Three Kingdoms

According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, when a large army went on an expedition and returned victorious, it would always "offer prisoners". Then the emperor could also record an entry in his merit book to show that he had one more item to show off for his literary and military achievements. The place. But this time the so-called "prisoner sacrifice" made many people feel that it was not an honor, but a shame.

But some people still find it strange, why can Cao Cao endure it?

This cavalry general’s achievements are simply inhuman. I won’t mention the previous ones again. Let’s just say that this time he defeated Tubo in the snowy area, and he set foot on the Xianbei royal court in Youbei. Which of them is not a rare victory since the founding of the dynasty? Victory?

If Liu Xie was really pro-government and in charge of the Han Dynasty, and now with the support of these two meritorious deeds, he would be able to paint his face with gold, and he would probably laugh so hard that his legs, uh, mouth could not close! It's a pity that such "civilian and martial arts" cannot bring much glory to Liu Xie. Instead, it further highlights the weakness of the contemporary Han emperor.

Who was the last sacrificer?

Feiqian.

What about the last time?

Still Feiqian.

Although some people question Fei Qian's use of these barbarians to gain merit, aren't they just a dozen or twenty barbarians? This time, the so-called Tubo in the snowy area is even more unknown, but similarly, the Xianbei Royal Court alone , is enough, and in turn proves that at this time, only Fei Qian was still opening up territories for the Han Dynasty and guarding the borders.

There was a burning pain on my face.

what to do? One way is to change the past and catch up, while the other way is to get angry and try to solve the root cause of the problem...

Most of the time, people are still accustomed to choosing the latter, because the latter does not require changing themselves, and changing one's original habits is undoubtedly a very painful thing.

Fei Qian has become a "competent minister", which means that he can do anything, whether it is "sacrificing prisoners" or "forcing the palace", anyway, he has now been under Xu County, and Cao Cao not only has to fight in the company After a failure, he forced himself to smile while still worrying about his own face. He was like a social beast who had just been sprayed all over his face by his boss in the company and then forced himself to put on a smile when he left the house.

Sprinkling water, sweeping the floor and spreading yellow sand, eh, there is no such thing.

There are no lanterns, colorful flags or banners.

There are so many people watching the ceremony together, this is definitely not possible...

Although after the bells and drums rang in the city, Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty came to the city under the protection of twenty-four pairs of ceremonial guards and imperial guards, the streets were still guarded by soldiers and no one was allowed to leave their homes. No one is allowed to enter or leave the four gates of Xu County. Only a few nobles and nobles who have reached a certain position on the city wall are allowed to "observe the ceremony" on one side only under the close supervision of Cao's soldiers.

Of course, on the city wall of Xu County, where Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty was located, there are still some decorations that should be there, such as the forty or fifty red and gold scrolls erected on the city gate tower. The gold was dazzlingly embroidered with dragons, phoenixes, unicorns, lins, lions, tigers, leopards, etc. There was also a nine-layer canopy stretched out on Liu Xie's head, dotted with gold and silver threads, gems and emeralds. It sparkles brilliantly under the sunlight.

Liu Xie had just arrived under the canopy, and he didn't know who started it. It was probably among the group of gentry disciples who were watching the ceremony. Someone shouted "Long live", and then one after another others shouted together, scattered. It was scattered, just like the speakers in a shopping mall. Although the sound was not small, it felt very messy. The sound was quickly covered up by the chorus of hussars outside the city.

Outside Xu County City, three square formations of hussars and horses were arranged, holding flags high. Under the sunlight, any color of the three-color flags made Liu Xie's heart beat faster. The gray-black tiles on the city tower, the mottled blue bricks on the city wall, and then in the distance are the shining and clanking armor, spears, straight knives, carved bows, and painted shields, all majestic and mighty figures...

"Welcome Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live! 』

Amidst the shouts of the mountains, Liu Xie found the somewhat familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar figure under the three-color banner. He had mixed feelings for a moment, and his lips moved twice, as if he wanted to say something, but was blocked by him. A loud shout not far away interrupted: "The emperor is coming, offering prisoners!" 』

Liu Xie couldn't help but sigh, especially Cao Cao at the city. When facing Fei Qian and his troops approaching, he really had mixed feelings in his heart. He was even a little ashamed that he chose to retreat. Naturally, he couldn't be willing to live long. As time went by, it was impossible for Liu Xie to say anything in his excitement, so when Liu Xie arrived, Cao Cao had someone announce the start of the ceremony.

No matter what, when Cao's troops both above and below the city shouted "Send prisoners", the momentum was quite scary, and it was like a drought thunder rolling past.

Of course, it just stayed at the scary stage. As the voice fell, everyone's eyes were focused on the hussars and horses to the west, and then they saw more than 20 cavalrymen coming from behind the central formation, leading A group of people slowly came towards Xu County City. The person leading the way was not Xun You, let alone Fei Qian, but Yang Xiu.

Yang Xiu held the list of prisoners in his hand and felt the attention of everyone. In addition to being a little nervous, he also felt an unprecedented honor. Although this matter actually has nothing to do with the Yang family, the fact that General Hussar assigned this task to him is also a sign of the Yang family's re-emergence?

Cao Cao glanced at the prisoners who were tied up and led by ropes, and then he was a little surprised to see Yang Xiu leading the way. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but he quickly laughed again, "As expected of a hussar...here comes, Let's go to Hussar, would you like to meet him? 』

Cao Cao originally planned that if Fei Qian personally brought someone to present a prisoner, then Cao Cao would act as a gift giver and receive it on behalf of the emperor, and then see whether Fei Qian would kneel in front of him or not... but Fei Qian simply refused to show up. , letting Yang Xiu act as his agent, this made Cao Cao's original idea of ​​gaining some face come to nothing. Just like many of Cao Cao's original plans, it is normal for such a relatively crude strategy to not be able to calculate the hussars. Cao Cao He did not give up because of this. Instead, he made a second decision and invited Fei to meet in front of the battle line.

For Cao Cao, it is okay to continue fighting with gritted teeth, but the front he deployed has basically been defeated. If Fei Qian sends troops to join the party again, attacks Zhongmou and disrupts Jizhou, then it can be said to be a real fight. It's a disaster, unless Cao Cao can leave Fei Qian in Xu County in one fell swoop...

If the Wuhuan people are willing to cooperate, Cao Cao still has about a 30% chance of using infantry to consume Fei Qian, and using cavalry to outflank and chase him. According to Cao Cao's character, if there is only 30%, he may dare to gamble. Can Cao Cao What I never expected was that the purpose of the Wuhuan people was not to cooperate with Cao Cao, and they were even less willing to fight against the Hussars. Even from a distance, it meant that the price was not in place. Needless to say, it marked the biggest goal of these Wuhuan people. Just to get more money from Cao Cao, I don't even think about trying my best!

Can Cao Cao afford so much, especially as the Wuhuan people require, pay first and then eat?

Obviously it can't be done.

Speaking of which, Cao Cao really felt at first that there was a 50-50 split between himself and Fei Qian, just like the white elephant in later generations. He always felt that he was bigger and could fight with the little white rabbit.

But why couldn't he win?

This is something Cao Cao couldn't understand, or in other words, he understood it a little bit, but not completely. Therefore, he also hoped to get something and get some answers through such a meeting.

As for the little white rabbit, uh, Cavalry General Fei Qian, do you want to fight? You can fight, but there is no need to continue fighting, because Fei Qian has more important things. Fei Qian had said before that he was actually very disappointed when he sent troops this time. Fei Qian was disappointed not that his men did not fight well, but that he was disappointed with the attitude shown by the Shandong nobles headed by Cao Cao.

Classes were inevitable after the birth of private property in human beings and could not be eradicated. Therefore, in the Han Dynasty, classes were unavoidable. Fei Qian also knew this, and Fei Qian did not want to eliminate classes during the Han Dynasty. , but to maintain a relatively smooth class channel so that the upper and lower classes can be active, so that the entire society will be full of vitality. Looking at history, is it true that every feudal dynasty thrives and is full of vitality when classes are loosened? And then after the class solidifies, it becomes lifeless and conformist?

However, these Shandong nobles clung to what they had in their hands and were unwilling or unwilling to accept Fei Qian's policies and ideas.

To put it simply, Cao Cao believed that Fei Qian's steps were too big and could easily lead to trouble. Fei Qian knew that Cao Cao's improvement measures in history were ultimately ineffective. But the problem is that at this stage, Cao Cao does not believe Fei Qian. , Fei Qian couldn't convince Cao Cao.

what to do?

It is obviously unrealistic to continue fighting.

It took Feiqian such a long time to launch some basic education in Beidiguanzhong, and just developed a group of so-called "educators", "agricultural bachelors" and "engineering bachelors" at the bottom to dilute the original gentry. System structure, and this is only in Beidi and Guanzhong, where the population base is relatively small and the original gentry structure is relatively weak. As for areas such as Shangdang Taiyuan and Heluo Hongnong, they have just begun to replace and penetrate . Feiqian currently does not have that many human resources to promote and follow up policies in Shandong, which is more densely populated and has more rural counties.

Without the right personnel to implement it, no matter how good the policy is, it will be misinterpreted and used for personal gain in the process. This kind of disadvantage cannot be completely avoided even by future generations, not to mention that the Han people are basically illiterate. Is 25 ten, or is it the vast area of ​​Jizhou, Yuzhou, etc. that cannot even be counted as 2512?

As the old saying goes, those who work in car and boat shops should be killed even if they are not guilty. In addition to some of these people doing things that seek wealth and murder, there are also these people who often take advantage of the fact that ordinary people do not know arithmetic to calculate prices. He took advantage of others and bullied the illiterate. Therefore, even if Fei Qian conquered Jizhou, Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other areas, who could he use when his own manpower was insufficient? Should we continue to follow the path of the Qin Dynasty and send soldiers to various counties to implement military control? Then he continued to antagonize ordinary people under the duplicity of local county and county civil affairs, and eventually lost all public support?

Just like the white rabbit in later generations beating the monkey and the white elephant, they have already reached their old nest. It’s not that they can’t continue to fight, but what should they do if the fight continues?

So it might as well be like this. Of course, Cao Cao cannot be said to be a monkey or a white elephant now, but the general meaning is similar. At the same time, it is precisely because of this that Fei Qian is also willing to meet Cao Cao and communicate.

Therefore, a very strange scene occurred under Xu County.

Near the west gate of Xu County, Yang Xiu and Xun Yu were handing over prisoners to each other. Although the ceremony was not very gorgeous, it was still a bit grand. Fei Qian and Cao Cao gathered together with some guards. , forming the focus of the second gaze...

As for Emperor Liu Xie, it seems that no one pays attention to him.

Huang Xu led a team of guards, and Dian Wei also led a team. They were more than a hundred steps apart and spread out to form an open space. In the middle of the open space, Fei Qian and Cao Cao were sitting on the ground.

Dian Wei and Huang Xu are both big and round, but Huang Xu is shorter than Dian Wei, so he seems to be a little weak and disadvantaged. But among the other guards, Wei Du is like a giant. Coupled with the thick armor and weapons, it seems that Cao Cao's guards are quite different, so basically, they are still barely balanced.

When Cao Cao saw that Fei Qian was willing to meet, he smiled so hard that he couldn't even see his eyes. We finally regained a victory, how could we make Cao Cao unhappy? "Hushi, are you alright? 』

Fei Qian glanced at the city gate tower and said calmly: "Isn't it true that Mr. Cao got what he wanted?" 』

Cao Cao burst out laughing, "I know I can't hide it from the Hussars!" 』

Cao Cao was afraid that Fei Qian had to meet the emperor. If the emperor really went to Fei Qian, Cao Cao would have lost a big advantage. This meeting was both a test and a strategy. He deliberately wanted the emperor Liu Xie to see Fei Qian abandoning the so-called captive ceremony to meet him, which more or less put two thorns in Liu Xie's heart.

Fei Qian quickly agreed and met, which completely put Cao Cao at ease.

Fei Qian also smiled, then took off a wine gourd from his waist and placed it on the mat. Then he took out two white jade cups from his sleeves and said, "Today we have luminous cups and wine." During the banquet in the city, I asked if I could have a drink. 』