Volume 1 Jiangdong Fengyun Chapter 36 Qu'a
After Bai Tu and his party arrived at the south bank, they said goodbye to the Chen family's fleet and then rushed to the nearby Qu'a County.
The handover went very smoothly. Although Qu A Ling was a little confused about Bai Tu's age at first, after checking the official seal and documents, he quickly "handed over, refused, and said goodbye" three times.
He didn't even give Bai Tu a chance to stay...
Obviously, this Qu'aling just wanted to complete his mission and then return to his hometown to avoid the chaos, and he didn't want to get involved in other right and wrongs.
Bai Tu successfully took over Qu'a, Piling, and Yangxian, three counties in the northern part of Wujun, within three days. As for the other ten counties in Wujun, most of them were already controlled by Yan Baihu and Zuo Rong. The governor Xu Gong also acquiesced and even condoned this. The envoys sent were all teased and ridiculed and sent back...
For the time being, Bai Tu didn't have time to deal with him. After all, he had to be on guard against Yuan Shu causing trouble.
Historically, after Liu Yao came to Qu'a, he also had constant conflicts with Yuan Shu, but Bai Tu believed that compared to Liu Yao, Yuan Shu would target him more!
Bai Tu was already in Qu Aji's Chengji Mansion at this time. Qu Aji looked about the same age as Xiao Peiji. Like Xiao Peiji at the beginning, she was also wearing a cloth skirt. However, compared to Xiao Peiji, Qu Aji's skirt only reached below the knees, revealing her two small white legs.
When he saw Bai Tu, he looked at her curiously . She would sit on the operating table all the time, not as shy as Xiao Peiji...
"You are the governor of Yangzhou? Ah... I never thought that there would be a day when I would be a concubine of Yangzhou! Hahaha, Shouchun Ji must be so angry!" Qu Aji said, laughing and slapping her thigh.
"Just temporarily..." Bai Tu has now been appointed as a provincial governor by the imperial court and can move his seat of government.
Moreover, Bai Tu knew that if it happened in history, this transfer would have opened up an era of two Yangzhous, north and south, which would last for several decades.
Shouchun, the real seat of government of Yangzhou, was under the control of the northern regime during the Three Kingdoms period. A Yangzhou was established in the north and the south respectively until the "royal power of Nanjing was withdrawn" and the seat of government of Yangzhou became one again.
As for whether history can be changed now, Bai Tu doesn't know either.
"Just for now, got it!" Qu Aji urged, holding Bai Tu's hand and placing the official seal in the designated location.
"Huh? You're quite attractive?" This sentence was obviously said by Qu Aji.
It took a long time to read the official seal of Bai Tu because there were too many technology trees.
Then the first thing Bai Tu did was to use his authority as the governor of Yangzhou to designate Qu'a Ji as the governor of Yangzhou and make Qu'a the temporary seat of government of Yangzhou!
Bai Tu and Yuan Shu, now one in name and the other in power, can both exercise the full power of the governor of Yangzhou, and Shouchun's function as the governor's seat will not disappear.
"Then help me communicate with all the counties in the state, report the household registration and financial situation, and allocate winter manpower and tax revenue to me." Bai Tu said.
Even though others may not pay attention to you, you still have to send the white map!
After hearing this, Qu Aji's eyes sparkled, and she seemed very happy to have the opportunity to pass on the message to Shouchun Ji.
The governor's message did not arrive immediately, and the next step was to wait for responses from various counties. At this time, Bai Tu also clicked on the technology column.
Only then did Qu Aji realize that Bai Tu had a lot of "information"!
There are many good things in Bai Tu, such as the improved Shu brocade craftsmanship promised to Gan Ning, as well as fine ceramics, distilled liquor, and glass firing... Unfortunately, now is not the time to do these.
The first thing Bai Tu needs to do is to make something to protect himself.
Jiangdong did not suffer much damage during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The Yellow Turbans instigated by Ma Yuanyi mainly caused rebellion in Jingbei and Huainan, and they never set their attack target on Jiangdong.
The entire thirteen counties of Wujun have a total population of more than 600,000. The three counties of Qu'a, Yangxian and Piling that Bai Tu can control have a total population of more than 150,000, which means that they can provide 150,000 manpower a year, which is collected in four quarters.
More manpower can be mobilized in winter, but now Bai Tu, the governor of Yangzhou, can mobilize less than 50,000 manpower.
What does 50,000 manpower mean?
It takes 50 people to train the most common soldiers, and 10 people are needed every year to maintain them. In addition, the training efficiency is lower in winter and the consumption of food and grass is higher. If all of them are used to train soldiers, at most one thousand new soldiers can be obtained in the spring...
As for the original Han troops in the three counties, there were less than two thousand of them in total, and their equipment, morale, and level of eliteness were all terrible.
Besides, repairing bridges and roads, clearing silt and building embankments, which one does not require manpower? Excessive military expansion will sow hidden dangers for development!
For a moment, Bai Tu even coveted Gan Ning's stolen goods - if he had money, he could directly hire common people to do these labor services, as labor during the slack season was extremely cheap these days.
It's just that after requisitioning manpower, it will cost money to mobilize the people. Otherwise, it will be no different from directly overdrawing manpower, which will be a move that will lose the support of the people.
Bai Tu actually felt some sympathy for Liu Yao in history. In comparison, at least he still had a thousand elite wolf riders from Lu Bu's army, so he felt somewhat confident.
However, with this amount of manpower... Bai Tu thinks it is more reliable to look at technology. In Bai Tu's technology tree, there is a city defense machine!
His eyes shifted away from the Mongolian Heavy Cavalry, Iron Pagoda, Guanning Iron Cavalry, Black Armor Army, Modao Team... these arms - whether in terms of manpower, material resources, or the level of military equipment technology, these were all things that Bai Tu could not afford now.
Now the city defense machinery is still reliable!
And it can’t be too complicated or too expensive, it has to be completed quickly... Bai Tu’s choice-making dilemma is about to kick in.
Fortunately, this did not cause Bai Tu too much headache. Three days later, after Bai Tu faced the cruel reality, good news came back one after another.
All the counties have already responded to Bai Tu, and Jiujiang County responded the fastest. Yuan Shu personally sent a letter, saying that he invited Bai Tu to Shouchun to take up the post, and he had already prepared a banquet...
I don’t believe you!
Bai Tu simply ignored Jiujiang, and later found two reply letters from Lujiang, both from the prefect of Lujiang - one from Lu Kang who was appointed by the court, and the other from Liu Xun who was appointed by Yuan Shu.
Last year, Lu Kang denounced Yuan Shu as a traitor and refused to allocate food and fodder. As a result, Yuan Shu sent Sun Ce's troops to attack Lujiang.
Originally, Lu Kang was unable to stop the enemy and could only defend Lujiang City, which was Shucheng, the capital of Lujiang County.
Lu Kang was very popular among the people in Lujiang. Although he was constantly being attacked, his army was determined and their morale was high. On the other hand, Sun Ce almost conquered the entire Lujiang area. When only Shucheng was left, Yuan Shu gave the Lujiang prefecture promised to Sun Ce to Liu Xun and transferred Sun Ce back.
Not only did Sun Ce feel angry, but Liu Xun was also much less capable than Sun Ce. After fighting for more than a year, Shucheng was still holding out, so Liu Xun had to temporarily move his capital to Wancheng.
Liu Xun's reply to Bai Tu seemed polite, but it was actually provocative. Lu Kang told the new Yangzhou governor not to be impulsive and said that he would stick to it until the end...
Bai Tu had no impression of Lu Kang, but he knew that he had a nephew named Lu Xun.
But now Bai Tu couldn't talk to Lu Kang about the matter of his nephew and grandson. Knowing that Lu Kang was still strong, Bai Tu felt relieved. In history, Lu Kang held out for two years before being defeated. Now... Bai Tu hoped that he could hold on a little longer, and maybe he would be able to catch up with him to rescue him.
The good news that is really useful to Baitu comes from Danyang and Yuzhang...
