Chapter 148

“Can strategists not ascend to the throne?”

Chapter 148: The Start of the New Year

At this time, there are still over four months until the “April of next year” that Qiao Yan mentioned.

At least before April in the second year of Guangxi, Bingzhou’s first encounter wouldn’t be a battle with Xiliang, but rather—celebrating the New Year.

Since Emperor Xiaowu adopted the Taichu calendar as the standard Han calendar, the festival dates were moved from Winter Solstice to the first day of the first month.

As this day of the second year of Guangxi arrived, Qiao Yan looked out from the window of her residence in the prefectural city, only to see that Jinyang was just starting to brighten, yet a festive atmosphere was already buzzing in her ears.

She quickly changed into some inconspicuous clothes and headed downstairs to the streets.

This was her sixth Spring Festival since arriving in this late Han era, but she still found it hard to adjust to a New Year without the sound of firecrackers.

But thinking about how, if there were gunpowder now, she’d have to tackle more issues to stabilize her surroundings beyond just relying on cavalry advantages, she figured that perhaps this situation wasn’t so bad after all.

Even without the ruckus of cannons, the festive spirit of the new year had its own ways to be filled.

According to customs during the Han dynasty, various cities performed a grand exorcism ritual on the day, and Bingzhou was no exception.

A hundred and twenty boys, aged around eleven or twelve, were at this moment shouting through the streets to drive away evil spirits under the guidance of the Fangxiangshi.

The “ghost” captured was merely a humanoid figure made of straw and mulberry bark paper, held aloft in the front row, being transported all the way from Jinyang towards Xihe Commandery, until it was eventually tossed into the great river.

This represented the expulsion of evil that had plagued Bingzhou throughout the year.

Perhaps due to Qiao Yan’s imposing presence, the elder wielding the Fangxiangshi authority in Bingzhou had even made a trip to the prefectural government to ask if he could be of assistance.

Qiao Yan did not stop this from happening.

With new residents arriving in Bingzhou this year and the need for a ritual to honor the new year, these customs rooted in the rites from Zhou times were indeed necessary.

Driving away curses and plagues was also a move to stabilize the people’s hearts, especially during these times of frequent epidemics.

She simply made two requests.

Firstly, the original plan of ditching the “ghosts” in the Fen River was changed. With her rule making Xihe Commandery and Shang Commandery more stable, she suggested that they use the Yellow River instead, which better corresponded with Central Plains traditions of offering sacrifices to the river god.

However, changing the river meant the distance for the “New Year’s Eve purge” would increase.

To prevent any accidents for the boys carrying out the mission, Qiao Yan simply moved the event from New Year’s Eve to the first day of the new year.

Secondly, among the hundred and twenty boys, the first thirty spots were given to students from Leping Academy, with the remaining ninety not restricted by gender.

This way, if the Fangxiangshi worship were ever not under her control, this initiative could still serve as a student activity.

Qiao Yan watched the group of boys depart, then casually bought a peach wood talisman from a roadside vendor. Recognizing her, the vendor received her money while she gestured for silence.

On the front of the talisman was the usual drawing of a fierce tiger, with Shentu and Yulei, the two door gods, illustrated on the back.

Qiao Yan couldn’t help but ponder the door gods from the Tang Dynasty. She wondered if one day, Shentu’s role would be taken over by Dian Wei; just imagining that scene seemed quite entertaining.

And since paper production wasn’t advanced now, there was naturally no custom of hanging Spring Festival couplets. Instead, they still hung reed mats on doors in Bingzhou.

One saying was that Shentu and Yulei caught ghosts with reeds, while another claimed that the character for “reed” represented the concept of new and old transitions.

When Qiao Yan returned from her stroll to the street corner, she found that the government doors had already been adorned with these mats.

But now it seemed there was something a bit odd added to it…

Since Qiao Yan prepared to issue New Year’s red envelopes, she had summoned back everyone working in Bingzhou.

But now, those folks were all holding dyed yam cakes, making for a rather comical scene of officials and generals seated in a neat row munching on snacks.

“…Can someone explain this to me?” Qiao Yan asked as she glanced around.

Xi Zhicai took the lead and replied, “My lord, we believed that the first batch of one hundred thousand stones of grain accumulated in Leping was harvested from yam. Although currently we’ve returned to a focus on millet and wheat, it’s only fitting to commemorate it. Let it be said that on the first day of the New Year, officials who don’t catch a cold from this food can enjoy eating yam cakes as a custom to reminisce about hard times.”

Qiao Yan had no objections to Xi Zhicai’s idea.

This could even be considered a bonding experience, tracing everything back to its roots.

But for the Spring Festival, it’s always necessary for a governor to lighten the mood with some jokes.

With a playful interest, Qiao Yan asked, “Do you think life in Leping is tough?”

“…Not at all!” Xi Zhicai quickly denied.

Guo Jia was very entertained by this. If it weren’t for Xi Zhicai writing about lard mixed with rice, and watching blooming flowers in the mountains, he wouldn’t have been drawn in. Now, this was rather contradictory, wasn’t it?

What almost made Guo Jia burst out laughing was Qiao Yan halving Xi Zhicai’s spiced mulberry wine during the New Year, swapping it for sweet rice wine, and strictly forbidding him from drinking anything stronger at this time.

But if Qiao Yan were to explain her reasons, it was quite common to seize this opportunity for humor.

According to historical records, Xi Zhicai should have died in 196, which is only six years ago now. And because historical materials are scarce, we can’t determine whether he died from a love of wine, some spreading diseases, or due to health issues; although Huatuo had been invited to adjust Xi Zhicai’s health, there were still some hidden risks.

One person, who had even passed the recorded years in history, was Ma Lun, whose astronomical calculations indeed consumed much energy, leaving her only able to rely on food supplements to care for her health.

This led Qiao Yan to consider having Huatuo settled in Bingzhou while observing this scene.

For a healer, saving more people and encountering more cases was a lifelong quest.

And now, she might have the means to invite Huatuo again.

While considering this matter without delay, she also got to work stuffing New Year red envelopes and well wishes into paper packages, distributing them one by one.

The red envelopes weren’t filled with real coins, but rather cast to resemble coins, leaning more towards decorative Victory Coins suitable for the current customs.

Only, the copper and iron used for crafting them in the market was now replaced with pure gold.

Cheng Yu was quite pleased with this, after all, he saw Qiao Yan as the fierce sun of his dreams.

However, when Jia Xu received his paper package, his expression froze for a moment.

The governor was a superior and could also be considered an elder, so how could Qiao Yan, at her age, give him a Victory Coin?

Honestly, it’s not that hard to understand about money.

Unfortunately, as soon as he turned his head, he spotted Jia Mu also holding a red envelope for New Year’s money, which just… didn’t sit right.

But he was always the steady type, never one to share such strange thoughts with anyone.

If certain people found out about his little frustration, they’d probably think he was just a spoiled brat who didn’t know how lucky he was.

Like Qu Yi.

After the general Han Fu got nabbed by Qiao Yan under the pretense of abandoning his post and thrown into prison, Qu Yi thought his good times were finally here.

With one less boss, he’d paid off most of his “favor” debt to Han Fu. So, naturally, he should become a subordinate to the next boss.

Qiao Yan’s next task was to deal with the Western Liang, and he was just the guy for the job.

Yet, while Han Fu spent the New Year in the Bingzhou prison, Qu Yi was still sitting around in the general’s camp doing nothing.

Even though Qiao Yan sent extra pork and lamb to the military camps in Bingzhou for the New Year celebrations and gave a big shoutout to Qu Yi, what he really wanted was that hard-to-come-by Victory Coin, not some compliments.

Just as he was mulling over this, Qiao Yan threw him a special task.

He was to take a trip to Ye City.

This involved two teams she sent out at the same time.

One was headed for Chang’an to deliver a New Year’s gift from the Han Minister to Emperor Liu Xie.

Of course, in the memorial Qiao Yan presented to Liu Xie, she mentioned that the Emperor was currently under the control of bandits. Offering cattle and sheep, grains, and sorghum as tributes would just help the enemy, so she opted for vessels, furniture, and drinks to demonstrate Bingzhou’s loyalty instead.

Whether Liu Xie would grasp her sentiment is another story; Dong Zhuo might just be furious over this clever little tribute.

The other team was off to Ye City.

The title of General of the Cavalry given to Qiao Yan by the Ye Court was more of an honorary one, meaning she didn’t really have to bow to Liu Bian as an official subordinate.

So, her excuse was, to check in on the former Emperor’s eldest son living in Ye City.

This was more of a face-saving gesture than a gift to Liu Bian. But if anyone looked too closely, they might not find much to criticize her for.

What she sent was her personal notes from her time studying under Lu Zhi, plus some of her reading material from her downtime in Bingzhou.

With the public’s recognition of Bingzhou’s cultural level, this gift felt like a heartfelt message from the late Emperor’s trusted aide to the prince.

But Liu Bian probably wouldn’t feel all that thrilled about it either.

For this very reason, Qiao Yan sent the tough-as-nails Qu Yi, hoping to show what Bingzhou had become.

If one had to say, sending Qu Yi for this diplomatic mission served another purpose as well.

“If I could persuade Lü Bu to stay away from Dong Zhuo, can I also convince Qu Yi not to side with Yuan Shao?” Qiao Yan asked the system.

Everyone was putting their cards on the table now, and she wasn’t ashamed to reveal her intentions to milk the situation a bit; theoretically, there should be no problem.

Qu Yi was just as capable of leading troops as Lü Bu, give or take a bit of personal strength.

Both Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao were power players in the late Han period, so comparing them was fair enough.

So, if Lü Bu betrayed Ding Yuan for Dong Zhuo, could Qu Yi betraying Han Fu for Yuan Shao be similar?

Since the achievements built into the system lacked any explicit regulations, Qiao Yan had to get a bit lucky and try her hands at some guesswork.

Qu Yi was set on becoming a subordinate of the Provincial Shepherd, and after Qiao Yan formed a heavy cavalry unit, he was even more green with envy. There was no way he’d be swayed to join Yuan Shao at the current stage of Ye City’s politics—he was a perfect candidate for the diplomatic mission.

【I can’t tell you that.】

“So there is a chance.” Qiao Yan quickly caught on to the unspoken hints from the system, based on their years of interaction.

This was clearly the first piece of good news she got for the New Year.

The system was utterly baffled by its host’s astonishing maneuvers.

Just when it wanted to reemphasize that it was a Strategist System, not a Lord System, Qiao Yan suddenly softened her tone and said, “System, Happy New Year.”

If it weren’t for its help, Qiao Yan could never have made such progress this fast.

This thank you felt genuinely heartfelt, given the stable circumstances for the people of Bingzhou.

The system was momentarily stuck before sluggishly returning, “Happy New Year, Host.”

This change of seasons seemed to turn the page on all the difficulties of the past year.

Be it the passing of the Emperor Ling of Han or Dong Zhuo’s chaos in Luoyang, or even the mass migrations, none of it significantly affected the continued rise of Bingzhou.

However, the festivities of the New Year weren’t over yet. Before the envoy returning from Chang’an with Liu Xie’s New Year’s gift could even report back, they brought Qiao Yan some bad news for the New Year.

Dong Zhuo had indeed been quiet for a few days in Chang’an, even deliberately pulling back his troops to lessen their looting.

This reflected a rare moment of self-restraint from him in a tough spot.

But Dong Zhuo was nothing like Qiao Yan.

Even though Duan Wei was a solid general who could handle farming and fighting, farming in Huayin wouldn’t yield results overnight. He didn’t have enough food, and Liu Xie’s “central government” didn’t receive a lot of yearly tributes to bolster its reserves.

What would happen when his troops couldn’t be fed anymore?

Relying on someone like Qiao Yan, who had a conscience as a “loyal minister of Han,” wasn’t going to cut it.

Yuan Shao and the others were just itching for Dong Zhuo to starve.

And don’t even get me started on Ma Teng and Han Sui; those guys needed to rob internally to feed their local rich folks.

Dong Zhuo thought long and hard and declared, “Let’s mint some coins!”

This was exactly something someone with little economic sense would do—

Holding the Emperor in his hands basically gave him access to the national treasury, so if he was short on money, he’d just produce it himself!

But after fleeing from Luoyang to Chang’an in a hurry, he prioritized people over goods, and Chang’an had already experienced the looting by the Red Eyebrows, leaving little copper behind to mint proper five-zhu coins; basic materials were scarce.

The five-zhu coins, which were often found cut in half in folk times during the reign of Emperors Huan and Ling, referred to as “Duiwen” and “Huan,” served as a reference for Dong Zhuo.

Facing the basic need for food, Dong Zhuo completely disregarded the opinions of Lu Zhi and company and insisted on doing things his own way.

This led to the situation of the three coins in Qiao Yan’s hands.

What should have been five zhu coins now weighed in at less than two, and the circular shape had also lost its uniform appearance.

The small seal of “five zhu” established during Emperor Wu’s reign had vanished from these three coins.

These were Dong Zhuo’s small coins!