Chapter 422

Although the previous Prefect had cleaned the entire Prefect's mansion very thoroughly when he left.

This still did not affect the re-decoration and arrangement by the two pregnant women who had nothing to do at home.

Everything in the mansion that could be replaced had been replaced with new items.

Even the vegetation in the garden had been carefully rearranged.

The Prefect's mansion was very large, several times larger than the residence in Jinyang.

That's right, several times larger.

Liangzhou could be said to be lacking in everything.

But there was one thing it did not lack, and that was land.

The twelve counties of Hanyang Commandery had a total of only about 140,000 Han people.

On average, each county had only about 10,000 people.

Of course, this number could not be averaged, because Jixian, the seat of Hanyang Commandery, had a population of over 40,000.

That is to say, the other counties averaged less than 10,000 people.

As for the commanderies further west like Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, the population was even more sparse.

In the main hall of the Prefect's mansion, the banquet had dispersed.

After three rounds of wine and five courses of food, the generals had all returned to their camps.

From setting out from Jinyang to the Xiongnu, the group had been traveling for nearly another month.

This time, they could finally get a good rest.

Although the evening banquet was over, Duan Yu's work was not.

Today was his first day in Hanyang Commandery.

But there was still a lot of work waiting for him.

Besides Duan Yu, there was one other person who had not left: Jia Xu.

In the study lit by oil lamps, Duan Yu drank a cup of hangover soup brought by a maid.

The charcoal fire in the study was lit, making the temperature in the room very warm.

Jia Xu, wrapped in a long robe, sat by the fire basin.

After drinking two sips of the hangover soup, Duan Yu put down the pottery bowl and looked at Jia Xu, who was warming himself by the fire.

Although it was already July, the weather at night was still cold.

This point also surprised Duan Yu a little.

In later generations, July was already mid-summer, and it wouldn't be cold even at night.

But at this time, even though it was already mid-July, the nights still felt like early spring.

"Wenhe should wear more; don't catch a cold," Duan Yu asked with concern.

Jia Xu tucked his hands into his sleeves, seemingly long accustomed to this temperature.

"Lord..."

"Since the Lord has entered Liang, some things must be planned early; there were some words I hadn't spoken to the Lord before."

Jia Xu said leisurely: "Since the Lord has now taken control of Hanyang Commandery, do you have any plans for the future?"

The future?

Duan Yu blinked.

The future is definitely to slowly govern Liangzhou and then build Liangzhou into his own rear base.

This point is beyond doubt.

But Duan Yu did not speak.

Since Jia Xu said so, there must be some reason.

He wanted to hear what Jia Xu had to say.

"I wonder how Wenhe would instruct me," Duan Yu asked.

Jia Xu took a deep breath and said: "Originally, after entering Liang, my plan was to let the Lord govern Liang slowly for stability, and then plan slowly, trying to get out of Liangzhou as much as possible."

"But now it seems this path may not work."

Hmm?

Duan Yu frowned and asked with some confusion: "Why get out of Liang?"

"Wasn't it your wish, Wenhe, to gain Liangzhou in the first place?"

Jia Xu nodded and said: "That's right, but Liangzhou is only for a time; gaining Liangzhou was only to ensure the Lord's transition as Prefect."

"And Liangzhou is not a place to stay for long."

"Does the Lord know that since the capital was moved to Luoyang, it has been difficult for Liangzhou and Bingzhou to produce officials for generations?"

"Does the Lord know of Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui, and Duan Jiong?"

Duan Yu nodded.

He naturally knew this.

Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui, and Duan Jiong were known as the Three Brights of Liangzhou.

"Since the Lord knows the three..."

"Then you also know their fates."

"If I must say, the Lord has roughly the same similarities as the three; all rose through military merit, but because of their Liangzhou origins, they eventually ended up with limited military power and miserable ends."

"Zhang Huan accumulated military merit, pacified the Qiang rebellion, and appeased foreign tribes, his fame covering the court, but because of his Liangzhou origin, he was excluded from the court."

"Zhang Huan wanted to enter the court, and for this, he did not hesitate to offend the eunuch faction, and did not hesitate to submit a petition to move his household registration out of Liangzhou."

"But he was still excluded by those scholar-official families, eventually framed by eunuchs and imprisoned, ending up depressed and dying at home."

"Huangfu Gui was the same as Zhang Huan, throwing himself into the scholar-official faction."

"He was even willing to bear the Disaster of the Partisan Prohibitions."

"But what happened?"

Jia Xu's eyes narrowed: "In the end, he couldn't even fulfill his wish to die at home; he was summoned while seriously ill and died on the way."

The more Duan Yu listened, the more he felt something was wrong.

He did not know what Jia Xu was saying.

He only knew the Three Brights of Liangzhou were Zhang Huan, Huangfu Gui, and Duan Jiong.

He also knew that all three started in Liangzhou and all rose through military merit by pacifying the Qiang.