Chapter 1081: Binzhou, the Northward Relocation Contingent

In November, the land of Guanzhong could already be described as bitterly cold. All things withered and decayed, the north wind howled and swept across, and between heaven and earth there was nothing but a killing stillness. Though there was no trace of snow, there was a sense of frost, and from the very air one could almost smell the bone-piercing chill.

In times like these, not to mention the common folk of Guanzhong, even animals and wild beasts reduced their outdoor activities, curling up in hiding to endure the winter. The winter of the first year of Kaibao in Guanzhong was not extreme in its solar terms; compared to previous years, it was not excessively cold. Thus, one could observe that many commoners, responding to the government's conscription, were engaged in public works — and such was the case in Binzhou.

Performing corvée labor was an obligation every household of the Great Han must fulfill, contributing at least one month every year. Of course, this could be commuted with money, grain, or silk. In earlier years, due to a shortage of labor, poor commoner households would even send their womenfolk who spun silk and wove cloth to serve in place of the household's male laborers. Nowadays, such situations were far fewer.

Moreover, from very early on, the court had stipulated that when the government conscripted labor, the people need not provide their own food or tools — all was borne by the initiating government office, and where conditions permitted, some reward money would even be given. This was quite common in the Eastern Capital and areas near the capital region; elsewhere, it depended on the state of government finances and the officials in charge.

The Prefectural Administrator of Binzhou was named Wang You, now forty-one years of age. He was free-spirited and ambitious by nature, a jinshi graduate, typical of court officials sent to govern the localities. In his early years he served as a censor, Vice Bureau Director of the Ministry of Revenue, and County Magistrate; two years ago he was transferred to serve as Prefectural Administrator.

The region of Binzhou originally belonged to the Jingnan Army, a key location in Guanzhong and an important town north of the Wei River. To the west it bordered the Jing and Wei rivers, to the south it connected to Jingzhao. In earlier times, it served as a base for the court to stabilize the northwestern situation. The late Duke of Fenyang, Yao Yuanfu, had once served as Military Governor of the Jingnan Army, leading the sons of Bin and Ning to suppress the violent within and repel enemies without.

However, as the military provinces were weakened and the territory actually controlled by the court expanded outward, Binzhou gradually became part of the Guanzhong hinterland. Thanks to its convenience of bordering the Jing River, it could be counted as an upper-middle prefecture within the passes.

Wang You could be considered an official who achieved success late in life. Within less than half a year of taking office, he faced a test: the great drought in Guanzhong in the fifteenth year of Qianyou. Binzhou was also affected — fields lay barren, grain production declined, and famine victims multiplied. Against this backdrop, Wang You led by example, actively providing relief, leading officials and commoners alike in fighting the drought and disaster. The final result achieved was that, having endured through year's end, not a single person under Binzhou's jurisdiction died of cold or hunger.

Regardless of the situation in other prefectures and counties, at least in Binzhou, the facts held true. Previously, Emperor Liu had asked Lü Yin whether anyone in Guanzhong had died of cold or hunger under the disaster conditions. The truth was: yes! Even without disasters, the northwestern prefectures and counties were not lacking in cases of death by cold or hunger.

The second matter that made Wang You famous was his discovery of malpractice in the conscription of corvée labor. The County Magistrate of Ding'an County under his jurisdiction deceived both superiors and subordinates in this matter. On one hand, he had the people under his charge commute their labor with money, grain, and cloth; on the other, he cleverly fabricated pretexts of road repairs, canal dredging, and wall restoration to draw from the public treasury's funds and grain. Naturally, both portions of money, grain, and cloth ended up in the County Magistrate's own pockets...

Wang You could not tolerate such a case of corruption. Upon discovering it, he immediately detained the Ding'an County Magistrate, then gathered evidence. It took essentially no effort — the facts were clear, with both witnesses and physical evidence complete — and he handed the matter over for investigation and prosecution.

As a court official serving as Prefectural Administrator, Wang You was qualified to submit memorials directly to Emperor Liu. Thus, regarding this matter, he sent a memorial to the Eastern Capital, presenting his views on the affair.

Then, upon learning of this, Emperor Liu flew into a rage. As could be imagined, the Ding'an County affair was by no means an isolated case. With over a thousand counties across the realm, all sorts of strange things could happen.

He therefore issued an edict ordering the various offices at both central and local levels to conduct a thorough investigation into such situations. The results were obvious — "clever people" like the Ding'an County Magistrate were quite numerous, and from this several corruption cases were exposed, involving more than a dozen prefectural-level officials.

The enraged Emperor Liu directly intervened in the judiciary again — all were executed. Because cases of this nature were not merely corruption; they also involved deceiving the court and disregarding the authority of the central government.

What galled Emperor Liu was that conscripting corvée labor for infrastructure construction was meant to benefit the state and the people. The court had even provided institutional support to the localities for this purpose. Yet he never imagined it would instead become a convenience for corrupt officials and treacherous clerks to line their own pockets.

It also made Emperor Liu feel once again that governing the country well and being a good emperor was truly no easy task. Increasingly, he felt that the process of governance was a process of matching wits and strength against all the officials of the realm.

The aftermath of this incident was that certain restrictions were placed on the initiation of public works projects across the regions — they needed to be reported in advance, and superior government offices would conduct inspections and supervision. What needed repairing still had to be repaired, what needed building still had to be built — one could not stop eating for fear of choking. But Emperor Liu knew in his heart: don't expect problems to never arise. The world never lacked "clever people," nor did it lack loopholes to exploit...

And in this winter, Wang You, in the name of the Binzhou government, issued conscription orders to dig irrigation canals and construct ponds and reservoirs in the counties of Xinping, Ding'an, Xiangle, and Yilu — clearly as preparation against drought.

In the northwestern region, water was an especially important resource. In the countryside, there was no shortage of incidents every year of people fighting, brawling, and injuring one another over irrigation water sources. Therefore, with the government's orders, the lure of new canals, and Wang You's accumulated reputation, the majority of Binzhou's commoners responded enthusiastically — the bitter cold could not dampen their fervor.

Against this backdrop, a contingent of over a thousand people, braving the wind and cold, trudged northward along the rough and uneven roads, following the old Bin-Ning route.

Because the nation's political and economic center of gravity lay east of the passes and was gradually shifting southeast, the court's main efforts in transportation improvement were focused on waterways. The condition of land routes had never been good. The construction of straight roads and expressways was relatively complete only in the Central Plains, and the main post roads and official highways had received adequate construction. As for other dry-land routes, the current state could not be described as terrible, but neither could it be called developed. In the north, the further northwest one went, the more pronounced this situation became.

Thus, this contingent passing through Binzhou traveled with great hardship, and the atmosphere was oppressive. This northbound contingent was not a merchant caravan — in the Great Han, no one had the capability to organize a caravan of over a thousand people. Nor did it resemble refugees — there were many carts, much household furniture, and plenty of horses, camels, and livestock. All in all, it looked more like a nomadic tribe.

Of course, this was only the surface appearance. There were guides at the front, mounted patrols in the middle, and government escorts at the rear. Most of the people in the contingent spoke with southern accents, each with a face as heavy as water, bearing deep grievances, exuding a suppressed aura of resentment.

That's right — this contingent was part of the local powerful families being relocated from the southeast. When there was no choice in the matter, being relocated to Hunan was the most acceptable option. But not everyone had that fortune, and those relocated northward could only describe their fate as a calamity.

Forcibly made to sell off their family property, leaving the comfortable and prosperous jewel of the southeast, traveling thousands of li — nearly traversing the entire country — to be relocated to the bitter-cold northwest, anyone would feel fury and resentment. This emotion, compounded by the countless hardships of the journey, had already spread throughout the contingent.

Sensing this mood, the officials, soldiers, and corvée laborers accompanying the northward relocation had recently become more cautious, tightening their watch. In fact, it wasn't just the relocated magnates — even the officers and men responsible for this assignment were largely exhausted, all looking forward to reaching their destination as quickly as possible to be released from their duty.

This contingent had boarded ships at Jingkou, traveled northward along the waterways, passed through the Huai River into the Yellow River, then headed west until reaching Shanzhou, where they abandoned their vessels and came ashore. Because they were essentially relocating entire households, with an enormous amount of furniture and baggage, they stopped and started constantly along the way, with terribly low efficiency. By the time they reached Binzhou, more than four months had already passed.

The journey had been fraught with hardships and difficulties. Yet, under the bitter winter, this long, long road still seemed to stretch endlessly ahead, enough to drive one to despair.

Thus, even upon learning that after passing Binzhou they would soon reach their destination of Qingzhou, aside from the accompanying officers, soldiers, and corvée laborers, no one showed any joy. Most had simply gone numb...