Chapter 30 Discussing heroes while cooking wine with green plums
In fact, Chen Mu knew what Cao Cao wanted to do when he came to Qingzhou.
He pretended to visit Xi Zhicai for medical treatment and Cao Song to avoid trouble, but in fact he wanted to seize the rice in Chengcheng.
Of course, some people may say, are you, Chen Mu, really a god? If you are so good at calculating, why would you know that Cao Cao wants rice?
Of course Chen Mu is not a god, and it is impossible for him to know what Cao Cao is thinking.
But think about it carefully and take a look at Cao Cao's current predicament, and you will know why he urgently needs rice to capture the city.
Lu Bu made a sneak attack on Yanzhou and occupied the three most prosperous counties in Yanzhou, thus increasing his strength.
Cao Cao's hometown was stolen, and his supplies, troops, and soldiers were all greatly affected. Now he is fighting with Lu Bu and both sides are hurt. It can be said that he has suffered heavy losses and his vitality has been greatly damaged.
What a cruel method?
Although he still occupies a small half of Yanzhou and half of Xuzhou, the total territory seems to be one state, but the total population is less than 1.5 million, his soldiers are only 20,000, there are only ten generals, and there is very little food and grass.
Needless to say, Shanyang, Dongshan, Renping, Lu State, Jibei and other counties were originally small counties. At its peak, only Shanyang County had a population of 600,000, and other counties had a population of more than 100,000 to 200,000.
There are not as many people as Linzi County in one county.
Coupled with the years of war, the total population of these five counties is estimated to be 700,000.
The same is true for southern Xuzhou, which has a larger territory and more fields.
During the period of Emperor He, there were more than 1.5 million people living in the three areas of Pengcheng, Guangling, and Xiapi. However, after Zhe Rong's plunder, the people's lives were not stable. Many of them migrated north to the relatively stable Donghai Kingdom and Langya Kingdom, or to the south.
Went to Yangzhou.
Due to war, famine and plague, the population of the three counties has also dropped by more than half, and the combined total is estimated to be less than 700,000.
It can only be said that fortunately Cao Cao did not massacre Xuzhou this time, otherwise the population would have been even smaller, the real bones would have been exposed in the wild, and there would have been no roosters crowing for thousands of miles.
In such a miserable situation, Cao Cao could no longer send troops to conquer Lu Bu, so he could only cultivate himself first and then think of a solution.
So how can we regain our strength?
Of course, we need to have soldiers and food on hand so that the population under control can recover as soon as possible.
Moreover, in such a dilapidated situation, it is unrealistic to restore governance in a short time. Even if it rests and recuperates, it will take at least two or three years to become stable, and another four to five years before it can have the strength to expand externally.
As a result, Cao Cao had only three choices. One was to run half of Yanzhou and half of Xuzhou honestly, develop slowly, and wait until the situation in Hebei became clear, before Liu Bei went south to annex them.
The second is to shamelessly come to Liu Bei to borrow supplies again, but it can be done once or twice, but he won't be willing to do it the third time.
What's more, the borrowed materials are not your own after all, and you will still face the problem of insufficient production after they are consumed.
As the saying goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. The probability of asking Liu Bei to borrow supplies, apart from the question of whether Liu Bei would be willing, Cao Cao himself could not afford to do so.
Then the third option is naturally to improve one's own productivity. The news that there is Champa rice in Qingzhou is not a secret. Many people know it, and Cao Cao naturally knows it too.
Chen Mu felt that there was a high probability that he would choose the third option.
Because it is a general trend to use high-yield Champa rice to replace low-yield ordinary rice in Huainan area.
If Cao Cao wants to recover his strength as soon as possible, this is the only way he can choose.
Guangling County is the northern part of Jiangsu in later generations, and Guangling County is Yangzhou City in later generations.
Because it is located in the south of the Huai River, there are many lakes and rivers, and the water system is complicated. The people here grow local rice from the Han Dynasty. The growth cycle is extremely long, and it can only be harvested once a year. The yield cannot be compared with that of Champa rice.
In Qingzhou, only 200,000 to 300,000 acres of Champa rice can be cultivated, but in Xuzhou, Jianghuai and other places, tens of millions of acres can be cultivated.
With the yield per mu being about one-third higher than that of millet and wheat, if Jianghuai and other areas were entirely planted with Champlain rice, the overall yield would be greatly increased in one year.
In this way, it might take several years to recuperate and recuperate. After using Champa rice, the recovery time will be shortened by half.
In only two years, Cao Cao would have enough food to deal with the enemy. By the third year, with sufficient granaries, food in hand, and no panic, he could recruit troops aggressively and make a comeback.
So it wasn't that Chen Mu figured out what Cao Cao was thinking, but that he figured out the best solution to Cao Cao's current predicament.
To put it another way that everyone understands, it is the so-called perspective-taking. Sometimes when you look at a problem from the enemy's perspective, you will find that some things that are difficult to understand can easily become very clear.
As for why Chen Mu pretended to be drunk, it was also very simple.
When Liu Bei asked him if he would give it to him, how should he answer?
Yes, Cao Cao saw that Chen Mu gave him so happily, and with his suspicious character, he must have thought there was a conspiracy.
If you don't give it, you will lose an opportunity to deliver Champa rice to the Huainan area, and it will make it difficult for Cao Cao to recover his strength and form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.
Now Sun Jian, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Liu Yao and others are about to have their brains knocked out in Yangzhou, Jingzhou and other places. It is in Qingzhou's interest to mix in Cao Cao to make the south more chaotic and not form a unified force.
So in order to prevent Cao Cao and Guo Jia from becoming suspicious, they had to give Chen Mu a reasonable explanation that he had no objection to, such as recalling the past, revealing his true feelings, and getting drunk after drinking too much.
But even if he could fool Cao Cao, he might not be able to fool Guo Jia, so Chen Mu had to arrange a backup plan.
Liu Bei arranged for Cao Cao and his party to stay in a vacant room in Taishan Academy.
All buildings in Qingzhou can be simple and crude, but Taishan Academy, currently the top academy in the Han Dynasty, is the most luxurious place in Qingzhou.
This place was originally selected to be renovated by a powerful manor that had conspired to rebel. It only covers an area of a few hundred acres. Zheng Xuan mainly taught Confucianism here. At that time, there were already thousands of students who came here.
Later, with the increasing number of students from all over the world, and Taishan College adhering to the principle of a hundred schools of thought contending and thousands of flowers blooming, various courses were opened, such as the School of Chemistry, School of Physics, School of Mathematics, Astronomy, Geography, Economics, Medicine, etc.
, recruit talents from all over the world, and restore the grandeur of Jixia Academy.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition, there are countless ancient books and scrolls collected by the palace after Dong Zhuo moved from Luoyang and burned the palace. In order to accommodate these students, books, colleges, and schools
The palace has been expanded many times, from a few hundred acres at the beginning to now covering an area of 5,000 acres, and its scale is growing day by day.
One mu of land in the Han Dynasty was relatively small, approximately equal to 465 square meters in later generations, and one mu of land in later generations was equal to 1.44 Han acres. So converted, the current area of Taishan Academy should be 3,500 acres, equivalent to half of Peking University and two in later generations.
Forbidden City.
If you look down from Mount Tai, you will see a vast group of palaces as far as the eye can see. The outermost edge is a square made of marble. Standing on the square, the first thing that catches your eye is a tall archway above the archway.
, with four big characters "Taishan Academy" written vigorously and vigorously, signed by Cai Yong.
Taishan Academy used to have walls. After all, it was once a manor. In fact, there are walls now. After passing the archway, there is a tree-lined path built with cement. Walking all the way in, you will find a walled compound, covering an area of hundreds of acres.
This is the Confucian Academy with the largest number of students.
Zheng Xuan is not only the academic priest of Taishan Academy, but also the dean of the Confucian Academy. Today, the number of students in the Confucian Academy exceeds 30,000. The dormitory halls outside the academy cover an area of 1,000 acres, with carved beams and painted buildings, numerous attics, brackets and cornices, and beautiful
Magnificent.
Other colleges were established behind the Confucian College. Liu Bei placed Cao Cao in a palace on the north side of the Confucian College near Mount Tai. No one usually lives here. Because the original purpose of building this palace was to provide
A Taishan villa belonging to the four brothers Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Chen Mu can be understood as a palace. Occasionally, the brothers stayed here when they went on an outing to Mount Tai.
This place has lush forests and bamboos, high walls and gardens, and several palaces are connected into a row. A pool of water is drawn from Mount Tai and flows around the back garden. In the spring, all kinds of flowers bloom in the garden, new buds sprout among the green grass, and the rockery
Standing in the courtyard, towering trees are placed in the courtyard, with a pavilion in the center. Finally, the water flows into the pavilion and into the lotus pond.
Cao Cao and Guo Jia got up early. This was already their fifth day in Qingzhou. On the first day they came, they got drunk with Liu Bei and Chen Mu, and then in the next few days, they went to see Cao Song and
Play Zhicai.
Cao Song was a little happy but didn't think about Qiao. He stayed at the foot of Mount Tai, where it was warm in winter and cool in summer, to take care of his old age and live a comfortable life. Although he was happy to see Cao Cao, he expressed his unwillingness to follow him back.
As for Xi Zhicai, he has improved after being treated by Hua Tuo's apprentice Wu Pu. And he was lucky. Hua Tuo came back from traveling abroad last month and heard that there was a typhoid fever patient. He took a look at him and found that there was something wrong with him.
After being rescued, he prescribed a medicine. After taking it, the effect was very rapid. He was already able to walk around. It is estimated that after another month of training, he can follow Cao Cao back to Shanyang.
On the fifth day, Cao Cao and Guo Jia planned to visit Taishan Academy. They heard that Taishan Academy had created a new study of studying things. It was said that it was a knowledge about the principles of heaven and earth, which was better than that of hundreds of pre-Qin scholars.
There is more to it than that, so I am curious to learn more about it.
Unexpectedly, before I went out, I saw a lot of people coming in outside the door.
The visitors were none other than Liu Bei and Chen Mu, and they saw them asking their attendants to hold up a tray, which contained various fruits and snacks, as well as bottles of fine wine.
"Brother Meng De, I'm here to bother you again today."
When Liu Bei came in, he saw that Cao Cao and Guo Jia were also planning to go out. He asked in confusion: "Hey, brother Meng De, where are you going? Why didn't you call me so that I could accompany you?"
Cao Cao then said: "Xuande is busy with everything, and he is afraid of delaying important events, so he just wants to go to the foot of the mountain with Fengxiao."
"oh."
Liu Bei smiled and said: "In that case, let's go together. We just happened to show Brother Meng De the Taishan Academy. I heard that Meng De has always been fond of Cai Gong. Now that Cai Gong is in the academy, he can go and visit."
Cao Cao really liked Cai Yong's literary talent. When he heard that he was going to visit Cai Yong, he immediately said happily: "This is the best. I was worried about how to visit Cai Gong."
Boom!
The two were preparing to visit Cai Yong together. At this moment, there was a sudden thunderbolt in the sky, and then it started to rain.
When everyone saw that the situation was not right, they immediately ran towards the house ahead with their heads in their hands.
When we came to the eaves and porch, we saw that the raindrops were very small at first, but they became heavier and heavier, and soon turned into moderate rain, with a tendency to develop into heavy rain.
The weather has been cloudy for the past two days, because it is already early spring in February, and the spring rain has been continuous, so it is not unusual for it to rain suddenly.
Seeing this scene, Liu Bei said regretfully: "I didn't bring an umbrella when I went out. Looking at the situation, the rain may not stop for a while. Brother Meng De, it's better to go visit Cai Gong in two days."
"Well, God is not kind to me."
Cao Cao nodded.
Although Qingzhou produces oil-paper umbrellas, the ancients still didn't like to go out in the rain because the ground was slippery, especially when they were on the mountain. The ground was muddy and difficult to walk on. Even if they went down the mountain with an umbrella, there was a risk of slipping and falling if they were not careful.
For safety reasons, I still can’t go out.
Chen Mu smiled and said, "I originally came to see Brother Mengde for a banquet today. Since it's raining, why not continue the banquet?"
"Very good. I think the pavilion in the backyard is nice. How about being in the pavilion?"
Cao Cao was also very happy.
The style of sitting and talking during the Wei and Jin Dynasties was actually very popular in the late Han Dynasty.
Because there were no smart phones or computers at this time, the usual entertainment activities for the rich, besides having children, were drinking, having fun, and enjoying singing and dancing.
What's more, it's raining and I can't go out. I just happen to be drinking and talking freely. Maybe I can get some benefits from Liu Bei?
The group of people walked through the corridor under the eaves and arrived at the backyard pavilion.
The courtyard has winding paths, and the flower beds are full of exotic flowers and green bamboos. After passing through the arch, there is a small bridge that leads directly to the pavilion in the center of the lotus pond. This bridge is connected to the cloister, and there is a bucket top above.
Since it is paved with tiles, you don’t have to worry about getting caught in the rain.
The rainwater dripped along the tiles, and the dripping drips gathered on the ground to form a stream, and then flowed into the pond. Although the lotus flowers in the pond were not in full bloom, the lotus leaves were green, there were frogs sitting on the leaves, and there were golden carps under the leaves.
Traveling.
The four people sat in the pavilion. The attendants placed the prepared preserved fruits, snacks and drinks on the table, and then slowly exited one by one. Only Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Chen Mu and Guo Jia were left in the entire pavilion.
Liu Bei raised his wine glass, pointed at the courtyard and said to Cao Cao: "Brother Meng De, I wonder if you can still get used to living in my small Taishan courtyard?"
Cao Cao also raised his wine glass and said with a smile: "The scenery is very unique, like the wind from Jiangdong."
"Brother Meng De has good eyesight."
Chen Mu gave a thumbs up: "This courtyard was built by Lu Fang, a famous Jiangdong master. He once built a forest garden for Emperor Kangxi."
"It is enviable that Xuande can attract talents from all over the world."
Cao Cao responded casually.
"hehe."
Liu Bei smiled and drank the wine in his hand.
Everyone drank together.
After the initial chatter, Chen Mu's eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a plum tree in the courtyard. It was February, and the plums had just begun to bear fruit and had not yet grown into green plums. Not to mention, they would not mature until after May.
But when he saw the plum tree, a light suddenly flashed through his mind. This scene... Why did it look familiar?
Green plum wine?
Good guy.
Chen Mu turned to look at Cao Cao and showed a meaningful smile.
Historically, Lao Cao, you scared my old brother Xiao Bei Bei.
Now.
It's time to scare you too.
At that moment, Chen Mu deliberately pondered for a while and coughed.
Everyone looked over.
I saw him smile slightly and said, "Brother Meng De came to Qingzhou a few days ago. We drank together and recalled the past. Today, it's time to talk about other things."
"oh?"
Liu Bei asked in confusion: "Say something?"
Chen Mu turned to look at Cao Cao and said with a smile: "Of course it's time to talk about the world today. Brother Mengde has been around for a long time. He even knows about this Jiangdong wind house. He must know the heroes of the world. Why don't you ask me to be my brother?"