2nd of June, 190 AD, Qingming.
The dragon carriage drove out of the palace on such a sunny day. The 30,000 imperial guards were all dressed in brand new black military uniforms. They held spears, lances, halberds, daggers, and other weapons as they lined up from the palace gate to the east gate of Chang 'an.
Xu Huang's garrison had also deployed 20,000 men to guard the counties along the way. Lu Bu rode his horse and followed Wang Yun behind the dragon carriage. He wanted to send the Emperor all the way to Meiwu before returning to Chang 'an.
This time, Lu Bu had taken the initiative to stay in Chang 'an. Wang Yun was surprised. He never thought that Lu Bu would be willing to stay away from the center of power. This fulfilled his wish. No one could control the government and threaten the Emperor anymore. As for the army he sent, Zhang Ji, and Ma Teng, he firmly believed that as long as the benefits he gave them were appropriate, they would definitely be willing to serve the Emperor. Unfortunately, Wang Yun had forgotten that Zhang Ji and Ma Teng's wives and children were all kept by Lu Bu's side. Unless they wanted to put righteousness above family, they would never dare to resist Lu Bu.
The reason why Lu Bu wanted to send them off this time was to go to Bingzhou to deal with the Xiongnu. Zhang Liao had already led sixty thousand cavalrymen to Fengyi County. Lu Bu only needed to bring Dian Wei, Ma Chao, and Tian Yu to meet them there and then go to Bing Province together.
Although Chang 'an Academy had only been opened for two months, its results were already quite good. Not only did he recruit many local scholars in Yongzhou, but he also got many future celebrities. For example, Meng Da and Yang Xiu.
In order to control these Confucianists, Lu Bu had even become a teacher of riding, archery, and fencing in the Academy. Heaven, earth, monarch, parents, and teachers. The ancients had always respected their teachers. If they became their teachers, would they still be able to escape from their hands? Lu Bu started scheming.
Yang Feng and Fan Chou of the Hanzhong defense line were sent to Liangzhou, and no one was stationed there. Lu Bu really didn't want to send his generals there to guard. In the end, he had no choice but to let Hou Cheng lead 20,000 infantrymen to defend Fufeng Commandery.
After Dong Zhuo's death, Lady Zhen had taken the initiative to meet Lu Bu, completely tying the Zhen family to Lu Bu's chariot. First, he made Lu Bu marry Zhen Jiang and let her be his third concubine. Then, he promised to provide all the warhorses of the Zhen family's horse farm for Lu Bu for free. Lu Bu agreed to help them build the Zhen Family's shops all over his territory.
Zhen Jiang's participation made Liu Jian quite angry, but the other three people did not care at all. She could do nothing but let them be. Fortunately, Lu Bu had killed Dong Zhuo and given up control of the court, which made her feel grateful to Lu Bu. After being coaxed by him for a few more nights, she completely accepted the gentle and virtuous Zhen Jiang.
In war, population and financial resources were the key. Lu Bu could be considered one of the more powerful dukes, but he wasn't wealthy. Lu Bu thought about it, but he still didn't know what business he should develop. He even thought of the coal mine in Bingzhou. Judging from the productivity of the people at that time, the coal developed would undoubtedly be sold at a sky-high price. Otherwise, they would not be able to make ends meet.
As for the tables and chairs, Lu Bu had thought about them before. However, such simple products could be easily copied. He couldn't let the Zhen family monopolize them. That was to force the big families of Yongzhou to move around and do this business in other places.
After discussing with Mrs. Zhen for a long time, the two of them didn't come to a conclusion. In the end, Lu Bu remembered that most of the coastal areas of Qingzhou were under Chen Gong's control. Selling salt should be a relatively profitable business.
All along, Yongzhou and other places had been using the well salt of Yizhou. Since Zhang Lu rebelled, the price of salt had soared. If not for Dong Zhuo's power, the price of salt in Yongzhou would have soared. Now, Lu Bu had the geographical advantage and the Yellow River as a natural transportation channel. It could radiate to the entire Yellow River basin. It was extremely convenient.
In the end, Lu Bu and Lady Zhen agreed that they would each take 50% of the shares. Lu Bu would be in charge of production while the Zhen family would be in charge of sales. Lu Bu didn't need to worry about any business matters. He only needed to sit down and collect the money. Moreover, both of them chose Zhen Jiang to be the general manager of sea salt sales. She was a candidate that both of them could be at ease with.
Lu Bu also expanded Jia Xu's military organization, expanding it by 1,000 mu from the original 300 mu, and gave him 3,000 guards. He also gave Jia Xu the method to train carrier pigeons and falcons. With the assistance of the Qiang people living on the grasslands, it was not too difficult to train falcons for reconnaissance.
If he could really train a carrier pigeon and a falcon. Lu Bu's army's scouting ability, mobility, and intelligence would be greatly enhanced.
However, this was not something that could be done overnight. Lu Bu would have to wait for at least a year.
Chen Gong was indeed like a fish in water. After Cai Yong resigned from the position of Situ, Lu Bu recommended Kong Rong to take up the post. No one would have any objections if the descendants of Confucius were in charge of education. Moreover, Kong Rong himself was a great scholar, so it was very suitable for him to take up the post.
When Kong Rong entered the court as an official, the position of Prime Minister of the North Sea was snatched away by Lu Bu and given to Chen Gong. With the Imperial Court's orders, Chen Gong became even bolder. He directly had Guan Hai create a fake Yellow Turban Army to attack Donglai County. He also sent troops to pacify them, naturally occupying Donglai.
With this, Chen Gong occupied almost half of Qingzhou's land and had a population of nearly one million. On the surface, it looked like a glorious place, but in reality, other than Chen Gong's territory and Kong Rong's Beihai City, most of the places were not planted in spring. Five to six hundred thousand commoners did not have enough food to survive the year. This was what gave Chen Gong the biggest headache.
Zhen Yu, who the Zhen Family sent to Beihai, had undoubtedly helped him a lot. Sea salt could be found everywhere in Qingzhou, especially after Lu Bu taught Chen Gong the method of cooking salt. The production of sea salt was even faster and more convenient. Zhen Yu wanted to sell sea salt, so Chen Gong immediately agreed. He only asked Zhen Yu to send food to Qingzhou in exchange for sea salt. This wasn't something difficult, so Zhen Yu immediately agreed.
With a large territory and a large population, Chen Gong immediately began to prepare to expand his army. He first asked Zang Ba to draw out twenty thousand strong soldiers from their army and the Yellow Turban captives to form a cavalry unit. Yu Jin picked out another fifty thousand men for training. Finally, Guan Hai led thirty thousand men to garrison Beihai and Donglai. Many of the people in their territory were Yellow Turban captives, so there were many young and middle-aged men.
As for Gan Ning's troll army, Chen Gong didn't ask too much about it. He only provided him with various conveniences. Gan Ning wasn't too eager for quick success. After settling down the craftsmen, he asked Chen Gong for a thousand more skillful soldiers and began to work with the craftsmen. Gan Ning, on the other hand, recruited five thousand soldiers who knew how to swim and began to drill. The construction of the Internet Water Army was not something that could be completed in a day or two. Thus, Lu Bu was not in a hurry, and neither was he.
The land reform in Beihai and Donglai did not go too smoothly. One of these two places was under his rule, and the other had just been occupied. The local landowners did not suffer too much of a blow, and many of the people were unable to leave their homeland, so the land distribution plan progressed slowly. In the end, it was only when a very famous old man from Huang County and other places came forward to talk that someone brought his entire family to a place with more land and fewer people.
Those landowners had no one to rent their land, so they naturally wanted to cause trouble. Chen Gong took the opportunity to kill a few of them to suppress their arrogance.
Yi Li walked for five days before the emperor's convoy arrived at Mei Wu. After resting in Mei Dock for two days, he went east again.
Lu Bu and Zhang Ji talked for a long time before bidding farewell. They headed north to Fengyi County. Zhang Liao was waiting for him there as they headed to Bingzhou together.
Lu Bu was not clear about the situation of the Xiongnu in Shaanxi, Gansu, and Mongolia, so he could only take it one step at a time. Right now, he only wanted to scare them so that they wouldn't dare to enter the Great Han Dynasty to plunder for at least five years. They could also attack one faction and pull another faction, but this could only be determined by the situation.
60,000 cavalrymen sounded like a spectacular sight, but there were also many problems. Every day, half of the camp was prepared for horses. There was no other way. The two horses were different. If they were too close, it would be purely trouble for them. The 5,000 logistics personnel performed exceptionally well under the leadership of the Turks. Even the sick horses could keep up with the progress of the main force. Even Zhang Liao and Pang De, the two old soldiers, were full of praise.
Zhao Yun had specially led her personal guards to the bank of the Yellow River to wait for Lu Bu's arrival. Half a year had passed, and he had indeed grown a lot. His every move revealed the true qualities of a general. Standing beside Zhang Xiu and Ma Chao made them blush.
During this period of time, the Bing Province Army had also formed a cavalry unit of five thousand men with the help of the Zhen family. Although they were few in number, they were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles. Under the training of new methods, they had already become a steel division. Under the leadership of Zhao Yun, they became a veritable fire brigade. They had already fought more than ten battles with the Xiongnu people and eliminated seven to eight thousand Xiongnu people.
On the other hand, Gao Shun reorganized all the infantrymen in Bing Province, adding on his own twenty thousand men, forming an army of eighty thousand men. Apart from leaving 5,000 troops in each prefecture, the remaining 50,000 troops were stationed in Yanmen Prefecture in the north by Gao Shun to defend against the Xiongnu.
The two of them, one in the north and one in the west, resisted the Huns 'plunder very well. Sima Hui also deliberately carried out some migration work, moving the people of Yanmen, Taiyuan, and Xihe to the interior, so that the Xiongnu could only see villages deep in the hinterland.
Lu Bu was very satisfied with their actions in Bing Province. Now, Bing Province only needed a few years of rest and recuperation to become a wealthy province.
Lu Bu was extremely dissatisfied with Sima Hui's policies. He was still a bit nationalistic, oppressing the Qiang, Hu, Xiongnu and other ethnic minorities to raise the status of the Han people. On this point, Lu Bu talked to him for a long time before he changed Sima Hui's thinking. However, the policy inclination and the mindset of the people could not be changed overnight. They could only do it slowly.
(Who has a website with information about the northern minorities at that time? Please help me post a link in the book review section. Thank you very much. The information I found was really incomplete. It was too difficult to write.)）
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