Chapter 74 A County's Territory

  After reviewing the household registration and treasury of Yinguang, Li Chong finally showed a smile. As the seat of Yanmen Prefecture, Yinguang had many more people and reserves than Guangwu.

  The Yin Mansion has a total of 7,343 households and 24,128 people. There are 5,174 able-bodied men. The granary contains over 20,000 stones of grain. Li Chong hugged the household register and kissed it fiercely. Yang Chou is indeed a good person, leaving so many good things for himself.

  It has to be said that Li Chong's idea is problematic. He himself is a man who crossed over from the future, so he knows what changes will occur in the world. Next comes the rise of heroes and the struggle for the world. But others don't know, there are not many people who can see the overall trend of the world, only a few powerful heroes like Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are frantically preparing for war, while Tao Qian is still dreaming of his own wealth and glory.

  Yang Chou is absolutely not a hero, in the Three Kingdoms he is just a third-rate character, how high can his vision be? If everyone were heroes like Cao Cao and Liu Bei, the world would have been chaotic long ago.

  So, Yang had no intention of training troops to compete for the world, and it can be said that he was short-sighted and had no great ambitions, only stockpiling some grain and grass to defend against the remnants of the Yellow Turbans.

  After a few days, Li Chong and others had arranged the government affairs of Yinguang almost, and also moved their headquarters to Yinguang. Li Chong then ordered Chen Lin to submit a memorial to request the position of governor, Chen Lin accepted the order, took some gold, silver and treasures, and rushed to Chang'an.

  Taking advantage of this period, Li Chong again sent the surrendered soldiers to weed and harvest, leaving over 700 people. He also recruited some strong men in Yinguang again, totaling 1,500 people. Adding the 500 soldiers who surrendered with Ma Yi, Li Chong now has more than 6,000 soldiers, nearly 1,000 of whom are cavalry.

  Less than a month later, Chen Lin returned to the Yin House from Chang'an. As soon as Li Chong saw Chen Lin's beaming face, he knew that things must have gone extremely smoothly.

  "Congratulations to all of you, gentlemen," Chen Lin said with a smile. "Not only did our lord obtain the seal of the Yanmen Prefect, but all of you have also been promoted."

  Taishi Ci, being relatively famous, was appointed as the Tiger Strong General, a fifth-grade miscellaneous general. Cheng Yu was appointed as the County Magistrate, Chen Lin himself was appointed as the Long History, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were also appointed as county magistrates of various counties, it can be said that everyone is very happy.

  Li Chong played with the big seal in his hand, and he was a little puzzled. Is Li Jue so kind? He grants official positions to everyone he meets.

  Li Jue, of course, didn't have such a good heart, but granting official positions didn't require Li Jue to spend money on salaries either. Why not do it then? Moreover, Li Chong was the first person to present a memorial after Li Jue took power. If Li Jue really dared to disagree, who would dare to ask him for help in the future? Therefore, Li Jue had to make this gesture.

  Besides, whether Li Jue agrees or not is just a superficial matter, he doesn't dare offend people.

  Everyone happily finished dividing the account, put away their own big seal, and people began to discuss how to strengthen their power. It is unknown when it started, but these people always unconsciously wanted to recruit soldiers and expand their territory. Li Chong had unknowingly stirred up the ambition of these people.

  However, after discussion, everyone sadly discovered that Li Chong's current power expansion was too rapid and had reached an extreme limit. If it continued to expand, the consequences would be unpredictable!

  The reason is simple, that is, the people's hearts have not been won over. The people's hearts are a mysterious thing, if you say they are useful, then they are useful, if you say they are useless, then they are of no use at all. The key lies in how well you control them.

  Unfortunately, apart from Guangwu and Loufan counties, Li Chong's control over Yuanping, Mayi, and Yinguang counties was not very good, all of which were taken by force. Moreover, Li Chong had committed many killings in Yinguang, and as soon as he dispatched troops to leave the city, there was a possibility of rebellion in Yinguang.

  According to Cheng Yu's estimate, it will take at least two years for Li Chong to win over the hearts of the people. Moreover, Li Chong must not increase taxes or exhaust his troops in war, but is this possible?

  At least the consolation money for the dead soldiers made Li's heart ache with blood; where did this money come from?

  After some thought, Li Chong could only shift his attention to the Xianbei outside the Great Wall. Fortunately, this task was too trivial for Shi Zhi, who was familiar with it and had a lot of experience. However, Li Chong was also a little afraid that sooner or later, Kui Tou would find out about the existence of Shi Zhi's gang of prairie bandits, and when that happened, the two sides would inevitably clash.

  Around 181 AD, the Xianbei chieftain Tanshihuai died, and his son Helian succeeded him. However, Helian was incompetent and corrupt, and his unfair governance led to half of his people rebelling against him. In the late years of Emperor Ling of Han, Helian was killed by an arrow while attacking Beidi Commandery. His young son Huiyuan was succeeded by his cousin Qudi.

  Li Chong is indeed no match for Kui Tou at this time. At present, Kui Tou has at least tens of thousands of controlled strings in his hands. It can be said that the entire military strength of Yanmen Prefecture is not enough to contend with Kui Tou. Robbing 2 Jie Xianbei is undoubtedly a way to quench thirst by drinking poison.

  Next, Li Chong made great efforts to show a people-friendly attitude, sending soldiers to help the people harvest grains, dredge rivers, and cut down trees for winter use.

  However, Li Chong finally had a turn for the better. On this day, Li Chong was handling official business when someone came in to report: There were people from Hedong, Jia Kui and Jia Liang, who had come to pay their respects.

  Li Chong was overjoyed and hastily met with Jia Kui.

  For those civil and military officials who can remember names, Li Chong considered them to be talented individuals. Of course, people like Xia Hou En were an exception - they were just delivering equipment.

  Jia Kui was not yet twenty, dressed in tattered clothes, with a look of poverty and desperation. This made Li Zhong very puzzled, as he remembered Jia Kui to be quite capable, how did he end up like this? What Li Zhong didn't know was that he had overestimated Jia Kui, the truth was that Jia Kui was even poorer than what Li Zhong saw, and the pants Jia Kui was wearing were stolen.

  However, Li Zhong did not judge people by their appearance and warmly received the young Jia Kui, keeping him under his command to handle affairs, letting him take charge of the security of the Yin Guan, first tempering him.

  Just as Li Jue was resting and nursing his wounds, the situation in Hebei became increasingly tense, with the contradictions between Liu Yu of Youzhou and Gongsun Zan becoming more and more acute.

  The contradiction between the two men mainly stems from their different concepts of dealing with aliens. Liu Yu is a typical scholar who advocates using appeasement policies, using benevolence to transform aliens and make them surrender. Gong Sun Zan's idea is exactly the opposite of Liu Yu's. Gong Sun Zan believes that those who are not of my kind must have a different heart, and when dealing with aliens, high-pressure policies must be adopted, and those who dare to resist will be killed.

  As time went on, the two gradually drifted apart.

  After Yuan Shao occupied Ji Province, Gongsun Zan, although defeated at the Battle of Jie Bridge, still refused to give up and continued to attack Yuan Shao from time to time. Liu Yu felt that Gongsun Zan was somewhat exhausting his troops and began to reduce Gongsun Zan's military power. However, Gongsun Zan also did not take Liu Yu's orders seriously and continued to do as he pleased, even going so far as to rob the wealth that Liu Yu had bestowed upon the Xianbei tribes.

  Liu Yu flew into a rage and began to submit a memorial to impeach Gongsun Zan, who was not willing to show weakness. He immediately submitted a memorial stating that Liu Yu's actions were unfavorable, and the two men mutually attacked each other, their relationship becoming increasingly resentful and malicious.

  Later, Liu Yu repeatedly summoned Gongsun Zan to discuss matters, and Gongsun Zan was afraid that Liu Yu would secretly harm him, so he claimed illness and declined. Liu Yu began to secretly plot against Gongsun Zan.