Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 377: On the Ascendant
When the State of Chu was first established, it was really busy, and really idle.
On the one hand, Jingzhou had just surrendered, and it would take time to put Jingzhou under control.
Yangzhou was polished out bit by bit from Baitu. Now with Yangzhou as the base, it is much easier to return Jingzhou to it - if there is chaos, we will put it down... but it is better to avoid chaos if possible.
On the other hand, many technologies that are being promoted have not been transformed into strength and advantages due to time and energy constraints!
For example, cement has been developed, but...what about cement roads?
How much can the flow of goods and military mobilization in Jingyang be enhanced simply by paving the main roads with cement?
With blast furnaces for smelting iron and steel pouring and frying, steel production is about to explode, but there is no time to accumulate.
The microscope had been invented, cytology was in its infancy, and the idea of penicillin had been found, but it still took time to separate and experiment. Although there were side effects from its abuse, once penicillin became popular, war losses would be greatly reduced again.
There is still a lot of room for improvement in the efficiency of collective farming, the expansion of pig and chicken farming...
Wang Lang's criminal law reform is gradually getting on the right track, but the number of grassroots coroners is still seriously insufficient, and students from official schools are needed to accumulate...
Just in the two states of Jing and Yang, with a population of over 10 million, there is already a lot of potential to be tapped.
The white map itself is not intended to be a "fast push flow". Now that Jing Yang is in control, it naturally hopes that the situation can be more stable.
The Six Marquises of Assisting Han now want to pacify Sili and connect Xuzhou to form a horizontal alliance; Cao Cao wants to wipe out the remaining Yuan clan members and dominate the north, so in the short term, they will not have any ideas about Chu...
After the establishment of the State of Chu, all six ministries were gathering their strength, but... the Privy Council was relatively idle.
Now, going to the South to quell the rebellion has become a hot-spot "important position".
What's the chaos in the South?
Occasionally, there would be rebellion from one or two small tribes of the Shanyue and Wuxi, or from the Han people's mountain strongholds, and sometimes there would be trouble due to mining disputes. Basically, the county garrison could handle it. However, as long as the news could get out, one general after another would jump up and down to ask for a fight!
Even Huang Zhong is now eager to make a contribution and is shamelessly going to suppress the bandits.
Lu Bu is currently complaining about this matter at the palace meeting...
"There are just some disturbances in Zhangling County right now. We just need to continue with our cautious strategy and gradually drive the mountain people away and lure them down the mountain. There is really no need to start a war," Lu Kang advised.
With cement, bunkers can be built at any time, and the mountain people have lost all their advantages. In addition, with various favorable measures, most of the mountain people have already gone down the mountain. Now the remaining diehards, or those who are half civilians and half bandits, can't hold on for too long.
"I also know that these people will only cause trouble if they go there, but letting them have excess energy all the time is not a solution... If the navy fleet can go out to sea now, can we send a batch to Liaodong? Or to Qingzhou!" Lu Bu was also very annoyed.
"The Gongsun clan of Liaodong is doing well now and has an alliance with us. If we intervene rashly, I'm afraid the Gongsun clan will be the first to resist us together with Goguryeo, Buyeo, and the Three Han, and we will be dragged into a battlefield thousands of miles away for nothing." Lu Su had carefully read the intelligence about Liaodong brought back by the navy before.
In the eyes of the Han princes, the value of the northern tribes is to be used as cannon fodder after they are conquered...
Just like Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan, who is now the governor of Bingzhou, is trying to persuade the Khan of the Southern Xiongnu to join forces with him to fight against Cao Cao. Not to mention the Wuhuan, who have always been Yuan's allies. Gongsun Zan also allied with the Xianbei before his demise. Now Ma Teng and Han Sui are still the leaders of the Qiang tribes in Xiliang.
If Bai Tu did something to Liaodong at this time, Gongsun clan would have no psychological burden at all to unite with Wuhuan and Xianbei to resist.
As for attacking Qingzhou, Lu Su did not mention it at all.
What is the difference between attacking Qingzhou by sea and attacking Xuzhou directly? Aren't they both fighting against the forces supporting Han? It is completely contrary to the current policy of Chu.
"Alas, it's a pity for Cao Aman. Not only is he a loser, but he also doesn't trust others. Otherwise, he could have passed through Bingzhou instead. How could Bingzhou be in such a predicament now!" Lu Bu got angry whenever he mentioned this.
Today's Bingzhou is no longer the same as when Lu Bu left...
Bingzhou originally had nine counties, namely Shangdang, Taiyuan, Yanmen, Dingxiang, Xihe, Shangjun, Wuyuan, Shuofang and Yunzhong, occupying Hedong and the entire Hetao area.
However, the Hetao region does have some historical problems. In the pre-Qin period, King Wuling of Zhao, the one who wore Hu clothing and rode and shot arrows, expanded his territory to here, but failed to gain a foothold. After the Qin Dynasty unified the country, it defeated the Xiongnu here and began to move people to the border, but it was lost again in the late Qin and early Han dynasties...
During the reign of Emperor Wu, Wei Qing completely drove the Huns out of Hetao, but in the following three hundred years, although the Han Dynasty considered this area as part of its territory, its policies often fluctuated.
Sometimes they would relocate people to the border, that is, move the people there in the hope of gaining a permanent foothold here. However, once the Huns came to surrender, they would use this place as a place for the Southern Huns to relocate, and even take the people who had already moved to Hetao and resettle them in other places.
Firstly, this place is indeed suitable for nomadic people to survive. Secondly... the Han Dynasty did not have the determination to win this place, and its policies often wavered. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, of the nine counties in Bingzhou, except for the three easternmost counties of Yanmen, Taiyuan and Shangdang from north to south, which still had a population, the registered population of the other six counties did not exceed 5,000 households - there were only more than 20,000 people in one county, not as large as a county in the Central Plains.
It’s not that the population is really that small, but the Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, and Qiang... these people are not included.
Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the Han Dynasty's control over the six counties of Bingzhou was already very weak. For example , when Han Sui was rebellious in Liangzhou, the court seriously discussed the plan of abandoning Liangzhou. Fortunately, the counselor Fu Xie reprimanded the then prime minister Cui Lie, so Emperor Lingdi did not remove Liangzhou from his territory with a stroke of his pen...
During the Yuan Shao period, he mainly focused on the struggle for hegemony in the Central Plains and left the six counties of Bingzhou unattended. Historically, after Cao Cao occupied this place, he implemented the Great Nine Provinces Plan, and incorporated the three counties east of Bingzhou and the northern part of Xihe County into Jizhou. After that, "Bingzhou" was no longer established, and Hetao also separated from China during this period.
What Lu Bu is dissatisfied with now is that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao directly abandoned the place where he fought...
Do you know how much effort we put into securing this? How can you be so open-minded?
Lu Bu even wanted to borrow the passage back to Bingzhou, but... Cao Cao would not believe such nonsense - don’t you think this Prime Minister doesn’t know how to use the passage to attack Guo?
Bai Tu also saw that Lu Bu was mainly annoyed by other people, so he suggested: "Foster father, there haven't been any wars recently, but we can't stop training the troops. There's no intention to reduce the army... First, the Jingzhou army needs to be reorganized and trained as soon as possible. Second, I think it's better to organize exercises for the generals and troops who have nothing to do."
"Exercise?" Lu Bu was stunned when he heard this and didn't understand what it meant.
"We can just replace the wooden arrows and spears with one army as the defender and the other as the attacker. Whether it's a battle to capture a city or a battle to capture a stronghold, a surprise attack, or a long-distance raid... we can simulate them one by one! We haven't had a large-scale war for a long time, and we can't let everyone be idle.
By the way, for those cities that are planning to rebuild their walls with bricks, stones and cement, don’t let the craftsmen tear down the old walls. Let the idle workers practice siege!” Bai Tu explained with gestures.
Huang Chengyan nodded upon hearing this and said, "This is a good idea. We can just pull two armies and go to Nanjun for an exercise!" This old guy is really cruel to "his own people".
Lu Kang then laughed and interrupted, "My lord and the Privy Councilor must have other things to do recently, right? Don't delay the 'business'...hahaha."
That’s right, Bai Tu’s wedding date is getting closer and closer.
Although she was crowned queen before, the wedding has not yet taken place...
