Three Kingdoms

Jingzhou.

Xiangyang.

Cao Ren had some headaches.

As a general, even if he cannot be ranked among the first-class ranks, he is still very close to the first-class group. Especially in defense, he can be said to be extremely good. He has been able to stick to one side in several battles, even in isolation. The soldiers can still remain stable until Cao Cao's main army retreats.

But no one is perfect. In terms of civil affairs, Cao Ren can only be said to be too bad.

Because of the very complicated gentry system in Jingzhou, it was impossible for Cao Ren to delegate people's livelihood and government affairs to other descendants of the Jingzhou gentry, especially the Cai family and the Kuai family. However, Cao Ren could not do without Cai Kuai, so he formed A very interesting situation.

The people who handle things are people from the Cai family and the Kuai family, but there are many "supervisors". Well, that's right. Since there were civil servants and eunuchs in later feudal dynasties who served as supervisors, now naturally there are also descendants of the Cao family who serve as "supervisors" .

Of course, the job title of these people is not "supervisor", but a certain man, or a certain subordinate, or simply an official in the general's palace, etc., but basically the work they do is the same. In an attempt to use the Cao family as the core to maintain the security of local government affairs. The obvious problem is that although relative safety can be guaranteed to a certain extent, like most systems that adopt this kind of supervision system or even surveillance system, it is very easy for laymen to guide insiders, or even for laymen and insiders to deliberately conflict with each other. Case.

As a result, people's livelihood and political affairs became increasingly chaotic.

Cao Ren had a headache, and he had to pretend that he didn't have a headache.

The Cao family's children also didn't understand civil affairs, so they did cause a lot of trouble at the beginning.

Originally, when there is a problem, we should discuss the matter, and then deal with it when it needs to be dealt with, punish it when it needs to be punished, and discuss the crime when it should be discussed, right?

But that's not actually the case.

Because these "supervisors" of the Cao family are members of the Cao family.

So how can the Cao family handle it as they please?

Therefore, there was no external review at all, and the internal review process was directly followed. Naturally, most of the results were that major issues were reduced to minor issues. Many Cao's "supervisors" who had clearly caused trouble ended up turning a blind eye. Just close your eyes and forget it. After all, these "prisoners" are also said to be "dare to take on tasks and take responsibility," right? Those who are truly willing to do things for the Cao family. Even if they accidentally do something wrong or go out of their way, it is not a bad thing. At least it is better than those who have "different intentions", right? ?

If the problem is really too big and public dissatisfaction is too great, then you can temporarily remove yourself from office, then avoid the limelight, change places, or simply go through the process internally, and then after a few days, when the public dissatisfaction subsides, you can reinstate the official and continue. work.

Cao Ren did this because he had no choice but to do so. After all, he didn't have many people under his command. There are fewer available people on Cao Cao's side, let alone Cao Ren's here? It's not that the total number of officials is small, but that there are few loyal people who truly belong to Cao Ren.

If you don't protect these "loyal" people, then who else will do things for Cao Cao and Cao Ren next time?

So something went wrong.

After many of the original Jingzhou officials suffered losses once or twice, they learned better. They either pushed or unloaded, dragged or kicked. They made more mistakes and made fewer mistakes. Do they still have to choose what to do?

The accumulated people's livelihood and government affairs were not dealt with, and those that could be dealt with were not dealt with. After repeated approvals, repeated declarations, and repeated confirmations, the spring matters could be postponed until winter. Look, it was almost the next spring, so we simply threw them away. Anyway, it has been delayed for one year, and it is not bad to delay it for another year...

Under such circumstances, Jingzhou became increasingly chaotic and chaotic, even worse than during the Liu Biao period.

Fortunately, Jiangdong was too busy to take care of himself and had no intention of attacking Jingbei. Otherwise, as public resentment grew, another war broke out in Jingzhou, and no one was sure of the outcome.

However, in the past few days, a piece of good news and a piece of bad news came, which somewhat diverted the attention of the people in Jingzhou.

The good news is that Cao Chun, a general who seemed to have failed to achieve any results after arriving in Youzhou, sent troops to conquer Wuhuan some time ago, and made great achievements and gained a lot of gains! Not only did he pacify the Youbei border for the Han Dynasty, but he also obtained the extremely scarce war horse resources of Cao Cao's regime!

Another good thing is that Emperor Liu Xie is going to hold a celebration for this great victory in Youbei, and invites the old gentry from surrounding counties and counties to Xu County to participate in the celebration...

After these two news came, everyone in Jingzhou suddenly started talking.

Some people are watching the excitement, and naturally there are also people watching the door.

After Jingzhou was drained by Cao Cao, all the systems in the Jiangling area in the south of Jingzhou completely collapsed. The whole thing was like a white field. Decades or even hundreds of years of business were wiped out. For the local gentry children, He was extremely frustrated and disappointed with Cao Cao, just like Kuai.

"What kind of bastard celebration, such a big man just showed up as a hussar, how can the rest dare to be called a hero?" ! It’s too embarrassing to show off just this little bit of merit! What a joke! ” Kuai Yue waved his sleeves.

For ordinary people, maybe the Han had won the victory and the emperor wanted to hold a celebration, which was naturally a good thing, but for Kuai Yue, it was not the case.

It's not that Kuai Yue is really dissatisfied with the emperor Liu Xie, but it's just that for a period of time, southern Jingzhou has been too difficult, and the base of the Kuai family is in southern Jingzhou. Even if they get what they want now , really began to control a part of Jiangling in southern Jingzhou, but it was not as prosperous as Liu Biao's previous one!

And because of the constraints of the "supervisor", it is not known how long it will take for Jingnan to recover and develop!

"Be careful! ” Kuai Liang frowned.

"Let's talk about it at home, what's the big deal? ” Kuai Yue was unconvinced, but he no longer ridiculed Emperor Liu Xie’s celebration. Instead, he changed the subject and said, “Brother, have you heard about what happened in Linjiang County a few days ago? 』

"..." Kuai Liang was silent.

Kuai Yue gritted his teeth and said, "Autumn Fu!" The time has not come yet, so we need to set the quota first! The county magistrate of Linjiang County just said something, saying that it would be difficult to complete Linjiang due to the disaster, so he was stripped of his official title on the spot and thrown directly into prison! Well, now they are actually claiming that they must use extraordinary methods, exert extraordinary efforts, do extraordinary things, and achieve extraordinary achievements! It is better to demolish the house for three thousand yuan than to pay less than one bucket! If someone hangs himself with a rope, if he hangs himself with a knife, he would rather die than hundreds of families would die, and he must not be short of grain and grass! Listen, what is this? ! 』

Kuai Liang remained silent.

In fact, Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue and others also did this, but squires like Kuai would be more obscure and not so simple and crude, at least not as unethical as the "supervisors" did.

Kuai Liang didn't think these "supervisors" were doing a good job, but he wondered if they were people sent by Cao Ren to test Kuai's obedience and to stir up some relationships to see if Kuai was acting like this. In more extreme situations, what would you do?

Kuai Liang felt a little guilty.

After all, Kuai is actually doing something secretly at the moment...

"correct! Kuai Yue suddenly rolled his eyes, "How about..."

"Shut up! Kuai Liang glared at Kuai Yue, "Are you trying to bring trouble to the Kuai family?" 』

Of course Kuai Liang knew what Kuai Yue was thinking. After all, he was his brother and he was too familiar with him. It can be said that if Kuai Yue sticks out his butt, Kuai Liang will know which way the chrysanthemum is opening, so Kuai Liang immediately interrupted Kuai Yue. After all, he is not in a very safe area now, and there are some people around who are complaining. If so, there won't be any problem, but if someone plans something and gets tipped off to Cao Ren, it will be a big problem.

“Now is a time of crisis, so we should work together to take care of the overall situation. Kuai Liang said in a deep voice, "As for the court, we are not in our position, so we don't need to pay attention to it, and we don't want to get involved..."

"..." Kuai Yue frowned, then pondered for a moment, "I understand." 』

"Understood? Kuai Liang glanced at Kuai Yue and said, "Then go, have a good life, and do things..."

……(oω`o)……

In fact, Kuai Liang still wronged Cao Ren.

Cao Ren didn't even bother to spy on Kuai's place now...

Cao Ren couldn't care less.

In other words, I can’t care about it for the time being.

What happened in Linjiang County was just a few "prisoners" using Cao Ren's bird feathers as arrows.

The specific situation is that there are indeed economic problems in the Jiangling area in southern Jingzhou and need to be restored and developed, but it is not that they cannot get any food and autumn tax. For local officials, if they can pay less, they will naturally pay less. If you bargain, bargain as hard as you can, but for the officials who "supervise the people", they don't care about the specific situation. They don't need to be responsible for the gentry, gentry and common people in the Jiangling area in southern Jingzhou. They are only responsible for their own official hat!

Where did the official hat come from?

Of course, they are from Cao Cao and Cao Ren, so they only need to complete the tasks assigned by Cao Cao and Cao Ren. As for the life and death of southern Jingzhou and the suffering of the people, what do they have to do with them?

They don't plan to work in the Jiangling area in southern Jingzhou for the rest of their lives. If they do well, they will be promoted, and if they don't work well, they will leave in three to five years. As for the future life and death in southern Jingzhou, what does it have to do with their future?

The guys in the Jiangling area of ​​Jingzhou have also gone too far. They have already exempted and exempted taxes for a long time on the pretext of suffering from disasters. Even now when they have to pay again, they are dragging their feet as much as possible and making up various reasons not to pay taxes.

Under such circumstances, there are some "smart" "supervisors" who think they have found an opportunity, just like selling shoes to the islanders who don't wear shoes on a desert island. If they really achieve results, it will not be long before Did he prove his superior ability?

So this "prisoner" really dared to issue a "death" order.

Anyway, it's not these "prisoners" who want others to die, but the "prisoners" who want others to die, so why don't they dare to give orders?

So under such circumstances, will the rural gentry family suffer?

Although the rural gentry family has some troubles, they don't feel it is very painful. Because they have many paths, you can still hide if you really can’t afford to offend them, but ordinary people who have no way to go are out of luck...

Anyway, for ordinary farmers in Guizhou, they have no understanding of the political battles and competition for interests at the top. Anyway, it is always the people at the bottom who suffer and suffer.

Whether it is the Kuai family or the Cao family, the Han Dynasty, or the future feudal dynasty, for these people, what they care most about is not the life and death of the people, but the taxes paid by the people. Of course, the more people live, the more taxes they pay. No feudal dynasty would really be all about improving the lives of the people, and then provide the people with various benefits without requiring them to pay various taxes. Instead, they would collect high land and property taxes from the gentry and landlord class.

At the moment, Cao Ren didn't know that the "supervisors" he sent had caused him trouble. His attention was now attracted by another piece of information.

"Pang Shiyuan arrived in Wancheng?" ! ” Cao Ren frowned, “Is this serious? 』

If Fei Qian is the number one figure in the Guanzhong political group, then Pang Tong, even if he is not the number two, is still an extremely important core figure. Now that he is in Wancheng, he cannot help but let Cao Ren take him seriously.

Wancheng was a piece of Cao Ren's heart.

Although very early on, Wancheng announced that it would not participate in the struggle for hegemony, not join any party, and maintain absolute neutrality and free trade. As a result, Wancheng's economy developed rapidly and became an important alternative to Nanyang in Jingzhou and Xiangyang. It is a trading city, but who can guarantee that Wancheng will always be neutral?

It's like the establishment of a covenant with the intention of eventually breaking it. Now that Wancheng has declared neutrality, what will happen if Wancheng suddenly declares that it is not neutral that day? Moreover, the location of Wancheng was too important. It was like a thorn on Cao Ren's back. It would sting from time to time, causing Cao Ren to feel pain.

"My nephew heard that Pang Degong was seriously ill and thought that Pang Shiyuan might come back..." Cao Zhen replied, "So I sent people to keep an eye on me. Unexpectedly, I actually saw someone who looked like Pang Shiyuan..."

"You didn't confirm it in person? ” asked Cao Ren.

Cao Zhen shook his head and said: "That's not true...but Pang Shiyuan's body shape is very different from others, so he can't fake it..."

To put it simply, Fat Blackbird is so recognizable that it is difficult to find a replacement.

As dark as Pang Tong but not as fat as him, as fat as him but not as dark as him.

Especially in the era of relatively low productivity like the Han Dynasty, you can still find some fat people among the nobles, but it is really difficult to find them among the people.

So Cao Zhen's men said that they had seen a dark, ugly and fat man sneak into Pang's house. Cao Zhen naturally thought that Pang Tong was here.

Due to emotions and reasons, now Pang De is seriously ill. At that time, Pang Tong was promoted from a group of Pang's children against all objections, and took him with him. Then he met Fei Qian in Lushan, and he rose to greatness all the way. So if it hadn't been then With Pang Degong's kindness, could Pang Tong be where he is today? Therefore, it is understandable that Pang Tong rushed to see Pang Degong now, perhaps for the last time.

"I heard that Pang Shanmin came back a few days ago..." Cao Ren said, stroking his beard, "I thought Pang Shiyuan would never come back... If that's the case, Pang Shanmin returned early, actually to provide cover for Pang Shiyuan?" 』

Cao Zhen didn't say anything because his meaning had been expressed clearly.

Although it seems a bit morally excessive to take advantage of the death of Pang Degong and then calculate Pang Tong, but since the collapse of rituals and music in the Spring and Autumn Period, all kinds of sexual intercourse have continued, and those who respect rules and ethics have died early, even The whole family was given away in a wave, and among the genes that could survive, some "flexible" genes were gradually left.

What’s the big deal? I’ll apologize later...

Make an announcement.

If it doesn’t work, send it twice.

Reflect deeply, draw inferences from one instance, and sincerely apologize.

As for why the two armies are fighting without killing each other...

Isn't there no fighting now?

What's more, Pang Tong only went to Wancheng and did not come to Xiangyang as an envoy, so he did not belong to the ranks of this "envoy"!

And what if, for example, Cao Cao himself or Fei Qian personally acted as a messenger and went to the enemy's military formation to see whether the opponent would kill or not?

But Cao Ren really didn't want to kill Pang Tong, because Cao Ren wanted Wancheng more.

It is not about the so-called "neutral" Wancheng, but to fully recover Wancheng.

If Pang Tong can be captured, whether it is forcing Pang Tong to call the Kaiwan city defense, or exchanging hostages with Pang Tong and Fei Qian, it is a good choice. As for killing Pang Tong, it is just the result with the smallest benefit.

"But there is Huang Hansheng in Wancheng..." Cao Ren had a headache when he mentioned this name, "If we lead troops to conquer, I'm afraid we may not be able to get much advantage..."

Why are there so many powerful generals under the general Hussars?

Not to mention the soldiers of the surrender army in Jingzhou, even the soldiers of the Cao family under Cao Ren knew Huang Zhong's reputation. If Cao Ren really sends troops, let's not say what the outcome will be. We haven't fought yet. I am afraid that we will lose three points of morale before fighting.

"Wancheng has been repaired for many years. The city is well-defended and there are brave generals stationed there. If we lead a large army to attack, it may not be effective within a year and a half." Cao Zhen said slowly, "Besieging the city and taking it is the best strategy." If it’s my nephew’s opinion...since Pang Shiyuan has come, he must also leave..."

Cao Ren's eyes lit up, "Zidan meant to set up an ambush at Wuguan Road?" 』

Cao Zhen nodded, "Returning from Wancheng to Guanzhong, we go all the way west, taking Wuguan Road, and all the way east, passing through Runan, Yangcheng, Heluo, and then looping back to Guanzhong... Going east is tantamount to seeking the far away instead of the near, and all the way. Regarding the pass checkpoint, Pang Shiyuan's appearance... Haha, he is quite outstanding. I am afraid it is difficult to conceal his whereabouts. Therefore, if he seeks to return, he must take the Wuguan Road! All we need to do is pretend that something has changed in Runan and bluff it to make Huang Hansheng think that we have heavy troops in Runan... and then send elite troops to set up ambushes at dangerous places in Wuguan Road..."

"good! ” Cao Ren clapped his hands and said, “This is a wonderful strategy! Then follow Zidan's strategy and wait for Pang Shiyuan to join! 』