After coming out of Liu Biao's mansion, Shen Chen thought about it on the way back.
Since the beginning of Nanyang's farming, he has been laying out the layout.
The refugees from Guanzhong and the Yellow Turbans in Nanyang, Runan had a population of four and a half million, most of whom belonged to Liu Biao.
The taxation of the Han Dynasty was a poll tax, but it was generally similar to the tithe tax, that is, one-tenth of the land became a court tax.
But farming is different. The tax paid is much higher than the imperial tax. For example, in the later farming of Cao Wei, official cattle were used for officials, six for the people and four for the people, while private cattle were divided into 50 and 50.
In the late Cao Wei Dynasty, the share ratio continued to rise, and even reached the level of eight for officials and two for civilians. 80% of the annual harvest had to be turned over to the court, which led to the flight and resistance of a large number of farmers and rebellions.
Liu Biao's farmland was divided into 50% for official cattle and 46% for private cattle.
But even so, the wealth brought to Liu Biao every year is still a very huge amount.
Shen Chen proposed to place the farmland in Nanyang, mainly because the Nanyang Basin now has fewer people and more land, and there is a lot of land that can be cultivated.
At that time, Liu Biao had not yet broken with Cao Cao. On the surface, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao were allies, and they all worked together to deal with Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, and Yuan Shu's ally group.
Therefore, neither he nor the advisers thought about the problems of Nanyang's farming after the break with Cao Cao.
Now that Cao Cao is going south to attack Zhang Xiu, there are only two options before Liu Biao. One is to abandon the Nanyang Basin and shrink the defense line to the periphery of Xiangyang.
The second is to fight Cao Cao and drive Cao Cao out of Nanyang.
Historically, he actually chose the second option. When Cao Cao came, he sent troops to unite Zhang Xiu and fight Cao Jun in a decisive battle.
At that time, Cao Cao sent Cao Hong to fight with them, and the combined forces of Zhang and Liu defeated Cao Hong and retreated steadily.
So in the second year of Jian'an, in November 197 AD, after the great success of Yuan Shu's eastward expedition in September, Cao Cao went south again to conquer Zhangxiu, defeated Wuyin and Huyang counties, and captured Huyang guard Deng Ji alive.
Then in the third year of Jian'an, in March 198 AD, Cao Cao conquered Nanyang for the third time and surrounded Rangcheng where Zhang Xiu was located. Liu Biao also sent troops to Anzhong to cut off Cao Cao's retreat.
Many people know that this battle is a famous scene of Jia Xu.
Cao Cao sent out surprise troops to defeat Zhang and Liu's coalition forces. Then because of rumors that Yuan Shao planned to attack Xudu, he retreated with a complete victory. However, Jia Xu plotted to let Zhang Xiu defeat Cao Cao's rear army.
Therefore, judging from various signs, Liu Biao did not completely want to give up Nanyang. However, Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao's army later, and there was no barrier outside, so he had to recruit Liu Bei to station in Xinye, giving up most of Nanyang's territory to Cao Cao.
But now Shen Chen is plotting against Liu Biao, just to give him a reason to defend Nanyang with all his strength.
Because in Liu Biao's view, Nanyang could be defended, but he could not defeat Cao Cao, so in the end he could only give up Nanyang and shrink the defense line.
But Nanyang was of great strategic significance in Shen Chen's eyes. Its existence could continue to threaten Cao Cao's rear, so Shen Chen had to do everything possible to force Liu Biao to defend Nanyang.
In this case, when Liu Biao himself was unwilling to give up Nanyang, and Shen Chen gave him another reason not to give up, Liu Biao had to increase investment in Nanyang.
So what is Shen Chen’s suggestion?
The first is to replace the officials in Nanyang with capable officials, such as Huo Du, Huo Jun, and capable ministers and generals such as Li Yan, Yi Ji, and Han Ran. What they can do is manage the place well and provide Liu Biao with a steady stream of help. Remove food and property, and at the same time expand the army.
The second is to move the defense line forward. The previous defense line was as far as Xinye, and almost all the north of Wancheng was handed over to Zhang Xiu. Zhang Xiu was unable to defeat Cao Cao, so when Cao Cao attacked Zhang Xiu for the second time, even Wancheng was defeated. He took it.
Therefore, as long as the defense line can be moved forward and Liu Biao's main force around Xiangfan pushes forward, when Cao Cao's army comes, Liu Biao's main force will have to choose to fight Cao Cao to the death.
But it is a pity that Liu Biao is not a fool. Although he is not aware of Shen Chenbu's overall situation, he also understands that Shen Chen wants to completely drag him into the quagmire.
So I wasn't fooled.
While beating Shen Chen, he also pushed the Gan-Ning defense line forward.
It's like giving him a stick and giving him a date to eat.
Liu Biao also knew the relationship between Gan Ning and Deng Hong, so he simply gave Gan Ning's troops to Shen Chen.
Obviously, Liu Biao's idea is - it is impossible for all my main forces to be sent to the front line, but I will give you five thousand troops and you can do it yourself. As long as my interests can be guaranteed, the rest will not involve me.
In addition, Liu Biao would also replace a large number of officials in order to protect his farm interests and at the same time, let these officials assist Shen Chen in his deployment on the front line.
Because he mentioned Wang Yi, who had a good relationship with Deng Mao and the Deng family, to the first and second leaders in Nanyang, the officials he sent had to listen to the instructions of Wang Yi and Deng Mao, and would naturally act in accordance with Shen Chen and their requests in the future.
So to put it simply, Shen Chen wanted to tie Liu Biao to the chariot.
But Liu Biao didn't want to get on the bus, but he was reluctant to part with his interests in Nanyang. At the same time, he hated the officials in Nanyang who were willing to follow the wind and act according to the wind.
Therefore, except for not letting up on the matter of sending the main force forward, Shen Chen agreed to all other conditions.
More importantly, he gave Huang Menting great autonomy, certain military power and even official control.
This is undoubtedly telling Shen Chen that I will give you a little support and the rest will be your own development. The extent to which you can develop depends on your ability.
So although he was not completely tied into the chariot, Shen Chen was not completely without gains.
But it was still far from what he expected.
"Liu Biao is not stupid."
Shen Chen sighed.
Deng Hong on the side said: "Ah Chen, do we really want to continue fighting Cao Cao?"
"Uncle, the feud between clan members is irreconcilable."
Shen Chen said in a deep voice: "Twenty-three of my uncles and brothers who are related to me were buried in Zhenyangju. There should be quite a few of my uncles' relatives as well."
"Thirty-four people."
After Deng Hong finished speaking, he fell silent.
He is the clan leader of the Zengyang Judeng family, so all the Zhuoyang Judeng family are his relatives.
Among the hundreds of people who died, most of them were either Shen or Deng, and they were uncles and brothers within the fifth server.
If we include the married people with other surnames, such as Aunt Qi, the wife of Uncle Seventh Uncle Shen Min, there will be even more such relatives.
Therefore, in fact, among the people who died in Zhuoyang that day, most of them were close relatives of Shen Chen and Deng Hong, and there were only a few family members in other villages, such as Deng Mao and Shen Zhong.
How can such hatred be eliminated just because the enemy is strong?
But after all, it's not easy to shake the tree.
Deng Hong sighed.
Shen Chen opened the curtains and said softly: "Besides, we have already formed a deadly feud with Cao Cao. Even if we were hiding in Nanyang, wouldn't Cao Ren catch up with us? Uncle, give up those unrealistic ideas and only choose to fight with Cao Cao. Only if Cao Cao fights to the end will we have a way to survive."
"I see."
Deng Hong nodded slightly.
The carriage drove slowly through the street.
People were coming and going on the street, and at the door of a restaurant in the distance, someone was telling stories vividly.
"Cao Cao's tens of thousands of troops came south to attack us in Xiangyang. Zhang Xiu surrendered immediately. Cao Ren, do you know? Cao Cao's younger brother, the general of Cao's army, led the army to kill Huangmenting in Xinye, but Huangmenting was a young man. "Hero"
Shen Chen couldn't hear the rest of the words clearly.
Whether in ancient times or modern times, the word-of-mouth method of information dissemination will never go out of style.
It has only been passed down by word of mouth from the ancient city gate postings, story telling in taverns, to modern times, it has evolved into gossip among a group of old men and women at the entrance of the village when they are bored and sunbathing.
Nearly half a month has passed since Cao Cao retreated, and the news that should be spread has already reached Xiangyang.
Naturally, the story of the young hero calling on the elders in his hometown to jointly resist Cao's army and finally annihilating the invading enemies and killing Cao Ren, the general of Cao's army, has already spread in the city.
Just like Cheng Yu led the elders in his hometown to resist the Yellow Turbans in his early years.
The difference is that in the end, Cheng Yu made dried meat from his hometown elders and presented it to Cao Cao, while Shen Chen became the hero of Huangmenting, which was widely spread in surrounding counties and counties, and eventually became famous in Jingchu.