Chapter 241 Two Letters
Liu Feng originally came to sweep Yingchuan, just to rob the population and try his best to suppress Cao Cao's future war potential and resilience.
But now it seems that the Yellow Turban thieves in Yingchuan are really rich. At least in terms of food, they are all rich people.
No wonder Cao Cao, who was originally crazy about poverty, not only raised tens of thousands of troops after sweeping Yingchuan, but also organized hundreds of thousands of people to work in the fields.
Liu Feng had never figured out where the other party's food came from. You must know that Yanzhou had been destroyed at that time, and there was a severe drought. The food produced could feed the local population of Yanzhou. And the army is already thankful.
Where else can we squeeze out so much food to help Yingchuan farm?
Liu Feng had already established farming in Xuzhou. He had only organized 5,000 households and killed 20,000 to 30,000 people. He had already emptied the Mi family and Qu County of their remaining grain.
But at that time, the scale of Cao Cao's farming in Yingchuan must have been at least four to five hundred thousand people. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to harvest millions of dendrobium grains that year.
Dendrobium is a small stone, almost three dendrobium equals two stones.
One million hu of dendrobium is equivalent to 700,000 shi of food. Even if Cao Cao’s army exploited the fields more ruthlessly than Xuzhou’s, the upper limit is there. Even if you take it all away, you still have to keep it. Rations and seeds for next year.
It can be seen that Cao Cao still has to provide at least rations and grain for 300,000 people. Isn’t this equivalent to the grain reserves of a dozen Mi families?
Cao Cao was very poor at that time and relied on Yuan Shao for food, so he could only loot in Yingchuan.
Liu Feng got it right. Although he didn't expect this, he just made a fortune by poaching Cao Cao.
The statistics in the silk book are very clear. The warehouses in Yangzhai City alone have accumulated a total of 630,000 shi of grain. There are also hundreds of thousands of acres of high-quality irrigated land outside the city, which are carefully cultivated. The fields are ripe.
Not all of these grains are stored grains. Nearly half of them are the rations of more than 10,000 Yellow Turban troops and war horses for the next nearly one year. The remaining 330,000 shi are the stored grains accumulated in the past two years. .
Don't underestimate the more than 300,000 shi of grain. This can directly save Liu Feng an additional 100,000 shi of grain.
With these more than 300,000 shi of grain, Liu Feng could directly eliminate the need for the rear to transport grain to the Central Route Army and the East Route Army.
The more than 300,000 shi of grain alone is enough to feed the 15,000 men of the Eastern Route Army and the Central Route Army, plus the 10,000 Yellow Turban troops who surrendered for the first half of the year.
Not to mention that in the event of an emergency, Liu Feng could easily collect hundreds of thousands more shi of grain from the yellow scarf women, children and people in Yangzhai City.
After all, these people’s rations and grains are stored in their own homes.
This is the case in Yangzhai, but is it also the case in Yingyang, Yingyin, and even Xu County?
If this is the case, Liu Feng is really reluctant to hand over Yingchuan to Cao Cao. These fields are all good irrigated land.
In addition to food, there are many good things in the city, including more than three thousand knives, spears, swords, and halberds each, one thousand three hundred shields, forty-four sets of iron armor, and five thousand four leather armors. There are more than a hundred sets, 329 war horses, more than 400 bows, 60 crossbows, and more than 17,000 feathered arrows. There are more than a thousand cattle, horses, donkeys, and mules, more than 300 pigs and sheep, more than a thousand chickens and ducks, more than 800 jars of wine, more than 4,000 pieces of cloth of various colors, more than 400 jins of gold, and more than 700 jins of silver, of various colors. Five baht, more than 11.6 million.
Liu Feng can be said to have gained a lot of weight again. The things in the front are okay, but the gold, silver and five baht in the back are obviously all the gold, silver and five bahts that were robbed by this wave of Yellow Turbans, and in the end they all became cheaper for Liu Feng.
The reason why there is so much gold and silver left in the treasury is the same as food.
The Yellow Turban Army could not find a channel for large-scale transactions, so they could only pile up their goods in warehouses.
After checking the warehouse, Liu Feng summoned Jia Kui and others.
"Liang Dao, I will take away five thousand people from the Yellow Turbans, and Yangzhai City will be entrusted to you."
The grain stored in Yangzhai City at this time is Dong, The supplies for the two armies in China and the defense of Yangzhai can be said to be a trustworthy support. Although you may not be able to gain anything by staying in Yangzhai City, your military achievements cannot be wasted no matter what, and they must be high-ranking achievements.
Jia Kui deeply felt Liu Feng's regard for him, and he was both excited and happy: "Please rest assured, my lord, if Yang Zhai makes any mistake, Kui will die to forgive his sin."
At this time, Liu Feng had not only served in the Yuan Dynasty, but also had the official general title of General Jianzhong, which was officially awarded by the center of the imperial court for his merit.
Except for Pan Zhang, who still calls himself "young master" to claim that he traces Liu Feng's origins, other ministers who directly belong to Liu Feng have begun to change their names to "lord master".
"Liang Dao's words are serious."
Liu Feng pretended to be displeased, took Jia Kui's hand and said: "Liang Dao is a bold and cautious person, and I know all this. If something goes wrong in Yangzhai, it will definitely be beyond the reach of manpower. If nothing happens, then let it go. If there is something, Liang Dao can guard it. If it cannot be guarded, come and join me quickly. Although Yangzhai is heavy, it is not as good as Liang Dazai. It's the most important thing in my heart."
When Jia Kui heard this, his eyes were red and he wished he could die for Liu Feng on the spot.
What Liu Feng said was true to his heart. Yangzhai is indeed important. There is a large amount of materials stored here, as well as vital food.
But if compared with Jia Kui, Liu Feng would obviously choose the latter.
Furthermore, the terrain of Yingchuan is open and there are plains everywhere. Even if Yangzhai is lost, Liu Feng is 99% sure to retreat calmly without annihilating the entire army just by relying on the food stored in the army.
After arranging the affairs of Yangzhai, Liu Feng was not in a hurry to go out, but continued to contact several other armies.
Soon, some good news came through.
The first good news is that Guan Yu's West Route Army has successfully captured Xu County.
Guan Yu followed Liu Ye's plan, divided his troops in Yanling, sent a partial division to pretend to be the main force, and attacked Xinji County. Then the main force left Yanling at night, crossed the Wei River at dawn, and then marched for two days straight to the foot of Xu County. .
The Yellow Turban Army in Xu County was caught off guard and the whole city was in chaos.
Then the Xuzhou Army launched a fierce attack, and the Yellow Turban Army could not resist it, so they had to abandon the city from the west gate and fled to Yingyin.
At this point, Guan Yu's Eastern Route Army successfully captured Xu County, Yanling, Changshe and Xinji, completely closing the eastern gate.
The second good news came from Taishi Ci's Eastern Route Army.
Talk carefully, there is more than just one piece of good news coming from Taishi Cidong Route Army.
First of all, the eight thousand Xuzhou reinforcements led by Xiahou Bo and Zhuo Ying have successfully captured Linying.
Although there is far less than what was gained in Yangzhai in this city, there are actually seven or eight thousand shi of food. Coupled with the military food that Xiahou Bo and the others brought with the army, it is enough for Xiahou Bo and his troops to eat for a month. .
Secondly, Li Zan actually agreed to Zhuge Jin's invitation and planned to take his son to Xuzhou to meet friends, and could only leave after the war was over.
Finally, after Taishi Ci of the Eastern Route Army learned of Liu Feng's plan, he decisively sent a thousand cavalry from Xu Huang's command to meet Jia Bin's command.
Xiangcheng is similar to Linying. Thousands of Yellow Turban troops are stationed in it, and there are thousands of stones of grain. There will definitely be a need to continue to transport grain in the future.
In this case, it is better to join Liu Feng's troops as soon as possible and obtain food directly from Yangdi.
After reading it, Liu Feng was overjoyed.
After a brief discussion with Zhuge Liang and Jia Kui, he immediately ordered Taishi Ci to settle down in Xiangcheng before sending troops to Yingyang and joining Liu Feng's troops at Yingyang City.
Liu Feng's side swept the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan, but the atmosphere in Yecheng, Hebei was very bad.
Early in the morning, Jushou, Tian Feng, Xun Chen, Xin Ping, Shen Pei, Xin Pi, Xu You, Feng Ji and others were summoned by Yuan Shao, saying that they had important matters to discuss with them.
Jushou met Shen Pei at the gate of the state capital and came forward to bow: "Zhengnan, do you know why Duke Ming is so anxious and summoned us?"
The Shen family is in the county. They are a wealthy family. Although they are not considered to be the top noble family, the problem is that the Shen family is not only a genuine noble family, but also the most powerful in the county. They own a large area of land in Wei County and control a huge population.
The Shen family alone has thousands of direct descendants, and thousands more can be drawn from among the tenants at any time.
So much so that the Book of the Later Han Dynasty specially recorded one thing - with a dictatorship in power, the clan will be strong and the army will be strong.
The Shenjia tribe is not just an ordinary tribe. It is well-equipped and is especially good at bows and crossbows. It once defeated Cao's army in Guandu with bows and crossbows.
Even Yuan Shao, the Lord of Hebei, is afraid of this power.
Shen Pei is a strong man with a loyal and generous character.
This kind of person will recognize you and will be willing to sacrifice his life for you. If he doesn’t recognize you, it will be useless even if you are a licking dog.
After seeing Jushou, Shen Pei returned the salute calmly, and then answered directly without covering up: "It should be about Ximian."
"Ximian..."
Jushou woke up immediately and realized that something happened in Luoyang. He was shocked and asked quickly: "What happened?"
The judge's face was as dark as water and he continued to answer: "There is no news. , That’s why Mr. Ming was so anxious.”
How smart Ju Shou was, he understood this immediately.
Now that the Emperor has returned to Luoyang and King Qin has succeeded, isn't it time to divide the fruits?
There is no news at this time, doesn’t it mean that you don’t get any credit?
But Jushou still felt that something was wrong: "What Zhengnan said is indeed reasonable, but Keshou felt that there should be other things." Shen Pei nodded, but there was still no expression on his face: "Why should I pursue you so hard? , after entering the mansion, you will naturally know."
Hearing this, Jushou smiled and nodded: "It's true what Zhengnan said, but I was too entangled."
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Then, Jushou waved his hand and made an invitation gesture, asking Shen Pei to go first and enter the mansion together.
At this time, most of the county ministers have arrived, each sitting in their seats, whispering and speculating on what happened.
Jushou and Shenpei took their respective positions, with Jushou having the highest status and occupying the chief position on the right.
In the Han Dynasty, the right was respected, but it was not absolute.
For example, this time, the chief on the right is usually the leader of the ministers.
But the rank of General Zuo is higher than that of General Right, and even Zuo Cheng in some areas is higher than Right Cheng.
This situation occurs because of the impact of the military group.
The military power group inherited the Qin system and respected the left, which was different from the right in the Han Dynasty.
But after Han Wu, the Han Dynasty attacked in all directions and fought countless large-scale wars. It created a group of new military nobles based on the Qin system, and then brought about Zuo Zun's style.
But in order to safeguard their own orthodoxy and interests, the wealthy noble families in the Han Dynasty continued to respect the right, which resulted in this contradictory situation.
But generally speaking, because the wealthy gentry had the right to speak, under their influence, the semantic orientation at that time still followed the "ancient system" and continued to tend to "advocate the right."
This influence was extremely far-reaching. Even in the Sui and Tang Dynasties when the official government respected the left, "moving to the left" still meant being demoted, and its influence is evident.
Similarly, from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, what the left and right were respected depended on the preference of the emperor. Just like Wei and Ji Han, both respected the left, but Soochow respected the right.
Half an hour later, Yuan Shao came out of the back hall with a calm expression and two silk books in his hands.
He walked to the main seat and sat down, and all the officials paid homage at the same time.
"Gentlemen, please rise."
Yuan Shao waved his robe and put the silk book in his hand on the table.
The ministers finished the ceremony, but Yuan Shao did not speak. The ministers below could not help but look at each other in confusion.
Yuan Shao didn’t stop him, he just sat there and watched.
Until Tian Feng stepped forward and asked, "Ming Gong, I don't know why you called us here."
Hearing Tian Feng's question, the hall became quiet again, and everyone's eyes focused on Yuan Shao.
Actually, Yuan Shao was the most embarrassed at this time, but he couldn't say it.
Because the facts have proven how disgusting the consequences of not participating in King Qin are.
After Tian Feng asked, Yuan Shao could no longer remain silent.
He pretended to be profound and said: "In the past, the imperial court rewarded the generals who followed the emperor and returned eastward. Do you all know about this?"
As soon as Yuan Shao said these words, the hall became even quieter, almost audible.
Everyone on the field is smart, but they don’t know that Yuan Shao has nothing to gain.
Cao Cao won the first prize, was awarded the title of general, and had an overview of the government.
Liu Bei won the second prize and lizi, and was awarded the title of General of Hussars. He also specially added a big character. At the same time, he was ordered to command the three states of Southeast Henan, Xu, and Yang. It can be said that he got the greatest practical benefit.
Even Xiliang generals like Yang Feng, who was a Baibo thief, became generals of chariots and cavalry.
Under Yuan Shao's military front, Zhang Yang of Hanoi, who was trembling and standing alone, also got the title of General Wei, who was ranked higher than San Gong.
I heard that the ministers will be rewarded and a number of famous nobles will be awarded next, guaranteed to be all princes.
But Yuan Shao had nothing to gain, not even a reward.
When the news first came out a few days ago, several servants were beaten to death in the state capital and were dragged out of the city and buried in a mass burial.
It can be seen that Yuan Shao was furious about this matter, and he was also very embarrassed. He could only vent his anger on the servants in the mansion, and could not even discuss it with his ministers.
Not to mention the Hebei faction who insisted on welcoming the emperor, such as Ju Shu, Tian Feng and Shen Pei, Guo Tu was the leader of the faction who refused to welcome the emperor. Yuan Shao was equally embarrassed to see him.
After all, it was Guo Tu who first proposed to welcome the emperor in front of Yuan Shao.
Later, after learning that Yuan Shao was afraid of being hostile to Emperor Xian and worried that Emperor Xian would collude with Hebei scholars to distract him, Guo Tu immediately changed his family. With a gorgeous turn, he became the leader of the faction that refused to welcome the emperor, which made Yuan Shao even more embarrassed. He came up with a theoretical basis: "The Han dynasty has been late for a long time. It is not difficult to revitalize it now! Moreover, today's heroes occupy the states and counties, and they are making thousands of plans. It is said that if Qin loses its deer, the one who gets it first will be king. . If you welcome the emperor to be close to you and show off at every turn, your authority will be ignored, and if you disobey it, you will reject your orders. This is not a good plan."
Especially in this last paragraph, the person who welcomes the emperor will be ignored. The shortcomings are very clearly stated, which fully reflects Guo Tumei's strength in seeking a career.
In history, Cao Cao was so tortured by this passage that he even hid in Yecheng, Hebei Province in the later period. If it weren't for Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty's incompetent tactics, it would be possible for Cao Cao to make wedding clothes for Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.
Guo Tu had worked so hard, so how could Yuan Shao have the nerve to angrily accuse Guo Tu of his miscalculation?
Yuan Shao also wanted to lose face, and he was worried about hurting the heart of his loyal minister Guo Gongze.
Therefore, the news of the emperor's conferring of feudal lords has already spread throughout Yecheng, but neither Yuan Shao nor his subordinates from the Henan and Hebei factions seem to have noticed this. Everyone is pretending have no idea.
I didn’t expect that Yuan Shao actually took the initiative to mention this matter, and even called everyone in with great fanfare. Could it be that there was an accident?
Has the emperor’s favor arrived for Duke Ming?
Jushou and Tian Feng looked at each other, but they obviously didn't look alike.
"Gentlemen, I have received two letters, one from Yanzhou and one from Xuzhou. They happen to say the same thing."
Yuan Shao said this , a joking smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "There is a treacherous minister in the court."
Everyone looked at Yuan Shao in surprise. The wise men such as Jushou, Xunchen, Xin Ping and others had quietly furrowed their brows.
Yuan Shao continued: "Meng De wrote a letter saying that he reported to the court that he wanted to worship me as the Grand Sima, and take charge of the affairs of the four prefectures of Hebei, Hebei, You, Bing, and Qing. However, Xuande blocked it, and the emperor chose to ignore it. Liu Feng, the son of Xin Xuande, refused. ”
When everyone heard this, they were immediately in an uproar.
Only Jushou, Tian Feng, Shenpei, Xunchen, and Xin Ping remained unchanged.
Yuan Shao glanced at the people in the hall and paused for a moment on the five people above him. Then he picked up another silk book and said to himself: "Xuande also happened to write a letter, saying that he had reported to the court and highly recommended it. I am the Grand Sima, and I am responsible for the affairs of Ji, You, Bing, and Qing prefectures in Hebei Province, but Meng De blocks me. The emperor prefers Meng De and is afraid of his Yanzhou army, so he refuses to do so. "
This time. Son, the whole audience is in a state of shock.
Even the expressions of Jushou and others changed a little.
Cao Mengde and Liu Xuande are really a pair of wonderful people.
In fact, Ru Jushou and others had some vague guesses in their minds, fearing that both of them were lying.
The only one who really made great efforts to prevent Ming Gong from ascending to the throne is the Emperor.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei were just following the wind and taking the opportunity to frame each other, hoping to make Yuan Shao an enemy.
"Everyone, you are confused after reading these two books."
Yuan Shao had a slight smile on his face, and seemed to be in a good mood. He threw the two volumes of silk books on the desk in front of him, and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, who is betraying me among these two people? In Qiaoyan Lie to me, can you tell me the truth?"
In fact, Yuan Shao looked relaxed, but he was full of anger.
The delay in receiving the emperor's favor edict was enough to make him lose face.
In the end, Cao Cao and Liu Bei actually did it again. Both of them framed each other in front of themselves.
(End of this chapter)