Liu Bei's situation is not very good, but it is not easy to withstand the attacks of Yuan Shu and Sun Ce without being defeated.
What can support him to continue is of course his name of benevolence and righteousness. Liu Bei already had this skill, and he further studied in Liaodong. Although he did not really govern for the people, his basic political line was still people-oriented, so the life of the army and the people under his rule was relatively better. How Wang Yan's place attracted other people back then, the same thing happened here with Liu Bei.
Although Liu Bei cannot be as good as Wang Yan and does not know how to use economic means effectively, as long as life on his side is visibly better than that of others, he will find a way to defect to this side, or The heart is with Liu Bei and does not conflict with his rule.
Even Liu Bei was forced to have no choice but to imitate Wang Yan and persuade him to surrender directly in front of the battle line. Needless to say, it really worked. So although he is being beaten and at a disadvantage, there is no problem with his fundamentals. As long as the time is extended, if it is purely Liu Bei and Yuan Shu fighting, then there is still a possibility of victory.
But things are obviously not that simple. After all, the battle between Liu Bei and Yuan Shu is not only about them, but also the battle between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
Lao Cao suppressed Yuan Shao and fought, and Yuan Shao's territory was being eroded by Cao Cao. Just when Yuan Shao could no longer hold on, something happened, that is, Liu Xie escaped from the control of Li Jue and Guo Si. Yuan Shao welcomed Liu Xie into Luoyang, which was the famous "Emperor Xian Migration East" incident.
Originally, after a series of struggles, Liu Xie returned to Luoyang. Then there was chaos in Han and Siam, and the court officials proposed to invite Cao Cao to Beijing. Xun Yu made suggestions from this and formulated the strategy of "serve the emperor and command no ministers". At that time, Cao Cao was still attacking Liu Bei in Xuzhou, so he stopped his troops and entered Luoyang, and then moved the capital to Xuchang, beginning the era of holding the emperor to order the princes.
But now, due to the intrusion of Wang Da's rebels, the original development of the princes has been completely changed beyond recognition. The one who occupies Luoyang now is Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao controls a large area of territory and has many soldiers and horses in his hands.
Therefore, after Liu Xie broke away from Li Jue and Guo Si, some people advocated issuing an edict to Yuan Shao to lead the army to meet him. Then Yuan Shao happily led his troops to take Liu Xie back to Luoyang, and killed a group of people without mercy at all, and gave himself various seals.
He sent envoys to appease and recruit warlords of all sizes such as Li Jue, Guo Si, and Zhang Xiu. At the same time, he also sent envoys to Cao Cao to promote him, with the intention of suing for peace and withdrawing his troops.
It was already the late summer of 1966. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had been fighting for more than a year. Yuan Shao was beaten violently by Cao Cao throughout the whole process and lost a lot of land. From Yingchuan to Langya, Cao Cao occupied the entire territory of Yuzhou and Xuzhou, and There are parts of Yanzhou area. Henan and Jiangbei are almost half divided between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Of course, this includes the Sili area that Yuan Shao captured. If not, Yuan Shao's territory would not be as good as Cao Cao's.
In the battle that lasted for more than a year, both sides failed to fight a battle of annihilation like the original Guandu battle, so that the country could be decided in one battle. Instead, it became a protracted tug-of-war.
The main reason is that because he was defeated by Wang Yan, Yuan Shao was very clear-headed, his subordinates were very united, and his decision-making ability also improved, and he was once called a wise and powerful man. If not for this, more than a year would be enough for Lao Cao to occupy Henan.
The consequence of turning the war into a tug-of-war is that the logistics of both sides are shattered, and neither side can continue to support it. It's just that Yuan Shao couldn't hold on earlier. After all, he was blasted by Wang Yan before and suffered considerable losses. So now that the Han Emperor is in hand, he has the intention to stop the army, and there is a way to give Lao Cao a seal. After all, it was Lao Cao who took advantage. Yuan Shao even relented, but Cao Cao continued to fight desperately without reason.
In fact, Lao Cao didn't want to fight, but he took advantage and was reasonable. There was no reason for him to sue for peace, so he kept resisting. Now that Yuan Shao is suing for peace, and there are a lot of seals, Lao Cao naturally takes advantage of the slope to stop the army and develop internal affairs.
In this way, the two families stopped fighting before the autumn harvest of 196, and each focused on development.
At this time, Yuan Shao set his sights on Sili again, on Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Xiu, Ma Teng, Han Sui and others. His recruitment did not go as he expected. The group of people rushed over to defect, but only Zhang Xiu came over.
By this time, Zhang Ji had been killed by an arrow, and Zhang Xiu took over. Originally, he listened to Jia Xu's idea and ran to rely on Liu Biao, but now Jia Xu has already gone to Wang Yan, Yuan Shao was beaten to Henan, and Liu Biao also formed an alliance with Yuan Shao, so naturally he went directly to Yuan Shao.
Only Zhang Xiu was sensible, and the others didn't show any reaction at all. This made Yuan Shao very unhappy. He couldn't defeat the king's thief, couldn't defeat Lao Cao, and couldn't deal with them? So he directly sent 50,000 troops to attack Li Jue, Guo Si and others.
Now they are fighting with each other and have suffered heavy casualties. They are still no match for Yuan Shao, but Li Jue and Guo Bang are unwilling to surrender. After all, people who controlled the emperor in the past and killed ministers before, how can they be willing to work for others. The burden in their hearts is much more serious than that of Lu Bu.
Therefore, Li Jue and Guo Si were beheaded by their men, and used them as a means of entry into the army to defect to Yuan Shao with their men. Ma Teng and Han Sui also stopped fighting and chose to rely on Yuan Shao. The two of them received a lot of rewards.
Ma Teng was again stationed in Yi County. Han Sui was not the same as Ma Teng. He led his troops to retreat to Liangzhou and was stationed in Jincheng again. He was nominally attached, but he refused to listen to the announcement. No matter what Yuan Shao said, Han Sui always responded and asked him to work, so he pretended not to hear him.
Regarding this choice, Han Sui is undoubtedly more sober than Ma Teng. The Central Plains is a quagmire, and it is difficult to get good results if you get stuck in it. What's more, now that the princes have gathered together to attack each other, even if they rely on Yuan Shao, they will be treated as thugs by Yuan Shao, and there is no other possibility.
On the contrary, Han Sui retreated, consolidated the power of Liangzhou, and became a local emperor in Liangzhou, growing cotton honestly, trading supplies, and slowly accumulating strength. When the pattern of the Central Plains becomes clear in the future, it would be great if he could go out to seek refuge and be the icing on the cake.
Of course he knows that the most powerful one now is the rebel Wang Da, who occupies the land of Hebei, and his soldiers are brave and fierce. But there was nothing he could do. He felt very clearly that he would definitely die if he took refuge in Wang Yan. Since it was death, what else could he seek refuge in?
However, he also believed that the current Wang Yan was the most promising to win the world, but there was no way. If Wang Yan hadn't been so targeted at wealthy families, he would have defected there two years ago.
After all, Wang Yan is too powerful, and he knows a lot about the activities on the grassland. Wang Yan is like crazy. Every year, he sends cavalry deep into the grassland to attack the Xianbei and Huns desperately. You must know that in the winter on the grassland, once there is heavy snow, it will not be possible at all. He couldn't tell the direction and was snow-blind, and when the snow was heavy, the horse's legs could even be lost. Under such circumstances, Wang Yan fought for three months every year for eight consecutive years, and managed to hit two thousand miles.
Not to mention anything else, with such an invincible cavalry unit, it will not be a problem for horses to conquer the world. What's more, there are a large number of generals such as Lu Bu, each one more powerful than the last. But, why do you have so much resentment towards the wealthy family?
However, although Wang Yan has great potential in the world and is currently the strongest, Han Sui believes that Wang Yan will not come to the desolate Liangzhou in a short time. What he should do instead is develop steadily for a few years and cross the Yellow River. , attacking Yuan Shao and Cao Cao is the right thing to do.
So he believes that he still has plenty of time and can still enjoy himself for many years...
In the blink of an eye, it’s autumn again, and the happiest people this year are none other than the people of Jizhou. Because from the autumn of the year before last to the autumn of this year, they were hungry for two years.
However, since the war ended and General Wang began to rule Jizhou, the people have no complaints. Because they felt how good General Wang was to them. What they thought were rumors before have now become facts, even better than the rumors that have been circulating in Jizhou for a long time.
Brick factories and glaze factories were built near their county seat, and many people were assigned to work. Not only did they have to eat thick porridge for lunch, but they were also given money to buy grain. The bricks and glass they fired were eventually sent to their village, and all the young and old in the village built new houses one by one. That house is really nice, with big glazed windows, and it's not dark every day. There is also a fire pit, which is very warm.
Their fields were redivided, and each family had a piece of land owned by the boss. Families with more people were also divided into families, and each family had a large piece of land.
Led by civil servants wearing blue gowns, they dug ditches for drinking water in the fields and built country roads leading to the main road. They were not paid and were provided with two meals a day. There are also paid jobs, that is, building roads, and being transferred to other places to participate in water diversion projects. This kind of job provides food and pays.
With money, they can purchase grain, salt, oil, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, cloth and various tools in a rationed amount in the county town based on the household registration book issued by them, all of which are closely related to life, in one place. You can buy everything in the boss's house.
Not only that, the general also gave them soldiers and weapons to protect themselves. Civil officials have also emphasized over and over again that they must take up arms to protect themselves.
They were even given chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Every household had chickens, ducks, and geese, and there were only two or three pigs in each village, which everyone raised collectively. Chickens, ducks and geese are purely free-range. They catch insects and eat them by themselves, and are only given a few mouthfuls of food occasionally.
The grain they planted this year was obtained on credit from the General's Mansion. This year's autumn harvest, they will have to pay 20% tax. Next year, they will be like the people in Youzhou and Northeast China, paying 10% tax.
In fact, even if it is only 20% of the tax, they are still smiling from ear to ear every day. Don't talk about taxing two out of ten, even if they pay tax five out of ten, their life will be better than before. Even though they had taxed one out of ten before...
In short, they planted new seeds this year, used new tools, and adopted new farming methods. From the beginning of spring planting until now, everything is going well and they have a bumper harvest.
After paying 20% of the tax, seeing that there were really no other taxes, what the people of Jizhou liked to do most was to stand in front of the grain store and look at the piles of grain in it every day, even if they were hungry...
After all, the general's mansion was newly built in the west of the city. The original mansion was too small and certainly did not meet the majesty of the general. It's much better now. The entire building was designed and built by a doctor of engineering from Wenchang Pavilion and the Ministry of Industry under the government.
Huge, brilliant, gorgeous, and majestic, it can be considered a small palace building. It has various architectural rituals and the designer's unconstrained ideas. Overall, it is very good.
It's definitely not too extravagant. After all, in more than a year, how extravagant can the palace construction be? They are all temporary places, so that's about all. The main thing is to inspect the Ministry of Industry and the level of Wenchangge's engineering doctorate. At the same time, it can also provide relief through work, achieving multiple benefits with one stone.
At this moment, in the study room of the General's Mansion, Wang Yan was looking through the statistical data sent by Jia Xu.
The land in Youzhou is not large. Although it is not saturated, the population has not increased explosively and the land is not fully utilized. Food production is relatively stable. So compared to previous years, the output is not much different. There are few thalassemia people in Bingzhou, there is not much surplus, and the output is only enough for the people of Bingzhou.
Since a large number of people from Jizhou migrated to the Northeast, there has been a visible increase in grain this year. As for Jizhou, because it is located in the quintessence of the North China Plain, it has a population of more than three million, and its land has basically been developed. Taking into account new grain varieties, farming methods, fertilizers, etc., although the current Ice Age, the grain supply The yield is still much higher than in the past, and it is truly a bumper harvest.
It's just that even if there is a bumper harvest, the people still can't let go and eat. There is a long way to go...
"It's ripe this year, very good."
Putting down the documents in his hands, Wang Yan evaluated the work of the past year. Yes, a year of hard work is just for the autumn harvest. Food is the most important thing for people, and eating is a big deal. Other constructions are all centered around farming. Expanding the territory is also to have more land and population, and to produce more food.
Jia Xu put down the tea and smiled: "The general has the ability to govern the world, so he sends scholars to study grain seeds and farming methods. This is a move that will benefit the present generation and will benefit the future."
He has been a pavilion chief for half a year and a general for half a year. In the past time, he had a more in-depth and detailed understanding of the situation under Wang Yan's rule, and of course he discovered many advancements.
Especially when he had more contact with Wang Yan, he realized more and more that there was no better boss than Wang Yan. Now he is in a good mood, eating well and sleeping well. He is very happy to see the growth of various data every day.
Wang Yan also took a sip of tea and asked with a smile: "Now that the food shortage has been resolved, Wen He thinks, what should I do next?"
"Gather food for three years, then cross the river to attack Yuan and Cao to seek land in Henan."
Jia Xu didn't even think about it and spoke simply. Seeing that Wang Yan didn't say anything, he continued, "Does the general want to conquer Liangzhou? Although Liangzhou is poor, cotton is necessary to keep out the cold. I recently heard that Han Sui returned to Liang and he fought against Li Liang first. Jue, after the battle, Ma Teng lost his vitality, lacked food, and his troops were insufficient.
Therefore, only 20,000 troops and horses are needed to conquer Liangzhou in the west. Even if there are repeated attempts, we can still go to Liangzhou in two or three years without consuming much food. After three years of this, Liangzhou has been conquered and we have enough food, so we can take Henan. "
"Wen He has a good plan, which is exactly what I want."
Wang Yan nodded with a smile, "You, Lu Bu and Zhang Liao sent an order to them to break camp and march westward, first occupy the two counties of Beidi and Anding, and clear out the barbarians. Send Guo Jia to make plans to plot against Han Sui. Don't forget your instructions. Don’t be in a hurry, if there is no good opportunity, just Xu Tu can do it.”
"Yes, general, I am resigning."
Jia Xu cupped his hands, turned around and went out to arrange work. Sending troops to fight requires a lot of preparation, and he needs to coordinate...
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