Seeing Yuan Xi riding towards him excitedly on a little white horse, Zhao Yun swallowed back the words he said.
To be honest, he originally wanted to complain.
As the newly appointed governor of Youzhou, you have only been away for half a year. You have left everything in Youzhou to yourself. Doesn’t your conscience hurt?
However, seeing Yuan Xi's happy look, Zhao Yun thought of the scene when the other party deceived him on the top of the city, and couldn't help but feel soft again.
He jumped off his horse, clasped his fists and said in a deep voice: "I will see you at the end of the day, your envoy."
Yuan Xi chuckled and said: "Why don't you use me? I have troubled Brother Zilong for a while, and I may be even busier next time."
Tian Yu and others came over to meet Zhao Yun one by one. When Zhao Yun was greeting him, he saw Yan Rou following behind. He cupped his hands and said, "General, you are well."
Yan Rou felt a little embarrassed and returned the favor.
The two had met several times before. At that time, Yan Rou was under Liu Yu and Zhao Yun was under Gongsun Zan. The two masters did not like each other, so the people below did not have a close friendship.
However, they did not expect that things would change. The two of them went around in circles. Zhao Yun switched to Yuan Xi's command, but Yan Rou got up early and rushed to a late market.
First, Liu Yu, whom he defected to, was killed by Gongsun Zan. Liu He, who later defected, was missing when he attacked Yi Jing. Yan Rou could only join forces with Xian Yufu and others to harass Gongsun Zan's rear, but could not find a force to which he could seek refuge.
Now that the Yuan clan has defeated Gongsun Zan, Yan Rou discovers that Yuan Xi is quite an extraordinary person. In less than two years, he quickly rose to prominence from Beixin City and became the governor of Youzhou.
He saw that it would be too late if he didn't join the team, so he decisively defected to him. At this time, Zhao Yun had made great contributions to Yuan Xi's command as early as two years ago. He had already become the captain, and was vaguely the second person under Yuan Xi.
In contrast, because Yan Rou had a history of recklessly killing Zou Dan, the Karasuma Sima of the Han Dynasty, and the self-reliant Karasuma Sima had an unfair reputation, he could only start as the prefect of Shanggu, which was a head lower than Zhao Yun.
When Yan Rou was the Sima of Karasuma and commanded tens of thousands of people in the North, Zhao Yun was just a small cavalryman under Liu Bei's command, so it is impossible to say that Yan Rou didn't have some ideas in her heart.
Yuan Xi also saw Yan Rou's expression, and he thought that in the future, these troublesome matters would have to be solved by Zhao Yun himself.
He deliberately suppressed Yan Rou. The murder of a high-ranking member of the Han Dynasty was neither a small matter nor a big deal, but it was very troublesome to pursue. Now Yuan Xi is doing this, on the one hand, to let him integrate as soon as possible.
On the other hand, it is not without protection.
In order to select talents, Cao Cao could put forward the idea of valuing talent over virtue to show courtesy to the virtuous corporal. This move did recruit many capable people and strangers, including people like Yan Rou who had committed crimes.
The reason why Yuan Xi accepts Yan Rou is, on the one hand, because Yan Rou is currently an important link between the Yuan family and Wuhuan Xianbei. Shan Yu Tatun has already had dissent. If he is forced to rebel against Yan Rou, Youzhou will be completely in chaos.
Already.
On the other hand, later Yan Rou guarded the North and worked conscientiously to fight against the barbarians throughout his life. This was also the reason why Yuan Xi accepted him.
But not everyone is as dedicated as Yan Rou. Cao Cao's talent selection mechanism slowly showed its negative consequences after his death.
Because they neglected to examine their moral character, many gentry officials appointed by Cao Cao had a very low moral bottom line. They only knew how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, which resulted in many disasters. One of the consequences was that the Sima family usurped the Wei Dynasty, and there were few opponents at that time.
Yuan Xi naturally remembered this lesson, and if possible, he still wanted to give priority to people with both ability and political integrity.
Yuan Xi sighed. The group of officials with high moral standards must undoubtedly belong to Shu Han, but it is a pity that those people are too far away from Youzhou.
Especially Zhuge Liang, was he farming in Nanyang at this time?
Thinking of the name Zhuge Liang, Yuan Xi couldn't stop drooling. This was an extremely talented person who was full of morals and domestic affairs. Unfortunately, he was a little troubled and was too loyal to the Han Dynasty.
The current banner of the Yuan family is unknown, but everyone knows that in the future they will definitely establish their own business, and most of the people who come to seek refuge have this intention. Therefore, Yuan Xi is inherently at a disadvantage when fighting for people like Zhuge Liang.
Although Zhao Yun also had the ambition to help the Han Dynasty, he was killed by Yuan Xi early because the Han Dynasty was losing its moral integrity and no princes openly took up this banner, not even Liu Bei at this time.
But a year later it was different.
The emperor Liu Xie returned to Luoyang, and Cao Cao took the opportunity to defeat other princes and robbed Liu Xie to Xu County, thus beginning the road of holding the emperor hostage to command the princes.
From then on, for a long period of time, Cao Cao used the banner of supporting the Han Dynasty, which caused the nobles all over the world to rush to join him.
What Yuan Xi has to do is to do his best to sabotage this matter.
Now the two people he trusts the most are Qu Yi and Zhao Yun. Qu Yi has been sent to Lu Bu by him, waiting for the opportunity to make a move, which can be regarded as a hidden move.
Together with Dong Zhao, who was sent there first, Yuan Xi deployed two back-up forces in Hanoi County. Once the Taihang Mountain pass is opened, it will be Zhao Yun's turn to take action and make the final decision.
Everyone walked all the way to the front of Jicheng and found that the city was not small, but the wall was not high, only about a foot or so.
Yuan Xi stopped, looked around at everyone and said, "If we want to build a strong city here with hundreds of thousands of people, is it possible within five years?"
Guo Jia had already got out of the carriage at this time, and he thought to himself that the master really had this idea.
Guo Jia and Yuan Xi talked in the past few days and found that the other party was very obsessed with Jicheng. Guo Jia didn't understand that Jicheng was a place where Han and Hu people lived together. Even if a city was built, it would be difficult to develop within ten years.
Get up?
This was the first time for Zhao Yuntian, Yu and others to hear about this kind of thing, and they couldn't help but look at each other. Building a city was not a simple matter!
Not to mention that just a city wall is quite time-consuming and laborious. Even if the outer city is built, planning the inner city, diversion of water, digging canals and paving roads will still take many years!
Nowadays, all the big cities in the world have a history of hundreds of years. They all started from villages, attracted people to gather, turned into towns, and then counties. Finally, the population increased, and finally they turned into big cities.
During this period, population was the decisive factor, and correspondingly, grain fields, water conservancy facilities, transportation and trade routes, various types of buildings, and the ratio of scholars, farmers, industry and commerce were also indispensable.
Now Yuan Xi suddenly said that he wanted to build a fortified city with hundreds of thousands of people here. Everyone was a little confused. Jicheng now has less than 50,000 people. There is indeed a large wasteland around it, but where will the excess population come from?
Seeing everyone's silence, Yuan Xi knew that he was a little impatient, so he smiled and said: "I'm tired today. Let's go back and rest for a day. Think about it at night and we'll discuss it tomorrow."
Everyone listened and followed the instructions.
Yuan Xi and Zhao Yun walked into the city and found that the appearance of its residents was very different from that of Jiangdong. Most of them had high noses and deep eyes, but they were wearing Han clothes. Some of them looked like Central Plains people, but they were wearing Hu.
Clothes.
There are many stalls on both sides of the street, selling exotic foods such as Hu Pancakes and Mutton Soup.
Yuan Xi thought this was fine. Chinese culture was inherently inclusive. It was through cultural integration through constant exchanges and the acceptance of all rivers that the Chinese nation was created.
If we blindly reject and close the country, we will only stop moving forward.
However, he found that the roads were all made of mud and bumpy. Compared with the bluestone roads in Yecheng, one was in the sky and the other was in the earth. It really took a step by step approach.
But speaking of it, Yecheng can be ranked among the top three in today's world. Comparing Jicheng and Yecheng is a bit too bullying.
Yuan Xi also saw the people on the road ducking to both sides when they saw the crowd leading troops into the city. He casually said to Zhao Yun: "Previously, this place was occupied by Gongsun Zan's remnant party?"
“How was the reaction in the city to our arrival?”
When Yuan Xi said this, he was quite proud of himself.
Because the Jicheng they were in at this time was the place where Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zan.
On that day, Liu Yu was defeated by Gongsun Zan and fled to Juyongguan with his wife and children. He was caught up by Gongsun Zan and the whole family was captured and imprisoned in Jicheng.
At this time, the Han Dynasty sent an envoy Duan Xun to bring Liu Xie's edict, naming Liu Yu as the general in charge of the affairs of the six states, and making Gongsun Zan the Marquis of Yi.
This was originally an act of appeasement, but Gongsun Zan took the opportunity to accuse Liu Yu of proclaiming himself emperor. For some reason, Duan Xun actually killed Liu Yu's entire family in the middle of a busy city.
Sun Jin, the former Prime Minister of Changshan, Zhang Yi, Zhang Zan and others spontaneously gathered around the execution ground, cursed Gongsun Zan, and were killed together with Liu Yu.
Gongsun Zan sent Liu Yu's head to Chang'an, the capital, but Liu Yu's old subordinate Wei Dun intercepted it on the way and sent it back for burial.
At that time, Liu Yu spread benevolence and righteousness in Youzhou, which won the hearts of the people. When he was killed, the people of Youzhou cried for him. From then on, Youzhou was in chaos, and Gongsun Zan lost the hearts of the people.
Yuan Xi had previously thought that the news that he avenged Liu Yu and defeated Gongsun Zan had spread throughout Youzhou. Whether it was the people of Youzhou or Jicheng, how much would they thank him?
Unexpectedly, Zhao Yun hesitated to speak, and finally whispered: "Some problems have arisen."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi suddenly felt bad and asked, "What's going on?"
When Zhao Yun finished explaining the cause and effect, Yuan Xi's face suddenly darkened.
It’s Xu You who is causing trouble again!
It can be said that this was Yuan Xi's own mistake. Before leaving Youzhou for Guangling, he handed over the general affairs to Zhao Yun and the internal affairs to Liu He.
The two of them fought from Yuyang to Guangyang. Every time they conquered a city, they appeased the people and recruited officials. Zhao Yun was good at military affairs, and Liu He had been a court servant. The two worked well together, and there were no major problems.
But the bad thing is that there are two people who are responsible for the lives of Jizhou, and they are in charge of internal affairs and military affairs.
Xu You and Ju Shu.
Jushou has been training troops in Beixin City. He was originally squeezed out by Yuan Shao. He was a little frustrated, but he didn't cause any trouble. But Xu You was different.
Behind him is Yuan Shang, who originally had the intention of causing trouble. Now that Zhao Yun and Liu He have conquered several big cities and left a large number of official positions vacant, how could he not use his brain?
So Xu You immediately recruited many officials in the name of doing business and rushed to various cities to take up their posts.
Especially since Jicheng is the closest to Beixin City, Xu You even appointed several descendants of the Xu family to hold important positions. After taking office, these people behaved like Xu You and were greedy and cruel, which aroused dissatisfaction among the people in the city.
The reason why this matter fell through the cracks is because at that time, Xu You, the governors, complained to each other in letters to Yuan Xi. Yuan Xi adopted Guo Jia's strategy and ignored Xu You for the time being, and asked Zhao Yun and Liu He to tolerate it for the time being.
Yuan Xi did not expect that in such a short period of a few months, it would become such a mess!