Chapter 37: Cao Gong's Style [Seeking Follow-up Reading]

The afternoon sun shines in from the window.

Yu Qing lay on the couch, feeling frightened and worried in the palace. She only felt somewhat relaxed after leaving the palace.

After months of fear and not getting any sleep last night, I slept soundly at this moment.

She let her hair down, letting her shiny black hair hang on the pillow. She crossed her legs and her bare feet peeked out from under her skirt. They were so white and tender that they could be held in one hand.

The sunlight filtered through the window lattice and fell on her face, appearing very soft, and her eyelashes were thick and straight.

Yin, who came closer, interrupted Cao Cao's attention.

The young tiger happily came up to him and rubbed Cao Cao's leg with its head.

Cao Cao took it and walked out. The slight sound of opening and closing the door made Yu Qing turn over and continue sleeping.

After going out to feed the tiger, Cao Cao came to the study and looked at the plug-in terms.

The number of young and strong militiamen recruited by the family is increasing at an alarming rate.

There were more than 300 people yesterday, but now there are over 700 and the number is still increasing rapidly.

----

Qiao County.

Upon learning that someone was giving out porridge, he opened a porridge stall outside the city gate, and refugees from nearby areas flocked to the stall.

The crowd in front of the porridge stall was so large that you couldn't see the end of the line, and more and more people were gathering.

In the last years of the dynasty, natural disasters and man-made disasters made life miserable for ordinary people.

Four years ago, in the first year of Zhongping, the court was in turmoil, with eunuchs and relatives fighting for power. Outside, the Yellow Turban Army rose up. Natural disasters occurred one after another in various places. First, there was a plague of astonishing scale, hail in April, and in July, floods and locusts raged.

I'm in Luoyang and the situation is better.

Once they left Luoyang, there were countless bodies of people starving to death or drowning in the flooded river.

There are always people saying that there are ghosts passing through the Yellow River because during years of famine, countless corpses float on the river.

This is the saying that has been passed down from that time.

Cao Cao later wrote in his poem Song of the Grassland, there are two lines: Bones are exposed in the wild, no roosters crow for a thousand miles. If only one out of a hundred people survives, the thought of it breaks one's heart.

When disasters struck various places, Liu Bei took advantage of the situation, saw the opportunity, gathered refugees and local militia, and recruited the Yellow Turban Army, and his followers gathered in large numbers.

The whole world was in chaos, and in the following years, natural disasters and man-made disasters became more and more serious.

Rumor has it that the dynasty is doomed and is about to be turned upside down.

There were countless refugees everywhere. They dug wild vegetables everywhere and cooked some porridge and rice with tree bark to fill their stomachs.

Some refugees were so hungry that they ate dirt and dead bodies.

Cao Song distributed porridge in Qiao County. Refugees from surrounding counties all heard the news and came, using up their last bit of strength to fight for this mouthful of porridge.

Someone came to the porridge shed, his body was swollen, but his eyes were shining with the green light of a hungry wolf.

If the Cao family wasn’t so powerful, the guards maintaining order near the porridge stall would be as fierce as wolves and tigers.

Someone will rush up to grab it, causing a tragedy.

When Cao Song went to the scene, he found that his previous concerns were somewhat unnecessary.

Gathering refugees to give out porridge, no one would bother to do anything even if he didn't say hello, let alone the fact that he had been there before, because there were so many refugees.

It's impossible to manage it.

If someone gave out porridge, officials from surrounding counties would only feel fortunate and lead away a group of refugees.

In just a few days, the number of people who gathered was so great that even Cao Song was frightened.

Selecting young and strong people from among them and having them join the Cao family will undoubtedly give these refugees a chance to survive.

Not to mention asking for money, as long as you provide a meal a day, people will work hard for you.

The old, sick, hungry and weak were not favored by the Cao family. They often knelt beside the porridge shed with their entire families, just to beg for a way to survive.

Among these people, the young ones, after eating a few full meals and adjusting for some time, their bodies will slowly recover and they will become excellent soldiers.

Because they have been hungry, these people dare to fight with anyone to protect what they have as long as they are given food.

Of course, there are also many people who harbor evil intentions.

However, with the power of the Cao family, anyone who dares to cause trouble would be seeking death.

My son is right, if we show a little kindness, we can gather a large number of people in a short period of time.

Cao Song looked at the records handed to him.

He opened thirteen soup kitchens in total.

In less than two days, the number of young and strong people who passed the screening exceeded one thousand.

Cao Song had experienced the intrigues in the court and tried to be prudent in everything he did.

He calculated and felt that recruiting 3,000 people and dispersing them among the various families would not cause any problems and would not be too conspicuous.

But if there are more people, we can’t recruit them by giving out porridge; we have to do it secretly.

Cao Song stood on the county wall with his hands behind his back, looking at the refugees living near the porridge stalls outside the city.

Some people even crawled over.

Only at this moment did he feel more clearly what Cao Cao meant in the letter he wrote to him, which said that if you give the refugees a place to recuperate and engage in production, they will be willing to give their lives to you.

In his letter, Cao Cao used a word called "public cohesion".

Cao Song also understood now.

A place to recuperate... My son is very scheming, Cao Song looked to the north.

Cao Cao asked him to carry out initial development with Qiao County as the center, but to extend northward in the future.

In Luoyang, Cao Cao was surprised by the speed of recruiting refugees through the soaring entry prompts.

The numbers on the entries keep rising.

By the evening of that day, the number of people recruited by Cao in Qiao County exceeded 1,200.

In other words, those recruited are all young and strong.

If all age groups are taken into account, there are at least 30,000 to 40,000 refugees in Qiao County alone.

A large county at the end of the Han Dynasty had only a few tens of thousands of people.

Judging from the speed at which refugees are recruited, one can tell the extent of the turmoil in the world.

In some places, there was not a single wild grass to be found for dozens of miles; they had all been dug up and eaten by people.

There is no farming on the land and there are refugees everywhere, which is a vicious cycle.

The number of people who die every day is simply unimaginable in times of peace and prosperity.

"The world is rotten to the core, just like a dry season with no rain for the whole year. A little spark can turn into a fire and burn the whole world."

Cao Cao turned his head and looked out the window.

Since the beginning of summer this year, God has been relatively kind and there has been no severe drought or floods, otherwise it would have been much worse.

During these days, perhaps influenced by history, half of his attention was spent on dealing with Dong Zhuo.

At this moment, a thought suddenly became clear.

After traveling through time, the most important thing he should do is to put an end to this chaotic world as soon as possible and let the Central Plains return to stability, integrity and strength.

This is the big goal and the big premise.

If there is a wise ruler, Cao Cao is willing to be a capable minister in a peaceful era. If not, he would be a hero in troubled times. Born to be the overlord, he would take on the responsibility.

The Han Dynasty has become so rotten, and people keep talking about restoring the Han Dynasty. What a bullshit.

From another perspective, the entire world belongs to the Han people, and whoever wins the world is restoring the Han Dynasty.

Does one have to have the surname Liu to be considered the orthodox Han Dynasty?

Cao Cao's eyes were bright.

There was another palace coup last night. In the morning, the empress dowager was restless and the young emperor Liu Bian looked pale. He summoned Cao Cao, Lu Zhi and others, worried that Dong Zhuo would be able to break through the defenses of the inner palace sooner or later, and then everything would be over.

Cao Cao and Lu Zhi knew very well that the Queen Mother and the Emperor were planning to flee Luoyang.

But where can we run to in this world?

Cao Cao sat by the window for a long time, without moving.

Concubine Yu slept until evening.

She woke up as the sun set, still bleary-eyed and languid.

She didn't know Cao Cao had returned yet, so she stood up from the couch, stretched, put her fair feet into her silk shoes, tiptoed to the door, and planned to see what was going on outside.

The door suddenly opened.

Cao Cao heard the noise in the study and stood at the door.

"You're back. How's things going in the palace?" Concubine Yu blinked her charming eyes and opened her lips slightly.

"Dong Zhuo attacked the palace last night. The situation in the palace is chaotic and no one has paid attention to your whereabouts. Even if they found you, they would think that Dong Zhuo's soldiers kidnapped you. Dong Zhuo has taken the blame for this and he can't get it off his shoulders," said Cao Cao.

Yu Qing let out a long sigh, feeling quite happy to be free from the constraints of the palace.

"Thank you for saving me."

Yu Qing said in a low voice, a little embarrassed, "I'm hungry. Do you have osmanthus steamed cakes?"

"Eat when you wake up, and go back to sleep when you are full?"

Cao Cao joked, "There are no sweet-scented osmanthus steamed cakes here, but there are plenty of soup cakes."

Concubine Yu touched her flat belly and said, "Soup noodles are also fine."

Cao Cao turned around and went back to the study: "You can walk around the inner courtyard as you like, but don't leave the house."

Yu Qing followed behind in small steps.

She has a mind that is different from that of ordinary people, and she walks with unparalleled grace.

"General Cao, when will you take me home?" Yu Qing followed him to the study.

Cao Cao ignored her, sat down behind a low mat, and buried himself in his own affairs.

After a while, the cook brought food.

Yu Qing sat down at another low mat and started eating.

She was well-educated, she ate in small bites, without showing her teeth, and was very quiet. In the end, she even drank the soup, squinting her eyes in satisfaction: "This soup noodle is really delicious, the soup is so fresh."

“Of course it’s delicious to cook noodles with the stewed broth.”

Cao Cao put down his pen and looked up at Yu Qing.

This woman is different from Diao Chan who is as stunningly beautiful as a country. She has a charming face and an enchanting figure. She is already captivating without even noticing, like a ripe fruit.

"It's a good opportunity to talk about you."

Cao Cao looked at Concubine Yu and said, "Follow me and be my concubine."

If the woman he likes tries to beat around the bush and say too much nonsense, he is not Cao Cao.

Life is short, live it to your heart's content.

Yu Qing was holding the bowl and taking a sip of soup. Hearing this, she almost dropped the bowl. "What?"

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(End of this chapter)