The next day, morning.
Cao Cao gathered everyone into the meeting hall again. Except Chen Zhou and Xi Zhong, who was still recovering from illness, everyone else came.
Guo Jia, who had just joined, was also there. He was already completely familiar with Cao Cao's civil servants and counselors, and they all admired each other's talents and abilities.
Today, Cao Cao gathered everyone together. First of all, he continued to discuss and study Chen Zhou's plan. Guo Jia and others talked about the issues about Yuan Shao they heard from Chen Zhou yesterday, and supplemented the entire plan to make it more accurate. Complete.
Cao Cao received Chen Zhou's analysis of Yuan Shao's failure to welcome the emperor, and once again felt that the future was bright.
It couldn't be more stable.
This topic was quickly ended and the next discussion began.
"Lord!"
Man Chong suddenly said: "Since the spring, Yanzhou has only had a few moderate rains. In the second half of the year, there was a severe drought, and the harvest was pitifully small. The people in the state could not receive food. The food stored at this time will almost bottom out. The food reserves in our army are about to bottom out, and we can still use them for more than half a month at most."
"No food again?"
Cao Cao's heart suddenly sank.
In troubled times, food is more important than human life.
As long as there is food, you can survive.
Now there is a shortage of food. Not only is there a shortage within Cao's army, but the entire Yanzhou does not have enough food, otherwise they can still ask for food from the people of Yanzhou.
Cao Cao said: "Didn't we raid the homes of Zhang Miao and others? The food ran out so quickly?"
Zhang Miao and other wealthy families have a lot of food reserves, so they should be able to hold on for a while after their homes are raided.
"It's true that the house was confiscated, but the daily cost of a million Yellow Turbans is an astronomical figure."
"In addition, the Yanzhou family's grain reserves are actually not much. The weather has not been very good in the past two years, and droughts have often occurred. Zhang Miao and others sent grain to relieve the people two years ago. After we raided the house, we took the grain for ourselves. , in addition to being distributed to the surrendered Yellow Turbans, it will also be distributed to some people."
"After going back and forth, too much is distributed, and the food reaches the bottom."
Man Chong responded.
Cao Cao frowned and asked, "Where are the farms?"
While they slaughtered Xuzhou, they also cultivated fields to feed the Yellow Turbans.
Xun Yu said: "My lord, if there is a drought, it will be useless even to cultivate the fields!"
People from the Xun family and other aristocratic families had already used their family's food to support Cao Cao. Now they are asked to donate food, but they can no longer donate.
The food crisis once again haunted Cao Cao, and there was no solution for a while.
After all, food cannot be produced out of thin air. It requires planting, time, and weather cooperation. Nothing less will do.
"what should we do?"
Cao Cao looked at everyone and asked.
All the counselors present fell silent.
They will not conjure food out of thin air. Nowadays, in troubled times and natural disasters often occur, many aristocratic families hide food. Even if it is sold, they may not be able to afford it, let alone borrow it. .
Guo Jiaqi had just arrived and did not fully understand the situation around Cao Cao, so he could not make any suggestions.
"How about finding another place to massacre the city?"
Cheng Yu, who was sitting in the corner, suddenly made this suggestion.
The first thing Cao Cao thought of was Xuzhou. After listening to Cheng Yu's words, did he want to go and massacre Xuzhou again?
"no!"
Xun You retorted: "Du Zhi said that we can no longer massacre Xuzhou, nor other places. If we massacre the city again, it will have a bad impact on the lord. Why don't we adjust the grain in Yuzhou and come back?"
When it comes to Yuzhou, Guo Jia finally has the right to speak. After all, he just came from Yuzhou. He shook his head and said: "It's not feasible! Yanzhou has been suffering from drought in recent years, and the situation in Yuzhou is not much better. According to my understanding, the people of Yuzhou The food you have is only enough for your own consumption. If you transfer it, you will definitely starve unless you can borrow food from the noble family."
It is impossible for aristocratic families to lend them food.
After listening to Guo Jia's words, the meeting hall quickly fell into silence again.
"If it doesn't work out, we can buy food from the Aristocratic Family!"
Zhong Yao put forward his own suggestions.
Cao Cao smiled bitterly and said: "Yuan Chang's words are good, but we have no money!"
His dead father, Cao Song, almost emptied his family's fortune when he bought an official position. The official he bought didn't last long before he was kicked out. He couldn't even get back the money he paid for the official position. He was also killed by Zhang Kai. When he arrived, Cao Song's belongings were also robbed by Zhang Kai.
Cao Cao was able to raise an army to attack Dong Zhuo only because of the strong support of Xiahou and the Cao family, as well as the investment of Wei Hong of Qiao County.
Otherwise, there would be no Cao Cao today.
"Dong Zhuo minted small coins and disrupted the coin system of our Han Dynasty. No one outside wanted five baht or small coins. The copper coins we had on hand were worthless."
Xun Yu said again.
The monetary system of Han Dynasty was completely collapsed by Dong Zhuo.
Copper coins have become worthless, and people outside trade either with cloth or with jewelry, gold, etc.
In many ancient dynasties, cloth was a hard currency and could be used for trade like grain.
Cao Cao had a lot of copper coins on hand, but as Xun Yu said, they were worthless and could not be spent. If they were used to buy grain, the grain merchants would not even look at them.
Massacre of the city will not work.
Buying grain is not an option.
It is even more impossible to borrow food.
"what to do?"
Cao Cao asked everyone.
Without food, wouldn't many people starve to death?
The soldiers in the army might even mutiny, disrupting all their hopes.
"Lord!"
At this time, Cheng Yu said again: "We should completely ban wine making in Yuzhou and Yanzhou to preserve food."
Making wine requires a lot of grain. In the Qin State during the Warring States Period, drinking could only be done during festivals throughout the year. The purpose was to preserve grain so that the Qin could conquer the six kingdoms.
"in addition."
Cheng Yu narrowed his eyes, as if he had some special idea in mind, and said, "I have a way to prepare food. I can share the food problem of a county and 20,000 soldiers with your lord as much as possible."
Cao Cao asked with great joy: "What method does Zhongde have?"
At this time, everyone else turned their attention to Cheng Yu.
I want to know what method he used to alleviate the food crisis.
"This method cannot be expanded and is also my secret. Please don't ask any more, lord."
Cheng Yu took a deep breath, as if he had made a forced decision, and then said: "If the lord doesn't trust me, you can pretend that I didn't say it, but you can't say it if it's true."
Man Chong said: "According to our food reserves, many people will starve to death in half a month at the earliest. Zhongde really can't say that?"
"cannot!"
Cheng Yu sighed: "This is all I can do, please don't force me anymore."
In this case, they gave up questioning.
I also understand what Cheng Yu's difficulties must be, and this is not a very good way to raise food, otherwise it will not be made public.
"It's all Zhongde's hard work on raising food. We won't have to worry about it anymore."
Cao Cao didn't care, as long as he had food, he said: "Zixiu, go find Du Zhi when you have time and see if he has any other ideas. In addition, let's think about what to do."
When Chen Zhou was mentioned, their eyes lit up.
Maybe Chen Zhou can bring them another miracle.
