Bai Xiaowen was given the title of "Duke of Yan" by the imperial court. He was appointed as a subordinate official and had connections with the court officials.
Many court officials, such as Dong Zhao, also held positions in the Duke's Public House. No one said that this was against the system.
Although Western Liang had been pacified, the second main mission of unification had not been completed.
Bai Xiaowen sent Zhang He to lead the army to the north to conquer the bandits. The other members of the White Phoenix Battle Team also accompanied him to help his teammates gain some war contributions.
However, Bai Xiaowen did not mention anything about attacking Zhang Lu in the past few days in Yedu.
This made Ma Chao a little anxious. He sent people to ask many times, and finally came personally.
Bai Xiaowen answered, "The imperial court's army has just gone through a big battle and needs to rest. The bandits and horse bandits in the north are swarming, and the border is unstable. It is not suitable to go to war. Moreover, Hanzhong's terrain is dangerous. We need to be prepared before we attack. "
Bai Xiaowen's reasons were reasonable. Ma Chao had no choice but to bow again and say, "I swear to find out who killed my father. I hope that the Duke Of Yan can understand my situation and lend me some troops as soon as possible."
Bai Xiaowen said seriously, "Of course I want to find out who the murderer is. Meng Qi, don't worry. I will lend you some troops to conquer Hanzhong in ten days and a month. "
Ma Chao was overjoyed and thanked him.
Bai Xiaowen said again, "Try to keep this news a secret. Do not leak it, in case Zhang Lu is prepared."
Ma Chao agreed and left.
Zhang He's first target was the Black Mountain Bandit Zhang Yan.
However, when he heard that Zhang He's army had arrived, Zhang Yan directly surrendered.
Bai Xiaowen was not surprised when he heard this news.
Zhang Yan in history was quite discerning. He was quite different from ordinary bandits. According to Bai Xiaowen's evaluation, he was a "wise man submits to circumstances"!
Zhang Yan became a bandit during the Spirit Emperor's time. He gathered millions of people under his command. Of course, this was exaggerated. The extent of the exaggeration depended on Zhang Yan's ability to agitate people. The imperial court was unable to destroy the Spirit Emperor, so they could only let him do as he wished.
However, Zhang Yan took the initiative to ask the imperial court to recruit him.
Therefore, Emperor Ling appointed Zhang Yan as the Commander of the Disaster Squads. She was in charge of public security and civil affairs in the mountainous areas north of the Yellow River. She even had the power to check on filial piety and honesty! He was like a provincial governor of a mountainous region, a bandit lord.
Zhang Yan even had the qualifications to form an alliance with the various vassals during the period when the vassals were seeking Dong Feng.
When Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were fighting over Ji Zhou, Zhang Yan jumped out and wanted to get a share of the action. He sent an army to help Gongsun Zan, but he was defeated by Yuan Shao. Later on, Yuan Shao went on a campaign against Zhang Yan. Although he did not pacify the situation, the Black Mountain Bandit Army suffered a lot of casualties.
This probably destroyed Zhang Yan's confidence, allowing him to clearly see the gap between his motley crew and the armies of the feudal lords.
In history, when Cao Cao pacified the Yuan Family, Zhang Yan saw that Cao Cao was powerful and surrendered to him before he even attacked Zhang Yan. Thus, he was conferred the title of Marquis.
Now, Bai Xiaowen's influence in the Three Kingdoms was even greater than Cao Cao's. It was not strange for Zhang Yan to surrender.
Bai Xiaowen then sent Yedu officials to take over Zhang Yan's troops.
After a final count, Zhang Yan had a hundred thousand men under him.
Usually, when Zhang Yan boasted that he had a hundred thousand troops, he actually included all his subjects. Amongst which, the elderly, women, and children were all included.
Bai Xiaowen gave Zhang Yan the title of An Country Marquis, with five hundred families living there.
Under Zhang Yan, Bai Xiaowen selected a few thousand strong men and placed them into the army.
The rest were all stripped of their armor and returned to their fields (actually, they didn't have "armor" anyway), scattered and sent to Guanzhong, Sizhou, Bingzhou, and other places where people were sparsely populated.
Bai Xiaowen also ordered the various prefectures and prefectures to allocate land for these people to farm. He also gave out a series of good policies, such as exempting grain taxes for two years.
The moment the decree was given, Zhang Yan's troops were all grateful and left with the old and the young.
In truth, Bai Xiaowen basically could not see the benefits two years later. He did this because these people had just turned from bandits to people, and their hearts were not settled. If they did not have a way out, they would gather in the mountains and forests once more.
Giving out good policies now could let their hearts settle down quickly. When the time came, even if Zhang Yan rebelled again, these former troops would not respond.
Black Mountain Zhang Yan was already a thing of the past. Zhang Yan led the army across the border of Jizhou and Bingzhou to attack the Bingzhou horse bandits.
… …
Bai Xiaowen received a wave of Jingzhou messengers in Yedu.
Jingzhou's Liu Biao had died from his injuries.
His second son Liu Bei had inherited his father's business, but because he was young, his uncle Liu Bei was in charge of Jingzhou's military affairs.
This Jingzhou messenger was sent by Liu Bei to ask for an imperial edict to make Liu Cong the Jingzhou Magistrate.
Although it was a request, it was actually a routine notification to the imperial court. Even if Bai Xiaowen did not agree, Jingzhou would not care.
Bai Xiaowen squinted his eyes and asked the messenger, "I heard that Liu Jingsheng had two sons, the eldest Liu Qi and the second Liu Cong. Why did you remove the elder and make the younger? "
The messenger replied, "Duke Of Yan, Liu Qi unfortunately died early. It has been a month."
Bai Xiaowen was shocked.
The time of Liu Qi's death happened to be the time he entered!
This confirmed Bai Xiaowen's guess.
When he was matched, the rules of the Spiritual Realm would pick out two Spiritual Realm characters who were about to die (or had just died) for him to choose from.
This time, Bai Xiaowen had entered the realm of the Three Kingdoms, and the two Spirit World figures who were about to die, but who were of noble and prominent status, should be Yuan Xi and Liu Qi.
If Bai Xiaowen chose Liu Qi's identity, he would probably hear the news of Yuan Xi's death soon.
As for Yuan Xi and Liu Qi dying earlier than in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Bai Xiaowen did not find it strange. The appearance and departure times of the Spiritual Realm characters did not strictly match with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Bai Xiaowen said, "Liu Cong is young and is not qualified to govern the prefecture. The imperial court intends to send another person of virtue and prestige to govern Jingxiang. "
The Jingzhou envoy replied, "Although my lord is young, he is intelligent and eager to learn. He also has the assistance of Imperial Uncle Liu Bei. If the imperial court chooses someone else to replace him, not only will it go against the old lord's will, but it will also make the people of Jingzhou unhappy. This is the source of disaster. "
Bai Xiaowen saw that this envoy answered fluently without any fear. He was curious and asked, "Who is the envoy and what is your current position?"
That person replied, "I am Hua Xin, also known as Ziyu. I am currently a subordinate of Liu Jingzhou. "
Bai Xiaowen's heart skipped a beat.
This Hua Xin was not an ordinary person. She was even more ruthless than Dong Zhao in forcing the emperor to abdicate.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Hua Xin was the vanguard of Cao Wei's overthrow of Han.
Bai Xiaowen wanted this kind of talent. He stood up and went down the stairs to recruit, "I have heard of the great name of Hua Ziyu of the Plains for a long time. With your talent and knowledge, why would you lower yourself to be an official in Jingzhou? Why don't you come to Yedu and display your knowledge? "
Hua Xin saw Bai Xiaowen's sincere attitude and bowed, "Xin is willing to be the Duke Of Yan's vanguard."
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