[Three Kingdoms] After crossing, I opened the sick and weak main road line

The moment Zhong Yao opened his mouth, Cao Hong shrugged his shoulders and hid outside. What he said was that there was not much grain in Chang'an, and the little emperor opened warehouses to release grain at every turn. There was another drought in Guanzhong this year, and next year's grain If there is no supply, I must find a way to get food from other places.

Except for them in Yanzhou, no one in other places is willing to talk to the court. Didn't you see that the grand master of the court was detained and couldn't go back when he traveled far away?

Their cousin is loyal to the big man, so he doesn't believe that he can watch the little emperor starve.

Seeing him coming out, Cheng Pu and Zu Mao raised their hands to beckon him over, "Zilian, what's going on inside?"

They just heard the decree of the canonization of the state pastor and the governor, why didn't they pay attention for a while and then fell silent inside?

Cao Hong looked left and right, pulled the two of them to a corner where no one was around, and then said mysteriously, "Zhong Yao, Zhong Yuanchang, just finished promoting my brother and your general, and now he is crying poor, asking us for help." grain."

"Come to court and ask us for food?" Cheng Pu and Zu Mao's expressions were indescribably the same. I couldn't understand why the little emperor would think of asking them for food. Does Yanzhou look rich?

Just kidding, they are poor and can only rely on the relief from Zhongshan. Wouldn't it be difficult for them to come to them for food at this time?

They have been operating in Yanzhou for several months, and most of these months have been spent on exterminating the black bandits, and it has been less than two months since they stabilized.

After the war, the battlefield needs to be cleaned up, the wounded soldiers need to be treated, the dead soldiers need to be dug and buried, the weather is hot and dry, and there is also the need to worry about whether the corpse will cause the plague. These are already busy enough, but they have to be busy not only that, but also To appease the families of the fallen soldiers, recruit new soldiers to garrison the fortresses in various places, and the training can not be missed. Everyone is very busy.

It was hard to dispel the bloody smell in the air, and then it was time to open up wasteland and farm. During these two months, while recruiting refugees, opening up wasteland and farming, building the city wall, and at the same time, allocated troops to defend against the outsiders. What do you want to do to ask for the Sun Alliance, and many things cost money like water.

Yanzhou seems to be thriving, but they really have no family background.

If they have a family background, do they still need to borrow food from Zhongshan?

Although the two people who are in charge of the house now obey the words of Zhongshan, Yanzhou and Zhongshan are a family, but they can't bully people like this. If there is a shortage of food, go directly to Zhongshan to ask for it. Why come to Yanzhou?

How miserable they are in Yanzhou. Any war can affect this side. They were beaten into a sieve, and they were targeted by black bandits. Countless people died in the flames of war. There are not a few, and the remaining people are also struggling to survive, and every family can't afford surplus food.

Recently, the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou and Xuzhou have started to make trouble again. It is true that they have taken in a lot of refugees, but their food is borrowed from Zhongshan. People have a lot of face with the prefect of Zhongshanyuan, even if it is their own territory, they usually don't give out so much food for relief.

There is no food stock here. Manpower is needed to open up wasteland, build walls, build houses and dig canals, etc. People need to consume food, not to mention that they still have so many soldiers to support. If it weren't for the former prefect Bian kept sending food here, and they couldn't sustain it long ago.

The result was good, the little emperor was so whimsical that he asked them for food, they looked like they were being taken advantage of?

"Who said it wasn't?" Cao Hong squatted on the ground and sighed. He didn't want to be taken advantage of, so he had to speak up. Isn't it his cousin who is in charge now?

As soon as they gained a firm foothold in Yanzhou, the imperial court asked for food, and they were not just random eunuchs, but Zhong Yao and Zhong Yuanchang from the Zhong family in Yingchuan. It was hard to refuse.

They came here with the intention of canonizing the governor and governor of the state, and their words were not aggressive, and their words were very touching, so how could they have the nerve to refuse directly?

The three of them looked at each other in blank dismay, speechless, each sighing again.

But they were wrong. Cao Cao is loyal to the emperor, but not foolish. If the court is so embarrassing that even the emperor can’t eat, he will not ignore the emperor even if he is hungry, but it’s obviously not yet. kind of situation.

If the imperial court is really about to run out of food, the emperor will not release the food so easily. All the officials in the court do not eat dry food, but if there is any possibility of threatening them, the food will not be released.

No one will believe the words of officials who tighten their belts and save money to help the people.

As the person who spoke, Zhong Yao actually blushed a little, but he had no choice but to say what Wang Situ gave him, even if he couldn't get food, he had to say what he had to say, otherwise it would be difficult to do business when he went back.

Cao Cao is very concerned about food, and he is not at ease in entrusting anyone with the work of food and grass. He arranges the food and grass in Yanzhou himself, and never pretends to be someone else's hand. It is as difficult to ask for food from him. blue sky.

Zhong Yao complained, but it's not like he can't cry poor.

The newly appointed Yanzhou Mu general just got the appointment edict and stuffed it into Wu Chenghou's arms next to him. He grabbed Zhong Yao's hand, and he didn't say that he invited him to dinner. He sniffed and blinked and burst into tears.

"Yuan Chang didn't know that the life of the people in Yanzhou was also difficult. Thinking of the years of war in Yanzhou, and the rampage of the Black Mountain bandits, the people fled from their homes and fled to other places. The counties and counties were empty, and the mourners were everywhere. The year's harvest will never come back."

"Bones are exposed in the wild, thousands of miles are uninhabited, and the people are so hungry that they eat up all the bark and grass roots, let alone the seeds for planting."

"If I hadn't gone to Zhongshan to borrow food with a shy face, the people's livelihood in Yanzhou is still withered and there is no grass. I, Yanzhou~poor~"

Sun Jian rubbed his arms and shivered, took a few steps back, looked down at his toes and pretended that he didn't exist, resolutely not to affect Cao Cao's tearful performance.

Zhong Yao knew that Yanzhou's grain was borrowed from other places. Wang Yun and Wang Situ asked him to bring some grain back from Yanzhou by the way, not because Yanzhou had grain, but because Yanzhou could borrow grain from Zhongshan.

It is also a skill to be able to borrow food in this time of war and chaos. The imperial court sent an angel [1] to Jizhou, which may be perfunctory, but Cao Mengde can borrow food when he goes to Jizhou. Compared with the two, it is obviously possible to come to Yanzhou to find Cao Mengde to get food. big sex.

At the beginning, the eighteen princes jointly attacked Dong Zhuo to rescue the emperor, but only Cao Cao and Sun Jian went forward. Now they are both in Yanzhou, one is the governor of the state and the other is the governor. How can they watch the emperor suffer.

Wouldn't it be better for them to go to Jizhou to borrow money from Yuan's family than to send angels to Jizhou?

What Wang Situ meant was obvious. Zhong Yao was not a fool, so he could naturally hear what he was thinking, but he knew it. Now that Cao Cao was holding his arm and crying like this, he really didn't have the face to say that he asked someone to go to Jizhou to borrow food.

I knew it was not a good job to come out to pass the decree. Unlike Yuan Gonglu, Cao Mengde did not take the court seriously and would not restrict his freedom, but it was not easy to let them get food for no reason.

What's more, Yanzhou itself has no food, and it has to transfer food from Jizhou.

Zhong Yao helped him up with a red face. After all, he is a famous person who has been famous for a long time, so he would not be unable to react when encountering unexpected situations. It’s just that now, alas, don’t mention it.”

Cao Cao wiped away his tears and took Zhong Yao outside the government office. From the clean and tidy streets to the bustling land reclamation outside the city, he counted for him how much food Yanzhou had invested in to feed the people.

Refugees from Qingzhou and Xuzhou are still pouring into Yanzhou in a steady stream. The people who have just been accepted cannot work. They have to eat, drink and recuperate for at least half a month before they have the strength to go to the fields.

There is no harvest in the field, and all the food comes from the government office. Farming, repairing the city wall, digging canals to divert water, building houses... everything is hard work, and you have to eat a full stomach to do it. Raising a young and strong laborer It's similar to raising a soldier. When [-] shi of grain is delivered, it will be gone within a few days.

At a time when there is only going out but not going in, they are really too poor to say anything.

Zhong Yao was born in a famous family and was born in Ju Xiaolian. He is not very good at internal affairs. When he heard Cao Cao tell him how much money he spent, he took a deep breath after doing the calculations. Young and strong laborers, not counting the old and weak, women and children, already cost a lot of money.

At the end of the day, he didn't know whether to admire Cao Mengde's rare generosity, or the one in Zhongshan who had a lot of food in his hands.

In other words, Dong Zhuo searched for people's fat and people's ointment, and the food, gold and silver piled up in Meiwu were innumerable.

Even so, the remaining food is enough for the people and officials in Chang'an to enjoy it for at least five years. If the people are ignored and only the officials of the court are considered, they can last longer.

It's just that no one would think that there was too much food. There was a lot of food left by Meiwu, and there could only be more gold, silver, grain and grass taken away. Even if the court was not short of food, it would not let so much food in the hands of others.

After all, in Wang Situ's eyes, the food was looted by the traitor Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was dead, and all the things in Meiwu should be returned to the treasury instead of being taken by irrelevant people.

However, His Majesty was blocked in various ways from opening a granary to release grain in Chang'an. It was almost impossible for Wang Situ to agree to provide such a large amount of grain to help Yanzhou.

Although the one in Zhongshan left the capital, at least he still thought about the people in his heart. The one in Zhongshan had a benevolent heart, and food and grass in his hands were better than those in others.

Cao Cao eloquently told Zhong Yao how difficult it was for them to restore Yanzhou from the devastation to what it is now. It wasn't that he didn't want to support the court, it was because he was powerless and really had no food!

In fact, it is true that Yanzhou has no surplus grain. Before the autumn harvest next year, the counties and counties will only be able to export grain, but it is not necessarily true that the situation is as difficult as he said. I don't know much about internal affairs, and I don't even know anything about the details of disaster relief, so I made the situation serious.

You know, even in the Taiping period, people have to do various tasks such as building city walls, opening canals to divert water, repairing official roads, and building houses, and young and middle-aged laborers in Taiping years need more wages.

But now, as long as the refugees they accept have a stutter, they don't care whether they have wages or not. "Relief with work" seems simple, but it is not until it is used in practice that this method can really save a deserted city.

In order to gain a firm foothold here, the homeless refugees worked very hard, whether they entered the army camp as soldiers or opened up wasteland and farmed fields. The old, weak, women and children would not hold back, and everyone tried their best to do what they could do.

The food provided by the imperial court for disaster relief may be deducted layer by layer, and there is no hope at all. Now all the food and grass in Yanzhou are under his control, and food is used instead of wages to distribute to the refugees and ordinary people who work. Doing nothing to cause trouble, and let them settle down as soon as possible, without the panic caused by freeloading, can serve multiple purposes.

The amount of food invested now seems to be a lot, as long as there is food input until next year, relying on the city walls built in the past six months, the canals dug, the wasteland opened up, and the people who already have feelings for Yanzhou, the food in Yanzhou The output can even be compared with that of Jizhou.

If you think about it, you have finally found a place to stay in exile for a long time, planting the barren fields I opened up by myself, and living in a house built by myself. The neighbors are refugees who fled with me, so I don’t have to worry about being excluded. Can you find a better place to live?

——Those who win the power of the people are rich, those who win the dead of the people are strong, and those who win the reputation of the people are honorable. 【2】

If the people of Yanzhou can farm steadily and train their soldiers well, it is hard to believe that anyone else can beat them.

He is a very reliable state shepherd, and he is not as keen on encroaching on land as Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. In the absence of other orders from his brother, as long as he and Wu Chenghou cooperate well, no matter how they look at it, they will be able to make money without losing money.

It was difficult for Zhong Yao to hear what he said, and when he thought about those people in Guanzhong who had eaten their last meal but never finished their meal, his heart was filled with tears.

Under such circumstances, Meng De gritted his teeth to help the people tide over the difficulties. The court of Chang'an is not as good as Jizhou, but the situation is much better than that of Yanzhou. .

——The people take everything as their foundation, the country as their foundation, the ruler as their foundation, and officials as their foundation. 【3】

The people are the foundation of the country. If the people in Guanzhong can't survive and flee, and the court is only an empty shell, how can we talk about chaos?

Zhong Yao followed Cao Cao around outside the official office, and all the people he saw were busy and calm, and the soldiers patrolling the street were also neatly lined up, and some people gave them some melons and fruits from time to time, which showed that they really supported him.

If the Chang'an court can win the support of the people in Guanzhong, why worry that His Majesty can't use Guanzhong as the basis to regain control of the country?

"Great talent Meng De, the luck of the people of Yanzhou!" Zhong Yao wiped away his tears, took Cao Cao's hand and sighed, "After returning to Beijing next time, I will definitely report what I saw and heard in Yanzhou to ask for credit for you all. The money is really not enough, and the capital can last for another year or two, Your Majesty has the people all over the world in his heart, knowing that Meng De and others are so dedicated to the people, he would not stand idly by."

The implication is that life is too difficult so don't hold on, it doesn't matter if food comes from Jizhou, the Chang'an court is still there.

Nowadays, there are rare men like Meng De who serve the country and the people in this world. In the future, when His Majesty returns to the east, he will have to rely on Meng De to turn around.

When Yanzhou regains its vitality, there will be supply from the people of Yanzhou, and your Majesty will not have to worry about not having a place to stay when he returns to the east in the future.

When Cao Cao heard this, he really thought that the imperial court is really not short of food now, but his mind was full of thoughts, but his face was full of gratitude, "I have Lao Yuanchang's troubles, on behalf of the people of Yanzhou, I would like to thank Yuanchang for his great kindness."

Today's imperial court is hopeless, just after Dong Zhuo left, Wang Yun came to be the regent, killing the evil tiger was not enough, and hungry wolves followed one after another. It is even more difficult to be pro-government.

Under Wang Yun's control in Chang'an, it is unknown how the old man will teach His Majesty. He is not afraid of his regency and tyranny, but he may teach the emperor to look innocent and ignorant of world affairs. What a king in troubled times needs is means, not naivety.

If you want to display your ambitions in such an imperial court, you may never see the day when the world will be clear until you die.

It's a pity that he can't do too much, otherwise he wants to learn from Yuan Shu and directly detain people to work for him.

Ma Rixun looked down on Yuan Shu because Yuan Shu managed Yuzhou and Nanyang in a mess. His Yanzhou was thriving, and Zhong Yuan was not moved if he didn't believe it.

such a pity.

Yanzhou has very few available talents. He dreams of sending talents from the sky to help him. Although Zhong Yuanchang is not good at internal affairs, he is famous there. Internal affairs are not limited to disaster relief. It's not a trivial matter, if he can keep the person, he can at least save half of his worries.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao looked at Zhong Yao with an even more reluctant expression, and his tears fell more sincerely. The Chang'an court already has more officials and fewer people, so why can't such talents stay.

"If you can't do it, Meng De will kill me." Zhong Yao quickly pulled him up, and the two of them held hands and looked at each other's tears, and they went back to the official office with tearful hands, feeling the difficulty of each other in their hearts.

Sun Jian, who has been following the two of them at a distance: ...

oh~

In terms of lip service, he only obeys Cao Mengde.