Chapter 248

“Can strategists not ascend the throne?”

Chapter 248 – Leping Qiao Clan

It’s tough when pests emerge from peach and plum trees, and it’s really hard to avoid them…

This was a fact for the Qiao clan of Yanzhou, and how was it any different for the Han Dynasty?

Even Liu Yu, the East Sea Duke, couldn’t escape some headaches as he took the throne.

So when Qiao Yan said that, Liu Yu’s desire to mediate was perhaps overshadowed by his feeling of camaraderie.

But, shackled by his reputation for leniency, he could only rely on Qiao Yan’s legendary military success to calm some minds, while it was Qiao Yan who, upon making this decision, needed far more determination than he could muster.

Directly splitting the clan!

Since it was impossible to look after both personal and family matters in this unique standoff between the two Han Dynasties, it was better to decisively branch out from the main Qiao clan starting with Grandfather Qiao Xuan.

This split didn’t mean she was completely cutting ties with the Yanzhou Qiao Clan; the lineage still existed, at least from the “Qiao” that began with the Yellow Emperor’s burial mountain.

But if she truly established herself separately from the Taiyuan Qiao Clan, the Yanzhou clan would no longer be able to rely on the family tree to lay claim to any seniority or try to throw their weight around.

If she wanted to maintain a cold distance from them, making it impossible for them to gain any benefits from her as Grand Marshal, she would have solid legal grounds for it.

As long as she could branch off!

This split would indeed benefit the Chang’an court.

From a military perspective, it would effectively block any attempts by the Yanzhou Qiao Clan to act as pawns for the Yuan Clan in this region.

And from the aspect of clan support, if Qiao Yan, the Grand Marshal, had less backing from her family, it would greatly limit her ability to elevate her relatives within the bureaucracy and form a power that could challenge imperial authority.

The only situation that might arise, as Qiao Yan pointed out, was that some would question whether the Grand Marshal had forgotten her roots due to her high position.

But as far as Liu Yu was concerned, what was there to “forget”?

The life she had before ten years old was thanks to Qiao Yu and his wife; her father, as the Prefect of Rencheng, had been drawing a salary from the court, and her mother had cared for her and educated her, turning a child with deficiencies into one of this age.

After turning ten, from the moment she had started coaxing the Yellow Turban Army to attack one another and achieved military success, her rising ranks and accumulating abilities in governance had absolutely no ties to the Yanzhou Qiao Clan.

Even among those reluctant to cut ties with her, aside from verbally recognizing her position, they had given her no support whatsoever.

Ironically, in Qiao Yan’s Leping Academy, she still had Qiao Zhen, the second daughter of former Dong Commandery Prefect Qiao Zhao, and maintained a good relationship with the Yanzhou Qiao Clan.

Of course, Liu Yu was unaware that Qiao Yan also had Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting, the daughters of Qiao Rui, leaving her hands full with the leftover capable descendants of her clan.

He hurriedly helped Qiao Yan to her feet and stated, “It’s just a split, why suggest resigning your position as Grand Marshal? If people talk about splitting as ungratefulness, I will issue a decree to settle this.”

While Liu Yu’s subordinates might fret over Qiao Yan having designs on the throne, Liu Yu himself did not.

Back when he and Qiao Yan met in Liangzhou, he had seen her capabilities.

The performance comparisons from the Youzhou battle made it clear to Liu Yu that without Qiao Yan’s support, he wouldn’t even have been on the throne, let alone receiving news that Hanzhong had returned under imperial control shortly after ascending.

Thus, there was no way he would allow Qiao Yan to resign from her Grand Marshal role.

If a key minister like her had to bow to the whims of irrelevant people, what would that say about the Chang’an court?

Even if Qiao Yan couldn’t use her age of fourteen or fifteen to gain sympathy anymore, she was still under twenty and just a young adult.

As she faced family pressures compelling her to make this decision and plead with Liu Yu, who was “one of her own,” it was still a scenario others had forced her into, a painful choice to cut ties with her clan.

It wasn’t that she had made this decision with deeper consideration.

Look at how they had pushed their Grand Marshal into such a corner!

Forget about Liu Yu viewing Qiao Yan as a younger family member; even Tian Feng, dragged in as a witness by Qiao Yan, felt a twinge of sympathy upon hearing her words, especially contrasted with Yanzhou Qiao Clan’s behavior.

She had extraordinary luck in gathering talent, deploying troops, and managing livelihoods, but when it came to familial ties… Well, maybe it was true what she said, being a solitary figure would be better.

Yet as he realized this sympathy, Tian Feng slapped himself mentally.

Qiao Yan was their enemy in Ye City!

How could he truly consider himself part of the Hongwen Hall and the Chang’an court just because he had received Qiao Yan’s favor?

No way could he switch sides like that.

Caught in this emotional turmoil, Tian Feng didn’t notice the fleeting change in Qiao Yan’s eyes as Liu Yu helped her up and made this promise; her expression didn’t quite match that of someone being coerced.

Yet that change was so brief that even Guo Jia, who knew Qiao Yan relatively well, might have missed any flaws in her performance.

Liu Yu then asked, “Are you sure this choice is final?”

This wasn’t Liu Yu hinting for Qiao Yan to reconsider but making sure she wouldn’t have regrets later.

After all, this would be backed by a decree from the Son of Heaven.

If he issued an order today and tomorrow Qiao Yan decided to abandon this decision due to pressure from the Yanzhou Qiao Clan and asked him to retract the decree, he’d be in real trouble then.

Qiao Yan replied, “To this day, I haven’t made a decision I regret. And to be honest, Your Majesty, I’ve already thrown out the few from the Qiao family who came to Chang’an through Tong Pass, not leaving them even a piece of clothing.”

The implication was clear; she’d burned her bridges, so there was no room for regrets.

Hearing that childish act of revenge from Qiao Yan made Liu Yu struggle not to laugh out loud.

As it was almost April, and even though Chang’an was in the north and wouldn’t freeze anyone, he just said, “Alright then, I shall issue a decree right away to allow you to branch off.”

While directing someone to grind the ink for the decree, he also asked Tian Feng, the witness, to recount the Yanzhou Qiao Clan’s behavior.

Upon hearing about their rebuking Qiao Yan for resembling their grandfather’s coldness towards family, he frowned.

“How bold of the Qiao Clan! Both Qiao Gong and the Grand Marshal are devoted to the Han Dynasty; how dare they insult with such words!”

These people were far too arrogant!

Besides, Qiao Yan had actions of “filial piety,” avenging her parents by wiping out the Yellow Turbans; how could they speak against that?

Tian Feng’s tone surely didn’t sound false; this probably was the last straw that drove Qiao Yan to decide on the split.

To Liu Yu, simply throwing them out from within the borders was a bit too lenient.

Split! It was exactly time to split!

Otherwise, if they continued to use their older family status to cling onto Qiao Yan and drain her dry, how could she focus on reclaiming the eastern states?

Forget whether this was an overstep of the Son of Heaven into the household affairs of ministers; Liu Yu felt this was an order he absolutely had to give.

And perhaps…

He lacked the face to clearly reproach certain situations, so he could use Qiao Yan’s case to send some signals out?

With that thought, Liu Yu turned to Qiao Yan and remarked, “Let’s see, the administrative seat of Taiyuan is in Jinyang, while your fief is in Leping; this makes it hard to assert the legitimacy of splitting. Leping sits between the two counties of Taiyuan and Shangdang, both of which are…

“How about we separate from Leping County and take the name of the Qiao Clan of Leping?”

Separate from Leping County?

This was truly a twist that Qiao Yan hadn’t seen coming.

But if Leping were to be upgraded from a county to a commandery, it would be nothing short of a pleasant surprise for Qiao Yan.

With Leping Academy as a cultural hub, the focus shifted from Qiao Yan trying to recruit students and faculty from the outside to a pull for the whole of the Han’s thirteen provinces, drawing more and more people here.

Just the population of Leping County alone was already struggling to keep up with this influx.

Some of these crowds were eager to enroll in the academy, hoping to listen to the great scholars and possibly become their disciples.

Others thought this was a safe haven even amidst power struggles—after all, nobody wants to risk the wrath of a noble.

But regardless of the reason, Leping was indeed meeting the basic conditions for establishing itself as an independent commandery.

If expansion wasn’t done, Qiao Yan was even considering relocating the fortress workshops in the mountains.

Now that this decision was made, she wouldn’t have to rack her brains over it anymore.

Thanks to her familiarity with Leping, the moment Liu Yu suggested this, she had already contemplated which counties to include.

Unfortunately, she had to feign the helplessness of someone forced to branch out due to family incompetence rather than a cunning strategist; she simply replied to Liu Yu, “It’s all up to Your Majesty.”

This advantageous development was suggested by Liu Yu, the considerate emperor, what did it matter to her, Qiao Yan?

She was merely giving the people of Chang’an another topic to gossip about.

If they were still unaware the unfortunate fellows who had been personally expelled by Dian Wei were the same who caused a ruckus at the Grand Marshal’s residence when Qiao Yan was off campaigning in Hanzhong, they wouldn’t be for long.

After all, these individuals didn’t get what they wanted; instead, they became a laughingstock for being tossed out of Chang’an. People found a certain satisfaction in the idea of “bad karma.”

But the decree she requested for establishing a branch family undoubtedly stirred up quite a commotion.

To have the Marquis of Leping become an independent household actually met the standards of the Han laws.

Essentially, when a father dies without male heirs or grandparents and the mother can take charge, the daughter can become the head of the household.

This rule was quite necessary, especially during border wars, where households often found themselves without male members.

However, for someone under twenty, like her, to propose splitting from her grandfather’s lineage was unprecedented.

Of course, there would be busybodies eager to dig into the feud between Qiao Yan and the Yanzhou Qiao Clan, yet discerning any clues from the faces of those coming in and out of the Grand Marshal’s residence would be tricky.

The existence of the imperial decree also gave this separation a layer of royal support, quelling some negative chatter.

“What’s there to gossip about?” Ren Hong overheard as she walked to Chang’an, delivering documents from Lingtai. “The ones discussing this are probably projecting themselves as incompetent but wanting to enjoy the good life. I think the people in the city can use this to distinguish themselves from such folks. After all—”

“Today they want to profit off relatives, tomorrow they might be hoping to borrow from friends.”

She was followed by a considerable entourage from Lingtai, looking like quite the crowd. So even if she was officially talking to her subordinates, she was actually expressing her opinions to outsiders, and none dared to argue with her.

Ren Hong glanced around, confirming none of them looked tough, before heading to the Ministry.

Though these gossipers might lack capability, she still felt fortunate that after the emperor’s decree reached its third day, Qiao Yan had inquired about matters in Guanzhong and then headed back to Bingzhou to handle the procedures for establishing the branch, so she wasn’t in Chang’an and naturally couldn’t hear the whispers.

For those back in Bingzhou, they might be thrilled that their governor could break free from the constraints of the Yanzhou Qiao Clan, avoiding those social obligations. After all, since Qiao Xuan’s temple was in Bingzhou, it made total sense to establish a branch here.

This way, Qiao Yan might also boost her sense of belonging among the Bingzhou locals.

It could even be said that Cheng Yu’s mindset had become infectious; from the Bingzhou Deputy to the ordinary folks, even Ren Hong, who had left Bingzhou for over a decade, now felt a sense of unity against the Yanzhou Qiao Clan as news spread.

The Marquis had no need for troublesome relatives’ support; her subordinates would stand behind her!

Wait a minute… wasn’t her Lingtai County official also drawing a salary from the Han? Calling them subordinates might not be entirely accurate?

Ren Hong realized this a bit too late but, thinking that the Han could provide such salaries only because of the Marquis’s efforts, her guilt quickly faded away.

In short, all the blame lies with the Yanzhou Qiao Clan.

When those few Qiao Clan members came to Chang’an, they thought they could score some benefits from Qiao Yan, maybe not rank among the Nine Ministers, but at least snag a commendation as a prefect to make up for losing the Dong Commandery position—that would be great.

Little did they know, they got kicked out of Chang’an in this manner.

What they didn’t expect further was that when they sent one of their own back to the Yanzhou Qiao Clan’s ancestral home under the pretense of reporting back, the moment he opened his mouth, he was met with those complicated glances from the elder members of the clan.

“Qiao Bingzhou had already sent someone here two days ago.” One interrupted.

This returnee thought this was someone Qiao Yan had sent to complain and was about to argue that he hadn’t spoken ill of her, hoping that maybe after bringing a gift next time, the whole incident could be smoothed over.

After all, family reunions rarely come with lasting grudges.

They believed the suffering endured on their way back would have calmed her anger.

But to their shock, before he could utter a word, the Qiao Clan chief, after holding in his anger for two days, finally found an outlet and swung his cane at him, saying, “What on earth did you do in Chang’an?”

“Do you think she came to reminisce with the Qiao Clan, talking about all the good things you did? She came to notify us!”

“To let us know that under the emperor’s support, she has separated a branch from Qiao Gongzu, now known as the Qiao Clan of Leping!”

Now that it’s the Qiao Clan of Leping, don’t even think about the Qiao Clan of Liangguo having any unnecessary ties with her!

“Leping becomes a commandery, and the Qiao Clan splits?” This news naturally reached Yuan Shao once it flowed through Yanzhou to Liangguo.

Yuan Shao didn’t believe he’d gain much from the rift between the Liangguo and Qiao Yan.

If there were any talents within this crisis, Qiao Yan, now short on manpower, wouldn’t let them slip away; she probably wouldn’t take the extreme step of turning on everyone.

After all, establishing a branch isn’t something to be taken lightly.

Even though Liu Yu’s decree backed her, it was still a dangerous move.

But Yuan Shao wasn’t foolish; he was well aware of the implications of clannish strife and wouldn’t miss the potential benefits lurking in this crisis.

Considering he still had to invest his forces into the battles in Yu Province, reclaiming the other half of the Runan Yuan’s power from Yuan Shu, he found himself slightly envious of Qiao Yan’s current situation.

Her decisive move not only triggered the consequences she might face later but also became something she could easily navigate.

Whether this decision left her unsettled was another matter; the gains were solid!

Moreover, based on his interactions with Qiao Yan, his gut told him—

Qiao Yan probably didn’t suffer much emotional turmoil over this and might even be enjoying the chaos.

This was a shrewd strategist!

Thinking this, he turned to Ju Shou and asked, “Do you think I might have the chance to separate a Yuan Clan from Ye City?”