Chapter 93: The Division of Yong and Liang

  When everyone discussed where to arrange these talents, they found that the situation in the northwest was a bit complicated at this time.

  Especially in the division of states and counties, it is very unfavorable to the imperial court - originally according to the division of the Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the areas currently controlled by the imperial court are planned to go to Xiliang, and only the surrounding area of Chang'an belongs to Sili.

  In this way, according to Liu Xuan's previous appointment, once a war breaks out, Ma Teng can almost control half of the court's military power - although Liu Xuan has brought several elite troops back to the capital, this is not a good situation.

  It shouldn't have occurred to him at this time, but Xun Yu also remembered that Liu Xuan had said before the troops were dispatched that after pacifying the northwest, the provinces and counties would be re-divided. As for where those people would be assigned, it was likely that they would have to wait until they returned to the capital and the division of provinces and counties was settled before a decision could be made.

  So there's nothing good to decide on today. Let's sort out these things first, and then wait for tomorrow to ask the Emperor for instructions before making plans.

  Everyone dispersed, the sky was already densely packed with stars, and the moon hung high above. The few people suddenly felt that the sky had brightened up a lot, perhaps because Li and Guo, the two bandits who always had knives by their side, were finally eliminated. After everyone let out a sigh of relief, they would have this feeling, looking at everything with a fresh eye.

  Xun Yu and several others chatted briefly before heading towards the Emperor's large tent — after Liu Xuan ascended to the throne, he promoted many people, including his nephew Xun You, but Xun Yu's position remained unchanged, still being the Guardian of the Palace.

  But everyone knows that Liu Xuan's not promoting Xun Yu is not because he doesn't want to promote him, but because he wants to put Xun Yu by his side to discuss matters in person. How many people in the imperial court can have such trust? Therefore, Xun Yu either won't be promoted, or if he is, it must be at least as one of the Six Ministers or Nine Chamberlains.

  Yang Bi also saw this, so when several people went their separate ways, Yang Bi deliberately walked slowly with Xun Yu and opened his mouth to chat with Xun Yu for two sentences.

  "This time returning to Beijing, Wen Ruo is likely to be promoted."

  This time the emperor brought Xun Yu out, and it also meant to help him accumulate some merits. With the imperial court regaining control of such a large area, there must be some changes in the imperial court, especially since many positions in the six ministries and nine temples are still vacant. Promoting Xun Yu is almost a certainty.

  Xun Yu naturally saw this point, but he didn't mind it. He just wanted to fully display his own talents, and today the Emperor showed off his own abilities as well. He was very satisfied with that, and wasn't particularly eager for the official position.

  Yang Biao also saw that although this young man had great talent, his way of thinking was still somewhat idealistic and naive. He smiled and said: "Advancement is a good thing, sometimes you have talent but are constrained by your environment and position, unable to fully showcase it, only when you stand higher can you show off your talents."

  Finally, he took another glance at this handsome young man: "Besides, the name of Xun of Yingchuan still has to rely on your generation to support it."

  Xun Shuang is no longer young, and his body is getting worse. He seems to be on the verge of death at any moment. Although the reputation of the Xun family in Yingchuan is not bad, if there is no one who can stand firm in the court for a long time, this family will eventually decline.

  Yang Bi's words were nothing more than a reminder to Xun Yu: even if you don't have any needs yourself, you should still consider your family.

  Xun Yu's eyes jumped at these words. He didn't understand what Yang Pei meant by saying this, but he suddenly realized that bringing up this topic at this time was not appropriate.

  Because he has been by the emperor's side for a long time, he is most aware of what kind of view today's monarch has towards those powerful families and big clans. If he doesn't do his best to assist the emperor but instead constantly fights for benefits for his own family, it's likely that... the Xun family will truly perish.

  Yang Biao saw Xun Yu not speaking, lowered his head and sank into thought, only saying that this young man had already understood the key point, so he didn't say more, smiled and nodded slightly, thinking that he had also helped Xun Yu to remind him of something, and went back to rest on his own. But if he knew that what Xun Yu was thinking about was completely opposite to what he thought, it's estimated that a mouthful of old blood would spurt out more than three meters away.

  At this time, Liu Xuan was sitting in his own tent practicing meditation.

  Now that Guo Ze is dead and his subordinates have surrendered, although the northwest has not been fully controlled, it has roughly returned to the court's rule. The dragon energy in Liu Xuan's body is also changing accordingly. Liu Xuan noticed that the dragon egg in his body had gradually emitted a golden soft light, and the golden dragon nurtured inside was about to break out of its shell at any time.

  So he didn't prepare to sleep or rest for these days, and every night he worked hard to temper the dragon energy in his body. By the next morning, he found that the dragon egg inside him was shrouded by a thick layer of smoke clouds, and he couldn't see the situation inside at all. He could only rely on his feelings to know that it was still a dragon egg, and no golden dragon had been born.

  But this thick dragon energy not only made Liu Xuan feel refreshed all over, but also discovered that he could mobilize the dragon energy in his body to a certain extent.

  "This is an omen of something about to break through!"

  After keenly perceiving this, Liu Xuan's mood was very good. By the next morning, when Xun Yu and others came to report on the matters discussed the previous day, his mood became even better.

  "Cheng Yu, Man Chong, Lü Qian, Mao Jie! These are all talented individuals."

  In fact, he wanted to directly appoint these people to the imperial court, but thinking that although they had experience as officials, their positions at that time were not high, and directly promoting them to the imperial court would also make it impossible to place them in important departments. It's better to put them outside, one is to accumulate experience and reputation, and the other is to help him quickly control the northwest.

  "Your Majesty, apart from this, the division of prefectures and counties in the northwest seems to need to be revised as well!" Yesterday, everyone reached a consensus that this must be done, otherwise the distribution of power in the northwest would be too chaotic.

  Lü Bu was appointed as General Who Conquers the West, with the duty of garrisoning Chang'an to supervise military affairs in the northwest and commanding the armies in the northwest during wartime.

  But yesterday, Liu Xuan had just appointed Ma Teng as the Governor of Liangzhou, and during the war, he also designated Ma Teng as the highest commander in chief. Originally, they should not have overlapped, but now the territory owned by the imperial court basically all belongs to Liangzhou, which has led to a conflict.

  Liu Xuan had mentioned this to Xun Yu before the expedition, and at that time he thought it was not too late to discuss it after eliminating Li Jue and Guo Si. Now that both bandits have been eliminated, it is also time to consider the problem of those states and counties.

  With a wave of his hand, Cao Guo brought out the map of the northwest region. Liu Xuan gazed at the map for a moment before asking everyone: "Does anyone have any suggestions?"

  Xun Yu turned his head to glance at the crowd, and Ma Teng was also present. Originally, he was the most suitable person to offer suggestions, because he had lived in the northwest for a long time and was most familiar with this side.

  He was particularly sensitive about his identity and no matter what he said, it wouldn't be suitable, so he simply shut up.

  The result was that Zhong Yao spoke up: "Your Majesty, I suggest making Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Xi Hai, Zhangye, Wuwei, Xiping and Jincheng the eight counties of Liangzhou."

  "Then Longxi, Tianshui, Wudu, Guangwei, Anding, Fufeng, Xinping, Beidi and Fengyuan nine prefectures became Yongzhou, Jingzhao was the capital, which should be governed separately."

  The previous division of Liangzhou was nothing special, but Yongzhou was equivalent to re-dividing the counties and prefectures of Guanzhong.

  Liu Xuan looked at the map in front of him and only then discovered that Zhong Yu's suggestion had also re-divided the counties under each prefecture. It can be said that this suggestion was already quite perfect, and even if it were to be implemented directly, there would be no problem.

  However, after Liu Xuan observed for a while, he found that the Wu Du was not under the control of the imperial court at all, and geographically it should be under the jurisdiction of Liu Yan, the Governor of Yi Province. In fact, it was occupied by the Heavenly Master Dao of Hanzhong. That is to say, this place was not under the control of the imperial court at all, so what's the point of drawing it into his own territory?

  Similar situations also exist in Liangzhou's Dunhuang Prefecture, where the imperial court originally had weak control over Dunhuang and has now completely lost control of it. The place is essentially thoroughly occupied by the Qiang people, and even if it were to be assigned to our own account, it would not make much sense.

  Liu Xuan thought for a moment and then said, "Dunhuang is not under the control of the imperial court at present, so it will not be counted as part of Liangzhou for now. Let's talk about it later when Dunhuang is recovered. Wudu... let's put it under the jurisdiction of Yizhou for now!"

  At the same time, another part of Si Prefecture, where Henan Commandery was located, was also separated to form a new administrative division called Sizhou, which governed four commanderies: Hedong, He'nei, Henan and Hongnong.

  It doesn't matter how it's divided, because the Hedong area is now occupied by the White Wave Bandits, and that place is also in chaos. Even if the imperial court wants to recover it, they can't spare the energy for the time being.

  Zhong Yu nodded and made the changes as instructed by Liu Xuan. In the end, it was decided that the northwest region would be divided into two states: Yong and Liang. Except for the capital city of Chang'an, which was under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao, the territories governed by Yong and Liang were roughly equal. This way, Ma Teng, the Governor of Liangzhou, would not have direct control over nearly half of the region.

  In fact, Liu Xuan's division is basically the same as the state and county system re-established by Wei State later, so it can be said that it is a very suitable administrative division for the current environment. Everyone looked at it naturally and didn't think there was anything wrong with it. They just waited until they returned to the capital and walked through the situation with the officials in the court, and then they could formally implement it.

  It turned out that Ma Teng didn't feel dissatisfied at all, perhaps thinking that since he had already pledged allegiance to the imperial court, it would be better not to argue too much about these things and avoid trouble, so he started to keep a low profile.

  Since Ma Teng was so understanding, the others didn't have any reservations either. Next, they also settled on the positions of Mao Jie and others, who were appointed as the governors of the four counties of Guangwei, Tianshui, Anding, and Longxi. Coincidentally, these were all territories that had just been taken from Li Jue and Guo Si. At the same time, they bordered Liangzhou, making it clear what the imperial court's intentions were. However, Ma Teng still didn't say a word, seemingly very satisfied with this arrangement.

  As for Han Sui, he probably won't take a few young people too seriously, and it can also have the effect of paralyzing Han Sui.

  After finishing all this, the crowd talked about some trivial matters, and it was unclear who started it, but they talked about Li Jue's confiscated property, mentioning the three treasured swords that Li Jue had collected.

  "Oh? Three precious swords?"

  Lü Bu was present, and as a warrior, he was most concerned about these matters. Moreover, Lü Bu had once worked with Li Jue, so he understood the situation best: "I almost forgot that Li Jue had unexpectedly found three precious swords, named Longyā, Húyì, and Quánshén. It is said that they were possessed by the rulers of the Xia Dynasty."

  There is still an update today...