This also led to Jia Xu not daring to show his abilities at all. What if he displayed his talents and was promoted to a high position by people like Li Ru and Dong Zhuo, and those people killed him and implicated me as well? I can't predict my own future.
What's more, if I reveal my abilities, Dong Zhuo will ask: Come and try to predict for me.
What should I say? You had your limbs chopped off and made into a beautiful human candle? And I don't know why, how to change it, anyway, what I predicted will definitely happen? You are so dead?
Because of this, she had always kept her abilities hidden. All the members of the Xiliang Army didn't know that Jia Xu had also turned into a dragon. They just thought she was an ordinary Confucian scholar. She was not given any preferential treatment, could not get a high position, and had to stay at the grassroots level.
As time went by, Jia Xu was almost driven crazy by his own gift of prophecy. He became extremely depressed and lazy. Anyway, his lord and his gang would not have a good death, and he didn't know how to change it, so he just lived in confusion!
The people of Guandong would not tolerate a person from Liangzhou like me, so I could only hang out with Dong Zhuo for now. But it would be better for me to stay away from this group of people. I dare not show off my talents and ambitions, lest Dong Zhuo promote me to a high position of confidant, or I would be killed by a lightning strike. If anything goes wrong, I will just run away with Zhang Xiu. She is the only one among this group of people who died in a relatively decent way.
Under Li Ru's guidance, Jia Xu looked at Liu Zhuang expressionlessly, and the future of the new Hedong prefect emerged in his mind. The difference was that the previous prophecies came out one by one, but for him, two pictures emerged at the same time.
In the first scene, he is enjoying his old age and dying peacefully surrounded by people.
In the second scene, Liu Zhuang was put into a prison van and executed by slow slicing.
Jia Xu was stunned for a moment. Two completely different ways of death? What does this mean?
Suddenly, the two pictures overlapped, showing a strange quantum superposition state. Liu Zhuang in the picture he predicted seemed to come alive, constantly repeating countless strange states of life and death. Endless prophetic results grew explosively in his mind, and finally collapsed into endless darkness under his gaze.
Afterwards, no matter how he looked at Liu Zhuang, the dragon blood prophecy could no longer be activated.
Jia Xu looked at Liu Zhuang in disbelief. His ability to predict the future was ineffective on him???
It's no wonder that Jia Xu was shocked. She was just able to predict, but Liu Zhuang actually traveled through time after reading the script. Although some small details of this world were different from those in history books, the general trend was basically the same.
Therefore, he knew even more about the future than Jia Xu. Since he traveled through time, whether it was taking advantage of the time when Emperor Ling of Han decentralized the military power to recruit soldiers in advance, or trying to conquer the two sisters Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang before the world became chaotic, he was always testing the edge of the cliff. This made it impossible for Jia Xu's predictive ability to predict whether Liu Zhuang would succeed or fail.
Liu Zhuang bowed to Dong Zhuo, then carefully took out the jade token given to him by Li Ru and placed the symbol of the head of the civil servants in Hedong County and the position of Hedong County Magistrate in Jia Xu's hand with great solemnity.
"Wenhe, I would like to appoint you as the governor of Hedong County to assist me in governing Hedong.
"The world is in chaos today, and the people are displaced. General Dong has just put down the rebellion in Hedong, and the Fen River Basin is in ruins. There are tens of thousands of refugees who followed me all the way to Hedong. Would Wenhe be willing to show his talents and help me govern Hedong? And bring peace and prosperity to the people of Hedong?"
Jia Xu looked at Liu Zhuang in surprise. After a long while, he finally reached out and took the jade token of Hedong County Magistrate with trembling hands. This was Li Ru's former position, the highest civil affairs director of Hedong County, the second in command. We just met? How could he trust such an important position to an outsider like me?
When he was young, he did have a heart to save the country and the people, but because of his identity as a Liangzhou person, he was not accepted by the mainstream and could only follow Dong Zhuo. However, he predicted that all of these people would not die a good death, thus starting a decades-long career of slacking off. He never held any important official position in his life.
And today, Liu Zhuang directly entrusted her with the important task of being the prefect of Hedong County, and handed over the governance of the people of the county to her. The sudden heavy burden awakened Jia Xu's long-dormant ambitions. His existence was like a beam of golden light, shining into her extremely dark world that had long lost any hope, and rekindled a spark in her long-cold heart.
Although Liu Zhuang's future presents a weird superposition of half wealth and half torture, there is a high probability that he will die suddenly like Dong Zhuo, or even die more miserably, but at least it is not an inevitable ending... Maybe, you can try working under him?
Forget it, let's wait and see. When I usually slack off, I spend one hour to finish four hours' work, and then catch fish for three hours. After four hours, I will tell Li Ru that I have finished my work and I will not care about anything that happens in the meantime.
But now, no matter what, the Lord of the Mansion entrusted me with such an important task the first time he met me. I must at least do my job as the County Magistrate well and not let him down!
Jia Xu looked at the seal of the county magistrate in his hand, and then at Liu Zhuang's extremely solemn face. His cold and ruthless heart began to beat again, and his gray and lifeless eyes rekindled a glimmer of light. His ambitions and aspirations that had long been covered in dust were picked up by her again. With her delicate body, dragging her two plump breasts, she knelt on the ground with a plop, solemnly responding to Liu Zhuang's expectations.
"I am grateful for your kindness, Lord. I will definitely live up to your trust!"
Seeing Liu Zhuang helping Jia Xu up and the two of them taking office in a very intimate manner, Li Ru on the side was a little surprised. Huh? Why did this lazy guy suddenly have a bit of fighting spirit?
Chapter 116: Hedong Family
On the first day of Liu Zhuang's taking office, the Anyi Wei family, the largest family in Anyi and one of the three major families in Hedong, immediately held a grand banquet to entertain him. The head of the family, Wei Ji, was very generous and gave a gift of 300 gold coins, the same amount as the emperor's reward. He also unnoticedly introduced many young talents in the family to let them show their talents in front of the prefect.
This Wei Ji is not very famous, but he is also a figure and a famous calligrapher. He helped Cao Cao to govern the Guanzhong and Three Qin areas in an orderly manner. His son is Wei Guan, the one who arrested Deng Ai and suppressed Zhong Hui's rebellion.
One of the most important rights of a prefect is to recommend loyal, filial and honest people as officials. This was one of the most important channels for becoming an official in the Han Dynasty, and even the most important one. Gongsun Zan was recommended as a filial and honest person because she impressed the local prefect. This way she got rid of the embarrassing status of a concubine's daughter and rose to the top. This was one of her most important rights.
In addition to recommending talented people, the prefect was also responsible for governing the people, deciding lawsuits, investigating corruption, and appointing and dismissing his subordinates.
If you calculate carefully, the power of the prefect in the Han Dynasty was really great. He was almost the local emperor of Hedong. The military power was completely under his control, and he could control half of the political and financial power. He could promote people from his own county to be clerks, and his students and old officials could not be spread all over the world, but there was no problem if they were spread all over his own county.
However, the Han Dynasty was not unaware of the problem of excessive power of the prefects, so it imposed restrictions. Hedong County was under the jurisdiction of Sili Prefecture, and the Sili Governor, also known as the Sili Colonel, could monitor his every move and impeach him when necessary.
In addition, he could appoint talented people in the county as clerks and minor officials, but he could not appoint the highest officials in the county, such as the county magistrate and the county magistrate.
This power was firmly held in the hands of the emperor, who could only manage the rights of his subordinate county magistrates but did not have the right to dismiss them, which was a headache.
In other words, the county magistrates of the counties under the jurisdiction of Hedong County were only nominally under his control. He had no effective means to control them. In addition, all the county magistrates now had some legal private armies from aristocratic families...
Let's put it this way, at present, each county is a small Central Plains, and I am the governor, with the most soldiers and the best land. But every county magistrate under my command has soldiers, and they are not appointed or dismissed by me. If I, the governor of Hedong, don't play my job well, I will be the magistrate of Anyi County whose orders cannot be issued outside Anyi, just like the King of France, also known as the Count of the Isle of France.
On the second day after the banquet, Liu Zhuang started to work and checked the population and the amount of land in Hedong County. There were a total of 230,000 households and 960,000 people in Hedong. Although it was not as large as top counties like Luoyang and Nanyang with a population of two million, it was also a densely populated county.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion also broke out in several waves in Hedong, causing considerable turmoil. Although it was suppressed by Dong Zhuo, a lot of vacant land was still left to accommodate his people.
In addition, you must also pay attention to five special places: there is a lake in Hedong County called Yanchi, which is an excellent salt-producing area; there are also two iron mountains and two copper mountains - these five places are directly under the court. Your Majesty has set up a salt official, two iron officials, and two copper officials here to supervise the production and sale of copper, iron and salt.
These five people were all eunuchs. While doing these things, they would have some business dealings with the governor of Hedong.
Liu Zhuang secretly memorized these places and felt a little envious when looking at the Tongtie Mountains and the Salt Lake. But it didn't matter. When Emperor Ling of Han died and the Ten Attendants were executed, as soon as the world was in chaos, he would control these five places as soon as possible.
After learning everything about Hedong County, Liu Zhuang, as the prefect, began to work.
First of all, I would like to write a memorial to the emperor. Hedong also suffered damage from the Yellow Turban Army. Many serfs rose up in rebellion. In February of this year, many fields were barren and abandoned. Everything needs to be rebuilt. I earnestly request Your Majesty to exempt Hedong County from taxes for this year and next year so that the county can rest and recuperate.
Secondly, he invited a large number of Anyi clans, represented by the Wei family, to come to his military camp for a banquet.
The noble families of Anyi came to the banquet with curiosity on their faces. Liu Zhuang even left the camp early and came to greet everyone in person, giving enough face to these noble families and making them very happy: Dong Zhuo that woman is finally gone, and the new prefect seems to be a good person, and he takes great care of the feelings of our family.
However, before they arrived at the banquet venue, they heard deafening training sounds. The three battalions of soldiers under Liu Zhuang had assembled in front of the aristocratic families, and the most highly trained White Horse Battalion began training in front of the aristocratic families.
Groups of heavily armored infantry formed neat and orderly square formations, practicing attacking, holding their ground, and feigning retreat. Their flags looked like clouds and their spears like a forest.
Teams of light cavalrymen were silently galloping across the open space. The leading captain drew his bow and drew his arrow. A whistling arrow shot out of the air and hit the target sixty meters away with a sharp sound. Then all the light cavalrymen drew their bows and drew their arrows, shooting out a cloud of steel that gleamed with metallic colors. In an instant, the target was turned into a hedgehog, breaking into several pieces and falling to the ground with arrows all over it.
Groups of heavy cavalry galloped across the land, and the whole earth was shaking under their hooves, practicing the echelon charge. The first group of heavy cavalry immediately retreated after their long spears pierced the enemy without stopping, allowing the second pair of heavy cavalry to launch the second wave of offensive. The entire heavy cavalry was like a surging wave, breaking through the practiced army formation wave after wave.
Several noble families were horrified. Damn it, Liu Zhuang seemed quite friendly and polite, why did he suddenly become like the last Dong Zhuo today? It seemed like he had bad intentions.
Wei Ji, along with several leaders of Anyi's noble families, arrived at the banquet and sat in their seats very vigilantly, not knowing whether this was a Hongmen Banquet.
As a result, Liu Zhuang's first words turned the vigilance on the faces of these noble families into surprise.
"Bo Ju, I've read the list you recommended to me."
Liu Zhuang affectionately called the leader of the Anyi clan: Wei Ji's name.
"I have actually examined the group of people you recommended to me today. These descendants of your family are all young talents in Hedong County. I will now promote them to be my subordinates."
"Thank you, Lord."
A group of noble families felt relieved. Although they didn't know what he wanted to do, at least the officials of the prefect in this area were all from Hedong.
"However, I have an important matter now and need the assistance of you and the newly promoted officials."
Seeing that several people had relaxed, Liu Zhuang immediately changed the topic.
"Hedong has been hit by war this year. Many fields have not been planted and harvested. Other fields have also been ravaged by the war. I have written a petition to His Majesty, begging him to exempt Hedong County from taxes for this year and next. With His Majesty's wisdom, I believe that he will approve it soon."
"The governor is kind and virtuous."
One after another, the noble families came to flatter him.
A year ago, these people only wanted to treat me as a serf; nine months ago, they only wanted to throw me out of Yanmen County so as not to cause them trouble; but now, these small aristocratic families must bow to me respectfully.
"However, Hedong experienced a wave of Yellow Turban turmoil, and people died or fled. This year, a lot of land was abandoned and not cultivated. But it doesn't matter. I brought 7,000 soldiers and 30,000 civilians from Jizhou. I will give them these lands to cultivate. What do you think?"
"Ok, Ok."
The noble families nodded one after another. Although they were a little unhappy about ceding the land, those lands had been destroyed by the Yellow Turbans anyway. You agreed to promote our people to the rank of officials, and we also agreed to give you these wastelands. Let's just consider it a mutual compromise.
"However, these lands are too scattered. Some are in Laishui, some are in Fenshui, and some are almost going to Taiyuan. My soldiers are all fellow villagers and comrades from Yanmen and Julu, and they don't want to be separated. Therefore, I only want the fields of Laishui near Anyi."
After boiling these noble families in warm water for a while, Liu Zhuang revealed his true intentions.
"So I have a proposal. I want to exchange the vacant and abandoned farmland in other places for your farmland on both sides of the Laishui River. My soldiers must farm near Anyi and cannot be dispersed."
"Ah this?"
The noble families are getting impatient. You are offering the wasteland hundreds of miles away to exchange for the fertile land at our doorstep? As a noble family in Anyi, do we still need to send our servants to the distant Fen River to farm?
"Don't worry, don't worry. I know this is too much to ask, so I have an alternative plan."
Liu Zhuang said calmly.
"If you don't want to exchange, I can buy the land directly at its original price. If the fertility of the land is different, I can also pay the difference. Please rest assured, my soldiers are fighting in Jizhou. We also captured Xiaquyang, one of the largest strongholds of the Yellow Turban Army. I also captured the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang. I can still afford this amount of money."
Liu Zhuang boasted about his military strength.
"But it's already December, and there are less than three months until next year's farming season. Although I have seized a lot of food and grass, it is impossible to feed more than 30,000 mouths for a long time. If they still can't get the land during the spring farming season in February or March next year, I don't know what these Yellow Turban captives I brought here will do. Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang are still under my control in my tent."
The noble families looked at each other in bewilderment. How can you use money to make us feel at ease? You are using your own force to make us stop talking!
"I am willing to exchange the land on both sides of the Laishui River with the Lord."
Wei Ji thought for a moment, looked at the soldiers still training outside, and decided to compromise.
Although the imperial court opened up conscription and the Wei family also recruited 800 troops, they were no match for the absolute violence of Liuzhuang's more than 7,000 soldiers. They had an overwhelming advantage and were willing to pay money to buy your land, which was already a great honor.
If we refuse now, we will be disrespecting Lord Liu. It will be hard to say what will happen next. Who knows if we will suddenly die in the Yellow Turban Rebellion or something? We don't even know whether the new leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion will be named Zhang or Liu.
Forget it, it’s just exchanging some land, I’ll give it to you.
Seeing that the leader Wei Ji agreed, the other weaker families looked at the terrifying white horse army outside the door, thought about Liu Zhuang's agreement to promote their children and relatives to the position of Hedong officials, and thought again that this was not a hard land but a property exchange, so they gritted their teeth and agreed.
At this point, Liu Zhuang's first step of the plan had been completed. The more than 37,000 people who followed him along the way were all allocated fields near Anyi and on both sides of the Lai River. This initially stabilized the morale of the Yellow Turban surrenderers. They even distributed oxen, tools, houses and winter clothes, which made these surrendered soldiers very happy. The Yellow Turban surrenderers who had been very wary of Liu Zhuang also breathed a sigh of relief at this moment.
In any case, at least he gave us land, cattle, houses, and hope to live, which were things that even the great sage teacher could not get for us.
Chapter 117: Sisters as Concubines
Solving the farming problem for more than 30,000 people also meant that Liu Zhuang had initially won the trust of ordinary Yellow Turban people. After meeting their basic survival needs, he personally hosted blind dates and selected single or widowed women among the captives to marry single men.
Of course, unmarried men from the third battalion were given priority. After all, no one would serve in the army without any benefits. This move immediately won a lot of favor from the soldiers.
Afterwards, Liu Zhuang revealed the news that he had asked the court to exempt taxes for two years, which made the people accompanying him cheer and love him even more.
The lower-level captives were basically convinced, but at the top of the Yellow Turbans, the fifty absolute confidants who were qualified to become Thunder Warriors, as well as the two sisters Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, were still not convinced.
It is possible that the common people believe in your religion in order to survive, but when they reach the level of Thunder Warriors, they are true fanatics, and it is extremely rare for them to sneak in, such as Tang Zhou.
Liu Zhuang was also quite excited about the extremely powerful human body transformation effect of the Thunder Warriors. The Zhang Jiao sisters would never use these people. There are at least three or four hundred Thunder Warriors, but you actually used the Thunder Warriors as war commanders. The officers are scattered everywhere, dozens of them in Youzhou, dozens in Jizhou, and dozens in Henan. They cannot form a scale at all, and naturally they were defeated one by one.
Can't you gather these three or four hundred Thunder Warriors together, clench them into fists and attack them together? Once these soldiers with extremely high individual quality form a group, they will be completely overwhelming in the classical battlefield. At least they can fight against the five battalions of the Northern Army with the same number, instead of being directly defeated by the five battalions of the Northern Army.
After dealing with the land issue, Liu Zhuang immediately went to the dungeon to meet the two sisters Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang.
"All the captives in my hands have their own farmland in Hedong. I am also purchasing crops. We can start farming in the spring of next year. Everyone can live a good life. The same goes for Dong Zhuo. It is said that there is a lot of vacant land in Fufeng. There is no need to worry about the people in Xiaquyang."
Liu Zhuang comforted the two sisters Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang. Although the two women had surrendered, the emperor had ordered them to be imprisoned for life and only spared their lives. So at this moment, the two women were tied up. The scarlet leather ropes were freely wandering on the graceful and delicate skin of the two women, woven into a diamond-shaped tortoise shell bind. Several red ropes were even in the shape of "∞", passing through the white ravines, tightly encircling the breasts of the two women, making them more erect and attractive.
"Thank you, Lord."
Zhang Liang breathed a sigh of relief. At least the people of Xiaquyang were not massacred like the people of Guangzong City.
Zhang Bao's face was gloomy at this moment. After surrendering, the only thought that kept her alive was to resurrect her sister.
"Speaking of which, how were these Thunder Warriors created? The shortest of them is meters tall, with extremely high attributes and immense strength."
Liu Zhuang asked curiously, wanting to master this technology in his own hands.
"First, we need to find a boy of 13 or 14 years old and implant the gene seed in his body. This child will gradually grow into a giant of meters in five years. During this period, he will be continuously fed with magic water and transformed by surgery. In just five years, a Thunder Warrior can be created."
Zhang Bao regained some of his spirits and explained in detail the method of making the Thunder Warrior.
"Have you seen the two sides of the Thunder Warrior's neck? There is a face on each side. Those are gene seeds. Each Thunder Warrior can produce two gene seeds in ten years to cultivate the next generation. One gives birth to two, two gives birth to four, and four gives birth to eight. Unfortunately, the Thunder Warrior's Nineteen Bowls of Water has always had defects. Their genes are very unstable and they cannot live long. It's great that they can live for two hundred years."
"Are you showing off? Forget about being in your seventies or eighties. In these troubled times, being able to live to thirty or forty is already good enough. Two hundred years is nothing to be dissatisfied with."
Liu Zhuang smiled bitterly, wondering what these people's definition of longevity was.
"Of course it's a short lifespan. The Imperial Guards created by Himself can live for one or two thousand years without any problem. However, the Thunder Warriors, as a mass-produced weakened version, have a lifespan shortened tenfold. Isn't this a genetic defect? Isn't this an unstable lifespan?"
Zhang Bao also found it very strange. The beautiful face was flashing with crazy colors.
"I know you also want to build your own Thunder Warriors, right? I can teach you, but you have to agree to one condition of mine."
"please say."
"I need a complete set of experimental equipment to revive my sister, Zhang Jue, but I don't know how to do it specifically. Please ask the nearby aristocratic scholars if there is anyone who knows these things. As long as I see hope for resurrection, I will immediately give you the method of making the Thunder Warrior.
However, unfortunately, the method of making Thunder Warriors can only be used on children aged thirteen or fourteen or even younger. Those of you who are in your twenties and have grown up already cannot become Thunder Warriors. "
"Yes, I can help you find a way to revive Zhang Jiao."
Liu Zhuang agreed without hesitation. Although it was a pity that he could not become a Thunder Warrior, it did not matter. He could reach the same level or even surpass the Thunder Warriors with the magic stolen from Khorne and Huang Tian.
"But I have one condition."
Liu Zhuang stared closely at Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang's eyes. His biggest problem now was that he had too many Yellow Turban captives. These people were only willing to listen to him after the land was divided. The fifty captured Thunder Warriors still refused to obey.
