Chapter 149

Chapter 149

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 5: The Han Divided, Battles Settle West of the River Chapter 149: The Verdict on the Five Zhu

Book: Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 149: The Verdict on the Five Zhu

Qiao Yan rubbed the surface of the coin with her fingertips.

The faint protrusions on it were likely not due to irregularities in the mold used for minting, but rather the pattern of the characters “Five Zhu.”

However, due to differences in minting techniques among various factions during the late Han period, the characters often ended up unclear when coins were cast using molds.

Just like the tombs unearthed in the Eastern Wu, where truly native Wu coins were exceedingly rare—

Dong Zhuo’s current influence clearly lacked skill in minting coins!

Anyone else in Dong Zhuo’s position would know that the economy is closely tied to people’s livelihoods and should not be tampered with lightly.

The problems brought by the issuance of these small coins are too numerous to mention!

Although the standard Five Zhu coins could still have variants like the purple coins due to differences in the quality of copper ores across regions, issuing Five Zhu coins was ultimately a means to standardize the monetary system and reduce private coin minting.

But small, inferior, and lightweight coins, once massively introduced into the market and forcibly exchanged for genuine, full-weight Five Zhu coins through military means, would inevitably lead to devaluation, soaring prices, and inflation. Even if Chang’an hadn’t suffered from Dong Zhuo’s plundering, it would eventually fall into a dire situation.

Qiao Yan was both glad that Dong Zhuo’s actions gave her another reason to denounce him and worried about the current state of Chang’an.

With Lu Zhi’s staunch character, if not for the need to protect Liu Xie’s life, he would never submit to Dong Zhuo.

Given the worsening plight of the people, he would likely speak out against it.

Dong Zhuo still needed Lu Zhi and others to prove that the Liu Xie he held was the legitimate heir of the Han Dynasty, but who knew what tomorrow would bring?

“Lord, are you concerned about the safety of Lord Lu and others, and how Ye City will respond upon hearing the news of the small coins?” Xi Zhicai asked.

“Not entirely,” Qiao Yan shook her head. “Worrying about the former is futile, and as for the latter… Dong Zhuo minting small coins under the emperor’s name will initially allow him to amass wealth, but it is ultimately a tyrannical act. Ye City just needs to remain unchanged to win.”

Yuan Shao, having gathered a group of strategists due to his role as the Governor of Qingzhou and his efforts to establish the capital in Ye City, was still in the early stages of his enterprise. These strategists were not yet vying for merit or forming factions, so they could still offer sound advice.

If Yuan Shao, due to insufficient military provisions, suggested that Liu Bian establish another monetary system, he would likely be dissuaded.

She continued, “I’m thinking that Dong Zhuo’s minting of small coins is essentially telling the people that as long as one holds military power, they can acquire more copper for minting. Not just in Guanzhong, but people across the realm will lose faith in currency. Once there’s another war or natural disaster…”

Xi Zhicai’s expression turned serious as he added, “Items like cloth, salt, and grain, which hold value, will become bartering chips.”

“We must prepare early!”

Qiao Yan stood up and paced back and forth in the room. After stopping, she said, “Silk can redeem lives, equivalent to gold, a rule established long ago. But if bartering becomes prevalent, it will inevitably lead to inferior goods being passed off as quality ones, making it hard to maintain order.”

For example, during the Cao Wei period, wet cloth mixed with dry cloth, or inferior millet mixed with good millet, even with strict laws, it was difficult to completely curb these speculative practices.

The impact of Dong Zhuo’s small coins, leading to millet being worth a thousand gold, spread widely. Despite the efforts of the Cao Wei, they only barely managed to reintroduce the Five Zhu coins, without completely eliminating the inherent flaws.

Therefore, the sooner a regulatory system is established, the better.

The appearance of Dong Zhuo’s small coins made her realize it was time to seek talent in economics to ensure that while Bingzhou developed its people’s livelihoods, it could also have a suitable economic system in place. Before that, she needed to set a basic standard.

“Lord Qiao’s meaning is?”

Qiao Yan firmly replied, “Summon the minting officials within Bingzhou to see me. No matter how the war progresses, there must be no cutting corners in minting within our territory. Additionally, inform the people of the province that we will continue to follow the Five Zhu coin standard. If there are any inferior coins minted within the province—”

“Hold them accountable to the fullest extent!”

The phrase “hold them accountable to the fullest extent” carried a resolute and stern tone, making it clear to Xi Zhicai that this was Qiao Yan’s bottom line.

Xi Zhicai thought for a moment and suggested, “In that case, why not use the late emperor as a reason again.”

If Emperor Ling of Han knew in the afterlife, he would probably be furious enough to come back to life.

Not only were his two sons divided in such a manner, but Qiao Yan also intended to use his edict to justify her actions in Liangzhou, and now even insisted on using the Five Zhu coins under his name.

What a ridiculous state of affairs!

But since he was already dead, and it was his own edict, he could only be used as a pretext.

Qiao Yan clearly didn’t care about the feelings of the deceased emperor and simply “followed good advice” by adopting Xi Zhicai’s suggestion.

Upholding the Han Dynasty’s legitimacy, refusing to use Dong Zhuo’s small coins, and firmly using Five Zhu coins—this reasoning was utterly righteous.

With Qiao Yan’s credibility and reputation in Bingzhou, even she said so, except for some special transactions, like her resource exchanges with the Donghai Mi Clan, ordinary people’s transactions should remain within the scope of Five Zhu coins.

Of course, this didn’t mean Qiao Yan wouldn’t face problems.

Given the productivity of the Han Dynasty, copper mining was limited. If Bingzhou only needed coins for regular circulation, the current copper supply was sufficient. But if wars broke out frequently, requiring rapid procurement of strategic materials, the amount would be insufficient.

Some materials were also unsuitable for the people to sell off after surplus production and needed to be centrally purchased by the provincial government.

This meant the provincial government needed money.

So she also had to address the issue of copper production.

After Xi Zhicai left, her gaze fell on the map of the ten provinces of the Han Dynasty.

The northernmost line of Bingzhou, corresponding to modern Inner Mongolia, had copper deposits, but it wasn’t the most resource-rich area.

The northwestern frontier, including Gansu, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and the southwestern frontier of Yunnan were the most abundant!

The former was part of Liangzhou and the untamed lands beyond the Han borders, while the latter was under the jurisdiction of Yizhou.

And the only place Qiao Yan could bring under control at this time was—

Liangzhou!

Far away in Jincheng, Ma Teng and Han Sui were discussing how to defend against the enemy in the second year of Guangxi, unaware that the resources of Liangzhou had strengthened Qiao Yan’s resolve to wage a decisive battle.

In Ye City, Yuan Shao was also unaware that Qiao Yan had once again publicly condemned Dong Zhuo, not to side with Liu Bian.








Long before the envoy returning to Bingzhou from Chang’an arrived, Qu Yi, who had gone to Ye City to deliver gifts, had already reported the news to Qiao Yan.

Although Yuan Shao had long received the news that Han Fu was detained by Qiao Yan, he still harbored a glimmer of hope and made an attempt to win over Qu Yi. He even hinted that if Qu Yi could switch his allegiance to the Son of Heaven, he would at least not be just a captain under the General Who Crosses the Liao River, as he was in Bingzhou.

Now that Han Fu was detained by Qiao Yan, Qu Yi could only play the role of delivering humble gifts. Why not switch sides and embrace the light!

No wonder Yuan Shao didn’t think Qu Yi had already been preempted by Qiao Yan.

Offering his reading notes as a New Year tribute to an emperor, while not unreasonable, would inevitably displease the Son of Heaven.

If this newly enthroned Son of Heaven wanted to express dissatisfaction with this gift, perhaps due to the General of Agile Cavalry’s attempt to win him over, he might not hold Qiao Yan accountable but would likely punish the gift-giver.

“Yuan Qingzhou said that if this were truly a good job, it wouldn’t have fallen to me.”

Qu Yi reported all these situations to Qiao Yan, who then asked, “What do you think?”

What did he think?

The Liangzhou people’s admiration for strength was fully manifested in Qu Yi.

He had traveled to Ye City, thinking that even if the new capital was newly established and its arrangements might be somewhat modest, the imperial city’s relocation would likely follow a system second only to Luoyang.

But who would have thought that the royal capital of Ye City was not only far from the capital Luoyang he had seen but also lacked the vibrancy compared to Jinyang.

Looking at the Son of Heaven’s imperial guards, Qu Yi felt a sense of absurdity.

This was not a proper imperial guard but a group of noble children who had moved to Ye City with Liu Bian, forming a playful formation!

Coupled with a few old and weak soldiers, it truly lacked the aura of a royal capital’s imperial guard.

Looking at it this way, Yuan Qingzhou was indeed unreliable.

However, Qu Yi’s thoughts slightly insulted Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao wanted to use the Son of Heaven’s righteousness to cleanse his reputation damaged during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, not to truly give Liu Bian a powerful cavalry to dominate Ye City.

The real elite troops were absolutely impossible to hand over to Liu Bian and had long been dispatched away from Ye City under the pretext of quelling the Yellow Turban rebels in Qingzhou.

But Yuan Shao’s concealment of his true strength further solidified Qu Yi’s decision to pledge allegiance to Qiao Yan.

After Qiao Yan asked that question, he knelt without hesitation: “If the Marquis does not disdain, Qu Yi is willing to serve under your command!”

He indeed had the capital to make such a promise.

A branch of the Xiping Qu family had lived in Jincheng Commandery, occupied by Han Sui, for generations. If it came to war in Liangzhou, Qu Yi would undoubtedly be a qualified general.

His connection with Han Fu had likely been torn apart when Qiao Yan forced Qu Yi to participate in the campaign against Dong Zhuo.

Qiao Yan was not afraid of subordinates who joined her out of the desire to “climb higher,” just like Lü Bu, who was also driven by Qiao Yan’s strength and tempting offers, like a donkey chasing a carrot.

Once she formally advanced into Liangzhou, it was foreseeable that people like Lü Bu and Qu Yi would not be few.

This was the characteristic of Liangzhou and Bingzhou!

But so what!

A wise lord should guide the situation, binding these people to their war chariot until they could no longer get off, rather than demanding irreversible loyalty from the start.

Qu Yi’s pledge of allegiance confirmed that changing the roles of famous historical figures who switched sides, making them directly reject the latter’s recruitment, was an effective way for her to trick the system into achieving accomplishments.

Qiao Yan reached out to help Qu Yi up, “Come and see!”

Qu Yi followed her to the back parlor, where a map of Liangzhou was laid out on the table, with various flags showing signs of repeated placement, indicating that she had been discussing the military plans for Liangzhou with her advisors for a long time.

One particularly striking flag was placed on Gaoping City in Anding Commandery.

With Qu Yi’s military expertise, he could not fail to see Qiao Yan’s intentions, but now was not the time to discuss this.

“Advisor Zhang is a surrendered general from Liangzhou, responsible only for persuading his uncle to surrender if I defeat Dong Zhuo, so we can set him aside for now. Under my command, Yancai is from Beidi Commandery, Advisor Wenhe is from Wuwei, Advisor Yuangu is from Wudu and Hanyang, and Anding Commandery has General Huangfu Song as support. The only thing missing is someone familiar with the heartland of Liangzhou, Jincheng Commandery. If General Qu is willing to serve, it would complete the final piece.”

“The terrain of Liangzhou is complex, with many Qiang tribes. Fighting unprepared would only waste the years of development in Bingzhou in a single battle,” Qiao Yan pointed at the narrow land before her, her gaze filled with a sense of importance that moved Qu Yi. “Now, the momentum for battle is ready.”

Being seen as the final missing piece of the puzzle, what an honor!

Even though Qiao Yan had previously promised Gai Xun that she would launch the campaign against Liangzhou in April this year, when the final preparation turned out to be him, Qu Yi no longer cared about Han Fu.

He should take Han Sui’s head for Marquis Qiao!

Han Sui, who had been targeted, felt a sense of crisis for some reason.

But he quickly suppressed this thought.

Huangfu Song was stationed in Chaona County, at least six hundred li away from his location. The years of fighting with the Han army should have made them realize how terrifying it was to pursue deep into Liangzhou, with supplies cut off and surrounded by the Qiang.

Now that Dong Zhuo held the Son of Heaven in Chang’an, he had to rely on Han Sui and Ma Teng as rear support, allowing him to shed the identity of a rebel and be officially called a general.

From Chang’an, where Dong Zhuo was, through the mountain valley path of Zuopingyi to Chaona, he could also keep an eye on Huangfu Song’s movements.

So if Huangfu Song made any moves, he would know.

Huangfu Song had once held the position of General of the Left, but now it was Han Sui, the General of the Left, sitting comfortably in Jincheng, while Huangfu Song, the former General of the Left, became the one surrounded, possibly facing disaster.

This was truly—

Extremely satisfying!

As for the Governor of Bingzhou, there was no need to say more.

After discussing strategies with Ma Teng, they both felt the situation was stable and had already started celebrating. They no longer cared about the distinction between General of the Front and General of the Left but boldly declared that whoever could defeat Huangfu Song’s forces would ask Dong Zhuo for the position of General of the Chariots and Cavalry.

During the rounds of drinking, Ma Teng and Han Sui toasted, saying, “Governor Qiao of Bingzhou is just a youngster. Even the Southern Xiongnu have those who do not follow orders, let alone attacking our Liangzhou!”

The Southern Xiongnu’s Huchuquan wandering around the Ziwuling Ridge had long been reported to them by Qiang scouts.

In another two months, they would be plowing the newly cultivated fields.

Han Sui laughed, “Exactly! If she can truly march into Liangzhou, I’ll give her my head!”