"Ziyi, what's the plan?" Liu Bei continued to ask.
Zhang Heng looked at the people not far away who were supporting the young and old, and said slowly: "The best policy is to help the people live, the middle policy is to unite the people, and the next policy is to pay with blood!"
"What's the explanation?" Liu Bei asked with a frown.
Although he studied under the great scholar Lu Zhi, he fought cocks and walked dogs every day when he was in school, and played music and danced with a group of his classmates, so his cultural level was not very high.
"The people are innocent and should not be affected by the war. Duke Xuande can send people to escort these people to settle elsewhere. If this happens, the people will be grateful to Duke Xuande. If he can get a piece of his own land, these people will Even if we are thousands of miles apart, we will be happy to follow you and come to join you. Since ancient times, the people's will has been the general trend. With Xuande Gong's name of benevolence and righteousness, he will be unfavorable in the future. This is what is called caring for the people and making a living."
Although escorting people will not see any benefits in the short term, in the long run, it is definitely a good deal.
Even if you don't make any big claims about destiny and people's hearts, it is still a good deal.
In troubled times, the most important thing is never the city's territory, but its population!
Liu Bei helps these more than 10,000 people today. When he has his own territory in the future, he will be able to take over these 10,000 people. After one or two generations of reproduction, there will be tens of thousands of people, who can cultivate thousands of hectares of fertile land, and can select thousands of heroes at any time!
This is a long-term strategy. The fight for world hegemony will not end in a few years. It will even take one or two generations to prepare for it. That's why Zhang Heng positioned it as the real best strategy.
After hearing this, Liu Bei was silent for a moment, and then asked: "What about the middle and worst strategies?"
It's not that he doesn't want to escort the people, it's just that the situation is urgent now, and Liu Bei wants to see if there are any other options.
"The so-called Zhongce united in the city means that wherever these people come from and go back, we will follow them." Zhang Heng said with stern eyes, "If Dong Thief comes again, then we will defend the city together with the people, and at the same time absorb The common people enlisted in the army to expand the military strength.”
This strategy is equivalent to choosing a strong city as a temporary base in Yin, Henan, and slowly building up strength while fighting Dong Zhuo on a small scale.
This time, before Liu Bei could continue to ask questions, Zhang Heng also revealed his next move.
"As for repaying the blood debt with blood, the next step is to recruit the best of these people to go deep into the hinterland of Henan and fight against Dong Zhuo's army who is killing the people. The people all hate Dong Zhuo's thieves to their bones. If they have the opportunity to defeat the thieves, their morale will definitely be high. In this way The military will definitely be ready!"
Frankly speaking, this so-called last resort is the easiest and the most profitable in a short period of time.
The most powerful thing in the world that drives people's hearts is hatred.
As soon as they came out of Jujube, they encountered a wave of people who were driven away by Dong Zhuo's army. This proved that there would be more such situations in Henan Yin. If they continued to collect like this, like a snowball, they would have more and more teams in their hands.
But there are two drawbacks to this.
First, if they really encounter Dong Zhuo's large army, they are likely to be taken away in a wave.
Secondly, not all the people can be recruited. How to deal with the old, weak, women and children?
If you just ignore them, you probably won't be able to take away the young ones among them, and even if you can take them away, they will be dissatisfied.
If you take all the women and children away, you will be a ragtag group, and there will be no need to fight.
However, Zhang Heng just said what he could think of. The specific choice still depends on Liu Bei.
I saw Liu Bei frowning and thinking hard for a long time, but he remained silent and failed to make a decision in the end.
"Mr. Xuande, are you in trouble?" Zhang Heng asked.
Liu Bei sighed and said slowly: "Ziyi, with my true intention, I naturally want to escort the people to settle elsewhere, but we have a small army and few generals, and we dare not use the newly recruited soldiers now. But if I can't bear to drag the people into the flames of war, so what can I do?"
Zhang Heng immediately caught Hua Dian, "So, Mr. Xuande still prefers the middle strategy?"
"Not bad." Liu Bei nodded.
"What Mr. Xuande said is wrong. The people are trying to protect their homes and places, so how can we say that we dragged them into the war. On the contrary, our trip is to help the people defend their homes. It can be said to be justice!"
Mr. Xuande, just think about it, even if we don't come, won't Thief Dong continue to harm the people? "
"this……"
Liu Bei frowned and thought hard for a long time, and finally made up his mind.
"In that case, we will act according to Ziyi's policy and unite with the people. But we still have to ask the people for their opinions."
Zhang Heng nodded, "This is natural."
After the two people discussed it, Liu Bei took Zhang Heng and walked towards the people. Upon seeing this, Guan Yu immediately led more than a hundred soldiers to protect him.
The common people had been suffering from military disasters for the past few days, and now they had PTSD towards the officers and soldiers. When they saw Liu Bei leading his troops, they subconsciously retreated slowly, for fear of encountering unexpected events.
Of course Liu Bei understood the people's fear. He immediately waved his sleeves and ordered his soldiers not to follow him, and he pulled Zhang Heng forward.
"Is there a leader here?"
Liu Bei shouted loudly to the people.
Seeing that the soldiers did not follow, the nervousness of the people was relieved. An old man of about sixty years old slowly walked out with the support of a servant and paid homage to Liu Bei and Zhang Heng.
"Lu Chang, the magistrate of Xiaguan Juan County, has met the two generals! Many thanks to the generals for their life-saving grace!"
Hearing this, Liu Bei's eyes flashed with surprise.
I thought this old man was the head of a wealthy family, but who would have thought that he was actually a minor official.
"President Lu, there is no need to be polite. I am Liu Xuande, the magistrate of Gaotang. May I ask what happened here?"
Seeing Liu Bei's inquiry, Lu Chang began to tell the whole story.
Since Yuan Shao called on the princes of the world to attack Dong at the beginning of this year, the heroes gathered around Luoyang, and Dong Zhuo, who was in Luoyang, also received the news.
Although Dong Zhuo was cruel by nature, he was not stupid. On the contrary, he has been leading troops in the war for decades, and his grasp of the war situation is quite sophisticated. As soon as he received the news, he ordered to fortify the walls and clear the country. Not only did he forcibly relocate the people of Yin, Henan, but he also ordered his troops to set fire everywhere and burn down the wild valleys of Canglin. .
There is only one purpose for doing this - no matter how we fight in the future or what the fight is, the princes of Guandong will not be able to get anything of value in Henan Yin.
As a result, the people around Luoyang would suffer.
The magistrate of Juan County was also a good official who loved his people as his own children. He did not want to see the people under his rule being harmed by Dong Zhuo, so he led the people to flee Juan County, thinking of defecting to the princes of Guandong.
Unexpectedly, he was caught up by Yang Yong's army on the way. In order to protect the people, the magistrate of Juan County personally led his troops to stop the enemy, and finally died tragically under Yang Yong's butcher's knife.
After that, the scene that just happened happened.
Yang Yong and Zhang Liao were ordered to forcibly relocate the people together. Yang Yong naturally left the wealthy and easy-to-bully people to himself, but left those hard bones for Zhang Liao to gnaw on.
He originally thought that these fleeing people were just meat for him to slaughter, but he didn't know that Liu Xuande suddenly appeared on the way.
So, in the end, he passed away very peacefully.
After listening to Lu Chang's story, Liu Bei nodded slightly. This was pretty much what he had guessed.
Then, it is the people's turn to choose.
"Lu County Cheng, for this plan, where do you plan to lead the people?"
