At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

So he still puts more hopes on Guo Shan, hoping that his father can give him some help.

Although there are not enough talents at the moment, relying on Guo Peng's reluctant arrangement, coupled with the small number of people in Shanggu County, the administration of Shanggu County is still running.

Guo Peng found that the agricultural production in Shanggu County had been greatly damaged, and the water conservancy facilities were also very outdated, so he arranged for more literate soldiers in the army to follow the officers to stabilize the refugees.

Calling them to settle on the abandoned land, build houses, and reclaim fields, he ordered agricultural tools, seeds, and cattle from Jizhou, and handed them over to the people to farm in the specified area, and the cultivated grain was divided in proportion.

This is the earliest farming system. Guo Peng thought of this system and decided to implement it in Shanggu County, which he was in charge of. It is the fastest way to restore order and stability to Shanggu County, which has been repeatedly war-torn.

As a result, a large number of refugees were resettled, and under the arrangement and escort of literate soldiers, they went to settle in designated areas and cultivate fields.

Four of the eight counties under Guo Peng's jurisdiction have no county magistrate or county magistrate, and only a few officials are still in office.

Guo Peng didn't have any talent to be an official, so he simply treated these four counties as his own direct-controlled areas and managed them directly, as a test area for the farming system to accumulate experience for the future.

One of the fastest ways to restore agricultural production and social order after the war was the system of farming.

Of course, although agricultural production can be resumed in this way and the government can control a large amount of stored grain, it is also a way of exploiting farmers.

Because the land is owned by the government, and the tools, cattle, and seeds are also owned by the government, these farmers are equivalent to tenant farmers of the government.

But in troubled times, this is absolutely the right choice.

In order to maximize the resources to increase the strength to defeat other warlords, and to do his best to reduce the time required for unification, what Guo Peng needs to do is to squeeze the local economic potential and population potential to the maximum.

Guo Peng is very clear about his position.

He will be a warlord.

A warlord in troubled times with the goal of unification.

Warlords are not for production, not for the people to live and work in peace and contentment, not for charity, but for unity.

A warlord in troubled times must have a unified determination and goal, instead of being partial to one corner, nor can he be partial to one corner.

For unity, any price can be paid.

So what he has to do is to exploit, to squeeze, to tax, to squeeze the labor force of the peasants regardless of their blood and tears.

He wants to get the most benefit from it and enrich it into the war preparation materials, and he wants to turn the area under his jurisdiction into a military tank to the maximum extent, fill up the tank with fuel, and step on the accelerator, so as to crush other warlords and win , to be the last chosen one.

Squeeze the people, let the farmers in the farm area only get the most basic rations so that they will not die, let them farm for themselves and provide food.

Taxes are collected from the ruled area by various means, and all resources in the ruled area are occupied for monopolistic commercial trade.

With the backing of military force, political and economic interests are used as bargaining chips to exchange resources in the hands of gentry tyrants and so on.

There is no need to have too much compassion and unnecessary love, these are obstacles to unity.

No matter what, peace is better than the turbulent "Three Kingdoms", and the population will not be lost in units of millions.

As long as we can unify and win peace, the price paid now will be paid back sooner or later.

Therefore, the implementation of the garrison system is a wartime policy, not to let people live and work in peace and contentment, but to squeeze their blood and sweat to serve military wars.

However, for civilians who were displaced during the war, they could live a happy life like heaven if they had the guarantee of safety and a full stomach. What else would they dare to yearn for?

The farming system is the greatest common divisor that can simultaneously realize the goals of the ruling class and the minimum survival needs of farmers in times of war.

It is only during wartime, after the war, and after reunification, if this system continues to be implemented, it will cause peasant uprisings.

Guo Peng led people to count the population in the entire Shanggu County, check the situation of the wasteland, and spent more than a month researching in various places, which can be regarded as confirming the initial operation of the farming system.

At this time, in mid-August of the fourth year of Zhongping, Guo Peng received a letter from Luoyang, which was written by Cao Song.

Chapter 142

Cao Song wrote to ask Guo Peng if he would like to take family leave, whether the government is busy, Cao Lan is about to give birth in a few months, and whether he should come back and have a look.

Of course, if the government affairs are very busy, don't worry, he will help Guo Peng take good care of Cao Lan's mother and son.

If he wants to come back, he can leave at any time, and he will help him arrange the family leave.

After receiving this letter, Guo Peng, who hadn't had a few full nights of sleep for more than a month, suddenly felt an urge to return home.

From Cao Lan's pregnancy to the present, I have never gone back to see her. I have been fighting wars, calculating others, and governing Shanggu, even forgetting about my closest people.

This kind of self is really not doing well.

Counting his fingers, Guo Peng has been an official in Luoyang for almost three years, and he has never taken a day off. The Han government stipulated that officials can take 73 days off a year, but Guo Peng has not taken a vacation for three consecutive years.

In the past three years, he has not been back to Luoyang even once, and Luoyang's relatives and friends have also been separated for several years.

Over the past few years, Guo Peng and Yuan Shu have kept writing letters, writing letters to Cao Cao, writing letters to Lu Zhi, and writing letters to Cai Yong.

He is still grateful to those who have provided convenience for him on his life path.

This time, Guo Peng suddenly had the urge to take a family leave.

So Guo Peng immediately wrote back to Cao Song, asking Cao Song to help him deal with the family leave, and then wrote to Guo Dan, saying that he would go home and meet him.

After sending out two letters, Guo Peng suddenly thought of Cai Yong again.

Calculating, Guo Peng hasn't seen Cai Yong for almost ten years. Although there are constant letters and gifts during the holidays, it's true that they haven't seen each other for almost ten years.

Guo Peng has always been grateful for this benefactor who lifted him up on his life path.

Without Cai Yong to help him, without Cai Yong to make a bridge for him, he still doesn't know how long he will be able to get ahead, so when he thinks about what will happen in the near future, Guo Peng is worried for a while.

Guo Peng is determined to protect Cai Yong with his own strength, and will never let him make the same mistakes again, nor let his daughter encounter such a dangerous thing.

Guo Peng came up with the idea of ​​going to Jiangdong to visit Cai Yong.

Cai Yong lived in seclusion in Wu County, and was taken care of by the Gu family. Sometimes he would go to Taishan County to visit friends of the Yang family. The correspondence with Guo Peng has never been cut off over the years.

In the letter, Guo Peng learned that Cai Yong had given birth to another daughter in Wudi, but still failed to have a son. Cai Yong thought of adopting the son of his adoptive cousin to inherit the incense for his lineage.

So Guo Peng wrote to Cai Yong, saying that he would go to Wu County to visit him, and then set about arranging the visit.

Guo Peng's plan was to go south by sea boat from Youzhou to Wujun, visit Cai Yong for a few days, then return north by boat to Xuzhou, and meet Mi Zhu in Xuzhou.

At this time, Guo Peng remembered that he had written to Mi Zhu to ask him to come, so he immediately wrote to tell him to stay in Xuzhou, and he would go to Xuzhou to find him in person.

Then go overland from Xuzhou to Peiguo to meet my father and see what kind of talents my father can arrange for me.

According to my father's arrangement, I will go to the Guo's ancestral hall to meet my ancestors, which is a formal recognition of my ancestors. My father has always wanted to go to Yangdi's ancestral house, but Guo Peng has never been free.

Finally, go to Luoyang, stay in Luoyang for a while with family members, and then return to Shanggu County.

This time on vacation, I simply do everything I want to do without procrastinating at all, lest I really have no free time in the future and become a drag on it.

After arranging his itinerary, Guo Peng called all the important subordinates, explained to them that he was going to take a vacation, and then carefully arranged tasks and work for them one by one.

Guo Peng said that he will come back in about three months, and he will see the results of their work when he comes back. If he does well, he will be rewarded, and if he does not, he will be punished.

As for the period of his absence, Cheng Li and Zang Honglai were responsible for major matters in the county. The two discussed and dealt with important matters.

Guo Peng handed over his saber and the prefect's seal to Cheng Li, and asked the generals to obey the orders of the eldest Cheng Li, and not to make decisions on their own.

Before leaving, Guo Peng prepared some special products in the frontier in the county, and also prepared several good horses. He brought Guo Lie, Guo Mu, Guoshui and 20 of the most elite personal guards, and soon set off.

"Zhongde, when I go, you will be in charge of all affairs in the county. You must be careful. When I am away, I will be responsible for arranging the farm and training the army. Other things will be arranged when I come back. Everything depends on you."

Guo Peng held Cheng Li's hand and entrusted the matter to Cheng Li.

Cheng Li nodded.

"My lord, don't worry, I'm determined to guard Shanggu County for my lord."

Guo Peng was very relieved of Cheng Li, so Guo Peng set off to leave Juyang County.

Leaving Juyongguan, headed towards Jixian County, met with Zongyuan, told Zongyuan about his wife's birth and his vacation, and asked Zongmember to take care of Shanggu County.

"Karasuma can't make trouble. There is civil strife in Xianbei. They are vying for the position of leader. They don't care about fighting with the big man. Right now, they are taking family leave. I really don't know when I will be able to take vacation."

Guo Peng said with a wry smile to the clan members.

When the sect member heard the words, he looked at Guo Peng enviously.

"Why don't I want to take a vacation, but I really can't get away, alas...Zifeng is good to rest, the safety of northern Xinjiang depends on you and me."

Guo Peng bid farewell to the clan members and prepared to go south to Wujun by sea boat.

Shipping in the Han Dynasty has been relatively prosperous since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and several routes have been opened up, including routes to North Korea, routes to Japan, and routes to the south. Guo Peng will take the route to the south by boat. .

At the end of August, on the 29th, Guo Peng arrived at the port of Wu County by sea, disembarked from the port, and came all the way to Wu County.

Letters naturally arrived before people. Cai Yong got the news that Guo Peng was going south to Wu Jun to visit him a few days ago.

At that time, he was teaching scriptures to the children of Wudi gentry, which was also the way of Cai Yong's daily life and source of income.

After receiving the letter, the gentry disciples saw that the teacher Cai Yong, who had always been calm and dignified, suddenly lost his composure, and with a look of joy on his face, he stood up and ran out of the school without even wearing shoes. just ran away.

They were stunned.

Chapter 143 San Cai Yong is very happy

As a famous scholar in Luoyang, Cai Yong has a natural sense of status superiority and etiquette superiority for these Wu local scholars.

So as soon as Cai Yong came to Wu County to take refuge, the news was reported to the major Wu gentry, and it was secretly circulated among the gentry.

The four major surnames Gu Lu Zhu Zhang were all delighted to send their children to follow Cai Yong to learn scriptures and etiquette as well as piano skills and calligraphy.

In fact, they each have their own family education, and they all learned the knowledge of governance at home. The reason why they want to follow Cai Yong is because of Cai Yong's great reputation.

Cai Yong himself knew that he was so happy, he taught what he was good at, lived a secluded life here, and became an elegant scholar, which is very good.

But today, Cai Yong directly ignored the etiquette that he had always cared about, ran outside barefoot, and then rode away, leaving them alone, which surprised them very much.

Gu Yong, who has always respected Cai Yong and studied with him, was very surprised by this.

Gu Yong is quick-witted, calm and single-minded, and his art is advancing day by day. He is deeply loved by Cai Yong. Cai Yong gave it the name, so Gu Yong and his teacher Cai Yong have the same name. It can be said to be a model of respecting teachers.

He has always used Cai Yong's words and deeds as his standard of words and deeds. Now that Cai Yong suddenly lost his composure, as Cai Yong's student, he should shoulder the doubts of all his classmates, get up and chase and find out the reason.

Cai Yong galloped all the way back to his home, his face full of surprise surprised his family members, Mrs. Cai looked at Cai Yong who ran back without even putting on his shoes, and turned pale with shock.

"Boji, what's wrong with you?"

"Ma'am, Zifeng is coming to see me!"

Cai Yong said to Mrs. Cai in surprise, and Mrs. Cai was both surprised and happy when she heard it.

"Zifeng can still come to see you? Isn't Zifeng serving as Captain Hu Karasuma in Youzhou?"

"I've been promoted, I've been promoted! Zifeng has become the general of Shanghu Karasuma and the prefect of Shanggu County!"

Cai Yong was as happy as he became an official: "Before the rebellion broke out in Youzhou, Zifeng participated in the quelling of the chaos in Youzhou and made great contributions. !"

Mrs. Cai was very surprised.

"Then... that Zifeng has become the prefect, can he still come to see you?"

"Zifeng hasn't had a vacation for three years. This time his wife is pregnant and about to give birth, so he took family leave. He plans to visit me first, then return to Luoyang, and finally return to Shanggu from Luoyang. There is not much time. Madam, Immediately prepare to entertain Zifeng!"

Having not seen each other for nearly ten years, Cai Yong misses Guo Peng very much, and thinking about the past when Guo Peng sacrificed his life to protect him from trouble, this feeling is even more difficult to suppress.

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Yong also chased Cai Yong and ran over to beg Cai Yong. Cai Yong let Gu Yong in and found Gu Yong running over with his shoes. Only then did he realize that he was rude.

"Yuan Tan, I'm rude to my teacher."

Cai Yong was very embarrassed.

Gu Yong asked curiously: "Why is the teacher suddenly so excited? Did you encounter something very gratifying?"

"That's natural."

Cai Yong immediately became happy: "Master, I told you about Guo Zifeng, and now, Zifeng is coming."

"Guo Zifeng is coming?"

Gu Yong was very surprised.

Although Cai Yong didn't need to publicize it, they also knew that Guo Peng was a dutiful son. He used to cut ice and fish in winter to honor his mother, and later he took Lu Zhi as his teacher and studied scriptures with Lu Zhi.

After that, he followed Lu Zhi to defeat the Yellow Turban Army, killed Zhang Liang, and captured Zhang Jiao alive, which greatly shocked his reputation.