In February of the first year of Jianxing, the Western Front Army of the Han Dynasty located in Guanzhong launched a brazen raid and launched a fierce attack on Cao Wei's Hedong County.
Xu Huang and Zhu Ling both sent people to ask for help from Cao Zhen and reported to the Cao Wei court in Luoyang.
A few days later, the news was sent to Luoyang, the capital of Cao Wei, via Yuban Road in Zhongtiao Mountain.
In Luoyang Nangong Quefei Palace, the newly appointed Emperor Cao Rui of Cao Wei is working hard on political affairs. He looks at the mountains of official documents on the desk with a solemn look in his eyes.
It has been nearly half a year since the late emperor passed away and he ascended the throne as emperor at the age of twenty-one.
Chen Qun and Sima Yi would help deal with matters in the court, but Cao Rui understood that the court officials alone could not maintain the rule of the Wei Dynasty. The north and the south were in confrontation, and the two sides were in the same situation. Cao Wei faced the threat of a military attack.
The most important thing is that although Taizu conquered a huge country back then, in his later years, due to the defeats in the Battle of Guanzhong and the Battle of Xiangfan, Cao Wei's foundation was already in a state of turmoil.
Subsequently, the late emperor suffered repeated defeats in the Battle of Chang'an, the Battle of Ziyun Mountain, and the Battle of the Yangtze River in Huainan, making it a mess when Cao Rui took over.
At its peak, Cao Wei originally had 500,000 to 600,000 troops. It controlled Youyan Monan in the north, the Bohai Sea in the east, Liangzhou in the west, and Henan in the south. Almost half of it was lost. Now it has no choice but to mobilize the border troops and horses. Only when we come here can we defend ourselves.
Therefore, it can be said that Cao Wei has now reached a critical moment of life and death.
If they can withstand the next wave of Han offensive and successfully inflict heavy losses on the Han Dynasty in the south, both sides can return to their respective starting points, recuperate and recuperate, and face off against each other.
Because before several battles such as the Battle of Xiangfan and the Battle of Guanzhong, Cao Wei's military strength was far superior to that of the southern Han Dynasty. The comparison of troops and horses between the two sides was almost four to five million versus more than 200,000 and less than 300,000. They were in an absolute disadvantage. Advantage.
However, with the successive defeats and the annexation of Jiangdong by the Southern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei's military strength was already at a disadvantage. If he could not fight back in one battle and the troops of both sides maintained a similar situation, it would be a long time in the future. Time, Cao Wei will be suppressed.
So Cao Rui is very aware of his current situation.
For this reason, after taking office, he made many good political measures, such as sending people to the Youyan border to negotiate peace with the Wuhuan and Xianbei people and stabilize the border situation.
It also connected to Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. After Gongsun Yuan forced his uncle Gongsun Gong to give up his position to him, Cao Rui sent an envoy to make good friends with him and worshiped him as General Yang Lie and the governor of Liaodong.
These measures are actually a last resort.
In fact, due to the current embarrassing situation where Wei is weak and Han is strong, the defense force on the northern Youyan border is extremely empty, and the border army is basically useless.
Although they clearly know that taking the initiative to show friendship to Wuhuan Xianbei, Gongsun Yuan and others is seeking skin from a tiger, they have nothing to do now. Even if Wuhuan Xianbei and Gongsun Yuan go south at this time, and the southern Han Dynasty makes another northern expedition and attacks from both sides, they will be destroyed. danger.
The only good news is that Gongsun Yuan was quite ambitious in history and wanted to unite Soochow to create trouble in the north of Cao Wei. But Cao Wei was strong at that time, and in the end Sima Yi rushed to Liaodong thousands of miles to deal with him and solve Cao Wei's future troubles.
But now because Cao Wei is relatively weak, if Gongsun Yuan causes trouble again, Cao Wei will be destroyed. At that time, he will either surrender to the Han or be destroyed by the Han.
Therefore, after considering all the factors, Gongsun Yuan agreed to form an alliance with Cao Wei and did not send troops to harass the rear.
However, he still took advantage of Cao Wei's busy schedule and sent troops to occupy most of Liaoxi County.
These places were originally captured by Cao Cao when he attacked Bailang Mountain, but now they were seized by Gongsun Yuan. Since then, Cao Wei's forces have withdrawn to Shanhaiguan, and the entire eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning have been occupied by Gongsun Yuan.
Cao Rui had nothing to do about this, so he could only hold his nose and admit it, hoping that Gongsun Yuan would understand the situation clearly and not force Cao Wei to destroy the country.
At least Cao Wei was destroyed. Gongsun Yuan should have figured out who the Han Dynasty had to deal with first.
Externally, Cao Rui stabilized Wuhuan, Xianbei and Gongsun Yuan, the major enemies in the north, and at the same time deployed heavy troops in the south to guard against the attack of the Han, the only powerful enemy.
Internally, in order to alleviate the current extremely difficult people's livelihood situation, we chose to lighten the corvee, reduce taxes, and reduce the proportion of farmland payments.
In the past, Cao Wei had a lot of farming, which was good at first. The farming was divided into 50 and 50, with the government getting 50% and the common people getting 50%. Moreover, when there was a famine, the Cao Wei government would help to take care of the problem.
But now the farming system has completely become a bad government. Not only will the Cao Wei government not help with the disaster years, but they will further increase the ratio to 73 or even 82.
The Cao Wei government took away 70% to 80% of the harvest, and the people could only get 20% to 30% at most. It was difficult to ensure that they would not starve to death, let alone live a good life.
Under such circumstances, many people in the fields either chose to flee south to the Han Dynasty or chose to revolt against the rule.
According to historical records, during the Cao and Wei Dynasties, there were more than ten farming uprisings in which the leaders of the rebel armies were named, and more than thirty were nameless. This was only a farming uprising, and there were hundreds of non-tuntian uprisings.
It can be said that the heavy corvee, high taxes, and layers of exploitation and oppression by the government not only seriously harmed the interests of the people, but also greatly shook the foundation of Cao Wei's rule.
At present, there are only five to six million people registered in Cao Wei. All the corvées and taxes are borne by these people, which will definitely lead to large-scale resistance.
For this reason, Cao Rui's choice of light corvee and tax reduction was actually a more reasonable approach, which could stabilize the situation.
But this gave rise to another problem.
That is, the root cause of Cao Wei's severe exploitation was that they needed food, soldiers, and civilians to fight the Han Dynasty in the south.
If taxes are reduced for light corvee service, what will happen to the grain, grass, soldiers, and civilian auxiliaries responsible for transporting supplies?
Therefore, in the spring of this year, Cao Rui considered implementing new policies to fill the gap from aristocratic families.
The current population of Cao Wei and Han Dynasty is almost the same, both are over 10 million. The total population should be over 30 million.
However, the Han Dynasty in the south has a larger registered population than them, and the amount of food, grass, and soldiers they can supplement far exceeds that of Cao Wei. The reason is that the big families in the south have been severely reduced, unlike the big family in Cao Wei, which still dominates.
In history, although Cao Wei united with aristocratic families, they cooperated more. Unlike Soochow and the later Jin Dynasty, aristocratic families may accidentally put pressure on the imperial power. There is even a saying that the king and Xie share the world.
Now Cao Rui is considering whether to change the form and give the family more power in exchange for the support of their food, soldiers, and corvee labor. Otherwise, it will be difficult to support the war in the south in the future.
Cao Rui held his chin and thought. After a while, he summoned Wei Zhen to discuss the matter.
Wei Zhen was his important minister when he was in the East Palace. He had a very good personal relationship. Cao Rui would consult him on many important matters. After all, he was actually more wary of the three important ministers left behind by Cao Pi.
After a while, Wei Zhen came in and bowed to him.
Cao Rui then asked him: "Master Wei, Liu Han in the south has always wanted to go north to the Central Plains. If the court continues to collect grain and corvee from the people, I am afraid that there will be continuous uprisings. I plan to lighten the corvee, reduce taxes, and rest with the people. What do you think? Is this correct?"
Wei Zhen replied: "That's right."
Cao Rui continued: "But if the corvee is reduced and taxes are reduced, the confrontation in the south continues, the army and horses consume food and grass every day, and there is a lack of supplies and civilians to transport the luggage, then our army may be in a dilemma of lack of food and clothing, and the guards What do you think we should do?"
Wei Zhen probably guessed what Cao Rui meant. He was from a noble family, so he naturally had no objection to the family having greater power, so he said: "I think that although all the major noble families now comment on the Ninth Grade Zhongzheng, there are still some differences." The young and wealthy families are dissatisfied that they are not rated at a better level, which will cause many talents to be buried."
"oh?"
Cao Rui asked: "What is Mr. Wei's clever plan?"
Wei Zhen said: "I feel that your Majesty should issue a decree and be willing to provide more money, food and servants to support the court's war effort. The grades of those who are willing to support the court in the war should be improved, and outstanding disciples in the family can also become officials."
"Um."
Cao Rui nodded slightly, it was exactly what he thought.
The nine-level Zhongzheng system has indeed greatly alleviated the conflicts between the Cao Wei Group and the aristocratic families.
In the past, the imperial examination system was monopolized by top aristocratic families, and it was too difficult for small and medium-sized aristocratic families to get ahead. Now, after the ninth-level Zhongzheng system, small and medium-sized aristocratic families can also join the officialdom one after another.
But again, the nine-grade Zhongzheng system also divides talents into nine grades: upper, upper, upper, middle, upper, lower, upper, middle, middle, lower, lower, lower, and lower.
Among them, the top-grade families are almost monopolized by top aristocratic families, while small and medium-sized aristocratic families can only divide the middle and lower grades, and even the poorer families can only grab the lower-grade ones.
This is why there was a saying in the Jin and Jin Dynasties that "there are no poor families in the upper class, and no noble families in the lower class".
Therefore, although small and medium-sized aristocratic families can enter the officialdom, it is more difficult for them to go further.
What's more important is that the big family has a monopoly on high-grade products, but that doesn't mean that someone born in a big family must be an elite.
The Cao family and the Xiahou family are already the top families, right?
The clan has a population of several hundred, and there are countless young children, but only a few of them are of great use. Among the second generation, there are only a few such as Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xia Houshang, and Xia Houba. The third generation is even more top-notch. Not to mention a bunch of dandies, the only one who is somewhat useful is Cao Shuang also ruined the country of Cao Wei.
Therefore, large families do not represent high-level political elites. Small and medium-sized families also have many talents, but they are unable to rise to the top due to grade issues, which has led to the current trend of Cao Wei's talent decline.
Cao Rui wanted to exchange the support of the majority of small and medium-sized aristocratic families by relaxing the grade selection and paying taxes and population.
This is a bit similar to the Liu Bei Group's policy when it first started to clean up the aristocratic families in the south. They also used official positions and political status in exchange for the population and land of the southern aristocratic families.
The difference is that Cao Rui did not do as thoroughly as Liu Bei did, and directly took away the family's population and land. Cao Rui only wanted food and the support of the family's population. After the war, these people will still be the family's manor farmers. They would not rob their slaves and become Cao Wei's registered population.
From here we can see that Cao Rui's methods are much gentler.
The main reason is that after losing several battles, Cao Wei had to move closer to the aristocratic family more actively. If he followed Liu Bei's example and directly weakened the aristocratic family and robbed the aristocratic family of population and land, then the result would be rebellions and the collapse of Cao Wei's rule.
So there was nothing he could do.
After dealing with this problem, Cao Rui thought again and said: "Now that the war in the south is unstable, Liu Han may make another northern expedition at any time, and Xiahou Shang may not be able to shoulder the important task. I want to make Sima Yi the general accompanying the army to Henan, and Wei Jun What do you think?"
Wei Zhen said: "Your Majesty is wise."
"Um."
Cao Rui nodded: "Let's do it this way. The country has barely rested for half a year since last year's military strike. The defeat in the Huainan War was a huge blow to us. There are many good generals left over from the era of Taizu and the late Emperor. There are people dead and injured, and I feel uneasy."
Wei Zhen advised: "Your Majesty re-activated the hussar generals to go to Huainan. At least the situation can be stabilized. There have been many wars in the south. Although they won, the consumption will not be too small. Your Majesty should still manage the country first. If the country continues to have civil strife, Internal and external troubles may be bad, but only by eliminating internal troubles first and then resisting foreign enemies can we achieve stability."
"Um."
Cao Rui responded, closed his eyes and rubbed his nose and said: "This is why I sent envoys to Liaodong to win over Gongsun Yuan. The foreign enemies in the north are stabilized for the time being. I hope the civil strife in the Central Plains can be eliminated as soon as possible. As long as the people's corvee is reduced, Presumably, I won’t rebel again and again like before.”
Ever since Cao Pi died and Cao Rui took over this mess, Cao Rui felt that he would have to live twenty years shorter.
What kind of country was the Wei State that just took office?
Having just experienced several failed wars, internal and external troubles, and precarious conditions, the entire internal army had less than 300,000 troops, and rebellions continued. The troops on the northern border were also transferred to fight in the south, leaving the border almost undefended.
In order to quell these problems, Cao Rui worked extremely hard, sleeping less than three hours a day and dealing with government affairs around the clock.
After half a year of hard work, he finally stabilized the Xianbei Wuhuan and Gongsun Yuan. At the same time, he appointed the 64-year-old veteran Xia Houyuan as the hussar general and went to Shouchun to garrison.
Guan Yu had attacked Shaopi before, but Cao Xiu was critically ill. The defenders did not dare to defend themselves, so they abandoned the city and fled.
However, Guan Yu failed to keep up with the follow-up supplies, so he did not occupy Shouchun. Instead, he returned to Hefei, rebuilt a new city, and began to plan the Northern Expedition.
Xia Houyuan was turned into a civilian by Cao Pi due to his defeat in the Battle of Ziyun Mountain. However, with Cao Xiu's death in the battle, Huainan had no general. Facing Guan Yu, the leading commander of the Southern Han Group, Cao Wei was under great pressure.
For this reason, Cao Rui re-enabled Xia Houyuan and put him in charge of Huainan.
There was only Xiahou Shang left in Henan, and Cao Rui was afraid that Xiahou Shang would not be able to support the whole situation, so he planned to send Sima Yi there.
In this way, at least from the overall situation, with Cao Zhen, Xu Huang, Zhu Ling in Guanzhong on the western front, and Sima Yi, Xia Houyuan and Xia Houshang in the south, they should be able to barely resist the Han army's Northern Expedition offensive.
As long as he can obtain a steady stream of food, grass and population from the aristocratic family, the common people will enter the stage of recuperation and recuperation. With sufficient population base and stronger productivity, he can expand another hundred thousand soldiers and horses in a few years, and he will still be able to compete with the Han Dynasty in the south. Not a problem.
Thinking of this, Cao Rui felt a lot more relaxed. Originally, Cao Wei's corrupt situation seemed to be weighing on him like a big mountain, but now he sees that the days are getting better day by day, and the future is promising, which makes him relieved.
The expression on his face became much more relaxed.
"His Majesty!"
At this moment, Chen Qun looked solemn and hurriedly walked in and reported to him: "Urgent report from Hedong. A few days ago, Shen Chen suddenly crossed the river and attacked Hedong County. His troops bypassed the river east embankment and raided from the mountainous area in the north. Dong Ting then rushed to Jiucheng and burned our army's food and grass!"
As soon as these words came out, Cao Rui, who originally felt a little relieved, suddenly felt like another mountain was pressing on him, causing him to have a cardiopulmonary arrest and make him unable to breathe!
The expression on his face also became increasingly painful.