Chapter 274

It's a pity to abandon such a large tract of land, but the Great King first had someone swiftly deliver Tuoba Yao's letter to the Xiongnu in Liangzhou. He himself stayed in Yizhou for two days, had the Chancellor send over a leadership team to take over Yizhou, and he himself suppressed things there for a few days.

The Yizhou city guard was changed to the Youzhou guard; the Great King felt uncomfortable staying in Yizhou for a few days, as Youzhou was his home.

This guy desperately wanted Lan He to come over and deliver vegetables; if he could just seize Fishing Sun, he'd pack up his stall and go home.

But even if that damned Left Virtuous King Lan He were in Liangzhou, it wouldn't be that quick to come over, and Yizhou couldn't be delayed too long.

The Great King simply didn't wait; he first sent out that letter of transfer from the Three Xianbei Tribes. He needed to get the Yizhou populace back—what's the point of an empty city?

The gist of this notice is that Yizhou is now under the direct administration of Youzhou, under the Prince of You.

The Great Jin Court ceded Yizhou and Youzhou to the Three Xianbei Tribes, who smoothly took over Yizhou. But when they came to Youzhou intending to take it over, the Prince of You firmly refused to relinquish it. After a new round of talks between the tribes and the Prince of You, the Three Xianbei Tribes, unaccustomed to the land, decided to retreat to the steppe and return Yizhou to the Prince of You.

Don't believe me?

Besides, it bears the signatures and handprints of the three Xianbei chiefs who led the southern campaign, and the entire notice was drafted by the Western Xianbei's Tuoba Yao.

Buyin and Tuoba Yao fortunately survived; as for the deceased Tufa, the Great King even dragged him out to press his handprint—quite the performance.

Those watching were completely bewildered—are you trying to fool a three‑year‑old?

After fighting hard for over half a year, losing so many people on a southern campaign, are the Three Xianbei Tribes really going to give up the land they struggled so hard to obtain?

What on earth did the Prince of You do to them?!

No one could answer them.

The Great King urgently issued this notice just to tell the Yizhou populace to hurry back home.

If they come back now, there's still hope for the fields; planting other crops could still yield a harvest this year.

He also noted in the notice that, under his rule, Yizhou would remain exactly as before. Moreover, out of pity for the Yizhou populace's sudden misfortune, he exempted them from thirty percent of taxes this year and next.

In the Great Jin, farming normally incurs a forty percent tax, with some feudal states exploiting as high as sixty percent, yet the Great King demands only one percent for the next two years!

That's practically no tax at all!

The Great King told Wei Shen, "I'm practically begging them to come back; if they still don't understand and refuse to return, there's nothing I can do."

This notice was meant to announce to the whole world; the Great King not only sent people to post it in all major prefectures, but also specially sent a copy to Chang'an, fearing it would infuriate Bai Li Jin.

After all this trouble, his Mengmeng still showed no reaction—even now Yizhou isn't his? If procedures are followed, what's missing?

While idle, the Great King also thought that Yizhou's distance from Shanggu Pass was about the same as from Youzhou, so he wrote a letter asking the Duke of the Eastern Capital to come temporarily oversee Yizhou's security.

In other words, to place Yizhou under military administration for a period.

Shanggu Pass remains the headquarters, but troops can be stockpiled in Yizhou.

Because Shanggu Pass previously served as the Great Jin's border defense facing mainly the Three Xianbei Tribes, now these three unlucky fellows have been thoroughly roughed up by the Great King, so Shanggu Pass hardly needs to worry. If they make any move, the Great King can handle it himself.

So it's better to redeploy the border troops to guard Yizhou for him.

Upon receiving the letter, the Duke of the Eastern Capital personally led twenty thousand troops over to take charge of Yizhou.

When the Duke of the Eastern Capital arrived in Yizhou, the Youzhou garrison's city gates no longer needed guarding; city and border defenses were replaced by the Shanggu Pass border troops.

That night, in his sleep, the Great King heard a familiar chime.

The Great King jerked upright—it was the Mengmeng of the Long Reflective Arc feigning death!?

He opened the main interface, and sure enough.

Yizhou had already been incorporated into his domain; beside the lush green full‑terrain map of Youzhou lay a new purple map.

He clicked once, and it rose to the top layer; the two large clerical‑script characters in the center read exactly 'Yizhou'.

The Great King almost laughed himself silly, and this time he didn't even need to circle the map. The Duke of the Eastern Capital's people took over the Yizhou‑Bingzhou border, and Yizhou automatically became his.

"Oh oh, Yi Prefecture is already a developed piece of land!" This time there was no renaming, no steps like those in Liaodong; he actually occupied Yi Prefecture City in reality, his border troops stationed on this land, military and administration were replaced with his own people, the map of Yi Prefecture appeared directly!

The Great King laughed himself silly; this time it's much more convenient!

"Mengmeng, you should also be this convenient from now on!"

The Great King, upon waking the next morning, immediately turned the prefectural governor's residence he currently occupied into the Marquis of Dongdu's mansion; with the 800,000 taels of seized silver, he gave 100,000 taels to the Marquis of Dongdu and also two large chests of gold and silver jewelry looted from the Xianbei, prepared to be transported back to the homeland. We need to be generous with our subordinates; we can't just make them work without paying their military pay, right?

From now on, those who follow him at Shanggu Pass had better not expect to get even a single coin of military pay from Chang'an.

Seeing the Great King's little purse destined for more misfortune, fortunately his little purse is now full; just Emperor Ningde's privy treasury alone is enough to fatten him up.

All affairs in Yi Prefecture were handed over to the Marquis of Dongdu; the Great King, baggage in hand, leisurely returned to You Prefecture.

Hehe, from now on, even lying in the Prince You's mansion, he can see the movements of Yi Prefecture.

He went back to just lie flat; that surrender edict, they say it shocked the whole world, which is no exaggeration.

Using Baili Heng's words, the whole thing is nonsense; he greatly admires Old Three for having the courage to issue such utter nonsense of an edict.

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The Marquis of Dongdu immediately received 100,000 taels and two chests of jewelry; he at once gave each of the 20,000 who had followed him two taels of reward silver.

The border troops celebrated the New Year half a year early; how long has it been since they last received their pay?

Ge Zhong, who had come along, received a gold hairpin, overjoyed: "Why is the salary being paid early?" They usually only give a little something every six months, right?

The Marquis of Dongdu's expression was inscrutable: "It's not salary; it's a separate reward from the Prince You. He said that starting next month, we will pay the Shanggu Pass border troops and the You Prefecture troops together."

Ge Zhong wouldn't think too much; this guy, hearing the news, was overjoyed: "We've really hit the big time? Excellent! General, this is great! Following that territory-ceding, peace-seeking Baili Jin is nowhere near as good as following the Prince You. Only the Prince You has a future!"

"You don't know that?!" the Marquis of Dongdu glared at him.

"Then it's settled; don't overthink it. We're not defecting, we haven't betrayed the imperial family by following the Prince You, and we're still guarding the Great Jin's borders. The Prince You also bears the surname Baili—whoever is capable, we'll follow; there's no problem with that. Speaking frankly, the Prince You's cavalry is such that no one in the world can stop them, as long as he wants."

"It's rare to hear this guy say so much; the Marquis of Dongdu was somewhat bewildered: 'Next time Old Wu says you're stupid, I can bear witness for you!'"

Ge Zhong: …

Baili Jin of Chang'an received the news and was indeed furious.

He smashed everything in the study, vented his feelings, and then suddenly calmed down.

"I understand now! They gave Yizhou to the third son? Even a three‑year‑old wouldn't believe it! Maybe the third son is just a puppet for the Xianbei Three Tribes!"

His attendant felt something was off: "This… doesn't make sense either. The Xianbei Three Tribes have openly taken those two provinces, so why let the Prince of You manage them? It's impossible in name alone—what are they after?"

"There's his seal on it; judging from his previous memorials, this person is unlikely to collude with the Xianbei. If he were a weakling, he'd be better off returning to Chang'an and waiting for another fief."

Baili Jin hearing this wasn't pleased either—is this praising the rebel king?!

Who's the weakling? Where did this idiot come from!

Another confidant hurriedly changed the subject: "It can't be that the Prince of You seized Yizhou and is now putting on a show of reluctance!"

How could a rebel occupy something just because it's logical? Impossible—he's still so young, yet he cares about his reputation? His reputation isn't exactly great; pretending now is too late!

The Chang'an officials who had just started following Baili Jin still didn't know the Crown Prince's scandals, asking, "Isn't the Prince of You's reputation bad among the people?" He's just a kid—how did he even get a reputation?

Baili Jin snapped: "What Prince of You? Call him the Rebel Prince of Youzhou!"

"…Yes. Does the rebel king have a bad reputation among the people?"

The attendant who had always followed Baili Jin explained: "The Prince of You has offended the scholars; it's said the Wang and Lu clans jointly offended him, and down south there are poems by students cursing him that are circulating." Of course, the Prince of Yu also helped spread them.

Wanting Baili Jin to believe that the Prince of You himself had defended Youzhou from the Xianbei Three Tribes and even seized Yizhou back—that's impossible.

He only believes what he wants to believe, and can't help sending people to inquire.

Baili Jin couldn't let these rebel kings grow stronger, so once again he issued an edict in the name of the Crown Prince, ordering all the feudal princes to come to the capital for the late Emperor Ningde's funeral.

Emperor Ningde was still lying in state in the palace, and he himself had not yet ascended the throne; although he feared that a long night would bring many dreams, the ancestral rules still had to be observed.

This time Baili Jin also sent the order to the rebel kings, and again he commanded the sons of the late Emperor Ningde to come to the capital for the former emperor's funeral, using filial piety to pressure his three brothers. He didn't even consider the Prince of Jiangxia—it was out of the question.

The palace's edict‑delivering eunuch and the scouts dispatched by Baili Jin headed north together; the leader was the chief eunuch of Lady Wang's palace, who was utterly loyal to Baili Jin.

As they passed through Yizhou, they saw the armor of the garrison on the city walls, and their hearts sank halfway.

Things didn't seem to be what His Highness had hoped to see.

The defenders of Yizhou City wore the armor of Great Jin soldiers, different from the Xianbei troops' leather armor; looking at their faces, their hearts died completely—they were Great Jin people.

And Yizhou City really is in the hands of the Prince of You!

"Did Yizhou City previously have a garrison?"

"How could it? Yizhou has no garrison—only the Shangguan Pass to the north…"

The eunuch delivering the edict, Xiao Taijian, snorted: "Our lord sent three orders recalling the border troops from the Marquis of the Eastern Capital, but got no reply—turns out they've defected to the rebel king.

"The whole Liang family has fled; they're probably in Youzhou City now.

Never mind them; even the people of Yizhou were afraid there might be some catch here, so they came back to check, then check again.

Ordinary folks won't leave their homes unless absolutely necessary; once they go, everything resets to zero and they have to start over. Great Jin's south is also in chaos, so wherever they go they're treated as refugees, and even big cities won't let them in.

All along the way, the word was that the only place explicitly accepting refugees was Youzhou.

That's a tough situation for the Yizhou folks—aren't they just fellow sufferers?

Going back is impossible; they'd wandered a few places when suddenly they heard the rumor that the Great King had taken over Yizhou.

In Yizhou, they aren't refugees; they have household registrations and land.

Some began to feel they couldn't help heading back—what if it's true? No matter how good elsewhere, it's not home, and besides, the locals wouldn't welcome them.

More and more people returned to the Yizhou region; the patrolling border troops told them Yizhou was now under military control, so safety was assured—this place now belongs to the Prince of You, and life would continue as before, only better.

Former Yizhou residents merely needed to re‑register their household registration to reclaim their original homes and land; even if they weren't originally from Yizhou, they still had to.

However, they had to set up a temporary household registration, arrange residence uniformly, and pay taxes for two years in either Yizhou or Youzhou to obtain a regular registration.

The Great King stayed in Youzhou; seeing people appear on the roads of Yizhou, things had just been nice for a couple of days when trouble came—the envoys from Chang'an arrived.

Xiao Taijian arrived and began arranging for the Prince of You to receive the edict; he was to proclaim the Crown Prince's order.

This group of palace attendants was snorted at by the Prince of You's mansion, becoming ever more overbearing. Before coming, they really hadn't imagined the Prince of You was living so well on the frontier.

The Great King simply vanished, too lazy to put up with the eldest's entourage.

Those who came looking for him wandered around his residence, then went straight back saying His Highness wasn't there, and told Xiao Taijian to just lay down the edict and leave.

Tongchen had received the true instruction from his lord; holding his head high, he said, "Our lord said that now Youzhou and the Prince of You have nothing to do with Chang'an! Before the Prince of Yu can prove the emperor wasn't angered to death by him, our lord refuses to talk or communicate with Chang'an.

Xiao Taijian pulled a long face and threatened Tongchen: "Is the Prince of You really planning to rebel? Not even showing up for the former emperor's funeral is unfilial!

Tongchen thought, "You're pretending to be clueless—haven't you already rebelled?

"Our lord said that giving the ancestors' land to foreign tribes is what's unfilial—please, Prince of Yu, reflect on yourself.

Xiao Taijian was so angry his head was smoking, yet he didn't storm off; his duty wasn't just that. Since armies in battle don't execute envoys, he was confident the Prince of You wouldn't kill him, and prepared to stay a few more days until he could see the Prince of You.

Who would have thought the Prince of You's mansion, while not killing him, also wasn't particular about etiquette.

Zhao Chuan personally led people to drive them out of the Prince of You's mansion; if they didn't leave, they could stay wherever in the Youzhou inns—using the Great King's words, just to boost the GDP.

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Author's chatter:

A special male‑oriented name came out of the 500,000‑word book test; frankly, the name is too vulgar—I don't really like it.

That cover, three yuan, was tested as the best……

The name I liked, after spending twenty to have a design studio hand‑draw the cover, was rejected…… I'm furious!

This book really can't be simply labeled as male‑ or female‑oriented; I wrote a lighthearted record of a royal child's growth. I didn't write to suit female readers' tastes, nor to follow the hot male‑oriented style, but now the name is very male‑oriented, pushing the male‑oriented market, the price is on par with male‑oriented books—amazingly low! I'm also miserable, okay (｡í_ì｡)

And there's still the elder brother's negative review, saying it lacks historical heft?

Elder brother, I'll recommend two books for you—reading history books gives you that historical heft! For example, 【Great Ming Dynasty】【Two Han Three Kingdoms】 and such.

I'm a light-hearted farming-and-fighting novel, please let me go! The name was chosen by Tomato, it has nothing to do with me!!!

Your negative review doesn't affect my rating (rating depends on updates), your negative review only affects my mental health, stop giving negative reviews, we're all oxen and horses stewing in each other's juice, why so rushed?