Chapter 158 The granaries are full, and the generals are back [Subscribe]

There was mist and rain on the lake, and a few ripples appeared.

"There are fish."

Cao Cao picked up the fishing hook and caught a fat fish, which was struggling desperately while swinging its tail. It weighed at least seven or eight kilograms, with a fat head and a fat brain. It was a big carp.

Dian Wei took the fish off the hook and said, "This fish is meant to be with me. It looks delicious."

"You have a connection with everything you eat." Xu Chu said.

"Master Yuan wants to persuade you to join Yuan Benchu?" Cai Yong said after reading the letter.

Yuan Wei said in the letter that Yuan Shao defeated the strong by using the weak, and defeated Gongsun Zan under the most unfavorable circumstances, which shows his ability in using troops, employing people, and gathering momentum.

He also asked Cao Cao how he compared to Gongsun Zan at his peak.

The reputation of the Yuan family, combined with the power gathered by Yuan Shao, was enough to create a momentum that would sweep across the north.

But it was impossible for Cao Cao to control Yuzhou.

Because the Yuan family’s ancestral home is in Runan, Yuzhou.

This advances, this retreats.

Yuan Wei hoped that Cao Cao would know when to advance and when to retreat and consider carefully.

If Cao Cao was willing to follow Yuan Shao and surrender sincerely, Yuan Wei promised that he would still let him be the governor of Yanzhou in the future and would not take away his position.

Cai Yong put the letter aside and asked Cao Cao in a low voice: "Meng De, what is your attitude?"

"You and I have known each other for seven or eight years." Cao Cao answered the question irrelevantly.

What this means is that Cai Yong should be able to see his attitude.

Cai Yong changed the subject: "How is Chang'an doing now?"

"Wang Yun and Yuan Taifu are fighting for power in the court."

Cao Cao said: "Just look at how Master Yuan worked hard for Yuan Shao and even wrote me a letter to persuade him to surrender. I know that he was completely at a disadvantage in the court, so he turned to seek help from outside."

"Wang Yun suggested that Yuan Wei's authority as the Recorder of the Secretariat be taken back, on the grounds that Yuan Wei had led Dong Zhuo to Luoyang, causing chaos under heaven, in line with the emperor's desire to take back the imperial power."

"This is the latest news. The emperor is going to summon all the ministers to discuss the removal of Yuan Wei from his position as Grand Tutor."

"If successful, Yuan Wei will be driven out of Chang'an, and if he resists, he may even lose his life."

Cai Yong was shocked. He didn't expect the political situation to be so turbulent.

In the past two months, Cao Cao was focused on the war in Yanzhou and missed some things.

He looked into the distance. The weather was gloomy, especially in the direction of Chang'an, without a trace of light.

There are some things that even Cao Cao cannot control.

……

Changan.

Tufu's Mansion.

"how is the progress?"

"Our people just came back from Liangzhou."

Yuan Wei took a sip of tea and asked, "Has the letter sent to Yanzhou arrived?"

"It should be in the near future that the Grand Tutor's letter will let Cao Cao know that Benchu's ability to gather power and talents is unmatched by him." said one of Yuan's advisers.

"Some people will never give up until the very end."

Yuan Wei said calmly: "After Benchu ​​defeated Gongsun Zan, within half a month, the surrounding nine counties all fell under his command. With such momentum and speed, who in the world can compare with him?"

"Although Cao Cao has stabilized Yanzhou, some of the nobles in Yuzhou have not thought about the fact that Yuzhou is the ancestral land of our Yuan family. If I don't give my approval, will so many nobles really dare to join Yanzhou?"

The counselor suddenly realized: Among the nobles who surrendered to Cao Cao, there were people from the Yuan family...

That was why Yuan Wei was so confident and felt that he knew all the changes in Yanzhou.

Early morning the next day.

Wang Yun proposed to revoke Yuan Wei's authority as the Minister of the Secretariat, and the emperor then asked his ministers for advice.

Among the ministers, many were won over by Wang Yun. As the Yuan family had been the head of the aristocratic families for many years, many coveted the Yuan family's status.

These people united and supported Wang Yun and the emperor's decision.

Yuan Wei watched coldly without saying a word.

When the emperor issued an edict to dismiss him from his post as Taifu, Yuan Wei took the opportunity to resign, saying that he wanted to retire and return home.

He packed up his belongings and left Chang'an that evening.

In the darkness of night, carriages and horses left Chang'an.

Yuan Wei looked back at the city wall: Benchu ​​has established the trend in the north, and it is time for the Han Dynasty to perish.

Yuan Wei had previously sent envoys to Liangzhou several times to meet Li Jue, Guo Si and others who had become leaders of the Liangzhou army.

And tell them that Wang Yun, the emperor, wants to disband the Liangzhou army.

All the generals from Liangzhou were killed, and no one survived.

Chang'an is now under the command of Lu Bu.

But the imperial guards still had many factions.

Chang'an's defenses were weak, strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

Yuan Wei informed Liangzhou that his Yuan family members controlled the defense of one part of Chang'an's military, and if they came to Chang'an from Youfufeng, they could pass through at a fixed time.

At the beginning of July, on the third day after Cao Cao returned to Daye Lake, Li Jue and Guo Si set out for Chang'an together in the name of asking for forgiveness.

Along the route, there were soldiers and horses that had fled from Dong Zhuo's faction and were worried about being liquidated, so they joined in one after another.

When Li Jue and Guo Si approached Chang'an, he suddenly raised an army.

The influx of troops from Liangzhou meant a way for them to survive, so everyone fought hard and worked together.

Lu Bu led the imperial guards to resist for several days, but seeing that the Liang Province army was gaining momentum and gathering in larger numbers, Lu Bu was the first to abandon Chang'an and fled with his cronies.

What is very different from history is that Wang Yun had made a lot of preparations in advance. He mobilized the imperial guards under his control and his trusted foreign generals cultivated by himself, and with the support of aristocratic families such as the Wang family of Taiyuan, he quickly entered Chang'an.

He quickly took over the defense of Chang'an. Lu Bu fled, but Wang Yun led his troops to fight in Liang Province.

There were people in the city that Yuan Kui had arranged earlier, who secretly opened the city to meet the enemy. Fortunately, Wang Yun and Yuan Kui had been fighting for a long time, so they were on guard against Yuan Kui's men in Chang'an.

Some people opened the city to meet the enemy, but Wang Yun took advantage of the situation and lured a part of the Liangzhou army into the city to kill them, thus achieving a considerable victory.

But it is also true that Chang'an fell into chaos again and was attacked and besieged by the Liangzhou army.

In late July, the heat was unbearable.

Cao Cao, who was spending the summer in Daye Lake, checked the new troops and the list of civil and military officials in Yanzhou.

He saw two names among them.

Like Le Jin and Yu Jin, both were native Yanzhou people and later became generals in Cao's camp.

The names of Li Dian and Man Chong were prominently on the list of civil and military officials to be promoted in the new wave.

This time, Yanzhou is expanding its army, and plans to promote Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and others who have been trained for two years.

Historically, Cao Cao relied heavily on his trusted generals from the Cao and Xiahou families.

The reason is trustworthy.

But at the moment he had no such concerns at all because he could see the loyalty of his generals.

Who could hide their rebellion from him?
Therefore, when there is no problem with trust, give priority to stronger generals.

As for other civil and military officials, they need a relatively fixed trajectory to be nurtured, so recruiting them in advance may not be a good idea.

For this reinforcement, Man Chong and Li Dian were selected from the local areas.

Cao Cao made important comments after the names of the two people, asking important officials such as Xun Yu and Zhang Liao to pay more attention to their training.

At the same time, he asked the newly promoted generals to come and see him.

Li Dian, Man Chong and others were brought to see Cao Cao by Zhao Zilong at the end of July, in a farmland a hundred miles south of Daye Lake.

Cao Cao personally came to the field to check the situation.

When Zhao Zilong brought people to see him, Cao Cao was barefoot, checking rice seeds in the fields.

He pinched a rice stalk, put the fruit in his mouth and chewed it. It had the most original taste of grain.

"It is fortunate that there is no major flood this year. However, flood and drought prevention must be started early. Wen Ruo, you proposed to build more dams and dig canals. I have considered it. No matter how much it costs, it must be done, and the sooner the better."

Xun Yu also went north from Changyi to join Cao Cao.

The two of them were walking and chatting on the ridge of the field.

As the saying goes, "Before troops move out, food and fodder must go first."

War consumes a lot of national strength and food supplies.

The reason why the Cao Wei Group in history was able to launch several large-scale battles was mainly due to its developed agriculture.

Agriculture cannot do without water conservancy support.

In history, Cao Cao once made great efforts in water conservancy, opened Baigou Canal, and built the first inter-canal between the Yellow River and Haihe River.

A dam was also built at the mouth of the Qi River to block the water and divert it eastward, so that after the grain ships landed on the Yellow River, they could reach Yecheng directly by land or water.

The connection of the canal later became an important route for transporting troops and food to North China.

Cao Cao also built the Baima Canal and the Lukou Canal, and connected them with the Pinglu Canal, Quanzhou Canal and other water transport channels, thus constructing a huge canal system with Yecheng as the center, connecting the four major water systems of the Yangtze River, Huai River, Yellow River and Hai River.

Warships can go wherever the canals are built.

In the 12th year of Jian'an, Cao's army successfully captured Wuhuan.

He has now begun to make preparations for future wars with foreign races and to quell hundreds of years of foreign threats.

Of course, that place is not his territory at the moment.

However, the water diversion and canal construction at the Yellow River ferry in Yanzhou can be started first.

It would be a sheer waste if he didn't use the remaining wealth he got from Dong Zhuo or the wealth he had intercepted from the Ten Attendants in his early years.

Strong financial support and advance arrangements could support Cao Cao faster and earlier and help him gain greater power.

Hearing that Cao Cao agreed to repair the water conservancy projects, we knew that this would benefit future generations and bring blessings to the present.

Xun Yu was also a little excited: "Has the governor made the decision?"

"There is nothing to decide. How can we not do what we should do?"

Cao Cao said: "I hope that with the accumulation of achievements over several years or even decades, the granaries under my rule will be filled with grain."

"Grill is stored everywhere, and the granaries are all full." Zhao Yun, who was coming from a distance, repeated it in his mind and felt a different emotion.

Since he followed Cao Cao, he witnessed Cao Cao's wars and peace with the surrounding states and counties, and he promulgated the military farming policy in Yanzhou to encourage production and farming.

It was Cao Cao who integrated military and civilian settlements, set up farm officials in various places to be specifically responsible for military farming, and gradually improved the military farming system.

This move enabled the Yanzhou army to solve the food supply problem more quickly than other states and counties.

Therefore, during several battles, the speed with which Cao's army deployed its troops surprised and astonished the surrounding states and counties.

Once Cao Cao's order was passed down, the army could march to the battlefield in three to five days.

This is an incredible thing in modern times.

The fundamental reason is that Yanzhou promoted military farming on a large scale, which gradually spread to all parts of the country, making it more convenient to obtain grain locally!

Zhao Yun had just seen a statistical number the day before yesterday.

This autumn, Yanzhou's agricultural output is expected to increase by about one-fifth compared with previous years.

This is related to the good weather this year.

But it is also related to Cao Cao's military farming and his successive issuance of good policies.

Although Zhao Zilong had joined Cao's camp before, Cao Cao's giving him a BMW and treating his brother's illness seemed not as important as this moment. Cao Cao was eating grain on the roadside, planning to build water conservancy projects, and saying "grain is stored everywhere, and the granaries are full", which touched Zhao Yun more.

In a sense, it was not until this point that Zhao Yun finally returned to his roots.

From Cao Cao's perspective, Zhao Yun's corresponding loyalty value quickly soared to 82.

You have to know that someone like Xu Chu, who is naturally loyal, is just approaching eighty years old.

Zhao Yun has been upgraded to level 82, which means he is a die-hard fan with no second thoughts.

Accompanying Zhao Yun were several generals who had just joined Cao's camp. They were stepping forward one after another to pay homage to Cao Cao.

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(End of this chapter)