Wang Kuang looked at the household registration statistics in his hand and looked very unhappy.
Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Hanoi County, whose original population was second only to Henan Yin, has suffered a huge blow. A large number of people have migrated, from 800,000 to less than 200,000.
And this number is still decreasing sharply, because when the Eighteenth Route Princes attacked Dong, the army was bloated and the army structure was complicated. So many princes who were stationed in Hanoi at that time allowed their soldiers and horses to plunder the people before leaving, causing another death and injury to the people.
More than half.
According to the "Three Kingdoms" records: "The prefectures and counties in Guandong raised troops, numbering hundreds of thousands, and gathered in Yingyang and Hanoi. The generals were not able to cooperate with each other, so they launched their troops and looted, and half of the people died."
Under such a situation, the aristocratic families in Hanoi County fled one after another, and the people also dispersed and migrated eastward. For example, the prominent families in Hanoi and the Sima family in Wen County, that is, Sima Yi's family, have now gone to Liyang, Jizhou to join their in-laws.
For a time, the entire county was greatly reduced in terms of population, economy, military power and food.
The most important thing is that Hanoi County has suffered many disasters, but it happened to be the time of spring plowing. Wang Kuang was still counting on getting a new batch of military rations from this autumn harvest. As a result, the people inexplicably began to move south to Henan Yin. How could this happen?
Can you prevent Wang Kuang from getting angry in a hurry?
In history, Wang Kuang was able to wake up and it was his relative Hu Muban who wrote a letter to persuade him. Only then did he realize that his behavior in Hanoi County was a harsh government, which made the people complain, and he had no choice but to flee his hometown.
But now no one reminds him, Wang Kuang didn't realize his mistake at all, and thought that the Kwantung Army was deliberately plundering his population.
At present, there have been several wars around Luoyang, and the people have withered away, and only one living person is left. Moreover, Wang Kuang himself still has nearly 10,000 troops to support. The people are getting fewer and fewer, and the population has migrated in large numbers. When Hanoi is in a state of chaos and desolation,
When the time comes, who does he go to for food and money?
"Your Majesty."
A Cao Cao who was responsible for interrogating Qian Gu came in and reported to Wang Kuang: "Chang Gu has been arrested."
"Um."
Wang Kuang nodded: "Did the Chang family pay the money?"
"Not yet."
"Then torture them first and force them to pay money to forgive their sins."
"only!"
Cao Yu turned around and left.
After he left, Wang Kuang's subordinate Han Hao said: "Then Chang Gu just slapped the retainer, so why would you go to war?"
Wang Kuang said coldly: "This is a powerful family oppressing the people. I arrested him because I want to make decisions for the people."
Hearing his words, Han Hao wanted to roll his eyes.
It's just a normal fight. Even if it's according to the law, you can be fined dozens of cents at most. But if you catch them, they'll be fined millions of dollars. Who can withstand this?
What's more, forget about the Chang family, there are other ordinary people, some of whom didn't even make any mistakes, yet they were arrested and tortured by you. It's too outrageous.
Han Hao advised: "Your Majesty, this punishment is too harsh. The people in Hanoi are already complaining. I am afraid that this cannot continue, so all the people in custody should be released."
Wang Kuang suddenly became unhappy and said angrily: "Those people are all planning to leave my rule. Shouldn't I arrest them and imprison them?"
"this......"
Han Hao was speechless for a moment. People move normally and don't even want their land. Is it reasonable for you to restrict people's freedom?
Wang Kuang waved his hand and said: "Yuan Si, don't talk about these anymore, let's talk about other things."
Seeing that he was so stubborn, Han Hao had no choice but to stop worrying about this issue and said helplessly: "Then let's talk about Liu Qingzhou, your Majesty. Liu Qingzhou is now the leader of the Kwantung Army and is attacking Dong Zhuo. His men are stationed in Luoyang.
If we conflict with them, we might easily offend Liu Qingzhou."
"well."
Wang Kuang sighed and said, "I don't know that Liu Bei is famous and his troops are strong. But if I don't stop him, all the people in Hanoi will go to Henan. What can I do?"
Han Hao tentatively said: "Otherwise, we should take the initiative to talk to the former Shangshu Ling Chen Mu about this matter. If we don't communicate anything, we are afraid of causing misunderstandings."
"You want me to go to a younger generation and plead with him not to take me in and rule the people in Hanoi?"
Wang Kuang said with a dark face: "Let's not talk about whether Chen Zigui will agree. Even if he agrees, if this matter gets spread, where will I put my face?"
"Your Majesty, the overall situation is of paramount importance."
Han Hao advised.
"snort."
Wang Kuang flicked his sleeves and said, "Don't say these words again in the future."
Seeing that Wang Kuang wanted to save face and suffer the consequences, Han Hao could only say: "Even if you don't talk to Chen Mu, you should still be prepared to prevent Liu Qingzhou from raising an army to investigate and send a large army to attack."
"It doesn't matter, I've already prepared it."
Wang Kuang waved his hand.
Wang Kuang was also very cautious when facing Liu Bei.
Because he knew very well that fighting against Liu Bei with his own strength was tantamount to hitting an egg with a stone, but he could not let the people cross the river.
For this reason, he pretended to be deaf and mute. While sending soldiers to the south bank to stop the people, he stayed in Huai County and pretended to be his subordinates who took the decision without authorization.
Once Liu Bei really came to him to trouble him and raise troops to accuse him, he would say that it was his subordinates who did it and it was none of his business.
This can be regarded as the last resort.
After all, if you don't think about it, all the people under your rule will disappear.
When there is no one to farm, where will the military food come from? The army will be disbanded.
Then, as the governor of Hanoi, he had no population and no army under his control, which was even worse than Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhou, a place where no one had any shit.
After hearing Wang Kuang's words, Han Hao wanted to ask about the specific situation. At this moment, a general rushed in from outside the door.
"Your Majesty, good news."
That general was the one selected by Wang Kuang to take the blame. He was still ignorant and had no idea of his own fate.
When Wang Kuang saw that General Pi, who was supposed to be stationed in Heyang County to prevent the people from crossing the river, suddenly ran back to Huai County, he couldn't help being very unhappy, but because of the good news he said, he said with a straight face: "What news?
"
General Pi didn't know it yet, so he knelt on one knee and cupped his hands and said: "Liu Bei's army has withdrawn. They gave up the Mengjin Ferry so that the people can't cross along the river."
"real?"
"My subordinates saw it with their own eyes."
"Okay, okay."
After receiving a positive reply, Wang Kuang was overjoyed.
Why did his men clash with the Ping County defenders?
That's because Mengjin Ferry is very special.
There are many islands and sandbars in the middle of the Yellow River. Across the river from Ping County are Heyang County and Wen County. In this section of the Yellow River, several kilometers of it are passable.
Therefore, this section is also collectively known as Mengjin Ferry. When He Jin stationed troops here, he sent troops to guard all the islands and sandbanks.
In this way, it is very simple for people to cross the river. In such a wide area, they can just pick a section of the Yellow River that no one controls and cross the river. There is no need to choose a specific road.
There is no way, after all, just like the border line in later generations is very long, it is impossible to strictly guard and house all stowaways.
Therefore, Wang Kuang's men could only cross the border and enter the Mengjin Ferry. That is, they could only control the sandbank islands on the river to block the people's way across the river. This would naturally lead to conflicts with Ping County, which was originally stationed on the river.
The defenders clashed.
Now that Liu Bei's army suddenly withdrew its troops, it was to give up the sandbanks and islands on the river. Then the entire Mengjin Ferry was in the hands of Wang Kuang, and the people would be completely unable to cross the river. How could Wang Kuang not be happy?
"I heard that Liu Qingzhou is famous for his benevolence and righteousness. When I saw him today, it turned out to be true. Sir, in my opinion, this is Liu Qingzhou's kindness to you, and we should repay it."
Han Hao spoke to Wang Kuang again.
Wang Kuang asked: "How to repay?"
Han Hao said: "Of course I will write a letter to Chen Mu, thank you kindly, and give you some gifts."
"hehe."
Wang Kuang laughed: "Then Chen Zigui is just a young boy. He has only gained power in the past few years. What can I say to him? I am older than him, and I once served as a general and avenged the general. I have more merit than him."
He is much higher. It is natural for him to respect me and retreat on his own initiative. What Yuan Si said is not the opinion of a high scholar, so it is unnecessary to do this."
"Your Majesty..."
"Okay, don't say any more, just step back."
"only......"
Han Hao had no choice but to retreat.
Wang Kuang's face was filled with joy. Liu Bei's army withdrew, which settled his knot.
He was afraid that if there was a conflict between the two sides, Liu Bei would really find an excuse to deal with him.
It would be best if we could resolve it peacefully now.
So what should we do now?
Of course, they would arrest all the wealthy families who were preparing to escape and torture them for their food, grass, and money.
Um.
Then torture, then torture, they must be squeezed dry!