“Can strategists not ascend to the throne?”
Chapter 169 opens with a letter that resembles one that Xi Zhicai sent to Yingchuan three years ago. The tone is eerily similar.
But—
Given Qiao Yan’s busy schedule dealing with the annexation of Liangzhou, she probably doesn’t need to write a letter just to show off.
Guo Jia pondered the implications and said, “I suspect this letter was penned in a moment of inspiration at a banquet, just to give some people the impression that she was pleased with the entertainment.”
Could Qiao Yan be unaware that there are no more night markets in Liangzhou? Of course not.
With her authority reaching Guhuang, local nobility would bend over backward to please her, that much was easy to guess.
The mention of grape wine and tender lamb in her correspondence seems a bit forced.
It almost feels like a reminder of another letter.
The meaning is crystal clear.
After some contemplation, Xi Zhicai said, “Hand over your current tasks to Prefect Cui for now; stuff it with work. When he’s really overwhelmed, summon his son, who’s either dancing away or running, to come assist in Bingzhou. You need to take someone along to Liangzhou.”
Cui Lie was originally sent by Liu Hong to “train” Qiao Yan, freeing up a spot in the court, but after just two years in Bingzhou, he found himself promoted to Prefect thanks to Qiao Yan’s takeover as the governor.
To say the least, this Prefect doesn’t hold much real power.
Fortunately, Cui Lie isn’t the type to mind that sort of thing, or else Qiao Yan would’ve booted him out long ago. Instead, he’s living the good life in Bingzhou, feasting away, and even the death of Liu Hong or the power struggle between the East and West hasn’t shaken his position.
Keeping him there certainly benefits Qiao Yan.
As an appointee of the late emperor and a notable figure from Hebei, placing someone like Cui Lie in that position speaks volumes about their stance.
When compared to Han Fu, who lost military power, it certainly helps Qiao Yan manage her image.
What I mean is, Cui Lie and Han Fu were both sent to Jizhou by the late emperor; now one is happily holding the role of Prefect while the other is a prisoner. The former has never openly complained about Qiao Yan, making it clear that the issues mainly lie with Han Fu, not Qiao Yan.
But right now, with a lack of civil officials, Cui Lie can’t just be a figurehead; he needs to be useful.
Considering the experiences of those who followed Qiao Yan to Liangzhou, while he privately indulged in some sweet liquor here, Xi Zhicai felt that Cui Lie shouldn’t be allowed to kick back too much!
Don’t let him fool anyone; even though he mentioned two states as if it were nothing, he truly felt a bit headachy while taking on Cheng Yu’s duties from his back position.
This was all while Lu Yuan and Qin Yu were already sharing a good chunk of the workload with him.
Now, Qiao Yan’s letter is pushing for cooperation against the wealthy families in Liangzhou, especially the Wu Wei clan. With Jia Xu already undercover in Chang’an, another person must join the fray.
Since Xun You excels in military strategy and is already in Liangzhou, it’s best to send Guo Jia for this.
To step in for Guo Jia, Cui Lie and Zhang Liao make a solid team of scholar and warrior.
But Cui Lie isn’t particularly brave; showing weakness before the Xianbei could backfire, while his son, Cui Jun, could turn out to be quite the character. This might just be the chance to get him to assist in Bingzhou.
Cui Jun has already passed the filial piety and integrity recommendations and entered the official ranks, but with Dong Zhuo’s mess and two emperors at play, he hasn’t received any assignments. Xi Zhicai thinks he likely returned to his family in Boling out of sheer curiosity, which is why he hasn’t taken a post under Yuan Shao.
So instead of rotting away, why not come help his old man?
Isn’t that a perfect example of filial piety in the Han Dynasty?
Having wrapped up his plans, Xi Zhicai turned to Guo Jia and asked, “Didn’t you mention last month that Wenruo had designs on an official position? Any news?”
Given the ties he shares with Guo Jia and Xun Yu, it wouldn’t be much different for Xun Yu to send a letter to anyone, but since Xi Zhicai was busy with Qiao Yan’s campaign in Liangzhou, last month’s letter from Xun Yu went straight to Guo Jia.
The letter hinted he was considering leaving Yingchuan.
This isn’t surprising.
Xun Yu was praised as a Talent to Assist a King by He Yong. Given his age and knowledge, he really should find a place to fulfill his ambitions; it’s just a shame he was first hampered by the Prohibition of Factionalists and then by Dong Zhuo’s political upheaval.
If he waits much longer, it could become inappropriate.
However, Xi Zhicai wasn’t asking because he expected Xun Yu to work like Cui Jun; he was merely checking in on a friend.
He understood that Xun Yu wasn’t likely to show up at Qiao Yan’s camp anytime soon.
Given the status of the Xun clan in the scholarly community, sending Xun You for military strategy was already a rather unusual choice due to Xun Shuang. No way they’d also send over a high-ranking political player like Xun Yu.
Unless Qiao Yan had managed to take out Dong Zhuo and was now rallying around Emperor Liu Xie.
Given Xi Zhicai’s awareness of Qiao Yan’s ambitions, he knew she’d prefer to have the setup with both Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao holding onto an emperor than to have Liu Xie successfully rescued.
That meant he could only inquire about Xun Yu’s whereabouts.
Guo Jia replied, “He hasn’t decided yet. It’s pretty much impossible for him to go to Chang’an, but regarding Ye City… looking into Liu Youzhou’s journey to Liangzhou, Wenruo surely sees it’s all Yuan Shao’s doing. He won’t go. From what I gathered in his letter, he’s looking to travel around the states first and is currently in Xuzhou. I specifically wrote to remind him not to pick up Chen Yuanlong’s taste for raw fish; nothing else really needs to be said.”
In Xuzhou, enjoying raw fish isn’t just Chen Deng’s pastime; Mi Zhu, also from Xuzhou, brought chilled fish along when he gifted Qiao Yan last year.
But Mi Zhu’s fish was from the sea, while Chen Deng preferred river fish. The difference was something Wu Pu, from Bingzhou, had explained when invited by Qiao Yan. It even got published in this year’s Leping Monthly Report, which Guo Jia sent along to Xun Yu.
With Xun Yu’s family background, he likely won’t run into any trouble in Xuzhou, which explains why Guo Jia felt “nothing else really needs to be said.”
However, if we’re bringing it up, Xun Yu also mentioned his neighbor while he was staying in Xuzhou is Zhuge Xuan, younger brother to the former magistrate of Taishan and a former subordinate of Liu Biao. Zhuge Xuan resigned to care for his brother Zhuge Gui’s widow and young son, so they’ve been keeping each other company.
Zhuge Gui passed away last year, and Xun Yu is unaware of his personality.
But his three brothers, Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Jun, all have quite the clever reputation; he was pleased to compliment them a bit more, especially the second brother, Zhuge Liang.
“Such sophistication at such a young age!”
Guo Jia quipped in his reply, saying that if that were the case, Wenruo might as well teach them a thing or two during his leisure time.
He sent the Leping Monthly Report not just to remind him to be cautious about eating raw fish; it was also a casual gift for Xun Yu’s neighbor.
But there were quite a few students around ten years old in Leping Academy, so Guo Jia didn’t dwell too much on the matter.
After handing his tasks over to Cui Lie, who looked both relaxed and bewildered by the compulsory overtime that followed, Guo Jia led a group to Liangzhou.
And he didn’t go alone.
Due to the farming situation in the Lushui River Basin of Wuwei Commandery, he summoned a few officials from Qin Yu, brought along Jia Xu’s eldest son, Jia Mu, and even improved the previous mishap with Bi Lan during their time in Bingzhou before setting off.
This was also the gist of Qiao Yan’s letter that reached Bingzhou later in August.
The previous letter hinted at some decoding game, though it was Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia who figured it out. As a superior, she still had to give clear orders.
The two letters arrived less than a day apart.
The latter letter mentioned that Xi Zhicai and Guo Jia should decide among themselves who would go to Liangzhou to assist, and whoever came must bring along strategies to deal with the aristocracy of Wuwei.
Meanwhile, Qiao Yan was hardly sitting idle herself.
As she was received by the representatives of the Wuwei aristocracy, Yan Jun led her around various spots in the commandery for over half a month.
This was undoubtedly playing right into Qiao Yan’s hands.
When Guo Jia arrived at Guzang, Qiao Yan had already made a round trip to Xiutuze and had delineated the area she planned to develop into farmland.
On the surface, Qiao Yan was about to cultivate the previously undeveloped wasteland along the river.
These lands were abandoned due to the lack of manpower in Wuwei and did not conflict with the interests of the local aristocrats.
But anyone seeing such a disciplined troop running around nearby would find it hard to remain calm.
If it weren’t for the fact that Qiao Yan wasn’t making any demands from them, the Wuwei aristocrats might even consider whether to relinquish some land to avoid disaster.
However, if they said such things, they’d be at a disadvantage, so they opted to tighten their defenses around the fortress and only kept watch on each other.
This made Qiao Yan even more certain that convincing these people to hand over trade convoys, or at least those familiar with the Western Regions, wouldn’t be an easy task.
She certainly couldn’t reveal her demand for trading routes with the Western Regions early on.
Giving these folks bargaining chips certainly didn’t bode well for her plans to capture over half of the Hexi Commanderies’ land.
Anyway, she wasn’t in a rush; she might as well proceed step by step to ensure farming and pacification.
Guo Jia found it amusing; he took two routes from Bingzhou to Wuwei.
One route was by boat, sailing upstream from Shuo Fang Commandery to the Zhan Yin Ferry in Wuwei and then crossing the Wuqiaoling to Guzang.
The other was through the grasslands between Shuo Fang and Wuwei, arriving at Xiutuze along the Lushui.
He took the latter route himself while sending Bi Lan and the others along the former.
This was indeed a clever decision.
This meant Qiao Yan had unassailable control over Shuo Fang, allowing her to connect the Hexi Commanderies and Bingzhou via Shuo Fang at any time, directly shortening the distance for reinforcements to Wuwei while keeping her opponents guessing about her actual route.
Moreover—
This was also a way to intimidate the Xianbei people on the grasslands, wasn’t it?
Guo Jia remarked, “Even though the Xianbei are temporarily hesitant to invade Bingzhou due to their interests and the threat of force, the only way to keep Budugen on his toes is to strengthen our own capabilities. Consistently launching surprise raids on the Xianbei royal court won’t keep them in line, so I asked him to escort me partway.”
This so-called escorting was also about showcasing another faction of Bingzhou’s military might to Budugen.
From what Guo Jia mentioned, Budugen felt it would be better to continue aligning with someone like the formidable Bingzhou governor than to confront her head on.
Seeing the merciless blows received by the Qiang people in Liangzhou and the recent failures of the rebellious Han Sui allowed Budugen to clearly see the consequences of opposing Qiao Yan.
After all, the supplies he offered in exchange for cattle and sheep didn’t really cause him much loss, and he even secured a wintering place for some of his clansmen, so he didn’t have to relive the looting incidents from previous winters.
To this end, he even cooperated with Guo Jia’s wishes by transporting this year’s “final payment” of cattle and sheep all the way from Shuo Fang to the borders of Wuwei before turning back.
This display undoubtedly delivered a second round of shock to the Wuwei aristocrats and the local Lushui Qiang people.
When had the Xianbei who previously raided Jiuquan turned into this?!
They seemed like a bunch of sheep producers now!
“This is the answer you offer,” Qiao Yan appreciated Guo Jia’s smart maneuvering and continued, “But merely being fearful and acknowledging the power difference isn’t enough for my current goals. I need them to genuinely commit to aiding me in Western Region trade for at least two years.”
Her military strength was limited and not suited for overly ambitious projects.
Guo Jia understood this well; he had already been weighing the situation on his way to Liangzhou. Thus, without hesitation, he replied, “This will require exposing some of your weaknesses, aligning with what we currently consider weaknesses.”
Qiao Yan looked at him, seeing his determined expression, and couldn’t help but smile, “Alright, I’ll allow you to give it a try.”
Guo Jia’s arrival in Wuwei under Qiao Yan’s command was a significant affair.
As he was responsible for overseeing her dealings with the Xianbei and Hu people, his status was evidently no small matter.
This made it even more significant!
Yan Jun had already received a signal from Qiao Yan—that things could be handled well over drinks. So, when she returned to Gaoping City for business, he specially treated Guo Jia to a meal.
Little did he expect that what he thought was a perfectly cooked feast would receive some particularly spicy critiques from Guo Jia.
“It’s not that I dislike your dish,” the young man twirled the wine jug in his hand with a frown and continued, “You know my lord once named a type of pork after Dongpo meat when she was in Bingzhou, using rock candy to remove the fishy taste and enhance the flavor. She has quite a sweet tooth and it’s become a trend.”
“The saying goes, ‘What the upper class enjoys, the lower must follow suit.’ If you can’t even get the preferences right, it’s no wonder my lord only gives you the time of day as a formality.”
Yan Jun was taken aback.
But thinking it over, it made sense; Qiao Yan clearly favored wine over roasted lamb by a long shot, likely because of its sweetness.
Perhaps it wasn’t just because it was more expensive.
Rock candy…
Rock candy only comes from Yizhou and the Western Regions, meaning Persia, and was considered a delicacy.
Since Liu Yan became the governor of Yizhou, commodities rarely flowed out, especially sweets that only noble families could enjoy.
So, would he try to import a batch from the Western Regions?
