Chapter 249: The Governor's Talent, the Storm Rises Again [Subscribe]

The moonlight is bright and clear.

There was a faint fragrance in Cao Cao's tent.

The entry's prompt changes again: [Healing headaches, health increased to over 90, True Dragon physique reaches Class A, able to better withstand the baptism of luck brought by million reputations]

Yu Qing's special physique was quite helpful in curing Cao Cao's headache.

Do I have to have sex with Yu Qing several times a day?
[There is a great elixir of immortality in the emperor's tomb. It can cure headaches and increase health.]

There were many emperors in ancient times who sought immortality.

Although no one has actually obtained the true elixir of life, it is possible to refine a magic pill that can prolong life.

Many were taken to the burial grounds.

Cao Cao closed his eyes, and the entry disappeared. He turned sideways, put his hands on Diao Chan, and kneaded the dough subconsciously.

The next day, Cao Cao and his entourage arrived in Yanzhou on the south bank of the Yellow River.

In early September, rice and other crops are being harvested in the fields.

There were quite a few oxen working in the fields and people coming and going.

"It has been many years since we have seen people and livestock farming everywhere."

Yanzhou was Cao Cao's base camp, where he had been operating for the longest time and had the highest level of popular support.

After defeating Jizhou, the last shortcoming of Yanzhou was made up. Topographically, it was sandwiched between the states. Previously, it was a place of four wars, but now it became an advantage and there was no risk of being directly attacked anymore.

Therefore, the weather was particularly good during this year's autumn harvest.

The people let go and harvested with all their might.

After the harvest, the rice stalks are dried in the sun and tied into bundles to form small hills.

Tian Feng, Zhang He, Gao Lan, and a group of officials from Jizhou who had surrendered to him, all wore casual clothes and followed Cao Cao.

"Yanzhou suffered a locust plague this year, but I didn't expect to have such a good harvest."

Tian Feng grabbed a handful of rice and looked at it. The grains were full and golden in the sunlight.

When Cao Cao came to see the autumn harvest, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He deployed troops everywhere and the army's rations were almost gone.

Even during the Battle of Guandu, he did not burn Wuchao and Liyang's military rations, and took all the baggage of Jizhou into his own hands.

But since then, the consumption of rice in Guandu has been like water.

Fortunately, it was autumn harvest time again, which was just enough to make up for the shortage of food.

We were almost facing the dilemma of running out of food.

Xi Zhicai made great contributions this time.

After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was uncertain about the harvest and the amount of grain he could get, so he considered stopping his troops to ease the possible food crisis.

But Xi Zhicai was in charge of coordinating grain supplies, population and other matters. He said with certainty that the grain supplies could last until the autumn harvest.

Yanzhou must not stop fighting and miss the opportunity.

Although it was risky without any surplus food, they persisted in using military force. Within a year, Yanzhou gained Qingzhou, Youzhou and most of Bingzhou in addition to Jizhou.

If we talk about rewards based on merit, Xi Zhicai should be given a great credit.

The autumn harvest is abundant, and everyone feels at peace.

When they returned to the camp on the hillside, Diao Chan and Wen Ji had already prepared tea.

"Last year, Yanzhou and Jizhou combined produced nearly 3 million hu of grain. How much more can they produce this year?"

"About 3.2 million hu!"

“The growth was not as much as expected.”

“After a locust plague, it’s good to have growth.”

"There are wars going on in Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Huainan and other places. Let alone a good harvest, even food will be a problem next year."

"They are short of food, so we can use the food reserves to dig into their roots and attract more people to join us in Yanzhou."

"At first, those refugees felt that we had tricked them into farming, so they were unwilling to do so, and many of them wanted to escape. Now they won't leave even if we try to drive them away. After paying the grain tax, many of them still have a little surplus at home."

"..."

Zheng Xuan heard many Jizhou officials checking the farm work and talking with Yanzhou officials, and whispered to Yao Jing beside him:

"Jingzhi, you have been observing Yanzhou for some time. How do you feel about it?"

After Cao Cao came back, he sat next to Diao Chan and Wen Ji.

One of the two women blew tea for him, and the other read to him various news sent from various places.

Cao Cao used Yin as his backrest, looking quite comfortable.

...Yao Jing retracted his gaze and said:
"It was obvious that the governor of Yanzhou had planned this well by bringing these people from Jizhou.

When the officials of Jizhou saw the bumper harvest in Yanzhou, they were all jealous and their desire to follow him deepened. "

"He wanted to eliminate the backlash caused by the previous massacre of the samurai."

"Yanzhou, Yuzhou and other prefectures and counties have been governed very quickly. After three or four years, we can see the signs of progress. There is no doubt that the people there have the talent to govern the country."

Cui Yan on the other side said:
"But he was too cruel. He would eliminate anyone who stood in his way and did not serve his interests.

"The civilians and soldiers are stationed in the camps, which forces people to work for them all the time. Once you join Yanzhou, there is no way out."

“As for the military system he promoted, I have studied it carefully.

Every soldier in Yanzhou was counted and registered.

The families of some soldiers were gathered together to live after the troops went out to war. This was equivalent to using the soldiers' families as a threat. If anyone deserted or violated military orders, his entire family would be killed. Isn't that enough to be brave in battle?"

Yao Jing said: "You know one thing, but not the other."

"More than half of the soldiers under Yanzhou's command were originally selected refugees. Their bandit nature has not changed. Isn't it a good thing to impose some restrictions on them?

It is right to use severe punishments and clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments in times of chaos.

The rule of the world is to follow Confucianism, respect education, honor etiquette, and implement good policies, but it is not applicable to the present. "

"Jingzhi is right." Zheng Xuan said, "If we want to restore order to a chaotic world, we should make severe laws. Otherwise, it will take countless years to achieve the current situation."

Cui Yan was somewhat unconvinced.

Cao Cao almost wiped out the Cui family, and he was full of resentment.

But after seeing Cao Cao's methods, he dared not show them openly again.

Zheng Xuan strode towards Cao Cao who was drinking tea in the distance:

"Duke Wei, I see that there will be heavy rain in the next three days, or there will be flooding. We should make some preparations and warn the people."

Two days later, it was verified that Zheng Xuan's mouth had been blessed and the weather forecast was extremely accurate.

"Zheng Sinong lives up to his reputation."

After the rain stopped and the sky cleared, Cao Cao continued to travel around Yanzhou and Yuzhou to inspect the water conservancy projects.

In mid-September, the group returned to Yecheng.

At this time, there were signs in Jizhou that troops were being sent to Youzhou.

Youzhou is bitterly cold, and if the three Wuhuan counties cannot be conquered before winter, they will have to wait until the beginning of next spring before they can use their troops again.

What Cao Cao least wanted to waste was time.

After inspecting the farming, he found that there was an abundance of food supplies, so he immediately stood up and prepared to replace the front line, intensify the offensive, and strive to capture Wuhuan.

After a long period of warfare, soldiers will become tired of war.

It is necessary to rotate troops.

Many days ago, the Xianbei Tuohe Huan tribe went south to join the war. When they approached Wuhuan, they were blocked by Zhang Xiu's tribe, which was ordered by Cao Cao to go north to fight against foreign invaders.

The Tuohe Huan tribe had more than 6,000 soldiers and horses, and the two sides were equal in number.

The battle was brutal and the casualties were close to one third.

After the battle, the Tuohe Huan tribe was forced to retreat and gave up supporting the Wuhuan.

However, the Tuohe Huan tribe then joined forces with the neighboring Xianbei Naji tribe to retaliate against Cao's army.

Since the death of the Xianbei leader Tan Shihuai more than ten years ago, the area south of the desert from Yunzhong to the east has split into three Xianbei groups.

The first is the Budugen Group, which has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and occupies the grassland area to the north of Yunzhong and Yanmen.

The second is the Kebineng Group, which is distributed in the area north of Daijun and Shanggu, located in the middle of the grassland.

The third is the "Eastern Adult Alliance", which has several small groups under its jurisdiction and is scattered in western Liaoning and north of Youbeiping County.

Among them, the most powerful is the one under Ke Bineng, who is located in the center.

The one engaging in battle with Yanzhou at this time was the Eastern Alliance, which was located to the north of the three Wuhuan counties.

The Tuohe Huan tribe is one of its constituent tribes.

After being ambushed and injured, the troops were withdrawn. Upon hearing the news, all members of the Eastern Alliance were shocked and angry.

Their leader sent a letter to Cao Cao from afar, meaning that they, the eastern Xianbei, had already known that Cao Cao had just defeated Yuan Shao and became the lord of Jizhou.

However, the Xianbei were powerful and had often suppressed and attacked the Han people since the time of Tan Shihuai.

The leader of the tribe of the Eastern Alliance hoped that Cao Cao would not misjudge the situation, and asked Cao Cao to hand over the murderous generals to the Xianbei, and also send food, women, gold and silver.

Otherwise, the Eastern Alliance will send troops to cause Cao's army to shed blood.

"Has the leader of the Eastern Conference been kicked in the head by a donkey?"

Cao Cao returned to Yecheng, read the letter and laughed, "Wen Ruo's urine is yellow, which is the best in Yanzhou. Hurry up and wake him up."

Xun Yu covered his face with his sleeves and said in dissatisfaction: "How can a governor be so vulgar without the dignity of a governor?"

Cao Cao did not take it as an offense. He was just a person who occasionally acted unrestrained and said whatever he wanted.

Xun Yu had no choice.

"This was also due to the efforts of the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi. Yuan Shang lived up to our expectations and helped us find an opportunity to conquer Wuhuan before winter."

Cao Cao said, "Wenhe, you take charge of this matter. Take advantage of the situation and see if the Wuhuan will be fooled. Let's learn from Yuan Benchu."

"Okay!" Jia Xu accepted the order.

----

Bingzhou.

It is adjacent to the Yanmen Pass area, bordered by Qiang and Hu to the west and Xianbei to the north, and is located in a no-man's land.

Yuan Shang came here, summoned Yuan's former subordinates, resumed his old business, and inherited Yuan Kui's legacy.

He did two things.

The first was to write letters to some of Yuan’s old friends’ disciples and aristocratic families, hoping to contact them and form a hidden force.

Second, he wrote a letter to his brother Yuan Xi, asking him to persuade Tadun, the leader of the Wuhuan, to come up with the idea of ​​borrowing power from the Xianbei.

When he learned that his troops around Tuohe River were blocked by Zhang Xiu and returned with injuries.

Yuan Shang was overjoyed, feeling that his plan had paid off.

Since the Wuhuan are not strong enough to compete with Cao Cao, then let's drag the Xianbei into the game.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were as many as 170,000 Han people living together with the Wuhuan people in the three counties of Liaoxi, with a total of nearly 40,000 households. This is recorded in history books.

When he learned that the Xianbei troops coming to support him, the Tuohe Huan tribe, had been repelled, Tadun did something extremely brutal and unpopular under the relentless pressure of Cao's army.

He investigated the Han people living in the three Wuhuan counties and arrested hundreds of them on the grounds that some of them were collaborating with the enemy and were spies for the Han army.

Then, at the pass of the border town of Liaoxi County, these Han people were taken out and ordered to be beheaded to show their determination to fight to the death with the Han army.

He also strangled more than a hundred Han people and hung their bodies on the city walls.

When Cao Cao received the news, he was furious and ordered an all-out attack on Wuhuan before winter, with the killing of Tadun being the first to be rewarded.

Cao Cao conveyed several secret orders to Zhang Liao, the historical figure who defeated the Wuhuan, through the Xunzhu.

At the same time, relying on the connection with the secret armor beast, Cao Cao also knew that Ling Jin and others had entered Mozi's tomb again.

Ps: Please vote~
(End of this chapter)