Chapter 170: North-South Integration
Lu Xun shook his head and said, "This governance is indeed different from other states and counties."
"Captain Lu, have you ever known about the affairs of Liang Province before?" Hao Zhao asked with a smile.
"A little bit." Lu Xun replied: "After I arrived in Luoyang, I was introduced by the Shangshu You Pushe Wei Gong, and I had a deep conversation with Yang Fu and Yang Yishan for two days."
"How is Mr. Yang in Luoyang?" Hao Zhao said, "I have been in Jincheng for many years and have known Mr. Yang for a long time."
"If we talk about officials who were born in Yongliang, after Fengling Zhang Gong and Fufeng Su Gong (Zhang Ji and Su Ze), Yang Gong is the leader."
Although Yang Fu once served as the prefect of Liangzhou, he was only a captain at the city gate in Luoyang.
I guess it's not going to work out.
Lu Xun thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Mr. Yang is in good health, what's wrong with staying in Luoyang?"
"Mr. Yang also asked me to bring a letter to General Hao. Please wait a moment. I will go out and get it."
After smiling at a few people, Lu Xun slowly stood up, walked to the next room, and went straight to find his chief secretary Zhou Duo.
"Jin Ning, give me the two letters you brought from Luoyang." Lu Xun said to Zhou Duo.
Zhou Duo took out a wooden box from the package and took out two letters from it: "Captain, this one is from Duke Wei to Xiahou Fangbo, and this one is from Captain Yang to General Hao."
"I understand." After Lu Xun took the two letters, his eyes fell on a slightly smaller letter below.
Jiang Wei had handed this letter to him just when he left Shouchun.
During the more than one month of traveling, Lu Xun wanted to open the letter several times. Anyway, the emperor was not around and there was no one else to supervise, so what was the harm in knowing something earlier?
Regardless, Lu Xun held back.
Keeping this letter can at least keep a little memory for the journey. When you are in a foreign land, you have already forgotten about the affairs of the country and family. If you don't keep some memories, wouldn't life be boring?
Zhou Duo was also aware of this matter.
"Captain, although we haven't reached your residence yet, this place, Xidu, is already farther away than your residence. Do you want to see the emperor's order?" Zhou Duo was also curious.
Lu Xun shook his head: “Let’s talk about it after the banquet is over.”
Zhou Duo immediately understood and said nothing more.
The three were a little surprised when they saw Lu Xun coming in with two letters.
"I brought two letters from Luoyang." Lu Xun sat down and said with a smile, "One is from Duke Wei to Xiahou Fangbo, and the other is from Lieutenant Yang to General Hao."
Xiahou Ba and Hao Zhao were not the shy type, so they started reading the letter immediately after receiving it.
While reading the letter, Xiahou Ba stroked his chin.
"It's a bit difficult, but not impossible." Xiahou Ba said to himself, "It will still take some time."
Lu Xun asked in surprise: "Fang Bo, what's so difficult?"
Xiahou Ba put the letter aside and said with a smile: "Duke Wei asked me to transfer a thousand soldiers from each county to Captain Lu for use in the garrison of your lord."
Hao Zhao interrupted and asked, "What's so difficult about mobilizing a thousand soldiers from one state?"
"Bo Dao, it's easy to mobilize troops." Xiahou Ba looked at Hao Zhao, "But the Duke of Wei said in the letter that each county should provide its own military expenses, which is a bit difficult to do."
Lu Xun asked: "Is it because the journey is too long?"
Xiahou Ba nodded: "That's right. Captain Lu, do you know how many counties there are in Liangzhou?"
"I know about this. The four counties in Hexi are Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei from west to east." Lu Xun counted on his fingers: "North of Zhangye is Xihai County. Together with Jincheng and Xiping counties, there are seven counties in total."
"The distances between the seven counties in Liangzhou are incomparable to those in the inland provinces." Xiahou Ba said: "From Dunhuang to Wuwei, and then through Lingju to Xidu, the distance is nearly 2,500 miles."
Xiahou Ba spread his hands and said, "Even this time, I only brought a thousand soldiers from Wuwei County and three thousand Qiang cavalry from the surrounding areas of Wuwei to suppress the rebellion."
"The Duke of Wei in Luoyang may have mistakenly believed that the counties could transport food and money as easily as the prefectures in the interior." Xiahou Ba said, "But it doesn't matter. Then we won't do as the Duke of Wei said. The military expenses will be paid by the prefecture."
Lu Xun bowed and saluted: "I have just arrived in Liang Province. It would be difficult to do anything without the support of the province. Thank you, Xiahou Fangbo."
"It's okay, it's okay." Xiahou Ba said with a smile.
In fact, before Lu Xun, several people had already known that the court would send Lu Xun and Lu Boyan to Liangzhou, and they were all somewhat surprised.
Who doesn't know the name of Lu Xun?
Although Xiahou Ba and Hao Zhao did not know the details of the battle of Wancheng, everyone knew that the Wei Dynasty always treated surrendered generals with kindness.
From Huang Quan and Meng Da of Shu Han several years ago to Han Zong of Eastern Wu last year, almost all of these surrendered generals were given high positions and real jobs.
Lu Xun was an important official of the Eastern Wu, and his authority and responsibility were more important than those of Huang Quan and Meng Da. As soon as Lu Xun surrendered, he was appointed as the Protector of the Qiang, which was enough to show the emperor's attitude.
Xiahou Ba smiled and said, "Captain Lu is older, and we are all colleagues serving the Wei Dynasty. There is no need to be so polite in addressing each other by our official titles." "Brother Boyan, we can just call each other by our given names."
Although Xiahou Ba's words were polite, the address of "Brother Boyan" coming directly from his mouth undoubtedly carried a hint of irresistibility.
The guest should follow the host's wishes, and Lu Xun's mentality had already calmed down at this time.
"Thank you, Zhong Quan." Lu Xun said with a smile and clasped his fists.
"Brother Boyan," Hao Zhao said, "I have heard that there are also Shanyue people in Dongwu. How do people in Jiangdong treat Shanyue?"
Lu Xun stroked his beard and said, "Bo Dao, you don't know that the people of Shanyue are not all foreigners."
"Oh?" Hao Zhao asked in surprise, "There are Han people among the Shanyue people?"
"Yes, almost half of them are Han people." Lu Xun nodded and said, "In fact, the so-called 'Shanyue' are also called 'bandits' or 'mountain people'."
"The Shanyue people often grow grains in the mountains and forge their own weapons and armor, and do not pay taxes." Lu Xun explained: "Jiangdong usually deals with the Shanyue by driving them out of the mountains, often selecting the strong and fit ones as soldiers and the weak ones as civilians."
Xiahou Ba said: "How come the Shanyue sound similar to the wealthy and powerful families?"
Lu Xun nodded: "It's almost the same."
"But now that Linqiang and Xidu counties have been recovered, what arrangements will be made from now on?" Lu Xun asked, "When will the foreign troops and the soldiers in the state return?"
"Brother Boyan is right. It is time to discuss this matter." Xiahou Ba responded, "Bo Dao, what did General Zuo say?"
Hao Zhao was silent for a few moments and then said, "The soldiers in Jincheng are easy to deal with, as it is not very far from Xidu to Jincheng. However, the 1,000 soldiers in Ji County will probably have to return to Tianshui after the two counties are recovered."
Lu Pan continued, "That's right. Since Captain Lu has already arrived in Xidu, I will lead the army back to Tianshui starting tomorrow."
"General Zuo said that there have been some signs of instability in Shu Han recently. Even if we start to march back tomorrow, it will take at least April to reach Tianshui."
Xiahou Ba nodded: "Since Bo Dao's two thousand soldiers are here, the situation has been settled, and Qu Ying has fled far away, I believe there will be no more trouble."
"Tomorrow... forget it. I'll set off back to Wuwei in two days."
Lu Xun asked with a hint of doubt: "Why are you all leaving in such a hurry?"
"I am different from Brother Zhongquan." Lu Pan also said a few more words: "I am leading troops in Ji County, Tianshui, which is an important place against Shu after Qishan Fort. This time, I only led 1,000 of the 3,000 soldiers in Ji County."
"Now that the situation in Xiping County has been resolved, I should return quickly."
"Brother Zhongquan brought troops here. The soldiers from Wuwei County are fine. But the 3,000 Qiang cavalrymen recruited, although they don't need military expenses, still have to pay for food and horse feed, and they have to be rewarded after they return."
"Yes!" Xiahou Ba nodded and said, "When the Wei army deployed troops in Liang Province, it always did so quickly and swiftly."
"When my father, Xiahou Zhengxi, was alive, the army said he used 'five hundred soldiers in three days, one thousand in six days'. Wasn't it because of the long journey that forced him to do so?"
"I also heard of Xiahou Zhengxi's reputation when I was in Jiangdong." Lu Xun bowed his hand to indicate that since Xiahou Ba mentioned his dead father, he still had to be polite.
Of course, Lu Xun also thought of other things in his mind. For example, Liu Bei killed your father, and I almost killed Liu Bei...
Of course, he couldn't say this out loud. Otherwise, he might die of illness less than three days after taking office.
Lu Xun said: "In this case, when deploying troops in Liang Province, food and fodder logistics are the most important things."
"That's right. I didn't bring much supplies with me when I came from Wuwei this time." Xiahou Ba said with a smile, pointing to the mutton on the table in front of him: "But it's okay to eat mutton a few more times."
"Brother Boyan, you may not have eaten this dish. This is mutton from Wuwei County. It is fat but not greasy and the meat is delicious. After it is cooked until soft, it is extremely delicious when dipped in salt. It does not have the smell of mutton from other places. It is really unique."
Just now, they were so busy talking that they didn't even eat a few bites of the food.
“Wuwei is still in the north of Guzang, right?” Lu Xun picked up a piece of mutton and put it in his mouth, feeling the surprise from his taste buds.
"It's really delicious!" Lu Xun praised from the bottom of his heart: "Yangzhou doesn't have such food. The best dish in the banquet is Songjiang perch, and mutton is almost not available."
"Hahaha," Xiahou Ba said with a smile, "Fish and mutton are fresh. It seems that the delicacies in this banquet must also be a combination of north and south."
"Raise your voice!" Xiahou Ba raised the wine jar.
"Raise your glass!" The four of them drank it all in one gulp, and both the host and the guests were in great joy.
After being half drunk, Lu Xun ended the banquet and walked towards his bedroom with slightly shaky steps.
The Chief Clerk Zhou Duo was standing not far to the side. Lu Xun beckoned to Zhou Duo, who immediately understood and followed Lu Xun into the room, presenting the letter that the emperor had given to Lu Xun in Shouchun.
(End of this chapter)
