Spring came and winter went. A new year had come. Fan Xing and his family had been living in Xun Yu's house for almost half a year. During this period, Fan Xing and Xun Yu's uncle and nephew's relationship was getting better and better. Now Fan Xing called him by his surname. Since Fan Xing didn't have a surname, Xun Yu and his uncle and nephew called him Brother Fan.
On this day, Fan Xing suddenly remembered that he had asked " Hidden Dragon " to buy the Xuantu Prefecture. He wondered how the Xuantu Prefecture was developing. He had written a few books for " Hidden Dragon " about agriculture, smelting, military establishment, political system, and so on. The reason why he asked Hidden Dragon to buy Xuantu Prefecture was that Xuantu was far away from the central government, which was beneficial for his development. Secondly, this place was often harassed by the Wuhuan, so the local aristocratic families were less powerful, which made it easier for them to implement their own new system.
Fan Xing said to Xun Yu after breakfast,""Wen Ruo, this little brother has been out for a long time, it's time to go home and lie down.”Xun Yu listened to his face and said reluctantly,"If that's the case, Wen Ruo won't keep you. Tonight, we'll have a drink."”The next day, Fan Xing and the others left the Xun Family with Xun Yu, Xun Gun, and Xun Yu's help. They were on their way to Xuantu County.
Xuantu County Governor's Mansion
Gao Ren stood by the window and looked at the scenery outside. It had been two years since he came to Xuantu County. He had fulfilled the young master's request and even exceeded his original requirements. Gao Ren was the person sent by Hidden Dragon to be the prefect of Xuantu Prefecture. Xuantu Prefecture was on the right track now, every place was operating smoothly. Fan Xing would come to Xuantu Prefecture soon to give instructions on the next step of the plan. Gao Ren recalled the time when he first came to Xuantu County.
Two years ago, in the first year of Guanghe (178), when the Spirit Monarch sold his official position in the West Garden, he was ordered to buy the position of Xuantu Prefecture prefect. Although he didn't quite understand why his young master wanted to buy an official position in such a remote and dilapidated place, since it was an order from the higher-ups, he had to obey it unconditionally. Before he left for the appointment, his young master had specially instructed him to do many things. No one knew what his young master had said to him. They only knew that when he came out of his young master's room, his eyes were filled with admiration.
Xuantu County was located in a remote area and was often plundered by the Wuhuan and other races, so it was particularly desolate and dilapidated. When Gao Ren first arrived, he thought it was a ruin. Due to the frequent harassment of the Wuhuan, some of the major clans in the county had all left. There were not many civilians left in the county. There were only about 100,000 in the entire county, and many of them were old, weak, sick, and disabled.
As soon as Gao Ren took office, he gathered all the local officials. According to the intelligence provided by the Hidden Dragon, he pulled out all the useless, corrupt, and spies from other places and carried out a great purge. He cleared most of them. However, Young Master seemed to have predicted this situation. Dozens of people who came with Gao Ren were good at government affairs. He immediately assigned them to other places. In this way, he controlled the power of the officials in Xuantu Prefecture. As for the army, he would reorganize the entire Xuantu County army and get rid of the old and weak. Then, he would mix them with the second battalion of the Vanguard Army for training. With Zhao Jie to deal with them, he wasn't worried.
The next step was to divide the land equally. This was a little difficult as it would offend those local clans. Sure enough, when he announced that he was going to divide the land equally, other than a few discerning clans who offered up their land, the rest were unwilling to do so. Gao Ren only knew that he had to complete the task. As for the other consequences, he didn't care at all. Under the financial invasion of the Fan family and the military attack of the "Hidden Dragon", several noble families who took the lead in resisting were either annexed or inexplicably disappeared. At this time, those noble families who resisted knew that the prefect was not to be trifled with. Although they were unwilling, it was better than losing their lives. They all gave up their land. However, Gao Ren didn't ask for it for nothing. Those lands were bought with money. However, the price was naturally very low. After Gao Ren bought the land, he divided the land according to the population of each family in the county. When he first arrived, the Hidden Dragon had given him a piece of information, so he didn't get much. As for the arrangements of those aristocratic families, Gao Ren also specifically explained the huge commercial benefits and spent a lot of effort to appease them.
When the news of the land being divided equally was released, the commoners did not dare to believe it at first. However, when some bold people went to claim their land, they all went to claim their land. Although the land was officially owned by the government, the government only required them to hand over the surplus grain and some basic land taxes every year. Moreover, they did not have to hand over the land tax for the first two years. The local civilians were naturally delighted about this and praised the new prefect.
Gao Ren then exempted all the miscellaneous taxes, leaving only some necessary taxes. This move was supported by the majority of the people. Soon, this news was spread by some people. Some people who had no land or were living in poverty started to move to Xuantu County with a glimmer of hope. Xuantu County didn't disappoint them. After the first batch of immigrants came with good news, more and more refugees started to move to Xuantu County.
After settling the problem of the land, Gao Ren gathered all the skilled craftsmen from all over the world and told them about the new smelting technology, weapons, armor, and farming tools that his young master had told him about, such as using coal to increase the heat of combustion. He also told them how to make porcelain and glassware. These were the income of Xuantu Prefecture. Compared to the first two items, glassware was much simpler. However, it was the most precious thing for people nowadays. Because of its rarity and beautiful appearance, it soon became the object of those noble clans and high-ranking officials. As a result, the price of glassware also rose, making those officials of Xuantu Prefecture so happy that they couldn't even close their mouths. If those people who bought glassware at a high price knew that these glassware were made of useless things, they would be furious.
When the Tri-colored Glazed Tile of the Tang Dynasty was successfully burned and became a new collection of the noble families, Gao Ren further promoted the transformation of those land aristocratic families into commercial aristocratic families. He turned the monopoly sales of glass products into joint operations with those aristocratic families, allowing those aristocratic families to obtain more profits. The unhappiness of dividing their land had long been forgotten. After other land aristocratic families learned of the high profits of doing business, they began to follow suit. However, most of them still sat and watched.
After managing the income of Xuantu Prefecture, Gao Ren started to implement the political system that his young master told him-the three provinces and six departments system. Most of the people in Xuantu Prefecture were his people, so it was easy to implement. He had also built two schools. One was the Recruitment School. Anyone with skills could come here to register. Regardless of their status, they could go to different departments to be officials after being examined. Once this news spread, some of the unaccomplished talents in the surrounding areas all joined Xuantu County. Instead, it was the Technology Museum. This was a place for experienced craftsmen, farmers, and others to exchange and research new technologies. Every time a new and useful technology was developed, the researcher would receive an official award. This gave hope to those craftsmen, carpenters, and farmers who were usually looked down upon and not valued. They all actively entered the Technology Museum to express their opinions. Among them were Ma Jun and Zheng Hun. These people played an important role in Fan Xing's path to hegemony. It was because of these people that Fan Xing's technology was always ahead of others.
After Gao Ren arranged for his subordinates to do all these, he announced in Xuantu Prefecture that all men who were old enough had to attend military training and all children who were old enough had to receive education. Under Gao Ren and the other officials 'explanation, the people of Xuantu Prefecture obeyed their decision very happily. All those aged 18-35 had received military training and all those aged 6 had to receive education. Zhao Kui was responsible for the military training, while Gao Ren had set up schools in each city for teaching. The children of the Fan family would teach first, and then they would gather celebrities from all over the country to teach. Other than Confucianism, there were also mathematics, military affairs, politics, and mechanics. Military and politics were easily accepted by the people, but mathematics was new to them, so it was difficult for them to get started at first. Technicians were rejected by the Confucians because they saw them as exotic skills. However, after the officials analyzed the pros and cons and the support of the masses, they could only compromise.
After a year of development, the current Xuantu Prefecture was like heaven and earth. People who had seen the former Xuantu Prefecture thought they had come to the wrong place. Although it was not as prosperous as Luoyang and other big cities, it had already surpassed many medium-sized cities. The market here could be described as impenetrable. Everyone here was smiling. The city walls here were no longer dilapidated, but tall and thick, giving people the illusion that they could not be broken through. The soldiers here were the best. After receiving Fan Xing's training, everyone's aura was incomparable to the current soldiers. Moreover, there would be no soldiers harassing the people here, and there would be no officials bullying the people with the power of high officials. This made those who came to Xuantu Prefecture for the first time feel incredulous.
After a year, the soldiers of Xuantu Prefecture had undergone earth-shaking changes under Zhao Kui's training. The soldiers all recognized their mission and became stronger through training. Under the mobilization of the military, many hot-blooded youths joined the army, increasing the military strength of Xuantu Prefecture. However, these were all strictly confidential. With Ma Jun's help, the soldiers 'equipment had also undergone a great change. They had become sturdier and sharper, especially the ten-shot repeating crossbow that Fan Xing had specially told Gao Ren to make for Ma Jun. It was even more powerful. Whether it was the range, strength, or accuracy, it was much better than the advanced bows and arrows. Other than the fact that it took a longer time to load the arrows, it was simply impeccable.
This year, the news of Xuantu Prefecture's development was intentionally cut off by Gao Ren and the others, so the news didn't reach the Wuhuan. In the second year, the Wuhuan raised their troops to plunder food and civilians. However, when they arrived, the villagers were all gone. The Wuhuan soldiers knew that the villagers had moved the food into the city, but they didn't mind. They still thought that the Han people in Xuantu Prefecture weren't enough for them to fight. Now, they were thinking about how the Han people would beg for mercy and ravage the Han women under their bodies. They were all excited. All of them sped up and headed towards the city of Xuantu County.
However, when they saw the tall city walls, they were all dumbfounded. This was not the dilapidated city walls. They looked at the tall city walls and did not know what was going on. Just as they were in a daze, 2000 cavalrymen suddenly charged out from both sides and charged towards them. The Wuhuan general was still angry at why the Han walls had suddenly become so much taller, and when he saw 2000 cavalry charging out from both sides, he was even more furious. He immediately ordered the Wuhuan soldiers to attack these Han cavalry. He thought that these cavalry were from the past and would not be able to withstand a single blow. However, when they fought, he was dumbfounded because the ones who fell were his own people, while the Han people continued to kill their own people as if nothing had happened. The weapons in their hands only left a mark on the armor of the Han soldiers and could not hurt the enemy at all. However, the weapons of the Han soldiers could even cut through their weapons and armor. This was simply a one-sided massacre. These ten thousand Wuhuan soldiers were completely wiped out by the two thousand cavalry, leaving behind only a few thousand good warhorses.
This battle gave all the soldiers in Xuantu County a boost in morale, letting them know that our Han soldiers weren't any weaker than the Wuhuan, and were even more powerful than them. Those soldiers who didn't participate in the battle felt their blood boil and wanted to fight. They had been invaded by the Wuhuan too many times before. The citizens of Xuantu Prefecture were even more excited. They walked towards the soldiers who were protecting them and gave them the things they had made and clothes to show their gratitude.
After that, the Wuhuan soldiers came again many times, but Xuantu Prefecture always adopted the strategy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields. They didn't let the Wuhuan soldiers get a single grain, and the Wuhuan soldiers couldn't take their cities either. This dealt a heavy blow to the Wuhuan soldiers, and every time, they would leave behind a few thousand warhorses before retreating. The citizens in the city had completely forgotten about the fear of the Wuhuan. The merchants were more assured about doing business in Xuantu Prefecture, perhaps even more so than in other places. There were no bandits here and they were protected by the government. After defeating the Wuhuan several times, the hot-blooded youths of Xuantu Prefecture were more enthusiastic about joining the army. Zhao Kui selected the elites among the elites and increased the number of the Vanguard Army to 5000. After Gao Ren took care of all the affairs in Xuantu Prefecture, Fan Yu moved the entire Fan family to Xuantu Prefecture.
After two years of development, Xuantu County was no longer what it used to be. The population had increased from 100,000 to 600,000, which proved how prosperous Xuantu County was. The young master would be coming in a few days, and Gao Ren was a little excited. Although he was only completing the orders given by the higher-ups, he still wanted to hear the young master praise him.
Gao Ren gradually returned to reality from the past. He suddenly called a servant and said,"Go and ask the lords to wait for me in the hall. Tell them that I have something to say.”The servant nodded and quickly left Gao Ren's room. Gao Ren tidied up his clothes and left the room, walking towards the lobby.
In the hall, Gao Ren sat quietly and looked at the civil and military officials standing in two rows in front of him. He smiled and said,""Didn't I always tell you not to be too respectful to me? All of this wasn't my credit. I was just following my young master's instructions. You must have wanted to see my young master, right? He will be here in a few days.”When the civil and military officials in front of Gao Ren heard that the mysterious young master would come in the next few days, their eyes were filled with excitement. They were very interested in this mysterious young master.
At this moment, the mysterious young master Fan Xing was on his way to Xuantu County.
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