At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were three kingdoms: Wei, Han, and Wu.
Of course, this Han is the Ji Han established by Liu Bei. It is not a traditional Han Dynasty and only has one state.
Now that he knows that the late Han Dynasty was divided into three families, and that these three families will continue to stalemate with each other for fifty or sixty years, Zhang Xi will only choose his future among these three families.
There is a saying that Cao Cao at this time is actually the best choice.
In two or three years, Cao Cao will completely pacify Hebei, and also take care of Wuhuan, who is currently making a fuss.
Even after encountering a fire in Chibi, Cao Cao was not injured. He still dominated the north and was the most powerful of the three.
It can be said that the north will be a fairly stable environment in the future, and taking refuge with Cao Cao is actually the best choice at this time.
And considering Zhang Xi's identity and background, taking refuge with Cao Cao also has great benefits.
Cao Cao's attitude towards the aristocratic family was both cooperative and suppressive.
In recent years, Cao Cao has often attacked aristocratic families and killed so-called great scholars.
To fight against the aristocratic families, the common people in Guizhou could not count on them, so Cao Cao adopted a "meritocracy" approach and hired a large number of children from poor families.
For Zhang Xi, a young man from a poor family, joining Cao Cao also gave him a great opportunity to get ahead.
If you don't have too much ambition, it is easy to become a county official with Cao Cao.
Cao Cao has all kinds of advantages, but one thing is not so good - Cao Cao can still be called a hero in troubled times, but his son Cao Pi is not.
Cao Pi is not bad, really, I have one thing to say, and I have no intention of discrediting him.
As the de facto founder of Cao Wei, Cao Pi's abilities ranked high among the rulers of this era.
But Cao Pi made a big mistake in one thing - in order to usurp the Han Dynasty and become emperor, he made compromises with the aristocratic family.
It's not a small compromise, but a comprehensive compromise in all aspects, in exchange for the support of the northern family for him to become emperor.
Politically, he adopted the nine-rank Zhongzheng system, which indirectly resulted in the result that "there are no humble scholars in the upper ranks and no rich families in the lower ranks", which led to the blockage of the upward path, and the wealthy families actually controlled the affairs of the court.
Economically, in order to cope with inflation, the circulation of five-baht coins was cancelled, and the transaction method returned to barter... Although Zhang Xi did not understand economics very well, Zhang Xi could also feel the discomfort of this method. Well, this is tantamount to handing over the pricing power of items to wealthy families.
After all, in these days, the only people who can circulate bulk goods are wealthy families. Once barter is done, the wealthy families can price the items arbitrarily and exploit the people. And the common people had no choice. The fragility of the small-scale peasant economy could not withstand the joint impact of the wealthy families. In the end, the common people could only sell their excess belongings to the wealthy families and accept their exploitation.
It would be okay if this was just the case. At worst, the people could live a peaceful life just by guarding the few acres of land at home, which wouldn't be too bad.
But Cao Pi acquiesced to one thing at this time, which was a bit of a bastard.
That was the "farming system" left by Cao Cao, which was interfered by the aristocratic family.
There are two types of farming system - military farming and civilian farming.
At least Cao Pi was not out of his mind. The military camp still followed the rules set during Cao Cao's time and implemented them honestly. This provided good logistical support for Cao Wei's military operations.
But Mintun, with Cao Pi's acquiescence, was infiltrated into a sieve by aristocratic families.
According to the rules set by Cao Cao, Mintun organized the people to develop ownerless wasteland. The government provided cattle and farm tools, and the landless people worked as farmers. The final harvest was divided in a 50-50 ratio.
It's a bit dark, but in this troubled time of continuous war, it can be considered a very lucky thing to have such a place to resettle the refugees.
Moreover, these campers can also become Cao Wei's source of soldiers when necessary... In this era, this can be regarded as a "benevolent policy".
However, during the Cao Pi period, the aristocratic family began to frequently intervene in the affairs of the people's villages. First, they gradually placed people in charge of the villages, and then began to secretly increase the share ratio, from 50% to 40% to 40% to 60%.
And if the aristocratic family had done these things, if it had been left to Cao Cao, he might have had to borrow the head of the grain and grass officer... but Cao Pi turned a blind eye.
In this case, the family can still be polite to you? !
Those who are more conscientious can just give the farmers 20% of their income to ensure that they don't starve to death and work for the aristocratic family every year.
The more ruthless ones directly annexed the land obtained from the farming, turning the farming residents into their own hermit houses. They annexed the land and wanted people's money, which was quite ugly.
Cao Pi's attitude towards this was acquiescence.
This resulted in the civilian villages in the late Cao Wei Dynasty becoming the property of aristocratic families, and they exploited the people in every possible way.
Of course, Zhang Xi could not understand what Cao Pi did.
Cao Pi was not stupid. He probably wanted to give some sweetness to the aristocratic families so that the aristocratic families would support him in becoming emperor. When his foundation was solid, he would then turn around and deal with these aristocratic families.
But he didn't expect that not only himself, but also his son Cao Rui, who was "like a martial emperor", was short-lived and had no time to wait until the foundation was solid.
There is no telling what happened after that. Cao Wei was completely controlled by the aristocratic family. Even Sima Yi's "Gaopingling Incident" was the result of the exchange of mutual interests between the aristocratic families.
Zhang Xi discovered that if he chose to defect to Cao Wei and Cao Cao was still alive in the early stage, he might be able to do better, but once Cao Cao dies a few years later and Cao Pi succeeds...well, no matter from Morally and from a background, Zhang Xi seems to be in a very difficult situation.
As a poor family, there is no chance of getting ahead in a place where aristocratic families are numerous and hold real power. The best outcome is probably to find a noble family to rely on, and I can barely live a more comfortable life than Qianshou. The worst outcome... I guess that even the skin and bones will be swallowed up by those noble families, and no scum will be left. Down.
Another one, why did the Yingchuan Zhang family ask Zhang Xi to separate the family... Isn't it just to reduce the risk of survival?
If you want to join Cao Wei, the Yingchuan family can do it yourself, so why let Zhang Xi come out to divide the family?
So, after Zhang Xi thought about it carefully, it seems that surrendering to Cao Wei cannot be his first choice... until he has no choice but to save his life.
After putting aside Cao Wei for the time being, let's look at Sun Wu...forget it, it's better to vote for Cao Wei.
Soochow is not so much the decision-making power of the Sun family as it is the product of the struggle and compromise between the Jiangdong family, the Sun family, and the Huaisi group.
In his early years, Sun Ce was very ambitious and wanted to build an industry that belonged to the Sun family. He led the Huaisi Group to kill someone in Soochow and was defeated... and then was taken over by the Jiangdong family.
After Sun Quan came to power, he changed Sun Ce's strategy and took advantage of the contradiction between the Jiangdong family and the Huaisi Group to successfully let the Sun family gain a foothold in Jiangdong and grow stronger... From this perspective, Sun Shiwan was still a young man. Very strong.
At least from the perspective of domestic affairs, it is really strong.
But after that, Sun Quan basically vacillated between the Jiangdong Family and the Huaisi Group. Sometimes he used the Jiangdong Group to suppress the Huaisi Group, and sometimes he used the Huaisi Group to suppress the Jiangdong Group... He used "checks and balances" to play tricks.
But in this way, Soochow becomes a very strange place.
Military and political affairs do not come from the emperor. Many times, Sun Quan even looked at the opinions of the two major groups... It is not so much a country as a political and military alliance.
This also led to the fact that whenever something happened, he would first divide into two factions and have a quarrel. Whether it was the Battle of Chibi or the Battle of the Second Palace, they were all products of this reason.
In addition, both the Huaisi Group and the Jiangdong Group were actually quite xenophobic, especially the Jiangdong Group. From the late Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, they were very resistant to outsiders entering Jiangdong.
Zhang Xi, a member of a poor family who is neither from the Huaisi Group nor from the Jiangdong family, went to Jiangdong, a place where various interest chains have been formed. He was simply making himself uncomfortable.
Not to mention whether he can get ahead, it's hard to say whether he can gain a foothold in Jiangdong.
After excluding Soochow, the last option left is Liu Bei's Ji Han.
Now Liu Bei probably didn't even think that he would be able to establish Ji Han in the end... The dream of helping the Han Dynasty has always been there, but a down-and-out royal family living in Xinye never imagined that he would be the emperor in the future.
At this time, it can be said that Liu Bei was at his most depressed. Now Zhang Xi is the "grain and grass master" under Liu Bei's account. To a certain extent, if Liu Bei becomes emperor in the future and Zhang Xi is still there, then it will not count. A "hero of Yuanmou".
And in terms of future achievements, Ji Han can be said to be the only country among the Three Kingdoms that treats its people fairly well and has a suppressive attitude towards aristocratic families.
Many people blame Liu Bei for casting "Zhi Bai Qian" after entering Sichuan, saying that Liu Bei was exploiting the people... To a certain extent, this makes sense.
But compared to the common people, who uses the five baht money the most? Who is the most exploited under the "100-yuan" policy? !
It's an aristocratic family!
The unlucky Shuzhong family was instantly deprived of a large amount of wealth by Liu Bei's move of "straight money".
Of course, under the "straight money" policy, the common people will also be greatly affected. After all, the family will pass on the losses suffered by Liu Bei to the common people.
And this is why Zhuge Liang must emphasize "strict law" after entering Sichuan.
Fa Zheng, as Liu Bei's mastermind, approached Zhuge Liang to intercede, saying that after entering Sichuan, the laws were too strict and the people in Sichuan could not stand it... In fact, it was not that the people in Sichuan could not stand it, but that the aristocratic families could not stand it. Under the strict law, If they exploited the people in large numbers, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang would definitely not mind killing a few sons of aristocratic families to scare the monkeys.
This matter was actually decided jointly by Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, and Fa Zheng... Fa Zheng said that I am from Dongzhou, and the interests of your Yizhou family have been harmed. What does it have to do with me, a Dongzhou person? !
He was able to intercede for Liu Bei because he was afraid that Zhuge Liang would expand his attack area and the interests of the Dongzhou people would not be protected. Now that Liu Bei is so determined, Fa Zheng would not stand up for the interests of the Yizhou people at this time.
To a certain extent, the lives of the people in Jihan were much better than those in the other two places until Deng Ai captured Chengdu and Liu Chan surrendered.
In this regard, Liu Bei's approach is very in line with the appetite of future generations, and Zhang Xi is certainly no exception.
The only trouble is how to survive the battle at Changbanpo.
Whether it is history or the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei passed Changban Slope without any danger.
But that was Liu Bei, not Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi didn't think that during the extreme chaos in Changbanpo, he could escape safely like Liu Bei.
Liu Bei could only take Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang and barely escape under the protection of more than a dozen cavalry guards. His wife and children were lost in the rebel army... Zhang Xi did not think that he would meet Zhao Yun to rescue him at this time.
Therefore, if you want to follow Liu Bei, you need to start preparing in advance and plan how to get through Changbanpo safely.
Fortunately, there are still about three years before the Battle of Changbanpo, so there is enough time to think about this issue.
After calming down for a while, Zhang Xi decided to stay put for the time being and continue his promising job as "Grain and Grass Registrar".
