So after Kong Rong left, Cao Cao said to Guo Jia and Xun He in his novel: "Now in the entire Qingxu land, the only people who can get food are the strong men in Xuzhou! Since the death of the late emperor, Xuzhou has not suffered from military disasters for 3-4 years.
It had been 4-5 years since Tao Qian went to Xuzhou to cultivate land. The cultivated land helped Tao Qian accumulate a large amount of grain. However, due to the war in the Central Plains, the money and grain were not turned over to the national treasury. Now this grain is not in the treasury of Xuzhou. It must be in the treasury.
In the hands of local nobles!"
Guo Jia excitedly put his hand to his throat and said: "My lord means to kill Xuzhou's wealthy nobles like pigs!"
Guo Jia had seen too many noble nobles being killed by Lei Gong in the land of Hebei, and now he no longer cared about such things. What he really cared about was whether this kind of behavior could strengthen Cao Cao's power!
But Xun You said anxiously: "You must not do it. All the noble families in the world are united and marry each other. If the lord does such a thing, he will definitely offend the entire Han family. I am afraid that the noble families in Qingzhou will also oppose the lord.
When the time comes, I’m afraid there won’t be any room for my lord in the world!”
Xun or this is really not unfounded. Historically, Cao Cao killed the famous scholar Bian Rang and caused the entire Yanzhou to rebel. This group of people would rather accept a warrior like Lu Bu than a butcher like Cao Cao.
Historically, the noble families in Qingzhou had a deeper connection with Cao Cao. If they rebelled, Cao Cao would really have to flee.
Guo Jiaman said nonchalantly: "Why is there no place to stay? The worst is to seek refuge with Thunder Lord!"
Xun You said angrily to Guo Jia: "Do you want to help the lord or harm the lord? If you really like to kill the gentry, why didn't you join Lei Gong in Hebei?"
Guo Jia was angrily scolded by Xun He, and only then did he wake up from his excitement. After calming down for a long time, he said: "I lost my temper just now, but my lord's idea is not wrong. Now we only have half of Xuzhou on our territory."
The wealthy noble families have food. If we don't take this food out of their hands, will the people of Qingzhou starve to death? Or else we will watch them flee to Hebei and continue to strengthen Lei Gong. With these refugees here, it can indeed be done.
To prevent Thunder Lord from attacking the Central Plains, but all the people in the Central Plains have fled, can we resist Thunder Lord by leaving an empty Central Plains?"
Seeing that the two of them were about to fall out, Cao Cao immediately comforted him and said, "Feng Xiao's thinking is too extreme. We are not Thunder Lords, so how could we do such things as confiscating our homes? But now the only people who can save Qingzhou are the powerful nobles of Xuzhou.
We have to find a way to get them to use this food to help the victims in Qingzhou! We will leave it to Wen Ruo to borrow food from Xuzhou!"
Xun You said helplessly: "I'm afraid it will be difficult!"
Cao Cao said: "Nothing is difficult in the world. As long as we tell them about the situation in Qingzhou, they will definitely borrow it as long as they are loyal men!"
But Cao Cao said with a serious face: "But if they don't borrow it, it means that they don't care whether Qingzhou will be captured by Lei Gong, nor do they care whether the Han Dynasty's country exists. Such unfaithful and unfilial people, I, the Han Dynasty, will leave behind
use!"
Obviously Cao Cao meant that if you are not good at writing, you will have to use martial arts!
Xun You could only do this task in a difficult way. He hoped that the noble families in Xuzhou would be wiser and lend out grain to help Qingzhou tide over the difficulties!
Guo Jia looked at Xun He who was leaving and said thoughtfully: "If Wen Ruo goes here, he will definitely gain nothing. The nobles in Xuzhou have not faced Lei Gong. Hebei is thousands of miles away from Xuzhou. The nobles in Xuzhou don't understand the power of Lei Gong at all."
, and people who know it also feel that Lei Gong is still far away from them. It is impossible for them to use their own food to relieve Qingzhou. Selling high and selling low is what they like to do. I am afraid that many of them want to take advantage of it.
Make a fortune from this drought!"
Cao Cao sneered and said: "The nobles in Xuzhou have no military force, but they have piles of food and money. And we and Benchu have exhausted all their wealth to deal with Lei Gong. Wen Ruo is right, the nobles are united in the local area.
Even the prestige and power of the late emperor could not help the party members, let alone me, Cao Cao! But there is one difference. Now the noble families in the Central Plains have exhausted their family property to deal with Lei Gong, but there are only a few people.
But he was unwilling to join in, and he was even unwilling to help when everyone was suffering from drought. Fengxiao thought that everyone would still regard Xuzhou's noble families as one of their own!"
After hearing this, Guo Jia smiled and said: "Yes, now the clans in the Central Plains have become generals. Everyone is practicing martial arts and training to fight against Lei Gong, but the clans in Xuzhou are unwilling to do such a thing. They really cannot be regarded as one of their own.
Got it!"
Guo Jia thought for a moment and said: "My lord cannot do this alone. We have to find a way to arouse the resentment of the entire Qingzhou gentry against the Xuzhou people. As long as they join in, they will not feel sad about the death of a rabbit but a fox. Instead, we will make the leader among the lord a
Rise up and devour the property of Xuzhou’s powerful families!”
Mergers between clans and powerful men are also very common among the Han Dynasty, and this kind of thing will not cause them any grief.
Cao Cao nodded and said: "This matter can only be accomplished if Kong Rong and others nod! We want money and food, and the land can be distributed to the people of Xuzhou, so that we can gain people's support in Xuzhou, and the extra official positions can be given to Kong Rong and his disciples
The old officials will take over! I think they won’t have much objection to Kong Rong coming.”
Cao Cao's plan to divide the pie meant that all forces in Qingzhou benefited. Only the wealthy nobles in Xuzhou were harmed. However, as defeated people, it was normal for them to be divided up!
Guo Jia thought about it and helped Cao Cao fill the loopholes in this plan and said: "My lord, we also need to prevent the powerful nobles in Xuzhou from jumping over the wall. They are not our opponents, but if Xuzhou is handed over to Yuan Shao or the imperial court, we will be in trouble! Subordinates
I thought that the powerful nobles who wanted to carve up Xuzhou could not do this to us. Sili and the Central Plains were the areas most severely affected by the drought, and Yuan Shao used the three states to raise 300,000 troops. Now he is afraid that his life will be even more difficult than ours.
Now Yuan Shao is also looking for food everywhere, and with the goal of being a powerful person in Xuzhou, Yuan Shao will definitely be tempted!"
Cao Cao smiled and said: "Please send Xiao as an envoy to Luoyang to convince Ben Chu! Cao Cao stayed in Qingzhou to persuade Kong Rong and others!"
So Cao Cao sent Guo Jia to persuade Yuan Shao, and he himself convened all the Qingzhou clan heads to discuss how to deal with this drought!
Kong Rong helped Cao Cao with a miracle. Since the last time he discussed matters with Cao Cao, he found that the wealthy nobles in Xuzhou were more than ten times better off than they were. While they were doing their best to fight the drought, Xuzhou was like this.
It’s a place that was least affected by the disaster, so there’s nothing more to say about it. This matter is left to God to take care of!
But they were about to exhaust their wealth in order to deal with Lei Gong, and even their own children had to go to the battlefield to fight against Lei Gong. However, Xuzhou's wealthy nobles did not show any sign of it, and even wanted to take advantage of this drought to make a fortune.
It's unbearable, especially since they have become poor now, but the noble families in Xuzhou are still rich and wealthy, as if they were living in the reign of the late emperor. This makes Kong Rong and others unbearably envious, jealous, and hateful!
Why did he become a great scholar and become a vulgar warrior, but the wealthy nobles in Xuzhou could still talk about mysteries and live such a carefree life, but they had to do their best to survive under the pressure of Lei Gong!
So when all the heads of the clans gathered together, Kong Rong was the first to say: "At this moment when the Han Dynasty is in danger, our loyal men are practicing martial arts to protect their families and the country. The clans in Xuzhou have no ability to protect their families and the country."
I have no intention of dealing with Lei Gong, and even this time there is a once-in-a-hundred-year drought in Qingzhou, I am not willing to support us. I, the Han Dynasty, have raised these unfaithful and unfilial people for hundreds of years. Rong proposed that the clans in Xuzhou should be expelled. I, the Han Dynasty Taxi,
membership!"
Cui Yan followed up and said loudly: "The Xuzhou nobles are our defeated generals. How can the defeated soldiers in the world live better than us victors! It's Mengde who is so kind that the nobles and nobles in Xuzhou don't know their position.
, this time there is a severe drought in Qingzhou and they are not willing to pay for food, then we will use force to put them in their place!"
Cao Cao summoned them. Cui Yan heard Kong Rong's words and quickly figured out why?
Now the severe drought in Qingzhou has made it impossible for the Prefectural Mufu to survive. Cao Cao wanted to slaughter a pig to tide over the crisis. However, the merchant class of the Han Dynasty had been slaughtered once by Dong Zhuo and their vitality had not yet recovered. Mudlegs had no money or food at all. In addition, they still had
We need mud-legged people to defend Qingzhou, so naturally we can't conquer them now.
Now the only people with money and food are the wealthy nobles like them, and now Cao Cao is obviously targeting the richer but weaker Xuzhou nobles!
Cui Yan will of course follow Kong Rong's words and point the finger at Xuzhou's powerful gentry!
The heads of the clans present were all foxes for thousands of years. From Kong Rong and Cui Yan, they naturally understood that Cao Cao was eyeing the money and food of Xuzhou clans, and their eyes lit up. These clans were not having a good life, and Lei Gong was weighing down on them like a big mountain.
of the head.
Not only can they not exploit the mud-legged people in Qingzhou now, but they have to rely on them to resist the Thunder God, buy their hearts and minds by giving them clothes and food, and even spend a huge price to build expensive iron armor for these soldiers. It can be said that Cao Cao
The army is supported by the entire Qingzhou clan. Although they have accumulated savings, supporting an army of hundreds of thousands, which is more elite than the northern and southern armies, also consumes all their wealth!
Now that they heard that the clans in Xuzhou could annex them, the first thing they thought of was not the sorrow of the rabbit but the fox, but how much wealth the Xuzhou clans could supplement their wealth!
Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard what they said, but he still said seriously: "After all, the nobles in Xuzhou were once loyal to the Han Dynasty. I have asked Xun or to borrow food from them. If they come up with 10 million during this drought,
Shi's grain, this shows that they are still loyal to the Han, but if they refuse to take it out, then don't blame us for attacking them. After all, now we have to protect the Han Dynasty, and for some people who are not loyal to the Han, we can only
I can give it up!"
Kong Rong shouted: "What Meng De said, they should be asked to give out 10 million shi of food. Since they are not willing to practice martial arts, then they should help us handle logistical affairs. The clans in Xuzhou must not only give out 10 million shi
Shi Liang will also spend 10 billion yuan and 100,000 sets of armor to solve our equipment problem!"
When the Qingzhou clan heads heard this, they all applauded. This would reduce their pressure a lot! As for whether the Xuzhou clan can take it out?
Of course they can get it, there are people who know better than them how much wealth the noble families have!
In this way, it was not Cao Cao's idea to take action against the noble families in Xuzhou after the meeting, but it was the Qingzhou clan represented by Cao Cao that suppressed the noble families in Xuzhou!
The words are divided into two parts!
After Guo Jia came to Luoyang City, he found Xu You, Yuan Shao's first adviser, and proposed to him the idea of annexing the Xuzhou clan to protect the Central Plains!
This made Xu You's eyes light up. This was an excellent solution to Yuan Shao's current predicament, so he immediately went to Yuan Shao and told Guo Jia's thoughts!
Yuan Shao was not having an easy time at this time. Not only was there a drought in the entire three states, but starting from April, there was a locust plague in Guanzhong. This was undoubtedly worse for Yuan Shao. The drought might allow him to earn some food income, even if it was less.
Even if you get 70% of the food, you can get back your money, but the locust plague has completely eaten up the little food in Guanzhong. This is simply not a way for the people of Guanzhong to survive!
But even if Yuan Shao is so unlucky, God will not let Yuan Shao go!
Although Guanzhong was the center of the drought in the Han Dynasty, the most severe drought was in Xiliang. The fields in Xiliang were already abandoned. The drought started in Xiliang last year. But at that time, the entire Central Plains was very powerful in dealing with Thunder God and tried every means to raise prices.
The war horses from Xiliang were purchased, and last year the entire Han Dynasty imported millions of stones of grain to Guanzhong. These grains ensured that even if Xiliang failed to harvest grain, everyone could still fill their stomachs.
But starting this year, everyone is short of food, so the import of food has been reduced. The drought in Guanzhong has made the entire Han people think of ways to save themselves. Naturally, it is impossible for anyone to go to Xiliang with food in exchange for war horses!
As a result, Ma Teng and the others were in dire straits. Originally, the drought had left them with no harvest, and now even the business of exchanging war horses for grain was cut off. This made it impossible for the people of Xiliang to survive.
In order to survive, Ma Teng and Han Sui, the two Xiliang rebels, united again. Even Dong Zhuo's generals Li Jue and Guo Si joined forces with Ma Teng and them. Together they led 40,000 Xiliang cavalry to attack Chang'an City! Think about it!
You must harvest food from Guanzhong to feed yourself!
At this time, Guanzhong did not have a strong defensive force at all, and they did not expect that the Xiliang army would attack when Guanzhong was starving and dying. If the defense was neglected, Ma Teng and his coalition forces would directly attack Chang'an City!
However, their military front also ended here. Chang'an had an overall garrison of 20,000 people. The drought also helped Chang'an's defenders complete the operation of strengthening the walls and clearing the country. Yuan Shao also mobilized 50,000 troops from Hongnong City to prepare to encircle and annihilate the Xiliang rebels in Guanzhong.