Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Chang’an’s First Month

Can a strategist not ascend the throne? Volume 7: Eight Hundred Qin Rivers, Occupying Guanzhong, Chapter 230: Chang’an’s First Month

Book: Can a Strategist Not Ascend the Throne?

Chapter 230: Chang’an’s First Month

Although Liu Yan had ambitions, he still had some self-awareness.

His previous position as Grand Marshal was largely due to the fact that Liu Yu’s attitude in Youzhou did not align with Dong Zhuo’s demands. To show his respect for the Han imperial family, Dong Zhuo bestowed this title upon Liu Yan.

But if one were to delve deeper, the territory Dong Zhuo controlled might not even be as large as Liu Yan’s own Yizhou.

If it weren’t for the old ministers who still believed Liu Xie was the rightful emperor, and if it weren’t for Qiao Yan, who was trying to attack Chang’an to reclaim the Son of Heaven, Liu Xie’s title as emperor might not have been so clear, and Liu Yan’s title as Grand Marshal would have been worth half as much.

However, after the Chang’an court was reestablished, if they were willing to give Liu Yan a high position, such as the Grand General position mentioned in the news—this would be a completely different matter!

The Chang’an court now controlled three provinces, making it a more authoritative court compared to Dong Zhuo.

The Ye court also had Ji Province and Qingzhou, and now with the addition of Gongsun Zan, they also controlled three provinces.

But these three provinces are not the same as those three provinces.

Liu Yan hoped that the two “three provinces” would fight, allowing him to benefit from being in the aura of the Son of Heaven. At the same time, he knew that now was not the time to offend Qiao Yan. If Chang’an offered him a title, he should accept it gracefully.

The title of Grand General would be even better!

This meant that either Liu Yu, the new Son of Heaven, was wary of Qiao Yan and trying to contain her, or the Chang’an court had reached a clear consensus on the importance of Liu Yan as the Governor of Yizhou.

Whether it was the former or the latter, it was good news for Liu Yan.

Out of self-interest, Liu Yan naturally hoped it was the former.

The relationship between powerful ministers and the Son of Heaven in the Han dynasty had always been delicate. Few powerful ministers had good endings, especially now that the powerful minister was young and the Son of Heaven was older. This combination was unprecedented.

Liu Yan couldn’t help but feel that something was bound to happen.

Compared to himself, who was said by Lady Lu to be facing a great disaster, it seemed more likely that chaos would break out in Chang’an.

But now was not the time to dwell on this. It was better to first welcome the envoy who had come to confer the title.

As Li Ru had guessed, Liu Yan was not foolish enough to reveal his ambitions in front of the envoy.

He had also decided to present a dignified image in front of the envoy.

So, on one hand, he sent letters to the prefects of Jianwei, Yuexi, and Zangke in southern Yizhou, ordering them to ensure that the southern barbarians did not cause trouble recently. On the other hand, he had all the overly extravagant items in his furnishings and ceremonial displays removed.

Although he didn’t know that his conversation with Dong Fu about “Yizhou having the aura of the Son of Heaven” had been leaked to Qiao Yan and then relayed to Li Ru, he still didn’t dare to slack off.

When the envoy from Hanzhong arrived, Liu Yan presented himself as a proper governor.

Li Ru observed Liu Yan’s every move.

This Governor of Yizhou was much smarter than Dong Zhuo, who had seized power in a single day.

When welcoming the envoy into Chengdu, Liu Yan displayed his authority as a governor while also showing goodwill towards the Chang’an court in his speech.

In his speech, Liu Yan mentioned that at the end of the year before last, when Dong Zhuo still occupied Chang’an, Jia Long, an officer in Yizhou, and Ren Qi, the prefect of Jianwei, had gathered thousands of officials and civilians at the eastern border of Jianwei, intending to attack him and take over Yizhou to ally with Dong Zhuo. Fortunately, he led his troops to defeat them.

Now that the Chang’an court was in a state of stabilizing the chaos, there probably wouldn’t be so many troubles in his province.

He wasn’t too young anymore, so he would just guard this borderland for the Han dynasty.

Since it was already late in the day, Qi Zhou and the others first rested as arranged by Liu Yan. In a few days, when Liu Yan had gathered all the people to witness the conferment of the Grand General title, they would proceed with the ceremony.

“This Governor of Yizhou doesn’t seem as arrogant as I thought,” Qi Zhou said to “Li Meng” after entering the posthouse.

Although he felt that this person, who had been assigned by Qiao Yan to accompany him, seemed a bit unreliable, he still had to strike up a conversation with him, as they might become colleagues in the future.

Qi Zhou had originally thought that Liu Yan, who had proposed the revival of the Provincial Governor System, would be a heroic figure. Perhaps he would accept the decree but still give them a warning.

But Liu Yan seemed to fit the impression of the land of Yizhou.

It was still winter, with no flowers or spring trees in the fields, but the temperature was much higher than in Chang’an, let alone the bitter cold of Youzhou.

This Liu Yan seemed to be a kind and approachable person.

“Li Meng” vaguely replied, “Who says otherwise?”

As for whether this judgment was correct, it had nothing to do with him, a person who had come to Yizhou to broaden his horizons.

Regardless of the exchanges between Li Ru and Liu Yan in front of Qi Zhou in Yizhou, after Xun Yue responded to the summons to the court and Cui Jun arrived from Bingzhou, the legal changes and adjustments initiated by Qiao Yan, along with the preparations for farming and the recruitment work at Hongwen Hall, were all carried out simultaneously.

After the spring plowing season, the people of the three provinces would be busy. Before the spring plowing, it was the officials who were busy.

Most officials in the Chang’an court only knew that Qiao Yan was highly skilled in military strategy, but they had little experience working with her on administrative affairs.

Now they were getting a firsthand experience.

This Lady Qiao, how should one put it…

Before the atmosphere of Chang’an’s first month had even faded, she had already shown an attitude of “talent can always be found if you dig for it, and time can always be squeezed out,” continuously investing human and time resources into the three parallel lines she had drawn.

This attitude of putting all available people to work led Sima Fang, the Governor of Henan, to send his eldest son Sima Lang to work under the Minister of Ceremonies within five days of visiting her after paying his respects to the Son of Heaven.

But in fact, the current situation might be more accurately described as five parallel lines.

Ma Jun in Bingzhou had already begun researching the Divine Bow as per Qiao Yan’s letter.

According to Qiao Yan’s thinking, since the existence of the crossbow had become known to other factions, the advantage she could gain from this immobile weapon would be greatly diminished.

So she couldn’t just stay in place.

If the stability of the artillery platform had been improved, shouldn’t they shift to more flexible shooting?

On the other hand, the Leping Academy in Bingzhou had reopened after the New Year holiday, continuing Qiao Yan’s ten-year cycle of talent cultivation.

At the same time, the cultural dissemination work of the Leping Monthly Report was also underway.

This astonishing efficiency made Wang Yun, Huang Wan, and others understand why the Bingzhou army could enter Liangzhou and Guanzhong in such a short time, ultimately achieving the result of stabilizing Chang’an.

But at the same time, the health-preserving actions of the officials from Bingzhou also left them in awe.

Among them…








The typical representative is Cheng Yu, who holds the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture.

Qiao Yan also pushed for this to prevent some people from holding multiple positions and falling ill from overwork before spring even arrived.

Hua Tuo himself cannot yet transfer from Bingzhou to Chang’an to conduct regular health check-ups for these officials.

This conflicts with Hua Tuo’s medical aspirations.

However, since he arrived in Leping, over a year has passed since he began compiling works like “Beiji Fang” at Qiao Yan’s suggestion.

Although it cannot yet be compared to the original “Zhouhou Beiji Fang” in terms of the completeness of disease records, it has already established a preliminary framework for promoting the regulation of common illnesses, disease prevention, and health maintenance methods to improve physical fitness.

It was quickly distributed in written form to these officials in Guanzhong.

Upon receiving this, Xun Yue glanced at Xun Yu, who had delivered it to him, with a momentary look of speechlessness.

Xun Yue and Xun You resemble each other somewhat, and he also dislikes speaking, which is why he previously lived in seclusion. Now, being invited to Chang’an by Qiao Yan wasn’t because she convinced him with her plans for laws and people’s livelihoods, but because Xun Shuang, Xun Yu, and Xun You all expressed approval of Qiao Yan’s actions.

However, this “calm and handsome” member of the Xun family now somewhat doubts whether their three generations have a complete understanding of Qiao Yan.

But given the current situation and the state of the people’s livelihoods, if Xun Yue had to say, he would rather do more work, as it’s undoubtedly better than the earlier situation where eunuchs held power and scholars had no way out.

He couldn’t help but tease Xun Yu, “Now I understand why you were so eager to recommend me to come.”

Because Qiao Yan has too many ideas and is too action-oriented, more people need to be recruited to fill positions to implement these measures.

Chen Qun shares the same thoughts as Xun Yue.

The “Three Lords” of the Chen family are his grandfather, father, and uncle, not himself.

Laws and decrees are simple in theory but tedious to formulate, as they relate to rewards and punishments. Those in charge should ideally be close confidants of the Emperor, but now he has become one of them.

This makes him suspect that his father, knowing his capabilities, directly sold him out.

Unfortunately, this speculation is not suitable to ask Chen Ji directly, so Chen Qun can only mutter to himself while working.

Moreover, the thriving scene in Chang’an city brings joy to those with real talent amidst their busy schedules.

Furthermore, Qiao Yan’s task assignments, with very few exceptions, are only focused on adults.

For example, among the potential talents from Leping who came to watch the Emperor’s coronation ceremony, Zhuge Liang, who had a teacher-student relationship with Xun Yu, was allowed by Qiao Yan to observe the preparations for Chang’an’s agricultural projects and participated for a few days.

But even though Qiao Yan could see his potential, she didn’t plan to start him directly with practical operations. Instead, she sent him to Hongwen Hall to listen to debates and presentations by various scholars.

Broadening his horizons is fine, but direct work is unnecessary.

In a few days, he will return to Leping to continue his studies.

After all, the scholars from various factions mostly bring along a group when one is pulled out. Given the current situation, Qiao Yan isn’t really short of people for internal administrative positions.

If anything, she lacks technical talent.

In the eyes of most, people like Ma Jun and Bi Lan are really not focusing on their proper duties.

But Qiao Yan always adheres to the principle that to do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools, and she deeply understands that the role such talents can play is even disruptive.

Unfortunately, very few of them are recorded for her to discover.

She can only hope that with the development of mathematics in Leping, Ma Jun can train more disciples to temporarily alleviate her urgent needs.

But this is still not enough.

Calculation does not mean innovation, so she also needs to continuously search for potential talents by rewarding innovators.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but glance in Huang Yueying’s direction.

When will this child finally complete her studies?

At this moment, because Qiao Yan intends to expand the number of Leping Monthly Reports to be sent to Guanzhong, Zhaoji is short-handed, and Huang Yueying continues to stay here to help.

Probably because she is so focused, she doesn’t notice the hopeful look Qiao Yan casts her way.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a time machine, so Qiao Yan can only wait for them to grow up slowly.

Cai Zhaoji suddenly spoke up, interrupting Qiao Yan’s reverie.

She asked, “By the way, has Your Lordship sent New Year’s gifts to the court in Ye City this year?”

Lu Lingju is also here, sorting through the monthly reports with Huang Yueying. Upon hearing such a gossipy question, she couldn’t help but poke her head out.

After all, such questions usually make others the butt of the joke, not the Lord.

So her action can’t be considered inappropriate. Instead… it should be called striving to learn from the Lord, so she can emulate her methods of dealing with opponents in the future.

Qiao Yan collected her thoughts and replied, “Of course I sent something, but it’s not exactly a New Year’s gift.”

Previously, she needed to send New Year’s gifts to Liu Bian, which was equivalent to declaring to the outside world—

Among the two sons left by Liu Hong, she chose Liu Xie. But for Liu Bian, out of respect for him as the Prince of Hongnong, she still retained some affection and deference.

However, this year, due to the circumstances, she placed Liu Yu on the throne to maintain the stability of the people’s livelihoods after Liu Xie’s disappearance.

It was also because of this decision that she further regarded Ye City as a false court.

Under such circumstances, it was no longer appropriate for her to maintain a “lingering connection” with the Prince of Hongnong, lest this respect for him become a reason for criticism in Chang’an city.

She has always been very meticulous.

After all, the Emperor she now serves, if one were to trace blood relations with Liu Xie and Liu Bian, is really quite distant.

The Han imperial family, developed over four hundred years of the Han Dynasty, has many members. Someone like Liu Yan, if not for his own strength and status, would more likely have been just another insignificant member of the Han imperial family.

She continued, “If you call this a New Year’s gift, it’s more like a declaration of war.”

“We here have changed the era name to Jian’an, while they over there call themselves Yonghan. But the world cannot forever have two Han Dynasties, so it’s natural to declare war at this time.”

“The Prince of Hongnong is a descendant of Emperor Xiaoling and a legitimate member of the Han imperial family. With His Majesty’s benevolence, he certainly won’t be exterminated. So my New Year’s gift merely expresses that he will become one of our defeated foes and a part of our side.”

“Moreover, the late Emperor entrusted me with the duty of clearing the court of corrupt officials, so I am somewhat of a senior to the Prince of Hongnong…”

At this point, Qiao Yan took out a coin from the pouch at her waist.

This coin doesn’t have the square hole typical of ordinary Wu Zhu coins, nor does it bear the characters “Wu Zhu.” Instead, it is engraved with images of Chang’an city and the Qinling Mountains, making it this year’s Victory Coin.

“I sent him one of these and a collection of the Leping Monthly Report.”