Chapter 269: Resentment

In mid-February, the black bear arrived in Yan'an.

Liu Bao went a hundred miles south to meet him, and on the Qinzhi Road, Black Bear and Liu Bao rode in the same carriage.

The Qin Straight Road was not built along valleys or densely populated areas, but along mountain ridges.

Drainage was fully considered during its construction, so the Qin Straight Road remains intact to this day.

There is no weed growing on the road.

The only bad thing is the overgrowth of trees, and the army needs to be deployed to cut down the excess trees near the straight road to clear the view.

If walls were built on both sides of the Qin Straight Road, it would be the Great Wall.

The Great Wall was also built along the mountain ridge. Unless the mountain collapses on a large scale, the Great Wall and the Qin Straight Road will not be hit by any floods.

The Qin Straight Road does not include the Guanzhong Plain area. To the south is Ganquan Palace and to the north is Wuyuan.

Yan'an is just a node in the middle.

Hei Xiong hadn't seen Liu Bao for two or three months and missed him a little.

Unlike before, he can no longer hear any decent truth in Guanzhong, or even see any real emotions; on the contrary, Liu Bao is more human.

"The Qin Straight Path will benefit the world for thousands of years."

The chariot was moving lightly. Black Bear placed his hands on the handrails and looked at the ten dry horses pulling the chariot lightly in front of him. The one hundred points of black mana were well spent.

As far as arable land is concerned, it is enough.

No matter how many dried horses and larger special farm tools there are, they cannot change the overall efficiency of Guanzhong.

Black Bear glanced at Liu Bao and said, "It's a pity that the descendants of the First Emperor perished, otherwise I would have posthumously awarded this achievement and promoted his descendants to the rank of marquis."

Liu Bao had experienced high speed riding on a wild horse before, but the speed at this moment made him feel frightened.

I always feel that the shaking car body may collide with stones or potholes at any time and then break into pieces.

Black Bear was quite comfortable with the car's current speed, which was only about 40 per hour.

Liu Bao tightly grasped the armrests on both sides of the seat. He wished he could tie himself tightly to the car with a rope.

At least he won't fly out when the wheels hit an obstacle.

He wanted to speak up and advise Black Bear, but he felt that if he said so he would be looked down upon.

Listening to Black Bear's words, Liu Bao also said: "Yes, the Qin Straight Road is still in use today, and it really saved the Grand Marshal a lot of trouble."

"Since you think so, I will go back and cite the merits of Zhidao and select one of the descendants of the Yingqin clan to receive the title."

Black Bear sat lazily on the armchair, looking at the trees growing on both sides of the road and smiling: "These are all good things. I will relocate people to fill the straight road, set up a post station every twenty or thirty miles, and cut down trees to build marching camps. In the future, when the army is mobilized, these camps will be able to accommodate a thousand people and also be used to store grain."

"This year, Guanzhong is barren. Next autumn, I will transport grain from Guanzhong to Yulin."

Black Bear looked at the mountains in the distance and said, "Next spring and summer, I will rebuild the straight track. Once the track is repaired and food and fodder are transported to Wuyuan in an endless stream, we can chase the Xianbei people."

Only sufficient food can ensure that the war horses are in good condition.

Liu Bao nodded, "What the Grand Marshal said is very true, but I am still worried about the Hetao tribes. They are a mixed community of Han and Hu people, good at farming and animal husbandry, as well as smelting and forging. They are also proficient in the Han military tactics and military system. I am afraid that we will not be able to wipe them out this year if we become enemies with them."

"No problem. If we can't defeat them this year, we can fight them next year."

As Black Bear spoke, he looked down and saw that the stone pavement on the straight road had two pairs of grooves pressed into it by the passing vehicles.

The track of a car is the distance between the two wheels.

In order to improve transportation efficiency, the wheels of vehicles are pressed on the stone floor when they are driving; the vehicle tracks were taken into consideration when the stone slabs were laid.

The entire straight road is made up of stones in many places; only the tracks are built in strips.

Because the vehicles passing by are fixed on the tracks, the friction day and night has caused the wheels to wear out grooves more than half a foot long on the stone tracks.

Traditionally, road repairs have involved either repaving the surface with stones, re-leveling it, or building a new track with stone slabs.

Another option is to dig out stone slabs to enlarge the groove and embed larger stone slabs into it to ensure the overall flatness of the road.

With Guanzhong's current productivity and manpower, major repairs are not possible and the only options are to fill the grooves to ensure that the track on the road is flat.

This time when I came to Yan'an to build the Zhangong Stone Pagoda, I wanted to take the opportunity to study cement.

If you can’t make cement, you can study the legendary mortar.

The most labor-saving method is to use cement or concrete to fill and solidify the tracks on the straight road.

If there is enough cement for road construction, and the cement hardens and levels the road...it is equivalent to making the entire road surface track-proof.

The track is a flat road connected by dense stone slabs. When the wheels run on it, they encounter little resistance. The same amount of animal power can transport more materials, the driving efficiency is high, and the vehicle is not easily damaged.

Even if it is a rural-level cement road, the construction of vehicles will be free from the width restrictions of the tracks, and wider and longer tracks can be built, greatly increasing the transportation volume.

With this in mind, they arrived in Yan'an that night. Liu Ye had already prepared a banquet, so Black Bear and Liu Ye sat at the same table to eat.

Liu Ye talked about the recent situation in Shangjun. Black Bear already knew a lot of the information, but telling it in person would make it easier for Black Bear to ask for some details.

Under the light of several sheep oil lamps, Liu Ye talked about Shangjun’s biggest hidden danger at present.

That is, after the beginning of spring, the various Xiongnu groups dispersed and roamed everywhere; because most of the Qiang people in Shangjun had been destroyed.

Therefore, the Huns who were grazing in scattered areas gathered together, formed teams of dozens of people and began to advance deep into the mountains and forests. The Qiang people who lived in remote places had no way to escape and could only fight to the death.

This is different from Ma Chao, the Protector of the Qiang. Ma Chao used both conquest and appeasement. If the Qiang people were obedient and willing to be deployed, Ma Chao would not kill them all.

The Xiongnu were in urgent need of additional labor, and whether the Qiang people resisted or surrendered, they would become slaves of the Xiongnu.

The Qiang people would not passively accept being beaten. The radical measures taken by the Huns led to the Qiang people spontaneously forming a larger armed group.

Under the pressure of survival, the small tribes of Qiang people scattered in the mountains and wilds had the motivation to unite again.

Among them, Ma Chao's influence grew rapidly. After some Qiang people surrendered to Ma Chao, if they were plundered and attacked by the Huns, Ma Chao would lead the Qiang people to demand the abducted women, children and animals, and would also take revenge on the masterminds and murderers.

In order to avoid exacerbating the conflict, Ma Chao's revenge was simple, which was to let the Qiang people fight against the Huns.

In more than a month, Ma Chao's influence has skyrocketed. He now has nearly a thousand followers under his command, and has become the fourth force besides the Xiongnu, Qiang, and Shangjun Prefecture.

Liu Ye focuses on Ma Chao. Ma Chao's expansion speed is too fast, which gives Liu Ye a familiar feeling.

Compared to Black Bear, Ma Chao's speed is not fast; but compared to Ma Teng, Duan Wei, Yang Qiu and others, Ma Chao is really fast.

"Don't pay too much attention to this matter. Ma Chao is a sharp sword in the world. If you want to use him, you must keep him sharp."

Black Bear didn't like Liu Ye's attitude very much. Considering the current size of Guanzhong and his own prestige, what would be the use of Ma Chao recruiting 5,000 Qiang volunteers, let alone one thousand?

They can't pose a threat to me. When Ma Chao has an army of 10,000 people, by that time, I will have gathered 500 or so Taoist puppets, and I won't be afraid of any sudden rebellion by Ma Chao.

But we cannot stimulate Ma Chao, as the current situation is actually not optimistic.

As for Yuan Shang, his children were still young, so the actual backup successor to his career was Yuan Xi; it was similar for Cao Cao. After Cao Ang died, Cao Pi was young, so the real substitute for Cao Cao was his cousin Cao Hong.

Liu Bei was also in an awkward situation as he didn't even have a brother with the same surname.

If the opportunity is accidentally revealed, someone will really take the risk.

Black Bear is not prepared to test Ma Chao's loyalty and self-control, so he cannot give Ma Chao or anyone else the opportunity to do something big.

For a long time in the future, he must remain stable until a reliable successor appears to replace him.

Otherwise, if Bailongyu surrenders, it would be tantamount to encouraging others to rebel.

Anyone who has his own independent troops is a target of his own vigilance.

Assassinations and mutinies, even if they fail, will shake the rule and affect stability as long as they happen.

Giving up on pursuing Liu Ye's thoughts, Black Bear continued, "Border counties need stability, and there is the Qin Straight Road. In the future, I will be stationed in Ganquan Mountain. If there is a change in Shangjun, I will definitely arrive within three days from the time you send the messenger. So I just hope that Ziyang can maintain stability here and don't rush to expand the registered households."

"After the Xiongnu and Ma Chao join forces to strangle the Qiang people, the border people who are left behind in the mountains and wilderness will gradually return to their hometowns. At that time, Ziyang will have the opportunity to make achievements and establish his own career."

Black Bear painted a bright future for Liu Ye. Liu Ye listened and nodded slightly, but his mood was still not good.

He was demoted from the position of military advisor. Even if he worked as a county governor for three to five years and was promoted again, could Liu Ye be the military advisor of the Grand Marshal's office?
Unless Black Bear’s title of Marquis Liang can be raised to a higher level and become a Duke.

By that time, the official positions of the principality will be mixed with those of the Han Empire... then Liu Ye will have the opportunity to advance.

Otherwise, after three to five years, at most he would be a general of miscellaneous rank and become a county governor in another place.

As for the Chief Clerk, Chief Justice, Chief Clerk, East Cao and West Cao in the Grand Marshal's office, Liu Ye had no right to get involved in them.

These new people who occupy high positions will instinctively unite and suppress Yuan Cong and Liu Ye, who has a lot of experience.

Therefore, it was difficult for Liu Ye to get excited and calm down.

At Liu Ye’s current age, it’s really hard to conceal it.

Liu Ye reached his peak almost as soon as he appeared on the stage. Even if he handed over his troops to serve as an aide to Liu Xun, he was still a heavyweight core figure and had never been tempered by the workplace.

Later, he fell into the water and joined Black Bear's pirate ship, which made him even more noble. Now, as a county magistrate, he had to condescend to the control of the Grand Marshal's Office. How could Liu Ye be happy?

Chen Zhen was different. He came from a poor family in Nanyang and had been living in Hebei for many years, but he was never valued.

And he joined the group halfway as an envoy from Hebei, so Chen Zhen did not feel sorry about losing the position of Chief Secretary.

Black Bear gave Liu Ye some advice, but when he saw Liu Ye forcing a smile, he felt somewhat unhappy, as if he had abandoned Liu Ye and felt very sorry for him.

Black Bear could only choose to ignore Liu Ye's resentful emotions.

By now, Liu Ye no longer just represents and symbolizes himself.

Severely punishing Liu Ye for a trivial matter would dishearten the old employees and would not satisfy the new employees.

(End of this chapter)