Chapter 109: Rewarding according to merit
That night, the emperor put aside his burdens and went to have sex with hundreds of concubines and thousands of palace maids. However, the eunuchs, led by the Ten Attendants, worked overtime all night, racking their brains to think about what positions would be best for these ministers who had made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion.
First of all, there was Dong Zhuo. This man from Xiliang was quite capable. We thought that Huangfu Song would be the final winner, but we didn't expect that it was Dong Zhuo and a few little guys we had never heard of who persuaded Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang to surrender.
So, what official title would be better for her? She is now the General of the Eastern Army.
In the Han Dynasty, the supreme ruler of an independent combat battalion was a formal colonel or a temporary Sima of a separate department.
The person who can directly command a group of colonels is the General of the Central Army.
The person who can directly command a group of generals is a general.
However, the Han Dynasty did not easily establish any general positions, and many general positions were vacant, because the generals had too much military power and had too many direct lieutenants and colonels.
Generally speaking, the court would only temporarily set up the position of general when a major war broke out, and the title would be cancelled after the war. This is also the origin of many generals with miscellaneous titles. Under normal circumstances, the rank of General of the Household was already the highest rank.
Despite such a serious matter as fighting the Yellow Turbans, the emperor only appointed General of the Central Army and commander-in-chief of various levels of colonels, and did not demote the title of general. This shows how valuable the generals of the Han Dynasty were.
Of course, when the Han Empire collapsed, a bunch of generals of all kinds emerged in the Central Plains.
"Someone impeached Liangzhou Governor Zuo Chang before, saying that he embezzled military funds and did not do his job in Liangzhou. This guy paid money to bribe our family, so the secret was not leaked. But it is not a good idea to let a greedy villain like Zuo Chang guard the border of the empire."
Zhang Ren frowned.
"Dong Zhuo is very good at fighting, but unfortunately he is from Liangzhou and cannot serve as an official in his hometown. How about this? We can place him in the westernmost county of Guanzhong: Zuofufeng, adjacent to Liangzhou. If there is any unrest in Liangzhou, we can directly send such a brave general to Liangzhou to fight and take charge of the war in Liangzhou."
"Very good, very good."
All the eunuchs nodded.
"Then let's do this. Promote her to a third-rank general who conquers the enemy, command the generals of Liangzhou, colonels, and concurrently the governor of Fufeng. Make her the Marquis of Linjin, and reward her with a thousand gold coins! From now on, the fief of Linjin will be her salary. Now that she has been given the title of general, this reward is big enough."
Several eunuchs dealt with Dong Zhuo, who had the highest position, and the second person named on the memorial was Liu Zhuang.
Liuzhuang? Who?
"Ha! This kid has made great contributions. Look at the battle report from the front line. Liu Zhuang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun captured Zhang Liang."
"Dong Zhuo even said that he was able to persuade Zhang Bao and the main force of the Yellow Turbans to surrender, and he took half of the credit, and the other half of the credit was shared by Liu Zhuang, Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei, and Zhang He - she calculated it based on the number of troops each person had."
A eunuch looked at the memorial signed jointly by Dong Zhuo, Gongsun Zan, Liu Zhuang and others, and could not help but marvel at it.
"No, who are these people? I have never heard of them. Only Gongsun Zan sounds familiar. I remember that she is the eldest daughter of the Gongsun family in Liaoxi."
A eunuch was flipping through the resumes of several people, looking confused.
"Let's check the past records - oh, I found it. Liu Zhuang gathered refugees and fought against the Yellow Turbans in Mayi. Yanmen Governor Guo Yu recommended him as a Sima of a separate army and sent him south to Jizhou to follow the court to suppress the Yellow Turban rebellion."
"That's all? Nothing more?"
An eunuch asked in disbelief.
"Yes, that's all. There's nothing else. This guy climbed up from the bottom and has a clean background. Maybe we can try to recruit him - oh, wait, there's another record. Lu Zhi held three martial arts competitions in the army. The champion was Liu Zhuang, who was accepted as Lu Zhi's apprentice. He is from an aristocratic family! This guy can't be reused. Just give him a reward."
A eunuch who was once responsible for suppressing Lu Zhi in Beijing suddenly remembered, isn't this the boy with double pupils?
"From the aristocratic family? I don't think he is. The aristocratic families in Guandong wish Dong Zhuo would die, but this man fought against the Yellow Turbans and saved Dong Zhuo without caring about his own life.
In our opinion, people who have climbed up from the bottom don't care about factions at all. They only want fame and fortune. Having seen the suffering of the bottom, they will climb up madly at all costs. In this world, only Your Majesty can satisfy their desire for power and status. With a little training, Liu Zhuang will definitely become a knife in our hands."
A very senior eunuch shook his head and analyzed the situation differently based on the report at hand.
"Didn't Dong Zhuo transfer to Zuo Fufeng? Her original post of Hedong governor is now vacant. How about this, let this guy take the place and give him the post of Hedong governor. At the same time, the White Horse Battalion will be officially organized and attached to Hedong. He will be named the White Horse Captain and rewarded with 500 gold.
Hedong is also close to Luoyang, so we can test this kid's stance and character. If possible, let him continue to do his job; if not, we can find a reason to get rid of him. It's just a matter of a word from us.
"That makes sense, that makes sense."
The eunuchs discussed and worked in an orderly manner.
It is also easy to deal with people within Gongsun Zan's system. The prefect of Zhuo County was killed by the Yellow Turbans of Youzhou, so he was promoted one level like Liu Zhuang, directly from the magistrate of Zhuo County to the prefect of Zhuo County; the Yanshan Camp was transferred to the formal organization, and the Sima of the Separate Department was promoted to the Yanshan Colonel, and he was also rewarded with 500 gold.
Zhuo County is different from Hedong. Zhuo County is the base camp of the aristocratic families and a stronghold of votes. Anyway, he cannot interfere with the government, so he might as well do a favor and give the position of prefect to Gongsun Zan.
In the end, Liu Bei and Zhang He, two people without official positions, made the eunuchs a little puzzled.
No matter what, the previous ones were within the system and already had official positions. These two really had never been officials before. One was a commoner from Youzhou and the other was a small noble family from Jizhou. It was impossible for them to rise to the top overnight.
"Liu Bei is a good friend of Gongsun Zan and a disciple of Lu Zhi. It is impossible for such a person to stand on our side. Just send her away. She is from Zhuo County and cannot be an official in this county. Has the county magistrate of any nearby county been killed by the Yellow Turbans?"
"Let's take a look. The county magistrate of Anxi County has been killed and the position is still vacant."
"Then give her a military post as Sima of a separate army, commanding her rebel army, and a part-time position as the magistrate of Anxi County, with a reward of 500 gold."
The leading eunuch was a little annoyed and looked at Zhang He's portrait.
"This person was also born in a Jizhou family, but her contributions were even less than Liu Bei's. She missed the entire battle of Youzhou and only participated in the battles of Black Mountain and Xiaquyang... Is there any vacant position for a county magistrate nearby?"
"Gone."
A eunuch shook his head.
"Many officials died in Jizhou, but there are even more who came to seek official positions and offer gifts. Those who got promoted through military merit without offering gifts are the most annoying. An Xi is the only vacant position nearby."
The eunuch frowned.
"Oh, right, Dong Zhuo has transferred his three battalions from Hedong County to Zuofufeng. Three battalions are left for defense, but we only have one White Horse Battalion from Liuzhuang. Isn't that enough? How about transferring Zhang He there as well? The Yellow Turbans and Qiang Hu have already infiltrated Hedong, so we have to be on guard."
"Well, Liu Zhuang has become the White Horse Captain, so let's appoint Zhang He as his military commander, second in command. He will also be rewarded 500 gold."
The eunuchs were very busy at work. After dealing with the five people, they found that the people who came to ask for credit and reward had never even heard of them.
Lu Bu? Zhang Liao? Zhao Yun? Who the hell is this???
"These people seem to be the grassroots officers under Liu Zhuang. Look, Liu Zhuang wrote this song himself, about a military officer named Lu Fengxian beheading the Black Mountain commander..."
"Damn it! We hate these newcomers the most. They affect our work efficiency! Write a letter to Liu Zhuang! Tell him not to report the names of these small fry to the court in the future. They are all your subordinates! As a governor or a lieutenant, you can reward your own people! Why are you asking us?"
Does our family look like we have nothing to do? We even have to take care of such a small shrimp???"
The eunuchs threw the military achievements of Zhao Yun, Lu Bu and Zhang Liao out of the window while cursing, and then continued to count the military achievements and rewards of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Chapter 110: Hedong Governor
Count the losses across the country, determine the rewards and punishments for each officer, take out the corresponding rewards from the national treasury, then withdraw the five battalions of the Northern Army back to Luoyang, and disband all the new recruits in Henan...
The eunuchs' work efficiency was very average, and the post-war troubles were indeed troublesome. They worked from October 7th, when the victory report was sent back to Luoyang, until November 7th, a full month, to completely get it done.
During this period, Liu Zhuang has been training in Xiaquyang. His level of blasphemy priest has reached level 3, and he can snatch more advanced second-ring magic. At the same time, the daily limit of mana plunder has also reached 16 points.
The cost of casting a level 1 spell is 1 mana point.
The cost of casting a level 2 spell is 3 mana points. No matter how you combine them, the sum of the two cannot be greater than 16.
For other spellcasting professions, starting from level 1, you will gain access to higher-level spells every 2 levels, and you can only reach the 17th-level peak at level 9.
The Profane Priest is different. At level 1 and 2, he can only snatch one-level spells, but starting from level 3, he can snatch a higher-level spell for every level he gains! The leveling speed is twice that of other professions! A level 1 Profane Priest can reach the pinnacle of the 1th level.
The profession of blasphemous priest has only ten levels, the first two levels are thick accumulation, and the next eight levels are thin hair hair hair hair hair.
As for the Yulin Cavalry training manual given by Dong Zhuo, it is indeed very powerful and can crush cavalry generals in all aspects. The only problem is that the requirements are too high - both strength and agility must be at least 18 to become a Yulin Cavalry. There are only a dozen officers in the entire White Horse Camp who can practice this stuff.
But his effect is not inferior to such stringent requirements.
First of all, the Yulin Cavalry, like the Warrior, can have additional combat expertise at level one and level two; but like the Cavalry General, they can summon and bind mounts, which is almost a fusion of the two professions of Warrior/Cavalry General. And as the level increases, the hit rate of polearms and bows will also increase.
Secondly, the second-level Yulin Cavalry can learn two core skills: [Bow and Horse Skill] and [Deadly Charge]. [Bow and Horse Skill] allows you to ride on a bumpy horse as if you were on flat ground, and there is no accuracy penalty for archery.
The effect of [Fatal Charge] is even more mediocre. It simply increases the triple damage of a pole weapon when charging to quadruple damage, truly achieving equality for all under the pole.
During this month, Lu Bu was not idle. She began to reset her points and retrain, replacing all her old cavalry generals and warrior levels with Yulin Cavalry. Now, she has become a level 13 terrifying killer, with level 1 Yulin Cavalry + level 11 Barbarian (Lion Totem) + level 1 Profane Priest.
The reason why I clicked on the Barbarian like crazy is because the level 11 Barbarian has gained advanced rage, and the strength during rage has increased from +4 to +6. After he launched his rage, the triple rage bonus has also increased directly from 12 to 18!
However, it is enough to upgrade the Barbarians to level 11, and then you can train the Yulin Cavalry as much as possible later.
During this period, Dong Zhuo, Liu Zhuang and the other five divided up countless grain, supplies, and weapons in Xiaquyang. They obtained five hundred sets of armor alone, bringing the number of armor in Liu Zhuang's inventory to one thousand sets. With so many weapons, he now has the strength to open a second camp.
The only problem might be food and fodder. The Bingzhou Military Region only provides food and fodder for its own 4,000 people. It cannot expand its army blindly before having fixed food and fodder resources.
As for the seized money, after everyone was divided and rewarded, the total treasury property of the White Horse Camp amounted to 20,000 strings of cash, or 20 million coins. Now, the entire White Horse Camp has become a wealthy man.
Amidst the joyful atmosphere, rewards from the imperial court also came down.
Huangfu Song, the General of the Left, was appointed as the Governor of Jizhou and was granted the title of Marquis of Huaili. As a native of Guanxi, he was responsible for managing Jizhou, a province ravaged by war and dominated by powerful clans.
Dong Zhuo, the General of the Eastern Army and the Governor of Hedong, was promoted to General Po Lu, transferred to be the Governor of Fufeng, and granted a title of Marquis of Linjin. He sat at the gateway to Guanzhong on behalf of the imperial court.
The two commanders who were responsible for defeating the Yellow Turbans, one was a governor and the other was a general, and they were all given titles of nobility. Liu Zhuang frowned when he heard this. Governor of Jizhou? Has the Han Emperor already begun to abolish the position of governor and establish the position of governor? ? ?
The Governor of Jizhou and the Mu of Jizhou are two completely different concepts. There are nine counties and kingdoms in Jizhou, and each governor has a salary of two thousand stones, while the Governor of Jizhou is just a small official of six hundred stones, and his status is not as good as that of the nine local officials of Jizhou.
Their only role was to supervise the nine prefects and constantly report to the emperor how these people were doing. The Jizhou Governor was a mouthpiece planted by the emperor in Jizhou, a permanently delegated inspector who had no power other than making whistleblows and intimidating the prefects from all over the country.
The governor of Jizhou was even more powerful, as he was the direct superior of the nine governors! In addition, the Han Emperor had delegated military and financial power to resist the Yellow Turbans earlier this year. As long as the governor had some troops, he could seamlessly transform into a local emperor who controlled one-thirteenth of the country. With their enormous power, it was too easy for them to have some troops.
After rewarding the two big leaders, it was the turn of Liu Zhuang and others.
Gongsun Zan was promoted to the rank of Colonel of Yanshan, and appointed Governor of Zhuo County, with a reward of three hundred gold.
Liu Zhuang was promoted to the rank of White Horse Captain, appointed Governor of Hedong, and awarded 300 gold.
Liu Bei was promoted to Sima of the Separate Department and made Magistrate of Anxi County, with a reward of 300 gold.
Zhang He was promoted to Sima of Baima Camp and rewarded with 300 gold. You and Liu Zhuang go to guard Hedong, where there is a shortage of men.
The Yellow Turbans can be spared the death penalty, but they cannot escape the punishment of life. Dong Zhuo, Liu Zhuang, these are your captives. Don't you have soldiers? Then do it yourself. Take all the surrendered soldiers and people from Xiaquyang and send them to your posts to perform corvée labor and guard the border. You can find a way to get food. We don't care whether they live or die. Anyway, these Yellow Heaven heretics cannot stay in the rich hinterland of Jizhou!
If Your Majesty hears that these captives are causing trouble again, you will chop off your own heads and send them to Luoyang!
After hearing the reward, several people thanked him one after another. Liu Zhuang's eyes lit up. Hedong Governor?! Wasn't this Dong Zhuo's previous position? He never thought that he would get such an official position.
Hedong is a good place, equivalent to the sum of the current cities of Yuncheng and Linfen. It is connected to Taiyuan in the north, Hongnong in the south, Luoyang in the east, and Chang'an in the west.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, this was the base camp of the State of Jin. Anyi, the capital of Hedong, was the old capital of the State of Jin. It was in Hedong that the princes of the State of Jin operated and expanded for generations, gradually coming to dominate the Central Plains.
After the Three Families Divided Jin, Wei State took over the extremely rich Hedong region and became the overlord of the early Warring States Period. Using this as a base, it continued to expand westwards and tried to advance to Guanzhong. However, later Wei State was frightened by Qin State and turned around to attack the Central Plains.
Jin and Wei used Hedong as their base and thus dominated the world; the end of the Han Dynasty is approaching, and I have this place, so why can't I do better than them? !
At the moment when he obtained the seal of the Hedong prefect from Dong Zhuo, Liu Zhuang's eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of madness. Endless ambition began to grow in his heart. His fingers couldn't help but touch the jade seal of the Hedong prefect, as if he was touching a peerless treasure, and his eyes were flashing with terrifying golden light.
After reading the reward, the eunuch threw the letter from his boss into Liu Zhuang's hand. The meaning was very simple: Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun are your subjects, you can appoint them yourself! Don't bother us.
After being conferred the title of nobility, Dong Zhuo was so happy that he was shaking with joy. He accepted the title and official position, but distributed all the reward money to his officers without keeping a single cent for himself.
"This is all thanks to everyone! I have been conferred a title of nobility by the imperial court, but His Majesty has not given you any reward, so this gold naturally belongs to you!"
"Marquis of Linjin! Marquis of Linjin! Marquis of Linjin!!!"
Dong Zhuo's generosity once again made the Xiliang generals under her command more loyal and fanatical towards her.
Liu Zhuang looked at the 300 gold coins awarded to him, and followed Dong Zhuo's example by dividing it into four parts. Three parts were given to Lü Bu, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun, who had made great contributions, and the last part was divided equally among the other officers. He also made the same excuse as Dong Zhuo: "The court won't promote you, so I will promote you! But you have to wait until I study how the governor and the lieutenant can appoint and dismiss officials. Wait for me for a day."
Liu Zhuang's generosity also won everyone's carnival. The Lord of the Mansion was directly promoted from Sima of the other department to Xiaowei and Taishou! This is a big official! The boss has been promoted, what else can we lack? Good days are coming to Hedong County!
What's more, Hedong is a good place. The land there is much more fertile than the land at the Yanmen border. We have followed the Lord for a year, and from today on, everyone can finally own their own land!
Chapter 111: The Vow of Love
The entire military camp began to celebrate the court's rewards, and the waves of joy almost overturned the sky. However, Liu Zhuang had no time to be happy or celebrate. He was suddenly promoted to prefect and lieutenant. It was indeed a huge promotion in his official position, but it also brought huge responsibilities and obligations.
That afternoon, Liu Zhuang selected generous gifts from his share of the spoils, mainly some books seized from the Yellow Turban Army and a bag of southern tea, and went to visit Guo Huai.
As a time traveler, I do know a lot about the Han Dynasty, but there is no book that teaches me how to be a prefect in ancient times? Your father is a prefect, so teach me.
Guo Huai was wearing a white dress with a blood-plum pattern that gave him an air of fairy-like beauty. His long black hair was tied into an elegant bun at the back of his head and secured with a pure gold plum branch. He knelt gracefully and calmly beside the teapot, reading a book and brewing tea at the same time. He looked like a fairy that had walked out of a painting.
"Oh? Congratulations to Lord Liu for being promoted to Governor of Hedong and Captain of the White Horse Army!"
When Guo Huai saw Liu Zhuang coming in, he stood up happily and bowed politely.
"Hey, there are no outsiders here. Just call me by my given name, just like before. We brothers and sisters have fought through mountains of swords and seas of fire to get to know each other! Why call me Lord of the Mansion?"
Liu Zhuang warmly held Guo Huai's white, cold little hand and slowly straightened his bent waist. Guo Huai felt the heat and temperature of his palm, and his cheeks suddenly became hot.
"Boji, you know that my brothers and I have all fought our way up from peasants. The court suddenly appointed me as a governor, and I am really terrified. I am afraid that I will fail the trust of His Majesty and the people of Hedong. Your father is the governor of Yanmen. How did he govern the people of a county on a daily basis?"
Liu Zhuang called Guo Huai's name and asked very earnestly.
"First of all, you have to change your attitude. When we meet in private, we can call each other brothers and address each other by our given names. But in public, even your wife and children must call you Lord Fu, and nothing else. You are already a governor, and you must address each other by your position when you are at work."
