Three Kingdoms

This year, a lot happened.

Fei Qian ran back and forth and finally resolved the crisis in Yinshan. The Montenegrin Army has encountered unprecedented setbacks and blows, and Zhao Yun is gathering the remaining people of Montenegro.

The political battle in Guanzhong was in full swing. Not long after Fei Qian returned to Pingyang, he received some information, one of which was some things about Guanzhong from Xu Shu.

The plague in Guanzhong gradually declined after experiencing a huge outbreak. Xu Shu naturally didn't understand the reason, but Fei Qian could generally guess it.

The occurrence of the plague is probably related to the war. A large number of corpses were not disposed of in time and were piled together to rot and deteriorate, nourishing astronomical numbers of viruses, which were then spread by rats, mosquitoes, etc. This kind of plague germ has always preferred a humid and warm environment, and it rained some time ago and the temperature increased, which just provided these plague germs with a huge space to breed.

But now, the rain has basically stopped. Although the temperature is gradually rising, the air is gradually drying out. It is difficult for germs to survive when exposed to such an environment. Therefore, the risk of mutual infection is gradually reduced, and the plague naturally gradually subsides. …

However, the damage caused by the plague to Guanzhong was not only the germs and death, but also the decline after the population dropped sharply. In order to avoid war and plague, some people began to flee. The population in Guanzhong gradually became thinner, and the prosperity was no longer there.

"This year's autumn harvest..." Fei Qian pinched the velvet beard on his chin and muttered to himself while looking at the information.

Xun Chen was on one side, thinking that Fei Qian was asking him, so he cupped his hands and replied: "Back to the king, the land of Pingyang is very pleasant. This year's autumn harvest will definitely be good."

Fei Qian nodded, but said: "I mean this autumn, there will probably be a famine in Guanzhong..."

"..." Xun Chen was silent for a while and said, "If the court ministers in Guanzhong don't come forward to deal with it... If this continues, I'm afraid it will be as the prince said..."

"Minister of the DPRK?" Fei Qian said with a smile. In the current chaos in Guanzhong, everyone is desperately trying to seize the benefits, but no one has the intention to clean up the farm. Guandong... The Marquis of Linjin naturally refused, saying that his legs were inconvenient, and recommended Ma Taichang as an envoy... Guanzhong is wrangling over this matter, who has the leisure and leisure to deal with mulberry trees?"

"Bullshit?" Jia Xu was speechless, then nodded and sighed.

Although Fei Qian had not been away from Pingyang for a long time, he had unknowingly accumulated a lot of official duties. After returning to Pingyang, he did not have a moment of leisure. He just sat in the hall with Jia Xu and Xun Chen, drowning in the wooden slips. after.

Fei Qian said: "It's trivial and useless. It's like this in the court, so just ignore it... But this piece of information is quite interesting... Cao Mengde of Yanzhou is purchasing grain and grass on a large scale, and the price of grain on the ground remains high... "

After hearing this, Xun Chen and Jia Xu couldn't help but stop writing, looked at each other, and said in unison: "Cao Yanzhou wants to conquer Xuzhou?"

The changes in Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou far away have not stopped.

Previously, Yuan Shu tried to conquer Yanzhou, but was beaten to a bloody head by Cao Cao and had to fight in Yangzhou. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu showed their prominence and began to lead troops alone to fight in Jiangdong.

Cao Cao, who had established a firm foothold in Yanzhou, defeated Yuan Shu and took over the Qingzhou Yellow Turban. His power suddenly increased greatly. In order to digest these Qingzhou Yellow Turbans and obtain more sources of military rations, Cao Cao twitched his eyebrows, glanced around with his little eyes, and finally focused on Xuzhou...

This is history that Fei Qian knows, but Xun Chen and Jia Xu inferred from such a piece of information that Cao Cao was preparing to attack Xuzhou. Fei Qian had to admire this wisdom. What are you doing to collect grain? How much food and grass will there be during this lean period? Normally, the army should rest and reduce consumption as much as possible, so Cao Cao's behavior was abnormal.

Although at this moment, for Cao Cao, there is really no other good place to choose, but it is not something that ordinary people can do to draw the correct conclusion from the outside to the inside.

Jizhou in the north is the territory of Boss Yuan. Although Cao Cao now has some military strength, there is still a gap between him and Yuan Shao. Moreover, although Cao Cao no longer agrees with Yuan Shao, he doesn't want to He fell out with Yuan Shao so early.

Yuzhou in the south had just fought a battle with Yuan Shu and had just been looted. There was nothing good left. Further south was the territory of Jingzhou. Liu Biao had pacified Jingnan and looked like he was recharging his energy. This Well, if you can avoid it, it’s better not to commit suicide for the time being.

To the west, Henan Yin was put on fire by Dong Zhuo, and then Li Jue and Guo Si waited for a second time. In addition, he heard that there was a plague, and Cao Cao didn't want to be infected at all. Is there any benefit he can get, so The only direction is to Xuzhou in the east...

"I think so too..." Fei Qian nodded and said, "Cao Mengde is very ambitious and is not an easy person... What do you think of the battle in Xuzhou?" Of course, the information Fei Qian has is not Cao Cao sent it himself, but it was passed on by Feiqian's caravans extending in all directions.

Now, the caravan under Fei Qian has evolved from the Cui family to three, each with its own direction and division of labor.

The Cui family still went to the north, Shangdang, Taiyuan, and Jizhou. The Qiang Baishi tribe went west to the Wuwei Tianshui area, and perhaps to part of the Western Regions. The southern route started from the original Jingxiang The Huang family formed a caravan and traveled between Jingxiang and Bingzhou.

Not to mention Bingbei, within the scope of Fei Qian's control, it is relatively peaceful. For the time being, no one dares to jump out and fight Fei Qian. In addition, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in Jizhou have always been at war, and there is no need for weapons and weapons. The demand for various types of leather products is relatively large, and Fei Qian's caravan feeds Xu You, Guo Tu and others under Yuan Shao quite well, so Yuan Shao generally does not target Fei Qian in particular.

Anyway, most of the activities on the Western Front are Qiang people. Baishi Qiang has innate advantages, so there is no big problem, and from time to time they can bring some rare items, such as wine...

As for the southern route, Yuan Shu, who was originally in Yuzhou, has now shifted his strategic focus to the Yangzhou area in Jiangdong. In Yanzhou, although Cao Cao was jealous, on the one hand, he still had some friendship, and on the other hand, he eagerly hoped that Fei Qian could allocate more war horses here. Therefore, basically no one dared to touch Huang's caravan in Yanzhou. .

Therefore, Fei Qian's three-way caravan was traveling in a prosperous manner, and it also brought a lot of various information that Fei Qian needed.

Just like this one on hand...

Xuzhou is a good place.

The ponds are full of fish and the warehouses are full of grains. Tao Qian is a big coward, giving away gold, silver and land when they meet. This is a description in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but what about the actual situation...

In this turbulent era, can a good old man in a novel stay in a place like Xuzhou for so long?

Although there is no large-scale war in Xuzhou currently, there are also a lot of indigenous nobles in Xuzhou. In that place, Tao Qian was not only able to suppress them, but he also got along well. How would he be able to do this without two brushes?

Some time ago, Fei Qian also learned that Tao Qian sent people to pay tribute to Chang'an...

This kind of behavior is very intriguing, because judging from the time, this tribute team from Xuzhou did not set off after they got the seed and came to power, but should have been after Li Jue and Guo Si took control of the court. They had already traveled before being disrupted by Fei Qian and Zhong Shao. After all, from Xuzhou in the east, they had to cross the entire Central Plains and then enter Guanzhong. This road also took a lot of time.

When Guandong gathered in Suanzao before, Tao Qian said that the illness did not come in person, but his subordinate Zhang Chao came excitedly...

Fei Qian didn't understand the mystery of this until much later.

Later, Tao Qian saw that Dong Zhuo was finished and Zhu Jun was repairing in Luoyang. He asked for help from various places and hurriedly sent 3,000 troops to support...

Then, after Li Jue and Guo Si took control of the government, they sent envoys to pay tribute...

If one were to say that Tao Qian was a good man who knew nothing, and was a purely loyal and honest person, Mr. Luo would probably burst out laughing inside the coffin board.

In this world, you can be naive, but don't think that everyone else is naive.

"Cao Yanzhou also had no choice but to do so..." Xun Chen said, stroking his beard.

Fei Qian can call Cao Cao's title sarcastically. One is that he has a relationship with Cai Yong and is relatively close. The other is that Fei Qian's current position is several levels higher than Cao Cao's so-called Fenwu General. , so there is nothing wrong with calling him by his name, but as Xun Chen and Jia Xu, naturally they can only call Cao Cao by his official position, and cannot call Cao Cao by his name along with Fei Qian.

Xun Chen opened his mouth, and Jia Xu followed suit: "Cao Yanzhou has recently acquired a large number of Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, which are waiting for food. However, the land of Yanzhou has been war-torn for a long time, and there is no reserve for a long time. If we don't find a place to go... hehehehe... I'm afraid... Qingzhou Yellow Turban immediately rebelled..."

Fei Qian nodded, this was something he didn't think carefully about. This is the advantage of being with people with high intelligence. They can make up for anything that cannot be considered.

It turned out that due to the influence of those experiences in history, Fei Qian didn't feel that Cao Cao's rise was so difficult for a while. It seemed that it was all smooth sailing, and then he suddenly changed, and the younger brother became the eldest brother, and then he became the eldest brother... …

But now that I think about it, it's not easy for Cao Cao.

Although Qingzhou Yellow Turban is good, it is like drinking poisonous wine after a long drought, not that delicious.

Speaking of which, Cao Cao's situation was much worse than Fei Qian's. Unknowingly, Pingyang has been going through two or three years. Whether it is people's livelihood or farming, whether it is trade or workshops, everything is going on in a relatively orderly manner. Not to mention anything else, just seeing the two Pingyang canals outside the city Such large fields and lush crops are enough for people in Pingyang to stay at ease.

We have food in our hands and don't panic in our hearts. Even though we have been calming the refugees one after another these days, and we have to gather the Black Mountains next, but with such a foundation as the cornerstone, everyone still has some confidence in their hearts. They know that even if it is difficult, as long as they endure it, This past season will be better by next year’s harvest.

As long as people have hope, they will try their best to get through any hardships. But Cao Cao was panicking, extremely panicked...

Originally, Cao Cao's Dongjun was also harassed by the Black Mountain Army. It was only slightly improved after Cao Cao took office. However, not long after, Yuan Shu led his troops to attack. Although the battle was won, it also consumed the originally unavailable troops. There are so many reserves, and now the Qingzhou Huangjin family and their families have to eat. Even if they have some spoils from Yuan Shu, they cannot withstand the consumption of hundreds of thousands of mouths all at once!

Dogs will jump over the wall when pushed, let alone humans.

So Cao Cao naturally set his sights on Xuzhou, which was relatively weaker in the surrounding area. After all, Xuzhou had not had any major wars during this period, and it must have a lot of food and grass stocks.

"...Besides," Xun Chen pondered for a moment and then said, "...there is a lot of dissatisfaction in Yanzhou about the Qingzhou Yellow Turban incident..."

"Huh?" Fei Qian asked, "Is it possible that the Yanzhou nobles don't want to see these Qingzhou troops surrender?"

Xun Chen nodded and said: "Yanzhou has always been poisoned by the Qingzhou Yellow Turban. These new and old hatreds can be alleviated in a day or two? Besides, Cao Yanzhou...the position of Yanzhou..."

Xun Chen glanced at Fei Qian, and then said: "...It's just a private gift, how much..."

Fei Qian knew what Xun Chen meant, so he nodded slightly.

The Han Dynasty was indeed a very interesting dynasty. The official positions were divided into several levels. Even if they had the same title, there might be some differences due to different circumstances.

The most low-end ones are those like Cao Cao who were picked out by other high-ranking officials and appointed privately. This was normal behavior in the Han Dynasty, and was not inappropriate, because in fact, governors, governors, and state shepherds all had such rights. Even the commander of a small county had the right to promote some people to official positions. This was not a problem. The problem is that these promoted officials still need to be formally appointed by the court for the second time, but Cao Cao does not have one now...

Some time ago, there was great chaos in Guanzhong, and no one cared about it.

During this period of time, although there are people in the court, they have no intention to care about it.

So Cao Cao's appointment, in the eyes of some stubborn nobles, is just a temporary official, an agent, and it will be gone if he doesn't...

Similar to such top-down private appointments, there is also a bottom-up recommendation officer. For example, if a county governor unfortunately gets sick and dies suddenly, and there is no one to take charge, the local county officials will discuss it and recommend someone to be the county governor. Of course, such an official needs to be formally appointed by the court.

So what Xun Chen means is that even though Cao Cao is now called the governor and holds the seal and ribbon of the county governor, there are still some people in the Yanzhou gentry who don't take him seriously.

Jia Xu stood aside and added: "...So, Cao Yanzhou is in trouble..."

At this point, Fei Qian couldn't help but said with interest: "...Wen He, what do you mean by this?"