Chapter 60: Nanxiang County Magistrate
A few days later, the Jingzhou navy transport team came up the Xishui River.

The newly appointed Nanxiang County Magistrate Yi Ji came on board the boat. Looking into the distance, he saw troops training on the riverside fields.

From a distance, they seemed to be wearing mixed clothes and lacking equipment.

However, one can also sense that the young men who are being trained are full of vigor and vitality, and have a cutting-edge spirit that is currently lacking in the Jingzhou army.

This momentum is vaguely similar to that of the army under Liu Bei.

Liu Bei's army was always thinking about returning to the Central Plains to rescue the imperial court and then help the world.

The current Cao army has not yet evolved into a complete form, so Liu Bei always has a glimmer of hope.

Precisely because of this slim chance, it was difficult for Liu Biao to make up his mind to provide all possible assistance.

What's more, even if Liu Biao was determined to support Liu Bei with all his strength, it would be a question whether the big families in Jingzhou would be willing to cooperate.

The current situation in Jingzhou is similar to that of Han Fu and Yuan Shao in Hebei back then.

With the unfortunate example of Han Fu in front of him, many things were no longer a question of whether Liu Biao wanted to do them or not, but whether he dared to do them.

Fortunately, I have temporarily escaped from the chaotic situation in Xiangyang.

The eight counties of Nanxiang County currently have a registered population of 13,000 households, and there are at least 3,000 county soldiers, which are enough to defend themselves.

Yi Ji was thinking with a relaxed smile on his face, when he saw Black Bear, Gan Ning and others wearing masks coming to the shore to greet him.

Behind these people, there was a curtain surrounded by two layers of cloth walls.

The boat stopped, Yi Ji turned around and got off the boat, and bowed slightly to Black Bear: "Captain, Liu Zhennan has requested that I lead the eight counties of Nanxiang County to help the captain's troops go out of Wuguan and cooperate with the general."

Gan Ning, who knew Yi Ji, took the initiative to introduce him: "Captain, this is Yi Gong from Shanyang. He is a close confidant of Liu Zhennan. He was originally an official in the Zhennan government. He is experienced in dealing with people and has a good reputation."

A good reputation means that this person has the intention to enforce the law strictly when governing a region; a higher level of evaluation is a good ruler, who does not enforce the law in a disorderly manner and all the decrees he promotes and implements are well-intentioned. This is a good ruler.

"It's Yi Gong!"

Black Bear bowed again, stood up and said, "I also heard of Yi Gong's name when I was in Hebei. Now that I have Yi Gong's help, I feel at ease."

Yi Ji is a key figure in the Zhennan Shogunate. Hei Xiong's joy is not false, but he is wearing a mask.

Yi Ji also understood the great significance of splitting Nanyang and establishing Nanxiang County, so he followed Black Bear to the shore.

Two layers of curtains have been set up with cloth walls here, and this is where banquets are held outdoors.

Yi Ji did not go to the post alone. He brought with him the first batch of young and strong men recruited from Guanzhong, food, fodder and equipment, as well as the newly formed team of officials from the Nanxiang County Governor's Office.

In order to help Yi Ji gain a foothold, Liu Biao also lent him 500 soldiers.

Nanxiang County was composed of eight counties in the western part of Nanyang, and the big families in Nanyang must have been dissatisfied.

Because Yi Ji dared to go to the post alone, the big families in Nanyang dared to let bandits and Jing Man rob and kill Yi Ji.

The big families in Nanyang were loyal to the imperial court, but due to some old events, their hatred for Liu Biao was too deep to be resolved.

Yi Ji sat down in the curtain and asked, "The captain was stationed in Zhuyang first, and then moved to Xi County. You can see that my county is in decline. I want to make great improvements. What do you think, captain?"

Zhuyang was ruined because the county was divided into two. The importance of the county declined, which led to the outflow of population.

After the recovery, the population will return because it is close to Xiangyang and close to water transportation.

Xi County is located at a strategic location where the Chidao and Xishui rivers intersect. The refugees who fled from the chaos in Guanzhong seriously disturbed and destroyed the countryside of Xi County.

Next came Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, uncle and nephew, who fled from Guanzhong. They directly attacked Xi County, which suffered severe damage since then.

In recent years, Zhong Yao has made great progress in Guanzhong, and the people of Guanzhong who had been stranded in various places in Nanyang began to return home.

When these people who returned home committed crimes in Xi County, did the people of Jingzhou chase them to Guanzhong, or did Guanzhong punish them?

Therefore, the groups returning home in groups were often very brutal, and the remaining people in Xi County simply took refuge in the mountains.

Also, because the big families in Nanyang hated Liu Biao, when Zhong Yao and Xudu, the county magistrates appointed by the court, took office, the local big families would support them.

If Liu Biao didn't pay any attention, seven or eight counties would be connected together.

In the end, he had no choice but to send troops to expel the county heads; and the county magistrates he appointed had no title granted by the imperial court and no support from the big families in Nanyang, so they basically had no foothold.

Either leave on your own, or be expelled by the newly appointed county magistrate of Xudu...or surrender to Xudu.

Under such circumstances, it was difficult for these county magistrates to collect taxes to support the county government, let alone help Liu Biao recruit soldiers and raise supplies.

Only because the eight counties in the south are remote did Yi Ji have the confidence to give it a try.

Of course, the presence of the Black Bear Soldiers coming out of Wuguan to shield him from the pressure from Zhong Yao was also a key factor.

Black Bear thought about what Yi Ji asked and said, "Cao Cao treats the emperor like a puppet and the court like a tool for him to manipulate. The people of Nanyang are dressed in formal attire and claim to be obedient to the court, but in fact they are surrendering to Cao Cao. They are all traitors to the Han Dynasty and should be wiped out."

As soon as this statement was made, the officials of the Nanxiang County Government who came with Yi Ji all changed their expressions. Almost all of them were from Nanxiang and were studying in Xiangyang.

According to the official system, all the officials, subordinates and clerks of the county government were from the local area. Except for the county magistrate Yi Ji, all the others in Nanxiang County were locals.

The fact that these people could study in Xiangyang does not mean that they would serve Liu Biao.

Not serving Liu Biao does not mean rejecting Yi Ji.

The former official of the former official is not my former official.

This principle can also be reversed.

This is the biggest theoretical contradiction in Zhou Li.

Yi Ji is no longer working for the Zhennan Shogunate, but is now the governor of Nanxiang County of the Han Dynasty.

He was a frontier official, ranking among the two thousand stone officials... Even though this Nanxiang County was formed by Liu Biao dividing the eight western counties of Nanyang, since it had already been formed, he had to recognize Yi Ji's status.

From a legal perspective, when Yi Ji took office in Nanxiang County, things were fundamentally different from the past.

Seeing his subordinates were surprised and angry, he immediately expressed his opinion: "What the captain said is inappropriate. Since Yuan Shu and Sun Jian caused chaos in Nanyang, the people of Nanyang have suffered as much as those in Guanzhong and Heluo. I think that the county should be governed by peace on the outside and tolerance on the inside, protecting the territory and the people. In this way, we will not disappoint the court and Liu Zhennan, and we will not disappoint the people."

Anyway, he would not take any cruel measures and advocated leniency. Black Bear was too lazy to think about the changes in the relationship between Yi Ji and Liu Biao, so he said: "Cao Cao can be today not because he loves the people and is good at fighting, but because he can cruelly exploit the common people, so he can fight and lose repeatedly, and fight again and again. The governor's love for the people of Nanxiang is no different from raising pigs for Cao Cao."

The officials in the county government were all embarrassed, but who dared to speak well of Cao Cao and Xu Du?
Do you really think that the Hebei envoy in front of you is fake?

Yi Ji said at this moment: "In troubled times, we have to survive. When the world is finally settled, I will present my books to the emperor. When the troubled times are settled, the court will surely implement virtuous policies."

"I'm afraid of the chaos and instability."

Black Bear grinned and looked around at the officials in Nanxiang: "Ask yourselves with your conscience, Cao Cao did that rubbish when he conquered Zhang Xiu. Does he look like a wise leader who could rule the world? How many people died in vain because of that little thing?"

The war took place in Rang County, which is located a hundred miles southwest of Wancheng. It is located in the heart of Nanyang and is less than a hundred miles away from Xiangyang.

Wancheng had long been reduced to ruins and had no population, so Zhang Xiu could only retreat and station there, avoiding Cao Cao while obtaining food from Liu Biao nearby.

But Liu Biao, the leader of the alliance, was a very bad person. He allowed Cao Cao to besiege Zhang Xiu and even built a city near Rang County.

Not to mention sending out infantry, just Liu Biao sending out the navy upstream against the Baihe River would be enough to give Cao Cao a headache.

As a result, Liu Biao did not take any action and watched Zhang Xiu, who was guarding the north gate for him, surrender exhaustedly. If Cao Cao had not been unable to hold back, or had taken a more decent approach, Zhang Xiu would have turned into a mad dog and bit Liu Biao.

Was what Cao Cao did romantic?

The romantic scholars of the Han Dynasty were ashamed to mention it!

The scholars from the south were speechless, and Gan Ning, who was standing beside the black bear, also sneered.

In terms of his own personality, Gan Ning also looked down on Cao Cao.

Gan Ning, who was fully focused on starting his own business, didn't care much about women. For him, it was enough for them to give birth to children.

End of topic.

Yi Ji coughed twice and waved his hand to signal his newly recruited chief clerk: "Bring the roster."

"Yes."

The chief clerk immediately brought a plate of bamboo slips, held them in both hands, half-knelt forward and handed them to Black Bear, and pushed the table in front of Black Bear with both hands.

On one side, Gan Ning lowered his head and stared at the chief clerk with a vigilant look.

Black Bear picked up the topmost bamboo scroll and opened it. Inside was a list of the manpower and material resources that Liu Qi had raised for him.

The manpower included more than 300 young and strong men from the Guanzhong area, and more than 200 of Liu Qi's own guests and servants, totaling 600 people.

In terms of equipment, in addition to armor, there are sufficient quantities of various long and short weapons, enough to arm Black Bear with 3,000 people.

The grain and cloth were transported in three batches. The first batch came with Yi Ji, containing 5,000 dan of various grains and 1,000 pieces of cloth. The second batch was escorted by Liu Qi and transported to Tunwan City.

After Black Bear completes the reorganization and arming of his troops, he will go to Wancheng to collect the second batch of food and cooperate with Liu Bei in the Northern Expedition.

As for the third batch of grain, Liu Qi entrusted it to Yi Ji to raise in the county, and planned to ship it to Shang County via the Dan River.

Shang County is located in the middle section of Wuguan Road, where the Dan River flows directly down to Nanxiang County and Xiangyang, allowing for water transport; and there is also Shangluo County on the upper reaches of the Dan River.

However, there is a large difference in terrain between Shangluo and Shangxian, and the Dan River is turbulent, making it difficult to transport water.

If there is a stable water transport between Shangxian and Xiangyang, Liu Biao's control over Nanxiang County will be greatly enhanced; not only Nanxiang County, Liu Biao can have a profound influence on the impending Guanzhong War.

If you want to get the third batch of grain, you have to maintain a good relationship with Yi Ji and help Yi Ji raise this batch of grain from Nanxiang County.

What is effective governance?
It means levying taxes, and taxes mean redistribution.

If Yi Ji can receive taxes this year, he can also receive them next year; if the taxes are stable, he can recruit county soldiers and take root completely.

Obviously, Liu Biao and his son had been managing Jingzhou for more than ten years and had a deep understanding of Nanyang and Guanzhong.

Liu Qi took action and planned a good marching route.

The Danshui canal from Nanxiang County to Shang County is 300 miles long, and from Shang County to Lantian County in Guanzhong is only 250 miles long.

The journey that originally took seven or eight days or even half a month was compressed to the extreme, allowing more supplies and equipment to be carried.

Operate Shangxian, the northern terminus of the Danshui water transport route, to strengthen connections with Jingzhou.

If they took the initiative to get closer to Liu Biao and his son, Yiji and Nanxiang counties caught in the middle would lose their room for maneuver and could only continue to obey the leadership of the Zhennan General's Office.

It's a pity that Liu Biao was very stingy with his allies and subordinate forces. It is estimated that this was only possible because of Liu Qi's planning that he could make such a big move.

Black Bear thought for a while and handed the bamboo slips to Gan Ning.

I have already decided in my mind that in the future I will focus on operating the Shangxian canal transport route.

As long as we gather more road servants, the materials transported by the canal can be transported to Guanzhong at a very low cost.

With the foundation of the pre-Qin and Western Han dynasties, the cost of renovating the transportation route at the northern end of Wuguan Road is not high.

The equipment produced by normal commercial means in Jingzhou is overwhelming that of Guanzhong.

In addition, the restoration of water transport can bring economic vitality to the Shangluo area, and the lives of many people will be improved, so they will naturally support the new life.

The Wugu Pass Road is not difficult to travel on, and is much easier than the several routes that Yizhou took to the north to conquer Guanlong.

Black Bear couldn't help but think of Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Strategy. The main force would go out of Hanzhong to spy on Qinchuan, and after the detachment went out of Wankou, they would definitely split their troops to take the Wuguan Road.

Cao's army had to defend many important nodes, and the collapse of any one node could lead to a global collapse.

After reading the bamboo slips, Gan Ning suddenly felt that he should give more respect to Yi Ji and the people of Nanxiang.

The black bear was wearing a mask and his expression could not be seen, but the change in Gan Ning's expression was seen by Yi Ji.

Yi Ji also breathed a sigh of relief. He really needed external help to reorganize Nanxiang County.

We cannot borrow too much power from Liu Biao. After all, Liu Biao once broke the spine of a man from Nanyang with just a casual memorial.

Just because of that casual attack back then, Nanyang has been torn into pieces and the people are living in hardship.

(End of this chapter)