was still acceptable to force some powerful people to accept the re-adjustment of household registrations and land acres. After all, there was still a lot of room for profit. operating space.
In front of the sword handles of the field soldiers of the military offices of various counties and counties, the powerful clan heads of various counties and counties immediately turned into respectful and humble scholarly families after one or two of the powerful powerful people who resisted were eliminated by the Hong family.
March of the fifth year of Yongjia.
In Linzi City.
"Sir, except for Donglai County, Dongmou County and Langya County, all other counties have completed the determination of the household registration and land acres of each clan leader. After this audit, there are more than 100,000 more registered households. .”
Liu Xun reported the report to Liu in advance with excitement on his face.
As Liu Yu's nephew and one of the leaders of the young soldiers, Liu Xun is one of the most trustworthy people. As the vanguard of this reshuffle of county power, Liu Xun is the most suitable.
"Furthermore, not only have we obtained so many grains, but also the grain, silk and silk confiscated by various counties. Although the total has not yet been calculated, I estimate that it is enough to support 50,000 soldiers for a year."
Liu Yu was not too surprised to hear Liu Xun's results in plundering powerful men from various counties. Qingzhou suffered very little damage during the King's Rebellion. On the contrary, due to the war in the Central Plains, many powerful men absorbed a lot of refugees. In the original situation, In the history of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Mi's remnant Cao Yi relied on Qingzhou's population and assets to separate himself for more than ten years.
"How are the arrangements of the various sect masters doing?" Liu Yu asked.
Compared with how many Dingkou were released and how much food, grass and baggage were obtained, Liu Yu was more concerned about the reorganization of the powerful private soldiers. ,
The so-called reorganization is actually to select the strongest among the private soldiers of each powerful family to become the vassal army of the Qingzhou Army based on the Qingzhou official positions of each powerful family.
The vassal armies drawn from these heroic chapters have varying combat capabilities. The weak among them are at the level of peasants, and there are many good fighters who are not much worse than the Qingzhou warriors. Overall, they are basically the same. At the level of auxiliary soldiers.
"Sir, I see that among these powerful troops, they are all of ordinary auxiliary level. There are very few who are really good at fighting. Even after some training, these people become their own army, that is, a group of auxiliary soldiers. Level."
Obviously, Liu Xun is not too optimistic about the strength of these powerful tribes.
"The reason why I selected these strong men from the powerful tribe is not just to covet their small strength. These people are full of resources. How many can be truly used? There are only ten thousand people in total."
Liu Yu replied to his nephew's question.
"I guess Duke Qi's intention is to weaken the power of these powerful clan leaders. Without the brave men and women in these tribes, the remaining private soldiers of the tribes will also be greatly affected."
Ran Liang, who had been standing beside him, said.
Liu Yu nodded. If they couldn't guess such a simple purpose, then they were really stupid.
"Not only that, with these recruited troops, you can also select talented people from among the powerful people who are willing to serve. These slaves turned generals must be the most loyal ones, and from then on, these Strong children can also use this method to get a chance to show off their skills in the Qingzhou Army, instead of having to be recommended by high-quality and high-quality candidates as before."
At this time, ordinary poor families, that is, small and medium-sized powerful people and good family members in counties and counties, if they want to become officials, they must be recruited directly by the chief officials, or recommended by the Zhongzheng officials or famous scholars in the county. Only in this way can they officially enter the officialdom. Go to official career.
And because powerful families have controlled the official career for nearly a hundred years, it is difficult for ordinary people from poor families to have the opportunity to be promoted. Even military merit, which was the most important thing in the Qin and Han Dynasties, can hardly shake these already rigid official appointment systems.
Therefore, although Liu Yu's liquidation of the powerful clan leaders eliminated many thorns, it was precisely because of this that he broke up many powerful families. His control over the official positions of county and county officials also allowed other powerful people to gain power. Opportunities to serve as officials based on their abilities.
This is also the reason why Liu Yu's aggressive operation was supported by many powerful clan leaders.
Although Liu Yu's method of deploying powerful troops before the temporary campaign was only a temporary strategy, it immediately achieved good results.
"What your Excellency said is so right. Many powerful people even took the initiative to lead their troops to follow." Liu Xun said immediately, "I heard that even in Donglai County, there are many people who want to take the initiative to lead their troops. Crying and shouting, I want to follow you out to kill the Hulu."
Donglai County and Dongmou County under Liu Yu's rule were not included in the list of powerful people liquidated this time.
The reason for this situation is that most of the generals of the Qingzhou Army under Liu Yu are from these two counties. It can also be said that the generals of the Qingzhou Army who followed Liu Yu in his career are from these two counties. Each county is powerful, and the relationship between them is very complicated.
Under this general situation, these two counties are certainly within the scope of "no need for investigation".
"Oh? Who is willing to follow me?"
Liu Yu seemed more interested in this issue.
"Yes, sir, there are several in Donglai County alone."
Later, Liu Xun told Liu Yu about a bunch of powerful people in Donglai County who wanted to follow Liu Yu.
Liu Yu had no impression of most of them, but when he heard his nephew Liu Xun talking about the powerful surnames one by one, he immediately became very energetic.
Because Liu Yu heard the name "Su Jun" among them.
"Yexian, Su Jun?!"
Liu Yu curiously asked about Su Jun's life and previous positions.
"This Su Jun is a young tycoon from Ye County. He is quite talented, but he is not reused."
Finally, Liu Yu determined that this Su Jun was the warlord who launched the "Su Jun Rebellion" in history.
However, according to Liu Xun's description, Su Jun at this time was just a young tycoon who wanted to make great achievements.
"This time, in addition to the strong and powerful songs, people like Su Jun should also be welcome." Liu said in anticipation of Liu Xun.
"After all, I'm afraid it won't be long before we enter Yanzhou and Xuzhou to wipe out the Hulu."
After hearing Liu Yu's words about the expedition, Liu Xun and Ran Liang looked at each other. They both saw the desire for war in each other's eyes and expressions.
In January of the fifth year of Yongjia, Zhao Gu, the Xiongnu-Han general who conquered the south, led tens of thousands of Hu-Han troops to attack the Xuzhou and Yanzhou areas. Everything they passed was in ruins. Within ten months, several cities were destroyed. , In fact, when its troops were sent out the farthest, there were already scouts at the border of Jibei County.
Moreover, with the arrival of spring, it was also reported from the Jin court army in Xiangcheng, Yuzhou that Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, was seriously ill and could no longer travel far and could only continue to be trapped in Xiangcheng.
Liu Yu guessed that if the historical trend was followed, Sima Yue, King of the East China Sea, would probably die soon.
In order to prepare for this battle, Liu Yu made many other preparations in addition to daily military training.
First of all, it is to suppress the powerful people in Qingzhou in order to enrich the military trousers. The food problem that was originally worried has now been solved, and it has moved on to uncertain problems.
Secondly, they sent Ran Long and other generals from the beggar army to Hebei to contact the beggar army there. Because of the conflict between Sima Yue, the king of the East China Sea, and Tian Zhen, the beggar commander, it can basically ensure that the beggar army will not turn against them. Liu Yu would not take the opportunity to make a sneak attack.
Finally, Liu Yu sent someone to Youzhou to meet Wang Jun, the governor of Youzhou, and told him that he was going south to Yanzhou and Yuzhou. If he could defeat Sima Yue, the treacherous king of the East China Sea, who was in power, he would take advantage of the situation to pursue him. After arriving, he had already Wang Jun, the governor of Youzhou, was appointed as the leader of the alliance to support the emperor again.
At this time, Liu Yu was basically ready and all he needed was Dongfeng.
However, Liu Yu was still not very sure about how many people could be rescued from the hooves of more than 100,000, or even more, or even 200,000 Hu and Han troops.
At this time, a guard came in from outside the door.
"Informing the Duke of Qi, Wu Xin, Cao Yi and several others have already arrived outside the mansion, waiting to pay homage to the Duke of Qi."
When Liu Yu heard this, he immediately became happy.
"What are you going to do? It's better for me to greet them in person."
In this operation to liquidate the powerful clan lords from various places, Beihai County and Chengyang County had the most violent rebels. The governors of these two counties, Cao Yi and Wu Xin, also contributed the most. However, in the final result, these two counties The county's harvest is also the largest. In addition to food and grain, the rest of the goods are immeasurable.
Liu Yu, led by Liu Xun, Ran Liang and others, soon arrived outside the mansion and personally greeted Wu Xin and Cao Yi.
Since coming to Qingzhou, Wu Xin has always been very important, and he is not too surprised by Liu Yu's behavior.
On the contrary, Cao Yi, who had known Liu Yu for a long time, was immediately at a loss when he saw that Liu Yu valued him so much, because he was Wang Mi's general before. Although he returned to Qingzhou to join Liu Yu, he also served as a military officer. General and county guard, but he always felt that he was out of tune with the other generals of the Qingzhou Army.
"Qi Gong, if you welcome us like this, you are breaking the rules of the army. I really don't dare, I don't dare." Cao Yi said quickly.
He seemed to have seen the unfriendly eyes of the Qingzhou military generals who were watching.
"Hahaha, Brother Cao, there's no need to be so polite. You and I are old acquaintances. If that's the case, it's just a stranger."
Liu Yu laughed loudly.
In this act of liquidating the powerful sect leader, Cao Yi was decisive and ruthless, showing no mercy to the resisters, which somewhat surprised Liu Yu.
Because before this, Cao Yi had always kept a very low profile, which even made Liu Yu wonder if Cao Yi had become depressed due to the exclusion of other Qingzhou military generals.
However, Cao Yi's performance this time still impressed Liu Yu. Not only did he act ruthlessly and decisively, but he also did a flawless job in recruiting the remaining powerful clan leaders in the county.
Cao Yi's talents made Liu Yu sigh. Sure enough, this ruthless bandit who had been able to rule Qingzhou for more than ten years in history was also very capable.
Therefore, Liu Yu summoned all the county chiefs, officers and generals to gather in Linzi this time, and he did not hesitate to praise Cao Yi for his recent achievements.
Anyway, Cao Yi's direct troops have been diluted to a very small amount, and they do not pose a big threat to Liu Yu.
And if Liu Yu showed more kindness, it would make everyone feel that Liu Yu was knowledgeable and kind, so why not do it.
Cao Yi had already realized Liu Yu's kindness in his previous letters.
Since joining Liu Yu's account, Xu Miao, Gao Liang and others around him have been transferred away one after another. Although Cao Yi's official position has become bigger and bigger, and he is now the prefect of a county, the troops of the tribe where he settled are actually smaller than before. A lot less. Cao Yi was well aware of this situation, so he tried his best this time to get another chance to show his face in front of Liu Yu. Otherwise, Cao Yi was really afraid of being kicked to the east in the future. Laijun went to retire.
"Qi Gong, this time I seized a good horse from a powerful family in Jucheng, Chengyang. It can be said to be a thousand-mile horse. Cao Yi is not talented and dare not keep it privately. This time I came to Zi and brought it here specially. Dedicated to Qi Gong"
In front of many Qingzhou military generals, Cao Yi's words immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Among them, the Qingzhou military generals headed by Li Feng and Zhao Kun were not because of any good horses and horses, but rather looked down upon Cao Yi's obvious flattery behavior.
Cao DaDa, who was in the Donglai army back then, has now become a flattering official. 11
